Ejector Seat

"To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let’s compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain."

"Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain’s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote."

"...John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what’s more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same “Rove” tactics and the same “Rove” staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear."

"So, the candidate who once promised a “contest of ideas,” now has nothing left but personal attacks. How insulting to suggest that those who question the mission, question the troops. How pathetic to suggest that those who question a failed policy doubt America itself. How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money and privilege that he doesn’t put America first."

---Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), August 27, 2008, Denver, CO


In 2000, during an interview on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, John McCain remarked, "I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it."

John McCain, one of the finest men ever to serve in the U.S. Senate, has lost his moral bearings.

He lost his faith in the American people's ability to reason, and has transformed into the type of politician he once scorned: One who seeks to win regardless of cost.

The ugly truth is John McCain's presidential campaign is eerily reminiscent of George W. Bush's from 2000.

The same company Bush hired to generate the damaging robocalls that successfully derailed McCain's 2000 presidential campaign (which McCain, himself, denounced as "hate calls") now works on McCain's behalf; to defame Obama's character.

Worse, McCain has employed the services of former Bush administration aides Steve Schmidt, Nicole Wallace, and Randy Scheunemann.

McCain repeatedly asserts that he has long demonstrated he possesses both the experience and judgment required of a potential commander in chief. Yet, his past comments regarding the office of vice-president, along with his appointment of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, belies this very argument.

When asked by the late Tim Russert during a 2000 interview on NBC's Meet the Press about possibly serving as George Bush's VP, McCain said, "The vice president has two duties. One is to inquire daily as to the health of the president, and the other is to attend the funerals of third world dictators. And neither of those do I find an enjoyable exercise."

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, during his appearance earlier this month on Meet the Press, said the following about Palin, "She's a very distinguished woman, and she's to be admired. But at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president."

For the past two weeks, the worst transgression of John McCain's presidential campaign has been his decision to elevate Samuel Joseph 'Joe-the-Plumber' Wurzelbacher to national prominence. Since the final presidential debate, both McCain and Palin have invoked Wurzelbacher's name in their every stump speech as if it is some type of battle cry for middle income Americans to rally around.

The ugly American Wurzelbacher said during a CNN interview, "Social Security is a joke. I have parents; I don't need another set of parents called the government. You know, let me take my money and invest it how I please. Social Security I've never believed in, don't like it. I hate that it's forced on me."

After appearing at a McCain rally yesterday, a McCain supporter asked him if he agreed that, "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel." In response, Wurzelbacher said, "I'll go ahead and agree with you on that."

These are the depths that McCain has sunken to.

Rather than compete with Obama on the issues and wage a battle of ideas, he has chosen to resort to demagoguery to score cheap political points.

In his desperation to win the presidency, one last time; McCain has abandoned his own moral code.

For these reasons, John S. McCain does not deserve to be President of the United States of America.

Tough Interview or GOP Hit Job?

Last Thursday, WFTV-Channel 9 (Orlando, FL) news anchor Barbara West conducted a brief interview with Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden.

During that interview Ms. West asked Biden a series of pointed questions about Barack Obama's ties to ACORN, Marxist tenets, and Biden's own recent comments during a fundraiser about the likelihood of a "generated" international crisis purposely designed to test the resolve of a would-be President Barack Obama.

A clearly flabbergasted Biden asked Ms. West "Are you joking? Is this a real question?" after she compared Obama's remark about spreading the wealth during his conversation with Samuel 'Joe-the-Plumber' Wurzelbacher to the philosophy of Karl Marx.

At the conclusion of the interview the Obama-Biden campaign cancelled the station's previously scheduled interview with Biden's wife, Jill.

Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida Communications Director for the Obama campaign, wrote a letter to WFTV stating that their access to the campaign would be denied for its duration.

In response, WFTV news director Bob Jordan said, "Mr. Biden didn't like the questions. We choose not to ask softball questions."

In a Friday evening telephone interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Ms. West said, "I have a great deal of respect for him [Biden]. I have a great deal of respect for Sen. Obama. We are given four minutes of a satellite window for these interviews. Four precious minutes. I got right down to it and, yes, I think I asked him some pointed questions. These are questions that are rolling about right now and questions that need to be asked. I don't think I was rude or inconsiderate to him. I think I was probing and maybe tough."

If you had seen only the Biden interview, then you would probably be inclined to take the arguments of both Ms. West and Mr. Jordan at face value.

However, if you were to juxtapose that interview with this previous interview Ms. West conducted with Republican presidential candidate John McCain, you might feel differently about the objectivity of the Biden interview.

Do you notice how most of the questions that she poses to McCain concern Obama's campaign, and not his own?

I don't quite agree with the Obama campaign's decision to excommunicate WFTV. The sanction should be limited to Ms. West, if no one else.

In any case, it's worth noting that Ms. West's husband is Wade West; a Republican media consultant.

Just the facts.

Opinion: Colin Powell's Endorsement of Barack Obama

I think that it is presumptuous for anyone to explain Powell's rationale for endorsing Barack Obama simply as either racial bias, or the settling a political score with the Bush Administration.

Taking great care to stress his admiration for John McCain, Powell trained the focus of his criticism of McCain's candidacy chiefly on the divisive tactics employed by his campaign, and his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

As Powell stated yesterday, if the counter-argument is that he chose to endorse Obama solely because of race, then he had no reason to wait for as long as he did before announcing his decision.

Furthermore, I trust Powell when he said that he initially believed Iraq was a threat.

That is not to suggest he advocated for going to war with the same zeal as Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.

By all accounts, Powell strongly favored diplomacy as a means to address the perceived dangers that Iraq posed.

Colin Powell has a long and distinguished career of public service. As grave an error as it proved to be, he should neither be branded as deceitful nor disloyal to the American people for lending his support to President Bush as Secretary of State.

Robin Cook he is not, but certainly he is deserving of the respect amongst the public that he commands.

See It Now

I just watched Representative Michele Bachmann (R - Minnesota) on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, and she expressed fear of a Barack Obama presidency because she believes he is anti-American.

Additionally, she considers House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D - California) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D - Nevada) to be extreme leftists.

Obviously, her conclusion is based on his past-associations with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, and former Trinity United Church of Christ pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Now, before you argue the merits of Obama's explanation for his connections to these figures, pay attention to the label that Senator Bachmann slapped on him: anti-American.

Now, focus on the tags that she placed on Pelosi and Reid: extreme-leftists.

The charges that Bachmann leveled against Obama, Pelosi, and Reid echo the vicious smears made against numerous American citizens during the McCarthy era.

Then, to be labeled as anti-American meant that you were a communist.

What does it mean to be anti-American, today, in the age of terrorism?

This is the propaganda that John McCain and his supporters are disseminating throughout the country in their ongoing effort to demonize Barack Obama.

In so many words, they have characterized his core principals as an amalgam of radicalism, communism, and pacifism.

So, as our nation's roiling economy - complete with soaring deficits, enormous debt, and high unemployment rates - continues to founder, John McCain and his surrogates respond to the crisis by instilling xenophobic fears into America's collective psyche.

Remember the words of Edward R. Murrow when he spoke out against the actions of Joseph McCarthy:

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

A Hussein By Any Other Name

Barack Hussein Obama! Barack Hussein Obama!

There is a patently false smear, long discredited, that has been circulating across the Internet; claiming Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Ask yourselves these questions: If Barack Obama was a Muslim-American, would I vote against him because he worships Allah as opposed to Jesus Christ? If so, then what does that make me?

Think about that.

Shut Up and Blog

Hip-hip hooray! My days writing long-winded missives are over!

The need for me to actually blog on this blog has been long overdue.

I'm pleased to announce that, as of today, real blogging will begin.

So, I hope you enjoy my pithy comments.

Back in the U.S.S.R.

To the citizens of the free-world, a word of caution...beware.

The policies of Russia's government are eerily reminiscent of those once employed by its former incarnation, the Soviet Union.

Its belligerent posture and meddlesome ways have only escalated the existing tensions between the separatist Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and the Georgian central government.

Clearly, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili overplayed his hand by failing to heed the U.S.' warning to not take any action against South Ossetia that Russia would almost certainly perceive as hostile; thus compelling them to take up arms in defense of the breakaway province (the majority of whose citizens own Russian passports).

Impressionable Minds

Until this evening, I was becoming increasingly concerned about Barack Obama's chances of defeating John McCain in this year's presidential election.

My enthusiasm upon learning of the news about Obama's brief nine-point gain over McCain in the national polls, following his overseas trip, was first tempered by the news of McCain's ability to shorten the gap between he and Obama in polls that were conducted in several key battleground states; before it was muted altogether, after I read today's Gallup Poll.

However, after watching the latest TV ad that the McCain Campaign unveiled today, my spirits were buoyed once again.

Is this the best that John McCain and his strategists can do?

Really?

For McCain to argue against Obama's candidacy by pairing him with pseudo-celebrities Paris Hilton and Britney Spears is - and this is an understatement - laughable.

Apparently, he feels that Barack Obama is now too popular to be elected president.

Even Obama's diet is too contempo-casual for the average American to stomach, according to a recent McCain campaign memo.

John McCain would have us believe that Barack Obama's ambition - a characteristic that all politicians, especially those running for president; including McCain, himself - supersedes his dedication to public service as an elected official.

John McCain would be well served if someone on his campaign staff took the opportunity to remind him that in addition to the 25 years he has served in public office, he has several television and film appearances of a non-political nature on his resume: two separate appearances on NBC's Saturday Night Live (once as host), a cameo in the comedy film Wedding Crashers, and a cameo on Fox TV drama series 24.

Seriously though...this latest attack ad is far less troubling than the one that preceded it; one that has since been debunked.

Yet, I wonder how much credence the American people would dare to give to these arguments against Barack Obama - as well as McCain (a la the 2000 Republican presidential primary) - that are based not on matters of policy, but wedge issues, and perceived character flaws.

Furthermore, I cannot dismiss the notion that a considerable number of Americans are disinclined to vote for Obama for no other reason than the fact that he is as black as the night in which things go bump.

Otherwise, why would The New Yorker feel compelled to publish an edition of their magazine bearing an illustration on its cover that satirizes every known stereotype of Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, that has been perpetuated since the day he announced his intention to run for president; especially after considering the potential backlash they would suffer as a result?

"It Ain't Over Till It's Over"

Hello everybody. I'm back!

Which is not to say that I ever left, but after enduring my most rigorous and challenging semester of college to date, I was physically and emotionally spent; in dire need of some R&R.

So, I took a few weeks to recuperate before climbing back onto my saddle, and now...I feel...rudderless.

I'm the type of individual who craves order, but only when it's been established and imposed on me by someone else, not when I am the architect.

As stressful as it was, I felt more at ease during the spring than I do right now, because during the semester I was required to follow a regimen.

It's much harder for me to follow any regimen that I set for myself, because there are no consequences that can befall on me for failing to adhere to it.

I've tried to advance certain initiatives of mine for the summer, but as they say, "a plan is only as good as its implementation."

I am not, however, without a guide.

For that I am grateful.

All things being equal, I fully expect to be hard at work again this fall.

As for this blog...it is no longer a function of my schoolwork.

Therefore, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for my next post, as there'll be plenty to talk about this summer.

In fact, there already is.

Stay-tuned.

"A Death in the Family"

Timothy J. Russert Jr.
(b. May 7, 1950 - d. June 13, 2008)

"He had died fairly young. He had died in his joy."

- James Agee's A Death in the Family

A Thousand Fathers (Assignment)

"Those soldiers out there are just boys. Boys who are trained to do a terrible unthinkable thing. If that ever occurs, the only reassurance they'll have that they're doing the proper thing, is gonna derive from their unqualified belief in the unified chain of command."

- Captain Jack Ramsey, Crimson Tide, 1995


Since March 20, 2003, 4,079 spirits have been commended to the heavens.

4,079 sacrifices...

4,079 families forever transformed...

Even those who decried the U.S. invasion of Iraq from its outset couldn't have envisioned a human toll this costly.

Or perhaps those of us who were sold on President Bush's false bill-of-goods were simply too blind, too ignorant, and too trusting to doubt the assertions of an institution, a government, that had long proven itself to be anything but above reproach.

Prior to the launch of the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. successfully persuaded Saudi Arabia's King Fahd to grant permission for American troops to be deployed on his country's soil, by using intelligence that was later proven to be faulty, concerning a build-up of Iraqi troops along the Saudi border.

Beginning on January 17, 1991, the awesome might of the newly computerized American war-machine was fully demonstrated to the public, as the U.S. drove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's antiquated military forces out of Kuwait, and shortly thereafter had them completely rolled up 100 hours after the first coalition tank crossed into Iraq.

Featured prominently during the live news report from Baghdad that aired the night Operation Desert Storm commenced, was the actual video of the punishing air strikes.

The gun-camera footage of the surgical air strikes, combined with the blinding speed at which the American-led coalition raced across the desert, created an air of invincibility around the U.S. military.

Despite the overwhelming success of the campaign, Saddam Hussein was never removed from power, and his regime would endure for the next 12 years.

Responding to the criticisms leveled against President George H.W. Bush for electing to not depose Hussein, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney said,

"I would guess if we had gone in there, I would still have forces in Baghdad today. We'd be running the country. We would not have been able to get everybody out and bring everybody home. And the final point that I think needs to be made is this question of casualties. I don't think you could have done all of that without significant additional U.S. casualties, and while everybody was tremendously impressed with the low cost of the (1991) conflict, for the 146 Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it wasn't a cheap war. And the question in my mind is, how many additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is, not that damned many. So, I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the President made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq."

In the years that followed, Americans witnessed the unveiling of several different types of technologically advanced military aircraft; including, the B-2 stealth bomber and the "Predator" drone.

That the U.S. succeeded where the Soviet Union once failed in its invasion of Afghanistan after September 11th, enhanced its credibility as a military power, further bolstering people's confidence in it.

So, taking these factors into consideration, for certain members of the Bush administration to have made bold claims about the ultimate outcome of the war in Iraq, such as the invading army being hailed as liberators and showered with rose petals, didn't seem terribly preposterous at the time.

Yet, the fanciful visages they gave weren't quite convincing enough in order for the American people to endorse a full scale invasion of the country (not that the president really needed them to).

President George W. Bush, along with other high-ranking members of his cabinet, made a case for war (which has since been proven to be false) that was based primarily on intelligence indicating that Iraq had resumed developing weapons of mass destruction.

If that wasn't enough to sway public opinion, the much-hyped military doctrine known as "Shock & Awe" would make for a more compelling argument.

Once the fighting ensued, as a means of advancing their political agenda, The Pentagon authorized the embedding of journalists with various military units on the battlefield, providing the American people back home a "bird's eye view" of the war; an event that was totally unprecedented in history.

West Side (Assignment)

The class field-trip to The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts wasn't conducted as a class. Unlike previous outings, our Composition I professor, Dr. Smith, didn't meet with us there. Instead, he gave us the option of visiting the library at our leisure, so long as we went before the next week's class.

Despite my insistence to my fellow group members, Zina and Ana, that we visit the library last Wednesday (we had a day off from class), they argued that it would be wiser to let the rest of our classmates go ahead of us, so that our tour of the facility could be more intimate. I acquiesced, and we all agreed to go on the following Monday.

Ironically, the weather that Wednesday was sunny and pleasant, whereas the conditions outside on Monday were absolutely treacherous. It was cold, breezy, and wet.

Our arrival at the library was met with collective pangs of hunger. So, before beginning our tour we ate lunch, first.

Two containers of Chinese take-out (Singapore Mai-Fun and Vegetable Lo Mein) and a couple bags of Kosher-friendly snack foods later, we stepped inside The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; located at Lincoln Center.

Admittedly, none of us had researched the library's website in advance, to preview its extensive music and video collections, so we were quite the happy wanderers, as we meandered through the first two floors.

The 1st floor contained an extensive VHS, DVD, and CD collection. We spent the majority of our time there browsing the video titles, as my partners and I didn't really care to explore the music shelves. Most of the copies of the films we saw there were familiar titles: Chinatown, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Inherit the Wind, etc. There were also some lesser known classics, like the original Robert Wise version of The Haunting and I Never Sang for My Father (starring my favorite actor, Gene Hackman). There were also some documentary films like End of the Century: The Story of The Ramones and Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks.

The vast collection of film and drama books on the 2nd floor was arguably the most enthralling.

As detailed in her blog, I spent a good 10 minutes or so giving Ana a crash-course on the history of James Bond, via author Steven Jay Rubin's James Bond: The Complete Movie Encyclopedia. In addition, I browsed titles about actors Marlon Brando and Sean Connery, director Stanley Kubrick, and the history of comic book superheroes.

Many of the books I read were heavy as I held them in my arms while standing in-between the shelves, and my bee-line earlier to the movie-book shelves made me oblivious to the fact that there were tables just beyond them. So I sat down for a moment to restore the circulation in my legs before continuing on to the 3rd floor.

Apparently I wasn't the only one feeling fatigued, as Ana expressed her desire to return to the first floor to wait for Zina and me, while the two of us browsed the sound collection on the 3rd floor. Personally, I think the security checkpoint outside the archive room didn't sit too well with her.

To our dismay, one of the librarians on the floor informed Zina and me that the stacks there were closed and non-circulating, so we left shortly after our arrival. I did, however, take notice of the fact that there were some selections of theatre performances that had aired on WNET. Coincidentally, while on my way home later that afternoon, I bumped into my best friend's wife at our local supermarket, and shared the details of my visit to the Performing Arts library with her. A performance artist herself, she revealed that a recording of a Classical Theatre of Harlem production of Melvin Van Peebles' Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death (which she was cast-member of) is stored on the library's 3rd floor.

While it wasn't nearly as aesthetically pleasing as AMNH and NYPL, the Performing Arts library proved itself to be no less enjoyable. My comrades and I were quite taken by the seemingly limitless wealth of information pertaining to movies that it contained. Much to its credit, unlike both AMNH and NYPL, the greater accessibility of the materials housed there made for a truly engaging experience.

Tunnel's End (General Discussion)

I'm not going to pull any punches.

I'm going to be perfectly blunt.

Sometimes I feel so bad inside, I feel like I want to die.

That is not to say that I actually want to die, but I want to convey certain sentiments of mine.

One is exhaustion. Sleeping for five hours a night, on average, is a fairly common occurrence for a college student. Yet, I can't help but to wonder if I've been driving myself past my limits in order to achieve the "A" grades I've earned.

A couple of months ago, I worked so late into the night that once I was finished, I slept for only thirty minutes before getting up again to go to class.

I told a friend recently that "I'll sleep when I die."

Now I know why I like 24 so much: I identify with Jack Bauer.

I feel like a man on a mission; who can't allow himself to rest until the mission is complete.

My impetus is the passion I have for the work that I do. The work I do for school doesn't feel much like work to me. It has purpose. It has meaning.

If there's one thing I know for certain it's that nothing I've given of myself has been wasted.

I know what it feels like to do work that has no value or worth, it's loathsome. Taking courses this semester has been the total opposite of that.

That's not to say I don't feel any pain; I most certainly do.

College is both physically and psychologically demanding.

Some days when I return home, I go into my bedroom and free-fall onto a mattress that easily could be six feet deep.

I press my body against its surface, desperately trying to massage my every sore muscle. I can hear Sergeant Barnes' voice in my head, telling me to "take the pain."

But I don't always feel pain. Sometimes I feel numb.

Sometimes my brain feels like a blown fuse that's been overloaded. I feel like I can't think.

Actually, I don't care to think.

And I don't care to move, either.

Too much information. Too little REM.

I'm a wet-noodle; cooked and strained.

Not enough time available for me to round myself back into shape.

And maybe not enough time to fulfill my vision.

I'm 26. I can't help but to wonder if my window of opportunity is narrowing.

I don't want to keep up with the Joneses. I know I can't, and it's useless for me to try.

I can only try to work at a comfortable pace, but sometimes convenience takes priority over comfort.

Convenience, for me, is determined by necessity.

I have a lot of necessities. Just call me Baloo.

Full autonomy...a place to call my own...those are necessities.

That's why I'm still in the game.

The fulfillment of my earthly goals can only be achieved through hard work and sacrifice.

I don't ignore the pain. I absorb it.

I convert it into resolve. It makes me stronger.

I've waded through the darkness long enough to know how to feel my way towards the light.

Love Song: I and Thou

Love Song: I and Thou
by Alan Dugan

Nothing is plumb, level or square:
the studs are bowed, the joists
are shaky by nature, no piece fits
any other piece without a gap
or pinch, and bent nails
dance all over the surfacing
like maggots. By Christ
I am no carpenter. I built
the roof for myself, the walls
for myself, the floors
for myself, and got
hung up in it myself. I
danced with a purple thumb
at this house-warming, drunk
with my prime whiskey: rage.
Oh I spat rage's nails
into the frame-up of my work:
It held. It settled plumb.
level, solid, square and true
for that one great moment. Then
it screamed and went on through,
skewing as wrong the other way.
God damned it. This is hell,
but I planned it I sawed it
I nailed it and I
will live in it until it kills me.
I can nail my left palm
to the left-hand cross-piece but
I can't do everything myself.
I need a hand to nail the right,
a help, a love, a you, a wife.

Deja Vu (Assignment)

The circumstances under which Sean Bell's (b. May 18, 1983 - d. November 25, 2006) life was needlessly taken came as no surprise to many.

The many that I speak of are the countless persons of color who have been, and continue to be, negatively impacted by a criminal justice system that is disproportionate when being brought to bear against them.

Sean Bell wasn't the first victim, and he certainly won't be the last. His death is but one in a long line of deaths, of both men and women, that resulted directly from some type of police action.

What's especially infuriating is the fact that there has yet to be a judge or jury that is willing to hold a single officer accountable, by sentencing one of them to prison, for the shattered lives that such actions have created in their wake.

I won't attempt to argue the merits of the prosecution's case against the police officers that were tried, and subsequently acquitted, for killing him.

Instead, I'll provide you with a narrative that clearly establishes a pattern of how innocent people's lives are snuffed-out by the police department, because of the routine application of deadly force against "minorities" living in America's ghettos, particularly those of New York City.

Timothy Stansbury (b. November 16, 1984 - d. January 24, 2004)

A 19 year-old Brooklyn youth, whose only crime was passing through the doorway of a Bed-Stuy housing project rooftop that, unbeknownst to him, was being patrolled by an NYPD officer who had his gun drawn. His purpose for being on that rooftop: To cross over to an adjoining building, where a party was being held. According to the officer, Richard S. Neri Jr., the sudden appearance of Stansbury as he opened the door caused him to fire his pistol. The round that was fired pierced Stansbury's chest, killing him instantly. Neri was brought before a grand-jury, but they opted to not indict him on charges of criminally-negligent homicide; ruling that Stansbury's death was accidental.

Alberta Spruill (b. 1946 - d. May 16,2003)

After receiving an erroneous tip from an informant, the NYPD's Emergency Services Unit (ESU) launched an early morning, no-knock search warrant, raid on a Harlem apartment that was alleged to have contained a closely guarded cache of guns and drugs. Using a concussion grenade during the breach, they stormed into the smoke filled apartment and arrested its sole occupant: 57 year-old city employee, Alberta Spruill. About to leave for work that day, the terrified Spruill was placed under arrest. Shortly afterward, a police captain on the scene realized that the layout of her apartment didn't match the description provided by their informant, and she was subsequently released. Although she stated upon her arrest that she suffered from a heart-condition, Spruill declined medical attention when it had been offered to her. Despite her earlier refusal, an ambulance was summoned. Tragically, while en-route to the hospital, she went into cardiac arrest and died later that morning. The city medical examiner ruled her death to be a homicide; the result stemming from her "stress and fear" during the raid. Before long, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered several personnel changes within the department: the transfer of the chief ESU commander, the reassignment of the ESU lieutenant who supervised the raid, and the transfer of the commander of the precinct, the 25th, that housed the ESU officers who executed the operation.

Ousmane Zongo (b. 1968 - d. May 22, 2003)

Less than a week after the death of Alberta Spruill, Ousmane Zongo, a West African man who came to the U.S. looking for work so he could provide for the wife, mother, and two young children that he left behind in Burkina Faso, was gunned down during a police raid on a Chelsea warehouse where a CD/DVD piracy ring had been operating. Coincidentally, Zongo worked out of that same warehouse as a repairman of the African art and furniture that were sold there; he didn't know of the piracy ring. The police executed their search warrant on two separate storage rooms of the warehouse, one on the third floor and another on the sixth; Zongo occupied the third. A lone plainclothes officer, Brian Conroy, had been guarding a room full of counterfeit discs on the third floor when he encountered Zongo. According to him, though he was disguised as a postal worker, the badge hanging from around his neck identifying him as a police officer was clearly visible, but a chase ensued, nevertheless. 50 yards and one dead-end later, Zongo allegedly tried to wrest Conroy's gun away from him. Conroy went on to state that he felt Zongo's actions left him with little recourse, but to shoot him. Zongo, who didn't speak English, was fatally shot four times in both his abdomen and chest. The veracity of Conroy's claims couldn't be independently verified, as there were neither witnesses to the shooting, nor surveillance cameras inside of the warehouse. He was charged with reckless-manslaughter, but the jury in his case couldn't reach a verdict, and declared a mistrial. He stood before the court a second time, but in that trial the verdict came down from the bench. The presiding judge in that case found Conroy guilty, and sentenced him to five-years probation and 500 hours worth of community service, but no prison. As a result of the guilty verdict, Conroy was dismissed from the NYPD.

Patrick Dorismond (b. 1974 - d. March 16, 2000)

During a botched buy and bust operation, Patrick Dorismond, security guard and father of two young girls, was shot to death by an undercover NYPD detective while standing outside of a lounge. Two other detectives who were nearby serving as backup did not witness the shooting, and thus were uncertain as to whether or not the detective in question, Anthony Vasquez, had fired his gun deliberately or accidentally. All three detectives had made several arrests in the area, a suspected Bloods gang hangout, that evening. They were preparing to leave when Vasquez spotted Dorismond and a companion coming out of the Wakamba Cocktail Lounge. The detective approached him, and asked where he could go to purchase marijuana. Angered by Vasquez's insinuation, Dorismond told him to keep moving. A heated exchange of words followed before the two men engaged in a scuffle that would end with Dorismond shot dead. Immediately after the shooting, then Mayor Rudolph Giulliani, had asked for the media to, "allow the facts to be analyzed and investigated without people trying to let their biases, their prejudices, their emotions, their stereotypes dictate the results." In contradictory fashion, however, Mayor Giullani condemned Dorismond for his behavior prior to being killed. He authorized then city Police Commissioner Howard Safir to release Dorismond's sealed juvenile record; stating that he was no "altar boy." Neither Mayor Giulliani nor Commissioner Safir made any mention, however, of the fact that Detective Vasquez had, as described in a New York Times article, "in 1997 pulled a gun in a bar fight, and before that he shot a neighbor's stray Rottweiler." That July a grand-jury hearing was held, and Detective Vasquez escaped an indictment for the fatal shooting, as the circumstances involving Dorismond's death were deemed accidental.

Amadou Diallo (b. September 2, 1975 - d. Feburary 4, 1999)

Before Sean Bell was felled by a 50 round hail of gunfire, Amadou Diallo, a Guinea native who had lived in the U.S. for more than two years, was cut down by NYPD officers from inside the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building. What was particularly striking about the manner in which Diallo had died was the fact that after taking out his wallet, which the officers responsible for his death mistakenly believed to be a gun, in an ill-fated attempt to identify himself, he was shot 19 times; 41 rounds having been fired, in total. The four officers who killed Diallo, Kenneth Boss, Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon and Richard Murphy, were assigned to the city's Street Crimes Unit. They were there to make arrests that night as a means of turning up information that would, potentially, lead them to a serial rapist they had been searching for. The officers approached Diallo, who had just returned home from a local eatery, and questioned him from his apartment building's vestibule. The officers hadn't radioed in prior to their engagement of Diallo, but it was later revealed that they believed he bore a resemblance to the rapist they were hunting after. The four officers were charged with second-degree manslaughter, and tried in an Albany courtroom, as a change-of-venue request had been granted in their case; due to concerns regarding the potential lack of impartiality by a local Bronx jury. All four men were acquitted of the charges against them.

I want to make one thing clear, this is not a question of racism, and this is not about Black vs. White; as a number of the officers involved in the incidents mentioned were "minorities", themselves. This is a mere reflection of the disparity between the privileges enjoyed, and the liberties taken, by the men and women dressed in blue, and the civil-rights of John-Q Public.

The answer to the question of whether or not the circumstances that led to the deaths of these individuals were accidental, unintended, or otherwise, is purely subjective. Furthermore, no one in their right mind would dare to question the severity of the danger that these truly brave men and women face, each and every single day, on the streets.

What can be argued (and with little difficulty, at that) is the fact that the divide between police departments and the local communities whose security they are charged with providing, particularly the citizens who live in impoverished urban centres, has jeopardized people's lives.

Be it "the thin blue line" or "the blue wall of silence", this barrier has yet to be diminished in any capacity, and until these departments and their union representatives come to heed the call for that gap to be bridged, innocent people will unjustly continue to die.

The neighborhoods of Harlem, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Jamaica aren't quite the hotbeds of violence that we see on television during nightly news reports about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, the militaristic tactics employed by the NYPD, LAPD, and other police departments nationwide, in high-crime rate communities, are virtually identical to those of our armed forces fighting overseas.

Every Iraqi isn't considered to be hostile, nor should every Black or Latino. Unfortunately, like some of those Iraqi civilians, there are a number of Blacks and Latinos who live in slums and ghettos; where the level of crime is, typically, greater. Still, that hardly justifies every resident of such communities to fall under police suspicion, but this is the recurring issue.

Something must be done to improve the police department's community relations, and more non-lethal measures should be explored.

Otherwise, more Sean Bells will be laid to rest, and their deaths, like those that preceded them, will be meaningless.

"The Power Is Yours!" (Assignment)

Since childhood, I've dedicated a considerable amount of my time and energy towards environmental protection. The kids of my generation grew up watching Captain Planet, so the virtues of ecologically safe practices were ingrained in our minds at an early age.

I've been very fortunate to live in a community where the benefits of recycling have always been stressed; so much so that, as long as I can remember, we've always had bins for recyclable waste available to us long before it became mandatory in New York City.

For a brief interval, my friends in the neighborhood and I organized a community-action group for kids. We called it the YES Club (Young Environmental Savers). Unfortunately, our activism extended no further than some personal manifestos about the need to protect the environment, as the greatest threat to our existence was posed, not by global warming, but by the continual disintegration of Earth's Ozone layer; not as many people knew about global warming, then.

More to follow...

Into the Lions' Den (Assignment)

More than two weeks ago, my (Composition I) classmates and I went on our second field-trip of this semester. That Wednesday morning we toured two facilities, the Mid-Manhattan Library and The New York Public Library. Our professor, Dr. Smith, instructed us to break up into groups for an hour long exploration of Mid-Manhattan, before returning to our rendezvous point on the steps of NYPL. Same as during our first field-trip to AMNH, I partnered with my good colleagues Zina and Ana, but that morning we welcomed a new member to our ragtag outfit, Sandy.

Of the five different floors within Mid-Manhattan, our group began browsing (as per Dr. Smith's instructions) the selections on the 1st floor. Among the sections we visited was 'non-fiction'. The 'non-fiction' section had a number of specially designated shelves. The 'New York Times Bestsellers List' shelf contained a number of popular titles like Barack Obama's, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance and Hillary Clinton's, Living History. They had a shelf for 'Oprah's Book Club'; no James Frey, regretfully. We also saw a section for film and TV titles on VHS and DVD; among them, one of my childhood favorites, Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

The 2nd floor of Mid-Manhattan contained book titles with subjects pertaining to employment, education, and health, to name a few. Most of the subject-material on that floor was of little interest to our group. However, I took notice of one particular work, Carter G. Woodson's, The Mis-Education of the Negro.

Much to our dismay, our tour of Mid-Manhattan came to a close on its 3rd floor, but not before I spotted a book about artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in the art-collection wing of the library.

We crossed back over 5th Ave. to rejoin our classmates, who were gathered on the front steps of NYPL, first, for a brief photo in front of one of the library's two marble lion statues (named, Fortitude); second, to embark on our guided tour of the library, itself.

We filed into the building, and waited for our tour guide to meet us. While waiting, we surveyed the area in which we stood, and took stock of its sheer beauty. The lobby of NYPL is named Astor Hall, in tribute to tycoon, philanthropist, and NYPL co-founder, John Jacob Astor. With magnificent archways, Astor Hall has the names of other Gilded Age philanthropists (i.e. Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc.) embossed in gold on the surface of its white marble walls.

A few minutes later, our guide turned up. He introduced himself to us as Phil, and he was accompanied by his colleague, Naomi.

From there, we proceeded into a room (whose name I can't remember) that provided us with a glimpse of the library's closed shelves, or stacks, which contain somewhere between two to four million selections of books. The construct of the shelves is especially unique, as each of its levels are buttressed by their metal (titanium, if I'm not mistaken) framework; some of which extend below Bryant Park. Most of NYPL's "collections" are housed in these shelves, and the requests for those books are delivered through a series of pneumatic tubes (like in New Jack City), which are received by the library's Pages, who then retrieve the requested materials.

In addition to learning about the intricate details of its delivery system, a number of historical facts and figures about NYPL were shared with us: its Beaux-Arts architectural design, its Billings (as opposed to Dewey) classification system, named after the library's first director, Dr. John Shaw Billings.

More to follow...I swear

How Green "Is" My Valley? (Assignment)

Now, before I share the details of my fact-finding mission on practical ways my family and I can "go green", understand that I am firm in my resolve to not overuse any phrases or terms that include the words go, going, or green.

While I am an ardent supporter of environmentally safe practices, this latest cliche of "going green" is, quite frankly, making me green...from nausea.

Tell me, since when did a color that is commonly associated with sickness, bacteria, and spoiled foods become so trendy?


My, newly fostered, Eco-friendly initiative began, via the Council on the Environment of New York City, with the assistance of the city's, NYCWasteLe$$ website.

Almost immediately, I learned a unique method for reducing paper waste in the home, and better still, the form of waste I helped to curb is of the unwanted kind, junk-mail.

Apparently, by dialing toll-free number, 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688), you can request to have your name removed from (or placed back on) the mailing lists of the country's three major consumer credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, Equifax.

This measure will enable you to cut down on some of the credit card offers you receive in the mail, but not all.

You should bear in mind that any junk-mail you receive can be disposed of, along with additional types of paper refuse, by placing it into either a bin marked with a green recycling decal, or a white (paper recycling) dumpster.

It's, also, worth noting that one of the easiest ways to reduce paper waste is to reuse old items, like books, by donating them to local charities.


The practice of donating goods for reuse isn't limited, simply, to books.

Organizations like CollectiveGood provide a service that allows people to donate their used cell phones, pagers, and PDAs for both reuse and recycling; the proceeds from which go towards a select number of charitable organizations, that the donor may choose from.


Ensuring the safe removal of, certain, old home appliances is another sound method for preserving the integrity of Earth's atmosphere.

For example...the next time I discard an air conditioner, or any other appliance (i.e. refrigerator, water cooler, dehumidifier, etc.) containing Chlorofluorocarbon gas, a.k.a. Freon, I'll be sure to call 311 to schedule a CFC recovery appointment, first!

Oops!

I can, however, take comfort in knowing that I can make up for that little transgression, by making certain that the filter for my new AC unit is cleaned, regularly, during the summer.

According to StopGlobalWarming, keeping the filter free of dirt will help to save 350 lbs. of carbon-dioxide from being released into the atmosphere, and $150.00, annually, on my family's electric bill.

The Moral Imperative (Assignment)

We are in a state of emergency.

For, far, too long, the human race has been neglectful in its responsibility to preserve Earth's natural resources, to protect its only environment.

Only now has the full extent of the damage to this planet, our greed has caused, come into wider recognition.

Since 1850, during the post-Industrial Revolutionary period, man's usage of energy has grown exponentially, and thus so has the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas).

For over a century, this trend of mass consumption has continued, unabated.

As a result, the composition of Earth's atmosphere has become drastically altered, and the respective climates and geological features of many regions have undergone, alarming, transformations.

How has this happened?

The scientific phenomenon known as global warming has radically increased the average temperature of our planet's air and oceans.

This is due to an imbalance in the process that we've come to know as the greenhouse effect.

The greenhouse effect is a phrase used to describe the process by which heat, generated from the infrared rays of the Sun, is stored within the Earth's atmosphere by greenhouse gases.

There are several greenhouse gases: water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

These gases are essential, as they serve to regulate the Earth's temperature, and without them our planet would become frozen, and thus uninhabitable.

Unfortunately, due to the effects of global warming, the equilibrium of this process has been disrupted.

Instead of trapping the required amount of heat necessary to provide us with the warmth we need to survive, increased levels of greenhouse gases have enabled an excessive spike to this planet's temperature; one that has resulted in the rapid worsening of geological conditions, worldwide.

How do we know this?

For, approximately, the last fifty years, scientists have studied how the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere correlate with the rise of its average temperature. Their findings, which have been well documented, are beyond compelling.

Through a number of methods (i.e. experimentation, observation, etc.), scientists have determined that these changes have had a profound, and terribly dangerous, ecological impact on our environment, and its natural processes.

These discoveries have been made available to the public in a number of ways; not the least of which has been through the release of former U.S. Vice-President, Al Gore's, critically-acclaimed documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth

My Composition I class and I screened the film a couple of weeks ago, and as a follow-up to that viewing, we went on a field trip to the American Museum of Natural History, to tour the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth.

There, we examined recorded evidence of global warming in the forms of an ice core sample, tree rings, ocean sediments, and wind deposits. All of those exhibits served to add even further credibility to the argument that global warming is, indeed, factual; heightening our need to make, equally, radical changes to the ways and means by which we live, before we doom ourselves to extinction.

Ice core samples are obtained through the use of high-powered drills, which burrow (or, core) deep below the icy surfaces of Earth's most frigid regions. These samples are then extracted and stored safely for preservation, so that they can be, later, examined.

Through careful observation, they reveal tiny particles of dust that were contained inside of air bubbles that became trapped by snowfall during a particular year.

The two different layers, dark and light, of the dust particles within a sample, reflect certain seasonal variations in the Earth's atmosphere: changes in humidity, temperature, atmospheric circulation, volcanic activity, extent of sea-ice, and levels of pollution.

Tree rings are obtained by cutting horizontal cross sections of a tree's trunk. By examining the levels of thickness in a single trunk's rings, we can determine (once again) the seasonal variations of the Earth's climate.

The thicker the bands of a tree's trunk, then the warmer and wetter the climate was, in the region the sample was obtained, during that year.

The thinner the bands, then the cooler and drier the climate was, in the region the sample was obtained, during that year.

The greater the diversity of the samples are, then the greater the approximation of a region's climate.

Ocean sediments, which include the shells of dead marine organisms, contain certain chemicals which aid in the determination of the water's composition and temperature. Such findings are accentuated by the chemical makeup (also known as, bleaching) of coral skeletons that lie beneath the surface.

There are other examples of global warming's impact on the Earth's geological features; such as, wind deposits (loess) from 23,000 years ago that were swept across the globe by the Earth's natural winds, and the striations of rocks (gneiss) caused by small pebbles and other coarse particles that scratch the surface of glaciers.

While at the Planet Earth exhibit, my group and I conducted an experiment, using an interactive computer device, on the effects caused by the extensive burning of fossil fuels.

We discovered that with the rapid rise in population the consumption of non-renewable energy resources maximizes, and subsequently so does the level of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, making the planet less and less habitable.

The dangers we face, as a people, if we do not put an end to the use of fossil fuels are grave.

Already, we have suffered from some of the hottest, and most deadly, temperatures on record across the globe, within the last fourteen years.

Infectious diseases spread by living organisms, once controlled by geographic climates, have now spread to areas where such conditions had never existed, previously.

Hurricanes and typhoons, created by specific atmospheric and water conditions, have grown in both strength and number, causing unspeakable levels of death and destruction in cities around the world.

Perhaps, the greatest danger of all is the rapid melting of Earth's glacial land masses. If they continue to dissipate at their current rate, the levels of our oceans will rise, and floods of epic proportions will ensue.

We must work diligently to put an end to this, ongoing, crisis. The U.S. government must work in concert with the other government's of the world that have, already, pledged to take decisive action to stem this impending calamity. Only through the use of renewable resources of energy (i.e. solar, wind, water, etc.), and the reduced usage of fossil fuels, can we hope to reverse this menacing trend which threatens to destroy all that we cherish.

If we fail to heed the call to end global warming, then we will have only ourselves to blame for our planet's destruction, and there will be no return.

I leave you with another quote I noticed hanging from the walls of the American Museum of Natural History's, Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda.

"The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased; and not impaired in value."

AMNH Field Trip (Assignment)

On Wednesday, my Composition I class and I, embarked on our first field trip of the semester. That day’s destination was the American Museum of Natural History.

I was accompanied by two of my classmates, Zina and Ana, along with Ana’s friend, Rodrigo. Together, we toured the museum as a group.

Our primary objective: to visit the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth and document our findings.

Now...I'd be more than happy to expound on that later, but for the moment I'd like to focus on the non-assignment related portion of our tour.

The first attraction to catch my eye that morning didn’t lie beyond the turnstile from which you enter the museum’s halls. Instead, it hung from the walls of its Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda. What I saw was a quote, and not surprisingly, it came straight from the lips of the "Great Conservationist", himself. It said, "There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm."

What I took away from that remark was rather simple; Roosevelt came to an early recognition of nature's majestic beauty, its intricacies, and thus its importance to future generations. The need to preserve its landmarks didn't have to be proven to him. He was able to reach that conclusion, himself.

After passing through the turnstile, we proceeded forward into the Akeley Hall of African Mammals. As we entered, memories of past visits to the museum as a child, with my father, began to flood my brain. I remembered that when I was little, much like the children who barreled their way past us for most of our tour, I used to press my entire body against the glass, so I'd be able to get the best view that I could, of every diorama.

Back then, going to the museum was almost like going to the zoo, in the sense that the animal dioramas looked so authentic they seemed real to me. At the zoo, however, the experience of seeing living animals in unnatural environments felt more contrived.

One of the observations that we were asked to make during the course of our visit, was to notice how the museum served as a type of media.

Every exhibit had its own ambiance, and possessed distinct visual or audio features.

The animal dioramas are, arguably, the most lifelike of all the exhibits in the museum. The fine attention to detail that was paid to each of the animals, and their respective habitats, is displayed prominently. The craftsmanship of every tree, leaf, stone, and piece of brush was superior in its quality. Each setting's landscape, which appeared to be hand-painted, had an elliptical shape; creating a panoramic like view. The structure of every, individual, terrain's surface was true to its actual geological features. Even the lighting used for the dioramas lent itself to their authenticity. For example, a particular setting in Cambodia, with its dense triple-canopy foliage, would appear almost dark, like night. Those elements, complimented by the sound recordings of indigenous creatures playing in the distance, generated a three-dimensional experience for those who peered into it.

Including Akeley, we viewed several other exhibits: Asian Mammals, Stout Hall of Asian Peoples, Mexico and Central America, and South American Peoples.

One of the more memorable features of the South American Peoples exhibit was a short documentary film about the threat of industrialization to the cultures of certain native Indian tribes; yet another example of the museum acting as a type of media.

By utilizing a wide array of media, the museum strives to recreate the natural environments of indigenous animals and ancient peoples, alike, in what all actuality is an artificial setting. To its credit, I think it's been a colossal success. If it wasn't, then why would people bother going in the first place?

The first few hours of our tour of the American Museum of Natural History were spent leisurely viewing other exhibits, before we began the daunting task of recording data (providing hard evidence of global climate change) at the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth.

To be continued...

Ack-Gnosticism! (Assignment)

Gnosticism has been, by far, the most difficult system (What's next!?) for me to grasp. The ideas it contains are quite complex.

I suppose that the simplest way to characterize it is as a type of religious order; one in which its disciples believe in a series of principles that, basically, suggest humans are not mere mortals, but rather luminary beings. These souls are, initially, restrained by the limitations of their imperfect surroundings; a material world crafted by an entity known only as, the demiurge. To the Gnostics, the representation of this spirit can be interpreted in a number of ways: the God of Abraham, evil-incarnate, or a benevolent but flawed being. The demiurge coexists with yet another mystical being, only this one possesses a divine intellect that symbolizes the good, and transcends the realities of the primitive world. In order to liberate one's self from these crude boundaries, they must come into the spiritual understanding of gnosis, available only through "direct experience" or a comprehension of God. There are different Gnostic sects who espouse the belief that Jesus Christ was either the, aforementioned, "supreme being" of divine knowledge, or simply a pedagogue of Gnostic beliefs.

While attempting to comprehend the meaning of Gnosticism has been challenging, establishing the relationships between Gnosticism, The Matrix, and Allegory of the Cave is far less so. Using the information from the Wikipedia article I read, and what I've come to learn about the religious and philosophical subtexts contained within The Matrix and Allegory of the Cave, I feel relatively confident in being able to make certain associations.

The "monadic" figure that is referred to in the article represents Neo, of The Matrix. If you were to look up the word monad (from which monadic is derived) in the dictionary, you would discover that the first definition listed is, "the number one." Neo's name is, simply, an anagram for the word, one. Throughout the movie, Neo is referred to by his colleagues as "the one." Therefore, we can deduce that Neo is the "supreme being" who, ultimately, actualizes his potential, but not before he transcends his antiquated knowledge of the facsimile (real) world in which he lived. The demiurge symbolizes the Matrix program, which is similar to the lower realm in Allegory. The "archons" of Gnosticism serve as the praetorian guards of the material world created by the demiurge. They are the counterparts of the Matrix's "agents" that work to oppose Neo, from achieving his divinity, and the other resistance members. The culmination of these events, when based on the Gnostic beliefs, is the restoration of the world and its souls, through the spiritual awakening of the luminary being.

"A More Perfect Union" (General Discussion)

As you are already aware, there has been much debate over the past two weeks about, seemingly, inflammatory remarks made (on previous occasions) by the pastor of Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama: the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. On Tuesday, in response to the criticisms leveled against both he and Rev. Wright, Sen. Obama delivered (before a Pennsylvania audience) a long-desired speech on the issue of race in America.

Yesterday, I watched the speech in its entirety, and now that I've seen it, I feel compelled to share my opinion about it, with you. I don't think I have ever witnessed a more poignant, reasoned, and thoughtful address on matters of race and ethnicity. More significantly, perhaps, it was all encompassing. Sen. Obama called attention to, not only, the plight of Afro-American citizens, but also the hardships, misconceptions, and biases of all American citizens who have felt disaffected, at one time or another, because of issues related to race.

I find it disconcerting that, despite his progressive-minded discourse on an extremely divisive issue, some people still fail to acknowledge that Barack Obama was unequivocal in his repudiation of the comments made by Rev. Wright. It is unfair for anyone to suggest that he should have simply severed all ties with a man who has been like a father to him; who presided over his marriage to his wife Michelle, baptized his daughters, and served as the inspiration for his best-selling book, The Audacity of Hope. More significantly, the fact that some people's opinions on certain individuals and topics are based on them listening to a select number of sound-bytes, is saddening. To conclude that the profound message the speech contained was overlooked, if not outrightly dismissed in some cases, by any number of people, is a dreadful commentary on the American people's ability to reason.

In the hope that this message won't be lost on any of you, I have provided the full clip (and several others) of Senator Barack Obama's speech. You can locate it near the bottom of this page, and for future reference... any similar video clips of particular importance will be marked with the heading FYI (for your information).

Once again, I implore you to take the opportunity to listen to the speech. It is nothing short of remarkable, and anyone who hears it will surely be hard pressed to ever forget it.



Do you find this sermon to be obscene? You be the judge. Click here..."God damn, America!"

Allegory of the Cave (Assignment)

When I first saw The Matrix, nearly ten years ago, I immediately recognized the numerous religious overtones that the film contained. In truth, they were palpable. What never occurred to me, however, was the fact that it contained, not only religious, but philosophical references, as well. At the time, I knew nothing about the Allegory of the Cave. I, also, had no idea that the theme of my Composition I course would (in any way, shape, or form) pertain to The Matrix, either. These unforeseen chains of events have since, enhanced my perspective on the movie, itself. What I am curious to see, is whether or not explaining this, particular, concept (that, prior to last week had been completely foreign to me) will enable you to fully grasp the context of the passage, and how it relates to the film.


We were asked to read the Wikipedia article for the Allegory of the Cave. Allegory is an excerpt from, the Greek philosopher, Plato's book, The Republic. The excerpt includes an interpretation by one of the book's characters, Socrates. It describes two earthly realms; one that exists above the surface, the other below. In the lower realm, since childhood, certain groups of people have been held captive beneath the surface. Their limbs are shackled by chains that are bolted into the rock surface of the cave. More significantly, their necks are chained, which fixes their gaze on the walls of the cave in front of them. Located on a plateau above them, and obscured from their line of sight, is a large fire. The fire is used by another group of people to create silhouettes, using puppets of plants and animals, to pacify the prisoners below. As the story is being told, a theory is presented: What if one of the prisoners is released and is, suddenly, compelled to take stock of their imprisonment? You can infer that once the truth of their manipulation becomes known to them, they would then feel the urge to climb out of the cave, above the surface. Now, taking into consideration the fact that they've been enveloped in darkness for their whole existence, the light of the sun would be blinding to them. Once their eyes have adjusted to the brightness of the sun, they would then feel obligated to rescue their subterranean brethren. However, the return to the darkness of the cave would, once again, render them sightless, and thus destroying their ability of perception, forever.

The parallels that one can draw between The Matrix and Allegory of the Cave are many. Notice how the prisoners of the lower realm are similar to the human slaves of the machine-dominated world of The Matrix? The cave in Allegory is comparable to the simulated world of The Matrix, and the shadow puppets are used in the same capacity as the computer program designed to subdue the human race. The sun represents truth, or true knowledge, and like The Matrix, not everyone who has been freed from their captivity is prepared to accept the truth about reality, are they?

Fascinating stuff, isn't it? If you want to take these concepts one step further, you could (could being the operative word, here) apply them to the ongoing conflicts and issues regarding the, gradual, curbing of our civil liberties; that has been perpetrated on the American people since the attacks of September 11th.

If you're interested in reading more about the similarities between The Matrix and the Allegory of the Cave click here... Plato's Cave and the Matrix

Welcome to the Hotel Tangier

Hello, everyone! My name is Brandon, and it is my esteemed pleasure to welcome you to my blog, Hotel Tangier. Why the name Hotel Tangier, you ask? Well, my answer to you is... watch, The French Connection II. It stars my favorite actor, Gene Hackman; whose photo you can see behind the title of this blog. I love a sequel that doesn't require you to watch the first film (i.e. The Bourne Supremacy)... don't you?

I should note that this blog is, currently, a requirement for my Composition I course, at LaGuardia. So, you will see posts from time to time that may not be related to any particular theme, or topic of discussion. The post beneath this one is a (assignment) critique of the movie, The Matrix.

In addition to my posts, you will find: links to websites that I visit frequently, links to my fellow classmates' blogs, links to my professors' blogs, and some FYE (For Your Entertainment) YouTube clips (Only the best for my readers!).

So, again, welcome! I, sincerely, hope you enjoy my blog, and please... feel free to post comments.

"What is The Matrix?" (Assignment)

"What is The Matrix?" That was the question posed to audiences at the time of the film's release: 1999, nearly a decade ago. The answer to that query, however, simply cannot be summarized in a few short sentences. In fact, the film cannot be digested, entirely, in a single viewing. After watching it for the first time (for reasons of enjoyment, as well as necessity), I was compelled to see it again, and again, and again. That's how intricate a picture The Matrix was.

Without delving into the various religious and philosophical overtones the film contains, let me describe the overall plot of the movie, itself. The Matrix is a sci-fi/action film, about a post-apocalyptic world that has become dominated by a collective of machines, who use a digitized illusion to (unbeknownst to the populace), simultaneously, obfuscate and subjugate humanity; the purpose being, to harvest human beings as sources of energy. However, this tyranny does not persist, unimpeded. A rag-tag group of humans, miraculously freed from their bondage, coalesce their forces in an ongoing effort to combat the evil machine race, and liberate the rest of humanity. Though dedicated, they are simply no match for the sheer might of the machines; they are emboldened, however, by a prophecy handed down to them by a mysterious entity, of a Christ-like messiah who, inevitably, will defeat the machines, and deliver all of humanity.

Directed by the Wachowski Brothers (Bound), Andy and Larry, the film stars: (pedestrian actor) Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving. To their credit, the afore-mentioned Reeves and Moss are credible in their separate roles of, opposition group members, Neo and Trinity, respectively; their performances bolstered, in no small part, by the superb Fishburne (who, as opposition leader, Morpheus, steals the show) and Weaving (the evil Agent Smith). At a duration of, approximately, two-hours and sixteen minutes, The Matrix is a sci-fi tour-de-force; undoubtedly, one of the most innovative, imaginative, and spectacular films of its genre, for our generation.