Richard C. Lindberg Tonight -on Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg

Milt Rosenberg invites Chicago Historian - Richard C. Lindberg on to Extension 720.

The brilliant and genial host and Richard Lindberg will discuss the Gambler King of Clark Street - Rich's full-length biography of the Man Who Invented the Chicago Democratic Machine.

Click my post title for more on this great author and subject at Chicago Daily Observer - Chicago's best source for what is happening!

FRIDAY, JUNE 5TH
GAMBLER KING OF CLARK STREET
Tonight we welcome a favorite guest on Extension 720, Chicago historian Richard Lindberg. Lindberg is a prolific author with many books on Chicago history including his latest The Gambler King of Clark Street. The book is a biography of Michael McDonald, a 19th century political power broker, among other distinctions. We'll talk with Lindberg about this book and more after the early Cubs game. We should be on the air by around 9:30pm.

http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/ext720/wgnam-ext720-june-09-program-guide,0,596976.story

The Muslim World of St. Cajetan's Parish, er . . .Whadda We Call it, Now?

Now, the flip side is I think that the United States and the West generally, we have to educate ourselves more effectively on Islam.

"And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.

President Barack H. Obama 6/2/2009 or is that AH 1430*

In the Name of Father . . .Alla Akabar! This meeting of the St. Cajetan . . .Caliph Umr . . . Knights of the Blessed Sacra. .. Seljuk Turks is called to order this day June . . .something er other AH 1430.

I'm Marty O'Hara, Grand Moujik of this Lodge and stuff. Okay to business

Imam Terry O'Donovan will be up in the minaret if any of you guys want to to go to Confession . . Salah, its ritual prayer, Hickey, like a novena only different - look the Sin Box is out. . . but you guys ain't exactly wearing the carpet out going in there anyway.

The Zakat, was off last week and Father Te. . . Imam Terry is beefing to me so tell the family to dig.

Sawm is like Lent, only we're moving things up to September, because Easter is out and some of you guys can stand some Sawm and then some. Half you clowns got Dunlap's Disease**- terminal.

Gaffney and O'Connell Travel has booked Ryan Air Flights -Chicago to Shannon to Mecca for this year's The Hajj,

The Tarrif ain't too bad. Nice gambling junket in the United Arab Emirates too . . .eats are nice.

Look, all this Change is what President Obama told the world we gotta do and we're gonna do it or MSNBC be will peeing all over the place 24/7.

The beer concession is cancelled 'officially' but chilled 'milk of Islam' is in the coolers so grab a couple and let's get Submissive!


This concludes the business.

Gambling, smokes and water-pipes may be lit. Imam Terry said that we gotta go easy on the noise. Cash for chips.

* Islamic Calendar

http://www.rabiah.com/convert/

** Dunlap's Disease - an affliction brought on by an excess of empty calories and an absence of exercise - 'where the belly done lops over the belt' in helot argot.

NLRB on Charters -'Bump in the Road' for SEIU Should Mean Smooth Sailing for Charter Education U.S.A.

H/T to Progress Illinois ( SEIU's Intranet Comic Book, or is it Graphic Novel?)

Looks like the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)put a knot in SEIU's undies. The NLRB accepted the Civitas (Education Management Organization) for Interntional Charter Schools position that as a for-profit, private entity Public School Rules do not necessarily fit. Right here, in Illinois, there's trouble for the feebs in sheep-skin clothing, attempting to snare Charter Education Reform away from the tax payers of Illinois. Well, Lord save us from all harm and phonies!

SEIU and Marilyn Stewart's attempt to sneak one past the people who actually want Education Reform has hit a 'bump in the road.' Let's hope that it is a very long trip back to the pavement . . .about eighty years or so.

Thus,"The national board determined that the teachers are employees of a private firm, the Civitas educational management company, not public employees who would be governed by the state labor board.

As a practical matter, the ruling means that the teachers will have to vote in a secret ballot on whether they want to unionize."

http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/index.php/entry/333

Therefore, The SEIU/Chicago Teachers Union(CTU) may not pave over Reform in Education -just this yet.

NLRB makes SEIU/CTU SOL!

Tough week tootsies! Taxpayers have had enough of the whining and NL(that's Labor, girls)RB ruled for real people. AND!!!!! They(Illinois Legislature)created double the number of Charters Available! That's gotta hurt the Halt, Lame and Lazy!

Back to the Barricades, Baristas!

Clare Hickey -Now a St. Cajetan Graduate!

Nora, Clare and Conor Hickey at St. Cajetan Parish 8th Grade Graduation Last Night

Memorare*! Clare, one thing to take from your 9(pre-school & eight years) years at St. Cajetan, besides the thick cohort of friends and the wings of happy memories, is this prayer.

Your Mom said this every day. Your Dad only seems to remember it when he is in trouble. Be like Mom.

Your Mother, Mary, both of them, watch over you. Mom only had the earthly joy of you for a little while. Mary the Mother of God has had you much longer. Both have you eternally.

You are in an elite club, St. Cajetan Alumni. St. Cajetan always won the Southtown Economist Bell in Football - that was a trophy. St. Cajetan always educated great people - the Joyces, the Schumachers, the Wards, The Reyas, The Hodorowicz's, the Miers, the Cullens, the Sheehans, the Millers, and Hopkins.

You, Clare, will bring much to our world that is needed. Say the Memorare and get help in all you need to do. Be like Mom.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

* Here's a link to Patriot, Wit, Author, Playwright and Film Maker,Mike Houlihan's take on the Memorare! Click my post title for Mike's piece

Mark Brown Decries His Own Column - We're Way Ahead of You, Mark! Cops Are Not Judged by Columinists

I'm Mark Brown. I do what I do! That's me. This is how I look. Pretty Good?

I'll probably catch hell for linking these two events together -- the cowardly Abbate with the heroic Valadez -- but I don't really see how we can separate them entirely. . . . The importance of an Anthony Abbate is that his case shows how easy it is for one policeman to bring discredit to his fellow officers, even detracting from the ultimate sacrifice of an Alejandro Valadez.

Mark Brown 'must' link the death of Officer Valadez to the thug Anthony Abbate. He Must!

There is only one reason columnists like Mark Brown take pimp slaps at Police Officers, they know that they will not face any criticism or suffer any consequences in so doing. Mark Brown and too many others helped build the Thug Comfort Zone here in Chicago.

Like the old adage, that questions why Fido gratifies himself - 'because he can.'

The Media, as opposed to newspaper reporters, like Ray Coffey and John Drummond, use police misconduct to undermine any and all confidence in Law Enforcement. They play Identity Politics and Advocacy Journalism. The Sun Times is wheezing its way into oblivion, hoping against hope to become a Government Agency, like Chrysler, GM, and the American Banking Industry. It may happen.

Then, would be Zolas could become Later Day Goebbels Lites.

It is typical, but still sickening that when a Police Officer is murdered in the line of Duty, a hack like Brown would push the agenda.

Mark obeys his highers and betters. He stays supine when told to lay down. Like when there is another CPS News embargo on 'bad situations.' Like this one -

A riot took place at Simeon High School during a ComEd power grid failure two weeks ago. Gangbangers rioted in the school and out into the community form 83rd Street to 79th Street. Police Officers quieted the riot without a death or serious injury to the 'the children.' Mark Brown had his head somewhere else, when Police Oficers were doing exactly what they do every day here in Auburn/Gresham/Brainerd/Englewood and Chatham.

Ask a cop from the 6th, 7th, 8th, or 22nd District - they responded to the riot. I don't need to; I saw it. We got the kids of Leo High School home and safe without incident because of Chicago Police standard operating procedures. When the lights went out at Simeon, however . . .hold the phone.

Mark Brown's head is firmly stuck where he wants it to be - nice view I guess.

Ron Gidwitz - GOP Best and Only Hope for Governor

Governor Pat Quinn is a decent guy. He is an Oak Park Democrat with, for my tastes anyway, a much too close working relationship with Boiled Beet Progressives.

Governor Quinn just had his butt handed to him by the tax payers of Illinois, through their elected Representatives in Springfield.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-legislature01jun01,0,2960790.story
Programs ( code for tax dollars to Progressive groups, lawyers and individuals wasted) have sucked the life out of Illinois. The well is bone dry.

For the last few months, Illinois Teachers Unions have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on sophomoric and childishly whiny radio ads about saving 'good teachers' because pensions are 'the fair share.' Nope. Pensions are a benny.

Great teachers continue to teach in Catholic Schools, Independent Schools, Christian Schools, Muslim Schools, Jewish Schools and Charter Schools. SEIU and the Chicago Teachers Unions want to kill Charters. Every time public school test score drill deeper into the Illinois soil, a march is televised to ask why the children in Illinois Schools are not filling up on State funded energy drinks, snacks or pills.

District School Superintendents with just the right 'credentials' to get them safely out of the classrooms that they could never control continue to make salaries that European Monarchs would envy. Then, they get caught on camera diddling the help as well as the tax-payers.

It's Children First! . . .and then the looting frenzy!

Illinois needs a good governor. Governor Quinn is a good man, but he has played ball with the Program Gluttons. It is time Illinois put the old feather down the throat and tickled up the tummies of the Progressives.

The Illinois GOP has shot its toes off backing Topinka and the Milkman and others.

It is time to get smart with a smart guy. Ron Gidwitz is just that man.

Here's what the Tribune ( believe it or not) said about Ron Gidwitz in 2006, when Illinois allowed Blago another kick at the Program Cat.

Ron Gidwitz is the Republican best equipped to earn that trust, and to empty that dark, fetid moat. The Tribune endorses Gidwitz in the Republican primary for governor and his running mate, state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger, for lieutenant governor.

This primary is about plans and positions, but it’s also about nominating a candidate who will break eggs and make omelets.

That’s Gidwitz. As CEO of Helene Curtis, he built a cosmetics business into an empire. As chairman of the State Board of Education, he ordered bureaucrats to visit Illinois classrooms to see how state policies affected schoolchildren. As chairman of the City Colleges of Chicago, he demanded that students’ curriculum meet the needs of the modern workplace. His mantra to board members (after he scuttled their pricey limo service): Look, folks, this is the last degree many of our students will ever earn. We need to make sure they’re employable.

Gidwitz will choose his advisers wisely, as a chief executive must. The evidence: His decision to team with Rauschenberger, one of the most independent, creative members of the legislature.

Gidwitz’s detractors say he’s abrasive. Yes, he’s all-business. He doesn’t suffer fools. Yes, he’s been a political insider, a contributor to politicos in both parties. But the GOP hierarchy isn’t backing him in this race, all the more reason to believe him when he says he’ll commandeer the bully pulpit, murmur “Brace yourselves,” and roust clubby lobbyists, lawyers and legislators from the rotunda and into the sunlight.

I usually vote Democrat. However, I am sticking very close to home with my Democratic Votes - Ed Maloney and Kevin Joyce will always have my vote. They vote the will of my neighbors.

I have met Mr. Gidwitz on a couple of occasions. Mr. Gidwitz is courtly and soft-spoken. I do not believe that he would toss a handful of Jacksons on the bar at Keegan's Pub and yuck it up with the lads. Hell, neither do Joyce or Maloney. Kevin Joyce has seven kids and Ed Maloney has his First Communion money. However, Mr. Gidwitz is a serious business gent. He does not suffer fools gladly. Hence, the abrasive canard that gets tossed his way. Ron Gidwitz don't polka.

Judy Topinka polkas . . .when it suits her.

Nope, Ron Gidwitz might have the personality of a dial tone, but the man can manage.

Illinois needs a Chief Executive. He'd work great with Speaker Mike Madigan. Imagine the giggles and gab when these two serious gents got together!

Ron Gidwitz is just what Illinois needs. Pat Quinn is a nice guy - there's millions of them.

Pentecost Trumps Pravda - America Will be Fine

The American Penteost


Pravda the MSNBC of collapsed Soviet Russia, giggles that America is Kaput-Nik!

Sorry, Vlad, we'll be fine. Our schools are a train-wreck, but Americans can fix them. Churches have become unitarian Sesame Street skits, but people vote with their feet. President Obama has four years.

Here's the Commie Scratch sheet's Parlay Card:

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

The Feast of the Pentecost reminds Christians of their obligations as Soldiers of Christ. Jewish Americans remember,no sweat, unlike us daffy Christian Thoreau gushers and ACLU suck-ups. Americans can read a bank statement, a scale in the bathroom, and the eyes of the children and know that change begins with the individual. Americans do not need the State to tell them how to conduct their lives - remember the Teabag's? There will be plenty more such demonstrations.

America is a religious nation. America is a democratic -republic and not a village. We are very tolerant of morons, like goofs that wanted to PC the photo of the 9/11 Firemen and make it more Diverse. Goofs get on TV with great ease. Americans know who the morons happen to be - don't mistake good grace for weakness.

Remember, it was Americans like those firemen in New York on 9/11 who helped create a Pentecost of of the American Spirit.

Take care of your Kleptocracy, Pravda, we'll manage nicely.

Pravda, read up on the Pentecost and the Great Depression and the first few years of World War II. America will be fine.

Real Housewives, Moms, Lovers, Best Pals, Body Guards of the Faith of Morgan Park

I never saw one episode of Desperate Housewives, Sex in the City, or any . . .any Reality TV Show.

I was dragged to see first wave feminist movies back when I was a student at Loyola, right after Dewey took Manila from Spain. I went along to those strident 'woman must liberate herself!' soft core porn films - where some babe skanks around with pipe smoking professors from whom they learn secrets of sex and Blake's Poetry and then toss off the Jugs Harness and run through New York with other mini-skirted Feminists.

I dated a 'Dip-stick in Lip-stick' who thought Abortion was the signature of real Feminism . . .once.

Hell, I am a sucker for babies and detest the thought of murdering an innocent. I'm a Caveman.

The family is mocked in the film arts as well as plucked brow literature.

Women are never happy in these films unless they are slapping the mattress with a young Che Guevara wannabee and ditching their kids and their Old Man. Romantic Forbidden Love That ALWAYS ends tragically is the ideal.

I'm a hand-holder. I come from the very same place where I happen to live right now.

Last Night, my Daughter Nora and I ( Conor was frying fish at DiCola's) watched Clare receive the St. Cajetan's Computer Science Award at the 8th Grade Honors Ceremony. All the girls, text-message-ing little women who play basketball, volleyball, softball and work service hours at the two nursing homes in Morgan Park looked like run-way models and the fourteen something young men, looked like their Dads . . . sad to say.

I looked around at all the Moms, because Clare's Mom, my Bride, is an angel. Mary died when Clare was two and a half. However, Mary would have fit in nicely with Anne, Collette, Darleen, Sheila, Peggy, Kerry, Jennifer, Linda and all the rest.

Happy women. Not Cosmo guzzlers. Real women and not poor confused victims. Knockouts and most of them could care less. They are married to 'older versions' of the boys who struggled into an actual tie that you need to tie for the first time: Pete, Desmond, Declan, Jake, Jack ( about four by my count), Sean, Danny, Ray and Nick!

Their Moms are married to their Dads, their best pals. Their Moms don't need Botox. These are Real Women and they do not buy obscene numbers and qualities of shoes, read How to Be Happy Manuals by Skank Head-Cases, pop pills, 'take time for themselves,' wallow in self-pity. They are Happy Women. They have no tolerance, let alone capacity for Bitching. They are the Women that Feminists hate to the very marrow of their beings!

They are women of Faith, who do not seek some stupid alternative life-style, pierce their beautiful bodies, or Tattoo their limbs, or sculpt their personal destinies with Dr. Gaddam Gupta. They have it all. They have borne the pains of child birth and nurtured babies to a point where these babies too can become Real Men and Women.

They are the Breeders. They are the Real Family Core. The makers of tortilla roll-ups with lime and jalapenos! They know how to 'Work a Beer Glass' and a Mikita Power Drill. I love each and every one of these women.

The love of my life, lives in Chicago's Gold Coast and my Morgan Park neighborhood is familiar to this elegant and beautiful woman who sings at the Pump Room, because she grew up among Real Women in Chagrin Falls, Ohio as well.

I am a thrice blessed man. My love Mary went home to Christ. Not my call. I had a huge hole in my heart that Christ allowed me to patch up with my mistakes and stupidities, but allowed me to realize the majesty that is Woman. For better or worse I too am a Mom. A homely, lumpy, Mom, but a Mom nevertheless. I buy the Feminine Hygiene products in this house! Yet, I am blessed with the love and affection of another Real woman.

Whenever, I see the vapid, self-absorbed, shallow, and indulgent clothes horses portrayed in film and on TV, I click on Paula Deen on the food Channel. That is a Woman! Women make the home and in so doing create the world where kids do not need to take Zoloft, or fill their hours on the internet. The daughters of the Housewives of Morgan Park are women.

These Real Little Women play sports, play with make-up, but they also have learned to be friends and best pals with Ray, Pete, Jake, Jack (our by my count), Sean and Danny.

The Women of Morgan Park make a happy world. Thanks Be to God.

Today in Chicago Tribune, the sun dial for the changing times, there is another stupid couple of paragraphs about some stupid reality show that wants to further insult Women and the Family.

A show revealing the lives of upper-echelon housewives -- Botox parties, tennis matches and all the drama in between -- is coming to Chicago.

Towers Productions is casting for the Midwestern premiere of a housewives show similar to Bravo's "Real Housewives," which has focused on Orange County, New York, Atlanta and New Jersey.

The producers are searching for "a dynamic group of women" who have a unique connection to one another, whether through their lifestyles or social network, casting director Becky Cattie said.

Interested women can e-mail casting@towersproductions.com (a date for auditions has not been set yet). Include your name, age, the area where you live, contact information, a photo and some personal background information.

Reality my Broad Manly Ass!

Guam Honors Two More Heroes Killed Defending America and North Korea Fires Another Missile

In the black and white photos above - Two Woman display an American Flag kept safe from the Japanese from 1941 until July 21, 1944 and another shows a memorial by Chamorros of Guam for their families and neighbors murdered by the Japanese during the Occupation of Guam. The People of Guam remain the most loyal Americans.

Ceremony Held In Honor Of Two Fallen Guam Soldiers
Written by Nick Delgado, Pacific News Center - Guam, Saipan, CNMI, Asia-Pacific

Friday, 29 May 2009 17:04
Guam

Guam - The Guam national guard held a formal banner unfurling ceremony this morning at the Guam international airport to honor two of its fallen soldiers.

Sergeant Brian Leon Guerrero and sergeant Samson Mora were killed while deployed to Afghanistan in support of operation enduring freedom in July of last year. The banners were added to the recently displaced-but restored memorial in the airport's east ticket lobby.

Earlier this year, the banners were removed and replaced with painted sea turtles. The displacement of the banners raised concerns from many of Guam's veterans. In response, the airport put the memorial back up.

Meanwhile, the airport continues to work with the national guard in creating a permanent brass memorial plaque in honor of the fallen.

The Obama Administration sees no 'imminent threat' to the American People. Guam is America's foreward base in Harm's Way. Guam has lost more of its sons and daughters defending America per capita than any Territory or State. Guam is being targeted by North Korea.

North Korea in complete mad-dog unwillingness to 'listen' fired another missile.

North Korea has fired another short-range missile off its east coast, the sixth such launch since it tested a nuclear weapon on Monday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency has reported.

Friday's reported test-fire followed a statement from North Korea's foreign ministry pledging to respond if the UN Security Council agreed any fresh sanctions over the tests.

"If the UN Security Council provokes us, our additional self-defence measures will be inevitable," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Any hostile acts by the UN Security Council will be tantamount to the demolition of the armistice," it said in a reference to the truce that ended the Korean War in 1953.

The North has previously test-fired short-range missiles into the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan, often during periods of tension in the region.

North Korea conducted its second nuclear test on Monday and followed it up with a series of short-range missile launches, all in violation of a UN resolution.

No reinforcements

But despite the growing tensions, the US defence secretary has said that Washington is not planning to add to the 28,000 US troops already stationed on the Korean peninsula. . . .

Robert Gates said that the situation had not yet reached crisis levels and there had been no unusual moves by the North Korean military since its carried out the nuclear test.

"I don't think there is a need for us

Pakistan is going Taliban. Iran is doing as it pleases. North Korea is dominating the world stage and threatening Peace on the Planet. I am getting reports that warn of this threat from Al Jazeera, while MSNBC worries about Gay Marriage, CNN milks Roland Burris, and the news papers cover Susan Boyle.



President Obama is making Jimmy Carter look like Chesty Puller.

Guam Targeted by North Korea - from our friends at Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera - the Islamic News Agency notes that North Korea targets Guam.

Guam is America.

Guam voted for President Obama.

Guam has a United States Congresswoman, Madeleine Z. Bordallo .

Guam is America's strategic front-door to Asia,

Get this:

North Korea missile 'can hit Guam'

Inter-Korean relations have deteriorated as both countries warn of military action [AFP]

A South Korean report claims that North Korea has deployed a new type of ballistic missile capable of reaching the US Pacific territory of Guam.

The defense ministry report, released on Monday, said the new missile has a range of at least 3,000km and has been deployed "recently".

The reported striking range of the missle would reach Guam, the northern tip of Australia, much of Russia and India.

The ministry report also said the North began developing the missile in the late 1990s, but did not offer further details, including how many have been deployed.

The report comes as the North is believed to be preparing to test-fire its most advanced missile, the Taepodong-2, which is allegedly capable of reaching Alaska.

South Korea also claims the North is "presumed" to have secured about 40kg of atom bomb-making plutonium from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods from its Yongbyon reactor.

Pyongyang carried out its first atomic test in October 2006, but it is not known whether it could manufacture a nuclear warhead.

Army size 'increase'

The report also claims that the size of the North Korean military had grown to 1.19 million, an increase of 20,000 from 2006, while the number of its lightly-equipped special forces trained to infiltrate South Korea had increased 50 per cent to 180,000.

Monday's published assessment came amid mounting tensions between the two countries, which are still technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended only in an armistice.

The North is angry with the government of Lee Myung-Bak, South Korea's president, who has scrapped a policy of largely unconditional aid and engagement.

It has cancelled all military and political agreements with Seoul, including one recognising their disputed sea border as an interim frontier.

Click my post title for the Al Jazeera story.

Guam Needs the Bush Proliferation Security Initiative- Guam is America

Apra Harbor - Guam
With North Korea's mad-dog missile moves, America's strategic home territory, Guam, again sits under the threat of attack.

Before World War Two, America decided to stake Guam's loyal people out as bait. America refused to develop Guam's harbors, build airstrips, strengthen the troop presence beyond a ship's guard of Marines and leave the fortunes of the Chamorros to fate and Japan's designs. We did this in order to 'talk to' our enemies.

Guam was taken in hours and its people were subjected to years of murder, rape, and forced labor by the Japanese. Guam was retaken at a great cost in American lives - servicemen and Chamorros.

Guam will become the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet Marine Force when Okinawa closes its bases completely by 2014.

Guam is within easy striking distance of North Korean missiles.

The Bush Administration and UN Ambassador John Bolton crafted the Proliferation Security Initiative in order to protect our planet from rogue nations like Iran and North Korea.

The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) is a global effort that aims to stop trafficking of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials to and from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern. Launched by President Bush on May 31, 2003, U.S. involvement in the PSI stems from the U.S. National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction issued in December 2002. That strategy recognizes the need for more robust tools to stop proliferation of WMD around the world, and specifically identifies interdiction as an area where greater focus will be placed. Today, more than 90 countries around the world support the PSI.

The PSI is an innovative and proactive approach to preventing proliferation that relies on voluntary actions by states that are consistent with national legal authorities and relevant international law and frameworks. PSI participants use existing authorities -- national and international -- to put an end to WMD-related trafficking and take steps to strengthen those authorities as necessary. UN Security Council Resolution 1540, adopted unanimously by the Security Council, called on all states to take cooperative action to prevent trafficking in WMD. The PSI is a positive way to take such cooperative action.

http://www.state.gov/t/isn/c10390.htm
President Obama inherited this initiative and seems to want to undo it. He wants a Nuke Free World.

You can not talk to North Korea, that much is eminently clear.

Guam is America. Guam is staked out once again.

Proliferation Security Initiative

MISSION - To stop trafficking of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems and related materials to and from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern through voluntary actions by states consistent with national and international laws and legal frameworks.

HISTORY - Launched by U.S. President George W. Bush on May 31, 2003, based on U.S. National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction issued in December 2002 as part of a U.S. response to threats highlighted by the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

EXERCISES - More than 30 exercises were held between September 2003 and January 2008. Some were led by the United States but most were directed by other PSI participating nations.

PROMINENT MEMBERS - Argentina, Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mongolia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Yemen. (Sources: U.S. State Department, Pentagon) (Reporting by David Morgan and Paul Eckert; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

American Guam! Heads Up! North Korea Called President Obama's Hand.

I have never been to Guam but I immersed myself in its history to write a novel. The Hafa Adai Spirit* of the Chamorros ( the heroic People of Guam) translates to American Patriotism. Guam lost more men per capita in Vietnam and in the Wars in Iraq than any other American State or Territory.

Guam has been America's strategic chip since the Spanish American War.

Guam will become the home of the Marines in the Pacific, when the forward bases on Okinawa are closed.

Guam is in striking distance of North Korean Taepodong missles.

Last November, Ambassador Bolton warned the empathetic and elegant Obama Team:

Will North Korea -- whoever is in charge -- now kick back and wait for Jan. 20? The list of questions is far longer than the list of Mr. Obama's answers.

To repeat, it is much too early to draw larger conclusions from this one episode. On the existing postelection evidence, we cannot tell whether Mr. Obama will govern on the left or the center-left, or whether he is simply passive and risk-averse. But on balance, his conversation with Mr. Kaczynski points toward a weakening of the U.S. defense posture, indifference to allies under duress, and the need to satisfy his natural constituency within the Democratic Party. Let us now await the next pieces of evidence.

I do not believe that North Korea will attack South Korea or Japan. I believe that they will strike a crippling blow to America at Guam.

President Obama! Get smart on missle defences! The People of Guam have sacrificed enough for our country. Let's start doing something for them - ahead of the clock.

*http://members.tripod.com/Pereda-Family/id92.htm

Tamara Holder Goes For Big Game - Ambassador to the UK - in Illinois Pay to Play!

While this tiny brained guy was packing empty thought calories from the Roland Burris Stimulus Snack Pack ( today's offal), Tamara Holder was scooping the media!

President Obama's choice for Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Louis 'The Vaccum' Susman -

All of this hype about Roland Burris and his recorded talks about how he was going to attempt to attempt to do something for Gov. Blagojevich in exchange for the Senate seat has me laughing. What a great deflection of the same exact situation in the White House. Last week, President Obama picked former Citigroup VP and Democratic uber-fundraiser Louis Susman as the next Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Article here. Really? What the heck does Mr. Susman know about British diplomacy? Well, I guess it does not matter WHAT you know, it matters WHAT you give. And it does not matter WHO gives the money, it matters WHO hears you talking about giving the money. Louis Susman was so good at raising money for Obama, he was nicknamed by the Chicago Tribune "the Vacuum Cleaner" for his ability to suck-up donations for Democratic politicians." He raised over $500,000 for Obama.

Apparently, the British are not super stoked about the appointment of Susman either. According to Anorak News, "Soon Susman will be living in a big house by London’s Regent’s Park, learning all about diplomacy as he counts the geese…"

Ms. Holder's set of lamps certainly requires no trip to the Lasik Clinic - this old fat boy, on the hand . . .

Jim Durkin Had Burris Pinned to the Mat - Was it Empathy That Let Roland Up?

"The more I look at it, it looks like he perjured himself before the Illinois House of Representatives and withheld important information," said Rep. Jim Durkin, (R) Western Springs.
Durkin says the perjury investigation could potentially lead to third degree felony charges against Burris. Burris' attorney says he believes the transcripts should help vindicate Burris in all the

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/politics&id=6833175&rss=rss-wls-article-6833175

Now, There's a Distraction! Roland Burris was bouncing and wiggling within Jim Durkin's cradle move and Durkin was tipping Roland's tiny shoulders to the mat for a pin, back in January*.

The Ref wanted Roland Burris to be confirmed and lob President Obama's Stimulus Birdie over the sway-backed net of good government. Click my post title for more Illinois Cartoons from Tamara Holder. It seems that Blago and Obama use the same play book!

But, Roland was let up! It's not fair! Have Some Empathy!
You see Durkin is a wrestler and Burris a badmiton player.

Roland boinked for Obama. Jim Durkin continues to grapple for Illinois.

ROLAND BURRIS TIMELINE

09/22/08 - campaign fund-raising document entitled “Call List” that included a list of more than 100 potential contributors. Burris' direct law office number is beside his name with a note: “Will talk after Nov. 4 election.”
11/13/08 - conversation between Rob and Burris - Burris says, “I will personally do something OK? And it will come to you before the 15th of December."
12/09/08 - Gov. Blagojevich arrested
12/30/08 - Gov. Blagojevich appoints Burris to Senate seat
01/05/08 - Senator Burris submits sworn affidavit - “Prior to the December 26, 2008 telephone call from Mr. [Sam] Adams, Jr., there was not any contact between myself or any of my representatives with Governor Blagojevich or any of his representatives regarding my appointment to the United States Senate.”
01/08/09 - Senator Burris testifies before impeachment committee
02/04/09 - Senator Burris submits amended sworn affidavit to IL House Panel - “I recall that Governor Blagojevich’s brother, Rob Blagojevich, called me three times to seek my assistance in fund-raising for Governor Blagojevich.

*“An army of asses led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by an ass” George Washington

Here in Illinois the public imagination is too often overwhelmed by the number and quality of asses in public service. Mindless trimmers and fatuous dummies flock to elected office and seek out the news media.

Most public servants are solid women and men. The best of them appear in crises and get things done.

Republican James Durkin is one such Illinois Representative. When he picked apart Roland Burris and his three attorneys during the Impeachment hearings of Rod Blagojevich, Roe Conn and his posse laughed at Durkin on WLS. 'I can not believe this guy is lawyer!'

However Durkin was the only serious challenge to Burris by any political Party's official.

Today, it appears that Jim Durkin is a the lion among the asses.

"I can't believe anything that's coming from Mr. Burris, at this point," said State Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs). "... I think it would be in the best interest of the state if he resigned."

"If you have that much of a memory problem, maybe you shouldn't be in the United States Senate, on a capacity basis," added state Republican leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego.)

The comments come in the wake of the Feb. 5 amended affidavit that Burris, a Democrat, quietly sent to Impeachment Investigative Committee Chair Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago.)

In the new affidavit, Burris said that former governor Rod Blagojevich's brother, Robert Blagojevich, called him three times seeking fundraising assistance.

In addition, Burris said he spoke with three other close associates of the governor and a labor leader with ties to the Blagojevich administration about being appointed to the Senate. Burris previously acknowledged only having spoken to one such friend.

"We talked about transparency, we talked about ethics," Durkin said at the downtown Chicago news conference Sunday afternoon. "The fact is, we're getting a continuously changing story from Mr. Burris."

Durkin said he would ask the now-dormant impeachment committee to refer the matter to Sangamon County State's Atty. John Schmidt, a Republican. Durkin and Cross said that if the committee does not seek the criminal investigation, they might ask for one themselves.

Posted by pathickey at 1:30 PM

http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/search?q=jim+durkin

Meet Chicago Media Religion Op Eder :Manya False Decretals

Meet Chicago's Two Published Religion Thinkers who are One Person in the Same! The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times Really, really care about Religion - not Catholics or Jews or Moslems - real religion. Like Dr. Phil.

Meet Manya False-Decretals -The Quester:

Boy did the life spiritual get a boost this weekend! The Germans are thinking about banning Red Bull and That's Just Mean.

Mean People Suck. don't you think? I do. God means alot to me as long as she's not judgmental and stuff. Who's to say?

I went to Obermann University and smoked alot of hemp which helps old people with bad eyes and really cool people. I read all the stuff in the text books about the Scrolls an Arab boy found in the desert and they were Essenes* and Jesus was probably an Essene, unless you think otherwise. My coolest Prof was kicked out of the Air Force and went to Cuba to cut Cane and he said that Jesus was an Essene - they're like monks, but Jewish.

Madonna is like 50 and still so Hot, because she is spiritual. In a good way and not all doctrine icky.


My boyfriend, who was gay, but is so cool about it and not braggy, says all religion is about power. He's right. What would happen if we had a Civil Union? Not mean or nothing, but civil; that would be so chill. Cats are chill.

I like the way cats don't worry about going to church - but are soooo spiritual and Egyptian-like.

That made me think about what Bono said to Oprah -"Our generation will be remembered for the Internet, for the war against terror, and for how we let an entire continent burst into flames while we stood around with watering cans—or not,"

That was so cool I could not finish my Big Gulp. That's why I am no longer a Lakota Sioux. They are too bound by rules and they called me Thasintkala waksu
So I thought, Judas was probably doing the right thing because after all, with Jesus getting busted by the 'Garlic Noses' as Pastor Wright so rightly said, we would not have Jesus as a God and stuff. Atheist Bus Companies are Nice.

I don't think people need any more Memorial Day stuff, because it is about War. Don't you think? We should not encourage War by Honoring Baby Killers - so we won't. I like Peace Heroes, like Judas. He got Jesus where he is. And - Good Women Kill Babies before they are babies and Good Men help them.

Judas was an activist. He was really helping people and really cared about people.

That is all that matters

*http://www.essenespirit.com/

Click my post title for a genuine atrocity.

"Let me get through today, and I shall not fear tomorrow." - St. Philip Neri

The Roman Catholic Church was on the canvass in the late 16th Century, because the clergy had become secularist - priests, bishops, and even Popes more interested in promoting political action than in Doctrine.

Martin Luther threw the hay-maker when he challenged the Church theologically by nailing his 95 theses for debate on the Church door of Wittenberg.

All of the smart money was on the Protestant reforming factions and the Islamist threat posed by Suleiman the Magnificent.

The Catholic Church was not knocked out, but it did hear the ref doing the counting.

Before the ten count, it got off the canvass. The Church went back to its corner, swished some holy water around its choppers and spit the bad blood in the bucket - at the Council of Trent. The Church returned to its roots.

However, Catholics more so than the Red Hats seemed to make the practical difference - Ignatius Loyola - a Dog Faced Wounded Vet - formed the Jesuits and set about actually doing what the Apostles were told to do.

Another gent, Philip Neri worked up the lay people.

Neri was a rich kid from Florence. He decided to put business aside and work to help the Church and moved to Rome. For three years he toyed with idea of being a priest, but determined to work with lay people.

He amassed a group of like minded lay people and through conversations during the business day sought to live lives that would strengthen the Church. It worked. He developed a concept called the Oratory - a place where lay people could pray and discuss their Faith.

Philip Neri's Oratory became so popular that Neri's Confessor urged him to get himself ordained a priest - he did.

Neri used humor to poke fun at false assumptions doctrine and the practical life of most people.

There are Catholics out there concerned with the sad state of Church and continued lap-dogging of some in the clergy - like the President of that PR Driven School in Indiana, gutless 'catholic' politicians who go to Pancake breakfasts with the Knights of Columbus and then do the bidding of Planned Parenthood to kill more kids.

John Powers and Tom Roeser are two of the most public Philip Neri's in Chicago.

My neighborhood is packed with people who live the Gospel, while the chaps being paid to say Mass act like bitchy little girls.

There are priests like Father C. Frank Phillips,C.R. of St. John Cantius Parish at Chicago Ave. & Sangamon on the north side who have sparked devotion through the beauty, grace and dignity of the Traditional Latin Mass ( Novus Ordo & Tridentine) and he has helped attract more Americans to Holy Orders than any seminary. Go to St. John Cantius and witness a Church alive! Packed. Every Mass.

http://www.cantius.org/

The Catholic Church has been on canvass many times in history.

There always seems to be a Philip Neri to help the Church spit out its busted teeth and get back in the fight.


http://stbarbara.blogspot.com/

http://tomroeser.com/

Tales of the South Side - Bubs Murtaugh's Shrimp Snack

"Hey, Hickey! What's going on there, son? I hear you been hitting the 8:30 Masses with the roll-outs from Wrong's Tap*. Last time I was in that bucket o' blood was after Janey graduated from Queen of Peace. I was in there with three guys from the Assessor's Office and was still handcuffed to Mr. Booze. Twenty years. I miss it not. Saw your cousin Willie at that benefit for the Madden kid that got hit on his bike over by Monroe Park. Tommy, the fourth grader at St. John Fisher - he's Okay but he has to wear that Halo Gizmo for his neck. Willie's boy is in Paraguay with the Peace Corps, I hear . . ."

Mass on Sunday, coffee salons at Kean Gas Station on 111th, grocery stops at County Fair on Western Ave, Kennedy Park softball, and Mount Greenwood Hardware trips invariably get sauced by piquant tales that eventually and satisfyingly meander to a point. Yesterday, at 10:30 Mass on the Feast of the Ascension provided this yarn from a former Cook County insider, Vietnam War hero, member of AA, and practitioner of the dying art of south side giggle weaving. Allow me to pick up the thread. I merely punctuated the yarn with nods of assent or stutters of laughter; therefore, this should be taken as a soliloquy.

". . . Big Boy. Hell, of a football player and I can not understand why he did not get a ride somewhere, but his brain works OK, I guess. I'll bet the CIA or NSA is grooming the kid to be spook. True. That's why all the spooks doing the spy stuff seem to come from the Peace Corps. Didn't know the kid had Spanish. Like I was saying, the last time I was in Wrong's Tap was twenty-five, or thirty years ago. Remember Bubs Murtaugh? Murtaugh with U. He was a few years older than me, when you and Willie and Terry played Irish tunes in Sons of Reilly's Daughter at Boz's joint? Bubs went to St. Lawrence and played with Neusback. He was from St. Dennis Parish and lived near the tracks on 83rd and the Southwest Highway.

Bubs got full ride to St. Procopius, well it was St. Procopius and it's now Benedictine out in Lisle. He was an animal; started boozing in 5th Grade and sniffing Bell's Cleaning Fluid. His Old Man threatened to send him back to the Old Country and work the farm and shit. Bub's finally got tossed in his senior year at Proco and his Dad got him on Streets and San. Old Man Murtaugh was a Raw Jaw from Mayo, who had some drag with Jackie Daley and Kellam when he was alderman in the 18th.

Bubs was a good earner for the Ward and got a job after a few years in Finley's Office, just when all that money grabbing crap hit the papers. Bubs had only been on the job for year or so and G had eyes on him and three others and it looked like he might get tagged and have to sit for a few semesters up in Club Fed, Wisconsin. We went out to forget his troubles and Bubs marinated his brain, along with the rest of us Mike Quinlan, Traffic Cosgrove, Bubs and me.

We're at Wrongs after closing Touch of Green and Chez Joey and I got polio of the brain from the pitchers and the Happy Cossack shooters, so Mike Quinlan takes me home . . .I think. Quinlan could have taken me back to my old house in Visitation and I would of woke up to breakfast with the Washington family, but he was not yet the mean bastard that he is today. Quinlan goes back to Wrong's, after slowing down to thirty and dumping me on the lawn and Bubs is blubbering to Traffic and Q-Dog, like a fat girl not going to prom.

'I ain't took a dime! I woulda. . . but them tight, fixed bastards that is . . . never gave me chance a the gelt and, now, my Old Man is pissed at me for killing a good job and I told him I DIDN'T DO NOTHING!' And on and on, I guess, . . .like I said, I'm at home sleeping in my clothes on the basement couch and awaiting the for-sure execution from Marnie, when she sees the cut of me in the morning.

Now, Bubs has been named on TV by Ron Magers and his name was even mentioned in Royko and he's a public figure now. He's an innocent, drunk lard-assed public figure. A giant sized Victim and Patsy all set for the shafting to come.

So Bubs, a practiced Drunk Driver, who has taken out more than several sections from the fence that eats cars on 111th over by Mount Olivet, gets in his Pontiac and listens to the little wizard in the brain control tower telling him it's a great idea to go buy a dozen shrimp and off he goes to the Calumet Shrimp Shack on 95th & Chicago Ave**. by the bridge on the Harbor.

The Angel F#$%ing Gabriel takes the wheel for Bubs and drives the Ponty over east without killing anyone.

Bubs and the Guardian angel drive the shrimp back, somehow, back to the neighborhood to dine je suis ivre behind the steering wheel and Bubs shoves the greasy catfish bait loaded with coctail sauce into his hole and tosses the sauce heaped tails!

Now, Bubs has gallons of Old Syle, about a pint of vodka shooters and a good pound and change of sauce-soaked shrimps packed into him and he goes 'night-night' with his giant buffalo head on the driver's side window.

'OH SWEET MERCIFUL MOTHER! He's BLOWN HIS BRAINS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's about ten neighbors and his Old Man yanking Bubs out of the drivers seat.

It's Daylight and Mrs. Higgins was walking her dog Chappie over to the tracks on Southwest Highway for his morning constitutional and sees Bubs' Giant Head covered in red! With Red smeared all over the driver's window, because Bubs never opened the window while tossing his shrimp tails! There's cocktail sauce all over the window and bits of shrimp! They thought Bubs pulled the Dutch Act because of the spotlight on him!'

Never, was charged. His Old Man beat the living shit out him for the scare he tossed into him, and he had a hangover that would kill a Polish girl. Bubs retired two years ago and still lives in his folks' house over in St. Bede's near Durkin Park.

Yeah, I stay out of Wrongs Tap. How's your kids, Hickey?'

* Click my post title for Wrong's Tap

**
http://www.centerstagechicago.com/restaurants/calumet-fisheries.html

Pentecost,Memorial Day and a Young Man's Death

Veni, Creator Spiritus is the hymn that Terry McEldowney will sing at today's 10:30 Mass for Sacred Heart Church at 116th & Church here on the south side.

Terry McEldowney has one of the most powerful and rich baritones in Western Civilization - he is especially poignant when remembering our Fallen Veterans and in reminding weak Catholics like me of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Max Weissmann is the Director of the Center for the Study of Great Ideas at University of Chicago. Mr. Weissmann, an architect and philosopher, helped Mortimer Adler develop the Center. Max sent me the photos posted above.

Terry and Max know loss. Terry and Max know the power of Faith. I am proud to call each man my friend.

This is the Feast of The Ascension of Christ.

Next Sunday is the Feast of the Pentecost, which memorializes the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon Mary the Mother of God and the Twelve Apostles. This might be considered a more powerful Feast than Christmas or Easter to Christians, as it recounts the sense of loss experienced by the Apostles and Christ's Mother following the Ascension of Christ. All of us lose those we love. The saddest of us are the ones who lose themselves - forget our roots, our family, our obligations and our place in God's Hands.

Tomorrow, we also celebrate the loss of men and women who have given their lives for our Country. My Dad was a seventeen year old who went to the Solomon Islands in 1943 with the 3rd Marines, and then fought at Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima and mopped up Guam some more until he was mustered out of the service. He is now a seventeen year old octogenarian, who has witnessed the ascension of his mother, father, brothers and sisters, friends, and daughter in law ( my wife Mary). He will be at 9AM Mass in Orland Park with his bride. He will hear Veni, Creator Spiritus

A family near me, lost their baby. Jack Callahan was a big strapping eighteen year old Marist football player who died following a seizure hours before his graduation from high school. ( click my post title for Mark Konkol's touching story)

My baby son, who worked at Di Cola's Fish Market until late last night, is sleeping. My baby girls are sleeping.

On the Pentecost, God sent his Spirit to revive us. On Memorial Day, we as a nation recall the babies who sacrificed themselves for Liberty.

Tell me God does not know what He is doing. Tell me that God not only sent the Holy Ghost, but also Terry McEldowney and Max Weissmann, outside of His Plan. Faith happens, when we let go of what is meant to return to Him according to that plan and also, when we try to make sense of the beautiful, as well as the terrible, sent as a gift to each of us.

Veni, Creator! We'll remember.

Veni, creator Spiritus
mentes tuorum visita,
imple superna gratia,
quae tu creasti pectora.

Come Holy Spirit, creator, come
from your bright heavenly throne,
come take possession of our souls
and make them all your own

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. Was Right to Pay His Wife - Sandi Jackson is Smart, Experienced and a Winner.

Congressman Jesse Jackson has enemies. Many of them hate his Old Man. Some of them see Jackson as a political threat. A few of them fear his motives. Rahm Emanuel wants to send a message. Jan Schakowsky is Samantha's Mom.

Hell, I have given Congressman Jackson a few tickles - called him Kid Staples over the Tummy Tuck Nuance, but he has kept the lard off. I think his Pops is an Old Timey Stick-Up artist. I think that Congressman Jackson is dead wrong on the Peotone Airport. Hey, big deal. I got McCain three votes - unless Conor and Nora fibbed and went for Obama. What the hell do I know? I know this about Congressman Jackson - I like him.

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. knows history and is a serious student of 19th Century American History -especially the Civil War. He was member of the board of a Holy Cross Brothers school in Indiana back in the late 1990's and brought a tough-minded eye to the school's future that eventually closed after Jackson helped keep the school viable long after it became evident that it's days were numbered.

The Chicago Media has been pipe-lined a story that adds fresh manure to the growing desire of some political sneaks to end Jesse Jackson's career. News creatures are the pets of political wizards who toss them nuance like Bits of Ritz to squirrels in the park- e.g Burge Sank the Lusitania! or TIFS IS BAD, rolled out when Mike Quigley fed his University of Chicago crafted policy study du jour to Ben Joravsky at the Chicago Reader and Mark Brown at the Sun Times and still rolling for the Granta and Redaction Readers of Hip Chicago. These niche story lines become the shingles on the political roof that covers Chicago. A story becomes a paradigm in Nuance ( BS ) Chicago, where every reporter thinks he's Emil Zola and every columnist firmly believes that every reader is a dope with no memory. However, there are more than a points of view in every circumstance. Life is NOT poetry ( not neat and tidy and brief); Life is Prose ( messy, quotidian) and as long as a Studs Terkel anecdote.

Tamara Holder* and I agree on a few things and one of them is that Congressman Jackson seems to be getting smeared by political hacks, their pet Watchdog groups and the compliant purse-puppies in Chicago's Media. Ms. Holder and I have had a few tussles over the Ickes Riots last summer when Pops Jackson had his Rainbow Jammies Sleepover and recently over my misunderstanding of Parole Violators and the Expungement work being done by Tamara Holder. I tend to believe Cops work to protect and serve the public and Ms. Holder, as criminal attorney, might be advocate for some bad guys. She is stuck between two immovable forces - Legal Louses like Flint Taylor and oafish Law Enforcement. There is a wide field in between and sometimes I miss that fact.

Criminal Attorney and Record Expungement expert Tamara Holder, with whom I have crossed thoughts ( she was classy and I was my Mick-minded Jerk Self, of course) questions the charges against Jackson - He paid His Wife out of His Campaign Funds!
Merciful Maxwell House, Murial!

Tamara Holder, who has had her battles with the Congressman's Pa herself, sees the same nuance that I see in the attacks on Jesse and Sandi Jackson -

The witch hunt against Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. must come to an end. Today, it was reported that Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. has paid his wife approximately $250,000 for her assistance in his campaign. Article here.

Most importantly, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee states that at least 40 members of Congress, from both parties, employ spouses or family members in their campaigns. As for Illinois, the practice is very very common.

This is issue spinning at its best.

1) The reason for the Congressional Ethics inquiry into Jesse Jackson, Jr. was specifically to determine if he was involved in any quid pro quo with then-Governor Rod Blagojevich for the Obama's vacant senate seat. Congressman Jackson was not the subject of an inquiry for any other reason.

2) The Congressman's wife, Sandi, has been his #1 supporter. She is not a stay-at-home wife but instead a highly educated lawyer with real practice experience. She brings great talent and expertise to the campaign.

3) The amount he has paid his wife, has been for real consulting work. She has been at the forefront of his campaigning and her work has always been publicly known.

4) All payments to Sandi have been pre-approved. Congressman Jackson never paid her without full disclosure of his intent to do so.

5) Congressman Jackson fully disclosed to the Ethics Committee all payments to Sandi upon their request of his financial records.

6) From Rick Bryant at Congressman Jackson's office:

"There is nothing wrong and nothing new here.

"The fact is the Congressman sought and received written permission from the FEC to pay Sandi as a consultant. He also sought and received written FEC permission to contribute to her campaign. They both honor the practice of transparency.

"Sandi was paid on average $27,400 a year to regularly file FEC reports and advise his campaign. She has enormous experience -- a lawyer, former congressional chief of staff, former vice president of the U.S. Export/Import Bank, a former deputy director of the DNC. She's paid fair market value for bonafide services as the FEC stipulated eight years ago.

There are some real beauts doing the chumming for the lazy ink-sharks here in Chicago. I suspect Rahm Emanuel and Jan Schakowsky, because Rahm wants Fitzy to quit looking at ANYTHING that could tar-brush his boss. SEIU Illinois was all over the Criminal Complaint against Blagojevich, but that has been quieted up. Rahma -Lama Dang Dong would have no problem getting Chicago Dems give him a hand in tossing poop Jackson's way. As for Jan Schakowsky, the Congress Critter who looks like the Mamma Witch on the Old Bewitched Show, Jan was whining for the Obama Senate Seat from the day that Obama announced Change We Can Believe In in Springfield. Not only that, Jan Schakowsky knows all about the jackpot that can be tossed on spouse. Hubby Bob Creamer kited 501(c)3 checks and Jan, it seems helped blow the ink dry.


The thing is Jesse Jackson, Junior married the right girl. Not only is Sandi Jackson a beyond fetching young lady, she happens to be political professional with more of resume than the current Commander in Chief.

Early in Jackson's political career she served as press secretary for United States Congressman Mickey Leland. After the 1988 Democratic National Convention, she began working for Michael Dukakis who had become the Democratic party's nominee for United States President in the 1988 United States presidential election.[9]

Jackson's political career prior to her election as 7th Ward Alderman included the following positions: Deputy Director of Training for the Democratic National Committee, Director of Scheduling Operations for Rev. Jesse Jackson, Vice President of Congressional and External Affairs for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (appointed by Bill Clinton), Director of VIP Relations for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, National Outreach Coordinator for the Clinton/Gore 96 Campaign, and campaign manager and chief political strategist for many other politicians.[6]

"If Bill Clinton's wife can run for the U.S. Senate, if Bob Dole's wife can run for the Senate and for president, then why can't my wife be an alderman?"
——Jesse Jackson, Jr.[25] (December 2002)

While Jackson was serving as the Export-Import Bank's director of congressional affairs, she lobbied in opposition of her husband's proposal to tighten the restrictions on the activities in Africa of the Export-Import Bank. She did so successfully, as her husband's amendment failed.[26]

Jackson considered running for public office during the 2003 Chicago municipal elections.[25] At the time, Jackson, Jr. discouraged his wife from running for public office.[27] However, he felt his wife should be eligible to run for Alderman, despite the controversy surrounding such a candidacy.[25]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandi_Jackson

* Click my post title for Tamara Holder!

BGA - Tell Andy Shaw What Floor You're On!

Sneed hears former Channel 7 political reporter Andy Shaw is this/close to becoming the new head of the Better Government Association, an independent government watchdog group.

This is now a twice told tale -

True story, this one! Remember Terry Teele, Mayor Daley's go-to-guy on all things Planning and Development? Get this.

When Terry Teele was forced to resign from his position in Daley's Office, I happened to be sitting in the Planning and Development waiting room - a breathless Andy Shaw Charged In - 'The Teele resignation - I'M here!'

The lovely middle aged black woman informed this Profound Newshound - 'Fifth Floor, Sir. Mr. Teele works on the Fifth Floor. We are on the 10th Floor?'

http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2008/11/abc-7s-andy-shaw-takes-stupid-national.html


So the Better Government Association is giving Andy Shaw a job! That's Great!

Now Here's a D'Andy Shaw Yarn ripped from the pages of Chicago Police Homicide sheaves of wholesome potboilers!

I recall an account by a famous Chicago Homicide Detective who encountered the Truth Bloodhound Shaw at a crime scene in Chatham.

It seems that a gang-banger had run afoul of some like-inclined chaps who decided to 'Ride the 9 Down on the . . .' mmmm . . . Oedipal Fellow!

The 'victim' was 'broken up' so to speak due to the proximity and impact of the 9mm calling cards tossed his way. The victim was in about eight pieces truth to tell.

Ignoring police protocol and warnings Andy persisted in jamming the microphone under the nose of the lead detective -'I Demand to Know What Happened! The People Demand it, Detective!'

To which the world weary investigator responded to the not-to-be-ignored Andy Shaw,
'We suspect foul play, Andy.'

Yes, Yes! Andy Shaw will have the Truth!

Thus one might say - Andy Shaw meets Doyle Brunson and Phil Helmuth at the World Series of Poker -'Playing Cards, Fellows?'


Again from Sneed

-• • Background: Shaw, who was once an education reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, retired earlier this year after 35 years in Chicago television and print. Congrats Andy!

Scoop 'em!