NEW YORK -- It is bracing, not to mention annoying, laughable and obnoxious, to hear a White House press secretary lectured by a Russian journalist about the parameters of free expression American-style.

This past week, the House conducted memorial services for those murdered and injured in the Arizona shootings last weekend. The House of Representatives also passed resolutions and conducted general speeches concerning this horrific act of violence.

While the RNC met in Washington Friday to determine who would be its next leader and the RPOF convenes this weekend in Orlando to determine who will replace outgoing chairman Sen. John Thrasher of Jacksonville, former Gov. Jeb Bush kicked off the Hispanic Action Network to help the GOP reach out to those voters.

Want a laugh? A couple of legislators are trying to tell us if we want better government, we have to keep them in office longer.

More good policies? More of them.

The day that President Obama departed for Arizona to address the nation on the Tucson massacre, Washington was abuzz.

Property tax breaks, unemployment compensation, corporate incentives and a revenue cap proposal favored by the Senate president will be among a handful of high-priority items to be addressed by the House Finance and Taxation Committee this session, its chairman said Thursday.

A joint statement by Deborah Cox-Roush and Dave Bitner -- candidates for state Republican Party chairman -- suggests that the two have more in common than their professed distaste for political mudslinging.

Despite a drop in foreclosures at the end of the year, Florida was one of the most active states in 2010 for defaulting home loans, with the second-highest number of foreclosed homes and third-highest rate of foreclosure.

Without presenting any attributed evidence or even relevant anecdotes to support their claims, at least two major Florida newspapers have designated Deborah Cox-Roush and Dave Bitner as favorites in the contest for state Republican Party chairman.