Put on the Gloves and Man Up! Police Athletic League of Illinois Sets the Challenge

Leo Boxer, Notre Dame Grad Professional Heavyweight Boxer and NFL's Indianapolis Colts  Safety Tommy Zbikowski hits the hand-paddles with Leo & Celtic Boxing Coach Mike Joyce

llinois State Crime Commission/Police Athletic League of Illinois

Guns are tools and so are the goofs who use them in order to 'be somebody.' 

Everyone talks as if guns had a life of their own.  They are inanimate objects taken up and used by two types of people - responsible, centered and skilled persons, or hapless, ignorant cowards with absolutely nothing going for them.

Any coward with a finger and an opposable thumb can pull a trigger and make a statement.  It takes a man to put on the gloves and step into the square ring.  

Athletics and boxing in particular have saved thousands of young men and women from taking the easy road to dependency, or worse, despair.  Bishop Sheil of Chicago began the Catholic Youth Organization, which partnered with the Police Athletic League in the late 1920's and battled back for youth by giving young people the purpose, direction and the skills to overcome the circumstances life hands to everyone.

Here at Leo High School, a long-time partner with the Illinois Crime Commission and the Illinois Police Athletic League, hundreds of men learned the 'sweet science' and become the men God created.  It works.

Boxing has drawn out the Lion in the lamb in danger of becoming one of the sheep. Read this with great interest and get involved.

What: Press Conference
Who: Illinois State Crime Commission/Police Athletic League of Illinois and Rasheda Ali
When: Thursday January 17, 10:30AM
Where: Hotel Allegro, 177 W. Randolph Street, Chicago - Screening Room 2
Why: To announce a new ISCC/PAL program to combat Chicagoland violence

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali's daughter and PAL Program Director Rasheda Ali and the Illinois State Crime Commission/Police Athletic League of Illinois unveil a new boxing initiative to combat violence throughout the Chicagoland area. The ISCC/PAL will detail the program where law enforcement officials, police officers and firefighters will be training alongside of and mentoring PAL boxers at inner city Police Athletic League affiliated gyms.

In addition, the ISCC/PAL will be announcing the 1st annual ISCC/PAL Boxing Gala which will take place Monday May 5th at Hawthorne Race course in Stickney, Illinois.

Illinois State Crime Commission/Police Athletic League Executive Director Jerry Els ner states "We are very grateful to announce the volunteer help we are receiving from our brave law enforcement personnel, police officers, firefighters and coaches." "With the extreme and senseless violence in the Chicagoland area, we are calling on our government officials, organized labor unions, private business groups; faith based organizations and educational leaders to help us with our Program so that we may offer our qualified PAL participants, internships, mentorships, apprenticeships and scholarships", Elsner further stated.

ISCC/PAL Program Consultant Rasheda Ali signed on with the initiative "Because I know the firsthand the importance of the Anti-Violence work the Crime Commission has done and I know something drastic has to be done to combat the epidemic violence plaguing the Chicagoland area. Additionally, my father Muhammad Ali began his career in a Police Athletic League Boxing Program."

The Police Athletic League is a hundred year old organization started by a New York City Police Commissioner who established sports programs so youth would have a positive outlet to dissipate energy. The PAL has evolved and now offers year round educational, recreational and cultural programs to inspire and support our youth. Notable PAL Alumnus who credit the organization with putting them on the right path as youth participants include; General Colin Powell, Bill Cosby and Muhammad Ali.

For more information on the ISCC/PAL and Rasheda Ali check the following websites:
IllinoisCrimeCommission.com

RashedaAli.net 

Piseogs - They Ain't Wrong

 

One of the beautiful prints from McSorley's Old Ale House,NYC reminds me that Kevin Bacon stands not six feet away from me.

I'm an American, for the most part.  I believe in death and taxes; death comes but once, I hear.  American secular doctrine to the contrary, the metaphysical remains a fact of life - The Kevin Baconian* Removetur Per Sex Rules and the ubiquitous Mors Venit in Terni -e.g in Treys: the late Etta James, Don Cornelius and then Whitney Houston; and the late Mike Wallace, Gil Noble and Dick Clark. 

Death may come in threes and you my be separated from Kevin Bacon by a factor of six, but there is a whole bunch of other dubious $hit goin' on, to quote the great Miles Turner. Strange things happen. Perhaps we will them out of circumstances, or we get a chill because asomatous beings are afoot.  Voiceless presences might visit and suck up the oxygen. Mostly, it is other people who manage to do that.

My Irish forebears recognized signs of the supernatural in our lives up to and including the last generation.  There  are tales of the visit of the bean sí  -"the woman of the sidhe, or mound" whose appearance portends a death - tajking the shape of animals at times. 

Women were said to hold the key to curses and would whip up a malediction directed at a person or persons for any reason - 

 Here's a great one:

May the curse of Delia Grogan and her nine blind illegitimate children chase you so far over the hills of damnation that the Lord himself can't find you with a telescope.

My aunt Cathleen died while an infant following the appearance of a kitten who howled like a dog simultaneous to a rising temperature in the child's body and at the moment of death, signalled by an increase on the ghostly howl,  my grandmother, Nora, picked up the child and the crib collapsed.  

Another time a very dependable clock chimed for no good reason and a knock came to the Hickey door at 7535 S. Marshfield in the summer of 1944.  A Western Union telegram informed my grandparents that their son Patrick E. Hickey, USMCR was listed as missing in action.  Three weeks later, the clock stopped altogether and another telegram from the Navy Dept. informed them that their son Patrick E. Hickey was alive. Saints Be Praised.

Had some foul woman cursed our family? Had our clan run afoul of the sidhe? Knowing my bog-man Grandfather that should not be counted out.

Thus, follow the piseogs, or maledictions placed on people.  Strange things happen.  Sometimes we may find that there are explanations for what happens - a lawyer friend of mine lost his credit cards. They vanished out of his wallet.  Weeks later, after calling and cancelling them and waiting the arrival of replacements, did he learn that his toddler son had lifted them and tucked them under his toys.

However, there is much that happens that can not be explained - Governor Pat Quinn for example.

Girls, Repeat after me, 

"May the curse of Delia Grogan and her nine blind illegitimate children chase him ( the Guv) so far over the hills of damnation that the Lord himself can't find him with a telescope."

* In point of fact, while in New York City (Manhattan) in 1991 for an Independent Schools Conference, I had the occasion to stop in McSorley's Ale House in the mid-afternoon and the joint was relatively empty.  I enjoyed the McSorley's Cream Ale and cheese and crackers while standing at the bar.  A guy about my age noticed the Convention placard around my neck and said, " You one of the school teachers? Pat Hickey! La Lumiere School where's that?"  I told him La Porte, Indiana and recognized him, which is only fair.   Kevin Bacon, the actor and talisman of human contact, was now about to get the south side treatment - " You were in a movie with my Mom and John and Bernice McPolin a couple of years ago. It was filmed up North .  . . Chicago, I mean north of Chicago, in one of them toney suburbs in a movie about a wedding, . . .McPolin and my my old man worked for the State of Illinois for forty years and when McPolin retired he and Bern acted as extras in movies shot in Chicago and they took my Mom along as well and she ended up in wedding scene. My old man was far too busy with matters of state and culture at TR's to take time out for the silver screen in his retirement years."

Kevin Bacon was fascinated to l learn that he had starred with McPolins and my Mom.  I have that effect on people. Riveting.  He and I shot the breeze and shared my cheeses and went "I got this one" on a couple of beers. Nice guy.

UPDATE ON Pieogs

Illinois Gay Titans of Industry - Fewer than the Manteno Chamber of Commerce

Hoping to nudge stalled legislation that would legalize gay marriage in Illinois, a group of business leaders on Sunday framed their argument around this simple notion: It’s a smart business decision.
Local industry titans cited the ability to recruit top talent as a top reason to pass the legislation. Sun Times

 Meet The Titans!

Chicago Urban League.

Illinois Science & Technology Coalition.

Google.

Knight Engineers & Architects.

Curt Bailey, president, Related Midwest.

Andrew Bluhm, founder and principal, Delaware Street Capital.

Norm Bobins, former CEO, LaSalle Bank; Chairman, PrivateBank and Trust Co.

Bill Brandt, president and CEO, Development Specialists, Inc.

Carole Brown, senior managing director, Barclays Capital.

Lewis B. Campbell, chairman and CEO, Navistar International.

Lance Chody, CEO, Garrett Popcorn Shops

Philip B. Clement, global chief marketing and communications officer, Aon.

William M. Daley.

Laura Desmond, CEO, Starcom Mediavest Group.

Fred Eychaner, chairman, Newsweb Corp.

Paul S. Fisher, president and CEO, CenterPoint Properties.

Albert M. Friedman, CEO and President, Friedman Properties, Ltd.

Peter Gottlieb, president, North Star Investment Management Corp.

David A. Helfand, CEO, Helix Funds.

Carrie Hightman, executive vice president and chief legal officer, NiSource Inc.

Fred Hoch, CEO, Illinois Technology Association.

Mark S. Hoplamazian, president and CEO, Hyatt Hotels Corp.

Kym Hubbard, CIO and treasurer, Ernst & Young.

Ron Huberman, executive chair, TransitPro Logistics Inc.

William Lawless, President, The Gage & Henri Restaurants

Joseph Mansueto, founder and CEO, Morningstar Inc.

Matt Moog, founder and chairman, Built In Chicago.

Maura O’Hara, executive director, Illinois Venture Capital Association.

Sarah Pang, senior vice president, corporate communications and public affairs, CNA Financial Corp.

Richard S. Price, chairman and CEO, Mesirow Financial.

Quintin E. Primo III, chairman and CEO, Capri Capital Partners LLC.

Gigi Pritzker Pucker, OddLot Entertainment.

Doug Regan, Midwest regional director, J.P. Morgan.

Judith C. Rice, senior vice president, BMO Harris Bank.

Desiree Rogers, CEO, Johnson Publishing Co.

John W. Rogers, Jr., chairman and CEO, Ariel Investments LLC.

John W. Rowe, chairman emeritus, Exelon Corp.

Michael Sacks, CEO, Grosvenor Capital Management.

Harrison I. Steans, chairman of the executive committee, Financial Investments Corp.

Jay Stieber, executive vice president and general counsel, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc.

Rich Stoddart, president, Leo Burnett North America.

Estelle Walgreen, founder, Hispanically Speaking News.

Tony Weisman, Regional President, Digitas.

Chicago's business community ?  Oh, there is more business than that.  However, the Gay Marriage narrative fit within which our local media operates is quite snug.  A score and change ( 25) Church persons came out in favor of Gay Marriage and thousands of Illinois clergy who might not agree were ignored.  Likewise, the two score (43) business Titans above are eclipsed by the membership of the Manteno, IL Chamber of Commerce by thirty. Meet the Manteno Magnates! From Aaron's Alarm Company, Inc. to Yanni's Cafe, these magnates have not yet to heard trumpeting a clarion call for Gay Marriage. Nor, have the Chambers of Commerce of  Mokena. Giant City, Utica, Ladd, Beaverville, Martinton, L'Rable, Monmouth, Custer Park . . .Who do issue clarion call?

These Titans.

Fred Eychaner and Heather Steans' Pa are Gay Titans pushing Reps. Greg Harris and Heather Steans' Religious Freedom and Marriage Equality (Gay Marriage IL HB 5655) with economic power - $$$$$$$$.

Fred Eychaner is a Husky Philanthropist and Captain of the the print and communications industry. Heather's Pa is Harrison Steans - he-bull of the Steans Family Foundation and Concentric Equity Partners, LP.

They are economic ( $$$$$ & etc.) engine driving Illinois HB 5655.  In fact some believed that Rep. Heather Steans did not count the Democratic lame ducks taking a duck on the recent vote; thus stalling the most important and crucial and can't wait some more legislation of our times!.

There are more 18,000 heavy industry operations in Illinois and 39 % of those operations ( metal fabricators & etc.) are located right here in north eastern Illinois - Cook, Will, Grundy, Lake Counties.  Gay Marriage is important to some people.  Gay Marriage seems to be more of problem for more people.

I agree with Fred Eychaner and Heather's Dad that this is important legislation.

I agree with Cardinal George that this is very dangerous legislation.

Once again, "Local industry titans cited the ability to recruit top talent as a top reason to pass the legislation. Sun Times"

Top Reason?

Top talent is gay?  Or, is it Gay Talent is tops?

Just Cuz.

Duke Wright!


Less and Less Human, O Savage Spirit
By Wallace Stevens

If there must be a god in the house, must be,
Saying things in the rooms and on the stair,

Let him move as the sunlight moves on the floor,
Or moonlight, silently, as Plato’s ghost

Or Aristotle’s skeleton. Let him hang out
His stars on the wall. He must dwell quietly.

He must be incapable of speaking, closed,
As those are: as light, for all its motion, is;

As color, even the closest to us, is;
As shapes, though they portend us, are.

It is the human that is the alien,
The human that has no cousin in the moon.

It is the human that demands his speech
From beasts or from the incommunicable mass.

If there must be a god in the house, let him be one
That will not hear us when we speak: a coolness,

A vermilioned nothingness, any stick of the mass
Of which we are too distantly a part.

At Issue - CBS Radio Chicago Plays Softball with Cook County Crypt Keeper Toni Preckwinkle

Toni tells another of her disarming knee-slappers.

Catholic school testing begins this morning and in order to get the young scholars' sugar supply honing their brain-pans as sharp as their # 2 pencils, this old boy picked up a whole mess of Dunkin Donut  Long Johns and Donuts and orange juice early this AM.

Kareem and the crew at the 104th Street Station had the load ready to go and I enjoyed the cruise to Leo with WXRT's broadcast of CBS Chicago's At Issue with Craig Dellimore and his guest Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

Now, to be perfectly fair, I believe that Mrs. Preckwinkle is as sharp as a bowling ball and as bright as our sun when fully eclipsed.  Hey, I'm just sayin'!

You see, Dame Preckwinkle is a member of the untouchable political caste of Progressive darlings: The Debs ( Mell and Shore), Doyens like Hit The Help Jan Schakowsky,  Red Dawn Clark Netsch, office roving mendicants Forrest Claypool,  Mike Quigley, silly goose Joe Moore, or the malocclusion varietals Sheila Simon, , Dave Orr & etc.  These folks get a pass universal from the media . . .until they become roadkill like Sandy and Jesse Jackson.

A Progressive fallen from grace's past due date is usually marked by a Carol Marin piece. GREEN LIGHT! - Indicted IL Rep. LaShawn Ford is still officially off-limits; until Rep.  Ricky Hendon -Emeritus points to the kittens in LaShawn's basement freezer.

Prior to such time, they belong to the Ain't They Great narrative

This standard and compelling narrative holds that Toni Preckwinkle, a Progressive pet-politician,  as quick on the draw as Django Unchained and smarter than Rachel Maddow on payday. Sadly, I have yet to experience anything, empirical or in public record, to support this meme.

My last personal encounter with the tardy and dour Dame Preckwinkle, occured during the waning days of her campaign for President and Pat Quinn's hoodwinking of the workers rally in Mount Greenwood.  It rained cats and dogs and hundreds of Union men and women from the real trades, Electricians, Carpenters, Engineers, Pipe-fitters and Laborers, many who would be laid off by Dame Preckwinkle months after she took Todd Stroger's seat, waited in the downpour - Replacement Governor Pat Quinn arrived shortly before the start of the rally, but Toni Preckwinkle was running late . . .real late. . . .she'll be there when she gets there. . .!  The perfect person for a grey rainy day, Toni Preckwinkle -late, unapologetic and unsmiling.

Folks got wet. No apoplogies.  Just Vote for Toni and Governor Squeezey! We did, more dummies us.  Hey, I'm just sayin' . . .!

Anyhoo, . . .Toni  is in the driver's seat at the Cook County Board - boss of St. Roger Hospital, All the Forest Preserves, Cook County Jail, the Sheriff and of course the Cook County Morgue and Craig Dellimore joined the President in her office for a chin-wag.

Give this AM's At Issue show a listen.  Mr. Dellimore asks about

•  the Cook Count Budget and Toni's bullet taxes
• Slot machine taxes
• Gay Marriage and religious intolerance and why black ministers are like Cardinal George
• Springfield
• Alderman Mell's movie reviews
• Props to Todd's sales tax

Softballs all and tossed under-hand  with mucho simpatico; all to which The Crypt Keeper answered with the metaphorical bat never leaving her globose shoulder

• "I don't have the figures( 4Xs by my count on budget items along with an odd equine gafaw concerning the budget extent)
• "Can't say at this time"
• Right Side of History from a history teacher
• " I don't know no Springfield!"
• " Nice Man, but I hate him."
• " As if . . ."

Toni was Toni, snarky, disdainful and as interesting as a dial tone.

Toni's Crypt - AKA -Cook County Morgue

The Late Mr. Khan

Most shocking, given the fact that a recent Lotto Winner became morgue-friendly, news hound Dellimore asked not a jot about the Cook County Crypt Kept by Dame Preckwinkle nor the state of the score of stiffs stacked like Chesty Morgan.?

Craig Dellimore no way asked "How's the Morgue, Toni?  How's she stackin'  there, Tee?"

No way he'd ask about the Crypt Keeper's Manchild Kyle going all Vanecko on some homeless dude.

Those questions are for the unprotected species of public and private person.

Hey, I'm just sayin'!

Roe v. Wade - 40 Years of the Right Side of History: A Planned Parenthood Abortion Every 94 Seconds

America slipped its trolley forty years ago this January 25th.  A nation that goes along with the murder of the innocent will go along with anything.

A nuanced catch phrase that fits every idiotic compelling narrative is The Right Side of History.  The simple fact of the matter is this - America slid from greatness to doughy and exiguous disinterest, in 1973 and has yet to wake up.

Here is what being on The Right Side of History means:

“By their own numbers, Planned Parenthood continues to show that they are deeply entrenched in the business of abortion,” said Dr. O’Bannon. “In 2011, Planned Parenthood clinics performed 333,964 abortions. Even as current data indicate the total number of abortions in the U.S. has been going down, Planned Parenthood keeps increasing its share of the abortion industry performing well over 25% of the annual estimated total of abortions performed in the United States.”Dr. O’Bannon’s analysis also revealed:

• At going rates for a standard surgical abortion performed at 10 weeks ($451), the 333,964 abortions Planned Parenthood performed represent an income of at least $150.6 million. (Collectively, the organization showed nearly $1.2 billion in revenues with more than 45% of that ($542.4 million) coming in the form of “Government Health Services Grants and Reimbursements.”

• Planned Parenthood increased their “adoption referrals to other agencies” – to 2,300. Even so, abortions at Planned Parenthood still outnumbered adoption referrals by a 145-to-1 margin.

• Birth control, breast exams/care, and cancer screenings (that Planned Parenthood touted as major issues during the 2012 election campaign) actually decreased while abortions reached their all time record.

• Prenatal care – offered at only a handful of PPFA clinics to begin with – dropped for a second year in a row, a perfect illustration of how tenuous Planned Parenthood’s commitment to a woman’s full range of “reproductive options” truly is.

Dr. O’Bannon’s complete article is available here: http://nrlc.co/VmARyk“Planned Parenthood continues to be the single-largest abortion provider in the United States. And regardless of what they say, their data and their deeds show that abortion continues to take up a very large percentage of their operations and focus,” O’Bannon concluded.
Dr. O’Bannon is available to provide interviews and further commentary on Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report and their continued efforts to expand their abortion business. To arrange an interview, please contact the NRLC Communications Department at (202) 626-8825.

People who use the phrase Right Side of History have absolutely no understanding of history, or themselves.

Perseverance: You Don't Get 'Atta-boys, Trophies, or Ribbons for Doing Your Job

"In Perseverance; thunder crashes, sails billow, waves toss the fragile boat. We see that the clouds are about to break. The sea will calm; the sailor's perseverance will soon be rewarded by a return to God's safe heaven. Perhaps this painting can assure each of us that if we can simply persevere, God's hand of love will soon disperse each storm." 

    - Thomas Kinkade ( 1958-2012) American Artist

Perseverance -noun

1.

steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state,etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

2.

Theology . continuance in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.

Origin: 
1300–50; Middle English perseveraunce  < Middle French perseverance  <Latin persevērantia.  See persevere, -ance

Every morning I have the golden opportunity to engage the youth of America, Illinois, Chicago, Bronzeville and St. Gabe's Parish in Canaryville.   I bring a baker's dozen young gents to Leo High School.  All but one senior are under the age of 17 - ten white boys and three black gents. 

The senior is a quiet studious and good humored young man from Bronzeville already accepted at Rutgers University in his native New Jersey.  His Dad worked there for years, but moved back to Chicago last year. Though proud to be a a Wendell Phillips Alumnus, this successful and proud man wanted no part of the Chicago Public Schools 2012-2013 for his son and chose Leo High School, a Catholic " pay school."His son was brought up to fear God, honor his family and work.  His son's efforts and achievements are the payoff for Old School values rooted in family and reinforced by a  Leo Catholic education.

Catholic education is centered around Christ.  Christ is the reason for the school and everything that happens  with regard to a school's mission must be centered on Christ.  Most kids at Leo are not Catholic, but nearly all are Christian and a couple of the guys are Muslim -Nation of Islam.   Having God as the stablizing center -post of their school, reminds the guys that stability is essential.

Most of our guys are not as blessed with the stability and steady-direction at home the above mentioned gent enjoys. Our kids are, what the PC would call, financially challenged - in Lionese, piss poor. Sadly, most have no male presences in the home and too many have toxic male influences - one poor kid had to fight with his Dad in order to get Pa's Bear Game pals to stop smoking dope in the kid's bedroom. 

The TV Shows Shameless and My Babies Mommas are all too real  in order to be in any way amusing or valuable - other than be deemed  Chicago Values. More so, the kids living out these scripts of those shows here in Chicago have moms who just might drink up their tuition money, buy no groceries, purchase no winter clothing while Dad does a nickel for boosting freight or slinging dope. Funny?  If you are the type of person who enjoys tormenting the handicapped, I suppose it might.  Interestingly enough, it seems to me that  the very people who are offended by ethnic humor, find racism in their morning bowl of Wheaties, worry about how many sheets of Charmin other people are using, or developing educational agendas for public education match this Shameless fan- demographic. Revolution and radicalism only grow out of economic and social comfort - Hyde Park, Evanston, the Lakeshore & etc.  There are no Marxists in actual school foxholes. I have yet to run into one, after forty years in teaching. Teachers who confront miseries seem to load up on common sense.

Despite a rainbow of handicaps, these young gents achieve.  The semester grades are coming out this week and my van load has achieved a modest record of achievement - mind you, I did not factor in the young senior's 3.86 Average into the mix; thus a sampling of twelve ( two black and ten white) - 2.36 Cumulative Van GPA!  I'll take it.

One kid spent two weeks in the hospital
One kids brother was murdered in November
One kid's Mom spent some time CCDC
One kid ditches school at the drop of a hat, but has maintained 3.9 in Algebra

All of them are at core sweet and smart kids; all of them enjoy busting my aged Aggies and all of them manage to pull themselves out of bed, find something like clean socks and school clothes, eat something other than Flamin' Hotz and Mountain Dew Red and learn.

None of these kids, other than the senior who will attend Rutgers, appear to have been told that purpose is essential to living, but they manage to have great perseverance. . .my God, do they ever.

Boys to Men: Catholic Schools Must Remember This

 Boys are always more or less inaccurate, and too many, or rather the majority, remain boys all their lives*. John Henry Cardinal Newman - The Idea of a University

At recent parish event, I ran into several young gents who were classmates of my youngest, Clare.   One young guy, whom I'll call Jack, I have had the pleasure of knowing from his days in Catholic pre-school through this his senior year at a south side Catholic High School.

Jack is a very athletic, energetic, witty and happy young guy.  Like my own son who attended the same grammar school and high school as him, Jack will be a fine man.  However, also like my son, Jack had a miserable time in grammar school.  The girls universally had a great time, but the boys had a really, really painful time.

All through grammar school, Jack, like my son, was called to the office, given detentions for chatting, playing, day dreaming, acting up and breaking stuff, had academic credit removed from grades for being messy, disorganized, sloppy, haphazard, received a verbal dressing down for forgetting pencils, erasers, calculators, rulers, paste, pens and good grammar, not to mention 'out of uniform.'

Jack was always one of my favorite guys, because he was what being a guy is all about - Jack took his lumps, never ratted out his buddies and never ever complained.  " How's Things, Jackson?"  I'd ask. 

"Great Mr. Hickey! Hey, you ever get a Hickey?"

"Only once Jackson!"

" Bwwwwaaahahhhaaa, Hickey's only Hickey!" Presidential timber if ever drew breath, Jack be.

Jack and my son and millions of other young gents take their lumps in grammar school, because 86% of Illinois teachers are women.  At Catholic grammar schools that number swells exponentially.  By "Lumps," I mean verbal abuse and social stigmatizing -"You'll never learn!" Mercifully, I grew up  during the waning years of female inflicted corporal punishment - Oh, there was the excessive use of verbal abuse, too but the whacks took our minds off of that. Physical pain is nothing compared to being 'taken down a peg.'

At the above mentioned parish event, all of the girls (Alumnae) ran to and hugged and their grammar school teachers (ladies all); all of the boys now tall and whiskered sported looks to match the words of Exeter, when asked what thoughts did Prince Hal send to the Dauphin, "Scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt,And any thing that may not misbecome The mighty sender, doth he prize you at."

Boys are tough to teach.  Boys are willful, energetic, sloppy, smelly, disorganized, scatter-brained and easily distracted. They are supposed to be. Jack has been accepted to college but just might opt to go into the skilled trades. Smart lad!

Colleges of Education pound future teachers with expectations, growth analyses, tests and measurements, graphs and more Dewey than is good for a person.  Back in the 1970's, the academic goofballs decided that boys and girls not only learn the same way, but are exactly the same.  T'ain't.

We in Catholic education largely ignored such nonsense, but the damage was done at the university level and has yet to be challenged much less undone.

My son, Jack and legions of otherwise perfectly acceptable American males have been  nagged, badgered, cowed,domineered and wringer-ed by teachers in pumps and skirts. Catholic high school saved them - they attended single sex schools, where they were mentored and coached and ultimately actually taught by males and some very smart and thoughtful women.

Boys learned that they were messy, smelly, foul-mouthed, easily distracted and disappointing  through eight years of instruction from otherwise nice women who have sons of their own, but are "really, really tired of saying the same things over, and over and over . . .when's Labor Day?"

There is not much other than sports to verify that guy is altogether different from a gal.

Boys need to learn these:

• Perseverance - We are not all winners, special, trophy collectors
• Honesty - See above
• Courage -Do it.  You don't get Atta-Boys for doing your job
• Compassion -We all get it good and hard and with great regularity - See RGIII
• Self-Control - If you feel it, change your mind; it will not end well.

Boys should be expected to behave, act and be exactly what they are and taught reading, writing and math according to their natures; only then can they become the men they are meant to be. More so, boys need purpose and not be told just because that is what we are all doing.

Girls can be taught without a great deal stress and strain. Boys? No way.

You must reach boys before you even dream of teaching boys.

*The infant does not learn to spell and read the hues upon his retina by any scientific rule; nor does the student learn accuracy of thought by any manual or treatise. The instruction given him, of whatever kind, if it be really instruction, is mainly, or at least pre-eminently, this,—a discipline in accuracy of mind.
Boys are always more or less inaccurate, and too many, or rather the majority, remain boys all their lives. When, for instance, I hear speakers at public meetings declaiming about "large and enlightened views," or about "freedom of conscience," or about "the Gospel," or any other popular subject of the day, I am far from denying that some among them know what they are talking about; but it would be satisfactory, in a particular case, to be sure of the fact; for it seems to me that those household words may stand in a man's mind for a something or other, very glorious indeed, but very misty, pretty much like the idea of "civilization" which floats before the {333} mental vision of a Turk,—that is, if, when he interrupts his smoking to utter the word, he condescends to reflect whether it has any meaning at all. Again, a critic in a periodical dashes off, perhaps, his praises of a new work, as "talented, original, replete with intense interest, irresistible in argument, and, in the best sense of the word, a very readable book;"—can we really believe that he cares to attach any definite sense to the words of which he is so lavish? nay, that, if he had a habit of attaching sense to them, he could ever bring himself to so prodigal and wholesale an expenditure of them? John Henry Cardinal Newman - The Idea of a University

Appreciated - Valued by Every Woman; Important to Any Man

What woman could say no to this?



Gents?

Viva la difference or You Tarzan, me Jane

You Tarzan
Me Jane
You shout
Me explain
You dive in
Me refrain
You muscles
Me curves
You loud
Me reserved
You demand
Me defer
You impatient
Me serene
You dirty
Me clean
You handsome
Me pretty
You strong
me weak
You fast
Me slow
You chase
Me run
You catch
Me succumb
Guess what
I won! 

Ruth Walters

Dennis Byrnes' Caveat Cives, or Fiscal 'All-In Stupid!"

 

If this doesn't outrage Americans then I doubt that anything will. It'll make Americans look as complacent or ignorant as Illinois voters who habitually elect irresponsible politicians to run our state government. And then wonder how we got into such big trouble. Dennis Byrne -" The Same Old Fiscal Train Wreck"

In 2008, ESPN experimented with the idea of a delayed final table. This idea presented greater sponsorship opportunities and notoriety, culminating in a recap of the Main Event and the conclusion of the 2008 Main Event final table. In 2009, ESPN announced they would again move the final table to November 2009. The WSOP also decided there would be no rebuy events in 2009. The decision was reached because of complaints that rebuy events provided an unfair advantage to professionals with no limitation on how much money they can spend for an event. There were 57 bracelet events that year. The 2010 WSOP had the same number of bracelet events as in 2009, again with no rebuy events. WSOP

It seems to me that America's fiscal crisis coincided with the expansion of the Word Series of Poker genre on cable television.  Then again, it seems to me that Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois is such a fiscal steward that he needs to get naked in order to count to 21; Forrest Claypool is such a valuable asset to Illinois/Chicago commonweal that it takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes and that Toni Preckwinkle is so whip-smart that she believes "The Queen's English" is a gay man's grammar and composition guide.

Yep, America's fiscal sense went 'all-in stupid' just before the election in 2008.  Like the cable shows where obnoxious louts and laconic ladies click and stack chips worth a house payment only to be cast into the ever-growing piles of a very few persons, America is all-in stupid. GE, Goldman Sachs and Planned Parenthood the Condom Manufacturer's Association and Green Anything all  have seats at the final table.  Middle class families voted all-in on the Obama River Card!  Holding Dueces and Trays. "Thanks for playing folks and keep playing on-line!"

We kick cans down the road, while getting on the right side of history.

Give Dennis Byrne's sobering assessment of our bridge-jumping culture -

Here are some examples of how Washington worsened America's deficit and debt problems by creating new (or extending old) corporate tax breaks, thus reducing the revenue stream.
GE, Caterpillar, J.P. Morgan and other business giants will escape paying taxes on income earned from some overseas lending practices. Tax breaks and subsidies for Goldman Sachs' New York headquarters, for mining company worker safety training, for railroad track improvements, for auto race tracks, for growing algae as feedstock for biofuel, for Hollywood movies made in the United States and low-income areas, for drivers of electric scooters, for rum production in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and for industrial research and development.
The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation figures the loopholes inserted into the final deal will cost about $67.9 billion in 2013. If you make the deal's increased spending a part of the equation, the complete package over the next 10 years would put us $3.9 trillion more into debt. Our only hope is that this lunacy is quickly corrected.

On the River!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The Last Time American Catholics Refused to Bend To Progressive Doctrine - 1933

American Catholics supported Franco - rather, they would not support the Communists in Spain.

Catholics are told by editorial boards, news-readers, hack politicians, academics and activists to 'get on the right side of history' and abandoned their Church and consciences and embrace the reality that marriage must be redefined to include homosexual couples.  History does not have sides to it.  Armies may face one another in opposition and each may be considered a side. One faction, or side  will win and one will lose a battle and perhaps a war. But history does not take sides; only people take sides.

The 'right side of history' in early decades of the 20th Century depended on where you happened to stomp your feet - some goose-stepped and some fox-trotted.

In 1931,Spain's  King Alfonso was forced to abdicate the throne.  Thanks to Napoleon,the Industrial Revolution and the European imperial rush to colonize the un-claimed parts of the globe, Spain crashed from the  world power that dominated Europe from the 15th -19th Centuries, to the sad remnant armed with Mausers and Maxims against Col. Teddy Roosevelt;s Rough Riders, and Admiral Dewey's fleets.

Spain is a Catholic nation. Some abandoned their faith for the secular creeds of Marxism and anarchy.  Some found a balance with their faith and labor because Pope Leo XIII defended the right to organize trade unions. There were still folks who were loyal to the monarchy  and they were called Carlists. Some demanded that Spain follow Italy into fascism and the were called Falangists.

In 1932, the Soviet Comintern decided to make Spain International.

In 1933, a coalition of the Center-Left took the majority seats in Cortes:

The Comintern of Soviet Russia in 1932 made infiltration into Spain a priority, thus insuring a strong communist presence. Many workers, dissatisfied with the remorseless face of the liberal capitalism that had grown up under the late monarchy, began to turn in increasingly radical directions. Two separate extremist groups began to forge an alliance. One was the anarchists, those dedicated to the overthrow of any government; the other was the syndicalists, who wanted no government but only a series of disparate workers communes. The anarcho-syndicalists were especially strong in the ethnically separate Basque region and in the autonomous region of Catalonia, around Barcelona. It is important to note that the strength of the anarcho-syndicalists was not primarily among the farming peasantry, but rather took root with the working classes attached to industry in large cities. In the elections of 1933, a center-right coalition was voted in, but this was largely ineffective due to the destabilizing influences of the anarcho-syndicalists and the operations of the new communist party of Spain. New elections were to be held in 1936. These would be decisive in determining the course of Spanish history.

Election to the Cortes, or the parliamentary assembly of Spain, was an exceedingly complex process. It was anything but a direct popular election and many places, especially cities, were assigned a disproportionate number of representatives. This will be shown by the vote totals.

 Votes in the Spanish elections of 1933Right (Carlists, Catholic Action, Liberal Monarchists, Falange), 4,570,744 votes, 133 seats
Center 340,073 votes, 77 seats
Popular Front (Communists, Socialists, Catalan Separatists, Left Republicans), 4,346,559 votes, 263 seats

One can see that even though the center-right, which had governed since 1933, received over 500,000 more votes, the Popular Front had a majority of 26 seats over the old coalition. As a salient example of unrepresentative allotment, the center, which polled only 340,000 votes, received half the number of the seats that the right obtained with their 4.5 million votes. Ultimately, it was the socialistic Popular Front that formed a government. As each month passed, the regime acted in an increasingly despotic and radical manner, successively casting off ministers who were not liberal enough. Against this regime the military, the Carlist traditionalists and the political right rebelled. American Catholics went to great lengths to explain the facade of this "democratic" election process to the general public.

Progressive America was not accepting this - American Catholics found themselves on the 'wrong side of history.' American Catholics had become a political force.  George Babbitt was confronted by Studs Lonigan. American Catholics ran a coreligionist, NY Governor Al Smith for President in 1928 and lost. However, they formed something of a coalition with mainline Progressive Protestants, who demanded abortion and birth control; over the New Deal and elected FDR. Catholics remained very anti-Communist and somewhat isolationist and Progressives were delighted with Communism and were happily isolationist, until Spain got messy.

Hollywood cast Catholic Spain as the villain - universal and historical. Claude Raines, Basil Rathbone, the Inquisition tortured Errol Flynn, John Garfield and Tyrone Power in movies about pirates, gun runners and rebels with one cause.

Bernard F. Dick is of the opinion that Hollywood's preoccupation with portraying opposition to the fascist forces emerged long before September 1939: "Hollywood began its war on fascism before fascism began its war on democracy." He asserts that the film industry was conscious of political turbulence in Europe since the early 1930s, but veiled "their fascist aggression in allusion and metaphor until...history intervened." He goes on to support this claim with a discussion of the various attempts to produce meaningful films about the Spanish Civil War, a conflict that was never mentioned by name in any of the movies until 1940, and then only to say that it was over. According to Dick's examination of Hollywood wartime production, the OWI wielded enough influence to prevent the expression of firm political convictions in early war films, and the filmmakers were left to follow its advice.

 The Republic's Popular Front was dominated by Soviet trained commissars and immediately churches and monasteries were confiscated by the Republic, because the Church needed to pay its 'fair share' and immediately bishops, priests and nuns were executed.  Peasants and workers who objected to this savagery were executed.


The trouble in Spain forced American Catholics to break ranks.  General Franco led a rebellion against the Communist dominated Republic. Donald Prudlo's fine article for Catholic Culture details the powerful unity of American Catholics in opposition to the Popular Front and the support it maintained for Franco's government. The American Catholic Church remained fiercely and uncompromisingly anti-communist, even among its academics and politicians, unlike today.

Prudlo noted:

In their battle to justify Franco to the American public, Catholic journalists faced an extremely difficult battle. One of the most basic obstacles encountered was the persistent "Black Legend" regarding Spanish history, a view that had taken root in Reformation England and spread from there to all of the English-speaking countries of the west. This legend excoriated Spain as a backwards, religiously dominated gothic land of torture and inquisition. Hilaire Belloc was credited by Catholics as the first historian to plow through the patina of prejudice and hatred to offer a balanced English-language account of Spanish history.²⁰ McGuire was concerned with showing that all of the news correspondents in Spain were infected with this, and as a result were not being impartial. These correspondents presented Franco as standing for the forces of Church, inquisition, privilege and repression, against idealistic socialists, communists, and anarchists trying to shed some light on backward Spain.²¹ The editors of The Sign were constantly warning American Catholics not to trust major media outlets, but rather to get their news from the National Catholic Welfare Council News Service, as mediated through the 300 or so Catholic periodicals in the country.²² America attempted to reshape the terms used to describe the conflict. The editors railed against the tyranny of calling the Rightists "rebels" and the communists "loyalists." The rebels, "not the government forces, are fighting the battle of world democracy," the writers stated.²³ Catholic journalists refused to let Protestant and popular news outlets cast the struggle in terms of democracy vs. totalitarianism.

Today, the struggle is much less tangible and much more hostile; gay marriage is much more than a ceremony and license.  Gay Marriage and abortion are secular doctrines that Catholics, if they are to be considered American citizens, must not merely accept but heartily acclaim.

Catholic support for Franco was very unpopular, but the Church and Catholics did not cave.  Donald Prudlo's article concludes:

In the end the unpopular position of the Catholic Church in the war resulted in very few negative repercussions. Perhaps if World War II had not followed hard on the heels of the Spanish conflict there would have been more time for a backlash, but as it was the Church was prepared for war. Had Catholics remained in the camp of the old liberal isolationists one can only imagine what a shock the coming of the next war would have brought. As it was, the Church entered the forties and fifties as a unified group with a common identity ready to face the challenges of those decades. It is ironic that the terrible bloodletting of Spain helped to bring forth a strong and tightly knit American Catholic presence. Sometimes great good can come from the most unexpected of directions.

Wonder how we will do?

American Education: Graphic Novels - Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Hello, Dr. Bucky!

James Bucky Carter, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, wrote a book that guides teachers in pairing graphic novels with traditional texts."I think we live in an age where we should not study text in isolation," he said. "Every text should be put in relation to something else," such as graphic novels as supplements to traditional literature. Chicago Tribune

In the photo above is Dr. James Bucky Carter, an asstistant professor of English education at University of Texas of El Paso. The above photo is from the professor's website.  The Chicago Tribune wrote a glowing piece on the application for Professor Bucky's methodolgies employed at Alan B. Shepard High School, in the south west Chicago suburbs.

Dr. Bucky advocates the use of graphic novels (comic books in the classroom) not only to aid in the development of slow readers, but in Honors English and Advanced Placement courses as well.

Professor Bucky has much going for him, an advanced degree in English education. a tenured track position with University of Texas Farm System, a sure fire path to full class loads completely free of academic rigor, a culture dumb-ed down to the point that newspapers must be offered in digest form ( RedEye), literature must wait for the movie ( Anna Karenina Redux)  and history in the care of Oliver Stone is even considered. . .for anything of substantive historical perspective.

Reading is a rigorous activity.  Reading and writing require hard work. More so, misreading and misunderstanding have contributed to miseries historical and sundry - Guttenberg developed the printing press to free Western Man from the clutches of clerics who printed books by hand.  As a result the Northern ( read Dutch/English) Humanists like Disiderius Erasmus and Sir Thomas More, both were trained by the manuscript illustrating monks with books printed on Gutenberg's moveable type.  Though both the clerical abuses of the Medici and Borgia Popes, neither ditched the Faith.

Their contemporary, the activist Augustinian priest Martin Luther, used the graphic novels of the day, Broadsheets, to make propaganda weapon that would reach its zenith in 1920's Bavaria.
Martin Luther's graphic novels  ( like Lucas Cranach's "Kissing the Pope's feet" and the Monk Calf)
sparked decades of religious slaughter. Lucas Cranach, the Stan Lee of the 16th Century, illustrated Martin Luther's tracts aimed at particular demographics, ignorant and illiterate peasants and ignorant and reading-challenged German nobility nurturing particular beefs with ecclesiastical princes.

Illustrations help texts make clear authorial intent.  William Makepeace Thackeray illustrated all of his works and Charles Dickens hired out illustrators Hablot K. Browne to help readers of Pickwick Papers understand what lies within his words.

Babies learn to love books via picture books and all good elementary developmental texts are illustrated to some extent.

Our public  secondary schools are a disaster.  Teacher training is enthralled to Colleges of Education and mastery of academic disciplines remain subject to the limitations set by those colleges. Teachers who don't know their subjects, but are certified to teach are placed in classrooms thick with challenging and willful youngsters.  Shortly, the cry of "No one cares about learning" is heard crawling its way from under the tightly closed doors of the novice's classroom.  It is easier to become a teacher than it is to become an electrician, carpenter, pipe-fitter, or stationary engineer.  The certification process of the trades is much more rigorous and exacting.  The apprenticeship programs for the skilled trades are much more carefully monitored than any Student Teacher program.

Advanced degrees in the subject ( biology/English/history & etc.) to mastered are discouraged in favor of a M.Eds. and Ed.Ds worth exactly the papers they are printed up . . .without illustration. A public  school head could never expect let alone request a driver's ed instructor with more than  few free periods in his day to take over a history class, " Hey, sorry Doc, not my rice bowl.".

I have yet to meet a skilled tradesman unable to engage in cross-disciplinary work ( cut pipe, build a frame, wire, or weld) and do so with professionalism.  There are no graphic novels in plumbing.

Teachers wholly unfamiliar with Beowulf and its place in the canon of English literature well ahead of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, don't ken kennings, or their thorn from their ash, much less wynn over the students to beauty and fun of Old English, will necessarily embrace a good comic book over Seamus Heaney's translation.

Goodbye Mr. Chips and Hello Dr. Bucky.