The Trifecta of Fuckery: Eddie Long edition

WELL, WELL, WELL, WELL, WELL!  THE CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST AND HAS CROWED 3 TIMES!

The messiness, foolishness, and sheer madness of this whole situation has brought me out of my work/career hiatus to post. (I hope to regularly post in general)  Hypocrisy, homosexual behavior, and the black religious fold.  This is PURE UNADULTERATED FUCKERY AT IT VERY BEST!  Now where do I start. 

I've been saying for years (pre-bloggging days) that foolishness ALWAYS finds it source.  Well, Eddie Long has a history of being involved in anti-LGBT foolishness from helping campaign for Georgia to ban any same-sex unions or domestic partnership in 2004 to his silly ass march in the winter of 2005 in Atlanta against same-sex unions to his rabid homophobic ranting in a good chunk of his "sermons" (if you want to call it that).  This man has been the walk body of the stereotype of homophobia in the black religious community.  Yet his stupid ass brought himself down over lust for another man, the irony.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the 3 plaintiffs (whom names I won't repeat since they are already is there for the world to see on most sites, just Google it) have said basically the same thing, Eddie Long likes to be called "Daddy", took them on lavish trips around the world, introduced them to celebs (or "popular people" in my vernacular), slept in the same bed with him, and sexual acts including masturbation, oral sex were engaged.

Now I'm going to speak on some stuff I allegedly now in vague terms since this is an ongoing case.  There are also allegations that Long has been doing this mess since the early 1990s when he first came popular in Atlanta and the black religious circles.  Things of such involving such as him taking those boys to the Atlanta Hawks basketball games and etc.

Art Franklin, New Birth's spokesperson is a former Birmingham news anchor has allegations about about him and his sexuality too (especially considering the allegations surrounding his divorce).  These are among some of the reasons why he allegedly left WBRC "FOX6" to go to Atlanta to work on his music and writing then later wind up at WBRC's former sister station, WAGA "FOX5" and now at New Birth as the spokesman. 

All I'm going to say is this mess is destructive and revealing the bed of hypocrisy involving some black folks especially in the religious and church circles.  That's why I've been giving most of them the side-eye for awhile now because it shows that folks need to leave the LGBTs alone like the racially bias need to leave people of color alone...

The aggregavation of housing...

Some things I do wonder about the world we reside in such as housing.  It seems to be the fabric of our communities since they offer shelter for all of us.  However, that necessity seems to be seen as a luxury by many bureaucratic paper-pushers.  In the case of the Metro Atlanta area, where nearly all the public housing developments have been demolished and replaces with high-end condominium development.  On the surface, this looks as if it is a good thing since public housing seems to attract all the "undesirable" elements in our nation's society, but on deeper look reveals that many of these people have no where else to turn aside from being homeless.  This within itself is disheartening because you have to evaluate the entire situation before casting a broad judgment on housing for low-income residents.

Since 2001, the Atlanta Housing Authority has practically eliminated all the public housing in Atlanta (gotta love gentrification and its side effects).  Now suburban Marietta, in Cobb County, its housing authority is doing the same and hopes to shutter and demolish all public housing by 2012.  The replacements for such developments were vouchers given to former residents so they could either get into senior housing for older residents or at-market rate private housing or apartments for others.

On the other hand, the realization that most of the vouchers only pay for only 65% of such living costs associated with housing puts these people in a tougher situation.  Many people don't have the luxury of being able to afford private apartment, which most decent ones start at $600/month in rent in Metro Atlanta.  The lack of affordable housing is seriously lacking nationwide, but particularly in the South.  Ironically, most of those suffering from this dilemma are our fellow non-white citizens.

I know it's wonderful to see cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, New Orleans, Memphis, and other Southern cities move from their past images as low-income, crime-ridden places with projects everywhere.  However, you should never go from one extreme to another where you are pricing out your own residents to appease a reluctant crowd of non-natives of the city to move there.  It creates a new vacuum where you continuously force those whom need government assistance to another rough place.  There needs to be some type of median place where we can create affordable housing and not go from one extreme to another.

On the road again....

I guess it's time to blog about what is really good with me....

I'm now in Auburn trying to obtain my Masters of Community Planning and graduate minor in Economic Development.  I've been trying to adjust to this really small urban area compared to that of the Greater Birmingham and Metro Atlanta.  I'll try to include some of the happenings and debauchery that occurs in the Auburn-Opelika and Columbus areas.  However, it is going to be an ADJUSTMENT because the area is clearly a fractured region where everything is at least 5 miles from anything.  I consider this a "pit stop" along the journey of my life, so it will be interesting how I can blog about the Greater Birmingham area (Central Alabama), East Alabama, and Georgia (which I've been doing for awhile now).  I can already tell it's going to be an interesting 2-3 years in this area.  My heart is still in the major metropolitan areas, but my body is there.

Oh yeah, small rant.  The Columbus (Georgia) television market sucks ass.  I've never seen a market that needs to get its act together and I mean SERIOUSLY.  Why is that ABC affiliate, WTVM also known as "WTVM, News Leader 9" (HORRIBLE BRAND NAME, BTW) is the only news operation in the market that actually airs regular newscasts all 7 days of the week?  They also produce the lone nightly newscasts on WXTX "FOX 54", which is operated by WTVM via a shared-services agreement (legalese for co-ownership via a property trust or a front company).  The Media General-owned CBS-affiliate, WRBL, "WRBL, News 3",  used to be a strong competitor of WTVM, but due to the cheapness of Media General the station only airs 4 newscasts per day and 5 days a week (meaning no weekend newscasts).  It is a shotty at best news operation with practically no on-air talent at all.  It's quite embarrassing.  The piped in news product of NBC-affiliate WLTZ, "WLTZ NBC 38"  is so-so as they do try to make it look local, but like WRBL, it doesn't have air anything on the weekend and only have evening newscasts for 5 days a week.  There is practically no CW affiliate (unless you get WLTZ digital sub-channel called "GA-BAMA CW"), thus me having to watch my Thursday night show, The Vampire Diaries, online.  The sad and twisted irony is WTVM Raycom Media-owned sister station in the Montgomery market & NBC affiliate, WSFA, "WSFA 12" airs on Charter Auburn cable channel line up, which essentially means the market is fractured because WLTZ has no real pull on Lee County viewership.  Anything I've learn about TV market designation is that there is 1 affiliate allowed in each market's local area and if there is a duplication amongst the major networks then it is a fractured market with weak stations.  The Columbus (sometimes hyphenated with Opelika-Auburn, AL) market reminds me of most Southern TV markets in the 1990s, where there were only 4 full-powered TV stations and all the good syndicated old sitcoms that didn't put you to sleep wind up airing on the local FOX affiliate (which it does with WXTX) along with some other channels from other cities airing on the line-up in some of the key places outside the main urban area (Columbus metro area).

ON THE URBAN LANDSCAPE: The layout of the area is laughable.  U.S 431 is practically a two-lane country road most of the area until you get to the core of Opelika.  U.S 280 is a four-to-six-lane highway through the entire region and all the way to Birmingham as well as Columbus.  280 does come close to being an official freeway when it gets to the western periphery of the Columbus urban area in Russell County (Alabama) near Phenix City.  However, the only real freeways in the entire region is I-85 and I-185.  It's an area that lacks major freeway/throughway infrastructure serving the area population.   I will give Auburn some points for its continuous usage of sideways and crosswalk signals around most major intersections within its corporate limits.  The area also tends to lean towards a neighborhood retail center type of spread with some retailers like Winn-Dixie and Kroger locations.  However, the area is poorly laid out as the main regional retail area surrounding The Village Mall is located on East University Drive, which a road that less that 2 miles to the south is in a residential area.

If one to compare Auburn to Opelika then you would know Opelika is the better planned one of the two.  It is also more proactive in its economic development initiatives like the power center, TigerTown at US 280 & I-85 led by the Opelika Development Authority.  However, its also a texbook example of urban sprawl and short-term, retail-oriented economic development rather than more sustainable white-collar and self-investing knowledge-based developments like pushing toward getting a more research center or entrepreneur incubator (since it's near Auburn University).  Auburn seems to go more towards the latter mentioned since they recently opened the Auburn Research Park, which will have long-term economic development benefits for the region.

Columbus is just there.  I mean I've been there a couple of times, but it doesn't seems like beyond the military base, Fort Benning, that there is much to its economy beyond that.  The lack of direct freeway/throughway access is an impediment for accessibility to anyone.  I-185 suck since it's a north-south directional freeway that only serves as a way for others on the Georgia side of the region to get to I-85 from Columbus and Fort Benning.  There are the attempts by locals in Columbus to make the RiverCenter, the Riverwalk walk and bike path along & whitewater rafting in the Chattahoochee River, and the local theaters via "Broadway in Columbus" as a draw, but I'm unimpressed.  The city just lacks the population base to pull anything major which I'm more accustomed to in North Alabama and North Georgia.

In general, I'm in an "it is what it is" mindset about this region.  Lee County (Alabama) and Muscogee County (Georgia) are the main population centers, but they aren't very cooperated in their strategy to make the region more attractive or impressive to newcomers or outsiders.  I'll just spend my time focusing on my studies and networking with those in the Auburn-Opelika area and look forward to transitioning to Georgia...

If we didn't already know, Joe Reed is a JACKASS!

It just seems like that splaboo doesn't spare any clockwork when he proves to the entire world along with the entire the Alabama Democratic Party (ADP) that he is one.  Instead of having some dignity and showing that he isn't a pompous egregious bigot about race (and sexuality), NO!!!!  He had to prove that he likes to be all about race and direct representation of it.

In the curious case of the replacement of Kenya Lavender Marshall, a lawyer whom was suppose to be the Democratic nominee for the Jefferson County Circuit Court seat come November (since there is no Republican competition), whom wind up disqualified and disbarred for using clients funds for personal usage.  The Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee had to appoint a replacement in time for the August 27th deadline, which is 45 days after the run-off.  Meanwhile, where comes the mighty splaboo, Joe Reed, to sweep in with his usual brand of down-home splabuvian ignorance that has been recorded time and time again on this blog.  Instead of appoint the runner-up in the Democratic race, Nicole Stills, the ASDEC (lead by that splaboo) appoints Elisabeth French, some random lawyer whom happens to be black, to the seat because Reed wants a black person to represent since a black woman won over a white woman (Stills).

If we have learned anything from all this crap is that playing racial politics in the South never bodes well for anybody especially progressives.  Reed is so ignorant and pathetic because all this type of buffoonery is going to lead to is destruction.  It's like Reed wakes up in the morning and says, "I wonder how in the world can I screw up the possibility of Alabama ever getting a decent black politician elected from a statewide office?"

I'm too through with this crap and the ADP because they gave him the keys to its destruction when they let his racially bigoted ass into the executive committee nearly 4 decades ago...

The only upside to this story is that the Alabama New South Coalition (ANSC) and the Birmingham chapter of the SCLC called out this foolishness.