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Race-relation in the White House: mending the “stupid” comment of Pres. Barack Obama

7/31/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

As a photo-op to mend the racial controversy sparked by Barack Obama’s siding with his friend, the black Harvard professor Henry Lewis Gates, Jr, the White House welcomed the two warring personalities----Cambridge police officer Sgt. James Crowley who was accused by Obama to have acted “stupidly” in arresting Professor Gates. The teacher was rowdy, belligerent and angry after being asked to produce an ID, prompting Crowley to arrest him..

Sgt. Crowley went to Gates’ house in response to an alleged break-in the latter’s residence. He found the black teacher suspecting the white police officer of “racially profiling” him. In truth, Crowley was just there to help.

The supposedly educated black Harvard mentor escalated the simple situation by raising a race issue----something he professed to be an “expert” of. Many viewed this case as a “Do you know who I am?” kind of thing by a teacher known to Obama which brought the incident to national attention.

In the White House on Thursday, July 30, 2009 Crowley and Gates got time with Obama. They talked and tried to mend fences over a drink of beer.

What resulted was an embarrassment for Obama who joined the controversy by siding with Gates without first knowing the facts. So they had to meet in the South Lawn of the presidential house, most likely to minimize the negative backlash. There were criticisms against the president from the police force nationwide for his “uncalibrated” comment against the police officer.

In simple terms, I believe, Obama didn’t have to meet the two in the White House. He has more important national issues to tackle. Instead of trying to deflect the real issue from himself and his black friend, he could just have apologized for a mistake----a racial bias (a Freudian slip of sorts) he expressed against Crowley. The public is smart to understand. (Photo Credit: CBS/ AFP/ Saul Loeb) =0=

RELATED BLOG: Obama backtracks from “stupid” statement against a white Cambridge police officer Posted by mesiamd at 7/27/2009

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Labels: Barack Obama, Cambridge, Harvard, Henry Lewis Gates, political correctness, politics, race, race relations, Sgt. James Crowley, Totie Mesia

Obama backtracks from “stupid” statement against a white Cambridge police officer

7/27/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

Without knowing the circumstances between in the altercation between a white police officer and a black Harvard professor, Pres. Barack Obama, jumped in siding with the black professor----only to learn later he should know better. The police officer wasn’t stupid and he was just doing his job.

Sgt. James Crowley, the police officer responding to a break-in report in the home of Harvard teacher Henry Louis Gates Jr. found himself dealing with a belligerent acidic professor who didn’t want to show his identification. It boiled down to Gates’ unfounded paranoid suspicion that he is being “racially profiled’ by Crowley.

Pres. Barack Obama who is a friend of Prof. Gates reacted quick without knowing the facts:

"I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry," Obama said. "Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three -- what I think we know separate and apart from this incident -- is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact."---http://wb.tv (07/23/09,

In truth, the Cambridge police officer was there to help black teacher----but Gates probably expected that people like Crowley should first know him because he is a “Harvard professor(?)”. Call it hubris in the academe's ivory tower, a demand for respect or an overreaction, but in the police report, Gates was described as tumultuous, uncooperative, and upset.

It is disgusting that this happens in America on people who are supposedly educated. This kind of “Do you know me?” challenge by people of influence and arrogance commonly occurs on simple folks who need to deal with the “VIP’s” like fragile porcelains. Self-importance and inappropriate reaction are most likely operant here.

People like Gates are absorbed in their self-awareness and that a simple showing of identification to a police officer becomes a race issue or a contention to start an argument. The black professor is said to be an “expert” on racism---and in my opinion he has carried his expertise too far.

I am amazed, a US president went down so low to quickly comment erroneously on an issue that is parochial and least deserving of his attention. This split second decision to defend a friend by the president offers clues on what goes on the way he thinks of race relations. Is the preferential option for friends becoming common in the Obama administration?

As a consequence of Obama’s rushed response, he has to patch up,---short of an apology, admitting that he could have used a "calibrated" response. He is correct that the police disproportionately arrest blacks and hispanics more than other races. The reason is obvious--- Blacks and Hispanics have high rates of criminality than other races.

Sgt. Crowley could have over-reacted in arresting this black teacher, but the officer isn’t pleased by the president’s partisan reaction---and so are his colleagues in the police force who try to do their duty as officers. The irony of it all, Crowley, in his career, has been a resource person on avoiding "racial profiling" and in the past, tried to revive a black guy in an emergency, by mouth to mouth resuscitation. (PHoto Credit: WBZ.com) =0=

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Labels: Barack Obama, black box, Cambridge, discrimination, Harvard, Hispanic, Latino, political correctness, race, race relations, Sgt. James Crowley, Totie Mesia

Did Google Inc Donate $373,212 to Barack Obama's Campaign?

8/17/2008 | Posted by andygimpaya | Edit Post

Note: This article is featured on Ezine Articles. Click here to view the Ezine version.

At OpenSecrets.org, you find the list of top contributors to the Obama campaign. Google Inc is 6th in the list with $373,212 , behind Goldman Sachs, $627,730;University of California, $523,120; JPMorgan Chase & Co,$398,021; Citigroup Inc,$393,899; UBS AG, $378,400; and just slightly ahead of Harvard University, $369,802. Microsoft Corp donated $276,925 and ranked 15th among the top contributors.

Did Google indeed give $373,212 to the Obama camp? The answer is yes, but the money is not a corporate contribution but is the cumulative contribution from Google employees. Google Corporation did not give a cent and it does not run out of representatives in online forums who are quick to explain this.

Still with Google personnel leaning towards Obama, some concerns were raised about McCain getting shortchanged in Google searches and his general visibility in the Google-led World Wide Web. No this will not happen, one says, Google search algorithms have been well tested for security and reliability and cannot be tweaked by one or two employees. A naughty suggestion comes out to ask the Adwords team to raise the minimum bids for McCain and GOP related keywords, making them less visible in the Adsense feeds.

Not many are really surprised that Google (and Microsoft) employees will lean overwhelmingly towards Barack Obama. These are "highly educated younger people who are smart enough (and "tuned in" enough) to know that voting for McCain is absolutely unreasonable." Most voices in the online communities in fact tend to root for Obama and no further search engine manipulations are needed. Whereas Obama is known to be active posters in online forums and walks around comfortably with his Goldberry gadget, McCain openly admits that he does not know how to use the mouse and the keyboard (as if that is something to be proud of). He also adds that he leaves all his email works to his wife. All these do not speak well of McCain's learning curve on things new and unfamiliar. Too bad for him the world is not perfect (understatement applied), otherwise with his age and experience, McCain would have been the run away winner in the US 2008 election even this early. Even while he whines occasionally that this "young man Obama" has "got everything all wrong", there is not a thankful younger generation who cares to listen.

More than fifty years ago, the irrepressible English philosopher Bertrand Russell warned us to be wary of anyone of who touts his 50 years of experience because he could be talking only of 1 year of experience repeated 50 times. So Russell was not one who would go for more of the same. If he were alive today he would be one with Google and the multitude worldwide who chant in their hearts "Change We Can Believe In."

Labels: Bertrand Russel, Google, Harvard, McCain, Microsoft, Obama, US Elections 2008

UP Ibalon Bicol

Race-relation in the White House: mending the “stupid” comment of Pres. Barack Obama

Obama backtracks from “stupid” statement against a white Cambridge police officer

Did Google Inc Donate $373,212 to Barack Obama's Campaign?

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