Gates and Obama

Drunk with the memory of the ghetto
Drunk with the lure of the looting
And the memory of the uniforms shoving with their sticks
Asking, "Are you looking for trouble?"
-Phil Ochs, "In the Heat of the Summer"

Patrolman Carlos Figueroa said in a police report that he heard Sgt. James Crowley, the arresting officer, ask for Gates' identification and heard Gates say, "No, I will not!" He also said Gates was shouting at Crowley, calling him a racist and saying, "This is what happens to black men in America!"

Yeah, and guess what? It is what happens to black men in America. Gates reacted in a way we now know was wrong, but he had no way of knowing that at the time. What he did know was that he was a black man being accosted by the cops in his own home, which was in a city with a long history of racial tensions. I'll bet not too many of the people who are wagging their fingers at him now have any firsthand knowledge of what that's like. (I have heard of at least one black cop who came to his colleague's defense, but I've always suspected the blue wall is quite a bit higher than the black one.) Obama probably should have kept his mouth shut until he knew both sides of the story, but give him this: he knows what it's like to be a black man in America, and specifically in Cambridge. He made a mistake, but it was an extremely easy mistake to make. Let's get off their backs already.

One of those things I never questioned

For as long as I've been aware of Woodstock, I've been hearing that a varying number of babies were born there. But the evidence suggests otherwise. Who knew?

For what it's worth, I don't buy the explanation the article offers:

There is a theory that neither mother nor child particularly want Woodstock to define their lives, and have chosen to keep their distinction a private matter.

I could see that being the case with the child, depending on whether or not his or her parents sold their VW Bus and became Republicans like so many flower children did, or whether they're among the even more annoying variety who are still hippies 40 years later - and either way, depending on whether or not the kid rebelled against them and to what extent. But the mother? Everybody I've ever met who was at Woodstock (or claims to have been there) never shuts up about it. And yes, that includes the ones who are now Republicans. People just love to tell how they went from one extreme to the other and you will someday too.

Truly worth the wait!

It's about time.

As I wrote elsewhere yesterday, I'm almost glad this turned out the way it did. On the one hand, I hate that so much money was wasted on the court battle when the outcome has been known for months, and I hate that we had to go through the motions on all this when everybody knew it was really just about keeping that seat vacant for as long as possible, and I hate that Sen. Klobuchar's office has been stuck with twice its normal workload since January.

But for all that, let's remember why Norm Coleman won that senate seat in 2002 in the first place. It was because the right wing s**t machine got away with some spectacularly cynical lies about what did and didn't happen at Paul Wellstone's funeral. I consider the whole episode second only to the Florida 2000 debacle. Yes, somebody in the crowd said something not very nice, but it was not the hate-fest it was made out to be at all. But the truth didn't get out until the damage had been done, as usual. As for those who do know the truth and still think the liberals were out of line, it's only fair to ask yourself, what if the shoe were on the other foot? Say it was Tom Coburn or Trent Lott who had died in that plane crash, and Wellstone had come to the wake...do you really believe every single person in the crowd would treat him with respect?

The pathetic thing is, I've met quite a few wingnuts who really and truly believe they would.

And as I noted in my post-election roundup last November, it was none other than Al Franken who set the record straight in his book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. (Anyone who hasn't read that one yet, do it. Soon. Buy a new copy if you can find one; he could really use the cash right now!) So, although it's a shame he nearly lost the race to Coleman and that he - and we - had to wait so long for this day, I love the fact that he not only won, but that Coleman humiliated himself for months afterward trying to fight the results. It's an all too fitting end to a Senate career that began for the worst possible reason in the first place. (Okay, Saxby Chambliss gives him a run for his money on that front, but he's from a state famous for sending scum to Washington. Of course, having said that, I now have to acknowledge the inimitable Rep. Michele "Smalley-Hoot" Bachmann of...Minnesota. I'll quit now while I'm behind.) And then there's the delicious response from Fox News, which has started already.

Finally, a thought on whether or not we on the left ought to still be angry at Franken for almost blowing the race in the first place. Back in November when it looked like he'd lost, I recall a lot of grousing on the blogs that Betty McCollum or Tim Walz could have easily beaten Coleman. Overlooking the fact that we really can't know that for sure (and that Walz barely counts as a Democrat on a lot of issues and we'd have been lucky to hang onto his House seat), it occurs to me that even if that is right, it's partly because they're much more conventional politicians. Which means we couldn't expect nearly as much of them in the Senate. And yes, of course that means our expectations of Franken are now somewhat inflated after all that everybody had to go through to get him there. But why shouldn't they be? Besides that, Franken really is something of a pioneer when it comes to fighting back against the right wing s**t machine. He was doing it back when Bill Clinton was still kissing Newt Gingrich's ring, and the mainstream media was referring to Rush Limbaugh as a "conservative commentator" and other nice sounding titles that gave him a lot more credit than he deserved. I think we can count on him. Mazel tov, Senator!

Timing is everything

If you have to get sick in the midst of the swine flu pandemic, there's one silver lining. When I went to the clinic and said I'd had coldlike symptoms for about a week and they hadn't gone away, I was allowed to see a doctor much more quickly than I usually would! It wasn't swine flu, so there is that. It was a throat infection, and a day's worth of antibiotics later, I'm feeling somewhat better. It seems fitting that this happened during the middle of a move (which I had been greatly looking forward to, but still a move. They're stressful. More on that later.). Between the hassle of moving and the matter of my health, this week started out with it being a pretty safe bet that I would be a lot better off at the end of the week. It looks that way. I guess I'm also lucky that this came during a lull in business travel. The only thing worse than being sick is being sick and having to spend time in airports and on planes and in other people's offices.

Tonight will be my first night in the new flat, and I might even be able to breathe normally enough to sleep through it. I'll have some thoughts on the move shortly. Lots to tell there!