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“Cutbacks”
Most people that know me or that have read my articles over the years probably know that I have been pretty disappointed in a lot of Atlanta’s city government, especially in the area of mayor. The last two mayors basically sucked, Bill Campbell couldn’t run water and Shirley Franklin screwed up our tourist trade and night life at the same time. Freaknic used to be a real draw for this city and it brought revenue that we could use but Bill Campbell had to F*&* that right on up. Shirley Franklin’s administration dealt a blow to the club scene by not renewing the liquor licenses of clubs that they wanted to get rid of, and then made it where the city simply shuts down too damn early. I’ll be honest I didn’t like the way either of these mayors really ran and run the city but that’s my opinion and most of my issues with the Mayors have been about them screwing up financial opportunities for the “A”, the problem that I’m seeing now is much different.
If you live in Atlanta you may have noticed that there seems to be less of a police presence on the streets, which is because there is. You see our mayor made cuts in law enforcement and the fire department. To be accurate what she has done is not fill over 50 police jobs that previously needed to be filled, not hiring 25+ new fireman recruits, and closing our oldest fire station, in the aftermath almost 80 people are laid off and well over 100 job vacancies are simply non existent. This will save the city somewhere around $22 million but at what human cost. The people of Atlanta don’t agree with Franklin’s decision because if they did they wouldn’t have booed her at the fire station closing. Hell they were on her so bad that she ended up basically arguing with the crowd, which wasn’t a god look, but at the same time very telling.
· What I don’t understand is why the city council wasn’t notified about this plan far enough in advance to notify citizens so that they could maybe make their opinions known. fin
“Republican Magic”
I’m sure that many if not most of you have already heard about the republican Christmas racism for 2008 where Chip Saltsman who is the former Tennessee GOP leader who headed up Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign passed around a CD with a song called “Barack the Magic Negro” on it to members of the Republican national Committee. For the people that don’t know this song was done to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon” by a white guy, and in a voice that is supposed to be an impersonation of Al Sharpton. This crap is something right out of an old black faced minstrel show. The white guy probably had to do it because you couldn’t pay a black man to be as much of an ignorant nigger as this fool is. Personally I think the song sounds stupid and so does the racist idiot singing it, but some people (we all know which people) seem to think that this is legitimate political satire I want your opinion. Check out the video by clicking the link above and tell me what you think.
· Oh yeah; Fu** Chip Saltsman and anybody down with him! Fin
“Advantage”
One thing that I’ve noticed about many people is that they like to take advantage of others for their own personal gain. This goes for the regular confidence schemes that we hear about all the time like pyramid schemes or the scamming of the elderly to straight up armed robbery or car jacking. Either way, I don’t like predators who just want to feed off of others and not earn their way through life. Now obviously no one but straight up criminals agree with or support con artist and robbers, but we all enable them.
Every time we leave our doors unlocked or give personal information to someone we don’t now we are enabling these people. There used to be people that would call you and try to get you to push certain numbers on the keypad of your phone which would allow them to access your account in some way and people were going for it too. I’m not saying that I’m con proof but I’d probably hang up in the real phone company’s face I know I wouldn’t have fallen for that one. We enable them when we do things like go to teller machines in dark places late at nigh in suspect areas, and we enable them when we are not focused in public as if we are oblivious to the dangers that are out there.
Of course I consider the worst type of advantage taker to be those that you know personally or that you thought you did anyway. These people can be friends but are often family members, because unfortunately to some people, blood relation means easier to get over on instead of off limits. When I was growing up most of the time when someone would steal from their own relatives they were hardcore drug addicts, but that’s not necessarily the case these days. These days it seems that people just don’t have the same moral fiber overall that that people used to, and that’s everywhere, every ethnicity, every income. People just don’t seem to care about each other quite as much as they used to, but this could also be because we as humans fixate on the negative instead of the positive.
· The other day I saw a TV program where people were competing to see who could get the most Items from a list to help the homeless and people where surprisingly generous, and one guy even gave the coat off of his back. This is of course a positive thing but the sad thing is that their generosity was a surprise. Fin
“Hurtin”
I’ve been in the entertainment industry for a while now and have done well for the most part but I have never been what anyone would call rich. That being said I know a few cats that did get rich and even they are hurting right now. In some cases these guys are really hurting worse because they have accumulated more debt because of the money they were making, but are making no longer. Basically what has happened is simple; a million dollars now doesn’t go nearly as far as a million dollars 25 years ago. The dollar is worth less than it used to be in comparison to other top currencies and the cost of living is higher, so in effect the definition of rich has changed. If you have less than five million dollars you aren’t really rich you’re just well padded. If you aren’t really rich then you cannot blindly buy big ticket items that you may not be able to afford later if your income decreases. Believe me I think a million is a lot to but in reality it is a very limited sum that without proper planning and management will dwindle very quickly. In a way I have been fortunate not to have been quote unquote “rich” at a young age because it is quite possible that I would be in dire straights now because I would have wasted a significant portion being irresponsible. The mentality I have now because of experience wouldn’t allow me to waste large sums of money I truly believe that I could live off of 1 million now longer than I would have lived off of 5 million then.
· This economy is in extremely bad shape right now and this has affected everyone negatively from large corporations to the average Joe. We have to pull thru this and never forget what we are feeling right now so that it won’t happen again.
“Shoe Drop In”
I’m sure that most people have seen or at least heard about the Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi who threw a shoe at President George W. Bush the other day. My first reaction was probably the same as most; I won’t lie I laughed my ass off, and rewound the TV several times and laughed some more. As I laughed I started thinking and I started to laugh less because even though I think Bush is a “bitch” as far as Presidents goes and has done a bad job to boot, I’m still American and our current leader was attacked on foreign soil. We have to realize that in that region getting shoes thrown at you is a sign of the utmost disrespect for you, which is cool but you basically assaulted the President of the United States and that ain’t cool. Ok the launched one shoe but there is no way in hell he should’ve been able to get that second shoe airborne. I’m sure he got broken off real good; as a matter of fact I’m willing to bet on it, but the fact still remains that security was dragging ass on this one. When Obama takes office I hope his security detail isn’t as lack luster as Bush’s. Of course if the President is supposed to be some sort of example then bushes security was doing as well as can be expected. People are doing a lot of laughing but a lot of negative things can and have come of this. Some people are saying that Zaidi is a hero but I know I wouldn’t want to be in his “shoes”.
· What happened was unfortunate for a lot of reasons but very telling of where our relationship with the rest of the world is.
“Clean House”
It’s been in the news that President Elect Obama wants Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to get out of office. This seems to be a view that is shared by Illinois’ Lt. Governor Pat Quinn who also wants the Governor to resign. The reason that people think the Governor should leave office is that he was arrested on federal conspiracy charges, because he “allegedly” tried to sell Barack Obamas Senate seat to the highest bidder. If I were Blagojevich I would get out before Obama is sworn in, and hope they go easy on me for being cooperative. Obama wants a special election to replace the Gov. Blagojevich so it looks like he will be out whether he wants to be or not so he should resign. Besides Governor Blagojevich is an idiot if he thought that Obama was just going to turn the other cheek after he tried to screw him over like that.
· Be careful who you step on because you never know what the future holds. Fin
“Tasty Predator”
Mankind has become a bit of a scourge upon the Earth and I’m afraid that the Earth is tired of it. I was reading a story about shark fin soup which is such a popular delicacy among well to do Chinese and so expensive that it has inspired fishermen to hunt the several shark species that it comes from to near extinction. This delicacy costs about $100 dollars a bowl and they kill about 100 million sharks per year because of demand. There is no way that this animal can continue to meet that demand and an already impacted eco-system will be affected forever.
` A lot of people think that these sharks won’t go extinct because shark fin soup has been a Chinese delicacy for like seven hundred years; since the Ming Dynasty. The thing is though that back then the soup was for special occasions like weddings now people with money eat it whenever they want and they want it a lot. I know many people don’t care about and don’t even like sharks, but trust me the oceans eco-system depends upon the sharks just like it does the coral and all the other species. The ocean affects the entire planet climate wise and in ways we may not even fully understand yet, so to care about preservation of this planet as it is or in optimal condition for human survival is simply self preservation.
· Simply put; you save the planet you save yourself.
“God Lab”
I believe in God and the power of prayer; though I don’t go to church much and I am not a part of any organized religion. I don’t claim any label whether it be Muslim, Christian, or Jew, and I like it like that. I don’t believe that God is some invisible ghost or invisible man. I believe him to be what we can only describe as eternal, and I believe that his consciousness stretches out through the multi-verse. What I don’t believe in is magic. This is not to say that incredible and even currently unexplained events haven’t happened, but everything that has ever happened is explainable through logic under Universal law. That is science. Magic doesn’t have to be explained and can break the laws of physics achieving the impossible which is why magic doesn’t exist; but only the illusion of magic.
Basically What I’m saying is that science and religion are not mutually exclusive and neither is understanding and faith. Everything that God has created and is creating I believe is possible because of his knowledge, which makes him a scientist not a magician. If someone is extremely more advanced than someone else with vastly more knowledge they may seem like a magician but really the less advanced person is just ignorant to this knowledge. Science is about gaining knowledge and understanding of said knowledge. Who has more knowledge or understands more than God? This means that God is in effect the ultimate scientist.
· I’m tired of these fanatics shoving their archaic religions down my throat, step aside and let me in the damn store I don’t believe what you do; period. Fin
“Celeb-reality Check”
There was a time when the privileged were just that, but now our society has come to a point where celebrities and the rich are being made examples of when they are accused of breaking the law. These days people aren’t having the ridiculous luck of O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, and R. Kelly. The climate has changed and money and fame simply aren’t a guarantee of a slap on the wrist anymore. They are making examples of famous cats now; just ask O.J. about his latest go ‘round with the law, and ask Michael Vick how much good his status did him. I’m sure most people know about Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg while out at a club, and I’m sure many people don’t think it’s that big of a deal, but when you are in the public eye I think there are certain mistakes that can be avoided, seriously. This man is a millionaire so I don’t believe that it was truly necessary for him to have a gun on him in a night club. The social climate in this country is a little less tolerant for this type of crap, and if R. Kelly or O.J. were just now having their trials; instead of when they did I don’t think there’s any way they would get off.
· This goes out to celebrities and rich cats especially those that are black. Stop thinking that your fame is always going to get them out of trouble; and wake the F***k up. Fin
“Bull’s eye”
It came to my attention in an E-mail from a friend that is in the military, that since 2004 the popular shopping chain Target wouldn’t allow the Salvation Army to ring their bells to collect funds for the needy in front of their stores anymore. The Salvation Army was taking in about 9 million dollars annually just in front of target so you know that that hurt their cause. Upon further investigation it has come out that target doesn’t allow Toys for Tots to set up at their locations either. My friend in the Military seems to lean towards the theory that target is French owned ant that they don’t support America, but they aren’t actually foreign owned a French company holds shares of Target stock but it isn’t owned by the French. People like to think that things are more complicated than they really are the simple answer often is the right one for real. Basically Target is saying that they don’t want their customers bothered as they shop for the holidays more or less, but in reality they want that 9 million dollars that usually doesn’t make it into the stores to end up in their pockets; plain and simple.
People complain about the number 88 on hats and they complain when the word Christmas is replaced with they word Holidays, but in reality they just like to complain. Because the days of going to some all American department store and getting all American products are pretty much over, and there’s no reason for everyone to get all worked up about it because that’s business, and lets face it companies do business to make money. If you don’t like the way that companies do business (that’s if you even know or care) then don’t spend your money there. If you feel like you have to shop there even though you don’t agree with their policy then you don’t care as much as you claim.
· All of the major companies are likely doing something underhanded or ethically questionable so; pick your poison. Fin
Big Rube
The Fly Guy
Soul Goddess
Royal T
Madam Shai
Billy Blog Thorton
Pop Junkie
A.R. Shaw
Mr. Bigg