The Beer Summit

Last week Barack Obama made the foolish mistake of commenting on an incident in Cambridge Massachusetts involving one of his long time trouble-making allies, Professor William Gates, and Cambridge Police.
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Cambridge Police responded to a 911 call about a potential break in as reported by a passing observer. Police responded and carried out basic response protocol - trust no-one, interview everyone and determine the facts. Obviously, on its face value, the situation looks like a basic misidentification for the suspect was unfortunately, Professor Gates.
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The problem occurred when Professor Gates decided he wasn't going to cooperate with Police, and started become belligerent - in the normal style that most black activists with a chip on their shoulder do - and he refused to follow police instruction, called the Police "You're Mama" and pushed Police thus getting himself charged with disorderly conduct.
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Last week, Barack Obama made the intentional comment in front of the Press Corp that the Police acted "Stupidly". Obviously, Obama was defending a long time friend and proponent of his by speaking out against police and in favor of Professor Gates. What Mr. Obama doesn't realize is that he cannot just go running his mouth and rendering opinions on things without understanding the facts. The fact that he made judgments about the police (despite the video clearly showing Professor Gates' antics) is an example of his inability to keep his mouth shut and keep his nose clear of squabbles and minor issues found in any daily police blotter.
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Barack Obama has forgotten that he cannot just bully his way through an issue (he is learning this with health care) and just because he says something doesn't exactly mean that its true (or close to true). Obama is learning the hard way that Presidents do not get mired down in minor issues or force fights with public citizens while he conducts state business in the public eye - particularly, those that he disagrees with. You would have thought he would have learned something from his public jousting with Radio Talk Show Host Rush Limbaugh, who through collateral damage diminished both Obama's stature and public position.
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Not satisfied with leaving well enough alone, today Obama decided to hold a "Beer Summit" in the backyard of the White House. Besides being poor use of the President of the United States' time and energy, he further fanned the flames of both the race issue and managed to bump serious issues from the headlines of both print and video media. With an overall approval rating dropping below the half way point for his mishandling of the economy and confusion brewing over his healthcare scheme, Obama has managed to mire himself in race relations and police v black relations which is a no-win scenario for him at any time.
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So here we have three men appearing together toasting each other at a table. Obviously, the police union is interested in closing the loop on this to remove heighten angst from the black community in Cambridge, and Senatorial pressure from the Kennedy camp et al, and Obama wants to be seen as some "uniter" having blown the issue out of proportion nationally, and then there is Professor Gates, who needs his huge ego stroked, and managed to get a well deserved disorderly conduct charge dropped. Gates is the big winner in all of this because he can claim a big victory against the authoritarian white male and the fuzz. No doubt that he'll find himself a big hit at all the NAACP cocktail parties, and perhaps even star as a fundraiser for their on- going hyperinflated white society bashing parties.
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I'm sure that a great deal of what was said AT Sgt. James Crowley amounted to a sort of "sensitivity training" class of sorts. Listening to just how hard it is to be a black man in a white society, and how the police make trouble in the black communities (despite statistics on crime by race). A dialogue that substitutes facts for fiction; and paints a dark dreary picture of centuries of abuse by the White man. Boy, poor Sargent Gates really earned his money today.
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I'm sure Sargent Crowley tried to get a word in edge wise about police protocol, and how difficult it is to be a policeman in a faltering, crime-ridden society. But none of that really mattered to either Obama or Gates. I'm sure they listened, nodded, and waited for their turn to talk about what they came to teach Sgt. Gates.
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The problem with Barack Obama is that his ongoing adventures are costing him priceless time and capital with the American people. Largely, as polls show, they see this as a folly from start to finish. And they are beginning to size up his Presidency in just the same terms. It's just another bad week, and everyone is wondering what trouble he's going to create for himself and us next.

The King's View on Michael Jackson

This is another of those articles that I'm sure is going to infuriate a few people, but I don't mind that one bit. I grew up in the 80s. Michael Jackson's music is something that I often listened to on radio, and probably even danced to when we went out on the town. I like several of the songs that Michael Jackson performed, and his videos were very creative for the time. Ok, songs like Beat It weren't sophisticated, but other songs like Gone too Soon, hit a note with most of the population who followed the Ryan White story.
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In truth I didn't pony up a penny to own any of his music - I guess I didn't like it enough to include it in my collection of pop and rock. But I still appreciated it, and Michael's talent for singing and dancing was probably better than most in his generation of 80s Pop Artists. Of course, those were my high school into college years though. I'm talking back when Michael Jackson sort of looked normal, and really only went as far as wearing sunglasses inside and showing off one single glove as part of his stick. We could all live with that. We all remember artists like Boy George, Ozzie Osbourne, and many in the Glam Rock groups who seemed a heck of a lot stranger than Michael Jackson, or at least I thought so.
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Then at some point in the early 90s, something really went terribly wrong. Not satisfied with his talent and merit driven stardom, he began to move to the absurd. The business of bleaching his skin, changing his facial structure, numerous nose jobs, and all of the rest of the maddening antics sort of went a step above being merely flamboyant and bizarre. And his persistent statements that it was not carefully manuevered set of operations, but rather nothing more than a disease was scoffed at by even those he called his friends. That was just Michael. I guess we all sort of got it - he lacked some self esteem, and he didn't like the way he looked, and we guess he had the money to do something about it - over and over and over again.
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The results were both unnecessary and eerie. Whatever he intended - greater acceptance perhaps, seemed to have the opposite effect. He went from normal, perhaps ordinary, to frightening.
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But these aren't the most bizarre components of this man's life. For whatever reason, like it or not, the facts are that Michael Jackson had a perverted and sick obsession with young children. There's enough evidence to make him more than suspect, and its enough to turn this father's stomach. You can read more here about Michael's sick behavior and the charges brought against him. You can also read this NBC News report which outlines the matter in some detail with dates and events as they unfolded.
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Unfortunately, Michael Jackson's hardcore fan base, many who see Jackson as a folk hero in the black community, and minority community tend to yell the loudest when it comes to defending Michael and his so-called character (maybe its to hide their own abnormalities, who knows). But this is a time old tradition - to attack the accuser, and detract away from the real matter at hand. Calling something a lie doesn't necessarily mean that it actually is a lie. Claiming something didn't happen because it wasn't caught on video tape or seen before 20 eyewitnesses doesn't mean it didn't happen either.
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The court documentation was been viewed by hundreds who pretty much report the same sick findings. While its true that many of the families who let Michael "borrow" their children aren't from well to do, millionaire backgrounds, and perhaps those are the people that had the most to gain in the trade offs between letting their child stay at Neverland or in Jacksonland unchaperoned, and unprotected. Yes, some of them did get greedy in the end, maybe the payments or favors became too much for Michael to absorb. I guess we'll never know since the victims in most cases dropped all cases via settlement. Did it ever occur to anyone that people of these means are probably the only source for this kind of arrangement? Sure they are scumbags that aught to have their children taken from them, but that's another story for another time.
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But you have to honestly ask yourself. It's hard to imagine settling several cases like this and not fighting tooth and nail to reclaim your reputation if indeed it were a lie. But many have seen the sealed documents, and they aren't pretty, and one can understand why Jackson rushed to put this to bed quietly.
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Then there were incidents not a sickening, but just as fool hardy, like dangling baby Blanket over a railing in front of a crowd. Just a prank quipped Michael. Just more irresponsible behavior by Michael Jackson, the world said. And Michael dealt with all of this by exiling himself to Europe so that he would be far away from the U.S. Justice Department and California judicial system which didn't see him as quite the untouchable perfect little superstar that he saw himself as.
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Michael Jackson died of a drug overdose, hardly heroic, hardly tragic in the way the media would have you believe. He expected to die in this fashion because its a well known fact that he told close friends, including one time wife Lisa Marie Presley that he was going to die in the same manner that Elvis did, and we know how that turned out. So the autopsy showed plainly that Jackson died of an overdose of seven or so prescription drugs (Xanax, Zoloft and painkiller Demerol in the mix). Sure, maybe he did or didn't intend on killing himself that night. We don't know if he was living close to the edge or decided enough was enough.
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So why am I raining on poor Michael's parade?
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Because in their rush to make Michael Jackson a Saint and a Martyr, the media seem to leave out some important facts which if reported, make Michael Jackson out to be much less than that shining star that people should want to emulate. And everyone loves a happy ending, even if the hero is really an imperfect villain. Jesh, just another victim of the filthy rich Hollywood stress farm that make a man do evil things, I guess.
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This weekend the circus is growing by leaps and bounds. Even Rev. Al Sharpton has found a way to insert himself so he can cry "racism" if an ounce of criticism is leveled at Michael Jackson for his past sick indiscretions (now only deemed as accusations since all the payoff paychecks have been cashed).
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So I guess we have two Michael Jacksons in this story. The Michael Jackson who died this year from a self induced drug overdose, selfishly leaving behind three children he either adopted or fathered (we don't really know). And the one who died in 1992 just before the sleep-overs began. If you want to remember Michael Jackson, please take a step beyond the direction the self-interested media has taken - all show and wonder; be fair, please don't forget just what a monster, and a predator that he became. There is more to life than glamor, music, and breaking music chart records. It's the person behind the music that really counts. And there are probably hundreds of people on the sex offender lists that did someone a good turn now and then. But not all crimes or all favors balance out.
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I won't miss Michael Jackson. Not one bit. Nor will his victims, or the families of the victims. But its not going to be beyond me to occasionally listen to his music if it comes on the radio now and then. I promise not to storm off to the stereo in front of my house guests to change the station if Billie Jean comes on. Honestly. So my small hypocrisy only goes so far. But not as far as some ideologues, media creatures, and zombie fans who sadly don't find anything wrong with the present picture, or see the sick, dark life that Michael Jackson chose to lead. Perhaps those are the ones who should listen to the lyrics to Man in the Mirror just a little more closely.