I Remember 1964 , Little Flower, Clancy the Roller Skating Monkey, Tommy Walsh,and Nailed Rick Kogan's Pop Quiz

Thanks Rick Kogan!

1964, I was twelve. I lived in a two bed room Georgian looking north to the railroad tracks at 1755 W. 75th Place in Little Flower Parish of the Chicago Gresham neighborhood. Little Flower was founded in the mid 1920's to serve the massive Catholic demographic in Gresham. Monsignor Stephan McMahon was a priest, lawyer and real estate genius who built one of Catholic Chicago's most impressive campuses between 79th and 81st Streets/ Honore and Wood Streets. The grammar school was tuition free to parishioners and brand new co-educational high school was filled to capacity.

The Church Rectory had a fruit(Peach, cherry and apple) orchard and underground garage all within view of the two grammar school buildings. A huge convent housed the Religious Sisters of Mercy who operated the school. This was a working man's parish that looked like it belonged to the Gentry. Monsignor McMahon made this happen.

President Kennedy was killed before the start of year. I was in Sister Dorableats's sixth grade class and would end the year in Sister Gertrudas's seventh grade class -both Sisters of Mercy were in the words of Grandpa Hickey - 'hairy-faced old Galway bitches.' My academic preparation for life consisted in rigorous reading and arithmetic drills and understanding that these two particular nuns had no use for the male species whatsoever.

We testosterone pups formed a reactionary Band of Brothers and engaged in minor larcenies in recognition of the Hoods' intense dislike for our smelly, willful, sloppy, curious and energetic selves. I was and remain an affable goof who had the pleasure of the company of great people. The three Mike Kellys (1,2,3), The brace of Bobby Ryans (1,2), Willie Bigane, Freddie Knight, Al McFarland, Jimmy Shea, Jimmy Zach, Larry Fiscelli, Danny Miller, and the great Tommy Walsh* were told in no uncertain terms that we would collectively "Die on the gallows." Yeah, right. For kicking over the Mission Money Monkey?

The nuns won a Clancy the Great Skating Monkey at the Mother McAuley Fair. It was a battery operated roller skating plastic monkey that skated when money was tossed into the yellow plastic hat in its hand. They used this ruse to weasel our dimes and nickles and pay to keep the Congo Catholic. You think I'm bullshiting? Well, I'm bull-truing.



Among us was Tommy Walsh. Tommy was the son of a single Mom in our parish, which was about as common as a Vegan Cannibal. Tommy and his Mom lived in an apartment flat building on Honore Street and Tommy's Mom worked at the Bell Phone Company at 87th & Ashland. Tommy, unlike the rest of us had scads of free time. He was a genius and an Irish Greaser.

Most of us Micks dressed like the little gents that our moms wanted us to be. Tommy Walsh dressed like a tough Dago from 69th & Ashland. He wore Stacy Adams Rat Stabber loafers ( fence climbers with heels) on his feet and a black leather Cabretta coat for all seasons. Tommy was also morbidly obese and walked pigeon toed. Tommy was Outlaw, Baby!

Tommy Walsh was Young Emerson Writ Large! A Concrete and clay Thoreau with a sense of humor. He was as a God to us lesser more compliant male untermensch! He said what was on his mind to his pals and boon chums and to the Black and White hard women with pens and cough drops tucked under their Wimples. When told of his sinful nature in not dropping dimes into the Mission Can, Tommy replied, "What and help the tribes cooking our Missionaries, S'ter? No thank You!"

Again when queried on matters theological, "Hey, I don't ask you 'How Do You Feel About the Immaculate Conception?' Do I S'ter?" Whack! WHACK! Tommy often was sent to see Father Gerrity and after the Clancy Incident, Monsignor McMahon -Himself.

The day that Clancy the Roller Skating Monkey arrived to shakedown each and every classroom, Tommy Walsh was prepared. He sat in the very first seat at front of the classroom, next to the cloakroom.

The Monkey had a hat-ful full of pennies, nickels and dimes that two young nuns would dump into a big metal pail. " Take out your pennies and do God's work! Here Comes Clancy!"

The Monkey made the circuit of rows and ended with his hat-ful of loot on his delightful way to the big money pail, but had to make it past Tommy Walsh. Tommy let go of a convulsive sneezing fit and launched out a large leg at the mechanical monkey. His razor toed Stacy Adams footwear caught the plastic primate under the chops and the toy from the good folks at Ideal went out of commission and clouds formed over the Catholic Congo. Tommy was paddling in the murcky waters of Really Shit Creek! The howling classroom showered coin of the realm to the squeals of delight and approval from the timid showered down like me. Mike Kelly 1. grabbed a few dimes for a post-curricular trip to Millie's Candies and Sundries on 79th & Winchester. Sister Dorableat, who looked like Broderick Crawford with a hangover, twisted Tommy's ear and dragged him to THE OFFICE. He was sent from there to the Monsignor.

Hours later, after Book of Valor essays, we watched out of the classroon windows as Tommy Walsh and Monsignor Stephan McMahon walked among the peach trees in the rectory orchard. Both the Monsignor and Tommy were laughing their asses off.

The Second Vatican Council was wrapping up. The Church decided to self-evaluate. We no longer have builders and priests and like Monsignor McMahon, but there are still nuns like Sister Dorableat -in civvies.

1964! I remember it well. Thanks to the Tribune's best link to genuine Chicago history and the greatest speaking voice in the City, Rick Kogan for today's walk back.

I nailed the quiz.

Chicago Live 1964 Almanac quiz


1. The Southwest Expressway, completed in 1964, was later renamed in honor of whom?
A. Adlai E. Stevenson II
B. Dan Ryan Jr.
C. Dwight D. Eisenhower
D. Bishop Louis Henry Ford
Your answer was correct.
2. What Cubs star infielder and former Rookie of the Year died in the 1964 crash of a small airplane he had been piloting?
A. Ryne Sandburg
B. Ken Hubbs
C. Rogers Hornsby
D. Lou Brock
Your answer was correct.
3. Fill in the blank: 7.1 inches of snow fell on March 29, 1964, making it the snowiest _____ in Chicago history.
A. St. Patrick's Day
B. Ides of March
C. Vernal Equinox
D. Easter
Your answer was correct.
4. What famous Chicago residential complex was completed in 1964 along the north bank of the Chicago River?
A. Lake Point Tower
B. Park Place Tower
C. Chicago Spire
D. Marina City Towers
Your answer was correct.
5. What R&B singer and graduate of Bronzeville's Wendell Phillips Academy High School was shot to death in 1964?
A. Marvin Gaye
B. James Ray
C. Sam Cooke
D. Nat King Cole
Your answer was correct.
You got 100% correct.
Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune

* Tommy Walsh was the only student out the one hundred twenty kids in my grammar school class to attend a Chicago Public High School. I hear that he earned a Doctorate.

Did President Barack Obama Use Mumbo Sauce at the White House Birthday Q?

Several grills were fired up outside the West Wing all afternoon, cooking burgers for the occasion. But before Mr. Obama hits the barbecue, senior White House staff will toast him in the residence, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

Mr. Obama had no events on his schedule, and Mr. Carney said the public will not see the president at all on this milestone day.

Wall Street Journal

Jay, Jay, Jay! I got one question! What sauce did the President use?

I did not vote for President Obama, not because I am a racist, a right wing nut-bag, nor even a Republican. I have had the pleasure of meeting the President years ago, while he was earnestly seeking public office following his appointed tenure as director of the Woods Fund. In fact, one of the very first grant proposal requests for support of Leo High School was rejected and signed by Mr. Barack H. Obama as director of the Woods Fund.

I did not support President Obama's run for White House, because I believed that he was no where near prepared for the job. I was hoping that Senator Barack Obama might run against Gov. Blagojevich.

That is all blood under the roast.

I was delighted to see that the President had a Chicago-style barbecue at the White House.

I have only one question. Were meats, fish and foul grilled over the embers slathered in Chicago's iconic barbecue sauce prepared and bottled under the name Argia B's Mumbo Sauce?

The Sauce is Boss!

I was introduced to the sauce many years ago (circa 1969 A.D.) by John "Moose" Gilmartin and the late Thomas Foy - Leo Class of 1970 both.

Moose Gilmartin played trumpet in a band fronted by fellow Visitation Parish classmate Thomas Foy* as lead vocalist. They played Motown covers and unpussified garage band rock at sock hops and dances. Born in County Sligo, Ireland, Moose Gilmartin played not only trumpet but Leo Brand Catholic League Football and forged fast friendships with young black men attending Leo High School, during the era that Progressives call 'white flight.' Moose and Foy, who later became a meat cutter for Jewel after Army service in Turkey were fine grill masters and used Argia B's Mumbo Sauce exclusively.

I have a bottle of original and one of fiery in the icebox at all times and several in the pantry. I add Mumbo to homemade pasta sauces, chili and ragouts of all cuts and varieties**.

The Sauce is Boss! Sweet Baby Rays is for toddlers. Open Pit is for the safe and prudent. Kansas City suaces belong there. Chicago was, is and shall be a town smothered in Mumbo Sauce. If not, beat your feet. If you ain't using, you're self-abusing!

If the President used any other barbecue sauce, let's have a look at that birth certificate again.

The history of Mumbo Sauce is an old fashion pull-yourself-up by the boot straps story. It's a story of a young man who left the south and headed for the big city in pursuit of the American Dream.

In the early 1940's after serving in the U.S. Navy, Argia B. Collins landed in Chicago, on the city's west side, where he worked for his older brothers who had opened a local grocery store a few years earlier. All six Collins brothers had a competitive entrepreneurial spirit. Eventually, each one staked out prime spots in different parts of the city and opened rib joints that would make this band of brothers famous across Chicago.

Argia B., as he was affectionately called, staked his claim on Chicago's south side, opening his first restaurant in the renowned Bronzeville area in 1957. He eventually relocated his flagship store to 78th & Halsted in Chicago ( walking distance from Leo High School) and later opened a second location in South Shore at 71st & Yates and then a third restaurant in Gary, Indiana at 11th Avenue & Taft.

A perfectionist when it came to his restaurants, Argia B. was not satisfied with the bland, watered-downed sauces served in other establishments or the tart, over-powering national brands sold by restaurant supply houses. He decided that he'd create a signature sauce that would do justice to the succulent ribs and juicy fried chicken that he served to his growing cliental. His restaurant became the test kitchen for the many brews that he concocted while trying to create the perfect sauce. Drawing on his southern roots, he wanted to create a sauce with the savory flavors reminiscent of the homemade Sunday dinners that he had enjoyed on his family's farm.

Before long, restaurant customers began asking Collins for extra dollops of his delicious sauce as he prepared their favorite entrée from the carry-out menu. Then, they started bringing in jars asking if they could purchase some of his sauce to take home. Collins realized that he had a winner!

* The multi-talented Tom Foy was killed by a drunk driver in 1990's. God Rest this funny, musical and gifted man. His motto was -" Foy Brings Joy! Known from Coast to Coast, like Hot Butter on Toast. All over the world trees make the shade and in Chicago Foy keeps things Cool!"

**From Agia B's Recipes:

Cajun Barbecue Shrimp


1 pound Jumbo Raw Shrimp peeled & deveined with tail left on.
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp Coarsely Ground Pepper
1/2 tsp salt
Butter

Put shrimp in single layer 9x13 inch baking dish. Dot with butter. Combine remaining ingredients, and pour over shrimp. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until sauce is thoroughly hot. Serve immediately with Spiced Rice. Makes 4 servings

Spiced Rice


1/2 cup sliced Green Onions
1/2 cup minced carrots
1/2 cup minced red pepper
1 jalapeno or serrano pepper minced
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups cooked rice (cooked in chicken broth)
2 tbsp snipped fresh cilantro
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp soy sauce
Hot Pepper Sauce to taste

Saute onions, carrots and peppers in vegetable oil in a large skillet. Over low flame add lime juice, soy sauce and hot pepper sauce to taste. Stir in rice until heated. Remove from flame and garnish with fresh cilantro. Serve with Barbecue Shrimp.

Stock up at these STORE LOCATIONS

Buehlers Buy Low
Butera
Chatham Food Center
County Fair Foods
Cub Foods
Dillions
Fairplay Finer Foods
Farmer Jacks
Food 4 Less
Jewel Albertsons
Kroger
Moo & Oink
Rosebud Farm Stand
Sunset Foods
Treasure Island
Ultra Foods
Walts
Wal-Mart

Honor Cpl. John P. Fardy,CMHO at 10 A.M on Monday August 8th at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery

Monday August 8th at 10AM come to Holy Sepulchre Cemetery for the re-dedication of Cpl. John Fardy, Medal of Honor recipent and Leo Alumnus.

Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery & Mausoleum
Consecrated 1923

John Peter Fardy Grave # 3; Lot 16; Block 3; Section 23:

6001 W. 111th St.
Alsip, IL 60803
708-422-3020 | Get Map

Office Hours:
8:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. M-F
9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. Saturday

John P. Fardy was the son of Chicago Fireman Martin Fardy and housewife Mary Fardy and lived in St. Clothilde Parish at 8144 South Calumet Avenue (Telephone Radcliffe 5771) John Fardy attended Leo High School, then conducted by the Irish Christian Brothers and like nearly all of his classmates was an Irish American Kid.

He was less than an exceptional student. His 1940 Class Rank was 138 out of 184 with an average cumulative percentage score (contemporary method) of 77%. However, John Fardy was learning to be a hero - one of America's Saints -Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.

John Fardy was not a school athlete and played on no teams. His only activity listed on his senior page is Public Speaking. After Leo, “He took a course in typing at the Fox Secretarial College the same year and entered the Illinois Institute of Technology the following year. He majored in mechanical engineering but left after the first year. He had been doing time study work previously, so he went to work at the Cornell Forge Company as a time study man and draftsman." Then came military service - America was attacked by Japan.
Inducted into the Marine Corps on May 8, 1943, he went through recruit training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, upon completion of which he was assigned to the Japanese Language School at his own request. He was promoted to private first class in July, about two weeks before the start of school. After one month of attendance at the language school at Camp Elliott, San Diego, PFC Fardy was transferred to the Infantry Battalion where he was trained as an automatic rifleman.

Private First Class Fardy joined the 29th Replacement Battalion shortly before the unit left the United States on October 28, 1943. He journeyed to Nouméa, New Caledonia, and was reassigned to the 27th Replacement Battalion, which was leaving to join the 1st Marine Division.

Attached to Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines upon his arrival at Goodenough Island, D'Entrecasteaux Islands, early in December 1943, PFC Fardy left with that unit about a week later for Nascing, Alatu, New Guinea. The stay there was a short one also, for the 1st Marines left Finschaffen on Christmas Day 1943, for their December 26 landing on enemy-held Cape Gloucester, New Britain. Within two months of the time he left his home shores, the former draftsman was involved in a battle for an enemy airdrome on an island rarely heard of before.

Following the Cape Gloucester operation, and the return of the 1st Marine Division to the Russell Islands for over three months training, the division left for Peleliu. After practice landings at Guadalcanal, the division landed on the coral-studded, shadeless Peleliu. PFC Fardy participated in the capture of the airport and the attack on the coral hills overlooking it before returning to the Russell Islands with his regiment in early October.

Promoted to Corporal on December 21, 1944, the veteran of two campaigns became a squad leader as the reorganized division started training for the next operation. The training ashore ended in February and the Marines embarked aboard the ships that took them for practice landings at Baniki (Russell Islands), Guadalcanal, and Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands. The landing on Okinawa occurred on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945 and the division's sweep across the island up to the northern tip was accomplished with comparative ease. Later, Marines were moved south to help hard-pressed Army troops.

It was on May 6, 1945 when Company C was advancing against a strongly fortified, fanatically-defended Japanese position that Cpl Fardy's squad was suddenly brought under heavy small-arms fire. Cpl Fardy temporarily deployed his men along a convenient drainage ditch. Shortly afterwards, an enemy hand grenade landed in the ditch, falling among the pinned-down Marines. Instantly, the 21-year-old corporal flung himself upon the grenade and absorbed the exploding charge with his own body. Taken to a field hospital, Cpl Fardy died the next day.

The Medal of Honor was presented to Corporal Fardy's parents at ceremonies conducted by the Marine Corps League in Chicago, September 15, 1946.

Re-interment services for Cpl Fardy, with military honors by the Chicago Detachment of the Marine Corps League, were held on April 7, 1949, at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery.

Author and University of North Dakota (Fargo) member of the Psychology Department, Terence Barrett contacted Leo High School about his forthcoming book – a study of Marine recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Cpl. John Fardy’s valor is focused in Dr. Barrett’s study. Not only that, Dr. Barrett suggested that Cpl. Fardy’s grave marker be up-graded and replaced. The current marker makes no mention of Cpl. John Fardy’s Medal of Honor. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Terry Barrett, The Alumni Association is fixing that and on August 8 at 10:00 am at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Chicago, we are having a rededication ceremony with the newly engraved headstone that shows the Medal of Honor Badge and the words "Medal of Honor".

Medal of Honor CitationThe President of the United States takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to

CORPORAL JOHN P. FARDY
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a Squad Leader, serving with Company C, First Battalion, First Marines, First Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Islands, 7 May 1945. When his squad was suddenly assailed by extremely heavy small-arms fire from the front during a determined advance against strongly fortified, fiercely defended Japanese positions, Corporal Fardy temporarily deployed his men along a near-by drainage ditch. Shortly thereafter, an enemy grenade fell among the Marines in the ditch. Instantly throwing himself upon the deadly missile, Corporal Fardy absorbed the exploding blast in his own body, thereby protecting his comrades from certain and perhaps fatal injuries. Concerned solely for the welfare of his men, he willingly relinquished his own hope of survival that his fellow Marines might live to carry on the fight against a fanatic enemy. A stouthearted leader and indomitable fighter, Corporal Fardy, by his prompt decision and resolute spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death, had rendered valiant service, and his conduct throughout reflects the highest credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.


The Leo Alumni was contacted by a Marine and professional psychologist Terence Barrett of University of North Dakota at Fargo. Mr. Barrett has writen a book on Valor and John Fardy is a key focus among other CMH Marines.

The Leo High School Alums Vietnam Hero Jim Furlong and the brother of fallen Chicago Police Officer/Marine and Leo Man Eric Lee, Mr. Mark Lee, are heading up a search for any relatives of Cpl. John Fardy.

On August 8, 2011 at 10:00 AM The Leo Alumni, an honor guard of The U.S. Marine Corps, Marine Corps League Detachment 73 and Marine Corps League Detachment 553 members of Cpl. Fardy’s family and officials of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation will place a new and more appropriate grave marker for this fallen American hero.

Call Pat Hickey at Leo High School for more information – (773) 224-9600

Catholic Hierachy's Gay Cabal-leros of Miami - A Sickening Tale of Hypocrisy within and outside of The Church

John Favalora, the Archbishop Emeritus of Miami. The Lavender Mafia's Don.


Jim Bowman is a Catholic journalist and one-time Religion writer for the Chicago Daily News. Mr. Bowman runs a blog called Blithe Spirit and it is a singularly well-written and genteel site. Jim Bowman is a gentleman.

http://blithespirit.wordpress.com/

Jim Bowman posted an investigation of recently conducted and reported on the Homosexual networking through the Miami Archdiocese.

The Priest-Sex Scandal raised the issue of homosexuality within the ordained clergy and immediately that aspect was smothered. The meme for any further discussion within the Church and by the media turned to - pedophilia has nothing to do with homosexuality. Likewise, we should all consider winter as a season without mentioning temperatures below thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit and never, ever mention snow.

The priest pedophile scandal was handled miserably by the Catholic bishops of America and continues to be the talking point for homosexual marriage, adoption, banquet hall selection and insurance matters. Any and all questioning of the legality of Civil Unions, much less Same-sex marriage arouses a ready chorus of Eumenides screeching,'The Church that rapes little boys!' End of discussion.

I imagine that too many bishops turned a blind eye on homosexual activities in American seminaries, in order to maintain class-sizes for ordination, in much the same way as a bar owner in a lousy neighborhood tolerates bust-outs and slobs spitting on the floors. Got to keep the bar stools covered.

Jim Bowman, like most Catholics, is completely appalled by the pedophile scandal and the cover-ups that played into the hands of anti-Catholic Planned Parenthood, Gay activists, political hacks, and ambulance chasing lawyers like Jeffery Anderson the legal genius who unofficially operates SNAP.

Jim, linked a thoroughly disgusting saga of the homosexual subculture operated with the blessings and participation of Miami Archbishop Emeritus John C. Favalora:

Here are just some of the un-Catholic behaviors that "Miami Vice" accuses Favalora of engaging in: He partially owned a company that manufactured Yohimbe, an aphrodisiac beverage marketed to horny club-kids with the promise of "the hands-down best sex of your life." He allegedly took frequent trips to fabulous Key West with his gay associates. He was over-familiar toward his seminarians. (One ex-employee of the diocese recalls him telling a young seminarian at a gathering to "Come to papa and sit on my lap.") Favalora's second- and third-in-command, Monsignor William Hennessey and Monsignor Michael Souckar, are both accused by Christefidelis of being active homosexuals—and if they are, that counts among the least of their difficulties with Catholic orthodoxy.

In fact, the Archdiocese was a hotbed of sodomy long before Favalora set foot in Florida. Two unrelated sources, both priests, speak of a flamboyantly gay bishop in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, named Miguel Rodriguez Rodriguez, who was known to his pupils as "Lili." These sources claim that during the 1970s and 80's, Lili treated Arecibo like his own personal harem, urging cute young men into the priesthood and plying them with gifts and money in exchange for sexual favors. Rome allegedly interceded in 1990 and banished Lili to a secluded monastery, where he remained until his death 20 years later. Several of Lili's erstwhile pupils landed in Miami in the 80's and 90's. Naturally, they were disinclined to take their celibacy oaths too seriously.

Priests speak, too, about the culture of "sex-driven favoritism" at St. John Vianney College Seminary—a kind of gay Hogwarts with palm trees, located out in the flat suburban wastes of southwest Dade County. Seminaries are traditionally gay places—Papist wits refer to Notre Dame seminary as "Notre Flame," Theological College as "Theological Closet," Mundelein as "Pink Palace," and so on. But St. John Vianney was special. One seminarian who dropped out in disgust in the 1980s recalls a miserable year being bullied by gay faculty, and the rector, Robert Lynch, fawning over his favorite seminarian: an attractive upper-classman named Steven O'Hala. The dropout also recalls Lynch installing a camera in the seminary's weight room to capture images of pumped, sweaty seminarians. (He is now a minister in a liberal Christian denomination, and says he has no beef with gay people.)

I know of no Catholic who has a beef with gay people. There are some, I am sure, but I do not travel in such company. Likewise, I try to stay on the other side of the street when I see a pack of Progressives. I have yet to meet one Progressive who would give a penny to a starving blind girl - that child should not have been born, or can just wait until a government agency can pass her the gruel.

Click my post title and read the entire disturbing piece. Manya Brachear, or the ever daffy Cathleen Falsani, will not step into these waters.

Thank's Jim! Maybe someday real journalists will be given pay checks again.

Here's few more reports:

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2011/07/archbishop_favalora_accused_of.php
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/giunta/110729

Bring A Defense of Marriage Petition to Your Block Parties and End of Summer Events

Dick Walsh graduated fro Leo High School in 1950. After after military service, Mr. Walsh worked to become one of the most successful mechanical construction engineers in America. Dick Walsh built many of the great rides and attractions at Disney World and Chicago's Navy Pier.

Last month the great Dolores Madlener wrote about Dick Walsh in the Catholic New World:

What do the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier and the Star Wars and Splash Mountain attractions at Disney World have in common? The same company erected all three attractions. The former owner of that company is Dick Walsh Dick Walsh, founder of "Americans for Life" , a Catholic businessman with a faith bigger than Disney World, and a heart braver than any galactic hero. His voice has been heard over WLS radio doing his own show, “The Walsh Forum,” as well as outspoken pro-life commercials on WLS and WYLL prior to elections. His usual opener is, “This is Dick Walsh and here are my beliefs … .” Walsh grew up in St. Ethelreda on the South Side, one of 10 children. An alum of Leo High, he attended DePaul Law School. He and his wife, “St. Audrey,” raised their seven children in Mount Greenwood in Queen of Martyrs Parish. Today he’s retired in the Joliet diocese. “Something clicked one day around 1989 as I was driving down I-55. I said, ‘What are we going to do about abortion?’ And our Lord said, ‘Put up a billboard!’” So Walsh paid for pro-life billboards all over the city, and he says, “The one of Mother Teresa downtown at Randolph & State streets was four-stories high.” His personal mission is “Americans for Life” (www.americansforlife.com). Its big Memorial Day march made headlines two years ago. This May 27 Walsh organized an Illinois Defense of Marriage rally with 200 supporters that wound its way from St. Peter’s in the Loop to the State of Illinois Center. Speakers at each stop explained the importance of defending traditional marriage and the pitfalls of the recently passed Civil Unions Bill. It actually drew crowds and wide media coverage. That Walsh, 78, has survived cancer, he attributes to God’s goodness. “He’s keeping me here for a reason,” he says. “I don’t have the money I used to, so he directs people to help me and I don’t worry.” Walsh will have Illinois Defense of Marriage marchers in two July 4th parades, one in Darien and the other in Oak Lawn/Evergreen Park down 95th Street, from Laramie to Little Company of Mary Hospital. “Then we’re gonna tour Illinois and hit every town of 20,000 and over. We want to educate others and get 500,000 signatures to put a Defense of Marriage referendum on the ballot in 2012: That marriage between one man and one woman ‘shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.’ Certain elements will do everything to keep it off,” he says, “but I’m not afraid.” Petitions can be printed from www.americansforlife. com. Make sure to print the petition instructions that must be followed so each signature counts. Deadline is April 23, 2012.

( emphasis my own)

Yesterday along with three hundred and change Leo Alums, Dick Walsh shared lunch, laughs and long-range plans at the Leo Alumni Golf Outing at Glen Eagles Country Club in Lemont, IL.

Dick Walsh is committed to the fight to protect the unborn. Abortion ( Roe v.Wade) is how America sold its soul. When we say that the death of a child is choice, we have a problem. This problem of fundamentally denying first principles - the Right to Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness -all the rest falls like dominoes.

In order to maintain the murder of the unborn other lifestyle and legal issues often dovetail - wrongful convictions, gay marriage, Green initiatives, real estate and banking - in the control of power. Gay Marriage is the cause celeb of the moment.

Here in Illinois Civil Unions between homosexual couples was wedged into legislation cynically named the "Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act" was ramrod-ed through the Democratic controlled legislatures with the help of equally cynical Republicans and signed by Governor Quinn who appears to sign anything put in front of him by Planned Parenthood and Terry Cosgrove.

This law went into effect this summer to the high hosannas of the supine Illinois media.

In no time at all Catholic Charities was targeted as in violation of the spirit of religious freedom.

The Greg Harris Law commands that Illinois

1. Mandate that faith-based institutions providing adoption or foster care services be required to place adoptive or foster children with couples who have entered into a same-sex civil union.

2. Require that Catholic parishes or Catholic agencies providing social services(including retreats, religious camps, homeless shelters, senior care centers and community centers) be compelled to provide these services to individuals who are in a same-sex civil union.

3. Refuse to protect small employers who do not extend family benefits to employees in a same-sex civil union.

Nice. A moral vice is a Civil Right.

That said, Dick Walsh and many, many, many people without the dollars and cents of Progressive agendas are going all grassroots.

This is block party season. Families with moms and dads and kids share salad, Italian beefs and grilled meats with the neighbors, while the kids disappear into the inflatable Jumping Gyms.

Marriage is between a Man and Woman and they have children. Click my post title, download and printout the petition that seeks to overturn the "Religious Freedom and Civil Union ACT" -

'Tis the Season and there is a great reason.

Happy Birthday Mr. President! The Key is Still Under the Lawn Gnome; Now, Get Home at a Decent Hour.

from American Thinker


Birthday's come only once a year. I love watching little kids nail their mugs into a thick pile of cake and ice cream and shout. At my age, the fun of birthdays is watching the little ones lord it over their pals, at least for a day.

With a debt ceiling deal completed Tuesday, Obama has on tap a 50th birthday fundraising concert at the Aragon on the North Side. The event features OK Go, Herbie Hancock and Jennifer Hudson. The president's birthday is Thursday.

Big-dollar donors will attend a dinner fundraiser along with the concert at a cost of $35,800 a person. As has been the practice, the money raised will be divided between Obama's re-election fund and the Democratic National Committee.

Yesterday, without mentioning the swell party at the Aragon Ballroom in Uptown tonight, with his customary thigh-tingling but stern remonstrance to us all, the Party President said,

“When Congress gets back from recess, I will urge them to immediately take some steps -- bipartisan, commonsense steps -- that will make a difference, that will create a climate where businesses can hire, where folks have more money in their pockets to spend, where people who are out of work can find good jobs,” Obama said pointing to tax cuts for the middle class, patent reforms and trade deals.

“There's no reason for Congress not to send me those bills so I can sign them into law right away, as soon as they get back from recess. Both parties share power in Washington, and both parties need to take responsibility for improving this economy. It's not a Democratic responsibility or a Republican responsibility; it is our collective responsibility as Americans,”

Hope he can manage to enjoy himself, tonight, and get at least a minute or two of shut-eye, before he again focuses like a laser beam to toss someone under a bus.

Revive the South Side Parade: Clean and Sober

The South Side Parade was the template for every major parade in Chicago. In the 1950's this parade traveled west along 79th Street between Halsted and Ashland Avenues. So successful was this event that it caused the Chicago Chamber of Commerce to lobby Mayor Richard J. Daley to move the south side parade downtown.




In the 1970's a few families in St. Cajetan Parish of Morgan Park revived the event. The parade attracted hundreds of thousands of people, Bill Clinton, Pat Buchanan, Jerry Brown, Al Gore, and Barack Obama in bids for the Presidency.

By the new Century, the South Side Irish Parade had become Mardi Gras on steroids - A one day Booze-Apa- Losers. In the word's of the late Chicago Detective and Philosopher Billy Higgins, "America's Youth is Fully Kreuzaned." Fights, public micturation and all too often defecation, and battalions of bleary-eyed bounders unable to find the magic bus back to the fern-bar grabbing a curb on Western Ave. long after the Mounted Cops cleared the way became the signature images of the parade.


I believe that the Parade should be returned - clean and sober. The Media can and will print and present the absolute worst about this parade, though it will continue to launder the excesses of many other community events in neighborhoods not thick with ethnic Catholics.

Put some muscle on the beer distributors who push "Get Your CHI-RISH On!" Miller is to beer in the same way that Planned Parenthood is to womens health.


Require any and all buses from fern bars park at 83rd Street Dan Ryan Woods Parking and provide a booze free shuttle, or the lustier youth can manhandled their coolers and case up the hill and parade their way to the parade kick-off point, while dodging Chicago and Evergreen Park Law Enforcement Professionals.

These might be some good starts. Stupid does not need a parade. The Parade is for the kids.

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

Mark Konkol Deserves "Noble Prize!" Konkol Kicked the G and Charged Up a Disabled Marine's Neighbors.

Aimee Zmysly and Yuriy Zmysly have friends, neighbors and Americans from all over the continent in their corner and now, at long last, the Federal Government for which Yuriy fought.

Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Konkol of the Chicago Sun Times got the ball rolling on April 4, 2010 with a story of Yuriy and Aimee's strength and love for one another. Mark Konkol, like his colleagues Natasha Korecki and Tim Novack, is a pitbull on a story.

This is great. What is greater happens to be the response of members of the VFW, American Legion, Windy City Veterans, and the good people who stepped up to help the young Marine and his bride.

Due to red-tape, I hope, Yuriy was denied disability benefits. Last year, Jim McMahon, Second City Cop, Detective Shaved and other blogs put out a call to help the Zmysly Family. The other local media ran stories too. Benefits were held and dollars poured in to help the young couple.

Now, the young couple has received their first check from the United States government.

For more than six years, Aimee Zmysly has been the unpaid caretaker for her husband, Yuriy Zmysly, who suffered a brain injury during routine surgery at a military hospital in North Carolina after surviving tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Marine Corps. He was left disabled, unable to see, walk or talk.

Now, thanks to a new federal law that the Oak Lawn couple helped spur the passage of, caregivers for severely disabled veterans can get a stipend from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Aimee Zmysly’s first check arrived about two weeks ago. It was for $3,541.26.

For Aimee Zmysly, 25, the money was more than just a $12-an-hour subsidy for giving up a career of her own to take care of her husband full-time. It was also validation.

“It’s good to be recognized for what I’ve been doing and other people have been doing for years,” she said.

“The whole reason why I take care of Yuriy, and have given up a lot, is because I wanted him home. He doesn’t belong in a hospital or a nursing home. It’s a hard job to do, especially when you are husband and wife, and you have all these roles — caregiver, wife and friend. It gets overwhelming.”

Mark Konkol was dogged. He wrote a series of articles and not "an" article to keep the story alive as the noble gent writes today - leaving his own part in the saga unmentioned.

In April 2010, the Zmyslys were living in a tiny room in Aimee’s parents’ house when “Aimee and Yuriy: A Love Story” appeared on the front page of a Sunday edition of the Chicago Sun-Times.

When the government notified Yuriy Zmysly it had declared him “medically retired” from the Marines, that sharply reduced his benefits, leaving the couple unable to afford the care he needed.

Touched by their story and in some cases angry about how the government had treated the couple, Sun-Times readers made sure the next chapter in their life story would be a happier one by contributing to an effort by the not-for-profit organization Salute Inc. to help the Zmyslys. As a result, last September, nearly five years to the day since they’d met, Aimee and Yuriy Zmysly moved in to a newly renovated and fully furnished house.

Click my post title for the Konkol archives on this saga.


With all of the puffed-up egos, agenda-driven hacks, and iconic bullies in journalism, Mark Konkol stands out as a guy who does his job with humility as well as a great human heart. That is nobility.

Jesus and the Debt Ceiling

Matthew 14: 13 - 21
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
14 As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.
15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves."
16 Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."
17 They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish."
18 And he said, "Bring them here to me."
19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

I was reading good old Mike Montaigne the other day and lifted a passage from one of his Meditations/Essays/Sententiae, or pithy scribblings for my pithy scribblings.

Since we cannot match it let us take our revenge by abusing it. Michel Montaigne (1533 - 1592)

Old Michel was talking about the all too human impulse to make light of another's accomplishments, genius, or good nature. Mike was not really talking about revenge at all. In fact the quotable quote came from an essay altogether different than revenge.

I was challenged by a reader to identify the quote, because the reader stated that he or she was a Montaigne Scholar and that the quote was not Montaigne's.

Your Montaigne quote is a fabrication. Please, find for me in his 107 essays where Montaigne said that -- you just took it from some quote website and assumed it's accuracy. He never said anything like that, and I know, I'm a Montaigne scholar.

Beyond that, your essay is completely incomprehensible.

and it goes on with Progressive screaming points about religious nuts and right wing monsters. As to it being incomprehensible, hey get it line. However, getting all pissy and preening at the get-go and acting like you sign my paychecks is no way get me to buy the first round, there, Abner.

Well, Old Hoss, you will find this one of the 107 essays under the Rs - On Raccoon Abatement, Racing Etiquette, Raisins D'tre, or Redemption, I forget which one. I am not a Montaigne Scholar, just a guy who reads and happens to be a legendary sexual athlete who can crack a rack of eight ball.

The point of the quote has much to do with the above Gospel passage from Matthew - The Tax Man! Matthew was a Roman paid tax collector, before he took up with Joshua Bar Jospeph - Jesus in Aramaic.

In this passage Matthew recounts the miracle of the loaves and fishes. I like the opener here," Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart."

There are crowds of people, who will later demand that Pilate crucify him, following Jesus around and it is time to chow down. Jesus ordered his disciples to feed the crowds rather than send them away - Pete and lads brought it up. Okay feed them.

It worked out.

To do what is not possible requires humility*. Modern Man, armed with Smart Phones and Twitter App'd, knows. He can Tweet Timmy Geitner and even the President. Every Man a Prospero and a Chris Matthews!

Last night, the House said no to Harry Reid, after Harry Reid said no to the House of Representatives. Bill Maher and HBO can prove that faith in God is really bad, because that might make man go over the heads of government for answers to problems of our own making.

Jesus told his disciple, "you give them something to eat." He knew that they would come up with nothing themselves and finally, relented, like a Dad who has ordered his son to fix the garage door that the teenager broke himself, knowing full well the kid can not get it done, but needed to try for himself. Jesus, called the crowd to Him and distributed the food. It worked out. Matthew, like any good tax-man, is short on the specifics when telling us anything. This is where we humble ourselves and turn to God, not for a quick fix and a Happy Meal, but to learn to cope with the mess we find ourselves in.

Jesus taught us to handle the Debt Ceiling. We need to look back and within to find the tools. The channel locks in this set is humility and fear of God. Miracles are tough work

Montaigne had it right when he said, "Since we cannot match it let us take our revenge by abusing it."

Make a mockery of Faith and blame someone else - George W.Bush, Raccoons - anything to make it someone else's troubles.

I read Montaigne, Jugs and Ammo, the Gospel of Matthew, and the New York Times, because I need all the help I can get.

* The Angelus Bell used to ring in parishes on south side when I was growing up, or aging, As to my growing up the jury is still out on that one.

Mom or a nun would say,

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
Us
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

then All of us:

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.

Nun, or Mom

Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

Us

Be it done unto me according to thy word.

Us All

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.

Nun or Mom.

And the Word was made Flesh.

Us
And dwelt among us.

Us All

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.Nun, or Mom

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
Us

That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Nun, or Mom

Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that, we to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an Angel, may by His Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord.
All

Amen.

Mom * Dad was at work), or Nun if stuck. At Little Flower we went home for lunch.

Okay eat, wash up and get your asses back to school. No watching Bozo!

Quinn's Dream Act! Next, Flooding Your Basement Before the Next Deluge!

Pat Quinn seems to be an intellectual giant. I now believe that Governor Quinn would tell me to avoid the heartbreak of basement flooding, by sticking my garden hose through one of the basement windows and let her rip! Why wait.

Called the Illinois Dream Act, the measure creates a panel to raise private money for college scholarships. Supporters say this will help illegal immigrants who graduate from Illinois high schools go on to college because they may otherwise not be able to afford it.

Students must have at least one immigrant parent and must have attended school in Illinois for at least three years to qualify for scholarship money.

Opponents say the legislation wrongly helps people who violate immigration laws.

Chicago Tribune

Damn those opponents for thinking such a thing. Private money? A State Law enacted so Private Money can be given to kids whose Moms and Dads are in America illegally, so they can go to publicly funded State schools without showing a Social Security number on any application. This makes sense how?

Why not violate more laws and get more money? The same such screeds and memes tell us that killing children is the path to Female Health; that two men are equally Moms and Dads; that no one in prison belongs there; that as long as there is a dollar it must be excised from the old wallet.

I worked to help Pat Quinn, become Governor and I voted for Pat Quinn. It took the Governor no time at all to prove to me that he does in fact believe in the Easter Bunny: Gov. Quinn immediately paid off Planned Parenthood by wedging in Terry Cosgrove for a State salary; Quinn sprung more felons than George Ryan in much less time; pushed the Civil Union and made war on Catholic Charities; ran business out of Illinois; crawfished on Real Labor as well as his bet with Gov. Walker; and now is signing the Illinois Dream Act that completely ignores immigration and the economic jackpot that is our State economy in the hope that Ralph Martire is correct that more people will vote for Pat Quinn again. Hug that Bunny, Guv.

The Dream Act is pure,unadulterated pandering; rhetorical tugs on the heart-strings of dopes notwithstanding. Quinn believes that more illegally entered Mexican Americans and their children getting tossed school dollars Illinois has not to begin with, having doubled both personal and corporate taxes, will ensure more votes for Pat Quinn from legal Mexicans - gay and breeder.

Pat Quinn is Jerry Brown without the hot-chick past. Like California Moonbeam, our Governor Soybean is signing the Dream Act. The Dream Act is a boilerplate pander piece that gets good press and WOW Progressive support. A Progressive would step over a starving Mexican blocking his way into Whole Foods.

Odd this - California's illegal alien population is heading home to the economic garden that is Mexico. Ralph Martire is Quinn's ( like Blago's) Tax-'Em All-Guru, whose Chinaman is Dawn Clark Netsch.

"It's now easier to buy homes on credit, find a job and access higher education in Mexico," Sacramento's Mexican consul general, Carlos González Gutiérrez, said Wednesday. "We have become a middle-class country."

Mexico's unemployment rate is now 4.9 percent, compared with 9.4 percent joblessness in the United States.

An estimated 300,000 undocumented immigrants have left California since 2008, though the remaining 2.6 million still make up 7 percent of the population and 9 percent of the labor force, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. . . .Mexico's growing middle class "reduces the appetites to come because there are simply many more options" at home, González Gutiérrez said. "Most people who decided to migrate already have a job in Mexico and tend to be the most ambitious and attracted to the income gap between the U.S. and Mexico."

Mexico's economy is growing at 4 percent to 5 percent, benefiting from low inflation, exports and a strong banking system, the consul said.

Mexico's birthrate is also declining sharply. "As a natural consequence of us transforming from a rural to an urban society, we are running out of Mexicans to export," González Gutiérrez said. "Our society's growing at a rate of 2.1 children per woman – in the 1970s it was more than five."

Once the U.S. economy recovers, the flow of migrants moving north "may go up again, although most likely they will not reach the peak levels we saw in the first half of the decade," González Gutiérrez said.

Mexicans are hardest working people in America, legal and illegal. They are proud family and community committed people who care for their children and their elderly. Coming to America means commitment. The various Dream Acts (local and Federal) are crafted by the same people who use people for votes, for dollars and for power.

Pat Quinn will sign the Illinois Dream Act on Monday.

Way to go, Hickey. Way to vote.

A Considered Appeal for the Tolerance of Cannabis

Dog! This is soooo not cool!

“It’s pretty well-known within the criminal justice system that the judges will dismiss those charges for very modest amounts of illicit drugs,” she said, “and so I suggested to him that the police might stop arresting people for this, since it clogs up our jail, and their cases will be dismissed out anyway,” Preckwinkle told reporters after Wednesday’s Cook County Board meeting." Cook County Board President Toni "Two-Shoes" Preckwinkle.



I noticed something outre concerning Toni Preckwinle's habiliments some years ago, when, as Alderman, she charged Chicago Nobel Literature laureate Saul Bellow with racism. What was she smoking? ( Click my post title for that archived tidbit)


Lawyers, HBO, Andy Dick, California, Deadheads, some Parrotheads, Willie Nelson, Residents of Penal Institutions and Cook County Board President Tony " Two-Shoes" Preckwinkle want Law Enforcement to turn a blind eye to any and all existing laws prohibiting the distribution, sale and use of Marijuana. I have heard only a very few reasoned arguments for this embargo of the Law. The Cats and the Fiddle make a compelling case.

The Cats and The Fiddle:

He's the man that smokes that jive.
That jive will take you for a dive.
One slip you will arrive.
When you smoke that killin' jive.

It will make you very tall.
Seems as if you're going to fall.
Knock yourself out for a ride.
You know I mean that killin' jive.

You will think you'll blow your top.
Start laughing and you just can't stop.
Now won't you give him a smile.
'Cause he's a sad man not a bad man.

Everything will seem so funny. Darkest days will seem so sunny.
That feeling will arrive.
when you smoke that killin' jive.

When you're high man,
you're sailin' man,
You're in the sky man.
You got no mail man.

You'll be so mellow,
just like a jello.
When you smoke that killin' jive.

Satis lege quia stulti aliquando postulent.

WhatEver!?!

Payback's a Bitch, Bitch! Cute Hoors, Montaigne, Liam Shakepeare, Joe Epstein. Revenge and the Ballot Box, That About Cover It?.

In the spirit of the Debt Ceiling Impasse, let's consider our next opportunity to make things right, for all concerened.


If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you pee on us and wrong us, shall we not revenge?

Liam Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Since we cannot match it let us take our revenge by abusing it.

Michel Montaigne (1533 - 1592)

All politicians are disappointing. Perhaps the purest, the least obviously corrupt, politician in Illinois in recent years was Senator Paul Simon. One year he quoted a passage from one of my books on the Christmas card he sent out to supporters. He would occasionally write to me, addressing me as “Joe.” At one point, someone I knew named Carol Iannone came up for the minor non-paying job of member of the National Council of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The word somehow spread that she was a right-winger. She wasn’t; she was a serious literary critic. I wrote a letter to Paul Simon, before whose committee the nomination had to pass, patiently explaining what a good person Ms. Iannone was and how valuable she would be on the Council of the NEH and asking that he consider her nomination with the utmost care. I never had an answer from him, and he voted against her. He went with the party on this one. My point is that there are other kinds of corruption than patronage and stealing. Joseph Epstein

Why Is Peggy Noonan No Longer an Obama Girl?

Dance with who brung you, Peggy. The poor guy is not sleeping a wink, so Val Jarrett tells us. The Ceiling is caving in and you call him Mr. Loser! Peggy, was it so long ago that you keened that Barry was the Cat's Nuts? Fickle.

Peggy Noonan, who along with the tasseled loafer Republicans, helped elect the most singularly potential man as President of the United States in 2008. Barack Obama was and remains Our Potential President - great gifts; no delivery. As the great Bishop McNamara HS track coach Kenny Klipp used to say "Losers have Potential."

Today, I learn that Peggy Noonan has not only given back her ring to Barack Obama, but gone positively Play Misty for Me on the poor unprepared President.

Peggy Noonan was an Obama Girl, just like P.G. Wodehouse's Christopher Buckley and columnist and trouser aficionado Davie Brooks. There were many more.

I am a Democrat, but I could not get behind President Obama. I enthusiastically backed John McCain and was disgusted to see him quit the campaign when the economy tanked. McCain, his family and surrogates went on to heap blame on Sarah Palin, who was the only person who fought to win from September through November 2008.

Shucks I remember when Peggy Noonan was all over MSNBC with fellow Obama Girl Mike Murphy singing,

I cannot wait, 'til 2008
Baby you’re the best candidate
I like it when you get hard
On Hillary in debate
Why don't you pick up your phone?
'Cause I've got a crush on Obama
I cannot wait, 'til 2008
Baby you’re the best candidate
Of the new oval office
You’ll get your head of state
I can’t leave you alone
‘Cause I’ve got a crush on Obama

Now, it's all,

Mr. Obama seemed brilliant at politics when he first emerged in 2004. He understood the nation's longing for unity. We're not divided into red states and blue, he said, we're Big Purple, we can solve our problems together. Four years later he read the lay of the land perfectly—really, perfectly. The nation and the Democratic Party were tired of the Clinton machine. He came from nowhere and dismantled it. It was breathtaking. He went into the 2008 general election with a miraculously unified party and took down another machine, bundling up all the accrued resentment of eight years with one message: "You know the two losing wars and the economic collapse we've been dealing with? I won't do that. I'm not Bush."

The fact is, he's good at dismantling. He's good at critiquing. He's good at not being the last guy, the one you didn't like. But he's not good at building, creating, calling into being. He was good at summoning hope, but he's not good at directing it and turning it into something concrete that answers a broad public desire.

And so his failures in the debt ceiling fight. He wasn't serious, he was only shrewd—and shrewdness wasn't enough. He demagogued the issue—no Social Security checks—until he was called out, and then went on the hustings spouting inanities. He left conservatives scratching their heads: They could have made a better, more moving case for the liberal ideal as translated into the modern moment, than he did. He never offered a plan. In a crisis he was merely sly. And no one likes sly, no one respects it.

Peggy 'Did Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?" NoonanWall Street Journal

Well, gee, Peggy, remember when you said this about Sarah Palin?

Americans don’t want, as their representatives, people who seem empty or crazy. They’ll vote no on that. It’s not just the message, it’s the messenger.

Which is it? Never mind, Peggy.

Fatum Brothers Jazz Orchestra at Jazz Showcase - These Kids Light It Up

Dressed like Mormon door-ringers and looking like a high school wrestling team the Fatum Brothers Jazz Orchestra took the stage at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase and lit it up!

Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Count Basie, Johnny Hodges, Chicago's Buckinghams were hammered and howled out by these talented young guys. The team composer, a young guy named Levi, is 21 years old.

Real Jazz is in great hands with these gents.

Here is Johnny Hodge's Squatty Roo treated by the Fatum Brothers Jazz Orchestra




This next is Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!




Get to Jazz Showcase between now and Sunday and catch these talented young guys!


The Jazz Showcase located at Dearborn Station, on the East side of the building at 806 S. Plymouth Ct.


Jul 28 2011 - Jul 31 2011 FATUM BROTHERS BIG BAND ORCHESTRA 'LIVE RECORDING CONCERT' $20/10 STUDENTS AND MUSICIANS

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fatumjazz/fbjo-summer-2011-a-jazz-campaign

The Mystery of Col. Ellis' Death -Imperial Japan's Hand, the Bottle, or Both.

1920's Marines with a giant snake -Click on the photos for a better view. These guys were real swamp people. This was taken in the Philippines.


Guam University Professor of Micronesian Studies Dirk Anthony Balendorf and Merrill L. Bartlett have written a book about the Marine officer who along with Air Corps General Billy Mitchell realized the threat of Imperial Japan's naval ambitions in the Pacific. While Mitchell argued for an Air Corps separate from the United States Army
and capable of bombing ships from on high, Earl Hancock "Pete" Ellis articulated a strategy and the tactics for dealing with island warfare across the vast Pacific. This book, Pete Ellis: An Amphibious Warfare Prophet, 1880-1923 is based on the papers prepared by Prof. Balendorf in Micronesian JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Vol. 1, nº 1–2 December 2002 linked directly to my post title.

Balendorf's thesis holds that while the death of the Marine/spy in 1923 casts suspicion on Japan for it, the study of the extant records present a case that is purely circumstantial against Japan and moreso at Ellis' love of the bottle.

In any case, Baledorf's scholarly paper reads like a Raymond Chandler novel. Click my post title and read the whole paper.

1920 China Marine's view of his world.

Here below is a summary presented on a website dedicated to the death and subsequent inquiry concerning Pete Ellis:

Lieutenant Colonel Earl Hancock Ellis U.S. Marine Corps, was the author of Advance Base Operations in Micronesia, which formed the basis for Marine Corps Operations Plan 712H for war against Japan. Disguised as a trader, he smuggled himself into Micronesia in November 1922 in order to make a field study of his operations plan.However, half a year later, on 12 May 1923, his delirium tremens from alcoholism grew worse and he died, refusing a Japanese physician's medication. Immediately after his death, and also during the Pacific War, there were suggestions that he was poisoned by the Japanese. Even after the war the whole story still was not cleared up.This paper draws on some of the historical sources kept at the National Institute for Defense Studies of Japan, the Japanese Diplomatic Record Office, and the U.S. Marine Corps Historical Division to clear up the facts. Why did the argument that Ellis was poisoned arise in the United States, and why did the Colonel become a hero ?


Infiltration into Micronesia

　　　　　　　　　Major General John Archer Lejune, U.S Marine Corps, Ellis' superior in his Philippines and European days, was appointed Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps on 30 June 1920. On 20 August Ellis sent a letter to the new Commandant emphasizing the need to collect information in the Pacific in order to prepare for future war. Ellis proposed to make the reconnaissance himself, and to take every measure to ensure that the United States would not be embarrassed by his operations.１ Probably as the result of this action, Ellis was assigned to the Marine Corps Headquarters, Operations and Training Division in December 1920. In April of the next year, he completed his study Advance Base Operations in Micronesia, which was adapted as Marine Corps Operations Plan 712H in July, and then incorporated into the Joint Army and Navy War“Plan Orange" in 1924, the first U.S. Joint Army-Navy war plan against Japan.２

　　　　　　　After the completion of his study, Ellis requested of General Lejeune a three month leave in order to determine places suitable for landing operations and investigate Japanese defenses in Micronesia. His departure was delayed by hospitalization for alcoholism, but he left San Francisco in August bound for Australia by way of Samoa and Fiji３.In Sydney, he asked the Japanese Consulate General for a visa for entry into Micronesia, disguising himself as a representative of Hughes Trading Co, headquartered in New York City and operated by a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer４. However, finding no ship available for the passage from Australia to Micronesia, he left for Japan and reached Yokohama via the Philippines in early August, 1922. On 12 August his chronic nephritis grew worse as a result of heavy drinking, and he was hospitalized at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokohama, then operating in support of the U.S Siberian expedition of WW Ⅰ. Although he left the hospital temporarily, he was forcibly returned by ambulance from the Yokohama Grand Hotel on 20 September.

　　　　　　　　Ellis was returned to the hospital because the American Naval Attache in Tokyo, Captain Lyman H. Cotten, USN, feared that Japanese counter-intelligence might become aware of Ellis and his mission. Ellis was seen frequently in bars and shabby Geisha houses in Yokohama and had been reported to be saying that he was selected by Washington to spy on treaty violations by the Japanese goverment in Micronesia. Captain Cotten conferred with Commander Ulysses R. Webb, Medical Corps, USN, Commanding Officer of the U.S. Naval Hospital, Yokohama and decided to hospitalize and quarantine Ellis for security reasons before forcibly returning him to the United States.

　　　　　　　Captain Cotten had desired Ellis's immediate departure for the United States, but Commander Webb thought that Ellis was in extremely poor physical condition and needed to regain at least some of his strength. Cotten and Webb agreed to keep Ellis hospitalized for some time. However, Ellis became aware of the plans for his coercive return, and fled the hospital on the night of 6 October, evading the surveillance of Chief Pharmacist Lieutenant Lawrence Zembsch, USN.５ Post-war investigations revealed that he boarded the Kasuga Maru of the Nanyo Boeki Kaisha(South Sea Trading Co)line at Kobe, and after calling at Saipan, Yap, Jaluit, Truk and other islands, Ellis arrived at Koror in the Palau Islands in mid-March 1923.


(2)Japan-U.S. Contacts in Tokyo After Ellis's Death

　　　　　　　The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo was notified of the death of Ellis by the Japanese South Sea Islands Government Office. At 0620 on 21 May 1923, the following cablegram reached the State Department from U.S. Embassy Tokyo.A copy of the cablegram was passed to the Commandant of the Marine Corps Major General Lejeune via Captain Luke McNamee, the Director of Naval Intelligence.

　　　　　　 “I AM INFORMED BY GOVERNOR GENERAL OF JAPANESE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS THAT R.H.ELLIS, REPRESENTATIVE OF HUGHES TRADING COMPANY, #2 RECTOR ST., NEW YORK CITY, HOLDER OF DEPARTMENT PASSPORT NO.40249, DIED AT PARAO(sic), CAROLINE ISLANDS ON MAY 12TH. REMAINS AND EFFECTS IN POSSESSION OF GOVERNMENT AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS, WILSON ".６

　　　　　　Captain Cotten was informed by Washington of the death of Ellis and instructed to receive his remains and effects.７ He immediately sent Assistant Naval Attache Lieutnant Garnet Hulings, USN to the Ministry of Marine. On 26 May, Lieutnant Hulings visited Commander Yasuo Ko, aide to the Minister of Marines, and notified him that Ellis was not a trader but a naval officer(sic) on active service, and he explained that he was instructed by Washington to receive Ellis' “body and effects" for confirmation purposes and to transport them to the U.S. Naval Hospital, Yokohama.８ Commander Ko informed Hulings that “although the South Sea Islands Government Office is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Marine, it has been entirely independent of the Navy since April of last year. Therefore, it is considered appropriate for you to conduct future negotiations with the South Sea Islands Government Office through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs". And he also replied to Hulings ; “ We wish to give notification to the local office of the South Sea Island Government Office for your convenience. However, as regards the matter of sending Ellis' body to Yokohama as you want, we are unable to answer you forthwith because it has been interred temporarily and the situation there is unknown. Therefore, we shall inform Palau by cable of the gist of your request and the fact that Mr Ellis is not a trader as stated in his passport but a United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel on active service".９

　　　　　　　　　Two days later, on 28 May, Hulings formally submitted the above request in writing.１０After Hulings' visit at the Ministry of Marine, the Japanese Navy informed the European and American Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs how the matter had developed, and what had been done about it by the Navy.１１ The Navy also asked the Bureau to resolve the matter. Probably for this reason, there is no further record of nogotiations between the American Embassy in Tokyo and the Japanese Navy. Upon obtaining Japanese consent, Captain Cotten decided to send Yokohama Naval Hospital's Chief Pharmacist Lieutnant Zembsch,USN, to Palau and gave him careful instructions on how to gather information.１２ Zembsch left Yokohama on 5 July aboard SS Tango Maru of the Nanyo Boeki Kaisha Line, he exhumed the remains of Ellis, cremated them, and started back with Ellis' ashes in a plain wooden box.

　　　　　　　　　When Zembsch visited Palau, the Japanese officials gathered all persons concerned with Ellis, including the immigration officer William Gibbons, Ellis's native wife Matauie, and the native police chief Jose Tellei, and others, and explained the situation to Zembsch. However, Zembsch, who had had no health problems before his departure, was attacked by diarrhea and high fever. He grew so weak in a month that by 14 August he could no longer recognize the people who came to meet him in Yokohama. Upon his return to Japan, he was immediately hospitalized in the U.S Naval Hospital in Yokohama. With medical care, Zembsch's memory had begun to return gradually when the great Kanto earthquake of 1 September 1923 struck, and Zembsch was killed in the collapse of the hospital building.

(3)Reactions in the American Press

　　　　　　　　　Because the cause of Ellis' death was not made known by the Japanese side, the American press, particularly the Hearst papers and the local press in his home state of Kansas, reported his death with imagination and malice. Such newspaper reports１３ can be summed up as follows:Ellis joined the Marine Corps as a private, and he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as a “most prominent" or “distinguished" Marine officer. During the First World War, in particular, he was awarded the Legion of Honor, the Croix de Guerre from France,and the Navy Cross from the U.S. Navy for his meritorious wartime services.While touring the Orient on a vacation (or on a special mission,according to some newspapers), Ellis died on 21 May 1923 in the Caroline Islands, then under the mandate of Japan. The first newspapers said that the Japanese Navy's notification of his death came only two weeks after his death, and the cause of his death had not yet been given. The newspapers described his death as “unexplained" or “mysterious", or referred to the rumor that Ellis was “accidentally killed".

　　　　　　　　　It was also reported that the Caroline where Ellis died constituted a militarily very important strategic point,lying between the Philippines-Guam combination and the United States mainland. Washington had received numerous reports that Japan had built a submarine base there. The newspaper also said that foreigners were not welcomed in the Carolines Islands because Japan had built a naval base and fortifications there in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. In August, two months after Ellis' death, it was reported again that the Japanese side had given no explanation about his death, under a sensational headline to the effect that the fine Marine Corps officer would be buried on a Japanese island with no light shed on the cause of his death. In addition, his forced hospitalization by Captain Cotten was reported in a different version: Ellis had been arrested in Tokyo by the Japanese Army authorities.

2 Arguments and Evidence Against the Poisoning Charge
(1)Why poison was suspected

　Why was the Japanese Navy suspected of poisoning Ellis in the United States, until just recently ？ It is presumably because American researchers did not refer to Japanese historical sources, but rather believed and drew their conclusions from Hearst papers and Arthur V.Herrman's account before the war, and Secret Mission and LCOL W.W.Worden USMC's report after the war.Before the war,besides the Hearst papers,Herrman's report were added. Arthur V. Herrman, an American trader of German ancestry,paid a visit on 23 May 1923 to Major General George Barnett at Headquarters, U.S Marine Corps Department of the Pacific, and informed Barnett that１４:

　（1) He saw Ellis on Kusaie, Eastern Caroline Islands, on 16 April 1923 and found him in good health. 　　　　Ellis told him that the Japanese were talking of the possibility of war between the United States 　　　　　and Japan.
　（2) A great many of the Japanese were drunk, and it was their intention to put Colonel Ellis in jail.
　（3) The Japanese wanted no foreigners on the island, and they were “very anxious" to get rid of Ellis.

　　　　　After the war, U.S.Navy Captain,Zacharias's inaccurate memoirs “Secret Mission" added to the confusion. In his book,he expressed suspicion of the Japanese Navy's behavior for the following reasons１５:

　　（1) The Japanese Navy's notification of Ellis' critical condition came on the day before his death. 　　　　　When Captain Cotten requested Ellis be returned as soon as possible, the Japanese Navy answered 　　　that a concrete response would be given within 24 hours.It was quite unusual for the Japanese 　　　　　Navy to answer so quickly and positively. Captain Cotten suspected the presence of some evil 　　　　　design behind it. He told Zacharias that Ellis would not come back alive.
　　（2) The next day a notice of Ellis' death came,together with the notification that his remains had 　　　　　been cremated.(Ibn fact,Ellis's body not been cremated and no such notification had been recieved)
　　　Cotten concluded that the cremation immediately following death must have been intended to 　　　　　　preclude the possibility of poison being detected by an American autopsy,and strengthened his 　　　　　　suspicion that Ellis' death was a Japanese Navy plot.
　　（3) When Captain Cotten told the Japanese Navy that he wanted to send Chief Pharmacist Zembsch 　　　to receive Ellis' remains, the Japanese Navy took a long time before approval in contrast with its 　　　　previous quick response.

　　　　　　Cotten considered this delay in response attributable to the Japanese Navy's bewilderment by an unexpected American request.
　　（4) After being kept waiting for a long time, Cotten received permisson and Zembsch departed. 　　　　　　Before his departure from Yokohama, many notifications came from the Japanese Navy, but 　　　　　　　stopped after departure.
　　　Cotten was notified of Zembsch's return only one day in advance, and was given no information whatsoever concerning his mental and physical deterioration.
　　（5) Upon arrival,Zembsch was only able to murmur incoherently. The Commanding Officer of the 　　　　　Naval Hospital suggested that Zembsch's condition resulted from the addition to his food of a 　　　　　　powerful narcotic such as morphine or opium.

　　　　　　　　These were the points which according to Zacharaias,aroused Cotten's suspicion, and Zacharaias concluded: the Japanese,who knew of Ellis' secret objectives, helped him to enter Micronesia. During the voyage, the captain of the Japanese freighter induced Ellis to drink a great deal. In Micronesia, Japanese there held drinking parties for Ellis, serving him sake containing a narcotic which killed him.Then in 1950,the U.S. Marine Corps sent Lieutenant Colonel Waite W. Worden, USMC to Palau to investigate. Worden interviewed survivors and obtained the following statements from those involved in the case.１６

☆ Statement of Ngerdako Gibbons the widow of immigration officer William Gibbons, half caste son of Jamaican Negro.
　　　　　　　Upon his arrival in Palau, Ellis stayed for a week at the home of Gibbons, the one of only English speaking persons on Koror at that time. Gibbons had, at Ellis' request, obtained for him a house in the native district and introduced him to a 25-year-old native girl,Metauie, who became Ellis' Palauan wife. Ellis went out every day under the pretext of taking a stroll, but his activities were constantly under the watch of the Japanese or native police.Ellis drank all the sake, whisky or beer that he could lay his hands on. Once, when he asked Gibbons for more drink and was told that there was no more. Ellis destroyed a wall of Gibbons's house, suspecting that some might be hidden there.On the day of his death, Ellis was “crazy drunk" from the morning and died at about five o'clock in the afternoon. Gibbons made a coffin and buried Ellis at the native graveyard the next day.

☆Statement of Ellis' native wife,Metauie
　　　　　She lived with Ellis for six weeks until his death. He told her that he was a civilian. She did not know that he was a Marine Corps officer.He always went out, saying that he would take a stroll. She did not know what he actually did. Ellis always drank, and particularly in the two weeks preceding his death his drinking increased. She "believed" that “too much sake" killed him.

☆Statement of native police senior officer Jose Tellei
　　　　　Ellis arived in Koror in April 1923, but nobody suspected he was a spy. However, the police chief, a Japanese, apparently considered him suspicious, for he ordered a plainclothesman to tail and watch Ellis constantly.
These contents were essentially correct, but finally Worden concluded by his own comment that “Ellis was suspected by the Japs as being a spy, and to the extent that they constantly shadowed him, it may be that he was poisoned. With Ellis'apparent unquenchable thirst, and his frantic searches at times for something to drink, it would not have been too difficult to poison him"

(2)Counter-evidence in Japanese Materials
　　　　　　　　　　The Tokyo Embassy's cablegram of 21 May to the U.S. State Department contained the expression the “Remains and Effects", Lieutenant Hulings said “Body and Belongings" on the 26th, and he used words “Body and Effects" in the memorandum of 28th May. All this indicates that both Washington and the American Embassy in Tokyo knew that Ellis' body had not been cremated.
There is another relevant record, a cablegram of 31 May from the Resident Naval Officer in the South Sea Islands.１７
It reads as follows:

　　　　TO AIDE TO MINISTER OF MARINE AND NAVY GENERAL STAFF
　　　　FROM RESIDENT NAVAL OFFICER, SOUTH SEA ISLANDS
　　　　DATE 31 MAY 1923
　　　　　ELLIS, AMERICAN ALLEGEDLY ON COMMERCIAL INSPECTION TOUR, DIED FROM 　　　　　　　　　　　ALCOHOLISM ON KOROR ON TWELTH MAY. NO MILITARY PAPERS FOUND IN HIS 　　　　　　　　　　　EFFECTS.HE IS SAID TO BE COMMANDER ON ACTIVE SERVICE. IF TRUE, HE IS CONSIDERED 　　　　TO HAVE OBTAINED TRAVEL PERMIT BY FALSIFYING HIS OCCUPATION. IS IT ALL RIGHT TO 　　　　TURN HIS EFFECTS OVER TO AMERICAN AUTHORITIES？URGENTLY AWAITING YOUR 　　　　　　　　　INSTRUCTION.

　　　　　　It is considered normal in the case of a premeditated design to make an immediate report on its success to a limited number of people.The above cablegram is remarkable in that:
　　（1) It was sent three weeks after the death of Ellis and ten days after the Japanese Navy's receipt 　　　　of information on the death from the South Sea Island Goverment Office.
　　（2) It was addressed to both the Aide to the Naval Minister and to the Chief of the Naval General 　　　　　Staff.

　　　　　In addition, the Bureau of General Affairs official who recieved the cablegram (whose identity is unknown because this seal is undecipherable) wrote a note in the margin of the cablegram : “An improper action, but overlook it so we can use it as a countercharge,in case we are blamed for doing the same thing". Is it not possible to understand from this that the Japanese Navy was not involved in the affair？ When Zembsch visited Palau, the Resident Naval Officer in the South Seas reported as follows :１８

　　　　　TO AIDE FOR NAVY MINISTER AND CHIEF OF NAVAL GENERAL STAFF
　　　　　FROM RESIDENT NAVAL OFFICER, SOUTH SEA ISLANDS
　　　　　DATE 29 JULY, 1923
　　　　　CHIEF PHARMACIST OF U.S.NAVAL HOSPITAL,YOKOHAMA,ARRIVED HERE ON 21 JULY. 　　　　　　　　BRANCH OFFICE CHIEF DELIVERY OF ELLIS' BODY AND EFFECTS TO ZEMBSCH AND 　　　　　　　　　OTHER DISPOSALS COMPLETED.
　　　　　CREMATION SCHEDULED FOR TWENTY SEVEN JULY WITHOUT OPENING COFFIN TO
　　　　　EXAMINE DEAD BODY.１９ IT APPEARS AS IF CAUSE OF DEATH IS FULLY UNDERSTOOD.

　　　　　　　The above cablegram suggests a sense of relief that American understanding was obtained and that any suspicions were cleared up. The Japanese Navy transferred the matter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in the process the Aide to the Minister of Marine forgot to answer the 31 May cablegram from the Resident South Sea Naval Officer urgently requesting instructions. So on the 14th of June, the Resident South Seas Naval Officer once again sent a cablegram saying that he was waiting for an urgent reply on the matter of the Ellis, as cabled on 29 May.２０ Is it not possible to interpret this to show that the Japanese Navy thought so lightly of the matter that the Aide for the Naval Minister forgot to answer？

3 Who Falsified the Truth ?

　　　　　　　　Why did the case arouse suspicion in the United States and within its Navy？ Probably because neither the South Sea Islands Government Office nor the Japanese Navy did, or rather could tell the American the cause of Ellis's death or the name of his disease.The cablegram２１ received by the Japanese Navy from the South Sea Islands Government Office reads:

　　R.H.ELLIS 43, REPRESENTATIVE OF HUGHES & CO., RECTOR ST. 2 NEW YORK, PASSPORT 　　　　　　NO.40249, LANDED HERE ABOARD TAIAN MARU AFTER TOUR ON ISLANDS. BUT WHILE WAITING 　　FOR SHIP BOUND FOR MENADO, HE DIED FROM SHINSHINSENMOSHO AT SIX PM ON TWELFTH 　　MAY.
　　DEAD BODY WAS BURIED TEMPORARILY AND HIS EFFECTS ARE KEPT IN CUSTODAY.

　　　　　　　　The Japanese Navy couldn't understand what the disease name “SHINSHINSENMOSHO" meant, because there is no such name medically. In the margin of the cablegram is the note “A kind of dementia". On 30 May, four days after Hulings' visit to the Japanese Navy Ministry, the Resident Naval Officer in the South Seas Islands reported that Ellis died from alcoholism. But there is no trace that the report was made to the U.S. Naval Attache in Tokyo. Why was the report not made known to the American side？ Because just as Zacharaias and Cotten could not believe, in view of Ellis' behavior in Yokohama, that he was going to Micronesia under secret orders from Washington,２０the Japanese Navy must have found it hard to accept the fact that a U.S. Naval Commander (misidentified as such by the Japanese Navy) could have died from alcoholism. Particulary because the honor of an individual and the United States Navy was involved, the Japanese Navy may well have hesitated to conclude from a single report of the Resident Naval Officer in the South Sea Islands that Ellis was an alcoholic.

　　　　　　　　Also because the matter had been transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Navy may have let the matter drop. As mentioned above, the suspicion that Ellis was poisoned is considered to have arisen from the fact that all relevant writings on the American side were based on contemporary newspaper and Zacharaias' writings which were entirely different from the truth. What caused Zacharaias' misunderstanding？ At that time, Zacharaias was a junior officer and language student. Did he misunderstand because he was not directly concerned with the case？ However, he writes that he was a “witnessed" the case. Careful perusal of his memoirs reveals that he discussed delicate matters with the Naval Attache while gathering information in Japan.In September 1921, he was ordered to get the Japanese Navy's intentions of the Washington Naval Conference, and dined with Captain Kichisaburou Nomura and Osami Nagano. In consequence, Zacharaias writes, he successfully obtained the information that the Japanese Navy would agree to the American proposal for Naval limitations.２２

　　　　　　　　　As can be seen, Zacharaias was somewhat involved in intelligence work in Japan. But the next point must be considered that, at that time Captain Nagano was in Washington as the Japanese Naval Attache. According to Zacharaias' memoirs, Cotten often consulted him and informed him about Ellis' behavior, forced hospitalization, and escape from hospital. Why does Zacharaias' memoirs differ so markedly from the truth？ Forethermore,while the English edition of his memoirs contains a chapter on Ellis, as The Strange Case of “Colonel X", but the Japanese edition omits this chapter so closely related to Japan, saying “Several chapters in the original which are not particularly related to Japan are omitted, partly in compliance with the author's request.２３ Why？

　　　　　　　　　Japanese authorities may have placed Ellis under surveillance because he was a foreigner, but Japan did not know he was a Marine Corps Officer on active service, until the receipt of Hulings' memorandum. If Captain Cotten or the United States Navy had not attempted to get information on Micronesia by turning Ellis' death to good account,２４ the Ellis case would have been dealt with simply as the unfortunate case of an American traveler's death. Ellis's accident happened just three months after the Washington Naval Conference, and his mission and behavior were embarrassments to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. In order to cover up Ellis's “improper action"２５, and to protect the U.S. Marine Corps, Ellis must be a hero.

　　　　　　　　　　So probably, facts were gradually confused because the circumstances of Ellis' death were not clear. The suspicion regarding his death was amplified by Zembsch's death. Ellis served for many years under Lejeune,Commandant of the Marine Corps for thirteen years under three U.S. Presidents, and he acted with Lejeune's understanding. Ellis' adventurous and tragic actions were to the liking of the Americans. From an American point of view, he was a hero who smuggled himself into Micronesia, after long travels to Australia, Philippines and Japan in spite of his illness. He took a native Palauan girl to wife. And finally, he was poisoned by the Japanese Navy while engaging in espionage for the Marine Corps.

　　　　　　　　　The case of Ellis increased the American distrust and suspicion of Japan with regard to Micronesia. The growing distrust and suspicion were capitalized upon by advocates of racial discrimination and those fearful of a perceived military menace. In particular, the Marine Corps felt threatened postwar armament and manning reductions, and they were urging re-expansion,the developmenmt of amphibious operations,and improved amphious landing capability against Japan. Today the Amphibious Training building at the Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia, is named Ellis Hall.

　　　　　　　Earl Hancock Ellis
　　　　　　　Lieutenant Colonel　United States Marine Corps
　　　　　　　Pioneer Amphibious Prophet - War Planner
　　　　　　　Born At Iuka,Kansas, 19 Dec 1880
　　　　　　　He Forecast The Eventual Amphibious Struggle For the Pacific
　　　　　　　And Gave His Life For His Country As An Intelligence Officer
　　　　　　　At Koror Town In The Japanese Palau Islands 12 May 1923
　　　　　　　His Character Was A Most Lovable One And His Heart Was
　　　　　　　Dauntless And Full Of Courage
　　　　　　　John A Lejeune

Great sources on Ellis:

http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~y.hirama/yh_e_papers_ellis.html
http://marshall.csu.edu.au/MJHSS/Issue2002/MJHSS02-03.pdf
http://www.usni.org/store/books/biography-memoirs/pete-ellis-0
http://chinamarine.org/