... is this what he really thinks, or is this the first step in either setting up Hillary for a primary challenge in 2010 or insulating himself from the new interview tapes? Whichever it happens to be, former President Bill Clinton draws a distinctive line between himself and Jimmy Carter on CNN : (CNN) – Former President Bill Clinton told CNN Monday that he thinks some of the criticism directed at President Obama is racially motivated, but added that not all of Obama’s detractors are racist and urged his fellow Democrats to remain focused on trying to enact health care reform. “I believe that some of the right-wing extremists which oppose President Obama are also racially prejudiced and would prefer not to have an African-American president,” Clinton told CNN’s Larry King in an interview to air Monday evening. “But I don’t believe that all the people who oppose him on health care – and all the conservatives – are racists. And I believe if he were white, every single person who oppose...

What's really remarkable about the whole Gates event is the immediate willingness of many people to employ one of two methods to trash Dr Gates: (1) To claim, based on personal experience or just personal philosophy that Dr Gates should not have responded loudly and aggressively to the police officer's inquiries. The cops have a tough job. Cooperation gets you out of the situation much better than confrontation. Gates showed little grace or tact. Give me a break. Not a single one of these commenters that I can find has been subject to the subtle police-state-style harassment that my black academic and consulting colleagues deal with on a regular basis. I have one colleague I think of as the magnet for the predictability with which the TSA will pull him out of line for a supposedly random secondary screening. I have been through airport security dozens of times with this individual, who is a senior scholar and--ironically--a security consultant to DHS--and three out of ev...

... although that is a significant issue . Cambridge MA Police responded to a woman's report of "two black males with backpacks on the porch," with one "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry," by arresting Dr. Gates inside his own home. [Turns out Dr. Gates and friend had locked themselves out.] Yes, Dr. Gates was irritable, and yes Dr. Gates probably initially refused to produce identification--again, within his own home. What's outrageously, police-state wrong about this is the only charge the Cambridge Police could come up with: He was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he "exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior." What the f**k? He got arrested for disorderly conduct inside his own home after he had provided the police with identification ? At which nanosecond after Dr. Gates proved he was the rightful owner of the home did the police officers have any legal standing whatever even to be i...

I don't often blog about DSU, given my position there, but this isn't really a post about the university, or even about the tragic events that took the life of Shalita Middleton in fall 2007. It's about the absence of outrage. The charges against Loyer Braden have been dismissed, not just because the Attorney General's office apparently failed to share exculpatory evidence with the defense, but also because a key witness recanted testimony tying Braden to the homicide. Here's the key paragraph from the WNJ story today : Braden’s murder trial was dismissed last week by a Superior Court judge who said prosecutors withheld key evidence that could have compromised the former DSU student’s right to a fair trial. The evidence was a witness’ statement to Dover police identifying someone other than Braden as the shooter. What's missing in this picture? How about somebody in State government, State politics, or even the News Journal calling for a serious investigation o...

Watch this video.... Le Taser iRobot PackBot Explorer by npesblog Is it just me or is there something very wrong with this video..... Tasers for everyone .... its Cinco De Mayo so ladies you can pick out your own taser before you go to that Tequila party.

Over at Delaware Politics they have made a disturbing little heartland industry of bashing Barack Obama's Reverend Jeremiah Wright whose comments sparked a national debate with "right wing liberator cum-aggressor" and militia agitator Sean Hannity. But for all the racists it seems to be OK since The Hon. James David Manning Ph.D. of Atlah Ministries gave Obama a tacit endorsement by way of breasts and trashy white women. Proving once again why we need a clear seperation of church and state- "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a w...

I'd add something of my own to this, but I can't think of anything beyond giving Cara's post a new title: Al Sharpton and the NAACP Declare it Unfair to Hold Black Rapists and Torturers without Bail Read it and then wash carefully afterward.

Oops, looks like Steve beat me to an article, anyway, here is the video of Obama NOT disowning his Pastor for your enjoyment. Proving to us all that tolerance is a virtue that heals what divides the nation. Good stuff. Thanks Steve.

Several days ago I said , You know what I'd really like to see Senator Obama do? (This is my fantasy world.) I'd like to see him stand up and say, "Look, I've sat in this church for twenty years. If you think I sat there to soak up racism instead of the word of God, then don't vote for me. If you think I'm going to disown my own pastor just because his rhetoric goes over the cliff some days, you can kiss my ass! " He didn't quite say that, but I am incredibly pleased that this morning, Barack Obama refused to disown the Reverand Jeremiah Wright in a speech that actually attempted to move forward the issue of race in America. There is a hell of a lot to dislike in the potential policies of a President Barack Obama, but there is a lot to admire about the man.

Strangely enough, the three topics upon which I have consistently received the most comment and most views have been circumcision (boy, I'll never do that again), the Tata Nano, and Ron Paul. I probably shouldn't be surprised on a Libertarian blog that Ron Paul draws a lot of attention. (Today I got my solicitation from the Libertarian Party to send money to help Ron Paul try for the Libertarian nomination; this both annoys and amuses me. After all, the party is supposedly in the midst of its bizarre Liberty Decides competition that amounts to little more than a popularity auction, and now it starts soliciting money to have Ron Paul intervene. What gives?) I haven't endorsed Paul, and I've been significantly less positive about his candidacy than others in Delaware, partly because I've known about the newsletter issue, and partly because I don't agree with his views on gay rights. But I think he has been a phenomenal force for bringing out Libertarians and t...

This so-called symposium on illegal immigration conducted by FrontpageMag.com exemplifies the difficulty in having a genuine dialogue about the issue. It's not a real symposium of different views, but three co-authors shilling for their new book. So you're not going to find anybody raising different opinions during the discussion. Those authors mix carefully cherry-picked statistics with supposedly representative anecdotes to reach a conclusion not limited to illegal immigrants. According to Manhattan Institute fellow Heather McDonald: While many immigrants continue to thrive and to enrich our country, too many from the second and third generation of Hispanics are developing behaviors that will fray the social fabric and cost taxpayers millions in welfare and criminal justice outlays. The entire piece is aimed at presenting the image of thoughtful scholars in deep consideration of a serious national problem. The reality, when you wade through it all, is that here we have th...

Recently, at First State Politics , Dave Burris has taken considerable heat for his stand that Delaware's Prevailing Wage laws should be repealed. I happen to agree with him, but that's not the point of this post. The arguments for and against this policy involve unions, taxpayer interest in reducing costs, and a wide variety of other factors, all of which can be argued with logic, passion, and evidence by all comers. That debate has been fruitful and enlightening from all sides, even though I doubt it has changed the position of too many (if any) of the participants. However, Dave made the following comment during the course of the debate: According to many scholars, prevailing wage laws were first created in order to help labor unions stifle the prevalence of black labor that was undercutting their racket. This has been seized upon by the Progressive blog Delaware Watch for an extended posting Disgusting: Dave Burris’ Use of the Race Card in the Prevailing Wage Debate , in...