Osama bin Laden is gone. The war in Iraq is over. Afghanistan is coming to a close.

Whether you agree or disagree with privatization, two things are obvious. First, taxpayers need to be asking more and better questions before handing over control of critical public assets like a highway, an airport, or a parking meter concession. And second, Uncle Sam is being played for a sucker.

When we engage in the critical decisions about our nation's future budgets, I want progressive voices at the table to argue that we must protect the most vulnerable in our society and demand fairness in budget cuts.

I have always been critical and skeptical of fast-tracking. It is a take-it-or-leave-it approach to trade agreements which really deals members of Congress and their concerns out of the picture.

If you have learned how to disagree without being disagreeable, then you have discovered the secrete of getting along - whether it be business, family relations, or life itself.

Learning how to get in tune with your field of energy and understand how to create your energy, expand that energy, and move that energy through your body. Coming back to your center, and approaching life from that center-to-line place... That to me gave me strength and understanding and hopefully wisdom to solve life's problems and challenges.

For all my years in public life, I have believed that America must sail toward the shores of liberty and justice for all. There is no end to that journey, only the next great voyage. We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make.

The message is that I was reminding myself and informing others of the fact that God has always been good to me. No matter what you're going through, God is always with us. Life is a journey.