They Wouldn’t Act This Way If Ted Cruz Weren’t Putting Points on the Board
By Erick Erickson
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board is upset with Ted Cruz for leading a filibuster against gun control.

John McCain tweeted out the Journal’s editorial in a moment of wackiness.

Bill Richardson, the scandal plagued former Governor of New Mexico, says Ted Cruz can’t be called hispanic despite being hispanic because Ted Cruz isn’t a race baiter like Richardson.

And now Harry Reid calls Ted Cruz a schoolyard bully for Cruz objecting to Harry Reid trying to expand government in a bipartisan fashion.

38% Favor Their State Blocking Federal Anti-Gun Laws
Rasmussen Reports
Kansas is the latest state to challenge the constitutionality of federal anti-gun laws. Voters are closely divided over whether states or the feds should be most responsible for setting gun laws and over whether states should be able to overrule federal laws they disagree with.

Hyper-sexualized, asexual America
By John Hayward
The FDA wants 15-year-old girls to get morning-after birth-control drugs over the counter, without the knowledge or consent of either parents or doctors. President Obama says he approves of this decision. But birth-control activists say it doesn’t go far enough. They want the requirement for teenage purchasers to show photo ID dropped, and they’d really like to see 11-year-old girls getting these pills.

Health Care Law -55% View Health Care Law Unfavorably
Rasmussen Reports
President Obama’s health care law is more unpopular than it has been for months.

Benghazi Whistle-Blowers Testify
By Gary L. Bauer
Three State Department whistle-blowers testified under oath today before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about their knowledge of the Benghazi attacks on September 11, 2012. They were emotional, breaking down on several occasions. They witnessed a gross wrong, had friends die and watched a cover-up unfold from the inside.

Benghazi’s Back To Bite “O”
By Gary L. Bauer
The Benghazi scandal is back! Sunday CBS News used the word “cover-up” for the first time in its reporting on the scandal.

The Weekly Standard published an exchange of emails detailing the “heavy substantive revisions made to the CIA’s talking points,” stripping out all references to Al Qaeda, jihadists, Islamic extremists and terrorism. As more of this information is released, it is becoming virtually impossible to deny the obvious.

The Texas Senate approved something called the Tim Tebow Bill, and it’s a big deal
By Ben Rohrbach
The Texas Senate passed the Tim Tebow Bill to allow home-schooled student-athletes to play for their local public schools in the Lone Star State, according to multiple reports.

UIL: Disqualified Student Didn’t Make Religious Gesture
By Emily Ramshaw and Jay Root
The University Interscholastic League has determined that a student’s disqualification from a track meet had everything to do with the athlete’s disrespectful behavior and nothing to do with his religious beliefs, according to a statement released Monday.

Big Tobacco Wants GOP To Break Tax Pledge
By Michael Quinn Sullivan
For a party that uses the elephant as their mascot some Republicans have a decidedly short memory when it comes to promises, while others seem to be more like donkeys in disguise than real pachyderms. “Read my lips: no new taxes.” That’s what George H.W. Bush said in 1988. He lost re-election in large part after breaking that promise. Now, Big Tobacco hopes Texas Republicans will break the pledge to hurt competitors.

Obama on Senate gun vote: ‘A shameful day’
By Gregory Korte and Catalina Camia
An angry President Obama criticized a minority of the Senate on Wednesday for helping defeat a proposal to expand background checks on gun purchases.

Grassley Launches Effort to Prohibit Common Core Funding
By Shane Vander Hart
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is asking his colleagues to co-sign a letter asking the Senate Appropriations Committee that funds education to cut off all future funds that would allow the Obama administration to “cajole state’s” into participating in the Common Core State Standards and it’s assessments. This comes on the heels of the Republican National Committee voting in favor of a resolution critical of the Common Core State Standards.

We Win. They Lose. The 2nd Amendment is Safe.
By Erick Erickson
Today in the Senate, a funny thing happened. We fought on principle, and we won on principle. You know why?

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
By Erick Erickson
I remember it so clearly — a memory you can only remember so clearly when it is from sadness. You can’t let it go.

A homeschool legal case that deserves the nation’s attention
By Barrett Duke, Baptist Press
Scripture says, “Children are a gift from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Children are indeed a blessing from God. They also come with a God-given responsibility to raise them well. Everyone who takes that responsibility seriously understands that education is an important part of preparing their children for constructive adulthood.

Liberals, New York Times Misrepresent Wisconsin Shooting – National Gun Debate Relies on Flawed Narrative
By briansikma
Gun control advocates have seized upon a Brookfield, Wisconsin shooting last year as evidence validating their drive for more restrictive gun laws. The tragic story of the Azana Spa shooting on a Sunday last October has risen to a leading anecdote in the gun debate thanks to the efforts of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The New York Times in a Thursday story declared that, “Cases like the Wisconsin spa shooting are at the heart of the debate raging in Washington over whether to expand background checks for all gun purchases.”

Can You Imagine the Coverage If It Were Dogs?
By Erick Erickson
“Had Kermit Gosnell killed dogs, HLN would be giving it wall to wall coverage as they do all sorts of sensational trials. Nancy Grace would be in full outrage mode every night.”
Last night on twitter, Dave Weigel of Slate noted he was just hearing from twitterers about the gruesome trial of Kermit Gosnell. Those who care about the story owe a tremendous debt to Kirsten Powers taking to the pages of USA Today to write about it.

Rick Perry’s Failure to Lead Leads Texas Closer to Obamacare
By Erick Erickson
Late Thursday afternoon, the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives took the first step toward capitulation on the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. A few hours later, the amendment directing the Texas state healthcare bureaucracy to start preparing for the expansion was reconsidered and rescinded after a handful of conservatives scrambled to rescue the situation — but the fact that it passed at all is a wake-up call.

Tom Pauken Launches Campaign for Texas Governor
By Tom Pauken
Friends, please take a moment to read my letter to you about why I have decided to run for Governor and the common-sense solutions Texas needs for a strong future.

House Freshmen Launch Coordinated Strike on Budget
By Aman Batheja
As the Texas House prepares to debate the state budget Thursday, a group of Republican freshman members are planning to use the amendment process to try to drain funding from dozens of state programs.

Morton’s backing rescues reform bill
By Chuck Lindell
The proposed Michael Morton Act still has a long way to go before becoming law, but that the bill exists at all — and is awaiting a vote by the Texas Senate — is more than a little surprising.

The Family Values Meltdown Continues
By Gary L. Bauer
The GOP’s meltdown over marriage and the sanctity of life continues. Tuesday, former Republican Senator Larry Pressler announced his support for same-sex “marriage,” calling it the “new conservative position.” Tellingly, Pressler made his announcement on Al Gore’s Current TV.

Christians Side With Mammon. Mammon Sided with Barabbas.
By Erick Erickson
1,980 years ago tomorrow, the world put God on trial. When offered a choice, the world surrendered up God to be tortured, crucified, and killed and asked that Pontius Pilate free the criminal Barabbas instead.

The Silver Lining
By Erick Erickson
There are many, many people denying that gay marriage and religious freedom are incompatible. Many of those who deny it are, in fact, hostile to religious freedom to begin with or, when the fight becomes more clear, will be against the church.

Undoing the ‘Ginsberg’ rules at the Spring RNC meeting – Morton Blackwell’s charge to restore power to the grassroots
By Matthew Hurtt
There was plenty of coverage of the rules changes during the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa (where I was an at-large delegate from Virginia). Erick Erickson blogged about it. The Blaze picked it up. Daily Beast, too. NBC. HuffPo.

‘Gay Marriage’ and Religious Freedom Are Not Compatible
By Erick Erickson
The kids these days on the right are full of a great libertarian notion that “hey, let’s just get the government out of marriage.”

Energy 101: Modern Drilling Practices
By Steve Maley
Most folks’ mental image of oil well drilling owes more to Hollywood than to modern reality. Tinseltown taught us that “gushers” and fiery infernos are commonplace, just as the landscapes are dominated by ruthless swindlers, swaggering alpha males and heaving bosoms.

The Most Important Week in Human History
By Erick Erickson
There are many candidates for most important day and most important week in human history. This week we remember what is arguably the very top of the top of the list.

‘Was George Washington Any Different From Palestinian Terrorists…?’
By Danette Clark
“Was George Washington any different from Palestinian terrorists trying to protect their country?”

“Was Jefferson a hypocrite? Did he really think of a slave as a sub-human while writing the Declaration of Independence?”

These questions were written for use in the classroom by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, curriculum designers behind the creation of CSCOPE.

CSCOPE Curriculum Designer Employed by CCSSO Partner to Aid in Implementing Common Core
By Danette Clark
In response to a couple of inquiries and comments as to whether Grant Wiggins is actually a ‘designer’ of CSCOPE, I decided to look further into Wiggins’ involvement to be certain that I’m not misleading or providing false information.