Arianna Huffington in Salon.com

On Drugs: Hypocrisy infects America's insane drug war on every level

While Noelle has been given every break in the book--and then some--her father has made it harder for others in her position to get the help they need by cutting the budgets of drug treatment and drug court programs in his state. He has also actively opposed a proposed ballot initiative that would send an estimated 10,000 nonviolent drug offenders into treatment instead of jail.

Jeb's inconsistent attitude on the issue--treatment and privacy for his daughter, incarceration and public humiliation for everyone else--is part and parcel of the galling hypocrisy that infects America's insane drug war on every level.

On Welfare & Poverty: Faith works for addressing social problems

The evidence is overwhelming that it's infinitely harder to rebuild shattered lives without acknowledging the spiritual dimension of human nature. No, this doesn't mean accepting Jesus as your personal savior. It simply means that, as Alcoholics Anonymous and its many offshoots have shown, acknowledgment of a higher power is central to recovery.

To continue to try and solve social problems while ignoring human beings' innate need for meaning and a connection with something larger than ourselves is as destructive as if we were to build our principles of navigation on the basis that the jury is still out on Copernicus.