A Gentleman’s view.

Community policing would have eliminated the need for an arrest to begin with.

Everyone wants to find fault with either the professor or the police officer. A middle aged Summa-Cum Laude Professor on the property of a prestigious university, or upscale neighborhood or luxury apartment building, with a cane and an assistant. In this case they turned out to be black, still not major issue, locked themselves out or left the key, all possibilities occurring within normal parameters. So, that means we start with the phone the kicked off this major racial song and dance the press dragged the President into. The profiling started not with the law enforcement officers, but with the neighbor, she identified two strange black men attempting to gain entry into a property next to hers. I would think that takes us back to location, as I mentioned in opening this commentary; How long has this individual who calls 911 about a possible burglary by two black men, been in the location herself, and why did she not know who was living next door to her is such a prestigious neighborhood as I expect a man with Mr. Gates credentials would find himself living. Personally, as a man looking at the amount of damage we as men have done to women to date, I would think, first said woman would have asked the real estate broker who sold her the property, who her neighbors were, expecting them to be people of power, prestige or position.

Once a call goes into the police station about an attempted burglary, I feel the cops played it by the numbers in the beginning. I can understand the Professor becoming upset about his identity being questioned in his own home, considering his position. But, folks, this is exactly the point about who he is and who is in his neighborhood. Both the neighbor and the police should have been aware of his presence even if there was no interaction between them because impolite or just even discourteous behavior prior to this incident. Had the neighborhood been policed with ground patrols as well as squad cars for quick response and chases, those cops would have quickly recognized the Professor and avoided this brouhaha about racial profiling. So, I say this starts with the woman calling the break-in to the cops; did she have a problem with the Professor or what? The Professor most probably escalated the situation with his response the being questioned in a manner I would expect was somewhat derogatory in nature as he was being accused of being a burglar.

Two cops on the scene and neither one knows of this man’s prestige or position, I take issue with that. If I was a member of that community, I’d have some major issues for the price of living in a secluded upscale neighborhood and little knowledge of its citizenry by the people paid to protect them. That is a very hard one for me to get past, I would expect that at least some of the cops here in New York City have an idea who lives on York Street here, but you never know. I still come back to original call being placed by the neighbor, was she looking to start a ruckus like this for amusement, or was this personal. I have been the victim of being black at the wrong place and time, as well as having a neighbor send the cops to my house for no good reason. I just refused to move until they picked up my wallet from the table with my address on my license matching the numbers on the door. They asked me to get my license and show it to them and that was my response to their request, not to get up from the sofa. I was sitting in my living room watching Sports Center when they came into my door which I had not locked as my son just left five minutes prior. I can almost guarantee 90 percent of a population of black people who make up 13 percent of all the population here in America can say it has happened to them in one manner or another at least once in their lives. That is but one price to pay for living black in America. The cops should have known how to defuse the situation better; it is what they get paid for. He was a little middle aged man with a cane for goodness sake, black or not.

The Republicans have finally found a cause to coalesce around.

The title of this piece says it all when it comes to the plan the Republicans have decided upon as a course of action in opposition to President Barack Obama. They have attempted to reject him verbally with their “just say no” response when it came to the bank bailouts, the housing crisis fix, and any attempt to save our auto industry from implosion. These were no’s that you could bank on though, even if they were responsible for getting the country to this point to begin with, by way of business deregulation, getting back to fiscal responsibility always works the voting crowd. Bush may have run up the red ink after starting with black, and the party looked the other way, but that doesn’t mean we should continue down that road with a new President in place. Now is the perfect time to short-circuit any plans that would bring new cost to discussion while the main effort should be focusing on cleaning up the mess President Bush opportunistically left Obama on his way out of the White House. We have to clean up one war in Iraq and finish the game in place in Afghanistan; we don’t have time to be trying to save old people and poor ones with expensive health plans.

But that is not what the game that is afoot here, is it for the Republicans who have decided that it is their best interest to bite off their nose to spite their face. First off, let’s get rid of the silly notion of socialism that will come to be by declaring that everyone should have health care as a minimum standard. We have police, they protect the community, the neighborhood, the borough, the city, the state, and finally by the will of the people, the country and by it the government. Protection of the state is a socialist concept, as is public education, mandatory emergency facilities and equipment, Hospitals, and on and on and by golly, America has survived every one of those society imposed social institutions upon us. Flu shots, you don’t have to take them, they are highly recommended that you do, but socialistically speaking, they are made available by regulation and law, free or paid for. The Fire Department, depending on the location, township, city, population density, all kinds of various scenarios and requirements based on them, must have a certain amount to station houses to maintain the safety level of the public, again imposed upon us and damn! What do you know? We survived them also. Imagine that.

The game that is afoot is about making sure the Presidency of this Black man is the most unsuccessfully devastating experience both America and Barack Obama ever had in order to ensure that another black doesn’t attempt to go for this office ever again. This Republican party has but one mission, drag their feet, prolong and extend the debate, paint the most hostile and negative scenario for every single idea him or his administration can come up with that could possibly put him in a positive position or benefits anyone except the a limited few. They want him to fail at every single thing that he tries to do, as such want nothing to do with any success he may achieve. That this may be against the best wishes or needs of their constituents back home who may have invested in this first Black man who would be king, is of little consequence to them, it is all about the utter destruction of a man they feel has no business in the office of the President of the United States of America. I may be wrong, but suspect that is because he is a black man, who makes them feel so inferior in so many different ways because of his accomplishments and he’s jock on top of it, and a good one. The Republican Party today has no investment in constituents, or people dying in emergency rooms or going bankrupt under a mass of overwhelming medical bills. As Rick Santelli said, those type of humans are losers not to be subsidized by hard working Americans willing to scam their friends and neighbors as well as the general public to make a dollar. The white males of the Republican Party have but one mission, if Barack Obama wants something or his party wants something, whether it is good for everyone or not, just say no. Make sure another black never has the audacity of hope to believe he can be president in this country.

Top ten reasons to be a Republican today!

1. To be a member of a true original American focus group; I have never seen so much focus on saying no to a black man as the Republicans have decided to do to President Obama.

2. To coalesce around a small town mayor who would be Governor, having not finished, though was former Vice Presidential Candidate, but not ready for Prime Time Player from the State of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

3. To be so focused on being the opposition they attack a representative of the only minority population ever to claim almost blind allegiance to them without anything to show for it, Republicans suddenly have issues with “Wise Latinas”, (see reason number #1)

4. To have as the voice of the “Party”: Rush Limbaugh, a mean spirited, extremely overweight, under educated, “former” addict, who never served a day of military service, yet claim to be so patriotic to encourage the expansive use of the Military, yet exhibit no respect for any other culture other than whites here in America and a extremely derogatory disposition toward our President Barack Obama, and this is supposed to be good for our nation.

5. To insist in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary that cutting taxes as the end all for any and every single problem we face as a nation.

6. To be able to say that we the Republican Party has weeded out enough of the party faithful to be able to claim represent that small group of fine Americans who really understood what Governor Sarah Pain was saying in her resignation press conference she called.

7. Truly trapped in a state as a political party of being financially controlled by the capitalism mindset of free markets represented by the Rick Santelli’s who see all of us as winners or losers, demanding some government for consumer protection, worked by the media for libertarian ideals represented in the Palins of our society and managed by the strict and limited scope but fierce intensity of the Religious Right Groups, who would dictate all kinds of behavior as law.

8. To be a member of a political party with most proportionately low ratio of participants in serving in the military, or truly supporting veterans and their quality of life, yet quickest to suggest using them as an end to force a political objective on a foreign nation.

9. To have such a substantial claim on morality as a group with such a large number of your membership incapable of living up to the standard.

10. Just say no! (see reason number #1)

I am posting this in support of the justice picked by Bush 1, Republicans should remember that.

As President, there are few responsibilities more serious or consequential than the naming of a Supreme Court Justice, so I want to take this opportunity to tell you about the qualifications and character that informed my decision to nominate Judge Sotomayor.

Judge Sotomayor’s brilliant legal mind is complemented by the practical lessons that can only be learned by applying the law to real world situations.

In the coming days, the hearings will cover an incredible body of work from a judge who has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the last 100 years. Judge Sotomayor’s professional background spans our judicial system — from her time as a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator, to her work as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

And then there is Judge Sotomayor’s incredible personal story. She grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx — her parents coming to New York from Puerto Rico during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she lost her father, and her mother worked six days a week just to put food on the table. It takes a certain resilience and determination to rise up out of such circumstances, focus, work hard and achieve the American dream.

This character shined through in yesterday’s opening statement: Watch the video.

In Judge Sotomayor, our nation will have a Justice who will never forget her humble beginnings, will always apply the rule of law, and will be a protector of the Constitution that made her American dream and the dreams of millions of others possible. As she said so clearly yesterday, Judge Sotomayor’s decisions on the bench “have been made not to serve the interests of any one litigant, but always to serve the larger interest of impartial justice.”

In anticipation of today’s first round of questioning, I hope you’ll share this email widely, because Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation is something that affects every American. It’s important for these hearings to be about Judge Sotomayor’s own record and her capacity for the job — not any political back and forth that some in Washington may use to distract you. What members of the Judiciary Committee, and the American people, will see today is a sharp and fearless jurist who does not let powerful interests bully her into breaking from the rule of law.

Thank you,
Barack Obama

She quit and don’t know why.

10. She’s fulfilling a lifelong desire to travel the globe, hoping to visit all three continents by the end of 2009.

9. In a continued effort to make her Katie Couric interview seem better
than it was, Sarah will be launching All of ‘Em Magazine.

8. She and 2012 running mate Carrie Prejean have entered an intense two-year program to learn how to answer interview questions in a manner not considered “horrible.”

7. To combat Jon Stewart’s popularity, she will be hosting a humorous current events talk show on Fox News called The Paley Show.

6. She’s just doing her small part to make Barack Obama look bad by increasing the unemployment rate.

5. She has joined the cast of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Alaska.

4. She’s starting her own lipstick company called Pitbulline.

3. Details are unclear, but she bought a helicopter and a rifle just after she started referring to former son-in-law Levi as “The Wolf.”

2. She stands to make millions doing appearances posing as Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin.

And, the number one possible reason why Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska…

1. She’s been cast in yet another remake of the Raquel Welch classic One Million Years BC. The former governor hopes her appearance will help promote two theories: that humans and dinosaurs co-existed and that Sarah Palin looks damn good in a caveman bikini. (Stephen Baldwin will co-star as a young John McCain)

This is a reprint of property of David Letterman’s show.

This has been the most self indulgent public display of hypocrisy I’ve ever seen.

The Republicans are trying their best to do as much damage to their national political party as they possibly can each in their own special way. Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, after watching the public fiascos of Larry Craig, David Vitter, and John Ensign, not to be outdone, puts on a show for all times. Then he continue at every opportunity, giving away more information than the world needs to know or his family be embarrassed by. These gentlemen have been designated as the future heads of the party and potential candidates in 2012. He joins a group from the Republican Party who preach the righteous behavior of the fire and brimstone teachings of the Christian religion and the Religious Right. They are very good at attacking those who either compete against them or disagree with them as anti-American or not patriotic as the party has hijacked the virtues of patriotism, family values and strong national defense as pillars of the foundation of the Republican Party, when in reality, few members ever serve in the military or can live up to the standards implied. Falling short and confessing, begging for constituent forgiveness to be allowed to stay in office because of it being in the best interest of the district represented happens all the time.

This was different, Stanford implied, something unlike just any other fling or flirtation with an intern that may have gotten out of hand. That passion clicked in a special way from the very beginning, implied, that the one experience in life that all of us would love to have happen and that is to truly fall in love with someone and simultaneously have the special moment in life when the object of your affections is impacted the exact same way at the exact same time. Who can argue with true romance? That meant, by gosh, this one man, this father, this husband, this Governor, this head of State, this Mark Sanford’s soul could now truly rest in peace when he died having really experienced love in his lifetime. Whoop tee do! But that is just me! Then, it turns out that this thing that happened all of a sudden had been happening over eight years, and many emails. Then, it went live last year and you had other things happen. Then you almost had 7 other things happen with other women that were inappropriate, but you didn’t have sex with any of them, except the one you still love in Argentina.

All of the men around America, not just Republicans, are thinking; Oh My God, Governor, for the sake of your innocent family who didn’t have a choice in participating through this very public humiliation, please shut up already! It is just so unfair and self-indulgent of you to put them through this and thusly be grounds for impeachment. Truly, the reason you should resign is for putting this very personal experience before the interest of the whole State of South Carolina and not appreciate just how irresponsible that was. Then you compounded that with not informing your staff you were leaving the country, which I am sure under some statute, probably requires that you turn over authority to someone while you are gone. But, for me that is not the worst of your crimes, Governor. The worst of your crimes is to do this to four kids by behaving like some high school love struck kid, while actually a middle aged self centered fool, with no consideration of what you are teaching your sons about the treatment of women by what you are doing to their mother before the whole world.

The King of Pop has nothing more to prove.

Michael Joseph Jackson died last Thursday and the world will never be the same without him or his seemingly endless talents. He was probably the most prolific sole media prodigy to come along in my life and I’m over 50. He had 13 number one hits in the Billboard Top 100, and four albums debut in that position. 7 hits from Thriller made the Top 10. Michael Jackson had 80 hits in the 100 and is 8th on the all time Billboard Top 100 Artist of All Time. No can begin to suggest that this was not one of the hardest working souls of his time. Granted there are 7 Artist above him to include The Beatles, Elton John, Madonna and Elvis to name a few, my thought would be that only the Beatles and Madonna can match Michael Jackson for on sight recognition anywhere on the planet, and we are talking the likes of Stevie Wonder and Mariah Carey also. This artist drove himself from early on and kept it up for just about two generations dating back to the mid nineteen sixties. He sang and danced his way into the hearts and souls of people from all over the world across generational and international divide. His signature Peter Pan outfits that kept his soul in that special safe place by which he could be free and never grown up because grownups are monsters and everyone knows, we don’t ever want to become like the monsters.

He proved to the monster that he survived in spite of what he experienced and saw and learned about grown-up monsters who are either supposed to love you or at worse, at least protect you and don’t. He was better than they was, than the treatment was, than the pain was. He was every so successful in proving he and even a major portion of his brothers were way better than led to believe for a time. I never tried to judge him with the court cases or the peculiar living quarters other than, I thought them excessive. The Neverland ranch, the animals, human bones, came across as further proof of his insisting to remain in a very childlike state of heart and mind. He was an intensely curious soul. He still was able to achieve stunning success if this anywhere near part of his reality. He would do this and not become a monster because he wouldn’t grow up because he was Peter Pan and everyone knows Peter Pan never grew up. As such he was safe and everyone around him would be safe and would love him forever because he showed that he was the King of Pop. He worked so damned hard but he failed to take care of himself on a personal level when it comes to basic maintenance of his body, and in spite of that, still danced his ass off, but inadvertently surrounded himself with the very same type of people he was running away from. Namely, the monster that was supposed to love him and protect him from those types of people but didn’t. Not enough of those around him saw him as anything but one hell of a ride, especially his father. The King of Pop, you can rest now, that title will not be taken in any lifetime that I can imagine. I always thought you were one phenomenal spirit who never became the man needed to keep the Artist alive. May your soul rest in peace now Peter Pan. Michael, you will always and forever be missed.