Talibaptists Defeated in John’s Creek
December 21st, 2006 by Quan Tranh
In earlier posts from my Windows Mobile device I had noted that The Love Shack in John’s Creek will be staying open. Previously a judge had issued orders that could hold the owner, John Cornetta, in contempt if he opened with a “substantial” amount of adult material. Late last night The Love Shack began to make changes to its inventory and it was expected that today it would be in compliance with the judge’s orders by the 3pm deadline. GRIFTDRIF has a really nice bit of coverage as to how the whole event unfolded today. I also went to see what all the fuss was about by the politicians and anti-capitalist community of John’s Creek. The store had some adult items, but it was mainly a tobacco shop (with some fairly nice cigars I might add) and he even sells comic books. The community is upset because someone is making money off tobacco and Spider Man. Brilliant! Let’s call out the attorneys because this guy selling Spider Man comics might corrupt our community, never mind the liquor store next door.
I’m sure the right wing nut jobs were expecting people to be hauled away in hand cuffs and to have a big padlock on the front door. No such luck for the Christian Taliban on this day. Cornetta was able to reduce the amount of adult inventory at his store to around 5% which is less than the 25% he was required to comply with. I am sure most of the people of John’s Creek are nice but the protestors that arrived were not prepared to answer any hard questions and only could repeat their puritanical babble about how their community values are important.
I asked a group of protestors if they felt that shutting down a business was sending the wrong message to immigrants from Communist countries who come to America to start their own business and contribute to our grand capitalistic system. I held out the microphone and asked if anyone wanted to answer the question. Nada, Nope, Không, Non, No! Nobody wanted to debate the issue of the death of true capitalism in America in favor of community values. Instead I heard about the legality of the store’s operation with respect to zoning.
One thing the hillbillies in the North Georgia mountains have down is true free market capitalism. There are a few communities left in North Georgia, and I would have to assume quite a few in South Georgia that do not have zoning or licensing. If you want to turn your property into a junk yard you are free to do so. Your neighbors can not stop you and the only recourse to buy more property so you don’t have to see your neighbor’s land. There is no licensing of professionals. Anyone can call themselves a carpenter and have no training. There is no building code either. If you want your house or business built to a certain specification then you include that in your contract otherwise you’ll get cheap and shoddy. Caveat Emptor! There is nothing wrong with cheap and shoddy. I know one reporter for a station in Atlanta who says he will take lower quality if it means a lower price. Good philosophy to have, especially if it is a disposable asset. Houses burn or rot, but the land is forever.
Next, I asked a few people if the city of John’s Creek would pay the wages of the employees of The Love Shack if the store is closed. That brought some puzzled looks. My argument is in a free market society people can choose their occupation. In the society of John’s Creek the Christian Taliban is attempting to use their political clout to put cashiers and stock clerks out of work. If the government prohibits you from working then the government should provide you with compensation. It’s a simple concept that these people refused to grasp. None of the prudes of John’s Creek wanted to discuss the issue of their willful destruction of the free market system and the inevitable swing to communism or its effects on immigrant minorities from communist countries.
It was interesting speaking to reporters from the AJC. One good fellow wanted to know if I felt that the community would be hurt by The Love Shack opening. I have lived in areas where Cornetta has opened stores. The prestigious Peachtree Corners area of Gwinnett was one of them. There were the same protests arguing the neighborhood would go downhill if an adult shop were to open in our quiet community. Bull! Peachtree Corners is one of the few areas of South Gwinnett that is experiencing immense growth in property values. I never stepped out of my gated community, like so many in Peachtree Corners, to see the world of Mad Max outside the gates where barbarians in funny leather outfits try to rob and kill you. The other simple mathematical argument that property values will not go down if an adult store opens in your neighborhood is that we, as a species, continue to grow in population size; however, there isn’t any new real estate available. Unless we have a pandemic or a major war property values will go up on a constant growth curve. The other problem is that Caucasians and Blacks in America do not look at building wealth over generations. I’m not concerned with my property value during my lifetime. Property values are only important when you sell and a wealthy dynasty is not built by the constant selling of assets from generation to generation.
The other side of the issue is that The Love Shack is going to generate tax revenue for the new city. If the store does not stay open then the citizens of John’s Creek will have to absorb the loss of revenue themselves. If you believe that the store will cause a loss of property tax value from the surrounding area greater than the revenue it brings to the city you are succumbing to the fear mongering of the Talibaptists. In the preceding paragraph it becomes evident that values will constantly go up as time moves on. If you have fear of short term drops in value you should be more afraid of the housing bubble bursting than some business moving into your community and devaluing your property. Your children will benefit, though you may not live long enough to see that day unless we make great breakthroughs in medical science.
Another concern I have is the Talibanization of Christians in the US when it comes to issues such as these. America is about capitalism and freedom, not forcing your moral values on your neighbor. Some people may consider John Cornetta a smut peddler; however, he is a champion of freedom and a vital ally in The War on Terror. How so? In my article featured at IBLOGA I was able to determine that the enemies of the US love porn. Read the article to understand how we can use porn to westernize the terrorists and the population of those countries. The Christians in this country are attempting to impose their own version of Sharia law on our capitalist system. One can argue that the people of John’s Creek are supporting the vision that Al Qaeda and the Taliban have for our society. I won’t say they’re on the wrong side of the War on Terror, but they aren’t helping. They need to get with the picture and remember what America is all about.
At the end of the day John Cornetta was able to give his victory speech to our camera, the Talibaptists were shut out, and Communism was held at bay for another day until the next court battle.
Pictured Below
Talibaptists
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 22nd, 2006 at 7:45 am
Morning.
Next, I asked a few people if the city of John’s Creek would pay the wages of the employees of The Love Shack if the store is closed.
Compensation for unemployment would be available to any displaced employee through the Georgia DOL, provided their most recent and previous employers had managed their payroll taxes and deductions properly. Also, Cornetta (or a designated HR manager in his employ) would have to dismiss those employees in a manner that would leave them eligible. It’s been awhile, but I think they’d be in the clear so long as their reason for separation was akin to being laid off or down-sized.
No matter what the citizens you polled said, the law is the law. The employees would be compensated, most likely.
But the responsibility for the livelihood of these employees would not fall on the residents of Johns Creek anyway. Cornetta himself is responsible solely. It’s his ethical duty as a business owner to run his business in such a way that stable profit fuels his own payroll. If he makes a poor decision, his employees will suffer. It could be argued that opening a shop in Johns Creek was a poor decision from a strictly business standpoint.
What’s interesting now is that any appeals from this point forward will be lacking in Johns Creek representation. JC was only incorporated about twelve days ago, but Cornetta was setting up shop long before then. So it is now a pure fight between the business and the county.
(I got here via GriftDrift, btw. Cheers.)
December 22nd, 2006 at 11:55 am
Thank you for your comment. I understand how it works according to GA law, but I do not believe it should work this way. Let me clarify the point I am making from a foreigner’s perspective.
Scenario: The Government says you can’t open your business to Mr. Cornetta. As a consequential action they are saying to his employees, you are not allowed to work. So they are being prohibited by the Government from going in to work. Shouldn’t the Government compensate them for basically pointing a gun at them (through the use of police officers) and telling them they will not go to work?
As part of this scenario I am disallowing the use of the free market argument that they are free to go work somewhere else. Why am I prohibiting the use of that argument in this scenario? In a 100% free market economy the discussion of Mr. Cornetta’s business would not be brought up. Therefore if you are not allowing him 100% free market reign then you can not apply that selectively to those in his employ. In short I am saying, what is good enough for the goose is good enough for the gander, with regard to the situation. Following a purely logical argument without regard to how the real world works I think the scenario as I have outlined it makes sense.
But going back to the free market for a moment, the residents could have pooled some money to buy Mr. Cornetta out rather than abuse the power of government to oust him. Even better yet maybe they shouldn’t have sold or leased the property to him if they didn’t want him there. I’m sure he would not have put that store there for a price. I would have charged around $50 million myself as a buyout not to put a similar store in JC. Why $50 million? That’s just what the Lottery happens to be this week. It’s an arbitrary, but entertaining number.
I do like your point on how the city has managed to paint themselves, not into a corner, but totally out of the room. I doubt they would have known in advance that their destiny is going to be decided by someone else.
December 26th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
” Talibaptists ” how funny. I thank you for a fair and balanced assessment. I am going to start to use the term that I think you coined by saying “Talibaptists” next week after my January 2nd court hearing. Please email me privately if you want credit. Otherwise. Cheers.
Talibaptists I have to go sit now my stomach is killing me from laughter….
Regards,
John Cornetta
“Restriction on free thought and free speech
is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the
one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”
William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice 1939-1975
December 27th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
Good luck to you Mr. Cornetta. You are a true American fighting for capitalism and the right to own your own business. You are an icon representing freedom to many people.