Monday, August 06, 2012

Morgan Park's Eddie Carroll Roofing to Scale Mt. Everest

Panorama
Carroll Roofing & Construction
10912 South Western Avenue Chicago, IL 60643
(773) 445-5756


The above is a basic sketch for Eddie Carroll Roofing & Construction Mt. Everest Climb fleshed out by Master Sherpa and engineer Framin' Eamon Cosgrove for the trip up Everest's south face.

Having topped the summits of Mount Greenwood, ( Georgians, Cape Cods, Raised Ranches and the odd Chicago Bungalo) philosopher, roofer, gad-about, swordsman, Big band leader  and adventurer, Eddie Carroll will dominate the top of the world, Ma!

Carroll Roofing and Construction - the surname of quality and Old World craftsmanship ( "I hire only DPs") - will soon best the name of Hillary, not the long suffering Mrs. Clinton, but Sir Edmund the Kiwi Rock Jock. Like Sir Edmund, Citizen Eddie will take the much tested south ridge route from Nepal.

I asked the raffish adventurer what possessed him to assault the 24,000 + ' summit and he cocked an eyebrow and rejoined, " I like it on top, Patrick, my boy; I like it on top."

I had expected nothing less.

To continue, I mentioned the perilous 1996 expeditions that ended in the deaths sixteen persons, but Mr. Carroll was not nonplussed.  He's often not nonplussed. Conturbent me Non Nihil! -(Perplex Me Not With Nothing!) should be Eddie Carroll's family crest.  I, on the hand. am nonplussed enough for everyone, let alone anyone.

Mr. Carroll continued to wax practical, "I'm using scaffolding . . .lots and lots of scaffolding . . . Pat, I take safety as seriously as President Obama takes his oath of office, maybe more so.   Look, if you skimp on costs in material quality, customers will skedaddle pronto . . .not to mention funeral. . . .well, burial anyway, maybe not the whole Bob Sheehy, but certainly the burial . . . expenses for the husky immigrants going up with a load of lumber, or shingles. No, Sir, I am scaffolding my way up Everest on Badger Quality*!"

God Speed, Eddie Carroll!!!!!!!!!!!

* Badger Ladder and Scaffolding -
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Item #CROSS BRACE OPTIONPriceQty
LF6R7'$145.00
LF6R-1010'$159.00
http://www.badgerladder.com/index.aspx

Friday, August 03, 2012

Catholic Bishops Conference Pastoral Nails Assault on American Religious Liberty

 Francis Cardinal George Our Great Shepherd -with Leo Board Member Tamara Holder and the Leo Guys -Bobby Sheehy, Bill Hessian

I remain a Roman Catholic in America for the exact same reasons that I wake up at 3 A.M. and look in on my kids even though two are adults and the youngest seventeen, pray the Memorare and the Novena of the Little Flower on my knees an hour and a half later, read as much as I can, write about what I have read or thought about, try to do a few laps on the Rosary looking for all the world to be playing Master's Level pocket pool while waiting at Dunkin Donuts for Miss Lou, Kim and her daughter Kameron.  Lou takes Kameron to Day Care for Kim while Kim works at U of I Med Center in the cafeteria. I take Kim to the terminal at 79th & Western, as it is on my way to Leo High School.

Kim is a single mom with two daughters. The elder girl is nineteen and ebony goddess Kameron is eight years old with designs on capturing America's heart on the Disney Channel.  I was easy.  Kim works a brutal day preparing salads for the Medical staff at U of I ChicagoMed Center.  Last year, I began driving Kim and spending real quality time with these three African American women, along with the cops, firemen, skilled tradesmen, City of Chicago white collar folks, nurses and cousins at Kareem's Dunkin Donuts.

These tasks, like my prayer ritual, are part of me.  I was taught to pray and then forgot how, until times of trouble or when I had managed to piss off every carbon foot-print within my five mile radius.  Prayer is not only a public ritual, but should be a reflexive action that underlies our waking hours and balms our sleep.

Being Irish, I am embarrassed to make a public display of prayer - that kiss of Peace at Mass ( 'Peace Be with You!' - Uh-huh, thanks. Back at you.) really tossed Irish Americans into a spiral. Some of the more pious took to it like duck's to Cheetos and evolved into the folks who extend arms with palms up like ad hoc Melchizedeks  I belong to a subsection of Irish Catholic America that winces when publicly hugged, touched, or complimented. I like traditional prayers and go absolutely Bat Guano when Catholic educators begin every Goddam meeting with the distribution of xeroxed copies of personal prayers to be read out loud.  We got plenty good prayers, but we insist on being the center of the show with a presentation of badly formed words and phrases - "Dear God, the sexually ambiguous Trinity, bless our actions this day as we bring about an end to universal poverty, racism, torture with this day's breaking into groups for discussion and sharing and all kinds of passive aggressive gamesmanship . . .!"

Prayers get answered in God's own manner and with his own brand of theological larceny - "Hickey, the door to back . . .right is open and you already signed in . . .pull a Murphy . . .let Dan know . . . there, see behind the faculty from St. Benedict's?  Yes, the doors with exit sign . . . Really, how do you get a fork to your mouth without mutilating yourself?  Now, you guys go . . .clear the exit to parking lot . . .wait for the signal  . . .  the command for heads to drop in Humble supplication . . .Go!"


I am proud on my Church and more than proud to find a pew in the back and off to side at Mass on Sunday and a few days of the week.  For the last twenty or thirty years, Catholics have been goaded into becoming Unitarians - Let's call Blessed Virgin Mary Hospital - All Faiths Health Services!  No, let's not.  Most of the kids at Leo High School are non-Catholic, but they all take Catholic instruction and attend Catholic Mass.  Leo High School prays every day, because it is Catholic.

The American Catholic Church in America and every other faith is under attack.  The new Pastoral by the American Catholic Bishops clearly road-map the paths to the situation and identify assaults. In subsection of this pastoral the government handcuffs on religious liberty are here -

Our First, Most Cherished Liberty: 

A Statement on Religious Liberty

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty


Religious Liberty Under Attack—Concrete Examples

Is our most cherished freedom truly under threat? Sadly, it is. This is not a theological or legal dispute without real world consequences. Consider the following:
  • HHS mandate for contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs.The mandate of the Department of Health and Human Services has received wide attention and has been met with our vigorous and united opposition. In an unprecedented way, the federal government will both force religious institutions to facilitate and fund a product contrary to their own moral teaching and purport to define which religious institutions are "religious enough" to merit protection of their religious liberty. These features of the "preventive services" mandate amount to an unjust law. As Archbishop-designate William Lori of Baltimore, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, testified to Congress: "This is not a matter of whether contraception may beprohibited by the government. This is not even a matter of whether contraception may be supported by the government. Instead, it is a matter of whether religious people and institutions may be forced by the government to provide coverage for contraception or sterilization, even if that violates their religious beliefs."3
  • State immigration laws. Several states have recently passed laws that forbid what the government deems "harboring" of undocumented immigrants—and what the Church deems Christian charity and pastoral care to those immigrants. Perhaps the most egregious of these is in Alabama, where the Catholic bishops, in cooperation with the Episcopal and Methodist bishops of Alabama, filed suit against the law:
     It is with sadness that we brought this legal action but with a deep sense that we, as people of faith, have no choice but to defend the right to the free exercise of religion granted to us as citizens of Alabama. . . . The law makes illegal the exercise of our Christian religion which we, as citizens of Alabama, have a right to follow. The law prohibits almost everything which would assist an undocumented immigrant or encourage an undocumented immigrant to live in Alabama. This new Alabama law makes it illegal for a Catholic priest to baptize, hear the confession of, celebrate the anointing of the sick with, or preach the word of God to, an undocumented immigrant. Nor can we encourage them to attend Mass or give them a ride to Mass. It is illegal to allow them to attend adult scripture study groups, or attend CCD or Sunday school classes. It is illegal for the clergy to counsel them in times of difficulty or in preparation for marriage. It is illegal for them to come to Alcoholic Anonymous meetings or other recovery groups at our churches.4
  • Altering Church structure and governance. In 2009, the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut Legislature proposed a bill that would have forced Catholic parishes to be restructured according to a congregational model, recalling the trusteeism controversy of the early nineteenth century, and prefiguring the federal government's attempts to redefine for the Church "religious minister" and "religious employer" in the years since.
  • Christian students on campus.In its over-100-year history, the University of California Hastings College of Law has denied student organization status to only one group, the Christian Legal Society, because it required its leaders to be Christian and to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage.
  • Catholic foster care and adoption services. Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, and the state of Illinois have driven local Catholic Charities out of the business of providing adoption or foster care services—by revoking their licenses, by ending their government contracts, or both—because those Charities refused to place children with same-sex couples or unmarried opposite-sex couples who cohabit.
  • Discrimination against small church congregations. New York City enacted a rule that barred the Bronx Household of Faith and sixty other churches from renting public schools on weekends for worship services even though non-religious groups could rent the same schools for scores of other uses. While this would not frequently affect Catholic parishes, which generally own their own buildings, it would be devastating to many smaller congregations. It is a simple case of discrimination against religious believers.
  • Discrimination against Catholic humanitarian services. Notwithstanding years of excellent performance by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services in administering contract services for victims of human trafficking, the federal government changed its contract specifications to require us to provide or refer for contraceptive and abortion services in violation of Catholic teaching. Religious institutions should not be disqualified from a government contract based on religious belief, and they do not somehow lose their religious identity or liberty upon entering such contracts. And yet a federal court in Massachusetts, turning religious liberty on its head, has since declared that such a disqualification is required by the First Amendment—that the government somehow violates religious liberty by allowing Catholic organizations to participate in contracts in a manner consistent with their beliefs on contraception and abortion.

Here in Chicago, the two daily newspapers fully ignored Francis Cardinal George's statement on Rahm's Chicago Values.  It is not about the chicken sandwiches at all.  The media wants the Catholic Church in Chicago to obey the meme text maxim -STFU -What about the pedophile scandal?  What about it?  What has not been said, or done about it?    The media washed the homosexuality of the scandal right out of the issue and turned its guns on administration.  The pedophile priests weren't looking for Bachelor and the Bobby-Sox-er dates. It was and remains overwhelmingly Man on Boy predation.

 Our politicians have all been bought by Planned Parenthood and "baptized Catholic altar boys" like Alderman Proco Joe Moreno do its bidding.  Gay Marriage is an adjunct of the abortion industry. The media, never friends of Catholics, cares more about an interview with Governor Pat Quinn than with the leader of one of the largest Catholic populations in America. Chicago's President announced no compromise on contraception and abortion mandates - how about that Pat Quinn, Dick Durbin and the balance of the Illinois Personal PAC elected serfs?

I am a Catholic and I pray everyday -thoughts, words and, I hope, deeds.





Thursday, August 02, 2012

Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno Calls Cardinal George Remarks " Ingenuous and Irresponsible."



“The Bible says many things,” Moreno said. “For the cardinal to say that Jesus believes in this, and therefore we all must believe in this, I think is just ingenuous and irresponsible. The God I believe in is one about equal rights, and to not give equal rights to those that want to marry, is in my opinion un-Christian.”
Candid, frank, guileless, without cant and yet irresponsible?  Say it it ain't so Proco-Joe.


Candidly, Proco Joe, I believe that Mayor Rahm twisted your ear like Kesley Grammer did to that Hispanic Alderman in last season's Boss on Starz ( New Season Begins August 17 on Starz -catch Chicago actor Tony Mockus as Kesey's Father-in-Law!) and said, " Proco Joe, prove your fealty, and go out and test the Gay waters for me - send Chick-fil-A a dead fish . . .Don't make me come into your shower!"  No Alderman goes off on his own hook . . .not in decades.


Proco Joe is wriggling on the pike and Chick-fil-A is frying up a storm.




"The Bible says many things " and the dictionary has many words.  Chicago's Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno said a mouthful there; no doubt he needed to immediately sit down and catch his breath following such vigorous display of intellectual dexterity and rhetorical exertion.The Ghost (Rahm) had Mr. Chick-fil-A gallop gamely to the finish line with this -
Moreno also called the cardinal’s reference in the blog to a fictional Council Committee on Un-Chicagoan Activities “hyperbole and rhetoric.”
Moreno noted the church scandal surrounding pedophilia among priests, questioning George’s right to the “moral high ground on equal rights.”
Moreno, who has called gay marriage the civil rights issue of our time, also said the mayor and he are not trying to force their values on anyone, but rather to ensure equal rights. (emphases my own-natualment)
Pretty Ingenuous yourself, there, Proco! You know, candid, frank, honorable, noble & etc. Did you mention that there had been a pedophile scandal? Oh Yes.  But, of course, That's So, 1990s Proco Joe - unbefitting of the above postered beefcake-punk rock-theologian and one might find that last bit rather irresponsible for an American elected official to condemn a churchman for defending his church - This Ain't Your Daddy's Political Party notwithstanding. Well, First Ward First; now, to that Bible.


That Bible says a lot of stuff - Lot for example.Lot was the guy who defended God's angels from be gang-banged by the lads of the Boystown of the Central Plains -Sodom.  God, according to the Genesis account, was determined to destroy Sodom and its suburb.  God told Abraham "find 50 just men." Abraham, the old desert haggler, tried to gyp God down successively. . . " 40, 30, 20, 15 15 & 1/2 . . .10?"


Lot was it. He was a Breeder and had big family. 


"No Dice, Clay, " God said to Abraham, but I'll help get Lot out of this coming jackpot."  God sent two angels to help Lot and the wife and kids


Genesis 19:1 ¶ And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
Here's where it gets problematic with regard to sexual preference.  Lot had two handsome gents as his guests and the neighbors wanted to "know" them - Knowing causes choice or coercion. Know in the Bible means to have marital relations - between man and woman.  However, the gents of Sodom and its suburb, took a far less natural approach to the requisite act of natural selection*. They stormed Lot's door -


6. Calling out to Lot they said, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so that    we can have intercourse with them.'
7 Lot said, 'Please, brothers, do not be wicked.
8 Look, I have two daughters who are virgins. I am ready to send them out to you, for you to treat as you please, but do nothing to these men since they are now under the protection of my roof.'
9 But they retorted, 'Stand back! This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge. Now we shall treat you worse than them.' Then they forced Lot back and moved forward to break down the door.
That was it! So much for Chicago Values in Sodom.


The God of the Phoenicians ( in the Bible the Moabites and all those folks; Philistines and such) Astarte was a sexually ambiguous deity of pan sexuality and human sacrifice. Them folks in Tyre and Sidon and Biblus and especially the sensitive and civil rights conscious folks of Sodom along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea worship up a storm and tried to force other folks to accept Sodom, Tyre, Sidon and Biblus Values.  Didn't take.


Nope, a barbered blind man breeder pulled a whole temple to Ashtarte ( Baal -whatever) down around their noggins. These were pretty much the last of the sexually ambiguous folks who eschewed Old Time Chick-fil-A.


Earlier, some sort of 'natural occurrence wiped out the 13 cities of the plain around Sodom. The Koran, the Torah as well as the Bible mention the calamity and so do the secularist Greeks, who by the way did not make a religion out of preference -Spartans notwithstanding, because they didn't get along with anybody.  Greek geographer Strabo states - "there were once thirteen inhabited cities in that region of which Sodom was the metropolis". Strabo identifies a limestone and salt hill at the south western tip of the Dead Sea, and Kharbet Usdum ruins nearby as the site of biblical Sodom."


Proco Joe you are free to believe in "The God I believe in is one about equal rights" Knock yourself out!


Francis Cardinal George is, as you so correctly state INGENUOUS, but he is no way irresponsible.  In fact, Cardinal George pretty much presented the view of most people of faith.   So are we ingenuous.  






Natural selection is the gradual, non-random, process by which biological traitsbecome either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution. The term "natural selection" was popularized by Charles Darwin who intended it to be compared withartificial selection, what we now call selective breeding.
http://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=1&bible_chapter=19
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-cardinal-blasts-city-government-over-chickfila-opposition-20120801,0,3109917.story
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom_and_Gomorrah
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/thayer/e/roman/texts/strabo/16b*.html
 http://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=1&bible_chapter=19

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

What Leo Men Will Not Be Wearing for the 2012 School Year

The Chicago Values Dress Code - Not @ Leo H. S. -
                               Our guys know who they are -Leo Men

Leo Catholic High School
Regular School Day is from 7:45-2:35 p.m.
Regular Wednesday Schedule is from 7:45-1:45 p.m.
Early Dismissal is from 7:45-11:30 a.m.
First Day of School/Early Dismissal (7:45-11:30 a.m.) - Thursday, August 16, 2012. Students will be in full uniform.


"Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly."  ~Epictetus

 I am always thrilled to see the return of the men of Leo after a few weeks off.  Most of our gents have been around all summer, taking Trig and Algebra with Mrs. Latifi, working out in the weight room supervised by the coaches, helping move athletic gear and the checking up with Vice -Principal Frank Wilson and Miss Hyland our guidance counsellor. The incoming freshmen had three weeks of summer school and made themselves home to Leo High School and meeting expectations of a Catholic college prep school - most of our guys come from Chicago public schools.

I was amused by the fashion tips provided by the Chicago Tribune*, yesterday which featured the poor kid at the top of this post.  I tried to imagine the poor lad's entree to Vita Leonis were he to enter the hoary portals on 79th Street, or the entrance on Sangamon street and Coach/Dean Ed Adams's jolly welcome - 

something like this I'd venture.  Here is Ms. Wendy Donahue's tips to urban teens:
Boy meets girl forback-to-schoolfashion. Both are borrowing from classic menswear, reworking it in younger ways. Wall Street plaids and herringbones migrate to skinny pants and miniskirts. Brogues and boots abound, sporting unusual soles or metal details. Adding a "Wild One" edge, motorcycle jackets top preppy looks for boys. Denim and military-inspired shirts are staples for both, but with twists — a contrast collar for him or jeweled embellishment for her. . . .On him (above left):Motorcycle jacket: "Some of the must-have pieces of the season — khakis, colored denim, military shirts, motorcycle jackets — are closet staples for girls and boys," Steinmiller said. Motorcycle jacket, $129, at zara.com
Denim on denim: The denim-on-denim trend continues to defy naysayers. "The easiest way to indulge in a trend but not commit to it fully if it's a bit risky or very fashion forward is to pick an accessory that reflects the trend and work it into your current wardrobe," Steinmiller said, as with this tie. Denim shirt with contrast collar, $27.90, and denim tie, $9.90 atforever21.com
Safety pin as tie clip: "For guys, a small accessory adds character and personal flair to an outfit," Steinmiller said. "Pins, watches, a pocket square or friendship style bracelet all are personal pieces that make a look his own."
Old-school shoes: Brogue shoes come in hip colors like gray, or with new details like rubber soles. "The best stores for shopping the trends at a reasonable price offer options for guys and girls — Topshop, American Eagle, H&M, Zara, Maje. Vesuvius brogues, $110 attopshop.com.
The chino in color: A natural extension of the colored-denim trend: Colored chinos. Chinos, $88, and white leather belt, $128 at diesel.com (emphases my own)
$88 chinos?????   That's lunch for the freshmen!  White leather belt $ 128??????????  First off, . . . .A WHITE LEATHER BELT???????

How a man dresses is good barometer for the man's worth.  A comfortable cotton polo in stunning white, or basic black sporting the Leo crest and logo with clean pressed Wrangler chinos at $18 a pop, sensible and comfortable shoes in black wrapping a well groomed gentleman is a dandy start to a productive day.

Poor Steve Stunning from Ms. Donahue's fashion goo would be known by another name here on the series streets around Leo . . . Victim comes to mind; object of derision; bully-bait; the poor kid; former student  . . .& etc.


* Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago and Leo Man 2012, made national headlines with his column challenging Rahm Emanuel on "Chicago Values - a Moveable Feast of Folly," but the Chicago Tribune thought it not fit to print.  How's that old print media shaking out?  Enrollment is up here at Leo.







Tuesday, July 31, 2012

A Poetic Consideration of La Différence Entre Les Hommes et Les Femmes






"Men, Men . . .horrible men; I said it before and I'll Say it again" - Kate McKenna Olson 1983





When you see a deer you see Bambi
And I see antlers up on the wall
When you see a lake you think picnics
And I see a large mouth up under that log
You're probably thinking that you're gonna change me
In some ways well maybe you might
Scrub me down, dress me up aww but no matter what
Remember, I'm still a guy

When you see a priceless French painting
I see a drunk, naked girl
You think that ridin' a wild bull sounds crazy
And I'd like to give it a whirl
Well love makes a man do some things he ain't proud of
And in a weak moment I might walk your sissy dog, hold your purse at the mall
But remember, I'm still a guy

And I'll pour out my heart
Hold your hand in the car
Write a love song that makes you cry
Then turn right around knock some jerk to the ground
'Cause he copped a feel as you walked by

I can hear you now talkin' to your friends
Saying, "Yeah girls he's come a long way"
From draggin' his knuckles and carryin' a club

And buildin' a fire in a cave
But when you say a backrub means only a backrub
Then you swat my hand when I try
Well now, what can I say at the end of the day
Honey, I'm still a guy

And I'll pour out my heart
Hold your hand in the car
Write a love song that makes you cry
Then turn right around knock some jerk to the ground
'Cause he copped a feel as you walked by

These days there's dudes gettin' facials
Manicured, waxed and botoxed
With deep spray-on tans and creamy lotiony hands
You can't grip a tacklebox

Yeah ith all of these men linin' up to get neutered
It's hip now to be feminized
I don't highlight my hair
I've still got a pair
Yeah honey, I'm still a guy

Oh my eyebrows ain't plucked
There's a gun in my truck
Oh thank God, I'm still a guy

Cardinal George Schools Rahm - Complete and Untouched from Chicago Catholic Blog





Recent comments by those who administer our city seem to assume that the city government can decide for everyone what are the “values” that must be held by citizens of Chicago. I was born and raised here, and my understanding of being a Chicagoan never included submitting my value system to the government for approval. Must those whose personal values do not conform to those of the government of the day move from the city? Is the City Council going to set up a “Council Committee on Un-Chicagoan Activities” and call those of us who are suspect to appear before it? I would have argued a few days ago that I believe such a move is, if I can borrow a phrase, “un-Chicagoan.”
The value in question is espousal of “gender-free marriage.” Approval of state-sponsored homosexual unions has very quickly become a litmus test for bigotry; and espousing the understanding of marriage that has prevailed among all peoples throughout human history is now, supposedly, outside the American consensus. Are Americans so exceptional that we are free to define “marriage” (or other institutions we did not invent) at will? What are we re-defining?
 It might be good to put aside any religious teaching and any state laws and start from scratch, from nature itself, when talking about marriage. Marriage existed before Christ called together his first disciples two thousand years ago and well before the United States of America was formed two hundred and thirty six years ago. Neither Church nor state invented marriage, and neither can change its nature.
Marriage exists because human nature comes in two complementary sexes: male and female. The sexual union of a man and woman is called the marital act because the two become physically one in a way that is impossible between two men or two women. Whatever a homosexual union might be or represent, it is not physically marital. Gender is inextricably bound up with physical sexual identity; and “gender-free marriage” is a contradiction in terms, like a square circle.
Both Church and state do, however, have an interest in regulating marriage. It is not that religious marriage is private and civil marriage public; rather, marriage is a public institution in both Church and state. The state regulates marriage to assure stability in society and for the proper protection and raising of the next generation of citizens. The state has a vested interest in knowing who is married and who is not and in fostering good marriages and strong families for the sake of society.
The Church, because Jesus raised the marital union to the level of symbolizing his own union with his Body the Church, has an interest in determining which marital unions are sacramental and which are not. The Church sees married life as a path to sanctity and as the means for raising children in the faith, as citizens of the universal kingdom of God. These are all legitimate interests of both Church and state, but they assume and do not create the nature of marriage.
People who are not Christian or religious at all take for granted that marriage is the union of a man and a woman for the sake of family and, of its nature, for life. The laws of civilizations much older than ours assume this understanding of marriage. This is also what religious leaders of almost all faiths have taught throughout the ages. Jesus affirmed this understanding of marriage when he spoke of “two becoming one flesh” (Mt. 19: 4-6). Was Jesus a bigot? Could Jesus be accepted as a Chicagoan? Would Jesus be more “enlightened” if he had the privilege of living in our society? One is welcome to believe that, of course; but it should not become the official state religion, at least not in a land that still fancies itself free. Surely there must be a way to properly respect people who are gay or lesbian without using civil law to undermine the nature of marriage.
Surely we can find a way not to play off newly invented individual rights to “marriage” against constitutionally protected freedom of religious belief and religious practice. The State’s attempting to redefine marriage has become a defining moment not for marriage, which is what it is, but for our increasingly fragile “civil union” as citizens.

Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago

 http://www.archchicago.org/blog/comments.aspx?postID=276

Chicago Values 2012 Shoots Angels and Hammers Heroes- Harold's Chicken is a Man's Chicken


Harold's Chicken 3B  -over by Leo High School
8316 S Ashland 
Chicago, IL 
773.298.0964

Never had me a Chick-fil-A; probably won't.  I do not like chain-gang eateries - with the sole exception of White Castle.  I prefer Mon and Pop operations - Greek restaurants, Top-Notch, WonderBurger, Illinois Bar & Grill Delux Baskets of heart-attack inducing and colon blocking goodness. Harold's Chicken is far superior to the now Jim Crow-de-clawed,  slimmed down plantation cracker with white whiskers known acronymically as KFC ( formerly the Colonel).  The late Harold Pierce* was a Chicago business man who retired to St. Anne, Illinois, after opening his numbered chain Harold's Chicken all over the south side.  Harold sent his daughter to Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, Il where I had the privilege of teaching the young lady and meeting the Chicago entrepreneur. Harold was a man's man who fished and hunted and shared his fields and ponds with impoverished teachers.  Harold was all about family. This fine man went home to Christ in March 1988.

At the time that I knew Mr. Pierce in the mid-1980's, all of Harold's operations were limited to black neighborhoods - like Station # 38 above.  Harold had no intention of leaving the neighborhoods, nor of expanding his base to include Mick, Dago, Polack and Loogan neighborhoods.  "You white boys would burn me out, Hickey,  have some more gizzards, Son."  Today Harold's kids can be found operating among the Occupy Chicago trust-fund kids who me met their first black friend in pre-school of North Shore Country Day. Harold met white cops and firemen who took product home to Hegewisch, Morgan Park, Beverly an Scottsdale and his product is still honest to the man's core values - not necessarily Chicago Values 2012.

The late Harold Pierce would be castigated by the Wilmette New Trevian (Chicagoan in voto) Mayor as not having Chicago Values.  Chicago Values, at the moment, means one must publicly acknowledge the sanctity of same sex marriage - though Illinois has yet to be fully baptized in the creed.  Things were, after all, a Civil Union of minds and hearts.

Nope, eating at Harold's Chicken might be anathema, because Harold Pierce's values were not Chicago Values.  Value meals are the outward sign of Gay Grace.

A business may no longer believe, much less publicly proclaim anything that does not pass the Progressive taste tests -
  • Ban Sabra Hummus, because it is Israeli and we should all be Eye-less on Gaza.  Fact is, them Home-boy Jews whip up some dandy chick peas and garlic.
  • Pile-on Walker Wisconsin - I was there last weekend and will return this weekend to get my Swiss On in New Glarus and Green County!
  • Boycott Katy Perry ( whoever she happens to be) because her video's proceeds will support veterans - so saith  Naomi Wolf ( whoever she happens to be)
  • Boycott whomever comes within wallet distance of Al Sharpton, or Jesse Jackson,  père
  • Cry hate and havoc upon every Catholic Bishop on the planet with emphasis on our heroic Chicago-born and bred Francis Cardinal George**
  • Close down a cake shop because the owner values traditional marriage
  • Sarah Palin - the real Mother Jones.
  • Fossil Feulishmess - No Keystone for this Nation; Planned Parenthood of Red China will benefit
  • Big Breeder Families are hateful and selfish
There is no end to Chicago Values - one day it is Goose Guts and another its happens to be Chick-fil-A

My friend Dennis Byrne captures the Chicago Values mindset - the one in which having the precision marching units of of the Fruits of Islam Bow-Tie drill teams call cadence to combat Capping in the Community makes perfect sense and sensibility - in an article that will get Windy City Times to full scream in his article for the Chicago Tribune. 

The articles touches upon the Chick-fil-A contre temps ( how many of you chicken gobblers believe that Mayor Coon Eyes twisted Alderman Poco Moreno's ears like Kelsey Grammer in the Boss in order to test the waters with his ban on Chick-fil-A???? Come on! Let's see them greased stained mitts!), but actually defines the genesis of Chicago Values Universal  - it starts with deep-fried bigotry and gets smothered in thick gooey hypocrisy - found, where else, but academic halls of ivy:

Now comes Mark Regnerus, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, with his New Families Structure study, which gathers a much larger sample of 15,000 Americans ages 18 to 39. In a Slate article, he summarized his peer-reviewed research that appeared earlier in the Social Science Research journal: On 25 of 50 different "outcomes" the study evaluated, "the children of women who've had same-sex relationships fare quite differently than those in stable, biologically intact mom-and-pop families. …
"Even after including controls for age, race, gender and things like being bullied as a youth, or the gay-friendliness of the state in which they live, such respondents were more apt to report being unemployed, less healthy, more depressed, more likely to have cheated on a spouse or partner, smoke more pot, had trouble with the law, report more male and female sex partners, more sexual victimization, and were more likely to reflect negatively on their childhood family life, among other things."
This is a debate-changing study, especially because it challenges more recent court findings in which judges cite the "no difference evidence" as a reason for overturning laws that define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Unsurprisingly, some of Regnerus' colleagues want to drive him out of academia on a rail. They've criticized his study for receiving sponsorship money from a conservative group, the Witherspoon Institute, and they've found some shortcomings (don't all social science studies have them?) in his methodology. The study has little to do with gay marriage, critics charge, because it's about same-sex child rearing.
Regnerus acknowledges that more study is needed (what scholar doesn't?), and he clearly outlines the steps he took to ensure the study's methodological correctness and objectivity. He doesn't claim to know the cause of the differences. Ironically, one scholar of the pro-gay persuasion who refused an invitation to participate on a panel to ensure the study's objectivity now is blasting the study for its lack of objectivity. He's leading a 200-scholar posse to demand the journal's editor explain why he dared publish such a piece and that he should collar more writers who are "sensitive" to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) parenting issues.
While Regnerus' social science credentials appear impeccable, it's just a start of academic Star Chamber proceedings against him for daring to step beyond the given wisdom. Three of his colleagues published an op-ed on The Huffington Post, charging that his "reckless" research "besmirched" the university. He is to appear before a panel of university officials that's investigating him for "scientific misconduct."

Chicago Values are merely a very heavy hammer to bop unfortunately honorable people over the noggins. Progressives have succeeded, because they have cowed the cowardly and nudged the normally courteous people off of the public stage.

The Harold Pierce was a proud man, an out-doors man, a family man and man who tossed together product that is still some very serious bird.

*Harold Pierce, a black Chicago entrepreneur, founded the restaurant in 1950. The character of Harold's developed primarily out of necessity, because the larger fast food chains tended to avoid African-American neighborhoods. In turn, Chicago's legal and social obstacles to black-owned businesses at the time prevented Harold's from expanding into downtown or the North Side. Harold's became one of the few examples of a thriving fast food chain that was owned by, and primarily served, the black community.Harold's fried chicken is different from that served at other fast food chicken restaurants (Kentucky Fried Chicken, Brown's Chicken, Popeyes, etc.) in two significant ways. The first is the cooking medium. Harold's chicken is cooked in a mix of half beef tallow and half vegetable oil, while most other chains use only vegetable oil. This provides a taste that is more similar to the traditional home-cooked fried chicken that was invented in theAmerican South.
The second major difference between Harold's chicken and most other restaurants is that at Harold's, the chicken is not fried until it is ordered, while most chains fry their chicken in large batches and store it on warming racks until it is purchased. Harold Pierce set up a chain-wide policy from the beginning that all Harold's chicken would be cooked only after it was ordered, in order to preserve the freshly cooked taste of the chicken. Originally, this meant that there was a twelve to fifteen minute wait between ordering the chicken and receiving it. Harold Pierce's son has altered the original method, however: the chicken is now fried half-way beforehand, and then cooked to completion when it is ordered. This maintains the chicken's freshness while shortening the delivery time to seven or eight minutes.
** I was born and raised here, and my understanding of being a Chicagoan never included submitting my value system to the government for approval. Must those whose personal values do not conform to those of the government of the day move from the city? Is the City Council going to set up a “Council Committee on Un-Chicagoan Activities” and call those of us who are suspect to appear before it? I would have argued a few days ago that I believe such a move is, if I can borrow a phrase, “un-Chicagoan.” Francis Cardinal George

from Bill Baar's West Side

http://baarswestside.blogspot.com/2012/07/nominations-for-chicagos-committee-on.html
http://www.chicagoreader.com/pdf/060414/060414_harolds.pdf
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/07/28/lakewood-cake-shop-refuses-wedding-cake-to-gay-couple/
http://www.jammiewf.com/2012/feminist-douchebag-calls-for-katy-perry-boycott-over-marines-video/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0731-byrne-20120731,0,7181268.column

Monday, July 30, 2012

Planned Parenthood's Pick Two Contest for Women

Ladies, Keep the cute one!

Planned Parenthood and President Obama want to remind you, " It's all the rage in China!"






A girl informs  her Womans Health Professional , "Doctor, I've forgotten to take my contradictory pill!" 


The abortionist says: "Are you ignorant?" 


The girl says: "Yes, three months!"



God Bless the late Frank Carson -Belfast Telegraph

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/frank-carson-85-of-his-best-jokes-16122209.html?action=Popup&ino=24#ixzz226vQcEqG

Saturday, July 28, 2012

London Olympics - A Lefty Munich: Boffo According to In The Wake of The News

Opening ceremony

American Athletes sporting berets - Oh, yeah' this can't miss.  Well, that is the sum total of the 2012 Olympics for this patriotic couch-spud.

Have you ever run into an old pal from high school, the guy who used drink Sneaky Petes ( 16oz. Schlitz mixed with Ripple Red in the can) and eat Fritos for breakfast and sold Haggar slacks that he stole out of freight cars over at 74th & Seeley for $5 each, and later reefer and Quaaludes, who became an advertising copywriter, before six 12 Step programs and three marriages, now living in a studio apartment in Ukrainian Village?  He wears a beret, along with Hawaiian Shirts and Leroy Neimann print ties.

The Brits trotted out an Opening Ceremony that had all of the solemnity and dignity of a concert by that young blond broad who wears pork chops.

Even the 86 year-old icon of Government spending, Elizabeth II, showed her knickers to the class envy throngs perched in the Old East End.


Why not have a Royal Dunk Tank? Well, a pound is still a pound.


I watched a bit . . .and turned on the Encore Western Channel for a cinematic root-canal -California (1947) with Ray Milland, Barabara Stanwyck and Barry Fitzgerald - it made more sense than Hey Jude eeeJudeeee, NAAAAAAAAAAA Na Na Nanna Na Naaaa!  Worst Beatles tune EVER! Now if you want to hear some horseshit music get a load of this (below -the whole movie) . . .which was far better than what was spewing from NBC -




The only thing worse than the music is the script, the staging, the acting and the production, which is head and shoulders above the Danny Boyle Lefty Munich.

When I clicked to that chestnut horse-opera, I told myself the reviews on this Lefty Munich Show will be Boffo!  They are EVEN in Arch Ward's, Ring Lardner's, Dave Condon's and Mike Downey's In the Wake of the News, once an American's Bullshit in Sports Barometer, now in the hands of Dave Haugh,


LONDON — In one of thousands of pubs across London, where surely tears mixed with laughter Friday night, they might say I was gobsmacked by the Olympic opening ceremony.
In a more proper English teahouse, they might say I quite fancied that.All over the world, they will remember this as the night Britain put on a show that was bloody fantastic.
"I have never been so proud to be British and part of the Olympic movement than at this moment," London Games Chairman Sebastian Coe said.
Witnesses understood why.
The typically understated Brits overwhelmed a global audience with a scintillating presentation that deftly blended artistry, majesty and ingenuity. Not even a confusing, anticlimactic lighting of the cauldron by seven British teenage "future Olympians," a secret guarded with Buckingham Palace-like security, ruined the rare sporting spectacle that lived up to the hype.
More significantly, Ray Milland could not save Barry Fitzgerald ( 1:16-1:37) from the guns of the Progressive-minded Captain Pharaoh Coffin for bravely championing Statehood for California . . .even Anthony Quinn ( in a supporting role as a hard-drinking Spanish Grandee) got bumped off by Pharaoh Coffin.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/olympics/ct-spt-0728-olympics-haugh--20120728,0,2988200.column
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/09/david-haugh-joins-rick-morrissey-as-tribunes-in-the-wake-of-the-news-columnist.html
http://missoulian.com/sports/olympics/blogs/queen-elizabeth-and-james-bond-parachute-into-the-olympic-opening/article_ff122543-7b1d-5cd7-ad06-d6d81bd424c4.html

Friday, July 27, 2012

Girl Stomps Barney Frank - The Bully Hectored by a Little Girl



Holy Chick' Phil A!!!!!!!!!!  This is a howl - one of the most fatuously bullying hectors in Congress, Barney Frank gets his ears pinned back while twisting his own tongue around his Wisdom Teeth . . .

. . .and then this little girl kicks out the rest of his buckers and the flabby hectoring ninny to the curb.