Currently, 94 out of 100 of us pay the Social Security tax all year round.

As I listened, it occurred to me that interest in and affection for the animals that share the planet with us may be a more unifying force than any other.

We don't defeat evil by becoming evil.

A salute from this corner to President Bush for saying he was willing to investigate raising or eliminating the cap on salaries subject to the Social Security tax.

The worst thing that can happen to us in an ideological struggle is to become what we are fighting.

The quality that defines us as Americans is the courage to respond to being hit. The courage to root out and destroy the killers. And, most importantly, the courage to hold on to our values and protect our hard-won freedoms while doing it.

For some reason, on that sparkling afternoon last week, I actually saw the coal that was passing by and it set me to thinking how important coal was to our everyday lives when I was a little boy.