It was only a year ago that President Obama was inaugurated in what some commentators hailed as a sweeping endorsement of socialism: more European-style central economic planning, federal regulation, and entitlement programs. But it would seem that the pundits misread the Democrats' victories in 2006 and 2008.  America didn't want more, it wanted less.

At Sarah Palin's Tea Party Convention speech in Nashville, she was careful to say that the Tea Party movement has no leader and should remain that way- a leaderless, spontaneous, grassroots movement of the people. But without an official organization, platform, or leader, the Tea Party movement finds itself struggling to find an identity, a definition, and a common purpose.

You may not know it, but even after George Washington and the Continental Congress had raised an army to fight against the English Crown, the American Colonists weren't exactly sure what they were fighting for.

In a state that is no stranger to earthquakes, Californians of all Americans understand the kind of damage and horror these natural disasters can cause. In 1952, an earthquake in Kern County California wrought a path of destruction that cost Californians $60 million (I know- it's practically a rounding error these days the way politicians spend money) and took twelve lives.