Mobtown Shank

The Shank's New Years Picks

Thursday, December 31
NEW YEARS EVE!

THE BALL DROP & BABY NEW YEAR
10:45 The Miracle on 34th St. Hampden, Baltimore.
34th St. bewtween Keswick & Chestnut.

THE MATRIMONIALS
11PM. The Golden West Cafe.
1105 W. 36th St. Hampden, Baltimore.

J. RODDY WALSTON & THE BUSINESS
THE EGG BABIES
YOUNG SIR JIM
9PM-5AM. $13. The Ottobar.
2549 W. Howard St. Remington.

BIG IN JAPAN
10PM. No cover. Joe Squared. "Station North", Baltimore.
133 W. North Avenue

DC/Baltimore 2 Out of Top 3 Hottest Cities for Jobs

According to Juju.com, the following are the top 10 hottest cities for jobs (based on the number of publicly advertised positions):

1. Washington, DC
2. San Jose, CA
3. Baltimore, MD
4. Boston, MA
5. New York, NY
6. Salt Lake City, UT
7. Hartford, CT
8. Denver, CO
9. San Antonio, TX
10. Austin, TX

And at the bottom of the list, unsurprisingly - Detroit, MI.

Source.

Republicans - The Party Of Fiscal Hypocrisy

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch recently let slip a truth that can now answer a lot of questions.

During the Bush-era, how did Republicans turn a budget surplus into the largest (to-date) budget deficit in US history?

Six years ago, "it was standard practice not to pay for things," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

Why can Republicans easily support unnecessary and costly wars that drove up our national deficit but they complain that we can't afford it once we start talking about providing health insurance for poor people?

Six years ago, "it was standard practice not to pay for things," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

So every time you hear a Republican who helped financially wreck our country 6 years ago when they were in control now hypocritically demand fiscal responsibility, the reason they do this is because:

Six years ago, "it was standard practice not to pay for things," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

And the difference between then and now? Well, when the standard practice was to not pay for things, Republicans were in control. They only demand everything be paid for now because Democrats are in charge.

Source.

Today's Shank Pick: Solomon Solomon

Tuesday, December 29
SOLOMON SOLOMON
MIGRATIONS
FAIR ROOT
HEAVINESS OF THE LOAD

10PM. The Golden West Cafe.
1105 W. 36th St. Hampden.

Why Are Republicans Forgetting 9/11?

Here is an example of yet another conservative Republican claiming 9/11 didn't happen on the watch of the Bush Administration.

First, Bush Administration Press Secretary Dana Perrino claimed on TV that no terrorist attacks occured during the Bush Administration (therefore denying 9/11 happened as well as the anthrax attacks).

Now we have Conservative Republican strategist Mary Matalin claiming 9/11 was inherited by the Bush Administration.

I was there. We inherited a recession from President Clinton and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation's history. And President Bush dealt with it. And within a year of his presidency at this comparable time, unemployment was at 5 percent. And we were creating jobs.

Are these people just idiots? Or should we be wondering if there's a concerted effort to whitewash the Bush Administration's responsibility for the worst terrorst attack on US soil in the history of this country?

It's also interesting to note that when both Matalin and Perrino make these false claims on TV, they are not asked to explain them by the respective show hosts.

Source.

GodWatch: Americans And Religion

According to a new Gallup poll:

78% of Americans identify as Christian.

22% of Americans describe their religious preference as either "other" or "none".

13% of Americans say they have no religions preference.

19% of Americans say that religion is not very important.

29% of Americans say that religion is out of date.

56% of Americans say that religion is very important.

57% say that religion has answers to most of the world's problems.

Source.

Must Be Santa!

Merry Christmas from The MobTown Shank!

Must Be Santa - Bob Dylan

Goodbye Vic Chesnutt.

ShankTV: Shorecrest Vs. Shorewood High School Videos

These videos were produced by rival Seattle area high school video departments as a sort of video battle.

First: Shorecrest High School's video for Outkast's "Hey Ya!"

And the response from Shorewood High School. Their video of Hall & Oates "You Make My Dreams Come True."

Who wins?

You Don't Bring A Gun To A Snowball Fight, Unless You're A Cop

Here is footage of a Washington DC cop pulling a gun on a snowball fight (pussy).

Interestingly, this is an incident that the DC police denied happening, despite dozens of eye witnesses claiming otherwise. That's right. No "we'll look into it" or "We'll investigate." Nope. Just did not happen.

But after a call was put out, a bunch of video surfaced on Youtube, Twitter, etc. And the sissy cop who can't handle a snowball fight was put on desk duty.

"Police said initially that the detective had not flashed his weapon. On Sunday, the officer was placed on desk duty after Twitter, blogs and YouTube appeared to show otherwise."

Whoever was responsible for this blanket denial response from the Washington DC police should also face suspension.

Source1.
Source2.

Question O' The Week: Today's Luddite

When you hear about a person who isn't online at home or who doesn't have a personal computer, what do you immediately assume about that person?

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LAST WEEK'S WINNER IS: - there was no winner
You have 1 week stop by Atomic Books to pick up your prize or it will be returned to the Shank prize pool.

We'll announce this week's winner on next week's Question O' The Week.

Prize for this week's best response: a t-shirt courtesy of our friends over at Neil Gaiman's Never Wear.