Opinion

INDIANAPOLIS — Liars have had a rough time of it lately.

While most of us have been focused on other matters being decided by our ultra-conservative, pro-business Supreme Court, my bacon-loving friends have been anxiously awaiting the Court’s decision on the National Pork Producers Council v. Ross case.

To the Editor:

Indianapolis Business Journal

Every October, when a new nine-month U.S. Supreme Court term begins, important and interesting cases await the nine justices.

So what do you think about …? Before you even finish the question, expect to hear a litany on everything that is wrong with our country and who is to blame. Granted, there are a lot of things going wrong these days as we geezers are well aware. It just isn’t the 1950s anymore.

In 1972, the Clean Water Act became law. Its goal: to make all U.S. waterways fishable and swimmable within a decade. Yet a report by the Environmental Integrity Project early this year found Indiana, 50 years later, remains far from fulfilling that objective.

The United States and much of the world appears to be headed for an economic downturn. For those of us in Indiana, evidence about the depth of a downturn is mixed. We have a high share of manufacturing, which will be heavily affected by higher interest rates. This makes it more likely our recession will be worse than the national average. However, manufacturing employment is now a smaller and less important part of the state and national economies than it was in 1981 when we last went through this type of downturn.

Ask any reporter or public watchdog dealing with federal agencies and they will tell you the Freedom of Information Act is an invaluable tool to ensure government transparency and accountability. They can also share stories of dealing with mind-numbing bureaucracy and years-long waits.

To the Editor: