A BEER FOR YOUR TROUBLES?

Last week I was out of the country, in Ireland, and I had the good fortune of staying with my best friend and his girlfriend for what was the most enjoyable vacation of my life. It was a delight not having to hear the day to day analysis, bickering and arguing on television or to have to put up with the American media’s continued malfeasance as it completely turns its back on any story that sheds light on the truth about our current President or his administration. I’m not being cynical. I’ve never felt so refreshed.

While I was there the big news story from the States was Obama’s comment about the Cambridge Police Sergeant, who, according to the President “acted stupidly” in the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Gates. In case you’ve been on vacation as I was or live in a cave, what happened was this:

Gates, who is black, had just come back from a trip and was picked up at the airport by a driver who also happened to be black. Gates lost his keys and couldn’t get into his house upon arrival so he and the driver had to break into the house by prying the front door open. A Portuguese woman who lives across the street saw the two men breaking into the house and called the police. Keep in mind that another home in the immediate area had recently been burglarized.

So the cops show up, as they should have, to find Mr. Gates and the driver in the house and the front door wide open. The senior officer, Sergeant Crowley started asking some questions and Gates went into a rant about how he was only being questioned because he was a black man. On the scene, along with the white Sergeant Crowley were two other officers, one black and one Hispanic.

When Sgt. Crowley came to the door and politely asked Gates to step out onto the porch to talk to him. Gates flatly refused “No I will not!” Crowley then told Gates that he was there to investigate a break-in to which Gates replied: “Why, because I’m a black man in America?!”

Gates then accused the officer of being a racist and began to harass the Sergeant by repeatedly asking for his name even after the officer had responded twice to the question. He told Sgt. Crowley; “You don’t know who you’re messing with”. Upon learning that Gates was a Harvard faculty member, Crowley turned to leave and told the professor that, if he had anything further to discuss, they would do it outside. Gates replied (and this is my favorite part) “I’ll speak to your mama outside!” as officer Crowley walked away from him. Gates then followed Sgt. Crowley outside and continued to berate him and call him a racist.

Finally, after two warnings, in front of a crowd of surprised onlookers, Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct after acting like a complete ass.

Maybe Gates is just classist. He is, after all, a prominent Harvard scholar and here is this blue collar Cambridge cop asking him for identification at his own house. Apparently he thinks that he has the right to speak to a police officer any way he wants even though the guy was just doing his job. Instead of thanking the officer for his swift response to a call about a break-in at his house he just stood there and yelled at him, calling him a racist. When a cop of any skin color shows up at my place I usually say “Am I glad to see you. It’s good to know the cops are around.” Every time a cop has pulled me over (and it’s happened a few times because I drive fast) I have shown him the utmost respect for the position he holds. An officer of the law is an officer of the law. They take an oath. They put themselves on the line every day to ensure the public’s safety. They voluntarily get shot at so you don’t have to. How about some respect?!?

That cop, Crowley, just so happened to be the guy teaching the class at the Cambridge Police Department about the dangers of racial profiling. Ironic, isn’t it? And Gates, well, we know how he feels. Let’s look at something he said in the mid-nineties to get a feel for his attitude on race relations in America. The following is a quote from a speech Gates gave in 1995:

"...Without affirmative action we would never have been able to integrate racist historically white institutions in American society...Our people are under assault. Newt Gingrich can come in here...that Contract for America is serious. You know what those guys have said; ' “Alright, somehow, while we were asleep, all you white women and all you black people got into the middle class. We’re not sure how it happened, but the first thing we’re going to do is; we’re going to shake the tree and any of ya’ll who can’t hold on, ya’ll are going back.” '

It’s interesting that Gates looked at the Contract with America, the 1994 Republican set of promises to the country on the eve of the Congressional elections that year as a document tinged with racism. In summary, the Contract with America sought to accomplish eight much needed reforms within Congress itself as well as the passage of ten Acts. So as not to confuse facts or distort the truth, here is an overview of what the Contract with America was in description and in essence.

The 104th Congress promises to immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government;

· FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;

· SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;

· THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;

· FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;

· FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;

· SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;

· SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;

· EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base line budgeting.

Of course, this is just dripping with racism. This type of government transparency (actual transparency that is) and fiscal responsibility can only benefit rich white men. Continuing on:

Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.

1. THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out-of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses.

2. THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer's "crime" bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools.

3. THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility.

4. THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society.

5. THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A $500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief.

6. THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world.

7. THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years.

8. THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages.

9. THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: "Loser pays" laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation.

10. THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators.

How could they? Obviously Newt and the boys were out to screw the blacks that had climbed the class ladder. I mean, it’s obvious in the text of the “Contract” that all of these promises were thinly veiled attempts at kicking the black man right back into his corner after decades of increasing prosperity for the fear that their incremental, yet steady gains would somehow pose a threat to the dominance of the white man in America...

You have to be kidding me. This guy Gates is a highly respected Harvard professor? What the hell is that? That would make me about the smartest person of all time. I’m like Pluto, Aristotle, Einstein, Mozart, Newton and Winston Churchill combined compared to Gates by that rationale. If this is Henry Gates’ logic, he’s obviously got some issues that are preventing him from thinking critically. He may be well educated but he does not appear to have the ability to reason. And, there’s that nagging sense that he’s an obvious racist dressed as an intellectual Harvard scholar.

This man is a close friend of Obama’s. And Reverend Wright, a blatant racist, was a close friend and spiritual advisor of Obama’s for twenty years. And Judge Sotomayor, who thinks her experience as a “wise Latina woman” makes her more qualified than a white man for the Supreme Court was Obama’s nomination. Do you see a theme here?

Where are we?

Who are we as a country?

What do our leaders stand for?

What does the word 'intellectual' mean these days?

Is this the new America? Is this the America where the President calls the police “stupid” for responding in a perfectly professional manner to a 911 call about a break-in and politely questioning a man at the scene, then tries to smooth it all out by inviting the subjects of the encounter to the White House for beers without an apology? I’m afraid it is.

Sergeant Crowley, thank you for doing your job. Next time I’m in Cambridge, if you would allow me the honor, the beer is on me.