A Kennedy Gets the Bishop Tobin Tune-up on Abortion - About Time.

“If you freely choose to be a Catholic, it means you believe certain things, you do certain things,” Bishop Tobin said on WPRO, a Providence radio station. “If you cannot do all that in conscience, then you should perhaps feel free to go somewhere else.”

Patrick Kennedy is one of the countless Young Kennedy children and grandchildren of the Kennedy's of fifty years ago - Jack, Bobby and Teddy; as well, as Sarge.

Now, Joe Kennedy II* a former Congressman is selling gas for Hugo Chavez. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is writing books that trash the Catholic Church and helot Catholics.
Chris Kennedy plays Hamlet in Illinois politics until he gets a appointed to an unelected position of the University of Illinois Board. Young Patrick Kennedy has trouble negotiating parking spots and shoots his mouth off on why abortion is so important to wealthy Middle Aged Hags ( Cougars). Camelot -water under the bridge!

However, the Young (getting a tad long in the teeth though) Kennedys love to play at Bohemian politics and religion. That way they stay edgy and newsworthy.
Abortion advocacy is always edgy and de rigueur ! Planned Parenthood has invested heavily in the Kennedy Family since Bobby was killed. He was the last Catholic, it seems to me. Annulment? No sweat. Abortion? Choose it!

Young Kennedys flash the Catholic Gold Card when required - elections or to get out of some scandalous fly-paper.


However, Bishop Tom Tobin of Providence, RI is not enchanted with young Patrick's very unCatholic mouthings on Abortion - a Woman's Reproductive Health Issue - the choice to murder her child.

Bishop Tobin is giving young Patrick some lessons. Lessons are really tough to offer on the really arrogant or the really stupid. Now, if both deficiencies are afoot . . .Lord save us.

Bishop Tobin, in a letter publicly released Monday, called Mr. Kennedy’s support of abortion rights “a deliberate and obstinate act of the will” that was “unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members.”

“It’s not too late for you to repair your relationship with the Church,” he wrote, “redeem your public image, and emerge as an authentic ‘profile in courage,’ especially by defending the sanctity of human life for all people, including unborn children.”

Mr. Kennedy declined an interview request, and on Tuesday he told reporters in Providence that he would not comment on the bishop’s letter.

“I had initially agreed to a meeting with him,” Mr. Kennedy said, “provided we would not debate this in public in terms of my personal faith. But unfortunately he hasn’t kept to that agreement, and that’s very disconcerting to me.”

The battle is being waged nearly three months after Mr. Kennedy’s father died of brain cancer and received a Catholic funeral despite his longtime conflict with the church over abortion rights and other issues. After the senator’s death, his family made public a letter he had written to Pope Benedict XVI. “I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic,” he wrote.

In Wednesday’s radio interview, Bishop Tobin said he still hoped to have a private conversation with Representative Kennedy, who, he said, has a chance to win the church’s acceptance.

“It’s not too late for the congressman to redeem his image,” the bishop said, “and to embrace the church and the teachings of the church.”

Let's hope more Bishops, like Tobin and Dolan of New York, appear in our American Church. The Cupcakes with Mitres loused everything up over the last fifty years.

Good to see some tough guys.


*

And Kennedy, a former US representative, has relied almost exclusively on Chávez, a vociferous critic of the US government, for that growth.

Since 2005, Citizens’ 877-JOE-4-OIL campaign has been sustained by the oil fields of Venezuela. Chávez, who controls the industry there, has delivered crude oil at no charge to a Citizens affiliate, which has resold it and used the money to pay for oil deliveries to America’s poor. In the past two years, Citizens has been given 83 million gallons of crude by Chávez and sold it for $164 million - money used to fund almost its entire philanthropic mission.

Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/06/as_joe_kennedy_considers_run_chvez_ties_loom/

God Bless All Who Serve! God Bless our Veterans and Those in Service!

We truly take a lot for granted. Forget the football 'heroes' and movie 'stars'. Pass this on so that all may know the price of freedom

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you,

Jesus Christ and a Soldier

One died for your soul; the other for your freedom.

Professor Dave Protess -Innocence Project or Blair Which Project?

Last night the State of Virginia executed a monster. Ironically enough the sniper-serial killer John Allen Muhammad - the Beltway Sniper was covered by Life Coach and former Journalist Jayson Blair.

Blair made more mistakes in his reports than the number of people who firmly believe that there is a steam heater (used to torture poor black men) in Area 2 Police Headquarters on East 111th Street. That's alot of mistakes.

Only a very few years ago the Medill Empire went to war on Sheriff Mike Sheahan. When the MacArthur Center for Justice teamed with the Medill Empire ( Tribune journalists/Chicago Magazine Medill School of Jornalism/Bernardine Dorhn & etc.) to PROVE that Sheriff Micahel Sheahan brutalized prisoners at Cook County Jail, it took a jury less than twenty minutes to tood all charges. Sheriff Sheahan quipped "Tribune Investigative Journalism is BS."

Medill Professor Dave Protess, an icon in the Justice Industry, seems to have wildly overplayed his hand in the controversy surrounding the McKinney Gambit. The McKinney Gambit holds that the Innocence Project has sanctified his cause and therefore he must be set free.

Hold on there, Professor Dave! Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez requested that all students involved in this project turn over notes and that their records be admitted as discovery items.

Howl! Howl! Howl! The Medill Empire went on full boil

1. CNN:
Editor's note: Nicole Lapin is an anchor and reporter based at the CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

(CNN) -- It was two-and-a-half days before Illinois Gov. George Ryan was to leave office in 2003. I sat in a crowded auditorium in Northwestern University's Law School in Chicago, where Ryan was expected to make a major announcement on capital punishment.

2. Retired Federal Judge Sarokin in Huffington Post .

But I truly believe that the attempt of prosecutors to subpoena "the grades, grading criteria, class syllabus, expense reports and e-mail messages of their journalism students themselves" at Northwestern University warrants and deserves the Gestapo label.

3.The Chicago Headline Club of the Society of Professional Journalists

The Chicago Headline Club, a chapter of the national Society of Professional Journalists, strongly protests the subpoenas issued by the state's attorney's office. The club issued this statement:

"The Headline Club believes Alvarez should rescind the subpoenas and stop pressuring Medill Innocence Project students to reveal all of their notes, recordings, e-mails and even grades given. Instead, her office should use what they have already from Medill students as a basis for their own further investigation. We recommend applause for the students' efforts to protect the innocent."

4. Daily Protess Protestations of Purity in the Chicago Tribune/WGN/& etc.

Until yesterday. Now it seems that Dave Protess and the Innocence Project were doing Procrustean Investigations - All the News That Fits.


Two witnesses were paid it appears, $40, or $50-$100. Cab Fare or Crack Cash it matters not. Here's some money tell our truth.

States Attorney Anita Alvarez called the bluff of a Sacred Cow in a herd of Scared Cows and the lowing of the cattle will only get more deafening.

This whole issue just may prove to be a Jayson Blair Which Project - journalism and lawsuit lotto lawyering where the facts are fabricated to fit the agenda.

I am cynical. We will see if I am wrong.

Virginia did a great service to America in putting a monster down. There is another such monster in Cleveland. There are many monsters for Professor Dave to service.

However, thanks to Anita Alvarez, the Justice System will be a little more wary of the Innocence Projects.

Shell Games Catches up to Professor Dave Protess - Innocence?

After the student paid the cabbie, the driver recorded the transaction in his log, today's filing states. Apparently suspicious that it was a drug deal or a sting, he wrote: "detective gave me 60, told me to give him 40, gave me 60... gave him change." The "him" refers to Drakes.

Seems like Professor Dave Protess and the Kids of the Innocence Project - in the zeal to free Mr. McKinney of course - engaged in a little Pay-to-Play.

"You be a Witness to Justice , Mr. Drakes, and You Keep the Change! Change You Can Believe In!"

The Medill Empire encompasses Northwestern Law and Schools of Journalism and they work very well and nicely with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board.

Americans love to root for Innocent Men Falsely Accused/Tortured/Disrespected/Hookwinked/Bamboozeled/Bewitched/ Bothered and Bewildered - we do, honestly we do.

However, given the thick padding American Justice gives to the accused it sometimes might be a stretch to find a really innocent man. The more Innocent men the more news it will be and the more funding for pet projects like the Innocence Project.

Every young law student harbors the dream of being this Century's Darrow - the Lawyer of the Damned. There are no Clarence Darrows. There are only the balsa wood imitations like G. Flint Taylor.

Thus, I have a tough time soiling my boxers when the Tribune fulminates against Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez in her rather respectful demand that Professor Dave Protess, an insulated Professor at Northwestern University whose work on behalf of career criminals looking to get out of prison has been most newsworthy and celebrated, cough up the Discovery material - it seems Professor Dave may have let it be known that grades might be attached to convictions overturned by the Kids. Professor Dave gets crowds to hush at the sound of his name - he is such an on-the-level-straight- shooting- Justice Samurai.

Until now. Hokey-pokey! Cab Cash!

It sure looks like States Attorney Alvarez caught Professor Dave with his Innocence down around his ankles.

Officials with the state's attorney's office also said there could be a bias on the part of students seeking better grades by finding more witnesses.

Northwestern and its attorneys respond by saying the investigation should be treated as one conducted by journalists. They said the county already has all on-the-record information, including interviews and copies of audio and video tapes.

I wonder if Judge Stinky Sarokin will continue treating us with his Cook County States Gestapo pieces.

Di Di Mao! Anita Dunn Gone!

The Dipwad Goof Mao-Mao-ing Communications Director for President Obama's Original Amateur Hour White House called it Qs!

Dunn also came under attack in recent weeks from conservatives over a speech she gave in which she described Chinese leader Mao Zedong as one of her “favorite political philosophers.” Fox TV host Glenn Beck said Dunn’s comment about Mao, who is considered responsible both for the modernization of China and for the deaths of millions of Chinese, was the equivalent of expressing admiration for Hitler.

A White House official said Dunn’s departure was unrelated to the battle with Fox.

Dunn, whose career in Democratic politics dates back to the Carter White House, served in a top role in Obama’s presidential bid, overseeing policy, communications, and research. Dunn had long been a consultant to Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and stayed on the sidelines until he opted against a run.

Anita Dunn a sparkling nit-wit from the Carter Years ( President Obama's Dumbell Dore - Jimmy Be) who wowed school kids with her Wikpedia Symbiosis of Mother Theresa and Chairman Mao - with the camera's rolling mind you - has resigned, while President Obama goes to Fort Hood to parse the "Man-Made' Disaster by Major Hasan.

These people mock Sarah Palin?

American Public Education !

I doubt very much that the manager of this Gary Burger King was a graduate of Bishop Noll Institute, Andrean High School, or La Lumiere School in the Gary Diocese.

That is too bad. Were School Choice a Reality, the Sign Might be less Amusing . . .yet Sad.

Hat tip to Detective Shaved of the Chicago Police Department

Kick Abortion to The Curb . . .For Christmas.

To him who has done the deed of secret murder.
We, the fearful daughters of Night,
Fasten ourselves upon his whole being.
Thinks he by flight to escape us?
We fly still faster in pursuit,
Twine our snakes around his feet,
And bring him to the ground,
Unwearied we pursue;
No pity checks our courage;
Still on and on, to the end of life
We give him no peace nor rest.

Eumenides

The Eumenides were the gentle furies and the Erinyes were 'the angry ones.'

Erinye Eleanor Smeal* one of the all time great Harpies of the Feminist Movement, which also happens to be a Moveable Feast on Unborn Children and or a Gay/Lesbian/Transgender/Bisexual Sock Hop depending on the DNC's immediate need, is going all megaron beefing about the Stupak Amendment ( a smoke screen that will work against unborn children in the long run) " bans abortion coverage not only in the public health-insurance option but in private plans participating in a new national health-insurance exchange."

Too bad Eleanor.

I am never disappointed in the cold-blooded hypocrisy of the Abortion Crowd. I caught Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richards complaining that middle class women need abortions. Really.

Hell, any bored middle class skank can afford an abortion. Abortion is no different to Richards, HBO cast members, or other Abortion Champions than liposuction, botox shots or tummy tux. Abortion is a Woman's Cosmetic Choice!

Trouble is that a child is horribly and very painfully murdered. No Biggie! Love Your Kate Spade's Are to Die For Too! The Heart Wants what the Heart Wants . . . or is it Wants Heart?
Let's hope that the next few weeks leading to the Birth ( that is a woman's reproductive health event that is unencumbered by the slaughter of a child) of Christ and other genuine religious celebrations of human love, justice and kindness ( Hanukkah, Ramadan & etc.) might help more people of good will to want to kick Abortion to the curb for good.


*When the chair of the Feminist Majority Foundation board, Peg Yorkin, and I met Barack Obama, he immediately offered "I am a feminist." And better yet, he ran on the strongest platform for women's rights of any major party in American history. Feminist Karen Kornbluh, the platform's principle author, ensured women's rights, opportunities, advancement, and issues were addressed throughout the historic document.

Never has it been easy fighting for equality and social justice. The politics of Washington, our nation, and our world are tough. We have spent far too many years fighting to hold the ground we had already gained. Now is the time to move forward. We are in one of those rare transformational times in history.

But we are not giving President-Elect Obama a blank check. For our hopes to be achieved, we must speak out and organize, organize, organize to enable our new president's team to achieve our common goals. Ultimately, we must hold our leaders' feet to the fire or, to put it more positively, uplift them when they are caught in the crosscurrents of competing interests.

Dan Lipinski! Thou Gleeking Flap-mouthed Foot-licker

Illinois Congressman Dan Lipinski flipped off every voter in the Democratic 3rd District with his vote on the idiotic Health Care Bill in the House of Representatives on Saturday.

A Cynical Dan might offer - 'Hey, I had to vote that way and show sodilarity with President Obama as ILLINI! You know Rahm would have been all over me like a cheap suit and besides the Senate will kill this."

However, Baggage Dan the Overhead Carry-on Commando of Congress is no cynic and neither are most of my neighbors. They have yellow-ribbons on the trees of blocks where kids serve in our Military; pray on their knees; mean what they say and do; line 103rd Street for the Funeral of Jared Stanker* and vote their hearts.

Dan Lipiniski's vote was an insult to the 3rd District. While south siders have no trouble returning insult with injury, we can always brush up on our Shakepeare!

I found a great site that offer thousands of opportunities to make a colorful invective and confound the crumbs. Try these combinations when writing or Speaking to Congressman Alamo Dan Lipinski - Our Congressional Baggage Handler!


Shakespearean Insults -Mix 'Em and Match 'Em for Alamo Dan!

Here are 125,000 Shakespearean Insults, thou mammering hedge-born gudgeons.
To construct a Shakespearean insult, combine one word from each of the three columns below, and preface it with "Thou":

artless base-court apple-john;
bawdy bat-fowling baggage;
beslubbering beef-witted barnacle;
bootless beetle-headed bladder;
churlish boil-brained boar-pig;
cockered clapper-clawed bugbear;
clouted clay-brained bum-bailey;
craven common-kissing canker-blossom;
currish crook-pated clack-dish;
dankish dismal-dreaming clotpole;
dissembling dizzy-eyed coxcomb;
droning doghearted codpiece;
errant dread-bolted death-token;
fawning earth-vexing dewberry;
fobbing elf-skinned flap-dragon;
froward fat-kidneyed flax-wench;
frothy fen-sucked flirt-gill;
gleeking flap-mouthed foot-licker;
goatish fly-bitten fustilarian;
gorbellied folly-fallen giglet;
impertinent fool-born gudgeon;
infectious full-gorged haggard;
jarring guts-griping harpy;
loggerheaded half-faced hedge-pig;
lumpish hasty-witted horn-beast;
mammering hedge-born hugger-mugger;
mangled hell-hated joithead;
mewling idle-headed lewdster;
paunchy ill-breeding lout;
pribbling ill-nurtured maggot-pie;
puking knotty-pated malt-worm;
puny milk-livered mammet;
qualling motley-minded measle;
rank onion-eyed minnow;
reeky plume-plucked miscreant;
roguish pottle-deep moldwarp;
ruttish pox-marked mumble-news;
saucy reeling-ripe nut-hook;
spleeny rough-hewn pigeon-egg;
spongy rude-growing pignut
surly rump-fed puttock
tottering shard-borne pumpion
unmuzzled sheep-biting ratsbane
vain spur-galled scut;
venomed swag-bellied skainsmate;
villainous tardy-gaited strumpet;
warped tickle-brained varlet;
wayward toad-spotted vassal;
weedy unchin-snouted whey-face;
yeasty weather-bitten wagtail;

*"Remember Jared as a precious, loved and loveable person who was committed and devoted to God, family and county," his uncle Bob Stanker said during his nephew's eulogy.
The thousands of people lining the sidewalks and spilling into the street fell silent today when the convoy of police cruisers, motorcycles, limousines, a hearse and cars carrying friends and family started its slow procession down 103rd Street.
Men wiped tears from their eyes and mothers clutched their children a little tighter. Veterans stood at attention while others placed their hands over their hearts.
Most didn't know Stanker. Yet up and down the streets and in the surrounding neighborhoods, they talked as if the Evergreen Park man was one of their own.
"The kid gave up his life for us, the least we could do is come out here and stand up to give support to the family," said Tim Burns, of Oak Lawn.


http://www.southtownstar.com/neighborhoodstar/evergreenpark/1871006,stanker-funeral-1107.article

St. Leo the Great, Pope, Doctor of the Church

The works of mercy are innumerable. Their very variety brings this advantage to those who are true Christians, that in the matter of almsgiving not only the rich and affluent but also those of average means and the poor are able to play their part. Those who are unequal in their capacity to give can be equal in the love within their hearts. St. Leo The Great


Today is the Feast of St. Leo The Great. I was baptized in St. Leo the Great Parish in 1952 by Monsignor Pat Molloy*.

St. Leo the Great Parish at 77th & Emerald was once the largest Catholic Parish in Chicago and eventually was divided into St. Sabina, St. Kilian, and Little Flower Parishes. Click my post title for Dr. Eileen McMahon's account of the action. Four Huge Catholic Parishes -That's a lot of Mackeral Snappers!

Today's Gospel from St. Luke for the Feast of St. Leo The Great is very telling about all of us - well me anyway.

Will any one of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, `Come at once and sit down at table'? Will he not rather say to him, `Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink'? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

Luke 17: 7 - 10

I was told by my Dad years ago, "You don't get "Atta Boys" for doing your job."

* Rose Keefe's -Guns & Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion

On November 14,1924 the hearse leaves Sbarbaro's Funeral chapel followed by cars carrying flowers en masse and made it's way to Mount Carmel Cemetary.

At the crowded cemetary, Father Patrick Malloy of St. Thomas of Canterbury church recites prayers for for the kind person he knew in O'Banion. Father Malloy stated that "One good turn deserves another" this in reference to O'Banion's helping needy and poor families on the Northside. After O'Banion is laid to rest, the Northsiders go on the hunt for everyone implicated in O'Banion's murder.

http://books.google.com/books?id=sGz8dePJA7YC&pg=RA1-PA210&lpg=RA1-PA210&dq=Father+Pat+Malloy+Chicago&source=bl&ots=u-P1cODVKE&sig=ZG_kAyQwSAnSiGnYWe

I'ts Good to Be Me and Molar Free - on the lower left Jaw

About 8:45 yesterday, I was offered a piece of delicious Wrigley's Big Red, by one the Leo National Honor Society Members who were the proud center piece of our Veterans Observances at Leo High School. Big Red is a particularly tastey cinnamon flavored jaw popping dental delight that wakes up the flavor buds and on the second bite down splits the last molar on the lower-left jaw of my periodontal challenged mug. The Big Red jingle is sung by Hip-hop artiste Ne-Yo -no less. It comes back to me - repeatedly. Click my post title and share!

I walk off from the National Honor Society Men of Leo and discard the jagged half piece of molar and try to maintain a shred of dignity. A shred is all I can supply.

Fox 32's Pat Elwood interviewed these fine young gentlemen and featured them on the 12P.M. Fox News! Huge, Patrick! Huge! Back to me. The Center of MY universe.

Toxic Abcess, Batman! The Pain was better than 24-Hour Loop Tape of Pete Seeger doing The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Steady On, Hickey! As New Jersey Governor Elect Christie might blubber, "Man Up!"

I had four hours of minor details and smiling welcomes to Leo Men who sacrificed limbs and souls all over the globe and shuffle with canes and some strollers to Honor Our Fallen.

A quick Memorare* was answered and I manged to make myself useful during the wonderful and moving ceremony.

I am as Yellow as a Duck's Foot and Weep with Self-Pity When it Rains too Hard. Low thresh-hold for pain. South siders and other testosterone rich males have a feline metaphor that causes some to recoil in indignation and feigned solidarity with women.

Not this Cupcake. I am a P . . .pain-reactive hysteric.

When I could I called Commonwealth Insurance for a patient 'What's the Plan Say? Directive.

1. Call Us

2. See your appointed Commonwealth Dental Heath Provider -

3. Have Approved Dentist refer you case to an Approved Oral Surgeon.

Done, I call Call Dr. Fang in Oak Lawn learn that Dr. Fang has recently shed his mortal husk and sleeps with Counsellors and Kings. " You're Kidding! He was a young guy, what did he die of?"

County Kerry voice ( Brosna or Scartaglen) '"T'was nothing serious. The new dentist is Dr. Mara Harry and she will be in on Monday, so."

"Can you ask her to call in an antibiotic and a pain prescription."

"I can not and she can not send a prescription without first seeing you. Monday at 10A.M.?"

I agreed but three hours later of Feliniesque dream sequence encounters with normal people un-hallucinated with a broken and obviously impacted molar and gums on fire changed my tune! My breath must have been as delicate as barfly on twenty Old Styles,eighty Happy Cossack Vodkas, Two Packs of Winston Reds, Tthree Slim Jims and a kiss from Fat Helen at the end of the bar. I needed theeth out!

Back To the good folks at Commonwealth -"Please hold and the first available associate will be with you shortly - Loop Music! Ne Yo!~ The Big Red Guy!

"So Sick"

Mmmm mmm yeah
Do do do do do do do-do
Ohh Yeah

Gotta change my answering machine
Now that I'm alone
Cause right now it says that we
Can't come to the phone
And I know it makes no sense
Cause you walked out the door
But it's the only way I hear your voice anymore
(it's ridiculous)
It's been months
And for some reason I just
(can't get over us)
And I'm stronger than this
(enough is enough)
No more walking round
With my head down
I'm so over being blue
Crying over you

And I'm so sick of love songs
So tired of tears . . .

Tru Dat, Muh Brutha! The Big Red tune keeps coming back to me. I am getting more dizzy, loopy Twilight Zoned by the second. The exposed nerve and toxins within are burning the fuse set to blow any minute. I want to find a pliers and do it myself.

. . .gotta change my answering machine
Now that I'm alone
Cause right now it says that we
Can't come to the phone

Slam with the phone! Back to the event - Veteran Activist Rochelle Crump thanks all groups and all the veterans. I make zombie courtesies with all and sundry. I call my Cousin Gary in the far south western burbs. Gary is a Marquette/Loyola Dental School Graduate! DDS! The Leo National Honor Society guys are escorting the WWII Vets back into the cafeteria which to them was the Old Chapel of St. Leo. The Kids always make me proud. Even the faceless, nameless gent who gave me the Big Red!

Script Prescription! Pain Killers & Antibiotics! Yesterday! Maintain, Pooh C! Maintain. I tell the Principal and former Fire Commissioner Jimmy Joyce (Leo 1960) about the bum tooth. Jim Joyce had an entire warehouse fall on him and broke literally every bone in his body and yet his eyes betrayed no irony or contempt when he registered the relative pain of a bum tooth. Great guy. I excuse myself and head back to my cubicle.

I call and leave the details with Laurie and a few minutes later Cousin Gary, DDS calls back. "This sounds serious get over here."

I do and it is. Gary X-rays the jaw and immediately loads four big-ass needles with Novocaine, dabs on the local as he asks me about the kids - all doing great, as are Gary and Joanne's two. In go the needles - Deeper than Max Weismann. Soon my mug is number than MSNBC.

"You'll feel some pressure."

"Nah Ahh Blid, Garee!"

Using what looks like a high-end pliers Gary makes two deft twists and long roots and bloody plaque get tossed on the tray.

"That's it pal. Happy Thanksgiving! Say hi to your Mom and Dad."

At the very least.

Gary wads up some gauze and tucks it into the gum-trench where a busted molar and impacted Wisdom Bucker had been extracted. I am numb, but what's new?

Thank God for Family. Thank God for Big Red! Thank God for Ne-Yo!

I am very blessed.

. . . Longer with Big Red!

*Remember, Oh Gracious Virgin Mary/that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection . . .

Saint George Saint Joan of Arc Michael the Archangel Watch Over our Men and Women in Uniform

Today, we will honor Men and Women in Uniform and Service to America at Leo High School.


Yesterday, my daughter and her classmates of Mother McAuley and the students of Brother Rice High School, lined Pulaski to welcome home the body of Army Spc. Jared Stanker killed in the service of his country.

Yesterday, a terrorist in uniform murdered his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood.

God Bless all who labor for Peace in Uniform and in Defense of America.

Saint George, Saint Joan of Arc,Michael the Archangel are Patron Saints of the Military.

One of the best Intercessions that Catholics pray is to St. George.

Faithful servant of God and invincible martyr, Saint George;
favored by God with the gift of faith, and inflamed with an ardent love of Christ, thou didst fight valiantly against the dragon of pride, falsehood, and deceit. Neither pain nor torture, sword nor death could part thee from the love of Christ. I fervently implore thee for the sake of this love to help me by thy intercession to overcome the temptations that surround me, and to bear bravely the trials that oppress me, so that I may patiently carry the cross which is placed upon me; and let neither distress nor difficulties separate me from the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Valiant champion of the Faith, assist me in the combat against evil, that I may win the crown promised to them that persevere unto the end.

Mark Kirk Begs Sarah Palin -" I like Fancy Sauce!"

Cap'n Trade Mark Kirk is an oily kind of jerque*. He moves like mercury. He voted for the Waxman Markey Global Warming Stick-Up of America for General Electric! Kirk was the ONLY Republican in the Illinois Delegation to vote for this creepy and dangerous Bill.

Illinois Lion Representative Jim Durkin gave Kirk the tune-up he deserves after that vote - let's all say it together!

"I think he is going to regret that vote," Durkin said. With decisiveness, Durkin told the DailyHerald.com that he is "not interested nor disinterested" in a run, but adds "If I decided I wanted to run for statewide office I feel comfortable I could put together a team." from Illinois Review

Mark Kirk sneered at Sarah Palin. I like the former Governor of Alaska. I liked Palin before she hitched her star to John McCain's Campaign. I was delighted that she joined that Campaign. Palin energized McCain and McCain - it seemed to me - quit after September 19th 2008. Palin played hard until the whistle blew and kept her head up while all others went hang-doggy and nuzzled up to MSNBC.

Mark Kirk is tailor-made for the Tool Shed -MSNBC. However, Kirk wants to be Senator. That's nice.

I am voting for Alexi Giannoulias.

Kirk reminds me of the charcter in the movie Step Brothers. John C. Reilly's guy. Click my post title for that great scene.

Now, Mark Kirk is pestering everyone at the big table for Fancy Sauce ( Palin's Endorsement).

"Hey, I like Fancy Sauce! I Like Fancy Sauce!"

Sure you do, Mark. Ask Keith Olbermann for some fancy sauce - he'll give you some Fancy Sauce.

*The searching of a ship for unentered goods. [Eng.]

Join Us for the Leo High School Veterans Observances Tomorrow, or Watch on Fox 32

Tomorrow's events at Leo High School in honor of our Veterans will be covered by Patrick Elwood and the great folks at FOX-32 Chicago - at 8:15, 9:15, and 11:00 A.M. - if you can not join us, please watch.
Leo High School, Leo Alumni Association, The Burbank Marine League Color Guard, Windy City Veterans, The Veterans Leadership Program, American Legion Giles Post #87& especially Mrs Rochelle Crump of Chicago Department of Child and Family Services will hold a special Veterans Memorial Observance at the Leo War Memorial in the school's courtyard. , Leo High School President Robert W. Foster & Principal Phil Mesina ( USAF ret.) and Vice Principal Frank Wilson (USMC ret.) will direct the observance which features presentations by Veterans, wreath - laying by Richard Furlong, President of the Leo Alumni Association. Leo Man David McKee ('46) always pipes in the colors and opens the ceremonies on the Irish War Pipes.

Leo High School erected a memorial in 1965 to the many Leo men who have died serving
America in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam and the Windy City Veterans of Chicago
updated the engraved names and constructed permanent lighting for the memorial. Last year more than two hundred persons joined the 220 Leo students in honoring America's war fallen. The War Memorial was dedicated by General Thomas Gerrity USAF ( Leo 1930) - a hero of the Fall of Bataan who escaped to Australia and returned to destroy 28 Japanese ships from his B-25 in the Bismark Sea and New Guinea. (click my post tite for more on Leo Man General Thomas P. Gerrity!

John Fardy (Leo 1940) was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic sacrifice during World War II. Mr. John Houlihan (Leo ?41) served in the Marine Corps as did Mr. Dick Prendergast and twenty (20) more of his classmates from the Class of '43. Many Leo men have been decorated for heroism, including Mr. Jim Farrell (Leo '61), Mr. Jack Farnan, (Leo '63), and Mr. Jim Furlong ( Leo '65), all members of the Leo Hall of Fame and highly decorated Vietnam Veterans. The late Mr.Thomas Stack (Leo '61) organized the first welcome home to the Veterans of Vietnam. Mr.Tom Stack won two Silver Stars and three Bronze Stars in Vietnam.

Another highly decorated Vietnam Veteran, Gen. George Muellner, USAF (ret.) graduated from Leo, flew more than 600 combat fighter missions, commanded many fighter commands, and developed the STAR communications weapon system for Operation Desert Storm. Gen. Muellner is now the VP for Boeing Corporation's Stealth Projects.

The Veterans Memorial Observance will be held in the school courtyard located on 79th Street. The Public is invited to share in this Observance.
Labels: Jack Howard. Leo Alumni, Leo Alumni, Leo Veterans Observances
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Patrick_Gerrity
1

If Only . . .Agonistes

Design'd for great exploits; if I must dye
Betray'd, Captiv'd, and both my Eyes put out,
Made of my Enemies the scorn and gaze;
To grind in Brazen Fetters under task [ 35 ]
With this Heav'n-gifted strength? O glorious strength
Put to the labour of a Beast, debas't
Lower then bondslave! Promise was that I
Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver;
Ask for this great Deliverer now, and find him [ 40 ]
Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with slaves,
Himself in bonds under Philistian yoke;
Yet stay, let me not rashly call in doubt
Divine Prediction; what if all foretold
Had been fulfill'd but through mine own default, [ 45 ]
Whom have I to complain of but my self?

Milton -Samson Agonistes

Those lines always reminded me of the great people in public life, who struggle to do good for people. Some even end up in a Federal Prison.

One very good guy I know is sitting out the last of his semesters in Terra Haute, in no small part due to a very good man himself - several good men actually.


I just got off the phone with a genuine Chicago voice in print. He writes for one of the the two big Chicago Dailies.

We shot the breeze about a mutual friend who is having a particularly tough time - that friend is also in the cold and impersonal world of modern journalism.

Our conversation turned to things political -

"Hey, what's up with your Republicans?"

My Republicans?

"Yeah. You went all McCain."

Illinois Republicans blow their toes off - not unlike up-state New York Republicans. I like Dan Proft.

"Jesus, he has about twenty seven Cicero contracts and stuff hanging on him. Why can't you get clean once in a while . . .like with that Polish Kid Andy Andrecscxzjhykczxcszch? "

I work at Leo 'cause it's easy to spell.

We went back and forth on reform and the usual Who's-Who litany of rogues, cretins, feebs, dummies, crooks and phonies.

We landed back at good people. People who actually do something for other people -who will do anything without a Press Conference or naming of a Blue Ribbon Commission, or any one really ever knowing about it.

In Poetry things are neat; in prose, things are messy. Politics is Prosaic. It is un-Romantic. The Romantics in Politics - the Goo-goos; the Boiled Beets Progressives; the Dopes Who Believe EVERYTHING is like a Julia Roberts Movie; the Raving Lunatics Left/Center/Right - are the very people who screw things up. Romantic Politics makes more taxes and more corruption. It is a Hegelian thing.

It is the same thing in my Church - Romantic Goofballs like the dippy Nun escorting victims to an abortion - the poetic romantic channel surfers screw things up. Sister! Be a Unitarian Nun! They ARE WAY COOL!

We, Catholics, have had a very, very Gay Friendly Church Hierarchy and Clergy( Well, Who's to Say?) for well over forty years and then we find ourselves shocked when Father Daffodil is taking seven altar boys to Wisconsin with a video camera. Hey, spare me the 'Pedophile's Have Nothing to Do With Homosexuality' dodge - yeah, and pipe dope has nothing to do with plumbing.

If Only more attention could be focused on the people in public life who actually make a difference - no, not The Honorable Dorothy Brown - maybe, then, politics could start to work for people again.

White House Robert Gibbs -"It's a Touch of Cancer."

I went to a wake at Sheehy & Sons on 79th Street once and asked the widower what his wife had succumbed to -"T'was nothing serious, so." the County Kerry gent offered.

Following yesterday's National Tune-up of the Hope & Change White House, Stephen Root playing Robert Gibbs offered this -

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the president viewed the Republican victories in New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races as referenda on local issues that reflect little on his policies in Washington.

"People went to the polls and voted on local issues not to either register support for or opposition to the president," Gibbs said. Asked whether moderate lawmakers might view the results differently, and worry about casting tough votes on Obama's priorities, Gibbs said no.

"I don't think they will and I'm not concerned," he said.

As my Irish Cousins might say "It's a Touch of Cancer is all."

A Touching Tale of Texas Transgression

From the files of the great Tom McMahon of Wisconsin & Frank Nofsinger:Beerologist, libationist, beer devotee, wert guru, beer maven and Patriot!

A hooded robber burst into a Texas Bank and forced the tellers to load a sack full of cash.

On his way out the door a brave Texas customer grabbed the hood and pulled it off revealing the robber's face. The robber shot the customer without a moment's hesitation. He then looked around the bank and noticed one of the tellers looking straight at him. The robber instantly shot him also.

Everyone else, by now very scared, looked intently down at the floor in silence. The robber yelled, "Well, did anyone else see my face?" There are a few moments of utter silence, in which everyone was plainly afraid to speak.

Then one old man raised his hand and said," I think my wife may have caught a glimpse of you."

Fox32's Patrick Elwood Honors Veterans at Leo High School

Watch Chicago's Fox -32 on Friday morning, November 6th (One feature with Patrick Elwood at 8:15 and another other at 9:15) as Patrick Elwood honors and interviews Veterans, heroes all, of WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

On Monday, Veterans of America's Wars from Leo High School, the Montford Point Marines and the Burbank Marine League spoke with Fox Anchor/Reporter Patrick Elwood about their individual services over seas.

On Friday, Fox 32 will feature Patrick Elwood's interviews during the Morning Shows.

At 11AM Leo High School, Mrs. Rochelle Crump, Pipe David McKee ( Leo '46), Windy City Veterans, Montford Point Marines, The Burbank Marine Corps League, The Leo Alumni Association and Leo Veterans of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm 1 & 2, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well Chicago Police Officers and Firefighters ( all who serve and protect America) will lay wreaths at the Leo High School War Memorial, offer tribute, salute the colors and salute to taps for America's Fallen

Leo High School and Mrs. Rochelle Crump have teamed to pay solemn tribute to all who serve since 2001.

All are invited to join in the Leo Veterans Observances.

Many thanks to Patrick Elwood and Fox 32 Television!

Vote for Mandy and the Bandits - Once Day -Anyway.

As a dedicated Hack, I love to help people I like.

I love Amanda Crumley and her band of splendid musicians and vocalists - Mandy and the Bandits.

Give Amanda and her crew a vote and help the Bandits earn a spot playing with Bela Fleck! Who's that you say? You gotta be kidding!

Hell, half of you wouldn't know the Judge with the hyphenated Irish Name on the last ballot and voted for him/her anyway.

Click my post title - and listen to two songs by Mandy and the Bandits

Hey everyone,

Wanted to thank you for all your support for my band with this contest, and let you know that the voting period has been extended 2 weeks to Nov. 15th!! Not sure why they did this, but regardless, we can still use all the help we can get!!

Click this link everyday, if you're able!

http://www.cbbfestival.com/contests/profile.php?aid=136

Make sure to verify your vote by clicking on the link sent to your email after voting! If it does not get sent to you inbox, check your junk mail, as sometimes it is getting sent there.

As a reminder, this is for a chance for Mandy & the Bandits to be considered for a performance slot at the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival on Dec. 12th, to open for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones!

A tremendous THANK YOU to all of you and this is my solemn promise that this is my final email regarding this subject!!


Much love,
Amanda

myspace.com/mandyandthebandits

* If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, please let me know and thy will be done.

Archbisop Timothy Dolan of New York! God Bless The Man - His Full Statement

FOUL BALL!
By Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York

October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series!

Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism.

It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime. Scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to it as “the deepest bias in the history of the American people,” while John Higham described it as “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.” “The anti-semitism of the left,” is how Paul Viereck reads it, and Professor Philip Jenkins sub-titles his book on the topic “the last acceptable prejudice.”

If you want recent evidence of this unfairness against the Catholic Church, look no further than a few of these following examples of occurrences over the last couple weeks:

---On October 14, in the pages of the New York Times, reporter Paul Vitello exposed the sad extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. According to the article, there were forty cases of such abuse in this tiny community last year alone. Yet the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency. Instead, an attorney is quoted urging law enforcement officials to recognize “religious sensitivities,” and no criticism was offered of the DA’s office for allowing Orthodox rabbis to settle these cases “internally.” Given the Catholic Church’s own recent horrible experience, I am hardly in any position to criticize our Orthodox Jewish neighbors, and have no wish to do so . . . but I can criticize this kind of “selective outrage.”

Of course, this selective outrage probably should not surprise us at all, as we have seen many other examples of the phenomenon in recent years when it comes to the issue of sexual abuse. To cite but two: In 2004, Professor Carol Shakeshaft documented the wide-spread problem of sexual abuse of minors in our nation’s public schools (the study can be found here). In 2007, the Associated Press issued a series of investigative reports that also showed the numerous examples of sexual abuse by educators against public school students. Both the Shakeshaft study and the AP reports were essentially ignored, as papers such as the New York Times only seem to have priests in their crosshairs.

---On October 16, Laurie Goodstein of the Times offered a front page, above-the-fold story on the sad episode of a Franciscan priest who had fathered a child. Even taking into account that the relationship with the mother was consensual and between two adults, and that the Franciscans have attempted to deal justly with the errant priest’s responsibilities to his son, this action is still sinful, scandalous, and indefensible. However, one still has to wonder why a quarter-century old story of a sin by a priest is now suddenly more pressing and newsworthy than the war in Afghanistan, health care, and starvation–genocide in Sudan. No other cleric from religions other than Catholic ever seems to merit such attention.

---Five days later, October 21, the Times gave its major headline to the decision by the Vatican to welcome Anglicans who had requested union with Rome. Fair enough. Unfair, though, was the article’s observation that the Holy See lured and bid for the Anglicans. Of course, the reality is simply that for years thousands of Anglicans have been asking Rome to be accepted into the Catholic Church with a special sensitivity for their own tradition. As Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist, observed, “We are not fishing in the Anglican pond.” Not enough for the Times; for them, this was another case of the conniving Vatican luring and bidding unsuspecting, good people, greedily capitalizing on the current internal tensions in Anglicanism.

---Finally, the most combustible example of all came Sunday with an intemperate and scurrilous piece by Maureen Dowd on the opinion pages of the Times. In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription -- along with every other German teenage boy -- into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.

True enough, the matter that triggered her spasm -- the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives -- is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning. But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.I do not mean to suggest that anti-catholicism is confined to the pages New York Times. Unfortunately, abundant examples can be found in many different venues. I will not even begin to try and list the many cases of anti-catholicism in the so-called entertainment media, as they are so prevalent they sometimes seem almost routine and obligatory. Elsewhere, last week, Representative Patrick Kennedy made some incredibly inaccurate and uncalled-for remarks concerning the Catholic bishops, as mentioned in this blog on Monday. Also, the New York State Legislature has levied a special payroll tax to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fund its deficit. This legislation calls for the public schools to be reimbursed the cost of the tax; Catholic schools, and other private schools, will not receive the reimbursement, costing each of the schools thousands – in some cases tens of thousands – of dollars, money that the parents and schools can hardly afford. (Nor can the archdiocese, which already underwrites the schools by $30 million annually.) Is it not an issue of basic fairness for ALL school-children and their parents to be treated equally?

The Catholic Church is not above criticism. We Catholics do a fair amount of it ourselves. We welcome and expect it. All we ask is that such critique be fair, rational, and accurate, what we would expect for anybody. The suspicion and bias against the Church is a national pastime that should be “rained out” for good.

I guess my own background in American history should caution me not to hold my breath.

Then again, yesterday was the Feast of Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes.

NY Archbishop Dolan Blasts New York Times, Mo Dowd, and Boiled Beets Progressive Nativists - Give Maher a Slap Bishop!

The New York Times has always hated Catholics. From long before the New York Draft Riots, and heaped coal on Pope Pius IX by creating a Jewish antipathy for Catholics by inflating the Mortara Incident* ( A Jewish boy taken from his parents by the Papal States in the 1860's, raised as a Catholic to become an Augustinian Priest for Life). The radical New York Times competed with the Catholic Freeman's Journal of Orestes Brownson and Bishop Dagger John Hughes.

Now, Catholics are hitting back. It has been a hell of long time!

Archbishop Dolan of New York is filling the shoes of Dagger John Hughes and taking some swings at the radical Times and its salaried professional renegade Catholic who really needs a date - Mo Dowd. Crazy Aunt Mo!

"Mom! Crazy Aunt Mo just got off the bus and she's walking funny!"

Crazy Aunt Mo Dowd is a professional Catholic whiner - so oppressed and so embarrassed to have been baptized. Every family has one. Crazy Aunt Mo is all for Abortion and tells eveyone and usually gets Fully Kruezened** at family dinners and tells everyone how much she ( Yes, there's Crazy Uncles Too) resents us all, we have all made her life a misery, throws up at the Kids Table, borrows cab Fare and heads back to her apartment for a Mr. Boston swill with HBO. Unhappiness sells papers!

Nice job Bishop! Crazy Aunt Mo will cocktail it up and tell us all about it.
You put it very well, Bishop Dolan -

"She ( Crazy Aunt Mo - my editorial) digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription -- along with every other German teenage boy -- into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans."

Dowd's column, which zinged the Vatican for "two inquisitions" into nuns who eschew "old-fashioned habits and convents," was only the latest Times piece to spin Dolan's skullcap.

"It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime," Dolan wrote. " 'The anti-Semitism of the left' is how [poet Peter] Viereck reads it."

Dolan noted that an Oct. 14 Times piece about child sex abuse in Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community failed to demand what the paper had previously demanded of the Catholic Church: to release the abusers' names, roll back the state statute of limitations

Here is some stuff on the Motara Incident played out by the New York Times. The New York Times has had a great career of attempting to manufacture tension between Catholics and Jews and yet always seems to cozy up to Crown Heights Al Sharpton when he gets up an Old Timey Pogrom.

*

Protests were lodged by both Jewish organizations and prominent political and intellectual figures in Britain, the United States, Germany, Austria, and France. Soon the governments of these countries added to calls for Edgardo to be returned to his parents. The French Emperor Napoleon III, whose troops garrisoned Rome to protect the Pope against the Italian anti-clerical unificationists, also protested.

When a delegation of prominent Jews saw the Pope in 1859, he told them, "I couldn't care less what the world thinks."[citation needed] At another meeting, he brought Edgardo with him to show that the boy was happy in his care. In 1865 he said: "I had the right and the duty to do what I did for this boy, and if I had to, I would do it again."[citation needed] In a speech in 1871 defending his decision against his detractors, Pius said: "Of these dogs, there are too many of them at present in Rome, and we hear them howling in the streets, and they are disturbing us in all places." [4] [5]

The Mortara case served to harden the already prevalent opinion among liberals and nationalists in both Italy and abroad that the rule of the Pope over a large area of central Italy was an anachronism and an affront to human rights in an "enlightened" age of liberalism and rationalism.[citation needed] It helped persuade opinion in both Britain and France to allow Piedmont to go to war with the Papal States in 1859 and annex most of the Pope's territories, effectively leaving him with only the city of Rome in the end.[citation needed] When the French garrison was withdrawn in 1870, and the Italian army assaulted the city, Rome too was annexed by the new, unified, liberal Kingdom of Italy.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/dolan_gives_the_times_holy_hell_C79kb04ndK2nKWVWLO8O0K#ixzz0VoHrAkSF

**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle_conditioning#Krausening

Planned Parenthood's President Presses Its President

Huge Ten Gallon Doff to American Papist -click my post title

"Don't let Catholic bishops and other anti-choice groups push Congress into passing anti-choice amendments to health care reform. Take action now to protect women's health."

http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09ccbr_afw

Brassy Texas Gal Cecile Richards, whose man friend Kirk Adams is an SEIU Honcho, but Cecile can't cotton to takin' the Dude's Name, and Cecile is goin' "All-IN" with the chips she gave to President Obama. Let's see what you got in there Barry!

Yep, Texas Cecile Richards is goin' hard inside with elbows a flyin' on President One-on-One. The President must be playing round-ball with cupcakes who deflate the balls during rests so tough guys or a bunch of girls don't steal the Spauldings on them. Cecile Richards and Planned Parenthood carpeted the Obama Team with dollars during the Campaign and is now pushing the President to go Big Johnson on the American Catholic Bishops. Planned Parenthood is Big Oil to the Left. Gushers! Them girls and their man toys like to play hard.

We shall see. Will President Obama deflate the balls?

Frank Rich's Dies Irae and No One Dies!

I had an opportunity to read Frank Rich's New York Times Op-Ed piece "The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York" and wasted a few minutes there.

The salient paragraph at the very end of the piece explains the entire train wreck that is the Obama Enterprise of Media.

Only in the alternative universe of the far right is Obama a pariah and Palin the great white hope. It’s become a Beltway truism that the White House’s (mild) spat with Fox News is counterproductive because it drives up the network’s numbers. But if curious moderate and independent voters are now tempted to surf there and encounter Beck’s histrionics for the first time, the president’s numbers will benefit as well. To the uninitiated, the tea party crowd comes across like the barflies in “Star Wars.”

Why, Francis, you should have offered a more more nuanced lagniappe - Say something like Werner Herzog's homoerotic Everyman Klaus Kinski would be rendered quizzical in their shabby genteel presence. “The trees are in misery. The birds are in misery; they just screech in pain. We are cursed in what we are doing here.”

Oh, Francis, yielding to Pop Kulture Kampf with a jejune Star Wars trope?

Keep telling Captain Obama about them icebergs Francis - he's a great listener.

Do. Oh,Do click my post title and give a listen to an homage to Frank Rich by the poet Dallas Moore.

Bigotry Kills School Reform - Anti Voucher Bigots

Old Joe Medill could not have posted a more anti-Catholic rant than Eric Zorn. Changing the subject on School Reform is a breeze for rock ribbed bigots. A bigot refuses to accept a person or an idea.

Bigot : a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance.

It's interesting to me how all you hard-bitten conservatives (including Berkowitz, who has joined this conversation on his blog http://jeffberkowitz.blogspot.com/2009/10/sen-meeks-columnist-eric-zorn-and-tv.html ) turn into starry-eyed idealists when it comes to this pet notion of yours that education vouchers would provide better public education.

And you try to paint everyone who objects to these schemes as tools of the teacher's union or suffocating educational bureaucracy.

First objection I have -- I don't want tax dollars going to pay for tuition at schools that discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation or religious beliefs. I'm a separationist. Yet I know that the animating passion for many believers in vouchers -- not Berkowitz, it's my sense, but many others -- is a desire to have the state fund the religious educations of their children. I think that's wrong. I think it's un-American and I think it's unconstitutional.

Second objection I have -- Assuming we have a voucher program that pays only for schools that don't discriminate and don't use voucher funds to teach religion (I can envision a system in which a Catholic School could hold special classes before and after school for Catholic students and paid for by private dollars), how do we keep any sort of quality control or set any kinds of standards without heavy government involvement? What if supporters of Fred Phelps, say, want to set up a Home School for Homosexual Haters in which the children of their hatemongering membership give their $15,000 a year to support some flimsy, phony 'academy" to inculcate the next generation of gay bashers? In this millions of flowers blooming utopia of private schools opening up in blighted neighborhoods, how do we account for parents who prefer indoctrination to education, not to mention the scam artists and hustlers and others who would eventually open "schools" to try to take their advantage.

Third objection I have, assuming we can set a system in which vouchers are only good at fully accredited, non-discriminating schools.... what makes us think that enough of them would spring up to offer something better than what's now there? Who takes the students who don't "qualify" once the private schools have skimmed the cream? Who takes the students who drop out? Who misbehave and get kicked out (for bringing Advil to class, say)? IN other words, if these schools are allowed to have admission standards, then who takes those who don't, for some reason, meet those standards? In other conversations I've raised the issue of special needs kids who can cost a lot more to educate than non-special needs kids. "They get bigger vouchers!" say the voucher proponents. This assumes a couple of things, the main one being that we're only talking about profoundly disabled children who need extraordinary care. But, in fact, the range of learning disabilities is vast and there are kids who look quite "normal" but who need speech therapy and, occupational therapy and all kinds of help that most private schools now outsource to public school if they take such children at all. Even mild learning and behavioral disorders are enough to keep applicants out of some private schools I could name.

Final objection I have, for now, is that the entire voucher solution assumes some sort of "magic" in private education that really is, in most cases, an illusion caused when a flexible administration, supportive, involved parents and empowered teachers combine to educate a SELECT group of students, any one of whom can be removed pronto if he or she proves to be a handful. You see this "magic" at certain public schools. And we're always going to have our NON-SELECT students and our disengaged parents....voucher programs would do little to aid such people as it destroyed and dismantled the public schools they now attend

posted by: Eric Zorn | Friday, October 30, 2009 at 04:42 PM

Now, if you told any the of the above to a deaf mule, he'd kick your teeth in!

Non Sequiturs Abounding! Bigotry Astounding! The reach-around for the Rev. Fred Phelps loonies was heart warmingly too, too daffy for ducks.

Smug bigots come in all sizes and shapes. Rev./Senator James Meeks has had the sacles fall from his eyes and anti-Voucher Bigots are snarling to gnaw on his bones.

Senator, their teeth are as weak as ther arguments.


“Although Chicago was spared the anti-Irish violence of other large American cities, there was no lack of rabid anti-Irish sentiment. The Chicago Tribune, edited by Joseph Medill (a descendant of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians), regularly dismissed the Irish as lazy and shiftless.

"Who does not know that the most depraved, debased, worthless and irredeemable drunkards and sots which curse the community are Irish Catholics?” the Tribune sneered.

http://irishabroad.com/irishworld/irishamericamag/augsept08/features/irish-chicago-augsept08.asp
Pretty nice homage to Joe Medill there Eric Zorn!

Steve Reid - Leo Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame,

Position: Guard
School: Northwestern
High School: Chicago, IL (Leo HS)
Years: 1934-1936
Inducted: 1985
Place of Birth: Chicago, IL
Date of Birth: 12/16/1914
Jersey Number: 44
Height: 5-9
Weight: 192

Steve Reid played football at Leo High School in his hometown of Chicago before enrolling at Northwestern where he became a three-year letterman for the Wildcats. He was captain and Most Valuable Player for the 1936 Big Ten Champions and was also Northwestern's most widely-picked All-American since Pug Rentner. Reid stood proud in defeat as well as in victory throughout one of the most exciting schedules of the 1936 season. A 5-9, 192-pound guard whose forte was blocking, he was often called upon by Coach Pappy Waldorf to pull out of the line to lead the interference. Reid played in the East-West Shrine Game and, in 1961, was named to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S "Silver Anniversary" All-America football team. During World War II he served as a Major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and was awarded the Presidential Citation with three battle stars. Reid became Vice-Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Evanston Hospital, and Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University. He has been a Wildcat team physician since 1950, and earned national recognition by conducting a football helmet study which measures intensities of impacts in order to reduce head and neck injuries.

God Bless All Leo Men!


H/T to Dan Kelley!

Leo High School welcomes everyone to honor our Veterans at Leo High School on Friday November 6th at 11A.M.

Leo High School
7901 S. Sanagamon Street
Chicago, IL 60655
(773) 224-9600

WHY MEN SHOULD NOT TAKE MESSAGES

Nancy, Your Pants Are Afire and Your Boys are Lying As Well

You can not make this stuff up!

“It’s almost a complete certainty that we have already discussed and debated almost every element that’s in this bill,” said Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.)


McHenry took issue with the notion that the 2,000-page bill hasn’t changed much from the earlier, 1,000-page versions. To prove the point, he pulled out a Democratic-written summary of the changes.

All eight pages of them.


Asked why the House will vote on the roughly 400,000-word bill in a week when it takes a congregation a year to read the 80,000-word Torah at a synagogue, Rothman, who is Jewish, exhibited the wisdom of a Talmudic scholar.


“It only takes a year because you read one section a week,” he said.


But Republican Rep. Joe Barton, who is Texan, said the bill is “about four reams of paper” that add up to the American public “getting reamed.”

. . . And I used to get nervous when the Mailman went to his trunk.

Sen. Meeks No Longer an Isolationist on School Vouchers! Welcome to the War

Senator James Meeks has been the Joseph P. Kennedy* Ambassador to School Reform Isolationism and a powerful voice for tossing more tax dollars to the Chicago Teachers Union and hapless Public Schools.

Blocks from Calumet High School, now morphed into a hybrid Charter Academy/Warehouse, and few more from the 60 million dollar Simeon High School, Leo High School - a Catholic High School ( 100% African American Males)-commands the respect and direction of families seeking a path to success for their sons.

Leo High School is tuition driven and depends upon the giving of its largely white, Catholic and aging Alumni. White Alumni giving to Leo High School stands at 99.9%, though more Black Alums are giving in recent months.
Ninety Three percent of Leo's graduates go on to colleges and universities and the balance to the skilled trades unions and the military.

For decades Catholics and other private school families ( Jewish, Dutch Reformed, Lutheran, Muslim, and Independent) have called for School Reform through a universal voucher system. The Public School lobby has defeated any and all efforts. One of the Public School Lobby's most passionate and articulate voices - Rev./Senator James Meeks has pushed down efforts to bring about genuine Reform through Vouchers.

Like Ambassador Joe Kennedy in 1939-40, while Ambassador to Great Britain, Senator Meeks has called for Isolationism on Vouchers. Now, the Senator has witnessed the toll upon our society that this Isolationism has wrought. Like Joe Kennedy, Senator Meeks has had a Great Awakening!

the Chicago Teachers Union has figured out a way for teachers to not be evaluated on obvious criteria, such as how well they perform in the classroom.

Nobody wants to be held accountable, but the blood of every child is on our hands.

We must also decide whether Mayor Daley should continue to preside over the Chicago schools. Since he assumed control of the district in 1995, the Blackhawks have had nine coaches, the Bulls have had eight coaches, the Cubs have had five managers and the White Sox have had three managers.

For the first time in my personal and political career, I am exploring the idea of vouchers and charter schools to help facilitate choice and enhance academic performance. Why should we continue to make investments in a system that is bankrupt and weighed down with bureaucracy?

We must begin making decisions that are in the best interest of children, such as mandatory teacher evaluations. Since the will to change the system is nonexistent, we should allow students the flexibility to attend schools outside their district. What once worked before, such as the local school councils, may have run its course in today's competitive environment.

They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. We can no longer afford to have the blood of every child on our hands.

Welcome to the War Senator! Already the Isolationists like Eric Zorn ( using free Market tropes) are attacking Senator Meeks and 'Blaming the Parents!'

My problem with voucher-based education is that it relies on a level of parental involvement that's manifestly missing and on a free-market system that is failing the inner-city already. Not that there is any easy answer, but these communities need jobs and affordable housing, far lower single-parent birth rates and, yes, calm, safe focused classrooms in which students can learn and teachers can teach.

Since the will to change the system is nonexistent, we should allow students the flexibility to attend schools outside their district.
Interesting idea, the logistics of which boggle the mind. Even if we could pull it off, though, and allow certain, motivated students to flee, the basic problem they are fleeing -- joblessness and its attendant poverty -- will remain.

If PNG Zorn is against you, Senator, you are on the right path!We can use your voice, spirit and energy. Let's make Genuine Reform Happen in Illinois! Let's Kick Open the Doors for Vouchers!


* Old Joe Kennedy thought Adolph Hitler would 'not be such a bad guy' and just another guy doing business and after all Old Joe said during the Battle of Britain, "Democracy is finished in England. It may be here, [in the US]."

"There Lives Not Three Good Men Unhanged in N J, and One of Them is Fat"

The Genius that is Kliban!

“I’m pretty fat Don,” Christie declared.


“You weigh?” Imus asked.


“550 pounds,” Christie jokingly responded

from the Don Imus Show via Politico - click my post title.


Let me have men about me that are fat, sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights. Yon Corzine has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous. . . . And Corzine has that really creepy half-assed beard going that faux intellectuals and frauds tend to sport. Jon with no H is a dead-ass give-away that the guy is a skunk. Or is that Scunque? e.g. Like a Hyphenated Mick -T.Claude Biggs-MonahanEsq.

Give me Fat Brother Chris Christie! Corzine like most Progressives hate people with more than a few pounds on them. Corzine has a fat bank account and has been flooding the airwaves and TV beams with Fat, Fat Chris Christie ads.

In a better and more honorable day, such taunting of people of amplitude would be rounded out with a lusty pile on! Would not the Commonwealth . . .nay the Republic itself. . . not be well served by the Close-knit ( Italian Catholic) Ethnic and Corpulent Christie launching skyward to allow gravity its whim upon the oafish tweed wrapped Corzine! That is not an interrogative.

Welcome to the Pew, Brother Meeks!

Real School Reform = Vouchers! Short of that, Charter Schools do the most to bring some accountabilty. All the rest is hot air -for want of stronger tea.

Public Schools need competition. Catholic Schools ( and other private schools as well) provide Competition and Genuine Accountability! Vouchers are the only real tool to reform.Click my Post Title!

We Catholics and our friends have been praying for School Choice through Vouchers and many non-Catholics/non-Christian/non-Believers have helped fill the pews.

Brother Meeks, welcome to Church. We have been passing the plate and now intend to make sure that Vouchers and Charters see that the plates go to the right hands -Illinois Families and not scam artists and hacks.

For the first time in my personal and political career, I am exploring the idea of vouchers and charter schools to help facilitate choice and enhance academic performance. Why should we continue to make investments in a system that is bankrupt and weighed down with bureaucracy?

We must begin making decisions that are in the best interest of children, such as mandatory teacher evaluations. Since the will to change the system is nonexistent, we should allow students the flexibility to attend schools outside their district. What once worked before, such as the local school councils, may have run its course in today's competitive environment.

They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. We can no longer afford to have the blood of every child on our hands.

Democratic state Sen. James T. Meeks of Chicago is pastor of Salem Baptist Church.

Chicago Tribune - Op-Ed Page

President Obama is Commander in Chief - Well Done, Mr. President!

President Obama displayed True Greatness! This speaks well of Our President!

President Barack Obama made a midnight trip to Dover Air Force Base earlier today to meet the returning bodies of 18 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan on Monday.


Arriving at the base at 12:34 a.m., the president visited with the fallen troops' families in a chapel on the base grounds. Just before 4 a.m., the president and several other officials - including Attorney General Eric Holder, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and acting DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart - joined members of one service member's family to salute a flag-draped coffin being transferred from a C-17.


The president's group stood in single file to salute the casket holding Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin, whose family consented to media coverage of the Indiana soldier's return. The whole ceremony took approximately 15 minutes, according to the pool.


Monday's three helicopter crashes in Afghanistan - which killed 14 Americans, including three DEA agents - made October the deadliest month in the Afghan war to date.


Obama returned to the White House at 4:45 a.m., touching down on the South Lawn in Marine One.