COVER -> RECOMMENDED DAILY REQUIREMENT
WHO SPEAKS FOR WORKING PEOPLE? - The Big Deal right now, as far as I can see and hear, Homes, seem to be whether there should be more religion in politics, who is gonnah make sure the kids come out of high school being able to read, who can throw the most dollars at senior citizens so's they can stop eating cat food, and what we gonnah do with all this surplus money in the U.S. Treasury. That just leaves me one question: Have all these Fat Cats forgotten that there are working people out here punching clocks every day who are living paycheck-to-paycheck? Yo! Listen up, Millionaire Polticians, some of us still drive fork-lifts, stack boxes, and buff floors! What have you done for US lately?
Now I know that that comes off sounding like a selfish question, but maybe it's good for poor folks to show a little selfishness now and then. I don't see anyone else in this country --- like the dotcommies, or the Wall Street brokers, or the slum lords --- going out of their way to show their philanthropic virtuousness these days. Heck naw! I didn't see them delegates at the two parties' national conventions turning down any free cocktails or all-you-can buffets, either! They was snorting and shoving like pigs at the trough.
So I think it's about time us who actually have to work for a living --- as in real manual labor, not just sittin' behind some desk --- to step up and ask about ours.
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If you know about Oaktown, you also know that Jerry Brown is now our mayor and is priding himself on making it a more "welcoming" environment for the dotcommies. He is giving them sweetheart deals on downtown office space and the like. Getting whole new highrises built for them and such. Just like most of the Bay Area, the dotcommies are dominatin' the landscape and allowing our landlords out here to show their true, unbridledly-greedy colors.
It's outrageous!
NOW PICTURE THIS: One of these greedy bastard landlords renovated a building right in the heart of crack-whore central in West Oakland and then rented out the top floor (a three bedroom apartment) to some dotcommies for $2000 a month. It's big news all over town. They is calling it "ghetto chic."
ANYONE WHO HAS EVER HAD TO LIVE IN A GHETTO CAN TELL YOU THERE IS NOTHIN' CHIC ABOUT IT!
Anybody who has lived in an inner city in America, from downtown to Philly to the Mission district of San Francisco, already knows what is bound to happen next. The other landlords in the area, seeing this greedy bastard's example, are gonnah wannah get theirs. Working families in the hood, holding down jobs as restaurant workers, short order cooks, housekeepers, security guards and such aren't gonnah be worth much to them. They are gonnah put on the old tricknology to find some way of getting these folks out of their places, slap some paint on the walls, lay some new carpet, raise the rent and have bidding wars for these cracker boxes among other delirious dotcommies.
"There goes the neighborhood" in reverse!
And where will the hardworking brothers and sisters who have dodged the bullets and put up with the crack-whores going to go? Maybe out here in the flats of East Oakland, maybe they'll be forced to leave town altogether.
But who is speaking for the working people? Don't go deaf from the silence, Homes.
You see, yeah, it's okay in my mind for somebody to get lucky and maybe make a few extra Benjamins than I do at the warehouse. I ain't got no problem with that.
By dint of birth, education, know-how, connections, breaks --- whatever! --- they found a way to get over. But I don't think it's right for someone to take the benefits of they Good Fortune and turn it against hardworking folks, who are just scraping by with the little they have, then turn around and answer to the plea, "Why are you doin' this to me?" with the ice cold response: "Because I can."
Somebody, somewhere has got to be able to realize that worms do turn, that PayBack is indeed a mofo, and EVERY dog has its day. The arrogant powerful and the callous exploiters need to keep them facts in mind.
IF they don't... then "Burn, Baby! Burn!"
This week's Poll: The Holiday Season. 
RDR RECOMMENDED SITE OF THE DAY: Wonder what it is Patrick J. Buchanan, one of the Reform Party candidates for President of USA stands for? Read Pat in his own words here. Surprise!
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