I spent a good part of Saturday at Saddleback Church, in Orange County, CA blogging live on the Obama-McCain debate, but felt too close to the action to provide analysis so I decided to wait a bit and weigh in after I had a chance to absorb all that I...

(Lake Forest, CA) Pastor Rick Warren convened his Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency to thunderous applause from a crowd that seemed to be mostly members of his church. After a few words to the crowd, Warren introduced Senator Barack Obama who was welcomed warmly by the audience.

Warren...

The Saddleback Civil Forum, the non-debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama is about to get underway in Lake Forest, CA. The only real news so far is that the evening's host Rick Warren is said to be suffering from a severe cold

It's not exactly a presidential...

Come on Matt Lauer and Bob Costas: Just because China has somehow kowtowed Taiwan into calling itself Chinese Taipei and leaving their flag behind, doesn't mean that you guys have to go along with it. You're independent journalists remember?

It's T*A*I*W*A*N, or officially, The Republic of China (ROC). Let's...

One of the things that I hoped to accomplish with my two books The Rock & Roll Rebellion, Faith, God & Rock 'n' Roll and my next, Rock Gets Religion, was to encourage artists to use their music to grapple with the big issues of life. Theology, the...

Rocker Melissa Etheridge has responded exclusively to the Huffington Post regarding comments attributed to her in Rolling Stone about guitar virtuoso Phil Keaggy. Etheridge had quoted Keaggy, one of the top guitarists in the world, who was once a mainstay in the Christian rock world as saying she had...

In the most recent issue of Rolling Stone, rocker Melissa Etheridge talks about her spirituality and an encounter she claims to have once had with a guitar virtuoso named Phil Keaggy. The reason you've likely never heard of him is because after converting to Christianity in the early '70's he...

Last month I wrote about a film I'd seen in Hawaii called Hakani which deals with the gruesome practice of infanticide among certain tribes in the Amazon. As a father of twins, I took particular offense at the practice of of burying alive twins whom witch doctors have...

Losing Tim Russert wasn't quite like losing a family member, more like losing a relative -- maybe a cousin or an uncle. I was surprised at how much of the coverage of his death that I watched and at how much I cared about him.

When he made his...

The recent decision by the California Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage and other anecdotal factors have me thinking the unthinkable: McCain may have a shot at taking California. Here's why: The ruling may be the Golden State's version of Roe vs. Wade, likely to both poison politics for decades...

David Cunningham premiered his latest film, Hakani, on the Big Island last night and I joined 100 or so guests to screen it. The film tackles the difficult issue of infanticide among indigenous tribes in Brazil. Cunningham's 35-minute docudrama is troubling to say the least. I knew the practice had...

As I noted here in a post a few months ago, an amazing performer that most Americans had never heard of named Larry Norman passed away recently, leaving behind an amazing legacy of innovative and thought-provoking rock music. He may have left behind more than just music however. I've...

Last week a study released by the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that there are up to 4.3 billion barrels of oil in an area that encompasses the North Dakota/Montana border. It was news to everybody, but not to my Grandfather, Olaf Finsaas.

Grandpa was a farmer who moved from...

Saturday, 250 or so of Charlton Heston's closest friends (and some of us very distant ones) gathered to say farewell to a great man at his home church in Pacific Palisades, CA. It was a remarkably bi-partisan affair: Nancy Reagan sat between Tom Selleck and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the...

Yesterday was a big day for my pal Michael Levine. First he gave a powerful free lecture to 500 guests on how to become successful in Hollywood, followed by a signing for his new book Never

Tia Carrera, a longtime client and friend of Michael's introduced him and...

Chuck Heston was a class act who will be missed. I first met the legendary actor in 1996 when he was a guest on my then talk show, The Interview. We filmed the interview on a sitting area overlooking his tennis court and had to stop filming several times because...

Larry Norman, the most amazing artist you've never heard of has died. I found Norman's 1976 record "Only Visiting This Planet" on vinyl when I was a kid and was amazed at Norman's creative genius-later I wrote a chapter on him in my book The Rock & Roll Rebellion.

This is no doubt a minority view at this point, but I still think that between the Superdelegates and Michigan and Florida, Hillary Clinton is going to secure the Democratic nomination and when she does, she'd be nuts not to ask/beg Obama to be her VP. A Clinton-Obama ticket will...

Movieguide, the group that gives awards out to the best faith and family films of the year always puts on a good show, but last night at the Beverly Hilton was the best yet. Macy Gray stole the show with her quirky and stunning rendition of "Amazing Grace", singing nearly...

I've been reading coverage of the new biography of "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz, which is arousing the anger of the Schulz family, who feels their Dad has been unfairly profiled by the book's author. I haven't read the book, but I did have the great honor of interviewing Schulz...