This week, the House passed the Congressional Gold Medal Enhancement Act which provides that no more than two Congressional Gold Medals be presented during any calendar year in order to preserve the prestige of Congress’ highest honor.

Please Pass the Rice

As the Inauguration Week wrapped up, there was hope that both parties could put the bitter election behind and focus on the important tasks in the new term. However, that hope was short lived as it became apparent that Senate Democrats had resorted to petty politics and delayed the nomination of Condoleezza Rice in order to assail the president’s policy on Iraq (again). Although the Senate Foreign Relations Committee easily recommended confirmation of Dr. Rice in a 16-2 vote, Senate Democrats opted for debate in order to attack the president rather than discuss the qualities of Ms. Rice.

It is not the first time this has happened, but it is ironic that as the Senate Democrats decry the President’s Iraqi policy, the people of Iraq are only a few days away from their first free elections since Saddam’s rule. Much of the verbal attack directed at the president by Senate Dems was policy critiques that had already been discussed in more appropriate arenas. The United States and our allies are on the verge of accomplishing a chief goal in Iraq and more importantly, the Iraqi people are about to make an important step towards establishing a free Iraq. It is a sad statement that as the world marks this important milestone, members of our own Congress are looking into the past in an effort to strum up political strife for their own benefit.

Propaganda-pushing Prof

Last month, college students across the U.S. finished out the year with term papers before heading home for a well deserved winter break. This was the case for one California student who turned in his final term paper only to find out later he’d been flunked for writing a pro-American essay. Ahmed Al Qlooshi, the student who wrote the thought-provoking essay, is a Muslim studying at Foothill College on a student visa. Due to Professor Woolcock’s failing grade, Ahmed fears he has not fulfilled the required amount of credits necessary to maintain a student visa and could be deported. What’s more, the liberal-spewing professor was so repulsed by Ahmed’s pro-American views that he told Ahmed to seek psychotherapy and passed on the number of a doctor. Mr. Woolcock took it one step further by promising to monitor Ahmed’s psychotherapy progress!

Ahmed is now afraid that unless he complies with his liberal prof’s demands, he will be thrown out of the country all because he expressed patriotic beliefs. Does something seem awry to you? We are going to throw an Islamic student out of our borders because he’s pro-American! I think it’s fair to say that, like Ahmed, most red-blooded patriots would disagree with Mr. Woolcock’s final exam that asked students to explain why, “the constitution of the United States was not ‘ordained and established’ by ‘the people’ as we have so often been led to believe” but rather, “it was written by a small educated and wealthy elite in America who are representative of powerful economic and political interests.” Mr. Woolcock’s blatant and abusive propaganda pushing has no place in the classroom and is certainly not what is meant by the term “higher-education.” As Ahmed so clearly stated in his well-written but flunked essay, it is directly “because of the American constitution and the American ‘elites’” that Mr. Woolcock is permitted to share such views.

Here’s Johnny!

“Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president. And anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president.” – Johnny Carson