St. Rita High School Cheerleaders at Comiskey Park August 9, 2009

St. Rita Cheerleaders along with about twenty five other schools and clubs put on a great show for thousands of Moms, Dads, Siblings and Cousins at Comiskey Park ( The Cell to those who insist upon Change for the Sake of Dollars)) in the 95 + Degree heat and Desert Breeze today.

All of the girls were remarkable, especially my youngest child Clare!

Irish Wall Flower and Nobel Laureate William B. Yeats said it well, but nevertheless was not exactly a hit with the Chicks.

TO A CHILD DANCING IN THE WIND
by: W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)

DANCE there upon the shore;
What need have you to care
For wind or water's roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
Being young you have not known
The fool's triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
Nor the best labourer dead
And all the sheaves to bind.
What need have you to dread
The monstrous crying of wind?

Progressive Columnist Yale Butler-Munchen Explains "Just How Stupid Americans" He Feels Them "To Be!" Really!

As a columnist who regularly dishes out sharp criticism, I try not to question the motives of people with whom I don't agree. Today, I'm going to step over that line.

I'm the bad guy for saying it's a stupid country, yet polls show that a majority of Americans cannot name a single branch of government, or explain what the Bill of Rights is. 24% could not name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. More than two-thirds of Americans don't know what's in Roe v. Wade. Two-thirds don't know what the Food and Drug Administration does. Some of this stuff you should be able to pick up simply by being alive. You know, like the way the Slumdog kid knew about cricket.

Not here. Nearly half of Americans don't know that states have two senators and more than half can't name their congressman. And among Republican governors, only 30% got their wife's name right on the first try.

Sarah Palin says she would never apologize for America. Even though a Gallup poll says 18% of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth. No, they're not stupid. They're interplanetary mavericks. A third of Republicans believe Obama is not a citizen, and a third of Democrats believe that George Bush had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, which is an absurd sentence because it contains the words "Bush" and "knowledge."

People bitch and moan about taxes and spending, but they have no idea what their government spends money on. The average voter thinks foreign aid consumes 24% of our federal budget. It's actually less than 1%. And don't even ask about cabinet members: seven in ten think Napolitano is a kind of three-flavored ice cream. And last election, a full one-third of voters forgot why they were in the booth, handed out their pants, and asked, "Do you have these in a relaxed-fit?"

And I haven't even brought up America's religious beliefs. But here's one fun fact you can take away: did you know only about half of Americans are aware that Judaism is an older religion than Christianity? That's right, half of America looks at books called the Old Testament and the New Testament and cannot figure out which one came first.

And these are the idiots we want to weigh in on the minutia of health care policy? Please, this country is like a college chick after two Long Island Iced Teas: we can be talked into anything, like wars, and we can be talked out of anything, like health care. We should forget town halls, and replace them with study halls. There's a lot of populist anger directed towards Washington, but you know who concerned citizens should be most angry at? Their fellow citizens. "Inside the beltway" thinking may be wrong, but at least it's thinking, which is more than you can say for what's going on outside the beltway.

And if you want to call me an elitist for this, I say thank you. Yes, I want decisions made by an elite group of people who know what they're talking about. That means Obama budget director Peter Orszag, not Sarah Palin. Now, people who don’t know that Medicare is a government program probably aren’t reacting to what President Obama is actually proposing. They may believe some of the disinformation opponents of health care reform are spreading, like the claim that the Obama plan will lead to euthanasia for the elderly. (That particular claim is coming straight from House Republican leaders.) But they’re probably reacting less to what Mr. Obama is doing, or even to what they’ve heard about what he’s doing, than to who he is.

That is, the driving force behind the town hall mobs is probably the same cultural and racial anxiety that’s behind the “birther” movement, which denies Mr. Obama’s citizenship. Senator Dick Durbin has suggested that the birthers and the health care protesters are one and the same; we don’t know how many of the protesters are birthers, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s a substantial fraction.

And cynical political operators are exploiting that anxiety to further the economic interests of their backers.

Does this sound familiar? It should: it’s a strategy that has played a central role in American politics ever since Richard Nixon realized that he could advance Republican fortunes by appealing to the racial fears of working-class whites.

Many people hoped that last year’s election would mark the end of the “angry white voter” era in America. Indeed, voters who can be swayed by appeals to cultural and racial fear are a declining share of the electorate.

But right now Mr. Obama’s backers seem to lack all conviction, perhaps because the prosaic reality of his administration isn’t living up to their dreams of transformation. Meanwhile, the angry right is filled with a passionate intensity.

Let’s face it: This is no party of Einsteins. Really, it isn’t. A Pew poll last month found that only 6 percent of scientists said that they were Republicans.

Democrats should be leading this discussion. Instead, they’re losing control of it. That’s unfortunate because the debate is too important to be hijacked by hooligans.

Click the Post title for a Genuine Progressive Hero - Rep. Brian Baird ( D- Wash) a Champ; Smart Guy MSNBC Withit -Hep Cat.

Yale Butler-Munchen writes an amalgamae of many thoughtful auteurs, my pets. Arianna Huffington is DYING to get Yale!http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/opinion/07krugman.html?ref=opinion


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-smart-president_b_253996.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/opinion/08blow.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080603854.html

Tamara Holder on Fox with Neil Cavuto - Civil Rights Attorney Probes White House "Fishing" on Health Care Reform

When it comes to being a jerk, I take a back seat to no man! You think you are a jerk? Runner-up , Pal!

Or, as Dostoyevksy once said, “I admit that twice two makes four is an excellent thing, but if we are to give everything its due, twice two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing too”

Yep, I make Five on a daily basis and, thus, am the epitome of charm. Consider this - several years ago I painted Civil Rights Attorney Tamara Holder with the big-ass roller that I reserve for G. Flint Taylor, Locke Bowman and Jon Loevy, the Lawsuit Lotto Jackpoint Lawyers who use criminals and their misdeeds in a game of deconstructing ( Hegelian-Faux Foucault) the Justice System for millions in police abuse scams.

I was wrong about Tamara Holder ( the other Cadillac Commies? Not a chance. Met a few and witnessed all three and they are Gold-plated Bums). I should have known better as Criminal Defense attornies often must advocate for monsters - Frank Avila, Tom Durkin, Terry Gillespie are solid men. Mr. Sexist Jump to Conclusions Hickey went loopy on Tamara Holder in order to grind on his point. Wrong. Tamara Holder is the real deal and U.S. Constitution True Believer who does not game the system.

I had the great pleasure of witnessing Tamara Holder* defend our Civil Rights on Neil Cavuto's Your World yesterday afternoon ( the Video's are unavailable at this early hour of posting -Sorry) and Ms. Holder raised questions about the White House and its attempt to 'tamp-down' anger about the very bad Health Care Reform Legislation that is being stuffed down the throats of us all, like fois gras geese.

Linda Douglas, on the Official White House Website is seeking sneaks to rat out intranet ideas that run contra to Obama Care. Tricky Dickey meets Scary Barry!

Ms. Holder cited Constitutional Law that would clearly confound the Obama White House
in its efforts to avoid the Right to Privacy Act, should information about Americans and their opinions be complied by Czarina Douglas.

Tamara Holder is a frequent contributer on legal matters to national news. Click my post title for more on Tamara Holder.


* Tamara Holder is featured in the July 2009 Issue of Chicago Magazine as one of the Super Singles - I missed the cut as I am an old widowman dating an astoundingly beautiful writer, Jazz Singer, Liturgical Choir Director and by dint of the matter that Ms. Sullivan has pious and charitable heart.

August 7, 2009 68.0FLog In | My Account | Subscribe | Sitemap | Advertise | About Us | Contact Us All Chicago-Mag Chicago-Home Radar
Chicago Magazine / July 2009 / Singles 2009 / Tamara Holder

Tamara Holder
« previous single next single »

Tamara Holder -29
Criminal defense attorney, TV legal analyst
From: La Junta, Colo.
Lives in: Old Town
Resumé note: Among other collaborative efforts with Jesse Jackson, Tamara founded a pro bono expungement clinic, in 2006, at Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

. . .

“I graduated early from high school, college, and law school. I see what’s ahead, and I put my head down and go for it.”

“In college, I assumed I would marry my college sweetheart, have three kids before I was 27, and live happily ever after. Things change.”

“I can’t live without my digital camera. I love taking pictures of my friends and the places I see. Also, you never know if you’re going to need it at a crime scene.”

“Getting up early, snowboarding all day long, having a few beers, and being in bed by 7 p.m.: That’s the best day ever.”

Barbara Boxer on Hard Ball - Sartor Resartus

Here are two photos of the Town-hall Health Care protestors taken over the last week. One, presents the Green Bay, WI Fashionistas and on the other are Tea-baggers from Raleigh, NC sporting haute couture . Click my post title for the Spartan Sack-Cloth of Senator Barbara Boxer damning these snappy boulevardiers as they exercise their Patrician First Amendment Rights. "Damn their, eyes!"


MSNBC and the Boiled Beets Progressive Universe is a-howl with objections that these well-turned-out-clothes horses are the paid hirelings of the Insurance Blackguards and the GOP. The Republicans as far as I have experienced could not lead a parade of drunks to an open bar. Hey, I'm a Chicago Democrat, what can I tell you.

The Democrats have split their britches and America is laughing at them and well they should. The Tailor needs re-tailoring.

"The gladder am I, on the other hand, to do reverence to those Shells
and outer Husks of the Body, wherein no devilish passion any longer
lodges, but only the pure emblem and effigies of Man: I mean, to Empty,
or even to Cast Clothes. Nay, is it not to Clothes that most men do
reverence: to the fine frogged broadcloth, nowise to the 'straddling
animal with bandy legs' which it holds, and makes a Dignitary of? Who
ever saw any Lord my-lorded in tattered blanket fastened with wooden
skewer? Nevertheless, I say, there is in such worship a shade
of hypocrisy, a practical deception: for how often does the Body
appropriate what was meant for the Cloth only! Whoso would avoid
falsehood, which is the essence of all Sin, will perhaps see good
to take a different course. That reverence which cannot act without
obstruction and perversion when the Clothes are full, may have free
course when they are empty. Even as, for Hindoo Worshippers, the Pagoda
is not less sacred than the God; so do I too worship the hollow cloth
Garment with equal fervor, as when it contained the Man: nay, with more,
for I now fear no deception, of myself or of others."

Thomas Carlyle - Sartor Resartus, Chapter VI Old Clothes.

The Party Line is cut from some very flimsy cloth. Watch Senator Barbara Boxer's patchwork with needleman Chris "Milky" Matthews on MSNBC - click my post title.

The Democratic National Committe has long been in the hands of Goofs ( Howard Dean is a Champion Goof) and goofs are essentially delicate intellects with very bad tempers who require complete attention for their points of view. While they demand attention, they loudly shout down and insult any one or any idea that threatens their point of view. Thus, Health Care and Government Run Health Care. Bad idea.


http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/5/1051/1051.txt

Jan Schakowsky Talks Single Payer Health! No, Really.

I #$%^ing hate bridesmaids dresses. Total waste of my hard-earned money, even if—or especially if—they’re purchased from usually reliable purveyors of good taste like Vera Wang or Neiman Marcus. Bridesmaids dresses have inspired bad movies and good websites, because frankly, their only upside is that they offer comic relief.
Now, being Progressive, I’ve seen some bridesmaids’ dresses of truly spectacular multicolored #$%^itude. Weddings below the Mason-Dixon are a festival of the tacky and tricked-out. Lime! Fuschia! Ruffles! Picture hats! Butt bows! We could spend hours unpacking the psychological baggage of a woman who makes her allegedly dearest friends wear such hideousness. Then New York weddings introduced me to the previously unimagined: black bridesmaid dresses. The only time you’d wear black to a Progressive wedding is if you’d #$%^-ed the groom and needed a passive-aggressive way to show your sorrow that he’s off the market (so be forewarned—if any of you show up to my wedding in black, I will make assumptions). I realize that little black dresses are practically a religious obligation for Tea-Baggers, and black bridesmaids dresses can probably be recycled more easily, but come on, ladies! I don’t care how chic/flattering/slimming black is, it’s not a joyful color, and weddings are joyful occasions. Save the black for my funeral, or at least for my divorce party.

A good bridesmaid dress is practically an oxymoron, but I’ve had them. And needless to say, I’ve had bad ones too. For your reading pleasure, I’ve culled the tops in each category for this rant. Feel my pain, won’t you?

This exerpt from how I hear Jan Schakowsky is accurate in spirit if not lifted from a site about fashion. This makes more sense than the Congress-critter Her OWN Bad Mannered Self and much more sense than Dithering Dick Durbin. It is tough being a Democrat with these mopes out there.

On Wisconsin Women, PT.II- A Krazy Glue Apologist for Male Members of Identity Politics and my Sober Riposte - The Rakes Progress

Yesterday, Dear Reader, I waxed rhapsodic on the cementing of a Wisconsin* Gent's Genitalia to his Hunger Bucket.

Four wronged Women Talibaned the Hell out of the Lecherous Lad.

A concerned Male Apologist complained on my comment page thus, Male Identity Politics and Victimhood? God's Wounds!

Anonymous said...
Such vigilante “justice” must NOT be tolerated and a strong message must be sent to women that they cannot commit spousal violence and get away with it, any more than a man can. This is a question of Male Rights. Men are not the property of women. Merely because he had relations with other women does NOT justify the brutal attack that was committed against him.

What if the situation was reversed? Many women cheat too. Do we men have the right to exact our own revenge on a wife or girlfriend who cheats? Can a man take his cheating wife and handcuff her to a bed, punch her in the face repeatedly, hold her at gunpoint, and then super-glue her vaginal lips together? Would this be portrayed as a joke in the media? Would men who had committed such a crime be released on a mere $200 bail? You can bet that if the situation was reversed, the sexist-pig “women’s organizations” would be up in arms over it. I am absolutely infuriated by this violation of Male Rights. These women must be given serious time to send a message to women everywhere that women are not above the law, and that such violence against men will not be tolerated.
3:33 AM

Considering my love for 18th Century morality, William Hogarth's Plates of the Rake's Progress, and Igor Stravinsky's** modern opera adaptation of Hogarth's moralising sketches, I cocked an eye-brow and rejoined, This a.m.!

Yet,

As Nick Shadow goaded Young Tom Rakewell into the life dissolute, marrying Baba the Turk, and gaming madly at the green baize tables, while swilling gallons of Rhenish, our thoughts should turn to the Tempter's terms to Tom:

'No eye his future can foretell
No law his past explain
Whom neither Passion may compel
Nor Reason can restrain.'

Alas, Poor Tom, who dallied away from Anne Trulove for the fleshier pleasures, like our Chedderhead Chap with his Lance permanently sheathed, is undone by his own ministrations.

Do, Anonymous Male Member, read up on the Rake's Progress as this cautionary tale makes a moral meal both wholesome and filling!

5:17 AM

Judgment comes -ET IN ARCADIA EGO!


* Do please note the male tropes in this anthem

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Plunge right through that line!
* Run the ball clear down the field,
* A touchdown sure this time. (U rah rah)
On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Fight on for her fame
Fight! Fellows! - fight, fight, fight!
We'll win this game.

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Stand up, Badgers, sing!
"Forward" is our driving spirit,
Loyal voices ring.
On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Raise her glowing flame
Stand, Fellows, let us now
Salute her name!

Stand up, Badgers, indeed.


** Synopsis -click my post title.

Charter Schools Retain Catholic School Mission - Rockford's Mayor Larry Morrissey Moves School Reform

Two weeks ago I attended a lunch in Joliet, where I heard Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey* speak to the issue of school reform and his focus was on competition, accountabilty and the horrors of fighting in-bred complacency. Public Schools devolved and once vital Catholic Schools disappeared.

Rockford was once a powerful industrial town, like Peoria, Decatur and Kankakee. Its public schools needed a shot in the arm. Charter Schools offered that possibility.

Charter schools are publicly-funded schools that trade greater accountability for autonomy. They are often founded by groups of master teachers who enter into a charter, or contract, with a school district for five to 10 years.

Performance goals are established in the charter and they are reviewed periodically by the authorizing school district. Of the 43 charter schools established between 1996 when state law authorized charter schools in Illinois and 2007, 21 percent folded.
http://www.rrstar.com/homepage/x565327016

Once vital Catholic schools like St. Patrick's were reorganized as Charter Schools. Rockford Star Register's Chuck Sweeney reports:

When I was a kid my parents sent me to St. Patrick’s School, back when that school had 972 students, and was the largest school in the Rockford Diocese. We had two sites in those days — the early 1960s — the “new building” on School Street and the old school on Royal Avenue, which housed 7th and 8th grades.

As the Catholics left the area, the school gradually dwindled to no more than a couple hundred students when the church pulled the plug in the ’90s.

It’s been sad to see the sturdy School Street building, constructed in 1953-54 with another wing added in 1958, empty of school kids all these years. The church has kept it up and running, and has used it for various purposes. So it it hasn’t been allowed to fall apart and is still in good shape.

Tonight I drove by the old school — and it was lighted like a Christmas tree. There were people inside, turning it into — a school! Ah yes, the same green chalkboards were there. Green boards? Yes. It’s St. PATRICK’s School, after all.

The old St. Pat’s will become the Galapagos Charter School later this month.

Does my heart good to see my old school back on line again. I hope the new kids enjoy the building. I know I did.

http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/

Reform can happen. Leaders Like Mayor Larry Morrissey make Reform happen.


*Lawrence J. "Larry" Morrissey (Born in 1969 in Rockford, IL) is the Mayor of Rockford, IL. As an independent, Morrissey defeated Democrat incumbent Doug Scott in the 2005 mayoral elections after trying in his first run in 2001 with a populist campaign promising road improvements, education reforms, lower property taxes and a revitalized downtown. In an attempt to reduce the city's reliance on property taxes to fund road projects, Morrissey proposed an increase to the city's sales tax. A sales tax increase referendum was defeated in the March 2006 primary but passed in the April 2007 election

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

Putin Eyes Chinaman's Dinner

This has got to be killing you, or will be.

"Comrade, if you are finished with that plateful of Yak, slide her over! I could eat the crotch out of a bear!"

Putin on Centaur, Vlad? You Is Bad.

Vlad, Dude! You go all Centaur* on us?

Get there quicker, I suppose, and saves on bus fare.

Or, is this a Frat Stunt?

*A centaur is one of the symbols associated with both the Iota Phi Theta and the Delta Lambda Phi fraternities. Whereas centaurs in Greek mythology were generally symbolic of chaos and unbridled passions, Delta Lambda Phi's centaur is modeled after Chiron and represents honor, moderation and tempered masculinity.

Oh, Yeah! Stay out of Wisconsin, Vlad. Glue, get me?

Get this Dude lined up for the Triple Crown!

Four Wisconsin Women Offer That Trust is Not "The Krazy Glue" of Love

“The best proof of love is trust.” Dr. Joyce Brothers

"No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence.”
T.S. Eliot quotes (American born English

"I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken - and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived. " Margaret Mitchell

"What is a kiss? Why this, as some approve: The sure, sweet cement, glue, and lime of love." Robert Herrick

Four Lovelies in Wisconsin, with the strings of their tender hearts ripped from the Lute of Love by a loathsome Lothario, Krazy-glued the Chedderhead's Johnsonville to his gut.

A sticky case of revenge unfolded last week in a Wisconsin motel after a woman discovered her husband was cheating and invited three other scorned lovers to settle the score -- with Krazy Glue.

The 36-year-old Lothario was carrying on with all of them before his wife figured it out and notified the others, according to a criminal complaint filed in Calumet County, Wis., in a town about 90 miles north of Milwaukee.

"We had a plan," one of the women, Therese Ziemann, 48, told an investigator, according to court records.

Ziemann lured the man to a Stockbridge hotel Thursday, promising a "rub down," the complaint says. He was blindfolded and tied to a bed. Then Ziemann text-messaged the other three women, including the man's wife, who joined her in the room.

After the victim was threatened with mace, punched in the face and taunted, the mischief moved south.

Ziemann glued a sensitive body part to his stomach, according to the complaint.

The women, including Michelle Belliveau, fled when the man started yelling. All were later charged with false imprisonment. Ziemann also faces charges of fourth-degree sexual assault and misdemeanor battery. The wife was not named to protect the man's identity.

The man was treated and released at a hospital, said Calumet County District Atty. Kenneth Kratz, who otherwise declined comment.

-- Lisa Black

As always, do click my post title for the fine report on this Love Yarn from Chicago Tribune.

However, this Bartlett's moment on Trust & Love in Wisconsin needs the recent offering of Chicago Renaissance Man and Captain of the Sweeter Sciences Mike Houlihan, from Irish American News, to fully understand this touching episode's sordid impact on us all who sojourn among those from the Dairy State:

There are a few mysteries I’d like the folks in Wisconsin to clarify. What’s with the cheese and porno shops all over the interstate? Guy is driving to Wisconsin and his pal says. “Hey, while you’re there pick me up a half pound of Colby, some night crawlers and the August issue of Juggs.”

I’ve been told that many Sapphic romances start at the University of Wisconsin when gal pals are out partying. “Hold my hair back Hanna, I’ve had twelve brews and I’m gonna hurl!”

And what’s the deal with everybody in Wisconsin wearing t-shirts with “clever” sayings imprinted on them? Wouldn’t it be easier for the state to just order about two million XXXXXXXL t shirts that say, “I’m with stupid!”

Thus Love Lanquishes Farve, Farve Away!

http://www.irishamericannews.com/index.php/people/social-circle/733-hooliganism-july-2009

Treasury Tax-Fraud Geithner says, "Middle Class ! Hyar 'Tis! Hey, Just Forget to Pay . . . Oh, That Was Under George W.Bush . . . Buck Up, Yanks!

Now, there is a puss that just screams out confidence and integrity! Timmy Boy " Fogot Them Taxes" Geithner!

Timmy Tipped his hand. Well the tell was there since January anyway folks, but Secretary Timmy said, "We have to bring these deficits down very dramatically," Geithner told ABC's "This Week." "That's going to require some very hard choices."

Good and Hard, Americans.

Republicans were quick to jump on a lack of a fresh no-new-taxes pledge, with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor's office e-mail blasting Geithner's remarks to the press.

Geithner was adamant that controlling the deficit is vital to keeping the economy cooking along.

"We will not get this economy back on track, recovery will not be strong and sustained, unless we convince the American people that we are going to have the will to bring these deficits down once recovery is firmly established," he said.

Legendary former Federal Reserve boss Alan Greenspan said yesterday the feds had done well controlling the economic crisis. He also said the fear of long-running deficits was legitimate, with this year's and next's deficit running about $1 trillion.

He said health reform and tax hikes could be part of the solution.

Yep, Change you can Feel!

Money, Marbles, or Chalk? Who thinks Timmy will be the FIRST Obamanaut to get launched into oblivion????? Me!!!!!!

Kankakee River Rescue! Well Done, Derek Mullady and the Mullady Family!

First "Ed Mullady's Kankakee River Fisherman's Atlas" for Illinois published. Mullady helps organize "Save Our Streams" to fight building two new dams along the Kankakee River. Campaigned against building a reservoir lake near Wilmington.

The Mullady Family has watched over the Kankakee River for as long as I can remember.
River Scouts Pat and Matt Mullady were pals of my late wife Mary and dedicated naturalists like father, Mr. Ed Mullady. I fished the Kankakee River for fourteen years and often with their guidance and sound criticism.

Their father Ed Mullady is the dominant sportsman/activist/conservationist and Father of the Kankakee waterways for all of his life. He is the publisher of Kankakee River Report. Ed Mullady's sons and grandsons have protected the beauty and the majesty of what most argue to be the cleanest river in Illinois. The Mullady family dedicated their spirits to the waters of the Kankakee. It is a generational vocation.

Today, I read that Derek Mullady heroically saved the life of a man who crashed his plane into the Kankakee River.

Mullady and four friends rode a harbor boat out to the overturned plane and dragged it to shallow water where they flipped it over and cut the victim out of the cockpit.

"We cut him loose and...he coughed up blood and started breathing," Mullady said.

Mullady said the victim, a man who appeared to be in his 40s, was underwater for about six minutes before being rescued. The unidentified pilot was taken to an area hospital, where he was listed in fair condition, Kankakee County Sheriff's police spokesman Tim McCabe said.

Officials remained on the scene and were investigating, McCabe said.

The Federal Aviation Administration was notified but further details were unavailable, said agency spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory.

Mullady downplayed any notion that he was a hero. "I don't know if I'd say that," Mullady said. "Just at the right place at the right time, I guess."

--William Lee

I can safely say that the only bad thing to ever come out of Kankakee was the nine inch Alligator Gar that I caught near Custer Park and a few Mud Puppies.

Birthers? Don't Know One. Now, Divorcers? Palin-aphobia Distraction.

Keith Olbermann is bathtubbing, or some such marination. Butch Maddow is tanking. Big Ed Schultz is looking more Hermann Goringesque each episode. Milky Chris Matthews just back from a fudge finding tour of Africa is paler than the foam on the White House Lawn.The pencil neck Limey,as well as Mel Brooks impersonator Howard Dean, is filling in for Olbermann on Countdown. MSNBC is the Toolshed yet, but has been at the tip of the "Birther" Spear.

"Birther's" are folks who continue to ask for President Obama's Birth Certificate. They are out there somewhere, but I have yet to meet one. I run into many,many people in my job as a fund raiser for an inner city Catholic high school for African American young men - Leo High School! I am in the Loop three to five days a week. I meet the entire canvass of the American landscape (CEO's, middle managers, cops, fire fighters, City Hall operatives, journalists, tradesmen, nurses, clergy of all denominations, men, women and little kids. No Birthers.

The Birthers MSNBC and the Astro-turf Roots Boiled Beets Progressives are shouting out warnings about the Birthers!!!!! Dang. Where are they?

Yesterday, I met three new configurations of the Conspiracy Folks - The Divorcers, two women and one man, while I ambled about Beverly Park during the Play for Maeve event. Upon seeing my harmlees, but ruggedly handsome and contemplative self, they swarmed a-buzzing! All three worked mightily against George W, Bush and all he stands for, Racism, War and the heart-break of Psoriasis. The two women were especially strident "Mr. McCain-loser (me) . . .looks like your Eskimo-pie VP is not so Family now?"

"Ladies, you have me at a disadvantage. What news, pray tell, is the germ of your question?," I asked after Doffing my green Pat Mac's Pack ( Paddy McNamara is my cousin's little boy who suffers from returning brain tumors) baseball cap - I always wear a hat so I can tip it to a Lady!

"Palin the Quitter is quiting Todd!"

" Honor Bright, Skirts?"

" It's in Alaska Report if you can read, or do you get all your news from FOX?"

" Why, yes, I read some and no some of my best news sources are delicate flowers of the 19th Ward like yourselves. I shall avail myself of this broadsheet post haste."

The Progressive gentleman agreed and seethed -and on such a nice day.

Returning to my Yeoman's cottage some few blocks from Beverly Park, and after making a sandwich of heroic proportions as I did not get to sate myself on hot-dogs at the event, I searched and found this -

A National Enquirer story exposing previous affairs on both sides led to a deterioration of their marriage and the stress from that led to Palin's resignation as governor of Alaska last week.

The Palins were noticeably not speaking to each other for most of last Sunday's resignation speech in Fairbanks. Sarah ditched Todd (MSNBC) right after the speech and left without him. Sarah removed her wedding ring a couple of weeks ago.

Sarah has recently purchased land in Montana and is considering moving the family there. Sarah Palin is originally from Idaho.

What Ho! Them 'Hoes have hit the mother load! The National Enquirer no less!

The sinking Progressive barge is baling ballast!

It turns out that Palin and Todd are not, in fact, considering divorce. Given the Health Reform Clown Opera, with Nutmeg Jan Schakowsky piping melancholy mad for Government Medicine, the Flat Beer Summit, Double Digit Unemployment, Clunkers, and the expanding War in Afghanistan -the graveyard of Empires - I expect that some misdirection plays are afoot. Thus, the woman most feared by Second Wave Feminists, Salonistas, Academic Fakirs, and Boiled Beets Progressives is Target One.

The Divorcers will dominate the Cable as well as the chimera of the Birthers! Glory Be!

They are throwing spit-balls at a battleship. Palin will be fine.

Birthers -meet the Divorcers - now have fun and don't soil yourselves too much.

Max Weismann's Letter to George - Orwell

Letter to George Orwell

RE: Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

Dear George,

Many of us Americans scoffed at your book when it came off the press in 1949. Now 60 years later, events are occurring that sadly give us pause and respect for your early vision.

Alas, your terms "Big Brother" and "Newspeak" reflect the direction of our current society of excessive governmental paternalism, control and the dangerous absence of a real press.

Unless we wake up as citizens, I'm afraid we will end up as your Winston Smith.

Best regards,

Max Weismann

Swiss Frank Nofsinger's "The Irish Confessional"

It is Saturday. Get to Confession,after Playing for Maeve at Beverly Park! Click my post title, Sinners!

This cautionary tale comes from the Connectict Yankee, Patriot, Beer Quaffer and Mule Skinner -Swiss Frank Nofsinger.

Irish guy goes into the confessional box.

He notices on one wall a fully equipped bar with Guinness on tap.

On the other wall is a dazzling array of the finest Cuban cigars.

Then the priest comes in.

"Father, forgive me, for it's been a very long time since I've been to
confession, but I must first admit that the confessional box is much more inviting these days."

The priest replies "Get out, you're on my side.

Pat Hickey's Labor Confessio -Why I am Not in the Trades - It's Work!

Behold His Handiwork! Things Pat Hickey Fixed: He is no plumber, no engineer, no electrician, no mechanic and certainly no cosmetic surgeon!

Do click my post title for the link to the great caveat to Labor and Joel Kotkin's Politico piece. H/T - Max Weismann & There I Fixed It!

Why Skilled and Industrial Trades Languish at 12-19% UnEmployment - Read Joel Kotkin's Real Teachable Moment

My family is comprised of very skilled trades workers ( men and women) who voted for Barack Obama. I am the only Hickey to back McCain. I did so because I did not and do not believe that Barack Obama was up to the job as President and that he had some very dicey people pouring poisonous ideas into his very willing ears.

I am a school teacher. I read and my relations work with their hands, heads and hearts. They are stationary engineers, electricians, carpenters, plumbers and pipefitters. Even the Hickey's( Brennans, Walshs, Winters, & etc.)with law degrees hold union cards.

When I work with tools bad things happen - to me and others. Hence, there is an ideological Mason/Dixon line drawn between me and my kin folk born of an inability and avoidance of genuine work on my part.

Hickeys are union people. I am as well - real unions. Politically, the skilled trades unions have historically made pacts with the devil in order to advance the prospects for workers to live with dignity and in safety.

In last forty years, politics betrayed the workers more than any Pinkerton agent or capitalist goon. Political Action Cadres (PACs) masquerading as Labor have co-opted Labor with sheer numbers.

Skilled Trades and Industrial Trades became enthralled by and to tax-payer salaried unions most notably Services Employee International Union (SEIU) which dictates policy to the National Democratic Committee ( Howard Dean) and the White House ( President Obama).

Our economic turmoil is not some glitch, but a planned operation - witness the recent remarks on Health Care by the daffy dimwitted Rep. Jan Schakowsky -

SCHAKOWSKY: “I know many of you here today are single payer advocates and so am I … and those of us who are pushing for a public health insurance don’t disagree with this goal. This is not a principled fight. This is a fight about strategy for getting there and I believe we will.” ( Emphasis my own -You got that right, Jan.)

Single payer ( The Government) Health Reform is the stated end game.

Likewise, One Big Union is the end game for SEIU. Skilled Trades will lose all autonomy and influence, as the jobs continue to disappear. Joel Kotkin a Social Demographer who trained under Michael Harrington and learned the dangers of creeping socialism has long been a critic of the economics of modern Progressives.

His article in Politico is a must read for all Labor People. Click my post title for the full article. Here is a bit of it.

This is Kotkin's genuine teachable moment. Real Labor might learn something.

As a recent New America Foundation report makes clear, precious little has gone to the productive side of the economy that determines the country’s competitiveness and creates many high-paying blue-collar jobs. Infrastructure, a critical component of any productivity-enhancing strategy, has accounted for barely 10 percent of the package.


The results have not been pretty for the productive sectors of the economy. Construction workers now have higher than 19 percent unemployment; jobs in this sector have fallen during the past year in 333 out of 352 metropolitan areas, with more than 200 plunging by double digits. Meanwhile, the hard-pressed manufacturing sector suffers more than 12 percent unemployment.


Why this disinclination to fund the tangible parts of the economy? One reason may be that those working in construction and manufacturing — both blue-collar workers and white-collar professionals — do not wield the same influence in this law review administration as college professors, Service Employees International Union-organized workers or unionized teachers.


One also senses that some militant environmentalists in the administration may be less than enthusiastic about anything associated with the entire carbon-creating part of the economy. Certainly, new factories, natural gas facilities, roads, ports and waterways don’t fit the professed passion of the president’s own science adviser, John Holdren, for the gradual “de-development” of the U.S. and other advanced economies.

Pages12 » Back to top Back to top

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25636.html#ixzz0MqRrJpSt

Rose Keefe's "Bate Auto Murder 1904" - The First 'Taken-for-a-Ride Murder' in Crime History

Crime biographer and historian Rose Keefe has just written the account of the first automobile facilitated murder ( Okay, Pal! You're Goin' Fer a Ride) in our history.

In 1904, shortly after the Chicago Stockyard Strikes of that summer, a young man from Racine,Wisconsin, William Bate, who was working in a Chicago hotel, became the first victim of an automobile facilitated murder out in then rural Lemont, Illinois.

Rose Keefe has written a twelve page study of this ground-breaking and fast-getaway murder that you can access by clicking my post title.

From Lulu the instant download publisher:

On November 19, 1904 in Lemont, Illinois, Chicago chauffeur Billy Bate was found slumped behind the wheel of his Toledo touring car. He'd been shot in the head execution-style, making him the first recorded victim of the now-infamous one-way ride. Although the authorities launched a nationwide manhunt for 'Mr. Dove', his last known passenger and probable killer, their efforts were unsuccessful and the Bate Auto Murder remains unsolved. This 12-page ebook includes photos of the victim and the death car. It's a story of big city violence in rural surroundings, and marks a trend that continues to this day.

Rose Keefe and Richard Lindberg of Chicago write the best studies of American Crime in the context of the American Experience. Rose Keefe's The Starker is a magnificent study of Big Jake Zelig the New York Jewish Gangster and Richard Lindberg's Gambler King of Clark Street links the roots of the Chicago Political Machine to Big Mike McDonald.

Rose Keefe CV

Published Books:

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

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

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

"Max 'Kid Twist' Zweifach - Leader of Monk Eastman Gang ." J*Grit- the Internet Index of Tough Jews, January 2009
"Big Jack Zelig - Lower East Side Gang Leader." J*Grit- the Internet Index of Tough Jews, January 2009
"Rose Rossi- First Victim of the One-Way Ride?" On The Spot Journal, Fall 2008
"The Fighting Parson: Remembering the Reverend Leslie Spracklin, Canada's Elliot Ness." On The Spot Journal, Volume 1, Issue 5, Winter 2007
"A Buck A Fist: Dopey Benny Fein and New York's Labor Wars". On the Spot Journal, Volume 1, Issue 3, Spring 2007
"Labor Pain: Mossy Enright and Chicago's Labor Wars". On the Spot Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 2006
"Mary Ward: The First Fatal Automobile Accident". History Magazine, Volume 8, Number 2, December / January 2007
Personal Appearances:

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

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

Beer Summit- Duck Jimmy! "Not Bud White! I Said Bud Light!"

President Obama will drink Bud Light at the Thursday meeting with the African-American professor and white police officer who got in a dust-up earlier this month. Press secretary Robert Gibbs just made the announcement to the press pool on Air Force One

Absolute crap beer for an absolute Bullshit moment. This fine Teaching moment on race( brought to you by the Jackson Family Budweiser Distributorship) , like Obama's Philadelphia Thigh Tingler, where Reverend Wright's idiocies became America's problem, because Young Barry dug his creed, is pure bullshit and yet another nuanced way to avoid a problem of his own making for Barack Obama - not President Obama - Barack Obama - the guy who can not admit a mistake.

Picking Bud Light over a real classy American beer is a just and fitting metaphor. Sgt. Crowley is toast going into, quaffing Bud Light* and coming away from this Race Baiting Tune-up. Sgt. Jimmy Crowley is no Bud White** . . . and I kind of liked that character; so would Professor Gates, when bad guys come a calling.

* Bud Light would gag a maggot.
http://lovegoodbeer.com/2009/06/bud-light-lime-is-an-abomination/
**http://www.sheilaomalley.com/archives/008861.html

Mayor Mike Bloomberg's Remake of "Stagecoach?"

1939 Trailer of John Ford's Classic StagecoachDanger holds the reins as the devil cracks the whip ! Desperate men ! Frontier women ! Rising above their pasts in a West corrupted by violence and gun-fire !

or.

2009 Trailer for New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg's Stagecoach . . .

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg defended a city program to send homeless families out of New York on planes, trains and buses on Wednesday, saying it “saves the taxpayers of New York City an enormous amount of money.”

Speaking in the Blue Room in City Hall to announce a new finance commissioner, Mr. Bloomberg was asked if the program simply shifts the homelessness program to a different place, as some critics of the program have suggested.

“I don’t know, when they get to the other places, whether they find jobs,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “It may be an easier place for them. If we don’t — we either have two choices. We can do this program or pay an enormous amount of money daily to provide housing.”

It costs the city about $36,000 a year to provide shelter for a homeless family. The average stay in shelter is about nine months.

This bothers me no end. John Donahue died caring for Chicago's Homeless. Leo Boxing Coach/Lawyer Mike Joyce took in an aged, homeless black WWII hero and Boxing Legend Herman Mills to keep him from the street. Big Shoulders Fund targets scholarships for homeless kids. Catholic Charities is open on 79th Street Streeet & Racine providing food and supplies to homeless and impoverished families. Catholic Mercy Homes care for kids no else will care for and I have taught and worked with homeless kids all of my career as a teacher.

The ACLU hates the American Catholic Church to the marrow and takes every legal twist and turn to undo all the good that American Catholics provide to America's poor. The ACLU no doubt is thighs a tingle over Mike The Progressive Bloomberg's new production of Stagecoach.

If this is the New Empathy - Progressive Program Driven - God Help this country. Oh, that's right, the New Empathy is Godless.

One Night on MSNBC - Howard Dean Became Mel Brooks

Last Night on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann but actually Governor Howard Dean!


Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland: Meeting adjourned. Oh, I am sorry, sir, I didn't mean to overstep my bounds. You say that.
Governor Howard Dean: What?
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland: "Meeting is adjourned".
Governor Howard Dean: It is?
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland: No, you *say* that, Governor.
Governor Howard Dean: What?
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland: "Meeting is adjourned".
Governor Howard Dean: It is?
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland: [sighs, then gives the governor a paddleball] Here, sir, play with this.

Gay Give Aways, Alderman Tunney?

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the rights of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” C.S. Lewis.

Identity Politics and Victim Agendas are played out. Alderman Tom Tunney's nod to the Gay Lesbian Bi-sexual and Transgender (GLBT) cadre is the latest such nonsense with his attempt to define GLBT as a minority in order to gain capital perks from tax-payers.

Thus:

Chicago’s first openly gay alderman today re-opened the volatile debate about whether City Hall should establish contract set-asides for businesses owned by lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered residents.

Six years after raising the issue only to drop it like a hot potato, Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) brought it up again during a Budget Committee hearing called to extend until 2015 a construction set-aside ordinance for minorities and women. Today, Tunney was hardpressed to explain how someone would prove they’re gay to qualify for a city set-aside — especially after the seemingly endless string of stories about minority business fraud.

“Qualified domestic partners. That could be one factor,” the alderman said.

He added, “That’s why there’s nothing passed yet in any municipality. We still need to work on the definition.”

Let's say I were a larcenous Blackguard. Recent history has taught us that there have been one or two. As a single man, a father of three children and home owner, might I not qualify? Were I to apply and say that I was, though a widower, a Proud Gay Man, would I need a like-gendered domestic partner? Or, merely the will, as Andre Malraux might to opine 'to feel Gay?' What's the test? Would I need to graphically prove Gayness? Or, might there be a more dignified loophole for this breeder Gay Wanna Be entrepreneur? T'would shock the kids and the woman I am dating, but, then again, I am a larcenous Blackguard.

Tom Tunney is a very successful business person and a very hard-working Alderman. His openly Gay tenure as Alderman has been pretty much marked by success and garnered Tunney praise from the Majority Breeders who seem to be the oppressors in this rosier shade of Identity Politics.

Gay businesses flourish. Chicago Gay Pride loudly sings that verse. Gays add to Chicago's diversity. Set-aside means a fixed game by Identity politicians. The level playing field is a field of in your dreams.

Let Gay Pride retain its proud and somber boast of its forthright and hard-working contributions to Chicago.

What is the difference between a Minority set-aside and rigged game in Commerce? Only the packaging and the editorials.


Huge thanks to Steve Jordan, banker, writer, wit and quaffer of fine Ale for the C.S. Lewis quotation in the most well-met and timely of manners!

The World's Greatest Deliberative Body Sheds Its Mortal Husk!

Chris Dodd? Dithering Dick Durbin? Al Franken?

Giants they be not.

Max Weismann of the Center for the Study of Great Ideas passed along the above cartoon. Thanks Max!

Goose Island's Matilda Could Save American Race Relations, or not.

Three great Americans are about to 'tamp down' the Race Mess!

The Beer Summit! This will be dead serious and once again, President Obama will put Race behind us all. Until, about two minutes after the Beer Summit when Robert Gibbs blows off more toes than the Italian Army after El Alamein.


I do not see this as an evening of 'three guys' looking at albums and cranking up Dr. Horse and Mitch Ryder, until Mrs. Obama calls the President into the kitchen and says, "That is about enough. Tell your Buddies good night. The girls have school and you have Health Care Reform."

Nope. This frothy confab may be just as frosty as a mother-in-law's kiss. So, why not have a great Chicago beer make its way into American History.

Might I suggest Goose Island's Matilda!




Matlida - Gooseisland Brewmasters Notes:
Wild in character, with a slightly fruity aroma and a spicy yeast flavor that is as unique as it is satisfying – Matilda is an intriguing choice for beer and wine lovers alike. Dry and quenching, it’s the perfect accompaniment at the dining table or for casually socializing at the bar.
Recipe Information:
Style: Belgian Style Pale Ale
Alcohol by Volume: 7%
International Bitterness Units: 32
Color: Golden Sunrise
Hops: Styrian, Saaz
Malts: 2-Row, Caramel

Serving Suggestions:
Preferred Glass: Wide Mouth Glass
Preferred Serving Temperature: 40º

Food Pairings: Matilda pairs with many foods. Its spicy yeast flavors compliment fresh mussels and contrast rich pork belly.

Pork Belly - Please!

Cheese Pairings: Camembert, Washed Rind Cheeses ( ditch the cheese)
Cellaring Notes: Develops in the bottle for up to 5 years

Play for Maeve at Beverly Park - Saturday, August 1, 2009

5th Annual Play for Maeve - The date for this year's event has been set. Please check back as we get closer for more information.

Save The Date to Play for Maeve McNicolas*!~
Saturday August 1st , 2009

1-6 at Beverly Park
2460 W 102nd St, Chicago, IL‎ - (312) 747-6024‎




Admission

(Includes: Food, soft drinks, T-Shirt, activities and games for the kids, entertainment)

$50 for a family ticket

$30 for an individual ticket

**New this Year a Family ticket will also include special “Maeve” string backpacks for the kids, as well as a raffle ticket to be used for an item TBA soon.


*Maeve's Story



Maeve McNicholas was born on a cold, rainy day in May, 2002 which was so opposite of what her personality turned out to be. Maeve became our sunshine. She was a sweet, calm baby that grew into an even sweeter toddler. She was extraordinary in ways that are hard to describe to those that didn't know her. She had an amazing capacity to make us smile and always shared hugs and kisses with those she loved. Even those that didn't know her well would comment on her kindness. In March of 2004, our family grew by two with the addition of Maeve's new siblings, twins Billy and Nora. Maeve, who at that time was not even 2 years old, took the major change in her life in stride. She showed little jealousy and constantly gave her new brother and sister kisses. She was going to be the best big sister ever. Our family was on top of the world – little did we know that soon it would change.

From the time she was born, Maeve was a very healthy child. She suffered from relatively few colds and seemed to be spared many of the common childhood illnesses. Occasionally she had episodes of vomiting, but these episodes would be brief. She would get sick for a day and then she wouldn't throw up again for another 6 months or so. There always seemed to be a reason. She ate too much junk or she was at the babysitters with another child that just got over the stomach flu, etc. All in all this probably happened only 3-4 times over a year and a half. There seemed to be no reason for concern.

On July 25th, 2004, Maeve vomited when we got to a family party. We attributed it to car sickness, because she had been in the sun in the car for almost an hour. She then appeared to feel better and played the rest of the day. The next day she vomited a few more times. We contacted the doctor who said to monitor Maeve’s condition and call back the next day if she wasn't better. She got worse during the night so we brought her to the doctor the next day. The doctor said to take her to the ER to be treated for dehydration. That's all they thought it was - dehydration. When she didn’t “perk” up in the ER, they decided to keep her overnight for observation. Soon after, she had a seizure and then a few minutes later another one. Maeve looked at my husband and myself and said "It's okay". Those were the last words we would hear Maeve say before they sedated her. A few hours later we were informed by the doctors that there was a "significant" mass in her brain. We still had hope, Maeve had a lot of spunk, we could fight this. After waiting through an agonizing night, we met with the neurosurgeons the following morning. They planned on performing surgery to remove the tumor; however that was not to be. Maeve's condition never became stable and the swelling in her brain, despite the placement of a shunt, caused too much damage. She went to Heaven at 4:37 am on July 29th, 2004, less than 36 hours after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Maeve was only 26 months old.

Rick Kogan Hosts Newberry Freedom Fest in Bughouse Square

Abraham Lincoln mopped the street with Judge Stephen Douglas. Two great actors, in 19th Century dress, reenacted the The Fifth Debate(Galesburg) of the Great Lincoln Douglas Debates.

The McCormick Foundation ran a Freedom of Speech Booth.

Amnesty International offered literature to Chicagoans, about political abuse of prisoners.

Illinois Atheist Pontifex Maximus, Rob Sherman walked around with a giant plastic Dill Pickle and proved that his arms are too short to box with God. The Dude is passionate and intense - really intense. God love him! Mr. Sherman had an Atheist tour bus that would have been the envy of Madonna . . . or the Madonna!

Check it out on Rob Sherman's site - It was parked on La Salle across from the Library - Ten-4, Rollers! Atheistical Mystery Tour is East Bound and Down!
http://www.robsherman.com/

Chicago writer, WGN radio host, golfer and Patriot, Rick Kogan directed the public speaking events made moving eulogies form Bughouse Square heroes the late Alderman Leon Depres and Studs Terkel. The always classy Rick Kogan asked for a moment of silence and Rob Sherman loudly objected to amusement of all.

Hey, Speak on it Brother! This was celebration of America at its Best in place that is a temple of Free Speech.

The Newberry Library hosted the 25th Annual Book Fair and it was a great success. The staff of the Newberry took care of browsers and buyers with speed and efficiency.

All around the park, preregistered speakers took to the soapboxes and gave out like Americans! Rick Kogan and I chatted about the power of the two actors who portrayed Lincoln and Douglas( with Michael Krebs taking the part of Lincoln, and Larry Diemer that of Douglas), as well as the intrinsic power of the words of Galesburg Debates themselves.

Douglas was a Democratic Party line, save the union orator with unhappy task of defending slavery.

Lincoln was the sharp, homey Illinois Central lawyer who bobs and weaves with the geography of Illinois. Douglas complained about Lincoln's feckless abuse of the Truth over the issue of slavery - saying one thing in Charleston and another in Freeport. Lincoln cleaned his clock with this!

When the Judge says, in speaking on this subject, that I make speeches of one sort for the people of the northern end of the State, and of a different sort for the southern people, he assumes that I do not understand that my speeches will be put in print and read North and South. I knew all the while that the speech that I made at Chicago, and the one I made at Jonesboro and the one at Charleston, would all be put in print, and all the reading and intelligent men in the community would see them and know all about my opinions. And I have not supposed, and do not now suppose, that there is any conflict whatever between them. But the Judge will have it that if we do not confess that there is a sort of inequality between the white and black races, which justifies us in making them slaves, we must then insist that there is a degree of equality that requires us to make them our wives. Now, I have all the while taken a broad distinction in regard to that matter; and that is all there is in these different speeches which he arrays here; and the entire reading of either of the speeches will show that that distinction was made. Perhaps by taking two parts of the same speech he could have got up as much of a conflict as the one he has found. I have all the while maintained that in so far as it should be insisted that there was an equality between the white and black races that should produce a perfect social and political equality, it was an impossibility. This you have seen in my printed speeches, and with it I have said, that in their right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” as proclaimed in that old Declaration, the inferior races are our equals. And these declarations I have constantly made in reference to the abstract moral question, to contemplate and consider when we are legislating about any new country which is not already cursed with the actual presence of the evil,—slavery. I have never manifested any impatience with the necessities that spring from the actual presence of black people amongst us, and the actual existence of slavery amongst us where it does already exist; but I have insisted that, in legislating for new countries where it does not exist, there is no just rule other than that of moral and abstract right! With reference to those new countries, those maxims as to the right of a people to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” were the just rules to be constantly referred to. There is no misunderstanding this, except by men interested to misunderstand it. I take it that I have to address an intelligent and reading community, who will peruse what I say, weigh it, and then judge whether I advance improper or unsound views, or whether I advance hypocritical and deceptive, and contrary views in different portions of the country.

Thanks Rick Kogan and thank you to the folks at Newberry Library!

Quinn v. Hynes - Oh, It's On! Watch the Feathers! They Can be Sharp!

Don't expect the mutual boots to The Old Jewels, the long taloned calloused horny fingers reaching into the pie-hole of his opponent to yank out the bloody roots of molars, or the celebrated Irish art of application of the Casteisland Kiss -snapping one's forehead into the bridge of the opponent's nose.

Gov. Pat Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes traded the first shots Friday in next year's Democratic primary battle for governor over who's more culpable for the state's financial woes.

The governor called Hynes a "no show" on tough budget choices, while Hynes' campaign accused Quinn of keeping quiet while disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich "drove our state into a ditch.". . . "When you get in the arena, you've got to make decisions," Quinn said. "You can't stand on the side of the road and not take part in tough battles. You can't be a no show. You can't just show up and say, 'Hey, I want to be elected to something.' I think you have to show you have the courage of your convictions to stand in the arena, take tough positions, do hard things because that's what the public demands."

But Hynes campaign spokesman Michael Rendina disputed Quinn's characterization, noting Hynes has proposed $1.2 billion in cuts to the state budget along with $1.8 billion in new money by legalizing more casinos, closing business tax breaks and expanding the sales tax to luxury items. Hynes had been critical of inconsistencies behind Quinn's failed push for an income-tax increase and questioned why the governor hadn't made cuts to try to win public support.

"Gov. Quinn is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. After Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn spent six years in silence watching Rod Blagojevich drive our state into a ditch, it is puzzling that he describes a 50 percent income tax increase on Illinois families as leadership," Rendina said

My,my, my! He's entitled to his opinion, but not his own facts! Knock this stick off my shoulder! Now, Spit!

Folks this Democratic Primary for Governor will be a Pillow Fight, between two veteran pillow fighters. Quinn and Hynes are two theologically suited sweethearts. Gents of the first chop. Oak Park Pat Quinn will face off with Lincoln Square Danny Hynes. No South Western Avenue -'I Closed Brewbaker's at 5AM and Got Ugly Brawlers.' They did not pick up their political chops by guzzling down quarts of Drewerys and then ambling over to punch-out pigs through the fence posts of Stockyard pens in Canaryville, like a couple of Democratic gents of whom I am very well acquainted. True Dat, G!

Thus:

Daniel W. Hynes (born July 20, 1968 in Chicago) is currently the Illinois Comptroller. He attended St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, where he graduated in 1986. Hynes later attended the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1990 with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in economics and computer applications. He received his Juris Doctor degree with honors from Loyola University Chicago's School of Law in 1993. Daniel Hynes served as a health care attorney at the Chicago law firm of Hogan, Marren and McCahill, Ltd.

He is the son of Thomas Hynes a former Cook County assessor, president of the Illinois Senate and Democratic Ward committeeman of the 19th ward in Chicago, Illinois.

Hynes married Christina Kerger, M.D. in June 1999 and currently resides in the city of Chicago and Springfield, Illinois.


Avec! Patrice Quinn

Born in 1948 in Hinsdale, Illinois, Quinn attended the local Catholic grade school, St. Isaac Jogues. He graduated in 1967 from Fenwick High School, a Catholic school in Oak Park, Illinois run by the Dominican Order of Priests[1]. While a student at Fenwick, Quinn was the cross-country team captain and the sports editor of the school newspaper. Quinn went on to graduate Phi Beta Kappa from Georgetown University in 1971 with a bachelor's degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. After taking a few years off from education, he received a Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1980.[2]

Quinn is divorced and has two sons, Patrick IV and David, born on April 12, 1983, and December 16, 1984, respectively. Both sons, like their father, competed in scholastic sports, specializing in track and field events.[3]

Quinn was briefly a practicing tax attorney before his career in public office.

Now, if Lisa Madigan were in, Hold the Phone!

Watch out now! There'll be be feather's a flung! Send the kids out of the Sun Room.

Griffith Meat Market - Family Business/Public Treasure

Few things in life make one more happy than bargains. Good work is never cheap and cheap work is never good.

I have been buying meat from Griffith Meat Market in Griffith, Indiana,since 1994. Griffith is a beautiful little town south of Interstate 80 off of Cline Avenue, just two exits east of Hammond, Indiana. My family lived there from 1994, until 1998. We bought our meat from the family owned Griffith Meat Market on Glen Park. When my wife Mary died in 1998, I moved the kids to the south side of Chicago, but continued to buy the $123.00 package.

This package of meats takes great care of the Family Hickey and my kids eat like they are going to the chair.

Thus,
10 Lbs. Chicken Breasts
08 Lbs. Ground Beef
04 Lbs. Sirloin Steak
03 Lbs Pork Loin Roast
03 Lbs Chuck Roast
02 Lbs Strip Steak
02 Lbs Beef Stew
02 Lbs.Polish Sausage
02 Lbs.Italian Sausage
02 Lbs. Breakfast Farmer Sausage
02 Lbs.Bratwurst
01 Lb. Ham Steak

Griffith Meat Market
507 E Glen Park Ave
Griffith, IN 46319-2321
Click my post title for more

The meat is of exceptional quality. Do make a quick trip to Griffith, IN.

Obama Favorables Under 50% -Rasmussen Daily Tracking has President's Approval at Rating at 49%

Overall, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. Today marks the first time his overall approval rating has ever fallen below 50% among Likely Voters nationwide. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove.

Yesterday, I predicted President Obama's numbers would sink by Labor Day, but God's Holy Haines!

This Poll was taken prior to the Wednesday night " Cops Acted Stupidly" Press Conference.

Click my post title for the Rasmussen study.

Huge Hat Tip to Pundit and Pundette!