This week (May 5-11) marks the official Public Service Recognition Week, a time to honor the people who serve at the local, state, and federal levels of government.

Following the Republicans' block of Senate's no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales yesterday (53-38, 7 short of the 60 needed), President W. offered this; "They can have their votes of no confidence, but it's not going to make the determination about who serves in my government."

So many people ask: "Is the United States ready for it's first black president?" However I think the real question is, "Will the American people be prepared to recognize the differences that we all share?" The truth of the matter is that we won't have a `black' president if Barak Obama is elected. If Obama is elected he will carry on the great American tradition of presidents who are racially and ethnically mixed. The attempts to stamp our current society with the false vestiges of time will not do. Today is not as black and white as the televisions once used to be.

     Dennis Prager's op-ed piece for WorldNetDaily today  hit a new low in the frantic fight to protect American culture, the newest front of which is apparently the controversy over Keith Ellison, America's first Muslim in Congress, wanting to take his oath of office on the Qu'ran. The possibility that forcing a Muslim Congressman to swear on Christianity's holy book might render the oath offensive, or worse, meaningless, nonwithstanding, the very idea that one must take an oath on a religious book for public office is divisive and contrary to the American spirit of democracy.