Friday, July 22, 2011

Sitting On My Porch Part Seventy

A young man who I consider a brother and friend was just became principal of his own school in Mississippi. He’s coming a long way from the rough streets of Uptown New Orleans and daily journeys from Clark High School to the Riverwalk. Congratulations Principal Brister. I’m proud of you. Stay focus and be humble. I wish all my friends had things like this going on.

I consider it a blessing to have such a diverse group of friends and associates. There’s nothing negative about knowing people from all walks of life. I have conservative friends, liberal friends, Black Nationalist friends, and friends that don’t care about any of that. One thing all these people have in command besides knowing me is that I have never had a conversation about the debt ceiling with any of them. Why is this still going on? If the banks were too big to fail doesn’t the debt ceiling have to be lifted on behalf of everybody? Isn’t the country as a whole too big to fail? Why can’t we just raise the debt ceiling and then work out all the other issues while the country still functions?

I would like to welcome Wal Mart to the old Gentilly shopping mall. I still don’t know why residents voted no to Wal Mart the last time but I am glad they are going to finally do something. The Gentilly mall used to have a lot of different stores and businesses in it but it’s been six years since Katrina and I don’t think anyone was coming back. We might as well let Wal Mart and their money come in and do something with the space. At least some of us won’t have to spend ten dollars of gas to drive for a pair of socks anymore.

I have a prediction. In less than three years Twitter will fall apart because all of the people with so much to lose will realize it’s not worth it arguing or sending pictures of themselves to someone sitting at the bus stop. It’s going to take about three more public figures to fall before the domino effect starts. I’ll be retired from blogging by then but will come back just to gloat about how right I was.

The fan reaction to the NFL players because they didn’t vote for the owners’ proposal really baffles me. First of all it was a lockout. The players weren’t trying to get anything extra. The owners opted out of the last deal. Secondly, people act like if the players were to all of a sudden start playing for half of what they do now that would somehow make the owners stop rising ticket prices and beers wouldn’t cost 12 bucks. These are the same people that think if we keep cutting rich people’s taxes they will hire the rest of us. NFL players make a lot of money but it’s nothing compared to what the owners take in. Drew Brees makes a lot of money but it probably equals up to what Tom Benson makes in interest alone for the year. I’ve been watching NFL network almost everyday since this lockout started and haven’t seen an owner catch a touchdown yet. Let the players take a few more days to make sure they are comfortable with the deal. Losing a week of preseason won’t hurt me as a fan.

I’ve been at work all week trying not to catch a case and learning how to work Spotify. Thanks to them I was about to sit at my desk today and listen to the entire EPMD catalog for free. I don’t download too many applications to my work computer but as long as you can listen to all this music for free and I don’t turn on my system to find a virus with some naked lady dancing in the corner of the screen it’s all good.

This is what I was listening to when our accountant and business manager were trying to ask me about an invoice. EPMD saved my job and possible my freedom.








2 comments:

Susanna Powers said...

Hi Cliff, I have always wished they'd develop Gentilly / Chef Menteur really nicely during my lifetime, maybe it will still actually happen. There is no reason it couldn't. I wish they'd make a Sam's right next to the new Wal-Mart they're planning, like we used to have in the east before Katrina. thanks, sp

Big Man said...

On the topic of the lockout, people just want what they want when they want it. they don't really want to expend too much energy worrying about how they get what they want.