Star Parker: America's Time For Decision and Definition Are we going to continue in the direction of materialism and bureaucracy and share the fate of Europe? Or will we make the tough decisions to get back on the path of prosperity, the path of faith and individual freedom?

Jeff Jacoby: A Deep Breath For Free Speech The FDA's gruesome new labels are not designed to provide consumers with useful information about the hazards of smoking. After 45 years of mandatory Surgeon General's warnings, every non-comatose American knows perfectly well that cigarettes are a noxious health risk.

Michael Barone: Tea Partiers, Like Peaceniks, Upset Political Order It irritates members of both groups when I note the similarities of the tea party movement that swept the nation in the 2010 election and the peace movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Katie Kieffer: Follow the Playboy As children, we play “Follow the Leader.” As adults, we occasionally play “Follow the Playboy” because history shows us that imperfect men can lead.

Mike Adams: Anarchy at UK I wish George Orwell were alive today. He could have seen just how right he was on such a wide range of issues. If he were still with us, I would show him an email written by University of Kentucky (UK) President Eli Capilouto.

Ken Blackwell: Perry Can Win if Leadership Trumps Debates Gov. Rick Perry stated at the outset of his presidential campaign that he is running for president based on his principles and leadership accomplishments, not his oratorical skills. Media focus on his debate missteps deliberately ignores Perry’s record and charisma.

Ken Blackwell: Open Mic, Closed Minds The whole world was watching, and listening. The leaders of the G20 nations gathered in Cannes, France, for another of those endless schmooze fests we now call summits, Presidents Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy were caught on tape telling us what they really think of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

John Ransom: Obama's Newest Excuse: Lazy Americans In the stopover in Hawaii, in anticipation of speechifying to foreigners, the President of the United States revised slightly his grand apology speech on behalf of all of us Ugly Americans who are responsible for the world’s ills. We're not just ugly, we're lazy too.

Lurita Doan: Obama's Lilliputian Legacy Obama is a national embarrassment and each day proves himself even more incapable of honestly confronting the nation’s urgent issues. Just days ago, Americans were once again left gob-smacked as Obama beat the drums for the SAVE awards, his signature effort to cut the $1.4 trillion annual deficit. This Obama initiative hopes to demonstrate the president’s commitment to fiscal sanity by cutting wasteful spending.

Bruce Bialosky: The Left's Master Scheme for Personal Riches The question is not only if it’s worth it, but whether the left has, in effect, established a system that not only indoctrinates young Americans, but soaks them financially as well – and, incidentally, provides the ordained an exceedingly opulent lifestyle.

Mike Shedlock: What's Propping Up Stock Market? TrimTabs President & CEO Charles Biderman discusses how global financial markets are suffering from years of borrowing to pay entitlements to citizens, stock buybacks by corporations.

Jeff Carter: Support American Censorship Day Artists should get paid for things they produce-but the two bills pending before both houses of Congress are the wrong way to go about it.

Nathan Slaughter: Look to Energy for Income Stocks Energy is in one of the biggest bull markets we've ever seen. But unlike some other historic bull markets, such as the high-flying "New Economy" of the late 1990s, fundamentals are driving prices this time -- not delusions.

Kyle Olson: Teachers Union Leader's Speech Laced with Potty Talk I thought we taught children not to mock or make fun of others. Apparently the teachers are exempt from such lessons.

Political Calculations: A Look at the Tools Political Calculations Gives You What makes Political Calculations unique in the world of blogs is the majority of our posts are focused on answering questions for which we don't already know the answers. We then do our best to answer those questions using all the problem solving skills we've gained over the years. Along the way, we create tools to help answer them and what's more, we post them here so you can see how we got to the answers we found.

Dan Holler: Not Much Left to Cut Just over a year ago, conservatives around the country rejected President Obama’s big-government agenda. Prior to the election, House Republicans pledged to “roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels.” Unfortunately, President Obama and his big-government allies did not share that goal, making real spending cuts hard to enact.

John Browne: Fiat Money Coming to an End Analysts fail to account for why gold is a hedge against inflation: it is ultimately an insurance policy against runaway currency collapse. In other words, it's intended as a longer-term, wealth-preserving purchase.