True to my customary seasonal procrastination, I am now forced to once again participate in the American tradition known as last-minute shopping.

Last year, I got for then President-elect Barack Obama, Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities". My thinking was, it may be the best of times for Obama,...

In our politically correct society one could be offended by a cheerful greeting of "Merry Christmas" without any real knowledge of how the individual in question meant it.

Regardless of what one chooses to commemorate in this season of holidays, be it Christmas, Epiphany, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Year's Eve,...

For those who own mementos from the 2009 presidential inauguration such as key rings, bumper stickers and buttons depicting the images of Martin Luther King and Barack Obama as a way to illustrate that the civil right icon's "dream" has been fulfilled, now would be the appropriate time to discard...

I recently attended a media round-table for World AIDS Day specifically focused on the African American community, hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Bay Area Black Journalist Association.

The situation, as it relates to African Americans and HIV/AIDS, remains dire.

According to the CDC,...

What's up with Bay Area mayors? We've got disinterested in Oakland, not ready for primetime in San Francisco, but Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis may have trumped his more recognizable colleagues with what could be classified in the best-case scenario as ignorance run amok.

It would not surprise me if...

Assuming the reports are accurate, President Obama will send somewhere between 25,000-30,000 additional troops in order to, as he stated last week, "finish the job" in Afghanistan. It will undoubtedly be the most important speech to date of his presidency; it may also serve to define whatever remaining years he...

Without question, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

It is my favorite because it may be our only holiday that does not require a victim for our commemoration -- no one is conquered, no one subjugated, and no one is assassinated. Thanksgiving is a holiday that is...

Dear good people of Illinois:

I understand that you will have a measure on the ballot next year for your approval that would give you a process for recalling a governor.

Given that your last governor was arrested on federal corruption charges and his predecessor is serving time in federal...

What is the current health care debate really about?

Is it about cost? Is it government's inability to adequately deliver services that are best left to the private sector? Or is it a middle-class disdain for the poor?

According to the Congressional Budget Office, Senate Democrats this week unveiled The...

On August 29, 1957, South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond set the record for the longest filibuster on the Senate floor.

Thurmond made congressional history when he finally yielded the floor after speaking continuously for 24 hours and 18 minutes in order to block civil rights legislation.

In retrospect,...

This Sunday, the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League will honor Native American Heritage Month at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Native American Heritage Month recognizes the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S.

I commend the Raider organization for honoring the contributions...

So many soldiers have made their final return to the United States by way of Dover Air Force Base. Dover has proven to be a somber but also politicized point of entry for America's fallen soldiers.

It was the photos from Dover, as the caskets came home as much,...

Rape is a unique crime. Unlike other offenses, it is difficult to see any mitigating circumstances that would result in someone taking another person's humanity. There is nothing in our legal system that falls into the murky category of "justifiable rape."

Simply stated, rape is one of...

There are times, when as a columnist, I receive e-mail and/or voice mail that causes me to either look with the curiosity of "Nipper," the dog portrayed on the RCA Victor advertisements or tennis great John McEnroe as he blurts out: "You cannot be serious!"

I have a cadre of...

What should be the result when a high-profile case causes public protests, leading to nationally televised vandalism, on-camera threats made against the defendant, and inflammatory remarks made by elected officials before the jury is selected?

Anyone whose legal training at least consisted of Perry Mason reruns, the O.J. Simpson trial...

It it possible, viewing the same event, whereby the perpetrator can suddenly look like the victim? That is what Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a high-ranking official in the Mormon church, apparently wants us to believe.

Citing an anti-Mormon backlash after Proposition 8, which overturned gay marriage last fall in California,...

Last week, Oakland, the Bay Area and the world lost a giant of man with the passing of Dr. Robert Scott. In short, Scott was an humanitarian of the highest order.

Ask people who knew Dr. Scott, and they will be hard-pressed to convey in words the magnitude of his...

Eight years ago, I wrote an essay titled "Confessions of a Quasi-Pacifist." I wrote the piece during a time when I, like many Americans, were trying to understand my feelings immediately following the 9/11 tragedy.

I concluded at the time, I was not the absolute pacifist I...

Unless there is an unexpected one-time windfall that befalls California, chances are we will soon hear about the latest deficit projections. It will most likely surpass the previous estimates.

If recent history is any barometer, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will make a statement about his commitment to...

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman recently expressed concern about the level of violent discourse aimed toward President Barack Obama. Friedman likened it to the atmosphere in which Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995.

Friedman's column caused Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele to ask the question...