RUSTHOVEN: Why won’t Obama say the obvious?
Selecting a kosher grocery to target was random? Killing people the killer targeted “because they were Jewish” was random?
Taking Issue
Articles
KENNEDY: The foundation of our success is crumbling
In my classroom, when I introduce the topic of infrastructure, a lot of students’ eyes begin to glaze over. They shouldn’t.
RUSTHOVEN: Belichick’s record deflated by dodgy style
The Patriots under Coach Bill Belichick epitomize the “win at any cost” mind-set that’s despicable whether context is business or politics or sports.
KENNEDY: Perverse incentives lead to bad decisions
I am hardly the first—or only—person pointing to the unfortunate consequences of constitutionalizing the tax caps (nor the only person rolling her eyes at Gov. Pence’s duplicative “balanced budget” proposal).
RUSTHOVEN: The case for Mike Pence’s balanced budget amendment
Pence is right. Democratic opposition was reflexive and unfounded. Inaccurate media coverage, suggesting that Indiana already has such a constitutional requirement, was more surprising.
KENNEDY: Help the middle class and watch corporate profits rise
How many times do we preface an analysis with “All things being equal … ”? And how many times are we reminded that all things are rarely equal? Life has an annoying way of being messy, making linear conclusions problematic.
KENNEDY: With certainty, Cheney is wrong
Cheney angrily defends it all. He has expressed absolutely no remorse for any of it—not even the death of the innocent man.
RUSTHOVEN: Pence is Midwesterner with national appeal
Speculation about Gov. Mike Pence as a potential 2016 presidential candidate is a familiar topic in Hoosier political circles. It is now increasingly part of national political conservation as well.
KENNEDY: Failure of imagination could stop here
There is a fair amount of evidence for the proposition that our fraying social fabric is a consequence of the fear and disorientation produced by ever-more-rapid social change.
RUSTHOVEN: The facts on Ferguson are stubborn
John Adams knew that dictates of passion could defeat facts and evidence. What we now simply call “Ferguson” is a sad example.
KENNEDY: A Thanksgiving rumination
For families living on the edge, families struggling just to put that dinner on the table, saving money is a pipe dream.
RUSTHOVEN: More to come from Gruber’s open mouth
MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, once lauded by the left as “architect of Obamacare,” is now unpopular. Seems he can’t stay mum about the actual architecture.
KENNEDY: A culture of contempt
There are plenty of theories about America’s embarrassingly low turnout rates. My own favorite explanation is a bit of snark from a source I can no longer recall: “If God had intended us to vote, He’d have given us candidates.”
RUSTHOVEN: The Ebola crisis gets an operative
The developing Ebola situation now has a Hoosier link, with the president’s appointment of Indianapolis native and North Central High School grad Ron Klain as Ebola response coordinator (in media parlance, Ebola czar).
KENNEDY: About that younger generation
It’s easy to get discouraged these days—to look at the overwhelming evidence of social and political dysfunction and retreat into Angry Old Person territory.
Rusthoven: Puncturing education shibboleths
There’s no correlation between more spending per se and improved performance.
KENNEDY: The age of propaganda
We live in an age of disinformation. Fox News, MSNBC, CNN. Some are better than others, but not much.
RUSTHOVEN: No dispute about civil illiteracy
My friend and Taking Issues counterpart Sheila Kennedy and I disagree on many things. But Kennedy, who heads Indiana University’s Center for Civic Literacy, is dead right about the woeful ignorance among Americans about our history and governmental system.
KENNEDY: In the country of the blind
Two unrelated articles in the Aug. 31 New York Times brought me up short. The first was yet another analysis of (un)representative government in Ferguson, Mo.; the second addressed the growing power of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers’ political organization.
RUSTHOVEN: A president dangerously in denial
The videotaped beheading of American journalist James Foley by ISIS terrorists is a gruesome reminder of the reality of evil—a reality our president and many Americans are reluctant to face.