We’ve been talking politics for awhile and I thought since Obama was on his 60th trip to the golf course we should take a break too.

Have any of you been watching American Idol this season?  First, let me be one of the first to raise his hand and I say that I had doubts about the casting of judges.  I mean who could imagine the chemistry of Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, and Randy Jackson working?  I couldn’t.  To my surprise, it has.

Idol made a wise choice going back to the 3 judge format.  The 4th judge took too much time and by the time the 3rd judge offered his/her critique the 4th judge was simply repeating whatever had already been said.  I can’t imagine the show would be as good as it had been so far this season had they kept Ellen DeGeneres or Kara DioGuardi.  When know Kara was given the boot and based on Ellen’s boring performance and lack of original critique I wonder if Idol didn’t just ask Ellen to leave quietly.

After 10 seasons, ‘American Idol’ is still going strong.  In fact, Thursday’s night’s show saw an increase of 30.2% over last year- it’s most watched Thursday episode since 2007.  Idol has averaged 24.5 million viewers this season.  That’s an incredible amount of viewers for a show in its 10th season.

Paula?  Simon?  Kara?  It appears that America isn’t missing any of them as much as the pundits and I thought.

I’m enjoying this season of American Idol and despite hearing each year that, “these are the best singers we’ve ever had”, I can offer that its finally true- as a whole, these are Idol’s best singers.  Many have very unique voices.  Some have interesting stories and backgrounds.  And, they have personalities.

I have to hand it to the judges…  they did a great job in selecting some of the best talent Idol has ever had.

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It’s another exciting night of  American Idol.  Ellen Degeneres did an outstanding job in her debut last night.  She made the show interesting and seemed to be a great fit.  For me, I really don’t miss Paula as much as I thought I might.  Opinions?

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1.  Obama’ Treasury Secretary has appealed to Congress to raise the debt limit to a whopping $12.1 trillion dollars.  The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that this years deficit will rise to an astonishing $1.8 trillion dollars by October.  The question remains; when will leaders in the House and Senate cut government spending?

2.  Military analyst are predicting that the war in Afghanistan will eclipse the total spent in Iraq.  As the Obama administration continues to send more troops to the war-torn region, casualties have increased substantially- surpassing the deaths in Iraq.

3.  A Georgia Democrat Congressman yelled at a doctor over the health-care debate at a town hall meeting- accusing him of being an outside Republican operative.  A local television later confirmed that the doctor lived in the Congressman’s district.  No word as to whether the Congressman apologized.

4.  Paula Abdul has been asked to join ‘Dancing With The Stars’.  The former American Idol judge has been inundated with offers since her departure which includes a spot on the judging panel for ‘So You Think You Can Dance’.

5.  Former child actor Mark Lester revealed that he is the father of Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris.  How many more men will stand up to claim they are Paris’ father?

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