Loevy v. Law Enforcement - Gold Mine of Settlements!

"There are 13,000 officers in the Chicago Police Department, and the proportion who violate rights in proportion to those who generate a lawsuit is very small," said Jon Loevy, founding attorney at civil rights law firm Loevy and Loevy. "Getting sued, particularly more than once, is really crossing the line in a way that could put the city on notice that extra scrutiny is merited.

Yes indeed, "Getting sued, particularly more than once, is really crossing the line in a way that could put the city on notice that extra scrutiny is merited." That said, Doing the suits, particularly more than once, is really crossing the line in a way that should put the city, the tax-payers and news media on notice that extra scrutiny is merited.


Jon Loevy started suing police Departments when he quit Sildey and Austin and after clerking for Judge Milton Shadur. I believe that he started in Oak Lawn, Illinois when the Village settled out of court and the rest is litigation history.


Last week, three Chicago police Detectives were ordered to pay Loevy out of their own pockets. That was stunning.

Donny McGee’s award is to include $330,000 from the officers’ personal funds, according to Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law.

McGee, who spent three years in prison, was to face the death penalty in the murder of Ethel Perstlen, 76.

Detective Edward Farley, Detective Robert Lenihan and Officer Robert Bartik fabricated a confession from McGee that was not written, audiotaped or videotaped, the lawyers added.

http://www.pinewswire.net/2010/06/jury-awards-1-3-million-to-man-saying-cops-faked-confession-with-polygraph/

How did lawyer Jon Loevy happen on to the gold mine that it is Loevy & Loevy?

I am just a high school teacher who reads the papers.

It seems to me that Jon Loevy is just about the only really aggressive Police suing lawyer in the business. Marxist Millionaire G. Flint Taylor is a whole other hairball - he has Burge Industries. But Jon Loevy seems to be the Bill Gates of Police Lawsuits. He files suit and cities settle - no muss and no fuss.

I think Jon Loevy does it for money - period. G. Flint Taylor? Whole other hairball. He does it for money and ideology. Jon Loevy? Money. Tons of money. Always taxpayer money - except now he can root nickels out of the modest savings of police officers as well. A new Tsunami.

I became a teacher because I like to read and share my love reading and writing - what a guy. I am also a real trainwreck around tools. My family are all skilled tradesmen.

Jon Loevy followed his Dad into the law and his Dad followed his son into Lawsuits Against the Cops,

Arthur Loevy was groomed some say to be a Labor Lawyer. He was that. He was huge.

Loevy and Loevy, pater et filius, sue police everywhere*. It will be interesting to look into just why. Money, to be sure, but just how Jon Loevy got to the gold.

Well, there's Dad -Arthur Loevy

Arthur Loevy graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1963, and has been a member of the Illinois bar continuously for more than forty years.
Arthur Loevy began his legal career practicing labor law until 1970 when he became an elected officer of a trade union, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union ("ACTWU"). Arthur proceeded to serve in various elected capacities for trade unions, including International Executive Vice President of ACTWU, International Secretary-Treasurer of ACTWU, and, most recently International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union of Needle-Trades Industrial and Textile Employees (U.N.I.T.E.).
Arthur Loevy has also served as a Director and Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Amalgamated Bank of New York (1990-98), the President, Chief Executive Officer, and Trustee of various Taft-Hartley insurance and trust funds for almost twenty years, the President of the Amalgamated Housing Foundation (1974-98), and the President of the Sidney Hillman Health Center in Chicago (1980-98).
Since January 1, 1997, Arthur Loevy has resumed the practice of law on a full-time basis. In 1998, he joined the law firm started by his son, Jon Loevy, and has practiced here ever since.

( emphasis my own) Pretty spare resume (CV) for a Labor Lion like Loevy, Pere


Unlike Lad Jon Loevy -

Jon Loevy is an extremely accomplished trial lawyer, having won more than $100 million in jury verdicts for his clients, all in cases involving challenging fact patterns and difficult to prove allegations against the government. Loevy has won 18 out of his last 20 jury trials, and his $100 million total in career jury awards includes twelve separate jury verdicts of $1 million or more. For more, click here: Recent Successes - Trials.
Loevy is also a highly successful appellate lawyer. Civil rights cases are notoriously hard to win, but Loevy was won 13 out of the last 16 he has argued before the federal appellate courts (including wins in the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits), the majority of which were on behalf of the appellant seeking to overturn an adverse ruling. For more, click here: Recent Successes - Appeals.
Jon Loevy's $28 million jury verdict in Regalado v. Chicago in 1999 is still the largest civil rights verdict in the City's history. Since that time, he has received million dollar-plus jury verdicts as lead counsel in eleven other "long shot" cases, including Duran v. Chicago in 2008 ($4.2 million for interference with child custody); Johnson v. Guevara in 2009 ($21 million for 11 years of wrongful conviction); Borsellino v. Putnam in 2009 ($11 million for fraud by the former president of the NYSE); Newman v. Squire in 2010 ($6 million for wrongful death); Coffie v. Chicago in 2007 ($4 million for police brutality); Dominguez v. Waukegan in 2006 ($9 million for 4 years of wrongful conviction); Manning v. United States FBI in 2005 ($6.6 million for wrongful conviction); Ware v. Chicago in 2007 ($5 million for fatal police shooting); Garcia v. Chicago in 2003 ($1 million); and Russell v. Chicago in 2003 ($1.5 million for fatal police shooting); and Waits v. Chicago in 2002 ($1.5 million for police brutality).
After one victory, the Honorable James F. Holderman, Chief Judge of the Northern District of Illinois summarized Loevy's trial skills in a written decision reported at Garcia v. Chicago, 2003 WL 22175620 (N.D.Ill. 2003):
Jon Loevy is an outstanding trial lawyer. His ability belies his years of experience, and he certainly should not be held in a lock-step position based on his law school graduation year with regard to his hourly rate. . . Not only did Jon Loevy display tremendous advocacy skills during the trial before the jury, he handled all the matters involved in this litigation with great aplomb. His case was well-organized. The evidentiary progression was easy to follow. His examinations of adverse witnesses [1], and his dealing with the sometimes improper tactics of his opposing counsel, were highly professional.
Jon Loevy's poise, analysis, and demeanor in front of the jury, as well as his rapier-like cross-examination style, are reminiscent of the trial skills displayed by some of the nationally recognized trial lawyers in this community when they were the age that Jon Loevy is now. [1] Among those nationally recognized trial lawyers whose trial skills the court is familiar with when they were Jon Loevy's age are: Royal B. Martin of Martin, Brown and Sullivan; Michael D. Monico of Monico, Spevack and Pavich; Thomas R. Mulroy of McGuire Woods; Anton J. Valukas of Jenner & Block; and Dan K. Webb of Winston & Strawn. Additionally, Jon Loevy's overall performance ranks among the finest displays of courtroom work by a plaintiff's lead trial counsel that this court has presided over in several years.
For more on Jon Loevy's trial practice, click here.
In addition to the $100 million in jury verdicts, Loevy has also obtained tens of millions more for his clients in settlements.
Loevy graduated from Columbia Law School in 1993, where he served as a Senior Editor of the Columbia Law Review. At Columbia, he was a Kent Scholar (approximately top 1% of the academic class), as well the recipient of the Young B. Smith Prize given to the student with the top examination in torts, and the Paul R. Hayes Prize given to the student with the top exam in civil procedure.
Upon graduating, Loevy clerked for Judge Milton I. Shadur of the Northern District of Illinois for a year, after which he took a year off and travelled around the world. Upon returning home, he joined the firm then-known as Sidley & Austin, where he spent a year and a half before leaving to start his own firm, first as a solo practitioner, and then in partnership with his wife, Danielle Loevy.
The firm he formed, Loevy & Loevy, has since grown to 14 lawyers, and is now one of the largest firms devoted to civil rights in Chicago, if not the entire country.
Loevy is also a lecturer at law at the University of Chicago, where he co-teaches a clinic on wrongful conviction litigation with other members of his firm. Loevy also teaches Trial Advocacy to clinic students at the University of Chicago.
Loevy was previously named one of the Law Bulletin's prestigious "40 under 40" attorneys to watch in Chicago, as well as one of Chicago Lawyer's "Next Generation Rising Stars of the Trial Bar." Loevy was also invited to speak at the National Lawyers' Guild's (NLG) National Police Accountability Project Conference in Austin, Texas in the Fall of 2006 on the topic of "How to Win Big Jury Awards in Police Abuse Cases." He presented on that topic to more than 50 police abuse lawyers from around the United States. In 2007, Loevy was asked to be the moderator for the NLG's National Police Accountability Project conference in Washington D.C.
Loevy lives in Chicago with his wife, Danielle, and three sons, Carter, Ethan and Oliver.
Located in the West Loop just west of downtown, our Chicago-based law firm represents clients throughout the nation, including the Chicagoland metropolitan area, including Cicero, Harvey, Kankakee, Joliet, Chicago Heights, Dolton, Markham, Aurora, Rockford, Waukegan, Champaign-Urbana, Elgin, Cook County, Will County, Lake County, DuPage County, and Kane County.

(emphasis my own)

Police Officers in Chicago do not come to the Law from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Northwestern. They come from Gresham, Jefferson Park, Ukrainian Village, Mount Greenwood, Hegewisch, Englewood and other working class neighborhoods. They used to come from families of police officers, as Jon Loevy followed Dad in the practice of Law. They are working men. It seems to me that the Loevy family has no problem targeting working men and doing whatever it takes to make money and they are very good at it.


Here's but a very few.

At Loevy & Loevy, we are trial lawyers who seek justice for those whose civil rights have been violated and for whistleblowers. Based in Chicago, we are one of the nation's largest and most successful civil rights law firms and we handle cases around the nation. We go to trial often and our record speaks for itself: $21 million for a wrongfully convicted man, $16 million for another, victory in a class action of more than 100,000 people, $28 million for the victim of a police beating, and many more. We've won dozens of jury trials and more than $150 million for our clients.

http://www.colorlines.com/article.php?ID=253

*

McGee, who was acquitted of the murder in 90 minutes by a jury in 2004 after serving three years in prison, filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago, detectives Edward Farley and Robert Lenihan and Officer Robert Bartik. DNA evidence excluded McGee from committing the crime, Ainsworth said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-police-murder-frame-20100609,0,5156702.story

T

ROY, Mich., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- A class action lawsuit alleging that the Detroit Police Department (DPD) systematically abused and mistreated arrestees was filed on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 in the United States Federal Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. A copy of the complaint is available at www.fhwnlaw.com.
The suit, Jonathan Brown, et al v. City of Detroit, was filed by the Chicago law firm of Loevy & Loevy and the Troy, Michigan law firm of Frank, Haron, Weiner & Navarro. The suit alleges that thousands of individuals were arrested and denied basic constitutional rights by the DPD from May 27, 2007 through the present date. A similar class action lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department recently settled for $16.5 million.
Specifically, the complaint alleges that the DPD engaged in a repeated pattern of detaining individuals for long periods of time – often in excess of 48 hours – without allowing them access to a judge. These individuals were denied food, water, and sleep during their detentions. The complaint charges that these inhumane conditions were often used to obtain false confessions from suspects, while genuine perpetrators were left free to continue committing crimes.
The suit has three classes of plaintiffs. Class one is comprised of thousands of people who were detained by the DPD overnight or for more than 16 hours in a 24-hour period and who were deprived of basic human needs for rest and hygiene. Plaintiffs in the second class were arrested by the DPD and detained in excess of 48 hours without a judicial determination of probable cause. The third group of plaintiffs consists of individuals detained by the DPD in excess of 24 hours without being provided at least two meals.
Loevy & Loevy (www.Loevy.com), based in Chicago, is one of the largest civil rights firms in the country.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/class-action-alleges-abusive-treatment-by-detroit-police-department-

CROWN POINT | Lake County Jail officials and plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit alleging medical and other mistreatment in the jail failed for the second time Wednesday to reach a settlement in the two-year-old case.
Loevy & Loevy, the Chicago law firm representing the plaintiffs, is seeking the court's approval of a class action lawsuit in which the complaints mirror many of the findings by the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
The government's report, released in December, disclosed conditions the DOJ found to be in violation of inmates' constitutional rights. Jail officials released their response to the findings in May along with a plan to meet the concerns.
The federal lawsuit was filed in May 2008, prior to the DOJ investigation, which was launched in September. Since the lawsuit was filed, Loevy & Loevy attorneys have said the number of jail detainees with similar complaints has grown to more than 100 from the original seven.
The nearly daylong settlement conference Wednesday, the second since February, failed to resolve the lawsuit.
As is typical, the settlement conference was not held in public.

Houston, TX

Winfrey sued San Jacinto County, its current and former sheriff, a former deputy, and Fort Bend County, its sheriff, and former deputy Pikett. He seeks damages for conspiracy, constitutional violations, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He is represented by Gayle Horn with Loevy & Loevy of Chicago.

In 2008, attorney Aaron Mandel of the Chicago law firm Loevy & Loevy filed a federal lawsuit on Lyons' behalf against Woodridge and police officers James Grady and Donald Janus, both of whom declined to comment.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=387569&src=2

Busy

Cry Wolf White House v. Dances with Wolves? Costner's Gizmo Tested by BP

Kevin Costner has an oil seperating gizmo. Like most Americans, I needed to strain to learn about this, because the corporate media is doing a gang-pile on British Petroleum

The hemp smokers of Huffington Post and MSNBC and CNN are Cry Wolf White House cheerleaders.

Well Dances with Wolves was a reworking of Sir Waler Scott's novel Waverly and Costner seems to have original ideas that are based in what worked in our past.

Let's hope this works.

"I'm not on a white horse," Costner said. "I'm not the savior to this thing. But I'm kind of saying, like, I got a life preserver."

The device, which is designed to be brought to the spill site on barges, can separate 99% of oil from water and recycle up to 2,000 barrels per day. Costner spent 15 years and $20 million of his own money to develop the machine.

"If 20 of my V20s would have been at the Exxon Valdez, 90 percent of that oil would have been cleaned up within the week," Costner said. . . . The "Dances with Wolves" and "Waterworld" star said he got the idea to develop the centrifuge while watching the Exxon-Valdez spill in 1989.

"... [W]hat happened is as a young man, as a boy, I would see these things, these images, and I could tell my parents would stop and look at the TV," he said. "And when you're young, you look at them and you go, 'Something stopped them.' And what stopped them was these images.

"So I looked at those images myself and it was rubber boots. And it was straw. And it was pitch forks. And then I looked at it again ten years later and I wasn't a boy anymore. And I'm looking at it. And now I'm going, the same images, the oil coming up like pudding and people again on beaches with rubber boots and straw."

BP tested a version of Costner's device earlier this year, but the test failed after the machine gave the oil a peanut butter-like consistency. That problem has since been fixed, and BP is retesting the machine now in the hopes of getting it to the Gulf soon.

Despite the fact that the oil has reached the shores of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, Costner is confident that his oil separator can step in and make an immediate impact on the clean-up process.

"That oil's going to keep coming towards those people," Costner said. "That well has not stopped. So we have to be out at the source, sucking it up on some major, I mean, we have to treat it a little bit like a war. We mustered logistically everything we had to get the Beaches of Normandy. We have to muster everything we can to keep it from hitting our beaches.

And the actor hopes that the machine can help prevent large-scale incidents like this from occurring in the future.

"... [W]e know accidents are going to happen, "Costner said. "But if we're going to operate on our high seas, we have to have-- we have to have this equipment there and ... it should be able to operate the minute the oil comes into contact with water."



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/14/2010-06-14_bp_to_test_out_actor_kevin_costners_oil_spill_cleanup_machine_for_possible_use_i.html#ixzz0qqJPCx78




Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/14/2010-06-14_bp_to_test_out_actor_kevin_costners_oil_spill_cleanup_machine_for_possible_use_i.html#ixzz0qqJ6lCU7

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/14/2010-06-14_bp_to_test_out_actor_kevin_costners_oil_spill_cleanup_machine_for_possible_use_i.html#ixzz0qqHcG0p8

Our Cry Wolf White House Again! "Gulf fuels new energy-bill push"

Sure looks like President Ponzi.

President Obama handled the Gulf Spill like Jimmy Carter handled the Iran Hostages. The leak was not his fault, as we all know is was British Petroleum (BP) - The Ken Lay and Bernie Maddof of Hope and Change.

Now, President Obama and the Mandarins of the DNC are set to do more damage -

“In the aftermath of the spill, people firmly believe Congress needs to do more than just make BP pay. Even when pressed with opposition messaging that now is not the time for some ‘job killing energy tax,’ people coalesce around comprehensive clean energy reform. Consequently, support for a comprehensive energy bill is very high. With the right messaging, that support holds strong in the face of harsh opposition attacks.”

Consequently, you can take all of your Markey/Waxman Carbon Credits and place them where no solar energy can reach them.

I'm going to gas- up at BP on 103rd & Western Avenue - I have many friends who work at BP in Whiting, Indiana.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38488.html#ixzz0qptvbP2D

Catholic Worship - Mass with Jimmy Swaggert & Bennie Hinn!

I went to a suburban Catholic Mass . . .I think, because it was a memorial for a close family member. This particular Church was one of the too many Mega-McMansions of the Gender Neutral Triune God, like the photo above, being built wherever Catholics thicken the Zipcode.

If you did not know that this was a Catholic Church - there is a cornerstone blessed and dedicated by Cardinal Bernardin - one might think that he were doing the 3rd Commandment with Benny Hine and Jimmy Swaggert. Ek Kyew Miny Kal!!!!!! Prayz Jayzus!

Not my cup of Gethsemane.

I'm an Old Timey Catholic - I like a Catholic Church -Polish, French, Irish, Italian, Croatian, or Pygmy to reflect Universal -Catholic traditions, liturgy, architecture, music & etc. De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum. to be sure, but Latin, or English Smells and Bells optional, but for Christ's sake something like a Catholic Mass! If I wanted to be a Unitarian, I'd take tranquillizers and stay home.

Place was huge and I guess round - statuary and stained glass negative - and Frank Lloyd Wright in its warmth.

The oratory ( where they do the Readings Epistle & Gospel) faced the altar and point of focus was the piano/organ where two women who looked like bartenders at the Wilde Pug, in Andersonville - the singer had as lousy a voice as the Charlie Brown Liturgical Hymnal of unsingable and equally forgettable Nouveau Faux-Catholic ditties. Taste and Eat! Smell My Feet! Sorry. That was the best of the toe-tappers.

There is an enormous Font with free flowing Holy Water ( Who blesses it? Do they a have a midget priest tucked in under the floor boards or behind the lathing in one of the walls? Did they hire a guy from Pipe Fitters Local 597 to Sanctify the water right out of the pipeline????) that sounds like the surf off of Cape Cod in November. It was a riot to watch all of the Flomax poppers dash off to the Gents once the whispering Holy Waters did that Pavlovian magic.

We did the standard King David was sorry for having Uriah whacked; St. Paul's Galatians Luther epistle and the Simon the Pharisee dressing down over the forgiveness of the jade who washed Christ's feet I'm Okay;You're Okay Homily.

Everybody Dance Now! Duh,duh, duh,duh!!

The Creed was mumbled - No Memorare which is standard at Sacred Heart and then more appalling tunes from the two female gents from Wilde Pug.

It was one of those everyone gets wine -two species Eucharists.

I am sure that Father/Pastor Cupcake rolls over and does whatever his masters ( the Liturgists) tell him to do.

Lay Liturgical Nazis are doing to worship what nitwits are doing to American culture.

I like going to Mass. I missed it this Sunday.


http://chicago.gaycities.com/bars/1927-wilde-pug

Author Scott Carmichael Completing Book on Captain Geary Bundschu - Guam Hero and My Father's Skipper

After my Dad passed away on April 25th, I was contacted by author Scott Carmichael. Mr. Carmichael is the author of two books - one about the return of Apollo 11 and the other about a Cuban spy. Scott Carmichael has been doing research on the horrific fight for Bundschu Ridge - part of the Chorito Cliff system near Guam's Adelup Point. Ir was here on July 21, 1944 that the 21st Battlion, 3rd Marines of 3rd Marine Division landed on Red Beach One and lost more men that day than the entire 3rd Division in the Bougainville Campaign.

Mr. Carmichael had interviewed a gentleman from Michigan who had been a close friend of my father and had intended to speak with my father's platoon commander who had died in January of this year. The subject of the book is the battle and the man for whom the men of Able Company named the ridge systen - their "Skipper" ( WWII Marines refered to the Company Commander as The Skipper) - Captain Geary Bundschu, USMCR - recipient of the Navy Cross ( post.). The gentleman in Michigan and I talked shortly after my father's funeral. He and the platoon commander were badly wounded and evacuated on the first day of the battle. My father and very few of his comrades survived that fight and continued through the Guam campaign and later Iwo Jima.

I saw this news article about SCott Carmnichael's book on Apollo 11 -click my post title for more.


Carmichael, meanwhile, already has completed most of the research for his next book, tentatively titled "Bundschu Ridge." He said the book is a "nonfictional account of an effort by USMC Capt. Geary R. Bundschu* to seize a prominent ridge located inland of the Asan Beach landing zone during the July 21, 1944, liberation of Guam."

Four men in the company were left behind; known to have been killed in action, their bodies never were recovered.

Carmichael thinks he has located the body of one of the Marines whose body remains on Bundschu ridge. He said he hopes he and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii can retrieve it within the next few months.

*B

UNDSCHU, GEARY R.
Citation:
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Geary R. Bundschu (0-8276), Captain, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving as Commanding Officer of Company A, First Battalion, Third Marines, THIRD Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on the Asan-Adelup Beachhead, Guam, Marianas Islands, on 22 July 1944. With his company pinned down by bitter hostile machine-gun, mortar and rifle fire during an advance up a vital enemy ridge, Captain Bundschu unhesitatingly exposed himself to an intense barrage from Japanese guns and, fearlessly proceeding forward, observed and sketched the enemy position retarding the advance of his unit. Again making himself a target for hostile weapons, despite painful wounds in the shoulder, he continued to observe enemy defenses and skillfully reorganized his men in preparation for another fierce assault against the Japanese-held ridge. Although his right arm was rendered useless by a grenade fragment when his platoon was caught in a hostile machine-gun crossfire and simultaneously subjected to a vicious grenade attack, Captain Bundschu courageously directed his men to take cover then, valiantly pressing forward succeeded in destroying the nearest Japanese machine-gun position with grenades before he was mortally wounded. His great personal courage and inspiring leadership in the face of grave peril were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
Commander In Chief, Pacific Forces, Serial: 004424 (December 18, 1945)
Home Town: Oakland, California

Vendredi Soir - Doug Kershaw!!!!!!! Play Real Loud!!!!!!!!

Bonjour Mes Amis!!!Laisser les bons temps rouler! Lache pas la patate & C'est tout!

Friday Night Noise - John & Steppenwolf - Play Loud!

Three best chords in Rock . . .well, today anyway.

Obama White House Set to Kick Israel's Butt in United Nations

Amateur Hour White House Part MCXKVIII.

Mr. President, Israel? You are shafting Israel to make nice with UN thugs? Well, you're the President . . .for a while anyway. Call Mayflower before 2012 - get the toys and nick-nacks wrapped and boxed, well before moving day. You know that.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned that senior Obama administration officials have been telling foreign governments that the administration intends to support an effort next week at the United Nations to set up an independent commission, under UN auspices, to investigate Israel's behavior in the Gaza flotilla incident. The White House has apparently shrugged off concerns from elsewhere in the U.S. government that a) this is an extraordinary singling out of Israel, since all kinds of much worse incidents happen around the world without spurring UN investigations; b) that the investigation will be one-sided, focusing entirely on Israeli behavior and not on Turkey or on Hamas; and c) that this sets a terrible precedent for outside investigations of incidents involving U.S. troops or intelligence operatives as we conduct our own war on terror.

While UN Ambassador Susan Rice is reported to have played an important role in pushing for U.S. support of a UN investigation, the decision is, one official stressed, of course the president's. The government of Israel has been consulting with the U.S. government on its own Israeli investigative panel, to be led by a retired supreme court justice, that would include respected international participants, including one from the U.S. But the Obama administration is reportedly saying that such a “kosher panel” is not good enough to satisfy the international community, or the Obama White House.

Burge Trial - Gangbanger Remembers Tyburn Jack Ketch as Part of Midnight Crew

The hearsay parade of witnesses pointing the finger at Jon Burge - the long-ago media Popular Front convicted Chicago Police Detective continues:

Gangster Disciple Henry Fauntleroy ( deceased) returned from the grave and offered this compelling narrative, "I remember this Irish #$%%^#$ came in an tortured and put me to death so I confessed."

Compelling.

I heard that The Midnight Crew made runs to Col. Chicken, Mickey D's, and Popeyes and never once offered the Denzel Washington look-a-likes even a taste. Chilling.

John (Jack) Ketch (died 1686) was an English executioner employed by King Charles II. An immigrant of Irish extraction, he became famous through the way he performed his duties during the tumults of the 1680s, when he was often mentioned in broadsheet accounts that circulated throughout the Kingdom of England. He is thought to have been appointed in 1663. He executed the death sentences against William Russell, Lord Russell in Lincoln's Inn Fields on July 21, 1683, and James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth on July 15, 1685, after the Monmouth Rebellion. He was either very awkward or sadistic with his beheading technique, and his victims were known to have suffered at their deaths.[citation needed]
Ketch's execution of Lord Russell on July 21, 1683, was performed clumsily, and a pamphlet is extant which contains his Apologie, in which he alleges that the prisoner did not "dispose himself as was most suitable" and that he was interrupted while taking aim. On the scaffold (see gallows) on July 15, 1685, the Duke of Monmouth, addressing Ketch, referred to his treatment of Lord Russell, the result being that Ketch was quite unmanned. He had to deal at least five strokes with his axe (which he threw down, shouting "I cannot do this thing!") and finally use a knife to sever Monmouth's head from his shoulders.[citation needed] In 1686, Ketch was deposed and imprisoned at Bridewell. His successor, Paskah Rose, a butcher, was hanged at Tyburn after four months in his office.[citation needed] Ketch was reappointed in his place. He died towards the close of 1686.[citation needed]
As a result, the term Jack Ketch is also used:
as the name of every hangman after Ketch, to hide their identity;
as a proverbial name for death or, sometimes, Satan;
as a euphemism for the gallows;
as the name of the hangman in the traditional version of Punch and Judy.
The knot more commonly known as a hangman's knot is also sometimes known as Jack Ketch's knot.
As a figure of death in folklore "Jack Ketch" is also known as "Hanging Jack" and "Mister Graball".

Saturday June 12th -Step up to the Plate for Special Kids at Bourbon Street

Join your neighbors, family and friends and Step Up to the Plate for Special Children and the Special Olympics. Watch the Chicago White Sox and Cubs tangle in the Crosstown Classic. Enjoy great food and drink.

Help Special Kids! That's why we are all here at Bourbon Street. Drop Thirty Bucks $30) and have a great day doing some good for Special Children.

Bourbon Street reaches out to help people all the time. This palce is the Chicago Charity Mecca!

Tickets are $30 (available at the door) and include free parking, a full buffet and open bar from 2:30pm-6:30pm. (Game starts at 3:10pm). More than 600 people joined in the fun last year!

Great time, great game and a great cause! 4 hours of fun - be sure to bring your friends and make this an annual tradition!

Thanks to incredible donations from True Value's booth at the Hardware Show, we have an assortment of prizes. Something for everyone - including the kitchen sink!


SILENT AUCTION ITEMS INCLUDE:
(4) tickets to Chicago Blackhawks game during 2010-11 season, Blackhawks commemorative mini street pole banner and autographed Stan Mikita photo

Foursome (includes cart fees) at George Dunne National Golf Course

Weber Gas Grill ($790 value)

Patio heater

(4) Jim Beam Club tickets and parking pass for Chicago White Sox vs. Baltimore. August 26 ($1000 value)

Firepit, log holder, ash bucket, fireplace tool kit - Break out the smores!

Driveway alarm, garage door opener kit, remote control

Beautiful collection of household mirrors

Foursome at Green Garden Golf Course in Frankfort, Illinois

(2) beautiful bathroom vanities

Step up to the Plate!
When
Sat, June 12, 2:30pm – 6:30pm
Where
Bourbon Street, 339 W. 111th Street (map)
Description
It's the Crosstown Classic! Come watch the Sox vs. Cubs and support Special Olympics Chicago! $30

Thank You Representative Kevin Joyce !

Kristen McQueary wrote a sober and fitting shocker in the Southtown Star this morning. My State Representative Kevin Joyce announced his planned retirement from elective office.

Local Democrats are looking for a candidate to compete for a soon-to-be open Illinois House seat after state Rep. Kevin Joyce announced Wednesday he's planning to end his re-election efforts and may not finish out his term.

The move comes fewer than five months before the fall election, and leaves a question mark as to who will represent Democrats in the fight to maintain the 35th House District seat. Joyce (D-Chicago) said he's uncertain whether he will finish out his term but will file paperwork soon to remove his name from the Nov. 2 ballot.

Kevin Joyce is the best example of what an elected official should be - honest, hard-wroking, responsive and principled.

Kevin Joyce learned these qualities from his parents and his career belies the belly-ache-ers who whine and moan about families in public service.

Kevin is a rock-ribbed Roman Catholic, as are most of his neighbors and constituents. His record reflects his genuine principles and his courageous fight for vouchers with Senator Meeks stands as a tribute to political courage in a Democratic Party marked by cant and unctious hypocrisy, beyond the Ward.

Kevin and Krista are expecting their eighth child. Talk about principles. Kevin Joyce will take a position with Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida.

God Bless, you both for your service to our District!

Rocky Wirtz- He Didn't Step Over a Buck to Pick up a Penny

The Beverly Theater at 95th & Ashland had, what I believe, might have been the first 'pay-to-iew' operation in America.




In about 1968, Bill Wirtz set up infancy simulcast technologies that allowed the Blackhawk Home games to be broadcast on the movie screen of the old air-conditioned and regal Beverly Theatre. That must have been one of the first Big Screen Viewing operations as well.

Not only that, they sold beer.

My Dad and his brothers Bart, Sy and Donnie worked at the Beverly as engineers, sharing the hours to augment their regular jobs.

Local news and sports journalists Bill Gleason and Dave Condon were frequent attendees, as both could walk to Beverly from their homes.

Bill Wirtz was an interesting and nice man, as far as I could tell. He became known as Dollar Bill among Chicago sports know-it-alls. Like George Halas and Charlie Comiskey, Bill Wirtz was tar-brushed with the stain of being a cheap-skate. They were working-class guys who wanted to bring sport to working men and women at a reasonable price. They were like our fathers - the guys who told us what could and could not spend.

Rocky Wirtz and I are the same age - we are baby-boomers. Our Dad's told us that we did not understand the value of a buck. Dad's worry.

I went to Loyola (twice) on my own dime, became a teacher, bought homes, raised kids,and somehow made a living, because I guess I did get the message.

Rocky Wirtz, I am sure does not still have his 1st Communion money. When his Dad passed away, Rocky made the Blackhawks his own.

He paid for Patrick Kane*. That must have resurrected his Dad and given him a massive post-mortem and resurrection coronary and sent him back to the turf.

Last night, the lessons of value paid off. Rocky Wirtz brought the Stanley Cup back City of Chicago. His Dad helped give Chicago one in 1961. Bill Wirtz paid for Bobby Hull, I guess was not as much of a cheapskate after all. Rocky Wirtz reconnected Bobby Hall and Stan Mikita with the tough and heroic kids who are cold steel on ice.

Thank you, Rocky. You learned the value of buck and refused to step over a buck to pick up a penny.

Rocky Wirtz:

On October 22, 2007, Rocky announced that the team was in negotiations with Comcast SportsNet Chicago (of which he is part-owner) to begin televising home games. That season, they began to show a select amount of home games, with Wirtz citing pre-existing agreements Comcast had with other programming as a reason why not all of the remaining 2007-08 home schedule could be shown. Wirtz also hired John McDonough, formerly with the Chicago Cubs to become the new President of the team.[5] Many believe that McDonough's presence, along with the young talent on the Blackhawks team, will improve the team's marketing ability and reverse what has been a long drought in popularity. This is evident in the fact that the Blackhawks were tops in the NHL for attendance in 2008-09 [6] while making it to the Western Conference Finals.

Former players Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, who were not on good terms with Bill Wirtz, have worked with the team in the role of "ambassadors," [7] another sign that Rocky Wirtz has been able to undo the damage to the franchise many attributed to his father. A big step showing that this damage had been coming undone came when the Chicago Blackhawks celebrated Hull and Mikita in a joint celebration at the United Center on Friday, March 7, 2008. Met with more mixed reaction was Wirtz's decision to lessen the use of the United Center's organ in favor of more prerecorded current music to attract new, younger fans. This ended up being a blessing in disguise as the goal song "Chelsea Dagger" became a song other teams loved to hate.[8]

The changes made by Rocky Wirtz and the improvement of the team have been remarkable. After missing the playoffs for six straight seasons, the Blackhawks finally broke through in 2009. With a young and inexperienced team, few predicted the Hawks to go very far but they defeated the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks in the first two rounds before bowing out to the defending Stanley Cup Champions, Detroit Red Wings, in the Western Conference Final. In the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Blackhawks have defeated the Nashville Predators, Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks to advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1992. They went head to head with the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL final and won the Stanley Cup.

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