Jailed Kwame Kilpatrick Sports Gray Beard, New Paunch; Son Lashes At Critics, Uses ‘N Word’
Ah, yes. The apple doesn't fall far from the thug tree.
The Kwamster had crooks for parents, he stole untold millions from the city, now his kids are holding up the family tradition of arrogance and entitlement.
And people would still vote him back into office tomorrow. This is why Detroit will never get better.
The Kwamster had crooks for parents, he stole untold millions from the city, now his kids are holding up the family tradition of arrogance and entitlement.
And people would still vote him back into office tomorrow. This is why Detroit will never get better.
No, it doesn't. (To put it in your terms: Detroit !=Starnesville)
It could not have been one of the stimuli for AS, as Detroit was a still very prosperous city at that time.
And, full disclosure, I was born in Detroit, I love Detroit, as some in The Gulch I think still love New York City, and for the same reasons. Reason. For what it was, what became of it, and didn't have to, but for "what it could be, and should be".
And what I witnessed in MY city the past 60 years deserves a rant. So be it.
Detroit=Starnesville. It's a great, and, to some, an obvious analogy, now, but...it sells my birth city so short.
What happened to MY city was so much worse than Starnesville.
Starnesville was not one of the greatest, if not the greatest, most successful and prosperous industrial cities in the US. That it could have been, if it had not lost John Galt, is the whole point.
Detroit was, primarily due to one man, Henry Ford, and his followers, other minor auto producers, who imitated his production methods, was one the greatest cities in the US. Not to minimize other auto producers or industrialists, nor to ignore Ford's quirks. But it remains true.
At one time the 5th largest city in the US. Think about that.
And to my recollection, Starnesville was not the victim of violent union thugs. Starnesville was more like "hippies", the Starnesville kids, who brought what happened about through their own moral depravity. I don't remember union thugs, and I believe that was intentional on Rand's part, although I cannot speak for her.
Like The Gulch, AS, and The Fountainhead...these are all allegories. They don't really exist, nor did Rand intend them to. She herself stated this many times. And this includes Starnsville, an "uncompromising architect" like Rourke, and the fictional Gulch...Dagny, Galt himself...
The Motor City however, did exist, and I predicted this as an economist in 1973, was a city destined to go bankrupt "within 30 years" for the following reasons, in reality, and not necessarily in this order:
1. The Detroit mayors, long before Kwame, and their associated City Councils, were corrupt, all of them, long before the subject of this post, KK. I will not lower myself to name the ethnic heritage of these mayors, as it is not relevant, except in contrast to say they were not Black, and not of a singular "white" ethnic heritage. Yet, they were "white". Corruption knows no ethnic or racial bounds.
2. The Federal Government (read: LBJ, psychologically trying to "out Liberal" JFK ) chose Detroit, in the early 60's, as I believe the very first part of its "Model Cities" program. They called it "Urban Renewal". The wiser locals deemed it: "Urban Removal". Bulldoze complete and beautiful neighborhoods, and struggling but determined residents, and replace them with "the projects". I will assume anyone in this site needs must me go no further as to the result of that brilliant idea.
3. Finally, and this perhaps should be first: the UAW. Most likely the most violent (so far) union in history, and did more destruction to not only Detroit, but the "working man" of Detroit, or I'd even say mayors (I will stop at Feds, but just short) , ever did. To those who may ask: "How do you know?" Well, I was an involuntary but card-carrying member of the UAW, as I worked in factories to put myself through college. I believe that makes me in legal terminology, a "first-hand" witness. Ah, the stories I could tell...
4. Just simply more cultural stuff...
Rant done and over.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dan O
(edited for typos and ranting grammar errors)
1) Congratulations on liberating your minor. I am about to do so twice, but not quite yet.
2) Detroit was not the inspiration for Starnesville, but Coleman Young, Dennis Archer, and Kwame Kilpatrick took Detroit down a terrible path. I have visited Michigan every year from 1967 to 2008, lived in Ann Arbor in the '89 - '94 era and have been back to Detroit twice since my mother-in-law died in 2008. When my family sold my mother-in-law's house in 2010, it was on the market for over 2 years, and went down in price to under $40 K. We were competing against a house a mile away that the opening bid on EBay was $500. Do I really need to say more? But I will.
3) As for the union thugs who helped bring down Detroit, their role was a minor, but not insignificant, one. In this case, it was primarily the UAW and the teachers' pensions.
4) The fist that Coleman Young erected as a symbol for Detroit is perfect for them. I will always like the Tigers and Ernie Harwell, but cannot support the city that openly declared war on producers.
Dan, your story sounds a lot like the guy that Dagny Taggart met on the train that used to work at the Twentieth Century Motor Company that explained what the origin of the John Galt story might be. Are you ... Jeff Allen?
Others, like me, say: "Finally. It's gone too far"...although in truth we had been saying that for years...
As far as the article itself, and, hopefully this is macabre humor:
Obama WILL pardon him, Hillary WILL be elceted, and, needing a head of the DOJ who will cover her...
Well, a nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse...