[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] m4570d0n:
There shouldn't be any black or dark text. I also have a very dark background. Also, the transparent mms and contacts themes should work with just the M4570M0D theme now and not require the separate apk anymore. Might have something to do with Sean adding touchwhiz into the ROM for whatever reason. Ill have to take a look at it.

edit: just took a look at sean's 3.0 base/3.4 update. Tell Sean he needs to update his Mms to include this:

http://review.cyanogenmod.com/#/c/23232/

Then my theme will display properly for the Mms.apk and you won't have dark text on a dark background. Also, as a bonus, if he updates it, it will include the soft keyboard patch I submitted that was just merged yesterday:

http://review.cyanogenmod.com/#/c/23071/

As far as the carrier logo mod goes, it should work just fine, following the instructions in the OP. Just add that one line to /res/layout/status_bar.xml

Here's what your modded status_bar.xml should look like (I have highlighted the line that is added).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.PhoneStatusBarView android:id="@id/status_bar" android:background="@drawable/status_bar_background" android:focusable="true" android:fitsSystemWindows="true" android:descendantFocusability="afterDescendants" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:systemui="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/com.android.systemui">
<ImageView android:id="@id/notification_lights_out" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:paddingBottom="2.0dip" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:src="@drawable/ic_sysbar_lights_out_dot_small" android:scaleType="center" />
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/icons" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:paddingRight="6.0dip" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/notification_icon_area" android:layout_width="0.0dip" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1.0">
[COLOR="Red"]<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.CarrierLabel android:textAppearance="@android:style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Icon" android:textColor="@android:color/transparent" android:gravity="center_vertical" android:orientation="horizontal" android:background="@drawable/carrier_logo" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" android:layout_alignParentLeft="true" />[/COLOR]
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.StatusBarIconView android:id="@id/moreIcon" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:src="@drawable/stat_notify_more" />
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.IconMerger android:gravity="center_vertical" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/notificationIcons" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_alignParentLeft="true" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout android:gravity="center_vertical" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/statusIcons" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" />
<LinearLayout android:gravity="center" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/signal_battery_cluster" android:paddingLeft="2.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<include android:id="@id/signal_cluster" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" layout="@layout/signal_cluster_view" />
<include android:id="@id/signal_cluster_text" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" layout="@layout/signal_cluster_text_view" />
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Battery" android:gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/battery_text" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_marginRight="-3.0dip" android:singleLine="true" />
<ImageView android:id="@id/battery" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Clock" android:gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/clock" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:singleLine="true" />
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/ticker" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:animationCache="false" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<ImageSwitcher android:id="@id/tickerIcon" android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_marginRight="4.0dip">
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.AnimatedImageView android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:scaleType="center" />
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.AnimatedImageView android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:scaleType="center" />
</ImageSwitcher>
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.TickerView android:id="@id/tickerText" android:paddingTop="2.0dip" android:paddingRight="10.0dip" android:layout_width="0.0dip" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.PhoneTicker" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" />
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.PhoneTicker" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" />
</com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.TickerView>
</LinearLayout>
</com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.PhoneStatusBarView>