Henry Gates Jr. some simple rules to follow

[geeker2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mt...E83BF2&index=0

[Rupert Pupkin]

I think Obama made a complete ass of himself with the comments he made about the incident. When he doesn't use his teleprompter and just talks off the cuff, that's when he puts his foot in his mouth.

He finally half-heartedly apologized today for his ignorant comments. He said,
"Because this has been ratcheting up and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, I wanted to make clear in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt. Crowley specifically," Obama said. "And I could have calibrated those words differently."

He "thinks he unfortunately gave an impression that he was maligning the Cambridge Police or Sgt. Crowley specifically". If that wasn't the impression he was trying to give then he probably shouldn't have accused them of "acting stupidly".

[hi_im_god]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

I think Obama made a complete ass of himself with the comments he made about the incident. When he doesn't use his teleprompter and just talks off the cuff, that's when he puts his foot in his mouth.

He finally half-heartedly apologized today for his ignorant comments. He said,
"Because this has been ratcheting up and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, I wanted to make clear in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt. Crowley specifically," Obama said. "And I could have calibrated those words differently."

He "thinks he unfortunately gave an impression that he was maligning the Cambridge Police or Sgt. Crowley specifically". If that wasn't the impression he was trying to give then he probably shouldn't have accused them of "acting stupidly".

but he did use those words.

and so he apologized.

what am i missing here? is he supposed to use special presidential wizard powers to go back in time to not say the words he's now apologising for. what's your point?

he f'd up. no doubt.

he admits it and issued an apology. in public and directly to the officer in a phone call. no waiting.

would it be clearer if he had a large "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" banner?

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

but he did use those words.

and so he apologized.

what am i missing here? is he supposed to use special presidential wizard powers to go back in time to not say the words he's now apologising for. what's your point?

he f'd up. no doubt.

he admits it and issued an apology. in public and directly to the officer in a phone call. no waiting.

would it be clearer if he had a large "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" banner?

My point was two-fold. My first point was that his original remarks were way off-base. We both agree about that, so there is no argument there. My second point was that I thought his apology was sort of a luke-warm apology. He should have said, "I f'd up. I apologize." Instead he gave one of those apologies where he acts like his orginal words were misconstrued. His original words were not misconstrued. He said the wrong thing. He f'd up. That was my only beef with his apology. At least he apologized. I give him credit for that.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

He apologized for two reasons.

1.) Because he's a politican

2.) Because people are morons.

I wonder why the charges were dropped so fast.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

He apologized for two reasons.

1.) Because he's a politican

2.) Because people are morons.

I wonder why the charges were dropped so fast.

If the police are called to a scene for any reason, if you are ranting and raving at them and won't calm down, there is a good chance you are going to get arrested, even if you're on your own property.

This whole incident would have been avoided if this professor would have behaved like a normal person and just showed his identification.

[Antitrust32]

Some white people close there eyes and believe racial profiling is made up. I happen to think its one of the worst problems with this country, if not the worst. I'm white & have a ton black friends from different area's of the country. Its crazy what they have had to deal with from cops that what I have (which is nothing).

You really can get pulled over for "driving while black". It happens every second in this country and its very embarrassing. You can get harrassed and searched just for walking down the darn street... I've never seen that happen to a white person though! And now apparantly you can get in trouble if you are black and your house proves you make a good living.

Its disgusting, and if Obama's comments pissed off some cops.. good. the one's here in Ocala are below human status when it comes to racial profiling.. just horrible.

Its 2009 and we are supposed to be a progressive country. Unfortunatly, some people, for reasons I will NEVER understand, think they are better than others.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

I think Obama made a complete ass of himself with the comments he made about the incident. When he doesn't use his teleprompter and just talks off the cuff, that's when he puts his foot in his mouth.

He finally half-heartedly apologized today for his ignorant comments. He said,
"Because this has been ratcheting up and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, I wanted to make clear in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt. Crowley specifically," Obama said. "And I could have calibrated those words differently."

He "thinks he unfortunately gave an impression that he was maligning the Cambridge Police or Sgt. Crowley specifically". If that wasn't the impression he was trying to give then he probably shouldn't have accused them of "acting stupidly".

Do you have rocks in your head? How did the cop not act stupidly?

He arrested a guy for "disorderly conduct" on his own property.

Why, because he asked for a badge number, the officers name, and bitched about a racial bias?

I think you still have the right to protest in public .. I think you still have the right to demand a cop identify himself in public .. when you can't protest and demand identification on your own private property - something is the matter with that. Whatever happened to free speech?

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

but he did use those words.

and so he apologized.

And he's a complete puss for apologizing.

“I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, Professor Gates probably overreacted as well.”

The professor can overreact and be a dick all he wants .. he's on private property.

The cop's job is to enforce the law. He's not a high school principle out to punish rude behavior.

[hi_im_god]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

And he's a complete puss for apologizing.




The professor can overreact and be a dick all he wants .. he's on private property.

The cop's job is to enforce the law. He's not a high school principle out to punish rude behavior.

he stepped in a pile of sh*t when he really had no reason to get involved. it was a local issue until he spoke up.

he doesn't need to be the black president. he needs to be the president. he got back to the latter when he wiped the crap off his shoes with an apology.

plus, i'd be glad he apologized even if there were pictures of the cop in a pointed white hood. now i don't have to worry about my neighbor's calling him and having to explain at work why the president's talking about my loud music.

he got more important things to do. installing socialism, taking everyones guns, and running secret internment camps for conservative radio hosts are higher priorities.

[dellinger63]

Gates, 58, a world-renowned scholar and documentary filmmaker on black history, allegedly ranted to police at his Ware Street home, “This is what happens to black men in America!” and “You don’t know who you’re messing with!” in addition to verbally dragging Crowley’s mother into the fray.

Oh no he didn't

[GBBob]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

he stepped in a pile of sh*t when he really had no reason to get involved. it was a local issue until he spoke up.

he doesn't need to be the black president. he needs to be the president. he got back to the latter when he wiped the crap off his shoes with an apology.

plus, i'd be glad he apologized even if there were pictures of the cop in a pointed white hood. now i don't have to worry about my neighbor's calling him and having to explain at work why the president's talking about my loud music.

he got more important things to do. installing socialism, taking everyones guns, and running secret internment camps for conservative radio hosts are higher priorities.

As long as he keeps pissing off the neo-cons, all is good. By the time he's re-elected, they'll still be looking for a candidate.

An angry conservative is a happy conservative

[johnny pinwheel]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

And he's a complete puss for apologizing.




The professor can overreact and be a dick all he wants .. he's on private property.

The cop's job is to enforce the law. He's not a high school principle out to punish rude behavior.

i agree totally with you even though your taking crap. i'm white, if some cop comes up to my door for i/d he better have a good reason. i won't hesitate to piss all over his parade in MY yard! i don't give a crap what he thinks he got called there for its MY property and if i get pissed off for him questioning me on MY property, he best not arrest me. like you said people are stupid and politicians are cowards. obama said the right thing then back peddled like a complete puss. the reason that this country has gone to Sh^t is this sheep, follow authority mentality. no one questions anything and accepts any garbage the government hands out. if the cop does not want me cussing him out then he can stay off MY land. otherwise, his mother does suck and whats he going to do about it? arrest me ? i think not. arrested on your front porch, for being insulted by some numb nut cop? welcome to the USSR of the united states. the color has no meaning here when you are arrested like this. can you say police state ? charges had to be dropped, if he sues, well there goes the budget...lol. we had some moron deputy up here arrest a kid for kicking a baseball helmet at a pony league game. he was the coach of the opposing team and sent his buddies over to arrest the kid the next day. guess what happened to him? most cops are good, but you give some guys a gun and badge and they are dumber than a 40 year old virgin with a hard on. its called power drunk! if someone gets pissed off abouit you barging onto THEIR property without permission. the cop should say good day, sorry we bothered you on YOUR property. i don't care if the guy called him the child of satan !

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by johnny pinwheel

i agree totally with you even though your taking crap. i'm white, if some cop comes up to my door for i/d he better have a good reason. i won't hesitate to piss all over his parade in MY yard! i don't give a crap what he thinks he got called there for its MY property and if i get pissed off for him questioning me on MY property, he best not arrest me. like you said people are stupid and politicians are cowards. obama said the right thing then back peddled like a complete puss. the reason that this country has gone to Sh^t is this sheep, follow authority mentality. no one questions anything and accepts any garbage the government hands out. if the cop does not want me cussing him out then he can stay off MY land. otherwise, his mother does suck and whats he going to do about it? arrest me ? i think not. arrested on your front porch, for being insulted by some numb nut cop? welcome to the USSR of the united states. the color has no meaning here when you are arrested like this. can you say police state ? charges had to be dropped, if he sues, well there goes the budget...lol. we had some moron deputy up here arrest a kid for kicking a baseball helmet at a pony league game. he was the coach of the opposing team and sent his buddies over to arrest the kid the next day. guess what happened to him? most cops are good, but you give some guys a gun and badge and they are dumber than a 40 year old virgin with a hard on. its called power drunk! if someone gets pissed off abouit you barging onto THEIR property without permission. the cop should say good day, sorry we bothered you on YOUR property. i don't care if the guy called him the child of satan !

the policeman was called because someone thought a breaking/entering was occurring. of course he's going to ask for i.d. after being told 'i live here' by the possible perpetrator-you think cops don't hear that every day from folks who don't live there? probably no more often then they hear 'my speedometer must be off'. at any rate, being on your own property doesn't mean you can make your own rules by any means-and i'd imagine if you stayed calm, handed over your i.d. so that the mean old cop would see you were telling the truth, then nothing would escalate.
policemen deal with the dregs of society on a regular basis-if you did the same you might be just as cynical as they are. and keep in mind, usually the first person they encounter on a call, is the one they need to arrest. innocent bystanders, in general, don't have the cops called on them.

[DerbyCat]

As an ex-cop I can tell you that cops do all types of profiling, it's not just racial profiling, I think it's actually more socio-economical profiling. What I mean by that is, if you don't look like an upstanding citizen, look like you don't belong where you are or just look like a dirtbag, you're more likely to get stopped and talked to.

An example: I was patrolling a big city in California while on break-in (this was back in the early 90's) and drove past a two white guy talking outside a run down house. One was drinking a beer in the front yard of the house and the other was wearing jeans and a "wife beater" and straddling a 10-speed bike. I drove past and my training officer said, "don't you want to stop and talk with those guys?" I said no, why would I? His reply was "It's the middle of the day and this guys drinking beer outside, you've got probable cause (drinking in public). You want to talk to the guy on the bike, only reason a grown man rides a bike is if he's wearing those silly-ass tight shorts trying to be Greg LeMond (this was before Lance). Guy wearing jeans riding a bike means he doesn't have a car and probably doesn't have a license, so maybe he's got warrants. Maybe one of those guys has something (drugs, weapon) on him. If you're lucky, you'll be able to hook one of these guys." My reply to him was, "So, by your logic, if my father is sitting on his front step in Los Altos (an upper-middle class town), enjoying a glass of wine and chatting with his neighbor who just got back from a 20 mile bike ride, he too could get stopped and questioned by the cops." My training officer replied, "No, you stop the ones you can arrest, not the ones that will complain to the department".

I'm not saying that this is right or even the approach of many cops, but this was just one of several instances like this where I was directed or trained to stop someone based upon how they looked. If they look like they didn't belonged where I saw them or if they looked like a "dirtbag" that I could arrest, I stopped them.

So, being "Black in America" isn't really the crime, being "suspicious and verbally combative" is what will get you arrested... but so will being a white guy driving through a Hispanic neighborhood known for drug activity. Innocent folks aren't generally verbally combative with the cops, they're usually a little nervous and embarrassed and try to comply with the cops so they can get out of there as soon as possible. Soon as you start mouthing off to a cop, you can expect that you will lose control of the situation. Not many folks can win an argument with a cop out in the field, cops just aren't wired that way.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by johnny pinwheel

i agree totally with you even though your taking crap. i'm white, if some cop comes up to my door for i/d he better have a good reason. i won't hesitate to piss all over his parade in MY yard! i don't give a crap what he thinks he got called there for its MY property and if i get pissed off for him questioning me on MY property, he best not arrest me. like you said people are stupid and politicians are cowards. obama said the right thing then back peddled like a complete puss. the reason that this country has gone to Sh^t is this sheep, follow authority mentality. no one questions anything and accepts any garbage the government hands out. if the cop does not want me cussing him out then he can stay off MY land. otherwise, his mother does suck and whats he going to do about it? arrest me ? i think not. arrested on your front porch, for being insulted by some numb nut cop? welcome to the USSR of the united states. the color has no meaning here when you are arrested like this. can you say police state ? charges had to be dropped, if he sues, well there goes the budget...lol. we had some moron deputy up here arrest a kid for kicking a baseball helmet at a pony league game. he was the coach of the opposing team and sent his buddies over to arrest the kid the next day. guess what happened to him? most cops are good, but you give some guys a gun and badge and they are dumber than a 40 year old virgin with a hard on. its called power drunk! if someone gets pissed off abouit you barging onto THEIR property without permission. the cop should say good day, sorry we bothered you on YOUR property. i don't care if the guy called him the child of satan !

I think that we all agree with you that the police have no right to come to a person's house or enter a person's house for no reason. For them to enter your house, they need probable cause.

If a neighbor reports hearing yelling or screaming coming from a house and there could be something going on there such as a domestic disturbance, an altercation, etc. then the police have the right to enter the house and investigate. If a neighbor thinks they saw someone breaking into a house, the police have the right to go and investigate. They don't just have the right to investigate, they have a duty to investigate. That's their job.

Their investigation involves going to the house and interviewing the occupants to find out what is going on. If the occupants are belligerent or uncooperative and are impeding the investigation, then the police have every right to arrest them. If the occupants are cooperative and the police determine that no crime has been committed, then there won't be any problem and the police will leave.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Do you have rocks in your head? How did the cop not act stupidly?

He arrested a guy for "disorderly conduct" on his own property.

Why, because he asked for a badge number, the officers name, and bitched about a racial bias?

I think you still have the right to protest in public .. I think you still have the right to demand a cop identify himself in public .. when you can't protest and demand identification on your own private property - something is the matter with that. Whatever happened to free speech?

We all know the facts of the case and you are pretty much the only one who has reached that conclusion. Even fairly liberal black men like Juan Williams thought the President's remarks were way off base.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

We all know the facts of the case and you are pretty much the only one who has reached that conclusion. Even fairly liberal black men like Juan Williams thought the President's remarks were way off base.

Off base for a politican who is strugging in recent opinion polls.

So, the cops didn't act stupidly?

And what the hell is the difference between saying they overreacted and acted stupidly.

He changed his words around now to make it sound nicer.

It's like a bettor stating an opinion saying Desormeaux acted stupidly by moving Real Quiet too soon in the Belmont ... than coming back after talking on the phone with Kent .. and saying they were wrong to say Kent acted stupid by moving RQ when he did .. he just overreacted by moving him when he did.

The point is that the cop screwed his job up.

The guy may have been a huge dick but he has that right to as an American citizen.