Point of order: 1] Bumping that Al Stewart Year of the cat in my shop as I write. 2] “I'm not the greatest; I'm the double greatest. Not only do I knock 'em out, I pick the round.” Mumahhad Ali
My boy Dante stopped by the shop this week (in photo). He was one of my former students. He gave me a great compliment. He said outside of his dad, I was the only man that he had ever received real guidance and inspiration from. He also said that I was part of the reason he decided to go into doing his painting full time for real (other pics).
Note: If you meet him don’t be asking what is he painting or that you need some pictures because his work is too abstract for he will say “open your brain and see what you can see folk.”
You see he is an artist, and one his painting will be on the poster for the National Black Arts festival this year (PSA – I have 2 signings during this event). A world renowned artist at that with his works hanging in some of the top museums and galleries around the world. In our conversation, we talked of politics and of the state of the world today. In essence we came to the conclusion that it is on. That race is being obviated these days and that it is all down to surviving.
I use this to just say that what we see as war currently, is about to change. We only see 
I aint trying to scare nobody, nor am I attempting to be prophetic. I am only offering a warning. For down here we have a saying, “These ni***z are real in the field (gerund being none race specific).” And naw, this aint the rhetoric of 19th century scholars, but the plane truth. Just the other day down here in
Yea folk its on, war overseas is faux pa now, its finna be over here up in this camp for as it has been said, THESE N****Z IS REAL IN THE FIELD. So don’t be surprised if they start buffaloing cribs for can goods and grits. vote
115 comments:
His work is exquisite. A great talent indeed...for one so young.
Stunningly beautiful.
I am sure your warning(s) of things to come will be duly noted. I am not sure folks will understand what needs to be done in preparation for such. And therein lies the problem. What to do in the event of...
For me it is par for the course. The late Octavia Butler wrote so prophetically in "Parable of the Sower" of a time in America where we would see changes happening...albeit science fiction, you can see the similarities in the time she writes about and the times ahead and right now for America in this millenium.
Unsettling.
These are the times that try mens souls...
his paintings are really beautiful:)
I'm really lovin' the artwork. Dang, I'm in the city and hadn't even heard about this.
You know, people are steeling gas right out of cars in parking lots and driveways...not to mention stealing the catalytic converters for the platinum.
The one thing I love about ATL is the variety of festivals.
Okay, lets assume what you say is true, my 1st question would be what side will you be on, them that has or them that needs to get? And which ever side you fall on, would the other side necessarily be your enemy?
Curious asked:
"...what side will you be on, them that has or them that needs to get?"
That is the question that everyone should be asking themselves and if they are in the "needs to get" category, it is time to remedy that situation.
If you start today, it will not be hard to save up a good supply of food for your family.
If you start now, it will not be hard to build up what it takes to protect that food you have provided for your family.
Build relationships, build community, build up stores, and prepare to protect what you have built.
torrance, the US population is suffering from obesity, not starvation, or even hunger.
It's impossible to starve to death in the US unless someone has chained a victim to a radiator and stopped him from getting food.
Every place I go in New York City brings me near people who are giving away food.
Regarding your story about the theft of gasoline, how do you know this story is true?
Furthermore, the story lacks details, but as long as there have been gas stations, there have been thefts of gasoline. However, it's hard to get away with these crimes today. Did your two purported thieves get caught or slip away?
Meanwhile, your post seems to support the idea of blacks with guns shooting or threatening to shoot others for food, as though it's acceptable to commit armed robbery and/or murder.
His work can't merely be looked at. One must study it.
I hate to say this, but I think America is in for a rude awakening, which is why my faith and trust is grounded in God. For me, I see no other means of survival.
Dante's paintings are wonderful.
Shout out at my place on the post.
stealing gas isn't new.
nor is stealing groceries.
nor is being poor.
what's new is that folks living off credit/debt wanna act brand new as though their lives were recession proof.
Folks who live in the black stay in the black more often than not. Those who live in the red stay in the red.
Folks driving cars with notes upward of $1000 living over 50k in debt will probably be the hungriest...
Poor people have been poor, this isn't anything new to them.
Now what I will say is this, there will be those who look at this time as a woe is me and those who find it time to hustle and prosper but sitting around scared for the next shoe to drop and scared that someone is gonna take what's yours has never gotten anyone anywhere.
Fear is the new cheap commodity being sold on the street and my faith won't allow me to invest in it.
Hey, if you ever feel sad about the gas prices, just remember the Dutchies who pay over TEN DOLLARS A GALLON nowadays. (that's no typo!) 75% tax of course..
And yeah, I see food going to be a problem, especially for those that live in the cities.. or what do you think about islands who depend solely on import.. they're gonna have a rough time! (I'm seeing peepz in the caribbean already paying a dollar for one apple!)
Well, we'll see ;)
greetings from holland! (we still have plenty of apples though)
p.s. LOVE the paintings!
hey sir, just seen you doing your thang on Rich's blog for bloggers delight. loved it, great poem about "fuck boyz"
that artist is really talented. we need some art on the wall,lol
that is good that you inspired him to do his thang. keep doing your thang T
These are grave and desperate times.
It doesn't matter what color your skin is, young, old, gay, straight, healthy or disabled, people are hurting and when people hurt, they get primed for revolution.
The Feds know this and they don't care. They seem to think it will all blow over but I'm not so sure.
Here in my little, Ole' neck of the woods in Upstate NY, Rochester had it's 50th murder of the year. Not good for a city of 250,000.
Barack will have a heavy burden on shoulders to carry after he's elected. I hope he can fight the evil forces tearing this country apart.
I'm with Aunt Jackie . . .Poor people have been living like this for years. When I was growing up we were doing the powder milk thing, the water in cereal thing, the biscuits for breakfast, lunch, and dinner thing. So, hard times don't scare those who live it or have lived it.
Like she said people have lived of credit. Most these people never had money to begin with. They had good credit. So, they brought houses and cars outside their budget. People who have been pretending to have the American dream. Now they are suffering and are crying loudly.
I have family and friends still in the projects, still living off of nearly nothing and who don't see what the big deal is cause, life has always been hard.
Some of my associates think it's funny that I sew. I always tell them 'you're laughing now, but wait 'til yo ass can't afford to shop at Macy's or even walmart. Me and mine will STILL be FLYY"
Saying that to say it, now is the time/ pick up some of the old time skills that our grandparents had. Planting, sewing, candle and soap making. Hopefully you will never have to use them outside of a crafty/hobby type of way... but if it comes down to war in the streets of your town usa. You'll be able to eat and have something to barter with.
gosh, who knew i had so much to say on this. lol
Lovebabz
Unsettling indeed and yes he is a great talent and mind
nywele
Chk out his web site
Missy
So true regarding his art and I don’t know how you didn’t hear about it
Curious
If they are in my front yard, I am the haves
If I am out in the streets and hungry im with them
One in the same depending on circumstances
JR
I am doing what you have suggested on my tiny 11 acres
no_slappz
True story, side section of metro one paragraph. I looked for a link.
But there are others: Here in Decatur, a team of 8 guys robbed a boutique called Kalidescope, 50000 worth of jeans in 17 seconds, punched shop worker in face and maced her
In Cali, 300,000 in diesel gas stolen from farmers this past month alone
Queen of My Castle
Yep, my folk is the truth
BuelahMan
Yes they are, thanks for the love bruh, how is the fam?
Aunt Jackie
As usual, I cant add nothing to your wisdom and insight
Linda
We Americans are spoiled and are just catching up to the rest of the world
DreamCop08
Thanks, im gone get rich for that lol. Glad u liked the essay
Christopher
A heavy burden indeed. And u are right, skin color is not material, hunger is.
The True Urban Queen aka Sharon
It is about to get even harder
Pajnstl
I knew u had a lot to say and tell them who will have the last laugh
I have to agree with you on this one. I don't really feel afraid but I am very cautious and more frugal now. Our country is in for a rude awakening...prices are rising, salaries are not rising as fast...it's imperative for me to spend wisely and to keep the faith...
slappz said...
"torrance, the US population is suffering from obesity, not starvation, or even hunger.
It's impossible to starve to death in the US unless someone has chained a victim to a radiator and stopped him from getting food.
Every place I go in New York City brings me near people who are giving away food.
Regarding your story about the theft of gasoline, how do you know this story is true?
Furthermore, the story lacks details, but as long as there have been gas stations, there have been thefts of gasoline. However, it's hard to get away with these crimes today. Did your two purported thieves get caught or slip away?
Meanwhile, your post seems to support the idea of blacks with guns shooting or threatening to shoot others for food, as though it's acceptable to commit armed robbery and/or murder."
WOW YOU'VE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK BECAUSE GASOLINE THEFTS STRAIGHT OUT THE CAR IS BECOMING COMMON AND HAS GONE ON FOR YEARS... ROBBING OLD LADIES AND GENTS IS NOW AN OPTION FOR THIEFS... TIMES IS HARD. PROSTITUTION FOR GAS??? SEARCH GOOGLE.
didn't mean to use the caps but now i can't change it without retyping everything.
jay midnyte, gasoline thefts have ALWAYS occurred. But today, with high gas prices, news reporters have an audience ready to believe that a small increase in a common crime is big news.
Meanwhile, it is not possible to steal gasoline in seconds. It takes some time to siphon it from someone else's car or to fill a car in a gas station and drive off without paying.
With security cameras and other anti-theft measures in place, this crime is one for which a lot of perpetrators will get caught. Not all, obviously, but quite a few.
Meanwhile, if you're looking for crimes on the rise, then check with banks. Bank robberies seem to have increased. But every bank robber is photographed and many are caught. Every bank in NY City has a bulletin board with photos of bank robbers on it.
That's a good story about your boy Dante. It's always good to impact someone else's life.
torrance, you wrote:
"True story, side section of metro one paragraph."
Were they caught? What was the value of the gas they stole? Anyway, stories like that one hit at emotions rather than reason, causing people to feel as though a great peril has arrived when, in fact, a couple of opportunists ran off with a few dollars worth of a product on everyone's mind.
You wrote:
"But there are others: Here in Decatur, a team of 8 guys robbed a boutique called Kalidescope, 50000 worth of jeans in 17 seconds, punched shop worker in face and maced her..."
This crime has nothing to do with people's fear of rising gasoline prices. It's clearly a financial crime, and I suppose the thieves had a bulk buyer ready to take the jeans at a big discount from wholesale prices. Have you got a description of the perpetrators?
You wrote:
"In Cali, 300,000 in diesel gas stolen from farmers this past month alone..."
300,000 what? Dollars or gallons? I'll assume dollars. That's a large amount. Sounds like an inside job to me. In any case, you can thank thieves for their part in increasing the cost of whatever they steal. Everyone else pays.
To lower gas prices, the US must drill for oil everywhere it exists -- which is in Alaska and off both coasts. Then we need a couple of new refineries, and we need to begin building more nuclear plants. That is the way to stop gas prices for going higher and higher.
By the way, higher oil prices cause middle-east oil producing nations to keep production at current levels. They know if oil supplies are increased the price will drop. They have no incentive to push prices down.
T -- I took the "trip to the country" portion out of that video so whoever didn't catch it yesterday missed it. But they will get a chance to hear the readings from your book.
Yeah, I too believe it's going to get crazy if things get too out of hand economically.
I have to agree with Slappz we are our own culprits in this debaucle in that we are not utilizing all of our natural resources in that we are a country riding on a defecit wave in debt to our very own supplier.
Speaking as a media professional do know that when you turn on your news it is designed to scare you. It is designed to make you feel like you are glad you are not "them" who ever "they" are. Be aware that there is a preferred sense of hopelessness being injected into our media in the hopes that we buy more shit!
Things getting worse mean that things will go back to about where they came before people wasted their money on bottled water, before luxury items were considered mandatory.
The poor have always been poor if you want to learn how to survive go spend some time around them!
Danie
Work for your self and that fear will not exist unless u don’t work hard
Jay Midnyte
Well said and don’t mind the caps, I type w 2 fingers and thanks for the drive by and do return
no_slappz
My point is that of two orders. Deperate for one person is not desperate for another
And 2] they are all economic crimes period. The culprits were shot and arrested
Demetrius
Thanks he makes me proud. Trill to the heart he is
no_slappz
To me in same vein as stealing copper. You hear about it but it is not mention that much
Also
We are on agreement with the drilling and you know that jones
Rich
Good look, u think folk would have come looking for me? LOL
Aunt Jackie
And despair, sometimes I think it contrived for some other purpose, like the Y2K fiasco
well in my humble opinion allot of this will lead us closer to a police state...why because civil uprising can't be too far around the bend in a country who has only had one noted civil war and one civil rights movement in its entire history.
if you can manipulate the minds of people to stay in fear, they will readily and easily accept allot more than they would if they were not in fear.
fear is what this war in running on. fear is what is taking away the civil rights in our own country and fear will pit us against each other instead of keeping us focused on the original set of values which was that the government was to be afraid of the people, not the other way around.
I'm not saying the gas prices won't continue to escalate and we won't see a widened gap of haves and have nots, that's not to fear, it's to prepare for.
...and that's REAL talk.
P.S. LOVE the painting...In just a few moments looking at it, I saw several things...beautiful--pure talent!
Tha artwork is tight.
aunt jackie, you said:
"allot of this will lead us closer to a police state...why because civil uprising can't be too far around the bend in a country who has only had one noted civil war and one civil rights movement in its entire history."
Are you saying that it's good to rip a nation apart through civil war? When the southern states seceded and formed the Confederacy, the US almost went into the dustbin of history. Is that what you want?
Are there any issues in the US today that are big enough to divide the US into two different and separate countries? Like Yugoslavia, which is now three countries?
You said:
"if you can manipulate the minds of people to stay in fear, they will readily and easily accept allot more than they would if they were not in fear."
WHO will accept WHAT? WHO will FEAR what? You're sounding like a conspiracy theorist. What FEARS do people have?
All I see are people who claim certain aspects of life give them a pain in the ass, or piss them off, or cost them more than they want to pay. But fear? No fear when it comes to everyday living.
You said:
"..fear is what this war in running on."
The only fear regarding Iraq is felt by the muslim troublemakers attempting to keep Iraqis from living freely and prosperously.
You said:
"fear is what is taking away the civil rights in our own country..."
Give me an example of a civil right that has been lost.
You said:
"...and fear will pit us against each other instead of keeping us focused on the original set of values which was that the government was to be afraid of the people, not the other way around."
What fear is dividing Americans? Frankly, I can't think of one. I can think of plenty of problems that need attention. But I have NO examples of Americans at war with each other. Verbal battles -- yes. Some battles over policies -- yes. But Americans divided by fear? NO.
I'm not saying the gas prices won't continue to escalate and we won't see a widened gap of haves and have nots, that's not to fear, it's to prepare for.
Slappz
What fear is dividing Americans? Frankly, I can't think of one. I can think of plenty of problems that need attention. But I have NO examples of Americans at war with each other. Verbal battles -- yes. Some battles over policies -- yes. But Americans divided by fear? NO.
Well slappz, if I may interject, some are not afraid of emotions, or as the current administration and neo neo cons label as terror.
I am still addlepated, as to how can one have a war on an emotion just as I was when they had a war on addiction, excuse me, I mean drugs.
The bottom line is that distinctions exist from the private public schools to republicans and democrats to those that read the New York Times versus the Washington post. That’s whats really real
Not to mention that there will never be a unified Iraqi state until the US removes itself from the region (in my opinion) and bring all parties to the table for serious and substantive discussions with all willing to obtain as well as give up some shit
Bossmack
Thanks for the love jones
Tera
Good look
Aunt Jackie
I agree folk
slappz you seem to have a different point of view on this and i'm not going to argue with you on torrance's blog.
if you believe that civil rights in this country are not being violated, if you believe that a population living in fear of war, of impoverishment, of a state of police, of unlawful detainment, of a housing crisis, of race riots being played out in schools is unreal than perhaps we will have to agree to disagree.
i have utilized far too much space on this blog for one day so I'll step off!
aunt jackie
dont u dare
we dont get down like that
we discuss until we dont want too thats cool but this is yours, mines and slappz we the new america, unlike poly(many) tricksters
so i yeild the gentle lady from cali as much sapce as she want
...so true...why don't they talk about that shit on tv?!...that's what folks really need to be worried about...and all these cats running for president need to be real clear and realistic about shit too...all these pipe dreams they're selling folks...insightful post...
...and the paintings are nice!!...hope to submit some work one day to the black arts festival...maybe even next year...trying to work it out...you may need to inform me of how you did the whole scholastic/academic thing while writing/creating...
Nah, I took it as you were speaking in generalizations, not anything pointed. I only took it off, because it didn't fit the book signing theme. I'm going to put it up later, by itself.
"For it wont be too long when folks start waking up in the morning and seeing 11 or 12 folk in front of their cribs with gats not to just rob people, but to eat. For can goods and gasoline. Yep we are about to go through some turbulent times here in these United States of America and if u cant pay yourself, as I have said before, you wont eat, unless you take to the streets and tax others the wild wild west way"
HUH! Speak on it!
i can sure enough believe it! YOu know there were reports on the news of people siphoning other folks gas out of their tanks. Won't be long before folks are getting robbed of their goods coming out of the grocery store.
p.s. congrats to your friend and to you on your signing! :-)
Beautiful work! The festival is going to bring a crowd for sure. There's a lot going on this summer.
i believe you...it is really real out here...you working 9-5 and have to pick between eating or putting gas in the car TO GET TO WORK so you CAN EAT and keep walls around you and yours...it is very much so about to get real in the field and that regular 9-5 ain't gonna cut it, hell it hasn't been cutting so it for damn sure won't cut it now...
definitely agree....
that brother is dope by the way...his work is master pieces indeed!
WOW His stuff is SO FREAKING COOL!, and what a beautiful thing that is to say to another man, you should feel so proud!
The paintings are fire - does he have a website? You aint neva lied about the war coming to the streets, gas, food and just the cost of living in general is on the rise, middle class is about to be the POOR!
Your boy is very talented...Oh and thanks for the heads up about the bad link..
Love the artwork.
I'm thinking people won't start listening until it's too late. I'm trying not to be a pessimist, however.
Yep, folks already moving to the counrty and starting co-ops. If we get to that point, we'll nkow then end (of America) is near
Nice paintings byt he way. Ya boy's got skills
guerreiranigeriana
tv is for the lame and non readears, for folks that follow celebrity
U know I got your back. Remember I was your professor
Rich
LOL u know folks aint supposed to find me unless they know me or where I live so keep the bat cave a secret
Veronica Wright
I try to write what I belive and can support with fact. Me like to be ahead of the game jones. Thanks and they will be doing that soon. Stock pile now why u can I got a 25 pound bag of rice last week
ShAé - ShAé
So true.
T.C.
Thank u and they doing that down her too. I blessed to know so many trill folk
Qucifer
Yep made me proud, I taught him psychology. And chk out the post with my boy Garfield who used to sing with Shai, he say he getting his PHD cause of me proud aint the word
Sha Boogie
I try and represent for all human beings here and maybe u can ck out his shoes one day. Click his name in post to see about 30 other pieces
Traycee
U welcome sister how is the family?
Kofi
Folks always late. And I waiting on him now.
mp1 v.8.0
Yep he tight, and u welcome to come to my farm any time u down in this camp folk
torrance, getting back to the subject of the first portion of your post -- Dante is a talented artist. I hope he can capitalize on his ability.
mp1 v.8.0, you mentioned people moving to the COUNTRY to start co-ops. There are TWO food co-ops near me in Brooklyn. One offers low prices and requires shoppers to be members; the other offers competitive prices on most goods and it is open to all shoppers.
Meanwhile, Farmers' Markets and Flea Markets operate in many places around NY City on weekends. School playgrounds are often the sites for these activities. Others are held in open areas, like parking lots, that are not used on weekends.
There was a huge Farmers' Market that operated in the parking area on two sides of the World Trade Center. It ran for several years, until 9/11. If 9/11 had happended on Wesnesday (Farmers' Market Day) instead of Tuesday, a lot of morning shoppers might have been killed.
aunt jackie, you did not answer my simple question.
Can you show me any civil right that has been lost? Can you show me anyone who has been victimized by some NEW law that impinges on civil rights? I don't think you can.
It is a popular pastime to claim that civil rights are disappearing and the sky is falling. But those who make this claim never have an example.
Well Slappz, I aint A.J. but I'll answer your questions;
Can you show me any civil right that has been lost?
Try your right to privacy. The so called Patriot Act is doing a damn good job of that.
Dude, the President of the United States can tap your phone and all he has to say is that you "might" be a terrorist.
Can you show me anyone who has been victimized by some NEW law that impringes on civil rights.
See answer number one.
The Government is slipping deeper and deeper in your business and there is less and less you can do about it. And they're counting on one thing...that you never see it coming.
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."
- Christopher McQuarrie
So T, you are telling me then that depending on what side of the have and have nots that you fall on will determine who your enemey will be. I think that if everyone took this view, then there would surely be a war in which everyone loses.
Now I'm not saying we should bring back Joseph Stallin, but perhaps the sooner we start to believe that we are all in this together and it doesn't have to be us against them, the sooner we could work together to avoid such strife and disparity. As jr said - Build relationships, build community, build up stores, and prepare to protect what you have built. I'll take this point a little further, when Dante came around and you spoke of politics and things and then you shared his talents with the world, did you ask yourself where was the profit for you in this? I don't think so, and if you did then you probably thought that the profit was in continuing the relationship you had and building a larger or stronger community for Dante to work in and maybe a safer one or more beautiful one for you and yours to be a part of.
No matter what happens, we are all in the same boat. Some of us may want to abandon ship with that every man for himself attitude, but you my friend, as captain or seaman will be trying to plug that leak, just like a lot of other people.
Mr. All-Mi-T,
That's love...
Wow his work is simply beautiful...and I see all of it : )
I love how he uses complimentary color schemes to create such master pieces.
I have to meet him : )
He's inspiration....
Oh and what Terry said to No Slappz, I 2nd that motion. The Patriot Act has been and may continue to be the biggest infringement to civil liberties that the government has put out in recent memory.
slappz yes I can name 8 men, two of which related to me imprisoned falsely do to the Patriot Act which was nothing but the remix of cointelpro.
I can name geronimo pratt, personal friend of the family and considered an Uncle of mine, also falsely imprisoned because of his political views, although it was claimed that he committed a crime impossible for him to commit.
I can name Muslims first hand who have had their civil liberties infringed upon because of their alleged ties to terrorist cells, and you know what i can put my own name on that list if i choose, but once again i say this;
I have no interest in arguing with you. i have no interest in convincing you of my point of view, nor is it my job or duty to convince you to take on my belief system.
i am not sure who you are or what your background is, but if you are not privy to the loss of civil liberties in this country consider yourself fortunate.
no_slappz
He making it 5k to 25k a piece, and I taught him statistics – I was flattered, he just left the shop – Vino u know he willl comment but he thanks all yawl
And folk I ans for jackie, I have ans for u before whats the deal folk
Terry
Slappz don’t consider liberity a right, he on the privlidge side, like health care n shit
Curious
My faulty folk, that’s how in get down,. No if ands or pots and pans or thwe whole world would be a kitchen, stick and jab, rope a dope, harmonics, no either or, chameleon, adapt
THE PRINCESS "CC" said...
Thanks he here with me now in shop
Curious
Ditto
terry,
There is ZERO evidence to support your claim about the limits and the application of the Patriot Act.
As for tapping phone calls, if you are calling terrorists in the middle east, there is a slight possibility that the government will check the number where the call originated and the number in the middle east to which it went.
Thus, if you are involved with terrorists, you might have a reason to communicate without using a telephone.
For those who are worried about government abuse of powers to snoop, well, it still takes a court order for the most invasive snooping.
The Patriot Act increases government powers when it comes to terrorism. The focus is on international money transfers, FOREIGN intelligence, electronic communications and immigration.
Do you have any examples of INNOCENT Americans prosecuted or imprisoned as a result of violating provisions of the Patriot Act? Not likely.
Meanwhile, you seem to believe the government is a malevolent force that aims to jail as many people as possible.
This fear is only in your mind. Unfortunately, most peoples' beliefs about the Patriot Act are wildly inaccurate and amount to Urban Myths.
aunt jackie, you wrote:
"slappz yes I can name 8 men, two of which related to me imprisoned falsely do to the Patriot Act which was nothing but the remix of cointelpro."
Were they prosecuted and given jail sentences? Or arrested, held for a period, and then released?
You wrote:
"I can name geronimo pratt, personal friend of the family and considered an Uncle of mine, also falsely imprisoned because of his political views..."
I do not believe he was "falsely imprisoned" for his "political views."
Again, the same question. Was he prosecuted and sentenced to jail? Or was he arrested, held and then released?
You wrote:
"...although it was claimed that he committed a crime impossible for him to commit."
Was he indicted for a crime? Or not?
Slappz
A thing or things helpful in forming a conclusion or judgment is evidence, are u sayingt one can not come to such a conclusion? I beg to differ. Secondly, correct me if im wrong folk, but my last recollection of the 4th amendment in summary form dictates The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
I would also add that derivatives thereoff were retracted (stole) from the constitution of the iroquois nation
Last but not least, court order aint never stopped shit folk, holla jones
aunt jackie, a word about Geronimo Pratt, now that I know who he is.
The case that put him in jail was convincing, and nothing about his release suggests the wrong man was sent to jail. Of course it's possible. But the Black Panthers were a violent group and committing murder was part of their game -- as this case and others proved.
Meanwhile, my question related to the impact of the Patriot Act. Since you had no examples of enforcement abuses of the Patriot Act, you went back 40 years to find something that was NOT a relevant alternative.
slappz
As a civil libertarian 12 got too much leeway to collect private information on folk like me jones and I anit done jaxck but free think
The act is over zealous and over sweeping and it can apply not just to suspected terrorists but people and organizations that may be engaged in lawful actionsand I know they peeping folk here with the expansion of Internet eavesdropping technology once known as Carnivore.
U have heard of that right – I mean u well read. And y do bitch as fuck boy fuck need to expand a "pen register" statute to include electronic communications and Internet usage? I aint no suspected criminal jones. Why folk need my IP addresses, no diff than a phone number 2 me mane
no slappz let me say that i find your tone of communication vile and argumentative.
I enjoy Torrance's blog and for the most part I enjoy sharing thoughts and opinions over here but I do not particularly like the way in which you are addressing me, so here forward I will refrain from engaging you on any level and would hope that you do the same.
i am guest here which will keep me from acting offensively.
as i said it is not my intent to convince you of what i know to be true, nor do i find myself learning anything from you.
this is my last time addressing you and i trust that i have made myself clear.
Those pictures are crazy tight. Dante is what's up. And what an amazing compliment he has given you... gotta love that.
yeah, I see it too...I haven't seen busted car windows in a long time...I don't know if you know but back in the days up here they stole cazal glasses, sheepskins and sneakers...right off you...it's starting again...dudes snatching purses...PURSES...they haven't done that in YEARS!!!!
I agree...it's getting really bad, really quickly...
torrance, you wrote:
"A thing or things helpful in forming a conclusion or judgment is evidence, are u sayingt one can not come to such a conclusion?"
A conclusion about what? You question is unclear?
You wrote:
"I beg to differ. Secondly, correct me if im wrong folk, but my last recollection of the 4th amendment in summary form dictates The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
I've had my car searched, I've been detained by police -- once because a robbery victim thought my car was the getaway car -- and I've encountered rude cops. My house has never been searched. But there's never been any seriously illegal stuff in any of the homes I've lived in.
Over my life I've known and encountered criminals. Some are dead and some are in jail. My experience tells me that law enforcement has flaws, but ALMOST all the people who are arrested, indicted and hauled into court have broken laws. And sometimes the guilty are acquitted.
HOwever, anyone who wants to see fewer prosecutions and fewer people in jail should support the decriminalization of drugs. Nothing else could make such a big change.
You wrote:
"I would also add that derivatives thereoff were retracted (stole) from the constitution of the iroquois nation"
Words and ideas are free. A government cannot "steal" the concepts that form a nation's constitution.
You wrote:
"Last but not least, court order aint never stopped shit"
If you mean an order of protection never protected anyone from an angry person, that's true, which shows that people defy government orders without regard for consequences for themselves and the people they harm.
You wrote:
"Slappz don’t consider liberity a right, he on the privlidge side, like health care n shit"
The way you put it, your statement suggests you think "liberty" means you are permitted to commit crimes.
As for health care, when you can get all the doctors, all the pharmaceutical companies, all the hospitals and all the other people who provide health services to work for free, let me know.
Here's a few facts on governmetn healthcare in the US.
The US offers Medicaid and Medicare. The two programs cover almost 100 million people. The per-person expenditure for Medicaid is about $5,000 per year, and the per-person expenditure for Medicare is about $8,000 per year.
Of course everything could be better. But let's start with some basic facts about what exists and the cost of current programs. Let's also remember that healthcare is easy for illegal aliens to get. It's easy after an illegal alien has a child, and the generoristy extends to fathers as well as mothers.
Therefore, if you want to expand government healthcare in the US, the first change that must occur is who can get it. If the US were to give taxpayer-supported healthcare to everyone in the US, then every person living in the Third World would have an extra incentive to sneak into the country. We can't afford it.
aunt jackie, I think you believe that violence committed by criminals who pretend they have high ideals -- like Black Panthers -- is acceptable. That says it all.
There is ZERO evidence to support your claim about the limits and the application of the Patriot Act.
Spoken like a true Republican clone.
And there were WMD's in Iraq, and the economy is just fine, and there is no genocide in Darfur, Michael Jackson is still a black man, and any day now the tooth fairy will pay me the $2.35 she owes me.
Man I can't even argue this intelligently. I mean, I just don't live in that fucked up Republican world.
Waiter! Check please!
slappz
i enjoyed the joust
u cool with me folk
never upset the women
my blog yours
finna drink this vino w my folk danta and big slim and sell some dog shit
i do have a response
but gotta make that loot folk
or else in your yard jacking ub for grits and can goods
I agree with you that things are about to get even more hectic. People that have been spoiled will have to get hungry and make things happen. In a way, it isn't anything new but I believe it will hit people that never had to experience such hard times.
The artwork is fiyah.
I definitely will be checking you at the Black Arts Festival. I make it a point to hit as many events as possible.
Auntie Jackie --- I know exactly what you're talking about with the loss of rights and civil liberties...
Slappz --- You said show you what rights are now null and void... here you go:
Amendment I
Very broad and is violated almost every day so I'll give you one resource. Cops Beat The Living Hell Out Of Peaceful Tibetan Protesters IN AMERICA
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
**Have you heard of the illegal gun confiscations in New Orleans?**
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
**There's so many violations of this it's amazing. The Patriot Act is applicable for foreign and domestic use. A quote from Benjamin Franlin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
1)SECTION 501 (Expatriation of Terrorists) expands the Bush administration's "enemy combatant" definition to all American citizens who "may" have violated any provision of Section 802 of the first Patriot Act. (Section 802 is the new definition of domestic terrorism, and the definition is "any action that endangers human life that is a violation of any Federal or State law.")
2)Harming fair trial rights for American citizens and other defendants by limiting defense attorneys from challenging the use of secret evidence in criminal cases. (Section 204)
3)Section 802 of the PATRIOT Act is specifically aimed at US citizens and announces any crime as "domestic terrorism". Citizens can be held without a trial as "Enemy Combatants". The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January 2003 that U.S. citizens can be stripped of their citizenship and held as enemy combatants.
Amendments 4-8
searches and seizures, habeas corpus, right to fair speedy trial
"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist."
Winston Churchill, Nov. 21, 1943
**Sect. 1042 of the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), "Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies," gives the executive the power to invoke martial law. For the first time in more than a century, the president is now authorized to use the military in response to "a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, a terrorist attack or any other condition in which the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to the extent that state officials cannot maintain public order."
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, rammed through Congress just before the 2006 midterm elections, allows for the indefinite imprisonment of anyone who donates money to a charity that turns up on a list of "terrorist" organizations, or who speaks out against the government's policies. The law calls for secret trials for citizens and noncitizens alike."
**NSPD-51 gives the President the right to become leader of all branches of government in case of a “Catastrophic Emergency.”
The directive defines a “Catastrophic Emergency” as the following.
"Catastrophic Emergency" means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions;
More Info
***There is too much info to compile here but you can visit Infowars.com for real news everyday and more info on the destruction of your rights.***
The paintings are very unique. He's definitely a talented brotha.
I hear you brotha. It is real out here. It is expensive to be hungry these days. Lawd knows it doesn't need to get any worse. Where I live there are folks cyphering gas right out of the gas tanks of parked cars. The gas is now $4.01 and some folks are buying mopeds and bus passes to save a few bucks.
Can Obama make our world a better place???
Dante's art is beautiful
It is the eve of my day off from work. Whew am I glad that I have time to think and respond to this post. :-)
First of all, good ear candy choice! I'm listening to it while I am thinking.
The art work is exquisite! Thanks for sharing the brother's work.
I will be looking out for his pieces in my hometown. Oh yeah, he could work it in the heart of the 0~State.
Now about the domestic war.
I have said for years that we need not be afraid of the terrorist who enter the country. The ones that are grown inbetween the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are quite scary all by theirselves.
What you forsee happening is not that alien in content from my view. I have seriously thought about organizing a raid on the supermarket to make sure that the folks in the village stay nourished. (That is all the detail you need to know about that! :-)
After seeing the faux response towards the victims of Katrina, I have taken heed to belief that it is time to be prepared for anything!
What really bothers me about the food thing is the fact that Americans waste so much food!
I know how much hits the dumpsters where I work. Our uneaten foodstuffs could feed so many.
You have sown some good seeds for thought on the subject of chaos, confusion and mayhem.
Dante is beyond talented, I don't know what to say except for while, he has a unique gift.
jay midnyte, you wrote:
"Very broad and is violated almost every day so I'll give you one resource. Cops Beat The Living Hell Out Of Peaceful Tibetan Protesters IN AMERICA"
As a resident of New York City and one who pays attention to how police handle protests, I can tell you a few things.
First, NY City bends over backwards to give protestors a forum for their ranting and raving. BUT, there are rules. Serious rules.
Any large group of protestors must alert the NY Police Department and receive a permit to protest. The cops provide traffic control and other services.
HOWEVER, if protestors violate basic city rules on protesting, problems can arise.
The Tibet protest you believe you saw on YouTube was part of something larger which occurred over several days in March. But, on the day the Tibetans marched to the UN they were escorted by cops and given room on the sidewalk to protest. The police stopped traffice on First Avenue in front of the UN to allow the protestors to rant and rave in the middle of the avenue.
But, the protestors deviated from the original protest plan. They stopped in the middle of First Avenue and laid down across the road. The cops gave them about 5 minutes and told them to get up and move to the sidewalk or face arrest. The protestors remained on the pavement and were arrested -- peacefully. No violence -- all recorded on another YouTube video.
The YouTube clip you supplied showed a separate group of people who were different in behavior and appearance from the legitimate protestors. There is no reason to think they had obtained permission to protest -- which in their case involved disruptive behavior.
Meanwhile, the video showed a couple of people on the ground after they had been whacked on their lower legs by police batons.
The lesson here is simple. Protests are held EVERY DAY in NY City. But protests are rarely permitted to intrude on the daily operations of the city -- in others, protestors do not get to block traffic as long as they want. They can rant and rave on sidewalks ALL DAY, as long as non-protestors are not overly inconvenienced.
Furthermore, antagonizing cops is foolish. If you knew anything about NY City protests, you would know that during protests cops make it possible for protestors to protest and for everyone else to go about their business.
Meanwhile, the UN is considered a potential target for terrorists. There is more security around the UN than in many other parts of town.
Also, keep in mind that FREE SPEECH is not tied to blocking traffic in front of the UN. No one has the right to block traffic as part of a protest, nevertheless, cops do permit protestors to inconvenience others for short periods. But protestors can shout their slogans till their voices give out if they stay off the streets.
As for your article about the confiscation of guns in New Orleans. Well, I think that story is as phony as the stories about murders in the Superdome. It didn't happen. But I've got the feeling you'll believe any story about the government.
By the way, I have relatives who live in New Orleans. They have guns, and no one from the government took them. And they never mentioned this story.
As far as your other statements go, they were quotes made by an Englishman and a long dead Founding Father. As true as their comments may be, freedom and liberty come with costs. But you give the impression that the rights of criminals to commit crimes are greater than the rights of people to live in peace.
jones u know we used to rock that in Jr high
jones u a fool for that trill ass ali quote
when you coming to the cut
and u battling
slappz not ready for u folk
and i still got your book (collected letters of Martin King Jr.) maybe a few more
just last 19 yrs
I meant to say how much I dig that artwork. I gotta get me some of that.
:::Marcus LANGFORD:::
terry, you wrote:
"And there were WMD's in Iraq, and the economy is just fine, and there is no genocide in Darfur, Michael Jackson is still a black man..."
The discussion was about the ACTUAL effects of the Patriot Act. Why did you respond with non-sequiturs?
The Patriot Act has no connection -- not actual, not conceptual, not moral -- to WMDs or fighting in Iraq, to genocide in Darfur, or Michael Jackson's psychological problems.
By the way, WHEN did you realize genocide was underway in Darfur?
Excellent artwork - very impressive passionate stuff.
I see much truth in what you say since I've had the same intuitions. It makes no sense to imagine that the top 1% of the population is going to maintain the fiscal health of the country as a whole. The really rich can move to Dubai or hire Blackwater to protect their assets while the rest of us deal in whatever way we can with scarcity the like of which has never been seen in this country.
In the 80's they called it 'trickle down' economics because they didn't dare call it 'gushing fountain' or 'waterfall' since even they knew that would be unbelievable. What it really was could be described as 'occasional drip' economics and even that's been sucked right up.
You have a delightfully rich and energetic site here. I'll come back.
T: I got a deadline to take care of US OPEN golf props for my partners but this one seems fun and as a DIRECT VICTIM OF THE PATRIOT ACT, I might have one or two things to add to the debate!
For now, a little homework for the PATRIOT ACT believer:
USA v KPGM
USA v Uvari, Martin, et al
You may have a different attitude if you research those, Slaparoo. The post "tragic events of 7/11" changes in Federalizing not only state criminal statutes but in turning civil and trade association disputes into custodial federal crimes in these two cases affected WEALTHY WHITE PEOPLE and challenge the sovreignty of a foreign nation, and the sovreignty of the Tonkawa Indian Nation.
T: The word in Spanish for twin is "Gemela".
Deep, shallow, however much or as little as you'd like on this stuff, gemela! If I know ANYTHING it's this subject.
Where do I live now? Where did I used to live?
T: Trust me on this, buddy. However bad you can imagine the PATRIOT ACTS are, they're worse. As you know, I'm not one for paranoia but this just
My story's nothing compared to shit I helped my attorneys defend (a derivatives problem in KPMG and a horse racing thing in Uvari). For me, he just said "please leave now and if I call your mom and I find you're still here in two weeks, I'm going to personally carry you to JFK and carry you to a seat on the first international flight I see!"
What happened in KPMG and Uvari is loco. And there are way worse.
Here's one of the better parts of PATRIOT2 which hasn't even been tested in the judicial process yet.
If you are discovered to be in possession of any material (book, cd, printed web page, jgp, t-shirt, sticker...) which EXPRESSES DISSATISFACTION WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that is sufficient ground for an indefinite tap of your phones, email, ims, skype, plus those of your wife, live in lover and your entire immediate family.
Moreover, not only are the feds ALLOWED TO LISTEN TO AND TRANSCRIBE CONVERSATIONS UNGERMANE TO THE SUBJECT'S POTENTIALLY TREASONOUS VIEW, THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HIGHLIGHTED AND KEPT IN A SECONDARY FILE BECAUSE KNOWING HOW THE SUBJECT THINKS ABOUT ORDINARY THINGS IS AN IMPORTANT TOOL...yada yada yada..."
So, yes Torrance, if your neighbor happens to tell DHS that you own a copy of JOHN STUART MILL'S "ON LIBERTY" and your son calls you after the game and says "dad, I did great, 11 strikeouts no walks, 7 innings 4 hits 1 run...I'll meet you at so-and-so ice cream parlor for root beer floats in a half hour..." THAT IS CRUCIAL INFORMATION IN THE WAR ON TERROR.
Dude, Dante is tight! And BTW, No_Slappz is going to turn you over to the FEDS...lol
Trust Me! ( LMBAO)
He's a great talent. And while I disagree with your Revelations-esque assessment of our future, I disagree more with no_slappz who seems unable to admit the validity of others' viewpoints and only intent on convincing himself that he's right.
I don't see how you can banter with someone like that. It seems way too much work to do in vain.
not quite 100...
I'll check out Dante's work. Hubby wants some abstract work in the new crib.
Heard there was a recommendation for folks to use mass transit to decrease their transportation costs, but here, our public trans system reported that will have to increase bus fare (no trains here) and reduce routes because they cannot afford the fuel costs. They were denied an increase in their budget. Budget was set when fuel costs were $2.80 a gallon. This morning I saw Diesel at $5.00 a gallon.
From where I live now, it would be difficult to get my child to school and to get to work using bus routes; 20-25 miles commute.
TONY O, DANTE:
There are a number of reasons not to worry about No_slappz turning you in to the Feds. (1) To rat on somebody you disagree with in a blog argument would a violation of proper moral code at a level so severe that I doubt he could live with himself having done it (2) Trouble with the Feds does not come ANNOUNCED by No_slappz. It takes you by surprise and it's devastating. (3) Having presented these views and then ratting would be an act of such utter stupidity I can't even imagine it. I'm 6000 miles away in a country which has no treaty with the United States, so that gives me a lot of freedom. The feds know me already. They don't like me very much. So, I voted with my feet. LOL!
No_slappz is many things. Stupid is not one of them.
He's got a tiny little problem with Black people. That's kind of weird and sad in a way. It isn't anything to get mad at. I also promise you that he hates me way more than he does you. You are merely people he fears and doesn't understand. He thinks of me as a race traitor. I suppose in a way I am. People thought that Michelle Obama had said the most outrageous thing in the world in the interview with Larry King. It did not strike me as strange at all. I had been hearing that from my parents for as long as I can remember. "This is OK for now...we'll see...our family have done a lot of moving around for a lot of reasons...these people are not what they seem...." Then the endless tape loop of Jeremiah Wright. I listened and listened and listened for "the thing" that was so bad and I never heard it. I heard again echoes of stuff my father would say, in a different language, but "God bless America? Bullshit! Fuck them..." I got to say the old man and Jeremiah Wright were right. In comes Bush and his Bible College Girl prosecutors overcharing and investigating bullshit and the next thing he knew, his only son was 6000 miles away from him. No_slappz would say look at all America gave your father. He should be grateful. Why did you leave the country if you didn't do anything wrong? Well, America gave my father nothing. He took it. And I had my reasons for leaving. Jeremiah Wright is no villain down here that's for sure. Folks here had to live under the boot of US rule until 1979, then again when Omar Torrijos was killed by CIA to put in Noriega. Then for a brief time when Noriega was pissed off a the CIA for having to take all the risk in middling the shit and getting a bad cut of the profits. Then, they got colonialism again with Endara and a constitution written by a Republican think tank, and then Clinton came in booted out the US military and the Panamanians re-wrote their consitituion their way. With national health, free university, no death penalty, no incarceration of juveniles with adults, almost no incarceration for non-violent crimes, complete bank and telecommunications privacy. So, it's not completely "God Damn America," but it's NEVER "God Bless America."
Everybody gets wound up stuff from time to time. What very few people do is go to a place looking for trouble, finding it and pushing it and pushng it and pushing it. I've had my arguments with people. They generally end with "Sorry" and a handshake.
That's not quite what he's about. He has a strange agenda I haven't quite sorted out. There are times when he makes quite a bit of sense and he is very knowledgable on a lot of subjects. The existence of Black people bothers him on some existential level that I am not gifted enough to understand.
This much irrational prejudice this late in life is some kind of disease. He does live in an extremely ethnically diverse city and I doubt there are too many White people who live in his hometown who don't have the numbers of at least 5 Black friends they call up to have a beer or bullshit about this and that or share business opportunities with or shoot pool or have a meal...you know that really bizarre kind of stuff LOL
That he doesn't have that kind of everyday experience of big city life is sad by standards of his hometown and absurd by the standards of my adopted country where the mix of people is so complete that I've come to find discussing differences to be a little unsettling because it's considered here in Panama not like a discourtesy but like a mental disorder sort of. You really can't go out in any sort of social setting and not have a mix of every kind of person from everywhere with every complexion.
I lived in America off and on for a long time. I was born there. I get it. But being in exile more or less, these blogs are my only connection to America and as time passes I lose my sense of what's happening up there and react to situations as a Panamanian.
My son calls himself half Panamanian. Unless McCain gets elected and delivers on his promise to conquer Isthmian and Andean South America, I'll be here a long while and my grandkids will be Panamanians or Colombians or Chileans or something Spanish-speaking and not American. They will have brown skin whether they have African or European features or a blend is anyone's guess.
I can't even believe that I'm taking this seriously. If I showed this thread to any friend here who was fluent in English he or she would be so confused they walk out of the room and put on some music or watch TV and just ignore it and talk to me about something else because it would too weird for them to get their minds around.
His persistence in trying to get every Black person furious is in fact so bizarre that he'd get fired from any job for it here. Or sent for a long course of psychotherapy to work these problems out. May he find peace.
LMAO Kelso!! I wonder if slappz knows about the CIA pushing drugs into the community during the Reagan era. I wonder if slappz knows about the innocent people labeled "enemy combatants" who won't receive a trial or an accusation while they can still function properly. I wonder if slappz knows Oil will be $150per barrel by Dec. and $200per barrel during 09...
I know exactly why RAW DAWG feels shit's bout 2 go down in these streets.... watch...
Just watch what you say raw dawg, when the DHS starts crackin down you might find yourself in a Halliburton operated American Detention Camp!
Love his work. congrats on the NBAF signings. And yeah, it's gettin hella bad, people robbing, stealing, killing over little or nothing. I like what Lovebaz said...trying times indeed.
JAY MIDNITE: Thanks for the compliment.
Yes, I think No_slappz is a very bright and learned guy and he's aware of all of that to a greater or lesser extent. There are parts of it he ignores to fit his ideology and parts he ignores because of his psychologial problem with African-Americans (I think Black is not the right word to use because I have no idea how he feels about Afro/Caribbean-Americans, or people with Black skin and African features all over the world who might, say, be Danish or Argentinian or Brazilian).
VERY, VERY GOOD POINT about Reagan (& Bush Sr's) CIA and the wholesale rock business. If you're interested in the subject and it's history, google this name: "Freeway" Ricky Ross.
I have to believe that there isn't a single word or number of truth except baseball scores in the mainstream media because the MSM back during Bush Sr was much better then than now and now that I live in Panama, I can't believe what lies were told about Noriega and what facts were left out.
Noriega was not Saddam Hussein. He was not even a dictator actually. He governed with roughly the same power that the Republican Party in the US has now. Noriega was installed as a US puppet and dope and money conduit from Colombia to the US. To install him, the CIA helped Noriega assasinate the elected president at the time, Omar Torrijos who was the father of today's president, Martin Torrijos, and founder of the PRD (Partido Revolucionario Democratico) which is a center-left pro-buisness party along the lines of those of all the European countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, all of South America and the ANC of South Africa.
Make no mistake about it, Martin Torrijos and his party are hugely popular here and have close connections to Obama and the Clintons. As governments go, you could have way worse. Taxes are low. The economy's growing. There's national health, free university, mellow criminal justice system, no death penalty, no custodial sentences for most non-violent crimes, etc. There are problems like everywhere else, but it works.
Noriega was harsher than the PRD of course, but he wasn't torturing and killing people. The same people doing biz with Martin T today did it with Noriega then. Once Noriega was brought to Miami for trial, a lot of his party's people joined all sorts of parties including the PRD. The country funcioned normally during Noriega's time. Way better now, of course.
The US invaded because Noriega felt that he was taking too much risk handling the coke and the money and risking too many of his men for too small a cut of the profits, because he was allowing a lot of flake into the US which was being mass-produced into rock with a tremendous added-value mark-up.
Let's say I was a total nobody small time crack dealer and was paying the max price then of $1000/z. I would have added an awful lot of bicarbonate of soda and as $10 pellets, I could quadruple my money. That's if I was super small time. So, he bitched and said he'd deal directly with the Mafia, La "M", the OGs of the Crips and Bloods, the Russians, the Aryans, the Gangster Disciples, etc. He could have done it because there werent that many primary rock manufacturers, albeit 1,000,000s of people involved on the street level.
The US said no. Noriega tried. And they brought charges against him, which I don't believe included murder or even drug-dealing. It was money-laundedering, tax-evasion, wire and mail fraud, conspiracy, and aiding and abetting. Only because Reagan and Bush didn't recognize the treaty signed by Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos did Bush grant himself the legal right to send in armed forces to bring him to trial. This was called "Operation Just Cause." And it was anything but. They left the neighborhood that the US forces took over to use as a staging area just as it was as a living organic memorial. The US had to kill 30,000 and make 100,000 homeless to bring Noriega up on very random white-collar charges.
Torrance and I part company here. I feel that Colin Powell is a monster because this was his "breakthrough" performance that put him in the position he was in to do the lying that helped get the US into Iraq. Torrance take a different view and I won't try to set it forth. I'm sure it's well-reasoned. I'm giving you my view. But I respect Torrace that much that on an issue I feel passionately about, I'll leave Torrance a little room to be right and me to be wrong. I think Torrance and I have had maybe 4 areas of disagreement across a number of disciplines and we split 2-2 when the results came in. But I find his reading of a lot of stuff to be pretty close to my own. If I had to post my brain to a bank to get a good rate on a loan, I'd trust Torrance to make my decisions and form my opinions!
That said. Powell is a villain to me. Bill Clinton as far as Panama is concerned is a hero because he affirmed the Carter-Torrijos treaty making Panama a fully sovereign nation with no use military presence no extradition treaty, like Switzerland but even more neutral. And as I said both Obama and HRC are quite close to the Torrijos loyalists in the PRD.
I agree with you about the crude oil. We did a tremendous amount of analysis on this at HELL and Carl Pryor and I found what they call a steep contango in the futures market, meaning oil prices are definitely headed up up up.
The probability function of the shit going down in the streets is shaped somewhat like the NYLS Crude Oil futures curve, but a little steeper even because it's not just oil that's going to cause the caos. I haven't run the numbers yet, but just reckoning, I'd say that if you had a spot price of $250/bbl for light sweet, inflation of 10%, growth of (minus-2%), unemployment at 8%, fairly strict rationing, and a large militarized police presence as a normal feature of American life, you would have a kind of street shit that would hardly be restricted to Watts and Newark. It would be in every town and city across the US without regard to anything ethnic or socio-economic. You'd have either a revolution, anarchy, or a slow-motion holocaust. Or at lesat the seeds of it with the horrors to come a few ticks of each index worse than my figures.
I don't think Torrance is worried about the DHS. If he's thinking the way I'm thinking, he's probably going to wait until he sees the contours of Obama or McCain's first budget and if he doesn't like what he sees in terms of the street shit scenario, he'll be looking to buy the equities and call option on a portfolio of companies related to paramilitary domestic security and privatized prisons and finance it by shorting high-end retail equities. At least that's how I'm thinking of attacking the problem from a betting standpoint and I know that Torrance and I are pretty similar when it comes to how we approach portfolio construction.
THAT said, this is a dangerous blog in many ways. What he has put together here and why I always come by and bore everybody is scary if the authorities were SUPER paranoid. I don't think they've reached that level of paranoia yet. I think a good indicator of that is that Obama is a 9/5 favorite to win the presidency, meaning you put up 9 you get 5+your original stake of 9 back. I think MORE significant than Obama's color to the authorities are the extremely rational views he has expressed with the press hitting him hard and he has not backed off to any significant extent.
But this is dangerous because the press and the Republicans and the Democratic right tend to underestimate the intelligence across a lot of disciplines of anyone who doesn't look or act like them. And they overestimate their own intelligence.
I've made it a blogging crusade to let everyone know that no matter what their level of education or status in society, subjects like economics and finance are EASY. They are shrouded in mumbo jumbo and jargon but anyone can learn it if they read the books and look up stuff they don't understand on the net or ask friends. Mostly, to think of econ, finance and math as languages of their own. Or codes. Or rules of a card game or board game or video game. If you can learn sign language for the deaf, and anyone can do that, you can learn economics, finance and enough algebra. And capital markets are a way more effective way to ask for social change in 2008 than carrying a sign is or anything violent. I'm not going to go any further on the connections of normal free capital markets and social protest because even though Panama has no extradition treaty, the internet does!
But I will return to this ridiculous "intelligence" thing. I'm going to prove to everyone who reads this blog that he or she is smarter and better informed than anyone who writes for the New York Times. It's kind of a parlour trick but it is true and it will only work on the kinds of blogs I like. The rightwing flag blogs and the knucklehead blogs and the commercial blogs aren't worth the time and I wouldn't be able to pull off the parlour trick.
Here we go. Go to the New York Times on line and read an article about a subject you know really well whether it's related to your job or hobby or whatever. You just have to know the subject well. Now read the article and count the number of errors, falsehoods, and lies. Then, think of all the things you think would have made that article better based on your knowledge. Of course, it has to be reasonable. You can't use wild conspiracy theories as facts. Like the Masons, the Jews and the ghost of Frederick Douglass are plotting to take over the steel industry, that kind of shit. No. I mean movies, music, books, sports, insurance, computers, archery, needlepoint, asian cooking...normal things.
When you add up the errors of commission and omission you will be amazed. And notice I've said nothing about bias. Bias like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Just facts.
Now, let's say you're into stamp collecting and you've done what I've suggested and made a count of 15 errors. Ask yourself this: "if they don't know shit about stamp-collecting which I know about, why should I accept that they know anything about international affairs?"
There you have my friday morning secular breakfast sermon.
Damn Kelso you givin me the business!
I feel like the whole democrat republican scheme is such a obvious way too divide and conquer. Both sides are run by the same corporations and interests... that tells me enough. Money talks, bullshit walks. There's alot of smart people like you said that are ignoring what they know to be true to fit their parties agenda.
And your point on PATRIOT ACT 2 lmao at the shit they got in that bitch... Straight outta some fascist regime's manual.
I also feel like if we knew our history as well as we claim (not what they teach us in school out of bullshit ass textbooks) we wouldn't fall into these obvious traps they are laying ahead of us.
your point on economics: inflation must be at 10% or more when you include FOOD & ENERGY, which the gov leaves out. Unemployment is already approaching record levels... especially for teens like me out of high school who haven't entered the work force.
But i feel that the state of Americans is so sad that I'm even wondering if $7 gas and $5 milk could wake us up...
JAY: For real you're just out of high school? So, which college are you going to: Harvard, Stanford, Princton, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Salamanca or The Sorbonne?
I ahd assumed you were at least a college graduate and were reasonably senior in your profession! Fuck.
Trust me, buddy, I'm 46 I got all the academic bona fides you could want. I've lived all over the world. I've founded two off-shore hedge funds. I've run a calculus-based sports-betting crew in Las Vegas and I've presented and debated at the World Bank telling their Emerging Markets currency guy that he was full of shit and he had no analysis or rigor. Down here, I do the sports betting with one of the guys from the old crew. I do the math. He moves the money. And I have a plurality position in a techno and rave night-club franchise company.
So, I'm not gassing you. I've done it all and am thinking of starting to slow down. YOU HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE. I'd buy stock in you without blinking. Whatever you've been doing, keep doing it that way because it's obviously working. You're a fuckin mature kid. You seem to have a healthy ego. You trust your opinions which is something that can't be taught. I hope your folks are proud of you because they should be.
You raise a good point about the textbooks. For math, science, finance, econ, and even the social sciences they're not bad. The history is a joke. Do what's necessary to do well but go way further and deeper and check out a lot of source material to approximate the truth.
I'll give you two examples of pure unadulterated bullshit they teach kids in America. (1) THE PILGRIMS LEFT ENGLAND TO ESCAPE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. Horseshit. In England, that sect of Hyped-Calvinism were way more extreme than today's White Southern Baptists. Wife-beating and corporal punishment often to the point of death was part of their religious practice. They hated the "liberalism" of the Church Of England and the Crown Magistrates took a very dim view of the Patriarchical violence that was part of the official practice. They got to America about three days before being rounded up, set in the dock and sent away for a long, long time. But, again, don't believe ME. Do your own research. Google "Cotton Mather". And anything and everything your can find on the witch trials of Salem. You'll get a sense of what the Pilgrims are about and they were not nice people. I could go on about this subject but I won't because it drives me crazy. Especially because I'm an atheist/humanist Jew.
(2) THE AMERICAN "REVOLUTION". It is a mis-nomer. Look the word up in a proper dictionary like the OED or the American Heritage. You'll see that revolution has a specific meaning: the replacement of one ruling class by another lower down the social order by violent means. The FRENCH REVOLUTION was a "revolution." The monarchy/aristocracy was toppled by the merchant class leading the poor.
The American Revolution was a protest over tax policy that got violent. The same people who owned the property before the war of independence owned it afterwards. That's not to say that the result was a bad thing. Hardly. It was a great thing because by some lucky historical accident 30 or so of the finest legal minds in the history of mankind were placed together in Philadelphia to write the U.S. constitution. Now, at least they're telling you some of the truth about slavery still going on throughout. I'm not an African-American so I'm not sure how exactly an African-American is supposed to make those two pieces fit efficiently in his or her mind and still want to be an American. I guess to appreciate the flexibility of the consttution and to check for your wallet when anyone says they're for "original intent." It sure is weird to have such a tremendous document of self-governance as the constituion with slavery legal!
The there's Black American history and Jewish-American history which are taught so badly that they make the above examples seem accurate by comparison. I really don't know where to begin because I had to do so much reading on my own to get the straight stories on both. It's even horrible the way they teach Malcolm X and Dr. King. They get some of the highlights right but American history textbooks fail to capture the complexity and sophistication of thought of both men. So, how are they going to get Nat Turner, John Brown and Frederick Douglass right? Or the Civil War and it's antecdents which also had to do NOT with freeing slaves but with agricultural tax policy.
And I'm not going to start on how much of my own outside reading I had to do to erase the bullshit they taught me about Jewish people in America. It's a complex story and they turn it into fucking Fiddler On The Roof! When you check out my blog you'll see our team is a complete mix but I've raised hell about this minstrel folkloric dancing that McCain and Hagee make these old Jews do for White Christian entertainment and the Jews go along with it because Hagee's organization gives the right-wing government of Israel money. That shit really scalds my nuts. And my whole team understood immediately and has taken up the protest.
You make another good point about how "official" inflation is reckoned. I can't add anything to what you wrote. It's all to artificially support the dollar because Bush's fiscal and monetary policies are so fucked.
You pushed a button here, buddy. I cannot stand the way American children are educated. Full stop.
I don't think in the current state of the US government and media $7 gas would wake anybody up. It would piss them off but not wake them up. Gas is already at record highs and the second that Obama says that there's a linkage between the high prices at the pump and the war in Iraq the mike goes dead and the writers and talking heads start going on about Michelle Obama's patriotism.
But it's great that you are vigilant and questioning everything.
I seem like a fairly smart and responsible guy, right? Educated, productive member of society, sensible world view, yeah? My attorney told me that I had to leave the country because of a stupid GAMBLING LAW that Bill Frist snuck into the Port Appropriations a few years ago.
He said that those fundamentalist white christian AUSA ladies that Gonzales put in could seize all the money I put in trust for my son and send me to prison for 6 months or more and the best my attorney said he could do was to get me sent to a prison where Id be bored instead of raped.
My conclusion about all of this is don't be paranoid that Bill and Hillary Clinton did some unforgivable sin to Obama. In the end they'll be the best friends he's got. Be afraid of this: NO MATTER WHOM YOU VOTE FOR, THE GOVERNMENT ALWAYS WINS.
kelso,
It hadn't reached me until now that perhaps you do suffer from a mild form of conspiracy theorism.
Jay Midnyte is long gone with that fever. His posts boil down to claims that some secret cabal controls everything -- even oil prices. But he suffers from the usual dementia of conspiracy theorists who always forget that crmes depend on means, motive and opportunity, none of which he's able to provide.
Your recent comments suggest a little of the same problem has seeped into your thinking.
You wrote:
"When you add up the errors of commission and omission you will be amazed. And notice I've said nothing about bias. Bias like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Just facts...Now, let's say you're into stamp collecting and you've done what I've suggested and made a count of 15 errors. Ask yourself this: "if they don't know shit about stamp-collecting which I know about, why should I accept that they know anything about international affairs?""
There's a hundred places to start into deconstructing the relative silliness of the preceding, but I'll begin by saying that your comments suggest you believe the world turns on the jabbering nonsense spewed by journalists.
Here's something you and I both know to be true: each person interprets the world on his own terms.
Intelligent or idiotic, informed or ignorant, the interpretation occurs. Hence, it is nearly impossible to escape from Dumbocracy -- for those who live in the US and several other nations free from dictators.
You've said many times that you look for suckers who've misinterpreted the components of a pending event. That misinterpretation allows you to establish an edge that will put money in your pocket. However, expert as you believe yourself to be, sometimes you lose. There are times when you fail to predict the actual outcome of an event, and I suppose there are times when you've misjudged the odds.
In other words, the first mistake is overestimating one's own expertise.
Second, like Jay Midnyte, there are those who suffer from a near fatal case of credulity. Jay will believe any story that identifies white leaders as participants in broad criminal conspiracies. He probably believes the stories that claim members of the Bush administration were behind 9/11.
Jay is one of those hapless types who believes he's discovered TRUTH when a demagogue takes Jay's thoughts and gives them form and extends those thoughts to their tortured limits.
He seems to believe that "history" as it's taught "from bullshit ass textbooks" is propaganda. He states his claim as though he's seen the light.
He says:
"...if we knew our history as well as we claim (not what they teach us in school out of bullshit ass textbooks) we wouldn't fall into these obvious traps they are laying ahead of us."
THEY? THEY? Hilarious. To relieve himself of his confusion and inability to make sense of the world, he creates his own Deus Ex Machina for every aspect of life. The omnipotent "They". If "They" are up to their usual tricks, he can rationalize his place in the world.
Without "They" in the picture, he'd have to look inward -- honestly -- to make sense of life, his life.
The subject of fear popped up in earlier posts. Fear. Posters claimed fear of one thing or another was rising. Fear of food shortages was one big worry.
Of course the fear boiled down to fear of one's fellow man -- fear of physical violence at the hands of neighbors. In other words, the posters maintain low expectations for civilized behavior among their fellow townspeople.
These expressions of fear -- mostly fears of shortages, hence, high prices -- have risen even though NOTHING is in short supply.
But the hobgoblins have crept into their minds.
Here's the kicker: Nobody is immune.
I was on a plane yesterday, flying across the country, and I whipped through a book on Ecology. The old word for Environmentalism. It's always instructive to remind yourself there is nothing new under the Sun. The book was written by a husband & wife team of Ph.Ds from the State University of New York and published in 1967 -- 41 years ago.
The two of them had great credentials for people who blabber about the environment, nature, and the path to destruction they claimed we were on. Their goal was obviously to sell books by spreading fear -- but not in wholesale SKY IS FALLING terms. Fear delivered with some finesse and with the proviso that if we act "sensibly" and soon, it would be possible to avert the disaster and worldwide calamity that was surely on the way.
Only one chapter saved the book from worthlessness -- the chapter on the Good News of Technology and Science. But, unlike today, when dreamers yammer about Solar Power, the two fear-mongers hoped that scientists and engineers would do a little more of what they were doing to make EXISTING technologies less harmful.
Well, what a shock! That's exactly what happened in the 1960s and 70s. We switched from Leaded Gas to Unleaded Gas and we mandated the addition of pollution control devices to every car -- among a number of initiatives.
The two thinkers also predicted we would see the removal of many river dams because nuclear power was expected to generate enough electricity to put the hydropower sites out of business. They were especially hopeful for this development because they felt that too many fish were inconvenienced by dams and the generation of electricity.
In the 1950s, 60s and 70s publishers rediscovered Thomas Malthus and published many books by respected nitwits who proclaimed the Earth would soon fail to yield enough food to support all Earth's living things. In the 1950s, the world population went from 2.5 billion to 3 billion. Now we are at 6.5 billion and projecting 9 billion by 2050.
Then there are the animals. Like deer. Millions of them. Giant rats. Multiplying like mad. Their populations boomerang as soon as humans stop eating them. Then they walk onto highways and cause fatal car accidents.
Maybe it all comes back to fear -- fear to look inward and understand the irrationality of many fears and the fact that some fears result from an unwillingness to recognize our own role in things.
Jay Midnyte sees himself as a victim, subjected to the malevolence of the secret cabal that runs the show according to him -- and maybe you. At least, it seems you like to feed his fears by suggesting you agree.
Your boy Dante has some serious skills... just stunning. There's a war going outside... Funny, I've been thinking about stockpiling, growing crops & generally getting the hell away from people with my fam and be as self-sustaining as possible.
It's getting so crazy nowadays. Might be time to just live in the present.
No_slappz:
Well written response, as always. I've always written that I respect your catholicity of knowledge and the ease and skill with which you argue your points and make your rebuttals. Even when I disagree with what you write and when I am saddened by some of your obsessions, I admire the way you use your mind. I think you are an excellent writer and thinker and have always defended you in that regard.
I like that you contribute to blogs, you are definitely a formidable polemicist, but I don't have to like your opinions or your way of being (I wanted to write "tu forma de ser" which is good Spanish but awkward English!).
Leave Jay out of this for a moment. He's a young guy who's finding his way and you as a an older adult have at least some responsibility to encourage him to think and keep an open mind, not to belittle or insult him. But I'll come back to him.
I am most definitely not a conspiracy theorist. I think it's very difficult to get 5 people to agree on what to serve at a dinner party, let alone to conspire to commit a crime. That millions of people conspire to defraud the public or to oppress other groups is absurd.
You are absolutely right to focus on my vague use of the word "they". It does connote my belief in a sinister cabal and I don't believe sinister cabals of large size exist. Institutions, however, of all sizes do very much exist and a "groupthink" or a cultural mythology is a very heavy favorite to obtain.
With regard to the mainstream media and my NYT example, what I am referring to is the laziness of the reportage and opinion combined with the "groupthink" effect which is related to a reporter, feature writer or opinion maker's career prospects. For all, it is safer to fail conventionally, that succeed unconventionally in a risk/reward, mean/variance sense.
Thus, I take no risk by listening to what the others are saying among the politicians, the fellow writers, the publicists and public, try to gauge the meme or the gestalt or the direction of the narrative and go with that, then do a lot of research taking up a lot of my time, knowing that I'm risking something by presenting an alternative view if my exhaustive research strongly suggests some alternative hypothesis is more likely to be true. If my alternative hypothesis gains no cultural currency, then I could be "correct" yet still FIRED.
With regard to textbooks and the educational systems in the USA, public and private, there's less risk of losing one's job, but there's a lot more laziness. Teaching, quite frankly, is a pain the ass. A lot of work and frustration for very little pay or accolades.
I never wrote that I thought there was a media or educational conspiracy to victimize Jay!
You are a scholarly guy and you've proven my point with your refutation of Malthus. You did your own research and discovered that it was bullshit. You present it post-hoc here, but I know that you are bright and inquisitive enough to have questioned it when you first heard it as a younger man.
Anybody who has read my writing for a while knows that I am hardly sold on this ecological and environmental panic. There are so many holes in the writings of Al Gore, for example, that it's like Swiss cheese. I am a "peak oil" skeptic too. Finally, everything I've learned about industry, science, econimics and human advancement tells me that a 21st century nation-state which produces NO airborne toxins is a nation-state whose environmental policies are far to rigid to allow that nation-state to keep pace economically. The debate should be about where the inflection point in amounts of toxicity permitting economic growth and scientific advancement versus the health risk to the populace and eco-system. I'm not an ideologue.
I agree with you on this point, too. And you are 100% right about the need to cull the deer population: until medical science and bio-tech can come up with easy cures or treatments to the insect-borne diseases an explosive growth in the deer population is not a good thing. I agree with you about the car accident factor. I'll also add that deer hunting is a very enjoyable hobby for a lot of people, along with the curing and preparation of venison, which has much less fat than beef. It's not something I do, but I know enough people in PA, OH, upstate NY, WVA and KY who are heavily into it and have explained why.
So, please don't make me into a "liberal straw man," because I'm not. I think for myself. And you know that because you wouldn't take the care to respond to me the way you did or to remember what I've writeen if you didn't respect my reasoning even if you disagree with me.
I feel the same way about you, but it bothers me that you seem to use your formidable polemical skills on ONLY three kinds of blogs: ones that lean left, ones that lean feminist, and obviously ones at which a lot of African-American writers congregate. I highly doubt you are slicing and dicing up the words of writers and commenters at Right-Wing or reflexively Pro-American, or Pro-White sites.
I'm not saying that I'm 100% objective and you know that. I have my own feelings and predilections based upon my family, the evironment in which I grew up, my mentors, my colleagues and so forth. I don't have BIASES. I have TENDENCIES and PREFERENCES. Just like you do.
I cannot abide racism or bigotry of any kind, and to be sure that includes Black-Anti Semitism. But,buddy, have you experienced ANY of that on RDB? I sure haven't. For example, if anyone here gave me bullshit from THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION or THE FINAL CALL, I'd be in their face at the drop of a hat. I'm not implying that you are doing this (I am advising you not to try it) but the again the "knee-jerk liberal" or "White guilt" bullshit doesn't play because that's not what I'm about. And that's CRYSTAL CLEAR to everyone who reads me on RDB.
This is a perfect segue to return to Jay and this question of ideologues and fear.
I only know Jay from here. I don't know anything about his backgroud, where he's from, his family, his schooling, his friends, his hobbies, or even what he looks like. I was shocked to find out his age because he writes like a more mature person than his years. His retention of detail in his argument would suggest a person more experienced and sophisicated than a teenager would be. I was once a teenager. I know.
So, given that I was wrong about his age, how can I assume what his biases and fears are? There are some subjects with which I'm very familiar. The wholesale rock business is one of them. I know a lot about it, history, production, science, politics, economics and finance. He wrote something about Casey's CIA that jibes with what people who haven't the faintest idea who Bill Casey was have told me. So, I responded positively when he wrote something that suggested he was on the right track.
Too bad for you that it struck you as fear of conspiracy or somehow a plot to destroy Black America. Or offended your politics or your heroes or the color of your skin. I happen to know the subject a lot better than you do.
You interpret Jay's words differently than I do. And you are using a rather insulting racist code as well. What evidence do you have that he sees himself as a "victim"? But that word has been used as an eraser to get rid of African-Americans' opinions and complaints about the USA when those opinions make Whites uncomfortable.
It's just my OPINION but from how I interpret Jay's writing and stylistics, he appears to consider himself anything BUT a victim. He's got self-confidence and a sense of humor, an intellectual cursiosity, and a bit of swagger and game to him. I didn't see any whining or complaining about "the white man this" or "the white man that." Hardly. I've moved money my whole life, No_slappz, I'm pretty comfortable on my reads on people as they would apply to the gambling or finance worlds.
If he were interested for example I'd take him on as a Bridge, Spades, Bid-whist, Dirty Hearts or partnership Hollywood Gin partner to play in big-stakes private games. To me, I see an open-minded kid with natural confidence and controlled aggression and presence which are qualities that can't be taught.
But that's how we're different. I see in him a way to maybe make a few dollars because he already seems to have the tools of a winning player and if I taught him the rules of the games and some simple math we could take off some scores, exactly for the reasons why what he writes bugs you so much...you see an obnoxious paranoid Black kid being brainwashed!
And that's exactly what the White Christians I would target to hustle would think as well. Just that reflexive bigotry alone I reckon is worth to me an extra 5c-on-the-dollar off the top, regardless of how well or poorly we play the hands.
I'm a capitalist. You may be one as well but you have a socio-political axe to grind here and I don't.
Feed his fears? Are you out of your fucking mind? I see a pretty fearless kid from what I read of his comments.
Kelso - thanks. I wasn't really a "good student", I didn't graduate high school because of my attendance and lack of interest. I'm in college though.
No_slappz - this phrase "conspiracy theorism" is always used to attack somebody who challenges the status quo or the conventional ways of thinking and reasoning... I don't associate with left or right wing politics because I don't want my thinking to be shaped by a group of people especially because that leads to laziness and discourages independent thinking.
Me being a "victim" would assume I've given up and will accept whatever fits "their" desires. That's the exact opposite of my character!
That assumption told me a lot about you. The "victim" attack usually comes up when people sympathize with the poor, disenfranchised, or the dealers on the corner who feel like nobody cares or there is no way out. You probably think there's absolutely no reason for anybody to be hopeless. That it's so easy to just "stay in school, go to college, and get a good job."
But I understand where you're coming from... Because I know "the victim mentality" does keep lots of people from doing anything in life because they've already accepted failure.
I'm more on the side of helping and understanding, instead of constantly criticizing those people that already feel down and out. So you can probably guess how I feel about Al Sharpton, O'Reilly, Cosby, C. Delores Tucker? Maybe it's because I grew up around those people that constantly feel like nobody cares...
But anyway, I wanna know how you feel about the surge in commodities and oil prices... Do you believe that has nothing to do with supply and demand, the value of the dollar, and the Fed???
Torrance: I think the polemic part of this thread was very instructive in a lot of ways and I'm going to feature it on my gaff.
My teammates love to get into on the well-known right-wing sites like BLOGSFORVICTORY and TOWNHALL, and I've done it too but it's a cheap thrill because those people are too easy to figure out and just break in half.
No_slappz, however, is a guy who shares some of B4V and TH's views and a great deal of their focus on IDENTITY, but can think and write. I don't know if my teammates are familiar with him.
I'd suggest everybody stop by for a visit because we have an eclectic group of thinkers and writers, every one of whom knows their shit backwards and forwards. Carl Pryor over there is as much of a finance gear-head as Torrance and me. LOVEBABZ has been by a lot and has enjoyed it. TORRANCE as well.
I'm not in the salesmanship business but we have a very strange relationship with our readers. We have tremendous traffic (Halliburton execs LOVE us even though we hate them! I think it's because they want bond opinions from Carl and me or maybe my golf selections each weekend1!) but we get almost no comments because people are afraid for some reason.
Maybe they think they can't measure up on scholarship and are embarrassed or think we're mean and will hurt their feelings if they comment. LOVEBABZ will attest that we are very, very kind to our commenters.
The boss isn't that worried about it because of all of the high-level traffic from people of great accomplishment tells him that we're on the right track towards selling the ideas of peace, social justice, capitalism, sports, sex, fun, a good laugh, a good story.
No_slappz has not left a comment there. But I assume he knows we tend to take a left-libertarian approach and we have no shortage of women, african-americans, gay men and women of all stripe, a few crazed-up Fundie moralists and while we love comments and disagreement, we deal with disrespect very harshly and I'm kind of the softy in that department and Im pretty fierce on disrepect.
RDB and HELL seem like a good fit because RDB is an intellectually fearless blog. And the level of discoure is high.
Enjoy.
http://thedisbrimstone-dailypitchfork.blogspot.com/
DANTE; You are a talented guy and I'm sorry that I've given you short shrift.
I'll make a really lame excuse: I'm synesthetic in color and shape, so while I'm a lover of the fine arts, it's very draining and overwheming for me to look at art, concentrate and think about it for long stretches of time. The colors just kind of overwhelm me.
I have to do museums and galleries in half-hour chunks.
My father has this, too, but way worse with music. He's a writer and two minutes of classical, jazz or rock overwhelm his ability to work.
A capella folk music and really old blues he can handle. And NWA, Ice Cube, Paris, and Spearhead were a godsend to him because of the emphasis on the story and the poetry of the language and not on the beats. He likes the less-produced earlier Pogues as well.
My dad and I both like the painting of Francis Bacon quite a bit but we get pretty taxed mentally by looking for more than 10 minutes.
JAY: My pleasure. You make my job too easy with stuff like your last paragraph.
SLAPPZIE: I watched a CNN special report on "the economy," with "a panel of experts," and not one of them mentioned the very basic, water's wet kind of macroeconomic and finacial topics that Jay brings up vis-a-vis gas prices. It was as if they had no conception of what spot and future commodity markets were, nor speculation, nor supply and demand clearing or not clearing, and do you think any of them mentioned monetary policy once?
All of this hand-wringing and "John McCain's plans to help YOUR POCKETBOOK..." I got a headache from it.
When I was Jay's age, I loaded up on Spanish and Lit classess because I was fluent in Spanish by the time I was 8 having grown up in a Puerto Rican neighborhood and having two writers for parents. That way, I could do the barest minimum of work get the grades and just do drugs and chase girls.
Give him some credit, man. He's way more mature than I was at his age. I hate O'Reilly and Tucker and Sowell and Connerly and all the people who preach at African-American kids to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and not complain about being discriminated against. Even though Jay doesn't like them either, isn't he DOING exactly what you and the preachers want him to do?
JAY: I'm so much not a conspiracy theorist that I don't even blame my legal problems on a MASTER REPUBLICAN PLAN. It's the result of pure politics. There had been a competition between the intersts of TomDeLay (House Majority Leader) and the Indian Tribes plus off-shore interests versus Bill Frist (Senate Majority Leader) and American casino interests, most notably Harrah's Gaming. Frist won.
jay midnyte, you suffer from "conspiracy theorism" because you mentioned one of the conspiracy theories in which you believe -- the dopey story about the US government supply crack to blacks during the Reagan administration.
Since you acknowledged your belief in conspiracy theories, what else is their to say on this issue.
Meanwhile, those who accept conspiracy theories simultaneously reveal their role as victims.
You claim that you believe in helping. But if you believe you are helping by leading people to battle conspiracies you believe in, you are not helping.
As for the price of oil -- supply and demand. Roughly 86 million barrels of oil are produced each day. But demand is rising -- due to rising prosperity in China and India, due to an increasing world population. It's very simple.
The next bottleneck is refining. Again, no surprises. There are many requirements for producing gasoline that is customized for every region of the country. Every condition causes a little crimp in the ability of refiners to supply product.
We're always on the edge. Then, whether you care to believe it or not, there is very little profit in running a corner gas station. The profit margin is so low that Exxon is getting out of the business and selling ALL its gas stations.
The only defense against higher gasoline prices is to drill, drill, drill for more oil in the US and to build a few more refineries.
There are at least 100 billion barrels of oil in KNOWN US reserves that are currently off-limits to US drillers.
Will oil prices go higher? I won't be at all surprised if they do. But it's also possible for oil prices to drop. Twice in the 1990s oil sold for $10 a barrel.
Cmon SLAPPZ you said "We're always on the edge. Then, whether you care to believe it or not, there is very little profit in running a corner gas station. The profit margin is so low that Exxon is getting out of the business and selling ALL its gas stations."
You think I don't know this? A corner gas station is basically a brand builder... Put our logo here and you own the franchise.
So how do you feel about this CNN headline?
Oil giant makes corporate history by booking $11.7 billion in quarterly profit; earns $1,300 a second in 2007.
Were you trying to tell me that the oil companies profits are strained because of $135 per barrel prices??? Because this fact proves that wrong.
You should've said - "The profit margin **IN FRANCHISING** is so low that Exxon is getting out of the business and selling ALL its gas stations."
You said - "There are at least 100 billion barrels of oil in KNOWN US reserves that are currently off-limits to US drillers."
You and I both know environmental protection will not allow any of this to be drilled, and why would Exxon care??? They're making more money than they've ever made in their history!
kelso,
With respect to the sites where I post comments, there have been many.
Here's a conclusion I reached. After spending some time engaging people on a number of white supremacist websites, it's clear to me that many of them have identifiable mental illnesses. Timothy McVeigh, to pick an easy white supremacist example, was probably a schizophrenic.
My experience with nuts is extensive enough for me to know that the mental illness explains everything. In other words, there is little point in a discussion with someone whose rational mind is malfunctioning.
On the other hand, there are many issues of culture that pervert and skew behavior and beliefs.
Silly and idiotic beliefs of many kinds arise, but they don't achieve the status of conspiracy theories. Feminists are good for quite a few.
One of my favorites is the endlessly repeated indictment of men that claims men have been telling women they can't do math for so long that women believed it.
The claim has always been bogus, but it does offer a good cover-up.
However, the claim does have a touch of legitimacy. The idea came from somewhere, from some authority figure. If anyone told girls they couldn't do math, that person was mom.
Then there is the general level of hostility among many women that is easy to spot. As H.L. Mencken said, "the only people women hate more than men, are other women."
Especially if they're younger. The sisterhood seems to be a fragile thing. Meanwhile, it is standard fare for women to laugh at the foibles and follies of men. Why not? Men do it too. Probably a majority of TV situation comedies present men as generally incompetent boobs who are saved from disaster by the far wiser females in their lives, often wives. Occasionally there is a wise father, but not too often.
If the men are not hapless dopes, they are wounded in other ways and usually in need of a female saviour. Do men object to these portrayals? No. Not in the least. Any press is good press, I suppose.
On the other hand, ridiculing women for almost any reason seems to send Feminists into a tizzy.
Equal pay? Yeah. I won't rest until male models are paid as much as female models. Meanwhile, there is no female Warren Buffett. No female Bill Gates either. Female inventors?
I guess they can't take it. Yet the acidic comments from women about male leaders is endless. Meanwhile, it seemed as though millions of women wanted to award Lorena Bobbitt the Feminist Medal of Honor for her knife-work.
Would any man have received similar levels of public support for slicing off part of his wife's anatomy? No.
Scott Petersen went further than slicing off parts. He killed his wife and cut her into pieces. The amused jury convicted him and sent him to jail for life.
Of course, on the other side of that coin is OJ Simpson. It's one thing for a jury of morons to acquit him. It's something far more serious when millions of his supporters pretend he did not kill his ex-wife and Ron Goldman.
It is much more disturbing that OJ's supporters claim his arrest and prosecution were built on a conspiracy to frame him.
There is the Mumia case that also shows the appeal of conspiracy theories to blacks. Conspiracy theories are often repeated when explaining why blacks are so often arrested and prosecuted for violent crimes, a favorite topic of black demagogues and patronizing whites.
Of course similar nuttiness exists among whites. But it gets no respect. Similar nonsense among moronic whites gets what it deserves -- total rejection by the sane people.
Obama spends 20 years listening to an anti-American, anti-white racist before he realizes his minister's true colors. His wife too. Their children have known nothing else. Michelle Obama publicly expressed her belief she had never flet pride in her country until about six months ago.
Talk about audacity. It's that statement that makes a compelling case that millions of blacks live in an alternate reality.
A person who grew up in public housing, never knowing a father, having a troubled mother, and deprived in many ways, might have made Michelle's claim without stunning listeners.
But a woman whose life was blessed by good fortune granted her by the generous country in which she was born is the LAST person cannot say what she said without either lying or believing herself to be part of the alternate reality.
Her statement was outrageous. But she meant it. Moreover, she made essentially the same statement in her Senior Thesis at Princeton -- which I read. Furthermore, I'd like to know her SAT and LSAT scores.
We know Bill Bradley scored a whopping 486 on his English SAT, and he went to Princeton before he became a Rhodes Scholar. We have some estimates on the SAT scores of John Kerry and George Bush -- about average -- and they were the last of the patrician crowd to slip into Yale. We have some estimates on their Officer Candidate Test results, which again, were judged to be about average.
Anyway, there are aspects and elements of black experience that have always interested me. From personal observation and from quizzing black parents, it's obvious that black parents believe hitting their children is an effective form of discipline. The topic of hitting children has been discussed on black radio talk shows.
Hitting gets widespread approval from the talk-show hosts and the callers. Yet none of the supporters wonder if there is a connection between parents hitting children and those children growing into people who hit others or commit violent acts.
Meanwhile, there seems to be a general acceptance of violence in black culture. Music says a lot. A Much rap and hip-hop glorify guns, sociopathic behavior, abuse of women and gross stupidity.
Yeah, I know the biggest buyers of rap are white kids. So what. That means nothing. With the exception of Vanilla Ice and Eminem, all the performers are black or hispanic and their criminal activities are real.
Historically, singers and musicians have died in plane crashes: from Glenn Miller to Patsy Cline, to John Denver. White performers are rarely murdered. Maybe Chet Baker. But black performers are regularly shot. Of course black shooting victims who are too old to be characterized as "honor students" are now often described as "aspiring rappers".
By the way, about 10 years ago there was a black radio show on WLIB AM (Percy Sutton's station) in NY that featured a segment titled 10 White Boys I'd Like to Strangle.
After Katrina hit New Orleans there were a number of black talk-shows that fed into the conspiracy that government employees at various levels blew holes in the levees with explosives, deliberately attempting to wash away the Lower Ninth Ward. Several of the speakers I heard presented themselves as ministers who urged this conspiracy story on listeners. I believe the claim was given some added support by Louis Farrakhan.
jay midnyte, you wrote:
"A corner gas station is basically a brand builder... Put our logo here and you own the franchise."
Gasoline is a commodity. There is no difference between the products. But a corner gas station offers the option of selling other products. The "other products" were traditionally repair services. But cars have gotten so much better that the repair business has changed. A lot of gas stations became convenience stores. As local economies grew around the gas stations, the land became worth more, and now Exxon is unloading land at healthy prices. It's just a business decision. In ten years owning corner gas stations may once again appeal to the major oil companies. No one knows.
You asked:
So how do you feel about this CNN headline? Oil giant makes corporate history by booking $11.7 billion in quarterly profit; earns $1,300 a second in 2007."
Exxon earns profit margin of about 10%. That's nothing special in the business world. Microsoft earns a profit margin of about 22%-23%. Better to be Microsoft than Exxon.
You're focused on the wrong numbers.
Last year Exxon recorded revenue of $404 billion. Out of $404 billion, Exxon paid $106 billion in taxes around the world. It paid $30 billion in income taxes in the US.
You asked:
"Were you trying to tell me that the oil companies profits are strained because of $135 per barrel prices???"
No.
The oil business operates in three major segments: Exploration & Production; Gathering & Transmission; and Refining & Marketing.
The Refining & Marketing segment may break into its components. Exxon is probably leading the way by selling its gas station -- Marketing -- properties. Others may follow.
These days most of the profit lies in Exploration & Production; Gathering and Transmission; and Refining.
You said - "There are at least 100 billion barrels of oil in KNOWN US reserves that are currently off-limits to US drillers."
You and I both know environmental protection will not allow any of this to be drilled, and why would Exxon care??? They're making more money than they've ever made in their history!
You should know that laws that stop drilling in the Artic National Wilflife Refuge and off both US coasts are just laws that can be repealed. They are not laws of nature like Force = Mass x Acceleration.
You should also have the sense to realize that Exxon is only ONE company. Thus, its oil production does not swing prices. You should also know that Exxon does not OWN all the oil it pumps. Exxon gets a cut, but the oil in the middle east is owned by the kingdoms and US oil companies get what the oil potentates grant them. Exxon is NOT in charge of the world's oilfields.
Meanwhile, it is reasonable to believe that a portion of the oil industry is willing to accept today's high oil prices. As you say, some companies are making a lot of money.
But in a capitalist market, a rising price the bait that brings in more competitors. Thus, even if Exxon were satisfied with its situation today, other competitors would attempt to punch holes in oil-rich territory to pump some oil for $135 a barrel.
But as long as Congress keeps drillers off our unexploited oil-rich territories, Americans will pay more. It's especially galling because we import about 60% of our oil. Thus, we are paying foreign governments and other non-US entities to provide a product available here. We export jobs and billions of dollars to keep a small patch of land open to caribou and to keep a few offshore oil rigs out of public view.
If you want an example of stupdity in government, this is it.
SLAPZZIE: He and I did not say the introduction of crack was a "conspiracy." He merely said the CIA was in the crack business and he's right. I told you the name of the first guy in California to sell it on a large scale: "Freeway" Ricky Ross. He got it from CIA people connected to Noriega who got it from either Cali or Medellin. Ross was a good guy for the job because he was a very dedicated salesman which is how get got his name. He sling it from San Diego to Eureka and back in a day and a bit.
Why is this so difficult for you to accept. It was actually a stroke of genius on the part of the CIA. After the Church Committee hearings, I believe starting with Ford and continuing through Carter's administration all sorts of new rules restricting this and that were placed on the CIA, combined with enormous budget cuts.
Crack (or freebase, really) is the easiest thing in the world to make. In a tablespoon, place a teaspoon of flake, just under a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, add a little water mix until its a paste. Then heat the underside of the tablespoon with a lighter, stop when you see little bubbles. Listen for "snap, crackle and pop" sound. Let stand under an incandescent lamp for 5 minutes. Done. Depending on the purity of the flake you are basically doubling the amount of "product."
Now, despite what Tom Brokaw or Nancy Reagan told you, a few hits of freebase neither kill you nor turn you into the wolfman. In fact, freebase isn't all that strong. A German beer is stronger. A couple of hits of pot are stronger. All the stuff does is give a euphoric feeling for about 10-15 minutes. And because it's so weak, you want more and more and more and more. The technology got more and more and more sophisticated and all sorts of enhancers and extenders were eventually added like ammonium chlorhydrate. You get a lot of flake and whole lot of workers making it and you sell tiny little pebbles for $10 when the government is getting the key ingredient from Noriega at super cheap price and you can see how profitable this is.
It was a big help to your good friends at the CIA before Reagan raised their allocations. Then with Casey at the helm the gloves were off. Better allocations. Church rules mostly gone. And still in the biz, why not?
Please don't tell me you're that innocent that you think the CIA only wants to do GOOD DEEDS. They want a big operating budget. This was a clever way to get lots money when their allocations were no good.
If you say you wouldn't do the same if you thought it up then you're a fool.
Maybe you ARE that innocent, I don't know. I don't know the environment in which you grew up. I grew up in a shitty neighborhood because when I was born my mother was a social worker and my dad was a stringer for the trades. They both wanted to be novelists.
I'm not revealing anything more about my life to you because you're too messed-up and judgmental and lack even a drop of the milk of human kindness to understand it but suffice it to say I've been around malefactors of all sorts throughout my youth and young adulthood and my father and mother figured it was better to explain the street life to me at age appropriate stages so I wouldn't be taken by surprise.
He also made sure I showed up for school, did all the reading, all the homework, studied hard and got to the point where I loved school. And I liked to compete for grades on tests and essays and educational olympics and that kind of stuff.
I cannot have a rational discussion about these topics with a choir boy. This subject is dead. I know about it. You don't. If this upsets you, I'm sorry. Call the cops. Call the Department Of Homeland Security. But they can sort it out with my attorneys. Arosemena Y Arosemena, SA. I assume your magnficent law enforcement heroes are smart enough to find an international phone number. You're a saint. I'm a sinner. Judge Arosemena will tell anybody to go away and leave me alone because that's the law.
JAY is still on the right track on this issue and you're in boy-scout land. Not a conspiracy. An entrepreneurial venture.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
As for the prices of crude, there certainly is a upward-alpha for growth in China and South Asia. Funny how the lion's share of that growth seemed to begin to move up sharply when Colin Powell held up a vial of talcum powder at the UN and has made steady progress north as the wars continue and more are promised in Iran and my neck of the woods. Funny also how a market that's almost always in backwardation because of short term supply crunches is now in steep contango. Guess it's all that "growth" in Asia and has nothing whatsover with market speculation of continued petro-warfare on behalf of all the saints in the Repbulican Party and all the weaklings in the Democratic Party.
You like to scald my nuts right now, for real. Well, screw it. I've opposed every bit of this bullshit from the afternoon of 9/11 to this very minute and you know what I'VE GOTTEN PAID BEYOND MY WILDEST DREAMS from my Russia business to all of the ExxonMobil equity and calls our whole stinking pacifist family acquired because we knew shit like this was coming. I've been ultra long crude since the day they put that disgraceful hijoputa into office. PAID. The interest on my son's trust I assure you is way more than a year's pay for you.
So,who's the fool? You're the genius..,.KELSO, you said "...." I'm a brain-dead nobody. But but but but but.....
No more OJ racist shit from you. It's a toxic thing to bring up here in that ham-handed way because there's all sorts of law-enforcement...er..."imbalances" that created a context. And you know that.
Katrina? Louis Farrakhan? Black radio stations? You're some damned piece of work, boy.
No more sexism.
No more disrespect.
No more condescension. You don't have all the answers. You're not even asking the right questions.
You're this great WHITE FUCKING GENIUS and this teenager in college has you completely crushed on every issue.
Franchising? You're fuckin A. The gas stations are sometimes under the umbrella of the producer as the ExxonMobil Marketing Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary...sometimes not. CITGO MARKET is wholly owned by the national Venezuelan production and refining operation.
The catalytic cracking spread is only 10%. I'm crying them a river.
Look, I'm going to make this super simple. I'm going to stipulate that you are 100% right and Jay is 100% wrong. Moreover, the US government only has the most saintly intentions. Moreover, ExxonMobil's shareholders and I should know because I have them coming out of my ass are WAY POORER than those "Hispanic" welfare chiselers. I'll also stipulate that because some knuckleheads cheered when OJ Simpson was acquitted that no African-American has the power of cogitive thought. What other repellent things did you write? Let me check. There are just too many. Your sophisticated understanding of rap music. Perfect. You'r a better analyst and rap historian than fuckin TOURE or whatever. Ron Goldman? What the fuck does he have to do with anything other than some sick way to see how far you can push this? Well, pretty fuckin far because everybody here other than me has been patient as saints. Aww shit, you even got Mumia in there as well. Wow.
Why not go whole hog here and say that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a Soviet spy and it's great that he was assassinated? It's what you fuckin feel, isn't it?
This is the crap you do every time. You push it and push it and push it and needle and needle and needle and I give JAY and TORRANCE the world of credit for their patience because you're about trying mine.
Do not respond to this comment. Because, friend, I don't give a rat's ass what you think or where I'm wrong and you're right.
Here's the state of play. I'm going to leave this blog right now. I'm going to have a glass of rum on ice. I'm going to take a shower and shave. I'm going to see if there's a U.S. Open golf 3rd round wrap-up show. I'm going to have sex with my girlfriend. I'm going to ask the cook to grill us a couple of Argentine steaks. After I've eaten and digested my food I'm going to see if my fury at you has abated enough for me to concentrate enough go play some fuckin pot limit omaha. If I'm still seeing red like I am at this very second I'm going to get under the covers and watch a movie on the Chilean cinephile channel.
Don't answer this but think about it: do you think that your folks would be real proud of this -- you going on to a great site that everybody loves and relentlessly needling and hurling around racist bullshit for fun on a Saturday evening? That's the answer isn't it? It's Saturday night and you don't have a goddamned thing to do, si o alla verga fucking huevado puta no?
kelso, you are a funny guy. Really. That last post was a good laugh. No kidding. Funny.
All that indignation in one place. A website meltdown if there ever was one.
Anyway, here's a few observations.
Despite your claims to the contrary, I was out an an art opening Saturday night. Unfortunately, it was a terrible dark and stormy night here in NY City. The rain poured. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed, but in the middle of it, there were fireworks, launched near the River Cafe beside the Brooklyn Bridge. Unexpectedly visible from DUMBO, where the exhibit opened.
As you know, my comments are made in response to the views and beliefs of other posters. I rarely bother with ad hominem attacks.
But some people seem to feel that an attack on their ideas is a personal attack, and sometimes they respond with a blast that's meant to be personal. An attempt at putting a verbal knife into the jugular.
It seems that some people do not understand they are anonymous on the Internet and that they are like extreme icebergs -- revealing only an insignificantly small element of the themselves even if they are relative gasbags.
Anyway, I did laugh at your presentation on the rudiments of addiction. It was an interesting rationalization of the body's response to crack.
When people make claims about themselves on the Internet I am interested in what they say. But no anonymous person on the Internet has credibility. Thus, personal claims mean very little. The claims might be true, or totally false. It doesn't matter.
But opinions and views are there -- in print -- and subjected to the minds of readers. Responses follow. Some interesting, some stupid. The forum allows a lot of interaction that would NEVER occur on a face-to-face basis. I think that's good. It seems you do not.
Anyway, I don't pick on you because, admit or not, you are an easy target. That's my way of showing some human kindness. On the other side of the coin, you should feel free to express whatever you want about me. I really don't mind.
Meanwhile, whether you care to admit it or not, you do seem to believe the silly stories of drug dealing by the CIA.
Obviously the CIA deals with lots of unsavory characters around the world. Like Osama bin Laden, among many. Based on your form of analysis, the CIA was also responsible for 9/11.
Have criminals with ties to the CIA ever capitalized on their connections? Undoubtedly. Does that suggest the CIA itself is corrupt to its core? No.
But funding the CIA with revenue derived from drug sales to blacks in the US is one of the funnier tales in the human comedy of life in America.
Given your willingness to believe tall tales, including some earlier stuff about Hillary Clinton and the character from the Ponderosa Steak House chain, I think a pattern has emerged.
Anyway, my experience with the drug trade seems somewhat different than yours.
Unfortunately, a number of people I've known were murdered in the drug trade. Others were victims of their addictions, and a few died from consuming too much of their favorite recreational chemicals.
I've lived in violent, drug-plagued neighborhoods where whites were a small minority. I've been attacked, though never seriously injured. But that was partly luck. I've been shot at, fortunately by people whose aim was imperfect.
Anyway, the intellectual quality of your comments is always their chief attraction. But your ad hominem attacks add some laughs that round out the full kelso experience.
Hey Bruh...
Glad to hear from you on my page and I love what I am reading on yours. Man, I am impressed by anyone, brother or otherwise, that uses the terms gerund and denouement. Keep in touch with me...
Najaa
No_slappz:
I've been over this with Torrance. If you have a problem with me, please take it up with me at my blog and don't disrupt the exchange of ideas here with your racism.
He's right. I can't tell a man with a bum leg to stop limping and expect that it will happen. So, out of respect for what Torrance has put together here, please address any complaints you have to me as comments on my posts on my blog.
Thanks.
all yawl
nuff said
i got the last word
kelso, you wrote:
"If you have a problem with me, please take it up with me at my blog and don't disrupt the exchange of ideas here with your racism."
More humor, I gather. From my perspective, you've turned things upside down. You're the guy who fires off personal attacks on me. But no one would know that based on your last comment.
Like I've said, it doesn't bother me that you're driven to ad hominem attacks. Maybe you don't realize it. But you're guy who goes off on wild rides.
In my opinion everybody must go through it.
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