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Post by upinkzeppelin2 on May 30, 2011 5:21:53 GMT -5
Owned:
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JACkory
Struggling Artist
Posts: 167
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Post by JACkory on May 30, 2011 13:34:53 GMT -5
Newt's rapid fire assault may have disoriented this reporter, but if you go back and listen point-by-point you'll see how weak they are. For instance, you can't say she was a governor and Obama was not, because you leave out the part about how she quit. The whole "resume" thing is bullshit, anyway, because it's going to be the things that don't go on resumes that will shoot her down. Including the same kinds of character issues that are going to sink him, as well.
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Post by Galactus on May 31, 2011 10:39:33 GMT -5
That's from '07 and not many people believed it then and even less believe it now.
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Post by upinkzeppelin2 on May 31, 2011 15:46:14 GMT -5
Moot point.
The actual truth has not very often been what the majority of people believe. As if popular opinion determines reality. It may determine who's in office, but, to give one example, if popular opinion had any clout with God then Barrabus would be Lord instead of Jesus. Same old story, same old song and dance today.
And furthermore:
"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."
- Winston Churchill
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JACkory
Struggling Artist
Posts: 167
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Post by JACkory on May 31, 2011 17:27:22 GMT -5
Then that means the majority of people have no business going to the polling booth on election day.
Barrabas was never a popular man. He was hated by the people. He was hated by the Jews. The only reason he was set free was because the Scribes and Pharisees hated Jesus more.
I'm not sure I understand the point you're trying to make here...
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Post by upinkzeppelin2 on May 31, 2011 23:08:52 GMT -5
It's probably just too simple for you to understand, JAC. You overstepped my point by overthinking it, I guess. My point is simple: popular opinion does not determine reality, does not in any way indicate what is true or false. Possibly more times than not, truth is not what the majority believe. If the vast majority of people believe that Obama is more qualified for the position of POTUSA than Sara Palin, it doesn't mean that it's true. There was a time when the vast majority believed that slavery was acceptable in this country.
And I will unashamedly admit that I do, in fact, believe that "the majority of people have no business going to the polling booth on election day." I believe they have a right to, but they are so awfully uninformed about the issues of the day more times than not that most of the time their idea of having to exercise their right to vote because they're supposed to is complete hogwash, in my book. And we'd be a better country if more people stayed home on election day, the uninformed that is.
But even still, I do believe we have the best system of government on planet earth. What I speak of is merely something that bothers me that canNOT change as long as we are a free country. A democracy, or republic, is only as good as the people that live in it and when the majority of people know more about American Idol than the Constitution and still insist on going to the voting booth, then the result is the greatest nation the world has ever known turning into and chaotic mess.
And now that I said all that I will admit, painfully, that in the last year or so I haven't watched or read the news hardly at all and am probably included in the very group of people that I speak of when I say they shouldn't vote. This is because of an utter disgust I had with politics and the way the country is being run. But I'm starting get back into the news in recent days. And by election day, 2012, I will make an informed decision.
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Post by Galactus on May 31, 2011 23:34:49 GMT -5
I'd wager that a random group of Obama supporters would score higher on a quiz about the constitution than a group of Palin supporters would. In fact you really only have to watch TV, these tea party candidates are constantly talking out of their asses and repeatedly saying things about their beloved constitution that just aren't true. Not all that vague open to interpretation stuff either, things like talking about amendments and then being unable to say specifically what that amendment says or not knowing the difference between the constitution and the declaration of independence.
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Post by RocDoc on Jun 8, 2011 0:24:41 GMT -5
yesterday and today in chicago... www.chicagobreakingnews.com/news/local/chibrknews-northwestern-chicago-police-warn-about-mob-action-attacks-20110604,7923212,7576043.story?obref=obnetwork traffic.outbrain.com/network/redir?key=c232368f063d2fa8447c7103f8ad5a58&rdid=210446257&type=MLT_def_prd&in-site=true&req_id=e9d524ffc8b55411e6bb3e0f82a18c1c&agent=blog_JS_rec&recMode=4&reqType=1&wid=100&imgType=0&version=38222&idx=0www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-trice-0608-20110607,0,5013861.story ~ On race and crime in the City of TribesJohn Kass
June 8, 2011
The Red Line is the CTA train that delivers South Siders to Daleyland.
If you've ever visited Chicago, you've certainly visited Daleyland. It is the theme park built on top of what was the old downtown Chicago, now trimmed with flowers and fancy parks, and that big silver bean and the crazy fountains.
While it is indeed beautiful, it is mostly for office workers and tourists.
"Sometimes, I guess I'm like a foreigner down here," said James Chalmers, 21, a South Sider and Red Line rider who works nights at the Merchandise Mart setting up exhibits and furniture displays.
"Down here, it's for tourists," Chalmers told me. "As long as you're coming into it with money, you're A-OK. But it's not set up for everybody, you know what I mean? A lower-type dude comes downtown, tries to have an experience, a good experience, see the museums and so on, you know what I mean? It's not happening.
"You've got to pay. It's not really set up to keep people out, but as long as you have the money, the finances, to play here, it's OK. But you must have the money."
On Tuesday, I rode the Red Line, looking for an honest conversation about what's been happening in Chicago lately, in this city of tribes.
Like so many of us, Chalmers was born to a city where race is factored into so many things, from politics to deployment of police, the allocation of government services, the awarding of contracts, the drawing of legislative maps, and employment and promotions.
With all this, it's odd that race hasn't been a factor in the recent media discussions about teen mobs robbing and beating tourists, and that beach closing. Some in the media have adopted the term "flash mobs," but there's no indication that text messaging or social media was used to coordinate the incidents on Saturday.
In their ideal state, "flash mobs" are groups of happy people who communicate electronically about where to descend upon a place at odd hours, dancing and smiling and flapping their hands.
They do not grab baseballs and slam them into the heads of scooter-riders, or beat up visiting physicians from a convention and take their fancy cellphones and other electronic equipment.
That's what most of us would call a gang.
A few alleged members of the Saturday night mob were arrested the other day, and the new police superintendent vowed to get them all. But the violence in Daleyland, followed by the arrest of black South Siders, has frayed the sensibilities at City Hall. So bothered was Mayor Rahm Emanuel that he dodged questions Tuesday.
"I'm not going to give you my sense of how I feel, except for you now know the new head of the Police Department has addressed this subject. … I'm pleased that the Police Department has apprehended a number of the young men," Emanuel said.
And he left it there, alone, lest it bite him.
While Emanuel was talking to reporters, I was talking to Mr. Chalmers, who has nothing to do with the thugs or the mayor or the cops or the merchants. And we might as well get this over with. Chalmers is black.
He's over 6 feet tall, wearing a white T-shirt and jeans and a White Sox hat, the brim not curved the way suburban kids would curve it years ago, but a brim straight and flat, the urban brim. He's a hardworking guy, and I liked him immediately.
If Chalmers and about 10 of his friends entered a North Michigan Avenue store, the merchant would grab the phone, ready to bleat about a possible "flash mob" attack. Chalmers knows that. Every black man knows this. And so we talked about how nervous some in my business were about the fact that the kids in the mob were black.
I explained to him that when it comes to race and crime, the Chicago media deal with the comfortable. We're comfortable dealing with black-on-black crime and white-on-white crime. The race cards are moot.
And we're experienced in dealing with black victims of white racists. We're so well-trained that we'll rush out and grab the usual suspects, including race-card-playing clergy, and ask them to put it in context. But when black teens go after whites and Asians in a plush neighborhood, it creates headaches, in the media and in politics.
it happened last summer several times, thorughfare were closed down...and they got VERY quickly swept aside...not so easy this time. |
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JACkory
Struggling Artist
Posts: 167
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Post by JACkory on Jun 8, 2011 9:45:37 GMT -5
Sorry, but I don't give a rat's ass about Chicago. Thanks for posting, though.
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Post by RocDoc on Jun 8, 2011 12:59:17 GMT -5
Sorry, but I don't give a rat's ass about Chicago. Thanks for posting, though. thanks for your utter disinterest as well. it's not 'chicago' it's race relations btw. good to see you positioned as nothing but the 'typical' american. as falls wichita so falls wichita falls.... |
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JACkory
Struggling Artist
Posts: 167
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Post by JACkory on Jun 8, 2011 17:25:54 GMT -5
Wow, a cool Pat Metheny reference, apropos of nothing.
Well, I suppose I AM the "typical American". You got a problem with "typical Americans", Mr. Uppity?
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skvorecky
Streetcorner Musician
Now I Am Become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.
Posts: 32
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Post by skvorecky on Jun 9, 2011 10:25:55 GMT -5
Definitely an interesting article that is starting to address the ramifications of gentrification in large urban areas.
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Post by Ayinger on Jun 10, 2011 17:02:01 GMT -5
WLS had a good convo going on it a day or so ago that I was fortunate to be spending enough time between jobs to catch most of it. Like the guy says: if a dozen or more blacks get off the red line or city bus and start up Michigan Ave, sooner or later a cop or business person is going to be looking at 'em. If a like group rode down from Wilmette they'd be looked at as nothing but good business. One caller brought up how a while back there was such a tizzy over a mugging in Lincoln Park that got high news because the person was shot and killer.....meanwhile, that same period some 14 like crimes took place in Englewood and who gave a shit?
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Post by RocDoc on Jun 11, 2011 8:38:44 GMT -5
the times may have changed but they're changing slowly.
the economic conditions and the accompanying educational disparity within HUGE pockets of the sout' side and west side neighborhoods (incl englewood, lawndale) where those kids are coming from, unfortunately have not changed because there's generation upon generation of conditioning causing many of 'them' to be raised the same way. factor in pop 'culture', the anti-intellectual elements of rap/hip-hop...and the well-documented reluctance for many groups to wish to not appear to 'act white' as they attain education/money along with more standard speech patterns.
yes their areas have disproportionate crime, same as all the hispanic areas (and the suburban towns they've tried to escape to). it's what gangs and drugs and poverty bring.
now itching for export it seems.
it's simply looking for better opportunity because NO-one's got money to rob from anymore.
and as much negative attention as the term 'profiling' has gotten, EVERYONE profiles to some extent or other. it's a mental shorthand is all, and of course it's going to be in the back of your mind as a veteran city-dweller if you're walking among the crush of people on michigan avenue or state street especially at lunchtime. or it should be.
take notice of external cues.
notice the expressions on peoples' faces, their hygiene, how they're dressed...whytf not?
no you do not know who these people surrounding you are, but you don't lay yourself bare either, especially with shit like this in the news.
when 2 summers ago, this same thing happened, but on an even larger scale, over on lake shore drive, forcing the cops to shut down the drive while they gained control of the 2 hours of (oooh) 'wilding' those motherfuckers did, purposely in streeterville (the wealthiest part left near downtown chicago) over across to the beaches - 50-60 perpetrators if i recall, but THAT story got buried, successfully more or less, because they didn't want to damage tourism, perhaps renew dormant racist thinking and sow panic that it's not 'safe' in the city anymore.
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Post by RocDoc on Jun 11, 2011 8:50:51 GMT -5
and i'm sure there was a good sprinkling of what i just wrote, on the WLS-AM show, but it's not JUST about the kids from wilmette getting off scott-free because they're all preppy and shit.
OR the fact that in englewood/lawndale there's just so MUCH violence (which it sure seems no-one can stop) that no, you're not going to be able to gauge what's a 'proper' amount of notice to be given.
what happens DOES get reported every day, but it's also a fact that newspapers are a dying business - which of the 2 murders are you going to play up when one of them is in lincoln park?
or on michigan avenue where the tourists go?
it is also a fact that the south-side kid with the ass-hangin' pants(with 2-3-4 similarly dressed buddies) IS going to be looked at funny if he hangs outside of tiffany & co for longer than it takes to glance at the bling in the window.
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