DOUGEFRESH

Maybe George Jefferson and Louis Gates don't look exactly alike, but they do seem to have one thing in common.  They both seem to think that anything bad that happens to them is a direct result of being African-American.  Look, everybody knows that only bad things happen when you give a cop a hard time.  Black or White, when you get the urge to start yelling and swearing at a cop, you can expect to see the cuffs come out.  When you look at the circumstances involved with the Cambridge incident, you can see where both sides could have handled the situation differently.  To Mr. Gates point, he owns the house he was in, he just got back from a trip and he was probably exhausted.  The police respond to a complaint of a possible break-in and they find Mr. Gates, who they remove from the house in handcuffs.  From the police point of view, the house had been broken into the previous week.  A neighbor called the police who you would have assumed would have recognized Mr. Gates if he was their neighbor.  They try to get information from Mr. Gates, who becomes loud, belligerent, and sarcastic.  The police warn that if he keeps it up, he will be arrested.  The bottom line is that Mr. Gates claims that if he wasn't a black man living in America, this wouldn't have happened.  He is wrong.  If he was white, the same thing would have happened, it just wouldn't have been "news worthy".

Posted by Racepicks at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was never a fan of Gordon Ramsay or Hells' Kitchen.  People told me about it, but I never watched it.  I have begun watching the new season, and to be honest, the jury's still out.  The two hour season premier was pretty good, but I can't help but think that it is all too rehearsed.  Actually, my first exposure to Ramsay was when I recently watched Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on BBC.  That show is about Ramsay going to restaurants, mainly in Europe, that are just about belly up and needs Ramsay to turn their businesses around.  The show is fantastic.  It seems like it's real.  Ramsay gets worked up, but not so over the top that you get the feeling it's rehearsed.  I'll probably keep watching Hells Kitchen, but I definitely have Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare programmed to record every show. 

Posted by Racepicks at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Apparently, nepotism is alive in well in Rhode Island.  At least in the Superior Court anyway.  Atty. Kristen Rodgers, daughter of presiding Superior Court Judge William Rodgers, was appointed associate justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court.  Let's face it, this type of thing happens every day in the private sector.  A person starts a business, it becomes very successful.  The founder retires and names his, often incompetent, offspring to take over the reins and the company goes down the toilet in a matter of years.  Look, I don't know Kristen Rodgers.  She may end up being the best Superior Court justice this state has ever seen. It just reeks of favoritism, quid pro quo, or simply that same ol' stuff.  Welcome to Rhode Island.

Posted by Racepicks at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Clay Buckholtz just got called up to Boston today.  He's been rumored to have been involved in trade talks for Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay.  I'm sure the only thing on Clay's mind is staying the heck out of Pawtucket.  On Friday, Clay got a taste, first hand, of what it's like living in Pawtucket.  He got his tires and rims stolen.  Here is the scoop in the ProJo.  Dude, you can't own anything nice when you live in Pawtucket.  This city is "thieves paradise".  Look, at least it ain't like Providence.  In Pawtucket you just get robbed.  In Providence you get murdered.  I'll trade a pair of spinners for my life any day!

Posted by Racepicks at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Check out the story today in the Providence Journal about the Rhode Island affiliate of the ACLU.  Actually it's more a story about it's executive director Stephen Brown.  The story title is "Mr. Unpopular", but I'm not sure if that feeling is shared by a majority of Rhode Islanders.  Stephen Brown, I believe, is a well respected individual.  Don't get me wrong, I might not be a big proponent of some of the opinions he argues, but I bet he probably doesn't agree with some of them either.  My point is, Brown is a protector of the United States Constitution.  Look, my knowledge of constitutional law could fit on the point of a pin, seriously, I know virtually nothing about the constitution.  I bet that could be said about many Rhode Islanders, that's why Stephen Brown is so important.  I think he is wrong at times, in fact, his suit against the City of Pawtucket about the Christmas nativity scene that he won was later reversed by the Supreme Court.  On the other hand, he has represented the the Rhode Island State Rifle and Revolver Association.  How much do you want to wager that Brown is pro stricter gun laws on a personal level.  Just a hunch.  So the point is, Brown just doesn't represent groups he agrees with, he represents the constitution.  Let's be glad that Brown does what he does in Rhode Island.

Posted by Racepicks at 06:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Actually, the question was whether or not I wanted to even write about this topic.  Everyone is so sick of the wet weather, I don't think they want to be reminded about it.  The thing is, this stretch of unstable weather stretches back to last year.  Don't forget that we got more snow last winter than we got in a long time.  I don't remember exactly how much. but I measure it by how many times I broke out my snowblower.  It was an awful lot of times.  Now here we are in July and I haven't even thought about putting in my air conditioner.  It's like one or two days of decent weather, than we get four days of cool, cloudy, and damp weather.  The thing is, as soon as we get a week without rain, when the temps get up to the 90's, you'll hear one of the area's local weather people say, "We could really use some rain!".  That will probably make me want to jump off the Braga Bridge. 

The other thing is, can we get some decent weather people on the local news stations?  I mean what's up with some of these people?  That guy Pete Mangione has got to be the biggest goof to ever report the local weather, he recently took over the #1 spot from fellow Ch 12 weather reporter TJ Del Santo.  By the way, is it required to be Italian to report the weather on Ch 12?  Tony Petraca, Pete Mangione, TJ Del Santo, and Michele Muscatello.  I've said it before and I'll say it again right now, the best weather reporter in the Providence market is Jim Corbin. 

Posted by Racepicks at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)