Random Thoughts Sept. 4

Random Thoughts Sept. 4

Wondering how long I can survive on credit cards. A second job may be in order. Finding a "real job" has been much harder than anticipated. It's tough for college graduates attempting to enter the public sector. (or private for that matter). Thanks to the Conservative economy, where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, and the good jobs with livable wages are harder to come by.

So much for a college education.

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Still waiting to get my cable internet fixed. Charter Comm continues to tell me nothing is wrong with their service. If that's the case, why am I using Yahoo DSL right now? Yahoo also sucks. I have so much spyware on my computer from Yahoo, that it will take forever to clean it off my system.

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(Contradicting myself a little, I know) But I would love to go to Washington University this Fall, but I waited too long to decide to do anything. Bottom line is- I can't afford it. But I almost can't afford not to. I will be going back to school soon though for yet a 3rd degree.
I may have to make a decision soon just to keep my loan creditors off my ass.

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Bob Dylan was right. The music of today (in general) really does suck, particularly the genres of R&B/Hip (slop), Rock, & Pop. I can't stand most of the stuff being produced today... I can't even stand listening to the radio anymore. I stick to public radio and net radio (can't beat it).

Of course there are a few exceptions- India Arie, Leela James, Erikah Badu, a little Alicia Keys (although her sound sometimes seems a little too commercial....talk about being overqualified for your job, lol. She has to under-achieve in order to stay relevent and sell albums to an audience that for the "most" part has been dumbed down).

Beyond that, the music of today is in the toilet. There are few good bands, rap music has become a self destructive minstrel show over the past decade or more, especially for young impressionable minorities, and the songwriting is pitiful. Much of the music today has no feeling.

Forget Beyonce (she's the Black Britney Spears. Yuck), Jay Z, P. Diddy, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige (she tries) & the like.... I just don't relate to what they do.

If you have been reading this blog long enough you know that I can't stand celebrities, the Black celebs of today in particular. This is basically because of the influence that they have over the masses- an influence that they have squandered. The influence that THEY DO have is mostly a negative influence. What I see from these rappers and sports stars is almost enough to make me go crazy. The minstrel stuff just breaks my heart... Because what they do, impacts us all...in terms of image. The image of the Black American male has basically been pissed on and destroyed..... by people who look like me.

I prefer the sounds of the 60's, 70's and 80's. Much of the music of that time had feeling and a certain kind of spirit to it. In contrast, the music of today sounds so empty to me. There is very little individual character to it- everything sounds the same. No one wants to strive to be different anymore. You now have the opposite.....everyone is trying to look and sound like everyone else. WTH?
You can hardly tell the difference between "artists" anymore.
70's artists, on the other hand, are so identifiable, with just the first couple of notes.

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I missed the historic search light being lit up the other day in my hometown. I'm originally from the St. Louis area community of "University City". (The city's "Loop" district is the St. Louis areas equivalent to the Village in New York). The City Hall is an historic century old building that doubles as a light tower (symbolically). See history and old photos here. It has one of the largest and oldest search lights in the country still in operation. I used to enjoy seeing the light tower lit up as a kid growing up near the Loop district.

However, in the last 15-20 years or so, the lighting of the city hall tower became a more rare event. It's only lit up for rare/special occasions. The city is celebrating its 100 birthday this year, and they had it lit up the other night....and I missed it. I plan to catch it next time though.

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Why didn't the Right Wing religious Conservative TV/Radio media come down hard on thug and child rapist Warren Jeffs? Is it because Jeffs is one of them ("religious". "Conservative" & so on)?
I have noticed this throughout the Conservative media over the past week.

But last Saturday I ran across one commentator in particular that ticked me off. Right wing Conservative radio host Jerry Doyle spent part of his show defending Warren Jeffs. Doyle talked about why he thought Warren Jeffs should not have been on the FBI most wanted list, and seemed to defend the idea of children being married off to adult males in the Mormon Church. Doyle, showed that he didn't understand the law enforcement process that gets the FBI involved in these kinds of cases (when suspects cross State lines to avoid procecution, etc).

No surprise.... Conservatives have a tendency of not knowing what they are talking about.

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I have to blog about the ordeal I had in July when I tried to renew my drivers license (wacky Homeland security stuff). I will get around to it within the next few days/weeks. I have been busy with lifes bull.... and haven't spent much time on my own stories.

Definitely an episode of the Adventures of an Angry Black Man......

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We are approaching the 5th anniversary of the cowardly attacks on the U.S. by fanatical religious thugs- The worst terrorist attack in the history of the country (although my Native American cousins would probably beg to differ....but that's another blog entry). But we are approaching this anniversary and the nation is almost just as vulnerable now as it was on the day of the attacks 5 years ago. And what really bothers me is that the vulnerabilities now are the same as they were then.

Seems that all that has changed is the amount of bureacracy- a lot more of it now..... but there has been little in terms of results. Americans have been lulled into a false sense of security because there has not been another major terrorist attack since 9/11/2001. But what they don't understand is that there has not been another "big one" because the terrorists pick a time, date and location of their choosing..... the fact that nothing big has happened here since 9/11 has little to do with U.S. security measures.