[Captain Kirk]

Finally, some good sense on the Gates arrrest. Before folks start calling names, please note that Silverglate works for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and is a tireless fighter against the academic left's efforts to restrict academic freedom.

[piytar]

Good piece. Gates is a worthless scumbag race pimp, but he does have the right to sound off.

The arrest still wasn’t about race, and a white person would have been treated the same way. “Disorderly conduct” has become “respect ma authorita or else.”

[parsifal]

Great post!

FWIW, a freeper was there a week earlier with this analysis! Little ‘ol me.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2299648/posts

parsy.

[Political Junkie Too]

"Skip" Gates vs. "Scooter" Libby

Compare and contrast the situations between the treatment of a liberal and the treatment of a conservative:

• Gates was being questioned by police regarding a possible breaking and entering of his home.
• Libby was being questioned by the FBI regarding a possible leak of top secret CIA agent identities.

• Gates was uncooperative when responding to the questions of police.
• Libby was cooperative when responding to the FBI.

• Gates became belligerant and escalated the confrontation with the police.
• Libby was cooperative and remained publicly silent during his investigation.

• Gates was repeatedly asked to settle down, and was arrested when he allegedly refused to comply.
• Libby was repeatedly questioned by the FBI, and was arrested when his answers were then-allegedly inconsistent.

• Gates was not a burglar breaking into a home.
• Libbby did not leak the identity of a CIA agent.

• Gates' arrest was not related to the original reason the police were called to his home.
• Libby's arrest was not related to the original reason the FBI were investigating him.

• President Obama immediately took the side of Gates over the police without knowing the facts.
• President Bush remained silent when asked about Libby and the FBI.

• Liberals are outraged and blame the police for arresting Gates after it was proven he was not a burglar.
• Liberals were ecstatic and cheered the FBI arresting Libby after it was proven that he was not the leaker.

Double standard? Do you see it differently?

-PJ

[TC Rider]

Gates had the power to end it at any time by merely shutting his trap.

In my mind, calling the cop a racist is ‘fighting words’.

[MrB]

So, now it’s OK to hurl the n word at a black cop?
Just askin’.

[JoeDetweiler]

“Sgt. Crowley had every right to check on what was reported as a possible break and entry. But as soon as he realized that the occupant was entitled to be in the house, he should have left.”

Silverglate doesn’t appear to have read the police report. Crowley did leave the house and Gates was not arrested for insulting him. Gates was arrested because he followed Crowley outside and began haranguing the crowd which had been attracted to the scene with a racist screed which caused the people to become alarmed.

[Catphish]

This is great in theory but if people had the right to just scream abuse at cops at every crime scene there would be little to no police work done. How do you interview witnesses or communicate over the radio with someone shouting at you? Never mind the fact that no one would take the police seriously. I think this type of speech fits under the “screaming fire in a theater” category. We’d like to allow all speech but sometimes it’s not practical.

[Abundy]

Silvergate is a moron.

His whole analysis is wrong.

[PGalt]

Interesting article and comments at the source. Thanks. Henry Louis Gates Jr., an educator, certainly exhibited a “teachable” moment. Tangentially, it would be interesting to see what Harvey and Henry think about “hate speech”.

[Prodigal Son]

Thanks for posting this article.

[Niteranger68]

So Harvey Silverglate would have no legal problem with a cop calling him an mf’er?

[VeniVidiVici]

How could Gates be caught saying anything? Remember he first told us that he didn't say anything because he had a bronchial infection and couldn't talk. Of course, then the tapes came out and he could be heard screaming in the background. Oh snap. Cop didn't know what he was dealing with at the time. Tried to get him outside for his own safety and Gates decided to pull the Sharpton/Jackson defense.

[thefactor]

dude, have you seen this guy's vitae???

i especially like all his tireless efforts to help "enemy combatants" (his use of parentheses) fight against the evil US gov't.

this guy makes the ACLU look like rush limbaugh!

[WilliamofCarmichael]

This has been reported by newsbusters.org (a comment by a reader) and it was mentioned this morning on KSFO's morning show.

See here for the source of "Teachable Moment"

"The action creates the teachable moments when people find that the world is not the way it is taught in the civics text books. In these situations of cognitive dissonance there are real opportunities for education."

No surprise that it comes from Obama's ideological parents, the 1960s Marxist-Alinsky hippie street rabble.

[MEGoody]

Sorry, but the cop did the right thing. I don’t care who the heck wrote this article.

[kcvl]

Gates says he EXPECTS an APOLOGY from the police officer this afternoon at the ‘beer summit’ per Fox News!!!

[cookcounty]

The officer had every right to be there and ask for ID, which Professor Skippy did not give. After a lot of hassle and shouting and at first refusing, he finally gave him his employee ID card, which is STILL REFUSING because for the purposes of establishing ADDRESS, it's about as valuable as a lottery ticket.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Correction: there's a First Amendment right to be rude to a local cop (they're "fascist pigs"). But being rude to a "progressive" federal cop will get you killed and no one will mourn you.

You know, kinda like there's a First Amendment right to create and distribute kiddie porn but not to criticize the President (if he's a Democrat)?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Chasing cops around screaming abusive language is a right?

So we can do that to anyone at any time?

[TWfromTEXAS]

A guy two doors down from my grandmother was in his own yard yelling at his wife about 10:00pm last month. Never touched her, never threatened her that we could hear (I was walking the dog at the time). Cops came, stayed about 15 minutes then hauled him off. By 7:00am he was home, dressed and leaving for work, no charges filed. Own yard, everyone involved white. As my two cop uncles would say, you can beat the rap but you can't beat the ride.