General Discussion

Congratulations in advance to your daughter! Please thank your wife for her work as an educator. I owe most all the good in my life to Wayne State University in Detroit.

My sister was born in Bloomington. My father was in the US Navy, stationed at then-Crane Naval Ammunition Depot. Years later, we moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, just north of South Bend; and attended the now-closed Howe Military School in the early 1970s. My classmates included Sen. Birch Bayh's sons, one of whom became governor and a US senator. All the cadets respected their "fighting spirit." We also knew their mom and dad helped keep Teddy Kennedy alive after surviving a June 1964 plane crash that killed two people.

I especially remember one truly remarkable cadet -- outstanding academically, athletically, morally and spiritually. His brother, John Putz, was a US Marine who died a few weeks after arriving in Vietnam. "Friendly fire" from an "accidental discharge." His family was never the same. Both parents passed while their son was still in high school. While I lost touch with him, his brother, I understand, went on to a career in the US Army.

Truly great people from Indiana. I think the GOP does well because SCOTUS equated money with freedom of speech, giving the rich all the edge they really need with the game set up the way it is.