Genesis tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

On Feb. 26, ABC Primetime presented a program entitled “What would you do?” The purpose of the program was to determine whether or not ordinary citizens would come to the aid of someone who was being verbally abused by another in public.

Five years have past since the beginning of the Iraq War and the only thing we know for sure is that we don’t know very much about how things are going to end. 

A reliable applause line in Barack Obama’s campaign speeches comes when he warns that change won’t happen overnight or easily. Nor will it come as a result of a single election. People will have to work at it. 

I frequently find myself in stressful situations. Often it’s because after I see the big picture, I get tied up in the small details. 

Terrorists burned pieces of my childhood during the early morning hours of March 16. 

There’s a scene in the 2004 movie “The Alamo” where Davy Crockett (played by Billy Bob Thornton), is on his knees with his hands tied behind his back, surrounded by General Santa Anna and about a zillion Mexican soldiers with bayonets pointed at him.

If it’s really true that “ignorance is bliss,” and I believe it is, then such ignorance will never come in handier than in these troubling days of economic uncertainty, the see-saw presidential campaign and overall global unrest. 

Anyone who attempts to express his or her views on subjects like gun control, creationism or abortion rights will find that the effort is akin to hitting a hornet’s nest with a stick.

On March 13 this paper published an editorial that attacked me as a “nativist,” a conclusion based entirely on a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center which is littered with obvious outright lies.

“I am not a racist”. 
Normally that statement follows a really smart person saying something really dumb. 

Geraldine Ferraro was right about one thing: She would not have been the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984 had she been named Gerard.

I knew I was in deep trouble at fifth-grade career fair when I eased into the parking lot and the Highway Patrol helicopter landed 50 feet from my truck. 

Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Manassas, is best known for continually pushing narrow pro-religion and anti-abortion legislation in Richmond, much to the annoyance of others in the General Assembly. 

In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States, in Brown vs. Board of Education, ruled against school segregation, finding “separate but equal” laws unconstitutional. In 2008, that is a popular decision —it is hard for this generation to understand how such laws were ever passed. 

While the Democrats never do things the easy way because life is too short to ever keep things simple, their current scenario for eventually arriving at a presidential nominee is breaking all records. 

One of the jobs my uncle used to have as senior warden at our church was to preside over vestry meetings. 

Fillets in one barrel, fish heads in another: 

I am beginning to believe that state lawmakers in Richmond see Virginia residents as rich uncles. 

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama vow to take their fight for the presidential nomination all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. 

That the economy is having major problems right now is not in question. Several trends — rising home foreclosures, falling home prices, rising gas prices, and falling … — have spiraled together to create major disruptions in our lives. 

I never knew Easter could be so dangerous. But Mr. No-No did. 

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors will vote this Tuesday to set an advertised tax rate for next year’s budget. WIll they give adequate funding to schools? 

CONCANNON FIRE

In 1921, Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, wrote “The most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.”

Thank goodness someone has finally answered that lingering question for our time: “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that only “an elected body can constitutionally impose taxes and fees,” striking down part of the compromise transportation funding bill passed last year. 

The Virginia Supreme Court building is located across the street from Capitol Square in Richmond. So when the high court neutered the General Assembly’s “landmark” transportation funding plan last week, the chief justice was in perfect position to heave a political hot potato across Ninth Street into the lap of House Speaker William Howell.

According to the U. S. Department of Justice, violent crime in the United Sates has been in a freefall since about 1994. 

As I prepare for the final week of the General Assembly session, I wanted to give you a brief update on our activities in Richmond.