Mike Matthews Speaks- From April 2006

This guest post is brought to you by the handle of The Bygone Blogger.  This blogger was one of those around back in the halcyon days of Delaware blogging- the time when the Iraq War commanded the headlines, America saw its first African-American President, and the Recession put America in severe dire straits.  In Delaware, it was the days of Governor Ruth Minner and the “I still have some hair” Jack Markell.  The Bygone Blogger covers the Mike Matthews situation and in the middle of it found some fairly recent material written by another Delaware blogger running for office!  We learn very fast that context matters!  This is something Atnre Alleyne, despite his vast amount of education, can’t seem to grasp.  Take it away Bygone Blogger! 

 

Funny. We owe Atnre Alleyne for the opportunity to really understand the vintage Mike Matthews.

Alleyne decided to pile on Mike again with a blog post and mass email blast to teachers that says stepping down from the DSEA Presidency is not enough (Mike should be banned from public education), then sinks to new depths of dishonesty by quoting his target out of context.

But by doing it he accidentally gives us a chance to let Mike Matthews speak—not from the political grave, but from 2006.

What we find ain’t what the AA Ego has been busily telling everybody is there.

First, let’s see what the Double-A wants us to think:

Cris Barrish shared a few troubling comments in his article that were unearthed using the Wayback Machine. But with a quick search of that source you will find commentary that was much worse: …

“Does anyone else think it’s right to beat the shit out of a bitch? Of course not! That’s why we have video games! Men need to release our tensions in some way, and if it’s on some digital, chlamydia-infected whore wearing leopard-print, then so be it. (Helene Keeley Gets All Hot and Bothered)

Pretty dang bad, right? Do yourself a favor and click the goddamn link.

Mike was objecting to Helene Keeley trying to add violent games like Grand Theft Auto to Delaware’s obscenity laws. He does it bluntly and with the quote AA+ uses above … but this time in context.

Funny goddamn thing, context. I left all the links in because unlike Mr. Double-A I’m Amazing, I want you to do your own detective work.

Apparently, Delaware Rep. Helene Keeley, D-Wilmington South, thinks beating bitches is a bad thing. 

The perpetually hot Keeley, who I’ve personally witnessed on the Stairmaster at the Walnut Street YMCA, is sponsoring House Bill 360, which would “add violent video games to Delaware’s obscenity statute.” At first glance, Keeley’s Bill seems admirable, though I don’t know if she herself understands its purpose. Instead of commenting on why she believes children shouldn’t be able to purchase this filth, Keeley offers up this tasty non sequitur:

“We’re going to say that it’s not right to beat the crap out of a woman,” Keeley said. “It’s up to us to make that decision.”

So Keeley’s taken this bill from one that denies little shits the right to purchase the game and turns it into an anti-woman-beating screed? Does anyone else think it’s right to beat the shit out of a bitch? Of course not! That’s why we have video games! Men need to release our tensions in some way, and if it’s on some digital, chlamydia-infected whore wearing leopard-print, then so be it. If this were about abuse, then perhaps Keeley should look to amend already-existing bills on the matter.

Do you get it? If you’re a little slow, I will help. Mike’s pretty goddamn crass, but he’s actually arguing that Rep Keeley has taken an initial argument about violence and turned it into an argument about feminism. Yep, it’s tasteless, but it’s tasteless in pursuit of a point.

His rant is followed by a lengthy discussion of the implications of banning violent video games, before we cut to the end where Mike decides to go after Keeley with another dose of crudity:

I just thought it was funny the first comment of Keeley’s that The News Journal printed had absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand. Helene, baby…I know your hot feminist booty hasn’t taken your husband, Michael Green’s, last name. Come see me. I’ll have you BEGGING to take my last name.

Turns out Keeley’s niece read the piece and took Mike on in the comments section.

You are abolutely disgusting. Do you even know Representative Keeley? Probably not. She has done more for this state than you will ever be able to writing these pathetic articles.

You say men need to take their anger out on women somehow so why not use a game? Learn to control your anger, there’s professional help you can seek for that if you can’t manage it yourself.

Representative Keeley probably not only looks at this issue publicly but also personally. She has young nieces and nephews that she keeps in mind.

So you stalk her at the Y, very cool. Do you have anything better to do with your time?

And on the lines of her husband, he’s a wonderful man that you will NEVER be able to match. Dream all you want, Keeley women do not beg.

In response to the comment about her picture. The time that “mutant” picture was taken she was in her 20s. Can I ask what you were doing in your 20’s? Probably nothing of significant importance.

In regards to the General Assembly, more spefically the House of Representatives, those men and women do more for the state and its people than you will ever be able to comprehend. They’re all very intelligent people who selflessly try to make the state better for its constituents.

If you have a problem with how things are run, step up and try to change it. Oh you don’t want to, that’s what I thought. If you’re not going to step up to the plate, keep your mouth shut.

So he got called out. But what happened next is that Mike stepped out of his blogging character to talk about what he was doing and why. Worth reading—

You don’t “get it.” You likely never will.

Did you get the sarcasm in some of my comments? I never said she DIDN’T understand the bill. I just found her comments puzzling. The bill is against allowing kids to play video games. She opined on why it’s bad to beat women. The abuse of women is not what the bill is about. THAT’S WHAT I WAS POINTING OUT, MY DEAR.

Perhaps you should avail yourself to the “blogosphere,” where politicians are held to the fire and critiqued with snark everyday of the year. You a George Bush fan? If not, you’ll enjoy this site, because I treat him like the shit he is. If you though my treatment of your aunt was shitty, you’d better stick around for when I take my blowtorch to our beloved leader.

And, yes, I do love feminists. Especially when they’re attractive. And your aunt is a very attractive woman. Sorry if you’re offended, but your aunt chose to become a politician. Politics is fair game in my world, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative.

Tell auntie I meant no harm. If she’s read Delaware blogs she’d know that she got through this pretty unscathed. Tell her to talk to her hero, Ruth Ann Minner, who I’ve called out in much more explicit terms than your aunt.

Aside from my admiring her beauty and questioning some of the rationale behind this legislation, what exactly did I do wrong? …

Hmmm…I am from Delaware. I enjoy politics. I enjoy snarky political commentary. Helene Keeley drafts legislation to ban little shits from playing violent “beat-a-bitch” video games. I merely ask logical questions in response to said drafted legislation. Add a pinch of nasty wit and a dash of snark and you’ve got the making for my website. I think my readers will agree with me. It’s not only Helene Keeley I go after. It’s just I go after Helene Keeley with some affection, as well. Trust me, I could be MUCH worse. …

Also, XXX Jr., consider your friend Rep. Keeley as having hit the big time. She’s made it to Down with Absolutes! You know she’s finally arrived now. Why, just do a targeted Google search and you’ll find my site is the number two hit after her official state webpage.

Send me all of her talking points. I’ll be sure to give them full cover right here!

So there’s actually a rationale behind the bluster, profanity and misogyny. The young man tries to write provocative satire or sarcasm, ala Howard Stern or Morton Downey, while making points.

But what the good ole AA wants you to believe is that he just randomly wrote about beating women for the hell of it at any given moment. OK this shit is bad—but what about the rest of the pirates wandering around the blogs at that time. Was Mike so far out of bounds?

Hard to tell with Keeley because nobody wrote about her very much, but Ruth Ann was a constant topic.

Like these (from Delaware Liberal back in the same period):

I think it most people regard Minner as a party functionary who got her job in the same way Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin got to be the Chairman of the Soviet Council of Minsters from October 15, 1964 – October 23, 1980. Her leathery hide and her less than inspiring speaking style give this impression anyway.

That’s the public view. How true it is I don’t know, but the public gets its view through gossamer wisps of images and stories that fall periodically like ashes from a far off volcano. So if it is their reality, it is reality.  

Yours,
Dr. Liberal

PS. I forgot to mention that she is not physically attractive in a conventional sense and studies show that people don’t like people who are not attractive, especially women.  Sad, but true. … … … …

• When Minner smiles, she looks like a bear showing her teeth in an aggressive pose.
• I am sure the images of her in a one-piece bathing suit once a year didn’t help her approval ratings either. … … …
• Shorter Castle: “Whenever I found myself getting horny and widening my stance, I imagined Ruth Ann in the next stall.”

Blogs, brother, are brutal places. Let’s take a look at Delaware Politics (the conservative opposite of Delaware Liberal), and some of the comments in a 2014 post by David Anderson (who, ya know, now condemns Mike Matthews’ bad language all the time). In this post David said he didn’t allow anti-Semitic comments on his blog (although he said he would allow things that came close). Then he allowed this—

It’s not about the “Jewish people,” but rather the left-wing Jewish media moguls and academics who direct the culture. … With a very few exceptions, the Jewish left does run the media propaganda machine, including the filth as art “entertainment” apparatus. If you don’t believe it, prove me wrong.

Why is there a Holocaust Memorial in DC and not a Slave Memorial (Can’t look too closely at who monetized the slaves in the first place.) … I think you are afraid. Here’s an idea, stop borrowing currency into existence out of nothing from a private banking cartel that can’t even find a shabat goyim to market their “Lend to the goyim at interest but to yourselves at nothing.” scams at this point.

Not over the line anti-Semitic at all.

Here’s First State Politics back in 2011 (another mostly conservative blog) taking on questions that women apparently want answers to.

12. Why do you always seem to be drawn to women who are dramatic?

This is the provinence of young men and it’s the same reason you women are drawn to assholes and then complain that they’re assholes.

13. Hypothetically speaking, do you remember what I was wearing when we first met?

I don’t even know what *I’m* wearing now. I’d have to look down to figure it out.

14. How often do you look at porn when your girlfriend isn’t home?

How long is she going to be gone for?

15. What is going through your head when we’re annoyed with you?

Depends on what we’re doing. If we’re at work, it’s running in the background like TeaTimer and taking up a lot of CPU cycles but not producing anything meaningful

16. Do you actually notice when it’s laundry day and we’re wearing old/unattractive panties or do they all look kinda the same to you?

Yes we notice but those panties are like parsley. Push it to the side and start eating.

Here’s Kilroy’s Delaware in 2008 (Editor’s note- as seen by the grammar and punctuation, the following was NOT written by Kilroy himself which he verified)

A young a man discovered a large and I mean large piece of fabric with ladybug print floating in the surf at a local political popular beach in St Thomas, Virgin Islands. Many gathered around and the young man dragged what was said to be about 20ft by 10ft canvas like fabric to the shoreline. Some beachgoers thought it was the skin from a mutant Cookie-Cutter Shark! However, once ashore it was in fact a large and I mean large one piece ladies swimsuit! A faint but readable tag had the markings, RAM. The locals had a raffle as to who can identify what RAM meant! Delaware Senator Adams happen to be still hung-over and crawled out from under the boardwalk and said, you stupid dipstick, wingnut, ass-wipes, want to be Americans, RAM is Ruth Ann Minner! One little kid about 5 years old stuck his dick out and said, I know you, stick this in your desk drawer. A local policeman got into the middle of the action and told Adams no drinking or smoking on the beach and get the hell going! To keep a long story short, a local sail maker took the swimsuit and reengineer it into a beautiful main sail for Lazlo’s World Cup racer! After the first test run the racer performed remarkably and the large and I mean large cups in the fabric really took hold of the blowing wind. Due in the day after Minner leaves office the Lazlo Lady Bug racer with be will berthed next to the Kalmar Nyckle. Minner is outrage and protesting wants her swimsuit back! The governor of St. Thomas responded by special personal dispatch which read, Minner needs to understand these thing happen when visiting the Virgin Islands.

Ruth Ann Minner, again? I thought only Mike Matthews wrote this kind of stuff.

I could do more. Any damn blogger in Delaware could. Pretty much everybody was vicious and brutal on the blogs, just like lots of asshats on social media today.

There are real arguments to be had about public discourse. How to value freedom of speech, satire etc. etc. against the harm done to women or Jews or anybody else?

It’s a difficult conversation, and it’s NOT ABOUT MIKE MATTHEWS.

You ever think about why the best quotes Chris “the stenographer” Barrish could come up with for his story on Mike were from B-listers like AAlleyne and Meghan Wallace?

Why did Helene Keeley dismiss the whole thing with a breezy lie? (How do we know she was lying? Because nobody knew Mike was gay back in 2006.)

Why don’t we hear the big dogs of Delaware talking about what got published, and instead hiding out and avoiding comment?

Because they were there. Current elected officials pandered to the goddamn blogs including DWA for years. Jack Markell had a group of Delaware’s most prominent bloggers gathered up for a “blogger summit” in his first year, and invited not only Mike Matthews, but all of the bloggers who published what I’ve quoted above.

People from the Vision Coalition got down in the dirt at Kilroy’s, trading insults with the best of them. Legislators and legislative aides, school board members, city council critters, county council members, candidates, attorneys and damn near anybody interested in the political scene were there, were commenting, were reading. They gave interviews. They preened when the blogs praised them.

The News Journal trolled the blogs to gin up stories as Gannett cut its reporting staff.

And until young master Alleyne decided it was time for a hit piece on Mike Matthews, NOBODY complained about it. Now all of a damn sudden, it was only Mike.

Fuck you all and the horses you rode away on. DWA is only archived, but all the rest of the blogs are still there. Go look for yourself.

Mike Matthews was at the fringe and he had one of the most widely read political blogs.

How come Cris Barrish didn’t even try to dig up anybody who’d been reading it way back when?

How come Mr Alleyne wants to keep the focus so thoroughly on Mike? Are these are the instructions he’s been given?

Think about it, you passive recipients of this 1984 style rewrite of history—

What has Mike Matthews been doing over the past five years?

Teaching special needs kids, representing teachers, fighting standardized tests, fighting unfair teacher evaluations, working for a $15 minimum wage, fighting for transgendered kids.

What has Antre Alleyne been doing over the past five years?

Running a PAC that violates state campaign finance laws, slandering school boards and trying to influence their elections, filing ridiculous FOIAs, taking your tax dollars as a consultant, and sending out “hey, I’m your fucking hero” emails to the personal addresses of thousands of teachers, from a list that could only have been gotten from DSEA, DOE, the Vision Coalition or the Delaware College Scholars Program (it’s great that his family gave him access to an email list of minors for political purposes, huh?).

You know what’s in Mike Matthews’ past, and you know what’s in Antre Alleyne’s present.

You know who’s speaking up, and you can figure out who’s hiding in the shadows, can’t you?

Mike acknowledged and apologized for his sins the tried to make good. Alleyne hasn’t stopped committing them long enough to do that.

One of them has character if not always great judgment, the other has a soapbox provided by the people who groomed him to be their assassin while pretending to be education’s conscience.

Which one are you going to side with?