Baltimore Homicides: Early 2011 Report

As of this date, April 8, 2011, 48 people have been murdered in Baltimore City, 47 of them, Black (three females, 44 males) and one White male run over by a truck. Is it not obvious that the failing of Baltimore City Public Schools has made the "education" process little more than an apprenticeship for murder?

Those who live in the neighborhoods where the violence exists must feel like disposable citizens. At times, being shut in their houses to avoid the violence outside, they see the body bags and hear the frantic crying of another mother whose son is gone. In the land of opportunity the culture of murder and culture of despair live side-by-side. Some are blameless. some are perpetrators. Clearly, society's institutions are failing horribly starting with schools that don't educate, discipline or prepare.

As long as these murders happen in someone else's neighborhood and God forbid, avoid the downtown hot-spots: Mt. Vernon Square, the Inner Harbor, Federal Hill, Fells Point, Canton, Guilford, Homewood, Mt. Washington, and Little Italy, they might as well be in Los Angeles. No new social programs, no increased spending, no "crackdowns" will accomplish ANYTHING until values change. Those outside of the killing zone must accept that every life matters. In the killing zone, residents must stop seeing the police as their enemies. They must demand their streets belong to them not the hoodlums. From a child's earliest entry into society's systems, starting with pre-school and ratcheting up during school, productive values must be taught and practiced. Kids need positive roll models, hope, and clear expectations. That it's okay to skip school, steal, take drugs, bully others, and hang out in gangs must be countered with REAL options. Justice must be fair, immediate, and deserving.

Warm weather is coming. The homicides per week will be going up soon. While the murder rate is down significantly from over 300 a year and will remain so at this year's pace, how many other subdivisions in Maryland will come close to the number of killings in Baltimore by year's end. Right now, the year is just a little over finished its first quarter.

How often do we hear guns kill?  The truth is the decades of excuses and inaction are far more lethal.


.

Baltimore City Nightmare

An event such as this should not be hidden behind school walls.  How can any meaningful education take place where what is reported in the following link is possible?

http://www.wbal.com/absolutenm/templates/story.aspx?articleid=63395&zoneid=2

,

2010 Season - Stick a Fork in It -- For Baltimore Baseball -- It's Done

More than a new look needed...

The Orioles are 2-8 since the All-Star Break. Deja Vu?  They were 2-11 to start the season. At their current pace, they'll finish at 51-111. How embarrassing can it get?

No more MASN, no more Orioles. Okay, Brian Roberts is back, that's good. Matt Wieters just got the call. Jake Arrieta is the only young player developed through the system who hasn't became overwhelmed. Chris Tilman and Norm Reimold are in Norfolk. Brad Bergesen and Brian Matusz are floundering seldom showing the promise that looked so apparent a year ago. Of the young Orioles, Adam Jones, appeared closest to being a break through player having represented the team in the 2009 All-Star game and showed tremendous improvement from early May to the All-Star break despite a horrendous start. His batting average for the season is .272 with 15 homers, but since July 11 is only batting .222. Since returning from a long stay on the disabled list, Felix Pie is only batting .237 in his last ten games.

The Orioles only have reliever, Jim Johnson, and outfielder, Lou Montenez on the disabled list. What we see is what we get. 

The horrible reality is with just a few prospects that haven't surfaced on the major league roster yet, the team on the field today with a few possibilities in Norfolk, are the team of the future the big rebuilding plan gave us. Unlike prospects in the past aside from Brian Roberts, Nick Markakis and Erik Beddard who the Orioles under previous leadership hyped as marvels only to fizzle out often before ever reaching Baltimore, the Orioles now have talent that baseball observers felt deserved high ratings seeing strong major league potential. Matt Wieters, for instance, was compared to Twins switch hitting catcher, Joe Mauer. This cadre of players appeared to be well-prepared through the minors further validating their potential, but when they arrive at Baltimore, they show flashes of what they can do early on and then fall back. Sure, players don't continue to progress upward at a steady pace. There are setbacks and slumps, but in the young Orioles' situation, they start to look overwhelmed and lose their grip on the fundamentals, the basic discipline they mastered all the way up to the majors.

It seems like talk of winning is like talking of fighting a war on terror in the current White House. Listen to the better teams talk or the Washington Nationals and hear, "win, win, win, won, winning."  Listen to the Orioles and hear, "Well........" 

The final game against the Twins was the last official home game played at Orioles Park for the 2010 season. Whatever happens there between now and the first weekend in October will hardly be a rumor. All eyes now turn to birds of a different color, opening camp at McDaniel College, about a 40 mile drive to the northwest of town. The Ravens look like a good bet to advance in the playoffs this year. They win. They talk winning. New players arrive, taste the winning culture, and join right in. Imagine one of the young Orioles mentioned catching on like Ray Rice. The Ravens were destitute when they arrived in Baltimore in 2006. After three losing seasons, in 1999 they had one of the most feared defenses in the game. The next year, they won it all. This is the third year of Andy McPhail's attempt to rebuild the Orioles. We should expect .500 ball next year, but that doesn't look likely now. 2012 should have been the year to become a contender -- that's so far away right now it's hard to imagine.

The honest truth right now is that the Orioles are the worst team in baseball. That's what the standings say. Any claim to the contrary would involve tremendous speculation. How does a team such as that command TV viewers?  Why would a local sports fan want to talk about the Orioles with the Ravens now getting ready to go?

They are over the border in Canada poised to play the Blue Jays. They are 0-9 against Toronto so far. They finish the month and begin August against Kansas City.  The Angels, White Sox, Mariners, and Rangers come to Baltimore while the Birds travel to Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The Mariners are miserable, right?  Not playing the O's. They're 4-2. Cleveland is struggling but 2-1 against Baltimore. The ingenious schedule has the Orioles playing the Royals but six games, two at home where they've split. The Orioles have not played the Angels or White Sox yet. Both teams are in contention and the Angels have clobbered the Orioles in recent years.

In September, the Ravens season starts for real. The Orioles sure would like to finish on a positive and not completely collapse in September. In September, they face the four teams in their division at home and away and also the Detroit Tigers. All of those teams spare the Blue Jays should be in contention, but as reported, the Orioles haven't won against Toronto yet.

When a team is playing as poorly as the Orioles, it would be hard to describe anything that might happen as a collapse but what will be hard to take would be flirting with records for the worst team ever in the modern era rivalling the 1962 Mets and 2003 Tigers. Perhaps that's the one goal they can set, not to be in that group.  It will take playing better ball than they've shown so fr to even equal their horrible record of 1988 when they lost 108 games.

We wish the young men in black and orange well and hope much future success. Let's close the book and get ready for the Ravens. Is there anything that could possibly happen between now and October 3rd that would prevent 2010 from being the worst performance in team history and one of the worst seasons in American League history?

ESPN Zone -- Outta Here!!!

Tonight the ESPN Zone at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor “Power Plant” entertainment complex closes its doors as will all the rest of the other “Zones” not located on Disney property. With much hoopla, ESPN opened its first Zone in Baltimore in 1988. While Baltimore might not have been the ultimate ESPN kind of place, in 1988 the Inner Harbor was rapidly becoming a hip place to be and with the success of Camden Yards and the Ravens’ new stadium just opening, Crab Town provided a fine location for ESPN to introduce its new concept in dining and entertainment.

The basic formula is to make the ESPN experience come alive in a restaurant setting. The food was never anything spectacular nor that bad but surely overpriced compared to similar quality servings like the typical mall restaurants like TGIFridays, Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesday’s, and Chili’s. The menu had lots of items but for most, it was beer, wings, and beer while having all kinds of ESPN artifacts all over the place. The venue also provided all kinds of televisions displaying nonstop sports and a place to broadcast events from in a live studio environment. The real novelty was a games arcade with all kinds of fancy participatory and video games similar to but maybe a little more extravagant than what might be found in some suburban sports bars.

The concept seemed to work reasonably well. Surely, it would command more repeat business than a similar venue like the ill-fated Planet Hollywood. After establishing the concept, soon ESPN Zones were popping up everywhere, New York on Times Square, Washington DC, Chicago, Denver, Atlanta, and Las Vegas. Wow, the world should know and Baltimore should be duly proud that in 2009, the Guinness Book record for couch potatoes was set in Baltimore. Well, the Chicago Zone took that record the following year.

The falling economy and perhaps changing sensibilities for the sports fan and entertainment consumer saw the ESPN Zone concept falling off and not remaining financially successful though Disney is pretty quiet in discussing any numbers. The effort also requires tremendous constant promotion to remain viable and surely ESPN will never be at a loss for other promotions possibilities.

While the departure will create a void in the Inner Harbor entertainment zone, surely even in today’s economy, some enterprise will consider the value of location, location, location. For the rest of us, most of us can at least say, “been there, done that.”

In the big scheme of things, the departure of the ESPN Zone is no big loss though if ESPN were to rid themselves of something unnecessary, we would have jettisoned Chris Berman who broadcast the halftime show for Monday Night Football at the Baltimore Zone in 1999.

Bad Times in Birdland: New Manager - Same Results

The Orioles performed the inevitable, the ritualistic sacrifice or mercy killing of Dave Trembley's managerial career. The results, a dreadful 11-0 shutout at the hands of the Boston Red Sox. Did anybody think this was going to be easy? Remember in 1988, Cal Ripken Sr. was fired after the season started with a six game losing streak. Frank Robinson was called in but the losing streak would reach 21 before the Orioles achieved their first win. Surely, Juan Samuel will not endure such a horrible fate.

x

There were some good signs in last night's game. Right after a couple of slip ups on the field and running blunders, Juan Samuel went directly to those players to discuss the situation in much the same way John Harbaugh handles similiar situations with the Baltimore Ravens. The message, every player is accountable and no mistake will go unanswered. It doesn't have to mean Samuel is required to be nasty. Some will be teaching situations, but all events on the field count for something, and when they add up to an 11-0 shutout, there's is still much to learn.

x

It won't be easy taking team that knows nothing but losing in the right direction. The damage runs deep and could be called institutional. It's the club house culture. Any vestages of the Orioles way, whatever that was, a connection with the winning tradition died in October, 2001 when Cal Ripken Jr. retired. No effort since then has turned the mess around.

x

Andy McPhail noted a major problem was how a number of key players deterioration this year was a major concern. Looking at Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, and Brian Matusz in particular, the point is clear. They are works in progress who still need much attention before they are working up to the vast potential they show.

x

Juan Samuel couldn't have been brought in during a more difficult run, six games against Boston and New York. However, could the Orioles have possibly come home after their disasterous road trip and faced the world with a shell-shocked Trembley still assigned to lead the team?

x

What's most disturbing is that the Orioles have had a terrible record of falling off miserably in the second half of the season, especially in August and even more so in September when the competition they face is attempting to nail down post season spots. The task of improving this season only gets tougher as the season rolls along.

x

x

Pathetic!

Yes, your humble writer is harping on the Orioles, but to dismiss baseball on June 1st would be unacceptable.

Dave Trembley demonstrated why he must leave NOW, right NOW. In his pregame comments to the media, he looked rattled and lacking any command. No one needs to be an expert in body language to see that. Further, in his comments not once, never, not all, he never said the word WIN. WIN that's what it's all about. If the Orioles win, nothing else really matters. We know all the "could haves." We've had it up to our eyeballs with the "should haves." Does Dave Trembley even know what the "need to's" are. They need to win. It's in the little things. It's in the mind game. It's in the execution.

The man might be very good at mopping the tears after another butt-kicking, but can he kick butt when needed. Do the players feel him behind them pushing to WIN. We need to hear the word WIN. We need to see the results, WIN.

All championship and hall of fame players and coaches know the vocabulary of winning. It's winning not whining, stupid. WIN, WIN, WIN.

Memorial Day: Orioles 2010, an Unprecedented Failure

Just how bad are the 2010 Orioles?

Apologists will say if you were to drop their 2-16 start, they’re not that bad. Oh really?

Do the math. Since their miserable start, they are 13-19, a .406 record. That’s just a little better than their miserable play last year. .406 would project to a 66-96 finish, two games better than last year. Right now, only the Cleveland Indians (.370), the Seattle Mariners (.404), and Houston Astros (.333) are playing worse. The Pittsburgh Pirates who aren’t even trying to win are 20-29 (.408).

Even ignoring the horrible 2-16 start, the Orioles are still among the bottom feeders. However, the wicked start counts. The official record is 15-35 (.300). The sorry Houston Astros project to finish 54-108. If their current level of play continues, the mighty Orioles are heading for serious misery, 49-113.

Watching this team is not enjoyable baseball. A young team that is still learning the trade can be most entertaining even if they don’t bring home the wins if they play with reckless enthusiasm, kids that go out there and play hard and their screw ups are essentially errors of enthusiasm. There might be some isolated instances of that in the Orioles play, but most of the trouble we’ve seen so far falls into two areas: bored, indifferent play or tentative, overly cautious, scared silly play. That’s hard to watch. When someone like Garrett Atkins makes a right turn to the dugout rather than running out a ground ball out or we see some of the “I give up” base path exploits of Julio Lugo, what are fans left to think?

On offense, most of the starters are batting .250 or better, but only three players have more than 20 RBI: Ty Wigginton, 32; Miguel Tejada, 22; and Luke Scott, 20. For homeruns, Wigginton has 13 homers; Scott has 9. Nobody else has more than 4. Only Nick Markakis is in double digits with doubles, 13. Three players are tied with 8. For stolen bases, two players have five steals but one of them has been caught stealing four times. Beyond that, one player has three steals. Remember Brian Roberts, only played four games? He has two steals. How about this? Five players have hit double digits for extra base hits, only two as high as 17, and one with 21.

Look at some other stats, seven players have grounded into double plays more than five times; two at 6, and two at 7.

Turn this around to the pitching staff, Kevin Millwood has a respectable 3.89 ERA but has a 0-5 record. Jeremy Guthrie has a 3.64 ERA, but only a 3-4 mark to show for it. The other starters have ERA’s approaching six runs a game. How sad it is to have seen Brian Matusz come up to the majors with so much promise, but at the rate things are going now, he’ll be spending July in Norfolk. The starters also have to deal with the bullpen has blown 10 save opportunities. With a 15-35 record, had those saves been converted, that looks like a .500 record, doesn’t it?

So much enthusiasm and high hopes surrounded some of the young talent ready to break through with the Orioles, but it seems like collectively they’ve all become overwhelmed, over matched, or just plain scared of life in the bigs. Norm Reimold is now retooling in Norfolk. Ironically, he had 10 RBI’s better than most of the current regulars. Adam Jones, last year’s all star, has done a little better recently, shows only five homers, 15 RBI’s, and has seldom been a factor in helping toward a win. Matt Wieters looked strong early in the season but only has four homers, 16 RBI’s, and .255 average.

Taking a closer look at Brian Matusz, who was expected to be a top quality starter, what has caused his fall off into horror? Three games he has no decisions because there was no support on offense or the bullpen crashed on him. His May 4th loss to the Yankees, he only gave up one earned run in six innings. Where did the two unearned runs come from? On May 15th, Matusz pitched seven scoreless innings, but did not get a decision for that game. Since then, Brian Matusz looks like a candidate for a little trip down the bay to Norfolk, seven earned runs to Texas and six to Oakland. Is Brian Matusz a casualty to the toxic clubhouse environment on this rudderless ship?

How much hope does the team have invested in Matt Wieters? There’s no question the kid has abundant talent and loads of potential, but he appears to be losing his way. He has only one extra base hit, a double, since May 8th, his last home run, May 1. He’s lost 20 points off of his batting average since May 13th, add to that only 3 RBI’s since May 5th. What will it take to get this talented young man back on the upswing toward the all-star potential he clearly has?

Dave Trembley remains as manager. Fans can say all they want about what a class act he is and how it’s not all his fault. Fine, but the team is not playing for him. Either the team is not responding to him or he’s not “managing” his personnel when some of the same kinds of mistakes and lack of effort continue nightly. While it certainly is difficult to appear before the microphones after another loss, one does not get the impression that Mr. Trembley has any kind of command when attempting to account for yet another loss. During the game, his pitching strategy seems lacking too. Way too often, have starters been left in too long. The general principle is: don’t let the starter remain in after a tying run reaches base. Bullpen choices seem to be mandated far more by textbook and not a sensible head-in-the-game approach. Granted, the bullpen has been plagued by injuries, but a little more thought in how to who needs to go where as if there is no depth chart.

The prognosis for improvement is slight. While it was good to see Chris Tillman pitch well this afternoon, it goes down as a loss to the bullpen. Jake Arrieta will surely see action in Baltimore, but wouldn’t it be a bitter irony if it was to replace a burned out and dispirited Brian Matusz? Arrieta is 5-2 in 10 starts with a brilliant 1.82 ERA.

There could well be a steady stream of pitchers floating up and down the Chesapeake Bay as things develop in Baltimore. Their most recent move was sending Cla Meredith to Norfolk making way for Tillman.

Looking at the medical report, Brian Roberts has resumed baseball activities reporting to Sarasota for rehab. Perhaps he will be back in Baltimore by the end of June and stabilize the top of the lineup and shore up the middle of the infield. Felix Pei is on the 70 day roster, no report on him. The bullpen has Jim Johnson, Alfredo Simon, Koji Uehara on the 15 day disabled list, but how many of them could be ready in about two weeks is hard to say. Michael Gonzalez hired to be the 2010 closer who failed miserably not making it past the team’s first weekend remains on the 60 day list. When and if he returns remains a mystery.

Clearly, the Orioles can draw all the pictures of rainbows and flowers they like, reality is they are well deserving of their current status as the worst team in baseball. Yes, the sad truth is, the Baltimore Orioles are the worst team in baseball. Only three teams have scored fewer than the Orioles at 174. Five teams have given up more runs.

There is no room for optimism given how poorly the Orioles are playing across the board and players expected to show growth have plateaued or fallen off the plateau altogether. They refuse into inject new leadership into the clubhouse perhaps fearful that a frustrated fan base could either resort to rebellion or disappear completely if there would be little improvement with a change at skipper. Young players do have their down spells, but their difficulties are looking less and less like errors of enthusiasm but errors of poor preparation. How much of that lies on the players and how much is it a matter of the coaching staff not preparing them is hard to determine, but given the total lack of motivation shown by many veteran players, that might make the choice more obvious.

It’s beyond talking about who will be the long term options at first and third base while the rest of the starting pitching prospects come of age. The problems with the Baltimore Orioles right now run far deeper. They do not look like a team ready to compete in the foreseeable future. It would not be wise to compare this year’s Orioles to the 2003 Detroit Tigers who lost 119 games in 2003 but turned it around to dominate the playoffs and make it into the 2006 World Series. While Andy McPhail’s master plan of stockpiling pitching makes sense, moves like signing Michael Gonzalez and Garrett Atkins, clear failures, make his long range vision seem less credible with such miserable short term but necessary solutions.

Baseball is becoming increasingly irrelevant in Baltimore where fans anger and frustration after a decade plus of losing has turned to total indifference. There just isn’t anything entertaining to watch when the team looks so lackadaisical and ill-prepared.

At very least, fans need a burnt offering for their tortured support. If we’re still writing about the need to replace Dave Trembley by July 4th, it might mark something good happened in June, because it would show we’re still paying attention which gets harder and harder with each passing series down the drains.

Baltimore Murders - Sixty and Counting

As of May 10, sixty people have been murdered in Baltimore. If this pace were to continue, at the end of the year there would be much celebration as at the current rate there would be 167 homicides, but this is only May, the long hot summer is still approaching.
x
n April 23, a 49 year old homeless man was found beaten to unconscious at 1000 W. Lexington Street. David Allen Beers was pronounced dead on Wednesday, May 5. Beers had a long record of criminal charges, burglaries and drug charges. What makes his death significant was he was the first white murder victim of 2010. On that same date another blunt force trauma victim, also white, was found in South Baltimore, the address 3733 S. Hanover Street. The victim has yet to be identified.
x
On May 3rd in the block of 1500 W. Fayette Street, an indentified shooting victim was found. No identity has been released.
x
On April 17, a two year old African American girl, Melonie Hamber of 2000 E. Hoffman Streete was beaten to death by her father.
x
The numbers stack up that so far 56 African American males have been murdered in Baltimore. One victim was killed by her African American father. There's one murder that hasn't been identified. All but nine of the murders were shootings. There were six stabbings and three beatings.
x
In the Baltimore region, if you live in Baltimore City and are a black male, murder is a fact of life. If you're anyone else or live outside of the city, you're probably not going to be killed.
x
Thousands gathered to mourn the death of Yeardley Love, a beautiful 22 year old Cockeysville resident, graduate from Notre Dame Prep, and soon to graduate senior at the University of Virginia. She was savagely beated by her former boyfriend, likewise a UVA senior, a young man from a family of wealth and privilege. The entire Mid-Atlantic cries for Yeardley's death.
x
Beautiful white girls don't get murdered. When they do it is BIG news. If we believe every human life is of value, while Ms. Love's death shocks us for its brutality and how unthinkable it is. Sadly, there's one difference besides the obvious for the 56 black males murdered in Baltimore, their deaths have become all too thinkable. However, are their deaths any less horrible and shocking to their families?
x
What will it take for our community to feel the outrage over the thinkable loss of life we feel for the unthinkable? What's to say these murder victims might have had bright and valuable days ahead of them? Of course, Ms. Love graduated from an esteemed private Catholic school, and where did the murder victims go to school and how successful are those schools. Can anyone say vouchers?
x
While there are dozens of factors that make Ms. Love's death different than the nameless 56, a duhunizing, totally ineffective, unmotivating school system is one thing we can all contribute to improving through vouchers which seem especially noteworthy when private Catholic schools are closing, supposedly due to lack of enrollment. Charter schools and other solutions outside of the assembly line education factories manned by rank-in-file, senority based educators must be made available to even the most disadvantaged schools. Streets need to be cleaned up with law enforcement present and effective community based organizations, not shams like ACORN, to provide a sense of purpose to commnities written off as slums. The Black church needs its vitality and authority restored.
x
This is no pipe dream. This is no "progressive" ideological position. It's what every American, especially those who love this country and appreciate its freedom and potential must support.
x
Meanwhile, the body count continues.

Death Report Update: Murder in Baltimore - Late April Edition

April 17th marked the first homicide in Baltimore City where the victim was not a black male. Melonie Hamber of 2000 E. Hoffman Street, a two girl old black girl, was murdered by her father, Tyrone, who police indicate beat her to death with a belt. We simply cannot express our sorrow that a young life could be taken so viciously or express our outrage that a person could be so cruel to his own daughter.

Meanwhile, the homicide count is now up to 52, after a particularly lethal weekend and two recent terrifying murders in the Waverly area near the junction of Greenmount Avenue and 33rd Street. If there’s anything good in the statistics is that the overall murder rate is down from last year, but given this still projects to be 169-170 murders compared to 238, Baltimore is still a killing zone for black male citizens. While the city has crossed the threshold that it is no longer more likely than not someone will be murdered on any given day, that the murders focus so significantly on just one element of the city’s population screams for effective action.

The drug trade, lack of employment, absolutely dreadful preparation and discipline in schools, the gang culture, fractured family structure and apparent indifference of society as a whole has created what appears to be a class of disposable citizens who are doomed to failure at such a young age.

We will not presume to have the answers, but we truly believe that when these murder victims start off in a dysfunctional, incompetent school system that neither gives them the educational background and skills required to succeed in the world nor instills effective values followed up with fair but firm discipline, and as such are at a dreadful disadvantage to explore the wide range of positive possibilities for their lives. City high schools are incubators for gangs and misadventure.

The city and state can only do so much but what they are doing is not working. To put it on the communities themselves does not answer the problem either as their resources and know how is so badly fractured. It will take the larger community, a metropolitan approach where all of us see we have a stake in improving this horror not through massive handouts but identifying those resources that are the most effective and helping them achieve their goals. How many groups like ACORN have posed as helpers for such communities while pursuing a corrupt agenda of their own of no benefit to the communities they are charged with helping?

O! Enough is Enough

The time to end the "O" screaming is long past due. It may have fit in with the spirit of the times back when Section 34 was the great Orioles' fans madhouse on 33rd Street and beer flowed like a river through out the stadium.

Today, we have troops overseas in two wars. 9/11 taught us a little bit about what it means to be American. The "Star Spangled Banner" should have special meaning to all of us, and just because the National Anthem was composed in the waters of our harbor doesn't give us as Baltimoreans a license to mess with it.

It's something that makes our city look like a bunch of rubes and low class low-lifes to the rest of our country. Fans in Atlanta could just as well scream, "BRAVES," at the end of "home of the brave..." They don't. In Houston, they could go to a basketball game and scream "ROCKETS" for "and the rockets' red glare." Hey Cincinnati Reds fans could scream “REDS.” They don't.

If we have no pride in our city and want to flaunt that we don't take certain important things seriously, if we want the rest of America to see us as a bunch of yokels, we can keep the stupidity up. Otherwise, STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!!

It’s amazing how much Baltimore sports fans love to whine about how they don’t get any respect from the rest of the country, how the national press either pays Baltimore no mind or seems to be quick to criticize its teams.

How does Baltimore’s quaint little habit of yelling “O” come across to the press that comes to town to cover our games?

This fan is embarrassed. This silliness has gone on long enough. It’s time to stop.

Baltimore's Shame

As of this posting, there have been 28 homicides in Baltimore. That's one murder about every 2 1/2 days. The spin-meisters will applaud that the murder rate has fallen this year.

Does anybody think that the city has been snowbound for so much time might have inhibited the life on the street out of which many of the murders arise.

Little old white ladies in Roland Park needn't worry. Yuppies in Canton, Fells Point, and Federal Hill haven't a care. EVERY SINGLE MURDER IN BALTIMORE STILL HAS A BLACK MALE AS THE MURDER VICTIM.

Racism is far more complicated that the faux-moral outrage and indignation we see reacting in horror to the utterance of the horrible "N" word. The verbalizing "Nigger" is indefensible especially when used to demean and dimiss others. There are reasons why the murder profile in Baltimore tallies up the way it does and it is not by coincidence that the only murder victims in Baltimore so far this year are black males.

Let the politicians and social activists say what they will, our brothers, members of our community at large are being written off as second class citizens.

It's time to raise expectations across the board. It's time for schools to stop making excuses for why male black students are not achieving and realize no matter what their background consists of, it is still the school's responsibility to teach all students effectively.

All these things interrelate. However, since the horror of death seldom reaches most neighborhoods, it's so easy to brush off the hard realities. It's far more complicated than simply gang violence, the drug trade, and broken families. The solution is far from unobtainable.

Baltimore's New Mayor - A Refreshing Change!!!

While it’s way too soon to develop a lasting impression, we find Stephanie Rawlings-Blake a merciful breath of fresh air running city hall in Baltimore. Talk about trial by fire, having just assumed office on Thursday, February 4th, the following day the snow began to fall and by Saturday morning, the city of Baltimore was brought to a screeching halt by a historical snow storm. Immediately, she was thrown into office having to make executive decisions working with the city’s public safety and emergency preparedness operations to make sure resources are deployed to clear the streets and deal with having police, fire, and paramedic resources ready to deploy as needed. Naturally, she’d be called upon to address the media quick to drill her with questions on every little detail but having to maintain a sense of civility and calm to dispel public restlessness. As if the storm that disrupted the Mid-Atlantic region entering the weekend wasn’t bad enough, the city was just beginning to function again when more heavy snow, blinding winds, and significant accumulation, another blizzard in the popular vernacular, and given this was on top of that which has already fallen, the new mayor was leading the city through by far the worst winter weather emergency in the history of the region.

Through it all, the mayor remained upbeat and positive being very clear on what the challenges are and firmly telling the public what their responsibilities were, but she also showed tremendous respect and appreciation for all those involved in bringing Baltimore back to life from under often more than three feet of snow with substantial drifting with power outages through out the city. She noted, “Baltimore has never seen anything like this before,” and added the city was dealing with a, “difficult and inconvenient time for our citizens.” She also observed the real personal reality of the storm, “This city is not clear until your street is clear, so let's do this together.”

An attitude like that will earn much cooperation unlike the scolding the Governor and not too distant former Mayor, Martin O’Malley laid upon the State of Maryland.

We heard no whining, no finger pointing, no whoa is me, just clear determination. In less than a week, the new mayor dealt with circumstances never even remotely faced by her disgraced predecessor who has certainly not only disgraced the city with her criminal behavior but also left office kicking and screaming denying any wrong doing throughout burning every bridge en route on her road out of public life.

No mistake about it, Sheila Dixon was a bitch, a mean ugly bitch who was drunken with power, opportunistic from the word go who felt a sense of almost royal entitlement to the trappings of power serving as mayor of one of the nation’s great cities. That the charges against her involved the theft of resources set aside for the city’s most misfortunate for her own personal use showed a calloused disregard for the very people she was charged with trying to help. One could hardly hear Ms. Dixon speak without realizing the narrative was always about her and a sense that everyone else either owed her something or were out to get her. The finger pointing grew stale in a hurry.

Sheila Dixon’s misdeeds got national coverage from the Fox News Network to the National News pages of the New York Times showing a city government engrossed in corruption leading to its top official. This is not the kind of negative publicity the City of Baltimore needed having made so many advancements in rebuilding parts of the city where from the University of Maryland Hospital and downtown campus area and stadium neighborhoods in the west to Canton in the east, Baltimore is a city on the move with desirable business and residential properties filled with great entertainment, recreational, and dining facilities. It’s also a city with a failing school system which continues to crank out failure, decaying slums, and a dangerously high homicide rate, though slightly improved still presents the grim reality on any given day of the year, odds are better than not another African American male will be murdered.

One never got the impression that Mayor Dixon had any ability to act as a cheerleader for the city to invite businesses and residents to consider coming to Crab City nor did she give any indication of sensitivity dealing with the troubled neighborhoods of Baltimore. It was all about her, speaking in the first person, and attempting to shine in the spotlights.

What could be a more dramatic symbolic time for the City of Baltimore to turn a page in its history as one of America’s oldest cities must hope to see a bright history in its future. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake seems to understand this and we hope she will bring a pragmatic approach and new energy facing the mountains of challenges the city faces as one of America’s great cities.

Some Highly Professional Local Reporting as Winter Storm Brings Out the Best and the Worst in Crab City Residents

We congratulate WBAL-TV, Channel 11, for their highly professional, honest reporting on the horrific snow conditions facing the Baltimore area. While we have not seen too much reportage from the other channels, WBFF-TV, Channel 45, likewise, appears to be doing a most responsible job as well.

While not spending much time watching WJZ-TV, Channel 13, it was no surprise that their schlock personality driven style of news fell short of true professionalism. While 11 and 45 worked hard to put the safety message and citizen responsibility first and foremost, the segments we saw on 13 were the “whoa is me” and “why isn’t the city looking out for me” kind of coverage that reflects badly on the station’s story selection, the Baltimore area residents who come across as crybaby idiots, and the impression one might get of the public at large for how these whiners come across.

The bottom line is we’re all in this together and it’s not going to be easy. This is the time to give our state emergency workers the benefit of the doubt. Most of them are working their asses off to clear off snow and make road conditions as safe as possible. Once things are under control, mistakes will be identified and inadequacies in the system revealed.

We cannot possibly expect perfection in a situation like this. How many millions should the city, counties, and state be prepared to pay for winter storm emergencies when on average for the entire winter, the Baltimore area gets around 18” of snow where most years we get less than that but a few big storms like the ones we’ve seen this year skew the numbers upward?

This is nothing like New Orleans being hit by Hurricane Katrina. For most folks, it’s just a big nuisance. It will surely cause pain for hourly workers not able to get to work and be paid. Some will have property damage to contend with, but almost certainly those who have prepared and respond responsibly will get through this mess just fine even if they didn’t buy two pallets of kitty litter.

We did see one disturbing bit of coverage on Channel 11’s 6:00 pm program. One of their “on-the-scene” reporters (Deborah Weiner) interviewed a couple of men in a luxury SUV inquiring if they were aware of the Snow Emergency Phase 3 warnings that all vehicles without specific authorization are banned from the highways. These Baltimore residents showed a “could care less” and “so what” attitude as if the law doesn’t mater to them. Immediately as their car pulled away, she confronted a Baltimore City Police officer in his patrol car. She asked if he was charged with enforcing the Phase 3 restrictions, and this particular officer gave her an incredibly rude response evading taking responsibility for anything rambling on saying no one’s given him any orders and came across as obviously irritated he was being questioned. As the interview concluded the camera man pointed back at the street showing a few more civilian cars zipping by. This took place on North Avenue near the Pennsylvania Avenue intersection, where two of the city’s major thoroughfares intersect.

While there are plenty of idiots to be found around town at times like these, it was sad that on this particular occasion, one city officer behaved so unprofessionally when the response of other officers, snow plow truck drivers, firemen, and all the folks working so hard to make things right have shown such upbeat spirits and desire to do the best they can. Episodes like this should be followed up on when the snow melts away too.

A week from now, life should be getting back to something resembling normal. Everyone will be inconvenienced and oh my, some of us might not be able to have exactly what we want for dinner or dag-gone-it not have our preferred desert topping for our ice cream. When we look at the big picture, almost everyone has a reasonably safe home, adequate food to eat, and a source of heat.

This is a time to enjoy the company of family, to call those who live alone and count their blessings. Remember those who whine and complain and don’t pitch in to be part of neighborhood efforts to deal with things too. They might just find indifference and lack of attention when their situation might require a little neighborly kindness.

Let this be an adventure that appeals to our better angels.

Murder in Baltimore: 2010

For the first month of 2010, there have been 13 murders in Baltimore, every one of them a black male. Meanwhile, has anyone checked academic achievement for black male students in Baltimore City schools? Is it any wonder that the consequences of schools that don't teach and don't promote positive values contribute to the on-going tragedy on the city's streets?

x

WE CAN DO BETTER. WE MUST DO BETTER!

Baltimore Ravens: Coach Cameron Knows How to Pick a Winner

Cam Cameron's wonderful story reveals the tremendous heart and character of a real winner

x

We are proud to report a wonderful story from behind the scenes at Ravens Camp. Offensive Coordinator, Cam Cameron became aware of the plight of a classmate of his son who attends Loyola-Blakefield High School in Towson, Maryland. Matthew Costello is a young man stricken with inoperable brain cancer and is the son of Jaime Costello an anchor for WMAR-TV. Knowing that the young Costello is a diehard sports fan, Cameron felt moved to see what he could do.

ESPN’s columnist Rick Reilly relates this wonderful story. It’s so refreshing amidst all the recent scandals in professional sports to see something as thoroughly wonderful as this!

Please see attached link:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4825585&sportCat=nfl

x

x

x

x

Dem Baw-Lee-Mur Sportz Fans Will Drive Yew Crazy, Hon

Why are so many Baltimore fans so blue and crabby?

We don't call our hometown Crab Town for nothing, hon. This writer will be the first to defend his hometown for the many fine things we enjoy or if we're unjustly criticized from afar, but darn, while we do have some great sports fans, just witness the roar at any home Ravens' games, listening to local sports talk over the years reveals a subclass of sports fans that are uniquely Baltimore and uniquely terrible.

Every home town has its dumbass sports fans. There are the ones who are self-appointed geniuses who think they know everything. There are the ones who live in fantasy land who think all the star players are readily available at some great big Sam's Club where its just a matter of team owners and GM's picking someone who the fan thinks belongs on the home team, and boom, just like that done deal. Somebody in the Orioles' organization screwed up with Mark Texeira for example. Some fans are just plain dullards. No explanation needed.

In Baltimore, we have a unique form of paranoia that pervades a significant percentage of sports fans. Tune in to any of the local sports-talk stations any given day, you'll hear them. Some of the talk show hosts could be part of this cult. Hello Nestor Aparacio whose radio station has all the power of an average light bulb.

There's a canned speech that preludes most discussions of the Orioles. Peter Angelos, the team owner, is the villain. The speech begins with "He fired Davey Johnson and Jon Miller..".and then lists whatever crimes Angelos might have committed against Baltimore baseball. Hmm, does anyone think Jon Miller's ability to return to his home town and broadcast for the Giants had an appeal for him? Okay, Angelos screwed things up big time for many years. He also inherited a depleted organization. Still, these Baltimore blockheads must have missed the headlines about Andy McPhail's arrival as team President and not witnessed what he's attempting to accomplish. The Orioles are a frustrating mess, but there's an intelligent, informed point of view and there's the weird conspiracies. Don't hold your breath for the day Cal Ripken owns the club.

The paranoia around the Ravens is more surreal. Okay, no city has ever dealt with the heartbreak and insult the Baltimore football fan suffered on that snowy night in March, 1984 when the Mayflower vans packed up the Colts and moved them to Indianapolis. Ask fans in Cleveland how they feel about what happened to the Browns. Sure Cleveland got a better deal than Baltimore, but who won a Super Bowl first? The Ravens or the Indianapolis Colts? The Ravens did. The Ravens are one of the ten best teams of the last decade. Ooops, the Colts are #1. Baltimore fans must accept that Peyton Manning will deservedly be mentioned in the same breath as Johnny Unitas. Deal with it.

Baltimore, we have a football team. They've been here since 1996. They're not going anywhere, and they're pretty darned good.

Oh, but the league officials are out to get the Ravens. The national media doesn't respect us. Wake up, if we heard the sports talk or listened to the radio broadcasts of other cities, they'd surely cite calls that went against them too. There are some pretty sloppy crews, but the crew who handled Sunday's game in New England was superb.

As for the national media, does anyone really care what Colin Cowherd has to say? He's a west coast pretty boy who could just as well be a tabloid or entertainment reporter. Consider the source. Chris Berman tends to dis the Ravens, but he's a front runner. When the going gets good, all of a sudden, he'll be making all his sound effects and weird noises ring true for the Ravens. Are we going to let something Keeshawn Johnson had to say matter? Truth be told, Baltimore gets treated pretty decently. We're developing the kind of reputation fans in Oakland and Pittsburgh enjoy. The only way to enhance it is to have more home playoff victories. The Ravens post season play has largely been a road show.

The Ravens have the opportunity that only seven other teams currently enjoy, a chance to advance to the Super Bowl. Right now, what else matters? We can relish our win last week or look ahead to Sunday's game. The Ravens weren't "supposed" to beat New England. They did. They're not supposed to beat Indianapolis. They can.

That's good enough for this fan.

Baltimore's Shameful News: Local TV Critic Slams Fox News Support of ACORN Sting

For Baltimoreans looking for the latest poop on what's hot on television, the Baltimore Sun's TV critic's column is not the place to go. As this column shows, he'd rather slam Fox news programming he finds abhorent to his political agenda. His marque almost suggests his alternate agenda.

x

The article: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2009/09/fox_news_acorn_lawsuit_breitba.html#more

x

The Rightminded response:

Baltimoreans must find it sad to note that David Zurawik, a left-wing activist wanna-be masquerading as a television columnist for the Baltimore Sun, would weigh in strongly against the brilliant sting operation investigative filmmakers, Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe, conducted against several ACORN offices starting with their office in Baltimore.

In his column, Zurawik blasts Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly for airing sympathetic segments for the young filmmakers and the website, Breitbart.com on the potential legal issues they face as ACORN announced its intention to seek “justice” based on Maryland surveillance law. In Zuarawik’s column, not only has he acted as prosecutor and jury finding these heroic citizens guilty of entrapment and slamming their brilliant work, in his twisted logic somehow ACORN comes across as the victim not that they are flailing away in desperation trying anything that might reduce the trouble they’re in.

If what O’Keefe and Giles did was so awful and the revelations they presented about how ACORN offices go about their day-to-day business, then why would even those left wing politicians most inclined to support ACORN cutoff support for their programs virtually across the board from the Federal government?

Only in Zurawik’s severely compromised left-wing imagination could he see O’Keefe’s and Gile’s defense as something from planet Bizarro. He further added that responsible news organizations have abandoned undercover stings including “60 Minutes” abandoning such methods and that legal action had been taken against ABC investigative reporter, John Stossel. Somehow, his attempts to portray such investigative techniques as abhorrent and being abandoned on some higher grounds, even Zurawik couldn’t conceal the true agenda for mainstream news reluctance to go underground, fear of lawsuits.

Baltimoreans from all walks of life should be incensed that a so called television critic posing as editorial columnist would defend ACORN so stridently. Few cities suffer from the blight of urban decay and all the issues which feed it like Baltimore. The need for effective community-based assistance is desperately needed to help Baltimore’s plight, but few organizations have taken advantage of their charge to serve the community in so many corrupt contexts as ACORN Baltimore which among other things broke into and seized foreclosed houses occupying them opening taunting the legal process. One has to wonder how much taxpayer and charitable dollars this office has squandered on illegitimate pursuits.

In Zurawik’s world, ACORN is the exploited not the exploiter.

It’s a sad reflection on the Baltimore Sun, a failing big city newspaper that is losing circulation and readership, has become so out of touch with the community it claims to represent. A generation ago, this paper was one of the most respected newspapers in the country not only serving the local community well but being one of the most trusted voices on national and international issues. However, the philanthropic local owners, the Abell family, sold the paper to the Los Angeles Times and quickly the whole image of the paper transformed from sophisticated and informed to ultra-Liberal and trendy. Some hoped that when the Chicago Tribune’s parent company purchased the Los Angeles Times, they might restore some quality to the Sun, but such was not the case as “the Trib” has been facing severe financial issues of its own and is currently in Chapter 11 status.

Despite the rise of the Internet, bloggers, and other alternate media sources, an intelligent local newspaper can still serve a vital role in metropolitan areas such as Baltimore. Surely, some of the Sun’s challenges are based on their product becoming obsolete on some levels, but their pandering to far left ideologies and miserable journalistic quality has driven many readers away.

Baltimore needs a good source for local news. Between most of the city’s television news operations and the Sun, the metropolitan area is not well-served and those who misrepresent their roles like Zurawik provide perfect fodder for the paper’s critics as we are noting here.

One would think that the journalistic community would rally behind O’Keefe and Giles and see attacks on them as an attack on their profession.

***

Rightminded Fellow applauds radio station, WBAL-AM, "Maryland's News Talk Sports Station" for its excellent reporting on the ACORN scandal from the investigation's inception. Their over-the-air news reporting and excellent website help fill the gap left by an inferior Baltimore Sun product.

IRL In Baltimore: Al Unser Jr. Supports It!!

Okay race fans, don't get your hopes up too high picturing Danica Patrick hoisting up the winner's trophy after a Grand Prix style IRL victory on the streets of Baltimore. We had our hopes stoked in the early 1990's when local investors saw great possibilities erecting a world class race track that could host NASCAR, IRL, and other series either in White Marsh off of where MD-43, White Marsh Blvd. has been extended to Middle River or near Arundel Mills in between Baltimore and Washington close to the Baltimore/Washington Parkway.

Racing in Baltimore makes sense. The city has plenty of attractions to support race fans and is within a day trip from the north, as Yankees fans gladly flock into Camden Yards or from NASCAR's power base in the Carolinas.

Environmentalists and former Governor Paris Glendenning would have nothing of it smashing any plans of building a real racing facility. Those investors pulled out and helped invest in what would become the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.

Ah, but an IRL Grand Prix? The cost to the city would be minimimal, no permanent construction required, and downtown hotels, restaurants, and entertainment facillities not enjoying the roar of the race cars half as much as the "cha-ching" of their registers ringing up sales, and likewise the State of Maryland gets its six percent sales tax on every transaction.

What's not to like?

Here's the article from today's Baltimore Sun. Can it happen?

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-irl0817,0,6695719.story

Natty Rip Off: Just Ask Someone From Baltimore

Natty Light??? Whoa, if you’re a true native of Crab Town, Baltimore, the Land of Pleasant Living, this is blasphemy. Those of us old enough to remember the days before all the silly yuppie micro brews, fancy imports, and regular American beer being Budweiser, Coors, and Miller, knew what our ultimate barley and hops concoctions was….National Bohemian Beer, better known by the locals as Natty Boh, hon.

No one would know tasting the product sold as National Bohemian beer today, a lowly Pabst product bottled by Miller in Eden, North Carolina it was an excellent tasty domestic beer that overwhelmingly outsold Budweiser and Schlitz, the nation’s top two beers when beer was largely a local product.

Back in the 60’s, the beer brewed on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay dominated the central Maryland market accounting for 60% of all beer sales. Brewed in the Highlandtown/Canton community in East Baltimore at the intersection of Dillon and Conkling Street, the delight of Dundalk, the ambrosia of Anne Arundel, from the mountains to the bay and all around the eastern shore, only an out of town snob would scoff at the joys of the local beer identified by its trademark, Mr. Boh, the one eyed fellah with the big mustache.

There was only one beer fit to serve at local crab feasts, Natty Boh. If the local fire hall had a bull and oyster roast, only one beer would do, Natty Boh. From the upscale gentile suburbs of Lutherville, Towson, and Catonsville, to blue collar Dundalk, from Annapolis to Ocean City, “Gimme a beer!” meant Natty Boh. Local sports announcer, Chuck Thompson, who actually worked for the brewery, the voice of the Orioles and the Colts would exclaim, “Ain’t the beer cold!” after a game breaking play by either home team. They might drink mint juleps at the Kentucky Derby but look around old hilltop at Pimlico the ambrosia of the Preakness, Natty Boh. Going into the late 1970’s at Memorial Stadium, where the centerfield scoreboard had the National Bohemian logo as its centerpiece atop with flashing red lights if an Oriole hit a home run, thirsty fans on a hot summer’s night could grab a “small” Natty Boh for just fifty cents at the concession stands. A “regular” beer or one poured from a can out in the stands was only sixty cents. For years, Natty Boh was the only beer sold through out most of Memorial Stadium except at the exclusive “Hit and Run Club,” a restaurant on the lower level behind home plate where National Premium was available for seventy five cents a bottle!

Yes, there was National Premium too. That’s the beer they served at those uppity country clubs or Baltimore boys would buy to impress their gang at a fancy restaurant, but from Hagerstown to Monkton to St Mary’s City to Bel Air, it was Natty Boh. Heck, Natty Boh was even the local beer if there was such a thing for Washington DC served at Redskins and Washington Senators games.

In Baltimore, the waitress had big hair and called you, “hon.” You’d get gravy on your French fries, have your crab cake broiled or fried, but when that ol’ waitress asked, “Have another beer, hon?” it was going to be a Natty Boh.

So who the hell to the new folks at Anheuser Busch think they are selling their Natural Light as “Natty’s?” It takes a lot of nerve to market a generic Budweiser product that has been all but gone and forgotten for years pushed aside with the introduction of Bud Light and Busch Light with a new ad campaign.

I’m sorry, as a fellow who grew up in the Land of Pleasant Living and picked up quite a few cases of Natty Boh for $3.99 during my college years, to have the great mega-brewery, Anheuser Busch, the parent company of Budweiser and Michelob to hawk their least known product as “Natty’s” hits a sore nerve for this Baltimore lad. It’s bad enough the big national brands started gobbling up or destroying our fine local brews in the 1970’s, but to adopt our local casual term of endearment for our local brew is just too much to take.

Natty Boh lives on today, just barely. The generic product with the National Bohemian label on it sure isn’t the tasty brew that was the pride of the Chesapeake. National Beer merged with Carling in the mid 1970’s. The days of the old Highland Brewery were numbered. Soon, the one remaining Baltimore brew was then being bottled in Halethorpe in the former Carling brewery, just off the Baltimore Beltway exit 9. The great Baltimore brew still had a true local identity until G. Heileman bought out Carling National in 1979. From there, it was one move after another relegating National Beer to just a name on a bottle. Detroit’s once great local brew, Stroh’s, was on the move in the 1980’s expanding into new markets and acquiring struggling breweries. Heileman was over extended facing bankruptcy with its portfolio of regional and local brews from around the company. Stroh’s purchased Heileman’s and Natty Boh’s days as a Baltimore product would soon be over. The Halethorpe brewery was closed and National Bohemian was now made at the former Schaefer plant in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. National Premium disappeared. Natty Boh was still sold through out the Land of Pleasant living, but not in some of the more distant markets where it was once a taste of Charm City miles away. While the domestic beer market became almost the exclusive domain of Budweiser, Coors and Miller, all the rest of the nation’s former domestic brews were all becoming part of one company, Pabst, which was now the parent company of its former competition including even Schlitz, the #2 brew in the country in the 1960’s. National Bohemian has an oval shaped red logo with white lettering on a white label which combines aspects of the old 50’s style black oval on red background 50’s and earlier label and red and white chevron design from the 60’s. While owned by Pabst, the product itself is brewed by Miller at its plant in Eden, North Carolina. Alas, Natty Boh was once a pretty popular brew along North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Baltimore, it’s time to fight for a piece of our history. How dare big bad Budweiser stick Mr. Boh in the eye and advertise their “Natty” swill.

Conger up memories of the Colts Corral, Orioles games, and Chuck Thompson yelling, “Ain’t the beer cold” after Brooksie, Frank, or Boog clobbered a home run deep into the night skies out of 33rd Street while loyal Orioles fans chilled Natty Boh in hand, and don’t forget that famous Natty Boh jingle….

National Beer
National Beer
You'll love the taste of National Beer
And while I'm singing
I'm proud to say
It's brewed on the shores
of Chesapeake Bay!

We’re mighty proud of our Natty BOH, hon. Not that swill that's brewed in North Carolina that shamefully wears the National Boh brand, but the beer of yesterday lore that even had a twist off cap in the early 1970's, the only beer to do so, so beer drinkers could keep their beer as cold and fresh as possible. It was rich, tasty absolutely American beer. Nothing fancy, just pure Baltimre, hon.

"Have another Natty Boh, hon?"

"You betcha! Ain' the beer cold!!"

Baltimore City Half Way Through 2009: Murder by Numbers

114 people have been murdered in Baltimore City in the first half of 2009. That computes to a murder about every two out of three days in the city, but here’s the sadly predictable breakdown.

80 black males
10 black females
9 white males
5 Hispanic males
1 Asian male
9 “unknown” males – most almost certainly black

70% of homicides where the identity’s ethnicity is confirmed are black males.

Only 34% of Baltimore City students graduate from high school, fourth worst among big cities in America. The disparity between the city and the suburbs is the widest margin in the nation. 90% of Baltimore City’s students are black.

If the failure of Baltimore City schools to do its job is enough to make a person cry, “MURDER,” the data suggests that perception is absolutely accurate.

While the state and federal government pump more money into Baltimore City’s failing schools moving them up to second to Montgomery County in per pupil expenditures, that investment is not translating into REAL results regardless of what charts and graphs show some improvement on certain test scores. Where’s the money going? We’ve seen plenty of scandals in the last decade where money goes to the wrong places, gets gobbled up by corruption, or just seems to disappear.

Until the schools stop blaming everything and everyone but themselves, and start working toward accepting the challenges of educating students with the backgrounds their population has, Baltimore City schools will continue to be the incubator for the culture that leads to the murder of young black men who lacking any kind of meaningful education have so few positive options in life. Failure to adequately motivate and supervise students providing every student with the clear expectation of success yields chaos. Gangs create their own internal sense of order to deadly results.

Until each one of the murder victims, failing students, and dropouts are seen as real human beings and not simple statistics, until the entire community of all socio-economic backgrounds demands an end to this misery, the body count will continue. The odds are better than not, another young black male will be murdered tonight.

Were he your kid, you might understand. It’s always someone else’s problem.