Comments on: Early Morning Swim

By: tejanarusa

tejanarusa — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:06:54 +0000

Coming in late as usual, but I just have to comment on the newest manifestation of Boston cops’ racism.
Btw, the discussion earlier, especiallly at bmaz’s posts at Marcy’s place, included considerable discussion of the roles of class and ego in the arrest of Prof. Gates. I am sure all three were included, but I am absolutely certain that if Prof. Gates were white, he would not
have been arrested.

As for the comment that we have to separate the busing violence in the ’70’s in Boston from the Gates arrest — that’s a crock of you-know-what.
It’s all of a piece. I’m sure Sgt. Crowley believes he is not racist - but his behavior (and we’ve now heard the tape of his calling for “keeping the cars coming, and get the Harvard Police here), with none of the evidence we would supposedly hear of the Professor yelling and “being tumultuous” in the background).
He wanted the Harvard Police because he wanted verification that Gates really was a Harvard professor. A Harvard i.d. just wasn’t enough.

I’m afraid that this new email by the Boston cop is just more evidence of the mind-set of too many people in Boston-Cambridge-surrounding areas. Yes, it is partly class, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t racist.

Notice, please, at BT’s link, that the cop and his lawyer are usinng much of the same language: he didn’t mean to offend anyone, “I didn’t mean it in a racist way”—WTF? How else can you possibly mean “jungle monkey”? He says he meant it to apply to behavior - again, WTF?

So sorry, but if you haven’t spent time or have some real knowledge of Boston, more than what you read in the news, you don’t understand the complicated class and race attitudes that contribute to this kind of behavior.
I spent nearly a decade there, including much of the ’70’s. By the time that began, I was appalled but not really surprised. Yes, the reaction by Southie residents was strongly about class, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t also deeply racist. And it may have faded in public, but the feelings and attitude have not gone away. It’s related to the Southern attitude of poor white people, that goes back to slavery: “I may be poor, the rich may look down on me, but I can still look down on black people.”

Okay, I’m going on too long, but this issue hits me hard. I lived through the civl rights movement, watching Bull Connor’s dogs and fire hoses, and through the ’70’s busing; I started out in the South and moved North, and am back in the South. Trust me, these things are not simple. And they are not “not-racist.”

By: constantweader

constantweader — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:08:52 +0000

Embedding disabled??? What’s that all about?

The Constant Weader at www.RealityChex.com

By: Crosstimbers

Crosstimbers — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:28:31 +0000

You’re probably right about following the polls, but the MSM uses the polls as theme. Last night, MSNBC (like it or not the most pro-left) repeatedly played the theme of sinking faith in Obama. That does become the conventional wisdom the independents and barely insterested accept as fact. It morphs from “Obama losing on health care,” to “why did Obama and the Democrats fail,”, to “can the Republicans retake Congress”, etc., etc.. I know plenty of people who then just accept that as fact, feel obligated to vote like going to church on Easter, and we end up with George Bush or Sarah Palin.

By: cosanostradamus

cosanostradamus — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:18:24 +0000

.
All the latest horrible news. Not safe for the nursery…

Or the stables.
.

By: Crosstimbers

Crosstimbers — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:16:30 +0000

Roger that. He’s the old fashioned kind that I like.

By: RAMA

RAMA — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:15:50 +0000

Beer’s like everything else; you can find the good stuff if you look hard enough. Me, I’ve got the genetic predisposition where hops just don’t taste good, so I like beers that aren’t hoppy at all, so it takes some serious experimentation to find what I like. It’s a brutal, exacting process, tasting all those beers, one after the other, but I’m willing to put the time and effort into it, sometimes staying up well after my normal bedtime and even resampling different brews time after time to make absolutely sure they don’t meet my exacting standards. It’s hard being a perfectionist, but that’s just the way I roll.

By: DaVeep

DaVeep — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:13:07 +0000

Boston was also the last major league baseball team to include black players. Pumpsie Green was their first(1959?). Before that Pumpsie was very popular with the Minneapolis Millers, a AAA team.

By: Phoenix Woman

Phoenix Woman — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:09:26 +0000

Yup. If stupidity were a crime George W. Bush would have spent his entire adult life in jail.

By: cbl2

cbl2 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:08:47 +0000

saw yesterday the folks planning to protest at Camp Baucus next week are calling it the “Buy Back Baucus! tour - with a How Much Will It Take, Max ?!?!? theme

By: WarOnWarOff

WarOnWarOff — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:06:41 +0000

From the tale end of the first story:

“That’s as close as you can get to totally removing the mandate without removing it,” Ross said. “Quite frankly, once you get up to three-quarter million a year in annual payroll, as a former small business owner myself, most of them are already providing health insurance, and if they’re not, they should.”

Of course, Ross does not mention he was a former pharmacy owner!