I was I was inspired to do this 'screed' by a foul mouthed and 'frontin' DJ I heard on radio station WPRB-FM, Princeton University the other night...Every word out of his mouth was a slur or a curse...I was kind of astounded that he just went on and on and the station seemed to be OK with it...I hear this language all the time myself where I live, so I figured a White Boy can speak in the 'vernacular' also...I weaved my rap in with some breaking news about a professional basketball player here in town who just got busted the other night...

Man, I grew up watchin' basketball, especially the Philadelphia 76ers...Saw Wilt Chamberlain play, Hal Greer, Chet Walker, Billy Cunningham, Doctor J, Moses Malone, all them...And they all had class...I even met Chamberlain after a game in the 76ers 1967 championship series with the San Francisco Warriors...Chamberlain was a complete gentleman...But nowadays in the NBA, you got a group of idiots out there, and they're makin' millions...But they got no Gospel and they got no brain...
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Hip Hop Frank D on 'Da Philly Tip'

"Wazzup, my niggaz and my wiggaz!...Dis' MC Frank D. givin' you da scoop on da shit happenin' in da community...'s mean, you know what I'm sayin'?...Yo, we gots to stop killin' each other, and do like Michael Vick do, front ,and make that bling!..'s mean, da money be green on both sides, yous and mine, 's wazzup!...Now les jes have a look at some current events in the community and da hood...I see yesterday dat Dionte Christmas of da 76ers was busted cold, by cops on north Broad Steet in Philly, for doin' wierd shit wid da car...AND, when the po-lice stop him, man, he got a .009 under the driver's seat...Now, my niggaz, de boy jes got cut by the 76ers and he probably had some shit on his mind...But see, you gots to be careful  's I'm sayin?...Dis nigga might have been gettin' some heat from some niggaz in da hood, and he pissed 'cause he cut and shit, but why he ridin' wid a gun?...And on top 'o dat, da car belong to his boy Marreese Speights, who also balls for the Sixers...Now, Speights already got da bling, so why he packin' heat in he damn car, and then givin' the car to de young boy Christmas?...Don make no damn sense...Niggaz don' be thinkin in a strategic sense, don' think at all..

.Here go Dionte:

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Man, dese niggaz makin big change, but dey actin' like niggaz on da corner, pants down below dey ass, shootin' other young niggaz for bullshit...Man, my jaunt like 'dis: You got da money, you ballin', don'  fuck up!...Simple ass shit...Dionte got cut, yeah, but he can go to Europe and shit, make da bling, and live phat, wid European pussy and shit, 'den come back to the NBA...Speights, he givin' himself a headache he din' need...Niggaz, wake de fuck up...Dis about money, no street nigga nonsense!...Dem NBA owners be payin' niggaz good money, but dey don't tolerate dis shit, 'cause it all about BIDNESS!"

Marreese Speights below:
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Makin' that 'Bling' for COMCAST

COMCAST
I recently have been trying to get Internet service at my place of residence, in 'International City', South West Philadelphia PA...After considering a number of options, all bad, including Verizon & CricKet wireless, I decided to go with the beastial COMCAST...Let me describe my experience, in a nutshell.

After having spoken with a number of COMCAST installers, who warned me about COMCAST's 'bait & switch' tactics, I made some calls to their 'customer service'.

I say 'a number of calls' because when you talk to someone at COMCAST, they are usually either trying to sell you something you don't want or they are clueless...The first call was to a young man, who initially offered me a price of around $50 a month for both the basic cable & the Internet...He had to check my address, and see if the services were available there...I was sure they were, because I have cables running out the walls in all the rooms...Anyway, I tentatively agreed to get the service, and we turned to the details of getting it hooked up...Midway in the conversation, the price went up to $80 a month...I said 'Wait, you just said $50 a month, plus tax, with a $50 hook up fee'...He says, 'I didn't say that'...I say 'Listen, I'm not insane...5 minutes ago you said $50 a month'...He says, 'You must have heard wrong. I never said that'...I say 'OK, goodbye'...One of the technicians I had talked with told me that they do this, and it depends on the customer rep you get...Some are honest, some lie...OK

Next day, I try again...This time I get a nice lady named Marsha...She says, 'Sure...$50 a month for cable/net, $50 hook up, no problem'...I say 'Yesterday someone told me $80, and I got pissed'...She just laughed.

So, I say OK, and then she tells me to get the account going I have to bring a number of documents to the COMCAST 'security' window on Columbus Blvd...I have to bring a current lease, SS card, driver's license, and proof of address for my last residence...OK.

I go to Columbus Blvd. and talk with a nice girl named Charlissa...She make photo copies of my papers, faxes them to COMCAST 'security central' and nicely gives me back my originals and the photocopies...This is Friday before Labor Day...I ask 'How long will this take?'...She says 'We work 365/24/7...72 hours at most'...I say 'OK, good...Will they call me or should I call COMCAST'...She write down her name and gives me a phone number...She says 'They'll call you, but I will be handling the account...Here is my number'.

I don't hear anything from them for 4/5 days, so I decide to call this Charlissa...Well, even though it is a (215) phone number, I get COMCAST central calling, and have to listen to a recording of Shaquille O'Neill & Ben Stein talking BS about COMCAST...No Charlissa...So when I finally get through to a rep, I ask 'Can I get my service?'...They say 'It hasn't been cleared by security yet'...I say 'Is there someone I can call at COMCAST security?'...'Well, here's a phone number'...I call the number and get the voice mail of a Maryann...I leave a message.

No return call...I call two more times...No call back...After 10 DAYS, out of the blue, I get a call from a garbled voice that says 'This is MMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMM COMCAST calling about your service'....I return the call...No call back...Finally after another week I get a hold of this woman named Michella Marshall...I say 'What about my service?'...She says 'Well, security has cleared you, but it says on the lease blah, blah, blah and you want blah, blah, blah...'...I say 'Forget the lease...Can I get service?'...She says 'Well, sure, do you want to set up an appointment for a tech to hook you up?'...I say 'Yeah'...

So we set up an appointment, for a Thursday...'Will you be home between 11 AM & 1 PM?'...'Sure'...At this point it is 20 days since I visited the COMCAST office to start my account.

I don't work on Thursdays...So, I get up about 10 AM to be ready for the tech...At 10:45 I go to the bathroom and leave my cell phone downstairs...When I go down, I see I have a voice mail...It is the COMCAST tech...He says 'This is COMCAST...I'm here, where are you at?'...So I call him back and say 'Sorry, I was in the bathroom'...He says 'Oh lord, are you there now?'...I say 'Yeah, it's 11 AM'...He hangs up.

The tech knocks on the door...He appears to be a nice African-American young man...I say 'Sorry, I missed your call, I hope I didn't inconvenience you'...He says something and goes out to his truck, parked across the street.

When he comes back, I tell him what I had ordered from COMCAST: 2 cable boxes, and two hi-speed modems...He says 'Two modems?...I never heard 'a that!'...I say 'Well, we have a TV downstairs, anda PC, and we have a TV upstairs and a laptop, so we need those connected'...'Man, you can't have two modems!'...'Why?...We have two computers...Customer service said the extra modem would be an additional $3 a month'...'Man, I don't install two modems...My work order says one modem...'sides, if you have two modems, you got to pay another $20 a month to get a feed through that modem'...'That's not what customer service told me'.

'Well, man, I ain't got time for this shit...I got money to make...You holdin' me up'...I say, 'Well, forget it then. Roll...I'll talk to customer service and get another tech out here. I'm not paying for something I didn't order'.

At this point, he gets very nervous, and starts sweating. He gets on the phone to his 'supervisor'...He starts whining about 'This guy want two modems and my work order say one...Man, I gots money to make, and he holding me up'...I talk to the supervisor, and the supe starts giving me a line of bullshit...I tell the supe 'Well, then forget it...Let your man roll...I don't want something I didn't order'...I give the phone back to the tech, smile and tell him 'Have a nice day'.

I go back inside, pissed and vowing to forget COMCAST...I light a smoke and my cell phone rings...It's a COMCAST customer rep...He says 'Oh, Mr.Dialogue, how are you...Is there a problem with your service?'...I take a sip of cold coffee...'Well, yes...Your service order didn't have what I wanted, and you tech told me he couldn't be bothered with me because he had money to make, so you can cancel my order'...Service Rep: 'Oh wait...That's not right what the tech did...'...We discuss the matter...We decide that, for now, I will have just one modem and 2 cable boxes, because the tech doesn't have an extra modem on the truck!...The rep tells me that COMCAST will waive the $50 install fee for 'my inconvenience'...I say 'OK'...Service Rep: 'Is the tech still there?'...I look out the door, and the truck is gone...I say 'No'...Service Rep: 'I'll take care of it' and hangs up.

Five minutes later, I hear a knock on my door...It's the tech...He's really sweating now...Someone must have reamed his as out on the phone...He brings in the 2 cable moxes and the modem...The he says 'Man, if you woulda just listened to me, I coulda been outa' here by now'...I say 'But you weren't going to install the service I ordered: Do you understand that?'...He just laughed...Anyway, he installed the boxes and the modem...I sak him 'Listen, aren't you supposed to give me an installation disc so that the computers can talk to the modems?'...'No man, we don't have no discs...It'll work: I gotta go...Sign this'...I signed the work order saying he was at the house.

Of course neither computer worked, because we needed an INSTALLATION DISC so that the computers could talk to the modem and the remote server...I know a few things about networks, since I have a diploma in network administration and tech support from Chubb Institute...It has taken me another week of talking to various 'technical support' and 'customer service' at COMCAST to get this fact confirmed...The rep I talked to today said 'Didn't the tech install the software needed for your computers to work?'...I said 'No, he was too busy tryin' to make his 'bling'...The customer rep profusely apologized, and said I wouldn't be charged for the extra service call...I await the next tech on this Thursday morning...It has been a month since I mad my first call to COMCAST...

But, a happy ending!...This past Thursday, after a MONTH of aggravation, a different service tech came over with an INSTALLATION DISC...When he comes in he sees my computer and says 'Man, I don't think I can work with that system: It's too old, and I build computers mysel!'...I say 'Can you just put the disc in and try it?'...He grunts, but goes along with my wishes...Guess what?...IT WORKS, and now I have the Internet!...I tell the tech to always 'remeber the importance of positive thinking!'...Yeah, well, anyway...

Perhaps this was just fate as I have never liked COMCAST from the jump...COMCAST is currently, and has been (for 10 years) in violation of it's license with the FCC by refusing to provide Public Access TV (where anyone can have a show for a nominal fee: COMCAST has already built three small studios for this around the city) because they say it will promote HATE SPEECH!

An interesting link:
http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Page...your-side.html

And an answer as to why COMCAST service is so bad (believe me, I am one of THOUSANDS!):

Why?...Why?...Why??!!!!...Because!!!!...
Because they can get away with it, and they have a 'kulture' (with a 'k') of sleaze starting with the Roberts family from the top...Now, the fish rots from the head...They are the epitome of the whole global monopoly/swindle game as it is played here...They don't care!!!...They have BILLIONS, they have a captive audience...And another poster made a good point: They hire 'ghetto boys' and 'wiggers' as installation techs, and then put them on a 'sub-contract' basis, where they are rewarded for installations made, not successful installations...Their customer service is spread out in call centers all over North America...I spent 1/2 hour talking to a rep who was based outside of Toronto...She was interesting, telling me about how her pet scorpion stung her that day, and her how she had a new baby and seven cats...But she had no clue about any technical matters, in fact, she tried to sell me a 'service package'...They are all told to SELL YOU SOMETHING...Most Americans are so dumb they will buy anything, anyway...COMCAST has a culture of the fast-shuffle, the double talk...Oh, and check this out...Everybody that calls COMCAST gets a message of 'This is Shaquille O'Neill...and 'This is Ben Stein'...COMCAST offers you the best.....'...Now, if you don't have a COMCAST account, after hearing this message, you get a number of menu options, and if you want to speak to a customer rep, you get the message 'All COMCAST reps are busy right now, please hold for the next available...'...Then music comes on...Then you get another ad that says 'Did you know that COMCAST...'...THEN, the music comes on for about 10 seconds, and you hear a voice that says 'This is COMCAST, can I help you?'...You think it's a real person, because the audio sample is good...Then you hear 'Hey this is Shaq, just kidding ha, ha, ha!!!'.

 


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Shaquille O'Neal & Ben Stein/COMCAST

 
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PAFA: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

In my travels, I run into many interesting people, and find interesting things. Yesterday, while perusing a stack of used books outside a local 'anarchist club' called the ' A Space', a found a copy of an old newspaper that I was first introduced to years ago, called 'The Spotlight' ('A Space' performs a valuable community service by sending books to prisoners in the PA prison system: Publications considered 'unsuitable' by authorities, or ones that the prisoners are not interested in are left outside their building, and are free to the public). I was first given a copy of this paper by an older man, a security guard I worked with at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where I also worked, in the late 1980s. At the time, I was rather sick of politics, as we were in the latter stages of the Reagan Administration, and anticipated the regime of his successor, George Herbert Walker 'Poppy' Bush. As always, I was immersed in my music, and although I had a keen interest in history, my political awareness was pushed to the side.

Anyhow, this gentleman gave me a copy of this 'Spotlight' newspaper, and told me it was very important that I read it. I told him I had little interest in politics, but he insisted. He said 'This country is run by a number of shadowy forces, and they are the ones really in control'. He then mentioned the name of Rockefeller, international bankers and so on. I felt a bit sorry for this gentleman because he seemed very disheartened, and disillusioned with life. So, to make him feel better, I took a copy of the paper, and read some of it when I went home.

I was a bit surprised at the content, detailing just the 'conspirators' he talked about, but my interest was piqued a bit. But then I put it aside and went for my guitar.

In the intervening years, I never really sought out the 'Spotlight' which was very hard to get anyway, unless one had a subscription. But, events started unfolding that played on my mind. The Bush administration brought Gulf War I, with it's resulting call by Bush for a 'New World Order', and then a serious recession economically.

The Clinton years brought myriad scandals and confusion, culminating with the American led NATO attack on Serbia and Kosovo, areas that were of no clear interst to the American people. Cruise missile strikes on Iraq and 'al-Quida' in Sudan. Blowing up of military headquarters in Saudi Arabia. Failed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington. The Monica Lewinsky affair.

Rhe 21st Century brought, of course, the '911 Event' and the ensuing disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with an increasing dominance of US politiKs by Israel and the Jewish lobby. Not to mention the final gutting of the American industrial economy, transforming our country into a 'nation of consumers' and debtors.

In the years after 911, I began a serious study of American & global economics and politics, along with economics and history. The main question for me was always: 'Who is really running this show?'. Because it became quite apparent that the American President wasn't in charge, not at all. Being an 'old boy' also (Ha!) I also recalled all that happened in the 1960s, primarily the JFK, RFK & MLK assassinations and the disastrous Vietnam War. I was filled with questions.

Yesterday, at the 'A Space' I found a pristine copy of 'The Spotlight' newspaper, dated, curiously enough, June 14, 1999 (my birthday!)...I was amazed at the articles included, and reading it, found that it was asking just the questions that today's truth seekers ask every day. Questions that won't be asked (or answered) in the NY Times or Washington Post or on 'mainstream' television news. Here is a sample article. front page:


The SPOTLIGHT
June 14, 1999

NATO TARGETS SERB CULTURE

As of May 30, preliminary accounts estimate that NATO has attacked thousands of sites in Yugoslavia, launching close to 3,000 cruise missiles and dropping more than 10,000 tons of explosives -- all on a country without means to fight back.

By Christopher J. Petherick

Critics of the war in Yugoslavia dispute NATO officials' claim to a moral imperative driving the war in Kosovo as more and more of NATO's targets appear to be civilian and cultural.

"Anyone scrutinizing the unpublished list of targets hit by NATO is left in little doubt that a deliberate terror campaign is being waged against the civilian population of Yugoslavia," wrote John Pilger in The Guardian, a London- based tabloid.

In one of the latest events, NATO, staging a predawn attack in downtown Belgrade, "mistakenly" sent a laser-guided missile 500 yards past its target, a Military barracks, slamming into a hospital and killing three civilian patients and one hospital staff member.

The hospital's intensive care unit was leveled and the neurological building was severely damaged. The maternity ward and gynecological departments were also damaged, requiring that pregnant mothers and newborns be relocated to other hospitals in the city.

The bombing also damaged neighboring homes, including the residences of the Swedish, Norwegian and Spanish ambassadors.

Norway and Spain, which are NATO members, had removed embassy officials before the bombings commenced. But the Swedish ambassador, whose home is only 200 beet from the hospital, was still in his house when nine windows and the front door ware blown out.

In a rare glimpse of what Yugoslavian citizens face daily, the Swedish ambassador recounted how he and his house guests dove under a table, hiding for cover as the missile exploded a short distance away.

NATO missiles hit a bridge crowded with pedestrian traffic, killing at least 11 people and injuring 40 on May 30. The bridge was crowded that morning, because Sunday is traditionally a time when people travel to the markets to do their shopping.

LOOK AT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY HAS DONE

According to reports, people watched in horror as old women and children were incinerated.
"We knew they were going to hit this bridge, we just didn't think it would be in the day when people were traveling across it," one woman lamented.

Investigative reporter Mike Blair reported in the May 3 edition of The SPOTLIGHT that as the war dragged on, the U.S. military would be forced to use missiles with "older, less sophisticated guidance systems," resulting in what he predicted to be more "collateral damage."

Still others say that NATO policy-makers are deliberately waging "a terror campaign" against the people of Yugoslavia to get them to force their government to acquiesce to NATO terms.

Everyday NATO spokesman Jamie Shea and Gen. Wesley Clark assemble the world's journalists and broadcast the day's "upbeat" NATO news: "Serb soldiers breaking ranks and returning home" or "Serbian military machine eroding." Almost gleefully, the media reports on the number of missions NATO planes have flown over the country.

The SPOTLIGHT has consistently publicized the "real" story behind NATO's illegal acts, led by U.S. policy makers, in violation of international law.

A reliable source in Congress told The SPOTLIGHT that the total damage inflicted by NATO jets upon Yugoslavia so far totals approximately $150 billion*


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Now, 'The Spotlight' was founded by one Willis Carto of the "Liberty Lobby', a populist organization variously described by yellow journalists as 'White Nationalist' and 'anti-semitic', two terms hurled about when any criticisms of policies regarding Israel or race relations are openly discussed. We know enough to recognize these smear words as distractions from very real topics under discussion that go against certain agendas. Carto & the Liberty Lobby went through various trials and turmoils, including lawsuits. Other writers and contributors for the paper were Michael Colins Piper, Tom Valentine (who hosted a very popular talk show called 'Radio Free America' in the 1980s-90s and Jim Tucker, watchdog on the notorious Bilderberg Group.'The Spotlight' has since morphed into the AFP (American Free Press) that still covers many of the issues that the Spotlight did.

The great free-lance journalist and 911 investigator Christopher Bollyn was a writer for the AFP, but, in his latest wbblog, he has some very interesting things to say about the AFP. Even, and sometimes especially, in the alternative press things may nor be as they appear. It seems that the same 'shadowy forces' that the 'Spotlight' fixed it's beam on, may actually have infiltrated the publication. According to Bollyn:

"I later discovered that the newspaper and the organization behind it, the Liberty Lobby, are actually owned by the Jewish leftist lawyer, Mark Lane, and have been since the early 1990s when he bought the assets of Liberty Lobby with some of the $5 million he had been paid by Willis A. Carto in legal fees.

I learned this from L.T. Patterson, publisher of Criminal Politics of Cincinnati.  Patterson's newsletter is similar to the publications of the Mark Lane's Liberty Lobby, which is what led Lane to sue Patterson in the mid-1990s for some $10 million.  Lane, a Zionist Jew, wanted to have a monopoly in the patriotic newspaper business.  During the legal process Patterson learned that Lane had acquired the assets of the nearly bankrupt Liberty Lobby in the early 1990s.  Manfred Roeder, a German patriot who has been imprisoned often in occupied Germany, told me that such controlled opposition newspapers like National Zeitung are designed to skim the cream off of the nationalist movement.  They also serve as outlets of disinformation and have even more sinister purposes."

So sometimes, we appear to be living in a 'House of Mirrors' or a 'Fun House' in the words of Iggy Pop.

Nevertheless, 'The Spotlight' was a pioneering paper in terms of exposing what is commonly called the 'New World Order', the lies of our own politiKos and military leadership, and the influence of powerful Zionist and other foreign interests on American policies, both foreign and domestic. Whatever 'backroom intrigues' were taking place, and we have quite a cast of characters working here, judging by the fruits, I would say that this unique publication was a pioneering one in many ways, and ahead of it's time.

Funny what you run into in your travels: A tired old boy who turns you onto a source of valuable information, and a hard copy of the same laying out on a table on a city street.

From Bollyn on 'The Spotlight'/AFP
Why Are We Unable to Resist?

 'The Spotlight' Archives June 14, 1999
SPOTLIGHT News June 1999

'The Spotlight'
News Archive, The SPOTLIGHT by Liberty Lobby

'A Space'
The A-Space | anarchist community space

PAFA
Pennsylvania Academy-Fine Arts



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Willis Carto

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Mark Lane