I had a column due this week. And when I sat down to write this particular column I could not think of anything. I sat at my desk, head slightly down, starring at the screen and my fingers tapping the keyboard impatiently, waiting for a piece of opinion to miraculously fill my head. Waiting to feel passion for a particular topic so that I could beat out my anger on my computer and shout it, figuratively, for the entire world to see (or at least all those who pick up the Lariat and read the opinion page).

Miley Cyrus experiences a surge in positive PR, breaking the long streak of negative rapport as a bad influence on America’s youth.

House Bill 750, a piece of state legislation that would require public universities to allow license holders to bring concealed handguns on campus, now has 81 of the 150 House representatives listed as co-authors. The senatorial equivalent has 14 of the 31 senators on board.

“There was once a time, children, when an actor could be a movie star or a TV star, but not at the same time. I know, it sounds silly. But that’s the way Hollywood worked.”

The ability to go to a museum and enjoy the exhibits, being able to walk into an emergency room and explain an illness or injury, going to a movie for pleasure, the safety net of an emergency phone in an elevator — these are all things most people are able to do with ease, and often take for granted.

With the Egyptian Revolution leading to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year authoritarian rule and seeming unrest sweeping across Iran, Algeria, Bahrain and much of the rest the Middle East, democracy is becoming a cultural buzz word.