The world has never been up to its Adam’s apple in alligators, but they’re above the armpits. There have always been periods of war, famine and isolated disastrous events such as the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which covered Pompeii and the eruption staining the White House during Monicagate.

Newsweek call it the “Bubba Gap” — the paradoxical perception that the first African American presidential candidate, Barrack Obama is an elitist, who is out of touch with American voters.

Thank you, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Love, Barack Obama. Obama ended the worst two weeks of his presidential run with a razor-thin loss to Hillary Clinton in Indiana. His salve came earlier in the evening in North Carolina where he trounced Clinton and it stands to open the super delegate floodgates in the coming days.

Rachel Parsons died. More importantly, she lived. She lived at 1727 Green Street, Williams Emergency Housing Center operated by Haven House Services, Inc. She was 57 when she came to live with us in September of 2007.
Rachel was a quiet woman and very pleasant, wispy and gray, with glasses. Her chore was house laundry. Every Saturday she did house laundry. She didn’t complain. Everybody liked Rachel.

When our daughter was about 3, my wife Diane and I were driving when we suddenly heard munching noises coming from the rear of the car. Then we remembered that we had left a bag of Oreos sitting on the back seat. We asked, “Sally, are you eating those cookies?” We turned around to see Sally, her face smeared with chocolate cookie crumbs, slowly shaking her head “no.” We thought it was cute.

A poll in USA Today, on March 18, showed 59 percent of Americans think a ”depression lasting several years” is “likely.” My question this week and last, is this: Are these gloomy perceptions about crime, the economy, or anything else, the result of hard data, or do we suffer to some extent, from what Nickolas Vardy of the Global Guru sites as the ”tyranny of the negative headline?”

Well, it seems that Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has finally seen the light. It took 20 years, countless sermons and several recent nationally televised interviews with his controversial pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright for Obama to realize there is something fundamentally wrong with Wright’s message.

It has been quite a few years since I graduated from high school, 34 to be exact, so long that I can't really remember all of the feelings I had at the time. All I knew was that I wanted to go on to college and then see the world beyond Southern Indiana. While I have traveled extensively, met a lot of interesting people and done a lot of interesting things, my journey is not complete nor is anyone else’s as we are a constant work in progress.

I was not quite sure how to address Tuesday’s Primary, it’s importance, and to try and analyze what makes people vote and for whom. Even as I analyze myself and my own lever pulling, I am betwixt and between logic, emotion, and uncertainty. I can’t even fully explain how I will decide to vote for every office.

Adam had a simple life until Eve complicated it. Moses wandered for 40 years searching for it. I led a simple life back in the old days, because without much, it wasn't as complicated. One of my few possessions was a sack full of marbles. They were kept in a Bull Durham tobacco pouch, which was a small cloth sack with a little packet of very thin papers attached. It fit real nice in the top pocket of my of bib overalls.

I had allowed my cough to worsen and work down into my chest. My OIC (Officer in Charge) instructed me throughout the day, “If you are not better in the morning, you’re going to sick call.” I acknowledged him, secretly wishing for some miracle to come along and exorcise this cough from my chest. I have an aversion to going to the doctor, civilian or military, and have found that I can usually find something over-the-counter to take care of my illnesses.

I have never been a Clinton hater. When Bill Clinton was president, he produced budget surpluses, reformed welfare (as we knew it) and passed landmark trade legislation. In 1998, as he was being impeached, Osama bin Laden was declaring a fatwa against us. When I suggested to Lee Hamilton that “America had taken its eye off the ball,” at first he dismissed the notion. But by the end of the conversation Hamilton acknowledged the statement had kernels of truth.

Recently, a Good Friday Military Awareness Day and Prayer Vigil was held at the “Wall of Honor” in Jeffersonville in March. This event was to honor our Indiana troops who are deployed to Iraq and the surrounding area.

My wife Diane and I were walking out of church last week when we saw something scrawled in chalk on the parking lot. The words were mildly offensive references to anatomical parts, but certainly nothing worse than you might hear any night on television.

With their promise of new energy on Capitol Hill, congressional elections are always a time for hope. This year’s contests will be especially significant, for Congress is listing and the nation desperately needs to right itself. No single issue is the problem; it’s Congress itself. The people we elect in November to fill the House and Senate chambers next January will need to set about not just doing the people’s business, but fixing the institution so that they can do the people’s business.

If you are like most of us, you watch one newscast more than any other, and have a favorite newspaper, news broadcaster, columnist, and blogger and/or news magazine. You watch or read these papers, blogs or newscasters daily, so that is where your ‘impressions’ of what is happening are formed. Opinions on crime may also be influenced by discussions with coworkers, friends and relatives.

Recently somebody made a comment in passing about how our president took our sons into war, etc. Not anything new, except we, as parents of a career military person and grandparents of two sibling grandsons — one Army, one Marine — have had it with statements like this and have to speak out.

It is happening far too often and not only in the city. Calls from law enforcement officers of “officer down” elicit rapid response of all available brother and sister officers to assistance. In the Louisville metropolitan area alone, the names of Grignon, Denzinger and White were three too many to become targets.

I was impressed with his ability to speak very well and detailed without notes. I also noted that his speaking was hardly as substance-free as his opponent would have us believe. It was a town-hall meeting format. None of the questioners appeared planted. The candidate was capable and comfortable during the meeting, feeling free to disagree and even chide questioners.

I am absolutely convinced that there are no legitimate corporate businesses left in America. The concept of treating a customer fairly, honestly, and with respect is gone forever. Every advertisement seems to be a scam with a hidden charge or misleading premise.

Don’t want to beat a dead horse or a live one either, but my central-nervous system is going bad. I don’t care if Obama and Hillary keep beating each other’s dead horses. Hillary slipped up by saying she was under sniper fire once in Bosnia. That was incorrect, but she’s been under sniper fire in the U.S. since Bill started acting up. Obama goofed when he said working people are so “bitter” they are turning to guns or religion, which should never be mixed.

It all started near the end of January when I received a letter congratulating me on becoming an Al Neuharth Free Spirit Scholarship Winner. That meant I was selected as one of two students from the state of Indiana — and one of only 102 students in the entire country — to receive a $1,000 scholarship in honor of Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today and the Freedom Forum. In about a month, I was on a plane headed toward Washington, D.C., at the expense of the Freedom Forum.

To the stocks with them! Pause and consider for a moment how fortunate it was to be the typical Massachusetts Bay Colony magistrate.

While there have been several high profile organizations that have been ethically impure in recent years; Enron, Arthur Andersen, MCI WorldCom, none sullied its mission as badly as the Roman Catholic Church. The ultimate servant leaders, priests from the parish level up to the Pope in Rome commanded unquestioning faith and respect from their flocks.

In the very toe of the Hoosier State, which was rocked and rattled by an earthquake the previous week, Barack Obama was preparing to descend to the stage at Roberts Stadium. His move came in a state that in its 192-year history has elected only three African-American mayors (all in Gary), three African-American members of Congress, two black sheriffs, and two Hispanic mayors. None served much south of I-70.

Let’s face it, when someone of the caliber of a serious presidential contender bothers to come to Jeffersonville, that is newsworthy. It’s also refreshing to see downtown Jeffersonville roped off with police tape and it’s not a block fire or a street crime.

Overall, I was proud that downtown Jeffersonville had the distinction of this historic visit, but it also seemed that there was precious little courtesy extended to the downtown business owners and their customers, who sacrificed for this event.

Around here, everyone’s getting ready for the Kentucky Derby. It won’t be long until the first Saturday in May, and the Fastest Two Minutes in Sports. Along with the bright pink tulips and yellow daffodils popping up, we’ve got signs for “get your Derby hat here,” or “Derby party supplies.” Come Derby Day, anyone with a heart will be huddled around a television set at a family potluck, sipping mint juleps with friends, or lying lazily on the couch, dabbing away tears for the memories of Barbaro, Secretariat, and the like.

It is hard to believe that it has been 61 years ago this month, that the then-Brooklyn Dodgers manager, Branch Rickey, signed the first black professional baseball player, Jackie Robinson, to play for a major league team.

Around here, everyone’s getting ready for the Kentucky Derby. It won’t be long until the first Saturday in May, and the Fastest Two Minutes in Sports. Along with the bright pink tulips and yellow daffodils popping up, we’ve got signs for “get your Derby hat here,” or “Derby party supplies.” Come Derby Day, anyone with a heart will be huddled around a television set at a family potluck, sipping mint juleps with friends, or lying lazily on the couch, dabbing away tears for the memories of Barbaro, Secretariat, and the like.

John Gardner’s words indicate that we need to include into the process of education experiences that involve students in observing, synthesizing, concluding and making decisions for themselves. Any educator will tell you that students have to be engaged in the process to drive home meaning.

A tip for candidates trying to foster goodwill from voters, particular young future voters: don't get up to the microphone, say you really don't have much to say on an issue because everyone else already did such a great job covering it then proceed to spend several minutes repeating what the other guys said.

Proms and graduations signal that it’s time for my annual advice to graduates column. Here are some things to think about or to discard — your choice. Congratulations and good luck!

How can there be equality when Miley Cyrus made $18.2 million last year while I was raking in $12,492 from the Social Security office? Miley (Hannah Montana) is a 15-year-old singer and actress.

It is Kentucky Derby season and handicapping the Derby is almost as difficult as picking winners in local political races. I never publicly endorse any candidate in my column. However, I do like the challenge of picking winners in a political horse race — so here is my handicapping and odds.

When Hillary Clinton walked into Allison Transmission Plant 12 last Saturday morning, the premise was that this would commence a cohesive three-city offensive on the issue of manufacturing, jobs and national security. Walking with her was U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh and the topics at hand had his fingerprints all over them. Bayh has done several press events at Plant 12, so this was familiar territory for him and the local press. He made a pitch for the plant several years ago as U.S. military deaths began to rise due to roadside bombs in Iraq.

Like most Midwesterners, I always thought that only other people had funny accents. I imagined that I sounded like Walter Cronkite. Growing up near St. Louis, it took a long time before I realized that I pronounced “fork” as “fark” and that our first president was not George “Warshington.”

Is it me, or are you feeling a little queasy hearing about how local politicians are handling taxpayers money; to be more specific, the lack of taxpayer money?

With Fidel Castro stepping down and his brother, Raul, officially assuming the reigns of power in Cuba it is important that we look at two factors that will influence the immediate future of the island. The primary factor is Raul Castro himself and the other is the United States. Raul has long been an enigma to many Cuba watchers.

The point is that we cannot go it alone in this world and need advice and other positive individuals to model. We also have a tremendous responsibility to model proper behavior to younger folks behind us.

I didn't doubt my feelings about a war in Iraq in March 2003. I took part in a protest and a march and advocated for loud complaints and urgent calls for it to stop before it started.

I suspect most of you reading this have little sympathy for anyone who hurts a child. If so, then you’re going to really get mad because I’m about to show you that’s exactly what a local city government is doing.

We’d be better off if cars ran on milk, which costs $2.59 a gallon. Milk wouldn’t foul the air, farmers would prosper, and the Middle East wouldn’t be calling the shots. I don’t fill up much anymore because it costs almost as much as what I paid for my first car. Bought a 1940 Plymouth Road King for $200 back in 1951.

A paradox comes into sharp relief each election year around this time: Americans in general look down on Congress, but tend to like their own representatives. Most years, in fact, some 98 percent of incumbents running again get re-elected. So why is it that we like the people who inhabit the institution when they're back home in the district, but have little patience for them when they're doing what we elected them to

Four years ago, Republican Mitch Daniels was coursing through Indiana in RV1 with a distinctly articulated vision and a roadmap that vowed a Hoosier “comeback.” Whether you like the governor or loathe him, there is no denying that he put forth a plan that has generated great controversy and considerable action.

Ahhh, it’s spring! The weather is warming; the trees are blooming; and our minds turn inevitably toward taxes. In addition to filing our 1040’s in time for April 15th, the average worker (over 25 years old) has already lost an additional $2,000 this year to the federal government’s payroll (FICA) taxes on income.

Last weekend my wife, Diane, and I were out in our yard cleaning up some of the brush left over from all the ice and wind storms this winter. I kept telling Diane that it was going to pour down raining any second, but she stubbornly insisted on believing her own eyes, rather than me and weather.com.

“I was privileged to observe a thousand acts of courage, and compassion and love. It is a great honor of my life.”