Newsmax RSS FeedFri, 24 May 2013 11:05:18 EDTIf you were to suddenly appear this weekend at the numerous barbecues or pool parties, without any knowledge of our nation's history, it might be hard to understand the real meaning of Memorial Day. Is it a day to sell cars, clothes, and mattresses?Fri, 10 May 2013 10:49:16 EDTThis week, my mother called around 10 one morning to chat for a minute and catch up. During our conversation, I realized that she was still in her bed, waiting for an aide to help into a wheelchair.Thu, 02 May 2013 09:33:30 EDTHumans have long reached toward heaven. I don't know whether this desire represents an attempt to get away from the ground, an attempt to associate with God or an attempt to peer over the balcony and look at all the little people below.Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:40:11 EDTI heard the news of the Boston Marathon bombings just a few minutes after I had undergone a biopsy. An annual OB exam had revealed an enlarged uterus. The scan that followed a few hours later showed a polyp, and a biopsy was performed the same day.Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:52:44 EDTMy sister Kathy texted the news of the Boston Marathon bombing not long after it happened. We've run (walked) four marathons together, and each of us has completed five. We understand the months of training involved in running a marathon (26.2 miles from start to finish).Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:59:20 EDTWhen Margaret Thatcher was elected England's first female prime minister in the spring of 1979, I was 12 years old and my father had been a congressman for less than four months. To me, it seemed as if it would be only a short while until my own country followed suit.Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:19:39 EDTIt's confession time — I'm in love. It's been a long time in coming and snuck up on me a bit, and it seems to be growing even deeper, so I've decided that it must be more than puppy love. It's Bunny love.Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:26:05 EDTJust last week, I was commiserating with other moms of middle-school teenage girls about the lack of appealing clothing available to teenage girls and the appalling state of girl teenage fashion today. Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:59:45 EDTImagine you are a 16-year-old girl, waking up in another person's house, unclothed and unable to find your underwear or earrings after a night of drinking.Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:48:18 EDTAs a corporate budgeter, I learned decades ago that only a few people can look at an organization's money, corporation's money, or someone else's money and spend it as if it were their own money, i.e., very deliberately, based on the priorities and values of the organization. Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:08:34 EDTThe recent political entanglements over the budget have focused more on political maneuverings and who is right about what statement, rather than what the policies mean to average, everyday Americans. Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:19:06 EDT"First you win the argument — then you win the vote," is the now well-known quote from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. President Ronald Reagan was the last Republican president who understood and used that strategy.Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:28:31 EDTThe finger pointing and the blame game of Washington gets old, but a messy representative democracy is better than an efficient dictatorship. This past weekend, I toured Washington with my 5th-grade son, Robert, his classmates, and their mothers.Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:48:01 EDTStories are important not as simple entertainment, but also as education and indoctrination. What we believe happened in the past and the stories we highlight shade our present and influence our future.Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:47:18 EDTIt seems the Republican Party news is getting worse. This past fall, we suffered the defeat of our nominee for president. Based on the economic conditions, Republicans should have won. Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:43:49 EDTThe New York Times mobile app sent me a breaking news update Wednesday morning: "U.S. Economy Unexpectedly Contracted in Fourth Quarter."Thu, 24 Jan 2013 11:33:29 EDTFascinating. President Obama mentioned our Constitution in the first paragraph of his inaugural address, but in the same paragraph quoted from the Declaration of Independence.Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:00:14 EDTLast week, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed cited the need to use hard and soft politics in governing the city. "We are making hard decisions again and again that allow us to show compassion," the Democrat told a luncheon held by the Atlanta Press Club. Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:20:47 EDTMy undergraduate studies took place at Presbyterian College, a liberal arts school of about 1,000 students in Clinton, S.C. The town was so small that you had to leave it to find a McDonald's or go to a movie. Fri, 04 Jan 2013 11:57:12 EDTIt's the beginning of a new year and a great chance to start over — but how? Here are 10 ways to gain a fresh start in 2013.