What a sad day to return to blogging from what has been an ongoing professional obligation. Today’s bad news continued when it was revealed that Bob Novak is suffering from a brain tumor and has retired.

A JFK Democrat turned Reagan Republican, Novak was already a successful conservative columnist decades before the emergence of the new media. He is probably best known for occupying the conservative chair on CNN’s Crossfire before the program jumped the shark. Most recently, he served as a Fox News contributor.

What impressed me most about Novak was the vast network of sources he built over the years that enabled him to provide exclusive behind the scenes scoops about what was really going on in Washington and in different campaigns. Whenever reporters wanted to know what political figures really knew, thought, hoped, or feared, Novak was the person they turned to.

Selfishly, we are all going to miss enjoying the fruits of Novak’s professional life. At this time, I’m going to resist that temptation and pray for Bob Novak the person during this difficult time.

On this August 4, Happy 47th Birthday to Barack Obama.

Really? 

Well, that’s funny – 

Having seen the signs, I swore his birthday was on December 25th:

Pic found on World Net Daily.

Seventy-one year old actor Morgan Freeman was involved in a one-car accident late last night in Mississippi.  He was airlifted to a nearby hospital and is in “serious condition” with injuries to his shoulder and arm.  

In his latest work, Freeman plays Lucius in the blockbuster sequel The Dark Knight.  He’s a major film icon, being in such films as Million Dollar Baby, Shawshank Redemption, Driving Miss Daisy, Deep Impact, Glory, Amistad, Batman Begins, Along Came a Spider, Lean on Me and numerous others.  His politics is typical of Hollywood, as he has endorsed “The One” Barack Obama, but again, politics stops in instances like this.  We hope he can continue to grace the screen with his supurb acting for years to come!

AFP photo.