What happened in Boston this Monday, lends credence to what I already suspected a long time ago… “SOME PEOPLE JUST WANT TO SEE THE WORLD BURN” to quote Batman’s butler from the movie the‘Dark Night’. Some have a specific reason, most don’t. So give them guns, or take them away, these same individuals will find away to inflict pain. Chicago, Ill became the focal point of the heated gun ownership/violence debate recently; Do to some very high-profile shootings. Hadiya Pendlton, is a name we all should never forget. Along with young Trayvon Martin and countless others, she was another “victim” to senseless gun violence. Basically, Some young knuckleheads ran through a park, shooting at rival gang members, and bullets struck her in the back taking her life. As always in these types of situations, it was later found out that she was not the intended target and the so-called “enemies” weren’t even in the park that day! SMH. Normally, this kind of story wouldn’t have made it out of the Chicago area, BUT… A little over a week prior to her demise, she along with her classmates, sang at our Presidents inauguration. To bring this all the way “home” for the Prez, the murder took place mere blocks away from Obama’s Chi-Town pad! I read a few articles, online, about the tragedy, and what annoyed me was the lack of compassion from the mainstream media. Mostly right-winged white-collar assholes who have an “ax to grind” with Barry, they almost insinuated that she brought this on her self, and Obama made it all possible with his “black-self”. The comments, left by people who will never be held accountable, were racist at best. I can’t help but want 10 minutes alone with these fools,but it’s not entirely their fault! We have to again ask our selves the tough questions, when these tragedies happen, like: Why are guns so easy to get in urban America? Why were these young black males running through the park shooting guns, instead of running through park shooting hoops or reading a book? What ever happened to the “fist-fight”? Where are the fathers AND mothers? Where are the OG’s? I could continue, but why? We already know the answers. So, do we just except the fact that this type of bullshit will continue to happen, no matter what we do?

Switching lanes for a minute, as a father of six wonderful spirits, I am forced to deal with the realities of the world we live in even more than before. My oldest son, Malik, 17 is at an age where he is experiencing all the ups and downs of life. Sex, drugs, peer pressure, violence are all things he has to encounter almost daily. He has to make potentially “life changing” choices that his mom and I cannot always be there to help him with. One of my goals as a parent is to make sure my children are never burdens on society, i.e. drug addicts, criminals, etc. I have had guns around my kids since they were little and taught them the power of a gun, more importantly though, the action or reason behind ever having to shoot one. I am hopeful that he never sees the gun as a way to resolve an issue. It is for protection reasons only. Each 1, teach 1…

I reside in Georgia and Georgia has some of the softest gun laws in the WORLD. A driver’s license, no felonies and a short wait, (3-7 days for a back round check) and you too can be a proud gun owner. Your weapon of choice cannot be concealed and loaded. Meaning, if you have a gun license, which by the way, is easier to obtain than a passport or business license, you must have it on your hip, like a real live cowboy! The south is famous for its Gun shows. At these events you can find predominantly older white males selling and buying all types of firearms from low caliber pistols to military styled automatic assault rifles. As with most things hidden from “us”, “we” eventually caught on to this and started showing up in droves. Now it’s being said that the gun shows maybe wiped out altogether in the not so distant future. “Can’t have those “blacks’ havin to many guns… shoot, they’ll kill each other than us! In my faux redneck voice. Dick Gregory, the brilliant comedian and activist said a few years ago that “black on black crime” is so high because people kill whom they live around. Statistically speaking he is correct. Whites kill more whites than any other race, yet and still it is made to seem that African-Americans are the ones with the problem. Jodi Arias, a white woman, is on trial as we speak fighting for her life after she stabbed (25 times, ouch!) SHOT, and cut the throat of her lover Travis Alexander. This woman obviously has some mental issues, to say the least. She’s claiming self defense and looks bat shit crazy whenever you see her on the news. I wonder though, is she anymore prone to violence than the two guys that allegedly murdered Hadiya on that rainy Chicago day in the park? Jodi Arias actually brought her gun legally a few days prior to the slaying. Who saw that coming? Her parents, in interrogation videos, actually seemed scared of their own daughter. She sliced and diced this young man and the gun she used was an after thought, it seems. Outlaw guns if you want, but your not stopping a nut like her once her fragile mental capacity breaks. I say all of this to surmise, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, always have always will. Whether it’s a religious fanatic somewhere in the Middle East with a grenade and an M-16 or a scared homeowner using his .357 magnum to protect his family, humans kill humans…

The gun is just a means to an end.

SALUTE.

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I can remember very clearly the first time I laid my hands on a gun. I can still feel the immediate sense of power and electricity that surge from my hands to my brain. I couldn’t have been a day older then 7 or 8, snooping around 1 of my uncle’s bedrooms while he was babysitting me. It was a small pistol and considering the time frame, probably a “Saturday night special” made popular by “street cats” in the mid 70’s, Popular because they were very cheap and very available. When I first saw it, I thought it was a toy, because I HAD toys that looked like a carbon copy of the very gun I held in my immature hands. I did what most kids who’ve never held a gun do… Pointed the barrel towards my face and click… and then I pulled the trigger again and again, click… It was in that moment, that I became scared.

This thing was different from my “toy guns”. It was heavier and colder and in my naiveté, broke! What I didn’t know was that it was not ‘broken’, but actually, and luckily for me, unloaded. Daam, when I think about it now, that could’ve been a wrap for me! I threw the “broken hunk of metal” back in the drawer I took it from, and bounced before I was caught and got my ass whooped. True, it frightened me, but it also kept a curiosity in me alive, born the very first time I saw gun violence on the television. I didn’t need to wait to see it on T.V. though. No, it was right there for me as soon as I left the safety of my mother’s apartment. I used to collect bullet casings from out of the gutters in the wicked streets of Brooklyn, NY. My buddy’s and I would throw them at each other pretending they were real when we played “cops and robbers”.

I saw a man murdered, shot in the head for his boom box one night while sitting on my terrace. I watched the police, then the coroner, come and pick him up and take his lifeless body away. I listened as the “ol-heads” from the block talk about how that “boy got his head blown off for a goddam radio…” In that same apartment building, a whole family of Columbians were murdered inn an apparent drug deal gone wrong. I got off the elevator one day to visit my cousins who lived in the building and was overwhelmed by the smell of “death”. If you’ve never smelled it you cannot fathom what I mean. I don’t remember how many people were killed but I do recall they were shot, and all of this happening before the age of 13.
AS time passed I began to lose friend after friend leading up to the untimely deaths of my comrades Tupac and Yafeu. Prior to that, my older brother’s dad was even shot, but survived. I say this to say Gun violence is something I know all to well. From an Uncle that I never got a chance to meet to rapper Rick Ross’s Rolls Royce being shot up recently, murder from the barrel of a gun is as familiar to me as the palms of my hands.

Now that was some of my beginning, but lets go all the way back, back to the origins of Guns. That would mean we’d have to travel to China in the 12 century. 3 centuries prior, they invented gunpowder. They started as mini cannon’s, then traveled west, being improved along the way. The Native Americans’ knew nothing of such a weapon and this resulted in them being slaughtered by the thousands, in the name of advancement or exploration by the time the 17th century rolled around. Killing someone became a lot easier and cleaner because of this invention. Our “fore-fathers” knew the importance of the instrument; so much so, it’s the second amendment right after the freedom of speech, assembly, and religion! I won’t even get into the fact that it was only permissible for whites and a “slave’, even a freed black person could be hung if caught with one.

I always felt it was a certain karma that came with firearms, especially when it came to The United States of America. In my opinion this is the exact reason country seems to be the nation who has the biggest issue with them. We out paste most 3RD WORLD countries and “Super powers” in murders per capita. Has anyone wondered why there are so many guns in this country in the first place?
Here are some stats I found that were interesting to me:
Gun Ownership
• The US has an estimated 283 million guns in civilian hands
• Each year about 4.5 million firearms, including approximately 2 million handguns, are sold in the
United States
• An estimated 2 million second hand firearms are sold each year
• The percentage of American households with a gun has been steadily declining high of 54% in
1977 to 33% in 2009
• The average number of guns per owner has increased from 4.1 in 1994 to 6.9 in 2004. Sources:
Injury Prevention 2007; ATF 2000; National Opinion Research Center 2008; Pew Research Center 2009
Gun Deaths: firearms each year in this country More than 30 people are shot and murdered
each day kill More than 30,000 people
1/2 of them are between the ages of 18 and 35
1/3 of them are under the age of 20 Homicide is the second leading cause of death among 15‐24
year‐olds And the primary cause of death among African Americans of that age group
Gun Homicides average annually: Less than 50: Japan Less than 150: Germany, Italy, France,
etc. Less than 200: Canada More than 10,000: USA Source: IANSA International Action
Network on Small Arms of the United Nations

Other countries have citizens who use there right to “bear arms” freely, but as you can see, don’t come close to the U.S. in the amount of deaths from guns. Recently while watching the news, I was amazed at the mile long line of willing participants in L.A.’s “gun buy back program”. Essentially, you can bring you firearm back (to the police); sell it, no questions asked. Of course in these desperate economic times, people were more than willing to give up a couple of their weapons for cold hard cash. Conspiracy theorist cry out “the government wants guns out of the peoples hands, so they can enact Marshall law!” Could there be some truth to that? If so, a gun buy back program is one way to do it, but with over 300 million guns in this country, it would take a hundred years to do this successfully…
After Sandy Hook, there was an outcry for tougher gun laws. Add that with what happened in Colorado this summer and we now have full fledge hysteria! These tragedies stand out because of the amount of casualties that occurred in one setting… But everyday in this great nation’s middle, the city that gave us Obama “the politician”, people are dying in numbers that resemble a small war…

TO BE CONTINUED…

SALUTE.

What’s good people! Well the Mayans were wrong, or right depending on how you look at it. Needless to say, we are all still here, on earth and that’s a good thing! Because if they, the Mayans, were right we all would have missed one of the most significant films to come out in the past 10 years or so. Django, starring Jamie Foxx, Samuel Jackson, Kerry Washington, and directed by Quentin Tarentino is really a western styled movie with a slave as its main character. Django is a slave being transported to his new ‘home” after being soled in 1850’s Greenville, Mississippi. Along the way him and His fellow slaves and slave masters cross paths with Dr, Shultz, a German dentist turned bounty hunter. Shultz knows Django can ID his latest bounty and needs him to help him out. In a brutal and typically violent Tarentino opening scene, Shultz takes out Django’s owners and frees him, sort of. That’s the thing about this flick, there’s double messages being thrown at you from all angles at all times. Peep game, I don’t want to tell you the whole plot, incase you haven’t seen it yourself. I must warn you though, it is gory, and it is the type of movie that will make you uncomfortable as you sit thru hearing the word “nigger” about 200 plus times. It’s set years BEFORE the civil war and according to THEIR history books, this is what we were referred as. Samuel L. Jackson, one of our greatest thespians, will make you hate him as he plays the Uncle Tom/house nigga of the worst kind. He is almost giddy as he shuffles to his “master” played by Leonardo DiCaprio, when we first see him. Tarentino, who also wrote the script, magically layers each character, so you almost know them from the screen. Critics complain because slavery is this country’s ugliest past and there is no way to do it right, unless its in a ROOTS styled “whoa AS as me” “sweaty niggas getting whipped and hung” sad ass story kind of way. DJango is not that. He is killing up white people left and right and basically getting away with it in an effort to rescue his wife, Broomhilda, played by Kerry Washington. Django has a mission and “anybody can get it” if they get in him or Dr.Shultz way. In another scene, he literally whips a slave masters ass, and saves a young black girl, who herself was about to be whipped. We have never had THIS story told to us, but it happened. The story of Nat Turner should have been told along time ago. In a way it’s being told through Django. Rebellions happened and they usually ended with some white people dying. With Inglorious Bastarsds, Tarentino showed you the Nazis getting their heads whacked off with baseball bats, in Django you get to see evil, redneck slave owning crackers slaughtered and you love it. It’s guilt free violence served to you on a movie platter. “They aint never seen a nigga on a horse before…” is what Jamie Foxx says to Christopher Waltz as they ride through a small hick town in Texas. Waltz, who also played in Inglorious Bastards as a sinister Nazi General, is grosslyunderrated as an actor, in my opinion. Peep the opening scene in Bastards and tell me you weren’t dam near shiitin ya draws!

IT WASN’T LOSSED ON ME that the Weinstein production company put up the bread to get this done. The only people Jews hate more than a Palenstienie terrorist is a racist white American from somewhere in the South. So sure they green lighted this joint! AND we should all be thankful. Django is a super hero for todays times borrowed from yesterday’s pain. He is the revenge for Alex Haley’s Kunta Kinte Brought to life in 2013. There are two sides to every story and this is the other side of slavery. It was great to see some black characters in control of there on destiny despite being in bondage, You’ll have to see the movie to fully understand that last statement.

This movie is important and timely. There is a shift happening, but its not being televised. There is an awakening happening that was meant to happen right at this very moment.So, rightfully, in 2013 we get to see a “slave movie” where the slave is feared and respected. Yes there are some parts that will make you cringe, and if your black (or a sympathetic white person), make you wish for a time machine and an A-R 15 assault rifle to take with you back to the 1800’s. Still overall, I left the theater feeling somewhat empowered by the experience. I heard Katt Williams had some things to say about the movie and Jamie Foxx’s sexuality, only the latter should any of us care about. His main complaint was about the use of the word ‘nigger’. Like I said before, this is a period piece, meaning it’s set in a different time, during slavery. The movie would’ve lost all credibility if the slave owners referred to their slaves as “sir” or “maam”. Black, yellow, red, brown, or white, go see the movie. Go see the ugliness of slavery and have it shoved back in your face, again. Shit the Jews never will allow the world to forget the Holocaust. This same world should not be allowed to forget Slavery. Unfortunately we don’t get to tell enough of our stories unless we are “shuckle and jiving” or playing non-threatening often demeaning roles. So many actors have had to effeminate themselves to make it to the big-screen (I.e. Eddie Murphy Martin Lawrence, Tyler Perry etc.). Django is a man, black, and you know it right away. Now I don’t know how many “awards’ this motion picture will earn but it would be a crime if it weren’t recognized by both the “industry” and the public for it’s great “big balls”. No pun intended. (Lol) This movie is important because slavery still exist in this country but has been camouflaged in a subtle way and called another name, incarceration.

SALUTE.

P.S. 2013 IS HERE! HERE’S SOMETHIN TO CELEBRATE TO:

EDIDON – So Cool

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! #OUTLAWLUV #O4L

DEAR POPEYES CHICKEN,

I HATE YOU MUFUCKAZ!

YOUR’S TRULY

EDIDON

I had to y’all. For those of you who still eat that garbage, don’t take it personal. I to had a love affair with the tasty but unhealthy fast food chicken chain. I remember when they first came on the scene. Being a lil kid in Brooklyn NY, I would pester my mother relentlessly to one day take us there, I naively assumed that my favorite cartoon CHARACTER at the time had ingeniously started selling chicken and I would have to check it out, ASAP! But I do remember thinking “If this is POPEYE’S chicken, how come they don’t sell any spinach?” Wasn’t the wonderful vegetable packed with nutrients essential to healthy living, the very thing Popeye used to kick Brutus’s ass and get his chick, Olive Oil back in almost every episode? “Well why don’t they have any, Ma” I asked. She responded that it wasn’t the same as the cartoon; they just used the name to sell it to us. That was my first experience with direct Marketing and Promotion.

I dislike Popeye’s not only because they sell unhealthy, cheap food, mostly in poor economic areas, but also those horrendouscommercials. We’ve all seen em, for example, the 1 with the older BLACK lady, who wants you to believe she is in every location, somewhere in the back, happily “fryin up some chicken, FOR yall” I’ve done the research and we are not the originators of “Fried Chicken” even though, Historically we (blacks) are considered to be. For the record, Popeyes was started by Al Copeland, a white guy from Louisiana, who also bought Church’s Chicken in 1982. Which brings me to 2012-13. An era that is dominated by hip-hop, not because we sell the most records, that hasn’t happened since 2001, but because we “the hip-hop generation” consume the most! Most records now a days are nothing short of commercials. With your favorite rapper proudly boasting about what he has and buys, while throwing it back into your face that you can’t and probably never will be able to afford any of it.

The major corporations began taking notice in the 80’s. RUNDMC famously made 20,000 people hold up their ADDIDAS in Madison Square Garden and it was officially on and poppin. It took time though and there was some resistance. Timberland let it be known they didn’t give a daam how many “rappers” flaunted and named dropped the boot company they were not made for “us” and didn’t want to be associated with hip-hop publically, but didn’t mind the boost in profits for the fledgling corp. Cristal Champagne dissed us to! After rappers started making real money and hanging with Hollywood stars, they began to get a taste of what the wealthy enjoy. Street cats with large amounts of cash to blow in clubs too were hip to the fancy, sweet tasting drink. But it was the rappers that made it famous to “us”, the consumer.Did Cristal thank us? NO. Jay-Z, a smart dude, began to take notice. He saw the power in his own lyrics and how what HE endorsed could sway his listeners one way or another. Steve Stout, who some of you may remember was cracked in the head by Puffy with a Cristal bottle! (say word,), some years back, is now the liaison between Big Corp USA and the hip-hop world. Him and Jay work together on a number of Ad deals, including Budweiser beer. I can’t knock the hustle (no pun) one bit. He has the Nets thing poppin too. You couldn’t write a better story. Local kid, blows up in the rap world, comes back, and brings an NBA team a few short blocks from the very projects he grew up and sold drugs in. The 4040 clubs, the list goes on. He owns none of them is the face we identify with, so they pay him well. Even Ice Cube, the hardcore political gangsta rapper, now has a deal with Coors beer.Rappers have essentially said, “If you can’t beat em, join em.” Cut me a check. Ciroc is not owned by Puffy, he has a share in the profits, which now have skyrocketed 500% since he got involved a few years ago.

Dr.Dre topped the Forbes list this year, without dropping one record anybody cared about due to the deal he made with Beats By Dre headphones and HTC. Most music videos are sly advertising tools, with product placement throughout. If you see a bottle of liquor deliberately displayed, somebody got a check. But your not getting a dime, in-fact you’re spending hard earned cash, for cds, mp3s, concertsetc.… Can we blame them though? We, the people, are too easily accepting and dismissive of the messages being sent to our children and us. Rappers are capitalist and it takes money to maintain the lifestyles they brag about. Bills got to be paid. All it takes is one MC to name drop on one of his hits, and people run to the mall or the bar and spend money they don’t have to feel like their “in”, or validated. Sure, it’s your paper, spend it how you may. But while you copping them new Js for 250$, ask yourself, do you really like the high priced sneaker? Or did somebody tell you, you liked them.

SALUTE.

P.S. CHECKOUT SOUNDCLOUD.COM/BEATZBYEDI FOR NEW BEATS ON SALE AND EXCLUSIVES FROM “THE HOPE DEALER” ALBUM BY EDIDON DROPPING IN 2013.

Salute.

P.S. @Young_Noble1-Son of God drops Nov. 13 on iTunes.

TheHopeDealer
@TheRealEDIDON

Love and Hip-Hop ATL was a huge hit for VH1 this year, ratings out the roof week after week. Now sure Stevie J was the most talked about “character” from the show. Yet it was the “relationships” of all that were involved that held viewers captivated. We all like to see others go through something similar to the things we deal with in life. Sex, emotions, insecurities, egos, lies, truths, and a whole list of other things make up the gumbo called “love”. It ain’t easy but it’s worth it, if you want it. Most of the time it’s as simple as just being honest you’re your significant other about your wants and needs. Remembering that none of us are perfect and there’s always room for improvement can help you out on those rough days when you feel like walking away is easier than another argument. Also every relationship you have may not be the “1”. You may have a few bumps in the road on you way to meeting your “soul mate”. There’s someone for everyone. You are what you attract, so if you keep running into asshole men or scandalous woman,

Well…

SALUTE.

P.S. NEW MUSIC FROM EDIDON THIS MONDAY AT MIDNITE OFF THE OUTLAW NATION MIXTAPE dropping OCTOBER 15!

WWW.O-4-L.COM EDIDON Exclusive Interview #2

In about 40 some odd days, America will either re-elect this countries only 1ST and only black president, or we will elect the first Mormon President. Either way it goes, somebody somewhere is going to be pissed! I guess you can tell this is not a “get out and vote” blog at all. I’m the pessimistic voter Obama spoke about in his wonderfully delivered DNC speech from Thursday night. Obama is probably the best speech giver in this countries history. He even out does Former President Clinton, who gave a noteworthy performance prior to his.

1st, Let’s go back a view weeks for a minute. I have an Uncle who we call “Bone-Daddy”. He is in his early 60’s but has always been cooler than the other side of the pillow. A black hippy of sorts, he spent most of his life working at well paying jobs and getting high, never seemed to be political until now. Bone Daddy is a HUGE Obama supporter. So passionate, he will debate you to no end about him. He asked me did I plan to vote, and was not pleased with my response. I told him no because I feel our voting system is flawed, seriously. The popular vote is not enough to elect one person over the other. We found this out the hard way back in 2000 when Bush Jr “stole” the election from Al Gore. He did not win the popular vote, but through some “miss-handling” of a large number of votes in Florida, a state where his little bother was the Governor, he was able to get enough Electoral voters to secure the White House. Everyone knew it was some b.s. But we were powerless to stop it.

Less than a year later we had 9-11 and all the madness that followed. I also told him “Politicians, in my opinion, are owned by special interest groups and lobbyist.” As soon as he/she takes dollar one in the form of campaign contributions, they become obligated. These days the greedy bankers are the ones picking the President and who ever is willing to do there bidding will get into office, again, in my opinion. After hearing that he pulled out his race card. “Well he’s a black man and I just like seeing “us” in the White House!” This is a common retort you will almost always hear from “us” when it gets down to the real issues regarding the president. He also said “Obama being in office will inspire children to believe they can be President!” Even the cats that I’ve spoken to always say “Imma vote cuz he black!” That’s absurd, dog. Remember we sold us in to Slavery a lot of the times during the slave trade… Older Blacks who lived through the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s really get emotional, because they fought for equal rights and voter rights and never imagined this happening. So I get it, I do. The “powers that be” gave you the perfect picture to latch on to. After 8 years of Bush, something drastic had to be done. In 2004 Obama was a virtual unknown when he spoke at that years DNC. Fast-forward, he is now running for re-election of this nations top office. He filled a void that we all felt after the Bush years. Him and his beautiful family are picture perfect for potential voters. America it self is a corporation and when any Corp is struggling, what do you do? Get rid of the old C.E.O and replace him with a new one. A better one, to get “you” the shareholders to believe again. After about an hour, my uncle reminded me why I never talk about Politics and religion with people. They get overly emotional and start to try to use opinion as fact, as he did. Look its all a big show, somewhat similar to sports, even the color schemes of each party, scream branding and marketing. Red, blue, crips, bloods, Giants, Patriots…

The trick is to get us to buy in to the hoax. Truthfully I wouldn’t mind Obama getting a second term. It’s better than our next President being a dude named Mitt. His campaign slogan is “Keep America, American” Sound familiar? Well if it does, its because the KKK used it back in the 20’s. And Mitt, I got news for you, if we really are going to keep “America, American” every immigrant needs to start packing and leave this to the indigenous people, the Native Americans.

I predicted Obama wouldn’t get a second term. I still stand by that. I think it’s pre-determined. I don’t think as many of us is going to vote this time around anyway. Niggaz is playin Madden and shit, Workin on they next Mix tape n shit. Really, who has time for this type of shit? “It aint gon change shit for me…” I feel yall. But Obama’s record of achievement is not bad, though! He got Bin Laden! *Winks* in an election year. Wrapped up real nice for us like a Kwanza gift. Malcolm (not me, X) told us to “believe half of what we see and none of what we hear.” Besides politicians in different states such as (Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas), mainly from the republican side are trying their hardest to disenfranchise millions of voters. Some of the legal battles Republicans are losing, but there are few still pending, especially in Florida, which has 27 electoral votes. The stakes are higher then ya man Wiz Khalifa! At the end of the day, things will only get better for you and me when we decide to change things. The power really is in our hands. Collectively we can move mountains, and it won’t matter who’s in office. So vote if you choose, and if I choose not to that’s my right as well. In 2008 I actually went to vote and was shocked when I was told that because I had never voted, I had to reapply. I basically had lost my right TO VOTE because I didn’t use it. So is it my right or not? Don’t give me something, say its mine, but…

SALUTE.

SALUTE.

P.S. STAY FOCUSED.

If you take the word “Independent” literally, using the Webster’s dictionary version, this country should not be celebrating at all right now!!! First, a lot of y’all will be to busy shoving burgers and shit down ya throats to even read this today. The rest will read that first line and surmise that I’m a kill joy and keep it movin to Porn Hub or something (lol). Anyway, I would not make a statement like that and not have any proof to back up my opinion, which I see to be fact. I mean, Just look at how much we depend on other nations for our survival and luxury. You wanna drive? Our gas comes from where? Duh… Shit we owe China so much bread, they could evict us from our own country, just like these crooked banks do to Americans daily! Independent? Stop it. This countries very work force is comprised, mostly of our primos from south of the border. If they got together under one common belief and decided to go on strike, they could bring America to her knees and make her “take it to the head”. The whole world depends on each other, and it’s becoming more obvious everyday. When I watch the news and they get to the economic portion, I’m always a little perplexed when I hear that the NASDAC is down because the NIKKEL is down way over in Japan, or vice versa. So how are we Independent? I’m sure the founding fathers felt good signing the Declaration in August 1776. Yeah August, Drafted in July, wasn’t exactly signed by all 13 colonies until a month later. The great state of New York was the last to sign.On paper, no pun intended, it’s a great concept. Freedom to worship, carry yablammers, say what you want, so on and so on. We were now Free from Great Britain, the over bearing and controlling mother. Truth is, back then it really balled down to one thing and one thing only. MONEY. Britain wanted to raise taxes, we weren’t with it, they also undercut us on some Tea revenue leading us to the “Boston Tea Party” and the rest is history you fell asleep on in the 9th grade. Still, they had to fight a war that lasted 5 years (American Revolution). Eventually America would win, but not without the help of the French! Independent? We all know nothing in life is free. What did we owe France for helping us out? I don’t write this shit to be a party pooper. No, this is just to start a trend of going beyond the surface of what has been fed to us all of our lives. The Fourth of July is another, in the long list of bullshit holidays, force fed to us until we regurgitate. The U.S.A is not independent because it’s Congress is controlled by money wielding lobbyist that make it rain on politicians like rappers do strippers. These lobbyers are often paid stooped money by big Corporations to push a specific agenda that more than likely has nothing to do with you and I. Realistically speaking, if weren’t for the fact that we spend 10 times as much on military as the next 26 countries combined (all of em happen to be our allies, go figure…) we’d be an occupied territory along time ago. So here’s to the troops who lay it on the line for our “freedom” everyday…

SALUTE.