Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center lost in the heat of the debate has been a basic question: Should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion?

The three great ends which a statesman ought to propose to himself in the government of a nation are one Security to possessors two facility to acquirers and three hope to all.

Government proposes bureaucracy disposes. And the bureaucracy must dispose of government proposals by dumping them on us.

Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way but must accept his lot calmly even if they roll a few stones upon it.

My passion for gardening may strike some as selfish or merely an act of resignation in the face of overwhelming problems that beset the world. It is neither. I have found that each garden is just what Voltaire proposed in Candide: a microcosm of a just and beautiful society.

President Obama has offered a plan with 4 trillion dollars in debt reduction over a decade with two and a half dollars of spending reductions for every one dollar of revenue increases and tight controls on future spending. It's the kind of balanced approach proposed by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission.

It is because I believe that it is in the power of such nations to lead the world back into the paths of peace that I propose to devote myself to explaining what in my opinion can and should be done to banish the fear of war that hangs so heavily over the world.

Should doubt knock at your doorway just say to those skeptical disturbing rebellious thoughts I propose to stay with my faith with the faith of my people.

Is the proposed operation likely to succeed? What might the consequences of failure? Is it in the realm of practicability in terms of material and supplies?

I think I am done with Wikipedia for the time being. But I have a secret hope. Someone recently proposed a Wikimorgue - a bin of broken dreams where all rejects could still be read as long as they weren't libelous or otherwise illegal.