Ms. Essig, you have demonstrated once again that the fallback position of the current Left to any political opposition is to cry Racism. You have your "Borat of the Left"--his name is Michael Moore.

Although arguably a valuable voice for his alternative viewpoint, saying that Zinn introduces "perspective" to traditional accounts of history is like saying that a spoonful of urine gives a bottle of wine "balance." In A People's History, Zinn cites greed as an explanation for virtually every major historical event, despite a conspicuous absence of footnotes and other academic protocols. He thought the farmers of the Shays Rebellion and labor leaders of the 1930s were more noteworthy American heroes than the Founding Fathers. The Declaration of Independence was less a revolutionary statement of rights than it was a way to benefit the rich by overthrowing the King.

Zinn blamed the US for Pearl Harbor, characterized WWII as an exercise in American imperialism, and sided with the Soviets during the Cold War. Even as American forces ended the murderous reign of Saddam Hussein with surgical precision and minimal damage, this faux-historian accepted the most exaggerated claims of civilian loss without attribution and remained sympathetic to anti-American sentiment and justification for jihad.

And THAT, my friends, is the power of the SONG. It transcends the artist, even as it lends itself to many stylistic interpretations by others.

Being a boomer who was too late to “enjoy” Sesame Street, my initial problem was that PBS presented it as an ersatz babysitter. We were glued to the TV to our parents’ chagrin because Tom & Jerry, Wile E. Coyote, or even Bugs Bunny were long on violence and short on educational value. Yet we inherently knew or soon learned (from participatory parents) that real life was not a cartoon, and they actually taught stuff in public schools in those days. Sesame Street bestowed a false sense of accomplishment to underachiever parents (often time-challenged because higher liberal taxation rates necessitated that both parents work). They felt safe about excessive TV viewing as long as SS was in charge, because it contained “fun” instruction in the alphabet and arithmetic, and since there was no violence of any kind, the caboose of ancillary social indoctrination seemed harmless. We now see what that indoctrination has produced: ubiquitous cultural relativism which, when educated in today’s public schools, equals the moral relativism that threatens our nation and its institutions. Great job, PBS. If you didn’t do it, who would?

Ben Shapiro's original article highlights a trait of Obama's administration that steals from hip-hop culture: Everything is Stolen. Nearly every hip-hop tune is derivative (sometimes plagiaristically so) of some classic from decades ago, even if only a measure or a recognizable riff. In the music publishing/placement business, we are always wary of tunes that have "sampled" elements for fear of copyright infringement, and warn those who submit to us accordingly. No such fear (or knowledge, apparently) of copyright law exists in team Obama. Not much fear or knowledge of the Constitution, either.

I think it was Heinlein who said "Forget Marx and Engels. Science fiction is truly subversive literature." One should acknowledge that TZ had a crack STAFF of writers in addition to Serling, who adapted some of his scripts from works of others and was not always pleased with his own work. Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson penned some of my favorites like "A World of Difference" and "Shadow Play." Of Serling's scripts, my favorites are "Eye of the Beholder" and "It's A Good Life."