As the bishops made clear, the severe Ryan Budget contradicts the most basic premises of Catholic social teaching. The philosophy behind the draconian cuts instead comes directly from Paul Ryan’s high school sweetheart, Ayn Rand, the author of Atlas Shrugged.

This election just got an upgrade. Ryan will force Romney to talk about the budget, and therefore, it will force the president to talk about the budget.

The Romney-Ryan ticket’s biggest challenge to winning Ohio will be convincing its citizens (who are already concerned about economic future) that their plan for reform will be more successful than Obama’s.

But even more importantly, the selection of Ryan sends the message that Romney will push for policies that he believes are best for this country, even if they may be politically unpopular.

Clearly this isn’t about protecting regular people, this is the state preemptively demobilizing any movement for racial or economic justice, maintaining the permanent underclass of poor and under and unemployed people of color and dividing the working class. Like every war, the "War on Drugs" is really a "War on People."

Of course President Obama could not have accomplished everything at the beginning of his term, but rolling out these orders and policies just months before the election makes me extremely skeptical of Obama’s intentions.

Legalization may or may not be the answer, but one has to admire President’s Mujica’s courage. Perhaps this will break the taboo on alternatives to prohibition and open up an intelligent debate.

Certainly an organization representing a global unified body would have the most legitimacy. The UN was formed with the core principles of peace and security in mind, but a lack of unity of member states only allows magnifies the problems on the ground.

These “smart” sanctions have, in fact, done much to starve the very people they were supposed to protect.

Think about the outcry for Romney to release his tax returns (the Obama campaign’s widest, and most effective avenue of attack) seen in a totally different light. Romney might still have something to hide, but looking at his record, it seems he just doesn’t like talking about himself.

Obama’s success in the Sunshine State (and, for that matter, throughout the country) may hinge on his ability to convince voters, young and old, that his Affordable Care Act will genuinely benefit them by lowering insurance costs and expanding eligibility for treatment, without bankrupting the government.

Just this week, the Tax Justice Network published a report claiming that between $21 and $31 trillion of global financial wealth is “invested” in tax-free havens. That’s more than the GDP of the United States, China, and Japan combined.