So, political courage does exist in Washington. After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) announced that he would be joining 13 other Republican Senators in a possible filibuster to prevent gun legislation from even making it to the floor for a discussion, yesterday afternoon six Republican Senators announced that they would not support their colleagues. Senators John McCain (AZ), Lindsey Graham (SC), Mark Kirk (Ill),...

Scandal or not? You decide. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the front page of Saturday’s (Apr. 6) Wall Street Journal to learn that that noble organization, The Girl Scouts of America – an organization known for building “girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place,” is under siege from two states that collect taxes...

Abraham Lincoln once said, “I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” Lincoln never encountered the remarkable certitude of former Vice-President Dick Cheney. In a new Showtime documentary by filmmaker R.J. Cutler, aptly titled The World According to Dick Cheney, the former vice-president confidently riffs about everything from fly fishing to “enhanced interrogation...

This image has not been photo-shopped. The photo accurately shows Denise Tarrant holding her 2-week-old grandson, as she pays for dinner at All Around Pizza in Virginia Beach, Virginia last month (Feb. 18). Why is this grandmother openly “packing heat” in a restaurant? Well, she’s taking advantage of a 15 percent discount offered to any customer who walks through Jay Laze’s pizza establishment “carrying...

What’s wrong with this picture? When Kentucky Senator Rand Paul finished his almost 13-hour filibuster on whether the government has the legal authority to order drone strikes against Americans living in the U.S., I rolled my eyes believing there are more than a few other priorities ahead of this issue. Last Wednesday (Mar. 6), during his talk-fest, Paul took to...

What former Republican representative Mickey Edwards proposes in his new book, The Parties versus the People, can be seen by both Democrat and Republican parties as nothing short of heresy for a political system that has benefited them so much in the past. Both parties tightly control the process from primary through general elections, right into congressional committees. “We cannot go...

After serving 16 years as a Republican Congressman from Oklahoma, Mickey Edwards saw, firsthand, how the political system became dysfunctional. In a book that I believe should be required reading for anyone who wants a clear explanation, as well as solutions, to the gridlock facing Washington, Edwards latest book, The Parties versus The People – How to Turn Republicans and Democratsinto Americans makes...

One day a fool and a statesman were featured on a television broadcast. While the fool had been featured on many, manybroadcasts over the last year, the statesman – ever mindful of thinking before speaking – chose to stay out of the spotlight. The fool carefully primed the media pump by telling many,many people – especially Fox News’s FOX & Friends – about a...

“Heresy: any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs, customs, etc.” “[James] Madison understood that in the end, democracy is not about policy but about process – it’s about how we select our leaders, how we deliberate, how we decide – and it is the process itself that has broken down.” I’m going to tell you about...

My opponent and I slowly walked to our lecterns. While I was confident of my argument, I was nervous for the simple reason that this was my first debate and I had absolutely no idea how my audience would react, much less what kinds of questions would come in the second part. The topic was “Television in the Classroom” and...