Here's to stupidity in America

Let’s not talk about health care reform. It makes my head spin and my doctor said I could stop taking the medication that has made my head do that for the last several days. So, it need not spin more.

I watched President Obama’s news conference last night as he talked mostly on reforming the nation’s health care system. Jeez that guy can be long-winded sometimes. I may have to start calling him Gabby, except that reminds me of Gabby Hayes the old coot Western star as well as a freaked-out parrot I know.

Instead of health care I will briefly mention Obama’s remarks on the controversy regarding the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Gates is the distinguished prof who was confronted while breaking into his own house by a Cambridge, Mass., police officer. The white officer, basically seemed to dislike Gates’ attitude and arrested the black man for disorderly conduct charges which were later dropped.

Obama admitted his bias in the controversy because he is a friend of Gates but commented that Cambridge police “acted stupidly” during the incident.

It seems after reading of the actions of both Gates and the officer, Sgt. Jim Crowley, that Obama got “it” half-right. If you take the word of both Gates and Crowley, and I see no reason why not to, even though both may be exaggerating a wee bit because they both seem pretty stubborn and pig-headed, both share some blame for the outcome.

First off, the cop was doing his job responding to a call of a possible break-in, something for which Gates should be grateful. Gates showed his ID and the incident should have ended there. But it didn’t. Gates got his nose out of joint.  Crowley got into a snit. Things took off from there.

Before we get all racial let me say one thing. I have seen cops act pretty stupid toward me when I wasn’t doing a thing illegal. One woke me up in the middle of the night and demanded to see my federal ID because I was using a government car and the place in which I was staying was not exactly Beverly Hills. I have had them ID me for walking down the road and when they couldn’t find any other reason to jack with me, they said I was walking on the wrong side of the road. So some, by no means all, police do act stupid at times.

When I do encounter stupidity as such, I try to just let it slide because I know if I don’t I’ll probably be arrested and taken to jail on some trumped-up charges similar to those for which gates was busted.

Granted, I’m not a black man. I haven’t been subjected to what many black men have over time such as DWB, driving  while black. I could imagine it would get very old but I think many would think as I do that if they lose it they go directly to jail, no matter if they are innocent. Oh and here is a dirty little secret, some white people including some white cops don’t like black people, especially black men, who among other names are known by such cops as “perpetrators.”

Thus, from what I can tell in reading about the situation that night in Cambridge, it seems that both the officer and Gates went somewhat over the top. There is a difference though. Gates did live in the house. He apparently broke no laws other than copping an attitude, pardon the pun. So it appears that he was a victim of false arrest.

All of this points to an opinion that, Obama probably shouldn’t have commented, or deflected the question as he can so aptly do at times. Or otherwise Obama should have said both share some blame even though the Cambridge police acted even more stupidly than the president’s friend and in fact falsely arrested a man in his own home.

But it’s water under the bridge. Too bad the water won’t just flow on down silently toward the sea. I just don’t see that happening.