This was so funny to me that it deserved its own post.  Let me find out that Big Homie BHO really be up in the White House makin it rain with Jim Jones and Santana!  Big up to whoever designed this!

“A fool and his money are soon parted.”

We have all no doubt heard the above expression, and most, if not all can be a witness in our own way of its truth. Recently, I saw a video clip of Lil Wayne in which he held up $100,000 (cash), which he stated he was just carrying around, as if it was OK. 

The news reports that Antoine Walker, the 33-year-old professional basketball player, who after nearly 14 years in the NBA, and earnings topping the $100 million mark, is said to now be broke and in debt.  We recall the case of Adam “Pac Man” Jones, who supposedly threw $80,000 at strippers, while “making it rain.” Former NBA player Latrell Sprewell’s financial troubles also have been well documented.

One NBA player reportedly owned 20 Bentleys. While this is not intended to call anyone of these young men fools, some of our behavior as it relates to money is  absolutely foolish, and the problem appears to be having too much too soon.

One of the definitions of the word fool is “to trick or deceive.”  Sadly it seems that too many of the young athletes and entertainers are tricked into believing they can simply live for today, for themselves and their entourage, followers, groupies etc. They are deceived by the seasonal adulation, physical gifts, and well paid handlers who only say what they believe will keep them in the good graces of their benefactors, all the while acknowledging, however quietly, the understanding that this will soon end. Many of the handlers, use the opportunity to create their own realities, pledging not to make the same mistakes.  While some just enjoy the short ride up and the longer ride down.

A fool is also considered “one who is deficient in judgment, sense or understanding.”  The ability to make good judgments is tied to one’s age, background and family structure.  How much do these young men and women really know at 18 or 19 years old, when they are handed million dollar contracts? How much wisdom is present around them?  And sadly, when those who would guide them aright (i.e. Minister Farrakhan) are present many handlers and managers encourage them away from such guidance.

What about their sense of self and community? Some arrive with an understanding that they are a part of a community, and while they should never be expected to solve all the problems, quite a few do their best. Others appear to have no sense of the problems that surround them, and are more interested in strip clubs than strip malls and more self-absorbed than self-aware. Whenever a part of the culture allows young men to believe that they can in fact make it rain, when that function is reserved for the creator, these self-deluded young men are soon to be brought back down to earth, as the rain itself.

There is a biblical instruction that says, “With all thy getting, get understanding.” There is an obvious lack of understanding on the part of those talented few, who have not yet developed the ability to discern, who, what, when, where and most importantly why.  The who is “the who is this person” and what do they really want, unfortunately many have been taken advantage of, and caused others to look with suspicion on those who mean well.  The when is the understanding of the season of your life; enjoy some of the good things in life, have your version of fun, but prepare for the winter of your life.  The where is to consider the decision one is about to make, where will this take me. Such was the case of Steve McNair, the former NFL quarterback, who was shot to death by his girlfriend. The why is that which will keep us working to purify our motives.

Finally, an acknowledgment that these are oftimes young men who come from poor families, and neighborhoods, who in getting a taste of the good life are determined to enjoy it to the fullest, as Kanye West said on the song the good life “this [is] the life that everybody ask for.”  My encouragement to these and the ones to come, is simply this study those who went before you and prepare for those to come.

Your Brother, Richard

Indian Dude: 8 Things Jay-Z Tries To Kill On “Off That” 

Comedy. We gotta come up with a list of shit we’re off. For me, work, we off that.

Black Dude: Skinny jeans and bright colors, we off that.

Sobriety, we off that.

Chinese Girl: “Posing like it’s 1985,” we off that.

Jersey, we off that. 

hehe

Black Dude: That is the funniest shit I have read in weeks.

Indian Dude: I’m going to refrain from making an inappropriate joke.

Black Dude: Man, I actually just listened to that song.  For starters, it kinda sucks.

Secondly, though I really do think Jay may be the one of the goats, dude is inconsistent and his arrogance sometimes reaches the level of hubris. This song may cross the line in terms of talking down to the masses. Granted, the masses are dumb as a mfer but noting everything he is “off of” a little too much.

Most of the shit he talks about being “off of” is (and always was) tired anyway:  rims, Cristal, big chains, making it rain.  Bottom line, this song sucks and it annoys me that just last week I was defending this dude as being one of the goats. 

Chinese Girl: What is a goat?

Black Dude: Greatest of all time.

Chinese Girl: What does “making it rain” mean?

Black Dude: Throwing money in the air (normally singles).  Popular at strip clubs.  One of the dumbest things you could do.

Chinese Girl: Stupid.

 Indian Dude: I haven’t listened to it yet but some commentators noted it was wack. Rims are dope, especially the sprewells but I couldn’t afford them and even now I don’t know if I would pay 10-20G for em. Making it rain is fun when u bent. Agreed, only the masses let some dude tell em what to do on the strength of him being able to rhyme and if he thinks differently he’s a schmuck. To quote cube, get off my dck and tell ur btch to come here.

Chinese Girl: Good grief!!!

Nightclub video surfaces in Pacman case

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=4333957

I wish I can party like this….strip club, no hold bar….dang.

When I got my first job that carried me above the poverty line, I responded by becoming completely irresponsible with money – it was pretty awesome. I had a dope studio apartment that cost more half my monthly paycheck, I ate at all the time and saved nothing.

Now that I’m a laid off-media worker slash “freelance writer”, I’m broke and kicking myself. And punching myself. And giving myself indian burns on my shins.

However, I’m also taking money more seriously, and with that in mind, I offer you this link to The Simple Dollar’s post on The First Steps Away From Paycheck-to-Paycheck Living. A lot of it seems like common sense, but if I’m really being honest, I don’t do half of the stuff on here. I mean, my girlfriend fixes her own bike. Why the fuck can’t I?

Also, if you’re not up on your Mint.com game, you’re obviously sleeping. Seriously, dude. get your shit together.

JR Smith set a franchise record for 3 pointers in a game with 11 as the Nuggets roll past the lowly Sacramento Kings for their 54th win of the season.

Denver Post write up here

And the hatin ass police arrested him.

This article is appropriate considering that I spent my Friday night making it drizzle in Toppers here in Athens, GA for my b-day. This guy puts me to shame though, flagrantly throwing around an amount of cheese that would save most people from home foreclosure.

TAIWAN police have arrested a 55-year-old man for lobbing bank notes worth about T$1 million ($41,000) from vehicles, causing disorder in the streets.

The man tossed the bills from a taxi in a crowded part of Taichung city yesetrday as people stopped to pick up the cash, Changhua police official Lin Shih-ming said.

“He might have had a nervous condition, as his state of mind wasn’t normal,” Mr Lin said.

He is believed to have thrown heaps more money on an earlier road trip starting in the capital Taipei.

…

The suspect would be charged with public endangerment and destruction of currency, Mr Lin said.

Destruction of currency? What a bullshit law. More like destruction of all hater’s feelings within a 5 mile radius.

I’m too upset to comment on the TO release but I did find some encouraging news.  Former Cowboy Pac Man Jones rained down an ass whipping on some scrub during the filming of Pros vs Joes.  I am assuming that Pac is on the Pros side but you never know.  According to random internet reports, he lost it when a guy hit him out of bounds.  Why do people always screw with him.  Pac is always in game shape and ready to go.  It doesn’t matter if you are an off duty cop assigned to protect him, a lazy stripper who wants her 25 bucks after going through the motions to a Nine Inch Nails song or just some random dude that blocks his sight line to the main stage.  Pac Man will go off.  I am really ready for him to come back when the Cowboys need that extra db after TNew pulls his hammy for the tenth time next season.  Don’t let up Pac Man.

Well, not lately anyways.

“When I was young, I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old, I know it is.” – Oscar Wilde.

I don’t know if you noticed, but yesterday two of my co-bloggers put up some excellent posts. Lollipop definitely got to what I was thinking about this current financial crisis: What would Gordon Gecko think? (Probably something to do with stocking up on suspenders.) And Benjamin Light said it perfectly: Now is a good time to be poor so you don’t have any money to lose.

So I wanted to add to this all since it’s cleary a big issue, but I’m not going to lie to you: Like a lot of you, I’m not the most informed person on just how bad it is out there. (Are stockbrokers throwing themselves out windows yet?) In fact, I’m just a guy writing blogs using Lil’ Wayne lyrics as titles whose fascinated by the political ramifications of it, beacuse… well, everyone’s going to get a little bit of shit on them, especially with an incompetent outgoing President and it being election season and all.  So I’m going to go to the easiest source available to me…

The Counterforce tumblr dashboard.

And maybe some other links along the way as well, since I can be somewhat industrious when I want to be.

Tumblr is primarily devoted to microblogging, using short text bursts or pictures, as well as video and audio, etc. But probably the most common thing you’ll see on their is re-blogging. It’s simple and easy: Somebody puts up a wacky picture that you like and it shows up on your tumblr feed, which is just pages and pages of everything you or those you follow have blogged. You see that wacky picture that you like and you click the easy little link that says “reblog.” Rinse, and then repeat like a David Markson novel gone nu-cle-ar.

(via Katiebakes.)

“In other words, the Democrats and the Republicans made a deal before the vote to deliver a certain number of votes each. The Democrats made good on their part of the bargain; the Republicans didn’t. Obama’s not the issue.” Stumper: The bailout failed. Should we blame McCain? (via Robot Heart.)

Riding out the credit crisis, from Boing Boing. (via Siege, as is the glorious of our fearless leader up there.)

Andrew Mitchell talking about the complete failure of leadership on all sides for the bail out. (via Robot Heart.)

(via Robot Heart)

Yesterday’s losses in the market added up to approximately $1.2 trillion. (via Siege.)

Golden parachutes. (via What I Learned Today.)

Michael Moore explains how our current financial crisis is about rising medical costs and the need for universe health care. (via Robot Heart.)

McCain camp says Obama is not leading.

Obama humiliated McCain at the White House meeting. (via Robot Heart.)

John McCain: Do as I say, not as I do. (via Robot Heart.)

“Forget Joe Biden. I’d like to see John McCain debate Sarah Palin.” Exactly. (via Robot Heart.)

Should McCain ask Palin to step down?

Was the Palin pick a mistake?

John McCain owns VoteForTheMILF.com? (via Robot Heart, whom you’ll probably see mentioned a lot in this post, as if you hadn’t already noticed.)

Biden’s mouth doesn’t know what Obama’s saying.

McCain calls for an end to partisan attacks, then 16 minutes later blames Obama for economic crisis. (via  – guess who! - Robot Heart.)

How bad could things get? (via Katiebakes.)

(via Gawker.)

Debate questions for Joe Biden.

Obama wants to increase FDIC insurance to $250,000.

Why the bailout affects you. (via Robot Heart.)

A memo found in the street bout the financial crisis. (via What I Learned Today.)

How credit default swaps became a timebomb. (via Fat Manatee.)

Financial Crisis 2008 isn’t the only the crisis out there. There’s also Final Crisis!

Latest Palin gaffe: Can’t name Supreme Court other than Roe v. Wade. (via Robot Heart.)

How the game plan for Palin is being retooled ahead of the debate. (via Robot Heart.)

We’re one, but we’re not the same.

Completely unrelated to the financial crisis: The longest SF books of all time. (via This recording.)

Also, completely unrelated: Scanners, directed by David Cronenberg, 1981. Just cause. This is your brain in financial crisis mode! Ha ha. (via Blood Pudding.)

Still unrelated, but slightly less so: Men seldom make passes at girls in glasses… (via Carnal Knowledge.)

I wonder how the financial troubles we’re facing right now will affect a post peak oil world. Hmm. Anyone?

And then there’s always the lingering question of the Russia/Georgia situation.

Maria Diaz on McCainSpace. Goddamn, she’s brave.

The 30 best songs about business and money.

An New York Times article entitled “Fannie Mae eases credit to aide mortgage lending,” and printed exactly 9 years ago today. That’s just badass right there. (via Katiebakes.)

McCain plays “the Bill Clinton card.”

Bracelet flap lingers post-debate. (via Robot Heart.)

“McCain said he was going to interrupt his campaign to save the negotiations. What he did was interrupt the negotiations to save his campaign.” – John Kerry, of all people.

Meghan McCain on Jay Leno. (via It’s Bed Time.)

Thoughts from guys on IM: Sarah Palin and her VPILFishness. (via Rachel Kramer Bussel.)

Casting call for the upcoming Sarah Palin porno.

“I grew up to be a man, right here, in this area. It’s as a consequence of working with this organization and this community that I found my calling. There was something more than making money and getting a fancy degree. The measure of my life would be public service.” Obama’s community roots.

All politicking is local: How the Obama campaign is using technology to change elections on the ground. (via Something Changed.)

Molly Lambert’s metaphor for the U.S. economy.

McCain: Palin in the next Clinton or Reagan.

The broad political implications of a McCain victory.

(via Planet Tampon, but this one is good too.)

So you think you’re a swing voter? (via Nick Douglas.)

“I’m a feminist who, uh, believes in equal rights and I believe that women certainly today have every opportunity that a man has to succeed, to try and do it all, anyway. And I’m very, very thankful that I’ve been brought up in a family where gender hasn’t an issue. You know, I’ve been expected to do everything growing up that the boys were doing. We were out chopping wood and you’re out hunting and fishing and filling our freezer with good wild Alaskan game to feed our family. So it kinda started with that.” – Sarah Palin, on why she’s a feminist. (via Robot Heart.)

Maybe she should use that lifeline.

But we don’t all need to be mean to her.

Today: Dow up 485 points! (via Robot Heart.)

Senate to vote on financial rescue plan on Wednesday.

The 2008 economic literacy rap lyrics contest for youth.

When Madmen reign. (via Siege.)

“A man is usually more careful of his money than he is of his principles.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Since I’ve re-blogged the hell out of her in this post, I might as well finish it with a quote from Robot Heart: “I’m tired of reading about the bail out.” Yeah… yeah, you’re right. Me too.

I guess we’re just going to have to hope this gets better. Thank God most of us are poor. Well, cash money millionaires, until next time…

MAKE IT RAIN ON THOSE HOES!

(Thank God I’ve got Wu Tang Financial.)

Why is it you watch these shows and these brothers are talking about making it rain but they broke. How you gonna make it rain in a video but you can’t pay your house note.

WTH!

Y’all preach about keeping it real and keeping it hood but then you still living with your mama.

C”MON PEOPLE!!! Let’s keep it real! This isn’t a game. Negro if you gonna make it rain I don’t want to see it sprinkle!!! LOL. Seriously. Let’s be serious. Serious SERIOUS!!!

Calling all cars, calling all cars, rain man (seven minutes to wapner…) reported coming to Dallas. Yes, you heard it here, Adam “Pac –Man” Jones is coming to the Big D.

Maybe Big D can handle Pacman Jones.

The Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans agreed in principle on a trade on Wednesday for the suspended cornerback.

The agreement, which was first reported by ESPN’s Ed Werder, was confirmed to The Associated Press by both teams. No terms had been filed with the NFL office, which already had closed for the day.

Sources tell Werder that Dallas will send its fourth-round pick (the 126th overall) in Saturday’s draft to the Titans for Jones.

There are also conditions attached to the trade related to Jones being reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and how much he plays for the Cowboys. If he plays a significant amount of time in 2008, the Titans will get an additional pick from the Cowboys in 2009.

If he doesn’t get reinstated by the NFL, sources said the Cowboys get the Titans’ fourth-round pick in 2009.

Also, Pacman has reached a financial settlement with the Titans regarding his contract situation. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that Jones will forgo the $1.25 million performance bonus that he earned in 2005. Instead of repaying the Titans a portion of his signing bonus, he has agreed to make a $500,000 donation to a charity of the Titans’ choice within the next two years.

Jones has agreed to a restructured contract with the Cowboys. Sources told Werder that it will be a four-year contract with no guaranteed money. By restructuring instead of transferring his existing deal, Jones gives up nearly $7 million in guaranteed base salaries over the next three years.

As a fan of the Cowboys, I am really feeling the deal. It is a no lose for the Cowboys. First, it is only a fourth round pick. The Cowboys can easily balance losing that with the players that they have been able to accumulate. The depth on Dallas has been really good in recent years and this is adding another valuable piece. Two, if the commissioner does not reinstate Pacman, then the Titans (who are going to not be that tight, sorry Nate) will owe Dallas a fourth round pick in 2009. Because no one really knows football thinks that the Titans will be better than the Cowboys, even if it doesn’t work out, then it’s like a savings bond with decent rate of return

Third, Pacman wanted to be in Dallas so bad, he forfeited a 1.25 million dollar bonus from 2005 that he was due. Instead of coming up with the loot, Pacman will make a 500,000 donation to the charity of the Titans choosing. Finally, he was willing to be humbled, by apologizing and doing the public appearance thing by agreeing to come on the Michael Irvin show and show contrition in the public eye.

I also think that the story of Pacman being blackmailed for the safety of his family and himself will make him a more likeable figure in the sense that he is/was showing weakness and vulnerability. The one indictment of professional athletes is that they are out of touch with the frailties and problems that the common folk go through. Being blackmailed is the ultimate sign that you are not in control. The other thing about the case is that it shows the depth of Pacman’s convictions to get back on the field and to get to Dallas. This requires a lot of discipline for anyone to meet all the minutia that follows. But, he knows what he is playing for. He is playing to secure his freedom and be able to play in the NFL and enjoy the trappings of being a celebrity…