Social Security is on the rack. The man about to turn the screws is Barack Obama. This should not be a surprise. The indictment of Social Security began many months ago when Obama cited 'entitlement' programs as a prime source of fiscal imbalance. Then, this past winter he sent to Congress a proposal that would have established a special commission mandated to make recommendations on so-called 'reform' of Social Security and Medicare that the legislature would be required to vote up or down as a package. This in the midst of the debate on health care. Congressional leaders demurred. Obama responded almost immediately by creating just such a commission stacked with avowed foes of keeping Social Security as we have known it. When that commission offers its predictable dire forecast to justify a drastic scaling back of the program, Obama will back it.

If there were any lingering doubts about the man's underlying social values and political perspective, they were violently uprooted by Robert Gibbs diatribe against progressives -- using language and imagery sure to warm the hearts of the most retrograde Tea Partier. Apparently, the White House is seething that some progressives are not bowing low enough in their obeisance to His Highness -- and a few recalcitrants aren't even genuflecting.

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The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is halfway through its 20-state "One Man, One Woman" tour at which approximately one man and one woman seem to show up for them at each stop. But what NOM lacks in popular, grassroots support, it more than makes up for in funneling money for "anonymous" donors. Wednesday, NOM announced that it would spend untold sums to advertise in Spanish in California in support of Carly Fiorina, the failed CEO who wants to buy a Senate seat.

Not to be outdone, a few miles south of here in San Diego, a year-old right wing group called GOProud has carved out a niche for itself as the NOM of the gay right wing. GOProud, a so-called 527 organization that exists to influence the outcome of federal elections, is the first "gay" organization to accept funds from Doug Manchester and his Hyatt Hotel in San Diego that has been under boycott for two years. Mr. Manchester denies workers their rights and put $125,000 into the Prop. 8 campaign just as it qualified for the ballot.

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Where else on TV do you regularly see an attractive, shirtless, African-American man engaged in a passionately sexual dance with a lithe, beautiful blonde wearing almost no clothes, without controversy or comment? Or an Hispanic B-Boy with jerry curls performing a hip hop dance with a young Asian woman? Where else on network TV do you see such overt eroticism, rather than the fake, snarky kind that passes for sexual innuendo on many shows. On what other reality contest show do you see an obviously gay judge calling an obviously gay contestant "honey"? Where else but on "So You Think You Can Dance", now in its 6th season on, of all places, Rupert Murdoch's Fox Network?

Here, the culture wars of the past 30 years appear over, at least for an hour or two, and the progressive side--which has stood for racial equality, gender equality, and gay rights--is the undisputed winner, without the need even to overtly comment about it. I'm not sure what Glen Beck, Sarah Palin, or the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal would have to say if they were watching. But then, Rupert Murdoch has never been known to let his conservative political views get in the way of making a buck.

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I often receive a lot of questions from clients about careers. Having been in the employment industry for over 20 years, I have, almost daily, come across people who are undecided about what decision to make when it comes to choosing careers. It's almost universal that people are concerned about making the 'wrong' decision and one that will impact the rest of their life. I can't tell you how often I hear people say that they aren't sure what they want to do with the rest of their life. Quite honestly, who does? And, more importantly, when did it become mandatory to decide now about what you want to do with the rest of your life?

However, that's how many of us think. How debilitating is that? What ends up happening is that we become paralyzed with fear and end up having an extremely hard time making a decision. This is what I say to this - 'lighten up' (you know I'm saying this with the utmost of respect and compassion, right!?). If you can lighten up around this topic, you have the ability then to think more clearly which then allows us to attract the thoughts that are going to most help us make a decision that works for us.

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