Today’s Show: we discuss what the Bill of Rights means. Our guests will be Jeff Cox and Adam Lenkowsky. We stream "live" at 11 a.m.

   There are false beliefs that have been spread and accepted for a long time. One of the most prominent—and false—is that the United States of America is "the land of the free."

   How does one measure freedom?

   The United States has roughly five percent (5%) of the world’s population, but twenty-five percent of the world’s population…

   The economy either sucks or it does not or, if a person is sufficiently wealthy as to be insulated from its effects, the economy is a meaningless hum in the background as one enjoys life.

   For the rest of us, the economy is a daily—what? Is it a fact of our existence? Is it a constant struggle? Is it a quasi-mechanical entity that operates consistent with rules of what seem like physics? Can we tell "how" the economy is doing by any means? If so, what are those means? Why does…

   The topic of next week’s Show is whether a declaration of war is necessary, under the Constitution, to commit United States military forces to combat.

   Too often the U.S. has sent troops to faraway places for reasons difficult to discern. Prior to World War II, Indochina was a possession of France. The people living in Indochina had not invited the French to come and occupy their lands. The French conquered the lands. In turn, Japan swept through the area and took it from the…

   Before the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1969, we were treated with interesting spots on the evening news. In 1969 the Cuyahoga River, in beautiful downtown Cleveland, burned. When one approached Gary on I-65, the sky was orange from the effluents of the steel mills.

    Yesterday, in response to my blog about the environment, Mr. Wheeler claimed "you posit an extreme example from your childhood days as that somehow…

When Europeans first came to the shores of this continent, Europe was in turmoil over religion. Between Luther’s 95 Theses to the Treaty of Westphalia over one hundred years of bloodshed passed. Some who came to the North American shores sought refuge from religious persecution. Others came for economic reasons. Some came through no choice—chained and sold, once they arrived here, as chattel. They were slaves.

   Rick Santorum is an odd person to advocate rejection of the separation…

   I went on a rant at the start of yesterday’s fifth segment.

   Usually we do four, 14-minute segments of "Civil Discourse Now" on Saturday mornings. If we are having fun with a particular topic, or it is proving too difficult to cover in only four segments, we will go five segments.

   Yesterday, our guests were Jeff Cox and Kurt Lorey. We discussed whether the United States is biased toward Israel. Co-host Paul Ogden, between segments, commented that the discussion of…

   Two weeks in a row on the same topic?

   Yes, we are doing that—but look at the topic: efficacy of third parties in American politics.

   Today our guests will be Chris Spangle of the Libertarian Party and Timothy Platt, Executive Director of the Socialist Central Committee, Ltd.

   Other local shows do not cover alternative parties. Most voters—look at the numbers in the elections—do not give alternative parties the benefit of thought enough to vote for a candidate…

   Our Civics textbook freshman year of high school had a right-wing slant. It had to have been the most right-wing textbook available, given our teacher’s views. He did not "lean" right-wing. He fully fell over the railing and down into the abyss.

   One section of the textbook really angered me. Four or five paragraphs, blocked-off on a page  with gray background, explained the "folly" of third parties. I took issue with the book and argued there have been successful third parties…

   Was George Washington a great president? Let’s see—he was a slaveholder, lost more battles than he fought, bought a lot of land via his access as President of the United States. Was Abraham Lincoln a great President? He suspended the writ of habeas corpus, stifled protest and dissent to the point that riots against the draft occurred in New York City, and all this after he was alleged to have snuck into Washington, D.C., prior to his inaugural, so as not to be seen.

   What…

   Saturday’s Show will consider matters somewhat related to the current round of primaries.

   Whom would you rank as the best president of all time? Whom would you say was the worst? Whom would you say was (here comes a phrase that is perhaps an oxymoron) the most mediocre president? I refer here to POTUS. The President of the United States. For sake of clarity, we would not count those individuals who served as president under the Articles of Confederation, as the nature of the job…

   The City of Indianapolis, through its Department of Code Enforcement,  has been kind enough to post an information for "Super Celebration Sites" for the time leading up to, and following, the Super Bowl.

   Contexts of Orwellian twists on the English language are interesting. To see these phenomena in regard to a sports event staged by a mono(lith)poly would add an element of amusement, were it not for a couple of factors. First, we—taxpayers and citizens of Indianapolis and…

   United States troops are all around the World---and why? The Cold War is over, so why do we have over 50,000 military personnel in Germany? It is not like those personnel can run over to Amsterdam and have fun. The military has urine tests for drugs. We have 40,000 in Japan and nearly 30,000 in South Korea. The Japanese are not in imminent danger from anyone. And South Korea? Their forces would wipe the North's off the map if the platform shoe-wearing, pompadour hair-styled goofy dictator…

   Should government have a reason for banning something?

   There are many distinctions between laws. Amongst those distinctions is one of laws that ban certain conduct. Laws that ban conduct that is malum per se (for example, murder, robbery, kidnaping) prohibit conduct society has seen as intrinsically wrong. Laws that ban conduct that is malum prohibitum (for example, jaywalking, possession of marijuana) prohibit conduct because we, or our elected officials, say such conduct is…

   Today as you go to the poll to cast your ballot, remember that, at the same time, all bars and liquor stores are closed. I think this is a travesty. Intoxicated voters might improve the quality of elected officials.

   First, there would be little patience shown for the people outside the polling station. By law they must remain at least 50 feet from the "chute" to the polling place. "Chute" means front door. That's sure a much-enforced rule. Intoxicated voters, freed from their…

   There are rumblings that Bank of America ("BoA") is in danger of failing. But wait---I thought we were inculcated with the notion it was too big to fail? Anyway, check the various websites. Whatever the number---and I have read as high as $75 trillion, as in take one billion and multiply it by 1,000----BoA has transferred so-called toxic assets it had acquired from other banks and transferred them to a federally-insured fund. In other words, the same folks who screamed they needed a…

   In grade school, junior high and high school, we watched the news each evening. At least those of later to be called geeks watched the news. A chief feature of the reports of Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley (after his partner Chet Huntley succumbed to cigarette-related cancer), and whomever the anchor-of-the-month was featured on ABC was the latest in student demonstrations. Civil rights demonstrations were on as well, but as a white kid raised in rural Indiana, I identified more with the…

   Ann Coulter must have spiked the LSAT. How else could she have obtained admission into the University of Michigan School of Law? She only says things to attract attention and sell books, one might say. If she were a Hollywood gossip person, matters might be different. I do not mean to downplay the harm that harsh, false words can have to a person who is the target of an item from a Hollywood gossip person. I do not say "columnist" because, here in 2011, I think  that term is obsolete. …

   Members of the legal profession are reputed to gouge clients for fees. There is the joke about the lawyer who died, went to the hereafter, and was told he was overdue because, from his billing records, he was indicated as being nearly one thousand years old. A lawyer cannot bill for work not performed, however. A "retainer" must be billed against by the hour. Also, the methods of billing, be they by the tenth of an hour or a quarter of an hour, must be by some fraction. As an example, a…

   On this week's show, being shot Saturday, October 1, Paul Ogden and I shall discuss two topics. One is the wisdom or folly of forfeiture laws. Those are laws that provide the means by which local government can confiscate private property with fewer restraints, some would say due process, than that in which it otherwise would have to engage. The second is whether all drugs should be legalized.

   We start at 1:00 p.m. at Big Hat Books, 6510 Cornell Avenue, in Broad Ripple.  

   Our streets need fixed.

   I wanted to get home from the office in time to watch the kick-off. I stopped at Marsh for a couple of things for chili. I asked the cashier if the percentage of people in Colts regalia decreased after games started. Her non-answer was "I don't think one person should mean so much to people." Okay, this was Sunday, and maybe her reference was in the context of theology. I made it home in time to watch about the only good play the Colts would make, a first…