Lin-Manuel Miranda & The West Wing Weekly Podcast Ask "What's Next?"

The West Wing Weekly podcast presents an ode to the hit TV show, The West Wing, with some help from Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize winner and birthday boy, Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The weekly podcast examines individual episodes of the Emmy Award winning series by Aaron Sorkin, with guests from the show and real life politics to help put the issues at hand into perspective.

Clip description:

Hrishi made a beat, an extended remix of our podcast’s intro theme, for the biggest West Wing fan we know: Lin-Manuel Miranda. Then Lin wrote lyrics and recorded his vocals for this song.

Download the track at http://thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/whatsnext

As we observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and consider the next four years ahead of us, what could be more apropos than to ask, "What's next?"

West Wing cast reunites to 'walk and talk' non-partisan voting section of the ballot

The cast of the West Wing reunites to walk and talk about why it's important to vote on the nonpartisan section of the ballot -- and why Bridget Mary McCormack should be on the Michigan Supreme Court.

Learn more about Bridget Mary McCormack.
Website: http://j.mp/BridgetVideo
Donate: http://j.mp/QnlIY3

Kathryn Joosten, of Desperate Housewives & West Wing, dies at 72

Kathryn Joosten, a character actress best known as the crotchety, yet loveable, Karen McCluskey on "Desperate Housewives" and the president's secretary on "The West Wing," has died after an 11 year battle with lung cancer. She was 72.

Joosten won two Emmy awards for her portrayal of Mrs. McCluskey, who kept a close eye on her Wisteria Lane neighbors on "Desperate Housewives." The hit show ended its eight-year run on ABC last month with a series finale in which Joosten's character passed away. Her character's battle with cancer was a story line in the show.

Joosten was a psychiatric nurse and single mother in suburban Chicago when she began her acting career at 42. She wrote on her website that she pursued her childhood dream of acting after getting involved with her hometown theater in Lake Forest, Ill.

She said she received her first break when she was hired to be a street performer at Disney World in Orlando. She worked odd jobs to make ends meet and moved to Hollywood in 1995. She said she landed her first small role within months on the comedy "Family Matters."

Over the years, she found steady work appearing in such popular shows as "Dharma & Greg," "Ally McBeal" and "Scrubs." She became a familiar face to fans of NBC's "The West Wing" when she appeared as Dolores Landingham, President Jed Bartlet's trusted secretary.

"Some people in Hollywood think of me as a model for dramatic midlife transitions: suburban housewife to Emmy-winning actress," she wrote on her website. "But I never plotted a master plan for following my dreams."
(source)

President Bartlet on "cherry-picking" from the Bible

On this day after North Carolina voted to write discrimination into their state constitution based, in great part, on "cherry-picking" from the Bible, I felt a need to clear my palate.

Thanks to Martin Sheen's brilliant delivery, and to Aaron Sorkin for the always "direct to the heart of the matter" language.