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Empire Lyrics
Last night the word came down, ten dead in Chinatown.
Innocent, their only crime was being in the wrong place, at the wrong time Too bad, people say what's wrong with the kids today Tell you right now they've got nothing to lose They're building EMPIRE! Johnny used to work after school at the cinema show. Gotta hustle if he wants an education he's got a long way to go. Now he's out on the street all day selling Crack to the people who pay. Got an AK-47 for his best friend business the American way. Eastside meets Westside downtown. No time, the walls fall down Can't you feel it coming? EMPIRE! Can't you hear it calling? Black man, trapped again. hold his chain in his hand. Brother killing brother for the profit of another, Game point, nobody wins. Decline, right on time. What happened to the dream sublime? Tear it all down, we'll put it up again. Another EMPIRE? Eastside meets Westside downtown. No time, no line, the walls fall down. Can't you feel it coming? EMPIRE! Can't you hear it coming EMPIRE! Can't someone here stop it...??!!
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06-19-2002
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03-06-2003
(Spoken)
In fiscal year 1986-87, local, state, and federal governments spent a combined total of 60.6 million dollars on law enforcement.
Federal law enforcement expenditures ranked last in absolute dollars, and accounted for only 6% of all federal spending.
By way of comparison, the federal government spent $24 million more on space exploration, and 43 TIMES more on national defense and international relations than the law enforcement.
I know it may sound petty, but this song strikes a chord with me, not just with the musical dynamic, but with the implied message. I have had several friends join law enforcement straight out of high school with dreams of spreading justice and protecting the innocent, only to awaken to a harsh reality that the law enforcement is the red-headed stepchild of government funding, thereby limiting its effectiveness. Kind of disheartening, to say the least.
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02-03-2006
and by the way, these guys are way underrated (fantastic writers and performers)
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03-06-2006
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06-23-2006
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12-31-2006
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02-12-2007
>> Federal law enforcement expenditures...
>> accounted for only 6% of all federal spending.
OK, so it accounted for approximately 6% of all Federal spending. I'll buy that.
But the song goes on to say:
>> By way of comparison, the federal government
>> spent ... 43 TIMES more on national defense
>> and international relations than on law
>> enforcement.
How can they spend 43 times as much as 6% of the total? That would mean they spent 258% of their total budget on defense and international relations, which of course is impossible.
In addition the original quote suggests that 6% of the Federal budget is too little (by use of the word "only"). Well, the federal gov't was not supposed to be involved in too much "law enforcement". International relations and defense are, however, activities they ARE to be involved in.
IMO, the drivel at the end of the song is just liberal propaganda trying to make the case for bigger federal government... the last thing we all need.
-Mike
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04-24-2007
It says the total money invested in law enforcement by the federal government, but also the state governments and the local governmentsis 60,6 million dollars. It is possible that the federal government spent 43 times more money on national defense and space exploration in 1986-1987.
About the amount of money being reasonable, that's what you might think. At that time the Cold War was still going and it seems the USA was itself's biggest enemy at the time. They invested more in space exploration, mostly to impress the Sovjet-Union, national defense and international relations. Things were getting out of hand but nothing happened.
Now you tell me what the USA actually got from all those millions invested in things such as national defense and space exploration.
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06-06-2007
QR is mudslinging with bogus numbers, trying to justify the Federal government spending even MORE taxpayer money.
Forget the 60.6 million or whatever. Which I don't believe anyway. Something tells me that a few cities in the US would have spent more than 60million in one year. But forget that...
Can you explain how the Fed could spend 43 times more on something on which it is already spending 6% of its budget?
Can't be done.
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07-01-2007
IMO this was when u dam americans fucked up the rest of the world and funded other countries to protect u's.
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08-17-2007
1. >> In fiscal year 1986-87, local, state, and federal governments spent a combined total of 60.6 million dollars on law enforcement.
I don't buy this for a second. Is this making the claim that in the entire US, in 1986-1987, only $60.6 million was spent on law enforcement?
I'll bet NYC had a bigger budget all by itself. Let's look at that. If the average cop made, say $40,000 a year, then there would be only enough money to pay 1500 of them. That ridiculous! NYC alone has more cops.
Strike ONE.
2. >> Federal law enforcement expenditures ranked last in absolute dollars,
OK, I'll buy this, the Feds spend less total money on LE than all the US cities, counties and states combined.
3. >> and accounted for only 6% of all federal spending.
Um, now it get messy. The feds spent approx US$1,000,000,000,000 per year at that point in history (look it up). If, as the song indicates, spent 6% of its budget on LE, then that would be $60,000,000,000. But that amount is ONE THOUSAND times what QR said was spent for the entire nation (line 1 above)
Strike TWO..
4. >> By way of comparison, the federal government spent $24 million more on space exploration, and 43 TIMES more on national defense and international relations than the law enforcement.
Here QR makes the claim that the Feds spent, on defense and space, 43 times what it spent on LE. In line 3 above we see that QR says the feds spent 60,000,000,000 (6% of its $1,000,000,000,000 budget). So, 43 times that = 2,580,000,000,000 which biger thatn the budget we started with.
Strike THREE!
This is pure bunk.
09-27-2009
Also you seem to have some trouble distinguishing "million" from "billion".
Finally, spending above the budget is far from impossible, it is in fact quite common. That's how you get a deficit.
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10-30-2007
I like the song, but I tend to like all sorts of music with stupid lyrics and ideas. Thats what a lot of the 80's were about. Yet gifted as I am at interpretation, I don't swallow every pseudo philosophy that crosses my path.
Cheers
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04-09-2008
Defense spending for that year, the federal government spent 313.9 billion. Which is 46 times more than the FEDERAL government spent on law enforcement, but not the combined total of Federal, Local and State.
Law enforcement costs are primarily the responsibility of state and local governments, obviously.
Also, the Space Program was 6.8 billion.
So basically, they stated the wrong numbers, but were correct in the amount of difference between the Federal governments expenditures on national defense and law enforcement.
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04-09-2008
If you add both 1986 and 1987 expenditures on Protection, minus fire, its 61.8 Billion total, federal, local and state. And the Federal Defense expenditures for those 2 years combined (minus Veterans benefits) is 43 times the Federal governments expenditure on Law enforcement.
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05-14-2008
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08-31-2008
"IMO this was when u dam americans fucked up the rest of the world and funded other countries to protect u's." Because it wasn't us americans it was the american politicians who decided to do that bullshit, most americans I know of do not agree with almost anything the government decides to do.
09-27-2009
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09-27-2008
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10-10-2008
So the only question left is "Can't you feel it coming?"
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10-19-2008
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06-12-2009
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08-05-2009
With our ridiculous expenditures on national "defense" and the neglect of our own law enforcement, gang activity, violent crime etc. is going to keep on increasing. My city, for example, is always voting for an increase in law enforcement funding, to combat the perpetually-increasing violent crime rate in this shithole. It is simply insufficient.
A guy I know abcsonded parole, and the FBI caught him on a train 2,000 miles away, and hauled him in. Where the fvck is the effort/resources to catch actual dangers to society? Police departments depend on frivolous citations and fines to pay their own salaries, that's it. They don't really care about real crime, unless something falls into their lap. Or they don't have the resources to fight it fully.
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09-18-2009
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