Tuli Can't Stop Talking

These are just my thoughts on contemporary issues and an attempt to open up a dialogue.

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Location: New York City

A citizen who cares deeply about the United States Constitution and the Rule of Law.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Post-Racial America?

It seems that many voices in this country believe that since Barack Obama, a man of color, was elected to the highest office in the country, that the country has left its racist past in the past. This is such bullshit that it is almost funny if it weren’t so tragic.

The last couple of weeks in which our Congress put on display its view of racial harmony (take a bow Senator Sessions) during the Sotomayor hearings for SCOTUS, have made this very clear. They were obsessed with this “Hispanic” lady judge. And as everyone now knows, she is an extremely militant “Hispanic.” Why you say? Well, because she is proud of being “Hispanic.” The Republicans weren’t interested in discussing for the most part her judicial record, no, they were however VERY INTERESTED though in her “empathy” for other Hispanics and therefore her lack of empathy for the downtrodden white man.

See Patrick Buchanan:

Pretty Post-Racial don’t you think?

That brings us to “World Famous Professor” Henry Louis Gates Jr.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Colleagues of Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard’s most prominent scholar of African-American history, are accusing the police here of racism after he was arrested at his home last week by an officer investigating a report of a robbery in progress.

Professor Gates, who has taught at Harvard for nearly two decades, arrived home on Thursday from a trip to China to find his front door jammed, said Charles J. Ogletree, a law professor at Harvard who is representing him.

He forced the door open with the help of his cab driver, Professor Ogletree said, and had been inside for a few minutes when Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department appeared at his door and asked him to step outside.

Professor Gates, 58, refused to do so, Professor Ogletree said. From that point, the account of the professor and the police began to differ.

According to his lawyer, Professor Gates told the sergeant that he lived there and showed his Massachusetts driver’s license and his Harvard identification card, but Sergeant Crowley still did not seem to believe that Professor Gates lived in the home, a few blocks from Harvard Square. At that point, his lawyer said, Professor Gates grew frustrated and asked for the officer’s name and badge number.

According to the police report, Professor Gates initially refused to show identification.

In the report, Sergeant Crowley said a white female caller had notified the police around 12:45 p.m. of seeing two black men on the porch of the home, at 17 Ware Street. The caller, who met the police at the house, was suspicious after seeing one of the men “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry,” according to the report.

A spokesman for the Police Department did not return a call seeking comment. But in the report, Sergeant Crowley said that as he told Professor Gates he was investigating a possible break-in, Professor Gates exclaimed, “Why, because I’m a black man in America?” and accused the sergeant of racism.

“While I was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence,” Sergeant Crowley wrote in the report, “I was quite surprised and confused with the behavior he exhibited toward me.”

Professor Gates followed him outside, the report said, and yelled at him despite the sergeant’s warning “that he was becoming disorderly.” Sergeant Crowley then arrested and handcuffed him. Professor Gates was held at police headquarters for hours before being released on his recognizance.

Now, I hate to rush to judgment here, but, that said, do you think that Alan Dershowitz would get the same treatment in Cambridge, Massachusetts? I think not.

And just as an aside, how is it possible that the “neighbor” who called the police didn’t know who HLG was and that he was in fact her neighbor? I know, I know, many black men in their late fifties who walk with a cane take up breaking and entering in their later years. Or do all black men really look alike?

Yes indeed, electing that Negro fella to the Whitehouse just goes to prove how America is now Post-Racial!

Oliver has more. And Eugene Robinson chimes in as well.


Monday, July 20, 2009

Elizabeth Warren’s Evolution

I have been an Elizabeth Warren fan since around 1997. She became a proponent of “Saving the Middle-Class” and Bankruptcy Reform when very few were paying attention to the “Coming Collapse” which we are experiencing now. She came to this position via her study for the Clinton Administration of Bankruptcy which dispelled all of her preconceived conclusions on the subject.

She is now the Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program commonly known as TARP. And she has become a “Gorilla” (her word not mine) Activist for Consumers.

So that said, here is an interview she did at UC Berkeley in the wonderful series “Conversations with History.”

She authored the “Two Income Trap” with Amelia Warren Tyagi which is a must read.

Check out the series. You won’t be sorry. There is a very informative interview with Noam Chomsky. It is Berkeley after all!

Frank McCourt

R.I.P.

1930 - 2009

Friday, July 17, 2009

Walter Cronkite

R.I.P.

1916 – 2009

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

In Dan’s Own Words

From Froomkin's email:

Hello!

I’m delighted to announce that starting later this month, I’ll be taking on the duties of Washington Bureau Chief and Blogger for The Huffington Post.

This is a wonderful opportunity for me. It’s a marvelous platform -- Arianna Huffington has built a large and thriving community of readers by adhering to the best principles of old and new media. And my new job gives me a chance to branch out a bit, while holding firm to my commitment to accountability journalism. Now I’ll have a chance to work as part of a great team, and do a bit more of my own reporting as well as commentary and media criticism..

I’ll still be writing frequently, but I’ll also be guiding the Huffington Post’s accomplished, enthusiastic and adventurous reporters; helping them continue covering Washington the way it should be covered. The extraordinary response to my departure from The Washington Post once again illustrated how much readers hunger for a new – or perhaps I should say old – method of political reporting: One that doesn’t rely on stenography or “splitting the difference,” but involves knowledgeable and trusted reporters calling things as they see them, speaking the truth -- and letting the chips fall where they may. We’ll also be finding new and exciting ways to work with citizen journalists to access their wisdom and knowledge.

I look forward to working with all my new colleagues to hold the powerful accountable, expose corruption, explain how Washington really works -- and write about politics and government not as if it were just a game, but recognizing that it matters profoundly to every one of us.

I’m eager to hear your reaction and advice, as always. E-mail me at froomkin@gmail.com.

Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald has more about my move.

And one final note: I will continue serving in a part-time capacity as deputy editor of NiemanWatchdog.org

Yours,
Dan

Kucinich on Healthcare

Ties it all together doesn’t it?

We Want Healthcare Now!

The Very Reverend Moyers does it again. He has two segments on his Friday show about what the rabble, that would be us, and what the industry, that would be them, want in the Healthcare Reform scrabble or such as it were “Debate.”

Don’t miss the very informative interview with Wendell Potter formally of Cigna. Insider views are always so important.

Another Blogger Ethics Investigation Needed!

Katherine Weymouth and the WAPO’s deal for Healthcare Reform and its Salon gets taken down and the Reverend does it.

And once again, thank you Reverend Moyers.

Like Anderson Cooper I Don’t Know Enough About Sports!

I guess that is why I don’t get it. I just think that she is a grifter, period the end.

Or as a very adroit acquaintance said, Palin is, “Trailer Park, Je ne sais quoi.”

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Happy Birthday!

Just a message to my son the Best, and hardest working, Geek the World has ever known. Not to mention the fact that he is also a brilliant artist.

You make me so proud.

Love, Mom.

Reverend Al Sharpton

Says thank you Michael!

Thank you Reverend Al!

HUFFPO Hires Froomkin!

I really hope this works out. It now means that I have to go to Arianna’s site daily. Things could be worse.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Robert S. McNamara

1916 – 2009

I can not bring myself to say Rest In Peace.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Mark-to-Market

Thank you Merle Hazard!

Mollie Sugden



R.I.P.

1922 - 2009

Is it Really Bye, Bye Sarah?

There are many allegations out there. Who knows what this crazy person is up to or why?

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Andy Borowitz’s Advice to Bernie Madoff

So, Bernie got the max. He will surely need some advice and counsel on how to endure his prison sentence. There won’t be many creature comforts for him at Club Fed as times have changed. With that in mind, Andy Borowitz is offering him some help on how to adjust.

The name of the book is “Who Moved My Soap.”

Check it out.

Yorum Bauman the Standup Economist on Environmental Policy

Because Cap-and-Trade and Global Warming are all in the news I thought this might be informative and entertaining as only the StandupEconomist can be.

This is his follow-up to the wonderfully hilarious “Mankiw’s Ten Principles of Economics.”

When the economy is in the dumpster it takes an economist to give you a laugh.

Senator Al!

It is OFFICIAL!

Mr. Franken, 58, a former comedian and author, could be seated in the Senate as early as Monday, leaders there said, providing Democrats with something they had long hoped for: 60 votes, and thus at least the symbolic ability to overcome filibusters.

Norm Coleman, a Republican who had held the seat for a term, conceded on Tuesday afternoon, hours after the Minnesota Supreme Court issued a ruling in Mr. Franken’s favor, the latest in a series of findings that had left Mr. Franken ahead in the count. In weeks past, some Republican leaders had urged Mr. Coleman to press on to the federal courts if need be, but those calls faded Tuesday.

It is about time, dontcha think? However, I think that the Caucus number of 60 is merely mythical, see Nelson, Landrieu, Lieberman, etc.