By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
President Obama's election was a hopeful moment for civil rights advocates who thought he would usher in a golden era of government openness and respect for civil liberties, but some of the president's most enthusiastic supporters have expressed the harshest condemnation this week as revelations of multiple controversies involving intrusive government overreach have exploded onto the national stage.
Gun-safety speakers scheduled to address a couple of student bodies at Texas elementary schools were abruptly told not to come, shortly after administrators learned they were affiliated with the National Rifle Association.
Language matters. Respect for others — common decency, we used to say — requires that we think of how our words might affect those within earshot. Will the words we use offend religious believers, shock the elderly, confuse younger children or be a bad example to teens yearning to be adult? If so, then we need to choose other words.
The dramatic events in Boston last week have given rise to what President Obama would call a "teachable moment." The question is, will we "connect the dots"? More to the point, will our leaders, the media and the rest of us have the intellectual integrity and courage to learn the evident lessons?
The 26-year-old suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings who was killed Friday was kicked out of a Cambridge, Mass., mosque prayer service three months ago for an outburst against the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., two worshippers told the Los Angeles Times Saturday.
Just before the March on Washington in 1963, President John F. Kennedy summoned six top civil rights leaders to the White House to talk about his fears that civil rights legislation he was moving through Congress might be undermined if the march turned violent.
Of all the images of Superstorm Sandy's destruction, the ones that linger for Florence Catania are the torn, stained pictures that hung on her walls.
Usually, I like to use this space to start a conversation about the political and social issues facing our country as a whole. I try to focus on issues that either explicitly or implicitly affect everyone.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in lifting a ban on women serving in combat, said women have become integral to the military's success and have shown they are willing to fight and die alongside their male counterparts.
It can store the information from a million CDs in a space no bigger than your little finger, and could keep it safe for centuries.
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told Cesar Chavez once, 'We are brothers in the fight for equality,'" Mr. Obama said.
