What is it with people? Why is the media focused on a cover photograph that Sarah Palin posed for? She posed for the cover for another magazine and Newsweek got the rights to reproduce it on its cover. Obviously, Newsweek has a bias against Palin but to say the outfit is sexist is a bit of a stretch. If we must focus on the picture, I have a question… why is the American flag draped over the chair? Is she running for something? Hence the photo for “Runner’s World.” ...

My initial five or six draft postings on this issue found their way to the cutting room floor because of the outrage I felt over the loss of life at Ft. Hood. My outrage has shifted from the shooter to the enablers of this tragedy: the people who passed the buck at Walter Reed. According to the linked article by NPR, several members of the psychiatric staff at Walter Reed asked if MAJ Nidal Hasan was psychotic? If fellow military mental health professionals questioned the stability of this guy,...

I have been away for a little while but I have collected my thoughts about a few items that may make you want to hmmm… 1) Memphis is a great city. Beale Street has the best blues clubs in the country. Graceland was interesting but I have a question: Why is U.S. 51 named for Danny Thomas in town but Elvis Presley outside of Memphis? Is the King not good enough to have the entire road named for him? 2) Happy Veterans Day! I know it was yesterday, but as a veteran, I was too busy eating my...

How great must it be to be Barack Obama? You come out of obscurity to beat the Clintons, run the Republicans out of D.C. and you are best pals with Oprah! You are cruising along feeling like Frank Sinatra “I’ve go the world on a string…sitting on a rainbow” when those pesky IOC types start raining on your parade by not picking Chicago for the Olympics. It’s been a bad couple of weeks. Health care is going nowhere, the economy is still stagnant, and you’ve just...

Here is my advice to the Republican Congressional Leadership… let the Democratic Leadership pass their health care bill as soon as possible. I can hear the cries of the disbelieving right already. Campbell – are you insane? No, I am very sound of mind, take a minute to think through the scenario. Today, the Gallup company put out a poll that says that 21% of the American people trust the Congress. The steepest drop in the poll are from Democratic voters who believe their party leadership...

This morning, Politico posted an article concerning a closed door meeting between RNC Chair Michael Steele and the Congressional Republican leadership. According to the story, Steele was told to stay out of policy matters and focus on winning elections in contested seats across the country. I am not a Michael Steele apologist by any stretch of the imagination. I have used this column to complain that he opens his mouth before thinking way too often. However, the notion that Congressional Republicans...

Eight years after the attacks of September 11, and so far, there are only a few articles / blogs on the anniversary of the worst attack on American soil. Since then, we have been committed by two Presidents to two ongoing military operations that have no end in sight. More importantly, this conflict has been a contributing cause to the increase of suicides of our men and women who serve our country in uniform. The simple fact that the news / political writers, editors and publishers of this country...

In 2002, when I was still working for JoAnne Barnhart, the Commissioner of Social Security, I traveled with her to Boston for an event unveiling a program called “Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency.” Senator Ted Kennedy was instrumental in getting the legislation passed and the Commissioner wanted to present him the 1st Ticket at the ceremony. He was larger than life. I had met or worked for several Presidents, two British P.M.’s, and been around scores of Congressmen and officials...

courtesy: AP There are a couple of near certainties in the world – paying taxes, dying, and that Tiger Woods closes out major championships when he is leading after 54 holes. For the record, I am a huge Tiger Woods fan. He is the reason why I watched most of the final round of the PGA Championship yesterday. However, I am happy that Y.E. Yang beat Tiger to become the first Asian golfer to win a major championship because he earned it. Tiger actually looked tense yesterday. He two-putted...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and some on the left, would have people believe that AstroTurfing (or the popular uprising of the enraged citizenry against the government) is something new and to be feared. If that is the case, then the American Revolution and the Civil Rights Movement are artificial dandelions that rudely infiltrated on the beautiful lawns of the British Empire and racial segregation respectively. Two years ago, these same individuals were AstroTurfing former President Bush over the War...

Every year members of Congress have a late summer reprieve from the stress of being on the Hill – it’s called the district work period. This is the time of the year where members can go home, attend a few barbecues, have a couple of fundraisers and have most of their yearly photo ops in the district. This year’s district work period has turned into the battle for health care with protesters engaging members of Congress at public events. Before I lay out my argument of why this...

President Obama just passed the six month mark on his presidency and he, and House Democrats, may have resuscitated the Republican Party by their bumbling over how to make sure that every American can have affordable health care. As reported here, the Energy and Commerce committed passed a health care bill yesterday… that’s the good news… however, the bad news will hit when the three committees reconcile their bills into one compromise version this fall. The quote from Chairman...

Barack Obama’s presidency was partially built by the moonwalk of Michael Jackson. The Political Pop Star owes a debt of gratitude to The King of Pop. How so? Take a few minutes and let’s rewind the clock 25 years before President Obama announced his candidacy. 1982 – Ronald Reagan was entering his first full year in office, “Hill Street Blues” was a top rated TV hit, and MTV was segregated in their programming. Michael Jackson released “Thriller” and...

Over the next few hours, most of the blogging world will be posting on the impact of Michael Jackson’s life. I have had mixed feelings about him over the past 15 years or so. His legal problems aside, in my opinion, he is one of the most important American artistic personalities of the past century. Jackson, Elvis, Hendrix and Sinatra changed music so dramatically that people are still trying to copy their brilliance decades after the original recording was released. The clip below is my...

(picture of President Nixon in China – Helen Thomas in Red – courtesy of Time, Inc.) One hundred fifty four hours of Nixon tapes were released yesterday and as usual they do not disappoint. The two of the more controversial issues on the recordings are Nixon’s statements regarding abortion and women in Republican politics. On the abortion issue, Nixon is pretty matter-of-fact about the impact abortions would have on the family, however, the racially tinged statement about abortions...

First of all, before I get rebuffed by the right side of my readers, let me clearly explain that I am not supportive of the President’s lack of action on the Iranian elections. However, what exactly is Barack Obama supposed to do? Is the President of the United States supposed to disregard the sovereignty of a nation-state because some of their people are demonstrating against the outcome of a national election? Not too long ago, our country faced a “constitutional crisis” of...

According to a recent Gallup Poll, the Republican Party has become dysfunctional to the point of exhibiting multiple personalities; unfortunately, none of them happen to resonate with the American people. The poll taken between May 29 and May 31 shows that 18% of Democrats and 10% of Republicans thinks that the voice of the G.O.P is Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh who has never been elected to any office. What is troubling for the Republican Party that the person who is supposed to be in charge of rebuilding...

I’m back! Been M.I.A for a couple of weeks between graduating from Seminary, grading finals, posting grades and the usual end of the semester rush. A few stories over the weekend has interested me enough to dust off my keyboard and vent my opinion over cyberspace. Why is it that the most offensive murders in society are committed by people who kill because they oppose death? If you are a pro-life Christian, and you kill, in my opinion you are full of hate and living in total disobedience...

Last year, we chuckled when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her stirring account of her experience under enemy fire in Bosnia. This year, we are equally dumbfounded by Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s creative tales of how she has been misled, uninformed, or just lied to about receiving briefings by the C.I.A. beginning in 2002. A cameraman, on a tarmac at Tuzla Air Base, shot down that ridiculous assertion with 30 seconds of B roll film shot in 1996. There are a lot more people who have access...

In all of the dust that has been flung around following the comedic stylings of Wanda Sykes, one little point has been overlooked… President Obama gave a mediocre performance at the WHC Dinner. The first four minutes of the speech were highlighted by the Sasha & Malia grounding over Air Force 1 and Rahm Emanuel being tripped up by using the word day after mother (instead of his usual word of choice). One of the more interesting moments is when President Obama addresses RNC Chair Michael...

Since the election of Barack Obama, the left portion of the blogosphere has been insistent on charging George Bush and Dick Cheney with criminal and civil lawsuits surrounding the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” in places like Gitmo. The loud rumbling that was all over the airwaves have suddenly gone silent over the past few weeks. The outrage has simmered down because it has been reported that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed by the Bush Administration on these issues as...

In 1992, Bill Clinton beat George H.W. Bush and then proceeded to have two very bad years as President of the United States culminating with a resurgence of a shell shocked Republican Party through the Contract with America. In 2009, a new Democratic President is learning the job, dodging really stupid incidents like the Air Force One flyover in New York City, and has just finished his first 100 days that was highlighted by tens of thousands of people stewing over taxes while brandishing tea bags. As...

Michael Steele is no Jack Kemp. The latter passed away yesterday, the former is already a political afterthought, who is not conservative enough for the right-wing of the Republican Party and who has driven away Arlen Specter and other moderates. Jack Kemp and his former boss, President George H.W. Bush, were pragmatic conservatives under the Reagan mantra of creating a big tent where Republicans could openly dialogue with each other about the issues of the day. Reagan’s coalition, which included...

I tried to stay away from the Arlen Specter party-switching story but since I have written posts on him in the past (and his dissaffection with the conservative wing of the Republican Party), I have to put my two cents into the void and see if it turns up anything interesting. Most pundits, and bloggers, are shocked that Specter made the move. I am shocked that he did not make it before yesterday. Arlen Specter has made it a point to butt heads with the conservative wing of the Republican Party...

As a person of faith who serves in the Army National Guard, and as a student and teacher of history and political science, I am profoundly aware of the need for a strong, effective national defense that has its foundation on solid moral principles. The phrase “For God and Country” sums up my internal view of the loyalties I hold dear. The torture memos that were made public over the last two weeks is the latest example of the age old question; what is more important – “ensuring...