Speaker Mike Madigan Tried, But Goofs Outnumber People in Springfield

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
Marcus Aurelius 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/revenge.html#4IuCJtreUYlgdj4B.99 

Mike Madigan had the best plan to save Illinois from fiscal doom with Senate Bill 1.  It was defeated by the Illinois Senate. My State Senator Bill Cunnigham voted NO on this bill.  The Illinois Senate passed the Gay Marriage boondoggle.  My State Senator voted for Gay Marriage and the war on religious conviction.  Bill Cunningham is a goof.  The goofs outnumber serious people in Springfield.  Bill Cunningham again voted with the herd of goofs against his constituents. There are only  few hours left in this legislative session.

Gay Marriage is stalled by the House vote. My Rep. Fran Hurley has indicated that she will in fact for for Gay Marraige and the Illinois War on religious conviction.  It seems that Fran is a goof.  I always found Fran Hurley to be nice.  There are nice goofs. Goofs will do what others prod them to do - Like Billy Cunningham.

Speaker Madigan is anything but a goof.  He is the only adult in Springfield.

The Gay Marriage and Illinois War on Religious Conviction Bill is stalled in the Illinois House.

I wonder what Speaker Madigan* will do.


* From a Towering Goof- "If Mike Madigan doesn't get his house to pass this bill this session, we're going to lay it right at his doorstep," said Andy Thayer, Gay Liberation Network.

Sweet Hickey's Advice on White House Pest Control

The Face Confronting the Baller Obamas Through the White House Screen Door -" Hi, It's Doug!!  Hello?"

Publicly released records show that embattled former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, more recorded visits than even the most trusted members of the president’s Cabinet.

 



February 22, 2009,

Dear Mr. Sweet-Hickey,

My husband has an employee, Doug Shulman, who visits OUR HOUSE constantly.  He wants an Easter Roll; He has no duct tape; he borrows the hose; Barack's ratchet sets; wants to shoot Horse; drinks all the Blue Moons and leaves some nasty-ass @#$% called Grain Belt; eats whatever is in plain sight without asking a simple by your leave; uses the bathroom and never flushes.  I am at my wit's end with this. Please, help.  The two girls are creep'd out.

I see his face through the screen door and I want to Maya Angelou his ass!

Signed, Michele O. Wash.D.C.

Dear Mrs. O.

Ho, ho. . . slow down and take that cleansing breath. 

It sure sounds like this bureaucrat has gone Full Kramer on you.  That is the price we all pay for being social animals.  Unless you happen to live on a pillar in the desert, or come from Swedan, you are always going to have the neighbors pop in on you and your family.  While it can be frustrating, it can also be very helpful.

Either you must have your husband, the as this man's boss, gently but firmly set ground rules for visits - " Hey Doug, great to see you and all, but call firs . . .really."

Now, that can hurt feelings and may lead to problems in the work place. Here's what I do.  Put the guy to work with something messy. You see, many drop-in types are just people with not much to do, while others are preying on your good manners.  You can not be sure which type this person happens to be.

I suggest this alternative, because it really has worked for me.  I used to have many neighbors pop-in, bang on the back door, or just let themselves in.  Now, I am a pretty lazy guy as well as a very selfish brute to boot. When Paul Vallas dropped in to see if I had any Colander's Greek Spice, I noticed my sink full of dishes.  I gave Paul the Colander's and said, " Hey, Paul.  I gotta run up to Keegan's Pub with Bernard's monthly issue The Piranha.  Do me solid, Paul and nail them dishes for me?"

Paul sent Sharon on tasks after that - that Dutch Babe is tougher than calculus.

Anyway, I learned that by giving my visitors something to do, visits vanished!

Make Doug a part of the solution to some other problems.  Have him get Doug to  replace  a toilet seal, 

That is a pain . . .easy but the seal is tricky and messy.

Doug, boy!  Do me a Solid -Rod out a sewer line, get up on the roof and clean out the leaves and whirlybirds, or replace the attic insulation.  Nothing says, " Last Visit for Me" like an afternoon in hot crawlspace with spunglass.

Have Your Old Man act all helpless, shrug, scratch the back of his head and kvetch with an issue that requires only Doug's expertise and happens to be  so distasteful that he'll think twice about a pop-in visit.

Good Luck!

Mr. Sweet-Hickey

A Musical Interlude and Passing of Time 2009-2013

April 1, 2013

Dear Mr. Sweet-Hickey,

 I apologize for the delay in thanking you for the very best advice on how to handle Doug - the drop-in Kraemer pest.  Barack and I have been so busy killing Bin Laden, getting re-elected and transforming America that I have been remiss in this task. Sorry.

Well, you were certainly right!  Though Doug is a frequent visitor, he is far less creepy because of the tasks Valerie, David, Samantha and I have given Barack for Doug to do.

Doug is on it!  Thank you so much!

Sincerely,

Michele O, Washington D.C.

May 2013,

Dear Mrs. O.,

That, to be of help. I remain . . .

Your Mr. Sweet-Hickey

I Gotta Go Along with Congressman Bobby Rush -Sen. Marque Kirque is an “upper-middle-class, elitist white boy"

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is highly critical of a proposal by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) for mass arrests of 18,000 Gangster Disciples, telling the Sun-Times on Wednesday that Kirk’s approach is “headline grabbing” and an “upper-middle-class, elitist white boy solution to a problem he knows nothing about.”
One of Kirk’s top priorities is targeting gangs; he has been meeting with law enforcement officials to devise a plan to execute the mass arrests.

Bobby Rush kicked Barack Obama's delicate rump in the race for the Congressional seat still warmed by the Old Black Panther. In the 2000 Democratic primary called out the aspirational and future transcendental mythopoeic Chief Executive who throws a football like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz enunciates, "Barack Obama went to Harvard and became an educated fool. Barack is a person who read about the civil-rights protests and thinks he knows all about it."

Bobby all but called the then Woods Fund Executive emeritus and Illinois State Senator Barack Obama a 'white boy.'   Black columnists of the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times did as much arguing that the jejune Fresh Princeling was no where near 'black enough' to serve the 1st Congressional District. Obama carried the white vote.

I attended the Snow Flake Ball at the Evergreen Plaza prior to the primary and watched Congressman Bobby Rush work the crowd with cheers and beers that would have made Paddy Bauler spring for back-ups. If IL Sen. Obama was present, he must have had a permanent perch behind a balcony pillar down by Carson's.  I voted for Barack Obama to slim avail.

Bobby Rush is established in black Chicago.   He did not get the pencil-neck white vote out of Hyde Park, nor the ham-sized fists of Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood, nor the political elites of Beverly.  Barack Obama has had those votes since 2000 - largely. 

Bobby Rush knows an upper class, suburban elitist white boy when he sees one, as do the ham-fisted cops, firemen, skilled tradesmen and tough committed white teachers and nurses of Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood and Evergreen Park. Sometime after the 2000 primary can of whup-ass was opened on IL Sen. Obama, the Congressional maps were re-drawn and Blue Collar Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood, Evergreen Park, Oak Lawn and etc. were represented in the 3rd Congressional District by Congressman Dan Lipinski.  Beverly west of and north of 97th & Prospect, well.  The political elites are in Dan Lipinski's Congressional District. 

Senator Marque Kirque* is a Republican from the mos def-elite suburb of Highland Park.  He is a U.S. Senate creation of the Roland Burris/Rod Blagojevich Balls Up and the kvetrching and compromise of Federal G-Man Paddy Fitzgerald,  Senator Dick Durbin, former Lt. Gov. Quinn, the old Tom Hynes machine against poor old Alexi Giannoulis - the Greek Obama.

In short, Marque Kirque is more of a Progressive Democrat than  Bobby Rush, because Bobby Rush is actually a working man and I respect that.

That should be enough context and geneology.

Here's the deal, Marque Kirque and Dithering Dick Durbin are senatorial Siamese twins - both fatuous and oily.  Together they came up with a plan for Fitzy's replacement to swoop into the Hood, in its many manifestations with armed ( Homeland Security Mall Cops n'cest pas?) forces and snatch the GDs, The Stones ( aren't they allied to Operation Push?), the Four Corner Hustlers, Mikey Cobras, Vice Lords, Latin Kings and the Hostess Twinkies from our mean streets . . . and do exactly what with them? Send them to Gitmo?  Maybe Dick Durbin and Pat Quinn's Thompson Illinois Pet Farm?  Remember? That was where Dithering Dick wanted to send the Gitmo Guests of the Nation.  Still vacant. Just like Dick.




Bobby Rush knows that this plan is just, well, . . .bone stupid.  Consider the source, Congressman.

Marque Kirque has a great resume and the moral compass of a Hollywood agent. Moreso, Marque Kirque would not know a greasy bag of listeners from a flat jug of bumpy-face, leta lone a porch full of GDs from a Lake Forest LGBTQ Cub Scout Troop.

Congressman Rush will want to have Federal Programs pump millions into the 1st Congressional District to Save the Children, pay Ceasefire, wet the beak of Hal Baskin and other GD retirees.

I say, save our money.

The way to have a safe Chicago streets is easy.

• Have a universal moratorium on any and all Lawsuit Lotto Lawyer ( Peoples Law, MacArthur Center for Making Thugs Rich and Destroy Criminal Justice) or G. Flint Taylor Jon Loevy grifts and gambits
• Return the authority to police Chicago to the Chicago Police Department
• Make thugs pay and not pay the thugs
• Hold judges accountable for multiple felony thugs getting 'benefit of the doubt.'
• Require the Chicago print media to balance heart tugging Yummy Sandifer Sagas with the little Prique's rap-sheet
• Call bullshit on Stats, Studies and Programs that only handcuff the cops and hand felons ammunition

But that's just me.

I can't stand upper-class, elitist white boys either, Congressmen - be they white, black, brown or pink.  I respect the fact that Congressman Bobby Rush (D-1st District) works to not only hold his congressional seat, but actually bring home Federal bacon to the District.  Bobby Rush is a working man.

Marque Kirque is an upper-class, elitist white boy.

*

Tenure [edit]

Kirk was sworn-in on November 29, 2010 as the junior Senator from Illinois.^[38] On December 18, 2010, Kirk voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.^[39] He was one of only two Republicans to oppose legislation to detain American citizens indefinitely.^[40] Kirk sits at the Senate's coveted Candy Desk.^[41]

Infrastructure advocacy [edit]

In his first year in the Senate, Kirk worked along with U.S. Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL) to help mediate a dispute between airlines servingO'Hare International Airport and the City of Chicago in order to Keep the O'Hare Modernization project on Schedule.^[42] It is estimated the project would create 200,000 jobs and add $18 billion to the regional economy when completed.^[43]

Kirk and Durbin also worked together to bring $186 million in federal funds to support improved rail service from Chicago to St. Louis. The money was originally rejected by the state of Florida but reallocated to Illinois.^[44]

Kirk authored legislation, entitled the Lincoln Legacy Infrastructure Development Act, that sought to eliminate barriers and encourage private investment in roads, transit, airport and rail.^[45] Several of the provisions in the legislation would later become law under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (P.L. 112-114), including provisions to eliminate barriers to public-private partnerships for public transportation projects and a boost for the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFA) program.^[46]

Illinois debt crisis [edit]

Kirk appointed a sovereign debt advisory board to help research the unfunded obligations and unpaid bills contributing to Illinois' debt crisis. He later produced a Report on Illinois Debt highlighting the unsustainable debt the state continued to hold and the need for pension reform.^[47] Kirk introduced legislation entitled No State Bailouts, S. Res. 188, along with 14 other US Senators, which would ban federal bailouts of financially struggling states. Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford endorsed the legislation.^[48]

Anti-corruption work [edit]

Kirk and Representative Robert Dold (R-IL-10) introduced bipartisan legislation to expand qualifications for ending federal pension payouts to elected officials convicted of corruption. The bicameral provision expanded current law to include an additional 22 crimes, and the bill was included in the STOCK Act signed by the President in April 2012.^[49]

Same-sex marriage [edit]

On April 2, 2013, Kirk became the second sitting Republican senator to support same-sex marriage.^[50]

Leadership and Authority, or Power and Self-Glory?

Pope Francis waves to faithful as he arrives for his general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 29, 2103. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The rain hasn't stopped Pope Francis.
The 76-year-old pontiff, who lost part of a lung during his youth to an infection, got soaked Wednesday as he braved a brief spring shower to kiss babies and greet crowds at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. Zooming around the piazza in his open-air jeep, Francis had no umbrella or cover over him as he made his way through a sea of brightly colored umbrellas, happily stopping to caress and kiss babies handed up to him.
Once Francis reached the covered platform at the top of the piazza steps, an aide brought him a roll of paper towels and he wiped his brow. His white cassock was visibly damp.
Francis praised the crowd for their "courage" in braving the rain.
© 2013 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.

and then there is Commander in Chief # 44



"Why don't we get a couple of Marines?" Obama told Erdogan "They're gonna look good next to us."

Last Call from the Chicago Tribune - " Illinois! Stand Up for Non-Euclidian Marriage !"

I have witnessed birth.   In two of the three blessed events, the attending obstetrician pronounced, " Mrs. Hickey, you and your husband are the parents of beautiful baby girl."  On one occasion, after a very difficult and painful experience for my 'birth' partner as the dope didn't take for the breech birth of the fetal-distressed object of our prayers, the exhausted medical professional, " Mrs. Hickey, you and your husband are the proud parents of a handsome young man!"

In no case, did the attending physician pronounce the sexual preference of any child born to our family e.g. " You are the proud parents of a lesbian, transgender, switch-hitting, homosexual male, or whatever."  Rather, I was informed and fully understood that my wife and I had a son and two daughters: one male with the attendant reproductive apparati and two female girls, as far I as could tell.  

We bought unisex diapers, wipes, keister ointment and Similac for all three.  Strictly Euclidian.  We took it from there.  I got out of car with the saw cut down the Christmas Trees and hauled them back to the running car where Mrs. Hickey and very warm kiddies waited for the task to be completed.  " Dads, don't get cold.  Mommies are smarter."



Greg Harris, Fred Eychaner, Terry Cosgrove, Kelly Cassidy, and others have done a magnificent job of purchasing, bullying or convincing Illinois that polls matter and Euclid is an old Greek.  With the legislative cxlock running down on the Illinois Religious Freedom and Marraige Fairness Act, the Chicago Tribune issued this call arms against Black Evangelicals, Muslims, devout Jews, Catholics and Euclid:

State Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, needs 60 votes by week's end to add Illinois to the list. The nose count is still close. Let's get it done.
Public support for same-sex marriage is barreling ahead, and it isn't likely to change direction.
This month, a Gallup poll found 53 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, up from 44 percent in 2010 and 27 percent in 1996. Separate polls measured support at 55 percent in Arizona, 56 percent in Virginia and 57 percent in Michigan.

No less a Non-Euclidian sexual practitioner than Cole Porter admitted to the Euclidian mandate of 'parts' in procreation -

When the little bluebird 
Who has never said a word 
Starts to sing Spring
When the little bluebell 
At the bottom of the dell 
Starts to ring Ding dong Ding dong 
When the little blue clerk 
In the middle of his work 
Starts a tune to the moon up above 
It is nature that is all 
Simply telling us to fall in love 

And that's why birds do it, bees do it 
Even educated fleas do it 
Let's do it, let's fall in love 

Cold Cape Cod clams, 'gainst their wish, do it 
Even lazy jellyfish do it 
Let's do it, let's fall in love 

I've heard that lizards and frogs do it 
Layin' on a rock 
They say that roosters do it 
With a doodle and cock . . . Cole Porter "Let's Fall in Love"

Let's do what exactly one might ask?  Why Sex, Junior!  You know, what Percy Sledge said . . .better yet! Marvin Gaye!



Easy, Son!

Sex tempered with love and blessed in marriage brings about all that Springtime stuff - birth, renewal!  Now, in Planned Parenthood nations like Red China, some confused breeders obey the State and flush beautiful children down the toilet, but most Cole Porter/Percy Sledge/Pope Francis folks warp their babes in swaddling clothes and lay them in mangers.

Euclid observed, just like I observed, that there are differences.  In the last century, feminism argued against this.  Science, according to Michael Levin in his brilliant critique of feminism, got in the business of debunking observation. " You going to believe your lying eyes, or ME, Gloria Steinem?"

Non Euclidian morality is rooted in post Kantian philosophy and reached its full fruition with Hitler.  Margaret Sanger was a Non-Euclidian and our feminist bra-burners and infanticidal Medeas are non-Euclidians.

Gay marriage was born of feminism.  Science- even social science, Levin reminds us, is or should be in the business of explaining observation and not leading data, polling, or agendas to pre-cast conclusions.

Marriage is Euclidian = one man + one woman = Some kid.

Cole Porter knew that and he was as Gay as a Clifton Webb Marathon on TMC.


19th Ward note.
The Non-Euclidian money spends, I'll give it that - my State Senator Bill Cunnigham is on board and voted for Non-Euclidian Marriage Illinois;  my State Rep. Fran Hurley took the coin of Terry Cosgrove.  We will see how she votes.  Nice girl, Fran.  That was damn Euclidian of me, I guess. 

Samantha Power, Islamist Terror's Best Shield, Appointed by Obama to Combat Global Genocide?

Benghazi, more than the IRS/James Rosen/AP Scandals, will be the final veil removed from Obama's daffy diplomacy and defense deconstruction.  Samantha Power's name will of necessity surface, as she has been the Obama's puppetrix and Third World sponsored dominatrix in all matters Islam from Cairo Giveaways, to Hamas Flotilla regattae, to Pan Libyan adventureisms.

On Memorial Day 2013 President Obama spoke at the National Holocaust Museum - most fitting.  President Obama sullied the day with his announcement that Samantha Power is out of the White House and appointed to a new executive fiat creation -

WASHINGTON---The Obama White House issued new measures on Friday to prevent genocides and mass atrocities, creating an "Atrocities Prevention Board" in the wake of the failure of the "Never Again" vow taken following the German Holocaust to stop the murders of entire populations. . . . The Obama White House efforts to address genocide is headed by Samantha Power, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights. Power won a Pulitizer Prize for her book, "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide"and worked briefly for President Obama when he was a U.S. senator from Illinois.

Professor Power belongs to the OxFam breed of antisemites - college degree'd Brits and Irish poser - OXFAM wannabees who support Pan- Palestinian (read HAMAS) Victimhood no matter what the evidence proves otherwise and a fashionably Left ( read CPI) point view calling for the anihilation of the only Democracy in the Middle East - Israel.  Israelis are Zionists and Zionist are Nazis and Nazis created the Holocaust, doncha neeewww. Quite.

American Progressives ( read mildly educated elites) are mad to take contemptuous slaps and condescension for such OXFAM worthies as Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, Archbishop Tutu the most reliable old Red in purple, and of course the lads of Coldplay.  OXFAM and Amnesty International were hijacked at about the same time in 1970's. Both demand a global. . .International . . .acceptance of principles and purposes -lock step.

OXFam's Purpise # 2. gives me the willies -"The purpose of Oxfam is to help create lasting solutions. . . ( Final Solution, n'est pas?). 

Professor Power is a bold critic of American history, policy, defense and culture.  Professor Power is Bill Ayers on Zoloft.

If you are OK with the White House and State Department's handling of the Benghazi slaughter, Samantha Power makes sense as the Obama Genocide Czarina.

 How about Louis Farrakhan as national spokesman for America's Other White Meat?

Thanks, Once Again, Dad!

Battle Ribbons for PFC Patrick E, Hickey, USMCR -1943-1945 ( Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima)

Dad carrying the tripod on Guam* and looking old at 19 years. 


" It was rugged." - Personal narrative of WWII by PFC Patrick E, Hickey, USMCR (dec.)

 God Bless you, Dad and all who protect us and our Freedoms.

Able Company ( Capt. Geary Bundschu) 1st Batallion, 3rd Marines pinned down during the three attack up the cliffs later named for Capt. Bundschu. At the center of this old photo are what is left of A Company in July 1994 on Guam.

the 1st Battalion landed and started across rice paddies toward Bundschu Ridge, a nose of land running down toward the beach,²⁵ enemy machine guns began to fire from the woods bordering the open ground. Company B, in assault on the right, quickly cleared these woods and made good progress until it ran into jungle and rock.
The Japanese did not give Company A, on the left, time to organize for an assault, but opened fire on LVT's as they moved ashore and stopped to unload troops. Casualties mounted as reorganization got under way. Enemy opposition, plus the fact that terrain bore little resemblance to that studied on maps and models, added to the normal confusion which --43--

---

follows any assault landing.²⁶ But cool thinking and the training under adverse conditions on Guadalcanal paid off. Captain Geary R. Bundschu quickly organized his company and made preparations for the assault on the ridge that already bore his name. (See Map 13)
The attack started with two platoons in assault and one in support, but the going was slow and rough. The support platoon had to be committed in short order. This added strength enabled Bundschu to get within 100 yards of the top by 1045, but he reported he needed corpsmen and stretchers badly. This message gave just a hint of things to come. Moving that last 100 yards proved to be a lengthy and costly business. Only one officer, Lieutenant James A. Gallo, Jr., and a few men of the company survived the action that followed.
It is doubtful if Captain Bundschu realized until after 1200 what he was up against.²⁷ The initial assault on the ridge had been driven back by two machine guns emplaced to deliver enfilade fire on advancing troops. A platoon tried to flank one position by going up a heavily wooded gully but the waiting Japanese forced it to withdraw. About 1400 Bundschu asked his battalion commander, Major Henry Aplington, II, for permission to disengage. But Aplington felt this could not be done because of the unit being so involved. However, the right platoon (1st) succeeded in disengaging. Lieutenant Gallo, its leader, reorganized the remnants of his unit and those of the 3d Platoon and awaited orders from his company commander.²⁸After a conference between the regimental commander and Captain Bundschu, Colonel Hall ordered a second frontal assault on the ridge. Bundschu and Gallo organized the remaining men of Company A into two forces for the attempt. The company commander requested that an 81mm mortar barrage be placed on the hill,²⁹ and just before sundown the attack started. Bundschu and his men inched forward but the same machine gun that had caused them trouble earlier in the day soon stopped the advance. Repeated attempts to take the position failed. Finally, covered by fire from every available weapon, the Marines silenced the gun with grenades. An assault reached the top of the hill, but by this time the remaining handful of Marines found it impossible to reorganize and defend this crest.³⁰On the right, Lieutenant Gallo and his men fared no better. Under cover of the 81mm barrage, they crawled up the ridge and reached a position under the machine gun in their sector. But the Japanese, by rolling hand grenades down on the advancing troops, made the position untenable and halted the attack. Little had been accomplished. The company was back where it had been earlier in the day, but this time with fewer men.³¹During the course of the Bundschu Ridge action, the regimental commander had decided to commit his reserve, Lieutenant Colonel Hector de Zayas' 2d Battalion. When it became apparent that the enemy offered the most resistance in the center of the zone of action, Hall alerted de Zayas' unit for a move into the line between the two assault battalions. Shortly thereafter, at 1300, Colonel Hall assembled his battalion commanders on top of Chonito Cliff and issued his fragmentary order:

* from Scott Carmichael's forthcoming book Bundschu Ridge 

Despite the rigorous training schedule which left them filthy and exhausted most days, the enlisted men found time and energy to temporarily escape the regimentation of an infantryman’s life through the pursuit of personal interests and hobbies.  Pfc’s Patrick E. Hickey of Chicago and Boyd C. Troup of Michigan discovered the game of horseshoe.  Hickey was the son of Irish immigrants; he was one of 13 kids in his family, and he was barely 19 years old when he joined the Marine Corps.  He and Boyd were machine gunners in 2LT Henry Oliver’s machine gun platoon, and neither of them had ever played the game of horseshoes before their arrival on Guadalcanal.  Boyd recalled that each of them threw ‘ringers’ on their very first tosses, and ‘laughed like hell’ because they couldn’t possibly have done that on purpose, had they tried.  They were hooked on the game from the beginning, and passed much of their spare time tossing iron shoes at a stake in the ground. 

 

Andy "MICROPHONE!" Shaw of BGA Shills for Himself (naturalment) and the Election Mapping Grifters of CHANGE Illinois

quel dommage!



Imagine spending quality time with Andy Shaw.  Imagine.

I am old enough to remember when serious people, busy people, gifted people, other-directed people and competent people would give softballs, ninnies, grifters and egoists the air.
Over time, serious people, busy people, gifted people, other-directed people and competent people were asked by persons with authority over them, or somehow allied to them, to give softballs, ninnies, grifters and egoists greater opportunity to air their plans, policies, pet projects and polemics the same courtesy as people who could actually accomplish a task, follow through a promise and do so without consideration of their future power, purse stuffing or personal attention.

Today, aspiration and transcendent will trumps ones ability to legislate, budget, instruct, cut pipe, clear a homicide, or back a 40' tractor trailer up to a loading dock without calamity. Caring, really really caring and hammering home that titanic nail of care into the public policy coffin is the litmas test for seriousness.

I taught with a some grifters, all too briefly, who found life employment as education administrators, activisists and high-paid consultants.  One such paragon of care sold grades for snow tires and returned to obligation to students by selling NASA space ice cream crystals from the back of his trunk. Another self-professed spiritualist who taught PE and organized Christian discussion groups at  a Catholic high school with a very orthodox and competent religion department, while trysting with a sophomore girl who was large with child, before the 1st Semester exams, despite the high-minded predator's own family of three snactioned by the United Church of Christ.

These grifters were immediately sent packing.  The former died of a massive heart attack, while changing his snow tires in the blizzard of 1983 far from his former place of employment, but with a trunk full of Astronaut Ice Cream.  The later became a public school superintendent in deep southern Illinois and collected a magnificent pension in 1999.

There were women on the grift as well.  One sold a book written entirely by her students.  Another became a well-compensated criminal justice activist after being cashiered for not correcting tests -at all among other shameful deeds.Then, there is the Rev. LIE BERRYAN-PROFITUS who takes up a collection of cash money from students and new faculty members for for every conceivable heart-breaking tale of human suffering ( most imangined), or recognition of Birfdays, Onnahs, Wedins and Ged Wells, yet can not account for purchased gifts, honoraria, bequests.  My saluation was largely "Take it on the heel and toe, grifter," upon coming into proximity with this Dewey Decimal disaster.

They cared deeply, male and female, but laughed out of the faculty lounge and the classroom.  Gradually, the new civility trumped, " ARE YOU OUT OF WHAT PASSES FOR YOUR #$%^ing MIND?" Like the English teacher who dressed up like a gondolier, a waiter, and Gertrude Stein had ballet mirrors installed in his classroom after convincing someone that his resume included not only graduate work under Wayne Booth at University of Chicago, a pending PhD. from Loyola University, editorship of PMLA and two years with the Joffrey Ballet. He cared.

I am very often, and no doubt correctly, criticized for being caustic and cynical, hateful and bitter, cranky and judgmental.  I am.  I have the exact temperament of highly skilled tradesman saddled with a supervisor who does not know that an eighth is larger in measure than sixteenth, notwithstanding the fact that there are twice the number in a sixteenth.  A good electrician, pipe fitter, stationary engineer, carpenter or machinist, not great mind you, would and is fully justified in declaring the Alderman's nephew a complete unexpurgated moron.

People on watch, on task, on guard and on the job are saddled with more work for less pay, while cretins feebs, dummies and platitude preaching footpads with great hearts screw up the labors.

Nothing is more screwed up than Illinois government.  Some say, where it once had to do with people not paying their fair share of taxes (read Ralph Martire - an epic grifter), it now is all about legislative voting maps. Could be.

About a week ago, I rubbished a Chicago Tribune editorial ( read Bruce Dold -an epic ninny) trumpetting the massive grift planned by CHANGE Illinois, which lists Illinois epic softball/egoist Andy " MICROPHONE!" Shaw of BGA on its board of directors.  Today, Andy, the  former ABC go-to-goof who once demanded to know what was going on of a Chicago homicide detective crouching over the body parts of a Tech 9 dismembered Gangster Disciple, who replied, " We suspect foul play," is now openly shilling for his work on remapping Illinois and reforming, once and for all, politics as we know it.

In some districts the Dems fielded stronger candidates or ran better campaigns, but in others gerrymandering made the difference.
And that helps explain why so few races are competitive, or even contested, and why incumbents rarely lose.
Is that healthy for democracy? Of course not.
So how can we clean it up?
Well, lawmakers can pass a bill replacing gerrymandering with computerized mapmaking based on geography and population, not politics.
Say what? Elected reps making it easier for opponents to beat them by unrigging the process?
Next.
Voters, as in “we the people,” can reform the system by referendum. They can sign enough petitions to put an apolitical redistricting plan on the ballot, and then pass it.
The League of Women Voters gave it a valiant try two years ago but fell short.
This year CHANGE ILLINOIS, the reform group that pushed campaign finance limits through the General Assembly, is leading a new drive that, if successful, gives us a healthier redistricting process in 2020, and a leveler and more competitive playing field in the 2022 elections.

That’s a long way off.

At one time, I might believe that Andy, but these days?  I'd allow Eldridge Gerry,  his own bad self. to salamander up Illinois before the pack of grifters among whom you number your gifts, Andy.  I 'd have Jimmy the Two Headed Boy fix my air conditioner, before I'd allow this pack of villains to get their mitts on anything.  Shucks, I'd have Pork Chop Louis Farrakhan over to a Passover picnic on my deck in Morgan Park, before I'd allow these goofs any nod of agreement from my tired old forehead.

Andy the new courtesy has removed the fools cap from your noggin and Velcro'd the laurels of public gravitas on your scalp.

You are no longer the giggle button of ABC, but the policy THE pronouncement foghorn of the Illinois BGA.

There I go being all improbus, crudelis, et duro, again.   I could always suffer fools gladly, but never seriously.

Quel dommage!
http://www.suntimes.com/news/bga/20307012-452/election-reform-boring-not-really.html

Leo High School “The LION Express To Opportunity” Safe Here & Safe Home

                             Leo Lion Sam Leno, a back of the yards kid from the Class of 1963, has crafted this great campaign to beef up Leo's ability to get Young Lions to and from school - Facta Non Verba!

                                       

“The LION Express To Opportunity”

                                                               Safe Here & Safe Home

Goal

Establish a safe,

reliable, modern

school bus system

for students who

have no other

transportation

options, to get

to/from school and

home, as well as

to/from school

events.

As the city and neighborhoods began to change, public

transportation became less reliable and less safe.

Leo High School desperately

needs our help!

Dear Leo Alumni, friends and family,

As you know, attending Leo has contributed significantly to

providing each of us a strong foundation of integrity,

discipline and sound moral values, molding us into the men

that we are today. While our backgrounds are varied, we

have all successfully transitioned from young boys to good

husbands, fathers and grandfathers. Thanks to the

commitment of the Irish Christian Brothers, as well as

countless lay-teachers, we were all blessed with the

opportunity to enjoy an outstanding education grounded in

our faith in God.

Throughout the years, most of us got to school either by

walking or riding city transportation. However, as the city

and neighborhoods began to change, public transportation

became less reliable and less safe. Many other Catholic

High Schools added their own bus transportation over the

years, but unfortunately, Leo did not. As a result of this

and other less significant factors, enrollment has decreased

2

Lorem Ipsum Dolor Spring 2016

We are all part of an important legacy and now we have an opportunity to keep that legacy

alive by helping Leo help itself. A modern and effective transportation program will:

--‐ provide much improved recruiting initiatives and results by being able to expand its

geographic reach

--‐ increase the school’s enrollment numbers, providing increased tuition proceeds

--‐ provide the means for Leo leadership to address many of its other facility needs, making

the school even more desirable potentially increasing enrollment even more

The “bottom line” - This campaign “The LION Express To Opportunity”

Safe Here & Safe Home will provide the money necessary to materially increase the

number and quality of its buses and become the “gift that keeps on giving!”

Many of you have been strong supporters of Leo with your donations over the years.

However, given the importance of this specific need, which is vital to the future of the school, I

am praying that each of you will join me and others who are reaping the benefits of having

attended Leo High School, in making a 1 time donation to this unique enrollment expanding

initiative. It is a meaningful way for us to "give back" and help students, much like us when

we were high school age, receive an education like no other.

LEO HIGH SCHOOL DESPERATELY NEEDS OUR HELP

from over 1200 at its peak, to about 160 today. This is sad to see,

especially when the school offers so much good and hope to young

men trying to make a difference in their lives by receiving a quality

education, excellent values and spiritual guidance.

The single most significant factor preventing Leo from increasing its

enrollment is it’s inability to compete with other Catholic High Schools

that do supply transportation to students who have no other means of

getting to/from home and school, as well as to/from student events.

Leo has as much to offer its young impressionable students today as it did when we all

attended, but the single biggest concern expressed by the parents of prospective students is the

need for the school to supply safe, reliable transportation for their children.

In spite of its transportation limitations, Leo has been successful at recruiting many outstanding

students and student athletes who excel and compete successfully against much larger schools,

both Public and Catholic. Imagine how much more successful they could be if they could

enhance their recruiting efforts through a vital transportation program?

3

Lorem Ipsum Dolor Spring 2016

Alumni Quote

LEO HIGH SCHOOL DESPERATELY NEEDS OUR HELP

Here are some of the specifics:

“The LION Express To Opportunity”

Safe Here & Safe Home

O Goal: Establish a safe, reliable, modern

school bus system for students who have no

other transportation options, to get to/from

school and home, as well as to/from school

events.

O Needs: 2 large school buses and 3 to 4

mini-vans

O Why: Materially improve new student

recruiting initiatives and significantly expand

the size of Leo’s student body every year.

O How: Create a targeted and highly visible

“special campaign” by soliciting 1 time

donations from Alumni and “Friends of Leo

High School”

O Target: Raise $300,000

O When: over the next 30 days

O Involvement: Alumni, student body

and key faculty members

“Looking back retrospectively at

the foundational experience

provided by Leo and the Irish

Christian Brothers, my high

school experience played a

pivotal role in molding me into a

better human being in almost

every respect. The education,

values and discipline instilled by

brothers Sloan, McCabe, Beyer,

McDermott, Acker, Miller, Shea,

Nash, Martin, Coogan,

Castellanos, McDonough,

McKenna, Ryan and the other lay

teachers, taught me how to make

a meaningful difference in my life

and expand my experiences well

beyond the South Side of

Chicago. The Leo experience

helped me become and be a

better Naval Officer, a more

effective businessman, a better

father and husband.”

The school has created a separate bank account for

these donations to ensure that all donations are used for

the explicit purpose of creating a small fleet of student

buses as described above. If you’d like discuss this

initiative or receive any additional information, please

call (773) 224-9600 and ask to speak with either Dan

McGrath, President of Leo High School, or Pat Hickey in

the Development Office.

We will keep all of you informed of the success of this

program by posting updated results at the Leo Website:

http://www.leohighschool.org

Please make your donation checks payable to:

Leo High School – The Lion Express to Opportunity

Mail your donations to:

Leo High School

Attention: Dan McGrath, President

7901 S. Sangamon St.

Chicago, IL 60620

No matter how much you are able to give, Leo

will benefit greatly from your sincere generosity!

Gratefully yours,

LEO HIGH SCHOOL DESPERATELY NEEDS OUR HELP

GO LIONS !!!