On February 22, 1732 (February 11, 1731 under the old calendar), the man who would become the greatest American of all-time was born.  That man was George Washington.  In his life, he became the man who held our ragtag army together against the British and eventually would lead them to victory though he would lose more battles than won, he would help create a central government that would unite all the independent states into a nation with a national identity, and he would rise to the top to be that nation's first elected President under the new Constitution...

Thaddeus McCotter, former Republican presidential candidate and current Michigan congressman, recently warned about the GOP establishment maneuvering the 2012 presidential campaign toward a brokered convention in which party insiders hand pick a “new face” nominee.

This is one of those bombshell stories with multiple facets that branch off into all manner of areas: gay rights, immigration & border control, potential abuse of power, sexual assault by a priest, and a mediagenic sheriff about to run for Congress.

Sacramento lawmakers spend inordinate amounts of time arguing about the budget, pensions, education, unions, water (and most everything else) without ever seeming to accomplish much. Budget problems lurch forward each year, zombie-like with no resolution. Unfunded pension liability, the elephant in the room that hardly anyone mentions, grows bigger each year. The infrastructure needs repair and the once-stellar California education is slipping badly. So what’s going on?