The Final Front Ear! Star Treking, Kid! I'll Give You Three To The Door! I'm Eatin' This Lamb Without a Fazer in My Face!

My brother in law Mike Cleary*, publisher and editor of the Will County Farmers Weekly Review roasted a leg of lamb that was pure gustatory poetry bordering on the pornographic. www.farmersweekly.net

Bone-in, Frenched, five pounds trimmed of fat - this was a leg that could have danced with Fred Astair ( read Joe Epstein's Fred Astair), but served the Hickeys, the Clearys, the Holms, and the delicate and beautiful Miss Terry Sullivan.

Conversation matched the bounty of the festive board! One of my nephew's pals joined us - the young lad happened to be a Trekkie the New Generation! Jesus, I hated that show back in 1966. Never understood the appeal, though countless devotees have tried to balance my TV viewing diet of Simpsons, Have Gun will Travel, Roller Derby ( Darby in the U.K.) and at one time Michelle Leigh's weather broacasts on Fox WFLD 32 with goofball and faux-phisticated plots of Star Trek in all of its manifestations.

Not a chance.

I hated every crew, captain, and configuration of the United Star Ship Enterprise from Kirk to Picard to the Fat Guy I can't recall.

However, Young Phill, an African American Pre-Med student and Francophile, offered to treat me to several bits of Star Trek Humor that got my craggy, masculine mug to bounce up in a smile! 'Mr. Hickey, you hate Star Trek, I hear. Check these out -

Question: How many ears does Picard have?
Answer: Three. A right ear. A left ear. And a final front ear.

Question: What did the blonde Klingon say?
Answer: "It was a good day to dye."

Question: What is Thomas Riker’s dating philosophy?
Answer: "If at first you don’t succeed, try Troi again."

Thomas Riker, that's the fat guy! Near micturated my Munsingwears!


These Phil found on a website for smart kids called Neatorama!

I love this place - this is the minutiae needed by the bright and faux bright scholars of the internet!

Not since the bumptious Sun Times cashiered the worthy Zay Smith have I enjoyed the charms of pointless, yet necessary information. Get Thee There!

Click my post title to neatorama or here


http://www.neatorama.com/* Mikes Leg of Lamb is a version for this one by Chef Mike White - Too Yummy, by Half!



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/10/earlyshow/living/recipes/main4934084.shtml

6 oil packed anchovy fillets, drained and blotted with paper towels
3 large whole garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small bone-in leg of lamb (about 5 pounds without the bone)
1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 large rib celery, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
2 cups dry white wine

Preheat the oven to 475. In a food processor, combine the anchovies, garlic, thyme, rosemary, orange zest and olive oil and process into a smooth paste. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Using a small paring knife, make 1 1/2 inch deep slits all over the lamb. Spread the herb paste all over the lamb, working it into the slits; season the lamb with salt and pepper. Using seven or eight long pieces of kitchen string, tie the roast at 1 inch intervals. Scatter the onion, carrot and celery in the bottom of a roasting pan just large enough to hold the lamb and lay the meat on top. Reduce heat to 375. Roast for 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours until an instant-read thermometer, inserted in the center of the thickest part of the meat, registered 140 degrees to 145 degrees. For medium-rare, cook to 135. Transfer the lamb to a cutting board, tent it loosely with aluminum foil and let rest for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, set the roasting pan over high heat. Pour in the wine and bring the liquid to a boil, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Strain it into a small sauce pan, pressing on the vegetables to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the vegetables. Skim the fat from the surface and boil until the sauce is reduced to 1 cup, about 20 minuets, then pour it into a gravy boat.
Remove the kitchen string from the lamb and cut the meat across the grain into thin slices. Serve at once with the sauce.

Serve with sauted Green Beans almondine.

President Obama -Commander in Chief! Well Done, Sir!

President Barack Obama granted the Pentagon's request for standing authority to use appropriate force to save the life of the captain, Gortney said.

The U.S. Navy 5th Fleet in Bahrain said the rescue took place at 12:19 p.m. EDT (1619 GMT) and the lifeboat had drifted to about 20 miles (32 km) from lawless Somalia's coast.

Phillips, captain of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama container ship, contacted his family after the rescue, received a routine medical evaluation, and was resting comfortably aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer.

USS Bainbridge, the Navy Seals, Joint U.S. Task Force and especially President Barack Obama rescued Capt. Phillips from a hostage ordeal. Well Done, Mr. President!

This is a proud moment for America and a powerfully signal event in your Presidency.

You took a tough call and answered with the authority of an American President.

The Vatican Did Not 'Pick' the U.S. Ambassador - It Refused Obama's Pro-Abortion Pains In the Ass Picks!

The Progressive tends . . . let's see how can I say this without being too edgy or nuanced . . .tends to be a gold-plated pain in the ass. There that will do nicely. The pain in the ass is a person who is not invited to a party, but shows up, without a gift, and expects to be met with back-slaps and huzzahs. When that does not take place, the pain in the ass whines about the treatment he/she receives.

The pain in the ass is the person who offers nothing to any situation other than an entitled sense of ownership.

They do not pay fees, tips, or help but demand royal service. The pain in the ass wants in on everything, offers nothing, contributes nothing and expects some one else to pay his/her way. That is Progressive.

The Progressive (read: pain in the ass) never leaves and never is shamed or insulted. Progressives smile with passive aggressive zombie steadiness and wait until they get what they want. They win by tiring out the patience of good people - sometimes. Here on the south side there is a very low threshold for tolerance of the Great American Pain in the Ass -thanks be to God! This is a very healthy human environment. We will vote for a pain in the ass, but rarely tolerate one.

The Obama Administration. like the Democratic National Committee is loaded with Progressives. They want Abortion to be acceptable and they want Gay-anything acceptable - and embraced and loved by Everyone! Those things (actions/sins/lifestyles) are unacceptable to the Vatican, the Holy See, Pope City. Jesus why not send Andy Dick, or Bill Maher, or Mot The Hoople? Send the cast of Rent.

Caroline Kennedy, a genuine world class pain in the ass, did not get to replace Hillary Clinton and demanded the Ambassadorship to the Vatican. The Kennedy's are Catholic in the DNC sense of being Catholic - when and if it suits them and follows Progressive Doctrine. The last Catholic Kennedy was RFK.

Caroline got nixed by the Vatican and the Media is squeaking. The Media payed big to get Obama elected. Everyone - even the Pope and all his followers must play ball - get Abortive and get Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Trans & etc. friendly!!!! Now! Move On!

Pains in the ass are never patient, nor are they polite. The Obama Progressives will keep sending Pro Abortion Gay Cuddly Catholics for the Post. They want to tire the Pope. I think that they picked the wrong Pope.

Lets remember - America never had an Ambassador at the Vatican until Ronald Reagan.

Formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See were established in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II. The mission works in partnership with the Holy See on global issues including HIV/AIDS, world hunger, religious freedom and human rights. As a global entity, the Holy See is influential on many issues and has far-reaching influence in even the most remote corners of the world. From The Embassy website.

http://vatican.usembassy.gov/embassy/

Nothing about Gay Rights or Abortion in that Mission Statement. Progressives will whine and say 'Ummm' Progressive pains in the ass always begin a pain in the ass objection with 'Ummm' as part of rhetorical question Thus: 'Ummmm AIDS?HIV? those are not Gay Issues?' Hey, Lent's Over . . .never mind.

I do not believe that the United States should have an embassy at the Vatican any more than Chicago Catholic League sports belong being screwed at every opportunity by the Illinois High School Association ( IHSA). Catholic schools were begged by the IHSA to participate back in the 1970's in order to increase attendance at Public School Sporting events. Catholic Schools dominate Illinois athletics and the IHSA changes the rules at every tick of the clock. IHSA is a very Progressive Group! Pains in the Ass!

James Joyner, a very smart young guy writes this -

Now, again, that may be a reason to not send an ambassador. For most of our history, we didn’t. Ronald Reagan was the first to have a formal ambassador. But if we’re going to have diplomatic relations with a church, it only makes sense not to go out of our way to offend it.

The problem with Kmiec and Kennedy, as I understand it, is not so much that they’re pro-abortion but rather that they’re pro-abortion Roman Catholics. Sending them as our ambassador to the Holy See is the equivalent of sending a Soviet defector as ambassador to Moscow during the Cold War or sending an Orthodox Jew as ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Outside the Beltway
James Joyner and I agree. Never tell a Progressive Pain in the Ass where the Party happens to be. The rest of us tend to ring the doorbell with our elbows.

Happy Easter from The Hickeys! A Message from My Priest -Cardinal George!

Pascua feliz

Obchodzić Wielkanoc

Švęsti Velykų

행복한 부활절

Ευτυχές Πάσχα

Fröhliche Ostern

The stone is rolled back; the tomb is empty! Death is defeated; Christ is Risen!

Every year, this miracle gives new life to me. I beat myself up pretty good - listen, I play the St. Peter Betrayal scene seven days a week and a matinee on Sunday - and Easter reminds me that God's Son sacrificed Himself to free me of sin.

This Feast day is our reason to be. Happy Easter! Joyous Passover - remember we dovetail with Passover. I love Passover! To Joe Epstein, Reuben Vernof, Ron Gidwitz, Bob Rosenthal, Bert Odelson,Hackey Reitman, Gary Saul Morson, Si Blitzstein, Jeff Tessler, Bunny Cohen, the late great Danny Levi Mosel Tov! Passover that Leg of Lamb. Just kidding. No I'm not. I respect the sanctity of that night, but I do love roasted Lamb!

Here is what Easter is all about from my favorite priest in this Archdiocese - Francis Cardinal George:

Easter Sunday

Christ’s resurrection brings him and promises us new life. Not just eternal life, although that’s part of it, but genuinely new life. Change is hard, as so many people tell me and as I know myself. Left to our own devices, we’d probably just settle for an improved version of our present life. But risen life, life lived in radical freedom and perfect unity with God, comes when death is suffered and conquered, which is the kind of radical change our imaginations can’t handle. Even science fiction is mostly ringing changes on what we know or re-arranging things we can imagine. No wonder Jesus’ closest friends and disciples were surprised.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his Spiritual Exercises, draws on an old belief that Jesus first appeared to his mother, Mary, when he rose from the dead. In inviting us to imagine the scene, St. Ignatius leads us to believe she wasn’t surprised. Every mother knows her son, and Mary probably thought: “Isn’t this just what Jesus would do?” As we get to know Jesus more intimately, we come to see that rising from the dead to give us new life is just the thing he would do. It’s called seeing with the eyes of faith.

Jesus Christ gave all of us the chance to dust our selves off and get back in the game! Let's see with the eyes of Faith, like the Man from Holy Name says! Happy Easter!

So, I Said 'Drop Dead Sister, I'm Dating a Swell Dish!' . . .and the Silly Skirt Did -On the Spot!

It's Spy Wednesday, See?

So, I'm out side waiting for the lovely Terry to finish her Alto chores with the Cantate Domino Choir's Tenebrae services at St. John Cantius Catholic Church. This young skirt with doe eyes approaches me on the steps of the Church. A real Peach Cobbler. I ain't looking,see, but I ain't blind.

'Please, Mister, I need help.'

I thumbed the brim of my Optimo grey Stetson up above my thick greying eye brows to take in a full eye-gulp of this Pastry Doll with a red patterned cotton dress clinging to the quality flesh, muscles and bones beneath the rounded cup of her chin holding the reddest lips this side of a transvestite review at the Admiral Theatre.

'Don't we all?'

' Please all I need is a ride to my cousin's apartment on Ogden, my flip flops broke.'

'Where you from, Apple Tart, this is Chicago - The Big Wind - Weather from Alaska, Hawaii.'

'I'm new in town and Tom Skilling said that it would be unseasonably mild.'

'Skilling sold you, Peach Cobbler, like he did to the grand jury when his little brother looted Enron. I'm raising three kids already.'

' Please, Mister!'

I thought hell, it's Holy Week and Tenebrae is longer than a Studs Terkel Tribute on Channel 11.'

The weeping elf gave me the address and we Chevy Malibu's it down Ogden to Race Street.

'Out you go.'

'Please, come up with me? The vestibule has poor lighting.

Agatha Christie she ain't, but she'll do, as the Vestibule had worse lighting than my tired fifty-six year old eyes. The rusty rose paint covering the dry wall that stood in for lathing and plaster was as attractive as a fat bar-fly ex- Mount Carmel Cheerleader topped off with a few litres of warm Carlo Rossi Rose and perfumed by a pack and half of Pall Malls and half a dozen Slim Jims.

'Please, come up - it might not be safe.'

I volunteered for John McCain; nothing scares me anymore and up I went.

We got into the cousin's apartment which was a room and Murphy Bed -down and unmade. The cousin probably celebrated the end of Operation Desert Storm by making up the rack.

'Please hold me I am so alone!' The Gooey Confection with the pan of a fattened up Lara Flynn Boyle leeched onto me.

'Listen, Sister, I don't know your game but the whistle's been blown. Hit the showers.'

'Don't be cruel. You are so much older and nicer than the men who have made me do things . . .make robocalls for Mike Quigley. He's in Congress now'

' Where Quigley belongs - that or a midget basketball team. Sing it Sister, but you are the audience. I'm bouncing.'

'I can Make you happy.'

'I am Happy. See me grinnin'?'

She held up both arms to me. 'Take me or I'll just die! I'll do anything you say.'

'Look, Rhubarb Pie, this particular Hair-pin is stuck deep in another Babe's bonnet. The Real Deal. This schooner don't cruise, see? I'm chained to my Baby's Boardwalk and She's singing in Church and hugging my arm for keeps. Drop Dead.'

I only meant it metaphorically.

The Pretty Pop-Over snapped up off the deck; kicked her quality gams to One Eighty and flattened out in mid air and drooped like a three by five foot -three quarter inch cut of plywood and pancaked on the floor. Dust bunnies danced for what seemed an eternity.

The Fruit Strudel in cotton and busted flip-flops was as stiff as a poker, and more rigid than an Obama Press Conference.

She was deader than Pat Quinn's tax plans. I called the cops. Told them my story. They told me to blow. I Malibu'd back to St. John Cantius. Tenebrae was about a third done. I stood on the steps of the beautiful old Polish Church and listened to blend of angelic voices calling up the sins of this sad planet. Tenebrae - shadows.

That Fruit Pie could flop.


H/t Blather.com great photos!

Pirates and Julius Caesar -Obama is No Caesar - Elmer Fudd, but No Caesar

First, when the pirates demanded a ransom of twenty talents, Caesar burst out laughing. They did not know, he said, who it was that they had captured, and he volunteered to pay fifty. Then, when he had sent his followers to the various cities in order to raise the money and was left with one friend and two servants among these Cilicians, about the most bloodthirsty people in the world, he treated them so highhandedly that, whenever he wanted to sleep, he would send to them and tell them to stop talking.
For thirty-eight days, with the greatest unconcern, he joined in all their games and exercises, just as if he was their leader instead of their prisoner. He also wrote poems and speeches which he read aloud to them, and if they failed to admire his work, he would call them to their faces illiterate savages, and would often laughingly threaten to have them all hanged. They were much taken with this and attributed his freedom of speech to a kind of simplicity in his character or boyish playfulness.

However, the ransom arrived from Miletus and, as soon as he had paid it and been set free, he immediately manned some ships and set sail from the harbor of Miletus against the pirates. He found them still there, lying at anchor off the island, and he captured nearly all of them. He took their property as spoils of war and put the men themselves into the prison at Pergamon. He then went in person to [Marcus] Junius, the governorof Asia, thinking it proper that he, as praetor in charge of the province, should see to the punishment of the prisoners. Junius, however, cast longing eyes at the money, which came to a considerable sum, and kept saying that he needed time to look into the case.

Caesar paid no further attention to him. He went to Pergamon, took the pirates out of prison and crucified the lot of them, just as he had often told them he would do when he was on the island and they imagined that he was joking.
Plutarch - Lives of teh Noble Romans and Greeks

Somali Pirates - Be Barry, Barry Quiet! At Wast!

President Obama is quickly revealing the nature of his character in his First 100 Days - dependant on a Teleprompter, pampered by the Media who worked very hard for his election, distracted by a question from a reporter concerning an act of piracy against America -“Guys, we’re talking about housing right now!"

President Obama is not Thomas Jefferson. He is not Teddy Roosevelt. Is he Calvin 'Silent Cal' Coolidge - no, I think not. President Obama bowed to King Abdullah; he might be L'il Bow Wow. President Obama is Vewy, Vewy Quiet ( make that Barry, Barry Quiet!) on the Somali Pirates and deferred action on North Korean bullies to the United Nations.

President Obama may be Elmer Fudd.

President Obama is no Teddy Roosevelt. The young President Roosevelt, a real Rock Star Cowboy, Police Chief, Medal of Honor hero and Vice President, was outraged that a Greek American businessman had been kidnapped by a Barbary Pirate.


Liz Sidoti presents President Obama's loud silence in Real Clear Politics:

The new commander in chief has been kept abreast of negotiations over the captain's release, but advisers say Obama has delegated the heavy lifting to high-level administration officials and his military commanders.

The president himself has yet to speak publicly about the incident near the Horn of Africa. He brushed off a reporter's question Thursday.

Instead he has let his top surrogates do the talking, although their comments have been brief, perhaps mindful that their words could influence the sensitive negotiations with the hostage-taking pirates.

Click my post title for Liz Sidoti's disturbingly quiet account of President Obama's silence on the capture of the first American Flag Vessel seized by pirates since 1804.

In 1904, Barbary pirate Rasuli kidnapped a Greek American business man in Morroco. Here is how President Teddy Rooselvelt responded.

Ion Perdicaris. He was a rich businessman who somehow managed to get himself kidnapped by a Berber bandit, Rasuli, in Tangier. Rasuli demanded a ransom for Perdicaris’s life. All of this was taking place just prior to the 1904 political party Presidential nomination conventions. Roosevelt was a candidate for the Republican Party nomination to run for President ‘in my own right’. You will recall that he had become President on the death of President McKinley. So this would be the first time that he would be a candidate for that office.

When he heard about the kidnapping the President sent the U.S. fleet to Tangier with instructions concerning the Perdicaris kidnapping and ransom demands. His instructions were in these words: ‘Perdicaris alive, or Rasuli dead!’

Those words were related to the Republican convention delegates. They went wild with enthusiasm for their bold President and candidate! Of course, Roosevelt was nominated for another term of office with overwhelming support from his party convention. On top of that Perdicaris was soon released and returned to the U.S. The daring President had again proven his skills and his bravery. Ironically, when Perdicaris arrived back in the U.S. he was exposed as not even being an American citizen! It didn’t matter by that time, the country was wild for Teddy Roosevelt and he easily won a full four-year term of office.

President Theodore Roosevelt brought excitement, enthusiasm, adventure, daring, swagger and great leadership to his country. Unfortunately, he also brought a chauvinistic, narrow-minded view of his nation's and his own personal interests.

http://www.users.bigpond.com/billmastermind/moments92.htm

President Teddy brought Something - Honor! Pwesident Obama?


"Perdicaris alive or Rasuli dead!" was the slogan when Theodore Roosevelt went after the Barbary bandit and won Perdicaris's freedom and prestige for our Nation.

Eric 'A Nation of Cowards' Holder is talking.

MSNBC and the Media propaganda Ministry is Talking.

The whole world is talking.

President Obama is distractedly quiet. Barry, Barry Quiet.

American Character -Chesty Puller in the Past & L'il Bow-Wow Now

The White House says Obama didn't bow, that he "grasped (Abdullah's) hand with two hands and he's taller than King Abdullah."

Sorry, but a videotape on YouTube doesn't quite back that up. Obama clearly bends his body toward the Arabian monarch, and Obama doesn't grasp both the king's hands until he's standing straight up. As for the he's-taller argument, the 6-foot-1-inch Obama towers over a lot of people, so we'd have seen him bowing during handshakes many times if that were the explanation. Furthermore, the king had his hand extended, so Obama didn't have to reach down an inordinate amount to grab it.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/huntley/1520326,CST-EDT-hunt10.article

Good Lord. President Obama is not having much of a 100 Days. He has a no cut contract good for four years, followed by a lifetime worth of explaining at fees that will make Bill Clinton gag with envy.

President Obama is in way over his head. I thought so, when he announced his candidacy some time ago in Springfield, IL and have yet to not see my expectations met.

In an age when any bone head can destroy a corporation and expect an obscene severance package, it should come as no small surprise that our Chief Executive bows to Saudis, dithers on nuclear threats from North Korea and is 'distracted' by Somali Pirates.

President Obama is an icon for what seems to be passing for the American Character.

It is time to do some sit ups, deep knee bends, sit-ups and wind sprints - tear up the health club cards and let the stair masters rust; climb some stairs.

Long-time Leo Alumni Association president, the late Jack Howard, lived according to two credos - Facta Non Verbs ( Deeds Not Words) and Semper Fidelis ( Always Faithful). Jack Howard was a Marine and a Leo Man. Often the two went together.

Jack always ended Leo Alumni meetings with prayers for departed Alumni, but also mentioned Chesty Puller - 'Goodnight, Chesty - wherever you are!

Gen. Puller was an American Icon of a very differnt Age - the Age that seemed to die a bit after the Bicentennial ( The Carter Years). The American character seemed to erode. Kids got fatter. Worshippers got lazier. Voters got indifferent. Doing for yourself disappeared.

Chesty Puller was something. Five Navy Crosses and more quotations than Bartlet's Chesty Puller was the bar that many Americans reached to achieve. As kids we were to taught by teachers and coaches to 'never 'Dog It' ( put forth a lazy effort) or let down the team. Those ideals are the subject of ridicule and contempt by powerful people who always dog it and never care for anyone but themselves. It is a Maddof and Maddow World!

Chesty Puller's was better and so were Americans.

Lewis "Chesty" Puller

Dates

Born June 26, 1898. West Point, Virginia.
Died October 11, 1971. Hampton, Virginia.

Biography

Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell 'Chesty' Puller is considered by many to be the greatest Marine ever. Lewis Puller served in Haiti, china, Nicaragua, Korea, and World War II. He is the only Marine to be awarded the Navy Cross five times for heroism and gallantry in combat. Puller served in the US Marine Corps for 37 years, and was at sea or overseas for 27 of those years.

Puller attended Virginia Military Institute until dropping out to join the Marines in August of 1918, hoping to see service in World War I. Appointed a second lieutenant in the reserves, he was discharged due to force cutbacks after the war. Puller then re-enter the Marines as an enlisted man to serve with a military force in Haiti.

Puller saw frequent action during his five years in Haiti against the Caco rebels. Returning to the US in 1924, Puller was commissioned a second lieutenant. Puller served in Nicaragua from 1928 to 1933 where he earned two Navy Crosses. After leaving Nicaragua, Puller went to China and commanded the famed "Horse Marines."

Puller commanded the 7th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division during action on Gualalcanal in World War II. Puller earned his third Navy Cross on 24-25 October 1942 while his battalion defended Henderson Field against seasoned Japanese troops. Puller's men sustained less than 70 casualties while killing over 1400 Japanese and protecting the airfield.

Puller won his fourth Navy Cross in February 1944 while executive officer of 7th Marines at Cape Gloucester, moving through machine gun and mortar fire to take command of two battalions whose commanders had been killed.

Puller landed with the 1st Marines at Inchon, Korea, in September of 1950. Puller continued to serve in Korea until May of 1951. LtGen Puller retired in 1955 after serving 37 years and earning five Navy Crosses, the Silver Star, two Legions of Merit with "V", the Bronze Star, the Bronze Star with "V", the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart. In 1966, at the age of 68, Puller requested to return to active duty for service in Vietnam, but was turned down due to his age.

Quotes

"Take me to the Brig. I want to see the "real Marines". "


"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time."

"We're surrounded... that simplifies our problem."

"Son, if they give you any shit, level the place." Orders to a company commander.

Jack Howard died a couple of years ago and Leo Alumni behind Alumni President Richard Furlong live up to the standards set by Jack Howard - an all black Catholic high school for boys is funded 99.6% by white Irish, Italian, Polish, Lithuanian, German, Belgian and Dutch guys.

Americans have forgotten about Chesty Puller. We watch CNN,MSNBC and have the submission of an American President to King Abdullah explained to us. We had better get to those calisthenics - spiritual, moral and physical.

Thomas Jefferson Was Not Distracted by Piracy. President Obama is Distracted by Khat Chewing Psychos - Attack Them, Mr. President!

The last time a U.S. Flag vessel was taken on the high seas by pirates was in 1804. Barbary Pirates viewed our fledgling Republic as weak. Thomas Jefferson, an 18th Century Rock Star if there ever was one, determined to put America's interests over the opinion of other States.

Thomas Jefferson's Navy and Marines wiped out the pirates. Pirates, Barbary or otherwise,never again attacked United States merchant ships - until this week.

Somali pirates, Khat chewing, AK-47 waving sociopaths, understand weakness. They also understand tough Indian sailors who had the political will to blow them out of the water at Christmas time. President Obama's response to a question from a reporter yesterday was most unsettling, "Thanks guys, but we're talking about housing." ?

The Rand Corporation think tankers believe that it is time to hit the pirates where they live, but perhaps President Obama is a afraid of offending the Legalize Drug Crowd that wildly supported his candidacy. After all the Khat chewers are the targets of such a strike. Perhaps that might make Americans rethink the 'Dope is harmless' nonsense being trumpeted by lawyers, community activists, Hollywood, and stoners.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/apr/10/obama-careful-quiet-on-pirate-drama/

This much more disturbing revelation of President Obama's second challenge from International thugs ( remember N.Korea?) invites greater scrutiny. This distraction joins the 'nothing' on the N.Korean missile launch and denial of a bow to a Saudi Prince. This is not Sesame Street and if it is, it is controlled by the Gang-bangers of the world.

I like President Obama. I liked him as a State Legislator. I did not support President Obama as a Democrat and worked for John McCain, because I did not believe that Barack Obama had the qualities to be President - aside from wearing a great suit and having the good sense to marry a lovely woman.

These events seem to bear out my unease over Barack Obama's leap over the political gradus.

Thomas Jefferson had a thick resume, before coming to the Presidency - a political theorist, Revolutionary leader, crafter of the Declaration of Independence, agriculturalist, University founder, inventor, vintner, writer and above all proven Patriot.

Thomas Jefferson took action. Jefferson would never have said,"Thanks guys, but we're talking about design for Monticello."

In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson said "Enough" to paying 20 percent of the US national budget as tribute to Barbary pirates. His response was clear and successful – build a strong naval task force, equip it with a sizeable contingent of Marines, and send it to attack and defeat the pirates in their lair. The sailors and Marines sent on that mission did just that – and in the process wrote a stirring page in our nation's early history.

The problem today is that we have refused to take the Jefferson model. We've confined our anti-piracy efforts to the open seas and left the pirates' home bases on land as a sanctuary. Thus, the pirates continue to operate with relative freedom and stealth. We and our allies only respond, never seizing the initiative.

The Jefferson model is a better answer: Take on the pirates where they are, rather than guessing where they will be. In short, attack them at their home bases.

That was Thomas Jefferson. This is the Obama Presidency.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0410/p99s01-cole.html

Backdraft Barney Franks - Sets the Fire and Leads the Keystone Fire Brigade!

The movie Backdraft's core plot involved an arsonist who happened to be a fireman. A great essayist in today's post here says that Barney Franks is our Fiscal Arsonist/Firefighter. Brilliant.

Barney Franks, the House Puffer Fish Banking Bashaw, got a tune-up from a young yarmulke wearing student this past week and revealed himself in that exchange to Be the very model of the hypocrite in elected office.

Barney Franks is openly Gay, God Bless Him, and Progressives watch over Barney's critics and pounce that any and all criticism is gay bashing. Barney Franks is such a useless mope of a human being that, were he straight, or given to sexually gratifying himself with four pound boxes of cashews would not matter a whit. Well, maybe the cashews would be a bit uneasy.

Barney is a crumb. He is the cause of a bar fight, who rats out the participants to cops. He is the schoolyard snitch writ large.

Today, I read a wonderfully thoughtful piece on this crumb - here's a taste:

I bore witness to Frank's song and dance routine during a talk he recently gave at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. A video of the forum can be found here. (http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/articles/forum-frank-apr09)

It is worth noting that Frank attended Harvard College in the early 1960s and later become the first Director of Student Programs at Harvard's Institute of Politics. David Ellwood, the Dean of the Kennedy School, told an anecdote about Frank clandestinely escorting Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara away from anti-Vietnam student demonstrators threatening to riot when McNamara made a campus visit. Frank escorted McNamara to the safety of a seminar run by future Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

However, by his own admission, Frank said, "I was in charge of making sure that didn't happen. So, yes, I did kind o like the arsonist who puts out the fire, I got him out of a mess I was supposed to have prevented."

Somehow I don't think he appreciated the irony of his own statement.

Not surprisingly Frank spent much of his lecture blaming conservatives and Republicans for our current economic mess. "The deregulators had their way and the consequence is the disaster we now face," he exhorted. Frank accused conservatives and Republicans of "blaming the victim." He explained, "The argument is that the attempt by liberals to help poor people that made them make all these bad loans and that's what caused all these problems."

Frank excoriated the Republican Congress for not passing any legislation to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and to restrict sub-prime loans. "The conservative view is to stop helping poor people . . . No, our view is to help poor people," said the 15-term member of Congress.

Of course, what Frank doesn't mention is that the Bush Administration did want to regulate Fannie and Freddie. In September 2003, the Bush Administration wanted to set up an agency in the Treasury Department to supervise Fannie and Freddie.

Guess who was opposed?

Click my post titel for the rest of this fine article.

Chicago's homegrown louse, Mile Quigley ( D.5th District)joined Barney's Ship of Fools this week. The Democratic Clown Opera in Congress needs a huge tent!

Somali Pirates - AP says Nothing Can be Done. Really. Well,Listen to James Brown!

Asymmetrical warfare was a term that I heard used by my pal Mark Manning when he was serving as a surgeon in the United States Air Force during Desert Storm back in the 1990's. Manning a medical man understood that the powerful nations could be weakened by terrorists - 'Hickey, the guys with Molotov cocktails can take out a multi-million dollar tank like the Afghans did to the Russians. You have all these million dollar weapons systems and talented people operating them and a clown with pistol can sneak aboard an aircraft carrier and sink it. That's asymmetrical warfare Pal-ey.'

How do nations fight asymmetrical wars? The Associated Press wants all of us to know that we can not and they went to all the right people to confirm this.

Despite America's technical and firepower edge, there is too much ocean to cover, and too many commercial vessels to protect, for full-time patrols or escorts for threatened ships.

U.S. legal authority is limited, too, even in the Maersk Alabama's case of American hostages and a cargo of donated American food. Somali pirates, emboldened by fat ransoms, have little reason to fear capture.

"The military component here is always going to be marginal," said Peter Chalk, an expert on maritime national security at the private Rand Corp.

According to the Navy, it would take 61 ships to control the shipping route in the Gulf of Aden, which is just a fraction of the 1.1 million square miles where the pirates have operated. A U.S.-backed international anti-piracy coalition currently has 12 to 16 ships patrolling the region at any one time.

The Alabama was first American Flag vessel taken by pirates since 1804. There is a reason for that - American will.

I asked Major Manning, M.D. U.S.A.F. (ret.),' how do you fight such a war?'

The same way you fought bullies who jumped you on the way to school. You go back and teach them a lesson.

James Brown, the God Father of Soul, offered this analysis of Asymmetrical Warfare -

Took my money, you got my honey
Don't want me to see what you doing to me
I got to get back I gotta deal with you!! (4xs) Hey let me tell ya!!
Get down with my woman, that ain't right! You hollarin' and cussin', you wanna
fight!!
Don't do me no darn favor,
I don't know karate, but I know KA-RAZY!!!! (yes we do!!)

War Over Tribute ( Ransom) - The Jefferson Doctrine on Piracy

The Somali Pirates were treated to a powerful American Maritime History lesson when the crew of the Alabama overwhelmed their attackers and forced them over the side. I am waiting for the ACLU and Ramsey Clark to initiate action against the American sailors and the shipping company for damages stemming from racial profiling, American Cowboy posturing and racist torture.

We live in a strange age dominated by goofs with briefcases and politicians more afraid of loudmouths than terrorists. Heroes get treated to MSNBC Daily Kos abuse, as did General Petreus, while goofs like Bobby Rush get to kiss the Castro Brothers.

Thomas Jefferson, considered in his time to be a wild-eyed radical, was an American Patriot before all else. While Ambassador to France, Jefferson learned the Art of Cowards and recoiled from it.

Read this great essay below by Gerald Gawalt the manuscript specialist for the Thomas Jefferson Papers Collection in the context of the Somali Pirates.

After the United States won its independence in the treaty of 1783, it had to protect its own commerce against dangers such as the Barbary pirates. As early as 1784 Congress followed the tradition of the European shipping powers and appropriated $80,000 as tribute to the Barbary states, directing its ministers in Europe, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, to begin negotiations with them. Trouble began the next year, in July 1785, when Algerians captured two American ships and the dey of Algiers held their crews of twenty-one people for a ransom of nearly $60,000.

Thomas Jefferson, United States minister to France, opposed the payment of tribute, as he later testified in words that have a particular resonance today. In his autobiography Jefferson wrote that in 1785 and 1786 he unsuccessfully "endeavored to form an association of the powers subject to habitual depredation from them. I accordingly prepared, and proposed to their ministers at Paris, for consultation with their governments, articles of a special confederation." Jefferson argued that "The object of the convention shall be to compel the piratical States to perpetual peace." Jefferson prepared a detailed plan for the interested states. "Portugal, Naples, the two Sicilies, Venice, Malta, Denmark and Sweden were favorably disposed to such an association," Jefferson remembered, but there were "apprehensions" that England and France would follow their own paths, "and so it fell through."

Paying the ransom would only lead to further demands, Jefferson argued in letters to future presidents John Adams, then America's minister to Great Britain, and James Monroe, then a member of Congress. As Jefferson wrote to Adams in a July 11, 1786, letter, "I acknolege [sic] I very early thought it would be best to effect a peace thro' the medium of war." Paying tribute will merely invite more demands, and even if a coalition proves workable, the only solution is a strong navy that can reach the pirates, Jefferson argued in an August 18, 1786, letter to James Monroe: "The states must see the rod; perhaps it must be felt by some one of them. . . . Every national citizen must wish to see an effective instrument of coercion, and should fear to see it on any other element than the water. A naval force can never endanger our liberties, nor occasion bloodshed; a land force would do both." "From what I learn from the temper of my countrymen and their tenaciousness of their money," Jefferson added in a December 26, 1786, letter to the president of Yale College, Ezra Stiles, "it will be more easy to raise ships and men to fight these pirates into reason, than money to bribe them."

Jefferson's plan for an international coalition foundered on the shoals of indifference and a belief that it was cheaper to pay the tribute than fight a war. The United States's relations with the Barbary states continued to revolve around negotiations for ransom of American ships and sailors and the payment of annual tributes or gifts. Even though Secretary of State Jefferson declared to Thomas Barclay, American consul to Morocco, in a May 13, 1791, letter of instructions for a new treaty with Morocco that it is "lastly our determination to prefer war in all cases to tribute under any form, and to any people whatever," the United States continued to negotiate for cash settlements. In 1795 alone the United States was forced to pay nearly a million dollars in cash, naval stores, and a frigate to ransom 115 sailors from the dey of Algiers. Annual gifts were settled by treaty on Algiers, Morocco, Tunis, and Tripoli. When Jefferson became president in 1801 he refused to accede to Tripoli's demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. The pasha of Tripoli then declared war on the United States. Although as secretary of state and vice president he had opposed developing an American navy capable of anything more than coastal defense, President Jefferson dispatched a squadron of naval vessels to the Mediterranean. As he declared in his first annual message to Congress: "To this state of general peace with which we have been blessed, one only exception exists. Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to denounce war, on our failure to comply before a given day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean. . . ."

The American show of force quickly awed Tunis and Algiers into breaking their alliance with Tripoli. The humiliating loss of the frigate Philadelphia and the capture of her captain and crew in Tripoli in 1803, criticism from his political opponents, and even opposition within his own cabinet did not deter Jefferson from his chosen course during four years of war. The aggressive action of Commodore Edward Preble (1803-4) forced Morocco out of the fight and his five bombardments of Tripoli restored some order to the Mediterranean. However, it was not until 1805, when an American fleet under Commodore John Rogers and a land force raised by an American naval agent to the Barbary powers, Captain William Eaton, threatened to capture Tripoli and install the brother of Tripoli's pasha on the throne, that a treaty brought an end to the hostilities. Negotiated by Tobias Lear, former secretary to President Washington and now consul general in Algiers, the treaty of 1805 still required the United States to pay a ransom of $60,000 for each of the sailors held by the dey of Algiers, and so it went without Senatorial consent until April 1806. Nevertheless, Jefferson was able to report in his sixth annual message to Congress in December 1806 that in addition to the successful completion of the Lewis and Clark expedition, "The states on the coast of Barbary seem generally disposed at present to respect our peace and friendship."

In fact, it was not until the second war with Algiers, in 1815, that naval victories by Commodores William Bainbridge and Stephen Decatur led to treaties ending all tribute payments by the United States. European nations continued annual payments until the 1830s. However, international piracy in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters declined during this time under pressure from the Euro-American nations, who no longer viewed pirate states as mere annoyances during peacetime and potential allies during war.

Barney Bashes Boisterous Boston Boyo!

Barney Franks, Chris Dodd, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid make it pretty hard for any Real Democrat to vote at the national level much less not wet his/her britches when listening to them.

I love local Democrats - Mary Flowers, Kevin Joyce, Jackie Collins, Ed Maloney and the great 19th Ward Committeeman Matt O'Shea. These are people with their eyes on tasks that help people get through their lives with more ease and prove that sometimes giovernment is there to help.

Not Barney and the other beauts. Bloated Barney got tuned up by a smart young guy in a yarmulke this week. The student asked Barney if the Bloated Banking Bashaw felt responsible for the trainwreck in the banking crises ( AIG, Fannie Mae & etc.). Instead of standing like a man and politely answering the question, the young man was treated to Barney the Puffer Fish.

"I became chairman on January -- and this is the right-wing attack on liberals to try and stop regulation that you are repeating. On January 31st, I became the chairman. On March 28th, the committee passed a very tough Fannie/Freddie bill, which the Bush administration liked. Later that year in November, we passed a bill to restrict subprime lending. Because we did the subprime lending restrictions, Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, did what Alan Greenspan refused to do and said, OK, I'll do that.

"So I do want to ask you, when you suggest that I should apologize for something or take responsibility, what is it you think I should have done that I didn't do?"

Barney then called the young man a Right Wing Attack Agent!

Earlier Barney in a more mellow moment said this, "No institution anywhere in the financial system ought to be able to get so indebted that it threatens our financial stability,"

Oh, NO he didn't! Mmmm! Barney didn't! Mmmmmmm, Girl! Go on, get him to say 'Pepperoni Pizza Plays Party Politics Pathetically!'

Spy Wednesday - Judas 'The Whistleblower' Drops a Dime on His Boss

Judas carried the purse. He then sold out the guy who had trusted him with the gelt to the Boys at the Temple for 30 pieces of silver.

Not many little Judases in my neighborhood or immediate circle.

In fact, in my very un- PC and close-knit ethnic and tribal network, being a rat and a dime-dropper makes a person lower than whale-poop.

A columnist for whom I have no regard whatsoever tells all and sundry of his great worship and study of Dante's Divine Comedy, in much the same way as the fatuous name-dropping poser Studs Terkel carried around James T. Farrell's Studs Lonigan Trilogy. This goof is a dedicated Catholic-baiter and recently tried to give Cardinal George media discomfort with his flabby understanding of my Faith and my coreligionists - the very same people he recently smeared as Nazi-thugs in a very self-indulgent and stupid column.

I really need to speak from the heart.

Anyway. Judas was a louse. He betrayed the Son of God to all of us Catholics, many of us Christians and even the Jews for Jesus. To everyone else in this Global Village - Judas betrayed a man who treated him with respect, kindness, trust and affection.

Judas is the founder of the Feast of Spy Wednesday - a great name that -in which we Catholics remember that without betrayal Redemption could not have happened.

Here is my Cardinal - Francis Cardinal George on Judas - who went out after betraying Christ and committed the Dutch Act - huge sin. The sin of Despair. Louses can be forgiven. By Christ/God and Holy Persons like Cardinal George. I am just too close-knit and ethnic. Cardinal George is Christlike:

Wednesday of Holy Week brings us face to face with Judas Iscariot, who engineered Jesus’ death by betraying him to his enemies. In recent years, there have been a few attempts to “rehabilitate” Judas, explain away his apparently evil intentions and paint him as someone who really only wanted to force Jesus to show his power in extreme danger.

It seems to me that efforts like that say a lot more about us than about Judas. We love victims of previous era’s prejudices because accepting them confirms how enlightened we are. Even Judas, whom the poet Dante put in the lowest pit of hell, becomes a foil for our sense of superiority.

Judas kissed Jesus, the Gospel tells us. Did Jesus forgive his betrayer? Jesus died praying that his Father would forgive his enemies, and that would include Judas. We don’t know Judas’ eternal fate, but we do know that forgiving your enemies means you can’t feel superior to them.

I like to read the Psalms because they are filled with threats against the Psalmist’s enemies, and at times, I would like to see my enemies destroyed. But our greatest enemies are our own sins. It’s hard to keep a sense of enlightened superiority when examining our sins. They put us in Judas’ league. Rehabilitation, however, isn’t a matter of finding excuses; spiritual rehabilitation follows from confessing one’s sins and accepting forgiveness with humble gratitude.

Cardinal George and Bishops Object to Notre Dame's Folly - not the President's; that Is His Problem

Dan Kelley sent this fine note to the Editorial Board at The Chicago Tribune. They will read this note - it is doubtful that the Editorial Board at the Sun Times can, much less would, read this.

Francis Cardinal George is not alone in his criticism of Notre Dame University's invitation to President Obama to speak at commencement and to receive an honorary degree: The twenty-five bishops who have so far gone public with their disapproval of Notre Dame's invitation of Obama (in alphabetical order) are:

1. Bishop John D'Arcy - Fort Wayne-South Bend

2. Bishop Gregory Aymond - Austin
3. Archbishop Eusebius Beltran - Oklahoma City
4. Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantú, San Antonio
5. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo - Houston
6. Archbishop Timothy Dolan - New York
7. Bishop Thomas Doran - Rockford
8. Auxiliary Bishop John Dougherty - Scranton
9. Cardinal Francis George - Chicago, President, USCCB
10. Archbishop José Gomez, San Antonio


11. Bishop William Higi, Lafayette, IN
12. Archbishop Alfred Hughs, New Orleans
13. Bishop Jerome Listecki, La Crosse, WI
14. Bishop William E. Lori, Bridgeport, CT
15. Bishop Robert Lynch - St. Petersburg
16. Bishop Joseph Martino - Scranton
17. Bishop Charles Morlino - Madison
18. Bishop George Murry, Youngstown, OH
19. Archbishop John J. Myers - Newark20. Bishop R. Walker Nickless - Sioux City.
21. Archbishop John C. Nienstedt - Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota
22. Bishop Thomas Olmsted - Phoneix
23. Bishop Kevin Rhoades - Harrisburg
24. Bishop Edward J. Slattery - Tulsa
25. Bishop Anthony Taylor, Little Rock, AR

Cardinal George and most Catholics do not object to the President being invited to Notre Dame, but not as a recipient of an Honorary Law Degree or Commencement Speaker.

Notre Dame's Jenkins was too cute by half and seemed to believe that MSNBC could 'shout' this controversy quiet. 'Oh, Joe Biden, Teddy Kenendy, John Kerry, the Daley Lads, Chris 'Milky' Matthews and Bill Maher are all Catholics and they have no problem with this Honor! Let's bring People Together and smear Catholic Faith and Morals!'

It's here. It will stay.

Ann Deegan of Glen Ellyn had this poignant response to Bill Daley's bumptious kiss-up in the Chicago Tribune:

April 7, 2009
In response to William M. Daley's commentary ("Uneasy mix of religion and politics," Commentary, April 3), Cardinal Francis George deserves praise for his stand on Notre Dame's invitation of President Obama to speak at its commencement ceremony and receive an honorary degree. It should be noted that the cardinal expressed his opinion on behalf of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, of which he is president, not as Archbishop of Chicago. He stated in that speech, "As president of the U.S. bishops' conference I have to speak precisely for the bishops and not in my own name, as I could as Archbishop of Chicago."

If Notre Dame's invitation were for the president to participate in a debate about issues such as abortion or embryonic stem cell research, Obama would be an excellent choice to represent the opposing view. This invitation, however, is meant to honor a man who adamantly opposes the Catholic Church's view on these matters and has publicly demonstrated this through major policy decisions and appointments since taking office. This is simply not the place or the setting for a person of such diametric views.

If Notre Dame is truly a Catholic university, it would respect the inappropriateness of such an invitation. Those who signed off on the decision need to reexamine "what it means to be Catholic" and recognize the disrespect their decision has for the Catholic Church and its followers, particularly those at Notre Dame. I respect the cardinal and his fellow bishops for their courageous and correct response.

Ann Deegan,Glen Ellyn

Euphues, Ben Johnson, Ben Jonson, Monogamy, and Michelle Leigh the Weather Bee!

It is virtue, yea virtue, gentlemen, that maketh gentlemen; that maketh the poor rich, the base-born noble, the subject a sovereign, the deformed beautiful, the sick whole, the weak strong, the most miserable most happy. There are two principal and peculiar gifts in the nature of man, knowledge and reason; the one commandeth, and the other obeyeth: these things neither the whirling wheel of fortune can change, neither the deceitful cavillings of worldlings separate, neither sickness abate, neither age abolish. --- Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit


I have never, ever knowly taken illegal drugs, and I would never embarrass my family, my friends, my country and the kids who love me. Ben Johnson - famous Cowboy actor

The ports of death are sins; of life, good deeds:
Through which our merit leads us to our meeds.
How willful blind is he then, that would stray,
And hath it in his powers, to make his way!
This world death's region is, the other life's:
And here, it should be one of our first strifes,
So to front death, as men might judge us past it.
For good men but see death, the wicked taste it.
Ben Jonson


I am conflicted! I am a devout monogamist - married or otherwise. I am single minded and soul'd to the superb woman who holds my heart and soul in her delicate fingers. I was steady as Don Larson on October 8th 1956 with my beloved wife Mary, who went home to Christ eleven years ago. However, I am a Male and can not throw switch on the circuit that shuts off the juice to the stupid bone between my ears.

Thus, during my late wife Mary's final days she noticed that I always had FOX 32 New on in the morning when I ministerd to her blood work, pills, comforts and immediate wants.

'Checking out the blond bimbo with the righteous knockers,Bucko?'
No Sweetie - I like Fox weather and news.

'Bullshit.'

Honor Bright

'You making plans for after my departure? Look simpleton, that Knocker Numbskull wouldn't know clouds from laundry -( mimicing the Uber-Sexy Ms. Leigh with dead-on venom and skill) Helllllllo Chicago its Cold out today on Leather Day!. . . and SoooooooooWet!'

You do me great dishonor, Mary!

' Oh, Yeah, Bright-boy. You clowns are pathetic. It's the Male Stupid Bone - that thing that passes for a brain in you guys! Did You join her Fan Club yet???'

ENOUGH, Madame! . . . and so it would continue.

Like most of us saggingly sorry middle aged males, Michelle Leigh was part of a Man's hearty breakfast!

Yesterday, I received a notice that said Miss Leigh has her own Weather Site! I am enchanted!

I remain One Conflicted Bottle Nosed Dope -Pat Hickey - He's fun to watch;
So is Michelle Leigh - women universal notwithstanding! Check out Michelle Leigh's Weathervibe site -click my post title.

Gentlemen, get a hearty breakfast again!

Warm thoughts, Indeed

People of Guam - Fear Not the Taepodong-2! The Community Activist in Chief and The United Nations are On It!

President Obama took a pimp slap from Kim Jong IL like an Ivy League college boy in bar full of Chorus line dancers: Meek, Annoyed, Hurt and Non-threateningly Fawning.

North Korea broke the rules, once again, by testing a rocket that could be used for long-range missiles," said Mr. Obama. "This provocation underscores the need for action - not just this afternoon at the UN Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons. Rules must be binding . . . Today I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons!" said Mr. Obama. Wow! Is He Mildly Concerned.

But U.N. will do . . . .nothing, but free-load in New York.

Japan had called for the emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Sunday. But the 15 members agreed only to discuss the matter further, diplomats said.

The United States, Japan and South Korea say the launch violated Security Council resolutions banning the firing of ballistic missiles by Pyongyang, imposed after a nuclear test and other missile exercises in 2006.

Council diplomats said China, the nearest North Korea has to a major ally, and Russia were not convinced the launch of what North Korea said was a satellite was a violation of U.N. rules. Three other countries supported this view.

"It's 10 against five," one diplomat told Reuters.

The U.S. military and South Korea said no part of the Taepodong-2 rocket entered orbit.

South Korea's biggest daily the Chosun Ilbo, quoting government sources, said the rocket flew 3,200 km (2,000 miles), which would put the U.S. territory of Guam nearly in reach.

Kim Jong Il is said to have had a stroke. President Obama is in robust health.

Kim Jong Il just pee'd on your Florsheim's Mr. President!
Keep Hope Alive!

More Likely - Kiss Your Ass Goodbye.

Charter Schools Offer Hope - Teachers Union the Anchor of Failure

I have three kids in a charter school and two in union CPS schools. The quality difference between the teachers and the kids performance is stark.

Comment on Chicagoist Click my post title for the full Chicagoist feature.

Charter Schools offer a stark contract to Chicago Public Schools - Catholic Schools Offer much more than that - real documented success. Charters are pretty good alternatives to wasteful and incompetant public schools dominated by Teachers unions.

Teachers unions seem to do little more than haven the useless, and protect the lazy.

Public School Teachers want to be considered Professionals like accountants, doctors and lawyers, but demand to be insulated from accountability. I worked only in Catholic Schools and worked only with professionals - the weak and the incompetant went off to find new lines of work - some in the Public Schools.

Chicago Catholic School Superintendent Mary Paul McCaughey noted in talk to the Fifty of Friday Club last week that graduates of Catholic Schools go on to college - 97% go on to college.

CPS is saddled with a less than 37% high school graduation rate for young men.

CPS is staffed with 100% Chicago Teachers Union membership - Marilyn Stewart CPS President spent last year locking a rival out of his offices at CTU. ( see the Ted Dallas Document above)

Yet Marilyn Stewart offered this about Charter Teachers joining CTU:

CTU President Marilyn Stewart and Illinois Federation of Teachers President Ed Geppert, Jr. had this to say in a joint statement: “We are very supportive of this strong group of teachers and staff at the Chicago International Charter Schools’ as they form a union. These charter school teachers and staff are acting today to improve their schools’ operations and environment for their student’s performance. We feel as strongly as they do that the views of teachers and staff are critical to school success and that school administrators must formally recognize the teachers and staff contributions. Their dedication will help their schools become trailblazers of innovation and collaboration within community.”

These charter school teachers and staff are acting today to improve their schools’ operations and environment for their student’s performance.

Marilyn, you have got to be kidding! For real?

Charters were enacted to offere real competition and not 'same old, same old, Marilyn!

It's not about power for you Marilyn! It's about the Children! It's all about the Children! Right?

A real hard-hitting journalist should take a very, very hard look at Marilyn Stewart's hard run at Charter Schools.

I think something stinky is afoot!

Palm Sunday - Cardinal George the New Cardinal Von Galen - Two Heroic Voices Over the American Cowed and Cowardly!

"These are people, our brothers and sisters; maybe their life is unproductive, but productivity is not a justification for killing."

Clemens August Graf von Galen: Neue Forschungen zum Leben und Wirken des Bischofs von Muenster. Edited by Joachim Kuropka. (Muenster: Regensburg. 1992. Pp. 439. DM 48.) Clemens August Graf von Galen, Bishop of Muenster (and, after the war, Cardinal), earned the reputation of being a resister to National Socialism. At home and abroad, von Galen was depicted as a representative of the "other" Germany; the Germany which refused to be co-ordinated to Nazism's ideology. He received worldwide fame in August, 1941, when he delivered a series of sermons in which he took aim at Nazi policies, ...

During the Palm Sunday homily at Sacred Heart Church, Father McKenna brought up the heroic Clemens August Cardinal Graf Von Galen - some handle that.

Von Galen was beatified in 2005 by the Church and paid a mere nodding attention to that fact.

However, at the tiny French Mission Church in Washington Heights on the south side, Father McKenna sparked my interest.

Father McKenna mentioned the beating that Francis Cardinal George had been taking in media and from Chicago pols on the wrong side of the Notre Dame suck up to Abortion.

Father McKenna paralleled the heroic voice of Cardinal George to that of the forgotten German Cardinal Von Galen who defied Hitler and his Cult of Death.

Like Abortion, a political will that murders the elderly, the helpless and the undesirable is a cult of Death. Hitler hated smoking and loved Abortion and Euthanasia was aided and abetted by the cowed and the cowardly-Hitler advanced science and research over morality.

The Bishop of Muenster railed against this Cult of Death. Like the Archbishop of Chicago, Von Galen, a German aristocrat ( hence the Graf Von) was vilified by likes of Alfred Rosenberg, Joey Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler, as well as the Agent of Change - Hitler. Cardinal George took a sucker slap from Bill Daley, the Mayor's Brother, probably because the Daley's want President Obama to lean on the Olympic Committees , so Pat Ryan can get some Insurance Business. Abortion can be a huge help to the Olympics! Yes! We Can!

Back in Hitler's Germany, where the Nazi's put on just a Swell Olympics, the mentally handicapped, the elderly, the insane, the deformed and the unwanted murdered as Research Tools to make health issues more viable. Cardinal Von Galen loudly attacked the Cult of Death and Racism - Yep, the Catholic Archbishop of Muenster loudly attacked the persecution of German Jews as well.

For his efforts, Hitler had Von Galen -placed under house arrest - he couldn't and didn't want to make the bishop a martyr. Can't have that - Nein!

Von Galen died shortly after the War and Progressive Revisionist history swept his heroic efforts under the carpet.

Like Cardinal George, Blessed Cardinal Von Galen is a heroic voice for the weakest and most vulnerable.

Nuanced Progressive Thought on Abortion

Here is the response from an American Progressive to Cardinal George's heroic and priestly Defense of Life in the recent Notre Dame Controversy:

As per usual, the religious whacks are only interested in a clump of developing cells and don't give a damn about living, breathing, walking, feeling children who are abused in their care. I suppose it is in line with the ex-Nazi Youth Pope who curses the use of condoms and sane sex education. This makes me sick.

You can learn more Progressive Thought at Buzzflash News


PROGRESSIVE BOOKS, MOVIES, AND MUSIC- FOR PROGRESSIVES, BY PROGRESSIVES, ON BUZZFLASH


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