AP - Yahoo! Poll Paints a Distorted Perception of African Americans

I don't harbor a lot of illusions about the reality of race in this country. If you want to see how difficult it is just to have a honest dialog about it just look what happens people begin to talk about it.

Maybe I shouldn't have been shocked by actor Michael Richards' (pictured left) bizarre racist tirade in an LA comedy club but I was. It made me wonder how many people harbor such virulently hateful thoughts about blacks in this country.

With economic fears temporarily eased by the promise of a massive federal bailout, there's a story about poll results that's gaining a lot of traction on the Web. I have to confess I'm a little bewildered after actually seeing these hard poll numbers about how voters in this country view Barack Obama as a potential president.

According to a recent poll conducted by AP and Yahoo! in conjunction with Standford University 40% of white Americans who participated in the study harbor negative views about African-Americans.

I'm not a poll researcher or anything but I wonder how much of a genuine reflection of America that poll represents.

According to the article I read on the New York Times Website: ''We still don't like black people,'' said John Clouse, 57, reflecting the sentiments of his pals gathered at a coffee shop in Somerset, Ohio.

Why do millions of white Americans I've never even met feel that way about me?

It's a little weird for me to walk out onto a street thinking 4 out of the 10 white people who walk past me on any given day think I am "lazy" and "violent".

Wow, I thought it was 2008?

Macy's, Not Sleeping on the Beat

As I was walking out through the 7th avenue doors of Macy's on 34th street in New York (pictured left) this afternoon about 3:3opm about 6 security guys in identical blue blazers and ties were walking a young man back into the store. They'd obviously busted him for shoplifting, the guys hands were bound behind him with these thin white plastic strips.

He was tall, about 6'2" and he couldn't have been more than 17. He looked mid-eastern or sort of Pacific-Asian and had a handsome gentle face. He was dressed quite well and stylishly urban.

What had he stolen and why? I wondered. He looked like a "good kid". It's wrong to steal merchandise from any store of course, but I felt sorry for him. There was this uncomfortable moment when we passed, customers were stopping to look at him with disapproving looks; a little Hispanic girl no older than 5 clutched her mother's pants leg and looked up at the perp with wide dark eyes as he was led past.

Some part of him had to be embarrassed but he held his head high and stared straight ahead and as I glanced at the meaty left hand of a powerfully built security guard guiding the kid in, I sensed fear in the young shoplifter.

The security guys looked all charged up and exhilarated from the chase, one was breathing heavily and talking excitedly into a walkie talkie; no doubt alerting headquarters that they'sd bagged their guy. In the past couple years there've been some incidents of shoppers, mostly poor minorities but others as well, being falsely accused of shoplifting and taken by Macy's police and held there for unusually long periods.

A grandmother in Georgia was awarded $1.2 million for being falsely accused of shoplifting at Macy's.

Many retail stores are fighting back at shoplifters with elaborate security systems and small quasi-incarceration areas run by private police who process shoplifters by entering their personal information and photo into a national database and serving up stiff fines that must be paid to the store to prevent the real police being contacted.

I guess I'm wary of private policing in this nation given that the prison system is in itself an industry. But it doesn't make sense to clog the NYPD's time and the city's courts with people who try to steal merchandise from a store. So I think the private police system is a valid concept.

I can't seem to shake the image of the boy I saw this afternoon being led to the private police station in Macy's. I really hope the security personnel's professionalism and training is valid too.

GOP Fear Tactics Target Jewish Voters in Florida

According to the Huffington Post Website, The Jewish Council for Education in Research is reporting that at least two Jewish residents of Florida have recently been "push polled" by telephone reps asking them a variety of leading questions that falsely accuse Barack Obama of being linked to Hamas, the PLO and a variety of anti-semitic policy stances.

Looks like the McCain campaign and the GOP are all fueled up by reports of Obama's low poll numbers among the white male and female demographic in some states. Aggressive and misleading polls like this are intended to play upon racial stereotypes and cultural prejudices. It's nothing new for the GOP. Same sleazy tactics, different year.

Republicans were using them on one another during the primary season, you don't think they'll use them against Obama and Biden?

Smells like GOP low-ball strategist Warren Tompkins at work to me; this morally-challenged political hack was working Mitt Romney's campaign during the primary but was likely recalled to the mother ship in advance of the Republican National Convention.

Interesting tactical campaign choice for McCain.

The same man of principle and honor who stood underneath the big banner of integrity and straight talk at the Republican National Convention is determined to exploit the media-generated assumption that Jewish voters will be put off by Obama's race.

With the dismal economic forecast getting even gloomier with the fall of investment bank Lehman Brothers coupled with spiking fuel prices, McCain and running mate Sarah Palin's non-specific plain-folk talk seems even more irrelevant to working towards finding real solutions to the economic problems Republicans don't seem to think exist.

Fishing Legend Frank Mundus Dies at 82

"Farewell and adieu to ye fair Spanish ladies, farewell and adieu ye ladies of Spain!"

The scene in which actors Roy Schieder and Richard Dreyfuss watch Robert Shaw drunkenly belt out this tune in the cabin of Captain Quint's worn fishing boat just before the shark attacks is a contemporary film classic.

For a cinema-addict like me it was particularly sad to learn that Montauk sport fishing captain Frank Mundus passed away (pictured above left) from complications from a September 6th heart attack. The NJ-born angler was a legend on the Jersey Shore and and Robert Shaw's searing on-screen portrayal of him helped make "Jaws" the movie the defining summer blockbuster horror /thriller of the 70's.

Newsday writer Robert Wargas wrote an excellent obituary on the Newsday.com site.

A buddy of mine from Colt's Neck, NJ told me he knew a NJ fisherman who said Mundus would troll his boat around the carcasses of dead whales to find Great Whites - he'd jump out and walk on the carcass, in open sea even with large sharks feeding on it. He liked to use pureed whale blubber in the special chum mix he used to attract sharks. He was nuts, and I mean that with the most sincere admiration.

Don't take my word for it, Mundus wrote "Fifty Years a Hooker" in 2005, a book chronicling his numerous sport-fishing adventures.

It's kind of sad seeing characters like this fade, men who come from the generation forged in the depression. I heard an NPR interview with some of the shrimp boat captains in Louisiana; talking about the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the industry.

Higher fuel costs and more profits from each pound of shrimp going into the pockets of middlemen are just some of the factors that are driving shrimp fishermen with family ties to the industry going back generations in some cases, away from their boats and nets forever.

You simply can't replace some of that knowledge and experience, and our culture will be the lesser for it. Fishing has been a staple industry in cities, towns and villages in the United States since it's inception as a nation.

Men like Frank Mundus are one of a kind but people will at least glimpse the spirit of what he was like when they watch Jaws. A movie with an immense impact on our culture and one that will be watched and enjoyed as long as film remains a relevant medium that entertains, teaches and reveals.

McCain Closes GOP Convention with Substance-Free Speech as the Media Repeats Republican Distortion and Femme Nazi Michelle Malkin Rants Against Obama

The Republican National Convention wound to a close last night with Senator John McCain's official acceptance of the GOP nomination for president and the final stretch to the White House begins. As fictional detective Sherlock Holmes oft proclaimed, "The game is afoot."

McCain's speech was big on rhetoric-filled generalities and short on original ideas of any kind. My personal favorite? "I'll keep taxes low and cut them where I can." That's about as specific as it got.

After voting with George Bush for 8 years he didn't even mention the embattled lame-duck president. To the delight of the thousands of petroleum-happy GOP delegates whipped into a bizarre frenzy of "Drill! Drill! Drill!" chants, the former fighter pilot completely flipped on his opposition to drilling for oil offshore - which he promised he wouldn't do as recently as June 19th according to an article in the New York Times.

McFlip also invoked the worn GOP battle-cry by railing against the "left wing media" - Media Matters reports that MSNBC, CNN and Fox all gave MORE prime-time television coverage to the Republican convention than they did the Democratic convention. Fair & balanced, uh huh.

It's simply mind-boggling how Republicans seem to get free reign from the mainstream media to level hollow charges against Senator Obama and the Democratic Party and accuse THEM of doing exactly what Republicans have done and are doing! Need proof? Let's look at one of many examples, shall we?

Taxes. Media Matters reports that many mainstream news outlets including Reuters, ABC's Good Morning America and the LA Times simply repeated McCain's claim that Senator Obama will "raise taxes." That's simply not true. Obama's economic proposal includes TAX CUTS for lower and middle income Americans earning under $200,000 per year. Last week in a Time Magazine interview McCain's OWN economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said Obama's plan is a net tax cut!

Why do these "news outlets" keep repeating distorted political assertions without offering any clarification? Left-wing media? These blatant distortions weren't limited to "real journalists" either, let's look at a sampling of the editorial pages.

The last time I blogged about bizarre conservative columnist Michelle Malkin was in the midst of her delusional right-wing campaign against Duncan Donuts for using an online ad campaign that pictured Rachel Ray wearing a scarf that Malkin INCORRECTLY identified as being a kefiyeh - a traditional scarf-headgear worn in desert regions that is often worn by Palestinian men. Rachel Ray & Duncan Donuts, Islamic terrorists? Okaaay....

Malkin's paranoid mind-set likely stems from her Filipino upbringing, many Filipinos are virulent anti-terrorists and her grandfather supposedly fought against the Japanese under Douglas MacArthur in WWII - perhaps she's projecting her grandfather's experiences onto people she clearly despises to pander to the right-wing audiences she longs to please.

Malkin outraged Asian-Americans when she published a book that defended racial profiling and the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, In Defense of Internment.

Today her column tore into Obama's community activism with a slew of unsubstantiated accusations about ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) the community group Obama worked for - Malkin, who couldn't find the South Side of Chicago with Mapquest, opened the column by sharing the fact that she laughed out loud at former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani's disjointed rambling attacks against Obama during his speech on Wednesday night. Rudy, still desperately clinging to his "role" in 911, sounded like he was heavily medicated during his speech and looked like he wanted to shoot someone. The fact that Malkin found him funny says all you really need to know about this self-hating minority-Ann Coulter-wannabe.

Fox News regular and National Review editor Rich Lowry's Thursday September 4th puff-piece on Sarah Palin's idea-deprived, low-ball speech ("Barack, Meet Your Nightmare") took the Republican 'just keep repeating it until it becomes truth!' hypocracy to new heights. In the same piece in which he asserted "She may have given the best speech of either political convention", he opined that she was "merciless on Obama's elitism.." - bear in mind she said that line to the LEAST culturally diverse and WEALTHIEST Republican delegation in history. The same people chanting for oil drilling; and he calls Obama an elitist? Laughable.

Check out John Ridley's hysterical blog- The Guide to conservative 'Palinguage' Vol 2 -- The People's Edition.

For the moment the Democratic brain trust are patiently biding their time as they let the dust settle in St. Paul. Expect Hillary Clinton to take on Palin and start schooling this political lightweight when she visits Florida to campaign for Obama. This thing is just getting started and the Democrats are actually talking about real issues and proposing solutions; which is what this nation desperately needs rather than empty rhetoric, divisive language and petty personal attacks.

Gov. Palin's Daughter Unwed & Pregnant at 17; Is This the New Face of the GOP?

As hurricane Gustav blew into the Gulf Coast on the tail end of the Labor Day weekend, the Republican party is laboring to gain control of the bombshell revelation that 17-year old Bristol Palin (pictured left) the daughter of the newly-selected GOP vice-presidential pick Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is five months pregnant.

The mainstream media was quick to jump on the story during a lull created by the GOP's postponement of many of the headline speakers at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. It's a top item on each of the national network news broadcasts as well as the BBC television news this evening.

The reaction from the public is mixed. There was a sarcastic tone to many of the blogged responses on the New York Times Website who view the GOP's continual moralizing as wearisome hypocracy given the slew of GOP US Representatives and Senators nabbed for everything from bribery to child molestation in the past 8 years.

Many Republicans and Democrats alike (including Barack Obama) were quick to point out that Sarah Palin's daughter being pregnant is a personal family matter that should not become part of the national political debate.

But it is and will be. Particularly given that the Bush administration has packed the Supreme Court with judges determined to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that recognizes a woman's right to have an abortion and also actively campaigned to end federal funding for stem cell research.

If the Republican candidates hadn't waved the "Family Values" flag over the heads of Democrats and painted their party as morally superior, it might not be as big a story.

But Palin actively supports an abstinence-only policy towards teen sex. She also home-schooled the unwed teen mother who's decision to keep her baby and marry her boyfriend Levi is now at the center of the presidential race. What does that say about Governor Palin?

Interestingly it was the blogosphere, not the mainstream media, that thrust this story into the global spotlight; for weeks Websites like Dailykos.com have been rife with rumors that Trig, the young baby with Downs Syndrome who is the youngest of Sarah Palin's 5 kids is actually her daughter Bristol's child.

I'm a skeptic in this matter.

As one blogger observed on the NYT Website, a pregnant teen who isn't married leaves a"trailer trash" impression in the media. It completely negates the wholesome flawless Alaskan family image the GOP was spinning for Palin, who is already being investigated for her role in the 527 group that supported Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens - who allegedly tried to conceal monetary gifts from oil company executives.

McCain must be kicking himself for not choosing Mitt Romeny, who's picture-perfect family and squeaky clean Mormon family life must now seem a God-send that is tantalizingly out of reach.

But McCain caved into, and decided to score points with, the right-wing Christian coalition members who look upon the Mormon religion with scorn and even consider parts of the Book of Mormon to be blasphemy against Jesus Christ.

While it is politically messy, the repercussions of Bristol Palin's sex life is not really high on my list of concerns for the nation. I think it pales in comparison with what's going on in Iraq (where Governor Palin's son is scheduled to be deployed this fall), a new form of Russian expansionism and the situation on the ground in Darfur.

Gas prices, skyrocketing prices for consumer goods and lack of health care for millions of Americans are more important than a 17 year-old's decision to have sex and get pregnant; I mean, come on, how many times a day does THAT happen in this nation?

What John McCain's VP choice is showing America is that Republicans have NO business lecturing people about family values, unwed teen mothers or abortion.

If she hadn't been home-schooled and had access to sex education, maybe she wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. Check out this guy from Youtube sharing some very interesting allegations of that Governor Palin covered up her daughter Bristol's pregnancy - he's got photos that he says show Governor Palin (photographed at the time prior to Trig's birth) standing next to her daughter that show Bristol with a bump, NOT the Governor! YOU decide!