I Abhor You

I said yo homeboy

Dear Michael Steele,

Damn you. Damn you straight to the darkest and hottest pit of Hades. Honestly, I can’t say I didn’t know this is why you were made Chairman of the RNC. The country gets a black guy, they go get a black guy I get it. However, your response to Jimmy Carter has officially determined who you are. There are some things I take on faith. If the state of Texas says a man shouldn’t be executed, I’ll go with that. When an 80-something year old white man who was raised in the south suggests people are being racist against a black man…I tend to believe him (especially when there was already proof). I watched your response and every signal I’ve seen since your election coalesced until before me was the result of 5 versions of Uncle Ruckus forming a House Negro Voltron. Your election was suspect from the start. Then I cringed internally as Michelle Bachmann “praised” you with a shout of “You be da man!”. Even worse than thinking of every time personally or in the periphery I’ve witnessed some white person make an awkward attempt at relating by regurgitating not just slang…but ebonics, I had to deal with but the embarrassment of you throwing out slang left and right. It became clear that even after only a month your own party was uncomfortable with you in a leadership position. Something I attributed to racism…because hell, it had only been a month. Then you…The Chairman backed down from Rush Limbaugh. When you said what Limbaugh does is “incendiary and ugly” I thought that maybe you at least had a spine. You proved me wrong quite quickly. You know what? You are the Leader of the Party…they elected you. Limbaugh is an entertainer and what he does is incendiary and ugly. So I watched you respond to Jimmy Carter. The more you spoke the less I heard. My head started resounding with with quotes from old movies. “They’s good white folks!” Mind you, it’s already bad enough when one person tries to speak and cover for the venom of others. In light of everything I’ve seen thrown at President Obama, to watch you declare how wrong Jimmy Carter is (meanwhile Limbaugh called him America’s Hemorrhoid) – it broke a dam that was inside of me. Now I have to say it, “There is no word to describe you, Uncle Tom (Uncle Ruckus), House Slave…none of them are good enough”. I hope to not even hear you speak anymore. I don’t know how you can even look at yourself in the mirror. You are worse then any black person they trotted out to speak against Malcolm X and you aren’t even opposing someone as radical. You are worse then a token. You have become the icon of self-hatred and denial in my mind. Worse then calling you a race traitor…you have betrayed your humanity in the name of politics. You are worse then a Remora Fish to everything black. I could keep on describing things that are low, but it would do no good. There is no appropriate word to describe you. From this point out when I need a horribly insulting description I will just use your name.

Dear Positive Action Person

Don't you care about the planet.

Die. I know you feel great. You’re really doing something positive and you want to let everyone know. You’re so bothered that I’m not going to sign your petition or whatever the hell it was. I’ll ask you to refrain from trying to lecture me about global poverty and making snide remarks about me “taking a vacation from saving the environment today”. Ahem: DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE HELL I DO FOR A LIVING?!?!?!?! I’ll tell you what you stick a pledge sheet for my organization on your clipboard or get some employers to say they’ll hire some of my clients and I’ll sign your crap. I saw more of you guys standing around than we can even afford to employ. I am Mr. Human Services all week long and I don’t want to use part of the first vacation I’ve had since November to dick around with you. Come back and talk to me when you’ve been doing that shit for almost a decade and then try and lecture me. Not to mention you have no idea who I am. I might be developing a sustainable form of energy for use in third world countries. I might be building a house out of recycled materials that I pull out of the gutter. Really all that’s not important. I said I’m not interested so just let that stand. In my mind you’re no different from the guy that was trying to sell me Nestle Crunch when I got back home. Both of you pushed it too far and made me want to put you in the camel clutch. Leave me the hell alone. Especially since there are like 50 of you guys standing in a 10 block radius I don’t want to hear anymore of your talking points. You have two choices: 1) Die away from me. 2) Concentrate on summoning Captain Planet. By the way…you should find a new means anyway….how in the digital age are you gonna save the environment while all of you are out using paper? Way to go…you could have saved some trees by putting this online. Oh, and global poverty guy. I’m fucking poor and I work with people who make less than me. Cry me a damned river. I’ll let you wipe your eyes on my overdue student loan notices…there’s plenty of them. In short when you see me and I say:
No thanks.
I’m good.
No, but good luck.

Enjoy that along with a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up.

Sincerely,

Amadeo

Update: Steele still a douche

You may or may not know that Micheal Steele basically said that Frederick Douglass High here in Baltimore is craptastic. Well, it would seem that in 2006 he said the same thing while he was there and promised to help them out as noted here:

Michael Steele’s broken promise to Douglass High
I wonder what recent graduates of Frederick Douglass High School think
of Michael Steele’s rise to the national Republican Party leader.

Three years ago — on Feb. 1, 2006, in the midst of the bitter Ehrlich/
O’Malley gubernatorial campaign that used city schools as a political
football — I was part of the press corps when Steele paid a three-
hour visit to Douglass. At a meeting in the school library, he
humiliated then-schools CEO Bonnie Copeland and then-Principal
Isabelle Grant by talking about what a horrible school it was in front
of the media. And he looked students in the eye and promised them he’d
make it better. “When one asked if he would put that in writing, he
said, ‘I’m asking you to check me on it. My word is my bond,’” my Feb.
2, 2006, article reported.

Douglass has improved since then, as it has parterned with Talent
Development at Johns Hopkins University. But it’s not thanks to
Steele, who said before leaving office as Maryland’s lieutenant
governor that the school system didn’t want his help.

When Steele visited Douglass, he made a point of noting that the
carpet in that library was taped together. That was something simple
he could fix. I thought of that day when I was back in the Douglass
library recently for a press conference announcing a Maryland Business
Roundtable initiative to get students into more rigorous courses. As
it happened, my seat was right next to the piece of tape in the carpet.

Well here is more info on the school and the current CEO basically ripping Steele a new asshole:

March 5, 2009

City schools chief Andrés Alonso publicly asked Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele last night to apologize for making disparaging remarks about Frederick Douglass High School on national television.

A spokesman for Steele, Maryland’s former lieutenant governor, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In February 2006, Steele visited Douglass in West Baltimore, holding it up as an example of the failures of urban education and making a personal commitment to turn the school around. Though he has not returned to Douglass since - a spokesman said shortly thereafter that school officials were not receptive to his help - he again said Douglass isn’t doing its job during an interview this week on D.L. Hughley Breaks the News on CNN.

But, as both Alonso and Gov. Martin O’Malley noted last night, Douglass has improved significantly since Steele’s visit: Its graduation rate went up 14 percentage points last year, from 43 percent to 57 percent.

“I don’t think Michael Steele has been here since he came in an election year to demagogue, kick around our children,” O’Malley said last night before his town hall meeting at Douglass on education and the economy.

The meeting, the last of five public forums the governor held around the state, was scheduled before Steele’s CNN appearance.

Steele’s 2006 visit to Douglass was widely criticized as a tactic to embarrass O’Malley, a Democrat who was then mayor and running for governor against Steele’s boss, Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Steele did not follow through on a list of specific promises.

“Whatever happened to the new computers?” Alonso asked. “Whatever happened to the carpet for the library? Whatever happened to the new textbooks? Whatever happened to the new cafeteria tables? Whatever happened to just showing up … before you go on national TV and cast aspersions on parents, teachers and students? Not acceptable.”

The controversy comes the same week Steele had to apologize to conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh after criticizing Limbaugh’s comments about President Barack Obama.

According to a transcript of the D.L. Hughley show, Steele said: “You don’t get anywhere without an education. I can take you right now to Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore City, where the educational system that’s supposedly training and teaching the future generation of black folks ain’t doing that. It’s not doing it at all. … and Republicans aren’t running the City of Baltimore. So the question then becomes, how do we as a community become self-empowered to make the system, whether it’s run by Democrats or Republicans, work for us?”

During his nearly three hours at Douglass in 2006, Steele grilled then-schools CEO Bonnie S. Copeland and then-Principal Isabelle Grant in front of the press about the dismal state of student achievement there. He endorsed an offer by Coppin State University to take over the management of the school.

Four months later, The Baltimore Sun quoted Douglass student Ebony Peacock as saying the school had not heard back from Steele: “We were really excited because he really made it seem like he was gonna help our school. We haven’t heard anything since.”

Since then, a board of the school’s alumni took over governance of the school in partnership with the Talent Development program at the Johns Hopkins University. At O’Malley’s urging, Verizon partnered with the school to fund a new computer lab.

Last summer, HBO aired the documentary Hard Times at Douglass High, which chronicled the school’s 2004-2005 academic year.

The documentary “tells us that only one student broke 1,000 on the SAT in 2004-2005, while another scored 440, far below the 850 required to get into college,” Alonso wrote in an op-ed piece in The Baltimore Sun in August. “In 2004-2005, 77 of Douglass’ 197 graduates (39 percent) applied to institutions of higher education. But three years later, in 2007-2008, 113 of Douglass’ 162 graduates (69 percent) applied and were accepted.”

Officials said the school added pre-calculus and Advanced Placement in five subjects.

Limbaugh = Cartman

Where do I know this from?
“The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.”
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), Notebook, 1935

I mean really…why do people even given any airtime to him? I keep waiting for someone to stand up and tell him to shut his damn mouth. I’m considering filing a complaint to the FCC the next time I see him on television. Conservatives in general have become the loud semi-smart kid nobody likes. They are a little smart, but some idea has stuck with them and twisted their way of thinking so instead of using their intelligence to do well in class…they use it try and subvert the teacher and cause a disturbance. The teacher is annoyed and most of the other students are annoyed. The dumb kids in class still listen because they think he’s smart. Everybody loses. Now…Micheal Steele has apologized to him??? WTF??? Isn’t he like running things now? He should just say, “Hey Rush…shut the fuck up!”. Look…for the last 8 years I had to deal with a President who was a horrible public speaker (C’mon…even horrible politicians should be able to give a good speech) and Rush Cartman blathering on and on and on. Now I demand that if you give 5 minutes of airtime to Limbaugh…you givve 20 to Jon Stewart or something. Mind you I can take someone with a plan that I hate talking….but he doesn’t even have a damn plan. Yet he keeps talking and talking. His lips are moving, but I don’t know what he’s saying. First off….the next Republican or Conservative or whatever that talks…detail a plan. Second it can’t be Limbaugh. I’m staring to think of him as the John Madden of Conservatisim. The difference being Madden once won a Superbowl…all Limbaugh ever did was talk. I find it even more funny that with all the talk of how the “liberal media” is running things that every few months a Republican of actual stature apologizes to Rush…a damn radio show host! I used to think alot of democrats and liberals were soft…but in regards to Rush, republicans need to man the hell up. Look: I’m not one of you guys, I normally disagree with you guys. Real Talk though….put dude in his place and go back about your business of doing things I disagree with, mkay?

Oh, that's where.

What not to do…

In laymen's terms...I will slap you.

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
Mark Twain

If you are ever in the press and you are among the few who get to attend the first Presidential press conference of a new administration, do not ask the C.I.C. about A-Rod taking steroids. There is a financial crisis, unemployment is sky rocketing, we are at war, there is a black president, Iran hates us, Russia hates us, China owns us, companies are shutting down left and right….and you ask what the President thinks about A-Rod taking steroids. I think the man who asked this question should be hunted down and beaten with a bag of nickels that have been boiled. Ask the President a real question. Matter of fact don’t say anything…watch Helen Thomas for a while or something. Jesus-jumped-up-palomino.

You Bastards!

Memo to the AP

“It’s just natural at this point,” … “You want to score. We talk about it on defense, we do it in practice”
Ed Reed

Well, well, well…I see you cowering over there associated press. Yeah, you guys fronted on my man Flacco, fronted on Harbaugh and now just an hour after my last post I find out you fronted on Ed Reed. I hope you all burn in Hell.

Did I mention that only one person who you guys voted an award to is still in the Playoffs? (Harrison: DPOY)

Manning: MVP - out
Ryan: ROY - out
Smith: COY - out
Pennington: CPOY - out
Brees OPOY: didn’t even get in (but I don’t have a problem with this one)

It’s clear you guys love to suckle at the Manning teet…I expect that. You really pissed me off with no votes for Flacco or Harbaugh, though…I mean none…not one? Even Belichick got one vote. Rookie coach makes it to Playoffs with rookie QB and that’s not worth a vote? You unreconstruced whelps of a whore. Then you go and have Ed Reed in 3rd Place? You bastards. I see how it is. That’s alright. Here is my argument and then I’ll leave it be.

Flacco:

Flacco’s numbers 257comp. 428 att’s. 60.0perc. 2,971 yards 6.9 average 14 td’s 12 int’s 80.3 rating
Ryans numbers 265 comp 434 att’s. 61.1 perc. 3,440 yards 7.9 average 16 td’s 11 int’s 87.7 rating

Hardly a blow out
Factor in Ryan had better recievers and played a weaker schedule there isn’t much difference.

Flacco played 7 of the top 10 defenses including the #1 defense twice
Ryan played 4 of the top 10 defenses
Matt Ryan - The average ranking of the defenses faced by Ryan - 20.125
Joe Flacco - The average ranking of the defenses faced by Flacco - 12.312

Ryan faced 4 playoff teams. Those teams have a combined record of 39-24-1.
Flacco faced 6 playoff teams. Those teams have a combined record of 69-26-1

Ryan faced teams with a combined record of 88-119-1 (LOSING RECORD). A winning percentage of .420
Flacco faced teams with a combined record of 112-94-2. A winning percentage of .538

Flacco faced the Bengals, Browns, Raiders, and Jaguars (who have a combined 18 wins)
Ryan (who faced the Raiders as well) faced the WINLESS Lions and TWO teams with 2 victories each (KC and St. Louis). Those teams have 9 total wins.

Ed Reed:

Led the League in INTs.

Set a new record for longest INT return (topping his old one).

Recorded 264 INT return yards. (In 2004 he set the record with 358)

Anchored a Defense with 2 starters on IR and another missing a few games.

All this with a nerve impingement in his neck and shoulder.

You guys suck and I hate your stupid sucky faces.

Put a Little Love in your Heart

Not For Long
Dear Sports Media,

What is the big deal? As a Ravens fan I am disturbed and I have finally come to the point where I have to say something. Perhaps you guys have lost track of something you mention all the time…parity. Due to your position your mind is probably already running down how the salary cap has resulted in parity, blah, blah, blah. With this being the case it would be nice if you injected some parity into your reporting. Getting to the heart of the manner…in a league defined by parity how can you still pay more attention to the “classic” teams? People love to throw out that stat about the last place team in the NFC south taking first place the next year. Yet, even if they haven’t done anything, there is still more reporting on teams that were strong before the salary cap came about. Meaning that I have to watch reports all week about if McNabb is on his way out of Philly instead of about how the Ravens actually won the game. In addition I get passing references to how Ed Reed broke his record for the longest interception return for a TD. That acheivement is reduced to “one of Philly’s turnovers”. How is it that when Carolina, Baltimore and Atlanta win in week 10 I still see more coverage about the Cowboys…who were on a bye week!!!! Despite the fact that the only one of these teams that isn’t in a better position in their division is currently tied with the Cowboys. Certain phrases are bandied about that should be abolished. “Flying under the radar” is one…you’re the media, if someone is under the radar it’s because you are not talking about them. I understand history and it’s importance, however we watch because of what’s happening now. I watch sports news because in addition to my team…I want to know what’s going on with the league as a whole. I don’t mind at the end of the season when there isn’t any focus on teams that are not in the playoffs. I understand that. When the playoff picture is still unclear, however, I want to hear about everything equally. Who thought the Giants would be the Champions last season? Who thought when Drew Bledsoe went down that Tom Brady would be this good? Who thought that when Tommy Maddox went down the Steelers would go on to win the Superbowl? Who that the Ravens would go on to win the Superbowl after not scoring any offensive touchdowns for four games? We never know what may happen in any given game or season. That’s why I rely on you to tell me what’s going on. I don’t rely on you to tell me more about teams that have done better historically then they are doing in the current season. Because there is no parity in reporting…Baltimore, Philly and all fans of football spent all day hearing about McNabb and how the eagles lost…being from Baltimore I’d rather hear about how the Ravens won. Did I mention that Ed Reed broke a record? Yes, it happened on an interception of Kevin Kolb…but one end of that play is going to contribute something to the Football Hall of Fame. The Giants are playing great this year…but their record does not excuse them from playing other teams in the playoffs. The Panthers and Buccaneers, at this point, are in the playoffs, it would be nice to hear more about them (because as of now the Cowboys are out). The Ravens are one game out of the Division lead and still have to face the Steelers. All I ask is that reporting reflects the league as it is. To use a quote that’s used alot in coverage of the NFL…you are what your record is. It would be nice to at least hear about the teams that are playoff contenders. I understand at the beginning of the year, the building of drama and so forth. Once the wins and losses start to add up…that’s what you need to go with. We already have to deal with the fact that some teams play in bigger markets then others, but the national sports media has a responsibilty to be what it is…national. I’m sure that when I’m 45 (unless there are more expansion teams) more attention will be paid to some of the “newer” teams. Despite the fact that some of these teams have been to Superbowls…and even won some, this isn’t the case now. I think back to the Patriots, they weren’t a traditionally dominant team. Now, I always hear about them and they get great coverage, but I do have to consider the fact that by winning 3 out 4 Superbowls in less then 8 years they forced you to. I hope that’s not what it takes to get reported on.

Yours Truly,

Amadeo

Penmanship

I hate you.

Dear United States Postal Service,

You sorry sods…you fuck twats. I am writing to let you know just how much I actuallydespise you. I am truly unsure was to why you allow people to track packages over the internet if you don’t update the information properly. I also wonder how serious you would take it if I beat one of your carriers to a pulp. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the same package I couldn’t track was the one that was returned to the branch office? Perhaps it was also a coincidence that although your website said there was a notice left there was none. Which I find particularly hilarious since I get my things mailed to my grandmothers house and she’s always home. Adding to this is the fact that I also had another package delivered there the very same day you said no one was there. Hmmmm. What’s wrong with this picture. So I came in and picked up my package and you gave me one for my mother. This is great…when I stopped by to drop it off your wonderful carrier had left my Old Navy package sitting on the front steps. Here’s the best part…my grandmother…was in the house. So no one even bothered to ring they bell when leaving the package on the steps. Not even a ring and walk away. Just leave my shit on the steps. I would love to pummel you all about the head and shoulders. I’d considered sending you a letter to express my extreme hatred for you…but you probably wouldn’t get it. Please die.

With Hatred,
Amadeo

Community Organizing

Preparing for the mayor to stick a golden shovel in and take a picture.

“What makes community organizing especially attractive is the faith it places in the ability of the poor to make decisions for themselves.”
Paul Wellstone

Dear Mrs. Palin…Fuck You….

Community organizing is a process by which people are brought together to act in common self-interest and compel others to join them. While organizing describes any activity involving people interacting with one another in a formal manner, much community organizing is in the pursuit of a common agenda. Many groups seek populist goals and the ideal of participatory democracy.

Here are some community organizers you may be familiar with:

Martin Luther King Jr.
William Wallace
Paul Revere, John Adams, John Hancock and the Sons of Liberty
The Goddamn FOUNDING FATHERS OF THIS COUNTRY
The Newsboys of 1899

Shut your dumb ass up. Community Organizer do that work that people like you and McCain come and take pictures in front of for publicity. Community organizers thwarted you as mayor when you tried to fire that Librarian. I pray you get eaten by a polar bear…that is all.

Even the young ones are hungry.

Voting Sucks

Divide and Conquer
“Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. “
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil’s Dictionary

Hey kids. I thought I’d talk about something else that’s been on my mind for a while. While I am a law abiding citizen there are some forms of crime that I admire. Cat burglary and Cons are easily two of my favorite crimes. See If I want to commit armed robbery…it’s pretty easy. Just about anyone can accomplish this. A Con artist, however, is so much more beautiful at work. Just think of it. Instead of taking your money by force…I’m going to convince you to give it to me and I’ll make you think that you’re actually winning in the situation. That is until you realize you are a sucker and I have all your money. I’m certain most of us get the feeling that politics is basically a con. Consider the profession that breeds many politicians…the law. Rather lawyers becom politicans. People who have been trained to interpret and turn facts until they suit that person’s ideal desire. While some cases may have a more set outcome based on the facts, others are worked simple from two different points of view based around the same set of facts until one either plants doubt or instills confidence in order to bring about an outcome they desire. As much as people hate lawyers, I’d rather thin the herds of politicians. Mind you, my biggest issue with politicians is…us. Even a Con man has a hard time beating someone who is rational and observant, remember the saying, “If it’s too good to be true…”.

To the point then: The Hegelian Dialectic is the invention of artificial extremes (”thesis'’ and “antithesis'’) which superficially conflict with each other, and the synthesis from that conflict of a goal, which is made to appear to be the product of consensus. Or a shorter summary, is promoting two opposing forces with your end goal being what results from their struggle. Or for a better example….it’s modern politics. The names have changed but it’s the same principle. We used to focus on Republican and Democrat, now the shift is increasingly towards Conservative and Liberal. The thing is this…both are just opposing sides of the same arguments pushed to extremes. It becomes most clear when we talk about wedge issues. Issues that are used and thrown out to polarize various groups in effort to bring out as many voters as possible. The thing is the wedge issue isn’t the goal of the person who puts it into play. They have used a form of propaganda to energize a conflict…the fallout being a goal beyond the inital vote. I’ve thought about it more because it’s clear in recent events. 9/11 and the lead up to Iraq is perfectly explained in the above quote by Hermann Goering. However, it’s more prevelant in our politics. Two sides crashing against each other neither truly forwarding their cause. The thing is to see who profits. I see alot of debates over politics and policy. Debates that become heated and often seem to only be debates for the sake of the thrill. The back and forth has no ending. Thus one synthesis is stagnation. Meanwhile the world keeps turning. The debaters just anchor it they don’t determine the direction. Which is even more ironic. When you consider most wedge issues tehy rarely have an effect on one group. Pro Life vs. Pro Choice…if a woman is Pro Life what effect does legalized abortion have on her? If 50% of marriages end in divorce…does giving gays the right to marry really have a negative effect on marriage? Does teh effect change when you rename it something else? These two issues are actually pushed forth by one of the oldest wedge issues…religion. So the question becomes, with the back and forth who profits? Hell, just follow the money.