Obama/Rezko/Davis/Cullen Davis Gate: It Cost Taxpayers Millions of Dollars, Swings One Way,Falls Off and Killed Curtis Cooper

Neither the Chicago Tribune nor the Sun Times ( because Tim Novak is not on the story) made the connection to Barack 'One House'Obama to Tony Rezko and Allison Davis, a white guy termed 'Mayor Daley's link to the African American Community.'


Allison Davis is 'Mayor Daley's link to the African American Community.' No other links, associations, reachers-out, heads-up guys, liasons, or friends in the African American Community - Allison Davis. Allsion Davis is the go-to-guy whenever Mayor Daley needs a link to the African American Community.Not Senator Barck Obama.
Not Ike Carothers. Not Jackie Heard.Not Elzie Higginbottom.Not Dempsey Travis.

Nope Allison Davis. Allsion Davis who was Barack Obama's Law Boss. Back in April of 2007, Tim Novak was on the story and should continue to be on the story for STNG, but they want this tale to fade. Here is what Tim Novak, the only real newsman on the Sun Times, had to say about insulated Progressive lawyer Allison S. Davis.

When Barack Obama took a job at a small Chicago law firm in 1993, the first name on the door of the firm was Allison S. Davis.

Five years later, having left his Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland firm, Davis invested in Antoin "Tony'' Rezko's final government-subsidized, low-income housing project, state records show, in a deal handled by Davis' former law firm.

Davis and Rezko also went into business together, building upscale homes in the booming Kenwood neighborhood where Davis lives. The legal work on those deals was also done by Davis' former law firm, where Obama was working.

Davis, 67, and Rezko are still business partners "in a technical sense,'' Davis said in an interview, though he added, "There's nothing going on in the last couple years.''

He said he didn't recall how or when he met Rezko, a businessman and political fund-raiser under indictment on federal charges that include demanding kickbacks from companies seeking state pension investments under Gov. Blagojevich.

While Davis was running the law firm, he was also a board member of the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., a not-for-profit company that hooked up with Rezko's Rezmar Corp. on tax-supported projects to rehabilitate apartments for low-income tenants. Davis' firm handled the legal work on those housing deals.

Davis has long been an influential member of the Woodlawn community just south of the University of Chicago. His father was the university's first African-American professor. Since 1991, Davis has been a member of the Chicago Plan Commission, appointed by Mayor Daley, a friend.

Four years ago, Blagojevich appointed Davis to the Illinois State Board of Investment, which controls state pension funds -- one of a series of appointments the governor made at Rezko's request.

Tim Novak

Novak says that Davis's Pa was African American? Guess I was mistaken! Must be true - Davis ain't a white guy then. Pictures never really tell the story. Surface value journalism is also misleading. Get Novak back on the case.

Yep, Tim Novak on a story is like Sterling on Silver. He is such a pitbull that he could dig up my dreams ( don't go there, Tim).

Instead, to make any sense of the non-investigation into the death of Curtis Cooper by our propaganda journalists we need to flip to the New York Post.

Here is a piece that considers the Davis/Rezko/Obama connection important.

In October 1998, Obama wrote city and state officials, urging them to give Rezko $14 million to build an apartment complex outside of Obama's state Senate district. The Chicago Sun-Times noted last year that Obama's request included 855,000 in "development fees" for Rezko and for another developer, Allison Davis, who happened to be Obama's old law-firm boss. Obama's spokesman said it was just a coincidence that the state senator wrote letters to obtain millions of dollars for his two longtime friends. ( emphasis my own -because . . .gee, isn't that kind of a red-flag?)

In fact, Obama was a dependable ally of subsidized developers in the Legislature, giving Rezko and others broader help as well. In "The Case Against Barack Obama," I identify and parse six housing bills with which Obama was closely involved. A few examples:

* In 2001, Obama cosponsored a bill allowing developers to sell state tax credits to others and pocket half of the proceeds.
* In 2002 and 2004, he was chief cosponsor of a bill to authorize a rent-subsidy fund giving "grants . . . directly to developers" of low-income housing. Seventy percent of the money was earmarked for the Chicago area.

* Obama cosponsored the Illinois Housing Initiative Act of 2003, which required the governor to develop a plan for more low-income housing and "provide[d] for funding for housing construction and rehabilitation and supportive services."

* In 2003, Obama voted for the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act, which required Illinois municipalities to make 10 percent of their housing units "affordable" (by definition, this included subsidized housing). This forced 46 communities just outside of Chicago to create more than 7,000 new "affordable" units - a huge boost in demand for area developers. The bill also provided loopholes for developers to circumvent local ordinances and regulations.

After voting for this measure (it passed narrowly), Obama then cosponsored a new bill that moved up its implementation by more than a year.

These and the other Obama-backed bills helped make millionaires of Rezko and other slum developers at taxpayers' expense. The developers - including his former law boss and an adviser to his current campaign - reciprocated, together giving and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for Obama's campaigns.

To sum up: Obama got them subsidies to build. He secured them a steady income of government rent subsidies. He arranged special tax credits and abatements for them. He backed measures that increased demand for their services, and helped them legally circumvent local laws.

Perhaps Obama acted with only the poor in mind. Yet some of his developer friends weren't so conscientious - especially Rezko.

Notably, Rezko's company claimed that it lacked the funds to heat one of its 11 buildings in Obama's state Senate district from December 1996 to February 1997. But Rezko still managed to write a $1,000 check to Obama's campaign fund on Jan. 14. That month, his tenants shivered as 19 inches of snow fell on northern Illinois.

With his early and large investments in Obama, Rezko helped the Democratic nominee get to where he is today. Obama, meanwhile, helped Rezko with his legislative work and his letter-writing. Given this close working relationship, the Obama-Rezko land deal is far less surprising.

David Freddoso, a political reporter for National Review, is the author of "The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate."

All this stuff is out there for us paper readers at Kean Gas Station each morning. The people who Medill snobs think are too stupid to matter. Well, listen up! We have jobs, families, lives, interests and activities that bring people together. We share thoughts and opinions. Millions of us! We read and we remember what we read. We also control the impulse to buy a paper - we just might glance at it without buying it while we have coffee and crullers. That's revenue denied to you dopes. Guerilla Theatre as the Hyde Park Mafia might opine.

And Obama worries about John McCain's Houses. McCain is a Tightwad! I have raised ranch and a thirty year mortgage and the number of homes in possession really upsets me!

Hell, the cheap bastard! If I shared Cindy McCain's money, with her say so of course, I'd have houses in Peotone, Martinton, Braidwood, Coal City, Custer Park and Papineau, Illinois as well as Sidona,AZ - but I guess that it is a dry heat there.

Obama can stand some heat - Dry, or Wet, Obama will not get any heat form the Cupcake Mules slinging ink for Chicago papers. Tim Novak is a pitbull and he can bring the heat!

John McCain: McCain Has Killed Kittens, Pushed Blind Cripples in Front of Buses and Predicted an Obama 15 Pt. Bounce! Meanest Man Alive!

John McCain is Mean! He called a boy who merely asked him a question, 'a little jerk!'

Keith Olbermann has named John McCain 'Worst Person' in the World and coming from a troubled fat boy who shudders throughout the day when repressed memories of his days as a lonely boy himself surfaced like bubbles in a tepid water-filled bathtub - toying tearfully with a dog eared Rocky Colavito from Topps and preparing for his next un-pantsing at the hands of loutish athletes, that means something; Keith knows. The bullied become bullies.

I imagine John McCain lifts pads of butter at Denny's across this great country of ours and smears railings in nursing homes and the odd men's door knob. Of course, only after asking the Denny's waitress for a chilled glass of dehydrated water -'Yes, Sir, Senator!'

I see the Senator Glad Wrapping toilet seats after serving guests gallons draft beer hundreds of yards from the house.

No doubt a proffering of delicately fried Tortilla Chips, marshaled around a festive Guacamole dish filled with Wasabi and garnished with intricately cut limes, cilantro, and diced tomatoes would be ideal for those Press Barbecues.

But this week, Senator John McCain crossed the line! If the 18th Century artist William Hogarth could have witnessed McCain's vile act, he would have engraved cuttings for a Fifth Level of Cruelty ( Stage One -small animals; Stage Two - villainy and robbery; Stage Three Murder and Seduction; Stage Four Cruel Perfected and the Fifth Senator John Sidney McCain!

McCain told one of the pencil neck geeks at Huffington Post that he expects the Obama Campaign to take a 15 Point Bounce after the Democratic Convention. ( Click my post title for this shameless act of cruelty.

My God, Sir! These are Half-wits,with whom you are having sport! You, Senator are . . . I'm sorry I can not go on!

But it is damn funny! What's next asking a room full of nuns, 'Is there anyone I have not slept with here today?' Telling a blind kid 'Hey look at that Sunset!'

Asking Keith Olbermann, 'Getting Any?'

Tribune Updates the Cullen Davis ( Dad was Obama's Law Boss) Complicity in Boy's Death

The Tribune updated its story on the death this summer of Curtis Cooper and the complicity of the property managers United Property Advisors (UPA)that is raking in millions of dollars from the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA).

Yesterday's article deftly stepped around the 'alleged' crumb in the unhappy accident that caused Curtis Cooper's death - Cullen Davis.

Cullen Davis, like William Ayers, is the wee lad of a well-connected Lefty Dad, who has his own bundle of problems with the Feds.

Yesterday, I posted a rather piquant prose philippic that noted the obvious and glaring side-step around Cullen Davis and his well-juiced Dad.

The Tribune locked Mayor Daley into the tale, which makes sense, but seemed to give a complete pass to Allison Davis. Allison Davis, who is very white, was made to appear to be Mayor Daley's African American link to the community. Rather, Allison Davis, who is very white, was Barack Obama's Law boss.

Allison Davis is a member of the Progressive Apparatus of lefty lawyers, journalists, activists, and opportunists who get a pass from the Medill School of Journalism for peccadilloes, wallet-liftings, fund-miss appropriations and other Lefty high-jinks. Let's see if the Trib gets hot-under the bra on this story, though it may lead to the conviction of 'a licensed attorney and real estate broker bringing visionary and strategic leadership to Urban Property Advisors (UPA) plus a number of companies and ventures impacting change in urban environments:'Cullen Davis. Shucks, if the Tribune wants you to suffer - you suffer! Ask George Ryan. If a piece falling off a truck and killing six children can be made to prosecute and destroy the Governor of Illinois, how high the moon? Unless, of course the Medill Industry demands a pass for Progressives.

Today the Tribune added a bit more to the horrific tale of little Curtis Cooper's Death. They included Cullen Davis, who is very white but served as an aid to Rep. Danny K. Davis - no relation I presume - which is only fitting and should have been in the first paragraph of yesterday's feature.

Here is the thing. The Tribune had no problem linking this little boy's death to Mayor Daley - a very wholesome villain to MSM -but blanched at pointing out the very powerful connection between Allison Davis/Tony Rezko and Senator Obama. Why is that?
Tim Novak the only real newsman of the bumptious Chicago Sun Times has been a pitbull with his buckers sunk deeply in cheeks of the Progressive paragons - Obama/Rezko/Davis.

Credit where due - the Trib threw us a bone this morning:


UPA is run by Cullen Davis. His father, Allison, also has been an official with the firm, according to state records. Cullen Davis also declined to comment because of the pending lawsuit.

HUD inspectors reported that the conditions of the gates worsened over the last two years, records show. In 2006, the problem was judged to be of midlevel severity, with a rating of 2 on a scale of 1 to 3. The level was raised to 3 in two subsequent inspections, in April and December of last year.

Under HUD's inspection system, housing authorities are required to immediately fix problems regarded as pressing health and safety concerns, such as exposed wiring and blocked fire exits. Inspectors found many such violations on their last visit to the Cabrini-Green Rowhouses and gave the project a score of 30 points out of a possible total of 100—a "very bad score," Hanson said.

The condition of the gates, however, was not marked as life-threatening and thus did not require immediate repair. Hanson said HUD's computer software, in use for about 10 years, does not allow problems with gates or fences to be designated as life-threatening.

Even though it was not required to fix the gates immediately, the CHA should have made sure they were repaired, said Eleny Ladias, director of technical services for HUD in Chicago. "It's up to the housing authority. They're required to follow up with those type of repairs."

CHA officials said non-emergency items needing repair usually are "addressed by the property manager." They declined to comment on whether the broken gates were ever fixed.

UPA got the contract to manage the rowhouses where Curtis Cooper lived at the end of 2005, taking over from a resident-run management group. Residents have been critical of the firm's work, and some said the gates have long been in bad shape. "The gates were raggedy as hell," said Sherri Montgomery, a lifelong resident of the rowhouses.

After the accident, UPA posted signs warning children not to play on or near the gates. "It's too damn late," said Clayton Wade, Curtis Cooper's father. "The baby's dead."

lcohen@tribune.com

solkon@tribune.com

jgrotto@tribune.com

Like the Ayers/Obama papers held hostage at Cement City, better late than never.

Whenever I am near a Progressive Do-Gooder, I throw both hands over the Left check of my ass to protect my wallet.

Whenever a Progressive Do-Gooder gets near poor people, they rake in millions, properties get boarded up, and people die.

John McCain: It's Biden! Obama Goes for A Man 'Greater Than Himself'

Taking a page from the John McCain playbook - and it is about time, Senator - Barack Obama has looked to the needs of someone other than himself - His tanking Campaign - over his own personal ambition and has chosen Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. I thought with all of the subterfuge and gadding about with the press these last few days, that Obama might select under-the-radar Sen. Jack Reed, but Obama head faked me - not too difficult. It has been All About Obama, but does not seem to be selling too hot these days. Obama needs an honest street brawler.

Senator Joe Biden is a great selection. Biden brings a wealth of seriousness to a Campaign identified by MTV-level thinking and life-style. Joe Biden knows how to bowl - out of the gutter. Well, sort of anyway.

My only beef with Biden stems from his willingness to carry the water of the National Organization of Women and the ACLU in their strident and un-American personal Borking ( a neologism coined in that time) of a Centrist legal scholar out of pure political necessity. Biden is still willing to play ball with the forces that fundamentally oppose all of his own strong virtues: Patriotism, Faith, Dignity, and Courage. The ACLU is group think. Joe Biden is better than that.

In The Bork Hearings, Joe Biden, who chaired Senate Judiciary hearings, came at Bork hard. It was an ugly chapter in American history.

Senator Ted Kennedy summarized the personal assault on Robert Bork:

"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is -- and is often the only -- protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy... President Reagan is still our president. But he should not be able to reach out from the muck of Irangate, reach into the muck of Watergate and impose his reactionary vision of the Constitution on the Supreme Court and the next generation of American. No justice would be better than this injustice."

Doing the bidding of ACLU and the elites did Joe Biden no good. He himself was 'Borked' out contention for the Democratic Nomination. The Group think seemed to mistrust Biden's individualism.

Now, Joe Biden is needed to bring Catholics, blue-collar white voters and women back into belief that the forces of Group Think are not all that bad.

Unlike most Progressives, Joseph Biden is a street fighter, while they tend to be litigation terrorists and character assassins. Biden fights hard and comes at his opponent from the front. He does not give the enemy a head butt after a disarming smile. Say this for Biden - He told Robert Bork to expect an ass-chewing and the jurist was not ambushed:
LEAD: Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a Democratic Presidential contender, assured opponents of the nomination of Judge Robert H. Bork today that he would lead the fight against his confirmation to the United States Supreme Court.

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a Democratic Presidential contender, assured opponents of the nomination of Judge Robert H. Bork today that he would lead the fight against his confirmation to the United States Supreme Court.

The remarks were made at a private meeting this morning called by Mr. Biden to convey his position to leaders of civil rights groups, who are marshaling for an all-out battle to defeat the nomination.

Pete Smith, a spokesman for the Judiciary Committee, confirmed that Senator Biden ''intends to oppose the nomination and to lead the effort against it in the Senate.'' But the spokesman said the Delaware Senator ''does not plan to formally announce his opposition until he has a chance to spell out his reasons in detail in a series of speeches, which he plans to begin next week.'' Hearings Set for Sept. 15

The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over judicial nominations, and today Mr. Biden announced that hearings on the nomination would not begin until Sept. 15, almost assuring that the Court will have a vacancy when the next term begins on Oct. 5.

When told of the decision not to begin hearings until September, Marlin Fitzwater, the White House spokesman, said, ''We hope they will reconsider, because we would sure like to start the new term with a full Court.''

Mr. Biden's assurances that he will oppose the nomination represented an important shift by the powerful liberal Democrat that could add to pressures on uncommitted Senators, Presidential candidates and other prominent Democrats to take early positions on the Bork nomination. In the past, Mr. Biden has sought to avoid a politically and ideologically partisan approach to judicial nominations.

Some liberal and civil rights groups say that stopping Judge Bork's nomination will be their major priority of the Reagan era.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0DA1331F93AA35754C0A961948260


John McCain will have his hands full with Joe Biden, because unlike Senator Obama, Biden attacks from the front. The old fighter pilot's 'Neck on a Swivel' stance needs to be adjusted, because Joe Biden comes at you head-on.

Gate Crushes Boy Chicago Tribune Hides Obama Connection but Links Daley

That's Cullen Davis Folks - he's doing just fine. The little boy killed by the gate on the properties that are making Cullen richer never met Cullen. Cullen Davis has long resume for a young man - loaded with all kinds of do-gooder stuff. Cullen Davis never got mentioned in the Tribune story about responsibility for the death of little Curtis Cooper.


Click my Post Title for series of real articles by a real newsman, Tim Novak of the Chicago Sun Times that link Rezko client Obama and Allison Davis - Obama's Law Boss.

The Tribune just flashed a story about CHA complicity in the Death of a little boy this summer, when a rusted wrought iron gate crushed him to death. Little Curtis Cooper died at a property manged by Cullen Davis, son of Allison Davis, a lefty lawyer with thick ties to Obama.

The Tribune is in the tank for Obama. I am in the tank for McCain, but this piece don't cost you nothing.

The Tribune white-washes Obama's sordid support for Rezko/Davis/Ayers/ . . . any more do-gooder crooks that you can name? and saves the kick in the two things that Jesse Jackson wanted to cut off of Obama for Mayor Daley - not a guy that I would like to ever hear the words 'Pat Hickey is a great friend of mine' (which I won't) -because he MAY be treated as the bad guy du jour by the Progressives. He is after all a Daley - not a great one like his brother John, who happens to be one of the most genuine and authentically nice people I have ever had the honor to meet.

Here's the Tribune at its Candy Assed Best:

Inspectors for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported at least as long ago as 2006 that gates at the Cabrini-Green complex were damaged, falling or leaning. In their last report, in December 2007, they also said that "multiple" gates were "missing hardware" and that the defects were severe.

Six months later, 3-year-old Curtis Cooper died when one of the massive metal gates fell on him. A lawyer for the boy's family has alleged that the gate was dangling by one hinge because its two other hinges had rusted through.

After being alerted to the problem, it's not clear what steps—if any—the CHA took to get the politically connected firm managing the Cabrini-Green Rowhouses to fix the gates. Urban Property Advisors, or UPA, is run by the son of developer Allison Davis, one of Mayor Richard Daley's top allies in the African-American community.

In response to questions from the Tribune on Thursday, the CHA issued a news release Friday morning saying that the agency passed on the last report to UPA and that repairing the gates was not a priority because HUD inspectors did not designate the gates' condition as a life-threatening emergency.

Read the array of Tim Novak pieces for real story. Novak is the only real newsman at the tanking Sun Times

The Tribune just laid off forty plus people, but they put three reporters on this whitewash crap?

They do not even name the punk responsible - they let Daddy get the tune-up because Daddy is already singing an aria to the Feds. That's Cullen Davis Folks*! Cullen Davis!

Mr. & Mrs. Cooper, God Bless you in your grief and give guidance to your days without your little boy, Curtis.

Cullen Davis! Anything to add? Didn't think so. Tribune? How about a Harrumph?

Come off of it! You clowns calling the shots at the Trib have taken way too many pulls on whatever it is that you have in that Hookah.

*Cullen J. Davis, CEO, is a licensed attorney and real estate broker bringing visionary and strategic leadership to Urban Property Advisors (UPA) plus a number of companies and ventures impacting change in urban environments:
• CJD Investments, which identifies opportunities for acquisition of
undervalued properties in transitional neighborhoods.
• CJD Projects, which develops multifamily housing using complex
financial transactions, especially those involving a high degree of government interaction.
• CNS Projects, a company focused on the holistic development of
urban areas and currently has more than $35 million dollars in
value under development.
• Principal of Hallmark and Johnson Real Estate Management,
LLC, which manages condominiums and market-rate housing
across the Chicagoland area.
• Daveri Development Group, a partnership which develops
multifamily housing throughout the state of Illinois.

Mr. Davis is formerly an associate in the real estate department at the law firm of Winston & Strawn, where he represented developers, financial institutions, investment bankers and investor groups in connection with residential, industrial, office and retail properties. He also served as an aid for Congressman Danny K. Davis, a position which further grounded him in the intricacies of public and private partnership. Mr. Davis received a Juris Doctorate from Northwestern University’s School of Law and a Bachelor’s Degree from Grinnell College. He is a certified tax-credit compliance specialist, a member of the Illinois Bar Association, and holds a variety of other professional memberships and certifications.

Mr. Davis, a native of Chicago, lives in the North Kenwood-Oakland community with his wife and has been a pioneer in that community’s redevelopment.

John McCain: I'm guessing Obama's VP will be Senator Jack Reed - if BO is as Smart as One Would Believe.

A buddy of mine just called: 'Hey smart ass! Who's Obama gonna pick for VP?'

Scratch, Scratch, Scratch - getting to like that so I stopped.

I say, 'Senator Jack Reed (D) of Rhode Island!'

She says,'No Effing Way!' ( Foul mouthed little Asian twist)

Pulling myself to my fullest height, I cock an eyebrow and rejoin, 'Money? Marbles? or Chalk?'


I got a feeling that Senator Obama will choose Senator Jack Reed or little old Rhose Island.

This guy would be a great choice. He is on some of the key Committees:

Appropriations
Aremed Services
Banking
Education

and he trotted along with Obama on the global tour.

John McCain: How many Houses did Billy Ayers Blow Up - NY's John Murtagh's Home?

First a bit of Progressive Poesy:

It Takes a Bridge - That Someone Don't Blow up


Billy Da Bomber and His Odious Ma’ma,
are roachin’ from under the Fridge.
The Library Thing -that is taking such Wing
Is Blowing Up Barry’s nice Bridge!


John McCain's bride is loaded. John McCain is a U.S. Senator; they do Okay.

Billy Ayers is loaded. He's an insulated Trust-fund radical tenured professor who is self-professed a domestic terrorist.
Barack Obama worked for Billy Ayers at Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Barack Obama is doing Okay, like McCain a U.S. Senator.

The McCain's have . . . Oh, let's see . . . seven (7) homes - not bad.

Barack has a swell igloo over in Hyde Park where Billy Ayers hangs his fanny pack and tummy wallet. Barack had Tony Rezko help with his real estate matters. Hell, I would too, but then again I'll never run for President. Thanks Be to God! I'd loot this country six ways to Sunday.

Billy Ayers and his gang bombed homes - the home of a judge. Billy's Pop got him and his odious Old Lady out of all manner of jambs*.

Here's the account of John Murtagh, whose home was fire bombed, when his Dad, a New York judge, was prosecuting Billy Ayers' pals - The Weathermen:

John M. Murtagh
Fire in the Night
The Weathermen tried to kill my family.
30 April 2008
During the April 16 debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, moderator George Stephanopoulos brought up “a gentleman named William Ayers,” who “was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol, and other buildings. He’s never apologized for that.” Stephanopoulos then asked Obama to explain his relationship with Ayers. Obama’s answer: “The notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn’t make much sense, George.” Obama was indeed only eight in early 1970. I was only nine then, the year Ayers’s Weathermen tried to murder me.

In February 1970, my father, a New York State Supreme Court justice, was presiding over the trial of the so-called “Panther 21,” members of the Black Panther Party indicted in a plot to bomb New York landmarks and department stores. Early on the morning of February 21, as my family slept, three gasoline-filled firebombs exploded at our home on the northern tip of Manhattan, two at the front door and the third tucked neatly under the gas tank of the family car. (Today, of course, we’d call that a car bomb.) A neighbor heard the first two blasts and, with the remains of a snowman I had built a few days earlier, managed to douse the flames beneath the car. That was an act whose courage I fully appreciated only as an adult, an act that doubtless saved multiple lives that night.

I still recall, as though it were a dream, thinking that someone was lifting and dropping my bed as the explosions jolted me awake, and I remember my mother’s pulling me from the tangle of sheets and running to the kitchen where my father stood. Through the large windows overlooking the yard, all we could see was the bright glow of flames below. We didn’t leave our burning house for fear of who might be waiting outside. The same night, bombs were thrown at a police car in Manhattan and two military recruiting stations in Brooklyn. Sunlight, the next morning, revealed three sentences of blood-red graffiti on our sidewalk: FREE THE PANTHER 21; THE VIET CONG HAVE WON; KILL THE PIGS.

For the next 18 months, I went to school in an unmarked police car. My mother, a schoolteacher, had plainclothes detectives waiting in the faculty lounge all day. My brother saved a few bucks because he didn’t have to rent a limo for the senior prom: the NYPD did the driving. We all made the best of the odd new life that had been thrust upon us, but for years, the sound of a fire truck’s siren made my stomach knot and my heart race. In many ways, the enormity of the attempt to kill my entire family didn’t fully hit me until years later, when, a father myself, I was tucking my own nine-year-old John Murtagh into bed.

Though no one was ever caught or tried for the attempt on my family’s life, there was never any doubt who was behind it. Only a few weeks after the attack, the New York contingent of the Weathermen blew themselves up making more bombs in a Greenwich Village townhouse. The same cell had bombed my house, writes Ron Jacobs in The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground. And in late November that year, a letter to the Associated Press signed by Bernardine Dohrn, Ayers’s wife, promised more bombings.

As the association between Obama and Ayers came to light, it would have helped the senator a little if his friend had at least shown some remorse. But listen to Ayers interviewed in the New York Times on September 11, 2001, of all days: “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.” Translation: “We meant to kill that judge and his family, not just damage the porch.” When asked by the Times if he would do it all again, Ayers responded: “I don’t want to discount the possibility.”

Though never a supporter of Obama, I admired him for a time for his ability to engage our imaginations, and especially for his ability to inspire the young once again to embrace the political system. Yet his myopia in the last few months has cast a new light on his “politics of change.” Nobody should hold the junior senator from Illinois responsible for his friends’ and supporters’ violent terrorist acts. But it is fair to hold him responsible for a startling lack of judgment in his choice of mentors, associates, and friends, and for showing a callous disregard for the lives they damaged and the hatred they have demonstrated for this country. It is fair, too, to ask what those choices say about Obama’s own beliefs, his philosophy, and the direction he would take our nation.

At the conclusion of his 2001 Times interview, Ayers said of his upbringing and subsequent radicalization: “I was a child of privilege and I woke up to a world on fire.”

Funny thing, Bill: one night, so did I.

John M. Murtagh is a practicing attorney, an adjunct professor of public policy at the Fordham University College of Liberal Studies, and a member of the city council in Yonkers, New York, where he resides with his wife and two sons.


Barack is friends with Billy Ayers. If I were invited to a free Surf & Turf at Ruth's Chris House and Ayers and his Old Lady were in the same restaurant, I'd have to bolt. I could not be in the same building with them - though I would not need to fear of it blowing up!

* Yep, that's how I meant to spell it - door jamb -meant to suggest a porch climbing, breaking and entering gutless little punk-ass sneak - like the distinguished professor of education at Cement City - University of Illinois at Chicago (Circle).

John McCain: Obama's Team Seeks to Pick up Some Change in D.C.

I remember Dan Shomon. He was a point man for Senator Obama during his many runs for elected office. Seemed like a nice guy - Hell, why not be a nice guy; it doesn't cost you nickel one. Dan Shomon was recently trolling for lobby work in Washington D.C. come the great Change Age. That was in July, when fields were green. Heavens! A Lobbyist with Kid Hope?


http://www.danshomon.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26


And Obama has his Haines in a twist over McCain's Real Estate Holdings? Seven ( 7) homes- not bad; glad it's not me - I'd be pissing off more neighbors: 'Hickey, cut the damn grass! Jesus, how much work is it to slap some stain on your deck? Did you celebrate the end of the Vietnam War by weeding?'

Senator Obama has Billy Ayers darting out from under the Frigidaire and he's worried about another man's houses? No, wonder he's tanking.

The Obama Campaign is currently tanking, but back in July it looked like Team Change was about to have their Victory soup served in Paul Revere Silver tureens. Ben Smith at Politico tossed this morsel on the grill - I missed it. A pal sent me an e-mail with the link. I was probably watch Illinois Lotto reruns or Big Daddy Woo-woo Freedom Auto Sales loops. Here is the Ben Smith snag of a lobbyist at work:

Cashing in on 'CHANGE'

Mike Allen gets hold of an email promoting the lobbying business of a former Obama aide, Dan Shomon. Key line:

Should "CHANGE" occur in November as polls indicate, we should see a lot of people from Illinois moving to Washington D.C. and taking key spots in an Obama administration. Now is the time to anticipate these changes.

Allen has statements of regret from Shomon and the campaign. Full email after the jump.


» Continue reading Cashing in on 'CHANGE'



From: xxx@danshomon.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 3:14 PM
Subject: Meeting Obama's Former Political Director, Chief of Staff, Spokesman


Hello :

I am a partner with Dan Shomon, of Dan Shomon Inc. with offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Dan was the longest serving aide, and political director for Senator Obama serving as Political Director & Campaign Manager for Obama's 2004 Senate campaign and acting as his chief political advisor and spokesman from 1997 through 2006 when Dan left to open his government affairs practice. Dan is mentioned in every book about Sen. Obama and is profiled in Senator Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope." Dan has been interviewed in recent months by Time Magazine, the Wash. Post, ABC's 20/20, CNN, the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, and many other publications about Sen. Obama.

We will be in Washington DC August 4, 5, and 6th and were interested in scheduling a meeting with your government affairs team to discuss the changing political landscapes and our services and capabilities.

Currently we represent clients such as the University of Chicago, Honeywell, and Pfizer. Should "CHANGE" occur in November as polls indicate, we should see a lot of people from Illinois moving to Washington D.C. and taking key spots in an Obama administration. Now is the time to anticipate these changes.

Please let me know if we can meet for a half hour any of those days we are in town to discuss our capabilities and ways in which we may serve your needs during these changing times.

Thanks so much and don't hesitate to call me at 312-xxx-xxx.

Gerald Galloway
Partner, Dan Shomon Inc.

Backtround on Dan Shomon :

Dan Shomon: Guiding Obama through the Early Years

Dan Shomon was Senator Barack Obama's longest-serving aide, campaign manager and advisor -- from January 1997 to May 2006 when Dan opened up his own government affairs practice in downtown Chicago. Dan traveled over 5,000 miles alone with Obama during the time and became his key closest confidante and political strategist. Dan is featured in every book on Sen. Obama including Sen. Obama's autobiography, "The Audacity of Hope"

Shomon has been quoted in Time Magazine, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the New Yorker, National Public Radio and the Washington Post and he has been interviewed by ABC's 20/20, CNN and the BBC.

Shomon began serving as an aide to Obama when he was a staff person for Illinois Senate Democratic Leader Emil Jones. Shomon was first assigned by Leader Jones in January 1997 to coordinate Obama's press and legislative work. He held that position until August 1999. During that time, Shomon accompanied Obama on a one-week trip to Southern Illinois that was prominently featured in Obama's book "Audacity of Hope." As a staff aide, Shomon worked on many issues including tax justice. He helped Obama develop a coalition of tax organization that pushed through tax relief for working families. Due in part to Shomon and Obama's work, a new law was passed to double the standard deduction on Illinois income taxes from $1,000 to $2,000. The standard deduction had been frozen at $1,000 for a quarter-century.

In August 1999, Shomon was named Campaign Manager for Obama for Congress 2000 in Obama's race for the 1st Congressional District. He held that post until Obama was defeated by incumbent Congressman Bobby Rush in March 2000. As campaign manager, Shomon oversaw a $625,000 budget, a full-time staff of five people and all media and issues management and field operations.

Shomon continued to serve as senior advisor to Obama until July 2002 when he was named Campaign Manager for Obama's campaign for U.S. Senate. In January 2003, Obama announced his candidacy for U.S. Senator. In July 2003 Shomon was named Political Director for Obama and served in that role until May 2006.

In the Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate, Shomon managed & coordinated Obama's announcement for U.S. Senator in January 2003. Shomon was also a key member of the press and issues management team for Obama and oversaw strategy and field operations for 97 of Illinois' 102 counties.

Dan currently advises and handles government affairs for clients such as the University of Chicago and Honeywell.

Shomon earned his undergraduate degree in English Literature from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., He received a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Illinois.



By Ben Smith 08:07 PM

Lookee here; you got Ayers, Rezko, Crazy Uncle Jere Wright, Father 'Forgive Me' Pfleger, Granny Shudder, Shomon, . . . no wonder them polls are slipping under the waves like Titanic with a weight problem.

Welcome Home Marines of 2-24! Chicago's Own!

There are six young men coming home from the Morgan Park/Beverly/Mount Greenwood Neighborhood, known in the Chicago MSM at the 19th Ward.

Ryan Nolan
Mike Hughes
Jim Kelly
Bob Carroll
Nick Parker
John Folliard

. . . all Marines of 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines.* Our young men will be greeted down Western Ave. - their hometown mainstreet. These five heroes are members of St. Cajetan's Parish! There are Yellow Ribbons all over this neighborhood in Morgan Park of Chicago. God Bless You, Marines!

Tomorrow, I will meet the young men who have served our Country with Honor in Iraq at the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines formation at Rosemont Horizon. My interviews with their familes and the men themselves concerning their part in the The Surge and the welccome that awaits them back in the neighborhood.

My interviews and photos will appear in Chicago Daily Observer - The Best Source of Balanced Journalism in Chicago: go to www.cdobs.com

http://cdobs.com/

Obama Crowd PMSing ( President McCain Syndrome - Pernicious Mousey Snearing!

Drudge Report Lists Obama Meltdown and complete collapse due to President McCain Syndrome ( PMS). President McCain Syndrome: the onset of an awareness that an honorable, battle-tested, experienced patriot will be President, instead of an ambitious public speaker, creates a physical, spiritual and emotional milk shake of America's most delicate bi-peds - The Great American Progressive: A sheep-like individual given to hysterical emotions charged by talking points form failed Leftist doctrine. PMS - hurts those of us who love the afflicted, because stifling laughter at their expense is good manners by physically challenging. Try stopping diarrhea without Imodium!

Thus:

Drudge Items for 8/21/2008: Here are indications of the run-away PMS afflicting Camp Obama from Drudge Report alone:

1.McCain unsure how many houses he owns

2.OBAMA AD MOCKS...

3.KAINE: MCCAIN 'COULDN'T COUNT HIGH ENOUGH'...

4.Obama camp lashes out at 'quick-draw' McCain

5.Obama rips FOXNEWS, BOOK...

6.Senate Majority Leader Reid: 'I can't stand John McCain'...

7.Spent More on Ads in July Than McCain Spent on Election...

Wow Here are oonly a few of the symptons afflicting a very small portion of the American Population:
Physical symptoms include:

Breast swelling and tenderness. See Keith Olbermann
Bloating, water retention, weight gain. See Keith Olbermann
Changes in bowel habits. DNC and all committed delgates
Acne. See Rachel Maddow


Aggression. Daily Kos, Huffington Post, MSNBC
Withdrawal from family and friends.
Emotional and cognitive symptoms include:

Depression, sadness, hopelessness. DNC et. al
Anger, irritability.
Anxiety.
Mood swings.
Decreased alertness, inability to concentrate.


This scourge afflicts half-wits as much as it does true believers. Try not to laugh at them - try.

Urban League Lawsuit - 'Eat The Rich! A Full Flavorful and Mouthwatering Civil Rights Issue!

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height.

Illinoi$ Rev./$enator James Meeks leads the forces of Victim hood - out of $chool and off to far Winnetka!

The Embedded Media trot along with the War Baggage - and well they should! There are hundreds of dollars in Chicago newspapers festooning the CPS teacher's lounges and Public $chool parking lots! Blown by the Winds of War - Redistribution of Wealth Warfare. You see, if you have more money than your neighbor - that is a glaring Injustice!

Morons in America demand that you give your money to someone else, whether you care to or not or you are a Racist or worse. Is there anything worse than a racist? How about a Racist Rapist IRS Agent with bloody flux and bad gums? Sorry. This is serious - to people solidly against school reform. The Public School Combine ( Apologies to J. Kass).

CEO Arne Duncan and President Rufus Williams encastled the beleaguered children in Soldier Field only last May to hear the War Cries of Jeff Tweedy ( Wilco) for an expensive demonstration of what is entirely wrong with Public Education in America - it will do anything but educate!

From This Blog last May ( openning gambit by the ever deft Arne et al.):

Now, here is the Chicago Tribune report on the very same event:

Organizers also used the rally, dubbed Shout Out for Schools, to pressure Gov. Rod Blagojevich and other state officials for more than the $119 million that has been earmarked for the district in the latest budget. The district needs an additional $90 million for programs, many of which would be used to help lessen violence, school officials have said.

But legislators late last month approved a $60 billion state budget that Blagojevich has not signed because it may be $2 billion over budget. School officials warned they may be forced to raise property taxes if Springfield doesn't come through.

"Year after year, we go to Springfield to ask for more money, we go to Springfield for tougher gun laws. . . . Year after year we are told, 'We'll do what we can,' " Board of Education President Rufus Williams said.

On Tuesday, students sat scattered throughout the stands listening to musicians rapping, playing bongos and strumming guitars. Some of the other performers included Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and RichKiddz. School officials said more than 30,000 tickets were issued to students and others to attend the two-hour rally, which cost about $10 per student for transportation that the district is looking to recoup from donors. It was not clear how many students attended the rally.


Jeff Tweedy???? He's gotta live in Hyde Park. Tweed is de rigeur!

Let's see May ER D and Super D got this Party started - "the largest civics class in history!"

http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2008/06/arne-duncan-and-rich-daley-shout-out.html

Now we have the Urban League snaking its forces into the courts!

In Chicago, many of the students live in poor communities where property taxes are low. So the district gets less money, only $10,000 per student.

The Chicago Urban League called that discrimination.

"The state school system flat out violates the civil rights of minority children," said Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Jackson.

The Urban League spells out its reasons in a lawsuit against the State of Illinois and the state Board of Education. Lawyers say the system is unfair because Chicago has a history of housing discrimination that forced minorities in poor communities, so basing the funding on property taxes automatically limits funding.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/illinois.school.funding.2.799514.html
This Lawsuit makes me hunger for my own Civil Rights Issue - I am tired of separate and unequal restaurants - Segregated Menus Lacking in all Diversity! Mexican Only; Thai Only; Chinese Only; Ethiopian Only; Polish Only; Greek Only; Italian Only; Indian Only and Korean Only, if I am very lucky!

Why should my Right to Happiness be infringed upon? I would be Happy only if I can be served what I want, where I want it, when I want it at what I want to pay!

My people had only SPUDS! Then the Spuds were killed in an act of Genocide! Then My people flooded here! To eat Diverse Menus!

Remember - this is about the THREE Radical Prongs - used by the Lawsuit Lotto Lawyers attacking Law Enforcement and the Catholic Church

1. Undermine any and all credibility of any system through a barrage of media invented Civil Rights Issue Daily Feeds - if there is no Jim Crow; ( Segregated Housing? That went out of Law Decades Ago! Unless we parse up a storm! Which News Knot-heads will do.) make one up to fit the need( 'Lawyers say the system is unfair because Chicago has a history of housing discrimination that forced minorities in poor communities, so basing the funding on property taxes automatically limits funding' Uh-huh, Mary Mitchell finds this compelling, but then again . . .) My issue, like each contemporary civil rights issue, is all about me! In order for a Civil Rights Issue to be compelling it must matter most to the very fewest persons. Most people pay taxes - but those who do not work, do not pay taxes and believe themselves to be the most put-upon!

They got nothing on me! I am the King Kong of Self Interest! I am Civil Rights! Separate but Unequal! - I go to an Italian Restaurant and am outraged that they refuse to serve me Tandoori Chicken! The waiter said, 'What can I get you?' I said, 'Tandoori Chicken and he refused to serve me! How Loooong???

2. Take it to Court - no luck. Judge said, 'Hickey, Go to an Indian Restaurant.' Ain't no Indian restaurant in Morgan Park judge. My lawyer said that it is 'An Indian Restaurant Desert!' I have an Urbane Translator, Judge! He knows the difference between Hot Food and haut cuisine ! Think of my Children, Judge! I got Andy Shaw waiting outside the courtroom for Action 7 and Andy is Outraged a Plenty! Channel 11 Friday Night! Watch Out, Now!

3. Take it back to the Legislature get them Law Makers to enact this Much Need Civil Rights Legislation for Me! - Every Restaurant should serve Me exactly what I want, when I want it @ what I want to pay for it!

This is a cultural, nutritional and Civil Rights Issue. Let's Get to Marching! Tandoori, Right Now! Not Some Half-Cooked Cow! Tandoori, Right Now! Not Some Half-Cooked Cow!


School Choice, Dummies! Quit Cooking the Same Tired Nonsense! It is Done! Now, you garnish it with more lawyer arugula!

Morgan Park/Beverly Welcomes Home 2-24 USMC

from left to right: 2/24 Commanding Officer during OIF, LtCol Mark A. Smith, SgtMaj Gary L. Payne and a civilian interpreter. (Note the Mad Ghost logo painted on the HMMWV.)

Welcome Home! The Businesses on Western Avenue - Mr. Swifty Cleaners, DiCola's Fish, McNalley's Pub, Stadium Club, the Comic Book Store on 111th Street in Mount Greenwood, Kean Gas, Keegan's Pub, Computer Bay have signage honoring your service!

Mike Hughes
Jim Kelly
Nick Parker
Bob Carroll
John Folliard

On Saturday August 23rd, the neighborhood will welcome home five Marines from duty in Iraq. The are members of the 2nd Battalion, Twenty Fourth Marines ( 2-24) 'Chicago's Own' - here is a little about their service from the Battalion Website

Chicago's Own was mobilized again in June 2004 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). The battalion trained at Camp Pendleton until August of that year when they relocated to Mahmudiyah, in the North Babil Province of Iraq, an area known as the "Triangle of Death". The battalion was engaged in intense combat operations against members of the Iraqi insurgency. [2] 2/24 made Marine Corps history when they became the first reserve infantry battalion of OIF to operate independently, isolated on its own forward operating base.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize Winner John F. Burns, the Chief Foreign Correspondent of the New York Times described his time spent with 2/24 this way: "A week with the 2/24 Marines at their bases 15 to 30 miles south of Baghdad, in the heart of the area known as the Triangle of Death, was a window on the demands being made of reservists, and on the resourcefulness and resilience they bring to the challenges. There is little they cannot do, with hard work and improvisation, the battalion's officers say, reflecting the widely varied backgrounds of the men in the Chicago-based unit - doctors, policemen[3], engineers, teachers, carpenters, truck drivers, lawyers, computer specialists, community counselors, college students, to name a few." [4]

After establishing additional strong points in the area, working closely with the Iraqi Army and Police, providing security for the first-ever open democratic elections in Iraq and arresting over 1,000 suspected insurgents (with an incredibly high conviction rate,) 2/24 returned to California in March 2005. They deactivated in May 2005.

In March 2006, elements of 2/24 participated in Operation Shared Accord in Niger. The Marines taught basic military tactics to groups of soldiers from the Forces Armees Nigeriennes and also provided humanitarian support to some of Niger's neediest citizens. In May 2006, Echo Company of 2/24 participated in Operation Noble Shirley in Israel by conducting desert warfare and joint counter-terrorism training with the Israeli Defense Forces [IDF].

On September 10th, 2007, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines were once again activated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and relocated to Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California. The battalion began another tour in Iraq beginning in January 2008 and operated in the vicinity of Habbaniyah, operating out of base formerly known as RAF Habbaniya. On August 10, 2008 they turned over their area of operations to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines and returned stateside in late August.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Battalion_24th_Marines


Your Families, Friends and Neighbors bid you -'Welcome Home!'

Olbermann Takes Credit for Maddow: 'WayTaGO Butch!'

Olbermann, the bloated basso-asso of MSNBC- The Tool Shed, is taking credit for the posting of Rachel 'Butch' Maddow to her own show - 'Bullish on America?' Mayhaps? Hmmm.

Nevertheless, Fat Boy Olbermann, the bigger half of the Tubby and Butch Countdown segment oozed the news to the Daily Kos crowd. Olbermann's Oil Can Harry routine has helped push John McCain's numbers up past Obama. He is not the biggest A$$hole in America but he'll do.

Maddow's show will tank before Obama loses the 40 States to McCain in the biggest landslide in electoral history. She replaces Kid Nepotism Dan Abrams - who has a job for life so long as his Pappy jots out the billable hours for the Peacock.

Remember, MSNBC- The Tool Shed, Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Moveon.org, Hollywood, and so many others have contributed to this massive political implosion. Never have some millions of dollars been wasted on so few votes. They have all been great.

Keith there is no 'I' in Morons - there is one in Idiots, nice work, Son!

God Bless You, Tubby and Butch!

Chicago's Own - 2-24 USMC: Welcome Home! A Cause Greater Than Ourselves Met By Four Kids from St. Cajetan's Parish

On August 23rd, five heroes return from long and bloody service in Iraq will be welcomed home by their families, friends and neighbors on Western Ave. - already Mr. Swifty, McNally's, County Fair, Di Cola's Fish, Computer Bay and others have placed up public signs in their support. You gotta love this neighborhood! Welcome Home to:

Mike Hughes
Jim Kelly
Bob Carroll
Nick Parker
John Folliard

. . . all Marines of 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines.* Our young men will be greeted down Western Ave. - their hometown mainstreet. These five heroes are members of St. Cajetan's Parish! There are Yellow Ribbons all over this neighborhood in Morgan Park of Chicago. God Bless You, Marines!


*The origin of 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines, "Chicago's own" can be traced back to the establishment of the 9th Reserve Battalion in 1922. They were mobilized in November 1940 as part of the preparation for World War II. Many of Chicago's reservists became part of the newly founded 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force.

John McCain; Meghan McCain's Kid's Book Bio of Her Hero Dad

Meghan McCain is coming out with a illustrated book for kids - illustratred graphic novel for Obama supporters soon to follow?( 'Mom! It's not s stupid Comic Book! It's Novel! Illustrated. Get Off my back! Vote for that Old Man - go ahead. Obama understands me. Is my Pop Tart ready yet?') Meghan McCain's book is aimed at 5-10 year old citizens voters to be.

Speaking of books and Libraries - I wonder how long it will take for the Tribune to issue a suit against UICC- to free up the Annenberg Chicago Challenge Papers. They had no such tardiness getting Obama's Senate rival GOPer Jack Ryan tuned up over his divorce papers and UICC is a tax-payer funded institution. I have had plantar's warts go away quicker.

Well done

http://www.amazon.com/My-Dad-John-McCain-Meghan/dp/1416975284

Jonathan Alter: Obama's Chicago Attack Dachshund: 'They Bring a Knife; We Bring Nice Schmear!"

"When oppo* goes transparent, it might shrivel." Jonathan Alter

I had to read that again. Oppo? Isn't that Greek for Holy $hit the Cheese is on Fire!'

No.

It means political opposition research. Barack Obama's Newsweek, MSNBC, NBC, Daily Kos, Huffington Post ( now with a hilarious assortment of Chicago dweebs attempting to say something) is what Progressive 'Oppo' is all about. Jonathan Alter, a Lakeview Lad from the Lincoln Park -in shade of Old Town at sunset - is a Chicago street tough giving John McCain, that mean old man, genuine talking to:

McCain's campaign theme is that he puts the country first and Obama puts himself above his country. It's understandable why this son and grandson of admirals--who has served his country in one way or another since he was 18-years-old, who has never been on a private payroll beyond that of his beer distributor father-in-law--would see himself as someone who puts "America first." He has been a largely honorable public servant for 54 years, and it's acceptable within the confines of sharp debate to portray his opponent as a self-regarding celebrity.

Owwwww. That pinch hurts. Jonny Boy! Thank God you didn't tickle him. It is nice to see that Chicago Style - translated in Progressive - means bringing just the right weapons to war.

Chicago Progressive Jonathan Alter:

You wanna know how to get McCain? They pull a knife, you bring a nice schmear: a nice organic peanut butter, some herbed cream cheese. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the Day Spa - Kiva is nice. *That's* the *Chicago* way! And that's how you get McCain - act like snitches and suck-ups, whine often that is how you get attention - it got me to Harvard. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I'm offering you a deal. Do you want this deal?


I hope that John McCain sends a nice thank you note to Jonathan - in calligraphy on good gold gilded stock. It is the little things that mean so much - to the really mean.



*
Opposition research (often referred to as oppo) is:

The term used to classify and describe efforts of supporters or paid consultants of a political candidate to legally investigate the biographical, legal or criminal, medical, educational, financial, public and private administrative and or voting records of the opposing candidate,as well as prior media coverage. The research is usually conducted in the time period between announcement of intent to run and the actual election; however political parties maintain long-term databases that can cover several decades. The practice is both a tactical maneuver and a cost-saving measure.[1]
Opposition research may also refer to illegal or unethical means of gathering potentially damaging information on candidates, such as accessing credit reports, wiretapping, theft of files, hacking computer files, and interviewing ex-spouses.
"Vulnerability studies" occur in the 'prebuttal' phase of campaign development, when a candidate's political consultants will amass files of potentially damaging information on their own clients, to prepare pre-emptive strategies for rebuttal at a later date.
Research conducted, at the request of an incumbent office-holder, often by the same staff who conducted campaign research, against political opponents or dissenters. The Hatch Act of 1939 prohibits the use of public office for partisan political advocacy, but often the same staff who once researched private information about opponents are placed in positions of proximity to confidential government files.
Research on the activities of opponents conducted on behalf of advocacy groups, political action committees, churches, labor unions, management of corporations, or sports teams,[citation needed]as well as private individuals. Opposition researchers may work exclusively for one candidate or many, one group, or many groups that share ideologies and financial interests, or the highest bidder. Opposition research has also played a role in confirmation of nominees to the Supreme Court, and other presidential appointments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_research

Olbermann Watch - So You Don't Have To!

As I predicted MSNBC's Ovaltine Fueled Fat Boy- Keith Olbermann and his trusted sidekick Rachel 'Butch' Maddow kicked up the Kitty Litter over the Saddleback Forum.
MSNBC- McCain Shall Not Be Considered - pays Keith Olbermann huge amounts of money and strokes Maddow with promises of power to come, so long as they bitch and whine in mirror image of their target audience - soul-patched Cliffs Note Readers and their chicks.

I used to do the kids's ironing during Countdown, but now I watch Intervention or Orangutan Island thanks to the good folks at Olbermann Watch. They watch Olbermann so I don't need to and they give me an update on Tubby and Butch's daily carryings-on and what-nots!

Click my post title and link to Olbermann Watch - they do -that other don't have to.

Talk about jumping on grenades! God Bless these Heroes!

John McCain: Obama Campaign Turns Saddleback into Whine Country

I thought that Senator Obama turned in a fine performance on Friday night and then his Campaign went all nut-bag Progressive - you know the squeal - mincingly childish; snitch-addicted; Jello-spined; twerpy; in short, pure and undilutedly authentic whiners.

The stooging Peacock NBC International was the primary horn blown by the Obama Campaign when McCain out shined the well-packaged Senator Obama.

Andrea Mitchell spiked the punch.

Mitchell reported that some "Obama people" were suggesting "that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama. He seemed so well prepared."

A McCain aide said that is not the case: "Senator McCain was in a motorcade led by the United States Secret Service and held in a green room with no broadcast feed.Mitchell made the comment in the context of saying McCain did better, and that the Obama camp was defensive. In response to the campaign's letter, she pointed out that journalists get criticism from both sides.
"

I could almost hear the exchange between Andrea and the goof sent by Dave Axelrod:

'Andrea, Johnny Mac cheated! Quick, Woman! We need Change! Help Us( Team Dean & etc.)Change Washington Andrea! Sean Hanity! Have you Read Cone? Have You Read Cone? Have You Red Cone? Red Cone? Where were we Andrea? I just pulled that one out of Howard Dean's Race Cards. Sorry. Reading the wrong talking-points. Let's Blue Points . . .nope. Here we go! BTW, That was in reference to Rev. Wright's explanation of Liberation Theology, remember that Andrea? Well, forget it! Never happened. Here we are . . . Cheat Snitching ( Camp Obama 101: by Bob 'Check Kite Runner' Creamer - Cry Hoodwinked! Andrea, Help us Change the Planet! Help us Change Barack's downward spiral!'


Wait until, Team Peacock's Uber-Doofus Olbermann and his twin Rachel Maddow get Soupy Sales Tag-team at MSNBC-The Tool Shed stoked for thought offal tonight. The Cone of Silence bilge will cascade from Keith's cliff of nonsense.

Senator Obama is tanking.

Click my post title for the NBC bells and whistles. GE - what a bunch of whiny twerps!

John McCain: The Saddleback Mountain Trio - Trip Aces Up!

Listening to the Saddleback Forum was a great experience for this voter. Senator Obama confirmed his grace; John McCain burnished his credentials to be President of the United States and Pastor Rick Warren schooled the Talking Heads of Cable and the Networks on how to conduct contol of an intelligent, witty, incisive and satisfying forum for candidates to the most important Office in the Free World.

Time's Mark Halperin gave both Candidates a well-deserved A- Composite Grade, but Summa Cum Laude praise goes to the man who devloped, hosted and conducted the best political forum that I have ever heard.

Rev. Rick Warren stole the show!

Click my post title for Mark Halperin's analysis. Below please find Rick Halperin's score card.

Authority:

Obama: B+
McCain: A-

Clarity:

Obama: A-
McCain: B+

Credibility:

Obama: A-
McCain: B+

Audience reaction:

Obama: B+
McCain: A-

Overall:

Obama: A-
McCain: A-

Illinois' s Tom Roeser - Authentic

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble. Samuel Johnson ( 1709 -1784)

We must be authentic. We should not wish to be like anyone else but be true to ourselves. Tough business.

Principles, ethics, integrity, commonsense and authenticity are the core values that tend to make us act better toward one another and they are the roots by which we too often fabricate an artificial framework from which we operate. I tend to dodge and hide from what I know needs to be done in keeping with what I hold to be true.

'I am a Catholic'

'Go to Mass, Yesterday?'

'No, why?'

'It was a Holy day of Obligation ( Catholics should go to Mass - Feast of the Assumption ( August 15th The Dormition of the Theokotos to Greek & Eastern Rite Catholics) - The Mother of God was Assumed into Heaven; thus, avoiding natural decay of the Body - we say we believe that this is Doctrine)

'My Kids wanted to go to the Air and Water Show after I got off of work.'

'I see.' Yes, Sir, that Hickey is one Fine Catholic!

Yep, so much for core principles reflected in my outer deportment. We Compromise. Rather, we Kop a Plea, more often than not. I am conflicted ( 24/7), I should be rejoicing every time a former bust-out lawyer who woke up one day and found that there is Gold in suing an entire Religion - Catholic - but I really can not. I hate pedophile priests, but I also hate ambulance chasers making millions off of the Clergy Abuse Scandal. They can sue the Catholic Church, no worry. The Catholic Church is an easy target, especially when a Progressive Media has an opportunity to howl and harrumph all high and mighty at the Church's expense, while ignoring any and all other institutions plagued with pedophiles, or citing get-rich-quick opportunists - fair is fair, and completely absent with the Media. The Ambulance Chasers and ther media stooges have no such luck when it comes to suing a Public School District when Coach Grabowski makes the same play for a child as Father Peckerphile. The Trial lawyers have a gren light suing the Catholic Church, but they can not do the same against a Public School District, or a Fire Department, or the Cook County Clerk's Office. They would not want to sue a black preacher's Church, for example the the celebrated and long forgotten Rev. Paul Hall - bad Progressive Juju that.

We learn to develop our behavioral patterns early in life and the more blessed of us have had great people to emulate. The woman who raised four daughters on a teacher's salary and sent them all to Ivy League Schools on Scholarships after her husband took off with another woman and looted their savings always brings tears to my eyes, when I remember her struggles in Kankakee in 1970's.

Progressives invent icons. People emulate real people.

I look to people like my Dad and my uncles as examples of Authentic behavior. My Uncle Bud once welded shut the incinerator at Cook County Hospital used to burn fetuses, while he was Chief Engineer there. He stared down Cook County President George Dunne - George Dunne caved and later appointed him Chief Engineer for all of Cook County. That was in the days before the Progressive took root and elected officials with steel spines could tell the activists to go piss up a rope.

In Public life, Illinois is blessed with Mr. Tom Roeser - a walking Renaissance Man: Publisher, Lecturer, Author, Radio Host, Raconteur, Government Man, Corporate Man, Catholic and American Patriot.


I find no one coming close to matching the 18th Century genius ( compiled the 1st English Dictionary) Poet, Wit, Essayist and Patriot - Dr. Samuel Johnson - with sole exception of Mr. Tom Roeser.

If you want to know what authentic means, talk with, or better yet, read Tom Roeser. Click my post title for what I consider to be one of Mr. Roeser's finest and most authentic pieces - a criticism of Democrat and Republican Catholic Hairsplitters on Abortion and the parsing away of integrity by too many of us. Tom Roeser holds on to Authenticity and has become the encorpified litmus test to living a good, productive, and sharing life. Be authentic, dodge not, and you will have no problem with Mr. Roeser, be you conservative, liberal, Marxist, Catholic, Orhodox or Reform Jew. Be what you are about, or save it for the tourists. Tom Roeser lives here!

Tom Roeser has more close friends than any person I know and many of those friends differ with Tom on religion, politics, music, liturgy, or most anything. I have been blessed with his friendship. Tom, like all great people, sets the bar a little higher for us. The True test of Love and Affection is to be found in our individual willingness to expect that our friends to live authentic lives - void of sham and cant and nonsense.

Tom Roeser makes all of us do spot checks on our unique Authenticities. Roeser on behavior is like Sterling on Silver - to snatch thought from the old Wanzer Milk ads.

Tom Roeser - Authentic.





Authenticity - refers to the truthfulness of origins, attributions, commitments, sincerity, devotion, and intentions.

Tom Roeser is a Chicago-based conservative writer and broadcaster, currently broadcasting on WLS 890 AM talk radio. [1]

Roeser is a former fellow of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard [2], former vice president of Public Affairs at the Quaker Oats Company [3], former Woodrow Wilson International Fellow at Princeton, and former Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at Roosevelt University, Chicago. He is a Senior Fellow of The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based free market-oriented think-tank[4].


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Roeser

Hickey on Religion and Politics - Mutatis Mutandis

Arguments concerning Religion and Politics often lead to hurtful ( that is a neologism employed by dedicated Victimization disciples that I never can get too much of) disagreements, increased by the level of volume between antagonists and in some lustier quarters to violent dental rearrangements.

There are some saloons that enforce 'No Politics, Religion, or Baseball' prohibitions and with very good reason.

In the late 19th Century, immigrant saloons were places where coreligionists who usually shared a common language and national identity and fellow Labor activists could vent, free of prying ears of the bosses, the strikebreakers, company goons and the cops. The neighborhood ethnic saloon went the way of growler, the pail purchased for carryout beer, and every social gathering, bar, or kitchen table became a Free Speech Bug House Square. Not only that, with the inculturation of television, radio and the Internet, the airwaves and the cyberspace became an atmosphere thick with opinion: Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow & etc.!

In happier times, a butt-in-ski from Hyde Park, or Mount Greenwood, wedging his way into a conversation ( having his ear on a stick) about the efficacy of training and funding a Ukrainian Air Corps for service against Czarist and later Soviet Russia would find himself on the curb at Chicago Ave. & Bell minus dentation. Thus, the price of Freedom of Speech - or the Freedom of Interruption was exercised with strong imperative.

I am voting for John McCain. To some folks that means that I must be a racist, right-wing, war mongering lout. For sure! I'm loutish at times - picked my teeth with a plastic dental instrument publicly in the Pump Room in the company of a beautiful woman after a fine meal. Lout! You bet. Racist? Arguable, I have the pedigree as a white, Irish Catholic. Right Wing? I voted Democratic in every election from 1972 until the Illinois Primary last February. War-monger? I am as yellow as a Duck's foot, but am more than willing to support the police and the military to keep America's enemies and from all Americans. I think PC in might and main is silly and snotty enforced and dictated by the really silly and snotty; I tend to be a devout sexist who worships the superior gender; I believe, based on empirical observation that most public servants work very, very hard and for the best of reasons- they help other people and we never read about them or hear about them in the media. I hate abortion and all of its dodges. Choice means school vouchers. The true test of all government is in the application of protecting the innocent(children especially) and tested - our elderly - everything else is up for a screaming argument.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth . . . but, what someone else chooses to believe does not keep me awake at night and I tend to be more than willing to accept my place in God's ordered universe. Cosmologically - I believe that someone greater put things in motion; Teleologically - I witnessed the passing of generational faith from one set in the family to another and have met living saints who fulfilled the Christian imperatives, while raising the ethical bar higher than my own dwarfish grasp; Morally - I have faith that most people lead good lives that help people who have less in life, need more attention, and require greater efforts from others to help make them safe and secure. While I like to think that I am the center of the universe, experience teaches otherwise- dammit!

Happiness? That's up to the individual. If I am unhappy - not even close - that is my T.S.! The first words of counsel that I recall came from my Parents, Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts,Cousins, and close Friends - the only people who really matter in this life - the next one is to be determined without my say-so, but what I have done, do and will do ( scary thought that) - were 'Too bad about you!'

So much for the warm embrace of Entitlements.

We are on our own as the atheists would tell us - but we are obligated to those who have cared, nurtured, taught, protected and loved us. Which kind of negates the first argument altogether.

Politics teaches us - or should teach us - how to act in a way to make things better for others. Religion teaches us how to do that.

I expect this violation of the rule in the better saloons will no doubt lead to a few of my metaphorical buckers getting a loosening.

Kanye West Fatburger in Orland Park and Irish Beverly! No Food Deserts Here!

And you thought all Kanye cared about was the music (and the award shows, and the Kanye). Next month, in the southwest suburban community of Orland Park, Kanye West will open the first Chicago area Fatburger, Chicago Business reported Tuesday. They failed to mention that, with this announcement, many displaced Californians wept in relief (and anticipation). Indeed, his company, KW Foods LLC, is licensed to open 10 Fatburgers in the Chicago area. The first will open in September at 15110 S. La Grange Rd (the opening date is not yet set); and the second Fatburger will open in January in the Beverly neighborhood; and the third – well, they have a location, but not a lease quite yet.

At this point you might be wondering: What exactly is this Fatburger? And why might Kanye West have an intense interest in Fatburger? I have a few answers: Out west – the chain is based in Santa Monica – Fatburger (“The Last Great Hamburger Stand”) is nothing less than a culinary religion. There is the immortal In-N-Out Burger (which comes in a wrapper, for cleaner, tidier eating, and which does not have plans to open in Chicago), and there is the Fatburger (with burgers larger than an Easter Island noggin) -- and which is better is a legendary ongoing debate. I have eaten at both, and I have lived to tell about it, and my vote goes with Fatburger. I am not alone: Notorious B.I.G. extolled the virtues of Fatburger in song. So did the Beastie Boys. And so did Ice Cube. Will you? And while you’re at it – what hamburger chain that is not yet in Chicago would you like to see come to Chicago?

AP photo

Yep, that's pretty much it: the award shows, and the Kanye - not much changed here.

Question: Kanye, why not help the tax-base in Auburn Gresham, Roseland, Grand Crossing or Chatham? Kids from our own Leo High School, Our Lady of Calumet High School, Simeon and Morgan Park High Schools are always looking for after school employment and a good wholesome 'bit of tucker' after football practice. What gives? Why serve only the white demographic? Better watch out for Rev. Al Sharpton's tongue lashing, Son! But Kanye, you're from Chicago, you know the score.

This is all about the buckos - disposable income & etc. You really could do some good in neighborhoods that are only identified by gun violence and the funerals of CPS kids.* A Fatburger in these neighborhoods just might offer some opportunity and some hope - but, that would be for other people and not the Kanye. Oh, well.

Maybe, Kanye is looking to score huge during the pub crawl season prior to and after St. Paddy's Day - stoking the false hungers of Irish Wannabees who bus down to Western Ave. and get their Irish Freaks On - drinking more than they should and turning over City floral planters. That does call for a Fatburger.

However, the local competition is fierce from Sean's Rhino Bar, Grants Wonder Burger, The Legendary Top-Notch,Fat Tommie's, Pops's Marco's, and the homeric bar burgers at Cullinan's Stadium Club, Jackie Casto's Ken's, Corrigans, Ritchie's and Quigley's Pubs. All superior Burger purveyors with fiercely loyal followings.

Beverly is no Burger Desert, there Kanye. Over East and North of Irish Beverly, one is lucky to find anything but a very few fast food chains and low-end take away dinning out of paper bags. For real.

Now, 151st & LaGrange Road? Ah, yes. Mallrats from the 'Burbs.


* from today's Tribune:

Two men were shot and severely wounded early Thursday morning on Chicago's South Side, police said.

The victims, ages 25 and 26, were shot in the 7700 block of South Marshfield Avenue shortly before 1 a.m.

The 26-year-old suffered multiple bullet wounds, including at least one to the neck. He was reported in critical condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. The 25-year-old also suffered multiple wounds and was reported in serious condition at an area hospital.

One of the victims was believed to have gang affiliations, police said, but it's unclear if the shooting was gang-related.

Cowboy Blago: Not Duke - He's From 'Blazing Saddles!' and certainly not the Guv.

John Kass is correct - there is a combine and Gov. Blago is no John Wayne. But just who might the Haircut that Talks be from the wonderful world of the movies?

BoingKKKKKK! Blazing Saddles!!!! Nope not Hedley LaMarre; Not Mongo; not Lily Vpn Schtuppe; not Governor LePetomane!

Blago is Lyle - Mr. Taggert's evil and racist henchman with the great hair!

Pictured above singing 'Camptown Ladies' with verve and bounce!