Wednesday, December 31, 2008

It's Been Way Too Long (part one)

What with a governor trying to auction off President-elect Obama's Senate seat, the New York media trying to anoint Caroline Kennedy as Hillary Clinton's successor in Congress, Ponzi scammer Bernie Madoff (the fifty-billion-dollar man), the government throwing billions of dollars after companies that will probably collapse anyway, and God knows what else means I would have had plenty to write about -- but I've had some personal issues that kept me from posting. But the news that some person going by the handle of Fishgrease Jenkins is being blamed for encouraging shootings in Brooklyn (like the ones in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn last night) and attempting to defend himself that finally pushed me to go ahead and post something.

First off (and in no way am I suggesting this is most important): ¡¿FISHGREASE?! Of all the things this thug could have chosen to call himself, he couldn't come up with anything better than ¿Fishgrease? But then, judging from that lightweight ringtone-jingle of a rap he calls "I'm from East New York," Fishgrease is probably about as original as he can manage. (Why do these rappers all try so hard to sound just like everybody else?)

I do have to say, though, that it's kind of a knee-jerk reaction, to make a scapegoat of this one video and its apparently challenged author for five people being killed in Brownsville. Unfortunately this is all too common in Brooklyn and anywhere people can easily get guns, and see them as the go-to method for settling "disputes."

Blagojevich: Jay Leno's been calling him "Governor Sonofabitch," and understandably so. And yet the governor says he did nothing wrong, I'm guessing because no actual money changed hands. But if there are FEDERAL wiretap recordings proving that he was soliciting offers for Obama's former Senate seat, how can he claim innocence? Conspiracy is just as much a crime as bribery, in case you didn't know, Governor...

Bailout: Speaking of Leno, he's been making a good point about this bailout situation -- the government was all too quick to throw billions of dollars at the financial "industry," when all they really do is move other people's money around. But when it came to the car manufacturers, who actually make and sell a physical product, they're hemming and hawing. Rightfully so, since the Big Three car companies have waved their wastefulness and arrogance in everyone's faces -- flying to Washington separately in corporate jets to beg Congress for money -- but it would have made a lot more sense if Congress had been as cautious with Wall Street as they're being with Detroit. And notice that, when it looked like whatever help they got from Congress would come with conditions, Ford suddenly didn't have an immediate need for the money. So why were they there begging for it?

And now the sports industry is getting into it. Sports teams have a long history of raking in millions of dollars during the season and then, when they decide they want/need a new home, they beg their home city and state for help. Why would the New York Yankees, about to move into a brand-new stadium, be in need of help if they can afford to set aside $420 million-plus for three players? I know this amount is a multi-year commitment and not a one-time expenditure but still, if you have that kind of cash to hand out, why should you get any money out of We the People?

And why isn't the federal government forcing sports teams to give back any naming-rights money from banks and other financial-industry players getting bailout money? The naming rights money doesn't nearly match what the bailouts will add up to, but every dollar these companies get back from the sports teams is a dollar the Treasury Department (that is, We the People) won't have to dole out.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:21 PM

    Thank you for your support! One thing that I have to say is that you called me a THUG which I am far from one! The name Fishgrease=Hot and Popping
    Jenkins=Slang for making things happen, making money, moves!
    You made sense of that im being used as a scapegoat for a bigger problem and all the media and tony herbert did for me is make me a hood star!

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  2. OK, so Mr. Jenkins apparently pays attention to what's being said about him online, if it's really him. "Fishgrease = hot and popping"? I guess that goes over better in the hood than Popcorn. But I've never heard of Jenkins being a nickname for someone making moves...

    Jenkins also apparently believes there's no such thing as bad publicity, because I wouldn't call what I said "support." I did say that he can't really be held personally responsible for violence that happens all too often in Brooklyn, the rest of NYC, and all around the world. But I also called his rap an unoriginal generic ringtone-jingle, which he didn't address.

    Jenkins said in a phone call to a NYC TV news program that his raps only describe what goes on around him in East New York. But... why? If he was in jail, would he be writing letter after letter just decribing the jail cell and what goes on in the joint? Do something original, why dontcha? And don't say that's what the record label wants; these days the music industry is on life support, so you don't have to be bound by what they say. Put some thought into it, man.

    All this, and I still don't even know if it's really him...

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  3. Anonymous12:10 PM

    Do you listen to rap dude? I personally know Fishgrease his music is hot your not from his hood to know what "jenkins" means! Before you say he is unoriginal why dont you listen to his mixtape then make your comment, He must being doing something right if he is a underground rapper his first video and song got him on the news! What have you done?

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  4. "His first video and song got him on the news."

    Yeah, and they were pointing fingers at him and saying this is the kind of crap that gets people killed. What have I done? Nothing that would get me blamed for anyone's death, that's for sure.

    NO MORE ANONYMOUS COMMENTS!

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