Kevin Michael Derby
Revisionist historians put a premium on the presidential commitment to civil rights. So what does that mean for Warren G. Harding?Last month CSPAN released a survey ranking all American presidents on their rights records. There are no big surprises, though Grant moved up the list and Andrew Johnson ... Read More
Leveraging the marketing possibilities of Easter, television executives unleash a host of bad biblical films around the second week of April which provide a quick study in the decline of Christian culture and, occasionally, real entertainment.Consider the Feast of the Annunciation. This scene from ... Read More
After two months, it seems safe to say that the Obama presidency is off to a rocky start. And while lots of his nominees–or prospective nominees—turned to be duds, Obama’s biggest headache is Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.While Geithner survived Senate confirmation despite tax problems, the ... Read More
Old politicians never die. Now, they don't even have the courtesy to fade away. Are you ready for the has-been campaign of 2010?As the rest of the world recovers from the lengthy 2008 campaign season, a number of washed-up politicos gear up for the 2010 races. President Obama cruised to the White ... Read More
While nearly everyone knows that March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day, nobody seems to know that March 19 is St. Joseph’s Day. While there have been some traditional Italian celebrations in honor of the father figure of the Holy Family, Joseph remains a puzzlingly minor figure in the U.S.While there are ... Read More
As I reach the halfway point of the "threescore years and ten" years that the Book of Psalms promise to let us live, it occurs to me I have spent too much of my free time thinking about religion and its role in society. I have also spent too much time playing video games. Not only that, but I can't ... Read More
Watching Michael Steele’s rocky start as chairman of the RNC, I keep thinking about boxing. And this has nothing to do with the fact that Steele’s sister was once married to Mike Tyson.Boxing often rewards fighters who lose close fights. Razor Ruddock is a good example. After tearing through the ... Read More
Michael Spencer at the Christian Science Monitor concluded recently that evangelical Christianity is headed for collapse in the U.S. due to too many of its adherents caring more about politics than the faith.Spencer argues that evangelical Protestants have long neglected the fundamentals of ... Read More
The federal government is gearing up once again for the census. Often, the deeper meaning of that decennial account of American demography is lost amidst statewide political bickering. While the final report consists of some of the dullest reading imaginable, it also offers great insights into the ... Read More
The situation in Darfur notably worsened yesterday. In response to the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes, the Sudanese government quickly moved to expel thirteen humanitarian groups serving over a million displaced people in ... Read More
Republican presidential primary voters like the tried-and-true. This should be comforting for Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee as they gear up to 2012.The winner of the GOP presidential nomination is almost always a candidate who has run for high office before. Reagan lost in 1968 and 1976 but won the ... Read More
One of the most memorable passages I have ever chanced to come across comes from the pen of Charles Darwin and concerns poetry. Yes, that Charles Darwin. In his autobiography, Darwin confessed that he could no longer take pleasure in reading poetry. This pained Darwin. Looking over the reading he ... Read More
About Kevin Michael Derby
Kevin Michael Derby serves as an administrator in higher education. A former editor for the Sayfie Media Group covering national politics, Kevin's work has appeared in The Florida Times Union and Taki's Top Drawer. Kevin calls Jacksonville, FL home.