THEY WIN; YOU LOSE

Shawn F.

Few are aware, that one of the key causes of the Civil war was the North not wanting slavery to spread to their region out of fear of losing jobs to free labor. Fast forward to the twenty first century; where slavery has supposedly been outlawed, and job seekers deem their only competition to be outsourcing, technology, and the immigrant workforce. The immigrant workforce has become less of a threat due to the government’s new immigrant labor laws and border restrictions. I wonder if anybody ever took the time to think about why a country that has depended on cheap immigrant labor for so long moved so quickly to pass laws that would severely restrict it. Could it be that the government has found another more inexpensive source of labor, there by making the immigrant workforce expendable? I believe so. With corporate owned prison’s basically leasing out inmates to commercial enterprise at wages that make it comparable to slavery, it has become apparent to me that job seekers have a new competitor.
There are numerous essays that have been written about American prison institutions and slave labor. Many American citizens could careless about the enslavement of prison inmates - believing it’s well deserved. Others feel that since the inmates are already in prison they might as well spend their time productively. Few have acknowledged the threat that prison labor poses to our society’s job market. Maybe the reluctance of mainstream media to expose companies that have been robbing job seekers of employment by employing inmates at slave wages have left people in the dark on the issue. People aren’t informed of the fact that companies such as Honda employ prison inmates to make car parts for $2 an hour when a free man would earn a wage of $20 or $30 an hour to do the same job. It even goes as far as companies like AT&T and TWA hiring prison inmates to do such things as telemarketing and taking reservations for airlines - processing credit card information and social security numbers. Think about the number of applicants these companies deny employment every year because they marked yes to the “Have you ever been convicted of a Felony” question, think about the number of applicants these companies turn away each year for not having a High School diploma or GED, the applicants they tell are overqualified, the applicants they tell are under qualified, now think about those companies giving those same jobs to an under qualified, in some cases uneducated, prison inmate. Allow me to use this analogy. Let’s say a girl named Sara works at a department store. Sara has two kids and is desperate for over time and any extra hours she can work (and use) to make extra money to feed her children. One day a guy, let’s call him Tom, walks into her store and steals a pair of pants. The store owner calls the police, Tom gets arrested, goes to court and the judge sentences him to work in that department store for 30 days for no pay. The owner of the department store realizes how much money he could save with this arrangement and cuts Sara’s schedule from 40 hours a week to 20. Think about who suffers in that scenario. Imagine the government adopting a policy which allows corporate owned prison’s to lease prison inmates to work for commercial enterprises. Imagine the amount of jobs that would be lost from the amount of revenue these companies could save on payroll, and then imagine this not being a hypothetical scenario, imagine it being reality. Here’s something I snatched off the net courtesy of WSWS (world socialist website). “Lockhart Technologies, Inc. closed its plant in Austin, Texas, dismissing its 150 workers so that it could open shop in a state prison in Lockhart. The prisoners assemble circuit boards for industrial giants such as IBM, Compaq and Dell. Lockhart is not required to pay for health or any other benefits. The company must pay the prison the federal minimum wage for each laborer, but the inmates get to keep only 20 percent of that.” If you’d like to know more about this issue I suggest you look at this site link http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/may2000/pris-




By: Shawn F.

HIP HOP SLANG DIALECT OR JUST BAD ENGLISH

Shawn F.

Dialect: Variety of a language spoken by a group of people and having features of vocabulary, grammar, and/ or pronunciation that distinguish it from other varieties of the same language.

Dialects usually develop as a result of geographic, social, political, or economic barriers between groups of people who speak the same language. When dialects diverge to the point that they are mutually incomprehensible, they become languages in their own right. This was the case with Latin, various dialects of which evolved into the different Romance languages French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian….

Hip hop slang, in my opinion, is what could be characterized as a socialect, which is a dialect determined by social factors rather than by geography. In the opinion of others outside of hip hop it’s a sign of ignorance or lack of education, or just plain bad English. What causes the division?
I know to some this may come off as pure speculation, but what I have come to find is that the unacceptance of Hip hop slang as a dialect, is a result of an unwillingness of high class society to accept the idea of what is deemed to be a low class society having the intellectual capacity to actually develop a dialect (in other words arrogance). Often the Hip hop community is portrayed as unintelligent and as a result are often perceived as such. If someone you believe to be stupid speaks in a manner that you’re not accustomed to hearing, you might, in all likeliness, chalk it up to stupidity. The resistance towards hip hop slang as being viewed as a dialect comes from other angles as well. Many people who view themselves to be educated and accept the ideas that have been fed to them of what is an educated manner of speaking, also view hip hop slang as an unintelligible or uneducated manner of speaking the English language. Furthermore you have the fundamentalists that,in my opinion, fear the idea of hip hop slang being viewed as a dialect because, as I stated in the passage above, dialects have been known to turn into languages once they have reached a mutual level of incomprehensibility, which wouldn’t pose such a threat if the hip hop dialect was confined to a specific demographic. But the acceptance of the Hip hop culture nationally and internationally is what, in my opinion, alarms fundamentalist. As Hip hop receives more and more worldwide exposure through publications, T.V shows, radio stations, and other modern media, it bears the potential to change itself from being perceived as American culture to being accepted as a foundation American culture.

If you ask me it isn’t what it is, it’s what people have been taught to believe it is, that compels resistance against hip hop slang being accepted as a dialect of the English language. When in reality what we accept as English is actually a dialect of the British English language and even that is a stretch. If you look up the origin in which many American words derive you’ll find that the English language is a bastard language comprised of mispronounced and borrowed words of other languages, sort of like Hip hop slang.


Let us know what you think, Hip hop slang; Dialect or just bad English

Why Dream Girls Was A Nightmare

I got suckered I have to admit. Usually I'm not swayed by critical acclaim and award nominations but I got got this time around. Me and my girlfriend - who wanted to see a movie called "Children Of Men" - instead decided - upon my request - to see Dream Girls. Boy was I disappointed. To be frank, Dream Girls is corny and seems rushed. They didn't take the time to develop the characters and story lines. I didn't connect with any of the characters enough to actually care about anything that happened to them. I really don't see why any of the actors were nominated for anything. It turned out to be more of a musical than a movie but with out the appeal of a film such as the Moulin Rouge - which I surprised myself by liking. The singing scenes were not timed well enough to add any type of connection with the songs - It was kind of like confessing love to someone that hasn't known you long enough to care about you. Beyonce's acting annoys me. To me it seems like she approaches every role the same way. She's always this lively, wide eyed, bubbly character with a touch of Black sass and a tad bit of a mean streak. Jamie Foxx character was good. He played a money grubbing ass-hole but he played it well. Jennifer Hudson (American Idol reject) was impressive as well. Her vocal performances and overall acting was real good. Jennifer Hudson and Jamie Foxx characters were the only two that compelled any type of emotion out of you. She made you want to be in her corner and root for her to come out on top. He made you either laugh at the grimy things he did or want to see him take a knife to the gut. I have to say though thatJennifer Hudson did kind of look like somebodies Aunt Bunny. The scene where she sang "I'm telling you" They could of gave her a longer dress. Her legs looked like one of my aunts when their legs swell up with water - you know how some black women legs get all thick and swollen with the little black dots on them and stuff. I would have really been upset to have had wasted $19.95 to see that movie. Luckily me and my girl snuck in to see two other films. One being "Holiday" with Cameron Diaz which was kind of good - it made my girl cry - awwww!

COULD NYC BE ON THE BRINK OF A RACE RIOT?

After the murder of 23 year old Sean Bell on his wedding day by police officers at a Queen’s, NY night club, it seems minority citizens of New York are fed up. It was reported on Tuesday, November 28th that Prosecutors in Essex County, NJ, said they had information that gangs might target police in retaliation for Bell’s death. At a protest following the tragic incident, Councilmen Charles Baron was quoted as saying “I am fed up. I'm not asking my people to do anything passive anymore,” said Barron. “We're going to sit here and we're going to go in there, we’re gonna pray, we’re gonna march, we're going to do all of that stuff and then we are going to sit down and if they don't respond to none of that, don't ask us to ask our people to be peaceful while they are being murdered. We're not the only ones that can bleed.”
Could New York be on the brink of seeing riots similar to those in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2001, Los Angeles, California in 1992, and Liberty City, Miami in 1989? In Cincinnati the riots were a reaction to the fatal shooting of Timothy Thomas, who was a 19 year old black male, by a white police officer during an on-foot chase by several officers. The race riots of Los Angeles were caused by anger at the aquittal of four officers accused of beating Black motorist Rodney King. The race riots of Liberty City were following anger at the aquittal of five white police officers that beat a black motorist to death.

After the Amadou Diallo verdict we were told to not riot and accept it. We did just that, we got up and went to work the next morning, we went back to our playgrounds and street corners and the tragedy turned into nothing more than a conversation piece, then came the death of Patrick Dorismond. Rudy Giuliani – who was mayor at the time - asked us to wait for all of the facts involving the case to come out. He followed that action with the releasing of the criminal record of Dorismond as well as his sealed juvenile records to the public. In releasing his adult criminal record and juvenile record – which contained minor offenses – Giuliani hoped to depict the victim as some type of menace deserving of his fate. We swallowed that, after that things died down and then we were faced with the murder of Robert Stansberry – the teen killed on his graduation day on a Redhook rooftop by a Police officer – nothing was done about that. How many times will they allow Police officers to gun us down in the streets and use the defense argument of us being deemed of posing a threat to their lives? In all of the incidents I mentioned the victims were unarmed. Officers fired 81 shots at Amadou Diallo allegedly mistaken his wallet for a gun, they fired 50 shots at Sean Bell because they allegedly saw someone reach for what they believed to be a gun, how could anyone justify such actions. Both men were found to be unarmed. When does it stop? If our judicial system continuously fails us in holding these individuals accountable for their actions who will? Many citizens of our city are ready and willing to be the answer to that question. Judging from the reports I’ve read the officer responsible for the death of Sean Bell may not even face criminal charges. As we speak they have been assigned to desk duty and are still receiving pay while the investigation continues. If these individuals are allowed to walk Scott free with no accountability for the murder of Sean Bell, the of idea of a race riot in NYC may become very real. Not that I advocate such a thing because I stand undecided on the issue. I know race riots will only result in more minority deaths of innocent individuals as well as good police officers who suite up everyday with the intention of protecting citizens of this city. That is an outcome I do not wish to have. At the same time I also know that there is no revolution with out bloodshed, no progress with out struggle, and should be no peace with out justice for ALL! By Shawn F. a.k.a Da Gif

ONE WORD - COLONIALISM - THINK HIP HOP!

Colonialism is the extension of a nation's sovereignty over territory beyond its borders by the establishment of either settler colonies or administrative dependencies in which indigenous populations are directly ruled or displaced. Colonizers generally dominate the resources, labor, and markets of the colonial territory and may also impose socio-cultural, religious and linguistic structures on the conquered population (see also cultural imperialism). However, though colonialism is often used interchangeably with imperialism, the latter is sometimes used more broadly as it covers control exercised informally (via influence) as well as formally. The term colonialism may also be used to refer to a set of beliefs used to legitimize or promote this system. Colonialism was often based on the belief that the mores and values of the colonizer were superior to those of the colonized. (This can also be called ethnocentricism). Some observers link such beliefs regarding values to racism, and to pseudo-scientific theories dating to the 17th and 18th centuries. In terms of race, this led to a sort of proto-Social Darwinism that placed Caucasians at the top of the Animal Kingdom, "naturally" in charge of dominating and civilizing non-European indigenous populations. In terms of values, this led to cultural hegemony, chauvinistic jingoism, missionary zealotry and blindly patriotic nationalism in the colonies, especially among the colonizers READ
OTHER ARTICLES AT WWW.DAGIF.COM/2B.HTML

BUY OR SELL?

STACY DASH- This is not the body of a 40 year old woman. I can only pray that I am lucky enough to marry a girl that ages like her. I saw Marquis Houston’s new video and decided to post something about the way Stacy Dash doesn't seem to age. When I went looking for photos of her I found out she posed for Playboy this year. Whoa! her body is amazing. This might be a warped assumption but I think she has some enchanted servant snatching pretty young girls and draining the youth out of them. I think if we broke the spell all the young- old looking white chicks will magically get their youth back. (p.s. check her out in Playboy –Aug.2006- Oh Boy!) (BUY)(BUY)(BUY)




TYRESE-OH MY GOD! I just had to post about this. Tyrese putting out a double CD titled “ALTER EGO”. Baby boy is planning to attempt to do a rap album. One disk of his double CD is dedicated to his alter ego Black Ty, who has rapping abilities few have been aware of. If it sounds anything like that rap he spit on his first single “NOBODY ELSE” watch out! What the hell is going on? everybody wants to be a thug. This dude went from a Coke and a smile, singing “SWEET LADY” to being a Thugged out rapper over night. I guess he had to figure out a way to capitalize off the hood fame he acquired through “BABY BOY” and “THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS 2” movies. I can hear his publicist now. “The singing thing isn’t working for you; Rap, yeah rap is where it’s at for you Ty. Rap is in, it’s in and it’s big. You’ve got to get a piece of this. We’re going to create an alter ego for you. We’ll call him Black Ty, yeah that’s it, genius baby, pure genius.” What’s worse is that on his Mix tape you’ve got S&S and KAY SLAY cosigning this dude like he’s really hot. I think Mickey Mouse could start rapping tomorrow and there would be industry heads to cosign him for the right price.(SELL)
For anyone that curious enough to want to down load his mixtape here’s the link http://208.109.49.187/mixtape2.htm
FOR ANYONE THAT REMEMBERS
powered by ODEO


P DIDDY- “COME TO ME” This dude and his dance move’s, the little scene with him in the doorway remind me of Paula Abdul’s “STRAIGHT UP” video. I could have sworn I saw some of those move’s in an old John Travolta movie, I think it was a joint from the middle of his career because he was fat. Why does Puff sound like his mouth is mad heavy on this joint? I can’t front though the song is mad catchy, that “do it, do it, do it, do it,” shit has been stuck in my head for days. (SELL)



HEATHER HEADLY- IN MY MIND- This chick really gets me. Interracial dating is cool with me, but this broad. She made that record “He is” which was supposed to be a record uplifting black men. She stay having black men in her videos on some “I love my brothers” type ish and married a white boy in real life. Maybe she’s just giving black male artists a taste of their own medicine. I might be bugging, but why is she cheesing in the video? Isn’t it supposed to be a song about longing? Something about her just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it’s that oversized Lemon she has for a head. (SELL)



RUBEN STUDDARD- CHANGE ME- When I first heard it I thought it sucked, and now that I’ve gotten the opportunity to really listen to it…..I still think it sucks. Funny thing is though, I get what he’s trying to say with this record. I feel that much. He on some ‘you got so much to say about me, what if I start talking about all the stuff that’s wrong with you?’- Say ahh, like how your breath smell in the morning- like you’ve been drinking toilet bowl water after somebody hit it with a number 2. (SELL)

STEM CELL RESEARCH CLONING AND THE ISLAND!

The Island
If anyone has ever wondered about the possibilities of Stem Cell research I’d advise you to see this movie. Imagine a world where you could have yourself cloned for the specific purpose of providing you with vital organs as an insurance policy! You need a bone marrow no need searching for donors they’ll just take it from your clone; you need a new Kidney, a new heart, anything. I was watching Television with my very picky and neurotic girlfriend, who probably sat through the film because it fed into her paranoia about government conspiracies. You know microchips in human body’s type of stuff, when I came across this film.

They had this facility full of people you would assume were regular humans. As it would turn out they were basically a colony of clones purchased as insurance policies by celebrities. When they created the clones they’d feed images into their brains electronically to make them think they had a memory of a past. In the facility they’d put them through rigorous work outs to keep their organs in tip top shape. They had a scene where one of them pisses in the toilet and the toilet tells him he has too much sodium in his system and he gets put on a diet.

Of course it was a corrupt corporation behind it all. The CEO of the company had the clones believing they were regular humans and that they couldn’t go outside because disease had plagued society and killed off humanity. They had them believing the world outside of the city was one filled with pestilence and disease. The facility where they were housed was claimed to be the only quarantined and disease free place left on Earth (with the exception of the Island). The Island was a place the company created to prevent the clones from becoming suspicious of the disappearance of other clones they had befriended. The company had created a lottery system where the winner, a.k.a the next clone to have a vital organ removed and be murdered, would get to go to the Island, which is supposed to be the only disease free paradise left on Earth.. I found this crazy the clones that won would be ecstatic and celebrating none the wiser unsuspecting of their preeminent doom.
The company had the people that were purchasing the clones as insurance policies believe the clones were in a veggie state and didn’t talk, walk or engage in any human activity, which was a lie, but hey they couldn’t have the policy holders feeling guilty about what was going on now could they. Well as luck would have it, one of the clones finds himself at the wrong place at the right time and sees something he shouldn’t but needs to see. He escapes the facility and all sorts of high speed chases and action scenes ensue. After it’s all said and done the whole thing is exposed and the movie ends, well not quite it’s a bit more to it than that but you get the picture. It was good movie over all; at least I liked it anyway. My girlfriend seemed like she pretty much enjoyed it also or maybe it was just the possibility of that whole cloning thing that had us captivated. Anyway I advise anyone curious about the future of Stem cell research or Cloning to check this movie.