Obama History With Cambridge Authorities

There is an interesting sidelight to the Obama-Gates-Police controversy. We are reminded of Obama's presence in Cambridge MA over 20 years ago while a student at Harvard. The Somerville (MA) News reported on March 7, 2007:

Before Barack Obama was a United States senator and a presidential hopeful, he was a Harvard University law student living in Somerville who parked in bus stops and accumulated hundreds of dollars in parking tickets. And for nearly two decades those parking tickets went unpaid, until a representative of Obama’s settled all his outstanding debts with Cambridge’s Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department Jan. 26.

Obama attended Harvard Law School from 1988 to 1991. During his time at Harvard, Obama lived at 365 Broadway in Somerville, according to his parking tickets. Records from the Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation office show that between Oct. 5, 1988 and Jan. 12, 1990 Obama was cited for 17 traffic violations, sometimes committing two in the same day. The abuses included parking in a resident permit area, parking in a bus stop and failing to pay the meter. Twelve of Obama’s 17 tickets were given to him on Massachusetts Avenue.

In one eight day stretch in 1988, Obama was cited seven times for parking violations and was fined $45. Thirteen of the 17 violations occurred within one month in 1988.

Obama’s disobedience of the rules of the road earned him $140 in fines from the City of Cambridge. The tickets went unpaid for over 17 years and $260 in late fees were added to the tab. On Jan. 26, the fines and late fees were paid in full. The final tally for Obama’s parking breaches was $400, according to Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation.

One wonders if Barack Obama's previous encounters with Cambridge authorities predisposed him, in the Gates case, to speak out rashly, and by his own admission, without" knowing all the facts". Obama's propensity to flout the law manifests even today in his unwillingness to prove his eligibility to hold his office and his refusal to reveal much of anything about his past (i.e college records, early writings etc) except what he allows us to know from his published memoirs.


Obama has described as "stupidity" the actions of Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley in the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates. Prof. Gates, accompanied by a friend, was attempting to break into his own house, which activity a passerby interpreted as an attempted burglary prompting a call to the police. What happened next is described in the police report. (PDF)

In the video below Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas supports Sgt Crowley and takes questions from the press:



At the website "The Root" where Gates is Editor-in-Chief, Gates is interviewed:

Henry Louis Gates Jr.: I’m outraged. I can’t believe that an individual policeman on the Cambridge police force would treat any African-American male this way, and I am astonished that this happened to me; and more importantly I’m astonished that it could happen to any citizen of the United States, no matter what their race. And I’m deeply resolved to do and say the right things so that this cannot happen again.

Of course, it will happen again, but … I want to do what I can so that every police officer will think twice before engaging in this kind of behavior.... (read more)

Perusing "The Root" you'll find it's pretty much all about race.Some recent articles: Seeing Black and Seeing Red; Please Professor Gates!; Why Obama Did Not, Should Not Apologize to Officer Crowley; Gates Says 'Yes' to Beer with Crowley.

As to settling the matter over a beer as proposed by Obama and agreed to apparently by Gates and Crowley, a commenter at The Root opines:

"I don't want to hear the rants and or ravings of an idiot like Skippy Gates or Obama and how either of them thinks they can teach me anything about racism. I stopped listening long ago. They are both out of touch completely. Obama needs to get back to trying to solve the country's real problems. And I am sorry but race isn't high on the list....Now we have to hear about how an insignificant nerd with an over indulgent opinion of self is going to sit down and drink alchohol to solve the world's racism problems. Can this country get anymore ludicrous? When has alchohol ever solved anything?...Here's a couple of guys who are so used to having a captive audience of yes men and now they're convinced the rest of the world works that way. Skippy.....if you want to change the world, you just blew your best opportunity to be a vehicle for that change. Public opinion just passed you by. Sarge......if you fall into this trap it will be one of the saddest days in American history. Sargeant.....you are being set up. Be the bigger man by TURNING DOWN the invitation to partake in this scam."

Additional Video from Breitbart

Tags: louis henry gates arrest,sgt james crowley,barack obama parking tickets,barack obama cambridge,cambridge ma police,america racism,professor gates,the root,racial profiling,

We Must Be Racist, Fidel Castro Says So!

It must be comforting for some liberals that they are in tune with one of the great thug-dictators of all time. Keep thinking it's racism when Obie loses*; perpetuate the myth of racism and you nourish the blind stupidity that defines so many Obama supporters.

Castro: Racism in US keeps many away from Obama
HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro says a "profound racism" in the United States will stop millions from voting for Barack Obama in next month's presidential election.

Also See the Debra J. Saunders commentary titled "Playing the Race Card". She explains quite effectively how the "race card" is being employed now. Here's some quotes:

The race card is back. After Tuesday night's debate, Washington party-crossover dean David Gergen announced it was "too early" to declare victory for Democrat Barack Obama, not because the election is a month away, but because "Obama is black."....her (Palin's reference to the Obama/Ayers association) attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret."....I don't think Obama and Ayers were pals so much as co-believers of a trendy left-leaning and standards-hostile philosophy on education...And, Ayers is white. So it's hard to figure out how the AP writer construed Palin's remarks as "racially tinged," unless you see race in absolutely everything....According to a Time poll, 43 percent of white men and 48 percent of white women say they will vote for Obama, while 97 percent of black voters support Obama....there is something incongruous in examining the racism in a group that plans on voting more than 40 percent for a candidate of a different color, while ignoring a bloc expected to vote within its color lines almost exclusively....the American voter has demonstrated a conservative streak when it comes to the country's commander in chief. The American electorate has not bestowed more than 50 percent of the popular vote on the Democratic nominee since 1976 when Jimmy Carter won the White House for one term.
*Did you catch James Carville's remark the other day: "if Obama is ahead by 5 points on E day and loses; it's gonna be traumatic" Was he talking riots here?

Tags: race card,playing race card,fidel castro,campaign 08,barack obama,race politics,castro cites u.s. racism

Thank God for Father Mike...

The title's words are from Trinity United's new pastor Otis Moss who thanks Father Michael Pfleger for his stirring denunciation of, not only Hillary Clinton, but all white people. You find yourself laughing at the antics of this loony priest but you end up feeling sick at heart and stomach. One is no longer surprised at the hateful preaching emanating from the pulpit of Barack Obama's church. This is the complete video from Father Michael Pfleger's performance last Sunday at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.




Tags: michael pfleger,trinity united church,barack obama,racial politics,reverse racism ,rev otis moss