Joseph is perhaps best known for the role of Lt. Martin Kendall, Lisa Bonet’s husband, on the hit series "The Cosby Show." He was also a three time NAACP Image Award Nominee for his portrayal of Attorney Justus Ward on the Daytime Drama "General Hospital." For two seasons he appeared as Mayor Morgan Douglas on the CBS series "The District," recurred as Marcus Johnson on the hit CBS series "Without A Trace" and most recently appeared as JT Morse on the Fox Series "Vanished." He has had guest starring roles on "C.S.I.: Las Vegas," "Jack and Bobby," "The King of Queens," "Judging Amy," "Family Law," "Martin," "The Larry Sanders Show," "City of Angels," "Any Day Now," "The Parkers," "Popular," "V.I.P.," and "Living Single," among others.
His feature film credits include starring roles in "Strictly Business," "Let’s Talk About Sex," and "Midnight Blue." Phillips’ many theatrical credits include starring roles in the Broadway production of "Six Degrees of Separation," the Kennedy Center and American Playhouse productions of "A Raisin in the Sun," starring Danny Glover and Esther Rolle, and the off- Broadway production of "Coriolanus" with Christopher Walken and Irene Worth. Mr. Phillips also had the honor of creating the title role in "Dreaming Emmett," Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison’s only theatrical play. Joseph’s solo performance piece, "Professor Lombooza Lomboo" was a featured production at the 12th annual National Black Theatre Festival and the 2001 Minnesota Fringe Festival.
Mr. Phillips is also a syndicated columnist. His column “The Way I see It” appears weekly in more than 30 publications across the country including The Columbus Post, The Los Angeles Wave, Akron Reporter, The Michigan Chronicle, The Michigan Front Page, The Chicago Defender, the New Pittsburgh Courier, The Tri-State Defender, Long Beach Times, The Atlanta Daily World, Miami Times, Tempo News and the web daily’s Blackamericatoday.com, Blacknews.com, EURweb.com, attackmachine.com, Netlistings.com, Michaellwilliams.com, JewishWorldReview.com, BlackAmericasWeb.com, and PoliticalVanguard.com. His essays have been published in Newsweek, Los Angeles Daily News, Essence Magazine, Upscale, USA Today, CNN.com, Turning Point, College Digest, BET.com, and the Indianapolis Recorder. Joseph has also contributed commentary to Paula Zhan, "BET Tonight," "BET Nightly News," "The Dennis Miller Show," "America’s Black Forum," "Baisden After Dark," "Black Men Revealed," was for three years a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s "the Tavis Smiley Show," appeared as a regular commentator on NPR’s "News and Notes," and currently offers regular commentary on American Urban Radio Network's "Straight Talk." His first book, He Talk Like a White Boy, is currently available wherever books are sold.
Acting and writing are just two of Joseph’s many passions. His interest in community service has led to Mr. Phillips involvement with the Special Olympics, The Green Chimneys Foundation, of which he was an advisory board member, The Red Cross, and the Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles. Phillips is an ambassador for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America and is the face of Project Alpha for the March of Dimes.
He has been a visiting speaker for organizations such as Young Americas Foundation, The Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, Central State University, Columbus State Community College, Orange County Black Chamber of Commerce, California Community Renewal Summit, California Pro-Life, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Black America’s Political Action Committee, Council for African-American Republican Leadership, Colorado Sickle Cell Foundation, Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, The United States Post Office, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Youngstown University, California State University At Northridge, Kansas State University, Susquehanna University, Central Washington University, Towson State University, Pepperdine University, The Green Chimney’s Foundation, Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club, Fullerton College, The Chicago Black Expo, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Mountain View Community Church Elections Forum, and at elementary and primary schools across the country.
Mr. Phillips has taught acting workshops at the National Black Theatre Festival, The College of William and Mary, California State University Long Beach, Louisiana State University, Delta State College, Canoga Park High School, and The Lutheran School.
Joseph is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Actors Equity Association, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, was National Co-Chair of the African American Steering committee for Bush/Cheney ’04, was named a member of the Republican National Committees African American Advisory Board, was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the state board of directors of the California African American Museum, and was named a 2005 Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow.
An interest in Law resulted in Joseph’s acceptance to Rutgers University School of Law—an auxiliary career path he has put on hold. He is also a graduate of culinary school and has had recipes published in Soap Opera Digest, Essence Magazine, and the best selling cookbook, "Cooking with Regis And Kathy Lee." He is the Celebrity Chairman for Real Men Cook, Los Angeles.
However, his greatest passion is Nicole, his wife of 14 years, and their three children, Connor (11), Ellis (9), and 7 year-old Samuel.
Joseph C. Phillips
Health Care and the Moral Imperative
by Joseph C. PhillipsI am always troubled by those in government claiming they have a moral imperative to enact this or that policy. A little digging often reveals that their motives are more self serving than moral. I am doubly troubled when those raising the moral banner tend to reject the very idea of an objective morality applicable to all men at all times.
Such is the case with liberal Democrats and their insistence that the moral laws of the universe – laws that have been with us since God breathed life into man (or as some would have it when we rose from the primordial soup) – command Government to supply every citizen (and many that aren’t) with health insurance.
But as is generally the case all we need do is scratch the surface and the truth reveals itself.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, John Cassidy of the New Yorker lets the cat out of the bag when he writes on The New Yorker website that we must be clear about what the reform amounts to. “The U.S. government is making a costly and open-ended commitment,” Cassidy writes. “The Obama Administration . . . is creating a new entitlement program, which, once established, will be virtually impossible to rescind.” And why are they doing it? Again the WSJ quotes Cassidy: Because “ObamaCare serves the twin goals of making the United States a more equitable country” and furthering the Democrats’ “political calculus.” In other words, the purpose is to further redistribute income by putting health care further under government control, and in the process making the middle class more dependent on government. As the party of government, Democrats will benefit over the long run.” (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
A New Morning of Race in America
by Joseph C. PhillipsOn the issue of race in America there is something in the air. Shakespeare’s melancholy Dane might say it is the “scent of morning;” our president would call it a “teaching moment.”
A lawsuit filed in the district court of East St. Louis alleges that Mayor Alvin Parks and City manager Robert Becks refused to hire Ronald Grimming, a former top commander of the Illinois State Police and former Director of the Florida Highway Patrol as the city’s police chief because he is white.
Plaintiffs Wyatt Frazer and Della Murphy, former members of the Police, Fire and Civil Service board, allege that shortly after Parks was elected he let his bias be known rejecting their recommendation of Grimming because in his words, “the city was not ready to hire a white police chief.” At Parks’ recommendation the city later hired Michael Braxton, a Black candidate with considerably less experience. Braxton resigned earlier this year following allegations that he has mishandled murder cases and engaged in race based hiring practices.
Frazer and Murphy further claim that for their advocacy of white candidates for other jobs in the municipality they were forced off the board. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Playing for Keeps
by Joseph C. PhillipsI was an innocent – not pure as the driven snow, but certainly unwise as to the level of the stakes at which we were playing. I entered the debate believing it would be an intellectual exercise; we would joust with each other and after it was all over shake hands and exit with mutual respect. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Mutual respect? The black panelists on my side of the question were called uncle toms, the white member was accused of seeking to repeal the civil rights act. Honesty? No lie was too large to tell; statistics were made up, facts were created to suit the argument. And there would be no shaking of hands at the conclusion of the debate, in fact barely a graceful word was spoken. It was in that moment I realized the left not only disagreed with me; they hated me. I was not only wrong; I was evil. That slap in the face knocked the rose colored glasses from my eyes and I am now seeing clearly: we are in the midst of a cultural and ideological war and while Conservatives concern themselves with civility and rules, progressives are playing for keeps.
It is a continuing fascination for me that conservatives are constantly depicted as wearing Jackboots and engaging in intimidation, violence and general thuggery. However, current events suggest that more often it is the new left that is wearing jack boots and not the right.
For instance who was doing the goose-stepping when radio host Rush Limbaugh was booted from an investment group trying to buy the NFL franchise St. Louis Rams? The new left lied and slandered Limbaugh with the aim of denying him an economic opportunity. Denying a man opportunity because we don’t like what he believes, what he says or what he looks like is (or should be) anathema to a free society. Shame on Dave Checketts and Roger Goodell for giving in to cheap intimidation and ideological bigotry! By their cowardice we are all diminished. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
What is Pornographic? What is Hip?
by Joseph C. PhillipsWhat exactly does “affordable” mean?
A very good friend of mine has lately taken me to task for my opposition to a single payer, universal medical coverage. She argues that she is one of those the president speaks of when describing Americans that do not have “affordable” health insurance. She has a pre-existing condition and coverage is expensive. When I point out that while the cost of her coverage may be high it is certainly affordable (in that she is managing to pay for it) she rejects the argument on the basis that the high cost eats into other equally important expenses. When pressed to define exactly how much an affordable health insurance plan would cost her answer sounds an awful lot like what some folks refer to as free. Like many Americans her ideal is that she should receive the most comprehensive coverage – care for illnesses minor and major — for little or nothing; health coverage is, after all, a right.
Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote of hard-core pornography: “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it.” The position that policy and law should not be based on reason, fact and/or moral certainty, but on the infallible conclusions of judges or political leaders was later rejected by Stewart as untenable; no surprise, then, that it has been adopted as a cornerstone of progressive politics. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
A Political Warranty
by Joseph C. PhillipsIn his first year in office former president Bill Clinton, who had run as a centrist, was drawn into the new left vortex of socialized healthcare, which led to a resounding defeat for Clinton and the Democrats in the 1994 mid-term elections. Current President Barack Obama too is attempting to reform healthcare and like Clinton has seen his popularity sink. Some political pundits are drawing comparisons between the two administrations and positing that democrats are setting themselves up for a bit of a spanking come 2010. It is, as Shirley Bassey sang, “all just a little bit of history repeating.”
Or is it?
In 1994 the political right offered voters something more than simply criticism of the President. Republican members of the House of Representatives presented voters with the “Contract with America.” This document, signed by all but two Republican congressmen and all of the Republican congressional candidates, detailed the specific legislative action Republicans would take if the American people handed them the reigns of government. The contract was a “detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.” (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Health Care Analogies
by Joseph C. PhillipsIt is good that the President has ceased attempting to sell his public option health care initiative on the strength of a comparison to the United States Postal Service. Americans will not soon be convinced of the economic viability of an expansion of public healthcare when it is compared to an entity on track to lose $7 billion this year. This past summer the Government accountability office put the postal service on its high risk list because of its “increasingly shaky financial footing,” and in the spring Post Master General John Potter asked Congress for permission to cut delivery service back to 5 days per week and close 700 offices nation wide. This is not the sort of talk that inspires confidence that a government takeover of the healthcare industry is the answer to our fiscal tribulations.
It is bad that the President, demonstrating what can only be described as intellectual density, has chosen instead to compare his public option to our system of state colleges and universities. This is particularly ironic given the fact that the cost of higher education has been skyrocketing for years and has in fact outpaced that of healthcare. Even more ironic is that according to the College Board’s annual tuition survey, the rate of growth of the price of public 4 year colleges has been faster than at private 4 year colleges; a trend that has persisted for 3 decades. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Racial Schizophrenia
by Joseph C. PhillipsSpeaking to NBC News Anchor Brian Williams, former president Jimmy Carter (who was taking a breather between having tea with dictators and lunatics) proffered that not only was South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson’s inappropriate outburst during President Obama’s speech before a joint session of congress fueled by racism, but the wider opposition to Obama is also based on the fact that Obama is black. Said Carter: “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African-American.”
During Obama’s 400th speech defending his plans to reform healthcare the president responded to charges that the proposals before congress would provide healthcare for illegal immigrants. The President called the charges false whereupon Wilson forgot his home training (or lost his mind) and called the President a liar.
As it happens, similar words were falling from my own lips at that very same moment. I think most people recognize that a private citizen calling the President a liar in the privacy of their living rooms is rather a different animal from elected officials doing so during a Presidential address. I would also like to believe that most thinking people recognize that boorish is not the same thing as racist. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Feel Good Policy
by Joseph C. Phillips
The message began to pop-up all over my Facebook page: “No one should die because they cannot afford health care or insurance and no one should go broke or bankrupt because they get sick.” Let us set aside the fact that no one in need of emergency life-saving medical care is denied because they do not have insurance and that there are state and federal programs already in existence that provide medical coverage for those of lesser means. I agree with the sentiment. I dare say I know of no one that doesn’t agree. There is simply no questioning the potential calamity that awaits those without some form of medical coverage.
There is also no questioning that in life there are a great many things for which “no one should.” For instance it is equally tragic when people lose their homes due to unemployment, go hungry because they can’t pay for a meal or shiver at night because they lack adequate clothing. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Revolution Anyone?
by Joseph C. PhillipsBarack Obama hired Anthony “Van” Jones as a special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Jones is an admitted “rowdy Black nationalist” and “communist” who was also a co-founder of the communist revolutionary organization STORM: Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement.
Quick question: how many Marxists, Communists, Domestic Terrorists and raving racialists does the President get to associate with before reasonable people can assume that the president on some level shares their particular vision of America?
While perusing the manifesto of this now defunct STORM, several things struck me as particularly interesting. There was of course the passionate commitment to Marxist ideals, radical feminism, gay lesbian and transgender liberation and the ardent support of the unrepentant murderer Mumia Abu Jamal. And there was this rather innocuous looking paragraph, which I found especially fascinating. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
The Real Myth of Healthcare
by Joseph C. PhillipsOne of the more pernicious myths surrounding the debate over healthcare is the oft repeated claim that conservatives do not want reform. Nonsense! What we do not want is the warm bucket of snake oil currently being sold to the American people by this administration. Conservatives have long argued for the need to reduce mandated benefits, reduce the reliance on third-party payers and get rid of public policies that hinder entrepreneurship and innovation. This is the kind of reform conservatives want – the right kind of reform.
Because the number of Americans that are actually denied medical care is zero, the administration has chosen to cite the fact that 47 million Americans lack medical insurance (another myth) as the reason for its urgency in passing a huge bill that congressmen can’t be bothered to read. Why, just yesterday the administration and its army of sales people began to talk about health insurance reform; this after years of hearing about the need to reform healthcare. Ahh! The power of focus groups. Now we need single-payer universal healthcare to bring down costs (prices) and to protect the sick from “discrimination” at the hands of evil insurance companies. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Next Up: Town Halls on Race?
by Joseph C. PhillipsWhat would a town hall on race look like? I do not mean the aesthetics – the color of the carpet or where panelists would sit, but the guts of it – the substance. I am pondering the question because I was recently asked to help organize and participate in a series of such discussions across the country and for the life of me I can’t understand what the purpose would be.
I am not one that believes Americans do not talk about race or that we are cowards when it comes to the issue. Indeed Americans chatter about race all the time. After football, analyzing the issue of race seems to be our national pastime. I suppose it’s to be expected as the issue of race and racial equality is woven into the fabric of our country. But we have a very particular and stubborn framework within which we discuss the issue – race equals virtue.
For instance, the President’s recent Supreme Court nomination was more about race than it was jurisprudence – Justice Sotomayor’s race, her views on race and, once seated on the court, whether members of her ethnic group will now favor one political party over the other. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
ObamaCare: From the People Who Brought You the Post Office
by Joseph C. PhillipsThe narrative currently being written by the new left posits that opposition to their attempts to reform health care is fueled by political impotence, crackpot extremism and racism. Alas, elected officials demonstrating contempt for the people they represent has sadly become the rule rather than the exception. Calling the American people Nazis and fools may make a more compelling story than the truth, but it will not alter the fact that Americans simply do not want the expensive, top-heavy government healthcare boondoggle currently being stuffed down their throats.
The new left is always convinced they are the smartest folks in the room. We hear some version of their arrogance all the time: they know better how manage our retirement dollars; they know better how to manage private industry, they know better how to deliver health care. The American people may be many things, but contrary to the tale being spun by the new left, they are not a bunch of dull-witted penny stinkers. Even when our math is poor our noses can smell a pile of political doggy doo a mile away. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Read the Bill!
by Joseph C. PhillipsThe current philosophy of governance – and this includes governance of the democrat and republican variety-is that there is tremendous capacity in government to better the lives of average folks; it is the power of administrative policy that can end poverty, cure disease, and ultimately save the planet. It is, alas, also the promise of happiness written in capital letters that entices “we the people” to grant government ever greater powers with which to work their magic. Can’t find any authority in the constitution for the actions of our government? “Why man, they are engaged in the serious business of saving humanity!”
Woe to those that forget that the church is in the business of virtue; government is in the business of power. To mistake one for the other is to, in the one case risk the loss of your soul, in the other the loss of your liberty.
It all sounds a bit hysterical, I know, but I believe in math and two and two still makes four.
Consider the words of John Conyers (D-Mich). During a speech at a luncheon for the national press club Conyers questioned the point of lawmakers reading the Healthcare bill. There is no point in reading a bill that is 1000 pages long, said Conyers if you don’t “have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”
Conyers is correct. And I am just cynical enough to believe that the length and legalese is purposeful. The door to interpretation and regulatory enforcement by bureaucrats must be left ajar. What we learn from Conyers is that the big picture is what is important. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Reflections on Marriage
by Joseph C. PhillipsI suppose after 15 years of marriage I should stop wondering aloud how on earth I ended up with this woman. Least ways I should stop wondering aloud when my lovely wife is within earshot. Not that after so many years it matters much, but the truth is that I don’t know how we ended up together.
We had our first date 20 years ago and if anyone at the time had told me that the silly girl with the wild red hair would be the mother of my children and my life’s partner I would have laughed out loud. Bachelorhood was too much fun. Besides I had a very definite mental picture of what my wife would look like – what her personality would be – and frankly she just didn’t match it. The workings of the heart continue to amaze me. The brain plans and strategizes and works overtime attempting to get the loins and heart on the same page. The loins are always eager to cooperate; the heart, however, is not a team player. The heart is constantly going off on its own mucking up the works. Such was the case for me. In time I found myself longing for the silly redhead. All my intellectualizing failed to win my hearts cooperation. I realized I couldn’t live without her.
She of course tells a different story. According to her she knew after our first date that I was her one and only; that no other man would do. Honestly, who can blame her? (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Other Than That, Professor Gates, How Was Your Trip?
by Joseph C. PhillipsUpon his return from an overseas trip Henry Louis Gates and his driver were attempting to open the front door, which was jammed shut. A passer-by noticed the men forcing the door open and phoned the police. By the time Sergeant James Crowley, the responding police officer, arrived Gates was inside his home. Crowley asked Gates to step out of his home and show some identification, which according to Crowley, the professor produced only after accusing the police of hassling him because he is a “Black man living in America” and saying something about Crowley’s mamma. The situation continued to escalate until finally Gates was arrested for creating a public disturbance.
Unfortunately, rather than using this incident as an opportunity to have an honest and substantive conversation about stereotypes and race, racialists of every stripe have high-jacked the discussion in order to continue a one-sided discussion focusing on Black victim-hood. One such racialist is our post-racial President Barack Obama.
During his Wednesday evening press conference the President claimed that Gates was the victim of racial profiling and that the Cambridge Police “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates for breaking into his own home. Alas, the president was tall on rhetoric, but short on facts, which was surprising (or perhaps not) given that the conference questions were pre-approved and he knew to expect it. Contrary to the President’s assertion- Gates was not profiled. The police were responding to a report of a possible break-in at Gates home. Nor was Gates arrested for breaking into his own home. He was arrested for disorderly conduct. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
U.S.A. vs. Canada: The Healthcare Debate
by Joseph C. Phillips
In May of 2004 the New York Times published an article entitled “Health Care Leads Other Issues in Canadian Vote.” The substance of the article was that in the elections that were upcoming, the future of the Canadian health care system was the predominate issue. On the one side were liberals seeking to reverse the trend of privatizing diagnostic services and increase federal aid to provincial governments. On the other conservatives were trying to increase private sector involvement as a way to lower costs and increase service. In spite of the Canadians patriotic zeal for their system, the article makes it clear that there was a growing recognition among citizens and politicians that the system was in the words of the Times, “ailing.” The waiting times for care were growing longer not shorter, the availability of doctors and nurses was becoming sparse especially in rural areas, opinion polls during the previous decade indicated a rising dissatisfaction with medical services and most significantly the cost of delivering medical care had grown so expensive that many provinces were being forced to “trim their budgets for education and other vital services.” Mind you this information came not from the Heritage Foundation but the New Liberal paper of record: The New York Times. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Jenny Sanford for Senate
by Joseph C. PhillipsThe schadenfreude of the new left over the public unraveling of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford suggests that when it comes to the issue of public officials and private morality, they are possessing of a particularly twisted logic, to say nothing of a rather short memory. It was not long ago that liberals were passionately arguing that it was only sex and that of course any self-respecting man lies about sex. In full voice they sang the immortal words of Tina Turner, “What’s love got to do with it?”
It was even more recently that San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom (D) confessed to having an affair with the wife of his campaign manager and good friend. Senator Diane Feinstein’s (D-CA) response? “Look, we all make mistakes.” Sanford’s indiscretion is greeted by the left with derision (and with censure by South Carolina Republicans); Newsom is now running for Governor.
How can this be? Is it an aversion to the idea of any objective moral standard? A different philosophy in the requirements of leadership? One can certainly assign a portion of it to the new liberal maxim- embraced by the mainstream media-that conservatives are evil while liberals are good. Blame the rest on the left’s tendency to confuse principles with men. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Why Do You Love America?
by Joseph C. PhillipsMy son was confused. “Why does everyone hate America?” Sadly he wasn’t referring to Iran or even France. He was talking about the other children in his class. Apparently during his 6th grade class discussions a great many of his classmates expressed hatred for their country. Not only did they blame America for everything that was wrong in the world and condemn this nation for its greed and materialism, a great many of them expressed a desire to live someplace else. They believed New Zealand or Canada would allow them the opportunity to grow up without the stain and humiliation of being an American.
Now I was confused. I suspect the sentiments expressed by these children were more reflective of their parents beliefs than they were of any deep thought by the children themselves. Yet I am puzzled by such vitriol coming from children (and parents) advantaged with more liberty and opportunity than any other people in the history of the world.
I am, however, not discouraged. I know that in spite of the inclination of his classmates(and their parents)the majority of Americans love their country and love being Americans. No offense to New Zealand, but I suspect there are only a small number of Americans aspiring to live as ex-pats in Auckland. The truth is that even those that are critical of America love her dearly. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Becoming Post Racial
by Joseph C. Phillips“Race has no place in American life or law.” President John F. Kennedy spoke these words the evening of June 11, 1963 following the desegregation of the University of Alabama. In the speech Kennedy delivered that evening he chose not to appeal to legal arguments; rather he asked Americans to look into their collective hearts and weigh the moral question of continued racial discrimination. “The heart of the question,” said Kennedy “is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.”
This week the Arizona state legislature answered that question with a resounding, “yes!” The state legislature cleared the way to place the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative or ACRI, on the Ballot in 2010. ACRI is a constitutional amendment that would prevent the state from discriminating on the basis or race or sex in the areas of public employment, contracting or education.
The action taken by the State legislature now makes it possible for the people of Arizona to actually decide if their state (and ultimately our nation) agrees with the sentiments of former President Kennedy. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
It’s Good To Be a Dad
by Joseph C. PhillipsIt was a glass mug that I treasured dearly. My sophomore year in college my little sister, Carole, had given me the mug for Christmas. As a special treat she had engraved my nickname, “Joey” into the Mug. It wasn’t fancy or expensive; just a regular glass mug. After my sister passed away the mug took on a sentimental value and I loved it. It was a beautiful reminder of a sister that was also my best friend.
This mug had survived a year of dormitory life, nine years of Brooklyn apartment living, a move to New Jersey, a cross-country move to California, and three moves around the city of Los Angeles. Alas, the mug couldn’t survive children. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
George Tiller, Abortion, and Moral Clarity
by Joseph C. Phillips
The fact that those of us opposed to abortion find the work of late term abortionist George Tiller perverse and immoral does not mean that we give sanction to his assassination – either overtly or privately.
Scott Roeder, Tillers alleged killer, is misguided — and according to the New York Daily News, mentally ill. He is a man that has gone to great lengths to set back a cause he held so dear. Pro-abortion activists on the left have long accused the membership ranks of the pro-life movement as being filled with religiously rabid hypocrites and domestic terrorists, and of being part of a growing cadre of right wing extremists. Roeder’s lack of moral clarity has now provided them with a poster child. Just as the pro-life movement was winning converts and making legal headway with passionate, but reasoned and civil arguments against the practice of abortion, Roeder steps forward to tear down what had taken decades to build. He deserves our scorn (and pity) as much as Tiller. Murder is wrong. Roeder must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and if found guilty he must be punished.
In fact, it is our collective inability to bring such moral clarity to the entire issue of abortion that has led to the deep cultural divisions and produced the kind of violence that killed Tiller. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Having Your Racial Cake and Eating it Too
by Joseph C. PhillipsJohn C. Calhoun, father of the confederacy, said about the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence: “there is not a word of truth in the whole proposition, as expressed and generally understood.” These sentiments were echoed by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roger B. Taney. Writing the majority opinion for Scott v Sanford, Taney also denied the veracity of the founding noting, “…the Declaration of Independence shows that neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general words used in that memorable instrument.”
It is a continuing source of fascination that the new left has chosen this view of the founding, replete with its historical inaccuracies, while the political right has adopted that of Abraham Lincoln and Justice John Marshall Harlan. It was Harlan who wrote in his famous dissent in Plessey v Ferguson that “Our Constitution is colorblind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.”
This brings us to the current controversy surrounding the president’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
The Breath Tax
by Joseph C. PhillipsThe rationale for the “Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” otherwise known as Cap and Trade, is that environmental catastrophe awaits us if we do not control the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) flowing into the atmosphere. This hysteria has been propelled by alarmists using computer models to predict (not to prove) that what-used-to-be-called-Global-Warming-before-it-became-clear-that-the-earth-is-cooling-so-it-is-now-called-Climate Change is caused by man made emissions of carbon dioxide.
The scam–ur uhm–I mean the idea works like this: government will set a limit on the amount of CO2 companies may produce. Companies will then be forced to purchase emissions permits for every ton of CO2 produced. Companies that exceed their limits will be able to purchase or trade for additional permits with companies that emit less than their allotted cap. Waxman-Markey seeks an “80 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050”? And a “100 percent auction to ensure every ton of carbon is paid for.”
While supporters of Cap and Trade attempt to direct our attention to large-scale carbon emitters in the coal and oil industries make no mistake; the repercussions from this tax will be felt in every American household. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
The Right-Wing Tango
by Joseph C. PhillipsQuiet as its kept Hollywood is filled with conservatives. I am not speaking of republicans. You can turn over any rock and find an Arlen Specter waiting to crawl out. I am talking about real dyed in the wool constitution loving, God-fearing conservatives.
I meet them all the time: at auditions, on film sets, at parties. Generally speaking they are rather reserved. We engage in what I call the right-wing tango for a bit, dancing around each other giving vague answers to questions until one of us finally gives the secret password. Following the discovery of shared ideology there is usually a great deal of back slapping and genuine excitement at finding a brother in arms.
Part of this reserve is innate. By nature conservatives are generally not given to loud talking and frenetic displays. After all one of the hallmarks of conservatism is a desire to live ones life the best way one can without interference or hindrance from our neighbors or the state. Miki Grant may not have intended to, but in her 1972 Broadway musical “Don’t Bother Me I Can’t cope” she gave voice to the conservative mantra when she wrote, “all I need is less fat back, more greenback and YOU [government] off my back!” (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Resuscitating the GOP 2: The Brand
by Joseph C. Phillips“And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” — Mark 3:25
It is both reasonable and fair to ask reformers of the Republican Party – those suggesting that we jettison the right wing and seek the gooey center of American politics — exactly how many of their convictions they are willing to compromise in pursuit of electoral success. It is also fair and reasonable to ask whether the people can truly admire or trust any public servant that is willing to sacrifice their convictions upon the altar of political power.
Party reformers are quick to point to the Democratic Party model that has proved successful, to whit: silencing the far left of their party and supporting centrist or blue dog candidates. Or so they say. The list of pro-life, pro-family, pro-second amendment, Global warming skeptic democrats in party leadership positions is very short indeed. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Resuscitating the GOP
by Joseph C. PhillipsA popular topic of conversation these days is what ails the Republican Party. Everyone from barbershop pundits and opinion writers to former Bush administration officials have waded in with opinions and cures.
More than a few have proffered that the problem with the Republican Party is that it has moved too far from the political center and given too much sway to the fringe right. They hold that in order to survive and become vibrant again the Grand Old Party must jettison (or at least silence) the far right and must begin appealing to the moderate wing of the party. In other words the party must become even more like Democrats. I suspect this brilliant advice was dreamed up by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid while doing shots of Tequila in some smart bar in Georgetown. They never dreamed Republicans would be so daft as to actually consider it.
Giving voice to a version of this madness, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, spoke to a group of corporate security executives and warned that the ills of the party could be traced to the repeating of the far right mantra. Powell went on to say, “Americans do want to pay taxes for services,” he continued, “Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less.” (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Keeping our Eyes on the Prize
by Joseph C. PhillipsThis week I had the honor of participating in a panel discussion on Civil Rights in the Age of Obama sponsored by the Milken Institute. Appearing with me on the panel were Ben Jealous, current President of the NAACP, Wade Henderson, President of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and Myrlie Evers-Williams, Civil Rights Icon and former President of the NAACP. The panel was moderated by Dr. Beverly Tatum, President of Spelman College. I was, as my father used to say, “Steppin’ in some pretty high cotton.”
I can think of no better proof of the victory of the traditional civil rights movement than that these distinguished individuals (and myself) were gathered together under the auspices of the Milken Institute to ponder what to do next. The battles of the civil rights movement so hard fought have been won. To those heroes, on whose shoulders my generation stands I say, “job well-done.” That is not to say that we need not be jealous of our civil rights. It is to say that it is time to shift our focus toward those things that will best guard our victories and secure those blessings for future generations. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
40 Nights of Great Sex
by Joseph C. PhillipsMy first thought when I saw Dr. Stacy Spencer’s new book “Naked and Unashamed” was, “wait a minute. A Christian minister preaching about sex?” My second thought was, “why not?” Heathens aren’t the only ones that like to swing from the chandeliers; quiet as its kept Christians enjoy sex just like everyone else. Moreover, good sex is a natural and important part of a good marriage and good marriages are one of the foundations of Christian life.
The book grew out of a “40 Nights of Great Sex” bible study program begun by Spencer, Senior Pastor of the New Direction Christian Church in Memphis Tennessee, and his wife of 16 years, Rhonda. The couple looked into the Christian community and saw marriage – God’s first church – in trouble. The high divorce rate in our country is a well publicized statistic. What is less well known is that, depending on the poll, the divorce rate among practicing Christians is as high as that of non Christians. Christians are also seeing rising rates of adultery and indulgences in pornography. Spencer felt a calling to restore the sheen to Christian marriage and started the workshop as a way to begin healing relationships by providing couples a safe place to talk honestly about intimacy within the covenant of marriage. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
A Faustian Bargain
by Joseph C. PhillipsIn his book “Democracy in America,” 19th century French philosopher writes, “the more government stands in the place of associations, the more will individuals, losing the notion of combining together, require its assistance.” De Tocqueville recognized that we are making a Faustian bargain when we buy into the political promise of material wealth and well being if only we allow government to manage our society. The promise is false and the result is to put at risk the morals and intelligence of a democratic people.
Alexis de Tocqueville
In recognizing the importance of associations – that is individuals coming together to celebrate and/or address issues in their communities — De Tocqueville gave voice to the real meaning of personal responsibility. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
The Lamp of Vigilance
by Joseph C. PhillipsCredit Liz Sidoti with one of the more anemic arguments to date, that this nation still has a long way to go to bridge the centuries old racial divide–even in this post Obama age. Writing for the Associated Press, Sidoti argues that in spite of the election of Barack Obama to the nation’s highest office, “old racial stereo-types and internet-fueled falsehoods flourish.” As evidence Sidoti offers the editorial cartoon which appeared in the New York Post showing two Police Officers standing over a dead Chimpanzee, an email forwarded by Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose of watermelons on the white house lawn and the internet chat surrounding Obama’s citizenship.
A little historical perspective is perhaps in order. This nation was born in a world of chattel slavery. On the heels of a bloody civil war that ended the institution of slavery came lynchings, Jim Crow Laws, separate but equal education and literacy tests at the polls. The fact that the best Sidoti could come up with to bolster her argument were a few off-color emails speaks volumes.
Ignorance, petty politics and downright human ugliness will always be with us. What is more telling is how a society responds to it. There was a time when jokes such as that passed along by Grose would be told in public and greeted with huge guffaws. Thankfully those times are long gone. Today such jokes are relegated to the anonymous and not-as-private-as-the -mayor-thought world of the internet. If and when such attitudes come to light they are met with outrage, ridicule and the indulger is bathed in public humiliation and suffers political ruin. Grose was not celebrated; he resigned in disgrace. (more…)
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
|
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback