Snitch of the Week: 1/13 - 1/19 (Rappers on Steroids)

(Marlo Stanfield, my new alias)

The idea of rappers on steroids shouldn't have received the surprise reaction it did when the news broke last week.

Look at the formula of rap music.


Hyper masculine culture

+ Exaggerated fantasy talk

+ Weak Album Sales

+ The Need for Attention

= AKA Barry Bonds/Roger Clemens syndrome


The real kicker is how they ordered their steroids,

• "Between August 2005 and January 2007 Blige allegedly received multiple shipments from an Orlando pharmacy of Jentropin, a human growth hormone, and Oxandrolone, an anabolic steroid, in orders sent to her at the Beverly Hills Hotel, MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and Clay Gym in New York City.
  
  At least one of the orders was mailed under the name "Marlo Stanfield," which is the character name of a drug kingpin on the Baltimore-based HBO crime drama "The Wire."

  "[50 Cent] is alleged to have received shipments of steroids at his mansion in Farmington, Conn. in July 2006 an order was mailed to his residence under the name "Michael Jordan" and also at a residence on Oakmont Drive in Los Angeles. Steroids in his name also were mailed to the office of a Long Island chiropractor."

My name is Stringer Bell Vic Mackey Jack Bauer and I'd like one steroid please!

Stupid fucks.

_________________________________

The runner-up is a group of E-thugs who decided to bring their gangsterism to YouTube.

• Two alleged gang members who taunted the Miami Dade Police Department in a video posted on YouTube have been arrested by U.S. agents and charged with federal firearms violations.
  

  Rudy Villanueva and Tony Logan, alleged members of a Miami-Dade County street gang called the Bird Road Boys, were seen in the video brandishing a shotgun, assault rifle and handguns. Villanueva was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement late Tuesday evening, and Logan was arrested early Wednesday morning.

  Villanueva, who goes by the names King Bird Road and Bird Road Rudy, is the alleged leader of the gang and is seen on the video saying, "Metro Dade Gang Unit, here I am baby." Villanueva went on in the video to say "we's out here fighting a Cold War" and that "they come at us if they want to.
  
  Logan appears in the video saying "come get it" while flashing gang signs and pulling the triggers of the two handguns he is holding.
  
  Mexicans for the win!
  
  
  For somehow involving The Wire with the ever spreading steroid scandal, steroid rappers are the Snitch of the Week.

Binge and Purge

(Tell 'Em Why You Mad Son!)

I'm still recovering from all the jazz y'all flooded me with but I gotta some shit off my chest.


- Start Snitching is in the NY Times... sort of. I posted this question to Alex Klein, a Washington Post reporter who has a book coming out about my nerdy ass HS, Stuyvesant.

Peep link and the comments that follow.

• As a 2000 graduate of West Indian descent, I wonder how minority students fit into Stuyvesant’s current landscape. How have minority (Hispanic/Black) students percentages held up as New York’s demographic shifts?

  HR

  The percentages, as you put it, have not held up. Issues of diversity continue to plague Stuyvesant. About 2 percent of the student body is black, a significant drop in recent years. The number of Hispanics also has been in decline — standing now at about 3 percent. Meanwhile, the Asian population has grown to about 55 percent of the school, while the percentage of whites has held steady at about 40 percent. The trends trouble educators at Stuyvesant and elsewhere. After all, how can the school system justify a public school, backed by taxpayers, with one of the most expensive school buildings ever built, at $150 million, that provides an elite education to only a small number of blacks and Hispanics? The question, and the issue, is addressed at length in the book. In the past, the school tried to bring about better representation by admitting some students who narrowly missed the entrance exam cutoff. That program has been suspended. Several years ago, the school also introduced a months-long program to help students prepare for the entrance exam. Still, though, the numbers of blacks and Hispanics continue to dwindle. And when asked about it, educators say they are not sure how to fix the problem. From my reporting, I would venture to say that the problem begins far before the students take the test, that, for instance, the middle schools could do a better job of preparing students—all students—for the kind of math and English questions found on the test.

- My little question above becomes a lot more relevant when you have the father of DNA and Nobel Prize Winner, Jim Watson admitting that he believes black people are genetically inferior.

• Watson said he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours, whereas all the testing says not really."

  Watson also asserted there was no reason to believe different races separated by geography should have evolved identically, and he said that while he hoped everyone was equal, "people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true."
  
  

Um, wow.


- And the racism continues. Obama said the head of the Justice Department's voting rights division should be fired for saying voter ID laws hurt the elderly but aren't a problem for minorities because they often die before old age.

• "That's a shame, you know, creating problems for elderly persons just is not good under any circumstance," Tanner said, according to video posted on YouTube. "Of course, that also ties into the racial aspect because our society is such that minorities don't become elderly the way white people do. They die first."

Let's not forget the Social Security privatization push the Republicans went for in 2005 when Bush claimed blacks die early so they need early Social Security.

So much reprehensible shit gets brushed away because the old stories aren't linked to the new ones to establish patterns and shit gets brushed off as a one time event.

Moving on...


- David Chase pretty much lays out the fact that Tony Soprano was killed in that final scene. The intense backlash that ending received was a testament to the fact that the Sopranos' had tons of fans that didn't really get the show. I still miss that shit.


- The New Yorker has a god-body interview with "The Wire" creator David Simon that has taken my excitement for Season 5 of The Wire to obscene levels. The piece is long and great, kind of like the narrative arc of The Wire.


- Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling outs Albus Dumbledore as a homosex. Start Snitching is a proud Harry Potter nerd who is looking forward to the newest overreaction by the Christian right to this bit of news. Who cares about real issues when a beloved children's character is gay and there is a black chocolate Jesus! Let the book burning commence!


- America kicks the immigrants out and then sneaks them back. America's schizophrenic foreign policy is beyond words. What comes after anger, shame and sadness?


- Blackwater disarms America troops at gunpoint.
How can read that article and not have your blood boil. Republicans talk a lot of shit about "supporting the troops" but they have all types of connections to Blackwater who destroy the image of U.S. soldiers by their indiscriminate murder of civilians as well as their morale by getting by incredible amounts of money while doing whatever they want. "Apocalypse Now" ain't just a movie.


- The Republicans gave Bush blank check after blank for the Iraq War and then have the nerve to uphold Bush's veto on the SCHIP bill for children's health care (as covered before) because of Bush's strict budget guidelines. How do the words Bush and strict budget even appear in the same paragraph.

While we're on the subject, here's some visual perspective on the cost of the Iraq war.

But it's all gravy, none of these problems matter because Bush will laugh us into WWIII and end all our problems.



Ha ha ha.

UPDATE:

The Christians already got out the torches and pitchforks against Harry Potter.

• One major anti-Potter crusader is Laura Mallory, a mother of four from Georgia, who made headlines earlier this month when she told the Gwinnett County Board of Education that the series was trying to indoctrinate children into the Wicca religion. In response to Dumbledore's outing, Mallory told ABC News that the Potter series has "an anti-Christian agenda," and, "this only further supports that."

  "My prayer is that parents would wake up, that the subtle way this is presented as harmless fantasy would be exposed for what it really is -- a subtle indoctrination into anti-Christian values," said Mallory. "The kids are being introduced to a cult and witchcraft practices.

  "A homosexual lifestyle is a harmful one," she added. "That's proven, medically."

  Not surprisingly, conservatives at Saturday's Values Voters' summit in Washington also had some thoughts on the now controversial wizard.

  "I feel like children's books shouldn't be political -- they shouldn't have political ties, they're entertainment," attendee Katie Beach said. "I think it's pretty ridiculous for her to say that or to do that."

Because we all know that gays aren't real people so they should never be represented among other social groups in a fictional story. Granted J.K. Rowling wrote 7 books and never made ONE specific or tangible reference to Dumbledore's gayness but now it's an issue.

Yawn...
Wake me up when Harry Potter 6 hits theaters.

Ding Dong, Gonzales is Gone!

Let the schadenfreude reign supreme!

The incompetent and corrupt Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales has resigned.

Praise the lord.
There are few things I will enjoy more than watching this Administration raked over the coals and dragged off in handcuffs.

Wishful thinking...

Start Snitching Lives

Sorry I had to ghost like that with no warning. I didn't mean to leave y'all hanging but life comes at you like that sometimes.

I should be picking up the pace shortly.
Did any rappers die while I was gone?
Fill me in on what happened on the Intertubes.

I heard the White Christian male power structure is under attack, so tread carefully y'all.

Au Revoir: The Shield Season Finale From France

As I explained before The Shield plays two episodes at a time in France, so while America just aired Episode 6 of Season 6, France just finished the 10 episode season.

All you "Jack Bauer" fanboys need to jump off the sinking ship of "24" and get on some "Shield." Our 6th season is great and our 7th will be even better.

May God bless Shawn Ryan, Michael Chiklis and the French for the joy they brought to my life this spring.

Season 6:

Episode 7 (5/15) Link

Episode 8 (5/22) Link

Episode 9 (5/29) Link

Episode 10: (6/5) Link

You will need uTorrent and a high-speed Internet connection to enjoy these episodes.

Don't tell the Interwebs where you got your supply from...

Leaked Shield Episodes From France: Bonjour!

I don't know why, but The Shield airs in France before it airs in America and they get two episodes at a time instead of one.

Yea, I don't get it either.

Peep The Shield's French Site, which is kind of better than the American one.

I would be jealous but the power of the Internet makes the international local and the secret global network of Shield fans united to get those early episodes over here. Don't worry they're in English.

I present to all my fellow Shielders:

Episode 4 from 4/24

And

Episode 5 from 5/1

Of course you will need to use BitTorrent to get these files.

Did I ever tell y'all how much I love the Interwebs?

The Shield Mini-Episode

(Firefighter and cop)

Having trouble waiting until the April 3rd premiere of Season 6 of The Shield?
Upset that FX delayed your Mackey fix with Courtney Cox's bland drama "Dirt?"
Do you need the emotional closure that only Lem's funeral can provide?

According to TV Squad, there is a mini-episode coming sometime in late February, early March that will fulfill all these needs.

By the way, The Wire gets all the credit for the real social issues it tackles but can the Shield get some love for predicting the blatant racially motivated murders of Black people by Mexican gang members in L.A.?

I think it was Season 5, where a Mexican kid shot a black person in the street due to a prison beef.

Shit is so real in L.A. that there are actual strike teams rolling around called Gang Impact Teams trying to clamp down on this gang shit.

I need April 3rd to happen quickly.

Barack Obama: Watch This Negro in '08

(Hillary is not feeling this.)

I don't think its hyperbole to say that this Obama cat is more relevant that all the black leaders alive today. With many tiring of the old, white and male aesthetic that dominates our political landscape and the image of them shooting each other in the face on hunting trips and planning out secret wars in steam rooms, he has a chance in 2008 to become a leader to a lot more.

I read an article about the old Negroes (Jesse Jackson and Sharpton) not showing Obama the love he needs as he takes it national.
That is some bitter ass Clay Davis shit. (Who watches that Verizon Commercial with Clay Davis and waits for him to say? Dad got shiiiiiiiiit!)



It's pretty pathetic that the old washed-up Negro leaders of past decades would turn their backs on the best chance black people have for real representation in today's political climate because they couldn't even get close to elected. Jackson and Sharpton may go out on some bitch shit and support Hilary to undercut Obama.

It's sad because they have no fuel against him.
Shit, he even married a black woman. They can't even play the sell-out card on him.

But that won't stop the jealousy. From the article,

• “They are basically jealous,” said a Democratic strategist who has not yet decided which candidate he intends to support. “They’ve been toiling in the trenches for decades, and along comes this son of a Kenyan farmer and suddenly he’s measuring the drapes in the Oval Office.”

Sharpton and Jackson had their chances and what are they remembered for?

People remember Jesse Jackson for using his organization to pay for his mistress' baby and calling New York "Hymietown" while Al Sharpton is remembered for creating the original Duke Lacrosse rape case as well as a lot of other shady shit.

They have no mass appeal or charisma and white people hate them.

There is a lot we still don't know about Obama, like what he thinks of the L.A. race wars making "Crash" look like Mister Rogers, but anyone with the smallest understanding of the political scene realizes that you need to appeal to the coloreds and the white folks.

And white people love them some Obama. Peep Slate's nonsensical piece about how smoking makes Obama's voice sounds cool.

Right...

If Obama doesn't Kobe Bryant any white girls between now and November 2008, things should get interesting.

Condi Rice Ain't Gots No Kids... The Truth Hurts

Besides researching the drug war, the other thing that has been keeping me busy is the three ring circus of American politics. With the Democrats taking charge last week and the new Iraqi escalation things are about to go crazy in 2007.

Things got a little heated when a California Senator Barbara Boxer told Condi Rice she will pay no personal price for Iraq because she has no kids.

Boxer said,

• “Who pays the price? I’m not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young. You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families. And I just want to bring us back to that fact.”

Personally I saw nothing wrong with what Boxer said. People with kids in military will probably make better military decisions than people whose children are Jenna and Barbara Bush.

And is anyone supposed to feel sorry for Rice? She will go down as a legendary sell-out on the level of Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerly.

Boxer was spitting the truth but I realized the Bush administration doesn't react well to that noxious substance. Especially when it's told directly to them. Like when Jim Webb told Bush not to ask about his son in Iraq, or when someone noted that Cheney's daughter was gay in a debate.

But apparently it has become a big deal.
Drug-addict/professional retard Rush Limbaugh had this to add,

• “Here you have a rich white chick with a huge, big mouth, trying to lynch this, an African-American woman, right before Martin Luther King Day, hitting below the ovaries here.”
  

And others in the White House called her remarks an attack on feminism. Because you know, the Bush administration really cares about feminism and the plight of the African-American woman.

I hope no one loses focus on the 20,000+ troops that are now IED bait by focusing on this bullshit distraction.


While I'm at it, let me just get this all out.


- Cheney says U.S. must show stomach in Iraq and calls out Iraq and Iran.
If the military consisted of 200,000 cloned versions of shotgun-bearing drunken Cheney I'd say invade away.

Otherwise I'd say lets not talk shit to Syria and Iran now...
We ain't exactly dominating on the military front.


-Lieberman is still the biggest bitch ass mother-fucker in the entire U.S. Congress.

How did Ned Lamont lose to this fucking rat?
Don't let me see this fool on this street.


- Bush was an utter embarrassment on 60 Minutes tonight. I'd post YouTube video of it but I like y'all more than that.

After 6 years of his presidency I cannot add anything new about how disrespectful Bush's smirky, frat-boy attitude is, especially in response to questions about mistakes that killed hundreds of thousands of humans and horribly injured hundreds of thousands more.

The shit that really made me shake my head more than normal was when this dumb motherfucker said he was currently reading a book about France's horrible disaster in Algeria.
I pray he wasn't just finding out about Algeria because I knew about that shit going into college. That fool is 60.

He also said that Iraqis owe America a thank you for what the U.S. has done for them.
Yea, you read that right. Iraqis owe us a thank you.
Saddam was a tyrant but he kept Iraq in check and less people died a month with him than they do now. I hate to say it, but life under Saddam was ballin' in comparison to what is popping off now.

My mommy went to the market to buy vegetables and was killed by an Sunni insurgent.

My father took a job as a garbageman and was kidnapped and executed.

I don't know about y'all but I don't want the thanks a lot of Iraqis probably want to give us now.

- Not enough time has passed for Germans to make a movie about Hitler being an incompetent yet lovable oaf.
When German soccer savages are throwing banana peels at black players, Germany ain't ready.


- When Mexicans are killing Negroes in broad daylight maybe pizza chains shouldn't be excepting pesos as a form of payment.
Bad timing Pizza Patron. No wonder they got death threats. (The Shield tried to teach y'all about Mexican-Black tensions spilling out onto civilians. The Wire ain't the only showing dropping knowledge.)