NEW YORK – The Grammys care about Kanye West.
Both lauded and vilified for his infamous "George Bush doesn't care about black people" comment, West is a controversial rarity in Thursday's world of insulated, manicured pop stars. But his eight Grammy nominations Thursday – tied for the most with comeback queen Mariah Carey and R&B newcomer John Legend – show that West is still embraced by the mainstream.
Embraced by the mainstream? How about adored by the liberal media.
Our own Portland Mercury talks about his "well-rooted sense of creative manifest destiny"
The Seattle PI says "Kanye West hasn't touched the sky, but as one of the country's top rap artists, he's come pretty close."
And apparently he is approriate for high school kids as well. He performed at a school during which "Some students gathered together and spelled K-A-N-Y-E W-E-S-T on their sweat shirts with masking tape. Others wore T-shirts featuring West's post-Hurricane Katrina statement: "Bush doesn't care about black people."
Well good. Oh yeah, here are some song lyrics:
N-now, th-th-through ya motherfuckin hands
GET EM HIGH
All the girls pass the weed to ya motherfuckin man
GET EM HIGH
Now I ain't never tell you to put down ya hands
KEEP EM HIGH
And if ya losin yo high than smoke again
KEEP EM HIGH
[Kanye West:]
Drug dealin jus to get by stack ya money till it gets sky high
Kids Sing Kids Sing
[Kanye and Kids:]
We wasnt supposed to make it past 25 but the jokes on you we still alive
Throw your hands up in the sky and say we don't care what people say
Nothing like having kids help you sing a song about selling drugs. Obviously Kanye has a very good social concience. I really want to listen to the guy who says to smoke more weed if you are losing your high tell me about my president.
And I really want parents to listen to these lyrics. Your kids should not be listening to this garbage. I know that the media doesn't care about your kids, it's fine with them if they smoke pot, have babies out of wedlock, and curse like a sailor, they will continue to push these overhyped rappers as "artists" who have "charisma" and nonsense like that.
33 comments:
Kanye West will be in Portland to open for U2 on Dec. 19th
I'm sure that he will be well received here. Portland already excuses their native drug users, criminals, and Bush-haters.
We should book his show into Baghdad.
I'm certain somebody in the audience would bring the house down, with a roar.
Bush cares about black people. It's the working poor he doesn't care about. Why do people have to play the race card when it's inappropriate?
Care to elaborate on your "it's the working poor he doesn't care about" comment?
Well, we've got this supposedly booming economy, and apparently throwing some crumbs to the working poor through the minimum wage is something we Cannot Afford. Therefore, everyone earning minimum wage is effectively taking a pay cut as inflation continues to erode their purchasing power. Oh, and have you noticed what happens to housing values and rents when the economy booms? It's not pretty for those earning minimum wage.
I gotta say that every time I hear someone complain about minimum wage I want to scream. Go out and get some skills, make yourself worth more than minimum wage. Everyone I talk to that complains about minimum wage thinks they should be making 10-15 dollars an hour. These are the same people who can't do basic math or read. Stop the whining and learn something.
Dear Anonymous, I would love to get some skills. Having scored 720 on the math SAT and 620 on the verbal SAT, I can assure that I can do math AND read. Unfortunately, while employers complain that applicants cannot read, write, or do math, they're generally unwilling to hire applicants who can do the above things but who don't have specific job skills. My dead-end job doesn't really promote skill development. (I don't even need my math skills since the cash register does all the math I need on the job.) As I have no money and cannot borrow, going to school to get skills isn't an option for me. What do you suggest?
I suggest this Terry:
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/
And then this:
http://www.pcc.edu/
I bet that you can get lots of financial aid and grant, maybe enough to cover you entire tuition. If not, you may need to get a student loan but it is an investment in yourself.
The government shouldn't have to tell your employer to give you a raise, you should deserve it. Even if you don't have an education or a degree you can get a raise with hard work ethic and some ambition.
How about this... www.goarmy.com
They pay for college, you can learn a marketable skill, serve your country, grow up a little, have a lot of fun in all sorts of places, and just generally become a better citizen who doesn't piss and moan about how much money they are not making working at a job that already pays too much for what you do. You said it yourself.
"My dead-end job doesn't really promote skill development. (I don't even need my math skills since the cash register does all the math I need on the job.)"
That tells me that your job isnt woth shit, therefore, shouldnt pay shit. Oh, and before you start accusing me of some sort of an elitist career person, I also work a job that pays minimum wage, it is work that is hard as hell, AND I go to school, AND I still do stuff with the National Guard. Like I said, sign up, or shut up.
I also heard an interview with rapper Fifty Cent, where he was calling West a moron. Fiddy said that this was a terrible catastrophe, and an act of God, and people were just reacting as best the knew how. To say that it has anything to do with the pres is just ignorant. That statement alone made me almost go buy Fiddy's album.
I can see the flames coming, but I cannot get financial aid, and cannot get a student loan, and am too old to join the Army. I am - for those old enough to remember this - one of those evil student loan defaulters Reagan warned us about. (I defaulted after my fourth rent increase in four years; keeping the rent paid on time seemed most critical.) Today I am paying $70/mo on those student loans but they are still in default and therefore I can't get financial aid or another loan, and also cannot take advantage of today's low interest rates, so I am stuck paying 7 percent and reducing the principal very slowly as almost all of my payment goes to interest. I've dug myself a splendid hole and don't see myself climbing out anytime soon.
Terry-
I have a buddy who works a second job at Home Depot. He makes $13/hr there. Nearly twice min. wage. All he does is walk around and help customers. Maybe try there.
With defaulting on the loans, you certainly dug your own hole. Yet you are blaming the government for your situation? You apparently already had your shot at college, but you blew it. Seems min. wage is YOUR issue, not everyone else's.
Grocery bagging is a union gig at a lot of grocery stores, I know a guy at Albertsons (I think. Or Safeway) and he makes $14 an hour bagging groceries.
Hey Terry, time to get two (or more) jobs -- save your money, get out of debt and make something of yourself. It's your fault you're poor, not George Bush's. Quit being a Victocrat and get in the game.
But, to get back on topic, Stanley Crouch wrote a great article http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/374027p-317932c.html on the damage the late Richard Pryor did to blacks. I loved Richard Pryor, but this article really opened my eyes to how he was a detriment to black culture.
Terry -- one of the most marketable skills these days is bilingualism, particularly fluency in Spanish. You'd be highly sought after if you learned another language. I'm fluent in German and as I've been working on my PhD I've been doing document translation and editing on the side. Very lucrative. I wish, though, that I had studied Spanish in college instead of German. Much more demand. Along the same lines, China's economy is going like gangbusters and there's little doubt that before long they'll be the world's premier economic super-power. I'm sure it won't be long before companies are looking for people fluent in mandarin. Like learning an instrument, learning a new language becomes increasingly more difficult as you get older, but it's worth it.
Currently, there is a huge demapnd for people who can speak and read arabic, to translate the some 400M pages of documents recovered from bagdhad. Problem is, not many arabic speaking people can pass a security clearance.
Of course, financial vulnerability also makes it hard to get a clearance.
I got myself into a hole similar to Terry's. I defaulted on my GSl and am still pating it off to get out of default. I made a whole series of financial errors while single that are now haunting my credit and keeping me and my wife and child from buying a home. But we're working on it, and that's the key.
I also dropped out of college and had no marketable job skills. I started out working for a landscaper, then as a Parking Lot Attendant, then as a mail clerk, all low-paying jobs. Now I'm working at a job that pays around $12/jour as a tech support agent, and my wife, who was making under $10/hour our first year in Eugene, pulls in around $20-$25/hour in commission at a spa only 4 years later. Because we WORKED HARD AND DIDN'T give up.
But beyond the issue of why people should work hard and whether they should be ENTITLED to a minimum wage, Terry, you should be aware that not everyone agrees that a higher minimum wage is the best way, or even a good way, to help the working poor. In the short run, it may seem to, but in the long run, many argue that its effects on the economy will do more harm than good.
Here's the problem I have with your comment, Terry, you assume that because President Bush doesn't do what YOU think he should to help the working poor, he must therefore NOT CARE about them. Has it ever occurred to you that he cares, but has different ideas from you about what to do about it?
Brian - President Bush's track record on illegal immigration suggests to me that he cares about the wealthy and not about those working at the bottom of the economy.
As long as there is a surplus of bottom-feeders in the labor market, hamburger flippers cannot look to the marketplace to afford them anything other than a declining standard of living.
A growing economy means those working for minimum wage must work harder (more sales = harder work) while getting a shrinking wage. Would you accept a pay cut for working harder?
If financial vulnerability makes it hard to get a security clearance, does that mean bankruptcy makes it easier to get a clearance? (BK = discharge debt = no longer vulnerable.)
Terry, that is a good question, I will look into that. An extrememly common (at least during the cold war) attempt at foreign nations to get information from soldiers abroad, was to offer to eliminate any debts that they racked up. Number two attempt; Getting compromising photos/information on a servicemember and "make it go away" for just a tidbit of info.
Not that it matters, apparently, after approximately the first three months of a year long tour in S. Korea, the N. Korean's have the name, rank, and social security number of every u.s. troop on the peninsula.
Interestingly, those of us who defaulted earlier on student loans have made it possible for today's borrowers to avoid default. Those who default today are truly deadbeats. Today's student loan borrowers are protected from default if they don't earn enough to make the full payment. Prompted by a preponderance of low earners among defaulters - while the true deadbeats got the attention they were a small minority - an "income contingent" repayment program was established for low earners, where the payments are calculated based on income and affordability. Under the old system, if your normal payment was $100 and you could pay only $50, default was inevitable. Under the new system, your payment is reduced to $50 and then readjusted when your income changes (hopefully upward). You have 30 years to pay off the loans, and if they're still not paid off after 30 years, the balance is forgiven, so in the future, people shouldn't have their Social Security checks diverted to student loan payments. Those of us who defaulted under the old system are getting a raw deal compared with today's borrowers.
Terry,
"President Bush's track record on illegal immigration suggests to me that he cares about the wealthy and not about those working at the bottom of the economy."
Care to elaborate? That's a pretty broad statement, without any specific examples of what it is about his "track record on illegal immigration".
"As long as there is a surplus of bottom-feeders in the labor market, hamburger flippers cannot look to the marketplace to afford them anything other than a declining standard of living."
Then they should learn to do something more marketable than flipping burgers, hmmmm?
"A growing economy means those working for minimum wage must work harder (more sales = harder work) while getting a shrinking wage."
Given that a great many of them are already making more than the work they do is worth, because that's the least an employer is allowed to pay them, I have little sympathy.
I'm surprised that anyone here needs a detailed list of President Bush's faults on illegal immigration! If his track record on illegal immigration is good enough for you, I'm not going to argue about it.
If minimum wage employers are paying more than the labor performed by their employees is worth, they should be dropping like flies. I haven't noticed McDonald's closing up shop, have you?
And yes, you're absolutely right: I should learn to do something more marketable than flipping burgers. Where do I sign up, hmmmm?
"I'm surprised that anyone here needs a detailed list of President Bush's faults on illegal immigration! If his track record on illegal immigration is good enough for you, I'm not going to argue about it."
I didn't say it's good enough for me. What I *SAID* was, if you're going to make a comment like, "President Bush's track record on illegal immigration suggests to me that he cares about the wealthy and not about those working at the bottom of the economy", you had better be prepared to elaborate, or I'll have to assume you were just talking into your hat.
"If minimum wage employers are paying more than the labor performed by their employees is worth, they should be dropping like flies. I haven't noticed McDonald's closing up shop, have you?"
Right, because McDonalds is your average business. In fact, the failure rate of small businesses IS rather high, and there is supporting evidence that increasing the Minimum Wage contributes to this.
"And yes, you're absolutely right: I should learn to do something more marketable than flipping burgers. Where do I sign up, hmmmm?"
I do believe that several other readers have made some helpful suggestions, but I'd also suggest you check into temp agencies in your area. Many of them provide information regarding local training programs, in addition to which, many of the placement opportunities they provide are entry-level with companies that provide much better advancement opportunities than Mickey D's.
Actually, according to Robert T. Kyosaki, in Rich dad poor dad, McDonalds is not in the hamburger business, they are in the real estate business. Burgers and such are just a by-product.
Have you tried America's Job Bank?
http://www.ajb.org/ This is a serious job site, not like Monster.
Aerotek is another temp agency that has tons of jobs. How about Enterprise Rent a Car? They have a superior management training program, and they are always hiring somewhere. Rent-a-center, always hiring, job sucks, pays good, and if you can stick it out, you advance rapidly, and can be in a strong position that pays real money in no time. Just a few more suggestions, hope they help. And you are only to old to join the Army if you are over 35, which you can actually be waivered on. I had a guy in my national guard unit who just signed up, and he was something like 41. It isn't a great deal of money, but it could be an extra 200 a month, and for your two week summer thing, about 900. Of course, you have the possibility of being deployed.
Funny, Terry states he scored high on the SATs, but lacks the mental acumen to find a better paying job than McDonalds.
Obviously, another victim of our failed government schools!!
Wrong again! I have a parochial school education, not a public school education. Getting a job isn't about mental acumen, it's about having skills, connections, and referrals. The people I work with don't have any connections, so I don't get referrals from them. Employers have been complaining for a long time about the quality of their applicants - people who can't read, can't write, can't do math, and can't spell. But those employers will hire these applicants every time if they have the desired job skill before they hire someone who can do the above things but doesn't have the desired job skill. I wanted to become a lawyer - I worked in a law office in high school - but couldn't afford it. I believe I could pass the bar exam today, but the lawyer cartel won't let anyone take the bar exam unless they have gone to law school. What would Abe Lincoln say?
What would Abe Lincoln say?
Dunno, but I suspect it wouldn't be a bunch of whining about how the Old Boys Network is conpsiring with The Man to keep him down. He'd be too busy working his butt off to get ahead.
You seem to ignore the numerous helpful suggestions that have been made regarding other avenues for advancement. I'm not sure if it's because you're enjoying your pity party, or if it's because you don't want to acknowledge any truth that might conflict with your consructed view that Bush doesn't care for the working poor. Given your unwillingness to answer my request that you give specifics with regards to illegal immigration, I suspect it's the latter, or at least MOSTLY the latter.
Joining the Army isn't an option because I am medically unqualified. Ongoing medical stuff takes up 15 hours a week during the day on weekdays. It takes me one hour each way - no car - getting to and from work. I don't know how to fit a second job with rigid scheduling into my life. What I need is some sort of business (or even a job if it exists) I can undertake on my own time - a couple hours here, a couple hours there - that will fit into the available hours in the rest of my life. (The hours are there but usually in small and varying chunks.) This isn't impossible but the opportunities are somewhat limited, compared with someone who has a car and large blocks of time available.
Terry,
I'm sorry if I seemed harsh. I can understand your frustration, and hope you can find something. Take a look at the suggestions Gunslinger made in particular, they seem promising (though I can't say for certain what things are like wherever you are).
But it seems to me that your complaints are more about your own situation and not about the bigger picture. I still think you've failed to prove your point that "It's the working poor [Bush] doesn't care about."
You want the truth about Kanye West? look no further.
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