This week two stories have dominating the news cycle.  First, the Democratic Party’s strategy to vilify conservatives and strengthen its hold on the women’s vote now includes the now up-for-renewal Violence Against Women Act.  Second, this week federal officials issued permits to the Arapaho Indian Nation to kill two American Bald Eagles for religious ceremonial reasons, reversing over 30 years of administrative rulings against killing of the formerly endangered raptor.

“I don’t know what’s in Rush Limbaugh’s heart, so I’m not going to comment on the sincerity of his apology,” said President Obama in a White House press conference regarding the conservative radio talk-show host’s mea culpa for lambasting a Georgetown University coed –who told Congress that her need for contraception trumped the Catholic Church’s First Amendment protections. “What I can comment on is the fact that … all decent folks can agree that the remarks that were made [by Limbaugh] don’t have any place in the public discourse,” said Obama.

Despite the best efforts of Progressives, the United States Constitution keeps rearing its ugly head. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg declared Maryland’s draconian handgun permitting process unconstitutional. Under Maryland law, a “permit to carry” requires the applicant to prove he or she has “good and substantial reason” for carrying said firearm and that its possession is “necessary as a reasonable precaution against apprehended danger.” Needless to say, the law’s final arbiter of “necessary,” “reasonable” and the all-important “apprehended danger” falls to the Secretary of State Police Handgun Permit Review Board.

*also see Part I: Leap of Faith 

I am decidedly persuaded that truth matters. I am decidedly convinced that a property of truth is that it adheres fully only to true things, which is to say that truth does not adhere to things that are false. The more truth we know, the more truth we are prepared to receive. The more true things we perceive, the more likely it is that we are alert to the presence of error in our judgment.