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 the world...

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 being...

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...

I have been waiting all weekend for the rest of the dust to settle on the media fallout surrounding the Tea Parties; it seems like the blogosphere and the MSM has finally put this story into the annals of political history so it is time for me to ask the question no one even touched during all of this activity… didn’t the American people vote for these people who raised their taxes? In other words, how can we be ticked off when “We, the People” helped to brew the tea? Each...

I have read with moderate amusement about the “Tea Party” protests that are occuring today all over the country. As a fiscal conservative, I agree that President Obama is spending way too many tax dollars on programs that are questionnable at best. However, it seems that the overspending of the last eight years was ok with Conservatives because they chose to keep their tea bags in lukewarm water while the national debt and the deficit exploded under the Bush Administration. I understand...

Senate Republicans today find themselves at the precipice of political relevance with the unanimous decision of the three judge panel in Minnesota to rule the Franken - Coleman election in favor of the Democrat, Al Franken. The bottom line is that neither the MN State Supreme Court nor the U.S. Supreme Court are going to override this decision. The NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) has a decision to make… do you continue to place valuable resources on a seat that will not change...

The news today about the non-granting of a honorary doctorate degree by Arizona State to President Obama has come as a shock to the post-racial world of 2009; the sad thing is that if you look at the history of Arizona and race relations… it is not surprising at all. Arizona is one of the last states to make Martin Luther King, Jr. day a state holiday. In fact, Arizona has had the most problematic history with the MLK, Jr. holiday. In 1987, Governor Mecham signed an executive order that prevented...

CBS News is reporting that a new public opinion poll shows that 66% of the people interviewed approve of the job that President Obama has done in his two plus months on the job. The interesting thing about this poll is the timing of it… while the President is on his first major foreign trip. President Obama has accomplished the unthinkable over the past 70 days. In his policy decisions with A.I.G. and GM, he has fundamentally shifted the private / governmental balance to the side of the national...

I grew up in the Pittsburgh area and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh so the news of the killing of three police officers is a tragedy that occured in my hometown. According to news reports, the shooter was afraid of the “gun grab” of the Obama Administration that would have taken his right to own firearms. I have a comment to make on this issue: Not everyone should be allowed to own a weapon. The 2nd Amendment was written for a specific purpose… here is what it says: “A...

Four score minus four years ago, a Democratic President of the United States tried to change the relationship between the government and its’ citizens. The press called Franklin Roosevelt’s plan to get Americans working during The Great Depression “The New Deal”, the Supreme Court decided these policies promoted by the President and passed by a Democratic Congress were unconstitutional. In our current period of economic uncertainty, a Democratic President and an overwhelmingly...