I've been wanting to write this thread for the last couple of weeks but something always held me back. I know I shouldn't blame a class of people but I am certainly beginning to understand it. (Kind of like Sam Kinnison back in the day. I don't condone spousal beating but I understand it. I can see what turns Mr. Hand into Mr. Fist. Does anybody else remember that? I loved Kenison but I digress.)

Cleveland Ohio is FULL of treasure. I can honestly say I have been amazed at what you can do here. I've vacationed in Chicago, but other than that I haven't really lived or been around a city. President Garfield's tomb is absolutely phenomenal. We visited it two weeks ago and my kid's still talk about it. The restaurants and parks are GREAT. Now why does Cleveland get such a bad rap? The industrial decay. The abject POVERTY? It's a combination of both. People just stand on street corners. For the first time in my life I want to SHOUT at complete strangers to get a f'in job. I've had numerous incidents over the past couple of weeks that makes me understand how a person can become a racist. I know it's poverty and their is white trash too. Just watch a Springer episode, but if your caucasian in a predominantly dark area. You can cut the racial tension with a knife.

Incident 1

Cameron. Nice...... intelligent........... HYPER FCKIN ACTIVE kid who has no freakin training on how to play with others and share.

On my daughter's NICU floor they have a playroom for siblings and patients that can actually make it. Now every child under 12 is supposed to monitored by their parent or gaurdian. Well Cameron's "grandpa" would rather watch television then monitor Cameron as he plays and I've never seen the daughter and Grandma is AWOL. I have a son who is 5 and going to enter kidnergarten and a daughter who is going into the fourth grade. For about two weeks they have been playing with Cameron. He's OK when his Granpa is there but the majority of time they're not and they expect you to watch over the kid. The kid is hell on wheels. Jumps off ****. Decibel levels off the charts every ten seconds. They have these Nintendo games in cases where you can put your hand through to switch games but you can't fit the disk through so people won't steal them. Cameron has broken two of them in my prescence by tring to bend them through so he can play it on the other console.

So last Sunday my kid's are playing nicely together on a Nintendo game cube and Cameron comes right over and gives Kaden a playful slap in the face and takes over the game. Not wanting to start the next Watts riots I go over and get them all to sit down and try to get them all to share the game. I'm trying to let them play in ten minute shifts. Well when it's Cameron's turn to give it up he doesnt want to. He wants to clear the level. (It's not my g damn place to babysit the fckin kid and I'm starting to get pissed off when he doesn't hand the game over) Well about seven minutes later Cam clears the level and hands the controller to my daughter. It's on the next level and she's getting frustrated because she can't do it very well and bam!!! a hard plastic fastball to the head of my daughter for not playing the game very well. It's about Vesuvious time.... Thank God a nurse just happens to walk as my daughter's crying and begins to question Cameron where his parents are at..... He has no idea. So I pull the nurse out and explain how this kid is acting. She says she will go and get the head nurse. Cameron knows the gig is up and takes off. So I take my kid's down to the Ronald McDonald room on the floor for some cartoons and snacks. It's about 50/50 in the room when the head nurse comes into the room with Cameron. She asks me in front of every parent if this is the kid who was acting up in the play room. Every black parent in the roomi s glaring bullets in me like I'm the nark who just gave up the goods. I just sheepishly say yeah that's Cameron. Was there a complaint? I'm trying to act like I'm not the one who complained but the head Nurse says "Oh don't worry about it we've had complaints about this kid for over a month". I just want to crawl into a wall. I tell my wife about it and she says If she was there she would of went all Rambo and said, "Yeah where in the Hell are his parents line" I give her the "Yeah Right Look".



Incident 2.

My wife needs a bathing suit. We plan on going to a water park at Geauga Lake. Give the kid's a day off from the hospital. So we stop off at shopping center called the Severance Center. You can tell thirty years ago this was probably an upscale area but it's starting to go down. So I get the bright idea to kill two bird's with one stone. While the wife shops for the swim suit I'll go and order BK drive thru for the family. I ask her watch she wants. She wants an original chicken with extra mayo on the side. I tell her to just put it on the sandwich but she wants to dip her fries in the mayo and when you order the extra mayo on the sandwich sometimes they go overboard. I give her the look like that's going to be too complicated she gives me the look you better damn do it. So knowing that look I order her the extra mayo on the side.

Here's my order. Two kid's meal chese burgers One plain and the other with just ketchup. An original chicken sandwich with extra mayo on the side. A veggie burger upsize the Diet Coke and fries.(My wife and I split the drink and fries)


I get back one kids' meal with a reg cheeseburger with everything. Onion pickle mustard ketchup. An upgraded girls kid's meal a dbl cheseburger with extra mayonaise. I am asked to pull to the side for my original chicken and veggie burger. I am also given a upsized REGULAR coke. It tastes to me like sugar water and there is no way I can drink it after I'm used to Diet. So I think I'll just exchange it when the guy comes out and gives me the veggie burger and original chicken. You can't change ****. A menial little task is like the Marshall plan.


So ten minutes later a guy comes out and gives me the two sandwiches with no extra mayo on the side. I ask him about the mayo and exchanging my drink and he gives me the look "like not today cracker". You need to go back through the drive thru. So I just bow my head in disgust and drive off. I go and pick up the wife and she begins to ask me why she didn't get the extra mayo. I breathe deeply. I just want to go to Geauga lake. I'll drink some of the kid's Orange Drink if I get too thirsty. She then goes on the "if it was you who wanted the extra mayo we would have gotten it". So I then think I could go inside the BK get MY OWN diet coke and grab a couple of packets of mayo for the misses. SO I agree. This is where it gets interesting. I go to the machine on the side pour out the regular and refill with Diet. No mayo packets, so I go to the side where they give you what you order.... the pick up side. I would have went throught the line but it was like 20 people deep. So I say Excuse me...... Excuse me........ I'm Mr. Freakin Invisible. One old guy comes up and asks for salt the manager turns around and gives him a packet. Another young man comes up and asks Shalaila for his check. Shaila acknowledges the young man and says she will get it for him. Meanwhile I just stand there. I have NEVER BEEN in this situation my whole life. I'm actually invisible. So I look over at "Bones Thug and Harmony" and ask him if he could get Shalaila to get me a couple of packets of mayo when she gives him his check. I'm not getting you no G damn mayonaise. So I just bow my head in disgust and walk out.


Incident 3

15 minutes Later at Wal Mart

We need to buy swim suits for the rest of the family. I go into a rest room to try on swim suits for my boy and I. They both fit so we take them off and head to the register. As we go out a teenage African America walks in. Not five steps out the door I reach from my wallet and I notice I don't have my cell phone. I must of dropped it when I took off my shorts. So I hurry back in the bathroom and guess what freakin stall Coolio just happens to choose. Out of 8 stalls he's in the g' damn one I was in. So I wait for this kid to come out and I'm panicked. I ask him if he saw a cell phone in there. He acts a little wierd (in my eyes) and says no and just leaves. So i start following this kid looking for my wife. I see my wife two aisles over. This kid keeps lookin back at me. I run over to my wife and tell her to call my cell phone. She gives me this wierd freakin look and what's to know why? I'm about ready to blow a gasket when I see my man heading for the exit. I tell her to just call it and hand off my kid. I run for the door waiting for my ring. It doesn't come. Fcker turned it off. It's a 600 dollar HTC personal computer with the contract. Has the internet and all. I love my freakin phone. I run to my car...... I'm debating whether to chase the guy and in the front seat.................. my phone, I left it in the car. There is no way I act like that at home. No WAY. It's just the racial tension up here.


Incident 4.

The worker's hide out in the bathrooms. They'll spend like 15 minutes in one and that's from the time when you walk up. I about **** my pants because a girl decides to get her extra 15 minutes of break in the bathroom. I know they are hanging out in there. One bathroom on the floor. ( One of the nurses let me in on where they go to the bathroom. They were having the same problem)



I could go on and on. I can honestly say I am not racist, but I can certainly understand how a person can become one now. I know it's poverty. It's not race, but how can you help people who have zero fckin skills or ambition. If I was brought up in this area I know I would be a different person. There are sooo many ignorant and lazy people. I have no idea how we change it, but we should get rid of any financial incentive for having more children. I just wonder how many people are on welfare here. Cleveland John Hay high school is a block from me. I know you can get the numbers of how many kid's are below the poverty line. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if it is over 70%. Cleveland Glenville is a couple of blocks from me. That's where the Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith was from. Anybody who tries to make a difference in these kid's lives are truly angels. I have more respect for Ted Ginn Sr. now than I ever have.


Poverty is a ***** boys! Maybe 1 out 20 of these kids escape it!

Mach,

How is your child who is the patient doing?

Still praying on this end. Would appreciate an update, and I know many others on here probably would too.

White trash have jobs. Ever been to a Waffle House?

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/print.a...leID=16944

She had her 2nd surgery in June. A normal kid is born with 200 cms of intestine. Kyra had about 45 cms. If she had her ileo secal valve she could of survived with 45 cms. After her surgery we found out she had 9 cms of viable intestine with no valve. About the size of your index finger. As you can imagine we were pretty bummed. I was really worried about my wife. We lost our 1st child to a graft host disease. The situation was very similiar but in his case his body copied the blood from a donor. His immune system was weak. So as it turns out my wife and I carry a recessive gene. It is very rare. It happens in French Canadians. My father was from New York so it may have gotten in my side from that route and was probably a point mutation on my wife's side.

So because of the immunity problem it actually turns out that Kyra would be an excellent candidate for a transplant because her body won't reject it. Three places are that are known for intestinal transplants are Pittsburgh, Miami, and Nebraska. So the Cleveland Clinic hired away the guy from Pittsburgh who started the program and a guy from Miami to head atransplant unit here in Cleveland. Last Monday they did there 1st intestinal transplant in Cleveland. They are trying to get my daughter as big as she can be before the transplant. The bigger they are the better. They are feeding her through a broviac that goes to her heart. Eventually the way they are feeding her will shut down her liver. So they are playing the balance game of nutrtional feeds vs. keeping the liver viable. I'm actually in a pretty good place with all of this. It will be what it will be. My daughter doesn't act sick and she's a fighter. She bounces back from these surgeries like a champ. I'm going to learn how to do put pictures on this site. I looked up image shack and read the tutorial. I'm posting the 21 mpg cell phone picture of my truck and the next one will be of Kyra. Thanks for asking!

That waffle house story is hlarious.

Man, that kid at Wal-Mart must have though you were some whacked-out cracka. Reading on. I'm loving this.

By the way, all this racial tension? You can blame on Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the like. They breed this ****. Why? BLING BLING M'F'a. If you want to get away from it, move to a town that has a HUGE military presence in the South. Jackson, Ms. was NOTORIOUS for this tension. Augusta, Ga.? Home to Fort Gordon, home of the US Army Signal Center and Eisenhower Army Medical Center, home to the Southeast Regional Medical Command? Not so much. Yes, there's a "little" bit of tension, but mainly, people get along just great. We had our race pimps like Marion Williams, and they're being voted out left and right by people, both black AND white. The HONORABLE Ed Tarver, a black guy and former artillery officer, just beat out Williams. Gotta say, this is one of the most diverse places I've ever lived in.

Jesse Jackson doesn't cause a parent not to watch their kid. Al Sharpton doesn't train BK employees. I mean evry fckin thing about the order was screwed up. It's incompetence. I keep on thinking back that we shouldn't raise the minimum wage. A job at BK shouldn't be a living wage. It should be a job for high school and college kids. Somehow we have to break this cycle. It's down right scary. I'm telling you there are some beautiful places in Cleveland. Rockefeller was from here. Standard Oil Rockefeller. He's left a bunch of **** around town. If it wasn't for the poor it would be a neat place. (I can't believe this is coming from the nice little liberal me.) I used to care about the poor. I still want to help them out....but I'm telling you...... you CANT help out people who don't want help.

We need to take a long hard look at how our social welfare system looks to someone who is actually on it. We talk about how much we spend and how many people live in poverty.

But let's take a single teen-age African-American girl who has a baby. We basically make her a deal. We'll pay her $1000/month in benefits, give or take depending on the state, as long as she doesn't (1) get married or (2) get a job. She's better off financially if the daddy bolts and she stays home. So the kid gets raised without a father around. And mama isn't exactly a great role model either. Then we're surprised when the kid decides to game the system instead of getting a real job and moving himself and his family up a few rungs on the economic ladder.

I talk about this with my liberal friends and they give me the blank stare like they don't have a clue what I'm talking about. I talk about it with other people who are actually on welfare, and they are like, "Hey, you really understand."

I really do think that the democrats have fashioned this system to keep the poor alive and poor, so they'll keep voting democrat. They're smarter than the republicans, whose only response seems to be to debate how much money to spend on this. It is beyond me why the republicans can't see the light and come up with further welfare reforms to point the poor toward realizing the American Dream instead of just gaming the welfare system to maintain a lifestyle.

Machiavelli Wrote:Jesse Jackson doesn't cause a parent not to watch their kid. Al Sharpton doesn't train BK employees. I mean evry fckin thing about the order was screwed up. It's incompetence. I keep on thinking back that we shouldn't raise the minimum wage. A job at BK shouldn't be a living wage. It should be a job for high school and college kids. Somehow we have to break this cycle. It's down right scary.

Yes they did, with the help of liberals who think just like them, or use them for votes. This is what I posted in another thread:

Quote:If Sharpton and Jackson cared about black people they'd be taking up the cause of vouchers. Inner-city schools have failed black kids who WANT to succeed. So, instead of taking that side, they take the side of, "They can all succeed or all fail". Hey, some people, as my grandfather used to say, "just ain't cut out for learnin'". So, we punish the ones that are? It isn't money when South Fulton county spends 3 times as much as Columbia County, where I live, and our grades are some of the highest in the state. There are two magnet schools in Augusta-Richmond County. They are very racially diverse and compete with ANY school in the state. Why? They're selective and competitive.

Black kids NEED vouchers. They don't need to be stuck in some lameass inner-city school with a bunch of thugs who don't want to learn. If those two clowns wanted to do something for the black community, THIS would be where to start. NOT worryout about a Gdamn flag over a Confederate memorial on SC statehouse grounds. (No, it's not on the Capitol anymore...which I kinda disagreed with its being there anyway but I'm not a South Carolinian so it wasn't my business).

Jackson and Sharpton care about the advancement of the black people alright. They're just the only two black people they care to see succeed. Since they been preaching....if you can call it that, the black community has been degraded severely. Instead of preaching as Dr. King and yes, even that fool Farrakhan, about personal responsibility, these two clowns have been preaching about it not being their fault. It's always someone else's and when it is, they'll be right there with cameras rolling so THEY can get paid.

Liberals have pussified our country. They've turned everyone into victims. It's never the fault of their own, it MUST be someone else's fault. What did they gain? Votes. While the black community decays, they STILL vote for the same people that made them that way. When they voted for Republicans, 40+ years ago, they had one of the strongest family structures in the country. The difference? We don't use them. The bad part is, we also don't pander to them for votes. We pander to the individual. ...and when I say "we" I mean conservatives because I'm not, nor have I ever been, a Republican. NOW, if you say ANYTHING about black people needing to get off their collective asses and pull themselves up by their bootstraps, you're considered a racist.

I think it makes liberals think they are doing good. I used tave a little bit of that. The reason I am a Democrat is from labor side. My Grandfather was Big in the Local 51 pipe fitters. Summer Sundays, all of Grandad's crew would meet up for picnics. It was a way of life. My grandmother didn't work. My Dad was in the UAW. My mom didnt have to work. My grandfather would actually tell the story of a scab becoming paralyzed because he had "an accident" when he slipped off a two story construction beam. I can remember the story like it was yesterday. It was a way of life.

I think my Dad and Gramps would roll over in the grave if I ever voted Republican. I owe my life to the UAW. It put me through college. How can I turn my back on that. Republican's aren't exactly friendly to teacher's interests either. So, I live as a conservative. Hold alot of their values, but could never vote Republican. I'm more Libertarian than anything.

....but liberals need not worry. Their little Socialist utopia is coming. By that time, however, the conservative states will have seceded. It's our God-given, and Constitutionally-granted, right. We're conservatives down here. You let those fools get rid of the electoral college, which was created due to the Virginia Compromise, you'll see this country revolt....at least down South.

Machiavelli Wrote:I think it makes liberals think they are doing good. I used tave a little bit of that. The reason I am a Democrat is from labor side.

Not all Republicans and Conservatives are CEO's, Mach. Only about .000001%. We like to work too, ya know. As for labor, it was a Republican that passed OSHA.

I know I've heard the hulla baloo about getting rid of the electral college, but you may switch your mind if Caifornia keeps grapping up the piece of the pie. Gore didn spend a dime in California and I don't think Kerry did either. They would have to if it was a popular vote. Candidates may actually spend time in all 50 states instead of Fl., and Ohio.

Machiavelli Wrote:Republican's aren't exactly friendly to teacher's interests either. So, I live as a conservative. Hold alot of their values, but could never vote Republican. I'm more Libertarian than anything.

They love teachers. They just don't like indoctrination. If you think you're a Libertarian, both parties share the same view, I.e. schools should be private. Libertarians a little more. Damn man, you have me defending f'n Republicans. Good job. I don't do that often. I defend conservative principles on a daily basis, but not the Republican party.

Machiavelli Wrote:I know I've heard the hulla baloo about getting rid of the electral college, but you may switch your mind if Caifornia keeps grapping up the piece of the pie. Gore didn spend a dime in California and I don't think Kerry did either. They would have to if it was a popular vote. Candidates may actually spend time in all 50 states instead of Fl., and Ohio.

Never. The states of New York, Illinois, and California could decide the presidency. Not in my lifetime. I'll be on the front lines in THAT revolution. I'm all for secession. Seriously.

Actually if you went to popular vote the focus would be almost exclusively on the big states.

What I'd like to consider is this: Keep the electoral college. Give the two electors who correspond to the state's two senators to whoever wins the state. Allocate the remaining electors corresponding to the state's representatives on a proportional basis, by state. Say Obama gets 55% of vote in Cali, McCain gets 40%, and Barr gets 5%. Obama would get 30 electoral votes (2 plus 55% of 51), McCain would get 20 (40% of 51), and Barr would get 3 (5% of 51). This puts a premium on getting popular vote and a premium on carrying states, which the founding fathers would appreciate.

Well hell, Owl, that could be done easily. Just close off all Presidential elections to everyone but U.S. representatives.

Mach, i agree with you 100%. It's so easy to become racist. I use to work as the daytime delivery guy at my favorite pizza place in chapel hill (small business, not a chain or franchise) and i would hate delivering to black people. They were always rude and, if i do say so myself, ordered the worst food. Who the hell gets french fries on a delivery order. The other thing is, they would never tip. It was a joke. I'd ask how much change they wanted, and usually they'd say "all of it," in a rude voice.

The thing is, i can't help thinking the way i do. I remember my freshman year in high school my grandma had just gotten me a new Mp3 player and i would bring it to school and leave it in my bag when i wasn't using it. Well one day when we were playing football at lunch, like usual, we put our bags about 30 feet beyond where the endzone was determined to be. i remember i was a WR and had my back to the group of black kids hanging around our bags. So right before we run a play, the CB guarding me points over my shoulder and asks me if that's my bag that the guy is going through. I turn around and see one of the black kids from my english class, pull something out of my bag and take off into the school with his friend. We chase him inside and catch him, but the other guy was gone and so was the Mp3 player. He had handed it off when they got inside. A couple weeks later, a white guy i knew had told me that the same black guy who went through my bag, had offered to sell him a Nike Mp3 player that looked exactly like the one i no longer had.

I look at the crime stats and the prison population and i look at the experiences i've had and it's really hard for me not to have negative thoughts about blacks.

Some people i know have called me racist because i like to stereotype and make racial jokes, but it's been my experience that those stereotypes are often true. As for the jokes, i make them about all groups of people, yet it only became a big deal when i was making black jokes. The crazy thing is, people like sharpton and jackson would call me a racist, yet two of my really good friends, who are both black, wouldn't. Not to mention, the only music i've ever liked is music made by black people (oldies, motown and rap).

I also say to those people that maybe joking about these differences and stereotypes, can break down the barriers between us.

Sorry for the rambling post, but it's almost 1:00.

Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:Actually if you went to popular vote the focus would be almost exclusively on the big states.

Well, it would more accurately be in the big markets, states would have no bearing whatsoever. Just cities and metropolitan areas.