The year 1989 was marked by many monumental events that would reverberate for years to come; from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism to Tiananmen Square.  One event that is often overlooked was a turning point in American politics that ultimately would lead to the...

Lost in the cacophony of rhetoric over President Obama’s stimulus plan, health care, climate change and internet neutrality initiatives, is the common thread in each issue -- making America more competitive in a 21^st century economy.  While the “pro-business Republicans” hope to score political points by answering “No” to each...

In his Meet the Press appearance earlier this week, President Clinton indicated that the "vast right wing conspiracy" was alive and well under President Obama.  Today’s Vast Right Wing (“VRW”), however, is a different breed than its predecessors. 

For example, while President Kennedy, like Obama, was the target of...

On the night Martin Luther King was shot, Robert Kennedy calmed an Indianapolis crowd by quoting from the Chorus in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon –

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will,...

Thank you for your commitment to be part of the 2009 Town-Hall-ScreamFestpalooza. Who wouldn't want to scream at a party that hates America or which not only gave us the largest tax increase in history but opposed the largest tax cut in history? The party which nominated a foreigner for...

In The Art of War, Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu states that "the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself." Watching Congressional Republicans' response to President Obama to date, I am left to wonder "when did the GOP become so generous?"

I imagine that at the initial...

CALIFORNIA HAS FALLEN AND IT CAN'T GET UP.

This is a dangerous prospect for the nation's fragile economic recovery since California represents 13 percent of the economy. While some are hoping President Obama can step in to save the day, the real man of the hour is in California...

Q. When is a fundamental right not a fundamental right?

A. When it is protected by the California Supreme Court.

Only a year ago the California Supreme Court held that marriage was a fundamental right and quoted the U.S. Supreme Court to stress that:

One's right to...

Arlen Specter's defection from the Republican Party is the "canary in the coal mine" warning Republicans they are on a path to electoral disaster. After two consecutive elections in which the party received "a thumping" in part because they were too conservative, the GOP had to choose between adopting the...

"[The issue of torture] has nothing to do with al Qaeda, [but] it has everything to do with America." Those were the words of Senator McCain in 2006 -- he was absolutely right. The conduct of torture and other atrocities by the state is something that reflects upon us all...

One of the funnier moments of the 2008 campaign was the tongue lashing right wing talk show host Kevin James received from Chris Matthews for comparing then Senator Obama's willingness to negotiate with our rivals to pre-World War II appeasement of Hitler when it was evident that James had...

The Republicans' recent political posturing over President Obama's stimulus package and the California budget reminded me of the 1980's pop hit Sunglasses at Night about a man who retreats to darkness rather than deal with harsh realities. While the song may be a nostalgic guilty pleasure, it is no recipe...

Last year reports that the United States was slipping from Internet pioneer to digital dawdler as its global broadband penetration ranking had fallen from 4th to 15th in six years elicited a collective yawn. This is a surprising reaction from a nation whose forefathers, in the words of President Kennedy,...

To appreciate the late Senator Claiborne Pell, you have to understand a few things about Rhode Island and its politics. Rhode Island may be the smallest state, but it recently ranked first in a survey of journalists for most corrupt state (in the last two decades as chief justice, a...

A recent Pew Research Center poll found that the one word Americans used most to describe President Bush was "incompetent." While no compliment, the word fails to convey the condemnation warranted by the last eight years.

There are several words that are more apt, such as "betrayal." ...

In July 1964 President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which NAACP Secretary Roy Wilkins called "the Magna Carta of Human Rights". Four months later President Johnson was reelected in a historic landslide over Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. This victory was tempered by California's passage of Proposition 14...

There are certain elections that stir people to get involved whether its writing letters to the editor or helping get out the vote. For Jeff Schweitzer, who served as an Assistant Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, that was not enough. In a matter of...

As the likelihood of an Obama and Democratic landslide moves from possibility to inevitability and as more and more Republicans jump on the Obama bandwagon, wailing Republicans are sounding off as if this were a sign of Armageddon. One Forbes columnist even questioned whether an Obama victory would result in...

There are times in history when a political movement becomes a force of nature. For example, after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 within 50 days Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania had all broken the chains of the Communist era and deposed its henchmen.

Today, the worsening...

Imagine if Mayberry's Sheriff Andy Taylor faced a reelection challenge from, of all people, Otis the Drunk and Deputy Barney Fife. If today's media covered the debate between these fictional television characters, it would be a no win situation for Sheriff Taylor since the media would declare a victory for...