Get yours:  http://kenyanbirthcertificategenerator.com

  Read full post »

The nation’s largest auto dealers association has apparently decided to end its long standing participation in the Cash for (Political) Clunkers program.

An historically dependable source of income for Republicans in the House and Senate, the National Automobile Dealers Association (N… Read full post »

Barack Obama has certainly brought Americans together in unprecedented ways, but America’s black and white racial divide still exists.

And every once in a while, an event happens that starkly reveals how just deep this racial divide remains.

The untimely death of Michael Jackson is su… Read full post »

If I’m correct that Sarah Palin resigned as Alaska governor in order to lead a right wing movement that is ostensibly independent of the major political parties, then the next question is: where will she establish her new home and base of operations?

The Northeast is too liberal,… Read full post »

Sarah Palin is not done causing headaches for the leadership of the Republican Party.

In fact, my guess is that she is going to cause them far more pain in the near future than they or the media could ever have imagined.

At this point, politicians and the… Read full post »

One of the foundational principles of American democracy is under attack.

When the nation’s Founders crafted the United States Constitution in 1787, they were careful to include a requirement that:

“The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be a… Read full post »

Republican crocodile tears flowed this weekend in Orange County as a group of city officials called F.I.S.T. – “Fight Insane State Theft” – comprised of 14 Orange County mayors and 42 city council members, nearly all of them Republicans - protested Republican Gov… Read full post »

With California's Orange County real estate and mortgage industry-driven economy in shambles and local home foreclosures on the rise, you might think that our Republican politicians would want to distance themselves from those who are profiting from the misery of Orange Count… Read full post »

“And having looked to Government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them.”
Edmund Burke, Thoughts and Details on Scarcity

You might think that Orange County’s Republican elected officials would be caught between a rock and ha… Read full post »

I attended a debate on presidential power at Chapman University Law School yesterday.

In retrospect, the event should more properly have been called “The Trial of John Yoo.”

And strikingly, it was Yoo who cast himself in the role of defendant.

The debate was titled "Pre… Read full post »

The death this month of 22-year-old Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart – killed by a drunk driver just hours after making a spectacular season debut – has lead to outrage against drunk driving in general and in particular against the driver who killed Adenhart.… Read full post »

Democrats are responding to the growing nationwide phenomena of anti-tax “tea parties” protests by mocking them and by pointing out that they are prompted and run by right-wing organizations.

Neither response is a winning political strategy.

It is pure political stupidity --… Read full post »

When accessing the political apologetics of evangelicals, it is tempting to deal with them on their own terms and question whether their contrition is perfect and sincere enough to remove the stain that their sins have placed on their souls.

In Christian terms, forgiveness for sin requi… Read full post »

In 1998, the Iowa legislature, capitulating to a well-funded national campaign against gay marriage, amended the state’s marriage statute to define marriage as a union between only a man and a woman.

Today, in a stunning, courageous, and powerfully written decision, the Iowa Supre… Read full post »

 O my Lord
What a morning,
O my Lord,
What a feeling,
When Jack Johnson
Turned Jim Jeffries'
Snow-white face
to the ceiling.
Adaptation of the spiritual "My Lord, What a Morning" by William Waring Cuney, 1910.

While I’m skeptical about their motives, I applaud the efforts of Senator John McCain (R… Read full post »

Of all the cars that I’ve owned, my favorite was a yellow and black 1975 Fiat X1/9.

Designed Designed by Nuccio Bertone, the X1/9 was a two-seater, hardtop convertible with a mid 1489 cc. engine and a five-speed transmission.

It was beautifully styled and it handled like a dream.

It was… Read full post »

Academics and intellectuals  – and college professors in particular – are often thought of as living in an Ivory Tower – dispassionate, disconnected, and aloof from the everyday world.

And, for the most part, this reputation is deserved, especially in America, where we have oft… Read full post »

I listened recently to Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, on the Los Angeles NPR radio program “Air Talk with Larry Mantle.”

The specific topic was the tax increase ballot measures, such as Proposition 1A, that were part of last month’s budget… Read full post »

I am the founder and Artistic Director of Moving Target Theatre, which partners with progressive organizations to bring theatre that engages the social issues of our times directly to the community.

We have no space of our own.

Our “theatre” consists of community centers, churches… Read full post »

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!" he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
-- Alfred Tennyson, The Charge of the Light Brigade.

Like the Russians did to the British at B… Read full post »

If you’re happy that Rush Limbaugh has been giving headaches to Republican leaders trying to find a popular political stance for their shrinking party, you’ll be thrilled to hear about the migraines that a conservative-libertarian talk radio duo named John and Ken are giving to the leader… Read full post »

The same sex marriage Prop 8 case will likely be decided by the California Supreme Court on an issue that will never be directly addressed by either the lawyers or the Court.

The primary legal issue at Thursday's hearing before the California Supreme Court on Prop 8 is the narrow and extremely… Read full post »

Jews have long been associated with comedy, and specifically with the form of comic storytelling called jokes.

There are a lot of theories about why people, and Jews in particular, tell jokes.

Henri Bergson believed that joke telling is a form of social control, in which the victim is made… Read full post »

Los Alamitos’ Republican Mayor Dean Grose recently sent an email to friends that showed a picture of the White House with a watermelon patch imposed as the White House garden under the title "No Easter egg hunt this year."