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Okay, well maybe I shouldn’t have used the word thug, but since the media wants to misuse the word and create thoughts for the millions of people that are unwilling to think for themselves, I figured I would too. Anyways, let’s get to the point of this little thing here. I have my own suspicions, but you can just look at what I have here and gather your own emotions and feelings. Take the following subjects:

Michael Vick was once the face of the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons. On Monday, August 27th, he will plead guilty to felony conspiracy (he is not pleading guilty to fighting dogs or gambling, contrary to what most of the media is saying). He faces up to 5 Years in prison, although he may only serve between 12 and 22 months and earn a permanent ban from the NFL.

Arthur Blank - Really really rich guy that has earned the bulk of his money through the intelligent construction of the Home Depot brand. He recently became the owner of the Atlanta Falcons and brought the organization to prominence through incredibly effective marketing strategies. In 2003 he settled a lawsuit with a woman that worked for the Falcons organization that brought forth claims of sexual harassment and discrimination. The terms of this “settlement” or uh, “plea agreement” (depends on how you look at it) were not disclosed. How many Falcons fans are women? Why didn’t anyone protest this? Season ticket sales didn’t decline… did they? If anything, Blank should have sympathy for Michael Vick and stop playing the victim… sexual harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation are against the law right? Oh, okay, so it must be because Blank has more money than Vick?… right?????

Patrick Kearney - Once a Defensive End for the Atlanta Falcons and now a member of the Seattle Seahawks. Kearney was at home sleep when allegedly a woman was raped in his home. Apparently three guys followed her to his house where one allegedly sexually assaulted her. Can anyone explain to me how all of this could go on and this guy sleeps through the whole thing? Well the end result is this, Kearney has reportedly said that he was the victim in the whole situation and was comforting his friend through all of this. In other words, nothing ever came of all of this. There was no mention of Kearney at all in the police report. He is now living a great life in Seattle with a chance to restart his career. So does this mean that the NFL tolerates sexual discrimination, harassment and assault on the owner and player levels but not dogfighting? One may argue that Kearney had nothing to do with the situation, but let me offer this. Kearney lived at the house where a crime happened and was not charged… Michael Vick wasn’t even in the state and is somehow held responsible for everything that went on at a house he owns.

I just don’t get it. Nobody said life would be fair, but damn man.

I’ll throw in these last two just for amusement:

Nicole Richie - Richie is rich and famous simply because she is the daughter of Lionel Richie. She was caught driving the wrong way on an interstate in Burbank while under the influence of marijuana and Vicodin… obviously a threat to society. What happens? 82 minutes in jail with no explanation for her early release by authorities.

Lindsay Lohan - Actress. What else can I say about her? She has had multiple DUI’s, including a few before she was even 21. She has been caught with cocaine in her possession, violated probation numerous times and had a bit of road rage that could have potentially turned wreckless endangerment and maybe even attempted murder if the driver of the other vehicle had lost control…and what does she get?? 1 Day in Jail. People argue that she is young and that we should help her and take care of her so that she can have a better shot at life. Well, dammit so should Mike Vick.

There are more law makers and enforcers drive drunk than those that fight dogs. I’m just sayin….

For the past 2-3 years or so I’ve had this strong ambition that Atlanta wanted to become the “New York City” of the south. Well, it seems that we’re well on our way as the city continues to do things to position itself as such. For example, the foreclosure rate in Atlanta has increased 75% since June, yet in any community you can see high rise condos, townhomes, apartments, and “McMansions” popping up all over the place. Bars and nightclubs along a popular stretch of Buckhead, the city’s ritzy pay to play area, were torn down for development of our own version of what has been dubbed “Rodeo Drive” or “5th Avenue”. More and more we are starting to see many corporate players relocate their businesses and high ranking personnel to the metropolitan area, Pop Music, er um, Rap Music (sorry for the confusion) now has a vacation home in the south, “Broadway Shows” are becoming the next big attraction and with the unfortunate demise of the physical resources in New Orleans, Atlanta has become the south’s number one place for conventions. All I can say is, Good Riddance to the city I used to love.

They say that you always have to build for the place that you’ll become and it seems as if that’s the city’s new motto. I know growth can be an incredibly positive thing, but with the good you have to take the bad. It’s just so sad to see so much of the city’s green space disappear into oblivion in favor of Wal Marts, Targets and other shopping centers. I mean really, is there a need to have two of the same store within 2 miles of each other? The city’s crime rate continues to climb the charts while the toxins in the air continue to degrade our breathable quality. Traffic is at an all time worst which is mainly because the city is growing faster than the public transportation system will adapt. **HINT HINT - MARTA - If you spend more time, money and effort on the development of rail lines that service the major employment and shopping hubs in the city, you could make a lot more money and the roads and highways would thank you greatly!

I guess I’m just venting because things aren’t what they used to be. That’s what I used to like about Atlanta - the fact that you didn’t feel like you were in a downgraded version of another popular city. We had our own thing going on down here. With all that said, I guess I’ll just move to NY since everyone is coming here. At least there’s beaches, oceans and lakes all around the city. Let’s see you beat that one ATL!

Michael Silver of “The Morning Rush” over at Yahoo Sports offered this article about the troubles of Michael Vick. I must say, I like it. It’s a bit lengthy, but worth the read. Check it out and tell me what you think. (Link to original article)

The franchise quarterback had just suffered the most crushing defeat of his career and he needed to get away from it all. So the peeved passer headed to the backwoods of Mississippi, where he cleared his head by killing a defenseless animal.

Sorry, PETA, but the gun-toting quarterback in question was not Michael Vick. In fact, it was Peyton Manning, whose aim with a hunting rifle apparently is as true as it is with the ol’ pigskin.

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“Raise a child in the way that he should go and when he is older he will not depart from it” - Proverbs 22:6

Check out this video

So last week I had to go back to New York. These trips are usually great because I love the city so much, but this time was a little different. This was the first time this year that I was able to go there and not have to take my bass with me (especially with my black flight case that someone inevitably asks “Hey, is that a gun?”… a question that seems to trigger unrest amonst the couple hundred passengers around me and a question that I’m sure will one day award me a trip to the Homeland Security office before I can make it to the oversized luggage check in). This was also the first time this year that I’ve simply just had to go to meeting, which meant time to enjoy myself and not have to rush back home for a gig or something. I honestly was having a great time until…

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“What you won’t do! Do for love… You’ve tried everything, but…….”

That song goes through my head as I write this post! You know, Atlanta has a lot of nice hidden treasures that I would never have known about unless I was forced to go there or was paid to do a gig there. This particular instance was motivated by the former of the two.

I visited The Atlanta Botanical Garden. In all honesty, this is one of the places I would always pass on the way to a summer concert or festival at Piedmont Park or just driving around handling business in that particular area of midtown. What finally got me there was my girlfriend’s birthday. She had been wanting to go for so long and I had always found a way out of it, so I couldn’t possibly deny her this visit on the most important day of the year. So babes, if you’re reading this, thanks for putting up with me not wanting to go for the last 4 years, because I actually enjoyed myself out there (Did I actually just say that?!?!?!?). Read the rest of this entry »

Short and simple… They mean so much, and they can change the hearts of so many people, but I’m not talking about “I Love You”. I’m talking about “Bitch”, “Ho” and “Nigger”. According to hip hop’s Ghandi, Russell Simmons, these words should be voluntarily banned from hip hop music because they are misogynistic and racially offensive. He also took the time to say that nothing should ever be implemented that takes away the first amendment right of free speech, but that free speech includes responsibility. With all of that in mind, this sets us up for another episode of the Emmy nominated series “Make Black People Respect Themselves”. Some “leader” has to step up and make Blacks respect themselves.

The argument of the rap community has been that use of these words were instrumental to artistic expression and that this was one of the reasons why they had the right to use the words while others didn’t. To me this form of censorship was just an easy response to public criticism of the culture of today’s rap lyrics. Censorship has never been a solution to a problem of inappropriate utterances. The true solution has been and will always be to change the hearts of the people that use these words. Censorship is nothing but a mere cover up while the artists continue to live a life of what’s true to their hearts and personalities. Blocking or beeping these words to an rap artist is just like saying to Hugh Hefner “Women are constantly treated like sex objects and because of the role your magazine plays in society we would like for you to voluntarily photograph all of your women fully clothed.” Do you think that’s going to happen? No! Why? Because the first amendment wasn’t written with provisions that made sure no one was offended or allowed that nothing detrimental to society could ever be done. Read the rest of this entry »

I purposely had not commented on the whole Don Imus thing up until this point because to me all of it is a bunch of crap. The same people that fight for freedom of expression are the same people that are executing someone that freely expressed himself. It’s so crazy that we live in such a hypocritical world that allows the over zealous efforts of a few opportunists to overpower one of the most important principles that this country has been founded on. A distinction must be made between free speech and the issues of morality that are attached to what has been said. By law, Don Imus was free to say what he wanted to, but there were so many people offended that he was fired because of executing his right. I don’t agree that he should have lost his job because I don’t think that this will truly affect the morals and principles that guide his everyday interactions. More of a solution would have been to work with him through his thoughts and actions to show him a better way of approaching life… showing him why women shouldn’t be called B’s and Ho’s and showing him the reason why people were offended by his comments. Don Imus can always get another job, but he’ll potentially make the same kind of comments. I just think that we really missed the point on this one. Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry I haven’t been writing on the blog regularly. Between AFAR gigs and Easter events that I’ve had to prepare and play for, my time has been limited. But I’m back!… and there’s nothing better to bring me back than the good ol’ N Word!!! A lot has been said in the last couple of Days about Imus’ comments on the Rutgers University team, which I’ll speak my own comments in a later post, but something is slowly creeping through the cracks and no one is saying anything about it:

I’ve heard people joke about the fact that they should create a site like this, but I had no idea that someone would actually implement. The only thing I could find online was a petition, a few blog entries and a myspace page urging people to work towards getting the site taken down. Where’s Al Sharpton? Is he too busy dealing with a white man calling our women “nappy headed hoes” to help us solve a issue that blacks themselves have bought into?? Why doesn’t Big Al quit jumping on the opportunistic, media rich “colored folks” issues and deal with the “colored folks” themselves. We really have to resolve this within our own communities before we expect other communities to respect us in the same way.

It’s also interesting to see that advertisers such as The General spend money supporting the site:

What does this say about how they view current and potential customers???

The word Nigga or Nigger (the only difference in those words is that one has proper spelling and one has a adapted spelling) from it’s inception has never been meant to be used as a term of endearment. I don’t understand why we get so upset when other races use these words but could care less if our own brothers or sisters use these words. The truth is that no one should tolerate use of these words. If everyone altogether stopped using the words, I’m sure that about 7% of America’s Race issues would be eradicated.

Check out the Links Below:

• Link to The General Website
• Here is a petition to stop the site
• This is a MySpace page that someone set up with information about the site
• In Addition to the petition, you can follow these steps to help the site get taken down.

Self Destruction… We’re headed for Self Destruction…

Posted in Situations, General | 2 Comments »

Fox Attacks

March 15th, 2007 by demonterious

I was reading online and came across a site called Fox Attacks that, if I may paraphrase something on their site, puts together [videos] highlighting Fox’s awful record of airing bigoted views and highly problematic framing around [social] issues. Everyone knows that Fox has been highly regarded as the dummy that sits on the laps of the Republicans. Check out this video below and tell me if you think this compilation has any merit.

Posted in Videos, Questions, Situations | No Comments »

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