It could be argued that the single most important act of the founders was to provide a sound monetary policy. Money must reflect real value. When a nation's money has no value, and it becomes fiat money, the people lose power; those who control the money control the government and, eventually, all of the country's institutions, including the media.

Senate President Emil Jones began a meeting of his Democratic members not long ago with a playful announcement that despite what everyone had read and heard, he had no intention of retiring from office.

He was joking, of course, but while the joke may have temporarily relieved a bit of tension in the room, there's still plenty of infighting ahead.

Now that all the hoopla is over in St. Paul, let us examine just exactly what it is that Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin are advocating for America.

"Branding Christianity" by John Whitehead is confusing. (See River Cities' Reader Issue 699, August 27-September 2, 2008.)

In the first place, Rick Warren is not "America's pastor." There is no "America's pastor" any more than there is "America's rabbi" or "America's imam." If we could get that straight, perhaps our presidential candidates would not feel like they have to "pander" to us. Rick Warren is a nice guy, but he is not "the future of Christianity in America." We have thousands of spiritual leaders in our country. A few of them are brilliant and/or charismatic. Most of them are simply faithful and hard-working. We should listen to them, study our own sacred texts, and, yes, "speak truth to power."