I Got 5 On It

I'm gonna put myself out there a little bit on this one, but you'll feel me. I listen to a lot of talk radio. (Probably 90% of all my radio listening time is spent on the AM dial). One of my favorite people to listen to is Glenn Beck. He's a witty and quirky commentator that you can find on the Fox News Channel. So everyday I get an email from him (or his people) recapping the day's show content. I find this useful because when I'm not at home in Phoenix, I rarely get a chance to listen to him. Well the emailed newsletter from Monday March 9th had this little bit of news sprinkled in it: March to Socialism - Pole Tax. Immediately my ears perked up. Could they be talking about what I think they're talking about. So I read the article and sure enough, the state of Georgia is proposing adding an additional $5 tax to each patron in order to pay for victims of sexual abuse and human trafficking.

Now I want to stop right here for a moment. I'm am not unsympathetic to the plight of those poor individuals who have been affected by sexual abuse and human trafficking. My heart goes out to them, and I pray for the best for them and their recoveries.

Now back to this $5. Some of you may be aware, others oblivious, but Atlanta, Georgia is one of the premiere locations in America for Strip Clubs. And while I am not necessarily an expert on this issue, I have done enough research to write a dissertation. (But I guess that would make me an expert. Lol). I can tell you with some certainty that placing this additional tax on customers should be a huge windfall for the state of Georgia. But that's just it, its for the state of Georgia. Sure they say that its for the victims, but that's just what they say to get people to go along with it. Just like the taxes they impose of cigarettes. They tell you that its for all these different programs, but really, its just more money going to the state. I have watched more than my fair share of Law & Order, and only on rare occasions do the police or prosecutors offer any assistance to victims in monetary form.

Here's the other thing about the tax hike. Are the legislators in Georgia making a correlation between strip clubs and the numbers of sexual assaults in their state? If not, then why are they singling out this particular industry for this tax? I mean, it would be like taxing the buyers of water polo equipment to pay for clean water programs. Sure they have the unifying element of water, but water polo is played in a swimming pool. Most water pollution occurs in our lakes, rivers, and oceans. Same thing with this tax. Yes, strip clubs and sexual abuse have the unifying element of sex, but that's as far as it goes.

Will this stop people from going to strip clubs? Of course not. As a matter of fact, I have a wedding to go to in Atlanta in May, and I'm hoping that the bachelor party is at one of their local facilities. (Magic City preferably, as it is the Vatican City of strip clubs). And if it costs me an extra 5, fine. You pay for the experience right? I just have a huge problem with Government once again taxing those things that they consider "immoral". Sin taxes as they're known in Chicago. The way I look at it, if I pay my income taxes, why should they look for every possible way to snake even more of my money away from me. Hell, look at them now. All but four states are running budget deficits. As far as I'm concerned, Government hasn't proven to be very responsible with our money anyway. Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if some of your tax dollars were being spent by these very same politicians in some of these very same establishments.



We as a nation are headed down a slippery slope here with this whole socialism thing. Government is not the answer. (Let me repeat that for those in the back of the room), Government is NOT the answer! And if you don't believe me, 200 plus years ago, a man much smarter than I said "That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves". That man was Thomas Jefferson, the original drafter of the Declaration of Independence. Think he may have been on to something? I mean, he did get that whole "America" idea of the ground. I'm just saying. (Credit to Glenn for the "I'm just saying").


-DrizaDre-

P.S. In my research for this blog, I came across this story. It didn't really fit, but I couldn't resist saying something. People, come on, power tools are not sex toys! And if your name isn't Tim the Toolman Taylor or Bob Vila, why are you bringing buzz saws into the bedroom anyway? I know that there are some sick perversions out there, but this one is definitely one of the stranger ones. (And the clown and balloon thing). Lol

Dollars and Sense

I don't know about any of you, but I am no economist. As a matter of fact, I'm not really that great with money. So it makes it somewhat difficult to completely understand the current circumstances that our country's economy finds itself in. I listened to the press conference given by President Obama on Monday, and as much as I root for Obama to succeed as the President, I couldn't really get with his economic stimulus plan. I mean, the last number that I heard about the bill is that it would cost us around 750 billion dollars. Some of that is to jump start the economy, but there's no guarantee that it will work. According to Vice-President Joe Biden, if we do everything right, there's still a 30% chance that all of the money that we're committing to spending will have no positive effect. That's no good. I mean, if you spend 750 billion dollars, you expect that it will drastically improve your current circumstances.

I heard a little bit of math that will show just how much money 750 billion dollars is. If you were to spend one million dollars a day on every day that has existed since Jesus walked the Earth, you still wouldn't have spent 750 billion dollars. Here's the math. Its 2009, but Jesus died at the age of 33. So its been 1,976 years since then. A million dollars spent every day for a years is 365 million. Multiply that times 1,976, and you come up with $721,240,000,000. Tack on another 494 million dollars to compensate for those extra February 29ths, and you have a grand total of 721 billion, 734 million dollars. Almost 30 billion less than what the stimulus plan calls for. I don't know about you, but when you talk about that kind of math, I'm gonna say that it should have better than a 70% chance of success.

Now I know that some of you are gonna say that Bush asked for nearly the same amount for the TARP fund. (Troubled Assets Relief Program). And though I wasn't exactly in favor of handing out that money, it was on a slightly different scale. As I understand it, the TARP money that has been given out is money that at some point and time, when the banks become profitable again, the Government will be repaid that money. Now don't get me wrong, getting money from the Government is like "borrowing" $100 from your mother. Yes you technically owe her, but if you only give her back say $50, and it takes two months for her to get that, its not like she's gonna send Barry Bonds to take out your knees with one swing. (By the way mom, I know I still owe you, just give me a little more time. Lol). Same thing with the government. As all of this was presented to us on Monday, I also was struck by how unsure President Obama seemed about the whole ordeal. I mean, the brotha is usually cool, calm, and well spoken on matters. To me, it seemed like he was just as unsure, and at a loss about the whole mess. That's not a major problem per se, but the President of the United States is like the coach of a football team. Right now the US is down by 30 at halftime, and that speech was supposed to inspire us to come out and take it to the opponent in the second half. Well, what I gathered from his speech is that we're probably gonna lose. Hell, I almost would have appreciated it more if Barack would've just said "Look, things are bad. Bad to a degree that I can't really comprehend. Now I know that you guys elected me to fix the problem. In turn, I have chosen the best in the business. And I believe in these people. I can't tell you everything that they're gonna do, because much of it is beyond my understanding. But I guarantee you that we're gonna take care of this". Now I know that saying something like that is beyond the scope of most politicians, but it would have made me more confident that we could actually erase this 30 point halftime deficit.

So that's just my take on the current economic crisis. A part of me feels that though things are bad, they're no worse than anything we've faced in the past. The difference is that we as a country have made significant improvement in our quality of life since we last found ourselves in similar circumstances. And though we don't want to admit it, we really screwed up by buying $40,000 cars, and $500,000 homes on student loan inflated $35,000 salaries. Its gonna hurt people, but maybe this is exactly what we needed to get back to living the "right" kind of lives.

-DrizaDre-

Light, Camera, Action!

Since George Orwell wrote the book 1984, the term "Big Brother is watching" has been commonplace in the American lexicon. It was normally spoken as a warning of the days to come. Well people, those days are here with a vengeance. I have been all across this nation. Almost all major cities, all except for Miami. (I've only gotten as close as Ft. Lauderdale). And now in many of them they have red light cameras. In my current city of residence Phoenix, Arizona, they also have cameras to catch you speeding. All of this has made for a formidable journey on our roads. For those of you who are blessed to live in a city without any of these cameras, let me be the one to prepare you for what's probably coming to an intersection, or roadway near you.

It all began sometime back in the 90's. (Sounds like such a long time ago). I lived in Los Angeles back in 1996 and 97. At the corner of Desoto Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard there was this contraption that sat right next to the bus stop. I had absolutely no clue what the hell this thing was. I consider myself a pretty intelligent person, so I came up with what I thought to be a reasonable explanation for what I saw. "This is obviously a means by which the bus can change the light so that it can breeze through intersections". It was a plausable explanation, I had just moved back to L.A. from Chicago, and the newest rave in the suburbs of Chicago was that all emergency vehicles could change the light to green so as to minimize the possibility of a collision as they came through the intersection. Brilliant. Well in the city that invented, patented, and perfected the art of the traffic jam, I thought it was great that L.A. had found a way to at least keep public transportation moving. Plus given that back then I actually rode the bus at times, that would only mean that my time spent on the bus would be lessened.

But as I traveled throghout the city, I began to see this contraption more and more. And not always next to bus stops. And then the moment of despair, I saw a sign that indicated that the intersection was photo enforced for red light violations. And the fine was $280. Damn! They weren't playing at all. So now the cops don't have to actually be there to catch you making a quick dash through a yellow that quickly turned red on you, they have a camera that catches your moment of weakness. And the penalty was ungodly in my opinion. I had no idea that this was just a first in what the police would use in combat against those who broke even the slightest of laws.

In late 96 and early 97, I spent some time in Phoenix, Arizona. The city of Tempe, a suburb most known for being the home of Arizona State University, devised a program to combat speeders. The police department took an innocuous white minivan, and parked it on the side of the road. unbeknownst to the passing motorists, this van was equipped with a radar gun, and a camera to snap pictures of both the driver and license plate of any vehicle caught speeding. I heard about this during a local news program, and almost choked. This was patently unfair. What happened to having to look out for motorcycle cops wedged in between two parked cars? Or a squad car conveniently positioned behind a high bush? This pushed entrapment to the extreme in my opinion.

Fast forward, oh maybe 7 years. I began to come out to Phoenix on a semi-regular basis. Of course I'd continue to see the vans on the side of the road. Unfortunately, many more cities throughout the Phoenix area had caught on to this new racket. However, there was a new one. On the 101 freeway, the road was now equipped with cameras that would catch you speeding. This was crap. I mean, yeah, I know that speeding is a crime. I know its not something that we should be doing, but we all do it. And for them to post a camera on the freeway was wholly different from them posting it on the streets. I understand that on the streets we're talking about a more confined space that includes other motorists, and pedestrians. But the freeways were off limits in my opinion. If the speed limit is 65, and I don't have somebody in front of me, and I decide to go say 75, what's the big deal. If there's a highway trooper that catches me, so be it. How fair is it though that the camera catches me? How much more danger am I placing myself or other motorists in by going 75? Actually in my many miles of travel, I've actually come to the conclusion that you have greater attention and care at higher speeds than you do at lower speeds. When you're going, say 80 in a 65, you're much more likely to be checking for police, road hazards, and other drivers that may get in your way. If you're only doing 65 in that very same 65 mph zone, a lot of people put the car, and subsequently their brains, on cruise control. I would bet money that there are just as many accidents caused by people going the speed limit as there are by people speeding. I tried to do a little research, but I was unable to find any specific statistics to neither prove or disprove my theory. They must keep that information under wraps. (If John Stossel ever reads this, you are more than welcome to use this as an inspiration for your next issue of "Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity").

On the other hand, there are individuals who push things to the limit, and make it bad for the rest of us. I mean, I'm no stickler when it comes to speeding, but going 114 in a 65 is well over the top. That was the case on January 21, 2008 when rapper DMX was caught speeding in his 1966 Nova by the before mentioned cameras on the 101 freeway in Scottsdale, AZ. DMX, or Earl Simmons as his government name, was arrested for criminal speeding (anything 25 mph or more over the speed limit), public endangerment, reckless driving, and driving on a suspended license. I would love to defend a hip-hop titan, but in this case I can not. This latest run in with the law by DMX was definitely of his own doing. And not that I want them to throw the book at him, but I have to admit that he deserves whatever he gets.

(DMX's photo being taken on the 101 in Scottsdale, AZ).

The last thing I want to discuss in the area of "Big Brother is Watching" are what I will call community policing cameras. These cameras hit the scene in Chicago a couple of years ago. They have blue lights that flash constantly, and can be seen from a mile away. (Probably further than that). I have also seen these cameras in use in Philadelphia. As my brother discussed in an earlier blog, these cameras are used as a deterrant for illegal activity. They have a range of several blocks, but its amazing that it seems like the negative element of the neighborhood doesn't seem to be very far from the cameras. I guess that as long as you're out of the direct view of the camera, there's really no reason to actually cease your potentially illegal activity. These cameras don't trouble me as much as the others. I don't hang out on street corners, and I guess that if they're somewhat of a deterrent, then by all means use them. Those flashing lights can be annoying though. And of course there's a slippery slope effect. I mean, depending on the camera placement, can the police have access to view what may be going on inside a person's home? That I can say I will never be in support of, but for the moment I can give community policing cameras a pass.

As I said before, right now, there's really no way to know where we'll end up when it comes to Big Brother watching us. In London, England, they have 10,000 closed circuit cameras throughout the city. I can't remember the exact statistic, but your picture is taken something like 10-20 times per minute. (Forgive me if you find the exact statistic and I'm slightly off). In the case of the bombings of July 7th, 2005, the cameras helped Scotland Yard discover the identities of the bombers. So there are very good uses of cameras in our society. I just hope that we're not giving up more in privacy than we get in safety.


-DrizaDre-

Freedom of Choice

I want to take a little time out to talk about what is somewhat a touchy subject in America. I want to discuss the first amendment. Now I don't want to have a debate about whether or not we should have the freedom of speech or not, I believe that the vast majority of us agree that freedom of speech is a great thing. Instead, I want to address how the first amendment makes some people act like A**holes. Yeah I said it, A**holes! (Well I guess that I technically didn't say it, but you catch my drift).

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the United States Bill of Rights that expressly prohibits the United States Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion" (the Establishment Clause) or that prohibit the free exercise of religion (the Free Exercise Clause), laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to peaceably assemble, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. (From Wikipedia).

I was in the San Francisco Bay area last week, and I awoke to a story on the morning news that made me believe that I just had to still be asleep. I mean there's no possible way that this could ever happen. I will give you both the way that I heard the story, and then the actual story: The way I heard it, "Protesters have been cut off from both food and water. The protesters have been trying to prevent the University of California-Berkeley from tearing down trees in front of Memorial Stadium. A project that would enable the University to build an athletic center." My immediate reaction was, these people are crazy. Why the hell would they protest the city rebuilding the stadium? Well if I thought that was bad, the WHOLE story is so much worse.

Four jackasses climbed into a tree to protest the University tearing down forty-two trees surrounding Memorial stadium. And not only that, but the University allowed them to post up for 21 months! In those 21 months, construction was at a halt. The University spent an approximate twenty million dollars in legal fees, construction delays, and a hired police presence. And why? Because 4 idiots did not want trees torn down. I don't know about you, but I'm not wasting twenty million dollars to save some damn trees!

One thing that you need to understand about me is that I have very little tolerance for nonsense. And my solution may sound harsh, but it would have resolved this situation on day one. I would have made an announcement similar to this. "We are giving you twenty minutes to descend from that tree. If you don't, we are cutting it down"! Unless the protesters are the descendants of Tarzan, they would've had their asses on the ground in less than five minutes. See a part of the problem with this country is that we've gone soft like Twinkie filling. Back in the day, you couldn't act a fool like this, and not plan on suffering the repercussions of your actions. However in the 21st century America, there's plenty of opportunity to act a fool, and then claim some kind of victim status. In this situation, the only people who were victimized were the University, and the citizens of the state of California who paid the twenty million dollar tab.

In 2003, Rachel Corrie, a peace activist from Olympia, Washington, was protesting the destruction of Palestinian homes by the Isreali government. Isreali Army bulldozers were brought in to handle the demolition. Rachel's brilliant idea to stop the demolition was to stand in the direct path of the bulldozer. Well unlike in America, the bulldozer did its job. Unfortunately in the process, Rachel was hit by the bulldozer. She later died from her injuries. Now as unfortunate as it is that Rachel lost her life, to me this is just an example of how some Americans don't understand that you can't just protest in any fashion that you choose. There can be serious consequences to your actions.

Now there is a story that captivated the country back in 1994. An American teen was caught spray painting and throwing eggs at cars. The crime was committed by then 18 year old Michael Faye of St. Louis, Missouri. I'm sure you're probably thinking that little Michael was sentenced to community service where he had to wear an orange jump suit and pick up trash on the freeway. Well the missing piece of information is that little Michael committed his crime in Singapore. And what did he get sentenced to? (Come on, you remember the story). They beat his ass with a cane! (Now you remember it right)?

Little Michael was sentenced to six strokes with a ratan. The ratan is an 8 foot long stick of bamboo. It is described to be absolute torture to any individual subjected to any amount of lashes from it. Once sentenced, there was a public outcry in America that the punishment was entirely too harsh. President Bill Clinton even appealed to Singapore's government on little Michael's behalf. Singapore responded in kind and lowered the amount of strokes that Michael would receive from six to four, as a sign of respsect to Bill. (Way to stand up Singapore, I like the guts).

Well to conclude the story, let's just say that Singapore beat that ass! LMAO. Little Michael moved back to the United States, where he would go on to have other brushes with the law. I guess he needed to be somewhere were the punishments were less severe.

I say tell this story to further illustrate that we as a nation need to start standing up and saying that we aren't gonna take this crap. Too often, we are punished/victimized by individuals who are doing nothing more than acting a damn fool. Freedom of speech is not a license to do as you will. I respect the right to assemble in public, and yes, to even shout, hold signs, and any other creative ways that you can think of to get your point across. But when you start laying down in the street, climbing and sitting in trees, you've gone entirely too far. And if the consequence to you doing things such as that is to get run over by a bulldozer, or falling yo ass out of a tree, hey then so be it. As my father used to say, "assumption of risk." And to the Federal Government, Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but an ass whoopin ain't never hurt nobody. Maybe we need to follow Singapore's lead. Just ask little Michael.

-DrizaDre-