Frankly, I was nothing short of stunned by your lack of understanding of the policies and approaches to dyslexia in our public schools.

It is virtually inconceivable that Boies has taken the time to understand the common, questionable methodology of the small

What followed was the Democratic wave of 2006, which handed Congress to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, followed by a second

The question of how and whether public school teachers should be able to obtain job security, or phrased another way, how easy it should be to fire them, is not new.

This week I was invited to join a media conference call immediately following the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals' favorable ruling in Virginia's Bostic v. Schaefer marriage-equality case.

Since the publication of Jo Becker's controversial Forcing the Spring, it's fair to say that the Prop 8 legal team have been on the defensive. A lot of us have wondered what they thought about the book, so last week I interviewed Ted Olson, a lifelong Republican and former solicitor general under George W. Bush, and put these and other questions to him.

As for so many of my friends who were present to listen to the president, all the aspects of my life seemed to have come together to help produce positive change. The education, advocacy, community service and political lobbying and maneuvering all have that one goal: to create a better world for the next generation.

It's hard enough to overcome stigma and discrimination, particularly for minority populations, but when the underlying economic trends are tearing the country apart, the challenge becomes even more difficult.

Some people, and organizations, simply can't help themselves.

In his most recent bestseller, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Malcolm Gladwell encourages a different understanding of adversity -- to recognize disadvantages as genuine advantages.