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“Cutbacks”
01.5.09
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
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The First Family Gets Ready For School
01.5.09
President-elect Barack Obama and wife Michelle joined their daughters Sasha and Malia for their first day of school in the Washington D.C. area today. Seven year-old Sasha and 10 year-old Malia are attending the prestigious Sidwell Friends school. Sasha is at the school’s Maryland campus attending second grade and Malia in on the District of Columbia campus, starting fifth grade.
I’d like to thank the Obama Transition Office for sending over the photos. You guys are the best!
Look out for Rolling Out coverage in D.C Inauguration weekend!
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“What’s G”: Lil’s Wayne’s Gatorade Commercial
01.3.09
Weezy doing the corporate thing, getting that guap! You know you’re a superstar when Gatorade will pay just to have your froggy-sounding voice as their narrator. Props!
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Soula Boy attackers speak out!!!!!!!!!!
01.2.09
If you haven’t read the story on www.rollingout.com, check it out now…Apparently Soulja Boy (yeah, I’m all over him today, sorry) was assaulted by six men armed with AK-47’s and Pistols at his home on December 30th. A day later, this video emerged with two guys featured claiming to be the sole jackers and give their side of the story. Right now, ya boi Billy Blog doesn’t know what to think. Maybe out of everyone in the world who hates Soulja Boy someone mustered up enough courage to get at him or maybe Nas sent some of his people’s down from Queens to sort the lil’ man out after Soulja Boy used his name in vain. Either way, all of this makes for good blogging! Enjoy!
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Soulja Boy disses Nas: blames MC for death of Hip-Hop
01.2.09
Ok, I won’t lie. When Soulja Boy dropped “Crank Dat” ya boi Billy Blog was in the club with everybody dancing my ass off. These days the entertainer (sorry, he doesn’t deserve an MC title) is making more headlines for saying ignorant shit, than he is getting all of those 7 and 8 year-old’s flock to the nearest record store to cop his new disc (currently just about 80,000 units sold). Now, Mr. Supermandatho, is going after lyrical legend Nas. I can’t say anymore just watch this.
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Lance Gross proposes to Eva Marcille
12.30.08
And she said, “Yes!” “America’s Next Top Model: Season 2” winner Eva Marcille (Pigford) received her Christmas gift a little early when her beau, actor Lance Gross (“Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”) popped the question on Christmas Eve.
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“Advantage”
12.23.08
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
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Network and Fans Tire of Tyra
12.19.08
Just when it’s announced that media mogul-in-the-making Tyra Banks ranks No. 68 on Forbes magazine’s annual Celebrity 100 list, the CW Network reduces her syndicated talk show’s run from 34 to 26 weeks, starting next fall.
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“Hurtin”
12.18.08
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.
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“Shoe Drop In”
12.16.08
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.
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