Ready or not, a change is going to come. The gaps that have previously separated the semi have’s from the ultimate have-not’s are closing, and Americans are being bonded by a sense of urgency to see immediate change. Our beloved country is drowning her members unable to swim in deep waters. Meanwhile the rest of us are barely treading water, and becoming increasingly tired doing so. The mantra of change Barack Obama is running his campaign on isn’t popular because it’s catchy or clever; we’ve clung to the slogan because we’ve been quietly mumbling it to ourselves at home, to our friends and family, for the past seven and a half years.

For much longer than reasonable, we’ve been pushed against a wall where the option to be all you can be is diminishing. [Sidebar: Just after I typed the last word of that sentence a commercial for the US Army came on. It’s almost as if I wrote it into fruition. I’m not a superstitious gal, but to be sure… A check with the exact amount of money I’ll need to pay off my bills and my graduate school tuition will be in my mailbox tomorrow.] Self-actualization is beginning to seem elusive, like a fantasy Maslow concocted to get one over on future psychology students.

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It’s time we stop voting based on perception and stick with reality.

The following is a direct quote from Harold Perrineau, better known as Michael from “Lost.” He was asked by Entertainment Weekly to list the top ten dance moments from the last 25 years of television for their 1000^th issue. Here is his number four moment.

“Barack Obama dances with Ellen on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It’s the first time you got to see him be human. I signed on then.”

Read that quote again. Ponder it, reflect on it. Soon you will realize what I did: Perrineau essentially states that it wasn’t until he saw Obama cut a rug with Ellen that he felt the candidate deserved his vote.

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The Kentucky primary favored Senator Hillary Clinton by a wide margin while Senator Obama pulled ahead in Oregon’s primary. While the Democratic nomination is still up in the air and primaries are still being fought over, the message and tone of Obama’s campaign has changed in the last few days as he focuses on the general election in November. Yesterday’s results give Obama over half of all pledged delegates, 1,627 of 3,253 total, propelling his campaign to focus on bringing Democrats together to defeat McCain in the general election. Lately his messages have been on platforms widely shared with Clinton but he is highlighting differences with the Republican nominee.

Senator Clinton has not given up the fight, claiming that no one has officially reached the required number of delegates to secure the nomination. Her base of support that gave her victory in last week’s West Virginia primary gave her a large margin of votes in Kentucky with 65% of the vote. Clinton still argues that she has what it takes to defeat McCain and has a better change in the swing states needed in the November elections. Obama offsets Clinton’s claims by downplaying the idea his party will have trouble unifying in the fall.

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Institutionalized religion has almost always served as a political tool, but its jumbled dogmas befuddle our thinking. Democracy depends on rational thinking.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—share the same God and many of the same prophets give or take a holy man or two. We have to admit the benefits of religions. They have contributed to building civilization throughout history, spreading some level of moral consciousness and culture.

So, what’s all the fuss? Why do these portals to eternal life cause so much mayhem and destruction in the world today?

They’ve certainly served political purposes, unifying people under a similar belief and custom. The mega-religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—that surround us today, still benefit folks in some ways. They console and reassure us in times of trouble. Faced with confusing situations, we flock to religion for answers although usually simple and superficial, if not altogether illusionary.

Take the Lakewood Church in Huston, Texas, where Joel Osteen lifts people’s spirits by preaching a cheery version of the Bible, not an easy feat considering the Old Testament’s blood’n guts.

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I sat down with Michael Levine, founder of the public relations firm Levine Communications, to get some PR advice for the 2008 elections. Hollywood stars balance fame and fortune but not without the help of good pr that can cover up bad press and promote a star’s best qualities. The world of Hollywood glam and appeal seems to heavily mirror that of the modern political campaign: advertisement and a candidate’s character have a large impact on electability.

On the current Democratic nomination race, Levine doesn’t think the race is dragging on too long perhaps because he knows things can change at any minute in such a volatile industry. The Democrats have time to recover before November as long as there are no major incidents such as the recent Reverend Wright factor. Levine does note that an important factor in the elections will be experience which McCain and Clinton rely heavily on to boost support.

But from an outside public relations perspective he believes the experience factor will actually favor Senator Barack Obama and not the others.

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The Republican funded Freedom’s Watch, supposed to be a counterpart to the liberal Move On, is imploding, plagued by gridlock and infighting.  Sound familiar? Funded by casino mogul Samuel Adelson, Freedom’s Watch was supposed to be an important advocate of Republican issues in an election year. The problem was, they couldn’t agree on the issues, and when they did, Adelson didn’t want to fund them, showing rare sense for a billionaire, since their first idea was bad-mouthing Iran and pushing for a military strike against Tehran.

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Yes She Can. Senator Hillary Clinton managed to get a much needed victory in Pennsylvania yesterday against Senator Barack Obama. Victory meant she needed to win by at least 8%, and she managed to pull 55% of the vote to Obama’s 45%. Clinton’s base supporters make up a large portion of the state’s population where blue collar voters gave Clinton the win. Another major factor was the large number of Catholics in Pennsylvania who favored Clinton by 70%. Senator Clinton was favored among female and older voters while Senator Obama remained stronger with younger and new voters. Obama outspent Clinton in the state by three times as much and his efforts do show in the polls because there were high numbers of newly registered voters that voted in his favor.

So how do the results from yesterday’s primary change the race to the nomination? They don’t. Senator Clinton is claiming she will fight and she can win. Barack Obama is claiming he is still victorious overall and will win in November. The same arguments both candidates previously made are still valid and will continue as they move ahead to Indiana and North Carolina.

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1) Post Strike Blues.

Your favorite shows are in reruns. Michael Johns just got unjustly booted from American Idol. Someone told you that the NHL Playoffs are on right now, but you think that’s just an unfounded rumor (does the NHL still actually exist? Can anyone confirm or deny?)

Sounds like the perfect time to go rent BBC’s 6-part miniseries “State of Play,” an absolute blast that is part thriller, part political intrigue, part melodrama, and a lot of journalistic fun. “State of Play” mostly represents everything U.S. television is not; smart, well-acted, significant, and a sense of when to call it quits.

2) It’s only 6 hours.

Unlike U.S. television, which milks series like “Prison Break” that should have ended in development but at most should have ended with season 1, those Brits know how to leave you wanting more. After “The Office” signed off after 12 episodes and one special, State of Play is a 6 hour miniseries and that’s it. No long-term commitment required, just don’t expect to stop watching after you’ve gobbled up episode 1.

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Hailing a cab is one of those techniques New Yorkers have learned from a young age. If they moved to Los Angeles, they’d have trouble using their skills. One unique fact about the bustling town of Los Angeles is that unlike most metropolitan areas, cabs are not coloring the busy streets yellow. The reason there are so few cabs in the busy streets of this city is because they can’t stop.

Contrary to popular myth, it is not illegal to hail a cab but it is illegal for cabs to impede traffic or park illegally. Since almost all areas in Los Angeles are notorious for heavy traffic, taxi cabs find it difficult to stop without risk of large fines. Cabs will still pull over in these areas, but it is not without risk which many drivers are not willing to take. Taxi drivers are claiming that these regulations are hurting business and making it difficult to make ends meet. General Manager of Yellow Cab of Los Angeles claims that his drivers spend around 60% of their time waiting at designated stands. One cab driver had accumulated over $300 of tickets for stopping in a red zone and dropping off a disabled passenger in a bus zone. Parking enforcement hands out numerous tickets to cab drivers for small violations; sometimes the fines are larger than the earned fare making it hard for cab drivers to earn a living. That doesn’t even include the rising cost of gasoline that is hurting all businesses. As Los Angeles grows in population and traffic, there seems a benefit to creating a taxi-cab culture similar to other large cities.

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The key to the Democratic nomination may come down to the Keystone State, and many are hoping it will. The outcome of the Pennsylvania primary on April 22^nd means a lot for the current contenders to the nomination: Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Senator Clinton knows that this primary can be the end to her hard-fought and persistent campaign. Even if she acquires victory in this state, a close margin between the two candidates will give her a sign that staying in the race will have more negative consequences to the Democratic Party than possible personal gains.

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George Bush uses the Christian faith and its symbols to work miracles for winning political battles. Let’s hope the American voters become savvy about these tricks.

Sometimes, when seeking inspiration, I hang out on the lower side of San Pedro, LA’s harbor area, where I talk to the homeless people and those who inhabit another dimension. Other times I just walk down the street to a Catholic Church and hang out with the parishioners. After talking with acquaintances there, I realized many people had actually voted for G.W. Bush simply because he talked about God. In this regard, Bush has mastered modern politics, so let’s give him credit for manipulation at least.

Then, alas, the questions came to me. Does the local church reflect the nation’s way of thinking? Is a man who talks of God necessarily a follower of Christ’s teachings? Does God-talk make a man more moral? Then I recalled how my good friend Machiavelli once told me how he set down one of the most explicit doctrines for modern politics while advising a sixteenth-century prince, counseling him to do whatever was practical for the sake of power, and that it was highly effective to use moral principles and especially religion to achieve success.

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Are suicide bombers similar to others who commit suicide? Do they derive their motivations from the same sources?

There were more than four suicide bombings just last Monday to mark Cheney’s visit to Iraq. A woman entered a mosque in Karbala, killing dozens and wounding another hundred. What drove her to this?

When Mahmoud Marmash, a young bachelor, blew himself up near Tel Aviv, in 2001, he took several Jews with him, perhaps to the same afterworld, or maybe not. “I want to avenge the blood of the Palestinians.” From a poor community– he grew up where many people despair in poverty and hopelessness– Mahmoud’s act is difficult for many of us to understand. We wonder what would push a person to such extremes?

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