Hey, you all. I don't normally butt in, but I saw a lot of bickering about the NO situation and last night I came up with a great idea as to a solution to this particular problem and it also may apply to the general situation we face in the country today. I wanted to run it by you guys first since you seem to be on top of it all, being pros and all <ggg>. I am looking for some constructive criticism here before I present my solution to my congressman to introduce as legislation in the House.
Anyway, the way I see it, it is a bunch of people arguing about whose fault it was, looking for lessons learned and people to blame and all. What I am looking at is a way to fix it not who's to blame or how it got so messed up.
The situation is this: You got all these poor folks scattered across the country, well mostly in Texas, cause normal people just didn't want anything to do with it, plus Texas folk being friendly and all. But now these poor people need a place to call home and some hope. I think what they need is hope.
Now, in looking for solutions, two pictures come to mind, the first is that picture of school busses, you know, the one where "Schoolbus" Nagin got his reputation. The other is that one of the trailers (or manufactured homes if you like) sitting there waiting for someone to call them home, you know, the trailers they spent so much money on, the ones that got that Brownie guy fired. Well, the problem is: You can't put the trailers in Louisiana, because Louisiana don't allow no trailers in a flood zone, and it turns out all of Louisiana is in a flood zone, so there you go. Somebody messed up big time.
So I got this bright idea: If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, why not take Mohammed to the mountain? You see what I'm getting at here? It's staring you right in the face!
Why not take those school busses and drive them down to Houston and make a big circle round Texas and offer help and hope to any and everybody what needs it, those folks what just can't seem to make it on their own, and give them a free ride on up to Hope, Arkansas where all them trailers are just sitting there on government property just a waiting for them?
Now, I know theres a powerful lot of people that are going to take us up on this offer, a lot of them refugees from Lousiana and other poor folks looking for help. I suggest we don't turn down anybody looking for a free ride.
I got to thinking this is going to just cause a big boom in Hope, lots of new folks, so we need to have some proactive thinking here to deal with issues that may arise.
First, we need a name for this new place. I was thinking New Hope, but then I thought about where they were coming from, and I thought about the mayor of NO and it just struck me: Why not call it Chocolate City? I like it. Plus, you could have jingles and such like "Ain't nobody gone hungry in Chocolate City." I can hear songs written about it: "I'm gone Chocolate City, I'm gone git me some."
Now, next you got to wonder, how you going to pay for it? I hate to tell you but this is going to cost heaps of money. Remember, these poor folks need help, and, by God, we are going to give them help, all the help and hope they want. After what they been through, they deserve it.
Well, this is a big job, so maybe it should be paid for by the government, the federal government. I am not so sure this would be a good idea. I think it would just cause more trouble. I can hear it now, the Republicans saying: "Why don't we just cut taxes, that ought to do it." And the Democrats going: "H E double L no. We already done that. This time we going to stick it to the rich, anybody what has a job and can't afford a tax attorney." I just can't see anyway around this impass what with the filibuster and all.
So, we need to figure out a way to sort of self-finance it. Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to leave the government out of this, in fact, I think they would be just perfect for the administration of this project.
Look what happened after Katrina to get some money. We could have fundraisers annually. A permanently scheduled concert on MLK day say, call it Chocolate City Concert (CCC). I propose we sign up U2 as a permanent headliner for this one. Think about Farm Aid, look at successes for ideas. Also, what about Oprah? Maybe she could set aside a portion of her book club sales targeted to CC. How about getting Jesse to be in charge of direct mail campaigns, "Keep Hope Alive: Donate Chocolate City"? Maybe we could ask Jimmy, Bill, Al, and George Sr. to donate some of their time to do some fundraising, especially overseas, maybe in Oil rich countries and such. Heck, even Junior could help out as he will be looking for something to keep busy with come 2-3 years from now. How about we say the runner-up in the next election has to help out too?
I realize this may not be enough, although you can't deny that we can always do better. I want to avoid new taxes at all costs, because I don't want any more burden put on the hard working man or woman or other, lord knows they have enough to put up with as it is.
Here is where I really need some help with some new ideas. For instance, I read today that iTunes has just sold like a Billion tunes if I heard it correctly on CNBC this morning, BTW, isn't Liz hot today? Check out that sweater.
Ok, so how about we Ask Apple to like charge $1.15 per tune with 15c going to Chocolate City?
I got other ideas too. How about asking Teresa to keep CC supplied with ketchup, really, is this too much to ask?
Now feel free to shoot holes in this idea, if there are any. That's why I am posting this, to get some positive feedback. Also, I am not so ignorant as to not understand that words and sometimes pictures get folks riled up for no apparent reason, so I would like to, in advance, apologize for any words or non-PC words and/or ideas found within, due to there is no PC scrutinizer program I have found to deal with this issue, otherwise, who could say anything, if you catch my drift.
Now, does anybody have anything good to say, especially, regarding the financing part?
P.S. The more I think about it, the better this idea seems. I am thinking how popular it would be because of its bipartisan approach, something you rarely find in politics today. Hill would support this idea because just think how it would help support Bill's library, you could have free busing between the library and CC. I think since she became a big-shot senator that she has mostly forgiven Bill for what he done her wrong and all, and now she don't harbor no ill will towards Arkansas, even though she is partial to NY now. We could make "schoolbus" Nagin the first mayor, since he always wanted a Chocolate City, it wouldn't be no problem since I think Hope is above sea level. Plus, anybody what has a heart just has to like the idea of providing for the poor folks what needs help. I am hoping that those what does not have a heart at least would like the fact that it gets them what they don't like out from their posh neighborhoods so they don't have to think about it no more. So, you got the best of both worlds, the poor folks is provided for and the rich folks don't have to deal with it except for donations and such. It just don't get no better now does it? |
