Free Republic

Falls Church, Virginia (CNN) -- Garrulous and active, 79-year-old Joy Bricker presides over her hotel suite in a manner befitting a grander home. She offers tea to the staff and media with the ease of a person schooled in proper etiquette. Like many hotel guests, Bricker has learned to make herself feel comfortable, making her room a home away from home. Only, Bricker has called the Towne Place Suites by Marriott, in Falls Church, Virginia, home for more than 10 years. A former pilot, the 5-foot tour de force is finally turning in her key card, as movers wait to...

Very few people now living will remember John Bricker, but his most memorable claim to fame was the highly controversial Bricker Amendment of 1953. Had it passed, our nation would be a much safer place to live today. John Bricker was born in Ohio in 1893 and admitted to the bar in 1917. After serving as an Army officer in World War I, Bricker entered Ohio politics as a conservative. He was elected governor in 1938 and re-elected twice more. In 1946, Bricker was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served alongside another staunch Ohio conservative, Sen. Robert Taft,...