Christian steps outside of the Grey Enterprises Holdings INC remote office in Chicago where he's been conducting his business for the last several weeks. With his security captain Taylor by his side he pauses for a moment. Drawing in a deep breath he turns to Taylor.

Taylor what has happened to this place? As a business man of my stature you know the length I go to gain knowledge of all things. Within the mundane world of mergers and acquisitions I must know everything there is to know about any business venture I undertake. With that in mind I have read through countless journals of the men and women of this thing of ours. And one thing strikes me as inconsistent. Though this land is built on the stance of free speech we've all taken an oath in blood that we will respect others and not bring shame to our families.

What really bothers me is these people who have put respect to the wayside and come out in public and blatantly disrespect members of the upper echelon of power. Button men in various families come to these streets pick up their soap boxes under the false pretenses of 'for the greater good' to say someone in power is conducting their business wrong. Just because it wasn't done the way they would have liked to have seen it done does not mean it was conducted in an ill formed manor.

And then these wolves I sheep's clothing flaunt that they have rectified a situation by paying for their indiscretions with some petty paper the squeezed off an old lady or from the till of the local 7-11. Our oaths are taken in blood not in paper. All business is conducted by the hard work and dedication of all parties involved and a small handful of paper that is easy to come by does not rectifiy disrespect.

I may be young but my ancestory, as well as those that they and myself have been intertwined with have been taught that respect and carrying yourself in a manor that does not bring shame to yourself, family, and city is of the utmost importance. I sincerely hope that this thing of ours can return to an atmosphere where respect retakes the top of the list of priorities when we conduct our public business.

Taylor a man of few words nods to Christian in agreement as he opens the door for Christian to climb into the back seat so they can head off to the penthouse on Grand Avenue.

No need to beat around the bush here Christian, I take it you're referring to Cpt-Harris' poster.

I did not consider that I disrespected anyone, nor did any of my city. The question was even asked to ourselves if there was anything in there that could be something that resembles disrespecting your city at all. The closest we found was the "shambles" comment, which of course could be taken as disrespect towards your city. However I explained that it was the SITUATION that I regarded as a shambles, not the city or the people in question.

I find it extremely ironic that you've come out here to complain about the lack of respect being show, yet using lines like that following...

"And then these wolves I sheep's clothing flaunt that they have rectified a situation by paying for their indiscretions"

and...

"I may be young but my ancestory, as well as those that they and myself have been intertwined with have been taught that respect and carrying yourself in a manor that does not bring shame to yourself, family, and city is of the utmost importance"

I have spoken at length with DeadlySin about this situation and he fully supports me on what was said, he just had a problem with where I brought it up (which he openly stated in Cpt-Harris' thread). So why do you think you have the right to say I brought shame upon my city? My GF doesn't think so, the people I have spoken to from Philadelphia and our allies New York do not think so either.

I find this whole thread disrespectful to the Godfathers who watch over our 2 allied city's. YOU are questioning their reactions. YOU are question their decisions. Sticking your nose into how other cities handle their members.

I must also note that the poster had died down and everything that needed to be said was said.

Then you go and bring it all up again.

Respect, bro.

Mr Countdown I knew I could count on you to be the first to respond. It takes either a guilty conscious or one hell of an ego to think that everything is about you. This was not directed at you. Had it been you bet you ass I would have said your name. While the debate in the Captain's poster is a recent example, this is a problem that has developed over time.

People think they can say what they want to who they want because they can pay for their words with paper. While I too may fall victim of this, the atmosphere around this thing of ours has let us all rely on the accolades of our ancestors, and our coffee shop friendships to protect us from our disrespectful tendencies. Each generation we have here is its own and should be treated as such.

My dear Mr Grey

With the timing and the content of your speech, whether you meant it or not, our whole world, unless they are rather silly, will take this speech as a stab at two of Philly's button men. (For the silly amongst us Countdown and Satanta).

The speech comes less than a day after an event which is fresh in the mind of many.

"And then these wolves I sheep's clothing flaunt that they have rectified a situation by paying for their indiscretions"

*cough*

EXACTLY what I did yesterday. You can try to cover your ass as much as you like here, but anyone with a set of eyes will know who that is about.

"People think they can say what they want to who they want because they can pay for their words with paper. While I too may fall victim of this, the atmosphere around this thing of ours has let us all rely on the accolades of our ancestors, and our coffee shop friendships to protect us from our disrespectful tendencies. Each generation we have here is its own and should be treated as such."

Sooooo... you want everyone else's bloodlines to have a fresh start with a new ancestor and each generation should be treated as a single person who deserves no favours for their bloodline's history.

Hmmm... again, I smell irony as the majority of times we see your bloodline's descendants they are usually in some sort of position of power, or at least (like now) in a cushy spot within a Godfather's family. But I'm sure your bloodline ALWAYS earns its stripes every time around, right? I've yet to see your bloodline not get a whole bunch of BG's.

Take a look at yourself in the mirror, Mr. Grey. You're not too far away from being what you're complaining about.

I too immediately believed this speech was about Mr. Countdown... As it so obviously points to his situation a few blocks down the street. (Then again I am also known to be a very silly individual)

You can ask Sammy how many of the men that protect me be has helped me hire? But I'll save you the time 0. All the men that protect me's salary is paid for by the wealth that I have amassed through my various business ventures. And if you had actually read what I said, I said that I too am victim of this. So while you sit here and try to make this all about you again. It's about all of us. Myself included.

Then why used cheap lines like the one you used about paying people off so soon after the poster we had of Cpt-Harris'?

Did it SERIOUSLY not cross your mind that I (and others) would assume this was about me? I say what I see Mr. Grey and that looked like a blatant cheap-shot at me and from the other people's replies so far, they also thought the same. I found it extremely disrespectful. Just like your comment in Cpt-Harris' poster about why would I care about some bold popping up 12 hours away? I had friends and family over there doing business in Chicago, of COURSE I care about a bold popping up 12 hours away when I can't see if he was authed or not.

Again while the situation that occurred upon the release of the dear Captain's poster is the most recent it is not the only occurrence. All too often we ALL say what we want to who we want because we know the situation can be rectified by a few meaningless pieces of paper. If its paper that makes this world go 'round why do we take our oaths in blood?

While you say this is a cheap shot at you, let me refer to something you said in the afore mentioned poster.

I am an IWP Don with more than enough notches on my gun to at least contemplate taking down an IWP rogue. You don't think people like me should know? Is it only the bolds that should know? Are they the only ones who are capable of shooting that high?

I found these words to be overly aggressive and needlessly hostile. While you were unsure of Mr Soprano's legitimacy you did just as everyone did. You waited. That my friend was disrespectful to my entire city.

We spoke about this privately in mail so I'll just drop the notes down here.

To: ChristianGrey
From: Countdown
Sent: Apr 09, '13 15:20
Subject:


I was just trying to make clear that if there WAS an IWP rogue, then I would have probably been one of those sent out to hunt it down, so if none of my upper structure were online to tell me, which they weren't... I could do with knowing if they're rogue or authed. (btw the mail Odin sent out only went to CL's only, so not even LHM knew directly).

If you took it as threatening then I apologise. It was never meant to be.
-------------------------------------
To: Countdown
From: ChristianGrey
Sent: Apr 09, '13 15:13
Subject:

And I thought your comment in the captain's thread "I am an IWP Don with more than enough notches on my gun to at least contemplate taking down an IWP rogue. You don't think people like me should know? Is it only the bolds that should know? Are they the only ones who are capable of shooting that high?" Was overly hostile and threatening.

Also, please let me make it clear. I am not 'your friend' so please don't pretend I am. I don't make friends with people questioning my city's motives for their decisions and call me out in the streets.

Yet you are allowed to call out my city's motives and decisions? It sure does look like if things are not conducted in a manor in which Countdown approves of then it is wrong. Respect works both ways sir. May I call I you sir?

Mr Grey

With you bringing up quotes from speeches elsewhere you are totally negating your argument that this speech wasn't anything other than an attack against Countdown.

You could hear the music skipping a bit from a distance.. but as you squinted your eyes you could see the party was still going on

Damn broken record keeps playing..

In a world where our words and actions are all we have to show.. our words will always be twisted and turned and one man's opinion will never change on either side.

Almost pointless to argue with it.. as some people never 'get it' and it is pointless to try to teach music to the deaf.

He grabbed the broken record and threw it against the brick wall laughing at it shattered into pieces

Mr Rhodes, I had kept the specific incident to which you are referring to to a private myself and countdown. He was the one that brought that public. Since he aired the laundry I commented.

You may call me whatever you like apart from 'friend' Mr. Grey.

It wasn't a motive or decision with your city, it was a mistake. I'm fairly confident (although obviously I could be wrong) knowing Cpt-Harris' bloodline and believing his blood to be one of the competent mafioso around these shores that he meant to put up the auth thread before considering a lot of authorisations are playing out that way and The Captain's blood has been present for a lot of those, something just got in the way. I pointed the mistake out.

Yes, I could have done it elsewhere. I admit that (and have already). It was bad etiquette on my part.

If respect works both ways then perhaps you should take a look at your Godfather's comments towards about towards me... (seeing as though pulling quotes from that thread seems to be ok now, I'll do it too. I pasted that part of our mail because my reply would have been EXACTLY the same and your reply here was almost EXACTLY the same as your mail)

"I don't give two fucks what you think about me, your opinion means literally nothing to me."

This was after explaining to him that I didn't meant to aim the "shambles" comment towards him. Also, because I could not really retort to him in public without using the same sort of slander I decided it was best left alone and stopping posting there. Instead I spoke to him privately and we had what seemed to me quite an amicable conversation. No shouting at each other, no disrespect, no name calling or curse words. Just two men trying to resolve their differences. RESPECTFULLY... even after all that had been said there!

Then we have the fact that everybody seemed to have let go of the melting pot created in Cpt-Harris' poster, including your boss, but you deemed it necessary to dredge up all this bad blood again only a day later.

Respect does work both ways Mr. Grey. At least I can apologise or at least leave a subject alone while tempers are still pretty high about it. Something that it seems you cannot do.

I think many of you have been far too quick to jump the gun here on both sides of this argument.

My good friend, Mr.Grey has brought to our streets, a perfectly viable question for discussion amongst the masses and whilst it may have some relevance to recent events that have come to pass I do not believe and I have been assured that this debate is purely based on the behaviour Countdown.

This seems like the classic case of people making proverbial mountains out of molehills and trying to start a mass argument where one is not needed. All I see here is troublemaking for the sake of making trouble. Isn't it about time people began to act like adults, perhaps?

Neville, if Mr. Grey couldn't see that pinning up this poster would be linked to what happened a day ago then he is either very naive or blind. He knew exactly what he was doing.

It was in the light of all to mentioned poster that what caused me to think. Why do we allow members from families to call out the practices while intentional or mistaken in the streets with no repercussions. I admit yours was the voice that brought the subject to light. But you are also the one that made it personal. While I was speaking in generalities, you started with specifics and made it all about you. And then when I tried to steer it back to generalities in public while continuing the specifics in a private conversation YOU brought that private conversation public. So if anyone were to blame for this to be focused on the all to mentioned poster from the Captain it would be none other than yourself Mr Countdown.

Since you love bringing yourself up so much let me now refer to another statement you made recently.

Yes, I enjoy the limelight to an extent, however it is more the opinions people make of me that I am interested in. I put myself for that purpose alone sometimes... to be judged. I want people to question my traits and temperament, I want people to agree, disagree, hate, love, sing and dance with me. For some reason, I enjoy being tested. Beat the hell out of monkey clicking in my book!

You yourself said you enjoy basking in the glory of the limelight and also to be challenged. So please don't sit here and pretend to be offended when you made this about you.

Ok, I've had enough now. Let's blow your whole "I didn't do this because of yesterdays poster or to cause trouble" out the window shall we?

To: Countdown
From: ChristianGrey
Sent: Apr 09, '13 15:35
Subject:


That was actually the only problem I had with when you guys said. I also knew that this was something that would cause enough of a ruckus to get me some good experience points

Are you STILL going to try to deny this isn't about me or yesterdays post?