Look at Love

Look at Love...
how it tangles
with the one fallen in love

look at spirit
how it fuses with earth
giving it new life

why are you so busy
with this or that or good or bad
pay attention to how things blend

why talk about all
the known and the unknown
see how unknown merges into the known

why think separately
of this life and the next
when one is born from the last

look at your heart and tongue
one feels but deaf and dumb
the other speaks in words and signs

look at water and fire
earth and wind
enemies and friends all at once

the wolf and the lamb
the lion and the deer
far away yet together

look at the unity of this
spring and winter
manifested in the equinox

you too must mingle my friends
since the earth and the sky
are mingled just for you and me

be like sugarcane
sweet yet silent
don't get mixed up with bitter words

my beloved grows
right out of my own heart
how much more union can there be

Look at Love by Rumi

The Heart of a Champion

In 2006, I attended the California State High School Basketball Championship games that were held at was then the ARCO Arena. I was there to watch my daughter's high school team play for the state championship. The state championship games always pit a team from Southern California against a team from Northern California. There were five games being played that day. One of the games I watched was the championship game involving a scrappy but undersized Northern California team from of all places Palo Alto. To my complete and utter surprise, the undersized team from Palo Alto beat the favored and bigger Southern California team. This was especially noteworthy for me because the Palo Alto team actually had an Asian player playing point guard, and the Asian player was actually good... very good. But based upon my perceptions, and the program note that the Asian player was destined to go to Harvard, I thought that winning the state championship would be the last time I would see that player again.

I was wrong. That same Asian point guard caught fire last year in NYC and appears to be leading a certain Texas team to the NBA playoffs this year. The moral of that story is never underestimate the heart of a champion.

Which leads me to my pick for this year. At the same tournament, my daughter's high school's boys basketball team also won the State Championship in their division. However, unlike the team from Palo Alto, the team from Horizon High School of San Diego had a seven foot tall sophomore center who proved to be a dominating defensive presence. After seeing him play in 2006, I thought that there might be a possibility that he would become a pro once he matured. Well, it has taken him a while. And he appears to have taken his time to get through college, but he is making his presence known.

So, hoping never to underestimate the heart of a champion, I am going with the Jeff Withey led Kansas Jayhawks to take it all.

Peace

2006 STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RECAPS

March 17-18, 2006

ARCO Arena, Sacramento

Three girls' teams entered the 2006 state championships looking to defend their titles, and all three were

sucessful: Troy (Div. II), Bishop Amat (Div. III) and Pinewood (Div. V) each repeated as state champion.

Afte this year's 5-5 split, the South has won 78 of the 120 games (65 percent) sine the state

championships were revived in 1981.

Following is a closer look at each state championship final game:

Division IV Boys

HORIZON, San Diego 60 def.

SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL, San Francisco 52

Steve Winnick had 18 points -- including five three-pointers -- to lead Horizon of San Diego past Sacred

Heart Cathedral of San Francisco, 60-52, to win the boys Division IV state title.

Marquise Carter was 12-of-12 from the free-throw line for the Panthers (26-3) and finished with 14 points

to go along with five assists. Horizon was 24 of 28 from the line for the game; Sacred Heart Cathedral

(23-9) was just two of five.

Jerelle Wilson, the only senior starter for the Irish, had 18 points and seven rebounds, and freshman

Jeremy Brown scored 12.

Horizon, which won back-to-back D4 championships in 2002 and 2003, and lost in the D5 championship

game in 1997, took the lead for good with 4:24 left in the first half, and led by 10 three minutes later.

But Sacred Heart Cathedral cut the margin to six at the break, and stayed within seven until the final

minutes.

Horizon's victory was the 14th for the Southern California D-IV champs, against only five for the Northern

California representatives.

Sportsmanship Award Winners: Jerelle Wilson, Sacred Heart Cathedral; Steve Winnick, Horizon

Division II Boys

PALO ALTO 51 def.

MATER DEI, Santa Ana 47

Jeremy Lin scored 17 points as underdog Palo Alto shocked nationally ranked Mater Dei, 51-47, to win

the boys' Division II state championship.

The Vikings (32-1) won their second state title while handing the Monarchs (33-3), ranked 19th by

Studentsports.com, their second straight upset defeat in the state title game. Last year, unheralded Oak

Ridge knocked off heavily favored Mater Dei 60-44.

The Monarchs got 23 points from 6-7 Travis King, but didn't use the height of 7-1 Alex Jacobson or 6-7

Steve Tarin to their best advantage, settling for 22 three-point attempts out of their 58 shots. Kamyron

Brown was the only other Mater Dei player in double figures, with 10.

Kheaton Scott scored 11 points for Palo Alto, including the late first-quarter basket that put the Vikings

ahead for good, and Brad Lehman added 10.

It looked as if Mater Dei would dominate when King threw down an impressive dunk just 2:22 into the

game to put the Monarchs up 4-0, but after that, the game belonged to Palo Alto. The Vikings tied the

score at six and eventually built a seven-point lead, 15-8, but Mater Dei cut the margin to four, 24-20, at

the end of the second period. The lead extended to nine with 5:51 remaining in the third quarter, but the

Monarchs battled back to cut it to one, 36-35 with 7:01 left in the game. Palo Alto pushed the margin out

to five twice more, but Mater Dei kept the pressure on.

Down two with slightly more than two minutes remaining, the Monarchs harassed the Vikings into a near

shot-clock violation, but Lin banked in a 27-foot three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to put Palo Alto up

by five again -- and the Monarchs could never get closer than two down the stretch.

Southern Cal has dominated the Division II boys' competition, winning 18 of the 25 title games.

Sportsmanship Award Winners: Kheaton Scott, Palo Alto; Kamyron Brown, Mater Dei

Jeffree David "Jeff" Withey (born March 7, 1990 in San Diego, California) is a Division I (NCAA) basketball player for the University of Kansas men's basketball team. He is projected to be drafted in the 2013 NBA Draft ^[3][4] and is known for his shot-blocking ability and his defensive presence.^[1]

Contents [hide] 1 High school career 1.1 Horizon High School 2 College career 2.1 University of Arizona (2008) 2.2 University of Kansas (2009–present) 2.2.1 2012-2013 Season 3 References 4 External links

[edit] High school career

[edit] Horizon High School

Withey led Horizon High School to the state Division IV title in his sophomore season (2006) ^[5] and he graduated in the class of 2008.^[6] In the game preceding the state championship game, Withey and his teammates had to face a San Joaquin Memorial team in the Southern California Regional Championship game that featured three seniors who were future NBA players, Robin & Brook Lopez and Quincy Pondexter. In a dramatic double overtime game, Withey and his teammates overcame the SJM squad and went on to win the title in the following game.^[7] In his senior season he averaged 20.8 points, 13.0 rebounds, and 7.3 blocked shots per game.^[8]

[edit] College career

[edit] University of Arizona (2008)

Withey had originally committed to play for Louisville, but switched his commitment to Arizona. Following the resignation of Lute Olson in October of Withey's freshman season, he decided to transfer from Arizona. He did not see any playing time for the Wildcats during his semester of the 2008-09 season.

[edit] University of Kansas (2009–present)

Withey transferred to Kansas in January 2009, but was ineligible to play until the end of the 2009 fall semester due to the NCAA transfer rules requiring him to sit out a year. He initially saw limited playing time during the second half of the 2009-10 season and the 2010-11 season, playing behind Cole Aldrich and the Morris twins.
In his junior year, after twin brothers Marcus and Markieff Morris left for the NBA draft, he became a starter,^[9] playing for the 2011-2012 squad which lost to Kentucky in the NCAA championship game. Withey blocked 31 shots in the 2012 tournament, breaking Joakim Noah's tournament record of 29.^[10] During the 2011-12 season, he was named Big 12 defensive player of the year and set a Big 12 record with 140 blocks for the season.^[11]

[edit] 2012-2013 Season

On October 4, 2012, Withey was named to the Preseason all-Big 12 unanimously.^[11]
On December 3, 2012, Withey was named Big 12 Player of the Week. To earn the honor, he scored a triple-double against San Jose State Spartans on November 26. In that game, Withey scored 16 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and blocked 12 shots, for the second triple-double in KU history.^[12] On February 18, 2013, Withey was named Big 12 Co-Player of the Week. He had double-doubles against both Kansas State Wildcats and Texas Longhorns. He also made his 265th blocked shot to set a new Big 12 record for career blocked shots.^[13]
On March 10, 2013, he was named defensive player of the year in the Big 12 for 2012-13 and he was named first team All Big 12.^[14]
On March 11, 2013, Withey was named 2nd Team All-American by The Sporting News.^[15]

 

God, Guns and the Constitution

A friend of mine sent this to me.  Following up on a recent email from another friend, this youtube presentation is rather thought provoking. 

http://www.youtube.com/embed/9RABZq5IoaQ?feature=player_embedded

What follows is the article which was attached to the email sent by another friend.  In this land of guns, will we ever find 

 Peace?

Is Gun Control Racist?

Oct 9, 2011 10:40 PM EDT

Author Adam Winkler uncovers the surprising racist roots of gun control in America—and how the NRA and other groups flipped entirely. Winkler’s new book is “Gun Fight.”

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If you browse the gun-rights websites for only a few minutes, you’re sure to find the claim: “Gun control is racist.” The statement seems absurd: African Americans favor gun control at substantially higher rates than whites. The gun-fatality rate for blacks far exceeds that for whites. And one of the few places you can easily find virulent racist literature is at a gun show. In what bizarro world is gun control racist?

Actually, the gun-rights websites are on to something. As I discovered in researching my new book Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, for much of our history, gun regulation has been tainted by the stains of racism and discrimination. Today, the story is more complex than the simplistic slogans of gun-rights advocates. But there is no denying that racial politics have profoundly shaped America’s gun laws.

Gun-rights hardliners are fond of dismissing nearly any gun-safety effort as a violation of the Second Amendment. Yet the men who wrote and ratified that provision had extensive gun laws—and many of them were racially discriminatory. Not only did they support laws prohibiting slaves from possessing guns, they also disarmed free blacks, who the Founders feared might join together with their brethren in chains to revolt.

The fear of blacks with guns was one of the reasons behind the Supreme Court’s notorious decision in theDred Scott case. Chief Justice Roger Taney’s opinion insisted that blacks could not be citizens because, if they were, they’d have all the protections of the Bill of Rights, including the right to “full liberty of speech... to hold public meetings on political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went.”

America’s most horrific racist organization, the Ku Klux Klan, began with gun control at the very top of its agenda. Before the Civil War, blacks in the South had never been allowed to possess guns. During the war, however, blacks obtained guns for the first time. Some served as soldiers in black units in the Union Army, which allowed its men, black and white, to take their guns home with them as partial payment of past due wages. Other Southern blacks bought guns in the underground marketplace, which was flooded with firearms produced for the war.

Gilles Mingasson / Getty Images

After the war, Southern states adopted discriminatory laws like the Black Codes, which among other things barred the freedmen from having guns. Racist whites began to form posses that would go out at night to terrorize blacks—and take away those newly obtained firearms. The groups took different names: the “Men of Justice” in Alabama; the “Knights of the White Camellia” in Louisiana; the “Knights of the Rising Sun” in Texas. The group formed in Pulaski, Tenn., became the most well-known: the Ku Klux Klan. Whites believed that they had to confiscate black people’s guns in order to reestablish white supremacy and prevent blacks from fighting back. Blacks who refused to turn over their only means of self-defense were lynched.

Overly aggressive gun control often sparks a backlash, and that’s exactly what happened after the Civil War. Determined to protect the freedmen’s rights, Congress passed legislation like the Freedmen’s Bureau Act and the nation’s first Civil Rights Act. As the former law stated, blacks were entitled to “the full and equal benefit of all laws... concerning personal security... including the constitutional right to bear arms.” When these laws proved ineffective, theFourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was added, guaranteeing all Americans the “privileges or immunities of citizenship”—by which the drafters meant the protections afforded in the Bill of Rights, including the Second Amendment.

Today, we think of the National Rifle Association as a no-compromises opponent of gun control. In the 1920s, however, the NRA helped draft and promote restrictive gun laws in state after state—laws that were, in part, motivated by racism. Immigrants from Italy and Eastern Europe, who were known to carry around concealed pistols, were increasingly blamed for a spike in urban crime. Karl Frederick, the NRA’s president, helped draft the Uniform Firearms Act, model legislation that required a license to carry around a handgun. According to the law, only “suitable people” with a “proper reason” for being armed in public were eligible.

Police used this law as an excuse to keep disfavored minorities from having guns. His reputation for peaceful non-violence notwithstanding, Martin Luther King Jr. applied for a license to carry a gun in the late 1950s after his home was firebombed. The recipient of daily death threats, the civil rights leader clearly had good reason to carry around a gun to defend himself. Yet Alabama police exercised the discretion the law afforded them to deny King’s permit request.

Is Gun Control Racist?

Oct 9, 2011 10:40 PM EDT

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(Page 2 of 2)

Armed guards sought to protect King after that, and for a time guns were commonplace in his parsonage. William Worthy, a journalist who covered the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, reported that during one visit he went to sit down on an armchair and, to his surprise, almost sat on a loaded gun. One of King’s advisers, Glenn Smiley, called King’s home “an arsenal.”

In the late 1960s, Congress and numerous states passed a wave of new gun-control laws and, once again, race and racism were not far from the surface. In California, conservatives like Governor Ronald Reagan responded to the Black Panthers, who conducted armed “police patrols” to oversee how officers treated blacks in Oakland, by endorsing new gun laws to restrict people from having loaded guns in public.

“It was laws intended to limit access to guns by black and urban radicals and supported by conservatives like Reagan that fueled the rise of the modern gun-rights movement.”

In 1967, after Newark and Detroit suffered the worst race riots in American history, a federal report put part of the blame for the incidents on the easy availability of guns in urban neighborhoods. The next year, Congress passed the first federal gun-control law in decades. Among other things, the Gun Control Act of 1968 tried to restrict “Saturday Night Specials”—the cheap, easily available guns often used by urban (read, black) youth. The law, which was also supported by the NRA’s leadership, occasioned one critic to complain that the Gun Control Act was “passed not to control guns but to control blacks.”

Like the Black Codes and the KKK’s disarmament efforts, the gun-control laws of the 1960s also led to a backlash. In the 1970s, a hardline group of NRA members staged a takeover of the organization’s leadership and committed the NRA to aggressive political lobbying to defeat gun control. Ironically, it was laws intended to limit access to guns by black and urban radicals and supported by conservatives like Reagan that fueled the rise of the modern gun-rights movement, which is famous for being white, rural, and right-leaning. Some whites thought the government was coming to get their guns next.

In the years since, the racial politics of gun control have shifted dramatically. Given the high incidence of crime in some black communities, African-American politicians have sought measures to reduce gun violence. And it is primarily white politicians, representing white communities, that oppose gun control.

America’s most recent gun-control efforts, such as requiring federally licensed dealers to conduct background checks, aren’t designed to keep blacks from having guns, only criminals. Of course, the unfortunate reality is that the criminal population in America is disproportionately made up of racial minorities.

For all the wackiness you’re likely to find on some gun rights websites, they should serve as a reminder about the racist roots of gun control. There’s no doubt we need better and more effective gun safety laws. In pursuing them, we should be careful to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.

Adam Winkler is a constitutional-law professor at UCLA.

Bobby Smith, R.I.P.

Over the weekend came news of the death of Bobby Smith, the long-time lead singer of the Spinners.  For the youngsters out there, the Wikipedia listing reads as follows:

Robert "Bobby" Smith (sometimes spelled Bobbie; April 10, 1936 – March 16, 2013^[2]) was born in Detroit, Michigan and was an American R&B singer, the principal lead singer of the classic Motown group, The Spinners, also known as the Detroit Spinners or the Motown Spinners, throughout its history. The group was formed circa 1960 at Ferndale High School in Ferndale, Michigan, just north of the Detroit border.

Smith had been the group's main lead singer since its inception, having sung lead vocals on The Spinners first hit record in 1961, "That's What Girls Are Made For" (which has been inaccurately credited to the group's mentor and former Moonglows lead singer, the late Harvey Fuqua). Smith also sang lead on most of their Motown material during the 1960s, such as the charting singles like "Truly Yours" (1966) and "I'll Always Love You" (1965); almost all of the group's pre-Motown material on Fuqua's Tri-Phi Records label, and also on The Spinners' biggest Atlantic Records hits, such as "I'll Be Around", "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love", "They Just Can't Stop It the (Games People Play)". In 1974 they scored their only #1 Pop hit with "Then Came You" (a collaboration with superstar Dionne Warwick). Despite the fact that Smith led on many of the group's biggest hits, many have erroneously credited much of the group's success to its other lead singer, the late Philippé Wynne.

Wynne was many times inaccurately credited for songs that Smith actually sang lead on, such as by the group's label, Atlantic Records, on their Anthology double album collection (an error corrected in the group's later triple CD set, The Chrome Collection). Throughout a succession of lead singers (Wynne, Jonathan Edwards, G. C. Cameron etc.), Smith's lead voice had always been The Spinners' mainstay.

With the 2013 death of Smith, as well as fellow Spinners members Billy Henderson in 2007, and bass singer Pervis Jackson in 2008, Henry Fambrough and G C Cameron are now the last remaining original members of the group. Fambrough is still performing with a current day line-up of Spinners.

*****

For those of us from the "Old School", Spinners music is still alive.  Here's a taste of one of Bobby Smith's best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfG47NsWVYA

And here is the song that I would listen to while driving (for the first time) over the San Rafael bridge during my commute from a temporary home in Novato to UC Berkeley Law.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePKS9HMrQ_s

Ah, the memories.  Thank you, Bobby Smith.  May you truly rest in 

Peace,

Everett Jenkins