“I've been thinking of a new direction But I have to say I've been thinking about my own protection It scares me to feel that way.”

In less than 10 months from now the final countdown to the next national elections in the United States will be begin. The future of America and to a large extent the future of the world will be at stake. During the next year there will be millions of new young voting age persons that will have to be registered to vote and mobilized to go out to the voting polls across the nation.

Mayoral candidate Gery Chico has an admirable idea with building new centers to watch popular high school basketball games. A more profitable – and productive – idea for high schoolers may be to expand the current model instead.

The City of Chicago, like many other political jurisdictions and sub-divisions is facing difficult economic and social times. There are budget deficits, revenue shortfalls, high unemployment, crumbling infrastructures, high crime rates, drug use, underperforming schools, violence, problems with pensions, healthcare needs, growing senior populations, immigration issues, job creation needs and other great challenges.

One of the most interesting phenomena to watch as a political observer in this country is the vacillating narratives that occur when any tragic and unforeseen event happens.

Don’t assume. Don’t place blame too quickly. Don’t lose sight of the end goals for our nation. And, mostly, don’t overreact to the Tragedy in Tucson.

“I will do all I can to break down the wall of political correctness and drive the public debate on Islamic radicalization,” Congressman Peter King , R-N.Y, said December 20.

In a time when everything seems to slowly be getting slightly better for everyone except Black folks in Chicago, now is not the time to underestimate why a consensus candidate may make sense for Black Chicagoans.

A snowstorm has blanketed the east coast, causing flight cancellations and disrupted holiday plans. The President is vacationing in Hawaii after a grueling lame duck session in Washington. During this the last week of the year, there will be no economic indicator issues. These are quiet times.

I just had my annual physical. Every December or January I make it a point to have one. Even after my healthcare provider, some years back, said that I did not need a yearly physical, I ignored them.

“Black farmers have waited many years for this day – the end of denied justice, the dawn of a new era of equality." John Boyd, President of the National Black Farmers Association

Now that the dust is settled on the midterm madness, and President Barack Obama has successfully convinced the press that he has his mojo back (even if the polls are still catching up) during the lame duck session, we can begin looking at what really will matter once the ball drops and 2011 begins: the presidential election of 2012.

Black American unemployment in 2010 soared more than 16%. As we begin 2011, there should a more effective and concentrated national plan to significantly increase the overall employment of Black Americans in 2011.

President Barack Obama may have an excellent resume when it comes to attempts at bi-partisanship with the GOP but he seems to have an entirely different effect on his own party’s unity. Obama’s become a surprisingly polarizing figure within one of the most unified and consistent bastions of political power in the African American community: The Congressional Black Caucus.

For Black voters in Chicago, February 22 won’t mean much if the upcoming mayor’s race doesn’t play second-fiddle to what must be done in the Black community both beforehand and afterwards.

When I look at the data that define the reality for African Americans in the economy, I am often alarmed and discouraged. One in four African American lives in poverty. Nearly one in three is out of work, according to unofficial data (official data says one in six).

As we approach the Christmas season this year, it is important for African Americans and others to stress the necessity for freedom, justice, equality and peace in our communities across America and throughout the world. A “Black Christmas” should mean that this will also be the season for African American empowerment and stronger financial sustainability.

In the wake of the midterm elections and President Barack Obama’s recent deal with the Republicans on the Bush Tax cuts, a curious narrative seems to have occurred in the press

Are we finally post-partisan now that President Obama has found a way to help Americans on both sides politically while angering politicians on both sides simultaneously?

After carefully measuring their words for two years, frustrated progressives are becoming less reluctant to publicly express their disappointment concerning President Obama’s unwillingness to stand up for his principles amid a strident Republican campaign to politically neuter him.

Taken at face value, the latest Wikileaks release is in one word - disturbing.

In the weeks since the “shellacking” of the November 2 election, there has been much talk that the economy will turn around and, indeed, is on the mend. Both pundits and expert economists are saying the economic indicators are better. The recession is over, according to these indicators, and it is unlikely that we have a double dip recession. The stock market has done well this year. So why is the unemployment rate so high?

I want to salute some of the men and women for their volunteerism with Chicago Alternative Policing Strategies programs. They’ve persevered with passion and loyalty.

At the funeral of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Ronald Brown, President Bill Clinton made an announcement stunning to some but obvious to us. And that was had it not been for the Black vote, he would not have been elected president in l992 and re-elected in l996.

November 17 is not a day that usually rings out in the minds of most Americans and historians as significant. No one remembers any key deaths, births or events of national significance that occur on this day, nevertheless it should be.

The recent announcement of Ron Huberman’s resignation during the school year illuminates well the dysfunction in how leaders are chosen to lead our education system at Chicago Public Schools.

Right now there are millions of Democratic and Progressive voters who think that the world is coming to an end. The Republican sweep of government, which was much more substantial than most press reports are truly presenting, has left all too many people thinking that we’ve reached a nadir in American politics. Believe it or not the results of Tuesday’s elections are not entirely bad, unless you are a partisan Democrat. If you’re simply an American citizen this might be a sign that real progress is going to be made, at least on the national level.

Now that the mid-term elections are over and the politics of exaggeration appear to be catching less national attention, it is past time to focus on the economic condition and plight of 50 million African Americans. The devastating economic disaster of the Bush years has a lingering negative economic effect on everyone in the United States, especially for Black Americans.

There was something heady in the air on January 20 2009, so heady, hot and special that I barely felt the bracing cold as I sat outside to watch our President take the oath. There was hope was in the air and it was filled with high energy. There were pronouncements that this was a new, post-racial era. And even as I shared high hopes and high energy, I was skeptical of any post-racialsim. You see, in the same month that the first African American was inaugurated as President of the United States, another African American man, an unarmed Oscar Grant, was executed by transit police officer Johannes Mehserle who said he mistakenly shot his gun instead of his taser in Oakland, California. Grant, who was unarmed, handcuffed, and the father of a baby girl was pronounced dead on January 2, 2009.

For Republicans, the November 2 midterm elections were about 2012, not 2010. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made that clear in a speech to the Heritage Foundation. He said, “…The fact is, if our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill, to end the bailouts, cut spending and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things is to put someone else in the White House.”

Last Tuesday’s election results have far-reaching implications for the nation’s response to the AIDS epidemic and other health related issues in Black America. While the national media has focused attention on the “Tea Party” movement, most Republicans elected to Congress were mainstream conservatives. Yet all share a common political platform of deficit reduction, extending the Bush-era tax cuts, and hostility toward President Obama's signature legislative achievement: health care reform. These realities jeopardize the progress we've made so far toward ending the AIDS epidemic in Black communities and improving general health outcomes for Black people. They underscore the urgent need to reinvigorate our efforts to compel the nation’s decision-makers to address a health crisis that isn't going away.

Citizens against Government Waste have been filling the airwaves with ads during the past election season hoping to sway the public towards pro-corporate and mostly conservative causes.

I recently participated in a “Safety & Security Professional Development Workshop” at Hope College Prep.

It’s no secret – Illinois is in crisis. From the budget deficit to schools to the unemployed – we need answers.

Adolescence is a challenging time for virtually everyone. Discovering yourself, building your own identity, and finding your place in this sometimes confusing world is no easy feat.

There was a time when all you heard about Duke was winning NCAA basketball championships. But in recent years sex scandals with students have been the second major headline coming out of Durham, North Carolina.

Embattled mega church preacher Bishop Eddie Long came as close to confessing his sexual debauchery as any debaucher could come without actually confessing.

Television and movies often tell white viewers where to get stereotypical advice from. You’re facing a confict? Ask the quiet Asian shopkeeper around the corner from your house. Need financial advice? Ask the neurotic Jewish guy from accounting. Need advice about love and sex? Ask your overweight, sassy Black female friend or jive talking Black friend who works in the stockroom. Of course that leaves out certain people, if you’re a Black woman seeking relationship advice where do you go? Apparently the Brittish Broadcasting Company.

We are living through a very particular moment in American history. It is one in which diversity is increasing, while prosperity is decreasing. Barring great social movement, this is a formula for a battleground.

Not surprisingly, embattled Bishop Eddie Long turned to the Bible to defend himself against charges by four men who filed suit last week in which they charged that as teenagers, Long showered them with money, expensive gifts, cars, and international travel to entice them into having a sexual relationship with him.

As a new academic year starts, children around the country are going back to school and settling into new classes. Meanwhile, parents, educators, policy experts, and politicians are gearing up again to monitor and measure student learning—and preparing to ask the hard questions about whether or not the children in their care are getting the best possible education.

Today’s U.S. Census report on poverty in the United States is clarion call to our nation and our elected leaders. We in the United States possess the greatest resources and wealth ever known to humankind.

The 2009 poverty numbers were released last week, and things are a lot worse than many economists thought they would be. The poverty rate jumped up a full percentage point, from 13.2 to 14.3 percent. This means that one in seven Americans live in poverty, 4 million more than a year ago. This is the third year the level of poverty and the number of poor Americans has risen.

Black people all over the world have a rich and diverse historic legacy and a future that is full of promise, opportunity and prosperity if we continue our struggle for true freedom, justice and equality without engaging in self-denial, self-destruction, disunity or any form of mis-education.

Today’s U.S. Census report on poverty in the United States is clarion call to our nation and our elected leaders. We in the United States possess the greatest resources and wealth ever known to humankind.

The 2009 poverty numbers were released last week, and things are a lot worse than many economists thought they would be. The poverty rate jumped up a full percentage point, from 13.2 to 14.3 percent. This means that one in seven Americans live in poverty, 4 million more than a year ago. This is the third year the level of poverty and the number of poor Americans has risen.

A little over three months ago I was appointed as the new Director of the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategies Implementation Office.

On Friday, Ron Walters, Ph.D., professor of political science at the University of Maryland passed away quietly after a long battle with cancer. While perhaps not nearly as famous to the mainstream as Cornell West, Skip Gates or Michael Eric Dyson, Walters was for many African American academics, politicians and me, personally, an inspiration and a shining example of the responsibilities one carries along with their education.

In light of the new school year where over 400,000 cps students returned with the perception of hope, educational advancement, safety and security, and a safe passage initiative funded through a federal grant totaling at least $30 million dollars, it still seems that some youth continue to ascribe to destructive and deadly behavior.

Several weeks ago the Schott Foundation released "Yes We Can: The 2010 Schott 50 State Report on Black Males in Public Education". The report revealed that the overall graduation rate (2007-2008) for Black males in the U.S. was only 47 percent. Taken alone this statistic is alarming.

Last week the new employment news was not great. Unemployment jumped from 9.5 to 9.6 percent, the average unemployed American hasn’t had a job for over 27 weeks and the dreaded “double-dip” recession might be upon us.

The documentary “On The Frontline: Taking Back Our Streets,” produced by brothers David and Derek Grace of Grace Boyz Productions, focused on youth, gang and gun violence that has continued to plague primarily the black and brown communities of Chicago and what can be done to reach some attainable and realistic solutions.

Last year I wrote a piece entitled “Glenn Beck is my Kind of Revolutionary” which received a lot of attention precisely because I argued against conventional wisdom at the time and took a few well organized shots at Beck at the same time. A year ago, when Glenn Beck was ascending to his television peak the liberal left was borderline apoplectic about his rise to power.

The holy month of Ramadan represents the time where Muslims rededicate themselves to their faith and the practice of Islam. It is also a time to educate the world on what Islam is about.

On May 10, 2007, the precious jewel in our crown was violently taken from us when a teenaged gunman boarded a crowded bus on Chicago’s Far South Side and opened fire with a .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun. It struck five unintended and innocent teens. Four survived.

There will be a march this Saturday to commemorate the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Actually, there will be two marches, with the leaders of each claiming to be walking in your footsteps.

Back in March, I delivered a speech to an NAACP Freedom Fund banquet in my home state of Georgia. I drew on my personal life story to urge poor people, white and black, to pull together and overcome racial divisions. We have to understand that our struggle is against poverty and against those who are blocking our path out of poverty.

The federal court ruling to overturn the California voter supported same sex marriage ban initiative, Proposition 8, has set the stage for a major shift in American culture. The case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger challenging California’s definition of marriage as between a man and a woman will be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the die has been set.

In late July, both President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke to the National Urban League’s Centennial Conference about what the President called “an issue that I believe will largely determine not only African American success, but the success of our nation in the 21st century — and that is whether we are offering our children the very best education possible.”

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, you find out that you haven’t. It is difficult to process in a time of tragedy how some can politicize the moment. The Gulf Coast Region of the United States is encountering another disaster of monumental proportions. It’s not from a natural disaster created by an act of God like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The people of the Gulf are suffering from a man-made disaster created by an act of greed.

Although the NAACP and Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network have enthusiastically endorsed Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, two key legal groups have so far refrained from endorsing the former Harvard law dean amid questions about whether she would be a strong civil rights advocate on the court.

All of us have a responsibility to honor the leaders who came before us and paved our way. We have a special obligation to preserve the homes and other physical places that serve as a tangible connection between history and the next generation.

Recently the House Judiciary committee held a hearing over whether or not Comcast cable could continue with its takeover of NBC Universal’s stable of channels.

“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”

I hear some folks saying they want to take back their country. I want to take back our jobs.

At the Children's Defense Fund, we have been working to secure health coverage for all children for more than three decades. During that time, we and many others have been slowly filling in gaps in our health care system to help cover the uninsured.

Let's start at the beginning: the Federal Reserve system was started in secrecy by the most powerful and influential financiers in America almost a century ago, allegedly in response to a growing need for an organized central banking system.

As a co-founder and the current creative director of the Rancho La Puerta fitness resort and Golden Door spas, Deborah Szekely has long been known as a pioneer in health and wellness. My remarkable friend Szekely is now focusing on a new target audience: our nation's children.

A few months back, Marc Morial of the Urban League, Benjamin Jealous of the NAACP and I met with President Obama in the White House on a day that could best be described as troublesome and unpredictable.

Most news stories about a new study showing that 22 percent of Black male newlyweds and 9 percent of African American females marry outside their race neglected to report another major finding: When whites, Hispanics and Asians decide to marry outside their group, African Americans rank last in their choice of mates.

Imagine you have a roommate. You didn't necessarily want a roommate, but you live a pretty expensive lifestyle, and you'd rather have a roommate than budget your money better to actually afford your place.

Despite widespread global condemnation of Israel's decision to attack a flotilla of boats carrying unarmed civilians attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Srip, U.S. officials have refused to publicly criticize Israel and the American media has reported the conflict through what one media monitoring group called “Israel's Eyes.”

As colleges and universities across the country celebrated their students' accomplishments this commencement season, the news about the top student at the University of Notre Dame was especially inspiring for me.

In the midst of the national debate around how America should address its illegal immigration crisis, another discussion has arisen about what is America and who is America, as it relates to rights - civil rights particular.

Last week Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned for failing to keep key campaign promises after only being in office for nine months.

Recently, the U.S. Senate passed a financial reform bill by a vote of 59-39. Two Democrats crossed party lines, as did four Republicans to come up with the result. Now, the House, which has already passed financial reform legislation, and the Senate, will have to reconcile their versions of the bill.

The GOP's political attack plan is crude and transparent: Compare the Gulf spill to Bush's Katrina bumble, liken Obama to Bush and heap the same blame on him.

I recently wrote about new challenges to school integration in two North Carolina school districts.

A child is abused or neglected every 41 seconds, more than 2,000 every day. All children should be raised in safe, nurturing, and loving families. It is a tragedy when children are victimized by abuse or neglect.

It actually began last year, when there were serious signs that Blacks were not preparing to show up for several important elections.

When 1 in 5 women in America and 1 in 6 African American men or women are reportedly victims of sexual violence in this country we cannot sit by and let others suffer in silence because of our old fashioned puritanical views of sexual propriety.

It seems as if every time we turn on our television sets and tune in to the day’s news, we are almost immediately inundated with numbers and percentages from various polls.

I was among the many who were disappointed that President Barack Obama did not nominate an African American woman to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. After all, there are six white men, two women - one Latina and one white - and a nominal African American man on the court. Why not an African American woman?

Five years after Hurricane Katrina's swift but devastating assault on the Gulf Coast and my hometown of New Orleans, a slow moving but massive oil spill in the Gulf could have an even more devastating impact on the region's shoreline, wildlife, economy and people.

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan will plop an issue back on the nation's table that hasn't been seen or heard from or about in what seems like ages: affirmative action.

When we reflect on the civil rights struggle within this nation, we often focus - and rightfully so - on the works of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

There was mild surprise when a small contingent of black tea party bloggers and writers screamed loudly that Georgia Congressman John Lewis made up that he was spit on and called the N-word as he left the Cannon office building across from the Capitol in the hours before the final vote on the health care reform bill.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963, Letter from a Birmingham Jail

A couple of weeks after the May 4, 1970 killings of four students at Kent State by National Guards troops during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration, word spread throughout my high school regarding the killings of two Black students at Jackson State College (now University).

The abortion debate in America is dead. Most American's feelings on abortion are hardened by faith, gut instinct or personal experience and poll numbers show that attitudes towards abortion have not shifted much in the last two decades.

Arizona Senate Bill 1070 gives law enforcement officers the right to stop, question, arrest and detain any person they suspect is in the United States illegally. What gives rise to such suspicion?

Leave it to Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, to organize a panel discussion on the provocative topic: “Is Gay the New Black?”

President Obama wasted no time in denouncing Arizona's hard-nosed anti-immigration law.

I love the blog “Stuff White People Like.” The site promotes itself as a “tongue-in-cheek comprehensive list of everything left-wing, upper-middle-class Caucasians enjoy.”

When the so-called pro-gun demonstrators decided that April 19 would be their day to “march while packing” (weapons), the first thing that iIsaid to my wife was, "So, what would happen if hundreds of Black folks were to go to a national park

When Dr. Dorothy Irene Height sought a publisher for her memoirs, there was no bidding war.

The National Urban League joins the nation in mourning the passing of civil rights pioneer, Benjamin Hooks.

A few weeks back I was in my barbershop having the kind of demographically rich and entertaining conversation that popular culture now expects to occur in every Black barbershop in America.

Title I was created “to ensure all children a fair and equal opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.”

Although the National Urban League has been issuing the annual “State of Black America” report for 34 years, for some inexplicable reason, everywhere you look these days, some group is sponsoring a panel discussion titled the “State of Black America.”

Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was effusive when for the second year he called on the baseball world to remember Jackie Robinson and his achievements.

A couple of years ago I was invited to be a guest on the Jesse Lee Peterson radio show to debate The Passion of the Christ. (you can find it on YouTube) I had written a piece arguing that the movie was a fraud for using white Spanish actor Jim Kaviezel to depict Jesus when historical images show him to be a black African or a dark skinned Middle Eastern man.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan, said to be President Obama's leading choice to replace Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, would be a poor appointment and would be unlikely to mirror Stevens' progressive voting record.

On April 1, a critical tool of empowerment was put in the hands of our communities – the official 2010 Census form. Along with voting, filling out your Census questionnaire may be the most important act of empowerment any citizen can do.

Michael Steele has bungled money and staff, regularly mugs and grandstands on network talk shows, brags about being hip, a street guy, and even complains that he, as President Barack Obama, is also subject to a racial double standard.

A couple of years ago I was in the passenger's seat driving with a group of friends to dinner. As is often the case when you are the only single man in a car full of single women, the conversation moves to dating, marriage and the inevitable “who do you think is good looking?”

Two recent decisions by school boards in North Carolina are local signs of a troubling national trend towards resegregation in public schools.

Some will notice that the title of this missive comes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, when he challenged the war then being waged in the name of global anti-Communism that conflicted with fighting the evils of racism, militarism and materialism at home.

“Repeal and replace” has become the battle cry of Sarah Palin and the bulk of Republican Senators after the passage of comprehensive health care reform. They're rousing fears, threatening those with health insurance that their costs and taxes will go up.

I was never moved when I saw those old Sally Struthers ads telling me I should support a kid in Africa. First, I was pretty young at the time and second it all seemed so far away.

There never has been a time when Black folks in America did not have an agenda, from when we tried to avoid captivity in Africa to be sent here, to when we were in the holes of slave ships, or on plantations planning ways to survive and to escape, or those of us today still trying to obtain the promised vestiges of freedom and equality.

Despite efforts to depict the so-called tea bag protesters as part of an independent political movement, new polling data reveal that approximately three-quarters of them are Republicans or lean toward the GOP and 77 percent of them voted for John McCain in 2008.

The World Economic Forum released its Global Information Technology Report last week, providing an analysis of the network infrastructures of 133 countries.

t's a good thing that the Democrats passed health care reform last week. While it will still take some time for the bill to wind its way through the government this passage will allow the president to finally pivot to addressing other issues facing the nation. Most pundits suggest he focus on the economy, but I have a better idea.

Everyone would like to believe that even if your boss's wife doesn't like you that it won't affect your performance evaluation. We also want to believe that if our best friend's husband owns a struggling Ford dealership that she won't be mad when we drive up in a new Hyundai. But deep down, we all know this is not the case.

As we see during this current recession, there is an inordinate amount of unemployment in the African-American community.

Boys don't drop out in the 12th grade. They physically drop out in the ninth grade, but they emotionally and academically drop out in the fourth grade.

When First Lady Michelle Obama decided to launch the "Let's Move" campaign to fight childhood obesity, she brought much needed attention to a crisis facing millions of children. It's a special concern for children of color because new research shows Black and Hispanic children are disproportionally at risk for nearly a dozen factors that increase their chances to be obese.

I had several New Year's resolutions for 2010. I would hit the gym on the regular, call family more often and not write ONE word about Tiger Woods until he returned to golf.

Is the passage of health care reform a foregone conclusion? At this writing, Democrats lack enough votes in the House of Representatives to pass even a watered-down version of the initial legislation because, on the left, there is opposition to the absence of a public option and because, on the right, there are objections to market manipulations.

There's an old saying: "Don't bring a slingshot to a gunfight."

There has been much ado about the very public feud television commentator, Tavis Smiley, is having with civil rights activist, Al Sharpton, over Tavis' criticism of Black leadership reportedly saying that President Barack Obama doesn't need a "Black agenda" after recently visiting the White House. It's caused a firestrom of controversy, and a revival of the annual State of the Black Union conference that Smiley had discontinued.

The comedienne, talk show host and actress Mo'Nique has become just the fifth African- American woman to win an Oscar.

Michelle Obama has now challenged Americans to deal with the growing problem of obesity in children. Childhood obesity has tripled in the last thirty years. Nearly one-third of US children are now overweight or obese; nearly one in three will eventually suffer from diabetes. In the African - American and Latino communities, the proportion is almost one in two.

There are a lot of reasons why people end up going to college. Sometimes it’s because you can put a ball through a hoop or run really fast, perhaps you’re just really smart, and in some cases someone else is paying your way.

The closing of Chicago-area building trade union apprenticeship programs is a major setback for jobless adults enrolled in programs to help them get into the unions. But the inability of new workers to get jobs could wind up hurting contractors across the region if insufficient numbers of minorities and women are in the pipeline to meet government participation requirements.

Recently, the Congressional Black Caucus held a press conference and stated they wanted more attention given to the dismal unemployment rates in our communities. This was a noble and very responsible move on their part. There is something else they can do that will directly address the problem. It is right before our eyes and the time to act is now.

When people talk about the "achievement gap" at-risk children face, they often think of it in terms that apply to school-age children-but that gap can start much earlier than most people might guess.

Joseph Andrew Stack’s decision to fly his plane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas last week is going to be interpreted along two main camps.

As apologies go, the one delivered by Eldrick Woods was a doozy.

Time has passed since the Super Bowl and the glorious victory of the New Orleans Saints, but I find that I keep coming back to that game, and not for the reasons that you might think.

On March 15, the Democratic Central Committee will meet to choose a running mate for Gov. Pat Quinn in the November general election.

President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address is a testimony to the power of we: we, who dared to dream breaking the centuries-old color barrier at the White House was possible; we, who continue to fight for expanding voting rights; we, who battle tirelessly every election to maximize voter participation and minimize voter intimidation.

The votes are counted and the voters have spoken. Actually, the voters have yawned. They were under-whelmed by the collection of candidates that were on the ballot yesterday, and the turnout numbers tell more of a story than any election strategy or campaign ad.

The state of America's union is stark. The economic collapse triggered by the bursting of the housing bubble continues to take its toll.

It is rare to come across a story so heinous, disturbing and utterly baffling that you bypass your usual emotional reactions.

I don’t know when they decided to put Thanksgiving on a Thursday. It seems such an odd day, especially if you don’t have the Friday off. You eat like a crazy person, and then you have to go to work the next day, noticeably sluggish and laden with leftovers.

Chicago Public schools went through the past few years with a businessman Arne Duncan in charge. Duncan’s business acumen did little to improve school performance and student achievement. However, he did close some underperforming schools and accepted a few more charter schools, but overall the schools aren’t better or very safe.

Dear President Obama: My name is Jade Windon, 7th grade student at McDonogh 42 Charter School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mr. President, I write to you expressing how many of our lives continue to be affected today by the storm that happened almost four years ago.

Technology supposedly says a lot about your station in life. i-Phones are for folks who like a lot of bells and whistles while Blackberry’s are for the serious businessman. Macs are for cool urbane techies while PC’s are for stodgy old office drones. New research shows that being a Myspace or a Facebook person says a lot about you, too. I’m a Facebook guy, and according to recent studies that makes me a snobby middle class white kid.

Inasmuch as everyone is sharing stories about the thoughtfulness of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, I may as well add mine. While attending the national Democratic convention in Denver last August, I wrote a column about what he had to go through to attend the event.