As I look at the debate in Washington, D.C. over federal spending and how we get this nation’s finances under control, I always marvel at the words, “the wealthy need to pay their fair share”.   Usually this occurs when the President talks about rolling back the Bush era tax cuts.  While I don’t think taking […]

The Indiana Senate voted Tuesday to concur with the House on SB 575 and send a bill to Governor Mitch Daniels’ desk that would limit collective bargaining in teachers union contracts to wages and benefits and eliminate layoffs based solely on seniority. Score one for the good guys and for education reform. This is the […]

I recently wrote about a behind the scenes feud between 7th District Democratic Congressman Andre Carson and Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy.  To put it mildly, the two don’t apparently see eye and would gladly get rid of the other one should the opportunity ever present itself.  Well, less than 24 hours after that […]

Every once in a while, the  lovely Mrs. Shabazz and I discuss children.  While I have an adopted son, we do bat around the idea of procreating.  Now while that may scare some of you, as well as it should, the subject came back up again following Governor Mitch Daniels’ announcement Friday that state revenues […]

I took a little break from blogging because I’ve been following up on something that just didn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me.  And the more I chased down the information, the more bizarre stuff I discovered.   Let me know what you think. We all know the big news of this week […]

Indiana House Democrats today unveiled their version of the new legislative maps.  They say their map used tonwships, instead of counties, as the basic dividing lines and creates more competitive districts than the Republican drawn maps.  They did not specify whether any new districts were created or if any incumbents were drawn into new districts […]

Indianapolis Public Schools say declining enrollment and state budget cuts are forcing them to layoff more than 370 teachers in order to save nearly $20 million.  While this may seem tragic, there’s something here that just doesn’t quite add up. First of all, the total injustice and fundamental unfairness of teachers losing their jobs based […]

Indiana lawmakers are expected to take up the new legislative maps today, however House Democrats are asking for more time to review them.   In a letter to House Speaker Brian Bosma and Elections Committee Chairman State Representative Eric Koch, Democratic leader Pat Bauer and Ranking Member John Bartlett say today’s committee hearing and vote should […]

Okay, we’ve had a few hours to soak in the new legislative maps and like I stated in yesterday’s post, most Republicans are pretty content, Democrats, not so much.   Here’s a quick breakdown of who ended up in the same district. Democrats Ed DeLaney and Greg Porter* Jeb Bardon and Vanessa Summers Chet Dobis and […]

When it comes to the new legislative maps unveiled in the Indiana General Assembly, the adage of where you sit depends on where you stand could not be truer statement. Republicans say the maps are fair, compact and respect communities of interest.  Democrats say the maps are an overreach and designed to keep the GOP […]