In the midst of all this talk of jobs and wars and families, one of the issues the Republican presidential candidates have not addressed that much is the internet. Specifically, their positions on regulating the internet. Over the weekend, Rick Santorum was asked by a New Hampshire resident during a campaign stop if he supported or opposed the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which would give the government more authority to regulate the internet and crack down harder on piracy.

Newt Gingrich has now put his crusade against judicial activism at the forefront of his presidential campaign. Over the past week, he has argued that if elected president, he would opt to ignore certain judicial rulings if he determines the decision is not within the authority of the court. He has been attacked by Constitutional scholars and lawyers over his position, and on Face The Nation today, Gingrich defended his position to Bob Schieffer.

It was a dark, big mooned night when National Geographic’s Frontier Force were working to keep trouble at bay during Miles City, Montana’s annual “Cowboy Mardi Gras” when they came across this sprited fellow. He’s drunk but well versed in the Constitution. And as it turns out, he’s a Ron Paul fan!

When Rep. Ron Paul took the stage today at the site of the Ames Straw Poll, those who knew of him probably had a good idea of what to expect: bring the troops home, audit the Federal Reserve, and keep the federal government out of people’s lives. They got plenty of the liberty talk, but Rep. Paul threw a curveball to open the game: a strident defense of life as well as liberty, and an anecdote of an abortion so late-term the baby was crying as it was left to die.

CNN host Fareed Zakaria is deeply concerned for the future of America, and on last night’s Anderson Cooper 360º took the Tea Party to task for what he considered the “hijacking” of the nation by the Tea Party. Citing the strange bedfellow Charles Krauthammer as a level head on the issue, Zakaria called the Tea Party’s opposition to raising the debt ceiling “fundamentally anti-democratic” and hoped the President was “seriously exploring” the 14th Amendment escape hatch to passing a budget.

One of the nice things about having a Bill of Rights is that it specifically lays out freedoms given to the people and the press. The U.S. Constitution declares that freedom of speech and freedom of the press can never be infringed upon. Unfortunately, if you live in a nation where this is not clearly stated, you can legally censor media outlets without fear or repercussion.

Rupert Murdoch doesn’t have many friends left. After, in his words, the most humble day of his life, the testimony he gave before Parliament about the scandal that brought down News of the World seems to have done little to ingratiate him with an outraged public. The backlash has tempted many to go after all of News Corp and the press in general, with the rage perhaps most succinctly captured by this outrageous title in the L.A. Times today: “Tabloids Don’t Deserve the First Amendment.”

If he has to serve “hard time,” one prisoner in a Michigan jail is demanding that his Constitutional rights afford him some pleasures that are currently being denied. Since he cannot have access to pornography, 21-year-old Kyle Richards has filed a lawsuit claiming his Constitutional rights are being violated as such a deprivation is “cruel and unusual punishment.”

This is either unintentionally hilarious or merely bizarre, but either way it seemed worthy of some attention. On This Week, during an extremely sophisticated and insightful debate on the importance of the Constitution, Christiane Amanpour apparently attempted to keep the conversation at an elevated level of intelligence by showcasing an SAT-worthy word in the middle of her statement. Amanpour casually dropped the word “perspicacious,” yet such a big word apparently served as a bat signal for the ABC graphics department to go into emergency action.

Michael Eric Dyson, professor at Georgetown University, engaged in a highly intellectual debate with George Will and others regarding the impact of the Constitution on today’s political discourse. While the panelists took turns explaining who their favorite Founding Father was and debating how flexible the Constitution was intended to be, Dyson was most fired up over some people today trying to claim they are the sole defenders of protecting the document.

With the rise of Rep. Michele Bachmann and the media’s coverage of Sarah Palin, the targeted sexism, as some perceive it, against conservative women has become as semi-permanent staple in American politics. On this morning’s Fox & Friends, Andrew Breitbart weighed in on what he considered a double standard that makes female and minority conservatives’ lives “a permanent game of Jeopardy!”

Known as an iconoclastic Congressman and serial presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul also has a lesser-known career as a prolific author. To understand more about the candidate, the Daily Beast‘s David Graham went through the 2012 hopeful’s latest tome, Liberty Defined, and came away concluding, perhaps unfairly, that Rep. Paul is not a “disciplined candidate” and, given his affinity for conspiracy, is a long way from the nomination.

Earlier today the Supreme Court officially struck down a California ban on selling violent video games to minors, stating officially that “video games qualify for First Amendment protection.” The official vote was 7-2 against the ban, with Justices Stephen Breyer and Clarence Thomas dissenting.

Given the current debate in Washington over the War Powers Act and presidential authority in declaring military action, TIME Magazine decided to make the Constitution the focus of their 10th annual history issue, asking “Does it still matter?” Andrea Mitchell had TIME Managing Editor Rick Stengel on her MSNBC show to explain why they chose that particular cover story, which is guaranteed to raise some eyebrows on the left and right.

Fareed Zakaria spoke today on his CNN show about how he was intrigued by Iceland’s decision to throw out their Constitution and create a new governing document for the nation. Even more exciting and unique, was Iceland’s decision to accept suggestions for the new Constitution through social media applications like Twitter and Facebook, from all of its 320,000 citizens.

Earlier this month, high school sophomore Amy Myers challenged Rep. Michele Bachmann to a debate on American history, after the latter made several factual errors in referencing it. Myers received threats and insults for it, but nonetheless agreed to appear with Lawrence O’Donnell last night and explain her cause. O’Donnell, on his part, offered to moderate the debate along with any co-moderator Rep. Bachmann would like.

Ah, the internet. You may be aware that, late last month, a New Jersey high school student named Ann Myers challenged Michele Bachmann to a debate on the Constitution. Snarky move? Sure. But not exactly reason to threaten or call the young girl names like “whore,” as some anonymous online commenters have evidently chosen to do.

The cable news beast is most commonly fed with ideologically disparate individuals bickering over current events with varying degrees of productive value, which makes the following clip so bizarre: a high-brow philosophical discussion on natural law between four libertarians unrelated to any current event. Yes, Judge Andrew Napolitano invited three Reason writers on board to debate the ability of the Constitution to protect rights given to man by nature.

President Obama’s decision earlier this week to refuse to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act has conservatives up in arms, and not just based on the substance of the law. 2012 presidential hopeful (?) Newt Gingrich discussed with move with Newsmax’s Ashley Martella recently and, calling it entirely unconstitutional, suggested impeachment could be a possible remedy to the issue.

In anticipation of his new book (and perhaps of his 2012 run), Mike Huckabee has been making the rounds lately and upping the ante on his controversial statements: telling Chris Matthews he’s “off his meds,” claiming Muslims believe anyone who follows Jesus “is an infidel and should be obliterated,” etc. But his family values conservative style ran into a brick wall last night as he tried to debate Judge Andrew Napolitano on same-sex marriage.

Glenn Beck has been having a field day lately, what with the protests in the Middle East, the full-blown revolution in Egypt, and the union revolts here at home in Wisconsin. Today was no different, as he called out the “dope-smoking hippies” taking over Madison. But among the most dangerous calls, he warned, were those for “democracy.” Fortunately for Beck, it’s more complicated than it sounds upon first listen.

On Fox & Friends this morning, the discussion turned to the recent vote to extend the Patriot Act with Judge Andrew Napolitano serving as the voice of the disappointed since he feels the law goes against the Constitution. After Gretchen Carlson tried to explain to him that the founders didn’t have to deal with scary terrorists like we do, he quickly shut her down. It was a perfect example of what Glenn Beck would call a “spanking.” However, since we still plan on being able to eat our lunches, so we’ll call it a “shutting down.”

The woman who interrupted the reading of the US Constitution on the floor of the House of Representatives Thursday to shout “birther” protestations has now been identified, by Capitol Police, as Theresa Cao, a colorful DC resident who often haunts the sidewalks of Pennsylvania ave outside the White House.

As it turns out, I knew her when. Almost exactly a year ago, I ran into TC, and videotaped a brief interview that I never ended up using. Here, for the first time, is that interview, and the story of our encounter.

On CNBC’s Squawk Box Thursday, Rick Santelli ranted about members of Congress–and members of the media–who’ve criticized the reading of the Constitution on the floor of the House of Representatives. In an amazing display of sarcasm, Santelli went off on the critics–including The New York Times–who’ve objected to the reading of the Constitution as either too expensive or too self-indulgent.

The Republicans’ dueling document obsessions collided on the floor of the House of Representatives today, as a screaming “birther” in the gallery interrupted the reading of the US Constitution. We’ve got video of the outburst, plus what might be a comment by the alleged birther, from The Hill.