Contra Blago - What was he Thinking?

Huge H/T- CBS News:

This is Huge. The underlying arrogance is mind numbing . . . and my own is pretty well marinaded to begin with.

Dec 9, 2008 9:28 am US/Central
Details Of Complaint Against Blagojevich
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Full release from U.S. Attorney's Office:

Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges alleging that they and others are engaging in ongoing criminal activity: conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits for Blagojevich by leveraging his sole authority to appoint a United States Senator; threatening to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical of Blagojevich; and to obtain campaign contributions in exchange for official actions – both historically and now in a push before a new state ethics law takes effect January 1, 2009.

Blagojevich, 51, and Harris, 46, both of Chicago, were each charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. They were charged in a two-count criminal complaint that was sworn out on Sunday and unsealed today following their arrests, which occurred without incident, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Both men were expected to appear later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

A 76-page FBI affidavit alleges that Blagojevich was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois' U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife. At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich discussed obtaining:

A substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions;

Placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year;

Promises of campaign funds – including cash up front; and

A cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.

Just last week, on December 4, Blagojevich allegedly told an advisor that he might "get some (money) up front, maybe" from Senate Candidate 5, if he named Senate Candidate 5 to the Senate seat, to insure that Senate Candidate 5 kept a promise about raising money for Blagojevich if he ran for re-election. In a recorded conversation on October 31, Blagojevich claimed he was approached by an associate of Senate Candidate 5 as follows: "We were approached 'pay to play.' That, you know, he'd raise 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator."

On November 7, while talking on the phone about the Senate seat with Harris and an advisor, Blagojevich said he needed to consider his family and that he is "financially" hurting, the affidavit states. Harris allegedly said that they were considering what would help the "financial security" of the Blagojevich family and what will keep Blagojevich "politically viable." Blagojevich stated, "I want to make money," adding later that he is interested in making $250,000 to $300,000 a year, the complaint alleges.

On November 10, in a lengthy telephone call with numerous advisors that included discussion about Blagojevich obtaining a lucrative job with a union-affiliated organization in exchange for appointing a particular Senate Candidate whom he believed was favored by the President-elect and which is described in more detail below, Blagojevich and others discussed various ways Blagojevich could "monetize" the relationships he has made as governor to make money after leaving that office.

"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," Mr. Fitzgerald said. "They allege that Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism. The citizens of Illinois deserve public officials who act solely in the public's interest, without putting a price tag on government appointments, contracts and decisions," he added.

Mr. Grant said: "Many, including myself, thought that the recent conviction of a former governor would usher in a new era of honesty and reform in Illinois politics. Clearly, the charges announced today reveal that the office of the Governor has become nothing more than a vehicle for self-enrichment, unrestricted by party affiliation and taking Illinois politics to a new low."

Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Grant thanked the Chicago offices of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General for assisting in the ongoing investigation. The probe is part of Operation Board Games, a five-year-old public corruption investigation of pay-to-play schemes, including insider-dealing, influence-peddling and kickbacks involving private interests and public duties.

Federal agents today also executed search warrants at the offices of Friends of Blagojevich located at 4147 North Ravenswood, Suite 300.

Pay-to-Play Schemes:

The charges include historical allegations that Blagojevich and Harris schemed with others – including previously convicted defendants Antoin Rezko, Stuart Levine, Ali Ata and others – since becoming governor in 2002 to obtain and attempt to obtain financial benefits for himself, his family and third parties, including his campaign committee, Friends of Blagojevich, in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state employment, state contracts and access to state funds. A portion of the affidavit recounts the testimony of various witnesses at Rezko's trial earlier this year.

The charges focus, however, on events since October when the Government obtained information that Blagojevich and Fundraiser A, who is chairman of Friends of Blagojevich, were accelerating Blagojevich's allegedly corrupt fund-raising activities to accumulate as much money as possible this year before a new state ethics law would severely curtail Blagojevich's ability to raise money from individuals and entities that have existing contracts worth more than $50,000 with the State of Illinois. Agents learned that Blagojevich was seeking approximately $2.5 million in campaign contributions by the end of the year, principally from or through individuals or entities – many of which have received state contacts or appointments – identified on a list maintained by Friends of Blagojevich, which the FBI has obtained.

The affidavit details multiple incidents involving efforts by Blagojevich to obtain campaign contributions in connection with his official actions as governor, including these three in early October:

* After an October 6 meeting with Harris and Individuals A and B, during which Individual B sought state help with a business venture, Blagojevich told Individual A to approach Individual B about raising $100,000 for Friends of Blagojevich this year. Individual A said he later learned that Blagojevich reached out directly to Individual B to ask about holding a fund-raiser;

* Also on October 6, Blagojevich told Individual A that he expected Highway Contractor 1 to raise $500,000 in contributions and that he was willing to commit additional state money to a Tollway project – beyond $1.8 billion that Blagojevich announced on October15 – but was waiting to see how much money the contractor raised for Friends of Blagojevich; and

* On October 8, Blagojevich told Individual A that he wanted to obtain a $50,000 contribution from Hospital Executive 1, the chief executive officer of Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, which had recently received a commitment of $8 million in state funds. When the contribution was not forthcoming, Blagojevich discussed with Deputy Governor A the feasibility of rescinding the funding.

On October 21, the Government obtained a court order authorizing the interception of conversations in both a personal office and a conference room used by Blagojevich at the offices of Friends of Blagojevich. The FBI began intercepting conversations in those rooms on the morning of October 22. A second court order was obtained last month allowing those interceptions to continue. On October 29, a court order was signed authorizing the interception of conversations on a hardline telephone used by Blagojevich at his home. That wiretap was extended for 30 days on November 26, according to the affidavit.

Another alleged example of a pay-to-play scheme was captured in separate telephone conversations that Blagojevich had with Fundraiser A on November 13 and Lobbyist 1 on December 3. Lobbyist 1 was reporting to Blagojevich about his efforts to collect a contribution from Contributor 1 and related that he "got in his face" to make it clear to Contributor 1 that a commitment to make a campaign contribution had to be done now, before there could be some skittishness over the timing of the contribution and Blagojevich signing a bill that would benefit Contributor 1. Blagojevich commented to Lobbyist 1 "good" and "good job." The bill in question, which is awaiting Blagojevich 's signature, is believed to be legislation that directs a percentage of casino revenue to the horse racing industry.

Sale of U.S. Senate Appointment:

Regarding the Senate seat, the charges allege that Blagojevich, Harris and others have engaged and are engaging in efforts to obtain personal gain, including financial gain, to benefit Blagojevich and his family through corruptly using Blagojevich's sole authority to appoint a successor to the unexpired term of the President-elect's former Senate seat, which he resigned effective November 16. The affidavit details numerous conversations about the Senate seat between November 3 and December 5. In these conversations, Blagojevich repeatedly discussed the attributes of potential candidates, including their abilities to benefit the people of Illinois, and the financial and political benefits he and his wife could receive if he appointed various of the possible candidates.

Throughout the intercepted conversations, Blagojevich also allegedly spent significant time weighing the option of appointing himself to the open Senate seat and expressed a variety of reasons for doing so, including: frustration at being "stuck" as governor; a belief that he will be able to obtain greater resources if he is indicted as a sitting Senator as opposed to a sitting governor; a desire to remake his image in consideration of a possible run for President in 2016; avoiding impeachment by the Illinois legislature; making corporate contacts that would be of value to him after leaving public office; facilitating his wife's employment as a lobbyist; and generating speaking fees should he decide to leave public office.

In the earliest intercepted conversation about the Senate seat described in the affidavit, Blagojevich told Deputy Governor A on November 3 that if he is not going to get anything of value for the open seat, then he will take it for himself: "if . . . they're not going to offer anything of any value, then I might just take it." Later that day, speaking to Advisor A, Blagojevich said: "I'm going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain." He added later that the seat "is a [expletive] valuable thing, you just don't give it away for nothing."

Over the next couple of days – Election Day and the day after – Blagojevich was captured discussing with Deputy Governor A whether he could obtain a cabinet position, such as Secretary of Health and Human Services or the Department of Energy or various ambassadorships. In a conversation with Harris on November 4, Blagojevich analogized his situation to that of a sports agent shopping a potential free agent to the highest bidder. The day after the election, Harris allegedly suggested to Blagojevich that the President-elect could make him the head of a private foundation.

Later on November 5, Blagojevich said to Advisor A, "I've got this thing and it's [expletive] golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there," the affidavit states.

Two days later, in a three-way call with Harris and Advisor B, a consultant in Washington, Blagojevich and the others allegedly discussed the prospect of a three-way deal for the Senate appointment involving an organization called "Change to Win," which is affiliated with various unions including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

On November 10, Blagojevich, his wife, Harris, Governor General Counsel, Advisor B and other Washington-based advisors participated at different times in a two-hour phone call in which they allegedly discussed, among other things, a deal involving the SEIU. Harris said they could work out a deal with the union and the President-elect where SEIU could help the President-elect with Blagojevich's appointment of Senate Candidate 1, while Blagojevich would obtain a position as the National Director of the Change to Win campaign and SEIU would get something favorable from the President-elect in the future. Also during that call, Blagojevich agreed it was unlikely that the President-elect would name him Secretary of Health and Human Services or give him an ambassadorship because of all of the negative publicity surrounding him.

In a conversation with Harris on November 11, the charges state, Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat but "they're not willing to give me anything except appreciation. [Expletive] them." Earlier in that conversation, Blagojevich suggested starting a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, which he could head and engage in political activity and lobbying. In that conversation with Harris and other discussions with him and others over the next couple of days, Blagojevich suggested by name several well-known, wealthy individuals who could be prevailed upon to seed such an organization with $10-$15 million, and suggesting that he could take the organization's reins when he is no longer governor, according to the affidavit.

On November 12, Blagojevich spoke with SEIU Official who was in Washington. This conversation occurred about a week after Blagojevich had met with SEIU Official to discuss the Senate seat, with the understanding that the union official was an emissary to discuss Senate Candidate 1's interest in the Senate seat. During the November 12 conversation, Blagojevich allegedly explained the non-profit organization idea to SEIU Official and said that it could help Senate Candidate 1. The union official agreed to "put that flag up and see where it goes," although the official also had said he wasn't certain if Senate Candidate 1 wanted the official to keep pushing her candidacy. Senate Candidate 1 eventually removed herself from consideration for the open seat.

Also on November 12, in a conversation with Harris, the complaint affidavit states that Blagojevich said his decision about the open Senate seat will be based on three criteria in the following order of importance: "our legal situation, our personal situation, my political situation. This decision, like every other one, needs to be based upon that. Legal. Personal. Political." Harris said: "legal is the hardest one to satisfy." Blagojevich said that his legal problems could be solved by naming himself to the Senate seat.

As recently as December 4, in separate conversations with Advisor B and Fundraiser A, Blagojevich said that he was "elevating" Senate Candidate 5 on the list of candidates because, among other reasons, if Blagojevich ran for re-election, Senate Candidate 5 would "raise[] money" for him. Blagojevich said that he might be able to cut a deal with Senate Candidate 5 that provided Blagojevich with something "tangible up front." Noting that he was going to meet with Senate Candidate 5 in the next few days, Blagojevich told Fundraiser A to reach out to an intermediary (Individual D), from whom Blagojevich is attempting to obtain campaign contributions and who Blagojevich believes is close to Senate Candidate 5. Blagojevich told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D that Senate Candidate 5 was a very realistic candidate but Blagojevich was getting a lot of pressure not to appoint Senate Candidate 5, according to the affidavit.

Blagojevich allegedly told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D that if Senate Candidate 5 is going to be chosen, "some of this stuff's gotta start happening now . . . right now . . . and we gotta see it." Blagojevich continued, "You gotta be careful how you express that and assume everybody's listening, the whole world is listening. You hear me?" Blagojevich further directed Fundraiser A to talk to Individual D in person, not by phone, and to communicate the "urgency" of the situation.

Blagojevich spoke to Fundraiser A again the next day, December 5, and discussed that day's Chicago Tribune front page article stating that Blagojevich had recently been surreptitiously recorded as part of the ongoing criminal investigation. Blagojevich instructed Fundraiser A to "undo your [Individual D] thing," and Fundraiser A confirmed it would be undone, the complaint alleges.

Also on December 5, Blagojevich and three others allegedly discussed whether to move money out of the Friends of Blagojevich campaign fund to avoid having the money frozen by federal authorities and also considered the possibility of prepaying the money to Blagojevich's criminal defense attorney with an understanding that the attorney would donate the money back at a later time if it was not needed. They also discussed opening a new fund raising account named Citizens for Blagojevich with new contributions.

Misuse of State Funding To Induce Firing of Chicago Tribune Editorial Writers:

According to the affidavit, intercepted phone calls revealed that the Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Cubs, has explored the possibility of obtaining assistance from the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA) relating to the Tribune Company's efforts to sell the Cubs and the financing or sale of Wrigley Field. In a November 6 phone call, Harris explained to Blagojevich that the deal the Tribune Company was trying to get through the IFA was basically a tax mitigation scheme in which the IFA would own title to Wrigley Field and the Tribune would not have to pay capital gains tax, which Harris estimated would save the company approximately $100 million.

Intercepted calls allegedly show that Blagojevich directed Harris to inform Tribune Owner and an associate, identified as Tribune Financial Advisor, that state financial assistance would be withheld unless members of the Chicago Tribune's editorial board were fired, primarily because Blagojevich viewed them as driving discussion of his possible impeachment. In a November 4 phone call, Blagojevich allegedly told Harris that he should say to Tribune Financial Advisor, Cubs Chairman and Tribune Owner, "our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there and get us some editorial support."

On November 6, the day of a Tribune editorial critical of Blagojevich , Harris told Blagojevich that he told Tribune Financial Advisor the previous day that things "look like they could move ahead fine but, you know, there is a risk that all of this is going to get derailed by your own editorial page." Harris also told Blagojevich that he was meeting with Tribune Financial Advisor on November 10.

In a November 11 intercepted call, Harris allegedly told Blagojevich that Tribune Financial Advisor talked to Tribune Owner and Tribune Owner "got the message and is very sensitive to the issue." Harris told Blagojevich that according to Tribune Financial Advisor, there would be "certain corporate reorganizations and budget cuts coming and, reading between the lines, he's going after that section." Blagojevich allegedly responded. "Oh. That's fantastic." After further discussion, Blagojevich said, "Wow. Okay, keep our fingers crossed. You're the man. Good job, John."

In a further conversation on November 21, Harris told Blagojevich that he had singled out to Tribune Financial Advisor the Tribune's deputy editorial page editor, John McCormick, "as somebody who was the most biased and unfair." After hearing that Tribune Financial Advisor had assured Harris that the Tribune would be making changes affecting the editorial board, Blagojevich allegedly had a series of conversations with Chicago Cubs representatives regarding efforts to provide state financing for Wrigley Field. On November 30, Blagojevich spoke with the president of a Chicago-area sports consulting firm, who indicated that he was working with the Cubs on matters involving Wrigley Field. Blagojevich and Sports Consultant discussed the importance of getting the IFA transaction approved at the agency's December or January meeting because Blagojevich was contemplating leaving office in early January and his IFA appointees would still be in place to approve the deal, the charges allege.

The Government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Reid Schar, Carrie Hamilton and Christopher Niewoehner.

If convicted, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, while solicitation of bribery carries a maximum of 10 years in prison, and each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000. The Court, however, would determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that a complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Prodigious Houlihan Returns to the Hood! Houli at Borders Tonight!

FLASH! To All Readers, Read To's, Redman Chewers, and Red Pop Guzzlers!

Mike Houlihan makes a surprise hop at Borders in Beverly tonight on the Houlihan Highway!

Get thee there!
Houlihan -6PM-9PM at:

Borders - Chicago - Beverly
2210 West 95th Street
Chicago, IL 60643
United States
773-445-5471

Web site: http://www.borders.com/online/store/StoreDetailView_284

Events URL: http://www.borders.com/online/st…

GQ City - Now that's something! . . . What - I have no idea!

Chicago is a Gentleman's Quarterly (GQ) City and Chicago's Media is abuzz and a tingle with raffishly preening pride!

Craven sophisticates like Billy Dec, the late Studs Terkel, former Aldermen Burt Natarus, Arenda Troutman, rocker and Uncle Fester look-alike Billy Corgan have helped make this City. Sing with me now, that great Folk Ballad by fellow Cosmopolitans Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill & Frank Beard! That Chicago GQ Anthem that always brought a smile to Studs Terkel when he trod the terra! Come on Chicago! Forget the Thugs on your back-porch! Sing Out!

Clean shirt, new shoes
And I dont know where I am goin to.
Silk suit, black tie,
I dont need a reason why.
They come runnin just as fast as they can
Coz every girl crazy bout a sharp dressed man.

Gold watch, diamond ring,
I aint missin a single thing.
And cufflinks, stick pin,
When I step out Im gonna do you in.
They come runnin just as fast as they can
Coz every girl crazy bout a sharp dressed man.

Top coat, top hat,
I dont worry coz my wallets fat.
Black shades, white gloves,
Lookin sharp and lookin for love.
They come runnin just as fast as they can
Coz every girl grazy bout a sharp dressed man.

Crimes 2212 : Beverly/Morgan Park in Chicago Police District # 22

Chicago Beat Cop -Ubi Sunt?


There is a great deal of crime - black on white crime taking place in my neighborhood.

There is no City of Chicago out cry.

There is and there will be no Media Outcry other than 'well what can people expect given the economic realities of the day and systemic racism foisted upon persons of color by these white-flight residents of Beverly/Morgan Park?'

Here's the breakdown of the 97 pages of crime reported for Beat 2212 in Chicago Police District #22 ( Morgan Park)over the last few months.

Residents are concerned that lack of police beat cars and the vast geographic area covered by this beat created a Thug Comfort Zone - Thugs from outside of the neighborhood have the confidence to rob, assault, burglarize and violate the residents of this neighborhood.


91 crimes of Armed Robbery

131 crimes of Narcotics

158 crimes of Assault*

214 crimes of Burglary

388 crimes of Criminal Damage

438 crimes of Battery*

630 crimes of Theft


Members of the Chicago News Media play at journalism while exercising their rights of Free Speech as 'social engineers' and dime store prophets.

Editorial Boards agree to ignore or sneer at the residents of my neighborhood. Beat 2211 covers an area that embraces Mount Greenwood much farther to west where even more black on white crime is taking place.Read the comments by residents in Southwest Observer:

I am in need of some clarification as far as the Police district is concerned. Is Beverly and Mt. Greenwood covered by the 2 beat cars?? Or is it just our neighborhood? How come the police are there to take two teenage girls home to their parents who were minding their own business sitting on a bench at Mt. Greenwood park? And no one responds to the 911 call for "mob action" between 2 groups of kids beating the s#$% out of each other?
Personally when I am home during the day, I keep both my doors locked. I also have a security system and a big dog who answers the door before I do.
It bothers me to read about all of the violence and crimes so close to our homes. My son and his friends often visit the Burger King on Kedzie, and now that is a place where suspects were caught.
Is it true that the CAPS meetings are being phased out?
I signed up for the email updates from the 22nd district, and it;s funny that I haven't received ONE.
Do I feel safe? no. . .I don't. . .

and this,

2211 and another recently added car covers Mt Greenwood. These are generally one manned cars that cover a very large area. These cars, from the intelligence I am getting, have been on the east end of the 22nd district answering calls instead of patroling our area. There is a CPD Parks car that covers the districts parks. If you look at the 22nd district, you will see the many parks vs one car.Somebody had to call about the kids on the bench. With the vandalism that occurred at the playground, neighbors of the park are more vigilant. There may have been more to the story as well. CAPS will take your information but when it gets back to the district and headquarters.......they don't have the manpower. CAPS is just the middleman. My kids go to BK as well and I am very nervous. The bus stop on 111th and Kedzie needs to go. Another friend of mine on the 108th block of Troy had a woman approach her on her porch and asked to use her bathroom. My friend refused and told her her dog would attack her. When the woman walked away, a white van pulled up and yelled "Let's go. Someone called the police." She got in a they drove off. We are no longer safe.

http://www.southwestobserver.com/mount-greenwood/retired-cop-shoots-home-invader-49-23356#comment-223

This black on white crime activity is happening and only the people who live here and the Police who protect us, but are hand-cuffed by Daley's political needs, seem to care.

In the mean time, Drop all the huffing and hand-wringing about Racial and Social Justice, or save it for your feel good sessions at some Loop or Near North gin-mill before you get on the Metra to the lily-White Burbs.


* As a first approximation to the distinction between battery and assault:

the overt behavior of an assault might be A advancing upon B by chasing after him and swinging a fist at his head, while
that of an act of battery might be A actually striking B.
Battery requires (1) a volitional act (2) that results in a harmful or offensive contact with another person (3) committed with the intent to cause a harmful or offensive contact or with a reckless disregard as to whether such contact will result. Assault is an attempted battery or the act of intentionally placing a person in apprehension of a harmful or offensive contact with their person.

Mount Greenwood Southwest Observer Polls Keegan's Pub Over All Others with a Landslide 33%

The Great Mount Greenwood Southwest Observer a wonderful neighborhood website offers a recent poll of Local Pubs and Watering Holes.

County Armagh's and Now Chicago's Own Bernard Callahan's Keegan's Pub is ranked at the top of some very fine Saloons here in the 19th Ward.

Keegan's Pub
10618 S Western
Chicago
773-233-6829

Keegan's Pub is headquarters to a group of wits, workers and wunderkinds that could body slam any Mensa Chapter west of Alexandria, Egypt in its best day and serves the most laboriously crafted 'pint of plain' - Guinness this side of foamy brine.

Get thee to Keegan's soak up some laughs, nuanced analysis of the day's events and the creamy goodness of that Old Black Magic brewed at St. James's Gate Dublin.

Click my post title for one of the best neighborhood websites extant - Mount Greenwood Southwest Observer!

Here's the Poll Results*:

Green Mill? Never heard of it.
Castos - 0%
Cork and Kerry - 17%
Corrigans - 0%
Gilhooleys - 0%
Hinky Dinks - 17%
Keegans - 33%
Lanigans - 17%
The Mystic - 17%
Seans Rhino Bar - 0%
TRs Pub - 0%
Other (be nice to us)



Older polls
Make your vote count! Become a registered user of SouthwestObserver.com. Be sure to log in prior to answering each poll.

* I suspect Polling Error - MSNBC might have had some dubious hand in this! Where is MacKell's in this data??????

Black/White; Beverly Beatdowns;Burge and Bullshit in Chicago Media

Black on White crime happens all the time. The official excuse for it by City Officials and Chicago Media is 'Crime of opportunity' never a race crime, or Roger Baldwin forbid, a Hate Crime.

Two men face burglary charges after they allegedly broke into a retired police sergeant's home in Chicago's Mount Greenwood community. The former officer fired a gunshot at the men but no one was injured.

Kenneth Adams, 26, of Chicago, and Matthew Brown, 21, of Blue Island, were arrested a short time after the burglary Wednesday, police said.

Matthew Brown, of Blue Island, (left) and Kenneth Adams, of Chicago, are accused of breaking into a retired police sergeant's home in Chicago's Mount Greenwood community.

Adams was charged with one count of burglary and one count of aggravated assault. Brown was charged with one count of burglary, police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien said.

They were arrested about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday near 111th Street and Kedzie Avenue, a few blocks from where the burglary happened, police said. ( Emphasis My Own)

After the two suspects got inside, the retired sergeant, in his 50s, fired a shot at them, but no one was injured.

http://www.southtownstar.com/neighborhoodstar/evergreenpark/1314252,greenwood-burglary-1204.article

With our Chicago News Talkers and ink-slingers the cop-out is always 'the underlying economic realities' . . .and a call for Racial Healing - meaning 'shut the #$%^ up Whitey' is the answer.

I have black neighbors and they moved here to Morgan Park to get away from the Free Fire Zone of Englewood and Grand Crossing. Their little guys play sewer cover baseball with the Conways, Radowicz's, Murphys, and Beemsterbohrs kids. They go to Clissold and St. Cajetans. We are neighbors.

The black Thugs coming into our neighborhood are from elsewhere in Chicago and the south suburbs; but that is not deemed news worthy by the Chicago Media, nor a topic for Fifty Aldermen who appoint Blue Ribbon panels to study Goose Liver and end America's involvement in Iraq, while dancing out of Prosecutor Fitzy's Spotlight. Fitzy is doing a solid for the Alderman - he is going to nail Burge on some BS charge of perjury. It is something - not a public execution of Burge, but something.

Black on white crime happens because it can. Last year two white kids were horrifically murdered in Knoxville, TN - no big deal:

E. G. Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian:

According to news reports, Christian and Newsom had gone on a date at a local restaurant on Saturday, January 6, 2007, but did not return home. During their night out, the couple was "hijacked, bound and blindfolded and taken back to Lemaricus Devall 'Slim' Davidson's rented house on Chipman Street."[4]

Christian's parents found her abandoned Toyota 4-Runner two blocks away from the Chipman Street house the following Monday with the help of her mobile phone provider. An envelope recovered from the vehicle yielded fingerprint evidence that led police to Lemaricus Davidson and 2316 Chipman Street. When police went to the address on Tuesday, January 9, they found the home unoccupied and Christian's body in a trash can in the kitchen.

According to the testimony of the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner at the subsequent trial of Eric Boyd, Newsom was repeatedly raped and then blindfolded, gagged, arms and feet bound and his head covered. Barefoot, he was either led or dragged outside the house to a set of nearby railroad tracks, where a gun was placed to the back of his head and fired. He was shot twice more, once in the neck and once in the back. His body was then set afire. Christian's death would come only after hours of sexual torture, medical examiner Mileusnic-Polchan testified. Christian suffered horrific injuries to her vagina, anus and mouth. She was not only raped but savaged with "an object," the doctor testified. She was beaten in the head. Some type of chemical was poured down her throat, and her body, including her bleeding and battered genital area, likely scrubbed with the same solution - all while Christian was alive, the forensic expert said. She was then "hog-tied," with curtains and strips of bedding, her face covered tightly with a small trash bag and her body stashed inside five large trash bags before being placed inside a large trash can and covered with sheets. Christian died slowly, suffocating, the medical examiner said.[5]

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

The reaction by a 'Commentator' - "as bad as this crime is, the apparent absence of any interest group involvement or any other 'angle' might also explain the lack of coverage."

It's all good!

The News Media gets its Burge on every week with a 'chilling' replay of G. Flint Taylor's patented account of what might have happened in Area 2 to the criminal victims that Taylor represents.

The fact of the matter is that Jon Burge has never once been brought to trial on any evidence of 'systemic racist torture,' let alone convicted of any crime. But with the constant and emphatic attention to the G. Flint Taylor Playbook, the Chicago Media has made Jon Burge the poster boy of racism and by extension every Chicago Police Officer -black, white, pale, ruddy or olive complexioned.

I have no idea whether or not Jon Burge tortured anyone. I find it particularly unsettling that every news account, be it Sasha Abramsky's Mother Jones article or Carol Marin's Wal-Mart version, of the torture saga includes G. Flint Taylor's electric shock box/testicle machine that he had built to 'please the court' of what 'might' have happened. The end -'undermining any and all confidence in the American Justice System' by GETTING BURGE - justifies the means - 'everything G.Flint and the Media can toss at Burge with the help of dodgy politicians.

However, black on white crime is happening and it is not being addressed at all.

Crimes against the people who happen to be white in the 19th Ward of Chicago are ignored and mocked by the Chicago Media. No columnist, nor editorial board, has ever, nor ever will do so it seems, seriously address this social phenomenon.


Race Matters. It spikes real estate activity.

Get on the Mike Houlihan Holiday Highway!

Chicago Renaissance Man Mike Houlihan is all over the Town - bringing Joy to Child-like Male of Arrested Development and 16 Year Old Instincts like your Humbel Servant.

Get thee to Houli! Anon! With dispatch! All Due Haste! Immediately -if not sooner!

Get the Author's John Henry with a copy of Hooliganism:
Hooliganism

Book Summary

Buy the Book Now! HOOLIGANISM is an anthology of Mike Houlihan’s best columns from The Irish American News, with additional material from the Chicago Tribune Magazine, and Chicago Public Radio. This book captures the best stories from one of Irish America’s funniest raconteurs. Houlihan takes the reader on a picaresque journey as he recounts his travels in show biz as a Shakespearian clown; his days as proprietor of The Hooley-Dooley, an Irish gin mill in Rockaway Beach, NY; his adventures as a theatre and film producer chasing investors; memories of growing up Irish-Catholic on the south side of Chicago; and his day to day tightrope walk as an itinerant actor, father, and husband. Hooliganism also revisits and reinvents several Irish American urban myths and fables featuring a stock company of rogues, scoundrels, and boozers. Funny stuff in ten-minute installments.

Filled with Irish jokes, anecdotes, and preposterous tales, this book is like enjoying a pint of your favorite stout. If you read the whole thing in one sitting you’ll be drunk with laughter. Best to take it slow, one at a time and savor the enjoyment, chuckles, and eccentric wit of Mike Houlihan. The anthology covers the very best of Mike’s stories from 1993-2008, featuring the same friendly style that the Chicago Tribune called, “A natural storyteller’s flair.” The Wednesday Journal said, “Mike Houlihan has been telling stories for a long time…on Broadway, in feature films and on TV.” For six years Mike Houlihan sold out theatres with his one man comic memoir of growing up Irish, GOIN’ EAST ON ASHLAND. Now that same genie has been released from the bottle into this book.

Mike Houlihan is a former features columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing the “Hooliganism” column in the Irish American News in 1996 and has since become the comic mainstay for the newspaper. Mike’s no holds barred take on life has entertained as well as outraged readers of the Irish newspaper. Mike began his career as an actor and then writer of plays and films. His memories of growing up as the seventh child in an Irish American Catholic family on the south side of Chicago and his wickedly wacky imagination create an alchemy of funny stories. The Sun-Times said, “Fasten your seatbelts… it’s terrific entertainment. The blarney-blessed author is Chicago’s largest and loudest leprechaun with a universal, nostalgic appeal. He grabs his audience ina warm bear hug and never let’s go.” The Daily Southtown agreed, “Houlilhan’s stories will keep many Irish eyes smiling!

December's Hooliganism Schedule of Events
Meet Mike Houlihan and enjoy this holiday season with some cheer and
the book Hooliganism at these following locations.

Sunday, Dec. 7th, 2:00 PM
Irish American Heritage Center
4626 North Knox
Chicago, IL
773-282-7035

Wed. Dec. 10th. 7-9 PM
Claddagh Ring Pub
2306 West Foster
Chicago
773-271-4794

Sunday, Dec. 14th,
Gaelic Park
6119 W. 147th Street, Oak Forest
Immediately following 10AM mass & breakfast
708-687-9323

Additional Dates to Come.



Contact us for further infromation on upcoming events.
phone: 312-431-8700

'Who's To Say?' Part Tray - Situational Ethics: The Cop Out That Keeps Giving!

More on 'Who's To Say?' The Catch-phrase of the smarmy and the self-absorbed. This question is posed largely by people who are passive aggressive smart-asses when confronted with the reality that their agenda stands in front of Universal Truths that are too tough to follow. That is why well-to-do educated women use abortion as cosmetic surgery. 'Think of the poor unwanted Child! Kill It! - out of Love!'

Situational Ethics appeared at the same time Planned Parenthood and other wonderful folks decided to unleash genocide on the unborn and make it as easy as stealing donuts! 'Who's to say a Woman's Body is Not Her Own?'

Donuts.
I stole items from Kean Gas Station this morning ( hypothetically speaking for any District 22 CPD officers on Blog Watch) - Six French Donuts ( the ones that look like Tractor Wheels), three Hava-Hanks ( sets of Two), and four Two Bit Bags of Ranch Dressing Doritos, while Dawna was busy with Jerry Schumacher's gas can re-fill.

I stole these items because I had no cash and I love my children - Clare is nuts for Doritos and French Donuts and hates when my snot-locker runs in the cold weather - who don't?

Who's to say that I am a thief? This is a hypothetical. Dawna could kick my ass on the best day that I ever lived and Jerry Schumacher was an All American at Michigan and a Tony Lawless Award winning football great at Mount Carmel possessing a rock-ribbed ethical world view that roundly frowns upon sneaks - active and passive.

In the 1960's an Episcopal priest named Joseph Fletcher developed Situational Ethics that became a hot-button Get of Jail Free Card for people bothered by Universal Truths and the 10 Items Zapped into the Stone Tablets.

Fletcher developed an ethical dodge based upon Love! Agape - or universal brotherly Love as the end of all things. Smart guys call this a teleological ethic as opposed to a law based or outlaw ethic.

Thieves used to follow 'the outlaw' or antinomian ethic. Thieves steal.

Everyone else follows the Law.

Thus, if my sense of Brotherly Love makes me want to get to work as fast as I can, then it follows that I drive up on sidewalks to avoid traffic delays on Western Ave. or 87th Street with the pedal to the metal - 'Get the Hell out of MY WAY!!!!!!!! I am doing this out of Universal LOOOOOOOOOOVE!'


Here's Fletcher's Nut-shell:
There are four presuppositions that Fletcher makes before setting out the situational ethics theory:

Pragmatism - This is that the course of action must be practical and work
Relativism - All situations are always relative; situational ethicists try to avoid such words as 'never' and 'always'
Positivism - The whole of situational ethics relies upon the fact that the person freely chooses to believe in agape love as described by Christianity.
Personalism - Whereas the legalist thinks people should work to laws, the situational ethicist believes that laws are for the benefit of the people.

[edit] The six fundamental principles
First proposition
Only one thing is intrinsically good; namely love: nothing else at all. Fletcher (1963, pg56)
Second proposition
The ruling norm of Christian decision is love: nothing else. Fletcher (1963, pg69)
Third proposition
Love and Justice are the same, for justice is love distributed, nothing else. Fletcher (1963, pg87)
Justice is Christian love using its head, calculating its duties, obligations, opportunities, resources...Justice is love coping with situations where distribution is called for. Fletcher (1963, pg95)
Fourth proposition
Love wills the neighbour's good, whether we like him or not. Fletcher (1963, pg103)
Fifth proposition
Only the end justifies the means, nothing else. Fletcher (1963, pg120)
Sixth proposition
Love's decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively. Fletcher

The situation determines the course of the action! In China, toddlers squat to urinate and defecate where and when they are moved to do so! Love is the answer.

Forget the Sexist rules demanding that Women go to the Ladies Rooms and Lads to the Gents! Do as in China! Love is the end!

Who's to say?

BTW- I bought two donuts for Clare - standard glazed and a 16 oz. Cup of Dark Roast for $ 2.85. The Firemen had glomed all the French Donuts by 5:45 AM.

'Who's To Say?' Part 2. Maybe John Dewey Should Have Had a Beer with John Kass at Nick's Beergarden.

"nature itself is wistful and pathetic, turbulent and passionate" - John Dewey 1859-1952.

What in the hell does that mean? But then again that is the point. John Dewey is the father of American Public Education, the leading thinker of the American Progressive Movement, one of the leaders of American Psychology, founder of the University of Chicago Laboratory School and the one of the leaders in Nuance.

Dewey was a New Englander and a smart guy who studied the German thinker Hegel. Hegel developed modern thought based upon the notion that Germans were smarter than Italians, Spaniards, Frenchmen and Arabs. Hegel and his buddy Schopenauer developed Dialectical Materialism, which gave Karl Marx something to write about in the dusty stacks of the British Museum developed the notion of class warfare as the new parousia(παρουσία) , or Second Coming.

John Dewey took a job at Rockefeller's swell new school south of Canaryville's Stockyards - The University of Chicago - and established himself as the leader in the Pragmatist Movement begun by William James. Pragmatism is rooted in the empiricists of the 18th Century and candied up with the Romantics and the Dialectical Materialists of the 19th Century. Two Dollar words for 'if you can't really see it, give it a pass.'

This is a nice way of killing off any metaphysics - the stuff you can't see: Faith, Belief, Trust, Compassion, Piety, Fidelity all that nonsense. E.G. 'Were any of us, really, in the cell with John McCain? Can we be actually certain that he was, in fact, a prisoner? Honor?' or how about 'What is an Unrepentant Terrorist? Bill Ayers we all know IS a "Distinguished Professor of Education" so why is this an issue?'

John Dewey, who it seems, died a few months before I was born, it appears, influenced the use and application of 'Who's to say?'

'Who's to say?' is the means by which a shared belief can be kicked to death. It is also the advent message for all bad, worthless, tasteless, obscene, and dangerous idiots to have their time in the spotlight. How else might one explain the development of Reality TV and Bill Maher?

Aristotle influenced Christian ( Aquinas), Jewish (Maimonides), and Muslim ( Averroes/Avicenna)thinkers who have helped people make sense of our lives through an understanding of an Ordered and Unified Universe. Faith, Belief in Universal Truths and all that stuff that Dewey and the smart guys killed off - or tried to - is reflected in an Absolute ( God/Higher Power/Big Banger/Truth).

No less an Aristotelian than Chicago Tribune's John Kass gave us an exercise in a long over-due return to sense over Dewey with a brilliant essay called to my attention by Saloon Keeper/Coach/Jazz Historian and Snappy Dresser Nick Novich*.

'Kass wrote the most stirring caveat to Americans with his essay on capturing Wild Pigs. Read it, Hickey!' I had in fact missed that one. Here is Kass, discussing one of those metaphysical terms 'Liberty" - Kass as metaphysician answering the 'Who's to Say?-ers' and John Dewey-

Fear happens. The 9/11 terrorist attacks happened, and the federal government—always eager to extend its reach—built its massive security bureaucracy, down to those spy cameras installed on the streetlights of so many cities and towns, thrilling America's mayors and the police chiefs. We're told the cameras keep us safe. We've become used to the eyes.

And when the economic crisis happened—when the credit bubble burst and the excesses of Wall Street caught up with us, and so many people lost their jobs and their retirement savings got whacked, and they started losing their homes—naturally people became fearful.

When you're worried about your family, you're not interested in the history of blame. You're interested in keeping a roof over their heads. You're interested in solutions. The solution so many want these days is more government.

Some of that is a proper demand for reasonable regulations on the markets and on lending that were eased during the Clinton years and continued. But today's crisis has also led to the massive federal bailout of the financial industry, with Washington picking who wins and who loses. We're told that this arrangement is only temporary. But partnerships involving almost a trillion dollars that grant even greater leverage to Washington have a way of becoming quite terribly permanent.

So the leviathan grows, and the bureaucrats and the corporate types attached to this bailout deal see the world in strikingly similar terms. They share the same type of mind and they share the common purpose of maintaining the status quo. Why wouldn't they? They're on the inside.

The casualty will be the entrepreneurs, those on the outside, the ones who create the spark and offer up the products or the ideas that fire the economy. The entrepreneurial mind isn't willing to settle and wants to make more than $250,000 in salary or whatever the federal government deems proper. They don't want proper. What they want is to take risks and reach the American Dream.

Such men and women will be on the outside for decades now. When they get close to victory they'll get whacked with tax increases and the rug will be pulled out from under them. The rich will have their wealth. But new entrepreneurs will be hamstrung and without that creative spark, no government-administered economic system can survive. History has taught us this over and over again.

The bailout happened so quickly we haven't fully considered the effects. Will we recognize America 40 years from now? How long before we understand how fundamentally America has changed? What kind of generational conflicts will this new government market policy instigate? Will our children speak of liberty, as we once did before we forgot?

These days, liberty isn't in vogue. It's so, so olde. We forget to consider liberty as America's founders conceived it—as one of the rights given us by God. Liberty was something an entrepreneur could understand. But even before this economic crisis Americans were given a new word from the corporatist/bureaucrat dictionary: empowerment.

"Empowerment" kinda, sorta evokes liberty but not really, since "empowerment" is something a government confers upon its people (or its serfs) when government decides the serfs (people) are ready.

While writing this I received one of those chain e-mails, but this one wasn't about a politician or the widow of the Nigerian oil minister. It was about how to catch wild pigs. I don't know if you could actually catch wild pigs this way, but it really doesn't matter. In this method, you throw bucketfuls of corn on the forest floor. The pigs eat the corn. A month later you put up one side of a fence and more corn. Eventually, the pigs return, get used to the fence and keep eating. And another side of fence and more corn and so on, until you close the gate and you've caught the pigs. They've lost their freedom. They can't figure out what's happened.

We're not pigs, we're Americans, rightfully worried about the economic future. But the times are changing, and the Boomers should consider the costs and consequences of what they're being offered by our politicians before the last side of the fence goes up. ( emphasis my own)
jskass@tribune.com

Boomers ( broadly, to be sure) are 'Who's to Say?' Dewey Devotees. Kass and other close-knit ethnic types who share the traditions of Faith and Culture deconstructed by the Progressive Deweyites give us a great opportunity to examine the agendas behind the people who demand a a rhetorical answer to 'Who's to say?'

Well done, Brother Kass.



*

Nick Novich is proprietor of many great neighborhood watering holes in this wonderful city.

http://www.nicksbeergarden.com/

'Who's to Say?' and the Advent of Offense, Stupidity, Hypocrisy and Probably a Thorough Ass-Kicking from a Good Person

"One does not leave a convivial party before closing time." Winston Churchill




I got an e-mail about a book by Paul Krassner, one of the many terminally unfunny Comedians who play at being Lenny Bruce, who was also largely unfunny. Who's to Say, Paul Krassner is not funny? Me.

Thus,

In any case, there's a certain meta-irony about the name Re-create 68. Not only did the crossed-out 68 on the hat of the cop on the T-shirt refer to Re-create 68, but also Re-create 68 itself was a reference to the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago where protesters were severely beaten by police.

Moreover, at the 1996 Democratic convention in Chicago, there were T-shirts with the logo of the Chicago Police Department and the legend, "Democratic National Convention Chicago--1996--We Kicked Your Father's Ass in 1968--Wait 'Til You See What We Do to You!"

That's the trouble with a police state. The cops think it's a good thing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-krassner/

Stop, Paul, your killing me! No really. Stop.

Krassner is a smoked-up, Hippie Manque who writes for Arianna Huffington. Arianna is universally recognized for her wit and good humor. I'm kidding. Arianna has all of the Wimsey of an obscenely obese Greek diner owner who had twelve limber and athletic drunks pull a dine and dash at 3AM on $300 bill. Paul Krassner is an affirmative action placement on Huffngton Post. BTW - how come Arianna keeps her old man's handle after taking all his gelt, when it was learned that he was dating good looking guys and not Arianna, his bride? Just asking. Who's to say?

I have heard the guy, seen the guy, read the guy and his material and Bupkis! No giggle; no smile; no wistful nod of assent of his charm. Arianna Huffington writes the foreward to his book, which should be indicative of the level of Haines moistening humor thickening Paul Krassner's new book -Who's to Say What's Obscene Politics, Culture and Comedy in America Today ! Me, Paul.

'Who's to Say?' is the key that unlocks the doors to goodness and lets in the idiots, the talentless, the obscene, the dangerous and the useless. It is rooted in Marxism and Hegelian/Dewey subjectivism - American Progressive Romance - which Bertrand Russell called 'madness' in his History of Western Philosophy. 'Who's to Say?'is as particularly obnoxious a dodge and head-fake as it appears; soulfully accepted by the truly shallow and the spineless. It is especially evident in Academia. Idiots and gutless lightweights have attempted to erase the Canons of Taste for more than thirty years. Alan Bloom, Mortimer Adler, Harold Bloom, E.D. Hirsch and Max Weismann have fought heroic actions against the Chomsky/Ward Churchill/Mad-Dog Feminists/Cornell West fruitloops alive at American Universities.

Canon Formation was huge topic of concern when I was in graduate school in the
1980's. It was an agenda set by Identity Issue academics to destroy the Canons of Literature ( Dead White Men).

Canon Formation hit Loyola University through the English Department, when trendy professors replaced Old School Humanities Close Readers and genuine scholars. Loyola University had more good scholars aboard than nutbags and at Loyola University graduate students were taught the Canon of British and American Literature. 'Who's to Say' what is good literature? Well, people who actually have read and understood the vast fields of literature and have developed Taste.

Tolstoy is better than William Least Heat Moon - Who says so? Me. I read both.
Milton is better than Charles Bukowski - Who says so? Anyone who has not allowed a drunk to throw up on him.
Jane Austen is better than Gertrude Stein - Who says So? A Rose is A Rose Is a Rose!
Thackeray is better than Tom Wolfe -who say's so? Tom Wolfe.

The Canons of Taste, like the Canons of Literature were formed by many, many people who agree that certain actions, words, images and allusions are acceptable or unacceptable. That is called Judgment. Discernment. Thus,a 1787 Chateau d'Yquem ($56,588) is better than Night Train Express.

Who's to say what is obscene? Well, the people kicking your ass!

Rose Keefe's The Starker: Big Jack Zelig

Reprinted from the Chicago Daily Observer.

Rose Keefe pours on the gas from the first sentence. ‘As Jacob Goldberg rounded the corner of Forty-ninth Street and Madison Avenue, the last person he expected to encounter on the bustling sidewalk was his old partner in crime, Harry Smith. Jacob considered himself to be a hard-working and law-abiding citizen these days, but his teenage years had included some wilder moments, and Harry had been an instigator of most of them. Seeing him now aroused portions of nostalgia and uneasiness.’
Rose Keefe writes vigorous prose when her razor-sharp mind cuts through layers of fat-headed assumptions. Everyone assumed that Dion ‘Dean’ O’Banion, the beer baron gunned down by Johnny Torrio’s thugs in a Chicago Flower shop was an off- the –boat Irish mobster; that George ‘Bugs’ Moran was an Irish American hitter whose north side mob challenged Al Capone and inspired ethnic flourishes to the panoramic painting of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Nonsense. Rose Keefe dug the scalpel into the lard and got to the heart of matter.
Dean O’Banion was a Maroa, Illinois mossback and only Irish on his mother’s side and George ‘Bugs’ Moran of French Canadian decent (George Clarence "Bugs" Moran was born Adelard Cunin on August 21, 1891 and died in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, February 25, 1957). Moreover, the celebrated Beers Wars of the Volstead Act Era, the great Progressive stain on America, had very little to do with ethnic hostilities than about the very American value of profit. Capone’s wife was Irish and Dean O’Banion’s and later Bugs Moran’s mobs celebrated diversity!

” Earl "Hymie" Weiss, Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci, and George "Bugs" Moran) joined the Market Street Gang, which specialized in theft and robbery for the black market. The boys later became "sluggers," thugs hired by a newspaper to beat newsstand owners who did not sell the paper. The Market Street Gang started out working for the Chicago Tribune. However, they later switched to the rival Chicago Examiner due to a more attractive offer from newspaper boss Moses Annenberg. Through Annenberg, the gang met safecracker Charles "The Ox" Reiser, who taught them his trade. In 1909, O'Banion was arrested first for safecracking and then for assault. These would be the only times O'Banion would ever spend in a correctional institution.’ 1.

Rose Keefe is a brilliant young Canadian writer with a witty and energetic prose style accompanying a restless capacity for inquiry. In her recently released Crime Biography of New York Jewish Gangster, Zelig Lefkowitz, alias Big Jack Zelig, The Starker ( Cumberland Press, 2008), Keefe examines the assumptions that Jack Zelig was hired by corrupt New York Police Captain Charles Becker to murder the gambler Herman Rosenthal, who threatened to expose Becker as a grafter. Zelig was murdered on a New York streetcar the day before he was to testify in murder trial against Becker. The assumptions resting on New York District Attorney Charles Seymour Whitman, a wildly ambitious patrician using the prosecutor’s office to amass bodies on which he might step his way to the White House, assisted in his efforts by the Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo.

Capt. Becker was a Cossack, Police muscle for Tammany Hall and an unabashedly corrupt cop, but Rose Keefe is not buying the assumptions that Becker murdered Rosenthal or subsequently Jack Zelig – and neither will the reader.
The reader meets the world of The Starker – the Tough Guy, The Golem, The Jewish Avenger- with same nostalgia and uneasiness as Jacob Goldman upon meeting boyhood partner in crime Harry Smith. American Jewish emigration was brought on in the late 19th Century by the Czarist Pogroms that slaughtered millions of Jews everywhere in the Russian Empire. Stuffed into the slums of New York City along with Irish and Italians escaping their own Holocausts, Jews competed for work and survival.
Some children of the Diaspora, like their Irish and Italian counterparts, took to the gang life. Jack Zelig was one such kid. Zelig Lefkowitz became a pickpocket in Monk Eastman’s Gang which competed with Italian mobster Paul Kelly. Keefe brings to life her remarkable research into the bloody capacities of gangsters – their skills, their ethics, and their powerful influence on polite society.
The Better Angels of public life make great use of the violent and larcenous –then and now. Profit and Progress require the capacity to compromise and betray. No one betrays like a public official.
Rose Keefe parallels Zelig’s rise to prominence with the meteoric career of Police Bully Captain Charles Becker. Charley Becker was a German beer hall bouncer hired to ‘exercise’ the Law upon non-compliant ne’er-do-wells who failed to pay dues and respect to Tammany Hall. Becker was highly successful. A gambler by the name of Herman Rosenthal came afoul of his elected betters and Becker was unleashed.
Rosenthal decided to ‘take his case’ to the courts and expose graft and corruption. Exit Rosenthal.
The murderer of the gambler signaled an opportunity for a Progressive Reformer to make his bones and the murder jacket fit the broad shoulders of Charley Becker nicely. Jack Zelig, notorious tough guy was called in as well, as his associates participated in the murder of Rosenthal. Zelig was murdered by a small-time punk who conveniently used a Police Revolver. DA Whitman got two for one.
Rose Keefe interviewed relatives of the personalities involved, including an eye witness the streetcar murder of Jack Zelig, and tunneled through granite mountains of documents to bring to life the World of the Starker and the Cossack executed in the Pogrom of an ambitious louse –Charles Seymour Whitman.
The Starker by Rose Keefe is uneasy nostalgia. The Starker knocks down the assumptions we hold about events past and present.

Rose Keefe CV

Published Books:

Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot Before Al Capone. Cumberland House Publishing (Nashville, TN) 2004
The Man Who Got Away: the Bugs Moran Story. Cumberland House Publishing (Nashville, TN) 2004
The Starker: Big Jack Zelig, the Becker-Rosenthal Case of 1912, and the Advent of the Jewish Gangster. Cumberland House Publishing (Nashville, TN) 2008
Professional Affiliations:

Member, the Writer's Union of Canada
Radio, Television, and Film Appearances:

"Talkline with Zev Brenner", WSNR 620 AM(NY) (November 2008)
"Dave Gordon Radio Show Show", ThatRadio.com (October 2008)
"Our Gotham",www.monk1903.com (June 2008)
"Bulldog and The Rude Awakening Show", WOCM-FM 98.1 (June 2008)
"Mobs In America", Abu Media Ireland (August 2007)
"Man, Moment, and Machine" History Channel televised special (November 2006)
"Young Indiana Jones" DVD Series- consulting expert (July 2006)
"Paddy Whacked": the Irish Mob History Channel televised special (March 2006)
Dave Strauss Radio Show, KTRS St. Louis (February 2006)
The Radio Detective, with Jerry Pearce (March 2004)
WBIG AM with William Kelly (March 2004)
Magazine Articles (author) :

"Mary Ward: The First Fatal Automobile Accident". History Magazine, Volume 8, Number 2, December / January 2007
"Labor Pain: Mossy Enright and Chicago's Labor Wars". On the Spot Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 2006
"An Officer vs A Gentleman : The Saga of Chicago's Deadly Gentleman Brothers". On the Spot Journal, Volume 1, Issue 2, Winter 2006
"A Buck A Fist: Dopey Benny Fein and New York's Labor Wars". On the Spot Journal, Volume 1, Issue 3, Spring 2007
"The Fighting Parson: Remembering the Reverend Leslie Spracklin, Canada's Elliot Ness." On The Spot Journal, Volume 1, Issue 5, Winter 2007
"Rose Rossi- First Victim of the One-Way Ride?." On The Spot Journal, Fall 2008
Personal Appearances:

Golden Age of Gangsters Convention, Itasca, Illinois, September 2004
Contributing Author / Expert:

The Most Evil Mobsters in History, by Lauren Carter. Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, London, England, UK 2004
Public Enemies: America's Criminal Past 1919-1940, by Rick Mattix and William J. Helmer. Cumberland House Publishing, (Nashville, TN), 2007
Bad Seeds In The Big Apple, by Pat Downey. Cumberland House Publishing, (Nashville, TN) 2008

Watch - Mumbai is Kankakee, Chicago, or Anywhere.

He who does not meditate acts as one who never looks into the mirror and so does not bother to put himself in order, since he can be dirty without knowing it. The person who meditates and turns his thoughts to God who is the mirror of the soul, seeks to know his defects and tries to correct them, moderates himself in his impulses and puts his conscience in order.

-- Saint Pio of Pietrelcina


A wonderful girl -woman actually; mother of two and wife of my best friend in the world Charlie Olson - goes to Mumbai often as a dialysis engineer for Baxter. Thankfully, Kate was not in Mumbai this Thanksgiving during the most cold-blooded and horrific exercise of Terrorism that took the lives of nearly two hundred souls.

I talked to Charlie this weekend and, as we 'limited gender' souls do, talked around the subject. We are fragile.

All we have is limited field of vision and are so vulnerable to shifts in events and circumstances that all we can do is keep our heads on a swivel.

The victims of the monsters saw few signs of warning prior to the attacks in the carefully selected hotels, restaurants, Temples, and thoroughfares. The ten or so monsters looked like college kids with their backpacks containing automatic rifles, ammunition and grenades. They are monsters.

Monster can be traced back to various etymological roots. The Latin 'monstrum' means 'that which teaches', and there is also another connection to 'monstrare', to show. Demonstrandum from Quod Erat Demonstrandum - 'That which was to be demontrated' from 'demonstratum' as a past participle of 'demonstrare.'

Middle aged couples enjoying a trip to the exotic city in India, witnessed only a demonstration of the exercise of Will that is so much the heart of contemporary spirituality. Kids, the ages of their grandchildren no doubt, methodically opened fire and re-loaded magazines and murdered Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindu Mumbaikars, and Asian and Western tourists indiscriminately.

There are devotees of WILL here in the United States ready to parse and dissemble the root cause of the Monsters with backpacks loaded with weapons in Mumbai. Ramsey Clark is no doubt ready to board a plane and take up the cause of the Monsters* ( one of the miserable bastards survived and whined to security forces 'put me on saline'); Noam Chomsky and Billy Ayers have no doubt penned a clever contrarian essay on the massacre and its radical implications for Identity politics here in America.

The balance of us must be watchful. Advent calls to mind the Promise of Arrival. At Sacred Heart Mission on 116th & Church Street here on the south side of Chicago, Father Gallagher, a retired but active priest, explained the Gospel today. Words and thoughts that would be lost on a smug dissembler like Ramsey Clark, or a Noam Chomsky, or a Billy Ayers. We, the rest of us, must humble ourselves in order to be vigilant enough for the Coming of Christ and all the other expectations that living demands of us. Tough call.

We do not want someone telling us what to watch out for . . .especially during the Holidays. Modern thought depends upon the clever parser's rule to nuance -'Who's to say?' Jesus, I hate that expression of nuanced smugness. With those words the Nuanced act to 'Isolate' people and then they can collect them all into their Will! The Disciples of WILL appreciate the slaughter of the innocents in Mumbai as it 'Reifies' Will!

Folks, We must put Will on the back burner. It starts with yours truly, here. I take a back seat to no one where stubborn Pride is concerned.

I get a lesson in the majesty of Humility as I witness the simple, devout, uncomplex, generous and tough people at Sacred Heart: housewives, mothers teachers, cops, firemen, City of Chicago workers, ComEd workers and students. I have a lot of work to do living up to them. Living up to the good people slaughtered by the Monsters.

Look for Christ. Be Watchful.



Mark 13: 33 - 37


Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.
Watch therefore -- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning --
lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.
And what I say to you I say to all: Watch.

Monsters are with us. Christ is also with us and keeps returning to us. If we do not watch we will miss Him. He was gunned down in Mumbai by Monsters. We must watch for His return. Be thankful, as I am that Baxter did not send Kate McKenna Olson to Mumbai.

However, with Monsters, everywhere is Mumbai

*

Mercifully, the group, armed with plastic explosives, underestimated the strength of the
105-year-old building’s solid foundations.
As it is, their deadly attacks have left close to 200 confirmed dead, with the toll expected to rise to nearly 300 once the hotel has been fully searched by security forces.
Yesterday, Kasab chillingly went through details of Wednesday night’s killing spree across the city, which ended when he was cornered by police.
He pretended to be dead, which probably saved his life. It was only when he was being transferred to hospital by ambulance that his accompanying officer noticed he was still breathing.

Transporter, 7 - Jason Statham is Pat Hickey , . . .Strother Martin is Pat Hickey . . .some movie guy is . . .

Mission - Transport Seven St. Cajetan's Girl Volleyball teammates from the Crestwood Kerasotes Multi-plex where each dropped a double saw-buck ( $20)and change
on a movie ( Transporter 3) that will go to disc and HBO Cables Pay on Demand before Christmas.

Vehicle - 2008 Chevy Malibu LS

My Rules

1."Never change the deal. . .Dial Never Change the Dial"
2."No names" -There's Seven of the little manatees
3."Never open the package" -It's probably over-coated Kerasotes Popcorn drenched in that 40 Weight oil shot out of those pumps that the Fat Kidd who breathes through his mouth never cleans.
4."Never make promises you can't keep".)

Pat Hickey: Fasten your seatbelts.

St. Cajetan's 8th Grade Volleyball: They are going to kill us.

Pat Hickey: You really should think more positive.


Pat Hickey:What's the first rule when entering a man's car?
St. Cajetan's V-Ball: [take their feet off the seat] Respect a man's car, a man respects you.
Pat Hickey: Rule number two?
St. Cajetan's V-Ball: Greet the man. Good evening, Transporter.
Pat Hickey: Good afternoon, Ladies.
St. Cajetan's V-Ball: Can we play the game now?
Pat Hickey: I would think your brain would be too tired after a whole day of school.
St. Cajetan's V-Ball: You're just afraid we're gonna win.
Pat Hickey: I'm afraid you're gonna be too worn out to do your homework.
St. Cajetan's V-Ball: It's Friday, We don't *have* any homework.
Pat Hickey: In that case: the game.
St. Cajetan's V-Ball: Yes!
Pat Hickey: But first, what's the third rule of the car?
[Seven Girls buckle four seatbelts]
Pat Hickey: Good.

St. Cajetan's V-Ball: But nice try, I'm impressed. Took more than a driver to figure this out.
Pat Hickey: I haven't figured it all out yet.

St. Cajetan's V-Ball: Can We PLEASE change the radio station?? Please
Pat Hickey: Perhaps I can help you! What part are you a little... how you say, "thick" on? ( Sub-title "thick" is Limey for Moron)
St. Cajetan's V-Ball: You. Why?

Pat Hickey:- Oh well, that's the easy part. It's a business deal, pure and simple. I'm for hire to he highest bidder. And in this case, the highest bidders were the Colombian cocaine cartels that wanted these pesky lawmen off their backs.

St. Cajetan's V-Ball: [about getting three into a seat belt] It hurts a lot.
Pat Hickey: Look at me. I promise I'll never let anyone hurt you a lot.
St. Cajetan's V-Ball: Promise?
Pat Hickey: You know my fourth rule? Never make a promise you can't keep.

St. Cajetan's V-Ball - Can we stop at Marco's Beef!!!! Please
Pat Hickey - What's Rule # 4?

St. Cajetan's V-Ball - NO Marcos, Transporter???(Seven Voices as One At the Tops of their strep-vulnerable Throats!!!!)

Coach said to fake right
And break left
Watch out for the pick
And keep an eye on defense
Gotta run the give and go
And take the ball to the hole
But don't be afraid
To shoot the outside "J"

Just keep ya head in the game
Just keep ya head in the game

And don't be afraid
To shoot the outside "J"
Just keep ya head in the game

U gotta
Get'cha get'cha head in the game
We gotta
Get our, get our, get our, get our head in the game
(repeat 3x)

Let's make sure
That we get the rebound
'Cause when we get it
Then the crowd will go wild
A second chance
Gotta grab it and go
Maybe this time
We'll hit the right notes

Wait a minute
It's not the time or place
Wait a minute
Get my head in the game
Wait a minute
Get my head in the game
Wait a minute
Wait a minute

I gotta
Get my, get my head in the game
You gotta
Get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game
(repeat 3x)

Why am I feeling so wrong
My head's in the game
But my heart's in the song
She makes this feel so right

(SPOKEN)
Should I go for it
Better shake this, yikes!

I gotta
Get my, get my head in the game
You gotta
Get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game

Pat Hickey- RULE # 5 - no more . . .

St. Cajetan V-Ball

Coach said to fake right
And break left
Watch out for the pick
And keep an eye on defense
Gotta run the give and go
And take the ball to the hole
But don't be afraid
To shoot the outside "J"

Just keep ya head in the game
Just keep ya head in the game

The Best In The Business Is Back In The Game. Coming Soon Transporter The High School Musical! Drive with two hands on both guns!


Click my post title for your Holiday Gift Giving!

Revisionist Thanksgiving & A Great Piece of Ass!

This Revisionist History is brought to us by Morgan Park resident Jim Hike, Veteran/Patriot/Daily Communicant and Kean Gas Station Coffee aficionado.

In early autumn of 1621, the 53 surviving Pilgrims celebrated their successful harvest, as was the English custom. During this time, "many of the Indians coming... amongst the rest their great king Massasoit, with some ninety men."

"our harvest being gotten in, our governour sent foure men on fowling, that so we might after a speciall manner rejoyce together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labours ; they foure in one day killed as much fowle, as with a little helpe beside, served the Company almost a weeke, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Armes, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoyt, with some ninetie men, whom for three dayes we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five donkies, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governour, and upon the Captaine and others. And although it be not always so plentifull, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so farre from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plentie."

Plmouth Colony

MASSASOIT _ GREAT SACHEM OF WAMPANOAg: Scores of Wampanoag warriors and maidens
ALDEN : John
ALLERTON : Isaac with children Bartholomew, Mary, Remember; the Allerton servant William Latham
BILLINGTON : John & Eleanor with sons Francis, John Jr.
BRADFORD : William
BREWSTER : William & Mary with sons Love, Wrestling; their ward Richard More
BROWNE / BROWN : Peter
CARVER: The Carver ward Desire Minter; the Carver servant John Howland; the Carver maidservant Dorothy.
CHILTON : Mary
COOKE : Francis with son John
CRACKSTON : John
EATON : Francis with son Samuel
ELY: Unknown adult man
FULLER : Samuel with nephew Samuel 2d
GARDINER : Richard
GOODMAN : John
HOPKINS : Stephen & Elizabeth with Giles, Constance, Damaris, Oceanus; their servants Edward Doty and Edward Leister.
MULLINS : Priscilla
ROGERS : Joseph
STANDISH : Myles
TILLEY : Elizabeth
TILLEY: Tilley wards Humility Cooper and Henry Samson
TREVOR / TREVORE : William
WARREN : Richard
WINSLOW : Edward & Susanna with her sons Resolved White & Peregrine White; Winslow servant George Soule
WINSLOW : Gilbert


Massasoit - 'In the Name of the Great Spirit who centers our lives accept this -a little tawny or dun-coloured four legged animal. A creature of great might and mighty great tasting!

John Alden - 'We had expected a large bird, but this is wonderful!'


Massasoit - Well, Bon apetit! That is what the Black Robes parlayed when offered this feast! Them Frenchies ate like they were going to the Chair!'

John Alden - 'You say this goes good with cornbread stuffing, sweet-spuds and cranberries, does it?'

Massasoit -'And How!'

John Alden - 'Mighty White of You, Massy!' ( stirring yet devout music rises as one and all partake)


. . . and from that day on to this we all enjoyed a great Piece of Ass!

Happy Black Friday!

Governor George Ryan - The Man I Know is a Very Good Man.

I first met George Ryan, in 1975 when I was a baby teacher/coach at Bishop McNamara in Kankakee - a Chicago 18th Ward Democrat in Republican Land. In Fact Mimi Shapiro asked me to run for City Clerk as a Democrat - I figured what the hell -good way to learn the town. George’s brother Tom was the Mayor. The GOP slated Gene Glenzinski for City Clerk and the Dad of one my wrestlers and a better man never pulled on socks.

The Race was a blast and we had frequent ‘debates’ and run-ins with the Machine. George Ryan was a lovely guy. One day while walking to work, up Brookmont from my apartment in White City near Washington Park. I saw guys replacing Democratic signs that had been knocked down. I asked one of the guys ‘What gives?’ He said, ‘ George said to get them back up. You guys are gonna get waxed anyway.’ Laughed my butt off.

The Democratic slate was slaughtered, in fact I got the most votes -novelty votes for the kid, I imagine.

George Ryan was present wherever anyone from Kankakee, especially his political opponents, were in a jam or suffering. I saw George Ryan at St. Mary's Hospital visiting dying relatives of people who hated him politically. George Ryan had time for everyone. He was the reason why the Kankakee GOP was so successful and it was because he genuinely cared for people. The only person nicer than George Ryan is his bride Lura Lynn. That woman was everywhere!

I never once voted for George Ryan. Oh Hell, I'm a Party Democrat . . . I was anyway. I backed candidates who wouldn't give a penny to starving blind man . . .they would enact Programs for Hungry Blind and Indigent . . .once elected.

I have met George Ryan at many wakes and weddings, in Kankakee and Joliet. He is a very nice man. I’d buy the man a steak any day, at Ken’s in my neighborhood, or Krapil’s, or Franconello’s or some such homey place reminiscent of Kings Court and Town and Country in Kankakee, if he’d allow me. George Ryan did not seem to match Gibson’s or Tavern on Rush or the other news-ghoul & hustler eateries. These other fore mentioned places are where George Ryan’s people eat.

The type of people who go to Ken’s and other neighborhood dining spots are the people George Ryan connected to - not political allies, hangers-on or opportunists, but people like Ryan himself. I witnessed quite a few of George Ryan’s many acts of kindness to people who could never do any political boon for anyone - let alone George Ryan - too numerous to catalog. He treated Joe Blow from the docks at Tenney Sales on 5th Ave. in Kankakee like he was a Sam Zell with an ink wet contribution check.

Conversely, I have followed the words of many familiar voices in print that have universally called for a mighty punishment on George Ryan - most of the people writing those words seem like people that I can do without. John Kass and Tom Roeser are the only two valid voices of anti-Ryan sentiment in my opinion - there are others to be sure, mostly regular folks and I respect their feelings.

However, there are many more, mostly media creatures. who are stone hypocrites -DuPage GOP ‘almost weres and fatuous Polka Partners like Judy Topinka who could not get snug enough in George’s back pockets when he was flush with clout and now stomp on his crippled limbs.

It seemed to me that Ryan’s Judge and Federal Prosecutors were going to get George Ryan come Hell, Highwater, or the lady with the blindfold. and they did - the voices in print ( paper and electronic) - sock-puppets or anonymous back-shooters for the most part - howl in genuine agony that George Ryan has the same rights as other citizens. ‘The quicker he is in jail the happier I’ll be’ read one such post, or ‘Ryan can rot in Hell’. Must be a lovely people . . . to avoid.

Pardon George Ryan

Pardon George Ryan.

The Sun Times offers a chronicle of the George Ryan Trial read the chronology. It was a clown opera.

One man and one man alone brought down George Ryan. Joe Powers a great attorney took the case of the Willis Family who lost their children in horrific accident - it was an accident. Joe Powers put his heart and soul into his advocacy of this suffering family. God Bless Joe Powers for his skill,courage and conviction.

George Ryan was convicted by Joe Powers long before Federal Prosecutor Fitzgerald or Judge Pallmeyer galumphed their way through the motions.

Here is what I wrote at the time of the conviction of George Ryan in Federal Court.

George Ryan was prosecuted and convicted in a Federal Case that seemed like a Show Trial, right out of Joe Stalin's playbook. I hope that Judge Michael Kanne's dissent leads to a more balanced hearing than the one Ryan received in 7th District Appeals Court.

I have met George Ryan at many wakes and weddings, in Kankakee and Joliet. He is a very nice man. I'd buy the man a steak any day, at Ken's, Krapil's, Franconello's or some such homey place reminiscent of Kings Court and Town and Country in Kankakee, if he'd allow me. George Ryan did not seem to match Gibson's or Tavern on Rush or the other news-ghoul & hustler eateries. These other fore mentioned places are where George Ryan's people eat.

The type of people who go to Ken's and other neighborhood dining spots are the people George Ryan connected to - not political allies, hangers-on or opportunists, but people like Ryan himself. I witnessed quite a few of George Ryan's many acts of kindness to people who could never do any political boon for anyone - let alone George Ryan - too numerous to catalog. He treated Joe Blow from the docks at Tenney Sales on 5th Ave. in Kankakee like he was a Sam Zell with an ink wet contribution check. Conversely, I have followed the words of many familiar voices in print that have universally called for a mighty punishment on George Ryan - most of the people writing those words seem like people that I can do without.

It seemed to me that Ryan's Judge and Federal Prosecutors were going to get George Ryan come Hell, Highwater, or the lady with the blindfold. and they did - the voices in print ( paper and electronic) - sock-puppets or anonymous back-shooters for the most part - howl in genuine agony that George Ryan has the same rights as other citizens. 'The quicker he is in jail the happier I'll be' read one such post. Must be a lovely person.

Progressives had a little thing they called reign of terror in post-Revolutionary France and Russia: kept folks scared and in 'Oh,I Agree' mode. Like-minded later-day Defarges and Berias still scream for blood and toss rose petals at the feet of their Jurists and Prosecutors with more tracks to their railroad than William S. Burroughs' inner forearm, legs and toes - but that's just me.

Pardon George Ryan.

Urine a Good Place, or Pees Be with You Two: Ripped from the DUI Files of County Kerry

micturate - from the Latin: to urinate

The Law is Merciful and as blind as the Judge doling it out it seems. Here is a case for consumption . . .perhaps that was it's cause from the DUI Page of The Kerryman!
Drivers saved by the steam of their pee

By KEVIN HUGHES


Wednesday November 19 2008

TWO drink driving cases were thrown out of a Kerry court last week after the presiding judge ruled that the steam of the drivers' pee could have affected their alcohol readings.

Timothy O'Sullivan, of 12 An Turinn Linn, Milltown, and Patrick Keane, of Dromore, Farranfore, were last week before Killorglin District Court on separate charges of drink driving.

The law requires that a person suspected of drink driving must be observed by a garda for 20 minutes before being breath tested at a garda station. They must not take anything by mouth during this period.

Based on their legal requirement, Judge James O'Connor ruled that when each defendant went to the toilet at the garda station, they could have inhaled steam from their urine, making the observation period and the 'nil-by-mouth' rule null and void.

Solicitor Padraig O'Connell confined his defence to the observation period, arguing that both clients had used the toilet to urinate, thereby interrupting the 20minute period. It was suggested that a new 20minute observation period should have commenced upon their return from the toilet.

Sgt English told the they were using the urinal.

The court was told that Mr O'Sullivan, who returned a breath alcohol reading of 57mg on February 2, had used the urinal seven minutes into the observation period.

Mr Keane, who had requested the toilet after the first minute of the observation period, returned a reading of 37mgs when tested on May 5. The reading was just two milligrams over the legal alcohol limit.

The defence argued that observation at the urinal was of the defendants' backs, and that the garda could not see their mouths at the time.

Mr O'Connell also queried what the precedent was when a female was involved. Sgt English responded that the observation period would have to begin again and agreed that he would do this in future.

In giving his decision, Judge O'Connor stated that the purpose of the 20-minute period is to ensure nothing is taken by mouth that may affect the reading.

"Nil by mouth is the same as nil by nose," the judge stated. "When he is urinating he is inhaling vapourised alcohol and there's always steam off it."

Judge O'Connor then commented that the point comes up time and again. "If the State did its work we wouldn't have to do this each time," he added.

- KEVIN HUGHES

de fide et officio iudicis non recipitur quaestio