On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial written by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. In it, the Democrat from California said the controversial surveillance programs of the NSA and other agencies in the United States intelligence community are necessary in the fight against al-Qaeda and terrorist cells around the world.

From the op-ed:

House Resolution 368 would have taken away the privilege of any member of the House to call up the Senate Bill to open the government, thereby preventing any Democrat OR Republican from offering a resolution that would open the government. Instead, the right would be granted exclusively to the Republican leader or his designee.

WATCH: Rep. Chris Van Hollen Confronts the Chairman

http://youtu.be/0Jd-iaYLO1A

W.E. Messamor’s article, “Seven Creative Solutions to the National Debt Crisis,” proffered some salient ideas for reducing federal debt.

When our elected officials finally decide to perform the work they were elected to do, thereby ending the siege in which they hold the US citizens hostage to their partisan nonsense, there are many areas they can act in reducing the ever-growing federal debt.

The individual mandate, as associated by Obamacare, requires all U.S. citizens buy private health insurance or face a penalty, with some exemptions. Although Obama campaigned against the mandate during his 2008 campaign, the policy was ultimately added to the bill in order to ensure it passed.

Edward Snowden, who has sought asylum in Russia since leaking information about American intelligence gathering, received the Sam Adams Associates' Integrity Award this week.

The Sam Adams Award is given annually by a group of retired CIA officers and is named after Samuel A. Adams, a CIA whistleblower during the Vietnam War.

Rand Paul, like his father, has oft been labeled a "racist" by those, especially within their own party, that don't like their limited government positions. But whether you agree or disagree with either Paul, those who are close to the family strongly believe that nothing could be further from the truth; any perceived racism is a result of policy positions in support of more limited government, not to hurt minorities.

Amidst the government shutdown and intense partisanship surrounding it, 60% of Americans believe that it's time for a third major party.

The question presented by Gallup in a October 11, 2013 poll was:

Voting, one of the most sacredly held rights of the American people, is often denied to service members who are away from home at election time and it seems there are a number of reasons. Even though there have been some changes made to electoral law that certainly help, some election experts don't believe they go far enough to stop the disenfranchisement of military voters.

Have you ever heard two arguments on an issue such as gun violence, health care, climate change, or the national debt in which two opposing sides use similar data and yet come up with opposite conclusions? The answer is most likely yes since it happens all the time.

Lawmakers, political analysts, and pundits will often throw numbers out there and accuse their opponent of not understanding basic math. After all, how can two people come up with a different conclusion with all the scientific evidence that is widely accessible?

I’ve been digesting the coverage of the government shutdown and find the punditry a combination of incomplete and short-sighted.

Here’s a rough synopsis of most of what I’m reading: The GOP leadership is in a pickle because they cannot put a muzzle on the 80 tea party radicals in their caucus who play an uber-partisan game of chicken without fear of consequences because they come from safely gerrymandered districts.