I Remain a Hopeless Romantic - Best Love Song Ever

"She's dark and lovely and passionate. And very, very kind."
"And exclusive as a mailbox," I said.
---The Little Sister , by Raymond Chandler(Chapter 19)

With six days to go until the Feast of St. Valentine and Cupid's darts fall softly on the old pump, I thought that I'd offer a dandy love song to my kind of gal -"What kind of a dish was she? The sixty-cent special--cheap, flashy, strictly poison under the gravy."

The Town Of Ballybay

V 1: In the town of Ballybay there is a lassie dwelling

I knew her very well and the story is worth telling

Her father kept a still and he was a good destiller

And when she took a drink, well, the devil wouldn't fill her


Ch: With me ring a do a dum, with me ring a do a daddio

With me ring a do a dum, whack fol da daddio


V 2: She had a wooden leg that was hollow down the middle
She used to tie a string on it and played it like a fiddle
She fiddled in the hall, she fiddled in the alleyway,
She didn't give a damn, she had to fiddle anyway

Ch:

V 3: She said she couldn't dance unless she had her wellie on,
But when she had them on she could dance as good as anyone
She wouldn't go to bed unless she had her shimmy on
But when she had it on she would go as quick as anyone

Chorus:

V 4: She had lovers by the score, every Tom and Dick and Harry,
She was courting night and day, but still she wouldn't marry.
And then she fell in love with a fella with a strammer
When he tried to run away, she hit him with a hammer

Chorus:

V 5: She had childer up the stairs, she had childer in the brier,
And another ten or twelve, sat roaring by the fire
She fed them on potatoes and on soup she made with nettles
Or lumps of hairy bacon that she boiled up in a kettle

Chorus:


V 6: She led a sheltered life eating porridge and black pudding
She terrorised her man until he died right sudden
And when her husband died, she was feeling very sorry
She rolled him in a bag and she threw him in a quarry

Chorus:

One Day March 30, 1981- President Reagan Saved By Tim McCarthy: Leo '67

Yesterday marked the 100th Birthday celebration of President Ronald Reagan. I did not vote for President Reagan, twice, but I thought that he was a personally wonderful guy and an absolutely great politician. In fact, I believe that President Obama has many of Ronald Reagan's attributes - good rhetorical skills, a solid presence and wonderful smile. The only attributes that seem to be missing from President Obama are executive experience and personal warmth. Ronald Reagan was a very warm guy and he exuded his love of people. I did not vote for President Obama, either.

A Leo High School wrestler from the Class of 1967, Tim McCarthy* of St. Denis Parish, saved the life President Reagan.



This is from a CBS Interview with Tim McCarthy in 2004.

Video of the event shows McCarthy throwing himself in front of the president; he was shot in the right chest. Syler pointed out that "it would seem that one's natural reaction would be to duck. And yet, you jumped in front of the president. Was that as a result of the training you go through?"

McCarthy replied: "That's exactly right. If you saw the big picture out there, a lot of people – police officers, military -- were ducking and looking for cover. That's the training that they received. They did exactly what they should have done.The day he was leaving the hospital with his wife and a couple of his children, the family got word that the president would like to see them. Mrs. Reagan also was there.

"We had a nice visit," McCarthy recalled. "The president was commenting about he was going to miss springtime in Washington, the Cherry Blossom Festival. We had a real nice conversation. My kids were young, 2 and 4, getting restless. They didn't understand the significance of any of this. I was just about to walk out the door. We'd said our goodbyes. I was right at the door.

"He said, 'Tim, hold on a minute. Wait a minute. Listen. It was McCarthy, Reagan, (Washington police officer Tom) Delehanty, (White House press officer Jim) Brady. What the hell did this guy have against the Irish?' You have to wonder if the leader of the free world could already maintain a perspective on this, as serious and critical as it was, he certainly had gotten over it already, and it was a great example for me to get beyond this and move on."

On June 10, 2004, the day before Mr. Reagan's funeral, McCarthy had the opportunity to visit Mrs. Reagan.

"She looked great, under a great deal of stress, as you can imagine," said McCarthy, though he declined to give details about their private conversation.

"We talked about the president quite a bit," he said. "We talked about the fact that, over the last number of years, she has been there almost day and night with the president, and what it was like.

Tim McCarthy - American Hero.

*

Timothy J. McCarthy (born June 20, 1949) is the current police chief of Orland Park, Illinois and a former member of the United States Secret Service.[1] He is most famous for turning into the line of fire, shielding President Ronald Reagan and being wounded by one of John Hinckley, Jr.'s .22 caliber bullets in the 1981 Reagan assassination attempt.[2][3] Surgeons at George Washington University Hospital successfully removed the round from McCarthy's abdomen, and he fully recovered. McCarthy received the NCAA Award of Valor in 1982[4] in recognition of his bravery.

After Hinckley began to fire, McCarthy deliberately put himself in the line of fire and spread his body in front of Reagan to make himself a target.[3] Although all Secret Service agents are trained to take a bullet for the President, only four have actually done so. Besides McCarthy, officer Leslie Coffelt of the Secret Service Uniformed Division was killed during the 1950 Truman assassination attempt, the others, Donald Birdzell and Joseph Downs, were also shot during the Blair House attack of 1950.

McCarthy graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and joined the United States Secret Service shortly thereafter.

His career included eight years assigned to the Presidential Protective Division in Washington D.C. and fourteen years as a criminal investigator in Chicago. McCarthy was the Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service Chicago Division from 1989 until his retirement in October 1993.

McCarthy has served as Chief of the Orland Park Police Department since May 1994, and, in 1997, he unsuccessfully ran for Illinois Secretary of State as a Democrat.[5] In 1999, he earned a Master of Science degree in criminal/social justice from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois.

He is married and has three children.

McCarthy also played football at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently Orland Park Police Chief.

Muslim Brotherhood - Just Middle Class Guys Trying to Get By.

Thanks to the American Progressive News Media ( NPR, Public TV, NYT, NBC, CBS, ABC & etc.), my fear of the Muslim Brotherhood's designs on destroying our Zionist/Crusader/Colonialist/Satan Western Ways, belabored by years of reading about the Muslim Brotherhood in history, have been assuaged - but not entirely Assange'd. But, I'm getting there.

Mohamed Ghanem, one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, calls Egypt to stop pumping gas to Israel and prepare the Egyptian army for a war with it’s eastern neighbor.

Speaking with Iranian television station Al-Alam, Mohamed Ghanem blamed Israel for supporting Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Ghanem also said that the Egyptian police and army won’t be able to stop the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

There are doubts about the loyalty of the Egyptian army to president Mubarak. If the brotherhood takes control over Egypt, it will be very messy from the whole region.

See, that stuff seemed consistent with my reading of the history of the Muslim Brotherhood. Now, after watching on CNN that sweet robot-guy Fareed Zakaria I have learned that the Muslim Brotherhood are no more a threat than the Shriners. Fareed seems like the kind of guy that no waiter wants to spill Sanka on his Van Heusan's - dead eyes. Not only will the waiter be . . .eliminated shall we say, . . .but his entire food chain will be eliminated . . .shall we say?

Fareed's talking to a Nobel Prize Winner! Take a knee; listen up!

ZAKARIA: If there were a democratic government with Muslim Brotherhood participation, do you believe that Egypt would still be at peace with Israel?
ELBARADEI: Of course. I mean, I – again, the whole issue of peace in the Middle East is an issue which everybody – nobody wants to go to war, Fareed.

Shucks during the last few days Muslim Brotherhood sweetie-pie's have told us to chill, Dude! -

Fareed's chat was on January 31, 2011, but by today things are are just a stone-groove!

I am sure that there will be reports forthcoming like this collection of bon mots from Nobel Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei.


"The Muslim Brotherhood, again, it's one of these bogus fictions that have been created that they are after establishing an Iran-type religious state, that they are extremists, Al Qaeda. The Muslim Brotherhood, you see them in the streets, they are religiously conservative but they are ready to work in a civil state context under a constitution which ensures equal rights and obligations."

- Wall Street Journal, February 2011

"The Muslim Brotherhood are religiously conservative, they are in no way extremists they are in no way using violence.... You have to include them in the government like evangelical groups in the US, like orthodox Jews in Jerusalem."

- ABC News, January 2011

"The Muslim Brotherhood has nothing to do with extremism... I have been reaching out to them. We need to include them."

- CNN, January 2011

We can expect to hear from academics and activists inThe Nation, Salon, Huffington Post and other leading laundries of history, explain that Egypt is really no different than Winnetka in its celebration of diverse points of view and the Muslim Brotherhood do so much good.

I can not wait until Debra Shore of the Chicago's MWRD writes a glowing eco-caveat ripe with rain barrels of plans to reverse the flow of the Nile to diminish man's footprint on Egypt's water ways and, thank Allah, that the Suez is now closed to eco-terrorists from Shell, BP, and Texaco.

Yes, sir, them Muslim Brotherhoods is Shriners in Vegas.

Streets and Sanitation Heroes Take Public Guff, While Taking the Snow Away

Last night, I attended a beautiful wedding ceremony at Temple Rodfei Zedek at 52nd and Hyde Park Boulevard. There were lines of snow removal vehicles and Chicago Police cars all along Lake Shore Drive in the northbound lanes from 47th Street to McCormick Place. They were being marshaled to move out into the side streets. Hyde Park Boulevard was as clear as a baby's eyes, by the time we hit the exit at 51st Street and the route to the Temple was wide open. Rabbi Elliot B. Gertel, a really sweet natured guy from Springfield, Mass., greeted guests and prepared us for the nuptials and blessings. The gents, including three Micks from Little Flower and St. Justin Martyr and Visitation, donned yarmulkes. The ceremonies took a little under an hour and guests headed back north to Bistro 110 on Pearson.

I exited at Navy Pier and went west to Rush Street. Just south of Erie, there was pause in traffic and there were two cars ahead of me and nothing behind. At the corner was big blue snow truck removing show and two white managers and crew vehicles. In a nano second of stopping the horn started. The guy two cars ahead of me must have had a vital organ, heart, liver or such in a red emergency cooler that he needed to rush to an ER, or had crucial information about an Al Queda plot against the nation, because he laid his palms on the horn with a will.

Out of the white vehicle with flashing orange lights, stepped a very tired looking guy. He wore a vest. He was about six foot and looked like he had wrestled 167 in high school and could probably still go all three periods on the circle in the mat.

He walked slowly and leaned into window of Harry the Horn. The Horn stopped. Within seconds of the delicious quiet, the huge Blue Plow backed away and traffic moved. The supervisor did not display and contempt, nor anger; rather, stoic professionalism. I nodded a thank you to him. He nodded back and I crossed Chicago Ave. behind Harry the Horn. He went straight on Rush Street, when I took the left past the Chicago Archdiocese Quigley Pastoral Center and up to Bistro 110.

We went in for a fabulous dinner that featured a Choral presentation of an Anglican Hymn before dinner, by the twenty friends of the bride and groom who had sung with the Kings Choir and the Apollo Chorus. Back on Rush Street, the crew of Streets and Sanitation snow removal pros were clearing streets and taking guff from varieties of Harry the Horn.

We are what we do.

Last year, John Schmidt presented a great feature on Chicago Snow Removal from 1907 -Click my post title for the full tale.

This is from John R. Schmidt of Chicago Now's Unknown Chicago -12.15.10

On this date in 1907, Chicago was just getting through a major snowstorm. Clearing the streets of the First Ward--downtown--was a priority. The ward superintendent had hired 312 day laborers to remove the snow. Their job was to shovel the snow up into the back of horse-drawn wagons.
Once the wagon was full, the teamster would drive the wagon to the end of Van Buren Street, then dump the snow into the lake. The wagons were also hired on a daily basis. They were paid for each trip they made.
That was the problem. The drivers were "nursing their work along." Instead of dumping all their snow into the lake, they were coming back to the job site with part of the load still in the wagon. They'd have to make more trips, and get paid more money.

No 'nursing it along' by Snow crews now and no Harry the Horns either.

Read more: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/unknown-chicago/2010/12/let-it-snow-12-15-1907.html#ixzz1DBfLYNH3

Rally for Matt O'Shea in 19th Ward at Cork and Kerry on February 10th

Hello Neighbors, Friends and Family,

We are hosting a rally/fundraiser for our friend Matt O'Shea,candidate for Alderman of the 19th Ward, City of Chicago, this coming Thursday, February 10th at Cork & Kerry , 7-10 p.m.
The attached invite has all the details. The election is coming up quickly and we want to make sure Matt has all the resources he needs to be victorious on February 22nd. We believe that Matt O'Shea is the right choice for our next alderman of the 19th ward.

Please join us and let your friends and neighbors know as well.

Thank you,

The Winters Family and Brian Hickey

-- THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011
7:00 P.M. ! 10:00 P.M.
Cork & Kerry
10614 S. Western Ave.
Hosted by
Brian Hickey
Bart Winters
Brendan Winters
John Winters
Jack Winters
Liam Winters
Marty Winters
Nat Winters
Tim Winters
Vince Winters
Willie Winters

Tickets: $30
RSVP: willie.winters@gmail.com

Send Planned Parenthood Packing - Put the Cosmetic Holocaust ( abortion) Back in the Purses of the Dowager Class!

The Dowager Class owns Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has been unmasked for what it is - a mascaraed butcher shop of horrors endowed by aging women of wealth.

Planned Parenthood doesn’t use government money to provide abortions; Congress already prohibits that, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. (Another anti-abortion bill that’s coming up for hearing originally proposed changing the wording to “forcible rape,” presumably under the theory that there was a problem with volunteer rape victims. On that matter at least, cooler heads prevailed.)

Really?

The aging feminists and the long in the tooth abortion happy monied class warriors, like Gloria Steinem, Katha Pollitt, Katrina Vander Heuvel, Joy Behar, Diane Sawyer, Joan Walsh, dumb nuns, most Media Medeas and Democratic Women in elected office are Planned Parenthood's Dowager Class. They are the shrill and powerful Medeas who willfully kill children to get back at the perceived Gender Jasons, or merely want to cosmetically rid themselves of 'Baby Bumps,' as well as the cellulite build-ups that come with age.

So unhappy is the American Dowager that she unleashed the hounds on the real journalists (independent of course - no such animal at MSNBC,NPR or NYT)beefing that the new women who fight abortion are . . .well, pretty.

“Planned Parenthood aids and abets the sexual abuse and prostitution of minors,” announced Lila Rose, the beautiful anti-abortion activist who led the project. The right wing is currently chock-full of stunning women who want to end their gender’s right to control their own bodies. Homely middle-aged men are just going to have to find another sex to push around.

Gail Collins NYT.

Well, this ugly-as-a-bald dog middle age gent has no problem with a gal controlling her own body . . .so long as it does need, or require the application of forceps, scalpels and hammers on an infant.

Dowager is an economic term that first came into public discourse in 15th Century France:Middle French douagiere, from douage dower, from douer to endow — more at endow
First Known Use: 1530

A dowager was commonly propertied widow and now as a stand alone noun can mean any powerful financially robust woman - usually unmarried.

The American Dowager Class and its allies ( every Progressive Solidarity Coalition Activist PAC and the DNC) is struggling with the truth. Americans are seeing the horror that is abortion - not choice, but slaughter. The Dowager Class has long argued that the aborted persons are mere 'tissue.' Science and medicine has long disproven the Progressive lie about 'Choice'(via Ultrasound & etc.) - life begins at conception, but, like pathological drunks, the Dowager Class sees the problems elsewhere - society, racism, poverty, gender identity issues and unwanted tissues.

NPR and the Media are going flat-out to mop up the blood of Kermit Gonsell in Philadelphia and erase the documentation of Planned Parenthood's ACORNish activities of helping pimps work their way around laws so teenage sex-slaves can kill children in the womb.

My Congressman is a Democrat, Dan Lipinski ( D., IL, 3rd) and he is heroic anti-Abortion legislator. Dan Lipinski is what being a Democrat is all about - serving his constituents from womb to tomb, preserving American Exceptionalism, and fighting to ease the tax-burdens. Dan Lipinski keeps me voting Democrat for the most part.

It is well past the time for Americans to drive a stake through the heart of the Cosmetic Holocaust that is abortion.

If the Dowager Class demands 'choice' make it open their private and bloody purses.

NY Times 'We Are All Egyptians!' Really? 82% of 'We' Want to Stone Women?

The weak kidneys of America's Media cause it to micturate down our legs and proclaim a rainstorm.

Nicholas D(Cousin Weak Kidneys)Kristof's idiotic and gushy proclamation that We are the World; We Are Egyptians! is another such trouser moistening announcement of the Heavens about to Open.

The lion-hearted Egyptians I met on Tahrir Square are risking their lives to stand up for democracy and liberty, and they deserve our strongest support — and, frankly, they should inspire us as well. A quick lesson in colloquial Egyptian Arabic: Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen! Today, we are all Egyptians!

Now, hold there, Hoss! I'm agin stoning women, but 82% of your "We" thinks that is just dandy. Shake hands with an Alsatian! Bump booty with Botswannan! Have a hoe-down with a Hapsburg! Love a Laplander!

Gee, let's all sing the Marseilles like in Casablanca and confound the Wehrmacht, Nicky! What do mean WE?

The most recent Pew Polling of Egyptian Opinion states: -

Well, take a gander!

ON ISLAM IN POLITICS

-- Is it good that Islam plays a large role in politics? 95 percent said "yes" and 2 percent "bad."

-- Is Islam's influence in politics positive or negative? 85 percent said "positive," 2 percent said "negative."

-- How much of a role does Islam play in Egyptian politics now? 48 percent said "large" and 49 percent said "small."

-- Is there a struggle between groups that want to modernize Egypt and Islamic fundamentalists? 31 percent said "yes." Of them, 27 percent described themselves as modernizers and 59 percent called themselves fundamentalists.

ON ISLAMIST EXTREMISM

-- Are suicide bombings justified? 46 percent said "never," 34 percent "rarely," 12 percent "sometimes" and 8 percent "often." (NOTE: Support for suicide bombing has dropped since 2006, when 28 percent said they were justified sometimes or often.)

-- Are you concerned about Islamist extremism in the world? 70 percent said they were "very concerned" or "concerned."

-- Are you concerned about Islamist extremism in Egypt? 61 percent said they were "very concerned" or "concerned."

ON FOREIGN ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS

-- What do you think of Hamas? 49 percent were favorable.

-- What do you think of Hezbollah? 30 percent were favorable.
-- What do you think of al Qaeda? 20 percent were favorable.

-- Do you have confidence in Osama bin Laden? 19 percent said "some" or "a lot," 73 percent said "not much" or "none." (NOTE: Confidence in bin Laden has fallen from 27 percent in 2006).

ON TRADITIONAL MUSLIM PRACTICES

-- Should men and women be segregated in the workplace? 54 percent said "yes" and 44 percent "no."

-- Should adulterers be stoned? 82 percent said "yes."

-- Should apostates from Islam face the death penalty? 84 percent said "yes."

-- Should thieves be flogged or have their hands cut off? 77 percent said "yes."

ON DEMOCRACY

-- Is democracy preferable to any other kind of government? 59 percent said "yes."

-- Can a non-democratic system be preferable in certain circumstances? 22 percent said "yes."

-- Is it irrelevant to you what kind of government you have? 16 percent said "yes."

(Compiled by Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor)

Irish Independent writer Kevin Myers mocks the wee-wee spilling goofs of the European Press.

One of the striking features of the pro-Mubarak demonstrators was that none seemed to speak English, which suggested a certain closeness to the grassroots of ordinary Egyptians. One elderly man (apparently) said in Arabic that Mubarak was a strong man, and Egypt needed a strong man, and he didn't want to see Egypt going the same way as Iraq, with beheadings. Quite so. We all know that Mubarak ruled with the torture chamber and the secret police, which everyone deplores. But is there an Arabic Denmark upon which Egyptian social democrats can model a new political regime for their country, a Copenhagen on the Nile?

Because our European media are so deeply-anti-Israel, their instinct has been to show its Arab neighbours in a favourable light -- which partly explains the non-stop images of the anti-Mubarak intelligentsia, with auburn highlights and beautiful English. They no more speak for Egypt than the citizens of Ballsbridge speak for Kerry South. The recent Pew survey of Egypt tells another story, without tonsorial highlights or Anglophone urbanity. Some 54pc of Egyptians can justify suicide bombings in some form or other, with 20pc supporting al Qa'ida. Additionally, 54pc believe in segregation of the sexes in the workplace; 82pc think adulterers should be stoned to death; 84pc think apostates from Islam should be killed; and 77pc think thieves should have their hands cut off. Doesn't sound much like Denmark.

Egypt has received billions of dollars in aid in the last 30 years, and much of which has gone into buying Park Lane apartments in London for the kleptocratic crooks who run the country. Meanwhile, Egypt's population is growing at an unsustainable 2pc a year, making it about the same size as Germany's -- but not for long. Germany has eight births per thousand; Egypt has 25 births. And to give you a sense of the appaling economic prospects ahead for Egypt, German GDP (remember, with the same population) is about 1,700 times greater than Egypt's.

The government-in-waiting in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood -- "the Ikhwan" -- is supposedly not in favour of terrorism, well, for the moment anyway. But then was not Sinn Fein a supposedly pacifist movement? Nationalistic pacifisms tend be conditional on the complete absence of an opponent, which is not very passive at all. Either way, the Muslim Brotherhood is certainly not non-violent in its utter opposition to Israel.

The gushers have ruined America's britches as well as lied like Egyptian rugs.

MazelTov, Doug and Christine!

I love weddings. My own in 1983 was a dandy - I married the lovely and strong Mary Elizabeth Cleary at St. Mary's Church in Kankakee, Illinois. My tall red-headed French/Irish bride was stunning in an old fashioned bridal gown that might have been worn in the 19th Century by a French bride in Martinton, or L'Erable. Mary was crowned with a garland of white flowers. My God she was beautiful. Lisa Goodman, of Brides Compleat in Kankakee decked me out in a cut-awys black tux, but I still managed to look like Riddles Barlow. My massive southside Irish family arrived by the bus loads from Chicago and packed the tiny Church on Washington Street, behind the Dean's Ice Cream plant and south of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.

My cousin, Father Bart Winters officiated along with Fathers Ken Yarno, and Irwin Savela of the Viatorians. Follwoing the Sacrement of Marriage and the wedding Mass we repaired to the Knights of Columbus, St. Viator Council across the street from the Kankakee Court House for a wedding party that danced well into the following day. It was reported that several guests maintained the festivities for a good 48 hours. My Kankakee and Chicago families merged and bonded in way that launched fifteen of the happiest years of my life. Mary went home to Christ in 1998. My three kids periodically brouse the wedding pictures.

Tomorrow, I will attend the wedding of my friends Doug and Christine who will be blessed in the dual Jewish ceremonies of the erusin and the nissuin - the former sanctifies the couple and the later launches their life together. This takes place under the Huppa -the Bridal canopy. The last Jewish wedding I attended was between my cousin John and Robin. That one raised the bar on fun and beauty.

Doug is Jewish from birth and Chritine was bpatized a Catholic but converted to Judaism. Christine was from St. Justin Martyr, over the tracks at 75th Street from my house in Little Flower, and hung out with the 69th Street Loafers. The beautiful woman who allows me to be seen publicly in her company sings Choral Music with Doug and Christine.

Tomorrow the wildly happy couple bonds with God, family and friends. Any God centered activity launches a happy outcome - happy in the purest of meanings - not Charlie Sheen happy. Happiness requires effort, humility, and selfless love. we are most unhappy without those virtues, it seems to me. God blesses our pain, as well as our pleasure. The Seven Blessings recited by the rabbi and friends seals the deal. Doug will smash the wine glass with his right foot to approving shouts of Mazel Tov, in remembrance of life's twists and turns and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. "If I foget thee, O Jerusalem . . ."

Not a chance. Mazel Tov!

Like Gay Activists Against Catholics, Chicago's No Dibs-ers Activists React and Take the Parking Spots

Marc Felion, Andy Thayer and Fausto Fernós at the Recent Feast of Fun sans Breeders


Like Gay Activists planning to shut down Mass at Holy Name Cathedral on February 13th, No Dibs-er Activists staged a protest on 108th Street Between Artesian and Rockwell. To chants of I Steer! We're Here! Get Used to it! No Cairo Chicago!Freedom!!!!!!!!! No Dibs-er Activists grabbed spots cleared by helot homeowners following the Blizzard of Ought Eleven. Tensions mount! M.O.N.T. E. Mount!

Lisping Utility Activist Andy Thayer* is calling on the massive throng of Gay Lesbian Transgender, Bisexual, Mule Lovers, and Questioning Chicagoans to stop Catholics and their . . .galling worship and Faith. Andy Thayer is an energetic and ubiquitous microphone and bullhorn aficionado (Gaza/Gay/Guacamole you name it and Andy is on it like a Chimp on Oreos) objects very, very strongly to Roman Catholic teaching. Andy Sayer. . .I mean Thayer. . . should be sure to bring along the throngs of devout Gays of Gaza membership to be sure to have a veritible Rainbow of Inclusion - The millions of Muslim Fans of the Gay Lifestyle. Then it will be a real Gay Marriage of Faiths and just not Unitarians and the usual assortment of faux-Catholic glue-sniffers.

I like Civil Unions. Andy Thayer has not even taken the bows off of that legislative package and demands Marriage. Patience, Prudence.

Get this -

The leadership of the Catholic Church has opposed every LGBT rights measure ever proposed in this state - whether for equal employment, housing, access to public accommodations or marriage. We find it galling that heretofore they, as a non-tax paying entity receiving millions of tax dollars for its social service agencies, received special rights against those attempting to exercise our 1st Amendment right to protest. The City's refusal to enforce this unconstitutional ordinance against most picketing of religious institutions is a welcome victory for LGBT rights and civil liberties in general.

The February 13th protest will focus on three demands:

*** Oppose the anti-LGBT bigotry of the Catholic hierarchy; support the many pro-equal rights Catholics organizing for change within the denomination

*** Demand full equal marriage rights in Illinois

*** Demand that tax dollars no longer go to tax-exempt religious groups that refuse to commit to equal rights for LGBT people.

For more information about the February 13th protest, email the Gay Liberation Network at LGBTliberation@aol.com

Have fun, Son, but do behave. There's little kids at Mass on Sundays and they might be questioning the goofs using naughty language and so shrill about it.

Andy Thayer is co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network (www.GayLiberation.net), a Chicago-based LGBT direct action group which has been a local leader in gay rights, anti-police brutality and anti-war organizing. As a leader in the local anti-war movement, he's helped organize most of the city's large anti-war protests for the last several years, including a march of 15,000 on Lake Shore Drive at the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He's been arrested numerous times in various protests and was recently found not guilty of two felony counts from a January 2008 protest against the Chicago visit of President Bush. Last May he was among 30 LGBT activists arrested in the 4th annual gay pride demonstration in Moscow, Russia.

Not Cairo, Andy? Seriously. Well, sort of. Not really.

Chicago's Third Big Blizzard Day 2 - Neighbors 1: Weather 0

The thirty below Hawk froze the starter on the ancient but reliable MDT Snow-blower. Fifty- eight year old muscle and lard hefted chunks and blocks of white cake along with the younger bones and sinews of my fireman neighbor. Together we opened parking spots and driveways.

Western Ave. is as open as an old man's fly.

108th Street is open, thanks to 19th Ward Streets and San Superman Steve Riordan. The guy never sleeps. Troops of St. Cajetan eighth graders picked up some dough doing the stoops and stairs and gangways of the elderly and St. Rita bound 8th grader Joe Rohan's crew cleared driveways of single moms and folks caught out in the suburbs who have yet to make it home.

Morgan Park/St. Cajetan 1; Blizzard 2011 ain't no thang!

Neighbors take care of one another and kicked the Weather's Rump . . .again.

Blizzard February 02, 2011 - 108th and Rockwell -CPD and CFD Neighbors Went to Work!

Hickey of Rockwell -“with his broad and jetty eyebrows; his square forehead, made squarer by the horizontal sweep of his black hair. I recognised his decisive nose, more remarkable for character than beauty; his full nostrils, denoting, I thought, choler; his grim mouth, chin, and jaw—yes, all three were very grim, and no mistake. His shape, now divested of cloak, I perceived harmonised in squareness with his physiognomy”



My neighbors, Sgt. Stan Salabura, CPD and Jimmy Foster CFD, did all they could to get to work for us on this snow packed and gale force winndy day - The Blizzard of 2011. Young Brian Hogan of the 107th & Maplewood block used a snow-mobile with a plow attachment to open 108th and 107th Streets at about 5 AM this morning. My son Conor and I are digging out our way to the garage in order to fire up the mighty MTD snowplow. We will be at it all day.

Firefighter Jimmy Foster is a member of the House that lost two heroes - Corey Ankum and Edward Stringer - on December 22nd. Sgt. Stan Salabura is the head of Area 2 Violent Crimes Division - his beautiful bride Becky (stunning in Red and Snow!), Vice- Principal of St. Cajetan Grammar School was out seeing Stan off. These are our 1st Responders. Nothing stops them.

I, on the hand, get distracted brushing my teeth and find no task too important not to find an excuse to make a tub of hot buttered popcorn and watch vintage Japanese monster movies.

Two Calumnies in less than a month: DA: Wife Killed Husband After Finding Hickey

MEDFORD (CBS) – A woman was ordered held without bail Monday charged with killing her husband in Medford.

Police found 34-year-old Troy Burston wounded outside a home on Exchange Avenue at 10:40 p.m. Sunday. He was not wearing a shirt and had been stabbed in the chest.

He was rushed to Lawrence Memorial Hospital where he died.Police arrested his wife, 39-year-old Shawntina Burston.

Investigators say the two had come home from a party and began arguing and hitting each other. She allegedly found a hickey on his neck and stabbed him with a cooking knife.

“This is another troubling incident of domestic violence turned fatal,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said in a statement Monday.

“We allege that the victim was fatally stabbed by his wife during an argument, sadly leaving two young children behind.”

Shawntina Burston pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Monday in Somerville District Court.

I take a back seat to no man as a selfish sinner and banished child of Eve. Nevertheless, I protest the dual calumnies printed and broadcast in the media, these last thirty days.

I have been on people's backs due to my follies, but never on a soul's neck! This I swear! . . . et ne nos inducas in tentationem; sed libera nos a Malo
A few weeks back Hickey was said to have caused a woman's stroke and now a Massachusetts couple's marital harmony has had the dagger of jealousy plunged into the heart of trust, because of Hickey.

I have not been to the Commonwealth since 1982 and I am and always have been a devout and dedicated monogamist. My affections and attentions are limited one woman - in courtship and or the sacrament of matrimony.

Moreover, I would never put asunder what God has wrought. Never!

Law in that Small Commonweal- The 19th Ward and Mayoral Blizzard

Election officials said that as of 4:30 p.m., more than 6,100 people had voted — a total only surpassed on the first day of early voting in the 2008 presidential election, when more than 11,700 people voted.

Jim Allen, a spokesman for the city's election board, said the number dwarfs the 831 on the first day of early voting in the last mayoral election four years ago. He said that suggests not only that more people are becoming accustomed to early voting but also that Daley — who typically won by huge margins — is not running. He said the widely anticipated storm might have played a role, because people see they may not be able to get to the polls later this week.

"We'll probably break 7,000," he said.

I voted yesterday. Yep, exercised the public franchise. After delivering an Ad celebrating for 100th Anniversary of the founding of Maria High School from the Men of Leo ( Sveikiname, Maria!)and chatting with my counter-part in the Office of Institutional Advancement at the great girls school in Marquette Park, I drove to 22nd District Police Headquarters to vote, but learned that the early voting was moved to Mount Greenwood Park Field House on 111th Street.

In the parking lot, I found 19th Ward Committeeman Matt O'Shea, candidate for Alderman, greeting voters and all and sundry. Matt O'Shea is model of what I like in government service. There is not a day in the week that I do not see Matt going door-to-door, attending one of the almost daily benefits for suffering families at Bourbon Street, Beverly Woods, or a local parish hall, watching grammar school sports at Beverly, Kennedy, Ridge, Monroe or Mount Greenwood Parks. The young guy is ubiquitous. Matt asked about my kids and Leo High School. It was colder than a well-digger's rump and it was clear that Matt had been out there sometime.

Politicians talk about working families, in the same way that Disney Corporation does - Family means more money for them. Matt O'Shea is a public servant. There is a huge difference. A public servant knows whom he serves. Matt greeted people by their names -"Mrs. Janusias, I saw Albert at Jewel last week! Congratulations Grannie!; Hey, Jimmy vote your heart. Yeah you too, pal and the horse you bet on - Jerk."

Jimmy was one of few people who seem to believe that every unhappiness - his fat shrewish wife, lazy kids, drinking problem and collection calls on his house phone can all be traced to the 19th Ward.

I voted my heart and head. I read the papers and more importantly I talk to my neighbors - Jimmy included: " They are all crooked, lying, thieving, pension robbing, one way bastards. Can you spot me a twenty? I'm going up to Dingers for a few. Thanks, gotta drown my sorrows."

We all snow. I am an accomplished snow-thrower myself and the real deal is fixin' to drop on us around noon. All we can do is shovel and vote. No one else will or can do it for us.




The times are nightfall, look, their light grows less

by Gerard Manley Hopkins


The times are nightfall, look, their light grows less;
The times are winter, watch, a world undone:
They waste, they wither worse; they as they run
Or bring more or more blazon man's distress.
And I not help. Nor word now of success:
All is from wreck, here, there, to rescue one—
Work which to see scarce so much as begun
Makes welcome death, does dear forgetfulness.

Or what is else? There is your world within.
There rid the dragons, root out there the sin.
Your will is law in that small commonweal...

My Cousin Bart Hickey -B.A.T. Bart's Automotive and Towing -Blind as Bat!

"Intimidator" from Jim Quattrocki on Vimeo.

My cousin Bart Hickey never had sight and never had a beef about anything. His father, Bart Hickey, trained his blind son to fend for himself - " Take out the garbage and then vacuum the basement." I remember watching my tall, tough Marine Korean War sergeant uncle with tears in his eyes, while chuckling with pride as Bartie stumbled with an arm-load of trash out to the alley at 85th & Wolcott.

Watch this video - Bart's brother Brian helped Bart name his automotive business - yes, Bart is a blind garage mechanic. " Bart's Automotive and Towing -Yeah, you know! Blind as a Bat." Bat is often used by the Irish in place of Bart or Bartholomew. Bat or Bateen.

Film maker Jim Quattrocki did this sweet video. Sweet as in nice; not like my son Conor terms something or circumstance to be 'sweet' meaning his full approval. That is for your determination.

Huge Hat tip cousins Deirdre and John.

Thackeray on Swift and Steele: My Morning's Oxymoron:Deeds Not Words in Writing

Facta Non Verba - Deeds Not Words is the motto of Leo High School. It is also a weltansschwang - a world view developing a human temperament and moral code.We can admire the talents and achievements of people without necessarily acting or aping their methods and motivations.

There are some genuinely nasty people breathing our air, folks, and many of them achieve the pinnacle of success and notoriety. Our age of group think censors opinion and inclinations of individuals who might deviate from the group. Most of group think stems from fear of embarrassment or worse. Why must Lady Gaga be accepted as a paragon of talent and taste? I'll let that one dangle.

This morning's task for your Blogger Boy is a return to the opinion of my favorite writer in the English language - not the greatest as that must be Shakespeare and not the most popular as that would be Dickens - William Makepeace Thackeray - author Vanity Fair and arguably the best historical novel of all time The History of Henry Esmond. Thackeray and Charles Dickens were contemporaries, acquaintances and rivals. Dickens is widely read and Thackeray merely admired today and that is unfortunate. Both Dickens and Thackeray travelled in and wrote about America before the Civil War: Dickens hated America and Americans ( called us 'spitting bipeds') and Thackeray loved this wild and youthful land and its people. In fact, Thackeray wrote a sequel to Henry Esmond set in Colonial/Revolutionary - The Virginians.

Thackeray lectured in America and was greeted with wild enthusiasm from Boston to Cincinnati. One of his lectures The 18th Century Humorists ( Addison, Pope, Swift, Steele, Goldsmith, and Congreve) is the source of my theme today - Facta Non Verba.

Thackeray could admire a great writer and still find him repulsive. For Thackeray a writer was no different than a baker, shoemaker, or banker. Each made money from the sales of his product. Thackeray was no better a man because of product - his books, essays, and poems. However, what a writer crafted should help his fellow man in some small way. Here is Thackeray's critical turn of mind.

Humor of the Human Heart - Thackeray's Template:

BESIDES contributing to our stock of happiness, to our harmless laughter and amusement, to our scorn for falsehood and pretension, to our righteous hatred of hypocrisy, to our education in the perception of truth, our love of honesty, our knowledge of life, and shrewd guidance through the world, have not our humorous writers, our gay and kind week-day preachers, done much in support of that holy cause which has assembled you in this place, and which you are all abetting,—the cause of love and charity, the cause of the poor, the weak, and the unhappy; the sweet mission of love and tenderness, and peace and good will toward men? That same theme which is urged upon you by the eloquence and example of good men to whom you are delighted listeners on Sabbath days is taught in his way and according to his power by the humorous writer, the commentator on every-day life and manners.
. . . I have said myself somewhere, I do not know with what correctness (for definitions never are complete), that humor is wit and love; I am sure, at any rate, that the best humor is that which contains most humanity, that which is flavored throughout with tenderness and kindness. This love does not demand constant utterance or actual expression, as a good father, in conversation with his children or wife, is not perpetually embracing them or making protestations of his love; as a lover in the society of his mistress is not, at least as far as I am led to believe, for ever squeezing her hand or sighing in her ear, “My soul’s darling, I adore you!” He shows his love by his conduct, by his fidelity, by his watchful desire to make the beloved person happy; it lightens from his eyes when she appears, tho he may not speak it; it fills his heart when she is present or absent; influences all his words and actions; suffuses his whole being; it sets the father cheerily to work through the long day, supports him through the tedious labor of the weary absence or journey, and sends him happy home again, yearning toward the wife and children.
This kind of love is not a spasm, but a life. It fondles and caresses at due seasons, no doubt; but the fond heart is always beating fondly and truly, tho the wife is not sitting hand-in-hand with him or the children hugging at his knee. And so with a loving humor: I think, it is a genial writer’s habit of being; it is the kind, gentle spirit’s way of looking out on the world—that sweet friendliness which fills his heart and his style. You recognize it, even tho there may not be a single point of wit, or a single pathetic touch in the page; tho you may not be called upon to salute his genius by a laugh or a tear. That collision of ideas, which provokes the one or the other, must be occasional. They must be like papa’s embraces, which I spoke of anon, who only delivers them now and again, and can not be expected to go on kissing the children all night. And so the writer’s jokes and sentiment, his ebullitions of feeling, his outbreaks of high spirits, must not be too frequent. One tires of a page of which every sentence sparkles with points, of a sentimentalist who is always pumping the tears from his eyes or your own. One suspects the genuineness of the tear, the naturalness of the humor; these ought to be true and manly in a man, as everything else in his life should be manly and true; and he loses his dignity by laughing or weeping out of place, or too often.

Jonathan Swift was recently raped by Hollywood with Jack Black's portrayal of Lemuel Gulliver. Dr. Swift, by Thackeray's measure was an absolutely miserable prique. The great Joseph Epstein, in a very recent edition of New Criterion, assessed Nobel Prize winner Chicagoan Saul Bellow in much the same way. Click my post title for Epstein's wonderful study of a literary giant and a human midget. But first read Thackeray on old Jack Swift!


Jonathan Swift *

If I do not love Swift, as, thank God, I do not, however immensely I may admire him, it is because I revolt from the man who placards himself as a professional hater of his own kind; because he chisels his savage indignation on his tombstone, as if to perpetuate his protest against being born of our race—the suffering, the weak, the erring, the wicked, if you will, but still the friendly, the loving children of God our Father; it is because, as I read through Swift’s dark volumes, I never find the aspect of nature seems to delight him, the smiles of children to please him, the sight of wedded love to soothe him. I do not remember in any line of his writing a passing allusion to a natural scene of beauty. When he speaks about the families of his comrades and brother clergymen, it is to assail them with gibes and scorn, and to laugh at them brutally for being fathers and for being poor. He does mention, in the Journal to Stella, a sick child, to be sure—a child of Lady Masham, that was ill of the smallpox—but then it is to confound the brat for being ill and the mother for attending to it when she should have been busy about a court intrigue, in which the Dean was deeply engaged. And he alludes to a suitor of Stella’s, and a match she might have made, and would have made, very likely, with an honorable and faithful and attached man, Tisdall, who loved her, and of whom Swift speaks, in a letter to his lady, in language so foul that you would not bear to hear it.

In treating of the good the humorists have done, of the love and kindness they have taught and left behind them, it is not of this one I dare speak. Heaven help the lonely misanthrope! be kind to that multitude of sins, with so little charity to cover them!

For Thackeray, a kind man should be emulated by his fellow creatures, while a louse could be admired. The kindest man of 18th Century British Literature, in Thackeray's estimation was Captain Dick Steele: playwright, wit, essayist, soldier and patriot.

Richard Steele **

Steele, as a literary benefactor to the world’s charity, must rank very high, indeed, not merely from his givings, which were abundant, but because his endowments are prodigiously increased in value since he bequeathed them, as the revenues of the lands, bequeathed to our Foundling Hospital at London, by honest Captain Coram, its founder, are immensely enhanced by the houses since built upon them. Steele was the founder of sentimental writing in English, and how the land has been since occupied, and what hundreds of us have laid out gardens and built up tenements on Steele’s ground! Before his time, readers or hearers were never called upon to cry except at a tragedy, and compassion was not expected to express itself otherwise than in blank verse, of for personages much lower in rank than a dethroned monarch, or a widowed or a jilted empress. He stepped off the high-heeled cothurnus, and came down into common life; he held out his great hearty arms, and embraced us all; he had a bow for all women; a kiss for all children; a shake of the hand for all men, high or low; he showed us Heaven’s sun shining every day on quiet homes; not gilded palace roofs only, or court processions, or heroic warriors fighting for princesses and pitched battles. He took away comedy from behind the fine lady’s alcove, or the screen where the libertine was watching her. He ended all that wretched business of wives jeering at their husbands, of rakes laughing wives, and husbands, too, to scorn. That miserable, rouged, tawdry, sparkling, hollow-hearted comedy of the Restoration fled before him, and, like the wicked spirit in the fairy-books, shrank, as Steele let the daylight in, and shrieked, and shuddered, and vanished. The stage of humorists has been common life ever since Steele’s and Addison’s time; the joys and griefs, the aversions and sympathies, the laughter and tears of nature.

The laughter and tears of nature is a precious blessing that is, it seems to me at times, a too easily dispensable set of commodities.

*Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish[1] satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

He is remembered for works such as Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the Books, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, and A Tale of a Tub. Swift is probably the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. Swift originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier—or anonymously. He is also known for being a master of two styles of satire: the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.




**

Sir Richard Steele (bap. 12 March 1672 – 1 September 1729) was an Irish writer and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine The Spectator.

Steele was born in Dublin, Ireland in March 1672 to Richard Steele, an attorney, and Elinor Symes (née Sheyles); his sister Katherine was born the previous year. Steele was largely raised by his uncle and aunt, Henry Gascoigne and Lady Katherine Mildmay.[1] A member of the Protestant gentry, he was educated at Charterhouse School, where he first met Addison. After starting at Christ Church in Oxford, he went on to Merton College, Oxford, then with joined the Life Guards of the Household Cavalry in order to support King William's wars against France. He was commissioned in 1697, and rose up in the ranks to captain of the 34th Foot in 2 years.[2] He disliked British Army life, and left the army in 1705, perhaps due to the death of the 34th Foot’s commanding officer, and with him, his opportunities of promotion. It may then, be no coincidence that Steele's first published work, The Christian Hero (1701), attempted to point out the differences between perceived and actual masculinity.

In 1706 Steele was appointed to a position in the household of Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne of Great Britain. He also gained the favour of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford.

In 1705, Steele married a widow, Margaret Stretch, who died in the following year. At her funeral he met his second wife, Mary Scurlock, whom he nicknamed "Prue" and married in 1707. In the course of their courtship and marriage, he wrote over 400 letters to her. They were a devoted couple, their correspondence still being regarded as one of the best illustrations of a happy marriage, but their relationship was stormy. Mary died in 1718, at a time when she was considering separation. Their daughter, Elizabeth (Steele's only surviving legitimate child), married John Trevor, 3rd Baron Trevor.

Steele became a Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1713, but was soon expelled for issuing a pamphlet in favour of the Hanoverian succession. When George I of Great Britain came to the throne in the following year, Steele was knighted and given responsibility for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. While at Drury Lane, Steele wrote and directed The Conscious Lovers, which was an immediate hit. However, he fell out with Addison and with the administration over the Peerage Bill (1719), and in 1724 he retired to his wife's homeland of Wales, where he spent the remainder of his life.[3]

A member of the Whig Kit-Kat Club, Steele remained in Carmarthen after Mary's death, and was buried there, at St Peter's Church. During restoration of the church in 2000, his skull was discovered in a lead casket, having previously been accidentally disinterred during the 1870s.

Sun Times Endorsement of Rahm Emanuel - Convinced Me.

Less than a week after the Illinois Supreme Court allowed Rahm Emanuel to be a native son of Chicago, the Chicago Sun Times editorial board applied the oils to the brow of Rahm and here's why.

As we see it, only two of the six candidates for mayor, Emanuel and Gery Chico, are fully up to the job. Both have the record of achievement, the toughness and the smarts to lead Chicago through what is sure to be a brutal era of budget cutting and government restructuring, while at the same time protecting and advancing those assets and attributes that make Chicago great.

Emanuel stands apart from Chico, however, in his relative independence from city contractors and unions. Because Emanuel largely made his career in Washington, he simply owes fewer people here.

"Relative Independence from contractors and unions ( Oh, bother those nasty contractors and unions)" annnnnnnnnnnnndddddddd "he simply owes fewer people here!" Do he owe a whole passel of folks elsewhere, do he?

Hey, Sister and Brother Rubes! And you think the Wednesday Snow Job will be something?

My path is clear! I'm getting me to the Polling Place at the CPD Morgan Park 22nd District, today to cast my vote for . . . one of the six candidates for Mayor of Chicago!

Tribune Report on Egypt Protest - Solid Work by Reporter Dan Hinkel!

Chicago Tribune reporter Dan Hinkel identified the creeps and professional stooges attempting to hijack the legitimate grievances of Egyptians and Egyptian Americans. International Solidarity Movement (ISM) works with many anti-American and Marxist groups to destroy Israel masked as human rights do-gooders. The Hamas Flotillas last summer was planned in Cairo - Bill Ayers and his odious life partner Bernardine Dorhn have made numerous trips to the Middle East -Cairo in particular. Kevin Clark of ISM coached the naive Rachel Corrie who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer and Chicago Utility Activist (Gay Everything/Hamas/anti-Police) Andy Thayer are constant presence - Kevin Clark was behind the Catholic School Girls assault on Worshipers at Holy Name Cathedral and always manages to escape the notice of the Chicago Media. Nine SEIU/ISM activists were subpoenaed by a Federal Grand jury for work with Hamas and FARC in Columbia.

Today, one Chicago reporter identified the clowns.

"A smattering of socialists, anarchists and anti-Israel protesters joined their ranks, all under the eyes of uniformed police."

Now, let's have a solid follow-up.

Here's Kevin Clark doing his moral high ground medicine show in Chicago last June in solidarity with Hamas. Watch this Israel Hating creep and let's give Kevin some front page attention.

Fr. Tony & The Beatitudes - Protection from All Anxiety: Foreign and Domestic

I went to early Mass at St. Cajetan Church. I usually go to the warmth and simplicity of the more traditional services at Sacred Heart, but was treated to a wonderful homily on the Eight Beatitudes by a young priest from the faculty of the wonderful Mount Carmel High School here in Chicago. Leo Men admire all Catholic schools - Catholic Leaguer rivalries not withstanding.

Mount Carmel is shepherded by the Order of Carmelites, one of the four Orders of Friars in the Catholic Church ( Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans and Augustinians) and the young men of Carmel are graced with committed men like Mount Carmel Graduate Father Tony Mazurkiewicz*.

The Carmelites were founded in the Middle East. The Middle East is in turmoil and the world is gripped with anxiety - Coptic Christians were slaughtered during the Christmas season in Egypt, subsequent democratic protests gave way to riots, looting and terror. Tunisia and Yeman are locked in revolution and Israel is again under siege.

American activists have coordinated with Hamas and Islamist enemies of the West in the foolish assumption of solidarity. The outcome of events is in the hands of God, but man's pride demands megaphone loudmouths and sinister political agents opportunities to deconstruct Humanity.

A simple Spanish girl, a Carmelite, St. Theresa of Avila spoke in the Middle Ages, when Muslims and Christians alike slaughtered themselves and Jews, about prideful man.

Father Tony reminded us of this at Mass. In speaking to the Gospel, Father Tony talked about his work that brings Mount Carmel High School students and poor women in Chicago's inner city together. The young men in Brown tutor single mothers in math and reading in order to help single mom's manage household budgets. These young men are living the Beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Verse 3)
Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land. (Verse 4)
Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted. (Verse 5)
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill. (Verse 6)
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (Verse 7)
Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God. (Verse 8)
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (Verse 9)
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Verse 10)

Father Tony summed up the Beatitudes in the words of St. Teresa of Avila. "Humility is to keep within the bounds of truth." Father Tony explained that humility lets us know where we stand with God -not in place of Him.

The young men who wear the scapular of Mount Carmel - you shall know them by these signs: Rolled Brown MC baseball caps and the tightly rolled brown cloth scapulars around their necks - helping single moms with poor math and reading skills are genuine activists. These tough kids are giving and helping and will do so all of their lives. One of those kids played football at Mount Carmel and later at Yale - he could have become anything in this world; but did one better.

The Solidarity and Moral High ground public figures could learn much about Justice from the humble young men, like the priest who said Mass at St. Cajetan's and young men he shepherds. Faith and Humility spark action. In Sousa's Semper Fidelis March, the lyrics are anything but politically correct:

". . . For many men profess their loyalty to true democracy yet bow to mockery
and bend the knee to aristocracy, for to live their creed their need is small.
And may men proclaim their worthiness, display their lowliness, disclaim their earthiness.
Oh give us strength to seek true holiness, and in word and deed to heed the call!" Semper Fidelis

Mount Carmel Men, Leo Men, Marines, Simple Citizen Patriots and Priests live the Beatitudes.

May God grant me a little of what it takes and what good people possess.

Father Tony Mazurkiewicz, O.Carm.



*

Mount Carmel graduate Tony Mazurkiewicz, a Carmelite priest, looks at the period in history when he attended the school on the wall at the Convocation Center at the South Side school. (Joseph P. Meier/SouthtownStar)

Enrollment at Yale University.

Again being named a football captain.

Reported membership in the Skull and Bones, a very elite Yale-based "secret society" whose members are believed to include former U.S. presidents William Taft, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

A degree in history from the Ivy League school.

Mazurkiewicz managed all these accomplishments as a young man.

But there can be more to life than a career of power and prestige in political or business or athletic circles.

Just ask the man now better known by many simply as "Father Tony."

The blond, broad-shouldered Mazurkiewicz is a Carmelite priest teaching at Mount Carmel, and like many clergy, he is not concerned with those things. He has taken vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Mazurkiewicz, 36, instead finds peace in daily prayer, the brotherhood of the Carmelites, teaching students and serving others.

"It's like weaving our lives with God," he said. "It's like a big sewing machine."

In August, he started teaching morality to juniors at Mount Carmel - in the same classrooms where he started his own spiritual journey.

The teenage years

Mazurkiewicz grew up in Glenwood, where he lived with parents Larry and Laura and his sister, Tina.

While he was in eighth grade, he decided to attend Mount Carmel after watching a varsity football game.

Once he started high school in 1988, Mazurkiewicz quickly demonstrated his talents in both academics and football. His Spanish teacher, Father "Padre" Benjamin Aguilar - now a fellow Carmelite - said Mazurkiewicz aced his daily quizzes.

Aguilar also noted Mazurkiewicz's interest in religion and suggested he think about becoming a priest.

"I think I saw that he was just a very disciplined young man," Aguilar said. "He had a lot of energy as well, a lot of passion.

"Whenever I spoke about a religious topic or an ethical topic or a moral topic, he was always all ears. He was like a sponge."

But this wasn't yet the time for Mazurkiewicz to hear his calling. He was focused on his studies and winning football games.

During his freshman and sophomore seasons, he played defensive back and running back for the Caravan. When he moved up to the varsity, he played safety.

"At the time, I loved the hitting," Mazurkiewicz said. "The physical side of the game was good for me to let go of the energy."

Mount Carmel alumni director Jim Civik said Mazurkiewicz was a starter on the 1989 and 1990 state championship teams. His teammates named him a captain for his senior year. School officials said he recorded 115 tackles and eight interceptions during his varsity career.

Don Sebestyen, a former Mount Carmel defensive backs coach who is the principal at Providence Catholic High School, called Mazurkiewicz one of the smartest kids he coached.

"He had a killer instinct," Sebestyen said. "He knew how to use it and bring it on, and you got to game day and he'd turn it loose - I'm glad I wasn't playing against him."

Although he was a hitter on the field, it soon hit Mazurkiewicz that there was a bigger picture. He said his senior year retreat, Kairos, played a pivotal role in his spiritual life.

"It was an eye-opening experience with God," he said. "(But) I wouldn't have considered myself a 'holy roller' then and not even now."

Mazurkiewicz graduated from Mount Carmel in 1991. He was third in his class - behind two valedictorians - and he was accepted into Yale University.

The Yale years

The success Mazurkiewicz had in high school continued at Yale. He majored in history and played strong safety for the Bulldogs.

The teams were less successful than he was used to at Mount Carmel, going 3-7 his sophomore year, 5-5 his junior year and 3-7 his senior year. But Yale sports publicity director Steve Conn said Mazurkiewicz was a team captain there his senior year and he led the defense with 41 solo tackles, 56 assisted tackles and three interceptions.

Throughout his football career, he attended church every Sunday, football wounds and all.

"We'd have running, and then we'd go to Mass," he said. "You'd see a row of guys with ice bags going to Mass."

Mazurkiewicz graduated from college in 1996 with a degree in history. Spurred by his father, a Vietnam veteran, he wrote his senior thesis about the Vietnam War. The paper detailed the Tet Offensive's effect on Marines' morale.

Not knowing what to do upon graduation, he signed up for the Peace Corps. But he didn't follow through, instead accepting a teaching gig at Mount Carmel in 1997.

Later that year, a full-time teaching job opened up for him on the East Coast. He taught Spanish, English and history in Boston in a sixth- through eighth-grade public school run by the Edison Project, a for-profit education firm run by a former Yale president.

While in Boston, he applied to and was accepted into the master's program at Harvard University's School of Education.

"I was looking online at the classes, and most of them were theology classes," he said. "Any conversation about God seemed interesting to me."

Journey to the priesthood

Mazurkiewicz returned to Mount Carmel Hi gh School in 2000 after Aguilar reached out to him. His former teacher suggested he might want to live with the Carmelites for a year in the campus priory - with no obligation.

"The Carmelites have a combination of community life, prayer life and ministry," Mazurkiewicz said. "I had been in so many communities, and this seemed to fit."

Mazurkiewicz wrote a letter asking the Carmelites if he could live with them for a year, and they agreed to it. Once again, he taught at the school and coached baseball and football.

Mazurkiewicz said his parents were surprised by his decision, but they wanted him to be happy. In fact, his mother now works as the secretary to Mount Carmel president Father Carl Markelz.

"My dad was looking for an early retirement with the Yale degree," Mazurkiewicz quipped.

As part of his path to becoming a Carmelite, Mazurkiewicz lived from 2001 to 2002 in a Carmelite home in Houston, living a life of daily prayer and communion.

The following year, he lived, prayed and meditated in a Carmelite home in Middleton, N.Y. He spent six months at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, Calif., then worked at St. Agnes, in Phoenix, Ariz., from 2003 to 2005.

Mazurkiewicz enrolled at Washington (D.C.) Theological Union in 2005, earning degrees in philosophy and theology in 2009.

In May 2009, Mazurkiewicz became an ordained priest. He served his first year at St. Raphael Parish in the predominately Latino South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles.

As of August, he is back at Mount Carmel, teaching morality to three junior classes and making recruiting visits to elementary schools.

Outside his job, he likes playing basketball, skiing and fly fishing when he can. An avid reader, Mazurkiewicz enjoys historical books, as well as the works of Hermann Hesse, who authored Siddhartha, which is about a boy's spiritual journey.

Typical of his order, Mazurkiewicz is a humble man. He had reservations about being featured in a story, wanting the focus to be on his Carmelite brothers. Mazurkiewicz lives with them in a Carmelite house at 54th Street and University Avenue in Chicago's Hyde Park community.

Every morning, the Carmelites awaken at 6 a.m. for prayer, silence, Mass and the singing of psalms. The evenings end more or less the same way.

"This has happened for centuries on centuries," Mazurkiewicz said. "To continue that commitment to prayer has been life-giving."

Egypt - Welcome Back Carter Redux: Are the President's Viziers Helping Tack The Bad Guys?

As Tunisia was exploding with texts and Tweets, Tunisian cab driver picked up the lady I love in Chicago's Gold Coast. The cabbie remarked, "This is Historic! I came to America because I could not make a living in Tunis and now with technology thousands of my people are making a change."

Thousands of people have Tweeted the call for change across the Middle East. Egypt, long an American ally is broiling. Yeman, where Islamist terrorists launched the attack on the U.S.S. Cole and established training camps for Al Quaeda, is bursting with protest. Among the thousands of people - not the first wave of protestors - the enemies of man lurk to pounce on power.

Power is what this is all about: political power for the Marxist Islamists. Once the wave of protests begin the cobweb creatures of control scurry out and toss bombs and bricks and bullets. The subsequent crackdowns ensure that the Whole World Watches.

This is Tehran 1979 all over again. President Obama is of the very same intellectual mind-set as Jimmy Carter -empty platitudes eclipse policy and statesmanship.

Thus it is all about The First Person in Chief, "When I was in Cairo, shortly after I was elected President, I said that all governments must maintain power through consent, not coercion," Obama added. "That is the single standard by which the people of Egypt will achieve the future they deserve." Always.

Last evening, President Obama all but tossed Hosni Mubarak to the Muslim Brotherhood - a clique of anti-Western fanatics that has assassinated with impunity and carefully managed a public relations enterprise that British Petroleum could have used in the recent Gulf Oil Spill. Since 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood has employed Fascism in its pre-WWII anti-British Campaigns and morphed Soviet Communism under Gamal Naser to wrest the Suez Canal in 1956 and melded Islam with International Marxism and Terrorism from the constant warfare with Israel and the West into this terrible and bloody Millennium.

In 1979, I watched the over throw of the Shah of Iran via the old timey Network News (CBS,NBC,ABC) and saw President Carter, for whom I worked to become President, dither and mouse the wave of events that brought a Theocratic Despotism and all of the slaughter of the democratic demonstrators who actually toppled the Shah - a louse of the first order. Dr. Carter's Advisers were Ramsey Clark types* - American Navel Gazers who wallow in collective guilt and flagellate scorn on every aspect of the American and Western way of life. These are the tweedy mopes who actually find poignancy in the deconstructive and divisive yowlings of Noam Chomsky and dimmer bulbs like Bill Ayers ( who has made frequent visits to Cairo on behalf of Hamas with his odious life partner Bernardine Dohrn - imagine that) and Ward Churchill. Policy in Education trumped scholarship and esoteric Marxist rhetoric ended discourse in the last thirty years.

Trendy DeConstructionists and semiotic totalitarians* ( homage to Gary Saul Morson NU Tolstoy scholar and Slavic languages expert)replaced serious humanists and the canon became as watered down as Miller Beer.

However, the dangerous coffee-table scribes are academics with genuine talents like Edward Said. I studied Said in graduate school at Loyola of Chicago in the 1980's under Dr. Alan Frantzen. Frantzen was respectfully dismissive of literary text critiques that deconstruct meaning in a book in order to control dialog among people. Northwestern University Tolstoy expert, Gary Saul Morson, calls such clever and fashionable charlatans 'semiotic totalitarians.'

Semiotic Totalitarians emgage in preemptive censorship. They reduce language to signifiers ( Bill Clinton's "That depends upon what 'IS' is.") Thus langauge means anything and nothing. Most recently, President Obama's address on Egypt last night - “We urge the Egyptian authorities not to prevent peaceful protests nor block communications, including on social media sites. . . ."continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people and work with their government in pursuit of a future that is more just, more free and more hopeful."

No matter what Mubarak does, says, or even thinks this White House, which harkened back to President Obama's Muslim lecture in Cairo a couple of years ago will favor "the rights of the Egyptian people and work with their government in pursuit of a future that is more just, more free and more hopeful." The Muslim Brotherhood and the viziers around President Obama ( Hamas friendly, anti-American Exceptionist, and semiotic totalitarian thick) will see to that, I am afraid.

If President Obama is President Carter ( even Vice President Biden refused to call Mubarak a dictator) we may witness the fall of Mubarak, a deconstructed Egypt and solid base of power for some very bad people - the Muslim Brotherhood.


Only last week, a prominent voice of Obama thought, Jim Wall - leftist secularist religion writer ( how's that for deconstruction) called upon the Obama Administration to get more Islmaist and anti Israel.

Obama and Khalidi were close enough so that when Khalidi was being honored before he left Chicago for New York, State Senator Barack Obama was the main speaker at Khalidi’s going away dinner.

That dinner later emerged as a campaign issue during Obama’s primary struggle with Hillary Clinton, when Obama’s relationships at the University of Chicago were first used to paint him as a political radical. Khalidi was linked in that “radical attack” on Obama with Professor Bill Ayers, a former Weatherman, and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s outspoken United Church of Christ Chicago pastor.

When Obama became president of the United States. he unfortunately did not turn to his colleague Rashid Khalidi for counsel on the Middle East. Instead, he continued the practice of his two presidential predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and surrounded himself not with viziers, but with courtiers.

Nizámu’l Mulk gives a definition in that same Medieval Sourcebook on the subject, On the Courtiers and Familars of Kings which includes this 11th century definition of a courtier:

*to·tal·i·tar·i·an, adj.
of or relating to a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state
sem·i·o·tics, n.
the study of signs and symbols, how meaning is constructed and understood

Capitol Fax Brag - Change History -" No Fact, Just Brag"

Rich Miller has a clearing house of Illinois political news. He also pens prose musings for the Sun Times. Capitol Fax Blog then gins up approval of Miller's columns like Hedley LaMarr whoops up the boys for Governor LePetomain. "I didn't hear a Harrumph, from that guy! ( Harrumph, Harrumph, Harrumph!)

Today Rich Miller portays Civil War historian Shelby Foote with am Illinois factoid that perfectly matches the Media's demand that Rahm be ballot worthy - he is; they did. Even Miller's Civil War guy defeated the vile post-Bellum Appelate Court of Illinois. Here is where Gabby Miller snaps his galluses - them's suspenders, Son - too broadly, over-plays his hand and tosses out facts that are looser than a box of snuff:

A few years ago, former Chicago Schools CEO Paul Vallas wanted to run for office in Illinois but was told he couldn’t. Unlike Judge Smith and Rahm Emanuel, Vallas sold his Chicago house when he moved to Pennsylvania. He registered to vote in Philadelphia and then he voted there. He made his intent crystal clear with those actions, so he couldn’t run for office in Illinois.

Smith and Emanuel, on the other hand, had no intention of ever becoming citizens of another state, and they clearly proved it. Case closed.

If Rahm’s elected mayor, he ought to name a street after Judge Smith.

Well, Suh! Facts are Troub'lim' things - It was the summer of '05 -August 4 to be Preezact and Paul Vallas sold his house in Morgan Park to be sure - some time ter'other when Blago won and Paul went to Philly, but purchased a home in Palos Heights after having rented for five years - loooooooong before he took a charge at running for anything . . . but he was not allowed to do, by dint of "Chicago Circuit Court Judge Raymond Jagielski siding with the Illinois State Board of Elections and Cook County Clerk David Orr, granting their motion to dismiss Vallas' petition to be declared an Illinois resident."
. You see, H'yar, Sharon and the boys, live up this away and Paul commuted on weekends, but the ink-slingers did not see a Judge Smith parallel - No, Suh! You see that election in '06 was Blago Happy Days and Media Hugs! Yes, Suh! Time for my vittles and branch water! Elihu, bring on my spoon vittles and meat provenders! ( spits wad of Mail Pouch Plug)