When did it become ok to have a gun near the Prez?

The nutters are out nearly on a rampage. They're frothing at the mouth over imaginary threats to their right to carry military-grade weapons. So just to "show" that they are supporters of American freedom they've been showing up in droves to rallies on the healthcare reform held by President Obama, with their "freedom guns" strapped to the hip. Let me just cut to the chase and say just how fucked up this all sounds. I've never dreamed that it was appropriate to carry a weapon around the President of the United States unless you were part of the Secret Service detail or at a military function. If this was happening during Bush's time and the perpetrators had been lefties, I bet these same freedom-loving uptight assholes would have their panties up in a bunch and screaming for the lot to be hung by their toes. I don't care if I agree or don't agree with the Commander-in-chief or the Vice President, it is never cool to be "carrying" around them, that is unless you're hunting with Dick Cheney and well let's face it that's just for your own protection.

T-shirt love for President Obama

Hey Laaaaaaadies!
Originally uploaded by Telstar Logistics

I feel a little guilty passing this on, as the traditional acronym makes me cringe, but when I spotted a guy wearing this shirt, I did a double-take. So a t-shirt designer wanted to show the new Prez some love, so a "PILF" shirt was born. Anyway I thought it was kinda cute and seemed so appropriate to see that here in San Francisco.

Racists want apology for being called racist

So the racial profilers want an apology? Screw 'em. They deserve the same respect that they show Black and Brown people. Gates was not arrested for being unruly; anyway, he was in his own damn house. He was arrested for being a Black man being unruly in his own house. The cop has all the training to properly handle a situation where someone becomes irate, especially when it is over a mistaken identity type of situation. Instead, the cop got uppity and decided he was going to teach this Black man a lesson by arresting him. If the cop doesn't like being called a racist, I'm going to suggest a novel idea, don't act racist. These wolves in cops' uniforms deserve no apology.

Follow more details at NYTimes.

One more thing about the cops...

The Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association are a bunch of dumb, moronic assholes who deserve the sharp end of a racial profiling lawsuit. I am so hoping Henry Louis Gates Jr slaps them with a lawsuit that all their descendants will continue to feel into the far future.

NY Times

President Obama has his say on racial profiling

I was afraid that nothing would come out of the White House, specifically President Barack Obama on the racial profiling of Professor Henry Louis Gates resulting in his arrest. I almost was about to question his intellect and sincerity. He did stop short of calling it what it was: racism. But at least he did voice what damn near every Black and brown person in this country has experienced, harassment at the hands of "law" enforcement. I've got to put some quotes in there, because the law is definitely not what is being enforced, it's more like the old status quo of Jim Crow days. When a Black person speaks up for their rights, questions a police officer, cops get really indignant because they think themselves to be above the law. And that's when they become dangerous, lethal sometimes. And they have the nerve to wonder why there's such distrust of the police. Don't tow the Blue Line and speak out against police brutality and things will change.

Anyway, something had to be said and I am glad that President Obama finally said it. Now if he can only put some action to it. When cops are found guilty of harassment and they've got all kinds of lies to deflect the accusation, but when they are, the penalty needs to be good and harsh. A heinous act like that deserves a similar punishment. You want to trample over someone else's liberties, well wave goodbye to yours. We'll send billions of dollars to help someone else experience freedom, all the while we ignore those here at home who are having theirs stripped away simply because they're ancestry comes from Africa or Central America.

Screw that mess. Enough is enough.

Epidemic of Blacks being arrested just for being home

WTF, is all I can think. Sheesh here's the latest on a Black person, sadly it was the esteemed Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr, just trying to go about his daily business and ending up in handcuffs by racist-assed trigger-happy cops. Thank God they didn't shoot a Black man in the back this time. It all started with a nervous white neighbor who obviously never bothered to get to know her neighbor. She spied Black men entering a home in her neighborhood and assumed criminal activity must be taking place. One phone call to the cops later, Dr Gates is being ordered out of his home by "law" enforcement and ends up with his mugshot being taken because he stood up for his right against unlawful search and seizure. And no reasonable cause was not warranted in my opinion as there was absolutely no evidence of wrong-doing, just a twitchy white woman who saw some Black men near her home. Read more at the NY Times.

More stories on recent similar stories:

• Robbie Tolan killed by cops in own driveway (ESPN)


• The Daily Racism Run-down (Current.com)


• ACLU's report on Racial Profiling

Deep Thoughts by Dubya

What was Bush's self-examination and summarization of his administration's legacy? In a nutshell:

"Yup, I instigated a war. I messed up relations with old allies. I ignored the imploding economy. I screwed up the nation. Now stop yer bitchin' and deal with it."

Read and hear all about at NPR.

Cop hysteria before Obama takes the White House?

I have just one question: What the hell is going on? We're not even half way through the month of January and cops seem to just be extra trigger-happy. Is it the economy? The war in Iraq? A Black man taking over the White House? What is it? There have been several stories of racially-motivated conflicts against Blacks by in the past couple of weeks.

Here is the one that is getting the most press:

Dumbass cop shoots unarmed and subdued Black man lying on ground.

In this case, in the early morning hours following the opening of the new year, a fist-fight between two groups of people had broken out on a line of the BART subway system in a San Francisco east-bay community (NOTE: this was a "fist" fight --- no weapons were drawn). According to accounts, the cops were called and just one group of the participants were pulled off and subdued. The shooting victim was drawn on and shot after several cops already had pushed him to the ground and put him under control. There are videos of the event floating around the internet (which I'm not including due to a big distaste for publicizing actual murder footage). But it shows that he is not struggling or fighting the cops. His hands are not reaching for anything, there's at least one cop still kneeling on him. Then one idiot (cop) decides that he needs to escalate the control they have over him. He draws a weapon and fires. Half a second later, he has a stunned expression and is looking at the closest cop partner for a reaction or who knows. It's speculated that he meant to only shoot the guy with a taser and not a pistol, but pulled his gun by mistake. Even if this is the case, many want him to answer for what they see as a crime. And I would have to agree with them in this case. There are two reasons for this. The first is, the guy was already under control and not fighting the cops, so why do more harm to him? What was the point of using the taser? Was it just a show of force? Maybe teach him a good lesson for ruining someone's New Year's Eve? Why? He took it to the next level for absolutely no reason. There was no cause for it. No good valid excuse can be given for this that should be accepted.

The second reason the cop should answer for this and go to jail is that you have to be a real idiot to not be able to tell the difference between a taser and a real gun. When you plan on shooting someone with something and you've got two weapons on you, one of which is supposed to be used only for deadly purposes, you would think the person would look down and make sure the correct weapon is in hand. It doesn't appear this guy even thought about it. He's supposed to be a professionally trained law enforcement officer. It doesn't appear that is the case either. Hell maybe his partner should be included as well in this case, he got up and stepped away from the victim so that the other officer could make the shot. He would've seen what was drawn and been in a very good position to warn his partner. But as is the case when it comes to White cops and Black people, the cops shoot first and sort things out second. Black people never get any consideration before a situation gets out of hand, the cops just assume that Blacks are automatically guilty and deserve deadly force immediately.

Hopefully this case will make this point clear to the American public, but most of all to the judicial system which will finally make cops pay for their excessive and brutal treatment of blacks.

Happy New Year

It's never too late to wish Happy New Year. Happy 2009! We've got quite a few things to get through in the next 12 months: a recession, high unemployment, a shrinking pool of employers due to many going out of business, conflicts overseas costing us billions and billions of dollars, the same for bailout payments to a bunch of overpaid CEO con men who have yet to really pay for their expensive shell game with the stock market. The list goes on.

And all of our hopes and dreams are resting on the shoulders of one guy: Barack Obama. I'm glad that an intelligent thinker like him has made it to the White House to replace the current buffoon and real evildoer who are currently there. He'll bring optimism that we do not have which is well-reflected by the state of our economy. No one is certain about the future leaving one afraid to do anything. We're all holding our collective breath. But Obama alone will not solve our problems.

It's time to stop thinking that the government and big business has got our best interest at heart. Neither one does. Luckily times like these are when special things happen, innovation, invention, self-reliance, independence. And I plan to try to make my mark and do what I can to keep myself and anyone else I can from continuing to be affected by the current market conditions. I'm not the only one to come to this conclusion, which is heartening; I'd hate to think that I'm the only logical thinker in this world. Here's an article about some similar-thinking and creative folk dealing with the same issues.

So what do you plan to do?

10 Things To Do AFTER Bush Leaves the White House

1. Start watching presidential press conferences again.

2. Hold your head up high and declare yourself an AMERICAN.

3. Travel abroad, we've regained the respect from the world. The dollar sucks, but no one will give you the stink eye anymore because Bush is POTUS.

4. You can have hope once more.

5. Throw away your suicide pills.

6. Visit those relatives in the South without having to blame them (too much) for the state of the country.

7. Go ahead and plan for the future. Dare to dream.

8. You don't have to move to Canada after all. Start unpacking.

9. Believe in science again, proudly, publicly.

10. Do the Snoopy Dance.

Obama is officially the next POTUS

The Chronicle has reported that it is official: Barack Obama is the next president of the United States. Anyone else find this electoral process redundant for these times or is it just me?

Wow! What sore losers.

The nuts just keep coming. There are some folk out there who just can't handle the reality that Barack Obama will be the next U.S. President. I've got just one little piece of advice: Get over it and get over yourselves.

Read the idiocy in the NYTimes article on the challenges to Obama's eligibility.

Yahoo running slanderous ad against Obama

I was shocked to see while perusing yahoo that they are running a slanderous ad by some shady operation called sodahead.com where some idiot proposes the question about whether Obama bought the election. I don't want to read this kind of scummy political crap in my mailbox. Thanks alot Yahoo. Yahoo needs to get rid of this type of ad spam.

I'll be working on moving my mailbox from yahoo mail to gmail for sure.

You can also block yahoo ads in Firefox by using the AdBlocker add-on and including the following: "http://*.ard.yahoo.com/*". Mine will stay in place until I know Yahoo has pulled this political smear ad.

History has been made: The First Black President

Holy cow! Barack Obama is now President-elect of the United States of America.

I never ever thought that American voters could ever coalesce together enough to break through one of the pinnacles of racism and elect a Black man as leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world. I never thought I would see history being made during my lifetime. I thought it would be possible only after some other barriers had been broken, like a first (White) woman president or Latino man. I just did not have faith that Americans could get beyond the continuing racism against Blacks and see that we are capable of being political leaders who look out for the greater good and not just for the Black community. I admit that I had no such confidence and I am glad to have been proven wrong by my fellow American citizens.

I witnessed this historic moment at a local pub with a coworker, surrounded by Whites who were just as enthusiastic as I was about Barack Obama being elected as the next President of _these_ United States. Maybe more so. I had lots of reservation about this happening because of the rounds of humiliation that he was subjected to during this election campaign. He kept his composure, but I wasn't confident that that could be seen by anyone other than myself. So I am so very glad to have been mistaken.

I voted!

Vote. All the cool kids are doing it!

Brought to you by Americans for the 2008 Election.

For The Love Of Country... VOTE!

Even if you've got to crawl to the polls, for goodness sake: GET OUT AND VOTE.

And here's a voting tip pulled from Wired.com about how to workaround voter intimidation tactics.

Voter Beware: Election scams are ramping up

It's that time of the election season where the election dirty tricks are being pulled out of the bag. Wired magazine reports on an old one being resurrected in Florida. This old trick is a phone call by an alleged election official telling Democrats that they can vote by phone. While, in Virginia country a scam is being run that tells Democratic voters to come to the polls the day after the election. The status quo is coming out swinging with voter suppression, intimidation, tampering and other forms of fraud. I personally have never been asked for identification when voting, but I am going to be sure to cover all bases and at the least take a form of identification with me.

Barack gets his 30 minutes

Tonight is Barack Obama's 30-minute campaign spot. Yep, that's right 30 minutes of campaigning. Pre-empting the World Series even. Am I mad? Nope. I think the future of the United States of America is far more important than the baseball championship. I want to know more details about the candidates. I want transparency into their proposed policies and plans and I want to hear some specifics now. I know, I know. The American motto is as American as Mom, apple pie and baseball. But with the way the economy and the Iraq war are going, soon all we'll be left with is Mom --- if she can get the health care that she needs.

Of course, the Republicans are using this as an excuse to accuse him of grand-standing and delaying the viewing of "the most important game of the most important American game" (as if this would be the last, unless they know something we don't). Now this is the same political party and group of people who bitched about being pressured to delay and cut short their political convention (only to officially name John McCain their candidate) due to the expectation of a New Orleans being once again turned into a complete disaster zone with the arrival of Hurricane Ike. This should sound like apples versus oranges, but in Republican-Land, logic doesn't exist. Instead of complaining, they should follow suit and tell us exactly what they plan to do. I'm tired of this "woulda, shoulda, coulda" crap everybody has been spewing. I don't want to hear about how bad a job the other guy did, that's just an evasion tactic that anyone can see a mile away. Shut up or put up.

Go ahead. Vote early.

Early voting is making some voters nervous. People are concerned that early votes won't count, specifically those of Black voters who vote for Barack Obama. The past two elections are too fresh in many minds where creative excuses (like ambiguously-punched ballot sheets) or curious incidents (like voting machines needlessly moved from heavily-populated Black constituencies to lesser-populated White suburban towns) were used to reject tens of thousands of ballots in predominately Black communities in states like Florida, Ohio and Georgia. And people are not feeling too hopeful that these past election deceptions will not be attempted again, so they're waiting for Election Day to post their ballots.

Assassination plot against Obama is busted

On Monday, an assassination plot by two knuckle-headed neo-nazi morons in Tennessee to kill Blacks and eventually Barack Obama was busted up by the local police and the Feds (See story at NYTimes). So I guess this is the signal to say let the real hating begin.

It has been a certainty that the attacks on him would get more personal, bigger, frequent and outrageous. And the closer he gets to the White House, the more scared the racists get.

This plot makes me think back to a story from the beginning of the presidential campaigning where older Black voters in the Carolinas indicated that they didn't want to vote for Obama out of fear for his safety. My single hope is that people, particular Black people, do not get scared off and try to "protect" Obama from harm by not voting for him. Running for president is his mission. Just like a soldier's choice to join the military, he is choosing to serve the American public.