The past two weeks have been filled with twists and turns in regard to health care reform. Multiple reports and, finally, a committee vote have pushed President Obama’s health care reform tread another step forward.

On Oct. 7, the Congressional Budget Office, the non-partisan agency which provides analyses of legislation and budgets for Congress, released a memo containing their findings on the monetary aspects of the most prominent health care bill to date: the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009.

Marijuana legalization is a topic that is becoming ever more popular in recent months. A 2009 Gallup poll found that 52% of Americans now support regulating and taxing the sale of marijuana to adults in a manner similar to alcohol. A conservative estimate by Harvard Economist Jeffery Miron suggests that the US could save $14 billion a year by ending marijuana prohibition. Less conservative estimates put that figure at around $40 billion. Opponents of legalization say that any savings would be offset by the costs to public health in increased …

The way Virginia colleges operate could depend on the state’s future governor.

Both the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor have outlined plans – in other words, made political promises — to improve education and its affordability. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It’s quite possible every gubernatorial candidate has promised something similar, and the current crop of candidates, Democratic State Senator R. Creigh Deeds and Republican Robert “Bob” McDonnell, are no different.

Socialism. The word has a recent emerging presence in the vocabulary of media folk, likely because leading Republican figures like John McCain and Mike Huckabee flaunted this word in opposition of any idea remotely associated with President Barack Obama or his budget plans.

“The stimulus, the omnibus, the budget — it’s all one big down payment on a new American socialism,” House Minority Leader John Boehner said.