GHETTO TAX............

Lately I’ve been hearing more and more grumbling about the so-called “Ghetto Tax”. You know the concept of po’ Black Peoples getting ripped off by insurance companies simply because of where they live. I ask you, is there such an animal in existence, or is it just another Liberal, “issue of the month’, which there seems to be no shortage of?

The answer is not just no- but hell no. There is no such thing as a “Ghetto Tax”.

Insurance companies are in the business of insuring risks. They are not benevolent agencies that exist to replace shit that gets broken, stolen, burned, flooded, ect... just for the niceness of it- they are in the insuring business to make a fuckin’ profit- yes, and the bigger the profit the better they like it.

Once this simple fact is understood then it doesn’t take a leap of faith to see how idiotic the concept of a “Ghetto Tax” is. Still not there with me, okay, let’s play a game.

Pookie and Ray-Ray live on the southwest side of Atlanta, in the’hood. It is not uncommon to see open air drug sales during all times of the day or night, and crack-addicted prostitutes wandering up and down the streets looking for john’s to finance their addition.

Larry and Daryl live on the east side of town, Lithonia, in a middle class neighborhood. The houses are well maintained, lawns cut and landscaped, no broken glass fills the street, and the kids do not hang out under the street lights after dark.

Pookie and Ray-Ray have both been the victims of vandalism a combined total of eight times in one year. The both have had their cars broken into several times by criminals either seeking to steal them or steal their radios. Pookie’s 3 bedroom home was broken into twice, once while he was on vacation- it was damned near emptied out, and once during the day while he was at work. Being the hard working intelligent person he is Pookie made insurance claims in all instances, and his losses were minimized.

Ray-Ray rents a 2 bedroom apartment and has had the door kicked in three times in the span of a year, twice by the police, and once during a so-called home invasion. Ray-Ray suffered a tremendous loss during the home invasion. He lost a lot of cash, jewelry and drugs. Due to the fact the Ray Ray can’t even spell leasers insurance, and he never purchased it, he has never made a claim against his losses during the so-called home invasion. And even if he did have a policy he probably could not recover losses due to the illegal nature of his activities, but he has made multiple claims on his auto insurance.

Larry and Daryl have homeowners insurance and auto insurance. Daryl loves to grill, and this past summer He failed to make sure the coals in his grill were completely out before pushing it under his wooden deck. This resulted in a fire in which an observant neighbor called the fire department , unlike Pookie’s neighbors that didn’t see nothin’ nor hear nothin’ when Pookie’s house was cleaned out. Daryl’s loss was a burned down deck, which his insurance company promptly made good on- after Daryl paid his deductible. Daryl has no other losses in the last two years, home or auto.

Larry, on the other hand has had his car vandalized twice, both times while visiting his cousin Pookie. Each time He paid his deductible and his car was restored to it’s original state. Larry has never had to make a claim against his homeowners insurance.

These four black men live in predominately black areas, are of similar age, bring in similar income, at least on paper Ray Ray does. Yet, Larry and Daryl pay significantly less for the insurance coverage than Pookie and Ray Ray. Why- more shit happens in Pookie’s and Ray Ray area than does Larry’s and Daryl’s.

This translates into more money spent by their insurers whom in turn charge them more to insure their higher levels of risk. And it should be this way. I hear some people saying that we all pay for the losses that hurricanes cause insurance companies- false, State farm tried to do that and ended up having to refund millions of their customers the overage.

This is all basic. Anyone that insists on propagating the concept of “Ghetto Taxes” is full of bull, case closed.

Before I close this post let’s take one last look at Pookie.

Pookie purchased his house for a bargain at 65,0000.00 dollars due to the fact of the condition of the neighborhood, plus the house needed a substantial amount of work done to it. Pookie understood all of this including he would have higher risks that would result in higher insurance premiums.

Pookie also understood that his house was built in the early 40’s- they don’t build them like that anymore, and invested another 50,000.00 dollars into it knowing that it’s value would one day quadruple. Pookie knows from experience that the area He lives in will take the course of the areas similar in the past. More people like Pookie will move into the area restoring and reclaiming the area and wake up one day with a vibrant, sought after neighborhood, just like Larry’s and Daryl’s, with comparable insurance rates and property values off the chain.

Later’

Earl and Tida Woods baby boy won the British Open this past weekend in one of the most extrodinary displays of golfing prowess probally ever seen on the golf course.

Imagine Michael Jordon giving up his bread and butter jump shot during the a NBA final, imagine Larry Bird not throwing a single, made you look stupid, pass. Imagine The Big Unit throwing breaking balls for nine innings, His fastball nowhere to be seen.

That's the equalivent of what Tiger Woods did- Tiger hit one driver off the tee during the whole friggin' tournament. Relying solely on his 2 iron and 3 wood, Tiger fell short of breaking his own previous British Open record by one stroke, yet He still managed to win the tournament by two strokes. Just Dayum.

As I listened to a local black radio talk show concerning the, "Plight of Black America", I shook my head and realized that the host of the show just did not get it. They and other so-called Black leaders just don't have a clue. There is no Government program, no political handout, no village, that can compare to the love, care, and gudiance of a Mother and Father.

Thank you Earl and Tida, thank you and God for this truly amazing individual.

Later'

What's going On

I know a lot of Liberals are confused about what is going on in the Middle east concerning Israel and Hezbollah, so I am going to simplifying the issue for them.
Instead of looking at all the graphs and charts and listening to tired -ass experts on CNN, all of which seem to believe you can negotiate diplomatically with Islamists Terrorists , Liberals can read the following paragraphs and consider themselves well informed.

Israel is kicking hard in some Hezbollah ass as we speak, let’s back up and look at the historical pattern that has lead to this event.

Israel gets wacked by Hezbollah, Israel launches raids against Hezbollah, Hezbollah cries and whines to the world community, world community tells Israel to stop, Israel stops. This scenario has played itself out over and over but recently things have changed. Here’s how:

Israel cedes land that was previously captured and used as a buffer, going so far as to forcefully remove it’s own settlers from said land. In spite of this gesture of peace Hezbollah conducts raids that result in the capture of Israeli soldiers, Israel launches raids against Hezbollah to retrieve captured soldiers, Hezbollah starts firing rockets farther into Israeli territory than ever before- due to the captured buffer being gone and the longer range Kassam missles that have somehow fallen into the hands of Hezbollah, Israel turns loose the dogs of war, Hezbollah whines to the world community, yet continues to fire Kassam missiles- missiles that are basically point and shoot, world community implores Israel to stop, Israel says fuck all ya’ll and continues to kick off in Hezbollah’s ass. Okay, everybody’s up to speed now.

Now that the classroom portion of this post is taken care of lets get to the editorial section.

Israel should allow the dogs of war to run free until Hezbollah is a shell of what it was. In an ideal world Hezbollah would be hunted down and destroyed to the last man, but guess what, the world is not ideal- so I’d like to see Israel conduct this rat hunt for another two weeks, that ought to be enough time to severely cripple Hezbollah’s ability to wage terror against the citizens of Israel. It amazes me that perfectly sane and intelligent people refuse to understand the concept of self-defense- of ones self or a Nation. Is this what the world has come to, afford thy neighbor every opportunity to destroy you, but never raise your hand in your own self defense? Hm….. what kind of a free people can live by those rules? Here’s a Hint: there never has been nor will there ever be a free people that live by those rules.

Later’

The World Cup ?????????????

Well the world cup has been decided, and America basically yawned, except for the immigrants amongst us – legal and illegal. Why is this so? I believe it’s the game itself. Soccer, aka football, has never attained a status similar to the sports Americans love and adore. Here’s the problem in a nutshell- Soccer lacks the combination of pure power and grace. Yeah, it’s as simple as that.

Most of you are asking yourself – what the hell is he talking about, power and grace? I submit that all of the sports hallowed in America have this key ingredient. Let’s take a look.

American football stands out in this regard. From the crushing tackles to the deft touch of a pass thrown by a quarterback to a receiver surrounded by defenders, to the shear fearlessness of a running back going through a line of defenders all outweighing him by a minimum of 150 pounds, this key ingredient is present in every play, Power and Grace. And we love it, we love this game played on all it’s levels, from Pop Warner ball, High school football, College football , and the ultimate- Professional football. Power and Grace, every Saturday and Sunday on ESPN.

Let’s look at Baseball with it’s 80- 100 mile an hour fastballs, home runs smashed out of the park, shortstops cleanly picking white hot ground balls, making the throw to first base a split second ahead of the runner stepping on the bag, it’s all there- Power and grace. Let’s not forget the double play, a masterpiece in timing, yet we expect double plays to be turned routinely, and most of the time they are. How many times have we watched center fielders run down those impossible fly balls hit in the gap– and catch them, or the right fielder running to the wall and jumping up, glove above the wall and robbing a batter of a homerun, yeah, we love that kinda shit. Americans basically hate stealing, yet in Baseball the exception is made. If you can steal bases in the Major leagues, you’re a bonafide sports god. One of the most admired examples of thievery, the ultimate theft- stealing home plate, Power and Grace.

Basketball in spite of the thug-assed millionaires that play it these days, is still another example of Power and Grace. The shear stamina it takes to run up and down the court easily equals and exceeds all the running around you see on a soccer field. The passes made with the flick of a wrist, you know the ones where the spectators are fooled along with the defender- Grace, and if you have played the game on any level you know that there is Power hidden in such a seemingly subtle action. Slam dunks, Alley Oops, Tomahawk dunks, Three pointers, fast breaks that seem choreographed, defending down in the paint, elbows, charges taken that result in a player being hurled backward on his ass- Power and Grace. Speaking of Power and Grace, Muhammad Ali was the most recognizable man in the world until Michael Jordan came along- Yes, Mr. Power and Grace.

Let’s examine Hockey, you know the game where grown men skate around on ice hitting a little black disc. It ranks behind the rest of our sports but it has a following in the Northern States and Canada that is as faithful as Green bay packers fans- yeah, it’s that serious. Hockey is football, baseball, and basketball and ice skating all rolled into one- with a touch of boxing thrown in for flavor. Where else can you see someone skate like a figure skater one second and check an opponent into the wall resulting in blood on the ice. You have these heavily padded grown men skating at breakneck speeds and turning on a friggin’ dime, slapping weirdly angled shot into the net, passing the puck with delicacy- yeah, Power and Grace on the ice.

Are you starting to understand what soccer lacks? I will say that at times soccer is graceful, and the players are very fit and athletic- but the consistent combination of power and grace is missing.

Soccer also suffers from image issues. Soccer does not attract the best athletes during those crucial years of athletic development- childhood. Most kids that play soccer are there because they don’t play the other sports well- watching these kids play in one spastic exhibition after another is an ordeal- unless you are the parent of one of the kids. This issue is slowly changing and perhaps soccer in America will one day attract kids of all athletic skill levels, much like golf has been doing.

Soccer comes off as being the game of repressed peoples, dictators, despots, socialists, communists, and punk-ass Frenchmen. Think about it, given the choice of receiving free tickets to the Super bowl in a sky booth, or free tickets to the World cup finals all expenses paid, most American will take the Super bowl tickets. I know I would, and I’ve been known to watch a soccer game or two. Gottta have Power and Grace.

Later’

HAPPY 60TH....................

As most of you know I am not a big fan of Jimmy Carter. As a fellow Georgian there are times I wish he would shut the fuck up- it’s embarrassing some of the ideas and words that come out of his mouth. But there are some things I really admire about President Carter, one in particular is his marriage to Rosalynn.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are celebrating their 60t wedding anniversary. It is my belief that the number-one status symbol you can acquire in our society is not a fancy car, a yacht, an airplane or an multi-million dollar mansion. It’s a long-term marriage. Why? It’s simple. You can’t buy one, you can’t win one, the only way to get one is to work your ass off for decades. It takes two people committed to each other, two people holding and backing each other up, two people going the distance together to have a long term-marriage.

Congratulations Mr. And Mrs. Carter, I stand in admiration of your achievement.

Later’