By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
On a night when sports and politics went 1-on-1, name recognition scored few points with voters.
It's hard to not find someone who has some advice for the new franchise QB in D.C.
Heath Shuler knew what he had to say. It was the fall of 1994, and Washington Redskins coach Norv Turner was giving the touted rookie quarterback the chance to make his NFL debut against the defending Super Bowl-champion Dallas Cowboys.
As late-summer darkness blanketed Washington one night last month, the quarterback came to life. The familiar braids and right arm that hasn't unleashed a regular-season NFL pass towered 74 feet over Pennsylvania Avenue.
The crowd stood below a monumental eagle and the words "In God We Trust" at a gathering recently in the grand foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building to address a visceral but oft neglected issue on Capitol Hill: religious freedom.
The House voted Wednesday to repeal all of President Obama's health care law, acting where the Supreme Court declined to, in a vote that both sides said is doomed to fail in the Senate but was designed to lay the groundwork for voters to have a final say in November's elections.
The Redskins surprised no one by taking Robert Griffin III with the second overall pick. But selecting another quarterback in the fourth round startled some, including the pick himself.
House Republicans on the Budget Committee on Wednesday rejected an effort to impose the "Buffett rule" tax on Americans, arguing it would stifle investment without doing any work to lower the deficit.
The hardest piece of the puzzle to find in pro football is a championship-caliber quarterback. The Redskins have been looking for one for far too long – nearly 20 years, almost a generation (if not an eternity). Measured another way, it's eight head coaches (counting the short-lived Terry Robiskie), three general managers and an increasing number of conspicuously empty seats.
The Washington Redskins, in desperate need of a franchise quarterback, have made the boldest of moves to acquire one.
Mike and Laura Park thought their credit record was spotless. The Texas couple wanted to take advantage of low interest rates, so they put their house on the market and talked to a lender about a mortgage on a bigger home in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs.
Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina said Thursday he won't seek a fourth term in office, saying he never intended to be career politician.
Pressure on the congressional debt-reduction supercommittee to "go big" is growing, as a bipartisan group of House members is urging the panel to find savings far beyond its $1.5 trillion goal.
The list is 20 names long. Way too long, really. Reading them might depress you or anger you or make you laugh, depending on your level of disenchantment.
It's just about every political nerd's dream.
Shuler said the pressure didn't get to him until games started, but fans did wonder why he wasn't in training camp on time.
'Hey I'm ready to go, let's go, I'm ready. Put me in a game, coach, I'm ready to play,' " Shuler said.
