Bernie Madoff, Traitor, Turncoat, Judas, Treason

Is there a greater crime against our country than that which Bernie Madoff is charged?  I don’t think so.  This is not ‘just’ stealing 50 Billion dollars – this is about the harm done to our way of life.  Our way of life is based on capitalism tempered by faith, or consideration for others.  Bernie [...]

Bar Room Brawls in the Middle East

Here we go again.  The fighting in and around Israel reminds me of the metro section of the local news paper on Saturday morning.  The small headlines on page 3B are like this:  “Man stabbed in bar room brawl”  or “Two shot escaping street fignt”  “Lover’s quarel errupts into violence”  – You get the idea.  [...]

What’s the Matter, Don’t Like Actually Reaching Across the Isle?

To date, the Obama engine has been fueled by a rhetoric of change and hope. The “change” part of that language is not referring to a change in the political party in charge of ruining the government, it is a change in the fundamental way that we approach all of the decisions that we make fromt he top down. Rick Warren invited Obama to speak at his church, and Obama has invited Rick Warren to speak at his innauguration. Some say that this will alienate progressives, and I think that, to some degree, that is true. But let me ask you this: What is more progressive than going beyond sitting around a table together, but removing the table entirely and finding a way to stand together?

Bush and Cheney are WMD’s

George W. Bush, mixed with equal amounts of Dick Cheney, produces Weapons of Mass Destruction. These two men, more than Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden, have themselves destroyed mass numbers of humans. And about 5,000 of the dead are American service men. We can not even begin to count the number of innocent Iraqi’s killed in a war of vengeance.

The lethal combination of Bush and Cheney needed only a spark of inflamation. The entire Republican Party has bought into this mixture of vengeance and lusts after another opportunity to mix their potions of destruction.

Obama’s Chicago Vulnerablitiy

Here we go again.  Washington partisan politics 101.  The political corruption in Illinois will dramatically affect the Obama Administration.  This is not about guilt or innocence – it is about perception.  And particularly the perception of vulnerability.
When Bill Clinton won the Presidency in 1992 there followed some corruption news in Arkansas.  This gave rise to [...]

Obama’s Team Chemistry – the X-Factor

President Elect Barack Obama is forming his team for governing the United States of America.  The buzz in the media centers around the personalities and talents of selected team members.  The entertainment value of media questions has been noted by the President Elect, “I know you are having fun with this,” when asked about previous [...]

Governing from Center Left or Center Right

Americans are finally experiencing rational government.  As the Obama transition progresses we watch, with hope and with fear.  The troubled world is scary and important decisions are at hand.  Nearly every day there is a headline in the news about the transition.  One day the media reports a ‘center-left’ process.  The next day another headline [...]

Barack Obama’s Leadership Paradox

Barack Obama has assumed the Presidency.  Might we say he has transcended the transition?  He will not take the oath of office until January 20, 2009 – but Barack Obama is the President in everything but title.  Obama has assumed the leadership role in America and around the world.  And the paradox of Obama centers [...]