Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, not content to stick his big toe in the cesspool defined by his political opponents as being out of touch with the electorate, decided to wade the murky waters of the political gaffe, fortifying the stereotype created about him.

Romney, in his infamous CNN...

I have been a San Francisco Giants baseball fan since 1965, which means my allegiance began before any player who wears the black and orange today was born. Another way to put it: I'm rooting for the uniform.

Such support is acceptable for sports -- the etymology of the word...

If you are searching for a gift for an African American woman for Valentine's Day, a birthday, or for no other reason than "because", may I suggest you consider purchasing Health First: The Black Woman's Wellness guide.

Co-authored by Eleanor Hinton Hoytt and Hilary Beard, it is a holistic...

If famed Star Wars film director, George Lucas, is correct, America may not be the post-racial society that many wish to believe.

According to Lucas, it took 20 years to get his latest film, Red Tails, made "because it's an all-black movie."

Lucas said he had to...

Award winning talk-show host Tavis Smiley and Princeton professor Cornel West remain committed to placing poverty at the forefront of the 2012 political discourse.

As a follow up to their highly successful poverty tour this past summer, Smiley and West will host a nationally televised conversation at George...

America in 2012, like the boxer in the late rounds of a grueling prizefight, continues to answer the bell because it is averse to quitting. It is held up by an indomitable pride, more so than the required stamina to continue.

For several decades it has been peppered by...

Now that the Iowa caucus is upon us, the best thing that could happen to the Republican party in 2012 at the national level may be a good drubbing -- not just in the presidential race but across the board.

This is not a prediction (certainly not with this...

In the heat of he moment, it can become difficult to see the contributions that presidents make. Our divisive political nature allows for exaggerating the accomplishments of those presidents we support and minimizing the feats of those we oppose.

But from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush, each commander-in-chief...

If any good has come out of California's current economic challenges, it has been that pragmatism may have overtaken emotionalism in our public discourse.

With the state's physical and social infrastructure in decline, along with seemingly institutionalized budget deficits, Californians can ill-afford to support nonsensical public policies that are...

What is American exceptionalism? Is it merely the commonly held theory that America possesses measurable outcomes that make it vastly superior to other nations? Does the emphasis on liberty, freedom, individualism and laissez faire capitalism suffice?

Is America a "shining city on the hill," as many within our political discourse...

Upon hearing the news that the Occupy Oakland encampment was to be cleared in the early morning hours by Oakland police, I held my breath.

From the killing of Oscar Grant III at a BART station on New Year's Day 2009 to the Occupy Wall Street movement, Oakland has had...

When I think about the current state of American political discourse, I am reminded of a scene in Star Wars: Episode III. The metamorphosis of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader prompted the Sith Lord, Sidious, to say: "I can feel your anger. It gives you focus!"

That may work for...

According to a study conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center, only 2 percent of high school seniors in 2010 "could answer a simple question about the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision." The report also finds the history of the civil rights movement...

Make no mistake, what happened last week in Cairo has reverberated in Riyadh, Jerusalem, throughout the Gulf States, into Tehran, and even in the mountain regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The only thing missing was Charlton Heston going in to the royal palace demanding that Yul Brynner, "Let my people...

We should eulogize liberalism not for its death, but far worse, its silence. For decades, the political philosophy of John Locke has appeared to have strutted and fretted his hour upon the stage only to be heard from no more.

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and...

In our contemporary political discourse, too often dominated by right versus wrong and left versus right, I receive e-mail and phone messages from practically every political background imaginable.

Expressing how one feels directly to the columnist, posting online, or writing a letter to the editor remains a healthy aspect of...

Viewing President Barack Obama's recent State of the Union address through the prism of the spectator sport that our contemporary politics has become, I was quite pleased by his performance.

I agree with those who've already stated that he struck the right tone. I must confess, however, I'm not certain...

One of my favorite cartoons as a youth (and dare I say even today) was the Warner Bros.' cartoon involving the coyote and sheepdog.

These two antagonists would cordially greet each other, exchanging pleasantries before beginning their day. In one installment they were actually roommates.

But each episode began with:

The following words of hope are taken from a reader of this column. I was given permission to post this writing, but he prefers to remain anonymous:

"I am a sixty-four year old male, married with two adult children. In 2008 I was on a three-week teaching assignment in Vietnam...

Because of the unprecedented manner that America was fast tracked from fledgling upstart to world power, there is a tendency to forget we still cling to aspects of innocence that belie our world power status.

In addition to events such as the JFK assassination, Oklahoma City and 9/11 tragedies, we...