Forget the Special Election - 1. Senator Burris is Just That - Senator 2. The Governor Appoints Vacancies - Gov. Quinn, Appoint a Republican!

There is a great deal of talk about replacing Senator Burris only a score so of days into his appointed term of office. My pal John Rubery, Illinois' Marathon Pundit with a National reputation for insight and raising poignant political issues to the fore, wants a Special Election:

Sheesh. The people of our state could have been spared this. Forgive me for repeating myself, but since the mainstream media isn't doing it's job, I have to yell this out again: After Rod Blagojevich was arrested for allegedly attempting to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat, Durbin called for a special election to decide Obama's replacement. But Durbin, who at first not want to spare the people of Illinois this mess, was more concerned about keeping this seat in Democratic hands. So Durbin the coward flip-flopped. It's sickening.
Burris: Resign now.

And we want a special election!

Hold on there, Rubes. 'We' as in the Roland Burris-Papal We - could do without it. We - that's me. Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold* agrees,'The controversies surrounding some of the recent gubernatorial appointments to vacant Senate seats make it painfully clear that such appointments are an anachronism that must end. In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution gave the citizens of this country the power to finally elect their senators. They should have the same power in the case of unexpected mid term vacancies, so that the Senate is as responsive as possible to the will of the people. I plan to introduce a constitutional amendment this week to require special elections when a Senate seat is vacant, as the Constitution mandates for the House, and as my own state of Wisconsin already requires by statute. As the Chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee, I will hold a hearing on this important topic soon.'




We do not need a Special Election. Illinois Constitution holds that the power to appoint vacancies in office lies with the Governor.Adopted by Constitutional Convention September 3, 1970 Ratified by vote of the People December 15, 1970 and
became effective upon Admission July 1, 1971. Sorry guys. That is the Constitution.

Now, lawyers might think otherwise - I am sure. Roland Burris was Illinois' Top Lawyer for Years and I do believe that he will sit on the 'Golden Thing' - the U.S. Senate Seat until his term runs out. Why not? He should. It is his right and it is legal.

Now, Governor Quinn painted over Blago's name all over the State Tollway System. Fine. Now, if and when Sen. Burris decides to resign ( as if!), Governor Quinn, the Breath of Fresh Air in Illinois, should appoint a Republican.

He would be an example to our nation and a Governor of Illinois. We have not had one in about eight years, or so.


*http://www.care2.com/causes/politics/blog/fill-senate-vacancies-by-elections-not-gubernatorial-appointments/

Spencer Thayer - Your You Tube Police Activist! I'm Here to Help, Spence!

As in all things, God works wonders through His people on earth! Nice work to David Heinzmann and Jeremy Gorner, Tribune Reporters for giving all of us - Spencer Thayer*!

http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2009/02/sun-times-with-don-hayner-great-divide.html
Shucks these are all just simple, uncomplex little old ( who works everyday in a very high crime neighborhood) me's thoughts on today's Video Activist Hero - Spencer Thayer!

Spencer Thayer went You Tube on a Police Officer involved in the proper ( I watched it several times) execution of his duties to serve and protect the Citizens of Chicago.

Spencer wants Chicago to 'Bash Back!' Bash away Chicago!

Activist and Video Journalist SPENCER THAYER!

There is an Andy Thayer who works for Lawsuit Lotto Lawyer Jon Loevy - Andy Thayer is a Gay/Anti-War/Anti-Cop Activists who is as prominent in publicity for social activism issues as the Caveman in Insurance ads. I gotta wonder if Spencer Thayer is any relation to Andy Thayer who works for Jon Loevy who sues the Chicago Police weekly - following a Sun Times story or stories.

That's just the old close-knit ethnic south side of me - shucks, we think everyone is a cousin! Aren't they though?


Well, Spencer Thayer, here is your time in the spot light. I sure hope that I can be of some very small help in this matter!

* when I posted early this morning I had NO idea who the video journalist might be and lo and behold - it is Spencer Thayer! From this AM's post -'I hope that the little 'Can I Have Your Badge Number?' Twerp who decided to be some body with his Indie Film meets Calvin Urine Britches as a bus mate every day for the rest of his snotty life and Calvin's Posse - including the more violent and larcenous. But that's just me. I have a Nuanced sense of humor.'

http://network.certmag.com/profile/SpencerThayer

Sharpton Steals Chimp Image from Irish Americans - Outrageous!

Race-baiting shakedown Artiste Rev. Al 'Crown Heights' Sharpton and Bluesman 'Blind Guv' Paterson are trying to gin-up Victimhood for Black Americans.

However, Al and Blind Guv need to steal America's coveted use of Chimpanzees to portray Irish Catholic Americans. Fair is Fair! No Justice No Peace! No Piece No Pie!

A cartoon satire about the goof whose Chimp mauled her friend appeared in the New York Post. Rev. Al took off on the Victimhood Jet! He said Chimps are meant to portray Black Americans.

Not so. The Simian Identity is long the domain of American disdain for Irish Catholic Americans. From Nast to Arby's* Irish Catholic Americans are associated with Apes.

However, Aland Blind Guv and the entire Black-sploitation Industry is attempting a theft of this Catholic Celtic Iconography.

Sybil Mimy Johnson, who teaches African studies courses at Hofstra University, said the cartoon recalls a history of unflattering comparisons of African-Americans to primates.

"If you go back to Jim Crow and you go back to the whole depiction of cartoons then, it was demeaning for African-Americans, calling them animals," she said. "This is extremely insensitive and it reaches back to those old wounds."

"How could The Post let this cartoon pass as satire?" said Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists. "To compare the nation's first African-American commander-in-chief to a dead chimpanzee is nothing short of racist drivel."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to comment on the cartoon Wednesday. "I have not seen the cartoon," he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama returned to Washington from Arizona, where he announced his plan to deal with the foreclosure crisis. "But I don't think it's altogether newsworthy reading the New York Post."

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's spokesman said the senator "found the Post cartoon offensive and purposefully hurtful. She believes this type of cartoon serves no productive role in the public discourse."

Spokespeople for Sen. Charles Schumer, Assemb. Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D- St. Albans) declined to comment on the cartoon.

Hazel Dukes, president of the New York NAACP, called the cartoon "outrageous."

Outrageous Indeed!

Chimps are historically the image of Irish Catholic Americans. This is OUR Victimhood. Outrageous!

Oh, that's right! In post racial America, history** is to be forgotten. Victimhood is Copyrighted.

* http://www.videosift.com/video/Monkey-Riverdance
**http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/omalley/120/alien/ape.jpg&imgrefurl=http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/omalley/120/alien/three.html&usg=__ibuIj5LTlcvKuJqMABOQD6rB6GM=&h=644&w=548&sz=35&hl=en&start=21&sig2=GPsFzb2HCqn0125EjNeoIQ&um=1&tbnid=zn1f5ntakAJ7wM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=117&ei=OHKdSdexA5KMsQOymLy7Bw&prev=/images%3Fq%3DIrish%2Bas%2BApes%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-US%26sa%3DN

Sun Times With Don Hayner - The Great Divide Will Continue!

The Sun Times will continue to pour out Police Tales of Horror/Real and Imagined/help Lawsuit Lotto Lawyers Sue the City and County/Insult Citizens Not on the Acceptable Advocacy Alliance List - i.e. Mount Greenwood/Morgan Park/Beverly and other white ethnic Catholic neighborhoods will be presented only in the light of implied racial hatred and crypto-Nazi inclinations.

That is too bad.

This morning's front page offering was of a Policeman tossing a louse who had not paid the fair and had been targeted for removal by the CTA driver. The bus on West Division did not move, but a citizen filmed the removal. The Cop uses strong language. Heavens! You mean like on Bill Maher? I have seen Trappist monks get more pissed off than this Officer.

I hope that the little 'Can I Have Your Badge Number?' Twerp who decided to be some body with his Indie Film meets Calvin Urine Britches as a bus mate every day for the rest of his snotty life and Calvin's Posse - including the more violent and larcenous. But that's just me. I have a Nuanced sense of humor.

As for the Police Officer and his subsequent sit-down with the Blue Noses on The Review Board - 'Nothing to see here folks!' Most Chicagoans would love to see this man's commanding presence on more buses and L's.

Well, they would not say so in print.

This is another example of the Chicago Sun Times agenda to undermine any and all confidence in law enforcement.

Do Chicago Citizens want Transportation in Chicago? Do human petre dishes like the gent in the video have carte blanche over Citizens?

Law Enforcement requires strong language and strong action over recalictrant crumbs.

With the appointment of Editor Don Hayner who made his bones with series of articles, upon which mega-race -baiter Mary Mitchell rode Hayner's back by the way, that perpetuate the geometry of race hate. Angles and borders of neighborhoods define what is in peoples' hearts. If you live in a black neighborhood, you are a victim of systemic racism. If you live in a white lower middle class Catholic neighborhood you are a foot soldier in systemic racism and are a racists.

Nuanced. Save your quarters folks. I was all set to buy the Sun Times again.

The Sun Times just put another bullet in the chamber as it plays Russian Roulette and plays out the clock.

In the mean time, heat up the hate!

Durbin 'The Greek' Schools Alexis Giannoulias at Reilly's Daughter Pub Before Taking Off for Greece!

Durbin - Listen Alexi

Giannoulias - Alexis - drink the Retsina slowly . . .

Durbin- If a woman sleeps alone, it puts a shame on all men.
A man needs a little madness...or else...he never dares cut the rope and be free. What kind of man are you? Don't you even like dolphins? Life is trouble. Only death is not.

Gianoulias- Senator . . .Dick . . . Retsina is potent . . .here give me your glass . . .No!!! Not the Metaxa!

Durbin -To be alive is to undo your belt and look for trouble.
On a dear man's door, you can knock forever! All right, we go outside where God can see us better.

Giannoulias - Dick . . .Sit Down! Senator, you might not be ready for Greece - look we are only at Reilly's Daughter in Midway and . . .

Durbin- Those damn cats!

Giannaoulias - Nancy Pelsoi . . .

Durbin - Silly old bitch. Why do the young die? Why does anybody die?
--What's the use of all your damn books if they can't answer that? --They tell me about the agony of men who can't answer questions like yours? --I spit on this agony!

Giannoulias- Senator, that is your second glass of Retsina on no food. Greeks can handle this but fire-water in the Irish is not so good. Boz O'Brien is coming over - please, keep it down.

Durbin -The lamb, it will burn! You are cruel! Boss, why did God give us hands? To grab. Well, grab! You think too much, that is your trouble. Clever people and grocers, they weigh everything. Oracle It was the dancing When my little boy Dimitri died…and everybody was crying… Me, I got up and I danced. They said, "Zorba is mad." But it was the dancing — only the dancing that stopped the pain.

Giannoulias - I have him Boz . . .he'll sleep on the plane

Sun Times Gets it Right - After Playing the Lefty Fool for Years

Ray Coffey should be the Standard for News writers and those who would call themselves Journalists. Ray's departure from the Chicago Sun Times was the starting gun for that paper's 90 degree plunge in credibility and honor. There might yet be hope for the Sun Times.

The Sun Times offered a sober look at the value of newspapers in yesterday's commentary.

No army of bloggers, no TV or radio station, no nonprofit journalism collective, no foundation-supported task force of political and government reporters will ever do the job so well.

The first Sun-Times exclusive hit the front page on Sunday: "Blago hit up Burris for cash." The reporters were Natasha Korecki, who covers the federal courts for the Sun-Times, and Dave McKinney, our Springfield bureau chief.

The real significance of that story was not that the brother of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich had asked Sen. Roland Burris for a sizable campaign contribution shortly before Blagojevich appointed Burris to Barack Obama's former Senate seat. No surprise there. That would be Blago's style.

The real story was that Burris had stated earlier in a Jan. 5 affidavit that he had talked to no one in the Blagojevich camp, and he had testified three days later at Blagojevich's impeachment trial that he had talked to just one person. More troubling, he never said a word about talk of money.

The real story, that is to say, is that Burris looks like a liar.

We know. That was why we quit buying the rag that bore the name - Sun Times. There are great newspaper people who have been chained to the oars of the Sun Times Sinking Ship Review for the last few years: Tim Novak, Steve Huntley, Dave McKinney, Natasha Korecki, and Kate Grossman. God love them. Tim Novak was like the Man in the Iron Mask during the last days of the Presidential Campaign. Maybe now, he can be let off the leash.

While the Sun Times has played at being a Revolutionary Organ committed to The Great Patriotic Proletarian Progress Paradee by Cheryl Reed, readers in my neighborhood and others in Chicago have pocketed the two-bit pieces.

My neighborhood, where crime happens due to the Thug Comfort Zone* that Sun Times helped create, has been insulted and caste as some kind of Third Reich Sculpture. The dampness on our backs is not rain or sweat but the dewy offerings of lazy writers and pop-eyed Advocacy nuts drawing pay from the Sun Times.

I was happy to see that the CEO and the publisher have taken their Golden Parachutes out of town.

Newspapers are essential to free Republic. Perhaps, the Sun Times will become one once again - now that the Jacobin Hat and Cap and Bells have been hung up on the hook.

*http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/search?q=Thug+Comfort+Zone

Hickey - What I Dream Can Come True!

A beautiful young woman of my acquaintance, asked me 'What goes on in that head of yours?'

Generally speaking - cartoon re-runs; recipes; Sandra Lee Fantasies; staged coups of selected local governments; revenge fantasies; footnotes; memoranda; and day dreams - Los Suenos Impossibles!

I wish Mankind well and individual dip-stick bipeds a personal hornet's nest in their skivvies.

I do not believe that Barbara Flynn-Curry looked at the late memo by Senator Burris that has caused him to be immortal - as a goof. There was no Democrat Plot to conceal - Burris tucked it in like a Kid with a bad report card is all.

I believe that Illinois Rep. James Durkin is the only hero in this Roland Burris mess, but GOP rivals, Democrats Progressives and hack journalists will try to do him some dirt and damn with faint praise.

I can not Believe that the GOP will blow this opportunity to retake a U.S. Senate Seat - but they will.

I believe that Rainier Beer is a fine Domestic Beer - one of my favorites along with Berghoff, Drewerys, Augsburger, Huber, Rhinelander, and Leinenkugle - and it can be captured by men of steely resolve and hearts of oak!

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Ma’s math leat sìth, càirdeas, agus cluain—éisd, faic,‘us fuirich sàmhach."

("If you wish peace, friendship, and quietness: listen, look, and be silent)

Sun Times Calls Quigley A Tool of Permutation!

The Sun Times - Chock Full of Ironies! Even in Endorsing Their Fatuous Dopes, Sun Times manages to blow off the toes of those they love!

The other day The Sun Times endorsed the Uriah Heep of Illinois Politics - The Terror of Tiny Town Himself, Mike Quigley, to fill Rahm Emmanuel's seat - with plenty of room to spare!


'Issues aside, what's perhaps most refreshing about Quigley is, oddly, his lack of political charm.

He doesn't exactly light up a room. Or even smile much. . . .Quigley is, in his own way, part of the same wave.A true instrument for change. Send him to Congress.'

'What is most refreshing about this blind date I have picked out for Damian is her almost complete lack of hygene and disdain for social convention - Why, Man, this morbidly obese girl -Farmers on the sidewalk, when her nasal passages get congested! She is utterly charming in the way she guzzles Louisiana Hot Sauce Frappes! Her scent is reminiscent of Old Chicago - the Stockyards in August or Gary, Indiana when war productivity was at its peak! Enchantingly Offensive!'

The Sun Times offers the voters of the 5th District its GIGI in Mike Quigley!

A True Instrument for Change -A Real Tool of Permutation! Send Quigley . . . Somewhere he will not get stepped on!'

Congress, a land of pygmies, might just be the place.

James 'Popeye' Durkin - 'IllinEYE Can't Stan's Na 'More!'

"I think it would be in the best interest of the state if he resigned because I don't think the state can stand this anymore.'' -- Illinois state Rep. Jim Durkin on Sen. Roland Burris.


Pencil -Neck Wit Eric Zorn is huffing out the Progressive Response - Ban the word 'Goo-Goo' as it makes fun of Progressive Good Government. Whenever there is a problem, the hysterical always have the solution at hand that requires someone else to do something. 'Somebody Do Something!' Eric Zorn offers that Everyone stops/stop saying Goo-goo and Good Government will happen! 'Like Unicorn Dust Showered on our Dandy Dell it will be so! Yes. Yes.' ( finger-tips touching ever so delicately)

Eric, Goo-goo is a word that makes fun of the hysterical.

Eric it is meant to do just that.

“Goo-goo,” as you may know, is a derisive term for advocates of reform. The New York Sun coined it in 1890s as a back of the hand to Good Government Clubs in New York City. Teddy Roosevelt picked it up and was quoted as referring to “those prize idiots, the goo-goos.”

It works well as a slur because the mash-up of the first letters in “good” and “government” is reminiscent both of “goody-goody”—a term for an insufferably well-behaved person—and of the gurgling sound made by infants.

Infants are naïve, trusting and innocent. Cynics apply these same adjectives to those who believe we can reduce graft, fraud, waste, patronage and nepotism in government.

Good Government is Ironic - in that, often, the very worst human beings want to improve government.

'When I see a Reformer, I hold on to my hat and put both hands into my pockets!'

'Kids, that's a Reformer - he'll steal your worst fears.'

Reform comes not from Committee Fiat by the labors of strong people - Illinois Rep. James Durkin is a fine example.

He is a quiet, 'who's he' kind of elected official - like Mary Flowers, Jackie Collins,Ed Maloney and Kevin Joyce among Democrats and Sandy Cole, Sue Bassi, Dan Cronin, Tom Cross across the aisle.

Jim Durkin nailed Roland Burris for allowing his ego to get the better of him by accepting Blago's lure of Senatorial Office. Too bad for Mr. Burris - instead of lasting fame as an effective and honest public servant, he will be treated to eternal scorn, laughter and ignominy as a stooge.

Jim Durkin, like Popeye, spinach-ed up and took a swing for Illinois. It was a knock-out punch.

Eric Zorn is marshaling the forces of napkin scorn to 'do away with another hurtful and nasty old word.'

Give me Popeye over Freddie Bartholomew, or Caspar Milquetoast any day. Goo-Goo. That Kills me.

Il. Rep. Jim Durkin - A Lion in Illinois

“An army of asses led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by an ass” George Washington

Here in Illinois the public imagination is too often overwhelmed by the number and quality of asses in public service. Mindless trimmers and fatuous dummies flock to elected office and seek out the news media.

Most public servants are solid women and men. The best of them appear in crises and get things done.

Republican James Durkin is one such Illinois Representative. When he picked apart Roland Burris and his three attorneys during the Impeachment hearings of Rod Blagojevich, Roe Conn and his posse laughed at Durkin on WLS. 'I can not believe this guy is lawyer!'

However Durkin was the only serious challenge to Burris by any political Party's official.

Today, it appears that Jim Durkin is a the lion among the asses.

"I can't believe anything that's coming from Mr. Burris, at this point," said State Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs). "... I think it would be in the best interest of the state if he resigned."

"If you have that much of a memory problem, maybe you shouldn't be in the United States Senate, on a capacity basis," added state Republican leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego.)

The comments come in the wake of the Feb. 5 amended affidavit that Burris, a Democrat, quietly sent to Impeachment Investigative Committee Chair Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago.)

In the new affidavit, Burris said that former governor Rod Blagojevich's brother, Robert Blagojevich, called him three times seeking fundraising assistance.

In addition, Burris said he spoke with three other close associates of the governor and a labor leader with ties to the Blagojevich administration about being appointed to the Senate. Burris previously acknowledged only having spoken to one such friend.

"We talked about transparency, we talked about ethics," Durkin said at the downtown Chicago news conference Sunday afternoon. "The fact is, we're getting a continuously changing story from Mr. Burris."

Durkin said he would ask the now-dormant impeachment committee to refer the matter to Sangamon County State's Atty. John Schmidt, a Republican. Durkin and Cross said that if the committee does not seek the criminal investigation, they might ask for one themselves.

'It's Curtains, Senator! Awwwww, Look at Him. . .' - Il. Rep. Jim Durkin'd Snuff Him

Click my post Title for Rep. Jim Durkin's talk about Burris's fibs - it seems.

Jim Durkin was the ONLY elected official during Our Impeachment ( HiJacking) who put the hot coals to Senator Tombstone Burris. Now, as in all things Hopeful and Change-Er -Ific we find that Roland Burris might ahave tweaked the the truth just a ton.
Seems like Burris is curtains - Don't bet on it Roland is too cute to scoot! Reid, Pelosi, Durbin and Todd are enchanted by the cute and fuzzy Junior Senator from Illinois.

But . . . weeks ago . . . Illinois Representative Jim Durkin had Roland Burris nailed to the carpet:

Durkin: At any time were you directly or indirectly aware of a quid pro quo with the governor for the appointment of this vacant Senate seat?

Burris: No sir.

Durkin: Ok. If you were aware of a quid pro quo, what would you have done?

(Burris's lawyer calls it a hypothetical question and inappropriate. Durkin calls it "highly relevant" and what his response would have been. Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) says his response to something that did not occur was "irrelevant" and "speculative." Durkin says its "germane" to the hearing and a "reasonable request" of what he would have done. Burris' lawyer says Burris will respond because he wants to be "clear and open.")

Burris: Rep. Durkin, knowing my ethics, I would not participate in anybody's quid pro quo. I've been in government for 20 years and never participated in anybody's quid pro quo.

Durkin: I guess the point is, would you have gone to the federal authorities if you were aware of that?

Burris: I have no response to that.

Burris will continue as Senator. However, if Jim Durkin keeps pouring it on . . . hold the phone! Burris* it seems does that anyway.



*
Paging Roland Burris: Constituents Finding New Senator Hard To Reachview more from: Politics / LiberalHuffington Post (last week)llinois residents anxious to share their thoughts with newly-appointed Sen. Roland Burris are finding it's not an easy task. Wayne Lovern, of Chatham, said he called Burris' office in Washington five times on

http://regator.com/p/124183255/paging_roland_burris_constituents_finding_new_senator_hard/

The Kissing Science Cold Sore- Lay Off The Lips!

President Obama, in his Inauguration Speech said 'We will restore science to its rightful place . . .' The Chem Lab. Leave it there.

The Lips of Science?

Chemicals in the saliva may be a way to assess a mate, Wendy Hill, dean of the faculty and a professor of neuroscience at Lafayette College, told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Friday.

In an experiment, Hill explained, pairs of heterosexual college students who kissed for 15 minutes while listening to music experienced significant changes in their levels of the chemicals oxytocin, which affects pair bonding, and cortisol, which is associated with stress. Their blood and saliva levels of the chemicals were compared before and after the kiss.

Both men and women had a decline in cortisol after smooching, an indication their stress levels decline

Lay off the Lips, Labcoat! This is the Lab of Love! Take the Osculator to the Next Floor!

St. Valentine's Bones Buried in Dublin, Ireland - My Misdeeds Rest Too Comfortably Above Ground.

If Love means 'Never Having to Say You're Sorry,' then the Irish are screwed, blued and tattooed.

Jesus, I am Sorry about 86 times a day and before 8AM.

I have a pluperfect penchant for missteps, malfunctions, maledictions, and malpractice; but, I run empty on malice.

My misdeeds tend to be sins of omission - Omit thought, planning or the feelings of another. I am Sorry. To paraphrase Boxing Great Billy Conn upon losing to Joe Louis after dominating the Champ the whole fight only to be knocked out for not being cautious, 'What's the Point of Being Irish If You Can't Be Sorry ( Stupid)?'

Celto-centrist I am not. However, there was an interesting story about the recent findings in Dublin, Ireland. ( click my post title)

It appears that St. Valentine, who received no goods or services in exchange for the flowers, sweets and posted Love notes worldwide to morrow, was buried in Dublin ( re-interred more correctly) in the last century. This from Irish News and Events correspondent Dermot O'Gara

Was St Valentine a true blue Dub?
by Dermot O'Gara

JUST about everybody knows that St Valentine is the patron saint of lovers. You may have known that he was a priest in Rome in the third century, and if you're really on top of your game, you may even have been aware that he died in jail, but you probably didn't know that his final resting place is Dublin.


In fact the good priests of the Carmelite Order have been looking after his remains in their priory in Whitefriar St, just off Aungier St in Dublin, for over 160 years.

We have a good deal of information about St Valentine, but separating the fact from the legend is a bit like trying to separate a teenage couple at a school disco.

Fertility festival
It seems he was martyred in 269, supposedly for marrying couples against the wishes of Emperor Claudius II who felt that single men made better soldiers. Legend would have it that he died for his faith on February 14th of that year, and that this is why we celebrate him on that day. However, it's likely that the fact that we celebrate St Valentine at this time of year is more to do with the ancient Roman spring fertility festival of Lupercalia, which like many other pagan holidays was christianised when in 498 Pope Gelasius decreed that February 14th would be St Valentine's Day.

But how did a Roman Martyr, who had never even set foot in what was later to become an island of saints and scholars, end up in a Dublin church.

In the 1820' and 30's, a Carmelite priest by the name of John Spratt had earned a reputation for his work with the destitute citizens of Dublin's Liberties. A man of apparently boundless energy, Spratt started the building process of the Carmelite church in nearby Whitefriar St in 1825.

Exhumed
Ten years later, he was invited to speak at the Jesuit Church in Rome, the Gesu. The elite of Rome came to hear him, including representatives of Pope Gregory XVI. As a token of recognition of the work of Spratt, the Pope ordered the exhumation of the remains of St Valentine from St Hippolytus cemetery near Rome to be shipped to Whitefriar St Church, in Dublin.

In November 1836, the remains were received with great pomp and ceremony, but with the death of Spratt some years later, the remains ceased to be of major public interest.

Some 40 years ago however, they were restored to the public eye having gathered dust for decades in the nether regions of the priory, and are now featured in a purpose-built shrine in the church itself.

This year on February 14th, at 11am and 3.15pm, as has become customary, there will be a special celebration of St Valentine in the place where he now rests, Whitefriar St Church. Carmelite priest, Fr Tony McKenny will celebrate mass and conduct a ring blessing ceremony for engaged and married couples.

People I Love often hear I am sorry.

Quinn Reform Commission Urges Politicians -'Steal Alot Less!'

Ill. reform commission urges elected officials to 'Steal Less!'
Asso Press

3:07 PM CST, February 11, 2009

CHICAGO - Gov. Patrick Quinn's reform commission has urged him to take immediate action to make Illinois government officials Steal Alot Less.

"The use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain is not good. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption, but it is not very nice. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties," chairman Patrick Collins said Wednesday in a letter to Quinn.

The commission's report isn't due until April, but Collins says it's important for Quinn to act now because its "preliminary findings give us serious concerns Bribery, Graft,Patronage, Nepotism and Cronyism, Unholy Alliances, Patronage, Kickbacks, and Embezelment shall be frowned upon."

The commission urged Quinn to issue an order requiring state agencies to comply with the Illinois Freedom of Information Act by responding to requests quickly and with "a presumption of disclosure and asking elected Officials Not to Steal Too Much."

Despite admonitions from the Illinois ACLU, Illinois Progressives and Illinois Archbishop for Atheists, Robert Sherman, who remain very concerned that taking one of the recommendations from the Decalogue might constitute a serious Church and State conflict; however, the Commission is resolved to continue its study and deteremine that Stealing is Bad.

Progress Illinois and University of Chicago - Is there an Agreement to be Agreeable?

Josh and Adam and Angela and their guest artists contributors have a swell album that will rival anything Pete Seeger - The Lefty Red Skelton ( or is it Skeleton?) on Banjo - and Bruce Springsteen - The Boss Man Wobbly - could cook up to get all Tom Joad on us! It's the Republic Windows Revival! Sing it!

You know the business that went toes up when Bank of America yanked its loan back before Christmas every political cockroach ( Gutierrez, Quigley, Blagojevich) in Illinois stood solidarity with the poor folks who lost work.

The workers won a small victory against the company, but Bank of America rolls on!

Progress Illinois ( SEIU's Mickey Mouse Club for the kids of Lefty Activists) seems to trumpet Republic Windows as its own idea, when in fact it was United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers who represented Republic - much the same as Teamsters Local 743 at University of Chicago Medical Center which closed its doors on TWICE the number of workers as Republic Windows.

What's Going On? - as Marvin Gaye was wont to say. Is there some 'Make Nice Clause' in the agreement between the SEIU workers at UCMC and The Hyde University? Hmmmmmmmmm?

Why is Progress Illinois Silent? Just asking.

Progress Illinois ( SEIU) Attempts to Explain Absence During Uof C Med Center Lay -Off!

Click my post title as there is yet any coverage of the protests at University of Chicago Medical Center's lay off of 450 works ( Teamsters Local 743 and according to a UCMC official many SEIU rank and file members).

Crowing over the Republic Windows flatulence in a Tsunami, like former Governor Blagojevich and the Uriah Heep of Politics Mike Quigley, Progress Illinois attempts to take a sissy slap at John Fritchey - and misses high wide and handsome!

The Republic Windows sit-in began on Friday, December 5. Elected officials were making appearances at the factory by Sunday, December 7 to show their support. And on Monday, December 8, numerous alderman, along with Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, introduced ordinances to hold Bank of America (Republic Windows' creditor) accountable for cutting off financing to the company before the workers could be paid the wages they were owed. But it wasn't until Tuesday, December 9 that Gov. Blagojevich was arrested, setting the ultimate impeachment proceedings into motion. By the end of the following day, an agreement had been reached resolving the Republic Windows dispute.

So that excuse seems a bit off.

Jeepers try not and be a bit off.

Okay, Young Commissars, how about picking up a picket sign and hitting the line for a few hours in your Birkenstocks? Before, you get all Joe Hill on a an elected official work on them leg muscles.

SEIU's Progress Illinois Has Got NUTHIN on U. of C. Strikers - Too Busy Preening about Republic Windows and Squealing to the Feds?

Too bad this guy's union does not respect him,. . . or anyone else. Teamster Local 743 is doing all the heavy-lifting here. Doesn't SEIU have employees affected by the lay-offs at UCMC?

Have SEIU rank & file gotten dumped by University of Chicago Medical Center? NBC Website is all over it. Progress Illinois - ZERO!''

SEIU is a PAC. It uses union dues to buy politica hacks - SEIU bought Blago and recenty purchased Sara Feigenholz for 5th Congressional District. Thus,

SEIU was an early supporter of Blagojevich and his biggest campaign contributor. But Balanoff said he was not involved in any wrongdoing and does not fear the investigation into alleged corruption in state government.

“I am not a target. I am not a subject. I’m not worried one bit,” he said.

Inspiring words from a Leader, those.

However, if SEIU rank and file workers laid off by UCMC with Local 743 want to see some coverage they need to go - not to their paid for site, but NBC

Here's the Post Listing for Progress Illinois during this strike's first day!- SEIU's Marxist Mickey Mouse Club.

IL-5: Feigenholtz Says Daley Should Release Full Wishlist, Quigley Touts Republic Windows Stand
The Most Important Chart You'll Read All Day
Around The Horn
Durbin Recommends Callahan For U.S. Agriculture Post
The Stimulus Czar
IL-5: SEIU Endorses Feigenholtz, Quigley Wants More Transit, Nurses Support Geoghegan
The Fight For School Construction Funds
Facebook Petition Takes Aim At Daley's "Great Chicago Sell-Off"
The Early Bird: February 10, 2009
On Fox Chicago, Roskam Repeats Debunked Anti-Stimulus Argument

They have an answer to everything - racism, sexism, gay & lesbianism, new historicism, classism.

Too bad they never seem to have an answer to exactly what in the hell their membership gets for their dues.

Mike Quigley Out Front For Credit With Republic Windows -SEIU's Retro-Flint Sit-Down

Yes Sir! Bruce Springsteen is Joe Hill and Wee Mike Quigley plays Big Bill Haywood in SEIU's Imaginary Labor Pantheon.

These goofs are priceless! Talk to any real Union Man or Woman about Real Labor Struggles and they would laugh these Marxist Playactors out of the room.

In Other Imaginary Labor News - SEIU Illinois's Leader is 'Cooperating' with the Feds concerning SEIU pet and do-all Governor Milorod Blagojevich - it seems that Rod is not the Governor SEIU knew and used.

SEIU was an early supporter of Blagojevich and his biggest campaign contributor. But Balanoff said he was not involved in any wrongdoing and does not fear the investigation into alleged corruption in state government.

“I am not a target. I am not a subject. I’m not worried one bit,” he said.

Studs Terkel would have loved this Labor Re-Enactors imitation of John L. Lewis!
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/02/top-labor-leader-cooperating-in-blagojevich-probe.html

Jerry Morrison/ SEIU (not verified) on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 18:29


Even though my union has endorsed Sara Feigenholtz in this race I agree that Commissioner Quigley deserves a big shout-out for the position he took on the Republic Window crisis. I spoke witrh Mike over the weekend and by Monday morning ( in eqarly December) he had drafted a county ordinance taking Bank of America to task over their treatment of the Republic workers.

Vultures Meet Mrs. Nancy Kelly of Cook County Sheriff's Police

An Old Irish Song talks about a heroic woman - Gráinne Mhaol ( Grace O'Malley.

A bhuí le Rí na bhFeart go bhfeiceam,
mura mbeam beo ina dhiaidh ach seachtain,

May it please the God of Miracles that we may see,
Although we only live a week after it,

Nancy Kelly routed three urban commandos, who attempted to rob her of her purse. The Vultures, are 'crimes of opportunity' specialists who commit crimes of violence and property crimes due to PC nonsense and because they feel entitled to do so. These Vultures flourish in the political climate that I like to call the Thug Comfort Zone.

These goofs picked the wrong woman.

They took a quick look at her, a grandmother of three, and probably thought, "easy target."

What the suspected thieves didn't know was that their target was a tough, ready-to-rumble Cook County sheriff's police sergeant.

So when Nancy Kelly, 61, suspected that Karen Cannon swiped her wallet at an Oak Lawn Panera Bread restaurant Friday evening, Kelly confronted the woman nearly half her age with her fists and some hair-pulling.

"I grabbed her by the collar from the back and spun her around," said Kelly, who works at court services at the Criminal Courts Building in Chicago. "I told her, 'You picked the wrong person today. I'm a sheriff's officer. Give me my wallet now.' "

Heart warming and good for the heart as well!

Oak Lawn police arrived at the scene after Kelly directed her friend, schoolteacher Carolyn Nissen, to call 911. Cannon and Anthony had fled with a third woman, Joyce McClellan, 35, in a Mercury Sable, shortly before police arrived, according to Michael Kaufmann, Oak Lawn's chief of detectives. But Nissen and another woman saw the car's license plate, and it was soon caught, Kelly said.

Dumas, held down by onlookers, was apprehended on the scene, Kaufmann said. The four suspects, all from Chicago, were charged with robbery.

Kaufmann said it appeared that the four were involved in more robberies - pointing to an ID for an 86-year-old woman who was pick-pocketed outside the Panera last Thursday and five purses that officers found in Cannon's purse and the getaway vehicle.

"They were vultures, and they were waiting for their victims. They picked the wrong victim (Friday)," Kaufmann said.

Kelly and Nissen did get to eat their sandwiches. But Kelly's adrenaline still flowed.

"I think my blood pressure was up a little. I went home and cleaned my condo in 10 minutes," she said.

Thank you , Nancy Kelly!

May it please the God of Miracles that we may see ( a deed of courage like yours), Although we only live a week after it

Residency, Presidency, Cook County Needs Vallas

The nuanced voices are stacatto signalling caveats to Paul Vallas who announced thoughts of returning to Cook County and help fix the clown opera directed by Todd Stroger.

Todd Stroger was placed in the purple plush seat by some very nuanced thinkers in the Democratic Party who read in the tea leaves that Paul Vallas might, just might mind you, upset plans for off spring and even solidly emplaced 'powers that is.'

Paul Vallas was abandoned by the Democratic Leadership in Chicago and Cook County when he ran against Milorod Blagojevich, a shameless gate-crasher with clout, for Governor of Illinois.

Last week, Mark Brown of the Sun Times offered a nuanced reflection of Democrats turned Republican Past who failed in their bids at elected office in racially charged election cycles. I imagine that Brown had a Nuanced Chat with Quigley about Paul Vallas and Quigley, not to be brought up short(er) by a formidable man like Vallas jumped up to Brown's willing ears. Brown's nuances were deftly batted aside by Paul Vallas. Race is The Place for Nuanced Hack. Race works and so does Residency.

Today, Kristen McQueary, kind of a neighborhood girl, nuances the residency card:

Once again if he runs, he'll be doing it having not lived here for some time. He and his wife bought a home in Palos Heights, but Vallas spends most weeks in the bayou.

Maybe that means he still lives in Philly, according to his calculus.

How about this: Paul Vallas runs for office like a big boy, following all the rules. If he's a Democrat, he runs as a Democrat. We're kind of tired of schemes around here.

If Vallas runs for GOP Cook County Board president, he hasn't ruled out also running for a commissioner seat on the 17-member Cook County Board. That's how John Stroger did it. He held a commissioner seat, and therefore had a vote, while also serving as board president.

Todd Stroger opted not to run for a commissioner seat; he serves only as board president and does not have a vote.

In 2002, Paul took the Philly job and Sharon and the kids remained here and tried to sell their house. By 2005, most people in Illinois wished that they could have had a Governor Do-Over, as Joliet Land-Fill Rod had fallen out with Dick Mell and many others. Vallas sold his Morgan Park neighborhood home at 25$% West 107th Street, because the brilliant Burt Odelson had been blocked by the courts in allowing Paul Vallas to appear on the 2006 ballot for Governor against the nuanced Rod Blagojevich and that he was saddled with a huge campaign debt from 2002. Took a long time for the Vallas Family to sell that Georgian, but the Vallas Family was never too far from home, while Paul worked in Philly.

Heck, Paul Vallas continues to be an active Strategic Planning Board Member for Leo ( Catholic) High School in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Paul and Sharon bought a home in Palos Heights quite some time ago, while Paul worked in Philly and subsequently headed to Crescent City to help straighten out post-Katrina Louisiana education for Gov. Bobby Jindal. Nevertheless, Paul and Sharon remained more in-touch with Illinois than the Nuanced Hack Supported Serving Govenor ( now impeached and convicted and out of office but on TV everywhere!) and the Empurpled and Daffy Todd Stroger, President of the Cook County Board.

Shoot, me and the neighbors talk to Paul and Sharon all the time.

Paul Vallas is not an educator, he is a budget and policy professional who was first brought into the Public Eye by Illinois Senator Phil Rock, a man of talent and integrity. Paul Vallas is needed in Cook County, for openers, and in the State of Illinois.

Save the nuance for the next idiot the Nuanced Voices of Journalism want to trot out for public office - with, of course the counsel of beauties like Mike Quigley.

Quigley - The Terror of Tiny Town - Sees It From the Perspective of the Little Guys - Well, Yeah!

Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley said he went to about 300 community meetings in his district over the years and began to see things from the little guy's perspective.

You bet, Abdon! Every day, 24/7 - 365 days per annum! Sho 'Nuf! And Stevie Wonder sees things . . .Oh, that might be taken out of context . . .Sorry.

Labor Backs John Fritchey and SEIU PAC and their mouthpieces set to Endorse Feigenholz

Well, Mr. Speaker, Mike Quigley came up to about here on Mickey Rooney and so Mickey says to Quigley, 'Allan Ladd tried to stuff me on the court and I sailed over him! Sailed I tells Ya, Punk! I'll spot you six! Let's see what you got!'

State Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) won the endorsement today of the Illinois AFL-CIO, which includes 1,500 unions with almost 1 million members. . . .Besides the Illinois AFL-CIO, Fritchey also has claimed the endorsement of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the clout-heavy International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150.

The AFL-CIO endorsement "is recognition of what I've done for people who work hard every day to support their families," Fritchey said.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/02/unions-divided-in-race-to-replace-emanuel.html

Yep, Labor backs John Fritchey including the great folks of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 ( those are skilled Tradesmen who go through years of training and experience and earn their salaries by dint of their labors and honest collective bargaining - SEIU bullies spineless and gullible politicians to raise taxes for their rank and file), which is the home trade of Chicago Federation of Labor leader Dennis Gannon - a real Union Man.

Sara Feigenholz will be endorsed by the Leon Trotsky Re-enactors of SEIU and the Boiled Beets Progressive Networks of Illinois.

Italian American Hall of Fame Boxing to Benefit St. Jude's Hospital

Don't Miss this opportunity to be a huge part of 'The Sweet Science!' Help St. St. Jude's Hospital for Children! Get a great Wednesday Night's sporting glow and meet with the giants of Boxing - Boom-Boom Mancini and fight promoter Burt Sugar.

Leo High School Boxing Club with fight under the banner of Celtic Boxing Club directed by Leo Boxing Coach Mike Joyce. Get ready to watch the talent Rumble!

"Mr. Foster and Leo were there for me when I needed it, and I made up my mind then and there that I'm going to be here for Leo kids." - Leo's Cannon

2004 Class A Champions Leo High School coached by Leo Man Noah Cannon - That's Frank Clair who went on to Star at Loyola University! Did I mention that I wrote a book about Leo High School? Dan McGrath Leo '68 could write rings around me with Flu, Elephantitis and a bum tooth on a bad day.


Chicago Tribune Sports Editor Dan McGrath ( Leo High School 1968) is the king of the declarative sentence. Today, Dan McGrath features Leo High School Basketball Coach Noah Cannon, as part of an on-going series dedicated to African American heroes.

Noah Cannon was following his usual routine that September morning in 1994: chocolate milk and a doughnut from Linda's Grocery on his way to senior-year classes at Leo High School, where he was the starting point guard.

Some neighborhood thugs had other ideas. They jumped Cannon as he left the store, demanding money, and his last memory of the confrontation is a whiskey bottle smashing into his head above his left ear. It nearly killed him.

Cannon staggered east on 79th Street, bleeding severely. A fellow student dashed into school to alert Bob Foster, then principal of Leo, who had the kid call for an ambulance while he tended to Cannon.

"The turning point in my life," Cannon says. "Mr. Foster and Leo were there for me when I needed it, and I made up my mind then and there that I'm going to be here for Leo kids."Cannon returned to Leo to teach history and help coach basketball after graduating from Elmhurst College. In 2003-04, his first season as head varsity coach, Leo won the Class A state title. Despite an all-male enrollment of less than 300, it's poised to make a run in 3A this season with a 19-2 record and the Catholic League North title.

Leo High School has a rich and active history of Courageous and Committed men and woman who give back to Life.

Dan McGrath is the best prose craftsman in American journalism - elegant, understated, honest, clear and accurate. Facta Non Verba!

Constable James Quinn,CPD Gets Justice - Well Done Mr. Rick Barrett and Ald. Ed Burke!

Justice may come to a Chicago Constable, James Quinn, who died in the line of duty, but denied the simple justice of recognition since 1853. Two men former DEA agent Rick Barrett and Chicago's most well-read public servant Alderman Ed Burke have championed the infamy of past and present Chicago Administrations to do simple honor to a law enforcement officer. Well done gentlemen!

Constable Quinn succumbed to injuries sustained in two previous incidents in which he was attacked and severely beaten while in the discharge of his duties.

The first attack occurred after he served a warrant on a man in a notorious hideout for criminals known as the Sands. Constable Quinn was walking the prisoner to the Watch House when the man asked to return inside to retrieve his property. As the two walked back inside the establishment's owner attacked him, breaking one a rib and injuring his jaw. The prisoner escaped during the attack.

The following evening an arrest warrant was delivered to Constable Quinn to be served on the subject who had escaped his custody the previous evening. Upon his return to the Sands, Constable Quinn came upon the subject who had assaulted him the night before, and was again attacked by this man. Quinn was thrown to the ground and kicked several times suffering fractured ribs and a punctured lung.

Despite being critically injured, Constable Quinn reported to roll call the following morning. He returned to the Sands a third time, resulting in the arrest of the original suspect and the owner who had attacked him.

Police officials have long debated the circumstances of Quinn's death. Opponents believe that he died during a drunken fight in The Sands, a shantytown of brothels and saloons that is now the Streeterville neighborhood. Supporters insisted that the officer went to the area to arrest a thief and that unreliable witnesses concocted the fight.Constable Quinn's condition worsened throughout the day, causing congestion of the brain. He succumbed to the injuries the following day.

The suspect was arrested, convicted and sentenced to 5 years in prison for killing Quinn.

Constable Quinn had been elected Constable of the Ninth Ward only 9 months earlier. In 1853, the Constable served a dual role as police officer during the early stages of the Chicago Police Department.

Constable Quinn's widow and three children were compensated $50 from city funds after the Police Department ruled that Quinn was "killed in the discharge of his duty."

Today's Tribune recounts the possible turn-around in justice denied to one of the many who go in harm's way in the public good.

In 2007 the Chicago History Museum conducted an 11-month investigation into the officer's death at the urging of the City Council, led by Ald. Edward Burke (14th). Historians determined that he indeed died in the line of duty.

Weis said Thursday that the department's Honored Star Committee, made up of senior department staff, recommended Quinn be added to the national memorial. Weis said he decided that there was enough evidence, even if not definitive, that Quinn was killed in the line of duty.

"No one will ever probably know exactly what happened" 150 years ago, Weis said. "It was definitely the preponderance of the evidence that convinced me that it was an in-the-line-of-duty death."

"I'm just elated," said Rick Barrett, the former DEA agent who has petitioned the Police Department for years to consider Quinn's death for the honor. "We never gave up the fight because we truly believe in 'never forget.' "

arozas@tribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-constable-quinnfeb06,0,7750774.story

Mark Brown and Red Fred Down on Vallas - That is Good!

Fred Klonsky, brother of President Obama adviser and proud radical Red Mike hates Paul Vallas. Fred and Mike Klonsky* are the sons of Robert Klonsky a Communist veteran of the Spanish Civil War.

Fred Klonsky is not a Vallas Partisan.

Quoth the Park Ridge Trotsky, 'After screwing the CPS, even pissing off his patron The Mayor, he fled to Philadelphia. By all accounts, he made that struggling urban system even worse. Run out of Philly, he ended up in charge of the privatization of New Orleans public schools.

Now Typhoid Paul, switching to being a Republican, wants to do to Cook County government was he’s done to Chicago, Philly and NOLA schools.

Only Vallas could make a local hope for the victory of the corrupt present head of the Board, Todd Stroger.'

Fred, I like your spleen! Sounds like me on Quigley. Howsomeever, Vallas is a good guy and Quigley the polar opposite being just that. Now, Fred, really,'By all accounts, he made that struggling urban system even worse. Run out of Philly, he ended up in charge of the privatization of New Orleans public schools.'

Most accounts say Paul Vallas did very well - in Philly and in Louisiana.

Ain't that something! Quigley hates Vallas; therefore, Brown hates Vallas. Klonsky hates Vallas; Reds and the Boiled Beets Progressives ( Hyde Park Deep Thinkers,SEIU and their cadres) who lap up Red doctrine will hate Paul Vallas - doctrinally speaking of course. And Stroger and Daley and . . .Hate on one side and Love o t'other! I love Paul Vallas! Man crush. Admire. Like a hole bunch. Trust. Gets my vote.

Mark Brown tries to muddy the waters with race-baiting innuendo in his column this AM and tries to get Paul's goat, but Vallas turned Mark Brown into Feta.

Well the true colors are out - Brown against Vallas and the Red Klonsky's want no Paul.


*

Our lasting visual memory of Dorothy has her standing in a midst of a room full of young activists in 1966. Cigarette in hand and using that throaty voice to rally us against the latest act of injustice or brutality against the community by the guardians of the capitalist system. She was scolding, encouraging and praising. She was one of those veterans of the struggle that was able and willing to cross the generational divide.

For us red-diaper babies and SDS activists coming of age in the radical movement in L.A. in the 60s, Dorothy was at once a revolutionary role model, a leader, teacher, critical friend and a member of the family.

Dorothy taught us that being a revolutionary was a life-long proposition, a genuine commitment to siding with the underdog, fighting racism, war and every form of social injustice and inequity. She taught us to stand firm on matters of principle, while being good at uniting with those in the movement with whom we disagreed. We probably didn't learn that last one well enough. Sorry Dorothy.

We often disagreed but loved the give and take. We always knew that when push came to shove, she would be there in the front lines of the battle. That give and take with mutual love and respect went on until she died. News of her passing saddens us, along with a whole generation of L.A., activists that Dorothy trained, led and nurtured.
She will always be a part of us.
In struggle,

Mike, Fred & Susan Klonsky
September 22, 2006

http://web.mac.com/richardhealey/iWeb/Dorothy/Comments/C11589BF-7FDF-435C-B2E3-2ADD1A871749.html

Paul Vallas - Meets The Opposition in Mark Brown and What Lies Beneath

I believe that Mark Brown, who is fed scoops of news by the Uriah Heep of Illinois Politics, Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, pounced early on news that Paul Vallas would return to challenge Todd Stroger for President of the Cook County Board as a Republican, in order to put some root rot under Paul's path.

Click my post title for Mark Brown's column.

In his column today, Brown catalogues career Democrats who switched parties to advance their holds on the public imagination - Aurelia Puchinski, Ed Vrydolyak, Bernie Stone & etc. - as means of poisoning the well for Vallas. Mark Brown has had a long detestation of the 19th Ward and got embroiled in a dispute with a Mike Quigley challenger Miss Daly some years back*. Miss Daly's father as I recall had words for Mark Brown. It got ugly - for Mark Brown.

Ugly lasts and so Mark Brown seemed to go after Paul Vallas and his motives. 'Why GOP?' asks Mark Brown.

Well, gee Mark, the Chicago and Cook County Democrats did handsomely for Paul Vallas, prior to his exile in Philly, his attempt to get on the ballot against Blago in 2006, and his subsequent voyage to Louisiana. Paul Vallas is a Greek American and that means that his memory is sharper than any Irish grudge holder ( and that is longer than the odds on any Subway World Series). Paul Vallas remembers the people who were threatened by his work ethic, skills, honesty and energy. He knows who is slapping his back. Vallas understands what lies beneath a newspaper writer's questions and from whence those questions sprung up.

Paul Vallas gave Brown a terse and honest answer, 'Vallas also emphasized that this state's Democratic establishment, with the exception of the Sheahans, abandoned him in 2002 against Blagojevich, then blocked him from running for governor in 2006 because of his residency.' The Sheahans are great people - loyal, honest, energetic and did I mention that they are loyal? So is Paul Vallas.

Vallas will do well. He knows the ground - some of it is solid and some paths are sink holes.

*
Author: Mark Brown
Date: March 6, 2002 - ( Contemporary to the Blago Dreamscape Campaign for Goveronor!)
Publication: Chicago Sun-Times
Page: 2
Word Count: 1023
Excerpt:
Mary Ellen Daly is a 27-year-old manager of an Oak Street bridal shop who wants to unseat Cook County Commissioner Michael Quigley, the leading troublemaker on the County Board.

“I’m not very experienced, obviously,” she said last week when I asked about her background in politics, which by her own account is limited to handing out literature, hanging up campaign signs and stuffing envelopes for other candidates.

Odyssey - Paul Vallas Returns to Ithaca ( Palos Heights)

The wandering Greek and his Dutch Bride with the Micks of Beverly in March 2002.

The Illinois Greek Peregrine, Paul Vallas, is coming home from his journeys in the land of Polypehemus ( Philly) and the Laestrygonians ( Louisiana) after many years and many labors to right the schools of those cities - this is classic:


Tell me, O Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered full many ways after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy. Many were the men whose cities he saw and whose mind he learned, aye, and many the woes he suffered in his heart upon the sea, seeking to win his own life and the return of his comrades. Yet even so he saved not his comrades, though he desired it sore, for through their own blind folly they perished—fools, who devoured the kine of Helios

Paul G. Vallas is currently superintendent of the Recovery School District of New Orleans, Louisiana.

He first gained fame as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). During his tenure from 1995 to 2001, he led an effort to reform the school system, and his work was cited by President Bill Clinton for raising test scores, improving relations with the teachers' union, balancing the budget, and instituting several new programs included mandatory summer school, after school programs, and expanding alternative, charter, and magnet schools.

The position of CEO of the CPS was created by Mayor Richard M. Daley after he successfully convinced the Illinois State Legislature to place CPS under mayoral control. Vallas had previously directed the budget arm of the Illinois State Legislature and served as budget director for Daley.

Controversy plagued Vallas towards the end of his reign as CPS CEO. Following criticism from the mayor, and the election of a union president who ran on an anti-Vallas platform, Vallas resigned in 2001 and ran for Governor of Illinois as a Democrat. Vallas placed second in the Democratic primary, losing narrowly to now-Governor Rod Blagojevich while running ahead of former state Attorney General Roland Burris.

Following the election, Vallas was appointed CEO of School District of Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, he presided over the nation's largest experiment in privatized management of schools, with the management of over 40 schools turned over to outside for-profits, nonprofits, and universities beginning in Fall 2002.
In 2005, Vallas considered challenging Blagojevich again for Illinois governor in the Democratic Primary but decided against it. He then signed a two-year contract (2007-2008) as superintendent of the Recovery School District of New Orleans, Louisiana.

On April 28, 2008 he appeared before the City Club of Chicago and on Chicago news shows discussing a possible run for governor in 2010.[1][2][3]

February 2009 Vallas publicly announces to Carol Marin of his interest in running as a Republican for Cook County Board President and discloses his plan to return to Cook County at the end of 2009 to run in the 2010 election.

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

Waiting for the return the peripatetic Hellene is the Dutch girl, Sharon, who raised his three boys, Paul, Gust, and Mark and kept his hearth ever-ready from the return of man who 'fixes things.' Paul Vallas is returning to repair Cook County Government and take the reigns of the President of the Cook County Board from from young Todd Stroger.

Cautionary note to those who would contend with Paul - lay off the kine of Helios - that is some bad beef.

Lache pas la patate, Frere Paul Vallas !

OooooooooWeeeeeee Some folks is Hot that Canille Paul tipped the pieroge and rows North Home! Seems the folks in Ray's Chocolate City found out about Frere Paul's plans to Passer un bon temps on Todd Stroger, the Cook County Democratic Organization, and the Twin Menaechmi of the County Board -Menaechmus Quigley and Sosicles Claypool:

Recovery Schools Superintendent Paul Vallas will leave New Orleans by the end of the year to run for president of the Cook County Board in Illinois, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Vallas is from Chicago, and his family has lived there since he took the helm of the state-run district in the summer of 2007.

Last year, Vallas had publicly flirted with the prospect of returning to Chicago to run for governor. After dropping that idea, Vallas said he planned to stay in New Orleans through the 2009-10 school year. But he never signed a contract with State Superintendent Paul Pastorek, and seemed to be keeping his options open.

Great to have you back, Paul! Keep your neck on a swivle! They will come at you from everywhere -GOP and Democrats. Your friends and Illinois have waited long enough!

To my Cajun neighbors -Ça va et C'est la vie !

Cook County - Laissez les bon temps rouler ! Somebody -wake up Todd and tell Todd - very slowly.

President Obama's Free Credit Reports Dot Com Stimulus Bill Going Down Like An Italian Battleship!

NOW INSTEAD OF LOOKIN FLY AND ROLLIN FAT
MY LEGS ARE STICKING TO THE VINYL
AND MY POSSE’S GETTING LAUGHED AT
F-R-E-E THAT SPELLS FREE
CREDIT REPORT DOT COM BABY!

Sing It, Son!

The $819 billion bill that passed in the House last week is two-thirds spending and one-third tax cuts.

Much of the $550 billion in spending is divided among these areas: $142 billion for education, $111 billion for health care, $90 billion for infrastructure, $72 billion for aid and benefits, $54 billion for energy, $16 billion for science and technology, and $13 billion for housing.

Oh yeah, that's going Stimulate up a storm!

President Obama's Plan to Stimulate the Economy Only Simulates the Economy - Pretend We Have Money!

The Stimulus Package Bill is facing McConnell and McCain armed with Clubs and Chains and all the President has are the Doofi who are the metaphorical and political equivalent of the Dweebs in the Free Credit Report Dot Com Commercials ( in fact most of the Progressives remind me of these musical irritants)- Sen. Harry Reid and Illinois Gems Senators Dick Durbin and Tombstone Burris.

John Fritchey Earns Support and SEIU Set To Buy Feigenholz

John Fritchey tells Mike Madigan, 'SEIU will give Sara about this much money - Yeah, about Mike Quigley's height. It's not much, but it's something.'


SEIU is a PAC disguised as a union. SEIU is largest membership of unskilled and low skilled workers organized to to provide dues used to buy political hacks.

I believe that SEIU is a danger to the American Standard of Living. SEIU depends upon tax-levies to raise the salaries of its tax-salaried employees. Those taxes are paid by pipe-fitters, fire fighters, police officers, nurses ( who manage to avoid SEIU), teachers, engineers, carpenters, mill-wrights, plumbers and electricians. Trades workers stand in danger of losing their autonomy and apprenticeship programs, if they play ball with SEIU.

N.B. Read Chicago Daily Oberserver's many columns about this -

http://www.cdobs.com/archive/featured/coercion-in-the-name-of-free-choice,2715

John Fritchey wins endorsements. Sara Feigenholz is beholden to SEIU - the class warriors opposed to the American Middle Class.

Organized labor is splitting its vote in the race to succeed Rahm Emanuel in Congress.

AFSCME, the big government workers' union, quietly endorsed state Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, over the weekend, according to Henry Bayer, who heads the union's Chicago regional unit.
[...]
But another labor group which also represents such workers, SEIU, is leaning heavily toward Ms. Feigenholtz, with an announcement scheduled as soon as later this week, according to sources who should know.

Bale & Blago - Why are these Dark Nits Never Seen Together!

'Well, $%%^ You Hickey, you $%$^^&&%$er! Take your &$#@ opinions and $%%$ing allusions and %^$# yourselves you #$%66er!' Mother#$%$er you can't $%%&&ing write at #$%^ing all.

Sincerely,

Christian Bale & Rod Blagojevich

Thanks for dropping in Boys!
BTW-
Chris, we have Blago on Fitzy's Tapes - the folks can get your's on FOX by clicking my post title.

Eric Zorn's Primary Move Would Bring Political Hacks to Baseball and Softball Diamonds

Eric Zorn makes a pretty good case for moving the political Primary season to June - June Brides, School's Out and Summer neighborhood baseball/softball is under way!

Zorn noted the traditional jump-off for political season:

The case for February or March is nearly the opposite. Lengthening the entire political season weeds out the dilettantes and flashes in the pan, and an extended general-election campaign gives major candidates and voters plenty of time to get to know one another and the issues.

And in presidential-election years, the states that hold early primaries stand to have more influence in the national nominating process.

The case against February/March is that the cash required to campaign for roughly a year gives even more advantage to insiders and incumbents than they already enjoy. Further, since normal people don't pay attention to politics until after the winter holidays, the primary campaigns are too brief to give challengers a good shot.

And we can hold a separate presidential primary if we really think it makes a difference.

Eric Zorn holds for June Primaries.

However, He neglects the fact that millions of voters are at parks throughout Illinois all through June. Fat Tommy's Hot Dogs in Kennedy, Beverly and Mount Greenwood Parks boiled furiously in the tanks and the taste is untainted by political wannabees saucing the buns with palm card polemics.

The traditional Primary season is meant to spur the jockeying for places in the St. Paddy's Day Parades.

A June Primary would louse-up America's past time and T-Ball. Play not Politicians!

Also, January and February winds and sleet are just the thing needed to test the mettle of Reformers and Toss-the Bums-Out amateurs. Folks are home, generally, and know when Steve, Eddie and Eileen the precinct captains are stuffing the doors and railings and find welcome with the neighbors who gladly sign the petitions.

It is just the fine frosty season to slam the door on the Grassroots Goofballs who emerge from Volvos driven down from Evanston to shill for the clown who will get buried on election day.

Eric Zorn is thoughtful. Who said politics needs to be so?