The only "teaching moment" I see in this whole charade is: When a police officer responds to what someone reports as a break in, and it's you trying to get in your own house, and the officer asks you who you are and for some sort of ID, don't act like a pompous ass like Gates did, just calmly explain who you are, what you were doing and show your ID ... the policeman is doing the job that you are paying him to do ... if you have a problem with what the policeman did or the way he did it, take it up with the judge on another day.

Gates is still showing his ass, trying to be the martyr of "racial profiling", and Obama is trying to be the ultimate drama queen who is going to fix something that wasn't "broke". Had anyone else acted like Gates, be he black, white, red, green or blue, the same outcome would have prevailed: smart off to a cop repeatedly when he's just doing his job will most likely get you a chauffered ride in the cruiser down to the booking room.

This from someone who does not contribute to the "Police Benevolence Fund". :)

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http://my.att.net/s/editorial.dll?fromspage=all/home.htm&categoryid=&bfromind=7401&eeid=6699868&_sitecat=1522&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=-2&ck=&ch=ne&rg=blsadstrgt&l=hm

Gates says it's time to 'move on' from his arrest



Published: 7/26/09, 1:45 AM EDT
By RUSSELL CONTRERAS

BOSTON (AP) - Black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. says he's ready to move on from his arrest by a white police officer, hoping to use the encounter to improve fairness in the criminal justice system and saying "in the end, this is not about me at all."

After a phone call from President Barack Obama urging calm in the aftermath of his arrest last week, Gates said he would accept Obama's invitation to the White House for a beer with him and Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley.

In a statement posted Friday on The Root, a Web site Gates oversees, the scholar said he told Obama he'd be happy to meet with Crowley, whom Gates had accused of racial profiling.

"I told the president that my principal regret was that all of the attention paid to his deeply supportive remarks during his press conference had distracted attention from his health care initiative," Gates said. "I am pleased that he, too, is eager to use my experience as a teaching moment, and if meeting Sergeant Crowley for a beer with the president will further that end, then I would be happy to oblige."

It was a marked change in tone for Gates, who in the days following his arrest gathered up his legal team and said he was contemplating a lawsuit. He even vowed to make a documentary on his arrest to tie into a larger project about racial profiling.

In an e-mail to the Boston Globe late Friday, he said: "It is time for all of us to move on, and to assess what we can learn from this experience."

In a statement to The Associated Press, Gates promised to do all he could so others could learn from his arrest. [Mondo note: Yeah, tell them to refrain from mouthing off at a policeman when he is doing the job that you are paying him to do in the first place ... heh heh heh.]


"This could and should be a profound teaching moment in the history of race relations in America," Gates said. "I sincerely hope that the Cambridge police department will choose to work with me toward that goal."

Gates, 58, did not say in his statement if he planned to file a lawsuit.

Crowley did not return a telephone message seeking comment Saturday.

The outcry began Monday, when word broke that Gates had been arrested five days earlier at the two-story home he rents from Harvard.

Supporters called the arrest an outrageous act of racial profiling. Public interest increased when a photograph surfaced of the handcuffed Gates being escorted off his porch amid three officers.

Cambridge police moved to drop the disorderly conduct charge on Tuesday - without apology, but calling the case "regrettable."

Obama, who had said Cambridge police "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates, sought to tamp down the uproar Friday. He spoke to Crowley and Gates during separate telephone calls and declared that Crowley was a good man.

Obama invited the officer and the professor to the White House for a beer. He conceded his words had been ill-chosen, but he stopped short of a public apology.

A trio of Massachusetts police unions released a joint statement shortly after Obama's latest comments, saying Crowley had a friendly and meaningful conversation with the president.

"We appreciate his sincere interest and willingness to reconsider his remarks about the Cambridge Police Department," according to the statement. "It is clear to us from this conversation, that the President respects police officers and the often difficult and dangerous situations we face on a daily basis."

Gates added that he hoped his arrest would lead to a greater understanding about racial profiling in America.

"If my experience leads to the lessening of the occurrence of racial profiling, then I would find that enormously gratifying," Gates said on The Root. "Because, in the end, this is not about me at all; it is about the creation of a society in which 'equal justice before law' is a lived reality."

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I can't decide the more appropriate jingle to end my post:

"Here's to good friends,
Tonight is kind of special.
The beer we'll pour
must say something more, somehow.
So tonight (tonight),
Tonight,
Let it be Löwenbräu (let it be Löwenbräu).
It's been so long.
Hey, I'm glad to see ya.
Raise your glass.
Here's to health and happiness.
So tonight (tonight),
Let it be all the best."

... or ...

"Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
Say, who are the people in your neighborhood?
The people that you meet each day

(a blue muppet, I believe, walks onstage)

[Bob: Oh, hi there, little fella.]

[Anything Muppet #1: Hello.]

[Bob: Hey, listen, know who you could be if I gave you this little hat and this bag to go over your shoulder?]

[Anything Muppet #1: I could be a laundry man.]

[Bob: No, not a laundry man.]

[Anything Muppet #1: How about Santa Claus?]

[Bob: No no no, not Santa Claus.]

[Anything Muppet #1: What's wrong with Santa Claus?]

[Bob: There's nothing wrong with Santa Claus, but...]

[Anything Muppet #1: Don't you like Christmas?]

[Bob: Oh, I love Christmas. But you could be the postman.]

[Anything Muppet #1: A postman, hmmmm ...]

Oh, the postman always brings the mail
Through rain or snow or sleet or hail
I'll work and work the whole day through
To get your letters safe to you

Bob and Anything Muppet #1:
'Cause a postman is a person in your neighborhood
In your neighborhood
He's in your neighborhood
A postman is a person in your neighborhood
A person that you meet each day

[Anything Muppet #1: I'll see you around.]

[Bob: Okay.]

(AM#1 leaves, bumped into AM#2 as he enters)

[Anything Muppet #2: Hey, watch it. Where ya goin'? To a fire?]

[Bob: Hey, speaking of a fire.]

[Anything Muppet #2: Fire! What fire? Help! Help!]

[Bob: No, there's no fire at all. But do you know who you could be if I gave you this little shiny red hat?]

[Anything Muppet #2: Yeah, Santa Claus.]

[Bob: No, not Santa Claus.]

[Anything Muppet #2: Little Red Riding Hood?]

[Bob: No, no, no, not Red Riding Hood, you could be a fireman.]

[Anything Muppet #2: A fireman? Holy smoke!]

Oh, a fireman is brave it's said
His engine is a shiny red
If there's a fire anywhere about
Well, I'll be sure to put it out

Bob and Anything Muppet #2:
'Cause a fireman is a person in your neighborhood
In your neighborhood
He's in your neighborhood

Anything Muppet #1:
And a postman is a person in your neighborhood

All:
Well, they're the people that you meet
When you're walking down the street
They're the people that you meet each day

(additional verses from the book "People In My Neighborhood" Volume 7 of "On My Way With Sesame Street")

(pic of Cookie Monster dressed in a chef hat and apron behind the counter of a bakery, muching cookies, natch)

The baker is the one who makes
Your bread and rolls and pies and cakes
If you want something sweet to eat, go see
The baker in the bakery

(pic of Guy Smiley-like teacher in front of class holding a globe)

A teacher works the whole day through
To teach important things to you
He'll teach you things you won't forget
Like numbers and the alphabet

(pic of Herry monster in red-white striped pants just like a barber's pole cutting the hair of Guy Smiley-like muppet)

A barber has a great big chair
You sit in it, he cuts your hair
He'll snip and clip and never rest
Until your haircut looks its best

(pic of Prairie Dawn-like muppet driving a bus)

The bus driver drives fast or slow
To take you where you want to go
When you get in and pay your fare
She will drive you anywhere

(pic of Telly wearing a dentist's uniform)

A dentist cares for all your teeth
The top ones and the ones beneath
So if you have an aching tooth
He'll fix it quick, and that's the truth

(pic of female muppet in a doctor's uniform)

The doctor makes you well real quick
If by chance you're feeling sick
She works and works the whole day long
To help you feel well and strong

(pic of blue adult male muppet in grocer's outfit)

The grocer sells the things you eat
Like bread and eggs, cheese and meat
No matter what you're looking for
You'll find it at the grocery store

(pic of Grover working on a shoe with a hammer)

The shoemaker is always there
To take care of the shoes you wear
With his hammer, nails, and glue
He'll fix your shoes as good as new

(pic of the back of Rodeo Rosie handing over a fringed vest to the drycleaner, a green adult male muppet)

The cleaner is the one who knows
How to clean and press your clothes
He'll take a jacket, suit, or vest
And clean it so you'll look your best

(pic of Oscar The Grouch, naturally, driving a garbage truck)

The trash collector works each day
He'll always take your trash away
He drives the biggest truck you've seen
To keep the city streets all clean"


Barf!