The Rising Amoral Majority and the Conscientious Objectors

There was a move to 'do away' with all grades, back in the 1970's. It was laughed out of the faculty meeting. Grades matter. The world works by fractions and whole numbers and algorithms get grants. Kids need feedback - you can not mix ammonia with bleach unless you want to make mustard gas and if you do, you are in violation of the Geneva Convention. The idea of nixing grades was the advent of the "who's to say" movement that has fundamentally changed American life. When idiots are tolerated with courtesy and their point of view is considered, you are helping make mustard gas for mental defectives or amoral monsters. I began teaching in the late 1970's at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, Illinois. There were grades and there were rules.

The rules tended to connect with the Latin plurale tatum ( noun that only appears in plural - e.g. scissors, trousers & etc.) - Mores. Mores are the accepted norms of a society. We no longer toss the chamber pot full of solid and liquid waste into the gutter, unless it happens to be a publicly funded art display.

When I was a baby teacher we a had zero tolerance for cigarette smoking in the school. One of the more onerous tasks incumbent upon a teacher was checking the stalls of the Men's room near one's classroom. I had the misfortune of catching one of my favorite students nailing a Marlboro, having been excuse for nature's call from study hall. I 'busted' the guy. It was his fifth smoking violation. He was expelled - no kidding. He finished his last two years at Kankakee Eastridge Campus, opened a bar, and is now a member of the Kankakee County Board. He understood the mores and now drafts the policies for the whole County.

School Dress was clearly defined. Violations of school dress could lead to a suspension. In the 1980's the biggest headache was getting guys to eschew wearing Urbane Cowboy Hats and wearing socks. Why anyone but an ambulance chaser would wear a cowboy hat plumb evades me.

Harvey Cox wrote a book at that was embraced by Vatican II charged clergy and some laymen, The Secular City was call for religion to become more secularized and urban - big city. The idea behind this daffy tome was that conservative Faiths - mainline Protestant and especially the Roman Catholic Church were harming human beings with attention to the rules.

Remember Birth Control? That is about as morally a hot-button-issue question today as would be 'You think men will fly?' No. Not on their own. Birth Control pills were the gateway drugs for abortion. Abortion and Euthanasia are the endgame of Planned Parenthood. Condoms, AIDS, HIV prevention all became hugely important when teenagers were encouraged in the classroom, on TV, in fashion and even in Church to explore their sexuality.

Tiny little girls were encouraged to dress provocatively and accept sexuality like it was a Happy Meal toy.

Now nearly forty-years after my initiation in the world of education things have . . . evaporated. Mores mean little, until they conflict with accepted agendas. Then as the New York Times argues in its lisping TV ads -'There's no debating it.'

Amoral does not mean immoral. An immoral act occurs when a person transgresses the laws, customs and norms. It might be considered immoral to engage in sexual relations with a raccoon, but who's to say? Capt. Ahab of Melville's Moby Dick was amoral - he cared not for God or Man. He hunted the White Whale. Matters not, because high school students no longer study, et alone read Moby Dick, Beowulf, Oliver Twist, Vanity Fair, Paradise Lost, Henry V, Richard III, Canterbury Tales, or Huckleberry Finn. No codes, norms or rules to study.

Amoral means the lacking of, or a total absence of any mores. An amoral person could care less. He/she is going to do exactly what he/she wants to do. He or She is going to do whatever feels or seems good to them and damn the costs - justify. Attribute opposition to later-day taboos - Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, or Stupidity. They are all such Rubes!

Bullying no longer means beating the living shit out of an underclassman. Bullying is code for homophobia. Bullying can be a T-shirt, a glance, a frown, an essay against Gay Marriage, a thought.

Marijuana is illegal in every country in the world - even Holland. It is tolerated. Tobacco is not.

Public lewdness is a matter for the ACLU. Lady Gaga has an HBO special.

Abortion is legal. Anti-abortion attitudes are not tolerated. Marriage between a man and woman is for the purpose of creating a family. . . for now. We are told that human kind has evolved away from marriage, but that Gay Marriage is crucial.

Perhaps we are headed for an Amoral Majority. When we must all agree that nothing really matters, we are going to experience the most intolerant and oppressive time in human history. Values, standards, grades, rules, norms and laws agreed upon are what keeps us human.

Who's to say has had its day . . .please, God.

Here's some examples - why should tax-payers be required to pay for abortion? Because it is legal?

Re: “Fungible funds and Planned Parenthood,” April 29 letter to the editor.

I submit that in order to address the issue of fungibility in tax funding for Planned Parenthood, an entirely different tack be taken.

For those who object to their tax dollars potentially funding abortion either directly or obliquely, let’s create a waiver, analogous to conscientious objector status. This waiver would give them an exemption for their portion of tax monies that would go to family planning programs. To keep people from using this loophole just for a tax break, the family planning conscientious objectors would be audited regularly (similar to the audits proposed for Medicaid recipients to ensure that no federal funding is being used for abortions). They would be required to make pertinent medical records available to the IRS on a regular basis. They would have to obtain their own reproductive health care and screenings from private providers that do not receive federal funding.

If they or anyone in their household seeks an abortion, their conscientious-objector status would be revoked and their back tax breaks would have to be repaid to the IRS. That should square things up.

Jean Wall, Denver

This letter was published in the May 4 edition Denver Post.

Here's a most Orwellian prontend of things to come and already here:

Army: court-martial Chaplains for "religious, conscience" objection to homosexuality.
3/24/2011 9:00:00 AM
By chaps@prayinJesusname.org -PrayinJesusName.org

The U.S. Army has officially threatened military chaplains they must either embrace the new openly homosexual military, resign from service, or face court-martial for their "religious, conscience" objections. The Pray In Jesus Name Project has obtained leaked copies (unintended for media disclosure) of a private briefing given to chaplains, threatening them with court-martial unless they compromise their Christian message.

Christian Chaplains who speak out against homosexual sin can be accused of "harassment" by homosexuals and face disciplinary action simply for voicing their religious views outside the "context" of their religious ministry.


[Chaps' interpretation: The phrase "vocational reflection" is not-so-subtle code language meaning "reconcile with homosexuality or find another line of work." The phrase "do NOT tolerate harassment" is code language for "don't speak against sin, for ANY reason, or you the Chaplain will be disciplined for quoting the Bible, and the homosexual protected."] More fine print from the text from the Army's presentation is directly quoted as follows:


ARMY: "You may hear the language, 'Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual', or 'GLB' at certain times in reference to homosexual Soldiers. As of today the Army has not directed the use of the any specific reference term but has accepted the usage of these terms."


ARMY: "You may, in appropriate circumstances and within the limitations of law and policy, express your moral or religious beliefs regarding sexual orientation. However, you may NOT make statements detrimental to good order and discipline and must obey lawful orders. You do NOT have the right to refuse duty or duty assignments based on a moral objection to another's sexual orientation."


[Chaps' Interpretation: the phrase 'appropriate circumstances' will soon mean ONLY in the context of Sunday chapel, thus Chaplains can be punished for private counseling, or speech outside of chapel, or speech inside chapel on Monday through Saturday, just as I was punished in writing 3 times for quoting the Bible in optional Saturday chapel services.]


ARMY: "You remain obligated to follow orders that involve interaction with others who are homosexual even if an unwillingness to do so is based on strong, sincerely held moral or religious beliefs. As expressed in the Manual for Courts-Martial regarding a Soldier's obligation to obey orders: 'the dictates of a person's conscience, religion, or personal philosophy cannot justify or excuse the disobedience of an otherwise lawful order.'"


[Chaps' Interpretation: the phrase 'lawful order' will mean ANYTHING ANTI-CHRISTIAN COMMANDERS WISH and judges will back up the Commander, not the Chaplain. I know from personal experience, when a Navy Judge said my Navy Commander could punish me, a chaplain, for disobeying "lawful orders" because I was quote "worshiping in public."]


Bottom Line: Army Chaplains will now be punished at court-martial for "disobedience" of "lawful orders" if they dare to express their religious views about homsexual sin outside of Sunday chapel.


MILITARY CHAPLAINS FACE CHARGES OF "HATE SPEECH"


The Pray In Jesus Name Project was featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week, with YOUR fax petition campaign to Congress getting noticed. Reporter Ann Rogers interviewed military chaplains who fear persecution by the Obama Administration, especially now that open homosexual service is being fast-tracked in violation of the rights of many Christian troops.


"The majority of 3,000 chaplains are theologically conservative Christians, many of whom worry that they will be accused of hate speech if they preach that same-sex relationships are sinful," the paper reports.


"The Pray in Jesus Name Project, which supports conservative chaplains, has called the Pentagon guidelines the 'plan to purge Christians' from chaplaincy.


"'Now the Obama Administration is officially on record pressuring chaplains to quit the service if they cannot 'reconcile' with homosexual sin that violates their Christian conscience,' said a petition on its website.


"The 'purge' is a clause that says chaplains have an option to leave the military that isn't open to others who object to serving with gay troops. They can ask their faith group to withdraw its endorsement, which would trigger a discharge.


"Retired Brig. Gen. Douglas E. Lee, a former Army chaplain who endorses for six conservative Presbyterian bodies, is less alarmist, but shares the concern that protection of religious freedom may erode.


"The fundamental issue for us is morality, but the debate is being purposely framed as a civil rights or a discrimination issue," he said.


"Homosexuality is 'just another sin that affects soldiers, airmen, guardians and Marines. However no other category that we would declare as sin is ... claiming civil rights to be a serial adulterer.'


"Any charges of hate speech will 'depend on how the chaplains handle themselves,' said the Rev. John Gundlach, a retired Navy chaplain and endorser for the United Church of Christ, which affirms gay sexuality."


Charges of hate speech against military chaplains? Even the pro-homosexual liberals admit the charges are coming. The full article may be read here. But suffice it to say we need to petition Congress to protect our Christian troops and Chaplains right to open religious expression, the same way the Obama Administration is now flaunting open homosexual expression.


The Obama Administration has now begun writing policies that will result in discharge of Christian Chaplains and troops who cannot "reconcile" with homosexual sin. Below are four shocking proof examples revealing how the purge has already begun, and why we must fight back NOW by demanding Congress investigate and pass strong laws defending our troops right to religious freedom starting with H.R. 268 which has not yet passed in 6 years, clearly defending military chaplains' right to pray publicly "in Jesus name."


1. Report: Chaplains who can't "reconcile" with homosexual sin will be separated.


The newly released Pentagon plan to purge Christians entitled "DADT Report: Support Plan for Implementation" specifically requires Christian chaplains to "reconcile" with homosexual sin or face administrative discharge. It repeats twice on pages 30 and 57: "If a chaplain is unable to reconcile serving with or caring for gay and lesbian Service members with his or her faith, the chaplain may request that the relevant endorsing agency withdraw its ecclesiastical endorsement for him or her. This would trigger an administrative separation under DoDI 1304.28." Wow. Now the Obama Administration is officially on record pressuring Chaplains to quit the service if they cannot "reconcile" with homosexual sin that violates their Christian conscience. This "plan" alone should alarm the new conservative Congress to the need for bold protection of Chaplains' rights. Let's help...


2. Chaplains will have religious "freedom" only in context of Sunday chapel.


The Pentagon report dubiously promises to protect Chaplains' freedoms, "in the context of their religious ministry," claiming they won't need to change their sermons, counseling, prayers, or worship. But speaking from personal experience as a former Navy chaplain, I can decode the secret word "context" to mean chaplains clearly WON'T have religious freedom outside of that "context." As proof, in my case the Navy twice declared the only safe religious "context" was ONLY inside a Sunday chapel. As a chaplain I was punished in writing three times for quoting the Bible EVEN inside chapel, but since the optionally-attended worship service was held on a Saturday, not a Sunday, Navy investigators sided with the Commander who punished my sermons. Later a Navy judge ruled that my Thursday prayers outside the White House were "not public worship" which was only safe in the context of Sunday chapel, instead finding me guilty of the misdemeanor crime of "worshipping in public" in uniform which he said was NOT protected by federal law, so my commander could order me to stop "worshipping in public" in uniform. Say what? Because my prayers in Jesus name were not said in the proper "context," they were properly punished, the Navy judge ruled to punish the chaplain.


3. Battalion Commander relieved of duty for refusing to "endorse" open sin.


One Senior Officer in the Army National Guard has already been relieved of his battalion-level commanding officer job after stating his conscience would not allow him to participate in "re-education" training that will soon force young Christians to learn how to respect homosexual sin. "Today is my last day in command," the career Army officer told WND.com, anonymously for fear of losing his retirement. "From now on I'll be a staff officer without a bunch of people working under me, so I won't have the moral conflict with having to enforce this new policy on them...When I retire I will speak on the record. I don't know how much I can do before that. Sooner or later I'm going to get told to shut up. If I continue to make statements, it might become a witch hunt. I don't want to lose my retirement unless it comes to the point they tell me I have to attend the [pro-'gay'] training."


4. Left demands punishment of Christian Colonel who is taking a stand.


Atheist bloggers and anti-Christian complainers are demanding punishment for one heroic career Army officer, Lt. Col. Stacy L. Maxey, who said he will exercise his legal right to take a stand for Jesus against homosexual sin by publicly expressing his Christian beliefs.


In a letter to Stars and Stripes entitled "Won't Choose To Deal With It," Lt. Col. Maxey took a stand, and wrote:


"So let me see if I understand this: The Defense Department is proposing to let people who choose to live a homosexual lifestyle serve 'openly' in the armed forces, but won't allow Christians such as myself the freedom to 'openly' share the good news of Christ with our co-workers - as the faith we've chosen requires?


"DOD officials plan to tell servicemembers who have a problem with those living a homosexual lifestyle to 'learn to deal with it,' but they are prepared to counsel and/or slap Christians with paperwork if someone feels "offended" by our witness? Wearing sexual lifestyle choices on your sleeve is OK, but not your faith?


"Military chaplains who teach that homosexuality is antithetical to and incompatible with Christianity (which it is) can either muzzle their objections or 'leave,' but gays will be permitted to parade their lifestyle choices in front of all?


"Bottom line: So I'm free to express myself if I'm a homosexual, but not if I'm a Christian? What disgraceful hypocrisy.


"Here's the truth: I will continue to witness to who I want, when I want and where I want. My commitment to my God supersedes my commitment to the DOD and, if officials are upset about that, then I guess they can 'learn to deal with it.'


"Department of Defense? More like the Department of Double Standards."


Priests in Catholic High Schools are trageted by Gay Fascists.

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, March 29, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Catholic priest has come under fire from homosexual activists for “anti-gay indoctrination” after he taught his students what the Catholic Church teaches about homosexuality in his high school course on gay “marriage.”

Equality Matters, a media and communications group for homosexual rights, on their website accused the chaplain of Indianapolis’ Cardinal Ritter High School of “spouting a stream of homophobic and offensive falsehoods about same-sex marriage and gay people in general to a classroom full of students.”

Fr. John Hollowell, chaplain and teacher at the private Catholic high school, had posted the videos of the lectures on YouTube and his personal blog last week.

In the lectures he explains Catholic teaching on homosexuality. However, his presentation was denounced as “anti-gay lecturing” by the media watchdog group, who said that the priest “calls homosexual acts ‘an abomination’, advocates for ex-gay therapy, and rails against same-sex adoption and marriage by comparing homosexuality to alcoholism and prostitution.”

The priest is currently in Rome and says he won’t be able to respond to the accusations until his return.

In the videos, however, Fr. Hollowell is seen challenging his students to think about and discuss the “difficult” issues of homosexuality and homosexual “marriage.”

He points out that the Bible, in Leviticus 20:13 and other places in the New Testament, calls “homosexual acts” an “abomination.” “You have two options,” he says, “God is cool with homosexuality, homosexual acts, I should say … or what the Bible and the Church say about it is correct … There’s no middle ground on that issue.”

The priest refers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official book of the teachings of the Church, which states that homosexuals “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” and condemns any form of “unjust discrimination” against them.

However, the Catechism also states that homosexual inclinations are “objectively disordered” and homosexual acts are “acts of grave depravity.” “Under no circumstances can they be approved,” it says, explaining that people with the homosexual inclination are called to chastity.

Fr. Hollowell points out that human beings are able to choose either to act or not to act on given inclinations. Those who experience homosexual attraction, he said, are called upon to refrain from acting on their inclination. Just because someone has an “inclination to something” (for example, drinking alcohol, homosexual acts, etc.) does not make them “less culpable for acting on it,” he said.

Equality Matters claims that 70 percent of Catholics and the majority of Americans now believe that messages such as Fr. Hollowell’s lead to higher rates of homosexual teen suicide.

Hollowell, however, argues that the position he advocates is one of compassion. “If you’re struggling with homosexual attraction, the Church’s first message is compassion,” he told his students, “helping them overcome it is not the first inclination.”

Programs such as Courage are in place to help people “who want it,” he said, “we’re not out there telling people they need to change.”

Fr. Hollowell also described the “key Catholic social teaching” on homosexuality and its relation to the “common good.” By common good is meant “what every human person does affects me and affects everyone else,” said Fr. Hollowell, explaining why students should be concerned about homosexual “marriage” legislation in other states. “The Church sees society as one body, therefore all are affected,” whether we realize it or not.

Food for thought . . . more probably fuel for the fires?

James J. Shields (May 10, 1810 – June 1, 1879) - Illinois Giant

James J. Shields: Tyrone Native
Served America Well—and Often
By Pat Hickey
Special to TheWildGeese.com

No textbook tells the story of James J. Shields, the man whose perch in the Capitol is coveted by admirers of Ronald Reagan, but his personal story and resume are among the most impressive of any American, in any era.

Shields' attainments are even more remarkable when you consider his modest start. He arrived in America in the 1820s a penniless Irish Catholic immigrant, without a friend or patron.


By the time he died in 1879 at age 73, Shields had ably served as a soldier, a teacher, a lawyer, a judge, an Illinois Supreme Court justice, and a state auditor. These were in addition to his service as a state representative, a brevet major general in the Mexican War; military governor of Tampico, Mexico; territorial land agent; U.S. senator for, respectively, Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri; and brigadier general of Union troops.

Shields possessed "a compelling personal story," in the words of today's political speak, one that made him a national hero 150 years ago. Today he is perhaps most generally known as a footnote to history the only man who ever challenged young Abraham Lincoln to a duel.


The Tyrone-born Shields associated with other prominent Americans, as well. He was a loyal and constant friend of Lincoln nemesis Senator Stephen A. Douglas, cordial with General and President Zachary Taylor, Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, and Senator Henry Clay, and was the commanding officer of Capt. Robert E. Lee in America's war with Mexico. Shields was, by all accounts, a courageous soldier, suffering wounds to his lungs at and legs in Mexico, and shoulder and arm at Kernstown, Va., where he defeated legendary Confederate commander "Stonewall" Jackson.

Shields is an enduring presence in Chicago, where Shields Avenue runs alongside Comiskey Park, the home of the White Sox. Clearly, Illinois, which selected Shields' statue for its first entry into the Statuary Hall in 1893, understood his contribution to the state and the country.

The Irishman served Illinois from the time he arrived in America in 1822 or 1823 until he resigned his commission in the Civil War. He continued to serve his adopted country until his death in 1879.

Additional Resources

According to a monograph published by John Edgar Shields of Gaithersburg, Md., Shields can trace his origins to a general who died in the service of King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. He was born to Catholic parents Charles and Anne (McDonnell) Shields, on May 6, 1806, in Altmore, on the outskirts of Dungannon.

Most of Shields' biographers and acquaintances agree that he was educated by a "hedge" priest and later in a Protestant academy. He had a good classical training and was at home with Latin, Greek, Irish, Spanish, and French, in addition to English. He learned military tactics and swordplay from the Duke of Wellington's pensioners in and around Dungannon.

Outraged, Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel.
Some accounts, including William Condon's "Life of Major General Shields, Hero of Three Wars and Senator from Three States" (Chicago: 1900), state the young Shields went to sea and was shipwrecked and injured in Scotland prior to his arrival in America, providing a suitably harrowing start for such an adventure-filled life.

Shields eventually settled in downstate Kaskaskia, Ill. Here he taught school to French-speaking settlers, as well as American, and studied law. He put his martial skills to use in the Black Hawk War of 1832. Later that year, he gained admittance to the state bar and began a career in law and politics.

It was then that Douglas became Shields' life-long friend and political partner. This was the Age of Jackson, and most men in the West were Democrats, including Douglas and Shields.


In 1836, Shields was elected to the Illinois legislature. The Whigs there, including Abraham Lincoln, opposed Jackson's policies, setting the stage for Shields' entry into the national stage.

In 1839, Douglas helped Shields gain appointment to the post of Illinois state auditor. Shields insisted that debtors pay the state's bank the face value on money they owed it and not the devalued price. This stance angered Lincoln and the Whigs, but saved Illinois from economic ruin.

By 1842, Mary Todd, who had flirted with the handsome Shields, had refocused her attention on Lincoln. With Julia Jayne, she apparently collaborated with her future husband in crafting a series of demeaning articles about Shields written under a nom de plume. Outraged, Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel. (See sidebar.)

En route to the dueling ground, Lincoln apologized to Shields, and tried to never speak of the affair again.

In 1845, at Douglas' recommendation, President James K. Polk appointed Shields Commissioner of the Land Office in Washington. Shields in this role allocated public lands for railroad use, ensuring that the railways would continue to ably serve the rapidly expanding nation.


In Mexico, Shields served as governor general of Tampico. (Coincidentally, Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Ill.) Shields was wounded and nearly died at Cerro Gordo. An Irish-born Mexican army surgeon saved Shields' life by prodding a silk handkerchief through the sucking chest-wound with a ramrod. Shields recuperated and led the New York Irish and the South Carolina Palmettos to victory at Churubusco, Chapultepec, and Mexico City.

J. Sean Callan, in "Courage and Country: James J. Shields More Than Irish Luck" (1st Books Library, 2004) recounts Shields' rescue of two women in the siege of Mexico City. A popular street ballad of the 1850s refers to the exploit, when Shields, defying orders, entered the capital with a squad of volunteers, and rescued both women:

Of the all the conquering siege had brought,
More bravely against the Foe,
Than General Shields for Women wrought
Defying Mexico

Brevetted to major general, Shields returned to Illinois a hero of national renown. Polk appointed him Territorial Governor of Oregon in 1849, but Shields declined the office to run for the U.S. Senate from Illinois. The Illinois assembly elected him, but Shields' enemies and the Whigs refused him his seat, saying he had not met the time requirement for citizenship. The assembly, dismissing the claim, again elected Shields, who became the state's first Catholic senator.

Shields in California
James J. Shields arrived in the Los Angeles area in the summer of 1860, spending about a month there before moving to San Francisco on Aug. 1, 1860. For a time he lived in an apartment on the northeast corner of Mission and Brady. He later rented a law office on the northeast corner of Montgomery and California. On Aug. 15, 1861, he wed Mary Ann Carr in the city's St. Ignatius Church. Two Jesuits, Fr. Maraski, assisted by Fr. Colby S.J., officiated. Judge Calkery was best man and Susie Sweeney was bridesmaid. St. Ignatius was destroyed in the aftermath of the earthquake in 1906. Shields left San Francisco for the war Dec. 11, 1861, and returned in March 1863. He left the Golden State for good in mid-1865. (Source: J. Sean Callan, "Courage and Country: James J. Shields More Than Irish Luck")

Shields' devotion to Douglas left him vulnerable in Illinois, though. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, brokered by Douglas, unleashed a hunt for escaped slaves in so-called "Free States," stalling secession but enraging Northerners. Lincoln and Democratic rival Lyman Trumbull worked to unseat Shields. Trumbull replaced Shields in the Senate, and Shields left Illinois, settling in Minnesota Territory, where in 1857 he was elected U.S. Senator.

California was Shields' next stop. After Minnesota's Republicans defeated him at the end of his two-year term, Shields moved west. He wedded Mary Anne Carr, the daughter of a friend from County Armagh, and the marriage produced five children. He was appointed railroad commissioner for California, and also established a gold mine in Mazola, Mexico. The launch of America's Civil War in April 1861 returned Shields to uniform.

Lincoln appointed his old foe and friend brigadier general, and within a year Shields, though severely wounded, handed "Stonewall" Jackson his only defeat at the hand of the Union Army, at the Battle of Kernstown. Lincoln approved Shields' appointment to major general, but Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Trumbull and other enemies in Congress, blocked the promotion.

Suffering from his many war wounds and the rebuff offered by men who never saw combat, Shields resigned and returned to California.

In 1866, Shields and family moved to Carrollton, Mo., where he lectured and practiced law. In 1879, he was elected by the Missouri legislature to complete the term of a senator who died, and Shields represented a third state in the Union he fought to preserve. Due to ill health, he refused renomination and died June 1, while giving a speech in Ottumwa, Iowa.

In 1893, a bronze statue of Shields, in his major general's uniform, was placed in the Capitol, where it resides, albeit somewhat less securely, today.

Chicago native Pat Hickey grew up not far from "35th and Shields." He is director of development at Leo High School, once a largely Irish-American Catholic high school for boys whose students are now entirely African-American.


Women, Politics Lay Behind Shields-Lincoln Duel


Library of Congress
Lincoln, as he appeared about the time of Shields' challenge.
The duel between Abraham Lincoln and James J. Shields was to take place by the Mississippi River near Alton, Ill., on Sept. 22, 1842.

Earlier, there appeared in the Sangamo Journal, a Whig newspaper based in the state capital, a series of letters, under the nom de plume "Rebecca," attacking Shields. Shields' honesty, courage, integrity, and national origin were treated with abuse and sharp wit.

As state auditor, Shields had taken positions very much at odds with Whig policy, particularly irking rising Whig star and state representative Lincoln.

An 1898 book titled "Abraham Lincoln's Stories and Speeches," written and edited by J. B. McClure, suggests Shields was the victim of joshing rather than libel, receiving such jibes from "Aunt Becca" as: "Jeff tells me the way these fire-eaters do is to give the challenged party the choice of weapons, which, being the case, I tell you in confidence, I never fight with anything but broomsticks or hot water, or a shovelful of coals or some such thing; the former of which, being somewhat like a shillelah, may not be so very objectionable to him."

Shields demanded of the editor the name of the letters' author and was told it was Lincoln. The McClure book states that future wife Mary Todd was the author, with Lincoln shouldering the responsibility. Some historians, though, suggest that Lincoln collaborated with Todd and Julia Jayne on the letters.

Shields then confronted Lincoln. Though illegal in Illinois, the challenge had its own forward momentum, and the newspapers of the time publicized the pending duel for weeks. It would have been difficult for any man, let alone a politician on the rise, to back down.

As the individual challenged, Lincoln had the choice of weapons and chose large cavalry broadswords. Seconds argued the protocols, while cooler heads attempted to prevail. Shields would not be mollified, however. At one point, looking to deter Shields, the 6-foot 4-inch reached with his broadsword and cut a length of branch from a tree, showing Shields how his 7-inch height advantage provided an edge.

Eventually, though, bloodshed was avoided and Lincoln apologized, with Lincoln and Shields becoming friends.

Carl Sandburg, in his biography of Lincoln, treats the affair as a shabby episode in Lincoln's otherwise exemplary life. Sandburg states that a legend arose that Lincoln, when challenged, demanded as the dueling weapon "horse dung at five paces." The story, while apochryphal, suggests that Lincoln was embarrassed by the affair. During the Civil War, an officer asked the president of the duel, and an angry Lincoln advised him to never speak of it again. — Pat Hickey

RELATED RESOURCES
Books

Biographical Directory of American Congress, 1774-1961. U.S. Governmental Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Callan, J. Sean, "Courage and Country: James J. Shields More Than Irish Luck," New Authors Publishing, 2004 (Author's Note: Callan's treatment of the circumstances of the Lincoln-Shields duel and the psychological ramifications for both men is fascinating. Callan provides a wonderful account of Shields in the Civil War, as well.)
Condon, William Henry, "Life of Major General James Shields, Hero of Three Wars and Senator from Three States," Chicago: Press of Blakely Printing Co. c. 1900.
Dictionary of American Biography, Vol XVII. 106-107.
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds. Chicago, Munsell Publishing Co., 478-479. 1900.
Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, Vol. IX (1900), Vol. XIV (1915).
Sandburg, Carl, "Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years & The War Years," One-volume edition, New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1954.


Online

Shields statue story - Chicago Sun Times
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress on Shields
Catholic Encyclopedia on James Shields
The Lincoln-Shields Duel (excerpted from "Abraham Lincoln's Stories and Speeches," published by Rhodes & McClure Pub. Co., 1897.
Mexican War
The National Statuary Hall Collection
These stories were produced by Joseph E. Gannon and Gerry Regan, and edited by Gerry Regan.

Copyright © 2005 by GAR Media LLC and the author. This article may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior permission from the author. Direct questions about permissions to permissions@garmedia.com.

Illinois Progressives Will Not Tolerate Conscientious Objectors: Civil Unions Means Obey

Comment:

I don't take my moral compass from an organizati?on that spent decades covering up sexual abuse of minors and wouldn't have even apologized until they were publicly forced to do so.

It's clear they care more about religious dogma than Children. They're disgusting?.

Comment from Huffington Post article Gay Adoption in Illinois: Catholic Charities Turns Away Gay Couples

Rebuttal: -
"I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr". Francis Cardinal George, 2010.

The Clergy Sexual Abuse Scandal straw man is the gold standard shut down against any defence of Faith, Doctrine or Policy by the American Roman Catholic Church by anyone - Bishop, priest, or Catholic Breeder.

Be it Gay Marriage, the transfer of priest, ordination of women, hierarchical anything, altar servers, or fish fry Fridays just bring up the fact that homosexual and rarely heterosexual predator priests were transfered, or hidden away by some bishops and you have settled your position - that settles it. Not really.

Civil Unions was greased through the political landscape that is Springfield, Illinois. Democratic Senators and Representatives cut deals with sponsors of Civil Unions - the opening act for Homosexual Marriage. The vote passed and Governor Bishop Pat Quinn signed and will bless this secular sacrement on June 2, 2011 - 24 hours after the law goes into effect.

At that time, more importantly thousands of children hoping for adoption will be swept aside for the sake of the larger issue of Homosexual Unions clearing way for Illinois Homosexual Marriage and all that it entails - insurance, legal legerdmain, property, and politcal power.

Non married couples can not adopt from Catholic Charities - heterosexual, bisexual, polysexual, omni sexual or asexual - now, then and to be.

A Civil Union gives consenting homsexuals the rights all the ups and the extras that Sponsor Greg Harris* begged for while getting votes from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Agnostic legislators, without ever tossing out the notion of adoption. That came up after Civil Unions got to rolling. Immediately and loudly by the way. The Catholic Faith is the obstacle that Progressives have targeted ever since Jane Addams hijacked social justice from the Daughters if Charity and the Sisters of Mercy.

The Catholic Church will not bend on abortion and it will not cave-in on sexual proclivities as a human right.

Catholic Charities is being forced to take its Doctrine and put it where the sun never shines. We Won! Get Over It! Shut Up! That is Progressive dialogue.
e.g. from the Progressive voices on Huffington Post

Comment:

The Catholic Church should be ostracized for their treatment of children, and should not be given any authority or responsibi?lity over them.
It is children without anyone to cry to who are the most vulnerable?, and the Catholic Church has proven they are not to be trusted with them.
How can American citizens rationaliz?e giving tax money to catholic charities when Catholics have used donated money to pay off thousands of families billions of dollars in settlement?s over sexual abuse?
When considerin?g their assets to make such settlement?s, they asses all their money
How could Americans believe that Catholics are more capable or responsibl?e than someone who has no affiliatio?n with such sexual offenders?

Rebuttal: "I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr". Francis Cardinal George, 2010.

Progressive beauties are flat-out working on it, no kidding. Oscracize! Have a Gay Old Kristalnact on all of the Mackeral Snapper Breeders. What would be the life expentancy of a universally Gay planet?

Here is the reality.

Catholic Charities gets $ 30 million pieces of silver annually from Springfield to do effectively what the State of Illinois can not do - take care of children and find them loving parents and safe homes. Now, Progressives want not only to have services provided by the Church of Rome, but make everyone with any conscience that disagrees with Brahmin Progressive dicta to be silenced.

There is no room for conscientious objectors in Illinois. Cardinal George's prediction is on the money it seems.

>"I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr". Francis Cardinal George, 2010.

*

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) signed the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act Monday, and it will go into effect June 1. Despite opposition by groups including the Catholic Conference of Illinois, public opinion favored the law in the months before passage. A Chicago Tribune poll last September showed 57 percent of respondents approved the legalization of civil unions while 32 percent did not.

State Rep. Greg Harris (D), the measure's House sponsor who is openly gay, says public support was crucial to the bill’s passage. Mr. Harris says the broader public is starting to acknowledge a “difference between religious marriage and civil marriage, which is what the government does. I think that is an important distinction for a lot of folks.”

Harris added that "there was still work to do" to eventually pass gay marriage in Illinois, but he believed it would happen in the future.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2011/0131/Illinois-governor-signs-civil-unions-bill-is-gay-marriage-next

Cardinal George's Prediction - Faith in the Face of a Dark Future

"I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr". Francis Cardinal George, 2010.

Illinois Civil Unions will be blessed by Governor Pat Quinn at Millennium Park on June 2, 2011. Prior to that Bishop/Governor Quinn will see to it that homosexual couples will adopt children and that Catholic, Lutheran, or Jewish social service agencies be forced to drop adoption services.

There will be no conscientious objectors tolerated in Illinois.

Cardinal George, I believe made that prediction in reaction to the fury by which Gay Marriage advocates and their allies and pressure mounted on the thin shoulders of elected officials around the country where Same Sex Marriage initiatives took root - Massachusetts in particular. Governor Mitt Romney (R.) was especially spineless:

It's a complicated story. Massachusetts law prohibited "orientation discrimination" over a decade ago. Then in November 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered gay marriage. The majority ruled that only animus against gay people could explain why anyone would want to treat opposite-sex and same-sex couples differently. That same year, partly in response to growing pressure for gay marriage and adoption both here and in Europe, a Vatican statement made clear that placing children with same-sex couples violates Catholic teaching.

Then in October 2005, the Boston Globe broke the news: Boston Catholic Charities had placed a small number of children with same-sex couples. Sean Cardinal O'Malley, who has authority over Catholic Charities of Boston, responded by stating that the agency would no longer do so.

Seven members of the Boston Catholic Charities board (about one-sixth of the membership) resigned in protest. Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which lobbies for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equal rights, issued a thundering denunciation of the Catholic hierarchy: "These bishops are putting an ugly political agenda before the needs of very vulnerable children. Every one of the nation's leading children's welfare groups agrees that a parent's sexual orientation is irrelevant to his or her ability to raise a child. What these bishops are doing is shameful, wrong, and has nothing to do whatsoever with faith."

But getting square with the church didn't end Catholic Charities' woes. To operate in Massachusetts, an adoption agency must be licensed by the state. And to get a license, an agency must pledge to obey state laws barring discrimination--including the decade-old ban on orientation discrimination. With the legalization of gay marriage in the state, discrimination against same-sex couples would be outlawed, too.

Cardinal O'Malley asked Governor Mitt Romney for a religious exemption from the ban on orientation discrimination. Governor Romney reluctantly responded that he lacked legal authority to grant one unilaterally, by executive order. So the governor and archbishop turned to the state legislature, requesting a conscience exemption that would allow Catholic Charities to continue to help kids in a manner consistent with Catholic teaching.

To date, not a single other Massachusetts political leader appears willing to consider even the narrowest religious exemption. Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, the Republican candidate for governor in this fall's election, refused to budge: "I believe that any institution that wants to provide services that are regulated by the state has to abide by the laws of the state," Healey told the Boston Globe on March 2, "and our antidiscrimination laws are some of our most important."

From there, it was only a short step to the headline "State Putting Church Out of Adoption Business,"
Catholic Services for orphans will disappear. Care for orphans as well as most 'social justice' initiatives - poverty programs, convict rehabilitation, industrial training and food distribution were pioneered by Catholics in Illinois. Civil Unions for homosexual couples was signed into Illinois Law in 2010 to the huzzahs of the Media. Immediately, the ramifications became clear. Any and all religious disagreement as to abortion or gay marriage at any level will be silenced.

American Clergy Sexual Abuse scandals and subsequent episcopal mishandling there of are the immediate and most handy straw men to toss up in editorials, op-ed pages and protest signage. Planned Parenthood, NOW, Immigrant Amnesty, Anti-War and Third World Solidarity movements, Public Service Unions, politicians and the media work together to advance each others mutually approved Progressive Brahmin agenda.

It is important that abortion be euphemized Woman's Choice.

It is important that homosexuals be married.

It is important that women be indistinguishable from men, if the fetus comes to term that is.

The Catholic Church is a problem and it will be silenced. Cardinal George of Chicago has never caught a break from the time that he put on the Red Hat. No matter what, Cardinal George would do or say he found himself the target of hostile media.

The Illinois Legislature will go along with the Same Sex/Gay Marriage coalition. That is a political given.

Illinois Catholics can expect a steady Chicago media bombardment of non sequiturs and straw men Sex Abuse calumnies in order to pin down elected officials, as was done in Boston, Baltimore and elsewhere. Catholic lobbyists will be about as welcome as a laugh on Channel 11.

The sad reality is that the State of Illinois was incapable of treating children services all through the 1980's and early '90s - Catholic lobbyist for Illinois Bob Gilligan notes -

Gilligan recalled that in the 1990s “the department was in disarray, so the state turned to Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish and many good private agencies to help them.”

The state went from having 46,000 children in the foster care system in 1997 to 16,000 today.

“The reason that is, is because the private agencies stepped up to the plate and they cooperated with the state to provide adoptive homes for children that were lingering in foster care far too long,” Gilligan said.

The conference director called it a “tragedy” that the same religious principles held by faith-based agencies that were so helpful to the state in the past could now be rejected under the new civil unions law.

It is all about agenda power and money. The Catholic Church is facing a dark future at the hands of Progressives, whether the agenda be Race, Women, Public Service Labor, Anti-War, Feminist, Green, or Abortion.

Cardinal George's words above should sober Catholics. Francis Cardinal George's words are coming true.


http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/illinois-catholics-fight-to-keep-adoption-services/

Happy Mother's Day - Enjoy These Home Videos of the Late Osama Bin Laden

Happy Mother's Day! Today is a day to remember mom and what better way to celebrate than with a bouquet of videos. This set of five unguarded and homespun moments from the life of the Mother of all jerks, Osama Bin Laden, courtesy of Navy Seal Team Six reveal the bearded terrorist making sense only to mules, Noam Chomsky, MSNBC, New York Times, Michael Moore and Lady Gaga fans everywhere.

Treat Mom to Sunday Mass, flowers, hugs, brunch, but don't forget the OSB collection.

Crawford Has Innocence Project's Protess Media Pals Copping Pleas

The big onion, that is the Innocence Project's David Protess and his methods, is peeling away. More so the choir Protess not only preaches to, but writes the libretto for, Chicago's media seem to be hiding or copping a plea.

Michael Miner of the Chicago Reader, a pioneer news organ that has made challenging investigations, arrests, interrogations, indictments and convictions of every African American career criminal over the last three decades its centerpiece-even maintaining the canon of John Conroy (no longer working for The Reader) on its main page, presented the work of Pulitzer Prize winning newsman William Crawford - Chimera.

Chimera takes a second look at the role of Protess, Innocence Project and the Chicago Media in its crusade to free violent recidivist criminal Anthony Porter at the cost of Alstory Simon's freedom.

David Protess was 'relieved' of duties with his thirty year post as director of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism Innoncence Project, over ethics issues concerning his direction of student investigators.

Eric Zorn, a Protess acolyte, has an interesting comment on yesterday's article by Mike Miner. Miner, himself, appears to copp a plea having been a devout Innocence project choir boy now appearing to help peel the Protess onion.

Why is Crawford so sure Porter is guilty and Simon innocent? His analysis relies far too much on pugnacity and sarcasm to persuade anyone else half as much as it's persuaded him. But he does give us reason to think the original case against Porter might have been stronger than anyone who knows of the case only by its reputation supposes — and that Protess’s team of investigators (most of them students) did a rather superficial job of looking into it.

But Crawford’s strongest argument is implied: Porter is guilty because Simon is innocent. And in trying to get readers to accept the idea that Simon would confess to a murder he didn’t commit, Crawford accuses the Innocence Project of manipulation and misrepresentation — the kind of tactics Protess is now being held accountable for, as in this long article in Thursday’s Tribune, and this one in Wednesday’s Daily Northwestern.

Oh, heavens! Not pugnacity and sarcasm? Sarcasm? Personally, I think that sarcasm flavors the sauce that has been poured on the facts that manage to find their where into print in Chicago.

Crawford offers much more - real analysis and actually journalistic leg-work, as opposed to a chatty call over to the Medill School for some copy.

Crawford describes, largely in Simon’s words, a visit to Simon’s home in Milwaukee by Paul Ciolino, a private investigator for the Innocence Project. Crawford writes:

.Barely conscious, Simon was awakened from his stupor around 6:30 a.m. by two men, armed with guns, who identified themselves as ‘police investigators’ from Illinois. They accused Simon of having murdered two individuals years ago in Chicago’s Washington Park.
The uninvited guests [Ciolino and an assistant] told Simon that Inez [Jackson], his ex-wife, and "other witnesses" had signed statements alleging that Simon had indeed committed the murders. Despite protestations from Simon that the two men were "crazy" and that they leave his house at once, Simon said the two so-called police investigators then slapped a video into a portable player. As the tape rolled, a black male appeared on the screen, claiming to have been a witness to the Washington Park murders. The unidenfied man — who much later would be found to have been an actor hired and scripted by Ciolino — said Simon was the triggerman.

Simon’s intruders then piled on. After playing the video and producing a copy of Inez’s signed affidavit, and that of her nephew, Walter Jackson, and others also incriminating Simon, Ciolino pulled a pink rabbit out of a black hat. The private eye glanced into a mirror hanging on Simon’s wall and spotted a news report flashing across Simon’s TV, which was otherwise not viewable. The TV was turned to Milwaukeee’s CBS station, which was broadcasting a news report in which Inez is seen asserting that Simon had committed the murders…

The surreal, outrageous events unfolding around Simon that morning, in his own home, triggered a well of fear within.

“Ciolino kept tell me that they had all the evidence they needed to convict me. That I was going to go down for these murders and end up on Death Row, and there was nothing I could do about it. After seeing this story on TV, I was no longer just angry, I was scared to death. For the first time, I believed that I was actually going to be charged with committing the murders,” Simon stated in a sworn affidavit.

Now the icing on the cake. Ciolino told Simon that all Protess wanted was to free Porter, that when Porter got out, millions of dollars would be flying around from book deals, Hollywood movies and the like. And Simon would be sharing in the largesse. Simon had to move quickly, however, because Chicago police were on their way to Milwaukee at that very moment to arrst Simon and return him to Chicago in chains to face the music.

“He [Ciolino] convinced me that he was actually trying to help me by giving me a way out before the police got to my house to arrest me. He said that if I gave a statement saying I did the crimes in self-defense, that he would get me a free lawyer, that the professor would make it so I would only have to serve a short time in prison, and that when I got out, I’d be taken care of financially and would not have to work again,” Simon alleged.

If Simon agreed and confessed, Ciolino promised Simon that a Chicago lawyer, a veteran member of the defense bar by the name of Jack Rimland, would take Simon’s case. And Rimland would take it free of charge. Simple as pie.”

And Simon, who’d been insisting on his innocence, eventually “caved.”

To underscore his account, Crawford quotes from a laudatory 2002 Chicago magazine profile of Ciolino by Bryan Smith. Here’s Smith’s account of Ciolino’s showdown with Simon:

Ciolino has been threatened with subpoenas and indictments more times than he can count by people who make their living finding reasons to throw people in jail. As a result, he knows he has to do everything by the book.
He danced close to the edge in the Porter case in getting Alstory Simon, the suspected real killer, to confess to the murder.

Showing up unannounced at Simon's house in Milwaukee, Ciolino said that he was a private investigator and that he had a videotape of a witness who said Simon had committed the Washington Park murders. The "witness" was actually an employee of Ciolino's. Watching the bogus video, Simon remarked, "Man, that guy wasn't there. He ain't no witness."

'Yeah?" Ciolino shot back. "How do you know that if you weren't there?" At that point, recalls Ciolino, "he looked at me like, 'Why did I open my mouth?"' Afterwards, Ciolino convinced Simon that if he confessed on tape, things would go easier for him. "We just bull-rushed him, and mentally he couldn't recover," Ciolino says.

So there was a phony videotape of a “witness” to the murders. And as my article mentions, Simon did wind up with Jack Rimland as an attorney. And he got 37 years not two.

So was Crawford wrong about any part of this encounter?

Ciolino calls it a “fairy tale.”

There was no mention of two years, no mention of a movie deal, he says. Simon asked for the name of a lawyer and Rimland was one of three names Ciolino gave him. The CBS newscast, which Crawford suggests was a setup, was “just dumb luck.” But it was because Inez Jackson had confessioned on TV the night before that Ciolino visited Simon early the next morning. “You go late at night or early in morning. If I’m up there at noon, [by then] Inez has a couple of bullet holes in the back of her head,” Ciolino says.

He tells me he happened to run into Simon in prison years later. Simon thanked him for doing him a favor. “I’m out of here in 15 years [with good behavior],” Simon said. Ciolino says to me, “Porter was going to be smoked! Somebody think Rimland did a bad job for him!” He goes on, “I’ll tell you what I’ll tell anyone else. If anyone thinks I’d tell a lie for Anthony Porter they don’t know anything about me. I’ve yet to meet the guy I’m willing to fall on my sword for. I didn’t care about Anthony Porter particularly as a person. It was all about what happened. And there was no way Anthony Porter committed that murder. Alstory did that murder, there ain't no question about it.”

I should add one thing. Paul Meincke of Channel Seven visited Simon in prison back in 2006 and reported that Inez Jackson now claimed “she was coached and coaxed into fingering her husband with promises of money from future book and movie deals on the Anthony Porter story. As for Simon himself, Meincke tells me today that he came away from Simon’s cell “with the distinct impression he could have been telling the truth. He seemed to be fairly genuine.” Meincke says a photographer with him had the same reaction.

Here is Eric Zorn's reaction:

Eric Zorn:
Simon's multiple admissions, apology to the victims, etc. make it hard to credit the idea that he was simply acting to go along with some scheme, but, as I wrote (and as you noted I wrote) it would have been better for Simon to have gone through the plea process with a lawyer who had no ties whatever to those with a stake in the outcome of the Porter case. Just seems like common sense. As does, by the way, my suggestion to Simon and his new attorneys that they release Jack Rimland from any bonds of attorney/client privilege so he, Rimland, can tell us his version of this story.
One last thing -- I reiterate my suggestion to Mike Miner that his blog also contain his columns. It seems perverse and very 20th century to separate them.

Posted by Eric Zorn on May 6, 2011 at 5:33 PM | Report this comment

Most flavorful

Pulitzer Prize Winning Newsman William Crawford Seems to Have the Progressive "Justice" Industry Squirming

Ever since the Mumia/Burge/Innocence/Gotcha Medill/Lawsuit Lotto Lawyer collective began charging police officers, City, County, State and Federal Justice Systems with systemic race-based torture, false prosecution and intimidation via editorial board, no newsman has ever questioned the roots of the conglomerate formed to challenge arrests, investigations, prosecutions and incarcerations of career murderers, gang-bangers, arsonists and felons. Until now.

A conglomerate consisting of University based foundations like the MacArthur Center for Justice, the Center for Wrongful Convictions, the Medill School of Journalism, the Innocence Project, lawyers like G. Flint Taylor and Jon Loevy, the editorial boards of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times and iconic columnists have fed off of one anothers input, assent and agendas to undermine any and all confidence in American Justice and Law Enforcement and made millions of dollars for lawyers and their convicted felon clientele. They have exacted millions of dollars from tax-payers via settlements and judgments.

The Jon Burge saga was crafted over three decades of constant drum beats of electric shock, suffocations, burnings, beatings and games of Russian roulette upon black men. However no court has convicted any police officer for torture. Jon Burge was convicted of perjury after years of legal three-card-monte by G. Flint Taylor. The MacArthur Center for Justice's Locke Bowman* who was wildly unsuccessful in tagging Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan with torture charges, contributes a regular screed about Police racism, torture, abuse, intimidation and official cover-ups in the daffy pages of Chicago Huffington Post.

Now the onion seems to be getting peeled. Innocence Project Leader Prof. David Protess is exiled from the Medill classroom over charges of ethics violations and manipulation of student methods. One of David Protess's celebrated clients,Anthony Porter is the subject of William B. Crawford's investigation entitled Chimera.

The Chicago Reader, which for thirty years touted the contributions of John Conroy, if not the the Ahab of Jon Burge, certainly the harpoon tossed by G. Flint Taylor of the Peoples Law Office, offers the work of William Crawford for public reading:

William Crawford is a retired 1973 Pulitzer Prize winning Chicago Tribune investigative newsman. For the last few years, Mr. Crawford has studied the

Last month Northwestern accused Protess of repeatedly giving "false and misleading information" to university lawyers who were trying to deal with a subpoena from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office for certain Innocence Project documents. Dean John Lavine suspended Protess from teaching this quarter and then Protess went on leave to try to reestablish a new Innocence Project outside the university.

Besides Protess's troubles, Sotos has one more thing going for him he didn't have in 2006—an analysis of the Porter/Simon case by William Crawford, a retired Tribune investigative reporter. Crawford tells me he heard about the case, asked Sotos if he could look through the files, and wound up spending three months compiling a hundred-page narrative he calls "Chimera." He's e-mailed it to everyone in Chicago he thinks might possibly care—particularly journalists and Medill faculty. "Our purpose here," Crawford begins, is "to set the record straight [and] get that record in front of those men and women, in private and public office, who are in a position to begin at once the task of righting the colossal wrong that has taken place."

Crawford was able to get Sotos and himself a meeting this week with Bruce Dold, the head of the Tribune's editorial board. (" I can't say if we'll do anything with his research," says Dold.) Other than that—and, I suppose, the column you're reading now—he appears to have accomplished nothing and possibly done Simon harm.

Crawford did an "extraordinary job" of putting the case record into narrative form, Sotos tells me, yet "the level of abrasiveness he brings is counterproductive."

The most flagrant example of that abrasiveness I've seen is an e-mail Crawford sent John Lavine badgering him for a response to "Chimera." Crawford tells me neither Lavine nor Al Cubbage, Northwestern's vice president for university relations, reacted to repeated e-mails until Cubbage finally asked Crawford to leave him alone. Full of typos, Crawford's final e-mail to Lavine ended with this:

"You have a good night. And I will be in that courtroom when you take the shirt off your back and give it to Alstory. And you tell Protess, who threatened me, you tell him, not in your words but in mine that I will kick his ass right up through the openings in both his ear.s [sic]

"My writing, has been sent everywhere: U.s. atty., Madigan, cook county state's attorye, justice department, every editorial writer. It ain't going away. And again, my amigo will own you and your dip shit school."

Crawford admits, "I guess I got a little pissed. If they think they can sit in their ivory tower ten years later and not even acknowledge I'm asking legitimate questions, they're dealing with the wrong person. I'm going to employ the same set of standards they used."

Lavine didn't respond to my request for comment. Cubbage said "Chimera" had no impact on the university's case against Protess, and he personally didn't read it.

Crawford has also repeatedly e-mailed Protess. In March, Crawford spotted an unflattering story about Protess in the Tribune and decided to needle him. "I didn't get a copy of the Tribune this morning. May I borrow yours?" Crawford wrote. Protess responded, "Sure. Which address would you like to have Anthony Porter and his friends deliver it to?" and listed several addresses where Crawford has lived or worked—a flourish Crawford believes was meant to intimidate him.

Exclaims Crawford: "He spends 90 days convincing the world Porter is innocent, and when Protess seeks to exact revenge, it is Porter he is going to send!"

Protess calls his e-mail merely a "jocular counter punch" to a "creepy" e-mail Crawford had sent him a few days earlier:

Professor,

Question: You ever own a 94 Forest Green Infinity, four door, LP Lyd880

Have a nice night.

Call me, Sapphire, cuz the discovery is going to begin.

Protess says that after seeing the "physical threats" made in Crawford's e-mail to Lavine, he stopped responding to him.

Crawford tells me he actually regards Protess as a secondary figure in the Alstory Simon story. "Chimera" is a tale full of big shots—lawyers, state's attorneys, judges—who Crawford says collectively perfumed Porter and screwed Simon, and he wants them all held accountable. He even says his fear is that Protess has been so weakened by Medill that he will wind up taking the fall alone. "My guess is they can make a sacrificial lamb out of him and then stand up and tell the world, 'We've cured the cancer.'"

Since, according to Crawford, I was the only journalist to actually read his report and get in touch with him, he had high hopes that I'd become his champion. When I asked about his e-mails he sounded forlorn, as if his last shot at making a difference was slipping away. He responded with an e-mail that began, "A final appeal."

"I ask that your story does not become my e-mails. . . " he wrote. "Everyone has a copy of my report. They are all sitting on it, pretending it doesn't exist. And if no one acknowledges it, the hope is it will go away. . .

"I ask you on behalf of a man who deserves rehearing, please keep him in mind. . . . Please do not make Simon pay for my indiscretions."

As for Simon, if there's even half as much reason to think he confessed falsely (as Crawford and Sotos insist there is), he'd make an excellent case study for Protess's Innocent Project. Indeed, says Protess, "I was so interested in Sotos's claim that I had lunch at Ina's with him and [cocounsel] Terry Ekl to hear their side. Their story ultimately didn't add up, and a criminal courts judge agreed."

Sotos remembers the conversation. "We told him we thought in his zeal to free Anthony Porter—which was laudable, they didn't have that strong a case against him originally. They snared an innocent person. He got really defensive."

It is clear that the conglomerate of Progressive Justice Crusaders is squirming.

Keep peeling this onion, Mr. Crawford.


*

Clinical Professor of Law, Northwestern
Director, MacArthur Justice Center

Locke E. Bowman joined the MacArthur Justice Center in 1992 and has handled a wide variety of civil and criminal litigation. His work focuses on cases involving police misconduct, compensation of the wrongfully convicted, rights of the media in the criminal justice system, and firearms control. He previously served as law clerk to Judge Hubert L. Will of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and was an associate at Mayer, Brown & Platt. He was also an assistant corporation counsel in the City of Chicago Law Department and a criminal defense lawyer at Silets & Martin before joining the center. Based on votes from fellow attorneys, Chicago Magazine named Bowman an Illinois “Super Lawyer” in 2005 and 2006 for his work in constitutional law and civil rights.

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8978152&postID=4775520044840949560

Your Obama Osama Playcard - A Moveable Feast of Fun and Facts!

Take a Bow! Sorry Mr. Presient. That was cruel.Huge hat tip to Bookworm Room!

I was as happy a teenaged boy with two . . .A's on his report card to learn that Osama Bin Laden the monster of 9/11 and Change was put down by Navy Seal Ream Six and CIA Spooks.

The narrative unravelled like a city kid's hard ball. No amount of black electrians tape seems enough to patch this White House - they can not even handle a victory.

A buddy of mine just e-mailed this to me from a website comments page:

Okay, what do we have here.
1) There was a firefight.
2) There was no firefight.
3) Bin Laden was “resisting.”
4) Bin Laden wasn’t armed. (Makes the concept of “resisting” interesting.)
5) He used his wife as a shield.
6) His wife was killed too.
7) He didn’t use his wife as a shield, she ran at a SEAL who shot her in the leg, but she’s fine.
Some other woman – the maid? – was used as a shield. By somebody. Downstairs.
9) That other woman – downstairs – was killed.
10) Maybe not. She was killed unless she wasn’t – and who was she, anyway?
11) Bin Laden’s son was killed.
12) Unless it was some other guy.
13) Bin Laden’s daughter saw him get killed. She’s undoubtedly traumatized, poor dear.
14) They were going to capture Bin Laden until the problem with the helicopter, which was:
A) It had mechanical trouble
B) It did a hard landing
C) It crashed
D) It clipped a wall with a tail rotor, effectively a crash
15.) They were never going to try to capture him, it was always a kill mission.
16.) No it wasn’t.
17) The chopper blew up.
18) The SEALs blew it up.
19.) Panetta said yesterday the world needed proof, the photo would be released.
20.) Obama said today in an interview he taped with Steve Kroft for “60 Minutes” to be broadcast Sunday that it won’t be released. It’s too gruesome, would offend Muslim sensibilities (something he worries about a lot – I personally do not give a warm fart on a wet Wednesday about Muslim sensibilities), and how would Americans feel if Muslims released pictures of dead Americans?
21.) Kroft – whose not a total idiot – pointed out that ever since “Black Hawk Down” days, Muslims have been doing precisely that, filming American bodies being dragged through the streets, filming Daniel Pearl’s head being cut off, filming any and everything.
22) Obama gets pissed at CBS, the tape gets cleaned up, that question disappears. (Inside info.)
23.) We got a “treasure trove” of stuff from hard drives, etc.
24.) There were no phone lines, and no internet access at the “mansion,” they didn’t even have TV – what “treasure trove?”
25.) There is obviously in the pictures of the place a large satellite dish. I guess they used it for making salads.
26.) And now, just today: apparently the idea was to capture him, but only if he was naked. There was a suspicion he might be wearing a suicide bomber type explosive vest, or belt. So if he’s not naked and you can’t see if he has a vest on or not – shoot him.

The idiot Carney – they actually managed to find someone who makes Gibbs look good – is currently twisting himself into knots trying to explain why the photograph that the whole world was expecting isn’t going to be released. (Obviously the thing to do is get Trump on the case, he’ll force Obama to release it.)

The military did great, the administration – or whatever that bunch is, kind of like “The Little Rascals” – have managed to turn it into spaghetti. The story has changed so many times in the course of a mere three days it’s a joke – the world would be better off if Panetta had left the little $hitwit on the golf course.

Is it me, or does that Jay Carney kid always seem to be on the verge of tears? The kid makes Old Possum Eye Gibbs seem like Sir Larry Olivier.

Arch-Eejit of Canterbury 'Uncomfortable' with the Demise of Osama Bin Laden

ArchEejit of Canterbury* Rowan Atkinson wants Great Britain to have Sharia Law. This splendid chap is 'uncomfortable' with the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

I get uncomfortable around lunatics and C of E Archbishops. Here's Muh Luhd's thoughts -

Dr Rowan Williams told The Daily Telegraph today: 'The killing of an unarmed man is always going to leave a very uncomfortable feeling because it does not look as if justice is seen to be done.'
The archbishop’s criticism of the operation follow remarks from the Bishop of Winchester, Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, who described the killing of Bin Laden as 'an act of vengeance' and said he fears terrorist reprisals by fundamentalists against Christians in Britain and around the world.

He also said that the assassination of Osama Bin Laden represented a failure of world order

World Order? Bash it all Rowney, does not the wireless pick up broadcasts besides the BBC ( 100% news on Emerging Nations)?

The world is less than orderly, Old Cock! Somalia, Libya, the Arab Spring States anywhere that Babu, Sammy and Mustafa chop limbs and stone stunners, Rowney Old Rump Rubber, you will be sure to find blood, hatred, corruption, and misery! The Wogs start at Dover after all! No that's Stepney! What? Haw?

Good stuff!

*eejit (plural eejits)

(chiefly Scotland and Ireland, pejorative) An idiot; a fool; an imbecile.

The Mysterious Ulsterman Blows No Drama Obama to Smithereens

There is a piece going around net that landed in my e-mail basket, after I wrote a blog offering in praise of Planned Parenthood's President Barack Obama on the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

I feel that criticism should always be tempered with recognition for accomplishment; otherwise, one is just another Keith Olbermann or Chris Matthews.

The killing of Bin Laden was huge. I felt the President deserved praise - he surprised me on that one.

Then this arrived, following a witty tune up from Non-Goo-goo pals like Mike Houlihan, Francis of New Haven, and others.

This is one in a series of pieces presented by a journalist calling himself The Ulsterman. This Insider dope might be a conservative fantasy presenting an imagined glimpse into the Obama War Room during those tense forty minutes while Navy Seal Team Six was killing Osama and Obama was wearing golf shoes in the War Room.

What makes this piece so believable that The Ulsterman actually has a White House insider is the presentation of Chicago's Valerie Jarrett* - called Obama's brain.

The Ulsterman offers either a genuine Q & A with an Obama insider bent on getting rid of Valerie Jarrett ( aide to Bill Daley?), or a fantasy for Glenn Beck fans.

Here is an excerpt from Obama Hesitated

The primary opposition to this plan originated from Valerie Jarrett, and it was her opposition that was enough to create uncertainty within President Obama. Obama would meet with various components of the pro-invasion faction, almost always with Jarrett present, and then often fail to indicate his position. This situation continued for some time, though the division between Jarrett/Obama and the rest intensified more recently, most notably from Hillary Clinton. She was livid over the president’s failure to act, and her office began a campaign of anonymous leaks to the media indicating such. As for Jarrett, her concern rested on two primary fronts. One, that the military action could fail and harm the president’s already weakened standing with both the American public and the world. Second, that the attack would be viewed as an act of aggression against Muslims, and further destabilize conditions in the Middle East. . . .Jarrett believed this would further delay Panetta from acting, as the responsibility for failure would then fall almost entirely on him. What Valerie Jarrett, and the president, did not know is that Leon Panetta had already initiated a program that reported to him –and only him, involving a covert on the ground attack against the compound. Basically, the whole damn operation was already ready to go – including the specific team support Intel necessary to engage the enemy within hours of being given notice. Panetta then made plans to proceed with an on-ground assault. This information reached either Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates first (likely via military contacts directly associated with the impending mission) who then informed the other. Those two then met with Panetta, who informed each of them he had been given the authority by the president to proceed with a mission if the opportunity presented itself. Both Gates and Clinton warned Panetta of the implications of that authority – namely he was possibly being made into a scapegoat. Panetta admitted that possibility, but felt the opportunity to get Bin Laden outweighed that risk. During that meeting, Hillary Clinton was first to pledge her full support for Panetta, indicating she would defend him if necessary. Similar support was then followed by Gates. The following day, and with Panetta’s permission, Clinton met in private with Bill Daley and urged him to get the president’s full and open approval of the Panetta plan. Daley agreed such approval would be of great benefit to the action, and instructed Clinton to delay proceeding until he had secured that approval. Daley contacted Clinton within hours of their meeting indicating Jarrett refused to allow the president to give that approval. Daley then informed Clinton that he too would fully support Panetta in his actions, even if it meant disclosing the president’s indecision to the American public should that action fail to produce a successful conclusion. Clinton took that message back to Panetta and the CIA director initiated the 48 hour engagement order. At this point, the President of the United States was not informed of the engagement order – it did not originate from him, and for several hours after the order had been given and the special ops forces were preparing for action into Pakistan from their position in Afghanistan, Daley successfully kept Obama and Jarrett insulated from that order.

If this be a legit Q & A - it is a game changer. Click my post title and read the whole thing.

If it is a fabrication - not bad for a conservative fantasy. Either way, if it rids public service of Valerie Jarrett, I'm all over it. Valerie Jarrett is a professional "Ain't She Great" resumes built upon Progressive clout and powered by personal wealth and connections.

*...Valerie Jarrett's real clout comes less from her career than from her extraordinary connections and seemingly endless capacity for extracurriculars. As one observer put it, "She knows everyone in Chicago." Obama's media adviser Anita Dunn recently cracked that "she may be one of the most plugged-in people in the United States." Or as Susan Sher says, "Whatever situation she's in, she rises to the top," enumerating how Jarrett did just that at City Hall, where she ended up in the famously difficult post of chairing the Chicago Transit Authority for eight years; at the Chicago Stock Exchange; and on the board of the University of Chicago Hospital, which she now also chairs. "She is like a god in Chicago, an icon," says Adrienne Pitts, a 40-year-old lawyer who takes every opportunity to see Jarrett speak at events around the city, something she does with less frequency now that Jarrett is so often traveling with Team Obama or helicoptering into problem situations or trying to catch some of the big, joyous campaign moments and watch history change. That is, when she can get away from her day job.

Mayor Daley Exits After Leaving Years Ago. We Will Always Have Cows on Parade

Yesterday, Mayor Richard M. Daley presided over his last official City Council meeting. He will officially leave office soon. He has his legacy.

When Mayor Richard J. Daley died, after sweeping the hapless Jimmy Carter into the White House, Bridgeport was swelled like a tic with genuine mourners and rump-kissers. Rich Daley, an Illinois State Senator, was being painted out of the life political. However, many people took to Rich Daley like Prince Hal in Shakespeare's Henry IV Parts One and Two - the guy everyone underestimated, who hung out with thieves and cut-purses in order to learn the motives and machinations of the devious, who learned common touch of the people - ' a little touch of Harry in the night.'

Daley succeeded in besting his rivals with support he had from working stiffs living in two-flats, raised ranches and bungalows, but unlike Prince Hal never became Henry V.

He left the neighborhood that nurtured him and turned his back on the bungalow world of working stiffs and squares, in order to bring about a Chicago touted as a World Class City.

Cows on Parade* seem a fighting icon for that 180 degree turn. The plastic cows evolved out of a sense of corporate culture that paid good money to tell all of us what is important.

The neighborhoods are in his rear view mirror. The shabby genteel and pious working stiffs boarding the Halsted, Western and Devon Ave. buses each morning and evening in order to put in the hours for pay and retun to the two flats, raised ranches and bungalows, pay tuition, taxes, assessments and then somehow find beauty, poetry, music and comfort on the own dimes will not be hanging paintings of Richard M. Daley in Polish Highlander, Knights of Columbus, Masonic and SAC clubs or the handful of neighborhood taverns. They did that for his Dad.

Cows on Parade will be how I remember the Richard M. Daley years.

*Richard M. Daley has placed a high importance on the partnership between private and public arts support since he took office as Mayor of Chicago in 1989. For Mayor Daley, the arts are a personal crusade. When the Cultural Affairs Commission needed a home, he called for the restoration of a beautiful old library where now, in addition to offices, daily events are open to the public in a rotating exhibition and performance center. His leadership in presenting the Cows on Parade sculptures led to numerous cities replicating the concept. Most recently, Mayor Daley spearheaded the creation of Millennium Park, a $450 million cultural mega-project in the heart of Chicago. First planned in 1997 as a way to create new parkland in Grant Park and transform an eyesore of railroad tracks and parking lots, it has evolved into one of the most significant millennium projects in the world. The 24.5-acre Millennium Park is an unprecedented cultural playground that features world-class art, music, architecture and landscape design, interactive public art, ice skating, and free classical music presentations. Featuring accessible fountains, sculptures, and skating rinks, kids and tourists can now visit day and night for free. Mayor Daley, along with his wife Maggie, established the “Gallery 37” program which has been recognized nationally as one the leading arts education programs in the country.

John " Really Smart Guy" Feffer Explains How Osama Outsmarted Obama

Kids, this really, really, really, really QUOTE Smart UNQUOTE Dude John Feffer - sotto voce Don't people who use that idiotic quote/unquote gesture make you want to turn their fingers into pretzels? Note to myself - They(Quote/Unquoters) are breathing your air to be sure, but they are as God made them.

I like to read while lunching . . .I am tucking away at my lunch here at Leo High School having put together a class list for Barney Janecki '46, and researched some out of town foundations and prepped for a meeting at the Pastoral Center tomorrow and doing a letter of recommendation for Denzel Tucker, Leo 2011 seeking financial help for his college of choice Ferris College. Lunch looks good -(TypeA) an oriental noodle salad with ginger dressing! I am reading an article in Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). It's a howl.

Academic John Feffer, who like Noam Chomsky and other celebrity nitwits, gets attention by offering the loudest and most publicly contrarian point of view on anything. Mother Theresa was a Brownshirt; Justin Bieber is a Genius; Osama Bin Laden is a laughing up a storm - that sort of stuff. If it is goofy, it gets passed off as thoughtful

Osama Bin Laden had two more orifices added to his noggin courtesy of Navy Seal Team # 6 at the insistence of Commander in Chief President Obama.

Here is Dr. Feffer - bubbly but really much too sweet form my leathery pallet - in all of his cranial splendor on just how Osama Bin Laden really pulled one over on the President by turning his bearded noodle into a colander:

We have, once again, played right into Osama bin Laden's hands. This might seem like an odd assertion, since the al-Qaeda mastermind is finally dead at the hands of U.S. Special Forces, most heads of state have voiced their congratulations, and practically the entire U.S. citizenry is unified in celebration.

Well, smoke my meat! if that don't taken the rag offen the bush! You mean to tell me that for the last three score and more of hours, I have been just shickled titless over the news of Osama's demise? Tell on, Feffer!

Bin Laden's death sends a particular message about the abuses of state authority — why is the United States in the business of targeted assassination? — that may resonate in the Islamic world. Likewise, with former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf condemning the attack as an infringement on his nation's sovereignty, bin Laden in death has been able to drive a further wedge between Washington and Islamabad.

You mean we might not be able to trust Pakistan?

Doc! You can't mean it! Wait . . .just a sec. . . .I swallowed the Leo Cafeteria noodle salad while reading your next sortie . . .let me get that out of my gullet. There. All better now let's see.

Martyrdom, holy war, the lure of power and economic profligacy: with these weapons of the weak, al-Qaeda has drawn the United States into a conflict that has sapped our moral, political, and financial resources. We have persuaded ourselves that we're in control, even in this last act of extrajudicial killing. But even here, bin Laden has managed to glorify himself at our expense.

These are the tools of bin Laden. We are the tools of bin Laden.

Dang, I thought that boring a couple of holes through Osama's melon was just EXTRA-judicial myself there Dr. Feffer. But hold the phone, Elmer! Bin Laden is using us like a finely crafted US Made Milwaukee Drill with a powerful 8.0 Amp motor and 0-2,800 RPM, the 3/8" Drill; it has the power to perform even the toughest applications? Please, Doc!

BTW- The former Paki Prez has family right here in Chicago - BTW. Money marble or chalk ;that they are bundling cash for President Obama's re-election.

President Obama - Warrior in Chief

In 1939, Poland had more troops than Germany; Russia had many more; France fielded a larger army.

The Nazi regime tooled for a new war - Blitzkrieg that combined mechanized infantry, tanks, and superior air cover. The tactics matched a strategy for a swift and brutal capture of territory while doling out a psychological despair to defenders. It worked - by and large.

Poland sent lancers against tanks. Russia exterminated its officer corps prior to Barbarossa. France sat in a fort. Warfare must be realistic. Supply, communication, weapons systems, and manpower must match intended outcomes.

Our carrier fleet is unmatched world wide, for now, but, is of little help in finding a terrorist's suburban villa in Pakistan. However, choppers full of motivated and professional warriors sent over the Afghan mountains by a Commander in Chief with a warrior's heart was just the ticket. Outcomes matched intent.

In 1991 and again in 2001, The Bush Presidents applied the doctrine of shock and awe - it worked by and large.

Terrorists, from the time of the 1920's Irish War of Independence under the direction of the IRA's Michael Collins*, through Menachem Begin's Stern Gang in Israel, to J.M. Kariuki's Mau-maus ( acronym for Let the Europeans go home to Europe) in Kenya, and up to the late Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda, apply indiscriminate terror -shootings, bombings, decapitations, or mutilations in an exercise of Hegelian will over human beings and any and all law. Acts of terror are preceded and followed by demands of all manner of construction. Acts of terror must be met with reality.

The rule of nations must be the rule of Law.

Counter-terrorism seems to be most effective when terrorists are personally held accountable by lawful governments. Elite specialists go in and kill them all. Strike fast and get out. The Israelis are past masters of this form of warfare. Use our intelligence capabilities and send in our best trained warriors to kill criminals. Terror meets reality. In his last nano second alive, I hope that Osama said, " I over-played my hand."

In some way, I hope he also knew who pulled the trigger - President Obama.

Not since President Reagan has a Commander in Chief earned the salute of his troops - President Obama is a Warrior -period.

Well done President Obama. You killed Bin Laden as much as the young warrior who pulled the trigger. No American can honestly criticize your courage, leadership, and dedication to the Constitutional Oath you took in 2009. More importantly you recognized the efforts of President GW Bush and displayed great grace in calling him with the news of Bin Laden's fate. President Barack Hussein Obama defended our Republic.

This is what being President is all about - I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States..

This is your moment, Mr. President. God Bless You and your Administration.


* Correction Michael Collins was a guerilla leader - limiting his activities to Military and Crown targets.

Michael Collins first became known during the Easter Rising in 1916. A skilled organiser of considerable intelligence, he was highly respected in the IRB, so much so that he was made financial advisor to Count Plunkett, father of one of the Rising's organisers, Joseph Mary Plunkett, whose aide-de-camp Collins later became.

When the Rising itself took place on Easter Monday, 1916, he fought alongside Patrick Pearse and others in the General Post Office in Dublin. The Rising became (as expected by many) a military disaster. While some celebrated the fact that a rising had happened at all, believing in Pearse's theory of "blood sacrifice" (namely that the deaths of the Rising's leaders would inspire others), Collins railed against it, notably the seizure of indefensible and very vulnerable positions such as St Stephen's Green that were impossible to escape from and difficult to supply. (During the War of Independence he ensured the avoidance of such sitting targets, with his soldiers operating as "flying columns" who waged a guerrilla war against the British, suddenly attacking then just as quickly withdrawing, minimising losses and maximising effectiveness.)

Collins, like many of the other participants, was arrested, almost executed[8] and was imprisoned up at Frongoch internment camp. Collins became one of the leading figures in the post-rising Sinn Féin, a small nationalist party which the British government and the Irish media wrongly blamed for the Rising. It was quickly infiltrated by participants in the Rising, so as to capitalise on the "notoriety" the movement had gained through British attacks. By October 1917, Collins had risen to become a member of the executive of Sinn Féin and director of organisation of the Irish Volunteers; Éamon de Valera was president of both organisations

CTA CEO Terry Peterson is not Black -He's Pure Gold! Remember Ald. Tom Murphy?

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Tom Murphy was the Alderman of the 18th Ward. The 18th Ward was remapped in order to make Tom Murphy 'demographically un-electable.' You see Tom Murphy was a real public servant - he was not a grand-standing blow-hard with an an on-going stool on the panels at WTTW.

As an Alderman, Tom Murphy represented his Ward and often found himself at odds with Mayor Daley. Murphy voted against property tax increases and raises for the City Council; can't have that.

The 18th Ward was re-mapped with many of the white precincts eliminated. The thoughts were that African American voters would only vote for an African American. Tom Murphy won in a landslide against four African American candidates. Then the City Council Black Caucus refused to allow Tom Murphy, who represented the African American families of the 18th Ward, to sit in the Black Caucus. The grand-standing blow-hards with on-going stools on the panels at WTTW played race against Tom Murphy.

This was one sweet bit of pure Tom Murphy from that campaign -

But Murphy said he doesn't believe the ward is split either racially or geographically. "I see it as a ward of 57,000 taxpayers," he said. "I see it as my job to treat everybody the same."

And he blames the media for reducing the ward's politics to a contest between black and white voters.

Today, grand-standing blow-hards with on-going stools on the panels at WTTW are beefing that the Emanuel Administration has no blacks at the top.

“For some black aldermen who must approve the appointments, it was another slap in the face. The only African-American member of Emanuel’s public safety team is former Chicago Police officer Felicia Davis, who will serve as deputy chief-of-staff for public safety.

Nobody is black at the top. At least Mayor Daley did have some African-Americans around him. It appears now that Mayor Emanuel has no blacks around him,” said Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), chairman of the City Council’s Budget Committee.

Reminded that newly-appointed Schools CEO Jean Claude Brizard is black, Austin said, “That’s not us. Even though that’s a sister agency of ours, that’s not in this City Hall.”

Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) noted that Emanuel’s landslide victory was sealed by carrying every one of the city’s black wards.

“There is a dearth of African-American professionals evident in his current team,” Dowell said.

Another slap in the face! Man, is that one tired string of nonsense. Race-baiters need new rhetoric.

Get this.

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) added, “I’ve heard in the community, even with respect to Mr. Brizard, that he’s not from here. He’s not [really] African-American. He was born in Haiti. We just hope that we would be able to get some local folks. … Hopefully, this isn’t a sign of things to come — that it’s all outside people. But, we’ll see.”

Yeah, them Haitians look like Swedes, Howard.

Really? When did Terry Peterson get so pale?

Terry Peterson is, by the way an African American. More importantly, Terry Peterson is one of the best people in public service. Terry Peterson represented the 17th Ward at the same time that Tom Murphy represented the 18th Ward.

Terry Peterson ran the CHA. Terry Peterson ran Daley's re-election campaigns. Terry Peterson directed Rahm Emanuel's Campaign. Terry Peterson is CEO of the CTA.

Terry Peterson will see that career appointee Forest Claypool does not have too difficult a time as President of CTA. Voila!

Claypool replaces Richard Rodriguez, but Emanuel said he has asked Rodriguez to consider serving his administration in a different capacity.

Emanuel also announced that Terry Peterson, another longtime Daley loyalist, would continue as chairman of the CTA board.

But for his first transportation department commissioner, Emanuel looked beyond the city limits to tab Gabe Klein, a former Washington, D.C., official.

Tuesday’s announcement came a day after the mayor-elect presented Jean-Claude Brizard as his choice for CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.

Still on Emanuel’s to-do list before his May 16 inauguration is appointing a new police superintendent.

T'ain't no where near May 16, by my guesstimations. Still, the media need to get that slap in the face out there. Folks gotta be slug-nutty with them slaps in the face. Race matters. . . to boneheads and phonies.

Tom Murphy was a great alderman, black, white, lavender, or crimson. Terry Peterson is not black; he is gold.


http://www.chicagoreporter.com/index.php/c/Sidebars/d/White_Alderman_Counts_Black_Votes_in_18th_Ward

http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/emanuel-taps-forrest-claypool-to-head-chicago-transit-authority/