Coward. That's what the Attorney General of the United States just called you. A coward. No, you're not the only one who lacks the courage to do something unpleasant. Apparently the entire nation is, and just to make sure that he topped the icing with a nice red cherry, he also denigrated over 200 years worth of our majestic heritage. His words are forthcoming, but I want to make sure that you understand that in the mind of Mr. Eric Holder, the greatest nation on the planet is made up of a bunch of milquetoasts.

He must have gone to the same history class as our finally-proud-of-my-country First Lady. His exact words, according to an AP story were, “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.” He said, “we have always been” cowards.

Besides being both childish and elitist, I think it was a good strategy. I mean, didn't schoolyard insults always promote tolerance in your neighborhood?

This view of "Easter" would have astounded the early Christians. The followers of Jesus were avowed enemies of institutionalized religion. They had no time for formalism, for pious "Holy Days." Instead, they celebrated the victory of Jesus' risen presence each and every Lord's Day.

It is an insult to Jesus and a shame on our churches that "Resurrection Sunday" has been reduced to a once-a-year solemn ritual. The whole New Testament makes it clear that it is in the Lord's Supper - not in Christmas or Easter - that Jesus seeks to be remembered and honored by His people.

How often is a blank page better than one filled with words? It's clean, simple, and innocent. As words begin to fill the page, layers and folds appear. Each word carries a distinct idea and when joined to others, those ideas form doctrines,and  ideologies. They form statements that contain the potential with the proper influence to alter the course of history.

As an author, politician, journalist, or teacher pens down his heart, when he offers up his soul, depth appears. The two dimensional surface of a single piece of paper, stamped with black ink ignites one's mind, sets in motion a will to act, at times rationally, and at other times emotionally. From a single article, poem, or book our entire world could be won...or lost.

I have been thinking about having an operation. Although I have yet to ask my physician about the condition, my powers of self diagnosis are rarely wrong. I have, in fact, lived in this same body for over thirty years. The only hurdle to my surgically enhanced well-being is current medical technology. I'm not convinced that such a procedure has ever been performed, but after much discomfort and increased problems, I have done my best to put a name on this horrible disease.

Maybe, I really need a support group. Would any one of the ten of my readers like to join and provide me comfort and assistance? You may possibly have the same condition, remaining in denial after having lost all hope for a cure.

Well then, let's waste no more time. [Standing] Hello, my name is Michael, and I have ACS – Attenuated Craw Syndrome. That is, things just keep getting stuck there. I have tried everything that I know to do, swallowing hard, staying away from issues that are difficult to digest. You name it. I've tried it, but to no avail.

Early last spring, I read the amazing book entitled Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I was able to view and come to a greater understanding of the Islamic culture from a firsthand narrative. The book is an autobiography of a woman who endured some of the most horrific treatment that you might imagine all in the name of Islam. Skeptics have tried to argue that her situation was an isolated incident, but she contends that she watched the same maltreatments take place to every other girl around her as she grew up.

I challenge anybody to read this book and then describe to me how Islam can be described as a religion of peace. Islam is not a religion of peace. If anything, it is a religion of oppression of women. It is a religion of brutality, mutilation, honor killings (An honor killing is the title given to a murder committed by a father or brother because a lady did not live up to the honor of the family.), and worse. In fact, in a Muslim country, if a woman is raped, she is either killed or shamed for her 'crime.' The man who committed the rape, on the other hand, is allowed to go without any feeling of guilt or shame.

Irony – A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.

Whenever I meet this jester, irony, face to face, I normally get that “stranger than fiction” feeling, like I have a permanent P.O. box in the Twilight Zone. Just recently I read such an article that registered an 8.5 on the weirdness Richter scale. It would be funny if it wasn't so maddening. It would be hilarious, if it wasn't so ludicrous.

The crux of the article, you ask? Simply put, banks don't keep up with where your money has gone, neither to whom it has gone or how much. Remember the Big Do-Over that our “honorable” congressmen and representatives so hastily passed to the tune of almost $1 trillion? They first called it the bailout, then officially the Troubled Assets Relief Program, billing it as one thing and after its passage, changing the rules of the game on those who didn't want to play.

They did it. What the US House of Representatives couldn't initially do, the Senate did. They passed it like a steroid filled 700 billion pound kidney stone the size of Mt. Everest. They passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. At the behest of the people, all three governmental branches of the greatest representative democracy in the world just successfully opened the door to a fresh era of neo-socialism. They opened the door to an era in our nation where the government may begin to take complete care and control of your life. An era may begin where the Constitution matters less than fairness. It could be an era where tolerance eclipses truth. It could be, but it doesn't have to be.

Although the politicians kicked in the door to this new era and the investment gamblers cheered, we still have options. I don't believe we have crossed the threshold. I don't think we have reached the point of no return. We could get in the bread line and chalk it up to inevitability. We could rise up and “fight the power.”

According to at least one well known, ardent supporter of the newly elected president our entire world has changed. I'm told that we should no longer calculate earthly years in the Latin denomination of Anno Domini, (A.D.) but instead in terms of B.O. and A.O. Yes, that's right – Before Obama and After Obama. Even before this historic election, my Portuguese banker quipped that President elect Obama was the new messiah. His smile, the banker's not Obama's, although beyond my complete discernment floated somewhere between sinister and scornful.

All of Europe expected the United States to elect an African American president, because of his skin color, although no nation in the EU would ever even consider electing a minority candidate. Can you imagine Germany electing a Jewish chancellor? The national exit polls show us that 95% of African Americans voted for the candidate of their race. Yet, I am supposed to believe that we have now catapulted into a “post-racial” era. We are supposed to believe that we are suddenly beyond the capacity of discrimination...that we have reached a heightened level of consciousness. I don't buy it one bit.