http://www.nypress.com/articles.sec-14-1-columns-politics.html WE ARE IN A DIRE SITUATION. We are at a crossroads. We are living in an unprecedented era. We must do something now. If you believe all the pronouncements, proselytizing and punditry (and the requisite media hype), then we are undergoing an extraordinary shift in the way in which Americans will live their lives, as well as a renewal of faith in our politicians to do something about it—which means it’s a perfect opportunity for agitprop and activism to take hold yet again. At least that seems to be the argument from a recent upsurge in politically minded documentaries that seek to rouse a lazy populace once content to shop away all fears—both foreign and domestic.]]> TRADITIONALLY NEW YORK PRESS has not endorsed in local elections—unless it was meant as ridicule. But times have changed.This is only the second time we’ve endorsed a mayor (an entirely different editorial board and publisher “satirically” endorsed Fernando Ferrer in 2005), and nowadays we take the entire process seriously.]]> You need help. No, seriously…you are in desperate need of an intervention. Ever since November 2nd, you have become addicted to all things Barack Obama. You’re so hooked you’ve even given his wife a fashion award just for dressing better than Barbara and Laura Bush (not a hard task by any stretch of the imagination), thinking that Michelle’s approval will bring you closer to his heart and once that’s done, he’ll give you what you’ve been needing: passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA); the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); and the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT).]]> It shouldn’t take a genius to point out that getting a new publicity photo is not a good reason to conduct a low altitude flight of Air Force One—complete with a F-16 fighter jet in hot pursuit—over the skyscrapers and monuments of New York City. But there you have it, on April 27; officials at the White House proving that sense ain’t always so common after all. And while most New Yorkers experienced a collective feeling of ‘here we go again, more in-flight drama in the skies above Manhattan,’ my particular déją vu skewed more toward the realization that I had seen this kind of bureaucratic bullshit before.]]> Just when you thought it was safe to be gay, along comes Carrie Prejean, the runner-up in the Miss USA contest, who may have totally destroyed all hope of ever achieving full equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community when she so astutely stated, “We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman.”]]> You may have heard. During Sunday’s Miss USA pageant openly “gay” activist and pageant judge Perez Hilton – the self-styled “Queen of Media” – ambushed Carrie Prejean – the openly Christian Miss California – with a politically loaded question on so-called “same-sex marriage.” Prejean’s candid answer – as both Hilton and Miss USA organizer Donald Trump later admitted – likely cost her the crown. ]]> Being a native of Kansas, you can imagine my delight when I learned that Oz, the critically-acclaimed HBO series from the late 1990s, wasn’t some lame update of the Frank L. Baum classic featuring Dorothy and the Scarecrow. Instead, it was a gritty, sweaty, nasty prison drama full of gritty, sweaty, nasty men all sharing the same living space 24 hours a day with not a woman in sight.]]> I love Rihanna. I’m firmly convinced that if she and I were to ever meet, we’d become instant BFFs. But as much as I adore that cute Caribbean pixie, I won’t use this column to join the chorus of well-meaning public figures imploring her to leave her abuser and then further demanding that Chris Brown be brought to justice. These efforts, while commendable, are all just part of the all-too-repetitive song and dance where, every few years, a famous woman makes headlines not for her musical or cinematic hits but for the physical hits visited upon her face and body by an intimate partner.]]> You have to hand it to the Republicans; they sure do know how to pick 'em. To counter their reputation of being the party of old, crotchety white men bellowing on talk radio that they are losing the country to the blacks, the browns and the gays, the Grand Old Party has recently put forward a couple of new faces of color.]]> I'm a huge fan of the Olympics. Nothing gets my red-blooded American fists pumping in the air with more patriotic glee than watching our nation’s finest athletes put a world-class whoopin’ on perennial powerhouses like Belgium and Botswana. So just imagine my shock when I learned that Michael Phelps— the 14-time gold medal–winning, 23-year-old Olympian—had been photographed smoking marijuana last year. ]]> 2008 WAS CERTAINLY a year of extraordinary accomplishment for African-American politicians. Barack Obama was elected as the nation’s first black president. David Paterson became the first African- American governor of New York. Eric Holder was nominated to be the first black Attorney General. And Roland Burris became the first black man appointed to the Senate by a governor caught on a wiretap trying to sell that very same Senate seat for straight cash. Damn, Damn, DAMN!!! The media circus that was already surrounding Governor Rod Blagojevich due to Federal corruption charges has now become a bona fide and racialized clusterfuck. And I blame Roland Burris. And Illinois Representative Bobby Rush. And New York Congressman Charlie Rangel. ]]> In his first act as President-elect of the United States, Barack Obama has named Cindy McCain to the newly created post of National Director of White Privilege. The Obama Transition Committee&]]>