In a recent debate, candidate for President Ron Paul claimed we should practice the "Golden Rule" in the Middle East. If we treat people like we want to be treated, Paul claims, then we'll be treated the same way in return.

How can a man as intelligent as Ron Paul appears to be, when it comes to economics, be so profoundly wrong -- so absurd, in his position, that one is almost brought to laughter?

My answer: religion. Religion is the toxic element of conservatism.

Obama has announced that he will deny a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that unions and GOP lawmakers alike said would be a boon for job creation as well as energy security.

Nearly fifty percent of Americans, in most polls, claim that they think Obama is doing an acceptable job as President. One wonders if these same people mind that gas prices will continue to rise, and American dependence on foreign oil will continue to grow. They probably do. But increasingly, it's becoming too much to expect most Americans to make basic cause-and-effect connections. 

Dear Dr. Hurd: I believe your equating Santorum with the Ayatollah is outrageous.

The Ayatollah’s beliefs v. Santorum:

Ayatollah: A man can have sex with animals such as sheep, cows, camels and so on. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, The Supreme Leader of Iran, the Shia Grand Ayatollah, 1979-89 said in his official statements: "A man can quench his sexual lusts with a child as young as a baby. However, he should not penetrate. Sodomizing the baby is halal (allowed by sharia). If the man penetrates and damages the child, then he should be responsible for her subsistence all her life. This girl, however, does not count as one of his four permanent wives. The man will not be eligible to marry the girl's sister. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven."

Also, according to Ayatollah Khomeini: "Young boys or girls in full sexual effervescence are kept from getting married before they reach the legal age of majority. This is against the intention of divine laws. Why should the marriage of pubescent girls and boys be forbidden because they are still minors, when they are allowed to listen to the radio and to sexually arousing music?" 

Increasingly, it seems likely that Mitt Romney will attain the Republican presidential nomination for 2012. He's a deeply flawed candidate. He has flip-flopped on issues more than any other candidate in modern times, and that's saying something. In the span of less than a decade, he has favored socialized medicine, a free market for medicine, Big Government, unhampered capitalism, abortion rights, gay marriage, anti gay-marriage amendments and anti-abortion laws. He favors high taxes, low taxes and the status quo, all at the same time. Reviewing his record makes one intellectually dizzy. But if Romney is deeply flawed, his opponents are profoundly flawed. Gingrich and Perry are opposing Romney based on arguments from the socialist left. Santorum is a religious fanatic who reportedly opposes the "pursuit of happiness." And Ron Paul, while refreshing as a fiscal hawk, is an even more extreme pacifist than Obama, who actually says the crazy fundamentalist mullahs in Iran should have a nuclear bomb.