Keeping hope alive?

I'm up early today. Had some crazy dreams that woke me and I had to take my car in to the shop. My vision is constantly amazing me, as is what has been going on in this world. There is so much craziness, but I will only comment on a few of them.

Everyone in jail is innocent. At least that is what all the inmates say. But all this stuff with the Duke lacrosse players and the prosecutor, Mike Nifong, is ridiculous. I truly understand that money can buy you anything. And that if you have it, you can get what you want, even if what you want is to punish someone for doing their job. They did not go to jail. They were found innocent. Even this is mind boggling. Something happened that night. The fact that these guys called in a black stripper for their entertainment and then did something in the bathroom with her is really shady. The fact that there were fingernails found ripped off her hands, that they had some person's DNA under them is even more crazy. Something happened that night. Someone did something to that girl. Perhaps it was not the guys that were on trial. Perhaps they did not completely rape her. But people's nails do not just come off when you are shaking your junk for some guys. And when people hand dollars into your G-string, someone's DNA does not get under those nails that are falling off and flying into the bathroom. I don't know if we will ever know exactly what happened, but something happened.

On top of all this accusatory stuff with the actual case is the disbarment of the prosecutor. If I was a defense lawyer in North Carolina, I would have every case I had ever tried back in front of a judge accusing the prosecutor of wrongdoing. I understand that he is believed to have conducted himself poorly -- accusing the guys of raping the girl, and lying about evidence against the defendants. What other people do not seem to get is that, as the song goes, this type of shit happens everyday. I think it would I would be remiss not to bring up all the brown people and people of limited financial resources in prison who are accused of crimes they did not commit. Who are then convicted of said crimes. And are, many years later, found to be innocent of said crimes due to evidence that comes up. Many of the people are convicted because the prosecutors bring forth "evidence" and witnesses that show that the person is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But if they are later proven to be innocent with DNA, or with other witnesses, wasn't all the evidence inaccurate? When are these prosecutors going to be disbarred? When are they going to be charged with bringing forth inaccurate evidence on these innocent people? Likely the answer is never. These people do not have money for these court cases. They are not what society sees as good looking, ivy-league gentlemen whose lives have been ruined just by being accused of a crime. They are not on TV crying about how they will be remembered on their tombstone as the guy accused of raping a woman. Instead they are the forgotten. They are the people that many in society are happy to see off the streets, even if they have not committed a crime. After all, they might commit one in the future.

Just a short segment on this next topic. Why has CNN turned into paparazzi of the famous. I turned to the channel the other day and instead of discussing actual news of the world, they were talking about this celebrity being let out of jail. Larry King even did an extensive interview with her. I do not get it. I guess there is nothing going on in the rest of the world. The Russians are not contemplating nuclear weaponry, one out of three children in Zambia are not dying of malaria, there was not just a Benz car bomb in the UK this morning, the Australians are not banning the aboriginal people from drinking alcohol and looking at porn. And what is with that? Did they not mess with the native Australians enough when they were taking children out of their homes and forcing them to live with white people so they could assimilate into a more European society? Now they are going to ban alcohol and porn in an effort to help the society ease its sex abuse. How about they treat them like people? Like people who were their long before Britain decided use the island as a place to send English prisoners? (Yeah, that was the original purpose of the island, later it was used as a port for ships on their way elsewhere.) How about the European men don't go into indigenous areas and rape the young aboriginal girls? That might help the society, but what do I know? These are just a few things in the news besides some blonde bimbo being let out of what they are calling jail. A sentence she served mainly because she is dumb and does not think the law applies to her.

Not only are people obsessed with celebrities, they are also not so bright. The iPhone is coming out today, or tomorrow, I'm not sure. People are camping out for them. There are even sites set up to help you ease the pain of camping out. Complete with lists of good places to eat and places to use the restroom. This is crazy. What is even more crazy than them camping out is that they are camping for what is, at least in this country, the most technologically advanced tool we have had at our disposal. Yet, these fools don't seem to want to use technology to their advantage, rather, they want to sit like idiots and wait for something. There is an easier way. Instead of risking the store being out of the gadget, while the crazies shove in line to get to the front they could go to one of the handy computers in the Apple store and order one off the computer. With expedited delivery, they could have it by Monday. And instead of camping out in the rain, you could sit at on your couch, or even get out of the house and have a life and get it in the mail soon. If they really want more than one iPhone, they could do the camping out deal, but they would only have to start when the stores start selling them. They could use a plan like my brother concocted and wait outside the door and as people walk out trying to learn how use theirs, fingers tapping the screen, gank them for theirs, they'll have no idea what happened. Or since people are being warned against theft of the phones after purchasing them, you could use the ultimate jack move and steal from the people stealing from the original buyers. And you could do it to a few people, get a few phones and even sell some for higher than market value. (This is all just a vision for him, he has more sense than to actually do this, and more sense than to sit in line like this freak in the rain. He will order the phone on the computer.) Or they could really just wait a bit, because I guarantee that Apple with come out with a better version of the iPhone in just a few months, that completely outshines this first version.

Last night Tavis Smiley moderated a forum with the Democratic presidential candidates at Howard University. I did not get to see it since I couldn't figure out when it was on and what channel. I kept looking at PBS, but must have missed it when I went to say happy b-day to my sister or something. I've read some comments from the discussion and am kind of excited about some of what they spoke about. They finally talked about issues that mean something to people. They did talk about the war in Iraq, but instead focused on what really matters right now (no offense to soldiers and families of soldiers). Darfur, AIDS among blacks (the #1 killer among black women aged 24-35!!!), racial disparities in the criminal justice system, poverty, and the right of Katrina victims to return to their homes in the Gulf. I still do not have a candidate I am full out supporting -- they all seem to be spouting only what people want to hear with no real solid plan of how to get it all accomplished. But more power to them for finally acting like they care about people.

Maybe there is hope for this nation.