Mobtown Shank

Starbucks - Where You Don't Have To Check Your Guns At The Door

Now may be the time to invest in "No Guns Allowed" signs.

In California, it seems groups of armed people have been meeting up at Starbucks, Peet's Coffee and California Kitchen with their guns strapped to their sides.

Small groups of armed Californians have been turning up at cafes and coffee shops with handguns holstered to their belts to raise awareness about gun rights and what they call unfair limits on concealed weapon permits.

Peet's and California Kitchen have banned this practice, but Starbucks has not yet. Of course, don't think these folks aren't already prepared to fight back against businesses who think it's probably not a bad idea to have folks with guns gather in their premises.

Because once you post a "Check your guns at the door" sign, you'll start seeing these bills pop up too.

Source.

Baltimore Has Enough Wal-Marts

With regard to the new, proposed Wal-Mart/Lowes development in Remington, let's take a look at how the Baltimore area is already being served by Wal-Mart.

There already are 18 Wal-Marts within a 20 mile radius of this proposed site. Do we really need a 19th? 

Here is a petition in opposition to this Wal-Mart. If you are also opposed to this Wal-Mart, please sign it and ask your friend and neighbors to sign it. Who knows what good it will do, but it certainly can't hurt.

Also, be sure to urge the Hampden Community Council to take a stance and say no to granting this development a PUD.

Remember, no one is asking for special treatment here.

All those who are opposed to this development are saying is that we want our elected officials to respect the current zoning of that area and not give this development corporation special treatment by granting them a PUD. 

North Baltimore simply can't afford this.

Republican Thinks Blacks Had It Better Under Slavery

Meet Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican congressman from Arizona. He seems to think African-Americans had it better under slavery than they do today, when, y'know, they're not slaves.

In this country, we had slavery for God knows how long. And now we look back on it and we say “How brave were they? What was the matter with them? You know, I can’t believe, you know, four million slaves. This is incredible.” And we’re right, we’re right. We should look back on that with criticism. It is a crushing mark on America’s soul. And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted. Far more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by policies of slavery. And I think, What does it take to get us to wake up?

Tonight! Bar Bacon V2 Round 2

Friday, February 26, 2010
10PM. Golden West Cafe. Hampden, Baltimore.
1105 W. 36th St.

Bar Bacon The Double Deuce!

It's going to be a heck of a show with Marc Unger, Dorian Grey, Tommy Simbazo, Chris Rebbert and a cast of thousands!

Not to mention, giveaways on an unprecedented level.

Sponsored by Atomic Books.

The New Remington Wal-Mart/Lowes Development

WAL-MART COMING TO REMINGTON
Earlier this week, WV Urban Development (owned by Rick Walker and Lawrence Cager) had a meeting with hand-picked community representatives from Remington and Charles Village to announce changes to their initial plan to develop the Anderson Automotive property along the 25th St./Charles St.- Howard St. area.

Plans for the 11-acre parcel still call for a Lowes. However, developers just announced the addition of a 94,000 square foot Wal-Mart.

In terms of quality of project, this developer had a similar project in a Washington DC neighborhood similar to Remington, and here's how a 2002 DC CityPaper article describes it:

"A huge wall lumbers around the outside of the facility, greeting newcomers with a faceful of concrete and carving out a crude square of commerce from the surrounding community. The wall rises from a patch of dirt along Brentwood Road NE and slowly, one rectangular slab at a time, reaches several stories into the sky. The wall is gray with an underlying touch of purple. At times, it is capped by a shiny metal railing, at times by thick Jersey barriers."

HOW THIS CAN HAPPEN
In order for this development to proceed, developers need to secure a PUD (Planned Unit Development) from Baltimore City via the City Council's Land Use Committee and the Baltimore City Planning Commission since the area is not currently zoned for such a development. This also means that area infrastructure was not built or designed to handle what a development like this might mean.

(The term "Planned Unit Development" (PUD) refers to both a type of land development as well as the regulatory process by which such developments are authorized. It is a method of land regulation which promotes typically larger-scale projects with a unitary plan of development that may not otherwise be achievable under existing zoning or other applicable regulations. When a PUD has been authorized, it becomes an "overlay" district, meaning that the underlying zoning does not change. Rather, there are additional requirements for the district as specifically set forth in the PUD Development Plan and in its enabling ordinance.)

Northern Baltimore is one of the last places in the city serviced by a number of locally owned and independent businesses, including many hardware stores. That means the area not only doesn't need a development such as this, but for this development to succeed, it must take business away from current businesses.

So the Remington Wal-Mart development threatens businesses and jobs throughout all of Northern Baltimore.

According to a study by Ken Stone, a professor of economics at Iowa State University, in the late 90s:

- businesses in areas within a 20-mile radius Wal-Mart stores saw total retail sales decline by 25.4% after five years.

- businesses in area outside that 20-mile radius saw their retail sales declined by 17.6% after five years.

- $100 that you spend actually generates between $230 and $270 of local economic activity. Nearly all of this money, when spent at a Lowes or Wal-Mart, flows directly out of the local economy.

- Overall, businesses in most small communities lose between 16 - 46% of their sales after a Wal-Mart comes to town.

Ask any local business person if they can afford to stay open if they lose 16% of their sales let alone 46% of their sales.

The proposed Lowes threatens to put out of business 7-8 northern Baltimore hardware stores - many of whom have been serving neighborhoods for decades (like Falkenhan's). The addition of a Wal-Mart means this development has the potential to devastate the entire Northern Baltimore business community.

Despite what the developers and local politicians want you to think, this is not a done deal. Now is the time to begin letting your elected officials know that you simply do not want this PUD granted.

EACH WAL-MART COSTS TAXPAYERS

$36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches in schools

$42,000 a year for Section 8 housing assistance$125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families$100,000 a year for the additional Title I expenses

$108,000 a year for additional federal healthcare costs of moving into the state children's health insurance programs

$9,750 a year for additional costs for low income energy assistance.

Annual total: $420,750 per Wal-Mart store

(Source: The Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce)

In general, the following subsidies are given to Wal-Mart (which are not offered local retailers) to open in communities:
- free or reduced price land
- infrastructure assistance
- tax increment financing
- property tax breaks
- state corporate income tax credits
- sales tax rebates
- enterprise zone and other zone status
- job training and worker recruitment funds
- tax-exempt bond financing
- general grants

Ask your city representatives what type of tax breaks are these box stores are getting to move into the neighborhood and when your local businesses struggling to compete against them can expect the same?

According to an Institute for Local Self-Reliance report:
- for every $100 spent in locally owned business, $44.60 goes to the respective town/surrounding area

- for every $100 spent in large retail chains, $14.10 stays in the respective town/surrounding area

- for every $100 you spent at a large retail chain, you cost your local
community $30.50

From: The Economic Impact Of Locally Owned Businesses Vs. Chains: A Case Study In Midcoast Maine
- Local businesses spend 44.6% of their revenue within the local economy (and 53.3% of their revenue with their home state).

- Typical corporate/box stores spend 14.1% of their revenue within the local economy.

- Local businesses support a variety of other local businesses (ancillary), whether they be accountants, food suppliers, printers, internet service providers, repair people, etc.

- Corporate retailers tend to use their own in-house/home-office/out-of-state staff and ancillary business partners.

- Local businesses in this study made a total of $24,000 in cash donations to charities in 1 year (or .4% of their total revenue). That's more than 2 times what Target gave to local charities in that area in 1 year, and more than 4 times what Wal-Mart gave.

- So, for every $100 you spend at a local business, $53.30 stays in state. For every $100 you spend at a corporate chain store, $85.90 goes out of state.

Some Wal-Mart Quick Facts:
- A Wal-Mart-funded community impact study in Greenfield, Massachusetts showed that corporate chains do not necessarily create a wealth of new jobs when they open in an area. In this study, because of projected losses at other businesses that would compete with Wal-Mart, there was only a net job gain of 8 positions. (Sarah Anderson, "Wal-Mart's War on Main Street")

- Wal-Mart costs the American taxpayers $1,557,616,500.00 every year as a result of their low pay and meager employee benefits. This comes in the form of Medicaid, food stamps, and public housing. It's called the Wal-Mart Tax.

- Wal-Mart has received $50 million in subsidies in Florida. 13% of the state's workforce employed by Wal-Mart are Medicaid-eligible.

- Nearly one-quarter of Wal-Mart's 37,000 workers in Tennessee rely on Medicaid.

- California taxpayers are spending $86 million a year providing healthcare and other public assistance to the state's 44,000 Wal-Mart employees.

- In Georgia, children of Wal-Mart employees made up over 10,000 of those on Georgia's health-care program for uninsured kids, the PeachCare for Kids program.

- The average Wal-Mart worker requires $730 in taxpayer-funded healthcare and $1,222 in other forms of assistance, such as food stamps and subsidized housing.

And the misinformation has already begun. A lawyer for the developer is already claiming that Wal-Mart will generate 200 jobs at all levels in a recent article in the Baltimore Messenger.

Due to Wal-Mart's employment practices, most of these jobs will be what you and I consider Part-Time (although Wal-Mart classifies them differently) so that they won't have to pay full-time benefits which in turn puts more economic strain back on the local community.

The developer is projecting 800 total permanent jobs when the project is finished. But how many of these are full-time jobs?

And when you consider the job displacement caused by Lowes, Wal-Mart, etc. causing local businesses to close up, it's more likely that there will be no gain in jobs at all.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
If you are concerned about this development, simply contact the following folks with your concerns, asking them to simply not grant WV Urban Development a PUD for this project as it is not necessary in Northern Baltimore, and frankly, we can't afford what it will do to our community.
 
Please be polite. As far as I know, at this point, none of these politicians have taken a stance on this development and may not even be aware of the problems such a development could cause.

City Council Rep. Belinda Conaway: Belinda.Conaway@baltimorecity.gov

Kevin Cleary of The Mayor's Office: Kevin.Cleary@baltimorecity.gov

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake: mayor@baltimorecity.gov

City Council President Bernard Young: Bernard.Young@baltimorecity.gov

Also, be sure to CC any media you may know.
For example:
Larry Perl of the Baltimore Messenger: lperl@patuxent.com
Robbie Whelan of The Daily Record: robbie.whelan@mddailyrecord.com
Andrea Appleton of the Baltimore CityPaper: aappleton@citypaper.com

Tracking: Liturgy

by Brian Dubin

RENIHILATION by LITURGY
Now, I want to preface this by saying I know little to nothing about black metal. More towards nothing. I know of a few black metal bands and the only black metal band I've ever really been into is Weakling, and they were from California. With that in mind I think that this might be one of the most brutal albums I've heard in years. The drumming moves at a breakneck speed with some really wild time changes, the dual guitar playing has a triumphant, yet occasionally melodic feel to it as the guitarist weave around each other, and the vocals are screamed with death-like intensity. I have seen this band 3 times and every time I see this band they get better and better. The most recent time I was floored. It was a non-stop assault that left me wanting more. There are also some pretty rad vocal chants/loops (that I guess you could call songs) scattered throughout the record. All in all, this record is killer and if you have an interest in metal, or black metal (that strays from the norm) you should pick this up. Or if you just feel like listening to something that is fast and heavy, that's a good reason too.

myspace

Conservatives In VA Think God Uses Abortions To Make Handicapped Children

Conservatives in Virginia are going after Planned Parenthood and its funding.

Here is Republican Bob Marshal, laying down the rhetoric why Virginia needs to cut funding to Planned Parenthood:

“The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children.

"In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.

"And with the knowledge they have from faith has been verified by a study by Virginia Commonwealth University. First abortions of the first pregnancy is much more damaging to a woman than latter abortions."

So, y'know, they gotta de-fund Planned Parenthood in Virginia because Virginia Commonwealth University had a study which proved that handicapped children are the direct result of previous abortions.

Christians' use of "science" to prove the shit that they don't need science to believe because it undermines the point of faith to begin with would almost be funny if it wasn't just so profoundly fucked up.

Source.

Said What?: Failed Modern Dating Strategies

overheard by Benn Ray
drawn by Joe Decie

Look for a brand new Said What? comic in Wednesday's B: The Paper. Available free around town.
----------------------------------------------------
Overhear something amazing? Post them in the comments section (with your email address) or email your Overheards (using this format) to: MobtownshankATatomicbooksDOTcom. It could end up as a comic strip.
Order a copy of The Shank's book I Keee You!!: A Collection Of Overheards.

Shank Year End Wrap Up (Watchings): The Best In Television - 2009

by Benn Ray

So, I kicked off this year's Shank Year End Wrap Up by highlighting what I thought was one of this year's worst Best Of lists - Baltimore Sun's "Media Critic" David Zurawik's Best TV shows list.

I even begged the Sun to please stop insulting its readers' intelligence and pull his media column - not because Zurawik is a partisan hack (which he totally is - as this love letter of a column to one of the most ridiculous political leaders to ever be taken seriously - Sarah Palin - proves. Also witness his take on the crazy, hardcore, rightwingnut, John Birch Society sponsored CPAC - "CPAC has been called a pep rally for the hardcore right, but what I heard was more like a giant college classroom effectively teaching a counter-narrative of American history and shaping a new generation of conservative leaders."), but because despite another rich year of interesting television - the best show, according to him, was Men of a Certain Age.

Embarrassing, Z-Man, just embarrassing. It's a question of aesthetic, judgment and intellectual capacity - all of which Zurawik has proven himself to be deficient in.

But then, I guess when you seem to have a personal vendetta against one network (NBC) because you don't like the politics of a couple of their cable news shows, and that network tends to have some of the best TV shows on air, well, you're left scraping the bottom of the barrel to fill in ten slots of best TV (which would also explain your unironic inclusion of FOX News as some of the best TV of the year). Seriously - not one NBC show made Zurawik's Best TV List. I can't help but wonder if it's because Keith Olbermann voted him one of the Worst People in the World on his show? It sure seems that way, Z-Man.

So it just seems appropriate that I close out 2009 Shank's Year End Wrap Up with my own Best TV Shows of the Year list.

***BEST SITCOMS***
1. 30 ROCK (NBC) - Once again this show proves to be one of the smartest sitcoms crafted. It also is very aware of TV history and uses it to brilliant effect. For example, the episode which featured guest Alan Alda pulled a MASH reference/joke that simply blew my mind, not only because it had the balls to make such an old and obscure reference, but because I still had the recall to immediately understand the reference - which also serves as a testimony to the lasting greatness of one of televisions all-time great TV shows, MASH. And so it goes with 30 Rock - smart, and chock full o' TV history, but it is also funny. Very, very funny.

2. BORED TO DEATH (HBO) - Each episode of this new HBO series got funnier and funnier as the show found itself. Based on a short story by Jonathan Ames - it's about a writer to decides to become a non-licensed private detective. And I can say as someone who loved Cheers dearly, this may be the best role of Ted Danson's career.

3. COMMUNITY (NBC) - Finally, I've been waiting to say what I'm about to say. I can tell you now, yes, Chevy Chase is funny again. This sitcom is about a group of students at a community college. I've always been under the impression that most community colleges are 2 year schools, and we're almost done with season one. So, one assumes that the entire cast will need to be replaced at the end of season two, but maybe not all community colleges are 2 year schools? Either way, a very funny cast of students and faculty - my only gripe is they don't really expose and ridicule the cesspool of conservative thought that festers at most community colleges. Well, maybe next season.

4. PARKS & RECREATION (NBC) - This show has finally moved away from its Office-clone origins and has created its own dynamic - one that allows for the talents of Amy Poehler to shine.

5. THE OFFICE (NBC) - Surprisingly, still going strong. No matter how often I might think I'm sick of Pam and Jim, or Dwight or Michael Scott, as soon as the episode starts, the show manages to convince me that I am not at all tired of these characters.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: These shows get honorable mentions because while I only just discovered them this year, I don't believe what was being aired in America were episodes that originally aired in 2009 in the UK.
THE MIGHTY BOOSH (Cartoon Network) - This show will go down as one of the greatest cult comedy tv shows of all time. It ranks up there with The Lost Ones, Monty Python, Kids in the Hall and Mr. Show. 
THE IT CROWD (IFC) - This BBC Show has already had a failed attempt at an American translation. It concerns a small IT department of questionable skills for a company of questionable quality in the UK. There is some crossover between The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd in terms of cast too.


***BEST HOUR LONG DRAMAS/ACTION SHOWS***
1. TRUE BLOOD (HBO) - Okay, there's a whole fucking world of monsters fighting with each other here. Vampire wars. Shape-shifters. Some kind of ancient goddesses. Witches. True Blood plays out like a really good Vertigo comic - and it does so with self-awareness, social relevance and humor.

2. MADMEN (AMC) - Okay, I know a few people had unnecessary hysterical fits (the Zurawik crowd) over microscopic inaccuracies in the Baltimore episode (I call them Baltimoaners), but for style, for a fascinating look at our past, for compelling characters, Madmen still has it. I love visiting this world one hour a week.

3. BEING HUMAN (BBC) - Trying to explain the premise of this show was almost enough to make me put it in my guilty pleasures category, but really, I just don't feel guilty about enjoying this show concerning 3 roommates - a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost. See, sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?

4. BIG LOVE (HBO) - Even though I find myself constantly and suspiciously questioning this show's agenda, I couldn't help but enjoy the self-inflicted complexities of Mormon life. (Caveat: the 2010 season has been, to date, wildly uneven.)

5. THE PRISONER (AMC) - Weird. Paranoid. Strange. Based on a beloved oddball cult classic. This AMC mini-series had every right to suck and instead was quite good. In my mind, largely due to its use of soundtrack, I think of it more as  a remarkably appropriate retelling of Brian Wilson's fantastic album Smile.

***BEST NEWS/INFOTAINMENT SHOWS***
1. THE COLBERT REPORT (Comedy Central)
2. THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART (Comedy Central)
Colbert is still a fearless comedy juggernaut. And Stewart regularly helps contextualize the absurdism and hypocrisy that is today's American political environment. Even though these are fake news shows, they still carry more cultural weight than some network news shows. Frequently, a Colbert or Stewart mockery will find it's way back into the mainstream media and it can disarm bogus rhetoric quicker than hours of he said/she said partisan bickering on real news shows. (Caveat: The Daily Show is off to a rough start this year - it seems to be a bit to preoccupied with eating its own instead of mocking the ridiculous bullshit of political obstructionists. One gets the feeling that Stewart resents being lumped in with the likes of Olbermann and Maddow and is lashing out to make his point.)

3. THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW (MSNBC)
4. COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN (MSNBC)
Still the best answer to right wing media. Maddow is quite smart. And Olbermann is quite passionate. Together they make for a very solid 2 hour block of daily television. Maddow's work alone last year on The Family deserves an award for shedding light on a shadowy, nefarious religious organization that has reaches not only into our halls of power, but helped inspire legislation in Uganda that would, if passed, mean executions for gays. And if not for Maddow's show, this legislation would have most likely passed in Uganda.

5. REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER (HBO) - While I still find him trying at times, and frequently more problematic than helpful - I got into the habit of watching him during the 2008 election season, and it still carried over a bit this year. His show is only as good as his panel of guests though.

***BEST HOUR LONG MUSICALS/COMEDIES***
1. GLEE (FOX) - It's a fun, funny, witty and surprisingly entertaining high school musical. Think Cop Rock meets Welcome Back Kotter. Okay, not really. But as much as I dislike musicals, this show works, and works really well.

2. PUSHING DAISIES (ABC) - It's cancelled now. Nothing as good and as weird as Pushing Daisies could last very long. It was almost as if Tim Burton decided too make a TV show. Pushing Daisies was a curious fairytale of a show involving a pie maker with the ability to reanimate the dead with a touch, his detective friend who brought him on cases, his reanimated childhood love (who he can't touch again lest he undo his reanimation),  a waitress who loves the pie maker and an oddball cast of passers through. When this show was good (and almost every episode was good), it was like watching magic.

***BEST REALITY SHOWS***
1. HOARDERS (A&E) - I love this show so much, I made a drinking game for it. Rachel & I have been evangelizing this show so frequently, our friends now think of us as "The Hoarders People." Hoarders is a trainwreck of humanity that will not only have you eyeing your neighbors suspiciously, but it will have you looking at yourself, wondering, "Am I a hoarder?" I found an easy answer for that - is there trash - empty food wappers/containers in your clutter? If so, you might be a hoarder. But more than just voyeuristic enjoyment, Hoarders actually helps us understand the that hoarding isn't really just the result of lazy slobs, but it is a type of OCD gone awry.

2. TOP CHEF (Bravo) - This is an excellent cooking competition show that just never seems to get played out. And this year, the Volt Brothers vs. Iron & Wine (as I called them) competition was great. Who needs ridiculous personalities when you have real chefery going on. (Yes, I just made up the word "chefery".)

3. NO RESERVATIONS (Travel Channel) - Bourdain's Baltimore episode set off a flurry of whining Baltimoaners. Whatever. Hands down the most enjoyable traveling/eating show on tv. Bourdain has a unique voice when it comes to travel and food, and it's a voice that I largely agree with.

4. DEADLIEST CATCH (Discovery Channel) - I really didn't think this Alaskan crab fishing show could still remain fascinating this many seasons in, but the fact that it does is a testament to not only the job these fisherman do, but their character as well. Goodbye, Cap. Phil Harris. You will be missed.

5. I SURVIVED (Biography) - I'm not sure how I stumbled on to this show, but I did. And I was completely compelled by these people's stories of survival, told honestly, and without ridiculous reenactments. But then, 3/4 of the way through the season, I just couldn't take anymore  - it was too real. Too powerful. Rarely has a TV show had that affect on me.

***BEST GUILTY PLEASURES***
1. CHUCK (NBC) - It's pretty much The Man Fron U.N.C.L.E. meets Clerks. Nothing too profound, just a likable tech dork turned spy who falls in love with one of his handlers. 

2. EUREKA (SyFy) - This has been an ongoing guilty pleasure of mine. It's not a good show. And it's frequently extremely formulaic. But the actors/characters are so damn likable. It's sort of like Northern Exposure if it was set in a town made up of super-scientists.

***WORST TV-SHOW TREND THAT IS MY DEFAULT SETTING***
GHOST HUNTING SHOWS (just about every damn network) - There are a lot of ghost hunting type shows on TV nowadays. Really. A lot. Too many. And everyday it seems like there are new ones popping up. And at this point, they're all so goddamn similar, I can't keep any of them straight (and there's really no point in trying). And they've become my default TV setting. What I mean is, when I want the TV on but I'm not paying attention to it, maybe while I'm working or something, y'know, as sort of background noise, the first type of show I look for is any sort of ghost hunting show.  The shows aren't good. They usually involve some goofballs in an abandoned building freaking out about some noise someone off camera made. But every once in awhile you'll see some guy in the middle of the night floating in a haunted lake inside a pentagram while his compatriots are back on shore inside a sphere of protection. Or perhaps you'll see a full team investigation of a house whose occupants are confused that they're being haunted only to discover by episode's end that one of their friends tried to summon a shadow demon at the house one time for kicks but that they neglected to tell the ghost hunters. Peh. Everyone knows you do not try to summon shadow demons for kicks. Dumbasses. Anyway - these shows are all bad. There are too many of them. But damn if I don't love to have them on in the background while I'm doing other stuff.

_______________________________________
Over the last several weeks, we had been posting Year End Wrap Up lists from our friends, readers, and regular Shank contributors. So is the last of those lists.

Tonight: Slow Jets/ The Jennifers

Saturday, February 20, 2010
10PM. The Golden West Cafe. Hampden, Baltimore.
1105 W. 36th St.

SLOW JETS
[mp3] Run The Company
[mp3] Lick The Salty
[mp3] Trial Of Sir Rocka
[mp3] Piano Needs Hands

THE JENNIFERS
[mp3] Landslide
[mp3] Pretty Things
[mp3] Friction