I have increasingly over the years felt that religion today does our civilization more harm than good.

As I've gotten older I've gotten more liberal and my father is increasingly conservative. It's so shocking to me because I always thought we had the same politics. The day I realized we voted for different presidents I practically fell out of my chair.

As women have played an increasingly important role in politics there is no question that they've brought a different perspective focusing attention on a broader set of issues and building alliances with other women.

I started getting these attacks in 2009 just as my music career was taking off. I'd be doing photo-shoots and started to feel like I was having heart attacks. Increasingly I found it difficult to step outside my flat. Things started to get better after I saw a therapist who told me I needed to make peace with my panic attacks.

In movies there are some things the French do that Americans are increasingly incapable of doing. One is honoring the complexities of youth. It's a quiet difficult undertaking requiring subtlety in a filmmaker and perception and patience from us.

Money has transformed every watchdog every independent authority. Medical doctors are increasingly gulled by the lobbying of pharmaceutical salesmen.

Our libraries are valuable centers of education learning and enrichment for people of all ages. In recent years libraries have taken on an increasingly important role. today's libraries are about much more than books.

The country remains dependent on oil. But as we are now learning oil is becoming increasingly scarce.

So in my freshman year at the University of Alabama learning the literature on evolution what was known about it biologically just gradually transformed me by taking me out of literalism and increasingly into a more secular scientific view of the world.

Presidential leadership needn't always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.