Happy New Year! Samuel Johnson's Poem: To Myrtilis - The New Year's Offering

Dr. Samuel Johnson, like me, tended to equate worth with wealth and though a poor man, - impecunious, Tapioca, short of the long-green-difference - offered the target of his manly heart his hoard of love-loot. I offer the very same, with the Great Doctor's lines.

I offer this to those I love ( agape, philia, as well as eros) this new year.

Happiness - it can't buy you money, but it's pretty damn good!


To Myrtilis - The New Year's Offering

Madam,
Long have I look'd my tablets o'er,
And find I've much to thank you for;
Outstanding debts beyond account,
And new - who knows to what amount?
Though small my wealth, not small my soul:
Come, then, at once I'll pay the whole.
Ye powers! I'm rich and will command
The host of slaves that round me stand;
Come, Indian, quick disclose thy store,
And hither bring Peruvian ore:
Let yonder Negro pierce the main,
The choicest, largest pearl to gain:
Let all my slaves their art combine
To make the blushing ruby mine,
From eastern thrones the diamonds bear
To sparkle at her breast and ear.
Swift Scythian, point the unerring dart,
That strikes the ermine's little heart,
And search for choicest furs the globe,
To make my Myrtilis a robe.
Ah, no! yon Indian will not go,
No Scythian designs to bed his bow,
No sullen Negro shoots the flood:
All, all my empty power disown,
I turn and find myself alone;
'Tis Fancy's vain illusion all,
No Moor nor Scythian waits my call.
Can I command, can I consign?
Alas! what earthly thing is mine?
Come, then, my Muse, companion dear,
Of poverty, and soul sincere;
Come, dictate to my grateful mind
A gift that may acceptance find;
Come, gentle Muse, and with thee bear
An offering worthy thee and her;
And though thy presents be but poor,
My Myrtilis will ask no more.
A Heart that scorns a shameful thing,
With love and verse is all I bring;
Of love and verse the gift receive,
'Tis all thy servant has to give.
If all whate'er my verse has told,
Golconda's gems, and Afric's gold;
If all were mine from pole to pole,
How large her share who shares my soul!
But more than these may Heaven impart;
Be thine the treasures of the heart;
Be calm and glad thy future days
With virtue's peace and virtue's praise;
Let jealous pride, and sleepless care,
And wasting grief, and black despair,
And languor chill, and anguish fell,
For ever shun thy grove and cell;
There only may the happy train
Of love, and joy, and peace remain:
May plenty, with exhaustless store,
Employ thy hand to feed the poor,
And ever on thy honour'd head
The prayer of gratitude be shed!
A happy mother, may'st thou see
Thy smiling, virtuous progeny,
Whose sportful tricks, and airy play,
Fraternal love, and prattle gay,
Or wondrous tale, or joyful song,
May lure the lingering hours along;
Till death arrive, unfelt, unseen,
With gentle pace and placid mien,
And waft thee to that happy shore
Where wishes can have place no more.

Samuel Johnson

Corey Ankum, CFD - Three, Three, Five

Old firehouses would use a bell to signal alarms. The most dreaded was a 5-5-5 Toll that announced the death of a firefighter in the line of duty. Fallen Firefighters are honored with a slow tolling of "three times three ( 3-3-3)" which signals "return to station." ( Correction to post c.10:35 )

Firefighter Corey Ankum is returning to station and Christ today. Like his brother Edward Stringer, Corey Ankum will watch over the heroes here below who must answer the tolling of bells and signals and protect all of the rest of us.

Thank you for your service, Gentleman! God speed you home to Him!

Correction on the Fire Bell Tolls - from an unimpeachable source - A Chicago Fire Captain and Loyola Grad Class of 1974 - I obviously used a much dated source in the original post* -

pat 5-5-5 is our signal for going to a fire called being stilled out 3-3-5 is for returning yo (sic) quarters mike loyola'74

*

Before whistle signals, bells were the mode of communicating for mass dispersion. Church bells rang the fire alarm before a Fire Department was founded in 1877. Many townsfolk had small, wooden handled, hand held fire bells to ring the local alarm at a moment’s notice.

The Ward Four Fire Barn at Nash's Corner had one of the first fire bells installed in 1878. The bell was placed in the bell tower in front of the station. With a weight of 422 pounds and a cost of $35.62, it was the pride of the ward and a special honor to pull the rope tolling the bell.

Fire stations were built and took over the ringing of alarms. Some churches still rented their bells for alarms in dead spots.

Fire bells rang out the nearest street box number to the fire. The locations of Fire Street box numbers were listed in the Weymouth Gazette every week. Call men and folks would run to the location to watch or help in the blaze.

The fire bells had other purposes other than fires. A lost child would ring in three series of four tolls from the firehouse belfry, then the box number nearest the last location of the child.

Weymouth school children’s favorite in hearing was the “no school” signal of two sets of 2-2-2 bell rings. Civil unrest or disaster 8-8-8 brought the State Guard out.

The dreaded 5-5-5 toll, meaning the line of duty death of a firefighter, has solemnly echoed five times in the halls of Weymouth’s fire stations.

Ward 2’s wooden fire house at Broad Street and Filament was originally located near Dizer's Shoe Factory, then Greg LaRocco’s Welding Shop, then moved to its present location a little up Broad Street. The building is now the VFW hall on Broad Street. It was the Central Station until the presently closed Station 2 was erected in 1930 at Broad and Putnam Streets.

Station 2’s bell is inscribed with “Wm. Blake and Co., formerly H.M. Hooper and Co. Boston Mass. A.D. 1879.”

http://www.wickedlocal.com/weymouth/news/x155910654/History-Mystery-Great-bells-of-fire

Universal Brotherhood of Firefighters Walk Down Western Avenue in Tribute to Fallen Hero Edward Stringer

From Ashkum to Wilmington, Illinois Firefighters paid tribute to one of the two fallen Brothers on Western Ave. yesterday. I watched with my neighbors along the route that took Firefighter Edward Stringer from St. Rita Chapel to Beverly Cemetary at 119th & Kedzie. Here is a fine story from Kane County on the Universal Brotherhood of Heroes - 1st Responders: Police, Fire and Emergency Medical.

When two Chicago firefighters died after a wall collapsed on them Dec. 22, waves of sadness spread to their fellow firefighters.

Firefighter Edward Stringer’s wake was on Monday night and he was buried Tuesday morning. Visitation for his colleague Corey Ankum is scheduled today; his burial will be on Thursday.

Some of the hundreds of firefighters who came to one funeral and will go to another are from the Fox Valley. Local officials say they came to respect those who died in the line of duty.

Among them was St. Charles Fire Capt. Nick McManus, who went to Stinger’s funeral on his day off.

“I went to honor a fellow firefighter fallen in the line of duty, to show my respects,” McManus said. “It’s just the right thing to do. It just comes with the territory of being a firefighter.”

McManus said he stood outside in the cold to salute and follow fire service funeral tradition and ceremony of saluting until the casket is brought into the chapel.

“When I saluted, I tried to make sure my arm was not shaking,” McManus said. “It was the wind.”

He said firefighters attended not only from the suburbs, but from Canada, Houston and Dallas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Indiana and New York City.

“I felt sadness and a great sense of pride,” McManus said.

Geneva Deputy Chief Scott Spencer said paying respects at a funeral is part of the fellowship of firefighting.

“If a firefighter is killed in the line of duty in Chicago, or Pittsburgh or New York – it doesn’t matter. It hits everybody the same,” Spencer said. “It’s a horrible loss.”

Eight firefighters from Geneva went to Stringer’s wake and funeral, he said.

Fire officials in Sugar Grove could not confirm anyone went to Chicago, but a few from Elburn went.

“It’s important to honor your fallen brothers and their families,” Elburn Fire Chief Kelly Callaghan said.

But sometimes a staffing problem prevents them from attending, as it did in Batavia, explained Batavia Fire Lt. Tim Lyons.

“We are too tight on manning,” Lyons said. “Myself and another guy were going to go [Tuesday] but because of people being out sick, we were at a bare minimum. It broke my heart not to send somebody.”

Still, Lyons said he is off on Wednesday and plans to attend services for Ankum.

“The department has always been very good about covering my time so I can go. I’m there representing them, not just myself,” Lyons said. “I look at it as a blessing to have the support of the fire department to allow me to go.”

Lyons said he went to New York after Sept. 11, 2001, and went to 10 funeral services a day for five days.

Lyons said it meant a lot to the departments and their families to have that support.

“We said we are from just outside Chicago and they were blown away, got something in their eye,” Lyons said. “I get things in my eyes once in a while. It just means so much.”

He said it is not unusual for so many firefighters to turn out and support a fallen brother.

When six firefighters died in a fire when a warehouse collapsed on them in Worcester, Mass., in 1999, Lyons said, he was among those who came to help dig them out. It took eight days to recover their remains.

“They had guys there from Ireland, from England,” Lyons said. “There were 30,000 firemen there.”

God Bless All Who Protect Us From Harm!

Kankakee Water Treatment Blast - Chief Ron Young, Chicago's Fallen Firefighters and All 1st Responders -God Bless You!

Today at St. Rita of Cascia High School at 77th & Western Ave. Chicago will send Firefighter Edward Stringer home to Christ. Last night hundreds of Firefighters from across the Midwest attended the wake at Blake and Lamb Funeral Home, in Oak Lawn and paid tribute to Firefighter Stringer. On Wednesday and Thursday, Corey Ankum will be honored back to Christ. Visitation for Corey Ankum is Wednesday at Apostolic Church of God in Chicago. Funeral services are the following morning at the church. God Bless these heroes.

Firefighter Stringer spent his off hours at a campground in Wilmington, Illinois along the Kankakee River. Only yesterday, an explosion at one of the sewage digestion plants of the Kankakee River Metropolitan Agency (KRMA) sent sludge and sewage into that beautiful river that flows north toward Joliet. One of my students at Bishop McNamara High School, Ron Young is the Fire Chief for the Kankakee City Fire Department. Ronnie is married to Deanna ( Dupuis) Young. Ron was a 145 Lb. Illinois State Wrestling Champion, whose sons became outstanding wrestlers and Christian gentlemen.

Like Firefighters Stringer and Ankum, Ron Young and his band of 50 brothers and sisters put their lives on the line every day. My nephew, Patrick Cleary, is a Romeoville Firefighter.

God Bless our first responders - Police, Fire, Emergency Medics at every level of government.


From the Kankakee Daily Journal

Kankakee Fire Chief Ron Young said it is unknown just how much untreated sewage has flowed into the river.

"I don't know if we'll ever have that," he said.

The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.

No one was working inside the digester building when it exploded, Young said. KRMA treats wastewater from Aroma Park, Chebanse, Bradley, Bourbonnais, Kankakee and Manteno. Young said service hasn't been interrupted.

The Kankakee Fire Department has 50 personnel working a 52.5-hour weekly shift (24 hours on-48 hours off) with 5 officers and 2 firefighters working a 40-hour week day shift. There is a Chief, 2 Assistant Chiefs, 5 Captains, 9 Lieutenants and 40 firefighters. 38 members are paramedics, 12 are certified fire investigators and 6 are certified arson investigators. We are supported by two full-time administrative assistants.

Kankakee Water Treatment Center Blast - No Injuries Thank God!

About and hour ago there was an explosion at the Kankakee River Water Treatment Plant - Bishop McNamara Alumnus and State of Illinois Wrestling Champion Ron Young is the Kankakee Fire Department Chief. No injuries were sustained in the blast, thanks be to God!

I spent some of the best years of my life in this wonderful City and county.

Blast destroys Kankakee water plant building
December 27, 2010 10:03 AM | 1 Comment
An explosion destroyed a building this morning at a water treatment plant in Kankakee.

But no one was hurt and all 13 people who work on the property at 1600 W. Brookmont Blvd. are accounted for, a fire official said.

The explosion occurred a little before 9 a.m. at a building that produces methane gas used for energy, said Kankakee Fire Department Chief Ron Young. He said the plant was still operational, though.

The explosion, Young said, sent debris into the surrounding neighborhood. The treatment plant, he added, serves several communities besides Kankakee, but there were no reports of any households experiencing problems as a result of the explosion.

Nicor Gas, ComEd and the Illinois Environment Protection Agency personnel were notified about the explosion, Young said.

Kankakee is about 60 miles south of Chicago.

Blessing for You on the Feast of the Holy Family

This morning Deacon Pat Murphy joined Father Gallagher at Sacred Heart Catholic Church for the Feast of the Holy Family.

His homily was a gem. As a youngster Deacon Pat, helped make the case to keep the Mission Church of the Sacred Heart founded by French Chicagoans in 1904 open for good. Pat Murphy went all the way to Vatican to plead for the continued mission of this jewel on the south side.

It was wonderful to hear Pat Murphy's homily that centered on the dreams of St. Joseph which caused that good man to marry his Virgin Fiance who was bearing Redeemer of Man's Sins. He was also awakened to take his family in flight to Egypt and spare the Christ Child from Herod's slaughter. His next dream called them back to Israel and the final dream leads Joseph and his family to take up residence in the town of Nazareth.

Pat Murphy noted that the gospels never quote Joseph and that Joseph was a man of action - Deeds not Words; Facta Non Verba - the motto of Leo High School by the way.

I am a man of words. My deeds are all too often reactions to situations and feelings rooted in my childish sense of my self. I have an arrogance that is too steeped in in that sense of self. Better women and men are like St. Joseph - they do and act for others with an immediacy that requires no careful planning,parsing or cutting of corners.

All around me in the pews of Sacred Heart Church were St. Josephs: widows, firemen, cops, skilled tradesmen, unemployed fathers, people of action - like St. Joseph.

I pray on this Feast of the Family to shed myself of childish and selfish pride. I also pray that my limited skills with tools will be graced with some small talent today so I can fix the drive on my snow-blower - plow the white stuff for my neighbors. That might be a good start for this sinner.



Merry Christmas and Feast of the Holy Family - We are all so blessed!

Merry Christmas! It is Christmas and Invites All!

Merry Christmas! Please, remember Christmas. I forget Christmas and act like a gold-plated self-absorbed jerk.

I forget all of my blessings, when I forget Christmas; when I "Happy Holiday" phone-it-in good cheer and allow my tendencies to allow myself to be the absolute center of the universe.

This is the remembrance of Christ's birth - Christmas.

St. Francis of Assisi (12th Century) is credited with developing the creche - the Nativity Scene that is the anathema of the ACLU set and the bane of local government. One hundred years later the Italian artist Giotto painted one the first Nativity Scenes in a two dimensional simplicity and grace. From that time on the Nativity became a touchstone for all that is good and human.

Here is what a secular celebration of the Winter Solstice looks like -




Good Old ACLU Secular AL Hitler and the like-minded gents. This photo was taken in 1941 when a great separation of Church and State leader was taken seriously - deadly serious.

The pictures from December 18, which have only just come to light, show Hitler and his generals at a party for SS officer cadets in Munich.
But the Nazi Christmas was far from traditional.
Hitler believed religion had no place in his 1,000-year Reich, so he replaced the Christian figure of Saint Nicholas with the Norse god Odin and urged Germans to celebrate the season as a holiday of the ‘winter solstice’, rather than Christmas.
Out of sight at the top of the tree behind Hitler was a swastika instead of an angel, and many of the baubles carried runic symbols and iron cross motifs. The remarkable pictures were captured by Hugo Jaeger, one of the Fuhrer’s personal photographers.
He buried the images in glass jars on the outskirts of Munich towards the end of the war, fearing that they would be taken away from him.
Later he sold them to Life Magazine in America which published many of them this week.

Christmas is for everyone. The Alternative was tried.

Chicago Firefighters - No Stone Unturned for Their Brothers and Sisters

Chicago Tribune Photo.

Chicago firefighters lost two young brothers in the horrific collapse of the building east of Stony Island on 75th Street yesterday. Nineteen Chicago firefighters were injured and several are in bad shape.

I live in a neighborhood that is thick with 1st Responders - Police Officers, Paramedics, Firefighters: City, State, County and Federal.

I know them and see them at Mass, cutting the lawn, shoveling the snow for the widows, coaching little guys and girls up at Kennedy and Beverly Parks, grabbing a Miller Lite at Keegans or Cork and Kerry, attending wakes and funerals and never have I heard one of these public servants ever tell a war story to civilian like me.

That is for those who share their perils.

I listen to bar stool philosophers and disappointed and bitter people beef about ' the pension rich tax hogs.' The Chicago Media, in between the purple draped funerals of cops, firefighters, or others who charge into peril, takes cheap shots at firefighters and cops in the name of Better Government High-mindedness. Only last week a cranky and sophomoric series of articles beefed about the drill conducted to remove siding from a home in Mount Greenwood. As Vice President Biden might opine -BFD. A real journalist, like the Chicago Sun Times' late Ray Coffey would never soil his fingers with such pusillanimous ink. Ray Coffey understood danger and respected men and women who ran into peril.

The reality is to be witnessed in the photo up above - not one green-black coated and helmeted figure is inactive. Every heart and hand is digging and clawing its way to bring hope to their brothers under the bricks, rubble and ruin.

God Be With Our Firefighters!

CFD personnel evacuate an injured firefighter at a alarm fire at 1700 East 75th Street. (E. Jason Wambsgans/ Chicago Tribune)
UPDATE - I just spoke with Fire Hero Jim McMahon (CFD ret.) and learned of the deaths and circumstances of these young fireighters. No names were given. Here is the latest from the Chicago Sun Times -

Two Chicago firefighters were killed Wednesday morning after they were trapped when a wall collapsed at an abandoned, one-story, brick former laundry building on East 75th Street near South Shore High School.

Four other firefighters also were trapped before being pulled to safety.

Swarms of fellow firefighters flooded the disaster scene, furiously digging through rubble to find the missing firefighters. When they were located, they were quickly carried out of the building, with firefighters clearing a path.

God Bless Their Souls and May Christ Comfort Their Families.


This morning, while I worried about my self, Chicago firefighters were risking life and limb to save people and property. My neighbors are firefighters and policemen. They are generous, happy, dedicated young people.

They get a bad rap from the media at every possible turn and usually about some nonsense.

These heroes go where we would not. At least four CFD heroes are injured and one firefighter is as yet 'unaccounted for' - which means that a family is in horrific anguish.

May God Bless these young people who do so much for us all and shelter this firefighter in particular.

At least two other firefighters to taken to other hospitals but their conditions also were not known.
About half a dozen police cars and several fire vehicles were parked in front of the emergency room at Northwestern. Truck 122 pulled up and three firefighters walked in, including a lieutenant. One firefighter from Truck 122 was on a cell phone and wiped away tears with his jacket.

The fire broke out about 6:54 a.m. in the abandoned one-story brick building in the 1700 block of East 75th Street.

The fire was raised to two and then three alarms to save the trapped firefighters. A "mayday" was called. Firefighters also reported having problems with frozen hydrants.

Julian Assange and Me!

LONDON — Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who was released from a British jail late last week, is facing a new challenge: the leak of a 68-page confidential Swedish police report that sheds new light on the allegations of sexual misconduct that led to Mr. Assange’s legal troubles.

Last week, I took the Sacrament of Penance, AKA Reconciliation, at St. John Cantius Church just prior to the start of the Nine Lessons and Carols Concert by the St. Cecelia's and the Holy Innocents Choirs. Without divulging my litany of sins, let's just say that I was in the Box for what would be in baseball a good two innings with both teams getting four runs on walks.

The Sacrament of Penance, AKA Reconciliation, is not yet accessible on Al Gore's Information Superhighway. You can not text-it, wire-it, or phone-it in; you must go to the Confessional . . .with a priest behind the screen.

I received Absolution, but that was a week ago. I had a week chock-full of vanities, vices, follies, foibles, outbursts and impure thoughts, but that is between me and Father Anonymous.

We live in a culture that insists upon featuring the sins and follies of everyone. Julian Assange, the Wikileaks celebrity, blackmails whole governments with the complicity of tabloids and networks.

Today, the Albino Dagobert Assange had his secrets appear in ink.

Governments and individuals must reconcile their faults and tell their sins to the proper Confessor. Likewise, we should remember the words of the Duke of Wellington when some bimbo threatened to publish his love letters in the British tabloids, unless Wellington coughed up some gelt. The Iron Duke drew himself to his fullest height,cocked an eyebrow and rejoined, "Publish and Be Damned!"

From Wikileaks! Irish Navy Clashes with US Navy

Nordic translations of a chilling encounter between American Naval Forces and the Irish Navy.

Crawlspaces and Boxes? School Choice is the Only Way to Reform Chicago Schools.

The elegant and brilliant Joe Morris is trying to keep a lid on the Rahm Emanuel residency hearings - Frankly, I think Mr. Emanuel belongs on the ballot for Mayor. The issue du jour is "What's in the crawlspace?" Que Lastima!

All the while Senator James Meeks has tossed down the gauntlet to Chicago's Public School Lobby - the folks who demand the same-old/same old disaster that is Chicago Public Education. Senator Meeks tried to get a genuine Chicago School Choice bill through Springfield but was betrayed by the very same Illinois Republican legislators who huff and puff about wasted tax-dollars.

The Chicago Tribune reported on the Meeks Reform Plan:

One of the major aspects is a voucher program Meeks said would allow up to 50,000 low-income students in Chicago to receive at least $4,500 per year to attend schools of their choosing.

Meeks passed a similar plan through the Senate earlier this year but it failed in the House. The candidate was asked what would be different if he were mayor.

"I like (my chances), because our school system is failing now, and I believe a plan that's being pushed by the mayor of the city of Chicago -- I passed that bill out of the Illinois Senate as a senator," Meeks said. "I'm sure that as mayor, we will be able to pass that plan through the entire General Assembly."
Meeks also said he would give the Chicago Teachers Union one year to develop a program "with teeth" to identify and fire teachers who aren't performing. If the union does not do so, Meeks said he would call on the General Assembly to pass legislation to deal with it. Such legislation has not passed during Meeks' tenure in Springfield, however.

"I don't think most of our teachers are bad. I think that most of our teachers are good, but we don't have a way to weed out the bad ones," Meeks said at a City Hall news conference outside the mayor's office.

Now, as a very viable candidate for Mayor of Chicago Senator/Rev. Meeks has iisued a challenge to the Chicago Teachers Union to come up with a plan to discharge bad teachers . . .long silence . . .wait for the howls.

Here it is! In the Huffington Post (chicago):

Meeks, also the minister at the massive Salem Baptist Church, was able to push a school voucher bill through the State Senate earlier this year. It passed by a 33-20 vote, before failing in the State House.

Under the plan, students at the lowest-performing schools in the city would be able to transfer to private or parochial schools, with money in their pockets to help pay for the tuition.

Such a program faces stiff opposition from teachers' unions, which argue that vouchers would deplete resources from already ill-funded public schools. They also object that public resources should be devoted to programs that will improve the lot of all students, not just a few, and that a voucher law could be unconstitutional if it gives public funds to sectarian purposes.

Here are some of the daffier HuffPo aficiandos and their thoughts.

That is the reason chump you will never be mayor of the windy city, so crawl back where u came from.

Mr. Meeks sees nothing wrong with ramming Jebus down your throat while vilifying all the gays that live in the city.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/15/james-meeks-would-push-sc_n_797307.html


Every candidate for Mayor needs to get School Reform - Real school Choice -Vouchers - out of the crawlspaces, unpacked and put into place ASAP.

Tell Santa to Make You A Movie Producer -Invest in Houli's Film!

Skip the snuggies, the Chia Pets, the fruitcakes and the cork screws. For Two bits -( $25.00 US in This Our Economy) you can make Your Mom, Your Brothers and Sisters, Your Bride, Your Kids, Your Kids' Teachers,, Your Boss, Your Mailman, Your Precinct Captain, and Your Buddies a Move Producer. Clcik my post title for the deal of a lifetime.