Oh! The Drama.

January 22 2010: Panties are all a-bunch over the election of Republican Scott Brown to Teddy Kennedy's old Senate seat.

Sure, it's the end of an era and marks the further decline of the human species and all, but what has the punditocracy worked into a lather is the fact that Brown's election takes away the Democrats' biggest advantage. Now the lefties quiver and the righties rejoice at the notion that Obama won't be able to take advantage of the Democratic super-majority in the Senate.

It really makes no difference. Obama wasn't using his advantage anyway.

The Reverend Pat Robertson Explains It All To You.

January 14 2010: Why Haiti? Why now? Only God knows ... and Pat Robertson. He'll tell us all why hundreds of thousands of utterly innocent people must suffer, die, and mourn.

God reeeeeally knows how to hold a grudge.

How Strong Are You?

January 20 2010: Imagine, if you will, if you can, imagine for a moment that you were the victim of an injustice. Let's say you were accused of a unspeakable crime you did not commit, and through a miscarriage of justice and in the wake of an unfair trial you were convicted. You ended up on Death Row.

While you sit in your lonely cell contemplating your miserable fate, your life goes by. Your children grow up, get married, have children and grandchildren, while you are locked in a cell. Your only companions are poorly educated felons and the occasional friendly guard.

How long would it take you to crack?

How many years could you sit there, knowing you were wrongly convicted, wondering how your family was faring, before you ran out of things to think about and succumbed to madness?

Could you make it nearly thirty years?

Mumia Abu-Jamal has been in exactly that situation, on Death Row in Pennsylvania, since 1981. He was accused and convicted of killing a police officer. He says he didn't do it, and I believe him.

I mention all this because yesterday the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that Mumia deserved a new sentencing hearing. The noose hangs a bit lower over Mumia's head today. But when Mumia looks up, his focus rests on the state of the nation. Mumia has used his time in prison doing what he did before they locked him up: Committing journalism.

Think you know what's going on in America and all over the world? I can guarantee you that Mumia, sitting there in a prison cell far from most news sources, is better informed than you are. For all his deprivations, he continues to watch and comment on world events. Granted, in doing research he has the gift of time -- but he does not put the gift to waste.

I got to meet Mumia (here's the background on that sordid tale), and I know his mind never rests. On Death Row he taught himself to read and write French. Someday he might meet someone who can teach him how to pronounce it, and then he'll be fluent. He has also continued to keep abreast of and write eloquently about what he has seen from the vantage point of Death Row. Meanwhile, he fights to clear his name and shine a spotlight on the forces that brought him to this sad place. His activism, and his intellect, never rest.

"Free Mumia" is a cry heard all over the globe. Whether or not Americans are paying the slightest attention, the rest of the world is closely watching Mumia's fate. Our nation's reputation hangs in the balance.

Yemen.
Let's Bomb Yemen.

January 11 2010: Every time there's the hint of a possible terrorist threat, some people start looking for a place to bomb. So, when news came out that the underwear bomber (a Nigerian man who was radicalized in London) had undergone terrorist training in Yemen, certain politicians (i.e., Joe Lieberman and Pete Hoekstra) immediately went on TV to advocate a pre-emptive strike on that poor, confused country on the cusp between Africa and the Middle East.

So, it begs the question. The 9/11 bombers took flight training in Florida. When is Joe Lieberman going to demand we start bombing Fort Lauderdale?