Rich-urd Da Turd - Uh ShakesPeer Story Sed'n Ol' Days

CHICAGO - In honor of William Shakespeare's upcoming birthday, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has proclaimed "Talk Like Shakespeare Day" in the city.
Although Shakespeare's actual birth date is not known, many scholars believe it to have been on April 23, 1564, since the poet and playwright is known to have been baptized three days later. This year, April 23 is Thursday. In his recent proclamation, Daley urged Chicagoans to celebrate the occasion by bringing the spoken words of Shakespeare into their daily lives. Shakespeare, who died in 1616,

Now's Da winner of R disconten'
Made Glor Yus summer by Dis sun a York; (Sunna York? Was Dis? Okay.)
En a clouds that lour'd upon R house
In Da deep bo-sum of da oshun berry'd.
Now R R brows boun' wit victor-yus wreats;
R broos'd R'ms hung-up fur mon-Yaments;
R stern alarums chayng'd ta merry meetin's, (Merry Meetin' Never Seen One)
R dredful marches to da--lightful meshurs.

Hey, All did stuff is gettin goofier !
Look, We got the Read a Book already on
Cable Access! Okay!!!!!!!Jackie, Rememer' who
Signs Yer Checks! . . .

Grim-visig'd war hat smoo'd his wrinkld frunt;
En now, 'stead a mountin' barbered studs
Ta fright da souls a fearful adversaries,
He capers nim'ly in a lady's chamber ( Dis is goin' too far Look I' Gay Mayer an Alll But I gotta go out at night en all !)

To the lasivus pleasin of a lude.
Bud eye, dat am't shap'd fur sportive tricks, ( Dat Hooker Talk?)
Normade ta court a am'r'us lookin'-glass;
I, dat am rudely stamp'd, en wan love's madgessteey
Ta strut before a wantin ambling nymph; ( Jezzus D'll Kill me Wit Dis!)
I, dat am curtail'd of this fair pruporshun,
Cheated of feature by dissemblin' naychure,
Daformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
En Dat so lam'ly and unfash'nable
Dat dogs bark at me as I halt by Dem; ( en fine out wooz lettin' Dogs Run Loose aroun' here! I'll getiz Card Yank'd)
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain dese fair well-spok'n days,
I am determinta prove a villain
En hate da idle pleasures of dese days.
Plods have I laid, induckshuns daneg-rus,
By drunk'n prof-sees, lie-bells n dreams,
Ta set my brudder Clare-rence . . .I god a Mike n a Billy n a Johnny -no Brudder Clare-rence . . .and Da king Dat's Me!)
In deadlee hate da one against da udder:
Anif King Edward ( dat's a Ol' Cigar Ain't It?) be as true an just
As I'm subtle, false en trech-russ, ( Jackie Did Dat Basturd Kass Write Dis en Trow Id In?)
Dis day should Clare-rence clos'ly be mew'd up, ( Clarence Gotta Cat?)
Abouda proph'cy, which says that 'G' ( Dat's Fitzy Ain'Id?)
Of Edwerd's heirs the murd'rer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down ta my soul: here ( points)
Clarence comes. ( Comes Where? I can' wade'll dis day's over!)

Happy St. Alphege's Day & President Barack Unræd: St.Alphege, Pray for Us!

I love Mass at Sacred Heart, the little French Mission Chapel located east of Morgan Park at 116th % Church Street. It is a rickety little place, rickety simple souls pray for their families and community.

Mass is always said by retired priests of the Archdiocese or from the Missions. Smart old guys with miles of experience and leagues of learning.

Today's Gospel came from John - odd ball stuff usually. The tale of doubting Thomas and etc. but the treat came in the homily about St. Alphege* - English monk, hermit, abbot and adviser to King Ethelred.

King Ethelred the Unready sent Alphege to treat with the invading Danes. Ethelred the Unready. I went back to my Bright's Old English Grammar and Reader after Mass and recalled that unready or Unræd means -badly advised. Despite Alphrege's piety and learning the members of Witan (Anglo Saxon Council) pushed Ethelred to policies that caused England's enemies to defeat it at every turn Ethelred means 'Wise Council,' but the unfortunate kings full name is Æþelræd Unræd or 'Wise Council Unadvised.'

This put me in mind of President Obama a talented man Unready for the Presidency and Mal-Advised - or Advised by the Unwise.
President Obama The Unready - Barack Unræd

I do Hope that I am wrong. So, far President Obama has lived up to my very low expectations. Good Lord talk about unwise advice!

Janet Napolitano
Tim Geithner
Hillary 'Pirates Make Me Giggle' Clinto
Eric 'Y'all Cowards' Holder



Mad world! mad kings! mad composition!
John, to stop Arthur's tide in the whole,
Hath willingly departed with a part;
And France, whose armour conscience buckled on,
Whom zeal and charity brought to the field
As God's own soldier, rounded in the ear
With that same purpose-changer, that sly devil,
That broker that still breaks the pate of faith,
That daily break-vow, he that wins of all,
Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids,
Who having no external thing to lose
But the word 'maid,' cheats the poor maid of that;
That smooth-fac'd gentleman, tickling commodity,
Commodity, the bias of the world—
The world, who of itself is peised well,
Made to run even upon even ground,
Till this advantage, this vile-drawing bias,
This sway of motion, this commodity,
Makes it take head from all indifferency,
From all direction, purpose, course, intent—
And this same bias, this commodity,
This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word,
Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France,
Hath drawn him from his own determin'd aid,
From a resolv'd and honourable war,
To a most base and vile-concluded peace.
And why rail I on this commodity?
But for because he hath not woo'd me yet;
Not that I have the power to clutch my hand
When his fair angels would salute my palm,
But for my hand, as unattempted yet,
Like a poor beggar raileth on the rich.
Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail
And say there is no sin but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be
To say there is no vice but beggary.
Since kings break faith upon commodity,
Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee.

Act II of King John



*St. Alphege
Feastday: April 19
1012


Archbishop and "the First Martyr of Canterbury." He was born in 953 and became a monk in the Deerhurst Monastery in Gloucester, England, asking after a few years to become a hermit. He received permission for this vocation and retired to a small hut near Somerset, England. In 984 Alphege assumed the role of abbot of the abbey of Bath, founded by St. Dunstan and by his own efforts. Many of his disciples from Somerset joined him at Bath. In that same year, Alphege succeeded Ethelwold as bishop of Winchester. He served there for two decades, famed for his care of the poor and for his own austere life. King Aethelred the Unready used his abilities in 994, sending him to mediate with invading Danes. The Danish chieftain Anlaf converted to Christianity as a result of his meetings with Alphege, although he and the other chief, Swein, demanded tribute from the Anglo-Saxons of the region. Anlaf vowed never to lead his troops against Britain again. In 1005 Alphege became the successor to Aleric as the archbishop of Canterbury, receiving the pallium in Rome from Pope John XVIII. He returned to England in time to be captured by the Danes pillaging the southern regions. The Danes besieged Canterbury and took Alphege captive. The ransom for his release was about three thousand pounds and went unpaid. Alphege refused to give the Danes that much, an act which infuriated them. He was hit with an ax and then beaten to death. Revered as a martyr, Alphege's remains were placed in St. Paul's Church in London. The body, moved to Canterbury in 1023, was discovered to be incorrupt in 1105. Relics of St. Alphege are also in Bath, Glastonbury, Ramsey, Reading, Durham, Yorkminster and in Westminster Abbey. His emblem is an ax, and he is depicted in his pontifical vestments or as a shepherd defending his flock.

SEIU and CTU Have Been Murdering School Reform!

Andy Stern's Purple Finger prints are all over Marilyn Stewart's CTU work to murder School Reform in Chicago. Stern and radical activist Mike Klonsky are old hands at this stuff. Work within the system and you really get to blow things up!

From Dist 299 -

SEIU Organizing Charter School Teachers
A couple of posts down, Mike Klonsky highlights the fact that some charter schools in other places -- NYC, LA -- have organized teachers, and that it hasn't always been via the teachers local. (I know that substitutes sometimes end up being organized by nonteacher locals, too.) In LA it was SEIU, for example. What I'm wondering is whether SEIU does any better than CTU would do, what folks think about the idea of charters under union agreements, and...well, mostly those two things.

Here is the concern of a Charter teacher on that same site.

I think one issue is whether SEIU would do any better. As someone in a charter school I have no interest in belonging to CTU (and by law, I actually can't).

Unionizing charters will be hard for a number of reasons. Each charter school would have to have their own contract with their teachers, or suddenly every charter school would have to have the same hours, prep periods, class sizes, school years, etc., and then the point of charters being able to decide these things independent of the school district would be lost.

I think you'll also see a lot of resistance from some of the larger national charter school funders, many of whom aren't the most union friendly groups in the world.

I don't see any need for a union at my school right now, I was given a fair review and a chance to negotiate my own contract, and when it comes down to it, I'd rather be the one at the bargaining table. The only people I know who wouldn't are those teachers who don't deserve a raise anyway.

That being said I'm sure there are other charters where teachers probably aren't treated with the same level of respect, and I'm sure if charters start to unionize, they'll be the first to go. Either way, it will be interesting to watch what happens. It would definitely be a blow to the neo-cons.

Posted by: Charlie | July 26, 2007 at 01:45 PM

Not to Neo-Cons, Charlie. To School Reform. You sound like a professional and that is what education needs.

Real Unions in Danger = Stern's SEIU

Andy Stern and Anna Burger are destroying the American Labor Movement - Labor Leaders who have anything to do with these two career Lefty sneaks help them destroy Labor.

Here in Chicago, CTU lead by the oafish Marilyn Stewart want Charter School teachers to turn their backs on the contracts that each one of them signed in good faith and seek cover in Chicago Teachers Union. School Reform means nothing to CTU. Charter teachers who signed to join CTU are breakers of oaths, they want to be treated as professionals and act like whiny fools. The work loads that they contracted to do - agreed to do, for the pay and position with International Charter Schools are now too much of a burden on them.

Quit.

Join CTU and Chicago Public School System and all that goes with that shameful and corrupt, incompetent, lazy and greedy system. I know many heroically dedicated Public School teachers and they too are ashamed and disgusted by the stupidity and cant of CTU leadership and that comes from it.

SEIU needs an unskilled workforce to add greater numbers to its sad and 'going-nowhere' membership.

SEIU need to bring down the trades as well as the Schools.

Here's one of the Stern Gang writing about his covert work to undermine the Carpenters Union.

Labor’s New Deal – Douglas McCarron’s Raw Deal for the UBCJA
By Chris the Abducted Alien
Rated "G" by the Author.
Last edited: Sunday, April 27, 2008
Posted: Sunday, April 20, 2008



The article written by Andy Stern outlines the history of the beginnings of our labor in America starting with Calvin Coolidge who once famously declared, “The chief business of the American people is business.” Coolidge’s heirs today are corporatists who have succeeded in rolling back many elements of the New Deal and the subsequent reforms that helped create a great American middle class.

Franklin D. Roosevelt understood that in addition to government programs, a balanced economy requires strong labor unions. Then, as now, increased unionization created higher wages and benefits for both union members and unorganized workers. As unionization increased, the middle class grew. And as the percentage of workers represented by a union has declined in the past three decades, the disparity of wealth has increased in the corporate world.

We need to take into account the vast changes that have occurred since the New Deal, and we must continually adjust as new changes take place. America still needs strong unions--as well as a government on the side of working people--as part of the solution to rebalance power, provide greater fairness, make work pay and ensure that the dreams of all American children can still come true.1

Let’s fast forward to the present...



The plan by the wealthy leaders in our world, including Bush & Company and the representatives in his current regime, has been to steamroll and eliminate the middle class at warp speed. Let’s see what part the UBCJA under General President Douglas McCarron has had in this plan...


General President McCarron tightened his control of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners at the union’s convention in Las Vegas on August 25, 2005, when delegates voted to give him a third five-year term. The pro-democratic opposition slate, “Restore the Vote” team, did not have a chance...

Since then, he has run our union like it is his personal property. He has given himself dictatorial powers in our Constitution; he has amassed delegates, most of whom are beholden to him for jobs. Just like some of our individual carpenter locals continue to do today to most of our members.
………………………………………………………....................


Note: Articles, sources, and citations are given at the end of my article.
………………………………………………………....................



McCarron basically has been running our carpenters union like a corporation. He even boasts that centralized leadership is more efficient and attractive to employers and would produce more jobs for working carpenters. What he does not tell us is that his plan was to replace us, the professional carpenter with people that the corporate contractor will train to be uneducated and unthinking, just a robot, to service the employer in our trade, kept ignorant to our bargaining agreement, and happy to make less than our current union scale. This person is less likely to give our corporate unions any problems and our Regional Councils can make as many concessions with our bargaining agreements as needed to keep our coffers full at our corporate Regional Councils, thus letting America know we still have strong unions.


The many younger members, and all the new journeyman carpenters who are allowed to buy their union cards when they come along with a newly signed non-union contractor, do not know the carpenters history behind our bargaining agreement and how it came to be. They do not know how the carpenters in the late 1800s and early 1900s fought and died for the rights and wages we have enjoyed up till now...it is the members in all unions that are the ones who make up a good portion of the middle class in America...


I would like to make it very clear right now, that what I am getting ready to talk about does not involve every Regional Council, Executive Officer, or Officer at a local. We have been infiltrated with McCarron representatives at every level. These are men and women who believe and work towards McCarron’s plan and takeover of the UBCJA. Some of our representatives and members are still passionately unaware of the New Global Union plan for our UBCJA by McCarron.


Opposition from union carpenters continues to grow across America for UBCJA General President Douglas McCarron. He has taken the vote away from the rank and file carpenters and given it to himself and transferred that ability to all the Regional Councils left in our UBC. McCarron has even stepped over the border with his bullying in Canada.


Some of the men and women that now run the various Regional Councils across America and Canada are acutely aware of what is really happening but have been placed between a rock and a hard place because of the bullying with threats of losing their jobs and dictatorship policies made by McCarron. But many others are falling in line with the McCarron republican corporate labor union plan.


If we do not stand up and fight, we the rank and file, the working carpenters and our children that come after us are all going to lose...but our union administrators will continue to get their fat salaries and double pensions!


Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and UNITE-HERE are thought of as the reformers of anti-democratic behavior within our various unions. So why did the newly formed federation Change to Win Coalition invite General President McCarron to become part of the seven partner unions?


Andy Stern, who is the president of the SEIU, has always criticized President George W. Bush’s domestic and foreign policies. I wonder how Stern is dealing with McCarron today, knowing that McCarron is Bush’s darling Republican labor leader who gets to ride on Air Force One? McCarron has been meeting with Bush since his election as General President of the UBCJA in 1995...


There is no longer any mention of the UBCJA being part of the Change to Win Coalition in 2008.

The following is a statement by Anna Burger, Chair of Change to Win Coalition:

WASHINGTON DC, May 11, 2007 -- “On behalf of the six million members of Change to Win unions and its Leadership Council, we are disappointed that House Democratic leaders joined with the Bush Administration yesterday to announce a trade deal that is more free than fair.

The agreement does not represent the basis for the type of new U.S. trade policy that this nation desperately needs. Despite improvements in labor and environmental standards, workers remain at risk because the proposal fails to address how to protect U.S. jobs or create new ones. It undermines our prevailing wage and Buy America laws. And it hands foreign firms operating here more privileges over U.S. companies. For working America, that is not a deal.

Quick policy fixes won’t help workers achieve the American Dream in the 21st century– they need a whole new trade model equipped to meet the realities of today’s global economy.

Without significant changes, this agreement opens the door for subsequent harmful trade policies that resemble NAFTA/CAFTA – trade deals that have led to the loss of millions of good jobs at home, a surge in undocumented immigration, the soaring trade deficit, declining wages, and a deterioration of labor standards.

Change to Win stands for fair trade that promotes prosperity at home and abroad so that workers can achieve the American Dream in an era of globalization. Fair trade helps create standards that will stimulate development, protect and create new U.S. jobs, and maintain high wage standards around the globe – the Peru/Panama trade agreement falls far short of this.

It’s time for an alternative approach to this current failed model. We call on Congress to get back to work craft meaningful policies in current and future trade negotiations. We need to ensure that workers, not just corporations and CEOs, fairly share in the benefits of today’s global economy.”

Story by Steven Greenhouse on February 21, 2008 -- Change to Win gets behind Obama. In a conference call this morning, four of the coalition’s unions — the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers and Unite Here — voted to back Mr. Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. With their votes, they ensured that unions representing two-thirds of the coalition’s members were backing a candidate, triggering the group’s endorsement.

The three other unions in the coalition — the Laborers, the UBCJA and the United Farm Workers — abstained. The carpenters union had initially endorsed Senator John Edwards, while the farm workers, easily the smallest union in the coalition, have endorsed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters had this charade late last year in the Chicago area, actually in Iowa, with the current Presidential primary, and the UBCJA giving $500,000 of our money to an unknown person, Senator John Edwards to run in the primary for President. We had two perfectly good Democratic candidates already running in the primary...why was the UBCJA backing Edwards? Why did our Regional Councils go along with it? Why did none of our members (working carpenters) know about this? And why have we not heard any more about it? McCarron again did this without the permission or vote of the members...


All 50,000 of our members here in the Chicago area received a letter announcing the UBCJA backing John Edwards the same day he, John Edwards, dropped out of the Presidential primary. That was the first time many of the carpenters heard of John Edwards!


Again, carpenters here do not know what our Regional Council was thinking; they are not talking and continue to have meetings in secret and without all members knowing what their plan is. I personally feel this was one of the biggest mistakes our union in Chicago could have done...not allowing the rank and file (working carpenters) in on what has been happening with our Labor union(s). Now, all of the deceit and manipulation that is occurring in the UBC is on our shoulders. Many carpenters here in the Chicago area are continuing to talk about them and are starting to think they are part of McCarron’s Republican plan.


I attended the International Convention in Las Vegas in 2004 and heard Douglas McCarron speak. I have been giving him the benefit of a doubt as to what I heard him say at the convention and have been continually questioning his speech and the statements made by him...was this guy for real? He was talking about opening up diversity to people of color and women in our union so we could help to keep it strong. And then going on to say, also allowing the women who were and are part of this union to organize and now help to work to be part of the century old union. I never thought I would hear something like that from a union guy in my lifetime! It was just too good to be true , I was dumbfounded!


But now, in 2008, my take on this is McCarron is just another carpenter talking out the side of his mouth. “Doublespeak” has been practiced by politicians for decades. It is also now known as the ultimate betrayal by our union administrators who have learned the practice well! In society today nothing has been more widely accepted, used and promoted then the art of “Doublespeak.” McCarron continues to tell the union members what we want to hear, so he and his administration can complete the republican plan. He has been trained to complete this plan well from Bush and Company...as to what has to be done with middle class Americans in order for the Unions to survive in America...


We have seen no labor unity between UBCJA and the other Change to Win Coalition and AFL-CIO affiliate unions in the current race for the presidential primary. All the other unions are either backing Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. This tells me we have a few defectors to democracy in our unions, and one of them is our UBCJA...


The working carpenters here in the Chicago Regional Area are getting ready to get into serious difficulties with concessions being given to contractors with our Bargaining Agreements for several of the counties that are coming up this year 2008. The “Raw Deal” is already happening across America in the Carpenters and other unions. I predict concessions will be given to the employer’s big time this contract year...all in the name of our failing ECONOMY precipitated and planned by Bush and company and advantageously completed by McCarron in the carpenters union and by others in the other unions...


Here is an overview of what is happening in our Carpenters unions and our agreements across America and Canada:


First, millions of Americans are starting to become aware of what the Republicans have been planning over the past two decades. This is to eliminate the middle class by busting the unions to destroy our economy, our education system, and turn all of us against each other over hate for one reason or another, and now by allowing the immigrants to take over jobs in the United States for less pay.


McCarron’s plan has been no different; it has become the Corporate UBCJA. Get the undocumented workers who are mostly already uneducated, who know nothing about our bargaining agreements or our laws and are willing to work for less money than union scale carpenters are making under our current agreements. The immigrant’s loyalty is to the Regional Council and the puppets that run some of the locals. Some of our Regional Councils and locals are assisting the illegal immigrants to get Department of Homeland Security working cards in the United States, even though they are still not registered as legal residents in the United States. And there has been very little talk about the immigrants being dual citizens of both the United States and the other countries (where they were born).


McCarron and his kingdom of Regional Councils have been pandering to the contractors union and non-union (big business) and destroying our current bargaining agreements within our union across America and Canada. The Brotherhood of Carpenters is going to “hell in a hand basket,” and they are selling the rank and file working carpenters down the river...

November 7, 2005 – “UBCJA President McCarron in Washington DC is threatening American-style bully tactics to conduct a hostile takeover of the autonomous BC Carpenters Union.

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBCJA) sent a letter last Friday to the BC Provincial Council of Carpenters elected President, Len Embree, threatening to impose immediate "supervision" over the independent BC Carpenters Union, its 7000 members, and their union's assets.”

This story by EDMONTON/630 CHED, September 20, 2007 - - The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and the Alberta Building Trades Council have taken out ads warning carpenters they could face criminal charges or civil action if they don't return to work.

Headline News: “Threats of criminal charges for striking workers in Alberta, Canada. Federation Labor laws are being fought by over thousands working carpenters at a rally in Alberta, Canada. The Alberta Labor Code is dead!

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has dealt a fatal blow to these oppressive Labor Laws and the future for Canadians in Alberta is beginning to have promise.

Saturday, September 22, 2007 the funeral for the Alberta Labor Code will be held at the Alberta Labor Relations Board - 10808 - 99 Avenue at 12 noon and a Funeral parade will head to the Alberta Legislative building where the Alberta Labor Code will be put to rest.

For two days, beginning September 6, Alberta carpenters rallied in front of the Alberta Labor Relations Board to affirm their right to take collective action to defend their interests. On Thursday, September 6 more than 200 carpenters rallied outside the Alberta Labor Relations Board (ALRB) in downtown Edmonton where yet another employer complaint was being heard. On Friday, their numbers grew to more than 600 and the carpenters were joined by members of other unions. They filled the room where the hearings were taking place and closed the entire street in front of the ARLB offices.”


Corruption continues to run rampant in the Chicago and across America and Canada. From what I remember on the history of labor I read...it was the Canadians that started the rank and file working carpenters labor movement. Peter J. McGuire’s movement in 1881 started for the carpenters here in the United States after the Canadians fought and won for their rights in Canada. McGuire’s plan was taken from the Canadians...


Sheet rockers in Baltimore and Vancouver got the raw end of the deal along with Southern California style drywall piece rates in union contracts. The Southern California Nevada Regional Council of Carpenters continue making concessions to the contractors, it has become a way of life out there. It does not seem to bother the Business Representatives that concessions are “okay” and that the fact is the UBC gave up piece work 120 years ago...this drywall clause was clearly a travesty of justice under our current union contracts.


Clearly three-fourths of the members are currently deprived of the right to vote through the manipulation of our locals to keep members away from meetings. And the apathy and lack of education to our bargaining agreements by our members to get involved has not helped. It clearly places a minority in control of our unions.


The piece work clause is still in our By-Laws and Working Rules currently here in the Chicago area...but Immigrant drywaller’s are allowed to get their money by piece work right now. And again, some of our union business agents and organizers look the other way. Similar issues arise with the siders, roofers, and insulators. When carpenters are asked to bring a manual or power tool on the employer’s jobsites and our union allows it. Our union here even allows the transportation of the employer’s tools in the carpenter’s vehicles, and again the business agents and organizers look the other way.


New York also has many concessionary agreements of its own that are now part of its bargaining agreement. Fred Devine, the former administration President for the New York District Council of Carpenters and now convicted felon, started the ball rolling in 1993.


In the 1993 agreements with the associations, Devine gave up double time for overtime, and now all carpenters will only get time and a half for work after seven hours, except on Sundays and legal holidays. The District Council (now called Regional Councils) also agreed to allow contractors to use only apprentices for the unloading and distribution of carpenter materials on jobsites, turning the apprentices into cheap delivery labor and denying journeymen opportunities for overtime.

This story by Gregory A. Butler, carpenter in New York:

“Union carpenters in New York City in 1999 are at a crossroads. For the first time since 1915, we have a District Council leadership that does not have ties to La Costa Nostra, but we are actually worse off than we were under the wise guys.

There is a building boom, and only 1,300 or so brothers and sisters on the list out of 20,000, but there are also about 20,000 non-union brothers and sisters out there in our trade.

Not only are the non represented carpenters doing virtually all the new houses in Staten Island, and all the apartment renovations in Harlem, the South Bronx, South Jamaica, Bedford Stuyvessant and East New York, but much of the storefront work in the Financial District, Midtown, the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side and even high-rises on W 40th Street and that big MTA command center on 54th Street. And, even the sidewalk bridges around a lot of sites are non union, and we owned that work just 4 years ago.

In New York, McCarron’s organizers have been attempting to set up multiple scales, to attract the rat contractors. With the scaffold contractors, Rockledge and Colgate, who used to be union until former District Council President Fred Devine gave them a contract that exempted them from 50/50 hiring from the hall, enabling them to go 100% non union, McCarron's organizers, is rewarding them for going scab.”

Our unions continue to hire people off the street, even though the indentured apprentices and journeyman continue to be without jobs. Unions pay people living in the street and wives or girlfriends of carpenters to walk pickets, instead of asking for volunteers from the carpenters out of work. This brings up another matter...our carpenter trade union in the Chicago jurisdiction still will not appoint woman carpenters as organizers, but continue to allow the wives and girlfriends of carpenters to walk the pickets and pay them. This has been going on forever...now if that is not discrimination I do not know what is?


The council will close down the permit office every once in a while to pacify the other out of work carpenters, but the process continues. This concession was to allow contractors to hire diversity, but it has given these contractors the ability to pay less than scale to these people hired off the street. They know only what their union employer is telling them, they are being manipulated and lied too about what they should receive as union scale and benefits. These people are mostly people of color, women and easily manipulated uneducated white men. Our union does support discrimination by our union contractors. Because the business agents and organizers are to busy getting more jobs for us to work on, but does not have the time to support our rank and file members unless it benefits their plan.


At this point, I also have to include the apprenticeship programs...I am sure this occurs at many of the apprenticeship schools across union America. Bring the new people in by the thousands and let them run wild with no support from our Trustees or our Apprenticeship Administration. If it were not for the marvelous Instructors that work at the schools, the apprentices would get no support at all. This is of course unless they are favorites or in a union family. Fairness is not practiced here either…


Most of the new apprentices are left to fend for themselves. If our apprentice coordinators can find them leads on jobs, and if they can find a union contractor to hire a person of color or a woman, then they might work for a few months. More money goes into our coffers...and that is more money for the Executive and local administrators to provide salary increases and to make their wages secure and some of their double pensions fatter...and unions get stronger.


Some of the people in my union have been stonewalling my efforts to develop an evening class to educate all union carpenters to our Area Agreements, our UBCJA Constitution, and our union member rights for over ten years. Instead they make a video and leave it up to the individual member to watch and understand. Most of the members do not even watch it. Good job guys, keep the plan rolling along...keep doing it your way!


The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters Apprentice & Training Program has a Labor Management Relations class for first year apprentices. None of the other Instructor’s were ever trained to teach this class…I had to educate myself about the bargaining agreements, By-Laws & Working Rules, and our UBCJA Constitution so I felt comfortable teaching it to the apprentices. Some of the business agents, stewards on job sites, and organizers are still clueless to our area agreements or UBC Constitution.


The comments I have received from the working apprentices in the field are horror stories about what the union contractors are making them do in violation of our contracts…this has been occurring for the past fifteen years and is continuing to get worse. Our business agents and the hundreds of male organizers we pay continue to look the other way.


We are currently bringing in 3000 to 4000 apprentices for training in our program every year, but only 700 to 800 graduate...what does it matter; right? Most of them did work for an hour or more, or maybe a year or two before they disappeared. Our coffers are getting fatter because of these people...


Story from a sister Carpenter in another state:

“We have a local here that I say is about 70% African American. It happens to be a local that is paid a lesser rate because it is a housing local not commercial. Almost ALL of the women and men of color that come in through the pre-apprentice programs are assigned to that local. They don't get the same elective of being assigned to the local in their area like most of the white apprentices. The leadership of that local is 100% white. Go figure. This, in one the largest unionized cities on the east coast. Most members are just glad to be working.”


TEAMSTERS (IBT) - Chicago Local in Turmoil over Officer Elections

“Dissident members of a Chicago Teamsters union have charged the hierarchy with subverting the victory of their candidate for president in elections conducted Oct. 17, amid allegations of corruption linked with mob influence, kick-backs, and underhanded job-shifting schemes against the current hierarchy, led by Robert Walston. Local 743 represents more than 12,000 health care, manufacturing, insurance and university workers in the Chicago area.


An opposition slate led by Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) activist Richard Berg was ahead in the ballot count 788 to 781. About 200 ballots -- most from a shop that supported Berg -- remained to be counted when those votes were challenged. Local 743 bosses initially said that they would recognize the votes that had been challenged, but after checking the current tally changed their minds and decided to hold a new election entirely.


Local 743 attorney Bill Widmer said Berg himself asked for the election to be voided because voters had supposedly been disenfranchised. But Berg said the union dismissed numerous other protests he had filed, and than decided to grant one and ordered a new election when his win looked likely.” [Chicago Maroon, 10/28/04: Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/22/04]


Story by two sister Teamsters from the Chicago area:

“We are in a local on the southern area of Chicago that consists of all women, only the two of us are citizens of the U.S. All the other women are Hispanic and have U.S. Department of Homeland Security working cards. But they are not residents of the U.S. All of the officers in our local are white men who put fear into the women when we have anything to say about our employers not giving us our contracted scale or working more than eight hours and still getting paid the same as an eight hour day. The officers will not give us information as to our bargaining agreement and continue to threaten us with our jobs if we do not shut-up.”


Our Chicago area administration signed an agreement with what is called, Furniture Contractors. The concessions given to this type of contractor allows them to hire twenty apprentices to one journeyman carpenter on every one of their union jobs. Business agents have been placing mostly people of color and women with these contractors. These apprentices have no possibility of becoming journeyman carpenters. These type of contractors do not train people in the carpentry skills needed to gain journeyman status...so, near the end of their four year apprenticeship they only have two options left...start the apprentice program all over again or quit the carpenters union for another type of job.


You see, if they start all over again, they will continue to put money into our corporate Regional Councils coffers for all vested carpenters in our unions and they will again have a steady job for another almost four years at the apprentice rate. Good deal huh?


Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters administration gave up overtime on Saturdays for Residential Carpenters in our area...they raised the union dues fifteen dollars more for first and second year apprentices because they know most will not be in our union after the second year. Journeymen only received a three dollar increase...

In various other unions across America, and in some instances here in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa immigrant workers, people of color, and women are being placed into separate locals to allow the men that run that local to control and manipulate them. These people are not given their By-Laws and Constitution booklets, nor are the officers at those locals educating them to their rights under our bargaining agreement. In some of the more depressed areas of our three state county regions, locals are bullying their members and manipulating them into believing that they will not be able to get a job or ever work as a carpenter again. And again, these are mostly people of color, women or uneducated white men. People of color and women are constantly intimidated into not participating at their local meetings. Some of the apprentices that want to speak up at a meeting are still told to “shut your fucking month and sit down,” when it is a concern that the officers do not want to address. They also allow their members to bully the new members coming in, especially if that new member is a woman.


The immigrants only have employment cards from the Department of Homeland Security to work in the United States, and these people are constantly fearful of doing anything that could have them deported back to their countries. So they work for their union employers, accepting anything given to them. The Regional councils and the business agents again look the other way...


Any time a person of color or a female carpenter fights for their rights under our union contract they are blackballed and not able to work for that contractor again...


In September 2004, Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin reported that Andy Ryan, 19, son of Tom Ryan, Business Representative/Secretary Treasurer out of Carpenter Local 13, was hired as a building inspector even though the city requires all inspectors to have completed a four-year apprenticeship and have two years work experience. The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters was Mayor Daley’s largest campaign contributor in 2003. After more investigation it was found that another son of a Business Representative was also hired by the Chicago Building Department a year prior. Carpenter Local 13 was credited with being one of the prominent locals to negotiate a bargaining agreement with the City of Chicago, Building Inspection Department a year earlier...


I did not see young Ryan or any of his brothers in the Apprenticeship school until after the corruption charges were filed with the Chicago Building Department…then several of the brothers started in the apprenticeship. I heard one has since been appointed as a Business Representative in our CRCC union.


We have Executive Business Agent/Directors in charge of certain committees in our area; one is the called Mentorship Committee in which the President of a Carpenters Local and also an Executive Business Representative is in charge and has the title of Mentorship Director. There has not been a mentorship committee in this or other locals since the Las Vegas Convention in 2004. Yet I was told that it existed before 2004. It’s a big joke to this guy...if there is or was a mentorship committee in any carpenter local, it was because of the men and women carpenters in those locals made it happen, not because of this so-called Business Representative/Mentorship Director. Word is he received this position because it was the worse committee to be on, and they had to put him somewhere...


What our Unions have done over the past decade is to pander to the Corporations leaving the working carpenters to fend for themselves. As long as the union Corporations pay into the benefits fund, our unions will continue to be a strong hold in America, but this time at the cost to the uneducated workers, the immigrant workers or the uncaring and ignorant uneducated indentured apprentices and journeymen that continue to look the other way...


The same concessions have been happening here in the jurisdictional counties in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa and it is getting worse...and the excuse we, the working carpenters will be given is we are in a recession, and there is nothing that the Regional Council can do...


This same plan has been in effect in other unions across America and Canada as well. Part of the plan is to lower the wages of all union carpenters. The Corporate UBC and the Regional Councils however will continue to get there money to keep the union strong because the corporate contractors continue to pay into the benefits at higher amounts, possibly with the promise of better health care for union workers. Even though wages will be down and immigrants are always willing to work hard and receive lower wages. History repeats itself again...


UBCJA General President Douglas McCarron has been part of the RAT BRIGADE (Corporate Contractors) all along!


McCarron has been in on this plan since his first election in 1995 and started negotiations in 2000 with Bush and the Republican Party, his administrations goals have been to continue making the unions strong at the expense of the working carpenters and undocumented immigrant workers. These unions were once run by the working carpenters, now it is a Labor Union Corporation and the UBC and the Regional Councils have taken control. The union workers' rights under our agreements have been violated continuously over the past decade, and no one in our administration has been supporting the union workers rights. The Equal Rights amendment and all of the other laws are not enforced. It is like they have been put in place by our government and our unions but were written with disappearing ink...they are no more, nor have they really been!


The only right that our unions have been supporting with their millions of dollars a year attorney firms, which we pay for, is for the corporate labor unions, their administrations and contractor corporations’ rights.


We no longer have a voice or vote in our unions, and pretty soon we will no longer have a voice or vote in America! Corruption, deceit, and manipulation are alive and well in our unions…

“We, as carpenters, both union and non-union, have to build a new type of unionism. Our goal is and has always been for a better life and a higher standard of living for EVERY carpenter, White, Black, Latino, Polish, Asian, man or woman. We should not be on the same side with ANY contractor, rat or union. And, we do not have much use for leaders like Doug McCarron.” – Gregory A. Butler, union carpenter Blog

I second that notion...Wake up people, fight back!

................................................................................................................................................................

People really need to educate themselves to what is happening on in our Nation...

READ, THINK...EDUCATE

If you are just a passionately unaware American, please evaluate your thinking as to who is the best candidate to be our leader...the next President of the United States...

SWAY THE OBAMA WAY!

Time for Illinois Labor Leaders - the Real Ones - to get wise and give Andy Stern the tune-up he needs.

Trades Unions! Watch. When CTU Murders Charter Schools, Apprenticeship Programs Will Be Next. SEIU and Andy Stern Want it So!

SEIU wants to Kill School Reform and they have the money and muscle to do it. Killing School Reform, which actually means the advent and genuine success of Charter Schools in America, is a means of killing the Bureau of Apprenticeship Programs in Illinois and other States in favor of a State run Apprentice Program - run by a local politician like James Meeks, as Emil Jones will be at an undisclosed off-shore paradise.

Card check will be the key and Teachers Unions are already thugging it up.

appeasement on vouchers only whets unions appetites for eliminating all meaningful types of choice. With voucher programs facing termination in Washington, D.C., and heavy regulation in Milwaukee, the teachers unions have now set their sights on charter schools. Despite their proclamations about supporting charters, the actions of unions and their allies in state and national politics belie their rhetoric.

In New York, for example, the unions have backed a new budget that effectively cuts $51.5 million from charter-school funding, even as district-school spending can continue to increase thanks to local taxes and stimulus money that the charters lack. New York charters already receive less money per pupil than their district school counterparts; now they will receive even less.

Unions are also seeking to strangle charter schools with red tape. New York already has the "card check" unionization procedure for teachers that replaces secret ballots with public arm-twisting. And the teachers unions appear to have collected enough cards to unionize the teachers at two highly successful charter schools in New York City. If unions force charters to enter into collective bargaining, one can only imagine how those schools will be able to maintain the flexible work rules that allow them to succeed.

Good schools and solid Trades Programs are paths to success. Andy Stern can not and will not have that. SEIU sucks up unskilled and no skilled members, who are not and will not have an opportunity to train and study for a path into the American Middle Class. That was the Old Way - This is Change America, Sweetheart!

In Change America, group think and group wage will be based upon what the Tax-levying bodies in each State ( soviet) dole out to the rank and file.

Andy Stern wants an end to all Trades Apprenticeship Programs - no longer will the Pipefitters, Carpenters, Electricians, Plumbers, Sprinkler-fitters, of Engineers set standards for application to Apprenticeship Programs, nor will they run training schools.

SEIU will determine who does and gets what through each State's James Meeks, or some other Purple Approved Legislator.

Play ball with Andy Stern and you will get a knife in kidneys for your troubles.

SEIU is ACORN with an Advanced Degree ( Social Work @ University of Pennsylvania usually) and they need millions more members to feed the PAC. There are many more spineless politicians to buffalo and millions more children that Andy Stern needs for future harvests of no skill and unskilled members. That harvest is threatened by School Choice - Catholic Schools, Private Schools and especially Charter Schools.

Progress Illinois Andy Stern's graphic novel ( comic book)of propaganda is going flat out to help the oafish Marilyn Stewart's Chicago Teachers Union geld Charter Schools.

The Wall Street journal offers this roadmap:

When charter schools unionize, they become identical to traditional public schools in performance. Unions may say they support charter schools, but they only support charters after they have stripped them of everything that makes charters different from district schools.

President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have given speeches promoting charter schools. Despite their talk, charter spending constituted less than one-quarter of 1% of education spending in the stimulus package. And the Obama administration has done union bidding by killing the D.C. voucher program. They did this in the face of solid evidence of academic progress for the voucher students, and despite their stated commitment to do "what works for kids" regardless of ideology.

Vouchers made the world safe for charters by drawing union fire. But now that the unions have the voucher threat under control, charters are in trouble. It's time for reformers to increase pressure on politicians bending to the will of the unions and close the new education gap -- the one between what Mr. Obama and Mr. Duncan say about education and what they do.

Killing School Reform through unionizing Charter Schools is a step to killing Trades Programs. Kill competency and grow fat on millions of locked-in, impoverished and no skill members is the goal of Andy Stern, SEIU, Card Check,and Chicago Teachers Union.

CTU Hellbent on Destroying School Reform - Progressives Help Them!

Progress Illinois is a comic book published by Andy Stern's SEIU -the folks who worked over-time with Rod Blagojevich to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate after working hand in pocket with Rod Blagojevich for the good part of his two years in office.

SEIU had a starring role in the December 9th Criminal Complaint against Celebrity Survivor Ingenue the disgraced former Governor of Illinois. SEIU is Lefty PAC masquerading as a Labor Union. Members dues go to frightening spineless elected officials and papering the lampposts of Blagoshere with hit pieces on political enemies ( William Daley, Mayor Daley, Mike Madigan, John Shimkus, Mark Kirk, Tom Cross and Jim Durkin) with Progress Illinois staffed by the kids of Old Radicals and Leftists like Angela Caputo who takes another salary of Sun Times News Group - for now.

Progressive and the tax-salaried American Federation of Teachers and their Banana Republic branch -Chicago Teachers Union want to kill school Reform.

Vouchers and Charter Schools are the only hope for the already hopeless Chicago Public Schools.

Catholic Schools outperform Public Schools and save Illinois tax-payers millions of dollars.

Angela Caputo is tasked with doing hit pieces on Charter International and its Educational Management Organization (EMO) Civitas.

Read the 'All Hail the Working class' rhetoric in Ms. Caputo's giggle piece - funny like cancer.

Click my post title for the full nonsense.

Here is the most idiotic paragraph.

Because the staff (and public) is largely kept in the dark about the administration of charter schools, it's hard to know how CICS' books have changed in recent years. What's clear is that the instability at these particular schools had led to an increased rate of teacher turnover, a concern raised by Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE) in a report (PDF) last fall.

Shall we, Chicago taxpayers, demand an open accounting of Marilyn Stewart's Chicago Teachers Union?

The great Labor Force that spent the better part of a year firing and locking a Union Leader -Ted Dallas - out of the Headquarters?

Oh, Let's do !

Start here -

Cashing out sick days is a common practice at the Union, he says, but he says he is charged with doing it “without approval.” He says that because Stewart does not study Union policy and past practice, other staffers have been able to cash out sick days after discussions at meetings, and that the policy of going through the Executive Board has not been followed because Marilyn does not follow rules.


Those amounts contested for Dallas are peanuts, when compared to many of the expenditures by Stewart, Dallas noted. For example, he cited the $850,000 laid out at the May House meeting by John Feldman, American Federation of Teachers CPA, as spent by the Stewart administration in a policy which allowed the officers and staff to cash out “compensatory days” for extra work on weekends during 2006. Feldman said that this plan was to be revenue neutral, but that now the officers know it to have been a mistake.


Dallas says he is also charged with helping Presidential Aide Diana Sheffer cash out her sick days at $63,543.80 when it became evident that President Stewart was on a vendetta to fire all those who disagreed with her policies. Sheffer was fired in December 2007, with security walking her out of the Union offices.


The Dallas “trial” will be conducted by the Union Executive Board — dominated by Stewart loyalists — on June 12th at the Union offices at 4 p.m. Dallas’ supporters are encouraging Union members to attend.


The case against Treasurer Linda Porter is still in limbo. In December, 2007, President Stewart took away all of Porter’s fiduciary responsibilities as Treasurer and gave them to her new Chief of Staff, John Ostenburg. Ostenburg was formerly the editor of the union newspaper. He has never taught in Chicago’s public schools. He is the mayor of Park Forest and a former members of the House of Representatives in Springfield. Ostenburg was one of those Stewart did not fire in August 2004. The first page of the 112-page complaint against CTU vice president Ted Dallas. The complaint was brought to the union's executive board by two union members who should not have had access to all of the internal union financial data that they used against Dallas.

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=78

Todd Stoger - I'm Feeling You, Cousin!

Jesus, I feel for Todd Stroger. I am a cousin, too. ( much to the chagrin of many of my hundreds of Chicago cousins and even a few, I am sure, back in County Kerry) However, I would be the cousin resigning - no doubt. Thank the Good Lord Cousins, that I still manage to eke out a living away from the family trades - carpenters, plumbers,electricians and engineers. Likewise, I have managed to avoid Public Service in the employ of City, County, State and Federal programs. Remember that flood in the early years of Mayor Daley's reign? That would have been my doing.

America was built on Family and Family Obligations. My own paternal family came to this country as teenagers - Left County Kerry, Ireland after the families - Sullivan and Hickey - threw an American Wake*. A little girl, Nora Sullivan, age 13 was treated to a party by the family and neighbors in Cahirciveen** and Larry Hickey, age 14, the same on Crinna Mountain, Castleisland***. They would most likely never go home again. My grandfather returned but my grandmother had 'no desire to return whatsoever!'

They met in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood at a Ceili ( an Irish Dance)fell in love and started a family. They brought their young brothers and sisters to America with pennies they saved from cooking for the rich Yanks and working in the Stockyards.

Cousins were taken care of as well. Anyone from miles around their home towns in Kerry were helped to secure work here in Chicago. Strikes and Depressions and hardships were met head-on and better life was formed here in Chicago and more cousins arrived.

I have been taken care of by uncles and aunts and cousins. Many times much to their disappointment -'That nephew of yours in useless!' One of the most important admonitions learned was 'Don't Kill the Job! Your uncle Dan went to bat for you - it is his word that you are working.'

I became a teacher because I liked to read. Teaching made me less of a burden on a family of highly skilled tradesmen with singularly dedicated work ethics. However, I fully understand the familial nature of helping out cousin. As my particular talents and shortcomings do not lend themselves to helping secure work, I am rarely - if ever - asked to 'go to bat' for a cousin.

Todd Stroger placed a cousin on the job. He stuck his neck out for a family member. The Holier Than Everyone Crowd ( Academic Affirmative Action Time-Servers, News Hound Free-Buffet Investigative Journalist -'Where's My V.I.P Passes to the Taste?' and your Boiled Beet Progressives) will heap scorn on Todd Stroger.

I feel for the guy. The bright spot, Mr. Stroger, is that I am not your cousin - you would really be in the jackpot!

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's cousin has quit her job as the county's chief financial officer amid questions about her relationship with a fired county employee.

Stroger told the Chicago Tribune on Friday he asked Donna Dunnings for her resignation and Dunnings agreed.

Stroger spokesman Sean Howard says the resignation follows Stroger's firing of the patronage worker after learning he had a felony criminal conviction. Howard says that after the man was told he was fired he made "explosive" allegations against Dunnings.

Stroger won't detail the allegations or provide information about the relationship between the man and Dunnings. But he says Dunnings has bailed the man out of jail a number of times. Dunnings has an unlisted telephone number and couldn't be reached for comment.
Information from: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com

*American Wake

Open up the door, she's standin' there
With the smile in her eyes but the gray in her hair
Betrays the fact you strayed far from home
With your drinkin', your smokin', your whorin' around
Sit down by the fire, put your feet on the grate
Spend the night reminiscin' 'til the hour grows late
Always remember at the end of the day
You can always go home - you just can't stay

Then it's off to the pub for to see your old mates
Ah, they all look older, but nothin' has changed
And you drink 'til you're nearly out of your head
"Hey, what are yez all doin' snakin' off to bed"
Then you're outside her flat but she's no longer there
And the tears scald your eyes as you think of her hair
In the photo they sent you of her wedding day
You can always go home - you just can't stay

Then you see her at Mass with the kids at her side
And it all comes back in the blink of an eye
The tears and the laughter, the love and the lies
And that dress she wore the night you said good-bye
Then her husband says "it's good to have you back"
And she smiles for a moment and squeezes your hand
But you know what she's thinkin', she doesn't have to say
You can always go home - you just can't stay

And you swear to yourself time and time again
It was all in the past, she don't mean anything
Now your life is full of laughter and bars
What did you leave behind, just the sun, the moon and the stars

Then it's up in the mornin' at the crack of dawn
With your stomach churnin', she says "c'mon now, Sean,
You'll be late for the plane," but that crack in her voice
Betrays the fact that you made your choice
A long time ago, now there's no turnin' back
'Cause last night you had your American Wake
And the bells are still ringin', can't you hear what they say
You can always go home - you just can't stay

Say good-bye in the wind and the pourin' rain
One last drink at Shannon Airport, then we're outa here,
History around here, catch you again next year
Landin' at Kennedy, all you feel is the pain,
But it's too late, 'cause last night you had your American Wake.
This page has been viewed 1094 times
© Larry Kirwan

http://www.celtic-lyrics.com/forum/index.php?autocom=tclc&code=lyrics&id=21


**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahersiveen

***http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castleisland

French President Sarkozy Is Wise to President Obama - The American Media LapDogs follow Bo!

The Doc Looks into America's Gutless Media!



A Chicago Reader responds to an Article in The Times U.K. in which French President Nick Sarkozy gives President Obama the scrutiny that he deserves.

I find it strange to have to admit the President of France understands more about the Obama than the American media and half the public. It's down right embarrassing. But then this whole administration is down right embarrassing.

Yukiko, Chicago, USA

Here is a clip from the article - Read the whole piece by clicking my Post title:

Mr Sarkozy is pouring cold water on President Obama's efforts to recast American leadership on the world stage, depicting them as unoriginal, unsubstantial and overrated. Behind leaks and briefings from the Elysée Palace lies Mr Sarkozy's irritation at the rock-star welcome that Europe gave Mr Obama on his European tour earlier this month.

The American President's call "to free the world of the menace of a nuclear nightmare" was hot air, Mr Sarkozy's diplomatic staff told him in a report. "It was rhetoric – not a speech on American security policy but an export model aimed at improving the image of the United States," they said. Most of Mr Obama's proposals had already been made by the Bush administration and Washington was dragging its feet on disarmament and treaties against nuclear proliferation, the leaked report said.

That's only the warm-up - check out Nick's Fastball!

Congressman Mike Quigley Wows Washington D.C. Quigley Plans to Sleep It Off In D.C. Office!

Rep. Barney Franks and his significant other were awakened at 3:00 am by a loud pounding on the door.

Chairman Franks gets up and goes to the door where a drunken diminutive stranger, standing in the pouring rain, is asking for a push.

'Not a chance,' says the husband, 'it is 3:00 in the morning!'
He slams the door and returns to bed.

'Who was that?' asked Barney's Life-Partner.

'Just some drunk little guy asking for a push,' he answers.

'Did you help him?' asks the Cohabitant.

'No, I did not, it is 3:00 in the morning and it is ppppppouring rain out there!'

'Well, you have a short memory,' says his thoughtful Concubinista.

'Can't you remember about three months ago when we broke down, and those two delightful young sailors helped us? I think you should help him, Barney, and you should be ashamed of yourself!'


The Congressional Puffer Fish does as he is told, gets dressed, and goes out into the pppppppppounding rain. Barney calls out into the dark,

'Hello, are you still there?'

'Yes,' comes back the answer.

'Do you still need a push?' calls out the Banking Committee Genius.

'Yes, please!' comes the reply from the dark.

'Where are you?' asks the husband.

'Over here on the swing, I'm Congressman Mike Quigley!' replied the drunk.

h/t Max Weismann!

Tingle Thigh -Milky Matthews @Chicago Theatre? And Morons Pay Money to See This Twerp?

I thought booking Celebrity Bigot Bill Maher and Ann 'Bones' Coulter was idiotic! This is the most laughable - Chris 'Milky' Matthews the flannel mouth life-long butt-kissing Harp with about as much talent as am albino, bulemic Rosie O'Donnell, is joined Arianna Huffington the Greek serial dater, Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala. Now, that is line-up of excitement unmatched since Puffed Rice hit the shelves.

There are morons who will shell out dough to witness this abortion.


Speaker Series: Chris Matthews + Tucker Carlson, Arianna Huffington, Paul Begala

Despite clearly being a Democrat—he was once a speechwriter for President Carter and ran for Congress on the party ticket—Chris Matthews has built a reputation on Hardball With Chris Matthews as tough but fair. That should position him nicely as the interviewer for this month’s iteration of the Chicago Theatre’s Speaker Series 2009, where he’ll be conversing pointedly with pundit and bowtie enthusiast Tucker Carlson, left-leaning writer and commentator Arianna Huffington, and former Bill Clinton advisor Paul Begala. Don’t expect any lobbing of softballs or mercy shown for his guests—perhaps the best evidence of Matthews’ lack of bias is that both sides accuse him of it: Republicans complain that he expresses a liberal viewpoint and Democrats complain that he books mostly conservative guests.
Chicago Theatre Chicago Theatre175 N State St Chicago IL 60601 312-443-1130
all ages

$38-$150 Bookmark Wed. April 22, 7:30 p.m. Speaker Series: Chris Matthews + Tucker Carlson, Arianna Huffington, Paul Begala at Chicago Theatre Despite clearly being a Democrat—he was once a speechwriter for President Carter and ran for Congress on the party ticket—Chris Matthews has built a reputation on Hardball With Chris Matthews as tough but fair. That should position him nicely as the interviewer for this month’s iteration of the Chicago Theatre’s Speaker Series 2009, where he’ll be conversing pointedly with pundit and bowtie enthusiast Tucker Carlson, left-leaning writer and commentator Arianna Huffington, and former Bill Clinton advisor Paul Begala. Don’t expect any lobbing of softballs or mercy shown for his guests—perhaps the best evidence of Matthews’ lack of bias is that both sides accuse him of it: Republicans complain that he expresses a liberal viewpoint and Democrats complain that he books mostly conservative guests.Wed. April 22, 7:30 p.m. Chicago Theatre 175 N State St, Chicago, IL We get something wrong?
corrections@chicago.decider.com

Napolitano is a Disgrace - Resign.

Janet Napolitano is a disgrace. resign.

After twisting the Department of Homeland Security into a Homeland State Police and insulting America's Veterans, Napolitano offered a smirk and an off-hand attempt to brush off her remarks and then added a confirmation of her mission to curb American Civil Rights.


"Let me be very clear: We monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a written statement.

"We don't have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence."


Resign, you hack!

Marone! Paulie Walnuts Napolitano - Resign!

Janet 'Paulie Walnuts' Napolitano is a hack. A Career Hack. A Great Hack. Resign!

Department of Homeland Security changed its mission from a Department Attacking foreign based terror threats from Islamo-Fascist to a Himmler Geheime Staatspolizei: under the Paulie Walnuts -Skunk Haired - Director Janet Napolitano. The target - American citizens any and all who might, might mind you object to any part of Team Obama's Grand Designs.

Democrats ( like me), Republicans, Independents, you name it are embraced in the sweep of Department of Homeland Security.


Under Rachel Maddow's favorite Obama Aparatchic, Napolitano, serious threats to Homeland Security come from people who criticises the Obama Format - whatever the hell that is today - and they are grouped as physically violent Right Wing Extremists. Thus Article U -

(U) Historical Presidential Election
(U//LES) Rightwing extremists are harnessing this historical election as a recruitment
tool. Many rightwing extremists are antagonistic toward the new presidential
administration and its perceived stance on a range of issues, including immigration and
citizenship, the expansion of social programs to minorities, and restrictions on firearms

Really? Means UGOTS to me! Have not heard that up at Kean Gas since Novemmer when Obama swept this Ward on the south side of Chicago ( sans my Vote to McCain - I am incorrigible). Nope, the boys and girls, Democrats mostly, are less than thrilled with President Obama's 100 Days and have taken to stock-piling Irish Chapstick ( Preparation H) for the powerful thrusting and Yahooing of economic gang-banging.

However Janet 'Paulie Walnuts' Napolitano has determined to shut down violent Speech - like 'Boy, I am not too happy that my Taxes are going up.'


Take a look at the two ( Left Wing Extremists -Who Will Only Cyber Slap America On-Line) and ( Right Wing Extremists - All the Rest of Us Military and Civilians who are nasty and violent) - Janet 'Paulie Walnuts" Napolitano, Folks! Resign Already!

Get This!

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"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo! You know that other party, who said he saw something, that we know did not happen? He realizes now, he didn't see what we know did not happen..." Janet 'Paulie Walnuts' Napolitano





http://regulus2.azstarnet.com/pdf/pdfs/498.pdf

http://regulus2.azstarnet.com/pdf/pdfs/497.pdf

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano Must Resign Following the Insult to American Military

Janet Napolitano is a hack. She is a disgrace. Napolitano needs to resign.

Napolitano wrote an obscenity that insults the women and men in America's Military.

Here is a very reasoned response from the American Legion.

Secretary Janet Napolitano
Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528

April 13, 2009

Dear Secretary Napolitano,

On behalf of the 2.6 million-member American Legion, I am stating my concern about your April 7 report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence and Recruitment.”
First, I want to assure you that The American Legion has long shared your concern about white supremacist and anti-government groups. In 1923, when the Ku Klux Klan still yielded unspeakable influence in this country, The American Legion passed Resolution 407. It resolved, in part, “…we consider any individual, group of individuals or organizations, which creates, or fosters racial, religious or class strife among our people, or which takes into their own hands the enforcement of law, determination of guilt, or infliction of punishment, to be un-American, a menace to our liberties, and destructive to our fundamental law…”
The best that I can say about your recent report is that it is incomplete. The report states, without any statistical evidence, “The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.”

The American Legion is well aware and horrified at the pain inflicted during the Oklahoma City bombing, but Timothy McVeigh was only one of more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation’s uniform during wartime. To continue to use McVeigh as an example of the stereotypical “disgruntled military veteran” is as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam.

Your report states that “Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages.” Secretary Napolitano, this is more than a perception to those who have lost their job. Would you categorize union members as “Right Wing extremists”?

In spite of this incomplete, and, I fear, politically-biased report, The American Legion and the Department of Homeland Security share many common and crucial interests, such as the Citizen Corps and disaster preparedness. Since you are a graduate of New Mexico Girls State, I trust that you are very familiar with The American Legion. I would be happy to meet with you at a time of mutual convenience to discuss issues such as border security and the war on terrorism. I think it is important for all of us to remember that Americans are not the enemy. The terrorists are.

Sincerely,

David K. Rehbein
National Commander
The American Legion

Napolitano plays agenda politics instead of leading to protect America from threats to its security. A Worldwide network of Islamist terrorist attacked America in 2001.

Napolitano expects a threat from America's military and its veterans.

The Hack needs to go. Now.

Who Are the Protesters At DUI Cop's Home? Full Discloure Please!

The Sun Times jumped at the story fed to them by the protesters who decided to protest a civil matter at the private home of the police detective arrested and charged in the deaths of two people.

The Sun Times wants everyone to know that this a 'silent' protest. Protest against what or whom and about what?


There is bugger all little else than the beef about the cop - he is charged and has posted bail and every reporter in Chicago is climbing up his rump. This we know.

April 14, 2009

Nearly two dozen people held a silent protest Monday night outside the Bridgeport home of police detective Joseph Frugoli, according to WMAQ-Channel 5.

Some protesters said they believed that Frugoli was receiving special treatment because he is Chicago cop.

On Sunday, Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. set a $500,000 bail for Frugoli, charged with killing two men in a drunken-driving accident. Some of the victims' friends and family members said the bail was too low Sunday -- a complaint echoed by protesters Monday.

Frugoli was freed on bail Sunday afternoon.

Protesters said they plan to return to the Frugoli home.

Earlier Monday, Frugoli refused to comment about his case, according to WMAQ.

How about a little journalism 101!


Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?

Who called the Sun Times? G. Flint Taylor? Frank Main? Mark Brown? Eric Zorn? Mumia? The Wilson Brothers?

What is being protested? The suggestion by every nuanced Progressive Voice that the cop is clouted? The bail of $ 500,000 is not enough? The fact that the cop lives in Bridgeport? That he is Italian?

Where did the phone call originate? Peoples Law Office? Loevy, Loevy, Loevy & Lawsuit? The Illinois Young Communists League?

Why was the Protest organized? To get more Outrage? It is such a nice day? The Sox are in Detroit?

How is this news?

Get the packing boxes at the Sun Times ready.

Full disclosure - I think this man who happens to . . .have been a cop is suffering the pains of the damned. It appears that he was responsible for the deaths of two young men. A judge set the bail. The protesters and the Sun Times need to disappear.

Bishop Paprocki Outs the Chicago Tribune's Neo-Know Thing-ism

The Chicago Tribune hides its anti-Catholic agenda with articles and yarns that really 'care' about people - who hate the Catholic Church, whether they claim to be Catholic or not. You never see heart-tugging tales about Planned Parenthood employees sickened by Abortion, or ACORN whistle-blowers who helped catch embezzler Wade Rathke. Progressives and Progressive Wannabees are as genuine as Joan Rivers' beauty secrets.


Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki outs the Chicago Tribune's Neo Know-Nothing-ism. With a strong and sensible letter that should be on the front page, Bishop Paprocki gives the not so subtle Tribune Editorial Board a much needed bit of schooling.

Anti-Catholic BiasApril 14, 2009
Anti-Catholic Bias

The Chicago Tribune became known for its anti-Catholic bias when it frequently ran xenophobic editorials that criticized foreigners and Roman Catholics as long ago as 1853. Apparently not much has changed, as the Chicago Tribune published an editorial on April 3 attacking Cardinal Francis George as being "deeply out of line" for upholding church teaching, and ran on March 31 an opinion piece by Don Wycliff, a former Tribune editor, urging the University of Notre Dame to "stick to their resolve" in defying Catholic bishops.

The twist in the Tribune's 21st Century approach seems to be to enlist dissenting Catholics to be the mouthpiece of the newspaper's attacks against the church's teaching authority, such as William Daley's column on April 3 asserting that Cardinal George's position on the Notre Dame commencement "continues a worrisome pattern in which the Catholic hierarchy in America is mixing religion with politics."

Similarly, in the front-page story "Faith or family? Some Catholic couples seeking kids struggle with church doctrine" (Page 1, April 5), the Tribune features Catholics who have acted against Catholic Church teaching on in-vitro fertilization.

I don't recall the Chicago Tribune ever running such stories and editorials against any other church or religion, let alone with such frequency or invective, so I can only conclude that the know-nothing views of the Chicago Tribune have not changed.

I am reminded, however, of Jesus' words as he was crucified:

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

—Rev. Thomas J. Paprocki, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, Archdiocese of Chicago

Forgive them, to be sure, but try not to forget them - or let them off the hook.

The Final Front Ear! Star Treking, Kid! I'll Give You Three To The Door! I'm Eatin' This Lamb Without a Fazer in My Face!

My brother in law Mike Cleary*, publisher and editor of the Will County Farmers Weekly Review roasted a leg of lamb that was pure gustatory poetry bordering on the pornographic. www.farmersweekly.net

Bone-in, Frenched, five pounds trimmed of fat - this was a leg that could have danced with Fred Astair ( read Joe Epstein's Fred Astair), but served the Hickeys, the Clearys, the Holms, and the delicate and beautiful Miss Terry Sullivan.

Conversation matched the bounty of the festive board! One of my nephew's pals joined us - the young lad happened to be a Trekkie the New Generation! Jesus, I hated that show back in 1966. Never understood the appeal, though countless devotees have tried to balance my TV viewing diet of Simpsons, Have Gun will Travel, Roller Derby ( Darby in the U.K.) and at one time Michelle Leigh's weather broacasts on Fox WFLD 32 with goofball and faux-phisticated plots of Star Trek in all of its manifestations.

Not a chance.

I hated every crew, captain, and configuration of the United Star Ship Enterprise from Kirk to Picard to the Fat Guy I can't recall.

However, Young Phill, an African American Pre-Med student and Francophile, offered to treat me to several bits of Star Trek Humor that got my craggy, masculine mug to bounce up in a smile! 'Mr. Hickey, you hate Star Trek, I hear. Check these out -

Question: How many ears does Picard have?
Answer: Three. A right ear. A left ear. And a final front ear.

Question: What did the blonde Klingon say?
Answer: "It was a good day to dye."

Question: What is Thomas Riker’s dating philosophy?
Answer: "If at first you don’t succeed, try Troi again."

Thomas Riker, that's the fat guy! Near micturated my Munsingwears!


These Phil found on a website for smart kids called Neatorama!

I love this place - this is the minutiae needed by the bright and faux bright scholars of the internet!

Not since the bumptious Sun Times cashiered the worthy Zay Smith have I enjoyed the charms of pointless, yet necessary information. Get Thee There!

Click my post title to neatorama or here


http://www.neatorama.com/* Mikes Leg of Lamb is a version for this one by Chef Mike White - Too Yummy, by Half!



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/10/earlyshow/living/recipes/main4934084.shtml

6 oil packed anchovy fillets, drained and blotted with paper towels
3 large whole garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small bone-in leg of lamb (about 5 pounds without the bone)
1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 large rib celery, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
2 cups dry white wine

Preheat the oven to 475. In a food processor, combine the anchovies, garlic, thyme, rosemary, orange zest and olive oil and process into a smooth paste. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Using a small paring knife, make 1 1/2 inch deep slits all over the lamb. Spread the herb paste all over the lamb, working it into the slits; season the lamb with salt and pepper. Using seven or eight long pieces of kitchen string, tie the roast at 1 inch intervals. Scatter the onion, carrot and celery in the bottom of a roasting pan just large enough to hold the lamb and lay the meat on top. Reduce heat to 375. Roast for 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours until an instant-read thermometer, inserted in the center of the thickest part of the meat, registered 140 degrees to 145 degrees. For medium-rare, cook to 135. Transfer the lamb to a cutting board, tent it loosely with aluminum foil and let rest for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, set the roasting pan over high heat. Pour in the wine and bring the liquid to a boil, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Strain it into a small sauce pan, pressing on the vegetables to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the vegetables. Skim the fat from the surface and boil until the sauce is reduced to 1 cup, about 20 minuets, then pour it into a gravy boat.
Remove the kitchen string from the lamb and cut the meat across the grain into thin slices. Serve at once with the sauce.

Serve with sauted Green Beans almondine.

President Obama -Commander in Chief! Well Done, Sir!

President Barack Obama granted the Pentagon's request for standing authority to use appropriate force to save the life of the captain, Gortney said.

The U.S. Navy 5th Fleet in Bahrain said the rescue took place at 12:19 p.m. EDT (1619 GMT) and the lifeboat had drifted to about 20 miles (32 km) from lawless Somalia's coast.

Phillips, captain of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama container ship, contacted his family after the rescue, received a routine medical evaluation, and was resting comfortably aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer.

USS Bainbridge, the Navy Seals, Joint U.S. Task Force and especially President Barack Obama rescued Capt. Phillips from a hostage ordeal. Well Done, Mr. President!

This is a proud moment for America and a powerfully signal event in your Presidency.

You took a tough call and answered with the authority of an American President.