Dr. No

Here's something we Oklahomans should be grateful for and not take for granted: Tom Coburn represents us in the United States Senate.

I could give many reasons why Dr. Coburn deserves our admiration, not the least of which is his opening statement in the nomination hearing of Samuel Alito. "It is a real issue, a measurement of our society, when we say it's fine to destroy unborn life who has a heartbeat at 16 days post-conception," Dr. Coburn said. "Thirty-nine days post-conception you can measure the brain waves and there's pain felt. The ripping and tearing of an unborn child from his mother's womb through the hands of another, and we say, 'That's fine; you have a constitutional right to do that.'"

Amid the immense pressure in Washington to go along and get along, to participate in bipartisan fiscal irresponsibility, to wink at the culture of death, Coburn consistently has the courage to just say no.