Okay, Kagan Ain't Gay - Is That a Problem for Who?

My Grandma Donahue could not imagine why Liberace, Rock Hudson and Charles Nelson Reilly never seemed to have a blond on the arm. "They're good-looking gents with wads of spending loot; what's the matter with some girls?"

Grandma, they bat from the other side of the plate, they like Tyrone Power as much as you do; . . . more.

The fact remains that Liberace, Rock Hudson and Charles Nelson Reilly were good-looking gents with wads of spending loot and heaps of talent. They never seemed to want for work, despite LGBT Victim hood doctrine that demands that they wore pink stars on their clothing at all times and slept on straw in between beatings.

Grandma Donahue and Grandpa Donahue were dragged up in the 'Ville - Canaryville, which is not exactly Boystown, but many boys spent their youths between Wentworth/Halsted; 39th & 47th Streets.

Elena Kagan is President Obama's choice for the Supreme Court seat vacated by Justice John Paul Stevens. The White House and everyone that they can find are jumping on the Oprah Coach - "She's Not Gay!!!!" Politico which gets fed directly everything coming out of the White House has a full-court Press denial about Elena Kagan's mysterious inclinations

Walzer, a former aide to Senator Joe Lieberman and a lawyer in Bill Clinton’s Department of Health and Human Services, now lives on Long Island, N.Y., and runs a non-profit that helps low-income parents prepare young children for school.


At the time, though, the two lived the life of single, straight young women, with a bit of a Harvard Law twist.


Walzer recalled “discussion about who she might be interested in – the usual girl talk stuff-- talk about how to get his attention.”


This was “less along the lines of how to wear your hair,” Walzer said, than how to avoid intimidating men with an intellect and confidence that weren’t always seen as attractive traits

Okay, so what? Who asked? Remember how the tightly closeted Rosie O'Donnell used to swoon at the mention Tom Cruise? Jesus, you could have knocked nearly every I.Q. above room temperature over with a sledge hammer blow between the lamps, when Ellen DeGeneris, Rosie O'Donnell and Melissa Etheridge announced that they like Babes too!

Watson, the game's afoot!

I could care less. Can Elena Kagan do the job? Tom Tunney, is openly gay and is one of the few Chicago Alderman who is not a hair-trigger for bladder spilling laughter. Tom Tunney is gay and happens to be a great public servant. Congressman Barney Frank is openly gay and is a sputtering arrogant train wreck.

Get to the issues. Define the Constitution, Ms. Kagan. Give the right answers and become Justice Kagan.

Okay, you ain't gay.

Happy FeastDay Neighbors at St. Walter's and the Great Clark Woodard!

Clark Woodard with his GrandMa and Mom.

My neighbors in the parish south of St. Cajetan's celebrate the Feast of St. Walter today.

What better way to celebrate the Sainted Walter than by linking a tale of a son of St. Walter -young Clark Woodard. I got this wonderful story in the pages of the Villager - a feature of the Beverly Area Planning Association (BAPA)

Generous St. Walter Student Also a Hard Worker!

St. Walter School 3rd grader Clark Woodard is quite an entrepreneur. When It was announced in church that funding was to end for the sign language interpreter during weekend Masses, Woodard decided to raise some funds.

Over the summer, the boy started his own dog-walking business, Clark Cares –which he even trademarked! A successful young business person, he earned almost $1,000 and decided to split it three ways: 34% to his college savings fund, 33% to an animal shelter, and 44% to St. Walter Church.

When he presented the donation the pastor asked why he made such a generous contribution. “I wanted to help the hearing impaired and it’s good to give back to the church,” was the boy’s reply. St. Walter School is located at 11741 S. Western Ave. for more information call 774-445-8850.

St. Walter would agree Clark.

Augustinian abbot of L'Esterp in the region of Limousin, France. He was born to a noble family in Conflans Castle in Aquitaine, and studied under the Augustinians at Dorat, where he entered a monastery. Then when he returned to Conflans Castle, he was elected the abbot of L'Esterp. He held the post for thirty-eight years and was famed as a confessor.

St Walter Parish & School‎
11741 South Western Avenue, Chicago, IL 60643-4789
(773) 445-8850‎

For All Moms and Moms to Be -" Something Else"

“When I was a kid, I found out about Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent through the Beatles and the Stones doing covers of rockabilly songs,”
Brian Setzer

Happy Mothers Day! The Memorare

This 15th Century Prayer is the perfect Mothers Day Gift - to everyone.


MEMORARE, O piissima Virgo Maria,
non esse auditum a saeculo, quemquam ad tua currentem praesidia,
tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia,
esse derelictum.
Ego tali animatus confidentia,
ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro,
ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto.
Noli, Mater Verbi,
verba mea despicere;
sed audi propitia et exaudi.
Amen.

Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to Thy protection,
implored Thy help or sought Thy intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
I fly unto Thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother;
to Thee do I come, before thee I kneel, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in Thy clemency, hear and answer me.
Amen.

Forrest Claypool -Our Rula Lenska for Assessor

Carol Felsenthal wrote a nice piece about the Rula Lenska ( the person who claimed and everyone believed to be 'Somebody') of Illinois - Forrest Claypool. Back in the 80's Rula Lenska was believed to be a celebrity - the commercials for hairspray said so; these days, Forrest Claypool is believed by similar folks to be a Reformer and political genius, because Carol and Walter and the editorial clown operas say so.

Carol Marin, Walter Jacobson (homeless street cred dude) and every other goof with a column or a 30 second TV Feed perch are loudly smearing Joe Berrios and blowing smooches to Forrest Lenska - the guy that John Stroger defeated while on life support.

Ms. Felsenthal and the redoubatble John Kass know that Forrest Claypool is a public relations manufactured product. So do voters.

So who is Forrest Claypool?

A native of Southern Illinois (St. Elmo, population 1,300) and son of a man in the oil-drilling business, he graduated from Southern Illinois University and then the University of Illinois Law School. He lives in Ravenswood and has three children, all of whom were educated in private schools.

Claypool twice served as chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley and ran the Chicago Park District in the ’90s. Like politicians at every level, he’s a mix of reformer and—Kass had it right—conventional party loyalist.

He’s in good company, as the record shows.

Claypool’s loyalist side comes out in the race for Barack Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat. I interviewed him just hours after the feds took over Broadway Bank. He told me that he backs Democratic candidate Alexi Giannoulias, Broadway’s former VP and senior loan officer, and has done so from the start—even after the squeaky-clean Inspector General David Hoffman entered the primary.

In the Democratic primary for county board president, Claypool did not endorse Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, the candidate with whom the good-government types were most comfortable. He offers a lofty explanation: he was not persuaded that Preckwinkle or any of her opponents would repeal “the hated [Todd] Stroger sales tax.” (Claypool didn’t endorse any candidate in that race.) He now says that he’ll support her in the general election.

Preckwinkle has said publicly that she’s supporting Berrios, a man Claypool describes as “exhibit A of how the insider culture works, where the people who have clout make out and the rest of us get higher taxes.” Claypool told me that he made his decision to run after the primary, when Berrios defeated Raymond Figueroa—a former alderman “who has independent ties that go back to Harold Washington.” When asked if he considered supporting the Republican candidate, former Evanston assessor Sharon Storbeck-Eckersall, he said, “No, no. I don’t really know enough about her, but I do think [Cook County assessor] is a very, very big job.”

Claypool has known Rahm Emanuel for 30 years and is close friends with David Axelrod, and he has visited the White House several times—most recently on March 28, according to visitor logs. He also claims a friendship with the President—he was chairman of then-Senator Obama’s transition committee in 2004-05—and, during those White House visits, he “chatted” with the President in the Oval Office.

In 2006, Claypool lost in the primary for county board president to incumbent Democrat John Stroger—after Stroger had already suffered a debilitating stroke. Obama—then a senator—didn’t endorse Claypool. “Why?” I asked. “You’ll have to ask [the President],” Claypool said. I already knew the answer: Obama, for all his idealism, is a politician.

Why, Carol, Forrest Claypool is Rula Lenska!


Forrest Claypool is as genuine as Rula Lenska. Complete Rules available wherever this fine product is sold -WTTW, CBS-2 and Chicago Sun Times.

Baroque Maestro Nicholas Kraemer Premiers Tellemann Concerto - at least in the last 400 years

Chicago's Harris Theater was packed with music lovers especially the beautiful woman who deigned to attend last night's performance with me. The diminutive angel with whom I am allowed to visit my better instincts is a gifted Alto choral director and singer and has performed with most of Chicago's Baroque Chorus and Orchestra - Soprano's Laura Amend and Maire O'Brien, and a Bass named Hoss.One of the soloists was Alto Nina Heebink who doubled as a mezzo soprano.


I knew Conductor Nicholas Kraemer as I had watched his athleticism and buoyant grace charge the atmosphere at Chicago's Symphony Center two years ago. With the body of a wrestler or a gymnast, Kraemer brings full-contact grace to music. More importantly, the man is intelligent, witty, gracious and warm.

Last night, Maestro Kraemer performed a Lazarusian miracle on Cantatta: "Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft" by George Phillip Telemann which had only been performed once since its composition in 1726. Telemann, Maestro Kraemer told us, wrote more than 1,000 Cantatas. The score for the text was found in Belgium.

Baroque music is from the age when Fredrick the Great was bullying Europe and Marlborough was slaughtering Frenchman at Blenheim - when the House of Hanover (Windsor) were still working on their resumes to get England to replace poor old Queen Anne. Baroque is ornate, intricate, diverse and humorous - combining peasant motiffs with court hubris. Bach, Tellemann, Hayden and the lads knew that the world was Vanity itself and that all things must look back to God and maybe people would eventually shake off some of their nonsense.

Nicholas Kraemer is a Scot and a harpsichordist

holds the positions of Permanent Guest Conductor of the Manchester Camerata and Principal Guest Conductor of Music of the Baroque, Chicago.

Kraemer’s recent highlights have included acclaimed débuts with The Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. He enjoys frequent collaborations with the BBC Philharmonic and BBC National Orchestra of Wales; the Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Musikcollegium Winterthur. Other major ensembles with whom he has conducted include The Hallé, Berlin Philharmonic and Rotterdam Philharmonic

Opera engagements have taken him to Paris, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Geneva and Marseilles. Amongst recent projects have been The Magic Flute and Handel’s Jephtha for English National Opera, Agrippina for Theater Aachen and L’Incoronazione di Poppea for Central City Opera, Colorado.
Nicholas Kraemer’s 09/10 plans include début appearances with the South Jutland and Colorado Symphony Orchestras as well as Le Nozze di Figaro with Den Nye Opera.

http://www.caroline-phillips.co.uk/artists/CPM_NK.htm

Kraemer seems like an absolutely wonderful gent! Two years, ago there was an in cocert screw up by a stage hand at Orchestra Hall, during a Hayden presentation and Kraemer erased any and all unease. He is the anti- George Solti. That Magyar egoist would have had the stagehand's job and guts for garters. ( click my post title for that story)

In a genuine act of grace during the final concert applause, Maestro Kraemer gestured our applause toward the Angels, or The Saints - the great volunteers how ushered the performance standing at the wings of audience - Non Nobis Sed Te Deum et Angeliis!

Maestro Kraemer warmly and genuinely highlighted all musicians and singers individually and en masse. Kraemer is Baroque itself he turns attention away from himself and reminds us of God's hand in all things.

Maestro, I would love to buy you a pint of Belhaven Ale ( or Fuller's London Pride) at Duke of Perth! Bravo!!

Beer Here! Beer Here! Boz O'Brien Brings Brew Midway Oasis in Brew Desert

". . .a woman is like beer. They look good, they smell good, and you'd step over your own mother just to get one!" Homer

From Ceapflights via the Dethronner comes this tribute to an American Hero - James "Boz" O'Brien

This gentleman scholar-athlete opened Reilly's Daughter Pub in 1975 ( full disclosure: I was one of the original bartenders, while teaching at Bishop Mac) and moved the pub from 111th Street to Midway Airport.

Boz featured Imported and Hand-crafted brews when most Chicagoans thought Andecker was an Import. I was a dedicated Drewry's man myself - loved the Mountie!

– With a name like Boz O’Brein you know the guy has got to run a bar. And he does. It’s in the postsecurityfood court at Chicago Midway (MDW)
www.flychicago.com and it’s called Reilly’sDaughter. The first thing you’ll want to
know about this cozy enclave is thatthe bar, and all its furniture, was
crafted in Ireland. The second thing you’ll want to know is that much of
the beer is Irish – Guinness, Harp,and Smithwick’s – and all on-tap.
When O’Brien first opened the place,“I didn’t think people would be interested
in Irish beer,” he said. So, O’Brien stocked up on mass-produced American brands. He was wrong.

Guinness is his best seller. Now, the brew matches the ambience. If you’re stuck at Midway waiting for an airplane, this is where you’ll want to be.
– Go goose hunting at Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
www.flychicago.com. The Goose Island Beer
Company www.gooseisland.com recently set up
shop in Terminal 1, Concourse C between Gates 8
and 10. The Goose Island enclave is a contemporary
brasserie affair. Lots of ambience –lots of good beer.
Try Honker Ale – blessed with a spicy hop aroma

Well Done Boz!

Kevin Myers on the Nature of Most Politicians re.The British Election or any Race in Illinois

Roland Burris: "Well, ain't you gonna press the flesh, Pappy? Do a little politickin'?"

Dithering Dick Durbin: "I'll press your flesh, you dimwhitted sumbitch. You don't tell your pappy how to court the electorate. We ain't on-at-a-timin' here. We're mass communicatin'!"

Harry Reid "MmmmmmHmmmm."

Irish Independent's Kevin Myers on the British Cluster Cluck!

The three main contenders are personally no more substantial than fifth-formers at a third-rate public school, and with brains to match

The British general election campaign, now breathing its last, has been about as fascinating as a local government contest in Oslo. Even now, I'm unaware of any real difference between the candidates, and assume their promises are as genuine as a whore's orgasm. What's left, after such tissues of persiflage and deceit? Not much.

Outsiders glimpse voting statistics, but they do not know why people vote, not least because voters themselves probably don't. Electorates are like luminous molecules in a stream. The molecules usually don't understand the dynamics of the surrounding liquids, but merely obey the strange compulsions of mass-movement.

This is true of all electorates, everywhere. . . .No result today, thank God, is likely to be part of such a comparably malevolent cycle. For the three main contenders are personally no more substantial than fifth-formers at a third-rate public school, and with brains to match.

Brown is an obsessive control-freak, a scowling, bullying stamp-collector. Clegg is the annoying, smirking twerp who sits at the top of the class, hogging teacher's attention. And Cameron is the first trans- sexual head-boy, an insincere, sermonising and simpering hermaphrodite.

Who will win? And who cares? After all, politics is perhaps best left to the mediocre charlatans whom it usually attracts.

Happy Birthday Johnny Brahms

For Brahms, you have to deliver differently with your right arm than with any other composer, because of the musical sentence structure. When you have a phrase, it’s usually long, and more connected. We need to know exactly where to use different styles of bowing.

Jaap van Zweden Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Happy Birthday, Johannes!
Click my post title for Brahms' Hungarian Dance #5

1833 -May 7th
Birth of Johannes Brahms, German composer and pianist. Johnny Brahms composed the Lullaby that is the gold standard for musical slumber impetus! Sleepy already.

Johannes Brahms -

Brahms was born in Hamburg. His father, who gave him his first music lessons, was a double bassist. Brahms showed early promise on the piano and helped to supplement the rather meager family income by playing the piano in restaurants and theaters, as well as by teaching. Although it is a widely-told tale that Brahms had to play the piano in bars and brothels, recent research, for example that by Kurt Hoffman (1), suggest that this is probably false. For a time, he also learned the violoncello, although his progress was cut short when his teacher absconded with Brahms's instrument.

The young Brahms gave a few public concerts, but did not become well known as a pianist (although in later life he gave the premieres of both his Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1859 and his Piano Concerto No. 2 in 1881).

He also began to compose, but his efforts did not receive much attention until he went on a concert tour with Eduard Reményi in 1853. On this tour he met Joseph Joachim, Franz Liszt, and later was introduced to the great German composer Robert Schumann. Reményi was, however, offended by Brahms' failure to praise Liszt's 'Sonata in B minor' wholeheartedly on a visit to the Court of Weimar where Liszt was the court musician. Many of Brahms' friends cited that Reményi, being the polished courtier, had expected the younger Brahms to conform to common practice of politely applauding a celebrity's piece which Brahms either failed to do or did not appear to do so with condescending compliment. He told Brahms that their friendship must end although it was not clear as to whether Liszt felt offended or otherwise. Joachim, however was to become one of his closest friends, and Schumann, through articles championing the young Brahms, played an important role in alerting the public to the young man's compositions. Brahms also became acquainted with Schumann's wife, the composer and pianist Clara, 14 years his senior, with whom he carried on a lifelong, emotionally passionate, but always platonic relationship. Brahms never married.

In 1862 he settled permanently in Vienna and began to concentrate fully on composing. With work such as the German Requiem, Brahms eventually established a strong reputation and came to be regarded in his own lifetime as one of the great composers. This may have given him the confidence finally to complete his first symphony; this appeared in 1876, after about ten years of work. The other three symphonies then followed in fairly rapid succession (1877, 1883, 1885).

Brahms frequently traveled, both for business (concert tours) and pleasure. He often visited Italy in the springtime, and usually sought out a pleasant rural location in which to compose during the summer.

In 1890, the 57-year-old Brahms resolved to give up composing. However, as it turned out, he was unable to abide by his decision, and in the years before his death he produced a number of acknowledged masterpieces, including the two clarinet sonatas Op. 120 (1894) and the Four Serious Songs (Vier ernste Gesänge) Op. 121 (1896).

While completing the Op. 121 songs Brahms fell ill of cancer (sources differ on whether this was of the liver or pancreas). His condition gradually worsened and he died on April 3, 1897. Brahms is buried in the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna.


Works
Listen to Brahms' Intermezzo, from opus 76, no. 7
Problems listening to the file? See Wikipedia audio help

Brahms wrote a number of major works for orchestra, including four symphonies, two piano concertos, a Violin Concerto, a Double Concerto for violin and cello, and the large choral work A German Requiem (Ein deutsches Requiem). Brahms was also a prolific composer in the theme and variation form, having notably composed the Variations and Fugue on a theme by Händel, Paganini Variations, and Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, along with other lesser known sets of variations.

Brahms also wrote a great deal of work for small forces. His many works of chamber music form part of the core of this repertoire, as does his solo piano music. Brahms is also considered to be among the greatest of composers of lieder, of which he wrote about 200.

Brahms never wrote an opera, nor did he ever write in the characteristic 19th century form of the tone poem.

For a list of works, see List of compositions by Johannes Brahms.


Influences on Brahms
Brahms venerated Beethoven, perhaps even more than the other Romantic composers did. In the composer's home, a marble bust of Beethoven looked down on the spot where he composed. Brahms's works contain what some of his contemporaries considered to be outright imitations of Beethoven's work, including the Ninth Symphony (regarding the similar - only in form - themes found in the last movements of Brahms's 1st and Beethoven's 9th symphonies) and the Hammerklavier sonata.

Brahms also loved the earlier Classical composers Mozart and Haydn. He collected first editions and autographs of their works, and also edited performing editions.

Brahms's affection for the Classical period may also be reflected in his choice of genres: he favored the Classical forms of the sonata, symphony, and concerto, and frequently composed movements in sonata form. In general, Brahms can be regarded as the most Classical of all the Romantic composers. This set him in contrast to the acolytes of the more progressive Richard Wagner, and the divide between the two schools was one of the most notable features of German musical life in the late 19th century.

A quite different influence on Brahms was folk music. Brahms wrote settings for piano and voice of 144 German folk songs, and many of his lieder reflect folk themes or depict scenes of rural life. His Hungarian dances were among his most profitable compositions, and in orchestrated versions remain well known today.

Brahms was almost certainly influenced by the technological development of the piano, which reached essentially its modern form during his lifetime. Much of Brahms's piano music and many of his lieder make use of the deep bass notes and the pedal to obtain a rich and powerful sound.


Brahms's personality
Like Beethoven, Brahms was fond of nature and often went walking in the woods around Vienna. He often brought penny candy with him to hand out to children. To adults Brahms was often brusque and sarcastic, and he sometimes alienated other people. His pupil Gustav Jenner wrote, 'Brahms has acquired, not without reason, the reputation for being a grump, even though few could also be as lovable as he.1 (http://members.aol.com/abelard2/jenner.htm)' He also had predictable habits which was noted by the Viennese press such as his daily visit to his favourite 'Red Hedgehog' tavern in Vienna and the press also particularly took into account his style of walking with his hands firmly behind his back complete with a caricature of him in this pose walking alongside a red hedgehog. Those who remained his friends were very loyal to him, however and he reciprocated in return with equal loyalty and generosity. He was a lifelong friend with Johann Strauss II though they were very different as composers. Brahms even struggled to get to the Theater an der Wien in Vienna for Strauss' premiere of the operetta Die Göttin der Vernunft in 1897 before his death. Perhaps the greatest tribute that Brahms could pay to Strauss was his remark that he would have given anything to have written The Blue Danube waltz. An anecdote dating around the time Brahms became acquainted with Strauss is that the former cheekily inscribed the words 'alas, not by Brahms!' on the autograph score of the famous 'Blue Danube' waltz.

Starting in the 1860's, when his works sold widely, Brahms was financially quite successful. He preferred a modest life style, however, living in a simple three-room apartment with a housekeeper. He gave away much of his money to relatives, and also anonymously helped support a number of young musicians.

Brahms was an extreme perfectionist. For instance, it is thought that the symphony we know as the First may not have been the first he composed, since Brahms very often destroyed completed works that failed to meet his standard of quality. Another factor that contributed to Brahms's perfectionism was that Schumann had announced early on that Brahms was to become the next great composer like Beethoven, a prediction that Brahms was determined to live up to. This prediction hardly added to the composer's self-confidence, and may also have contributed to the delay in producing the First Symphony. However, Clara Schumann noted before that Brahms' First Symphony was a product that was not reflective of Brahms' real nature as she felt that the final exuberant movement was 'too brilliant' as she was encouraged by the dark and tempestuous opening movement when Brahms first sent to her the initial draft. However, she recanted in accepting his sunny Second Symphony and was a lifelong supporter of that famous work in D major, one of Brahms' rare key usage.

http://www.8notes.com/biographies/brahms.asp

Rep. Kevin Joyce (D, 35th) - Powerful Statement on School Reform and Legislative Responsibility

This is a solid man at work. School Reform can not depend on a political party; only on great people. Shoo the mice away!

Sun Times NewsPro Natasha Korecki Covers Burge Trial as it Should - Facts, Nothing But the Facts

The Chicago Sun Times has the best reporters and worst columnists in Chicago.

Mark Konkol, Tim Novak, Chris Fusco and sometimes Abdon Pallasch are strong and honest. My favorite read is Natasha Korecki she slides a sentence with the grace of sportswriter Dan McGrath and avoids the posing and posturing of the would be Menckens and Divas.

Paddy Fitz the Fed needs Media Points after his Blago Blunders and here he is playing to his orchestra. The Burge Trial will be a Circus and the Feds will play to the folks who only read what Carol Marin, Mark Brown, Mary Mitchell, and the Sun Times' weak-ass editorial board writes. The Sun Times has talent like Ms. Korecki who will report and not fabricate. BTW- The Sun Times Editorial Board is 10X better than the Chicago Tribune's.

Jon Burge has been convicted by the media and the media never checks its own sources - they are in agreement with all the nonsense that the Burge Industry ( Peoples Law Office, Mr. & Mrs. Ayres-Dohrn, Northwestern Law, CPUSA) have provided the lazy and the wildly ambitious columnists.

Thank you Natasha Korecki! This is a good read and a fine report.

Dressed in a black suit, tie, and blue shirt, former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge on Thursday spun around in his chair and seemed to struggle a bit as he stood up.

"Morning, ladies and gentlemen," said the man who for decades has been accused of torturing murder suspects.

» Click to enlarge image

Former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge as he leaves the Federal building for a lunch break Thursday.
( Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)


Burge was briefly inside a courtroom addressing the potential jurors who will judge his fate in his trial that starts later this month on obstruction of justice and perjury charges. A pool of jurors were summoned today to fill out a questionnaire but jury selection in the case doesn't begin until May 24. After court, a slow-moving Burge, who lives in Tampa, Fla., said he felt "terrible," physically and that it was "not unusual," to be back in Chicago.

Nearly 80 potential jurors were handed questionnaires in preparation for the upcoming selection.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow told the ethnically and racially diverse panel not to read or listen to any media coverage of the case.

While Burge and his underlings have long been accused of torturing suspects into giving confessions, he is not on trial for those actual acts. Burge is accused of lying on a sworn questionnaire that probed him of the alleged practices.

Read This Story to a Liberal & Twice to a Progressive - Verrrryyyy Sloooowwwwwly! Harrison Bergeron

I taught this wonderful short story to my students at Bishop McNamara High Schoolin Kankakee, Il in the early 1980's. They got a huge kick out of it - "No way that can Happen!!" Boys and girls, it can and pretty much did happen here!

I also taught Sinclair Lewis.

HARRISON BERGERON
by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away.

It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.

George and Hazel were watching television. There were tears on Hazel's cheeks, but she'd forgotten for the moment what they were about.

On the television screen were ballerinas.

A buzzer sounded in George's head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.

"That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did," said Hazel.

"Huh" said George.

"That dance-it was nice," said Hazel.

"Yup," said George. He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren't really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.

George winced. So did two out of the eight ballerinas.

Hazel saw him wince. Having no mental handicap herself, she had to ask George what the latest sound had been.

"Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer," said George.

"I'd think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds," said Hazel a little envious. "All the things they think up."

"Um," said George.

"Only, if I was Handicapper General, you know what I would do?" said Hazel. Hazel, as a matter of fact, bore a strong resemblance to the Handicapper General, a woman named Diana Moon Glampers. "If I was Diana Moon Glampers," said Hazel, "I'd have chimes on Sunday-just chimes. Kind of in honor of religion."

"I could think, if it was just chimes," said George.

"Well-maybe make 'em real loud," said Hazel. "I think I'd make a good Handicapper General."

"Good as anybody else," said George.

"Who knows better then I do what normal is?" said Hazel.

"Right," said George. He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that.

"Boy!" said Hazel, "that was a doozy, wasn't it?"

It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes. Two of of the eight ballerinas had collapsed to the studio floor, were holding their temples.

"All of a sudden you look so tired," said Hazel. "Why don't you stretch out on the sofa, so's you can rest your handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch." She was referring to the forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George's neck. "Go on and rest the bag for a little while," she said. "I don't care if you're not equal to me for a while."

George weighed the bag with his hands. "I don't mind it," he said. "I don't notice it any more. It's just a part of me."

"You been so tired lately-kind of wore out," said Hazel. "If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls. Just a few."

"Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out," said George. "I don't call that a bargain."

"If you could just take a few out when you came home from work," said Hazel. "I mean-you don't compete with anybody around here. You just set around."

"If I tried to get away with it," said George, "then other people'd get away with it-and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?"

"I'd hate it," said Hazel.

"There you are," said George. The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?"

If Hazel hadn't been able to come up with an answer to this question, George couldn't have supplied one. A siren was going off in his head.

"Reckon it'd fall all apart," said Hazel.

"What would?" said George blankly.

"Society," said Hazel uncertainly. "Wasn't that what you just said?

"Who knows?" said George.

The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin. It wasn't clear at first as to what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment. For about half a minute, and in a state of high excitement, the announcer tried to say, "Ladies and Gentlemen."

He finally gave up, handed the bulletin to a ballerina to read.

"That's all right-" Hazel said of the announcer, "he tried. That's the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard."

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said the ballerina, reading the bulletin. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred pound men.

And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use. Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody. "Excuse me-" she said, and she began again, making her voice absolutely uncompetitive.

"Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk, "has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous."

A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen-upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up. The picture showed the full length of Harrison against a background calibrated in feet and inches. He was exactly seven feet tall.

The rest of Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever born heavier handicaps. He had outgrown hindrances faster than the H-G men could think them up. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.

Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds.

And to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle-tooth random.

"If you see this boy," said the ballerina, "do not - I repeat, do not - try to reason with him."

There was the shriek of a door being torn from its hinges.

Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set. The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again, as though dancing to the tune of an earthquake.

George Bergeron correctly identified the earthquake, and well he might have - for many was the time his own home had danced to the same crashing tune. "My God-" said George, "that must be Harrison!"

The realization was blasted from his mind instantly by the sound of an automobile collision in his head.

When George could open his eyes again, the photograph of Harrison was gone. A living, breathing Harrison filled the screen.

Clanking, clownish, and huge, Harrison stood - in the center of the studio. The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand. Ballerinas, technicians, musicians, and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die.

"I am the Emperor!" cried Harrison. "Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!" He stamped his foot and the studio shook.

"Even as I stand here" he bellowed, "crippled, hobbled, sickened - I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!"

Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds.

Harrison's scrap-iron handicaps crashed to the floor.

Harrison thrust his thumbs under the bar of the padlock that secured his head harness. The bar snapped like celery. Harrison smashed his headphones and spectacles against the wall.

He flung away his rubber-ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder.

"I shall now select my Empress!" he said, looking down on the cowering people. "Let the first woman who dares rise to her feet claim her mate and her throne!"

A moment passed, and then a ballerina arose, swaying like a willow.

Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all he removed her mask.

She was blindingly beautiful.

"Now-" said Harrison, taking her hand, "shall we show the people the meaning of the word dance? Music!" he commanded.

The musicians scrambled back into their chairs, and Harrison stripped them of their handicaps, too. "Play your best," he told them, "and I'll make you barons and dukes and earls."

The music began. It was normal at first-cheap, silly, false. But Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it played. He slammed them back into their chairs.

The music began again and was much improved.

Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while-listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it.

They shifted their weights to their toes.

Harrison placed his big hands on the girls tiny waist, letting her sense the weightlessness that would soon be hers.

And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang!

Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well.

They reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered, gamboled, and spun.

They leaped like deer on the moon.

The studio ceiling was thirty feet high, but each leap brought the dancers nearer to it.

It became their obvious intention to kiss the ceiling. They kissed it.

And then, neutraling gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time.

It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.

Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on.

It was then that the Bergerons' television tube burned out.

Hazel turned to comment about the blackout to George. But George had gone out into the kitchen for a can of beer.

George came back in with the beer, paused while a handicap signal shook him up. And then he sat down again. "You been crying" he said to Hazel.

"Yup," she said.

"What about?" he said.

"I forget," she said. "Something real sad on television."

"What was it?" he said.

"It's all kind of mixed up in my mind," said Hazel.

"Forget sad things," said George.

"I always do," said Hazel.

"That's my girl," said George. He winced. There was the sound of a rivetting gun in his head.

"Gee - I could tell that one was a doozy," said Hazel.

"You can say that again," said George.

"Gee-" said Hazel, "I could tell that one was a doozy."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Harrison Bergeron" is copyrighted by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., 1961.

Burge Trial - "Call Bernardine Dohrn to the Witness Stand!"

Jon Burge grew up in the working class Irish communities of southern Chicago. A red-head with a pugilist's frame, he served as a military policeman during the Vietnam War. That's likely where he first came into contact with tools of the trade such as the electric shock-producing "Tucker Telephone," as well as psychological torture methods such as meticulously staged mock executions.

Sasha Abramsky -Mother Jones

Sasha Abramsky, as I recall, was introduced to the electric-testicle torture theory from Bernardine Dohrn based on fact that Jon Burge -
1. was in Vietnam
2. a telephone torture device was used in Vietnam
Therefore Burge used electric testicle torture

Bernardine Dohrn is far more credible and an authority on terror than the records and the facts of the case. Theory always precedes Truth in Dewey/Hegelian thought.
You see G. Flint Taylor keeps most of the real facts of his twenty years of Burge Bucks out of the media - like a witness who had been tortured by MI-5 who stated "these people were not tortured - I was tortured by Mossad and MI-5" or the medical professionals - those tiny issues, as I recall.

I recall Fahey and O'Brien. They were tortured and murdered . . .but they were police officers.

G. Flint Taylor has been at bat in the Burge Circus, ever since convicted terrorist and Norghwestern Law School Marxist Diva had her record laundered by the fat-cats and 501(c)3 Brie Eaters.

Bernardine Dohrn, who may not hold an Illinois Law License, was given a Northwestern Law School sinecure and grand platform to "Off the Pigs!" via death by a thousand cuts.

I credit the odious Ms. Dorhn, the smarter and far more dangerous half of Billy Ayers, with G. Flint Taylor's media stink bait to lure the press and mythopoeically create the Burge Torture Narrative - the electronic testicle zapper that G. Flint Taylor had built and was allowed to bring to court. Who built that goofy gizmo for G. Flint anyway - it was not Urban Translator Wally Gator Bradley. Shoot, he and G. Flint were last seen wrassling on the court house floor for nickels and dimes.

Call Ms. Dohrn to witness and back track on the journalistic break crumbs leading to Dohrn's early posit that torture was systemic.

G. Flint Taylor will swing and miss again . . .but that is exactly what this Commie Cadillac Lawyer wants. No closure brings more fee

Click my post title for my Burge fil

Il Rep. Kevin Joyce - A Man Stands for Kids and Reform-12 House Mice Republicans Scurry to Their Holes

"Think back to why you ran for office," said sponsoring Rep. Kevin Joyce, D-Chicago. "Was it for a pension? I doubt it. Was it to protect the leadership of a union? I doubt that. Actually in all cases, I believe each and every one of us here got involved to try and make a difference in the lives of our fellow man."

I have known Kevin Joyce, my State Representative and neighbor, for many years. He is Anti-Abortion and has seven children; He is for School Reform and sends his children to Catholic Schools.

He is tough man of a tough breed. Kevin Joyce is an example why I still tend to vote Democrat -locally. Kevin Joyce takes a hard look at the issues that face our community and votes his heart and well-tuned mind in the best interests of the people who vote for him.

I voted for one Republican in last thirty years, John McCain, and am sorry that I did so.

I get asked by some doctrinaire Republicans and Democrats why I remain a Democrat, given my social conservative views and the gimlet eye that I cast on the leadership of the publicly funded PACS that masquerade as Labor ( SEIU, Teachers Unions & etc.). I can vote for a Republican like Rep. Jim Durkin ( Western Springs) or the only real talent in the Illinois Republican field , Dan Proft. These are men.

Twelve ninnies of the GOP betrayed the taxpayers and children of Illinois - the Twelve Apostles of PACs- Brady, Brauer, Cavaletto, Cole, Eddy, Kosel, Mathias, Bill Mitchell, Jerry Mitchell, Moffitt, Mulligan, Pihos, Poe, Pritchard, Ramey, Reboletti, Reis, Rose, Sacia, Saviano, Tracy, Watson

These goofs do rise the level of arch-rodent - they are mice. They are enthralled to the PACS - Planned Parenthood, SEIU and all the rest.

Learn from Kevin Joyce and grow a metaphorical pair.

"Think back to why you ran for office," said sponsoring Rep. Kevin Joyce, D-Chicago. "Was it for a pension? I doubt it. Was it to protect the leadership of a union? I doubt that. Actually in all cases, I believe each and every one of us here got involved to try and make a difference in the lives of our fellow man."

The Twelve GOP Mice ? Save your parsing and the compelling narratives for WTTW fanny smoochers and editorial board mopes.

I am proud of State Senator James Meeks and Representative Kevin Joyce. They are why I remain a Democrat - locally.



http://www.cdobs.com/

Viva Puebla! Viva Juarez! God Bless America!

I am for immigration amnesty. Many of my family were Irish wetbacks, or two boaters -one to Canada and one across the St. Lawrence River. We ( Hickey/Sullivan)have only been here since the late 19 Teens. My mom's family were Back of the Yards Irish - 'Who the hell knows when they got here?'

I watch immigrants every morning at Kean - Mexican, Irish, Polish mostly. Hard working and proud young people and whether they have cards, or papers or not; Who Shives a Git? As far as I am concerned, they are Americans. I get a coffee refill at the 7-11 on Kedzie after I dump the girls off at Mother McAuley and every morning the parking lot looks like the Gdansk Shipyard and huge tough looking Polish kids, maybe a few semsters out of the Polish Army crowd around their trucks getting ready for a huge day of backbreaking work. I have never seen an immigrant kid leaning on a broom, shovel, or his foreman - I have witnessed American born slackers describe jobs that they would never be caught doing. Too proud to work? America?

The Arizona Law seems tailor made for Arizona. I do not get my righteous panties in a twist over a law that almost exactly mirrors the U.S. Code on Immigration. The media is making the issue uglier than it is and race baiters and phonies are getting their games on. Calm down. Illegal immigrantion can only be arrested by sealing the border and offering a genuine, serious and cold-blooded Amnesty to good people. That means giving up the thieves, murderers, drug merchants, gang-bangers and deadbeats. Toss them - out of immigrant communities and this great and generous country. Immigrants become Americans - learn English. Respect its customs and traditions. Stay away from Commies and their stooges. They blew immigration reform for good people two years ago. If you here some pasty skinned, pencil-neck geek shout about 'Workers and Students!' ask you his Union Card. Reds don't actually do a lick of work. That is only in movies and 1940's novels.

That said - Viva Mexico! Viva Puebla! Viva Poblanos!

Cinco De Mayo marks the anniversary of great fight of a proud people - Mexican defeated the French Armies of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in 1862. Proud people make proud Americans.

I hope an Amnesty is declared with the criminals sent home. Seal the borders. Prosecute the immigration mules.

Viva Mexico! God Bless America!

Carol Marin - Send a Mess-enger to be Campaign Manager of Forrest Claypool?

Yesterday, Eric Zorn Chicago Tribune's Voice of the Tofu and Whey Political Progressives demanded that we Lower the Bar - void the petitions ( or allow Millions to Pay-to-Play)for Independents, Bullmooses, and Loyal Order of Racoon Candidates in Illinois. I blog a few giggles Eric Zorn's way and noted that his cover on this issue is all for Forrest Claypool against Joe Berrios. I also mentioned that, in no time at all, Carol Marin would gin-up a collage for Claypool!

Voila! Here 'Tis -

What does matter, way down the ballot, is who is Cook County assessor.

Until a few weeks ago, Joe Berrios was considered the odds-on favorite.

Berrios is the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party and Madigan's political pal. A guy with a lot of sympathy for Madigan's law firm clients in search of property tax reductions.

With nominal Republican opposition, Berrios was coasting, until another -- and proven -- independent, retiring County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, announced an independent run.

If voters want to send a message to Madigan and Springfield, this is the race in which to do it.

The Corporate Media ( editorial boards and iconic columnists) gave us our political landscape - Fight the Power of the Machine; Scoop Taxes to Every Bug-eyed Mob of T-Shirted Shouters; however, they blame the 'stupid voters' for Todd Stroger and Scott Lee, when they themselves are the puffed-up watchdogs of the life political. Our gutless, or just dumb as dirt elected officials play ball these Blue Light Beauties.

I get my politics from people who have slowly and carefully 'put skin in the game.' Politics is an Art. Sometimes the Artist does not tell all about his craft -that makes it art. Carol, Eric and Mark Brown do not like Rembrandt Mike Madigan or any skilled elected official. They like street mimes like Forrest Claypool, Shelia Simon and Chris Kennedy. They are cute.

Carol Marin smiles at these same people all the time. That should give anyone with a lick of sense a very long pause.

Chicago's Tom Roeser - Renaissance Man and Christian Gentlemen - Gets Attention

I love this Wildly Talented and Good Man. He does scare up an epithet . . . from some.

Tough Times Ahead for Forrest Claypool - Just Like Romeo and Juliet -Hey,Hey, Hey!

Let me not to marriage of two-timers admit . . .I was with him . . .I was with her ... I think you're swell well you can go to Hell.

Shucks, Forrest Claypool a career political appointee is running as an Independent.

Seems to me he called in the compliant corporate media ( today, I played in Eric Zorn's sand box for giggles - I was up early and later waiting for a confirmation on a grant) and Eric Zorn provided a thick porridge of tofu and whey about the UnFairness of the Petitions Needed by Independents in Illinois. I think its swell. Makes for a muscular Grassroots Army of the Willing! Builds Character and what-not.

You see, Forrest is running against Joe Berrios for Cook County Assessor and Joe Berrios happens to be a grand guy and genuine political servant. Forrest Claypool pops up when a spot opens, or gets appointed. He can be seen almost nightly chatting up Cheshire-Grinnin' Why Ain't Forrest Winnin' Carol Marin on WTTW. The last few elections Forrest got all timid and loped off to the woodland glades and glens. Forrest Claypool has miles to go before he sweeps . . .any votes. He needs scads of signatures and that requires folks armed with clipboards and pens. No Fair. Tough.

That is why there are farm teams in baseball and amateur flying clubs. Independents demand that be treated like Boys of October when they have not yet hefted a wiffle ball bat and Ace Jet Jockeys because they para-sailed. Politics is an art and not finger painting. Sad, to be sure. Tragic?

Well, Romeo and Juliet had their troubles but they were a beautiful couple. Forrest Claypool is the man he is today thanks to his long and lucrative association with the Regular Democratic Party Organization of Chicago and Cook County.

Joe Berrios can get signatures . . .Oh, that's right. He does not need them.

Big Shoulders and Reilly's Daughter Nudge Skinny and Houli at Avenue 950

Tomorrow on AM Radio 950 6-8 P.M. ...........................Do NOT miss the Skinny and Houli Show!Special guests this week include Joshua Hale from the Big Shoulders Fund, which provides support for inner-city Chicago Catholic schools. 100% of the funds raised by Big Shoulders goes directly to students and schools for scholarships, special education programs, instructional materials, facility improvements and faculty support. In the second hour, we'll be interviewing Boz and Brendan O'Brien, owners of Reilly's Daughter Pub in Midway Airport. Plus, hear what's coming up in Chicago this week... don't miss a minute of this great show!

Well you can miss it . . .like if something comes up . . . like your draft number, or you get called in to work . . .or you forget . . . you the owner is buying at your corner saloon . . . I mean Mothra won't get into the City or squirrels in your ComEd Box and gnaw out all your wiring . . .but it will be a great show!!!

Eric Zorn's "Long Knives' Comment to Commenter:Hurtful Anti-Irish Catholic Hate Speech

Oh, wow. Hate Speech from Eric Zorn?
Following a dignified and rather sober question from an obviously intelligent and patriotic reader, the fiery Zorn let's fly with what can only be described as a Hate Trope!

Behold the exchange and avert your eyes, if needs be, as the second in 1-2 Zorn Knockout combination hits home.

Why is it "cowardly" to challenge bad petitions? If a candidate can't follow the law to get on the ballot, why should he or she be exempt from challenge?

I wonder if Eric would find an objection cowardly if a candidate for, say, governor filed petitions with 2 signatures? In the absence of a challenge, he gets on the ballot.

ZORN REPLY -- I'm pretty clear in the column: I think ballot-access fees are the way to go and that those who want to get on the ballot and make a good-faith showing of intent and energy and interest should be allowed on the ballot.

Get ready to watch the long knives *come out to knock Claypool off the ballot. And you know the motivation: Fear. Plain and simple fear. Mr. "Reformer," you ought to know that.

Posted by: Reformer | Tuesday, May 04, 2010 at 11:11 AM

"the long knives" is that not anti-Irish Hate Language? Madigan, Burke, Daley????????

Long Knives was a Native American euphemism for the US Cavalry of who the largest demographic were Irish Catholics, a minority group long considered 'close-knit, tribally racist and politically dominant' - Why this is nothing more than Hate Speech! Oh, Wounded Knees, Indeed!!!! Brush up your Ward Churchill! This is Hateful, hurtful. Hozanna Hannah!

Hath not a Mick feelings? Hath not Harp a Home? Hath not a Raw Jaw children?

He hath.


We know Hate Code, Eric. Joe Medill was a master. These are much better**!




* Long Knives

The full complement of the 7th Cavalry in June 1876 was 43 officers and 793 enlisted men. Of that number 473 were native born and 320 foreign born. The two largest foreign-born groups in the regiment comprised 129 Irish and 127 Germans. The remaining 64 foreign born were drawn from 14 other nationalities, including six Italians. These were: 1st Lt. Charles Camillus DeRudio (a k a Count Carlo Camillo Di Rudio) of Company A; Private Augustus L. De Voto (a k a Augusto De Voto) of Company B; Private John James (a k a Giovanni Casella) of Company E; Private Frank Lombard (a k a Frank Lombardy, Francesco Lombardi) of the regimental band; Private John Martin (a k a Giovanni Martini), trumpeter of Company H; and Chief Musician Felix Villiet Vinatieri (a k a Felice Villiet Vinatieri) of the regimental band. Two of the six were married. As might be expected, given that the pay of the era made it virtually impossible for junior enlisted personnel to wed and support a family, they were the two highest ranking: DeRudio and Vinatieri.

Unlike native-born Americans, Irish and Germans, the Italians were too few to constitute a group or subculture in the regiment. They were individuals who had come to the United States for a variety of reasons, both political and economic. In many cases the latter flowed from the former. Irish and Germans constituted major immigrant groups during the 19th century. Both nationalities immigrated largely for economic reasons by the mid-1800s. Socially, the Germans were more acceptable; they frequently were skilled craftsmen, and a very large percentage were Protestants. The Irish were much less socially acceptable; they were mostly unskilled, usually dirt-poor and Roman Catholic. In 1876 they constituted a clearly defined minority group that suffered very real social and economic discrimination. The Italians shared many of the social disadvantages of the Irish as well as some unique to themselves. They, too, were Roman Catholics; they were poor and, as southern Europeans, tended to be short and swarthy, and thus further removed in appearance from the northern European norm. Further, they came to the new country speaking a foreign tongue. The only advantage the Italians had over the Irish was that they were so few that they were not objects of such organized discrimination.

http://www.historynet.com/the-7th-us-cavalry-regiment-fought-in-the-battle-of-the-little-bighorn.htm

They live on beasts only, and live like beasts. They have not progressed at all from the habits of pastoral living. ..This is a filthy people, wallowing in vice. Of all peoples it is the least instructed in the rudiments of the faith. They do not yet pay tithes or first fruits or contract marriages. They do not avoid incest.
- Giraldus Cambrensis/Gerald of Wales, The History and Topography of Ireland, 12th Century

How godly a deed it is to overthrow so wicked a race the world may judge: for my part I think there cannot be a greater sacrifice to God.
- Edward Barkley, describing how the forces of the Earl of Essex slaughtered the entire population of Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim, 1575

Marry those be the most barbaric and loathy conditions of any people (I think) under heaven...They do use all the beastly behaviour that may be, they oppress all men, they spoil as well the subject, as the enemy; they steal, they are cruel and bloody, full of revenge, and delighting in deadly execution, licentious, swearers and blasphemers, common ravishers of women, and murderers of children.
- Edmund Spenser, A View of the State of Ireland, 1596

And first I have to find fault with the abuse of language; that is, for the speaking of Irish among the English, which as it is unnatural that any people should love another's language more than their own, so it is very inconvenient and the cause of many other evils. ...It seemeth strange to me that the English should take more delight to speak that language than their own, whereas they should, methinks, rather take scorn to acquaint their tongues thereto. For it hath ever been the use of the conqueror to despise the language of the conquered and to force him by all means to learn his.
- A View of the State of Ireland

I have often said, and written, it is Famine which must consume [the Irish]; our swords and other endeavours work not that speedy effect which is expected for their overthrow.
- English Viceroy Arthur Chichester writing to Elizabeth I's chief advisor, Nov. 1601

The time hath been, when they lived like Barbarians, in woods, in bogs, and in desolate places, without politic law, or civil government, neither embracing religion, law or mutual love. That which is hateful to all the world besides is only beloved and embraced by the Irish, I mean civil wars and domestic dissensions .... the Cannibals, devourers of men's flesh, do learn to be fierce amongst themselves, but the Irish, without all respect, are even more cruel to their neighbours.
- Barnaby Rich, A New Description of Ireland, 1610

All wisdom advises us to keep this [Irish] kingdom as much subordinate and dependent on England as possible; and, holding them from manufacture of wool (which unless otherwise directed, I shall by all means discourage), and then enforcing them to fetch their cloth from England, how can they depart from us without nakedness and beggary?
- Lord Stafford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in a letter to King Charles I, 1634

So ended the fairest promise that Ireland had ever known of becoming a prosperous and a happy country.
- Sir William Temple, about 1673, (the export of wool from Ireland to England was forbidden in 1660)

In all countries, more or less, paupers may be discovered; but an entire nation of paupers is what was never seen until it was shown in Ireland. To explain the social condition of such a country, it would be only necessary to recount its miseries and its sufferings; the history of the poor is the history of Ireland.
- Gustave de Beaumont, French visitor, 1839

Ireland is like a half-starved rat that crosses the path of an elephant. What must the elephant do? Squelch it - by heavens - squelch it.
- Thomas Carlyle, British essayist, 1840s

...being altogether beyond the power of man, the cure had been applied by the direct stroke of an all-wise Providence in a manner as unexpected and as unthought of as it is likely to be effectual.

The judgement of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson, that calamity must not be too much mitigated. …The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people.
Charles Trevelyan, head of administration for famine relief, 1840s

[existing policies] will not kill more than one million Irish in 1848 and that will scarcely be enough to do much good.
- Queen Victoria's economist, Nassau Senior

A Celt will soon be as rare on the banks of the Shannon as the red man on the banks of Manhattan.
- The Times, editorial, 1848

I am haunted by the human chimpanzees I saw along that hundred miles of horrible country...to see white chimpanzees is dreadful; if they were black one would not see it so much, but their skins, except where tanned by exposure, are as white as ours.
- Cambridge historian Charles Kingsley, letter to his wife from Ireland, 1860

A creature manifestly between the Gorilla and the Negro is to be met with in some of the lowest districts of London and Liverpool by adventurous explorers. It comes from Ireland, whence it has contrived to migrate; it belongs in fact to a tribe of Irish savages: the lowest species of Irish Yahoo. When conversing with its kind it talks a sort of gibberish. It is, moreover, a climbing animal, and may sometimes be seen ascending a ladder ladden with a hod of bricks.
Satire entitled "The Missing Link", from the British magazine Punch, 1862

This would be a grand land if only every Irishman would kill a Negro, and be hanged for it. I find this sentiment generally approved - sometimes with the qualification that they want Irish and Negroes for servants, not being able to get any other.
- British historian Edward Freeman, writing on his return from America, about 1881

...Furious fanaticism; a love of war and disorder; a hatred for order and patient industry; no accumulative habits; restless; treacherous and uncertain: look to Ireland...
As a Saxon, I abhor all dynasties, monarchies and bayonet governments, but this latter seems to be the only one suitable for the Celtic man.
Robert Knox, anatomist, describing his views on the "Celtic character", 1850

The Celts are not among the progressive, initiative races, but among those which supply the materials rather than the impulse of history...The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans and the Teutons are the only makers of history, the only authors of advancement. ...Subjection to a people of a higher capacity for government is of itself no misfortune; and it is to most countries the condition of their political advancement.
- British historian Lord Acton, 1862

You would not confide free representative institutions to the Hottentots [savages], for instance.
- Lord Salisbury, who opposed Home Rule for Ireland, 1886

...more like squalid apes than human beings. ...unstable as water. ...only efficient military despotism [can succeed in Ireland] ...the wild Irish understand only force.
- James Anthony Froude, Professor of history, Oxford

Eric Zorn and Mark Brown Parse for Scott Lee Cohen and Progressives Everywhere!

If you get passionate by what a columnist writes, seek a mental health professional!

Some commenters have remarked that I seem "Bitter, Angry and Nasty! or wildly partisan. Nah, I'm cool. It's a stone groove here among my hard-working and thoughtful neighbors. No one talks policy (Tax, Law, & etc) but standard common sense English. The 19th Ward air is as sweet as a chocolate dipped Holloway Slo-Poke carmel sucker!

However, I get giggley-amused when I read our iconic Chicago columnists!

Scott Lee Cohen wanted to be our Lieutenant Governor and Mark Brown had the goods on him . . .but determined 'No Big Deal.'

So, Scott Lee Cohen who operates a couple of wildly successful pawn shops, dead-beat Dad-ed for a number of years, tuned-up a hooker, dropped out of the Democratic Campaign after counselling with real elected officials, went on WLS Radio and saw the window of opportunity crack open a bit, announced that he will run for Governor of Illinois as an Independent.

An Independent is a person who can not get three people to vote for her/him, but has the ear of our corporate media columnists like Chicago Sun Times' Mark Brown and Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn . Carol Marin must be ginning up a swell feature for WTTW, as we opine.

Eric Zorn immediately parsed Mark Brown's pontifical dismissal of "The Scott Lee Cohen Saga." It's all good, Dude! No Media fault here, there, or anywhere!

Today EZ parses more peculiar Progressive Petunias:

One way to open up the process is to convert to a ballot-access fee system as used in primaries in two-thirds of the states, according to Winger's data.

In Florida, for example, if you've been following the wild politics down there, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist will simply pay a $10,440 filing fee to run as an independent in November against presumptive Republican primary winner Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek.

No tedious and costly door-to-door solicitations followed by an even more tedious, costly and often outrageous petition challenge.

Does this clog the ballot with wealthy, vain and/or kooky candidates? Does it merely confuse voters? It hasn't really been a problem, said Tobin said.

And as for the argument that filing-fee systems discourage low-income candidates, well, perhaps. But no more than the costs of running petition drives, hiring election lawyers or running a successful campaign discourages low-income candidates.

If Scott Lee Cohen wants to spend his time and money putting his record and his plans in front of the voters, let him, I say.

And for those cowards who will try to thwart Cohen and Claypool by challenging their petitions? They're just pitiful.

Oh, Let's do lower the bar! Ballot access! This is another Progressive 'Change the Rule Because I Can Not Get Signatures' gambit.

These goofs and pinheads demand that Machines (effective politics at the precinct and Ward level)get taken apart and then demand grease for some boob who could not otherwise attract a rally in a phone booth.

The fact remains - Progressives ( Rahm, Forrest?, Quigley, Schakowsky) depend upon that mean-old machine with all of its gears bells and whistles. Until, the time that no one cares to give them their time and talents to amass the signatures.

Yeah, lower the bar and give some more 40 Watt gushers a chance to 'make a difference' on MSNBC and generally louse up the economy and public safety even more.

Politics is an art and not finger painting -unless you happen to be Jan Schakowsky, Mike Quigley, or Forrest Claypool.

These Policy Playdough Artists only get into politics through some quid pro quo or timely appointment. They are panjandrums, like Shelia Simon and Chris Kennedy. No one at the Ward level gives a fat rat's ass what they think or hold dear, because helots know that these beauts would never raise a finger - well maybe a finger -let alone the receiver of a telephone on their behalf.

Most Progressives that I know would not give a penny to starving blind girl with rickets. I am a devout empiricists.

Scott Lee Cohen can pay for petitions with the lunch change in his jeans. He is still a Jewish Lad with a Redneck Name and much redemption to mill.

As to the Progressive Policy Priesthood? It is still given far too much serious attention by reall effective elected officials. Time for real statesmen to ridicule the dopes in public life and chase them back to the Salon.

Please Sign Petition to Keep a Cop Killer in Prison

On May 11, 2010, Theodore Bacino is scheduled for his annual parole hearing in Dixon, Illinois, which of us from the Command Staff will be attending to speak against. Bacino is serving a 75-100 year sentence for the on duty murder of Detective Mike Mayborne on March 15, 1974. Mike’s family has created a very impressive web-site, as part of a memorial to him, which I would encourage you to visit. www.mikemayborne.com

You will notice that there is an area for the on-line petition, protesting the parole for Bacino. The on-line petition also has a box to check to ask for the 3 year set. http://www.mikemayborne.com/ON-LINE_PETITION.html

As it currently stands, the family has to go through this petition process and attend the parole hearing to appeal parole every year. Just a couple of years ago in 2007, the parole board was within one vote (7-6) of granting parole. Last year, he only received one vote in favor of parole (10-1), so it is important that those who believe Bacino should be denied parole speak out. Hopefully, this year Bacino will again be denied parole, and the 3 year set will be granted to give Terry, Jennifer, and Kimberly (along with the rest of Mike’s family) an opportunity to have a break from this annual emotional visit back to the worst time in their lives.

Please share this with others within your circle of contacts who might support this effort. Thank you for taking the time to consider this important issue.

Chief Deputy Kurt Ditzler
FBINA 200th Session
Winnebago County Sheriff's Department
650 West State Street
Rockford, IL 61102
(815) 319-6312 Office
(815) 962-8551 Fax
DitzlerK@WCSO-IL.US



“WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU MIKE”

St. Jude and the Cops - Our Hopeless Media

“Saint Jude, Hope of the Hopeless, Pray for me”

St. Jude devotions go back to the Depression. My aunts made novenas to St. Jude and newspapers used to run endless strings for testimony and prayer in the Personals Sections.

St. Jude is patron of the Hopeless and the chief sin among Catholics is the sin of despair. This Devotion to St. Jude really took off during the Great Depression and the Claretians headed up much of that effort. Father Packy McPolin attracted Hollywood Star Power and helped develop the Great St. Hospital for Children.

The Police are devoted to St. Jude and yesterday marched to the Shrine. This event was always covered by the Chicago newspapers and television. This year not only were Law Enforcement Professionals slighted but also the faith of millions.
WGN TV offered this -

CHICAGO - Chicago Police, Illinois State Police, Cook County Sheriff's Police and others marched in the annual St. Jude Memorial March Sunday to honor officers killed in the line of duty.

The event took place on the museum campus along Chicago's lakefront.

As law enforcement officers marched, Chicago Police Department cadets and loved ones held signs with the names and pictures of fallen officers.

Not much, but something.

http://www.cpdmemorial.org/foundation_newsletter_4.pdf

Leo Men Never Box at Air - St. Paul, Support and Boxing as a Christian Prayer

“So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air.” – 1 Corinthians 9:26

"Well, it's a contact sport, and you're going to get hit," Mayweather said. "You got to suck it up and keep on fighting." -Floyd Mayweather

Yesterday, I toured members of the Leo High School Jubilee Class of 1960 following the April 30th Leo Banquet at the Lexington House in Hickory Hills, IL. This annual event is the template for alumni events and the empirical evidence of the support and love for our Catholic high school at 7901 South Sangamon.

There were about forty Leo Men and their wives shepherded by Chicago Fire Commissioner (ret) James T. Joyce and classmate Larry Bahnaman. We viewed the Leo Hall of Fame, the cafeteria which once served as the annex chapel for St. Leo Parish, classrooms, the storied Leo 3rd Floor Gym and the now famous Leo Boxing Room.

One 1960 Classman questioned the propriety of promoting the violent sport of boxing -'Should Christians try to knock one another out?"

God, Yes! St. Paul was a jockstrap and 1 Corinthians attests to athletics as prayerful path to spiritual power. The Greek for sports was Agonistes. The Struggle - The Battle. This is not some New Age Path to Enlightenment. Christ got nailed to a Cross after being spat upon, scourged, kicked and reviled, The Square Ring is a Crucifix for young scrappers. No excuses.

The guy rolled his eyes and asked, "Is the pool still open?"

No sir. Locked up. I am sorry but we had pipe damage and it is very costly. Not many kids ask to swim these days, but more than one third of the school box. They understand Agonistes.

In the gym, Jim Joyce and Larry Bahnaman informed the group of Leo's need to get its walk-in freezer replaced so the kids can be sure of lunch. It will cost upward of $ 5,000. Some blow? Not to Leo Guys.

Last night Floyd Mayweather had his knees buckled by Shane Mosely in the 2nd Round, but came back to win the decision.

The Class of 1960 stays in the fight - all Leo Men do. They don't box at air.

Tea Party Navy Blamed for Attack on LA. Oil Rig and Mega Spill

It seems clear to me that blame for the horrific oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, now swishing ashore in Louisiana, must be placed at the feet of GW Bush and the Tea Party Navy. HillBilly craft of the Tea Party Navy must have worked its way totally . . . totally, Dude! . . .undetected and managed a CSS Huntley on the BP Platform. That is the only answer that makes sense, because Chris Matthews was on HBO with Bill Maher talking about a Ménage à trois to explain the Charlie Crist story and Milkey Matthews blurts out his idea du jour -"Ménage à trois,Ménage à trois,Ménage à trois,Ménage à trois, Hey Remember Beau Geste?" - until someone slaps the back of his head.

President Obama today promised a review of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion at an oil rig.

Mr. Obama said he ordered Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to review what happened and report back within 30 days with "additional precautions and technologies" to prevent future accidents like this from happening again.

During the remarks in the White House Rose Garden, Mr. Obama sought to counteract perceptions that his administration had been slow to react to the disaster, saying that his team has been "working closely" with state and local officials since the day of the explosion last week.

He said that the federal government was "fully prepared to meet our responsibilities to any and all affected communities." Several Cabinet secretaries have already been dispatched to the scene, as well as 1,900 federal personnel and other resources. Mr. Obama also stressed that BP would be responsible for all costs related to the cleanup and said the administration is inspecting all deepwater rigs in the Gulf.