Thursday, November 13, 2008

how to use scott larock in a politcal post...

Earlier this year they renamed the Tri-Borough Bridge the Robert F Kennedy Memorial Bridge. You may not know that. I, in fact, forgot. Not because RFK lacked importance in American History, but because we like to keep things real here in the City that Created the Old School. A lot of us still call the Jackie Robinson Parkway, the Interboro Pkwy, no offense intended its just the way it is. I think if they really wanted to the rename the Tri-Boro it should have been the Scott LaRock Memorial Bridge, considering it connects the three points that created hip-hop. Sorry Brooklyn, you are still faking it, your own Mos Def says so.


Point is, no one will ever call it the Robert F Kennedy Memorial Bridge, or the "RFK" or the "Bobby" because its the Tri-Borough. The Bastard, (that would be my brother from another blog) and I took it not too long on our way upstate and I remember saying to him after he picked me up in LIC, "we can take Jackson, it turns into Northern Blvd, to the BQE to the Tri-Boro--we don"t need no english lady to tell us where we're going."


RFK was a New York State Senator so I see the impetus behind the movement to rename the bridge, but why not wait until the Tappan Zee crumbles into the Hudson River (with my luck, I'll be on it at the time screaming "I'm loving it!"). They can name the new bridge in place of it after him. It would be a more fitting tribute. With all the talk of what the new economic stimulus program that is being bandied about the one aspect that is the most logical is using public works projects to reengineer the infrastructure of this country. It would create jobs, growth and good feeling. It would also properly honor a man who decided to stand up for your liberty only to be shot down by tyranny.


We all know the story. JFK gets elected, in no small part, due to a lot of dead people in Illinois that happen to know Sam Giancana. JFK blows the Bay of Pigs and gets the CIA mad at him, even though he took full responsibility. When the Russians stuck missles in Fidel Castro's underwear, rather than enabeling the Defense Dept and the CIA to start a nuclear war he plays it cool and uses diplomacy to thwart the threat, America loves the dude, the defense establishment hate him. I mean how are all those private defense contractors supposed to make any money without a cold war, I mean, is this guy nuts? No he's just getting laid. And by the best of them, no doubt. Some of them are friends of old Momo (Giancana). When Momo starts calling in his favors through Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford Bobby gets a little uppity tells Jack he has to tell Frank, Peter and Momo to all go screw. Next thing you know, back and to the left and Oswalt is shot by Ruby, cased closed. Bobby decides to continue to fight the good fight and becomes the Senator of the Great State of New York. He fights segregation and facsism for a couple of years and then decides to run for persident until some dude who might as well have been named for a new wave band puts a couple of bullets in him. That moment spelled the the end for the era of wide eyed thinking and hope for 40 years. 40 years of Vietnam, Cheney/Rumsfeld, Watergate, Reagonomics, "The War on Drugs", Iran Contra, Neo Cons, Cheney/Rumsfeld, Cats and Dogs Living Together, Lincoln Federal, New Kids on the Block,  Haliburtons, The baseball Wild Card, Lewinsky and Starr, 9/11, Blue Collar  TV, Cheney and Rumsfeld, Haliburton again and Wall Street sell offs.


I just connected the dots in one paragraph. Thats how easy it is. The events of the last few weeks were not just about bringing hope back, or ending the last eight years of passive aggressive ignorance. It's about the 40 years this country has been under siege. Some will tell you its been longer than that, but for the sake of symbolism I'm sticking with 40, because there hasn't been real hope in this nation since Bobby fell to the ground in California that night in 1968. With all of the this before you, I offer a truce. An olive branch. That's right Republicans, I'm going to do you a favor. I'm going to let you tap into the constellation of logic.


Secede from your party. It is not yours anymore. Did you see all of those life long republicans jumping ship in October? Go ahead, the water is fine. Look what you have to look forward to a facsist pig with lipstick, a mormon or any number of half-baked ex-preachers or hack ex-mayors (NYers know, its true you boys (and girls)) who have only one thing to run on--fear. Sorry guys, I'm scared anymore, in fact I haven't been scared in a while and I don't think I'm alone. These folks don't share your ideals, some of them don't even believe in dinosaurs,  and their argument against this point is that dinosaurs aren't in the Bible—because that's valueable reference material—and its not really a reason!!!!

Reason, now there's a thing...
The richest 1% of this country have been using the uneducated, slaphappy, god loving-no count half of our populace as muscle, what are you going to do about it?  Now, for those of you who are content with letting your god  make your decisions for you then you are content to never make a decision for yourself and I am with content with putting one behind your ear for the rest of us free thinkers. The world was made for us, we're just letting you suck oxygen. Do you remember free will? These people have been shaping the debate of the right wing for too long, unwittingly separating the country in two while not even realizing that, when push comes to shove, they too are on the short end. 

Don't despair, there is a place in the debate for Republican ideas when it comes to protecting the constitution and smaller government, even the death penalty and defense as long as you don't go all Alexander Haig on us.  I know it wasn't Goldwater who wanted to take your right to privacy away or let the defense department be a lousy spendthrift while we stuck 35 kids in a classroom made for 20. There is a way to negotiate. That's what politicking is. Or at least should be. The free market is an oxymoron, regulation is necessary. Would you let your kids go without parenting? Stupid question.

Don't stand along with the morality junkies, they are closet amoral. There against giving a woman the right to choose but see no reason why they shouldn't give a felon the right to die. The fact is Roe Vs Wade will never be overturned and no one will have to take your gun away from your cold dead hands because if they did, they would be fucking with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and no self respecting Supreme Court Justice is going to do that--EVER, right or left, so relax. No birth control? No problem, we'll just overpopulate the world with more young impressionable morons—that's the definition of abstinence, right? Gay marriage, ok, you want save the sanctity of marriage? Stay married. When you can do that, you can use the argument, until then who cares? I sure as hell don't, just living on the planet over the past 35 years I can see its basically touch and go.

Morality terrorists. Enough of the move fakin'!

Hope is not lost for your kind, dear elephants. There are still plenty of "Lincoln republicans" out there, Chuck Hagel is one, and I have a lot of respect for that man because he fights for reason. John McCain used to, but that poor old doddering fool felt like he had to chop block to win a presidency he didn't know what he was even going to do with it . He's broken down and he got weak, and the neo-cons got their teeth into him. Don't let the Hannitys, Coulters, Limbaughs and O'Reillys do your talking for you. While Hannity and Coulter may actually believe what there saying, Limbaugh has been proven a hypocrite time and again sitting in his ivory tower outside of Boca Raton. O'Reilly knows the more he ramps up his dreck the better his show does--and the fatter his paycheck gets. I'm convinced he doesn't believe half the shit he says anyway. I've heard the dude on other "liberal" media shows, he's brings a totally different act. And that is the gordeon's knot  you sane, level headed rebublicans find yourselves tied  in. You lack a voice of reason. The democrats finally put up a guy with some shine on him that actually looks like he can dust this country off. That's all it took—'cause you guys had nothing.


You guys are going to have eight years to figure it out, but I'm telling you, deep six the neo-cons, the Palins, the Romneys all of them, they're wasted. Time is running and passing and running. It's time to build a new bridge, not one that had a perfectly good name--where someone came along and proclaimed it to be something its not--but a brand new bridge, that you can be proud to call your own. You never know, people may like driving on that bridge.

The Scott LaRock Bridge, that would be fresh for '89 you suckas...

7 comments:

Christine said...

That was a fascinating read. I happen to agree with nearly everything. The republicans haven't had a real issue besides guns and religions and abortion and flag pins for a long time. It finally caught up with them.

In terms of the Tri-Borough--you're right. No one will ever call it RFK Bridge. Nice sentiment but the bridge is what it is to New Yorkers. It will always be the Interboro and "Alumni Hall" (SJU reference).

And it's (Lee Harvey) Oswald, not Oswalt. You baseball guys never leave the season behind...

Jack Flynn said...

Fuck BDP. Have you forgotten "The Bridge is Over?"

TW said...

That's a nice pick up on the Oswalt thing, Stengelian slip.

Jack, I may have to bring KRS-ONE over to slap you in the mouth. He'll do it to, he did it to PM Dawn on stage at a PM Dawn concert!

Jack Flynn said...

Fuck KRS-One, I ain't PM Dawn.

"Nobody said hip hop started out in the Bridge; but now you've dissed all of Queens, so we know how you live,
You try to get paid talkin' bout my town; when I battle you punk, I'ma beat - you - DOWN!"

TW said...

The fact remains they are both wrong, the Last Poets are truly the very first rap act. They were from Harlem. After that comes Afrika Bambaata, Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash, all hailing from the Bronx. Being a born and bred son of the thorough borough it pains me to say that Queens was on the back end of this equation. But because of the close proximity of the Queensbridge area to the South Bronx and ultimately upper manhattan, I consider it a shared birth between those areas. All that arguing over a 10 minute subway ride.

I love Marley Marl and I love the juice crew, but they can stand with BDP. BDP is the finest hip hop outfit in the world. And because if we tried to name the tri-boro, the BDP or the KRS, KRS would simply insist the Bridge be named Scott LaRock. End of story. Stick to things y'all know down there in Broad Channel, like the tides, we'll handle the hip hop in the real Queens.

Jack Flynn said...

First of all, you're from Queens Village, which is a short walk from "Strong" Island. That means you know about as much about "real Queens" as my left nut, which holds only a small portion of my overall knowledge of this borough.

Queens was late to the game, no doubt, but since we birthed the Ramones, the borough lays claim to the finest American punk band ever. There are only so many genres of music for Queens to dominate at one time.

TW said...

You wouldn't last a second in the ill village so check yoursel,f you know better.