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SgtMunro
Soldier of the King
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 23 2002
Status: offline
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 Posted - July 23 2009 : 3:03:25 PM
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Obama scolds Cambridge police
President, a friend of Gates, says officers 'acted stupidly'
By Joseph Williams
Boston Globe Staff / July 23, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Obama, weighing in on the arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., said last night that Cambridge police acted stupidly when they handcuffed Gates even after he showed proof that he lived in the house.
Calling Gates a friend, and acknowledging he didnt know all the facts, Obama said during a nationally televised press conference otherwise devoted to healthcare that he didnt know whether race played a role in the arrest of Gates, who is black and a noted authority on race relations, by a white Cambridge police officer investigating a burglary report.
But the president added that it is just a fact that African-Americans and Latinos are disproportionately stopped by police - evidence that race remains a factor in our society.
Obama, the first African-American commander-in-chief, won office by running a campaign that tried to transcend race. His remarks on Gatess arrest are perhaps the most pointed comments he has made on the subject since his election.
America has made progress on race relations, and his election is testimony to that, the president said, but the Gates episode suggests theres still more that needs to be done.
I think its fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; 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 theres a long history in this country of Afri can-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, the president said. Thats just a fact.
Cambridge Sergeant James Crowley, who arrested Gates last Thursday, declined to respond to the president. Asked at a softball game in Natick last night about Obamas remarks, Crowley shook his head and said, I think Id be better off not commenting on that one.
Cambridge police referred requests for comment to a spokesman, who did not respond.
Obamas account of the incident did not precisely mirror what Gates and police have said. Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct after he forced open the jammed front door to his home, and a neighbor reported it as a break-in. Gates said the police handcuffed and booked him even though he showed his drivers license and Harvard ID to prove that he lived in the house, but the arresting officer said the professor was loud and abusive.
Authorities dropped a disorderly conduct charge against Gates on Tuesday in connection with the incident, but Gates is demanding an apology from Crowley and is considering legal action. Crowley said yesterday he has no plans to apologize.
Obama said that when he was an Illinois state senator, we worked on a racial profiling bill because there was indisputable evidence that blacks and Hispanics were being stopped disproportionately.
Race still haunts us, he said. And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and Hispanics are picked up more frequently and often time for no cause casts suspicion even when there is good cause. And thats why I think the more that were working with local law enforcement to improve policing techniques . . . the safer everybody is going to be.
Even as he made a serious point, beginning to suggest that the same thing could have happened to him if he had tried to jimmy his way into his old house in Chicago, Obama joked about what would happen if he tried to jimmy into his current home - the White House.
Here, he said, Id get shot.
Erica Noonan of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
Sarge's Assesment : Okay, I have to comment on this, especially since President Obama has remained silent on the murder of a U.S. soldier on American soil by an Islamic Terrorist, but he is ready to jump-in and make an assumption on this case. Pvt. William Long (U.S. Army - KIA) was shot to death by Abdulhakim Muhammad (B/M/24-YOA / AKA- Carlos Bledsoe), while the soldier was on-duty at a military recruitment center in Little Rock (AR). It has been almost two months, and there is still no word from President Obama on this heinous crime. (compare that to how quickly Obama got on the air to lionize the death of abortionist Dr. Tiller) Now one of Obama's Harvard buddies gets 'popped' by the local P.D. on a DC charge, and all of a sudden this charlatan is on TV giving his opinion.
Either way, let us take a closer look at some excerpts from this article:
Quote #1: But the president added that it is just a fact that African-Americans and Latinos are disproportionately stopped by police - evidence that race remains a factor in our society.
Sarge's note: It is also 'just a fact' that in the areas of a metropolitan region where said minorities are 'disproportionately' stopped by police, are also the same areas where said minorities are disproportionately responsible for the majority of the criminal activity. If Presdient Obama would have ever put his law degree to work in the criminal law arena, he would have noticed that trend too; and he could have avoided sounding like yet another race-baiting poverty-pimp!
Quote #2: I think its fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; 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 theres a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, the president said. Thats just a fact.
Sarge' note: This is a three-part statement, so I will answer each in turn:
1) No 'Barry', not any of us would be angry, only those who are ignorant enough to react when all of the facts are not in!
2) There are confliciting statements from both Mr. Gates and Sgt. Crowley, as to identification showing the house address was presented. But Obama reacts like any other Cultural-Marxist, that being, "when in doubt, blame the white guy."
3) And as I noted before, any 'disproportion' is due to a similar disproportion of minorities responsible for criminal activity in a given area (which also has an overall majority of said non-whites)
...and this explains why Obama never did make it as a real lawyer!
Quote #3: Authorities dropped a disorderly conduct charge against Gates on Tuesday in connection with the incident, but Gates is demanding an apology from Crowley and is considering legal action. Crowley said yesterday he has no plans to apologize.
Sarge's note: I've seen this B.S. tactic played-out by many spineless police administrators over the years, and each time it blows-up in the department's face. If you charge an actor with an offense, the officer or the department should never drop those charges, that should be left to the district-attorney and/or the sitting judge. To do so only makes the officer look suspicious in any subsequent civil action.
And I agree with Sgt. Crowley on not apologizing, especially if it shows he did nothing contrary to the law and/or department policy. In other words, "Screw the perp, let him defend his actions in court also!"
Quote #4: Race still haunts us, he said. And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and Hispanics are picked up more frequently and often time for no cause casts suspicion even when there is good cause.
Sarge's note: Is that so 'Barry', then perhaps you would like to name specific cases which have occured recently. And the only way that race can still 'haunt' us is the fact that a higher percentage of whites voted for Obama, than blacks who voted for McCain. So even though any intellectually honest person would agree that the 'Race Card' is officially off the table, other percieved 'issues' seem to have their causes eminating from the minority community (you know, like certain 'wise latinia women' in the judiciary).
Quote #5: Even as he made a serious point, beginning to suggest that the same thing could have happened to him if he had tried to jimmy his way into his old house in Chicago, Obama joked about what would happen if he tried to jimmy into his current home - the White House.
Here, he said, Id get shot.
Sarge's note: Hmmmmm, looks like another example of the Left using sterotypes (the 'Trigger-Happy Cop' sterotype), while at the same time decrying such things... 'Newspeak' versus 'Oldspeak', George Orwell, call your office!
YMH&OS,
The Sarge
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Serjeant-Major Duncan Munro
Capt. Thos. Graham's Coy.
42nd Royal Highland Regiment of Foote
(The Black Sheep of the Black Watch)
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit"
-Or-
"Recruit locally, fight globally." |
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Monadnock Guide
Council of Elders
USA
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di-mc
Pioneer
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 03 2008
Status: offline
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Posted - July 23 2009 : 11:39:42 PM
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| Can we really take this guy for the next 3.5 years? I'd say that anyone who claims to not know the details, then goes on national TV to give their opinion is the stupid one,the on-the job police officer who was there and acted according to his training is the only one with any sense in this entire story. By the way, evidently, there was a previous report of this house being broken into. Had this policeman not acted as he did, he wouldn't be doing his job properly. |
Diane
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Thomas Jefferson |
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richfed
Sachem
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 13 2002
Status: offline
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Posted - July 24 2009 : 7:26:47 PM
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First He Thinks He Is A Leader, Now Me Thinks He Is Bordering on Laughable... [paraphrasing you Sarge!]
He is a disgrace. |
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SgtMunro
Soldier of the King
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 23 2002
Status: offline
Donating Member |
Posted - July 25 2009 : 12:25:42 PM
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quote:
di-mc said: By the way, evidently, there was a previous report of this house being broken into. Had this policeman not acted as he did, he wouldn't be doing his job properly.
You are right, Lady Di; and if the cop was black, I am sure that Professor Gates would have acted the same way toward him. I think that Gates is more of an Elitist, and a boorish snob, than anything else. The only bigot I see in this story is President Obama himself.
quote:
richfed noted: He is a disgrace.
So true Sachem, and in more ways than one.
YMH&OS,
The Sarge |
Serjeant-Major Duncan Munro
Capt. Thos. Graham's Coy.
42nd Royal Highland Regiment of Foote
(The Black Sheep of the Black Watch)
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit"
-Or-
"Recruit locally, fight globally." |
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