It was a big week for Republicans. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), dubbed by some the "savior" of the GOP, continued his policy of pandering by joining the ubiquitous Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and the ubiquitous Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in their latest filibuster, aimed at allowing the next mass murderer to escape background checks before killing more kids.

I have been blessed to have spent quality time in Israel on eight different occasions. It is without a doubt my favorite place in the world, besides my beloved USA. So many of my colleagues have called, Skyped, texted, emailed, or whatever to express their impressions of our president's recent visit.

One can debate whether President Obama delivered hope and change or whether congressional Republicans have delivered fiscal responsibility. but one cannot argue about this: America’s most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, screwed up big time. There are lessons in Phil’s plight for both parties. Groundhog Phil promised a warm spring right before a cold spring and now Phil’s handlers, advisers and pollsters are trying to spin his way out of it. Sound familiar?

This week, there is a lot of focus on, and exposure for, the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage, but will it really matter?

Both sides in this debate want an affirmation from the court, but let’s face it folks, the train has not only left the station on same-sex marriage and gay and lesbian rights, it is roaring down the tracks.

One has to either make enough money that income taxes do not matter, find loopholes so one does not have to pay taxes, or become so poor that the government will provide every program and benefit available in the system.

If as has been widely suggested, CPAC 2013 marked a paradigm change, a generational change, a new direction of conservatism, it is possible to speculate that someone who fits the new paradigm could be president in 2016. Among them: Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sarah Palin, all of whom starred at the Conservative Political Action Conference. For any one of these, the perfect choice for vice president should be David Petraeus.

Anthony Lewis, the greatest legal journalist of our times, has left us. My guess is, as he ascends to heaven, Lewis is putting in a word in upstairs: Would you please inspire President Obama to offer nominees to fill vacant judgeships, inspire Senate Democrats to stand up to filibusters and inspire the Supreme Court to provide equal rights to gays who marry and straights who marry?

One of the biggest challenges of the Affordable Care Act is the fact is that it is not affordable. With each passing day more details are revealed in a 2,500 page monstrosity that is a bureaucrat's dream but a patient's nightmare.The cost of insurance per family is supposed to drop significantly but instead has gone up by more than $2,500 per family.

The number of physicians in a recent survey who are planning early retirement because of the Affordable Care Act has risen to 60 percent. Not only is there an issue of money but there is also an issue of who is going to care for the additional 30 million people who have been placed on the societal rolls.

“At least we’re winning on the Fox evening news ... Dad’s gonna kill me.” — from Richard Thompson’s driving 2007 ballad on the war in Iraq

Again and again the apologists, those who have not already escaped retribution to the academy or the “think” tank, make the claim that no one challenged the nefarious triumvirate of Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and especially George W. Bush although the lies and deceptions were apparent to all. Let’s be specific about the New York Times editors, the Fox News commentators, the appeasing congressmen and senators then and now. Lets’ put their pictures on milk cartons.