Category: Government

  • Defining marriage in the Hoosier State

    Defining marriage in the Hoosier State Within the next two weeks, the United States Supreme Court will render holdings in two cases involving secular marriage. The essence of both cases is to what degree a state government or Congress can define which persons can marry which other persons. While states are generally left to define…

  • 113th Congress-History and Day One

    113th Congress – History and Day One If you’ve never heard the name Thomas B. Reed then it’s likely you may be under the mistaken belief that the notorious filibuster was always exclusive to the U.S. Senate. Likewise, if Reed’s name doesn’t readily come to mind, the full significance the Speaker of the House of…

  • Dodging the Bullet – Newtown and Gun Violence

    A Code Blue Day By coincidence my day in the classroom began with a scheduled Code Blue drill. During my school years our disaster preparation was limited to fire and tornado drills. The ridiculous duck and cover from nuclear blast drills had, by then, been discontinued. The relatively new exercises developed in response to the…

  • Media’s memory tested as Supreme Court revisits Voting Rights Act

    “Don’t worry about it.” Those familiar with the early morning events of December 7, 1941, are familiar with this regrettable phrase. When Lieutenant Kermit Tyler dismissed an inexperienced radar operator’s vague report of unidentified aircraft approaching Hawaii on that morning, the response was not unreasonable. However, the failure to consider the overall possibilities of that…