Greetings From: Detroit, MI

Robocop's coming back to Detroit. Check the story here

via CNN Money:

In an effort to close a yawning budget deficit, Michigan has approved a proposal to drastically shrink Detroit's troubled school system over the next few years.

The plan calls for the closure of 70 schools, which would cut the number of schools in the district in half by 2014, leaving only 72 public schools in Detroit. The closures would be on top of the 59 that were shuttered last year. As a result, high school class sizes would jump to 60 students each over the next few years.

The goal is to eliminate the school system's current $327 million budget deficit, according to the plan's author, Robert Bobb, who was named emergency financial manager of the 87,000-student Detroit Public Schools in 2009.

Hey friends!!! It's another edition of 'Greetings From'. This time we're hailing from Detroit, Michigan where it's apparent that people are wayyyyyyyyy too obsessed with the city's regal past than what's shaping up to be an extremely bleak future. In the wake of a massive budget deficit with the auto industry still struggling to get back on its feet after numerous government bailouts, Detroit is set to close half of its public high schools. That is in stark contrast to a $50,000 bid to erect a statue of none other than Robocop in downtown Detroit. Now, I love Robocop just as much as the next sci-fi fan, but where does this fit into the budget that funding for schools doesn't?

My beef with the typical American city's mindset, is that rather than use funds to educate young people so we can have a future generation of thinkers, governments are quick to halt spending. Governments would rather cut spending under the guise of 'saving' and turn a blind eye to frivolities than use money on things that improve cities like infrastructure, education and innovation. The sad part is, that Detroit is an exact microcosm of the economic reality of the United States as a whole. If one wants to figure out the US's budget problem, they need look no further than Detroit and how it staked its financial well-being on outmoded technologies, irresponsible borrowing and sports teams. You couldn't pay me to live in Detroit, and now that Robocop is going to be one of their main attractions, I'm sensing a future even more depressing than the one in the movie. No worries, though. [sarcasm]I'm sure those Eminem commercials will boost the economy...[/sarcasm]

Dear Waka Flocka

Happenings like this have me worried about the future of Black America. As for the N*igga Moment Hall of Fame, this exchange qualifies as an automatic entry. Along with your less than masterful handle of the English language, to the dumbfounded look plastered on your face when you couldn't answer the simplest of questions, to Rocsi and Terrence's fumbling of your faux pas and idiotic statements, Flocka, you really don't have much to laugh about. No, I didn't think you'd have much to say anyway, but you couldn't even piece together a coherent sentence!

SIDENOTE: Why do Terrence and Rocsi allow this fool to get off the hook so easily? BET is really just condoning ignorance by letting that slide.

Seriously. While I don't think everyone is suitable to be an expert on the US political system, it stands to say you should have some idea as to how to respond to that question. It's bad enough that your music is like Teletubbies for rap, Waka. That you perpetuated an age old stereotype that black people are is secondary to the effect this has on young people. We're already living in a day and age where involvement in the political cycle is not a priority. You're setting such a good example for the 15 and 16 year-olds out there who'll be voting in the next few years. That's what the future of the nation needs: lack of speaking skills and political apathy. I guess a career of shaking your dreads does much more than get you stage time. Brain damage is looking like a serious side effect of listening to you, Mr. Flocka...