Mike Delph, Andy Warhol and 15 minutes of nonsense, er, fame
Mike Delph, meet Andy Warhol. Delph, a Republican state senator from Indianapolis, went on a bit of a rampage after the Indiana Senate opted not to put the controversial sentence banning civil unions...
View ArticleBo Connor and what we’ve lost
I never had the pleasure of working for “Bo” Connor, the longtime Indianapolis Star editor who died a couple of days ago. Until he retired, I always was on the other side of the sibling rivalry in the...
View ArticleA bit of religious instruction Westboro Baptist slept through
So, the family and followers of the late Fred Phelps – he of Westboro Baptist Church fame or infamy – don’t want anyone protesting the rabidly gay Kansas church leader’s funeral, even though Phelps and...
View ArticleMike Delph’s place in the universe
Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, now says that he wants government to get out of the marriage business. In an often contradictory oped column written for www.thestatehousefile.com (disclosure: I’m the...
View ArticleNo one says ‘we care’ quite like the NRA
The 15th anniversary of the tragedy at Columbine High School occurred on Easter morning. On that horrible day in 1999, two troubled and heavily armed students shot and killed 12 other students and a...
View ArticleLimited government and the death penalty
Oklahoma’s botched execution of convicted rapist and murderer Clayton Lockett touched off a national debate about the death penalty. Oklahoma state officials still are figuring out what went wrong, but...
View ArticleEmpty prayer, empty victory
Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing public prayer at town meetings in Greece, New York, isn’t a victory for religious expression or free speech. The nation’s highest court ruled, 5-4, that...
View ArticleGuns don’t die, people do
You’ve got to hand it to the most fervent gun devotees in this country – their sense of grievance is profound and as unwavering as the North Star. No matter how many children get killed in mass...
View ArticleCirque du Soleil has nothing on the U.S. Supreme Court
Who knew we had five acrobats on the U.S. Supreme Court? The 5-4 Hobby Lobby decision attempted the difficult feat of landing in two places at one time. The majority didn’t want to give all businesses...
View ArticleRIP, Jim Brady
Jim Brady died Monday. He was 73. Ronald Reagan’s former press secretary was more famous for being at the president’s side when would-be assassin John Hinckley opened fire on March 30, 1981. Hinckley...
View ArticleGlenda Ritz and the blessing of clueless opponents
It’s always amusing when otherwise smart people do stupid things. I’m thinking about the way the way members of the self-proclaimed education reform crowd have allowed Indiana Superintendent of Public...
View ArticleMike Delph needs a hug
Mike Delph’s feelings have been hurt. The Republican state senator from Carmel blames me – and quite a few other people – for the boo-boo on his psyche. Delph and a lot of other candidates for office...
View ArticleFerguson and fuel for the flames
The flames in Ferguson and elsewhere tell us, among other things, just how eager we Americans are to believe the worst of each other. Most of the country already has chosen sides in the ongoing debate...
View ArticleUpon the altar of god, eternal hostility against all forms of tyranny over...
So, the brothers who murdered 12 people in Paris said they wanted to die as “martyrs.” They didn’t. The real martyrs are the 12 people killed in the attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie...
View ArticleMike Pence, Just IN and other casualties of a silly fight
So, Gov. Mike Pence pulled the plug on “Just IN,” his controversial proposed state-run news agency. Pence dumped the planned web site for political reasons. Within hours of The Indianapolis Star...
View ArticleBill Hudnut’s words of wisdom for the next mayor
CHEVY CHASE, Maryland – Bill Hudnut has some advice for the next mayor of Indianapolis. The Circle City’s only four-term mayor and I are talking in the sun room of his home in suburban Washington....
View ArticleTom Brady for president
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady could be the poster child for America’s political culture. Brady, whose golden boy reputation has been deflated even more than the footballs he prefers to...
View ArticleHillary Clinton and the blessing of clueless opponents
Some people never learn. Republicans and conservatives once again have decided to point out that former President Bill Clinton and his wife, current Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton,...
View ArticleGlenda Ritz and the opponents who can’t stop helping her
If Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz does become governor, she’ll have some odd thank-you notes to write. Those notes should go the Republican political professionals,...
View ArticleIt’s Alive! The rise of Donald Trump
In Donald Trump, the sane members of the Republican Party have a monster on their hands. But The Donald is, by and large, a monster of the GOP’s own making. The angry and divisive political appeals...
View Article
