RUSTHOVEN: Rappin’ away the Dream
Last week marked the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. Few speeches merit recall a week later. King’s will be remembered as long as America lives.
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MAURER: Amend our constitution while we can
Fellow right-wingers, our chance to stick it to the gays may not come again.
EDITORIAL: Find a long-term fix
Mayor Ballard’s support for the $6 million World Sports Park on the far-east side has become a rallying point for critics of his spending priorities. They say the money would be better spent chipping away at the city’s huge infrastructure needs. We think they’re missing the point on a couple of fronts.
RACE: City, state planning must account for climate change
There’s a heavy cost associated with ignoring the environment as we envision our future.
Kim: Steer clear of leveraged exchange-traded funds
If you are confident the S&P 500 will be 20 percent higher a year from now, you might think an exchange-traded fund (ETF) whose objective is to provide two times or even three times the return of the S&P 500 would be just the ticket to earn 40 percent (two times) or 60 percent (three times). You couldn’t be more wrong.
Hicks: Blame labor’s collapse on its own successes
The decline of the American labor movement is startling. In only 50 years, membership has dropped 80 percent. No mainstream American institution of note has dissipated at this pace before. Today, more Americans receive disability payments than belong to private-sector unions.
BRUNI: Will Republicans look for Bush 44?
Let Rand Paul have his epic filibuster and Ted Cruz his scowling threats to shut down the government. Let Chris Christie thunder to a second term as the governor of New Jersey, his hubris flowering as his ultimate designs on the White House take shape.
SOUDER: Get real about the immigration debate
The only commonly accepted facts about the immigration debate in Washington and at every other political level in America are these:
SADLER: Why Ballard so infuriates Democrats
What is it about our Republican political stars here in Indiana that they are constantly underestimated and under-rated? The reason, of course, is politics.
GARRISON: The makers are getting tired of the takers
They will call it Northern Colorado if they can get the job done. Ten counties in the rich area north of Denver produce almost all the agriculture and most of the gas and oil that comes from the Mountain State. Its residents pay well over half the taxes but garner a fraction of the representation in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
KETZENBERGER: We’re more resourceful than we realize
A realization struck recently as I was sitting in the shade of an umbrella stuck into the white sand that rims Thunder Bay in northeast Michigan, a copy of “The Last Policeman” across my lap.
MADISON: Leaders, pundits and reading books
Which of our leaders ever talks with us about a good book she or he has recently read?
TAFT: Redouble fight against urban poverty
Brookings Institute researchers recently published a book called “Confronting Suburban Poverty in America” that profiles how quickly poverty is migrating from many urban centers to their surrounding suburbs. Metro-area poverty has grown fastest in the suburbs over the past 30 years—experiencing a 64-percent increase versus 29-percent growth in urban centers.
WESTERHAUS-RENFROW: The insidiousness of income segregation
As a child, racial segregation was a fact of my life, whether by law or by custom. In the South, barriers between whites and blacks were rigidly codified by statute before the civil rights victories of the 1950s and 1960s.
BOEHM: More to do to continue Indy’s ascent
Those of us who have seen the progress Indianapolis has made over the last several decades are justifiably proud of what has been accomplished. At the same time, most thoughtful observers agree on the need to address a range of problems—notably crime, fiscal pressures, education, transportation and neighborhood development.
SHELLA: Bennett’s emotions got the best of him
It was a warm, sunny Monday in November when John McCain came to the Indianapolis airport seeking to pull out an Indiana win in the 2008 race for presidency. It was the day before Election Day. Confident Hoosier Republicans were thrilled about the first real campaign rally in this state by that year’s GOP nominee.
ODLE: Pull a chair up to the Big Table, leaders
I generally stay away from education issues in my column, but recent thoughts compel me to divert from that practice.
DAVIS: Welcome to Indianapolis, Mr. Ferebee
We welcome a new leader to town to take one of our most important jobs—superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools.
LEIGHTY: Same-sex marriage ban hurts business
There has been significant discussion this summer about gay rights and marriage equality. Specifically in Indiana, House Joint Resolution 6, the amendment that would permanently alter Indiana’s Constitution to define marriage, has produced strong emotions on both sides.
MASSON: Past was prelude in Zinn controversy
Former Gov. Daniels seems to have a good grasp of Orwell’s notion that who controls the past controls the future and who controls the present controls the past.