I promised to empower the taxpayer - instead of a handful of big government union bosses.

Now I learned soon enough that among the three two don't trust the third one - the third one is the government. Both industry and unions feel the government is a talking organization and a spending organization.

My mother's sympathies were strongly with the Union. She knew that war was bound to come but so confident was she in the strength of the Federal Government that she devoutly believed that the struggle could not last longer than six months at the utmost.

President Bush once said that marriage is a sacred institution and should be reserved for the union of one man and one woman. If this is the case - and most Americans would agree with him on this - then I have to ask: Why is the government at all involved in marrying people?

The time has come to tell the truth about the corruption of the government employee unions in this country.

Fishing provides that connection with the whole living world. It gives you the opportunity of being totally immersed turning back into yourself in a good way. A form of meditation some form of communion with levels of yourself that are deeper than the ordinary self.

Ministry is the least important thing. You cannot not minister if you are in communion with God and live in community.

Jesus didn't say 'Blessed are those who care for the poor.' He said 'Blessed are we where we are poor where we are broken.' It is there that God loves us deeply and pulls us into deeper communion with himself.

If the euro zone doesn't come up with a comprehensive vision of its own future you'll have a whole range of nationalist xenophobic and extreme movements increasing across the European Union. And frankly questions about the British debate on EU membership will just be a small sideshow compared to the rise of political populism.

After the Berlin Wall came down I visited that city and I will never forget it. The abandoned checkpoints. The sense of excitement about the future. The knowledge that a great continent was coming together. Healing those wounds of our history is the central story of the European Union.