Tamara Holder Links Gate Crashers, Plaxico Burress and Eric Holder's Flawed Legal World

Chicago Criminal Attorney Tamara Holder nails it down - Trying the 9/11 Terrorists/White House Gate Crashers and Illinois Lotto Ball Watcher Desiree Rogers.

Thus!


Obama, the Secret Service, and his party-planner, Desiree Rogers (she decided to be a guest instead...could you imagine your wedding planner sitting down at your dinner?) should be embarrassed by the security breach. I will be shocked if the administration seeks to charge this couple.

Avec!

For whatever reason, Eric Holder thinks that if we try the 911 terrorists here on American soil, we are proving to the world that we are "not a nation of cowards." That idealism is just as bogus as when Plaxico Burress entered a night club with a gun in his sweatpants to make himself feel like a tough guy; instead, the idiot ends up shooting himself in the thigh. Our security is about as tight as Plaxico's waistband "holster": not at all. Holder should probably have a chat with Plaxico from his prison cell and ask Plaxico if trying to show that you are "tough" gets you very far. I am sure Plaxico can give him a wise man's advice.

Remember, just a few weeks ago, the Ft. Hood mass-murders proved our intelligence and security on American soil is lacking. To be honest, I don't really care if the shooter is a jihadist or a straight-up psycho. At the end of the day, the FBI had intelligence that he was blogging and communicationing very questionable ideas and yet our intelligence community did nothing.

Ft. Hood was supposed to be one of the most secure military bases in the country.

Then, a glamorous couple walks onto the White House property without security clearance and without an invitation. They coddle with Biden, Axelrod, and shake our President's hand. The next morning, they post their security breach all over America via Facebook. What a disgusting slap in the face to our country.

So how can Eric Holder assure Americans, especially NYC residents, that they will be protected from KSM followers? He can't. He must get the "we are not a nation of cowards" idea out of his head. He needs to put the kibosh on trying the "alleged" terrorists in our country. We are not safe now and we definitely will not be safe when those men are brought from Guantanamo to the United States. We can make our voices heard across the world by trying the men elsewhere.

Obama, his administration and the intelligence community better wake up. These security breaches, whether it's at Ft. Hood or on the White House lawn, prove one thing: Americans are not safe; therefore, we cannot try the 911 terrorists on our turf.

www.tamaraholder.com and www.xpunged.com

Moron The Disarray - Sorry, More On the Desiree Rogers Genius Tour of Obama's D. C. State Dinner!

That's Desiree Rogers and her Resume!

The account of Cathy Hargraves, who formerly served as White House "assistant for arrangements," raises new questions about whether changes that she says were made by President Obama's social secretary, Desiree Rogers, may have contributed to the security lapses that permitted Virginia socialites Michele and Tareq Salahi to crash the state dinner for India's prime minister last week and get themselves photographed with the president.

Desiree Rogers has flitted from one well-paying job to more handsomely remunerated positions of power to the White House itself by cashing in her own personal Lotto Ticket - that 'really something' that make Desiree Rogers indispensable to folks in and on the fringes of tax-payer paid for government. From Lotto to People Gas to All State Insurance and the White House, Desiree Rogers has bounced her butt into more lucrative chairs and luxurious laps than Madame Du Barry! She is the ex-wife of Ariel Capital mogul John Rogers a Progressive Political ATM Machine.

With the Crashing Salahis taking Obama's Afghan/Paki; Health Care, Stimulus Package, Roaring Unemployment, Bowing at 45 Degree Angles and World Travel troubles off the dial for the moment, folks are lining Secret Service agents up for the toss under the bus. Butt! Chicagoans know and love the antics of Desiree Rogers - blowing up Mount Greenwood for Peoples Gas while wearing stylish yellow rubber boots and slickers to going all Messalina on people occupying positions that get in her way.

Now, D.C. Insiders are learning about Lotto Lolita!

Hargraves, however, says the lack of a social office employee on the scene at the gate might have made a difference. During her tenure, she says, it was not uncommon for guests at state dinners to arrive only to discover that their names hadn't been placed on the official guest list. In such situations, she says, she always refused the person entry until she could verify that they had actually been invited.

If she had been on the job at the White House last Tuesday night, the Salahis "would not have made it past the East Gate portico," she says. Once she had ascertained that they had not been invited, she says she would have called in the Secret Service officer who let them through in the first place and "they would have been escorted out."

After her tense meeting with Rogers last February, in which Hargraves says the social secretary made clear she did not want her to continue in the same role she had before, Hargraves says her job was essentially downgraded to what she calls a "data entry clerk": Her new job was simply to enter the names of White House guests into the Secret Services computers for clearance, not to broadly supervise state dinners and manage the invitations and arrival of guests. Dissatisfied with her new role, she says she quit on June 5 and moved with her husband, a State Department employee, to Houston. (Her staff slot was initially filled by a volunteer, who was later promoted to a full-time position but without her broad responsibilities for overseeing the guests at state dinners, she says.)

In some ways, Hargraves's account is reminiscent of culture clashes that have arisen in the past between outgoing and incoming White House staff members. Moreover, Hargraves acknowledges that the new Obama staff may have distrusted her because she had originally served as a political appointee in the Office of the cabinet secretary under President Bush. But Hargraves, who is a registered nurse by profession, says she has never worked on a political campaign and, as far as she is concerned, her loyalty was to the White House as an institution, not to the Bush administration.

How can someone so elegant be so Blond?

I Got a Margaret Sanger Gold Dollar That Says, ' Desiree Rogers Is Salahi Wave-In

Everyone in America's Compliant Media has set his/her stop watch to the firing of a Secret Service Agent over the Virgina Slims who slipped through the Obama State Dinner.

Only someone as "special' as Chicago's Own Lotto Ball Girl and John Rogers Ex - Desiree Rogers ( The Gal who blew up blocks of Mount Greenwood while Peoples Gas Champ) could be our Progressive Prowler Pivot Person'

Desiree should have taken the short yellow bus to school, but had her abilities overlooked due to her viscerally more appealing aspects - as the old story went "Desiree, You are sitting on a Gold Mine!"

The White House referred most questions to the Secret Service, but sources familiar with procedures during big White House events said that typically someone from the Office of the Social Secretary would be at one of the secret service checkpoints just in case there is any confusion. While rare, guests can be inadvertently left off a list, the source said.

Responding to a question about whether her staff was represented at any of the checkpoints, Social Secretary Desiree Rogers*, told AP: "We were not." Yet there were also no attempts by agents at the checkpoint to contact the social office, a source said.

NBC News anchor, Brian Williams, an invited guest, saw the couple arrive by car at the East Gate of the White House, yet said the Salahi's vehicle was turned away.

"Actually the first ring of Secret Service security had worked," Williams said on Thursday's nightly broadcast. "After their vehicle was turned away, they hopped out. What attracted our attention was there was at least one camera trailing them. And a makeup woman got out and fixed the woman’s hair and then started powdering the man's forehead."

Watch folks! This Tale will hit Desiree Rogers like a 9 Iron on Tiger's Noggin!

Desiree has handed real people more laughs over the years than we truly desereve! Blowing up Mount Greenwood and blaming the Unions in yellow boots and rain gear- Killer!


ccustomed to the spotlight, Peoples Gas President Desiree Rogers finds herself on the hot seat as regulators probe safety procedures at the Chicago gas utility.
Ms. Rogers must deal with three investigations — federal, state and internal. Peoples Gas faces questions about testing procedures for pipe corrosion and the possibility that some employees falsified test records. The Illinois Commerce Commission last week launched a legal process that could result in a $1-million fine. And if evidence shows that employees falsified safety reports, criminal penalties for those responsible could be in the offing.
Last week's news was another blow to a company already tarred by allegations that it conspired with Enron Corp. to overcharge customers. That case was settled last month after Peoples agreed to a $100-million customer refund without admitting wrongdoing, but the episode claimed the job of Thomas Patrick, CEO of Peoples Energy Corp., parent company of Peoples Gas. He agreed to step down by February 2007.
Unlike the Enron case, however, which focused on the parent company, the pipe-testing breakdown happened in the unit Ms. Rogers oversees and involves the most critical aspect of gas utility operations — safety.
Known for her communication skills and political savvy, Ms. Rogers, 46, faces multiple challenges that will test those abilities and require others she's not as known for. She must get to the bottom of the inspection problems without becoming identified with them; mend strained relations with state regulators, and then persuade them to grant Peoples a hefty rate hike, which the company expects to request in early June.
"Is this the biggest challenge of my career? Absolutely," says the high-profile executive, who is active on the city's charitable and social circuit and sits on numerous boards, including the Lincoln Park Zoo (where she's vice-chairman) and the Museum of Science and Industry. She joined Peoples as vice-president of corporate communications in 1997 after serving as director of the Illinois Lottery. She was named chief marketing officer in 2000 and president in 2004 of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, which serve the city and some northern suburbs.
How she responds to this crisis will demonstrate whether Ms. Rogers' has the operational skills to match her other talents. She bristles at the suggestion that she's more marketer than manager, pointing out that in 21 months as Peoples president, she's improved response times at the customer service center, converted paper records of inspection results to an electronic system and eliminated a massive backlog of home gas meter inspections.
"We're going to see, and (Peoples') board is going to see, how good of an operational person she is," says Richard Mathias, former chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) and currently Midwest liaison for regional electricity transmission grid operator PJM Interconnection. "It will be a real test."
Ms. Rogers is installing a new training and auditing regimen, and hiring quality-control employees to check compliance work. She promises the utility's safety procedures "will be a whole lot better in a year. A lot better."
LETTER OFFENDED UNION
First, Ms. Rogers must determine the extent of the corrosion-testing problems at Peoples. In a spot check recently of nearly 400 pipes that Peoples tested last year, state inspectors found that about 40% had inadequate corrosion protection. More seriously, at about 10% of the locations where Peoples had provided positive test results, the inspectors couldn't find any monitoring equipment to take a reading, raising questions about whether false results were being recorded. (Corrosion can lead to pipe leaks, allowing gas to escape, accumulate and potentially cause explosions.) No leaks have been found, and Peoples says its pipes are safe.
In a sign of how delicate Ms. Rogers' task will be, union leaders at Peoples took offense to a sharply worded letter she sent to gas distribution workers after learning of the ICC findings. The letter suggested some workers violated the company's code of conduct, putting at risk "their jobs and the reputation of the company."
"That was very accusatory in tone, and we took offense to it," says John Groenwald, business manager of the Gas Workers Union Local 18007, which represents 875 Peoples employees.
Ms. Rogers says she'll work with the union to address the problems, but doesn't apologize for her blunt approach: "It's not business as usual. It cannot be."
©2006 by Crain Communications Inc.

The Gate Crashers, Bob Creamer's Swag-Bag and Our L'il Bow-Wow -in-Chief's White House Amatuer Hour!

Hey, At least President Barack "L'il Bow-Wow" Obama did not jackknife into a low obeisance to the Gate Crashers. John Bachelor has a wonderful essay on our National Cutest ( Next to Barack and Michelle of course) Couple! Extra, EXTRA!!!

The Vineyard-Bankrupts of Virginia are well on their way to becoming the Colin Kelly*'s of the Obama White House - cheeky, wealthy, stylishly-hip, gracefully clever, edgy, and so-so venal! Hell, Illinois Congressional Nitwit Jan Shakowsky was able to drag along her Felon Husband Bob 'The Shank" Creamer without a "Dem Your eyes, Agent Dobbins! The Blighter's On Desiree's List Afteh all! Soory, Guvnah!"
Sic et Non!
Convicted Felon and Alinsky-style community organizer, Bob Creamer, (husband of Socialist Progressive Democrat Jan Schakowsky), who was last seen training Organizers for Obama in 2007, dined with our nation’s most polished at last night’s State dinner at the White House.
Bob Creamer was convicted for check fraud and tax evasion, related to his work with DSA connected Citizen Action.

Rahn Emanual will place the the Coo-some Salehi's at the top on future events and maybe even on White House retainers as consultants. They will be Progressive Darlings - and they are.

The well-heeled bankrupt Middle Eastern American fop and his serial dater bride,Michaele and Tareq Salahi, are tailor made for the Obama White House. President Obama bows to Progressive Will, Planned Parenthood and all the folks who wish us no good will.


T

PM has been digging, and on close examination Michaele and Tareq Salahi have been moving in high end social and political circles for quite some time.

The White House is just the creme de la creme of the hot spots they've hit - the Salahis have attended receptions at the Executive Mansion in Virginia, big-dollar dinners for Congressional leadership and appear grinning next to top politicians and celebrities in dozens of photos on the Internet.

They own a winery and are heavily involved with the U.S. Polo Team, and they managed to get formally announced at the White House Wednesday night, before posing happily with Vice President Joe Biden and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. (They also met President Obama in the receiving line.)

Colin Kelly - Dead White Man from WWII

In the dark days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, American forces fought back against an overwhelming Japanese onslaught, with obsolete aircraft and equipment. With minimal resources and no hope of reinforcement, they fought a desperate, losing battle, hoping to buy a little time for the United States and her allies in the Pacific. As the Japanese advanced through the Phillipines, U.S. airmen and soldiers fought until they surrendered or were destroyed. Their valiant sacrifice is still remembered today.

Representative of their valor was a young B-17 pilot, Captain Colin Kelly, who, with a handful of others, flew the first American bombing missions of World War II. Three days afer Pearl Harbor, with Clark Field under air attack, he made an emergency takeoff with three 600-pound bombs aboard. He located several Japanese cruisers shelling a landing area near Aparri. Kelly's plane bombed from 22,000 feet, amazingly, hitting a cruiser. On the way back to Clark, he and his crew were attacked by a squadron of Japanese Zeros led by top ace Saburo Sakai. They raked the Fortress from the rear in a running battle for several dozen miles, killing the waist gunner and injuring others. As the crippled ship began to fall to earth, Kelly held the controls steady while the others bailed out. As the sixth man left the ship, it blew up. His was the first B-17 lost in combat; Kelly was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

The Dubai Burp: Chicago's John Buck Company looks at the Curve in Its Rear View Mirror

To consistently exceed the highest expectations of our customers, clients and shareholders in the business of commercial development, leasing and property asset management services.

To be the premier commercial real estate firm in Abu Dhabi recognized across the Middle East as the most experienced, sophisticated and professional in its class.

John Buck* Company International

While International Finance Wiz Kids, Plutocrats, Business Journalists and Chicken Littles burped up the cranberries early this morning over the tanking of Dubai World ( Real Estate Where There is No Land), John Buck Company Investors rolled over and dreamed of Christmas.

John Buck looks at what the really smart folks call the Curve in his rear-view mirror.

Like most things that impact on his investors and his Company, John Buck saw the differences between Dubai and Abu Dahbi as investment headquarters. It appears that John Buck was right once more this November 27, 2009 as the tanking of Dubai World has rocked Wall Street. John Buck did business with the tough, stolid, stoical and taciturn tradesman, while the prodigal attracted all the cool kids and spent their money quicker than a drunk on payday:

While Dubai has been the glamor emirate of recent years, expanding flashily and purposefully as a regional tourism and financial hub under its ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum on the back of foreign investment, it will be oil-rich Abu Dhabi that will be bailing it out. The state-backed investment company, Dubai World, is having to restructure and has asked creditors for a six-month "standstill" on repayments on $60 billion of its debt.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/27/dubai-abu-dhabi-debt-default-business-notes-on-the-news.html

DUBAI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Fund managers will rotate dedicated money out of Dubai and into Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Egypt in search of a safe investment haven, as the Gulf emirate delayed billions of dollars of debt obligations this week.

Reuters

Texas John Buck saw Boeing coming to Chicago and prepared a place for it; John Buck created North Michigan Avenue out of the quaint and dusty shops that once shuffled like a geezer from Chicago Ave. to the River; He sold Sears Tower immediately after 9/11; and saw that Abu Dhabai was the just the right Arab Emirate to go Global. Dubai was sexy - Abu Dhabi the smart sister.

Chicago's John Buck Company makes the Old Testament verse shout out - "Where there is No Vision the People Perish!" John Buck must eat carrots 24/7.

This Black Friday Morning, John Buck Company investors can go to the Fridge and make themselves a Stuffing Sandwich for the balance of year. They'll sleep fine.


* I have known John Buck since 1989. He is a Christian gentleman.

John A. Buck
Chief Executive Officer
John A. Buck founded The John Buck Company in 1981 and serves as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. John played a pivotal role in the joint venture partnership with Mubadala, and as Chief Executive Officer of John Buck International, he now oversees the company’s comprehensive real estate services.
Throughout his career, John has actively contributed to the community by serving on numerous civic boards and committees, including The John Buck Company Foundation, which focuses on at-risk children and families in the Chicago metro-area.

God's Blessing to All on Thanksgiving!

By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Micheal they are taking you away
For you stole Trevelyan's corn
So the young might see the morn
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay

.
Fields of Athenry - Click my Post Title for this wonderful ballad sung by Paddy Reilly

We give thanks for all your benefits,
almighty God,
who lives and reigns forever.

May the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God,
rest in peace.

Amen.

Bobby Rush Wonders - 'Can Whitey be Crushed to Death?' Nope. White Entitlement Coverage Precludes That

Responding to the convictions of the E-2 Night Club owners over the deaths of a score of black customers smothered and crushed to death in a stampede for the exits, Congressman Bobby Rush a Prgressive Intellectual posed this Hegalian Plum of Head-Scratcher -

Rush told reporters after the sentencing that when the stampede occurred, "instead of calling for rescue personnel the city called for riot personnel." Those killed and injured in the tragedy were black, and Rush said he wondered if the same would have happened if the victims had been white.

Nope. It's all covered at birth for all Caucasians!

White Folks, were any present at E-2, would all have survived, or been resurrected, due to White Entitlement - Stampede and Death by Crushing While Rushing for the Exits Clause # 1-57,897.

White Entitlement also allows White Women to get sucker-punched by Black Intellectuals* in New York as well.

It's all there in black and white.

*
A prominent Columbia architecture professor punched a female university employee in the face at a Harlem bar during a heated argument about race relations, cops said yesterday.

Police busted Lionel McIntyre, 59, for assault yesterday after his bruised victim, Camille Davis, filed charges.

McIntyre and Davis, who works as a production manager in the school's theater department, are both regulars at Toast, a popular university bar on Broadway and 125th Street, sources said.

The professor, who is black, had been engaged in a fiery discussion about "white privilege" with Davis, who is white, and another male regular, who is also white, Friday night at 10:30 when fists started flying, patrons said.

McIntyre, who is known as "Mac" at the bar, shoved Davis, and when the other patron and a bar employee tried to break it up, the prof slugged Davis in the face, witnesses said.

"The punch was so loud, the kitchen workers in the back heard it over all the noise," bar back Richie Velez, 28, told The Post. "I was on my way over when he punched Camille and she fell on top of me."

The other patron involved in the dispute said McIntyre then took a swing at him after he yelled, "You don't hit a woman!"

"He knocked the glasses right off my face," said the man, who would only give his first name as "Shannon." "The punch came out of nowhere. Mac was talking to us about white privilege and what I was doing about it -- apparently I wasn't doing enough."

McIntyre had squabbled with Davis several weeks earlier over issues involving race, witnesses said. As soon as the professor threw the punch Friday, server Rob Dalton and another employee tossed him out.

"It was a real sucker punch," Dalton said. "Camille's a great lady, always nice to everybody, and doesn't deserve anything like this."

Davis was spotted wearing sunglasses yesterday to conceal the black eye. Reached at her Columbia office, she declined to comment on the alleged attack.

McIntyre was released without bail at his arraignment last night.

"It was a very unfortunate event," he said afterwards. "I didn't mean for it to explode the way it did."

Additional reporting by Sarah Makuta


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/prof_busted_in_columbia_gal_punch_JmsXQ3NzaAt8uG6uUySGTN

Bitching The Catholic Bishops

The problem with Christian Living is 'No Bitching Allowed.' Christ washed feet and had his own nailed to wood. As I recall from Father John Gavin O.S.A. in 1969 telling us " Only Suckers Beef."

That was pre-Feminist America.

Catholic bishops have every right to speak their mind and preach the church's teaching. But they are engaging in outright political lobbying. Helping to write legislation that turns Catholic doctrine into law. Violating the separation of church and state.

When bishops lobby legislators, they should be required to do what all tax-exempt 501(c)3 groups have to do. Create a parallel political organization and pay taxes on the contributions they receive. And fully disclose, like every other lobbying organization -- corporate or charitable -- what they take in and what they spend to advance positions they advocate.

Bitching -Repeatedly saying something over and over, or rather whining about it, therefore destroying the point you were trying to make and making you look like a complete bitch because no one is listening to you. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bitching

Bitching up Storm, Carol Marin is. Why? Because Carol is a Catholic Feminist and believes that women can do everything a man can do - only Paternalism and White Man Meanness keep things at the Bitching Level. Carol is a past Master, er Mistress, er really good at bitching; Carol generally displays real acidic contempt and disdain for anyone who is not her. Remember, her treatment of Chris and Mary Fogarty and Lura Lynn Ryan?

Well, the fact is that good men in skirts and funny hats are doing a far better job saving children from having their skulls popped in a mom's womb than Today's Botoxed Bored Feminist - like Carol Marin, Weepy Joan Walsh, Illinois Progressive Nitwit Jan Schakowsky and others.

There's a knot of talented educated Catholic women who have never forgiven God for making them women or not making them men or some combination of the two - at any rate, they are howlingly pissed that they can't say Mass.

They are smarter than priests, bishops and Popes and let all of us know that - I worked with a few. Long story short, after beefing about the role of men in the Church they ask one of us lumpy, hairy sexists to go an jump the battery on their Volvo. Feminists are never allowed to purchase jumper-cables for some reason. Nor, are Feminists allowed to imagine that Abortion is the slaughter of a child.

Abortion and the women who love it are losing the good will of the American people, because a medical procedure that kills a child for cosmetic purposes in not a woman's health issue. Planned Parenthood paid good money for the Kennedy Family and President Obama and demands more dead children.

Catholic Bishops and other American Churchman are just saying no to any political dodge that leads to the killing of a child. Bishop Tobin of Providence twisted little Patrick Kennedy's ears and the entire media arm of the Abortion lobby - Salon, MSNBC, Huffington Pos, New York Times, NBC, CNN, and Perez Hilton are howling and bitching like its 1969!

We hear you Carol. Can help but. . .!

MSNBC Whited Sepulchre of Planned Parenthood, Part 2 -Chris Matthews & Lawrence O'Donnell Altar Boys of Abortion

Click my post title for Chris Matthews imbecilic, obnoxious and offensive disrespect of Bishop Thomas Tobin.

“This is a political act by a political bishop… Political bishops do the church absolutely no good. This guy’s—this bishop is a political hack.”

– Lawrence O’Donnell, MSNBC

“What law would you pass?” You’re coming down on Congressman Kennedy and other public officials. …Would you outlaw abortion?” Chris Matthews, MSNBC

That Chris Matthews and Lawrence O'Donnell are hacks and bad ones at that is no problem. That MSNBC is an Advocacy Propaganda Mill is no problem. They should not be fired, they should be invited to every Knights of Columbus Council in America for a chat with fellow Catholic Laymen. Father Perez Council on the south side of Chicago would be particularly warm in its recognition of each GE shill on MSNBC and their attack on Catholics and the Unborn.

That Catholic Doctrine and Catholic Bishops are under attack by MSNBC and its Stooge Line-up is a problem.

General Electric/NBC/MSNBC have made a collective decision to assault the largest single religious group in America, because there is money to be made from their perceived 70% balance of the American Demographic and counting on visceral Catholics, like the Kennedys, Matthews and O'Donnells. General Electric has invested millions of dollars in the Progressive Political market: Green Capitalism, Foreign Policy Obeisance, Debtor-based capitalism with Asia, Government Marketplace -Not a good bet. Conditions are proving that and all the propaganda organ can do is crank out assaults on the opposition - Catholics, Palin, Tea-Party, School Choice, Anti-Abortion Americans.

Catholics are not happy with politicians enthralled to Planned Parenthood. Catholics are happy with leaders like Bishop Thomas Tobin.

Catholics will scorn idiots like Matthews and O'Donnell who shill for their masters, but they will take action against the merchants who pay these shills.

MSNBC Whited Sepulchre of Planned Parenthood

"Democracy is finished in England. It may be here," Joe Kennedy 1940 -tragic

“The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion" Patrick Kennedy 2009 - Comic

Fatuous Loudmouth and History Clod Chris Matthews attempted Theology. Today he insulted all Catholics and Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence on Hardball.

Chris Matthews, an UberBoor, shouted and interrupted Bishop Tobin. MSNBC is shilling for the Planned Parenthood owned and operated Kennedy Clan.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy made a public pronouncement against the Catholic Bishops over ABORTION - Kennedy had his ear pinned back and whined to the media that Grampa Joe paid good money for with revenues from bootlegging and shilling for the Third Reich - they were well into eugenics and Planned Parenthood as well.

The Kennedy's are very played-out; Chris Matthews hosted some MSNBC prayer card to Camelot over the weekend; MSNBC is very played out.

Bishop Tobin was treated with great disrespect and acted with poised dignity.

Click my post title for Bishop Tobin's Statement - it is too early to post the

transcript of Idiot Matthews and his Nailing his Ninety Five Feces to His Hand.

Why I Love Miss Terry Sullivan!

Terry Sullivan is nothing like me. She is graceful,musical, delicate, intellectually serious, tough-minded, moral but never moralizing, good humored, but never over-the-top. She is 100% Woman,but no feminist. She is very easy on the eyes and reminds me of Audrey Hepburn and Jennifer Jones.

We take long drives out of the city and into the rural beauty that is Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.

We like to listen to Jazz and Classical, until the sweet little girl gets sleepy and then I crank up Outlaw Country (Hank Williams, Jr.David Allen Coe) , Kinks, James Brown, Zepplin, Steppenwolf, CCR, and the Animals Stevie Ray Vaughn, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon. . . . then I get a serious dressing down. " May we please enjoy a bit a of quiet?"

We drive in quiet for some miles and then I tell Terry tales of the south side and other points of interest Kankakee County & Laporte Indiana oddities and oddballs etc..

"When I was in Grad School at Loyola ( pronounced LYE -olla in the vernacular) I had this class with a guy who studied under a Noam Chomsky . . .a real pan in the ass . . ."

" Is that qualifying phrase necessary; though I believe standard to all of you declamations? Really?"

". . .sorry. Like I said he studied under Chomsky and banged out his theories on Semiotics and the abuse of language by society. In English,a double negative always deconstructs the negatives into a positive. However in Russian, a negative and negative can remain negative. So I asked him, is it possible for an English Speaker to offer two positives and have that construed as a negative."

"What did he tell you?"

" He told me , It seems not unless you are Ronald Reagan because 'Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.'"

Terry turned to me, " But that does not answer your question."

"Yeah. Right."

" I am going back to my nap."

On we sped and did not stop until we had reached Redamak's of New Bufflao, Michigan where Terry Sullivan asked me to not play the jukebox, use a toothpick in public, nor refer, again, to the town as Neuf Bison.

Kevin Myers _ The Nature of Jihadist Maj. Hasan - PC Apologists -This is a Must Read!

Shall we not BS one another? At least during the Holidays. Let's not pretend that Oprah gives to Leo High School -even though this Catholic school has been all black since the 1990's. Let's not pretend that Marque Kirque and his twin Marque Kirque Dillard are on the level. Let's not pretend that the suicides of Michael Scott or Christopher Kelly are not hand-cuffd to politics or their political patrons. Let's not pretend that Major Hasan the Terrorist is merely a mental defective.

Irish Journalist Kevin Myers honestly presents the reasons why Maj. Hasan joined other Jihadists - His personal contract with Allah.

But at bottom, jihad -- the holy struggle -- is the key liberator which enables the Muslim fundamentalist to depart from the rules of the society in which he is living.

Jihad can be formed as a result of the teachings of an imam, but it boils down to a personal contract between Allah and the believer, based on an extreme interpretation of Islam. This effectively declares: "If you feel very strongly that the rules in the Holy Koran about never injuring the innocent, and always respecting women and children, and respecting the rights of the kaffirs to remain non-believers, are subordinate to jihad, then these rules do not apply to you.

Moreover, if you feel specifically enjoined to break these rules in pursuit of jihad and martyrdom, the reward shall be paradise and all the blissful wherewithal of the heavenly hereafter."

This notion of a personal contract with Allah, that authorises a believer to break even the most civilised and civilising laws of the Koran, is a sure-fire recipe for murderous irrationality and social anarchy.

And these have become the defining feature of almost every Muslim society in the world. So where there are no Muslims, the problem of jihadist terrorism does not exist either. It is the most obvious statement imaginable, yet it is worth making. Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Iceland, Japan, Mozambique, Taiwan: they do not have Muslim immigrants, and so do not have the problem of Islamic terrorism.

Here, then, is the San Andreas fault within Islam, on which tectonic disjuncture just about all 20th and 21st century Islamic societies have fallen apart. No matter how much the majority Muslim population seeks to live in peace and friendship with their neighbours, if enough fundamentalist mavericks feel they have received their heavenly mandate, then the result is the same, and even within outwardly benign communities.

Hence Fort Hood Texas, September 11 New York, July 7 London, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, France, Norway, Bali, Kenya, Tanzania, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Iran, Anatolia, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bali, Bombay, Australia.

Such universal belligerence has no universal cause, other than in the universality of Islam, which seems so often to respond lethally to local conditions, whatever they are. To be sure, there is no such thing as a single, typical, Islamic society. The barren and barbaric Hindu Kush is not the same as the perfumed court of the Ottomans. But somewhere inside the greater Islamic mind is an absurd sense of victimhood: and where there is no local grievance, why then there is always "Palestine", as if those few disputed acres in the vast Islamic landmass of Afro-Asia merited the unanimous and indignant global furies of all Muslims, from Delhi to Dearborn.

This same querulous organ of self pity also resents Muslims becoming the subject of intelligence operations after an Islamic atrocity, as if it were reasonable and wise to subject Mexican laptop-dancers and Lapland reindeer-herders to equal levels of scrutiny and suspicion.

India has been the home of Islamic moral-secessionists for longer than anywhere else. And the Indian intelligence services are often almost paralysed in their hunt for Islamic-terrorists by the political power of Muslim "community leaders" who unfailingly denounce terrorism -- but then equally denounce any action by Indian intelligence against members of the Muslim communities: for such actions, it is argued, are clear proof of the fundamentally Islamophobic nature of the Indian state, and the reason for the fundamentalists' actions in the first place.


This is a sealed moral system, an internal autonomy that is immune to penetration or logic. Fear of such accusations of Islamophobia -- phobophobia -- almost certainly prevented Major Nidal Malik Hasan's superior officers from disciplining him for his public jihadist outpourings.


Pre-emptive action would certainly have been portrayed by the liberal media as Islamophobic discrimination against a patriotic Muslim, and would have enraged that reliable stock-character of media portrayal, "moderate Muslims".

Thirteen genuine patriots are now dead as the price of such phobophobic appeasement. More importantly, the US must now wake up to the consequences of its open-door immigration policy, just as Britain did four years ago after July 7. The subsequent pattern will presumably be similar. Watch now, as "victimised" American Muslims close ranks, the burka and the hijab become commonplace amongst their womenfolk, and the rest of the US asks in tones of awestruck horror: My God, what have we done?

kmyers@independent.ie

Emphases My Own

Justice Dude Holder's Gitmo Clients -Recused from Justice

Senator Dithering Dick Durbin is shilling for the House of Holder and former Governor Pat Quinn is helping. Thomson, Illinois will soon be the Gitmo Guest Haus for Eric "A Nation of Cowards" Holder's clients.

According to documents obtained exclusively by The Washington Times, Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, No. 3 official in the Justice Department, had to recuse himself on at least 13 active detainee cases and at least 26 cases listed as either closed or mooted.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, made waves Nov. 18 when he demanded that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. provide a list of all the suspected-terrorist detainee cases from which current Justice Department political appointees have had to recuse themselves. The extent of the conflicts at the department is still unclear.

Mr. Perrelli's recusals presumably stem from the work that either he or his former firm, Jenner & Block LLP, did on behalf of detainees while Mr. Perrelli served on the firm's management committee and on its appellate and Supreme Court practice groups. And Mr. Perrelli is just one official; a number of other Justice Department officials apparently did private-sector work on detainee cases.

This is an important topic. Even if each official who did prior work on detainee cases has indeed properly recused himself from those cases while at the Justice Department, there could be such a large number of affected officials that the department's prevailing ethos could be tilted strongly in the detainees' favor. Mr. Grassley's inquiry is pressing because it could ferret out any instance in which a department official should have been recused but wasn't.
Mr. Perrelli's recusals presumably stem from the work that either he or his former firm, Jenner & Block LLP, did on behalf of detainees while Mr. Perrelli served on the firm's management committee and on its appellate and Supreme Court practice groups. And Mr. Perrelli is just one official; a number of other Justice Department officials apparently did private-sector work on detainee cases.

This is an important topic. Even if each official who did prior work on detainee cases has indeed properly recused himself from those cases while at the Justice Department, there could be such a large number of affected officials that the department's prevailing ethos could be tilted strongly in the detainees' favor. Mr. Grassley's inquiry is pressing because it could ferret out any instance in which a department official should have been recused but wasn't.

When the senator publicly requested information from Mr. Holder, the attorney general merely promised to "consider" the request. After some hemming and hawing and dodging, Mr. Holder eventually said he needed to make sure there was no "attorney-client privilege" involved before disclosing the list of recusals. This is absurd. Attorney-client privilege may extend to the substance of lawyers' discussions with detainees, but not to the mere question of whether the lawyers are doing such work.

While the rest of the list of recusals has yet to be provided to the senator, The Washington Times secured the Perrelli recusal list, which previously had been distributed widely within the Justice Department. Herewith, consider this list of names of detainees whose cases are listed as "active" on the Perrelli recusal list:

Saad Al Qahtani. Mohammed Zahrani. Achraf Salim ("Sultan") Abdessalam. Abdul Rahman Abdul Abu Ghityh Sulayman. Musaab Omar Al Madhwani. Jawad Jabbar Sadkhan (Al Sahlani). Majid Khan.

Watermelon! Juicy Thomson Watermelons! - Illinois -Al Quedaering to America's Guests!

John Fogerty -The Tony Bennett of the My Generation

John Fogerty's Blue Ridge Rangers Tour show at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre on Saturday November 21st brought together hundreds of middle aged gents and their wives, girl friends and significant others at feast and celebration of musical artistry void of posturing and narcissism.

The only name worthy of the Single Name, it seems to me was James Brown; however, back in 1969 The Hardest Working Man in Rock & Roll was billed - James Brown and the Fabulous Flames. James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond ( I went crying like a five year pitching a sulk), Diana Ross, and Michael McDonald all comported themselves as Min--Orprahs - icons.

John Fogerty came off as the Tony Bennett of Rock - a man with a profound respect for the notes, lyrics and the audience to whom he conveys the music.

For Fogerty, like Tony Bennett, it is all about us in the seats - Fortunate Sons of . . .

John Fogerty - Revived Creedence and Everyone Else

It looked like a convention of guys from the Frequent Pee-er Commercials! There were younger guys attendant - in fact I ran into about eight Leo High School Alumni from Father Perez Council Knights of Columbus ( John Gardiner, Laryy Funk et al) from the mid and late 1970's. However, mostly there were present the badger-haired guys from the 196o's.

In the Orchestra Mainfloor Center there were me at 57, the guy to me right at60 Something and the guy immediately in front of me, 60 and Change, another 6o Plus behind me and thickly beyond - the Chicago Auditorium Theatre was thick with Middle Age until WXRT,'s Frankie Lee - rather generous in the length of his buckers himself - heads-upped the crowd of silver, white, flesh, and dye -jobbed gents and the infinitely younger and more appealing dates, spouses and arm candy that John Fogerty was fixin' to tear it up.

He did. John Fogerty, the heart and soul, muscle and fiber of Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of the most honest and innovative bands from the late '60's and 70's, cranked out hit after hit then and now.

I saw CCR in 1971 in the very same venue and have always testified that along with the Four Tops gave the greatest show.

Last night was damned near identical to memory of that show. That almost never happen. Have you ever run into an old flame whose fire has been snuffed out by Life's prevailing winds? You have had this image of that person tucked into a brain-fold and when you come face-to-face after decades of wistful musings you now determine that Life, had,in-fact, done you a huge favor.

Well Fogerty ain't nothing like that - Fogerty is 1971!

For more than two hours without let-up, John Fogerty put hundreds of us Pee Pill Poppers back in our place with the Blue Ridge Ranger Tour - a dozen great young musicians and John Fogarty.

For a moment, I thought I smelled a whiff of dope in the Men's Room - Crowded! The guys hed it for two-plus hours!

Click my post title for the tour's cover of the Everly Brothers.

Here's a partial song list from last night.

Born On The Bayou
Green River
Susie Q.
I Put A Spell On You
Who'll Stop The Rain
Rockin' All Over The World
Lodi
Down On The Corner
Centerfield
Swamp River Days
The Old Man Down The Road
Chooglin'
Bad Moon Rising
Fortunate Son
Proud Mary
Good Golly Miss Molly
When Will I Be Loved

AP Mocks Catholics, Because A Kennedy Loves Abortion.

Communion is a church ritual that involves the sharing of bread and wine meant to represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

AP 11/22/2009

Really?

Meant to represent?


Would it be a stretch then to say that Muhammad is not the Prophet of Allah, but plays one on TV?

Click my post title for the Kennedy Propaganda.

The little Pain-killing goof will be on Bill Maher next. That is to be expected.

The Associated Press went out of its way to give Catholics the toe in a report that Re. Patrick Kennedy is not going to receive The Eucharist ( Holy Communion) because he truly love Abortion and is most public in his Abortion Happy pronouncements and Bishop Tom Tobin has admonished Little Pat not to come up to the rail.

Kennedy's are Catholic when it suits them politically. They can annul the marriage and deny the mother of their children in order to marry someone else - that would be High Church Anglican ala Henry Tudor, I believe. A Kennedy can pay off his/her debt to Planned Parenthood by voting to help bored Botox-ed women of wealth cosmetically abort a child and parse it up to concern for the poor. A Kennedy can, it seems, treat the Faith in much the same way as they treat the Law, pay what's needed to make any problem go away. That only works around gutless Churchmen and jurists. The Law is loaded with power-sycophants, but the Catholic Church has Bishop Tom Tobin.

Bishop Tom Tobin is a real priest. The AP works for Planned Parenthood as well and fits the news to fit its agenda by addition and deletion. Therefore, the AP gives the Mackeral Snappers a bowlful of vitriol in the eyes. The self-absorbed little jerk Kennedy went crying to the AP and the AP went Camelot with the story.

The fact is that Bishop Tobin tried to keep his admonishment* of Kennedy a private teaching matter, but this spoiled child knows no Grace.

The Eucharist is the Presence of Christ. Representative Patrick Kennedy denies that fact - Christ is not present in the lives of the chlidren he chooses to have killed through abortion; therefore, his taking Communion is ludicrous and blasphemous. Kennedy will find some Vatican II Cupcake in a stiff collar to give him communion somewhere - just not in Bishop Tobin's See.

The AP insults Catholics.

The Eucharist is another name for Holy Communion. The term comes from the Greek by way of Latin, and it means "thanksgiving." It is used in three ways: first, to refer to the Real Presence of Christ; second, to refer to Christ's continuing action as High Priest (He "gave thanks" at the Last Supper, which began the consecration of the bread and wine); and third, to refer to the Sacrament of Holy Communion itself.

Eucharist in the Catholic Church refers to both the celebration of the Mass, that is the Eucharistic Liturgy, and the consecrated bread and wine which according to the faith become the body and blood of Christ. Blessed Sacrament is a devotional term used in the Roman Catholic Church to refer to the Eucharistic species (the Body and Blood of Christ).

Meant to represent?


*

PROVIDENCE, RI (WPRI) - Bishop Tobin has released a response to Congessman Kennedy's earlier statements on not being allowed communion because of his position on abortion.

Statement of Bishop Thomas Tobin in Response to Congressman Patrick Kennedy's Published Interview of November 22, 2009

Bishop Tobin says:

I am disappointed and really surprised that Congressman Patrick Kennedy has chosen to reopen the public discussion about his practice of the faith and his reception of Holy Communion. This comes almost two weeks after the Congressman indicated to local media that he would no longer comment publicly on his faith or his relationship with the Catholic Church. The Congressman's public comments require me to reply.

On February 21, 2007, I wrote to Congressman Kennedy stating: "In light of the Church's clear teaching, and your consistent actions, therefore, I believe it is inappropriate for you to be receiving Holy Communion and I now ask respectfully that you refrain from doing so." My request came in light of the new statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that said, "If a Catholic in his or her personal or professional life were knowingly and obstinately to repudiate her definite teachings on moral issues, he or she would seriously diminish his or her communion with the Church. Reception of Holy Communion in such a situation would not accord with the nature of the Eucharistic celebration, so that he or she should refrain." (Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper, December, 2006)

In the same letter I wrote to Congressman Kennedy, "I am writing to you personally and confidentially as a pastor addressing a member of his flock . . . At the present time I have no need or intention to make this a public issue." I also indicated, "I am available to discuss this matter with you in person at any mutually convenient time and place. I would welcome the opportunity to do so."

On February 28, 2007, the Congressman responded to me, "I have the utmost respect for the work you do on behalf of the Catholic community in Rhode Island. . . I understand your pastoral advice was confidential in nature and given with the best intentions for my personal spiritual welfare."

I am disappointed that the Congressman would make public my pastoral and confidential request of nearly three years ago that sought to provide solely for his spiritual well-being.

RIP - CPD Commander Donald Hilbring -Leo Hall of Famer

By Trevor Jensen - Chicago Tribune
Donald L. Hilbring taught school by day while also rising through the ranks of the Chicago Police Department, where he retired as a captain and district commander.

Mr. Hilbring, 62, died of pneumonia on Monday, Nov. 16, in Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, said his brother William, a Chicago police detective. He was a resident of the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.

The son of a police officer, Mr. Hilbring joined the Police Department's cadet program in 1966 and started as a patrol officer two years later. He was promoted to detective in 1971, and sergeant in 1977.

As his career bloomed, he also kept taking college classes. He received a bachelor's degree in business education from Chicago State University, a master's in public administration from Illinois Institute of Technology and another master's in corrections and criminal justice, also from Chicago State, his brother said.

While many police officers work second jobs in security or related fields, Mr. Hilbring moonlighted as a teacher until he reached the rank of lieutenant in 1984. He taught math and later served as disciplinarian at Jackson Elementary, and Tilden and Collins high schools.

"Donald always worked an afternoon or evening shift, and he'd get up in the morning and instead of just piddling around, he'd go to school," said retired police deputy superintendent James Whigham.

Mr. Hilbring's daughter Monique remembered trying to rouse her dad on Sundays when he was laid out on the floor with a newspaper, relaxing after a long week working two jobs.

"He'd be a little cranky. Now I understand," she said.

Mr. Hilbring made captain in 1988 and was commander of the Prairie District. From 1993 to 1997, he was commander of the Gang Investigation Unit, overseeing a major takedown of the Unknown Vice Lords street gang in 1994 and working closely with federal and state investigators.

"He was a man of compassion and very fine judgment," Whigham said.

In his final years on the force, he was a commander of the Wentworth District and then a watch commander in the South Chicago District. Like earlier assignments, they could be pressure-packed positions, but off the clock it never showed.

Thomson Gitmo Guest Haus ? Eric Zorn Hysterical about Imagined Fear? He Skips Naked Into Ruth's Mini Club - So To Speak.

Eric Zorn, not an original thinker and part of the PC herd of sheeple being prodded with the staff to counter opposition with a buzz-word du jour - fear.

Senator Dithering Dick Durbin, no stranger to group think is the Good Shepherd on this venture to bring 200 Terrorists to Carroll County in order to:

1. Improve the lives of 506 people in the town of Thomson, Illinois
2. Improve the quality of life for America's Guests who have been maltreated in Guantanamo by GW Bush and Dick Cheney
3. Give Eric Zorn something to say
4. Ensure that Eric " A Nation of Cowards" Holder has some cover for his Law Firm that specializes in getting terrorists off the hook
5. Ensure that former Governor Pat Quinn gets single digit numbers in the Democratic Primary.
6. Improve Melon sales in Carroll County

Eric Zorn is doing his level best to help make Thomson Illinois the Gitmo Guest Haus our President needs, because no other State will step-up.

EZ is puffing out his metaphorical 24" chest and straiting the muscles and sinews of his 6" neck attached to that chest with challenging words directed at the GOP who say no the move. Well I am a 19th Ward Democrat and I think moving any of hombres from GITMO to ANYWHERE is a Bone-Stupid idea. If it ain't broke don't monkey with it. Gitmo is the absolute best place on earth for these melon-devouring scumbags.

Get this -

And, yes, there's a risk associated with operating an open system of justice, whether we're trying mobsters, gang bangers or violent extremists. But that's just one of the risks of living in a free society, risks most of us are glad, even proud to assume.

Yes there is a risk when you take all of your clothes off, pour honey all over your head, don an Indian Headdress and skip buck-ass naked south on Halsted Street from 79th Street and decide to pop into Ruth's Mini Club Lounge at 83rd Street and Shout "Miss Scarlet! Eat that Barbecue and stop acting like Field Hand! and Come over and Kiss Mr. Rhett!"

That too is fraught with peril, Eric. Courage Camille!

Save us the "Gitmo was the Recruiting tool of Al Queda . . .' Really, girls? Where are there any Al Queda Recruitment Center Posters or Be Al You Khan Be! commercial on Al Jazeera?

EZ and the Fear Tossers need a handful of Midols.

Their Agenda is a National Trainwreck on Health Care, the Economy, Environment, Foreign Relations, and Hanukkah. When your numbers are way done, it is a good idea to ADD some support, but the Progressive Plan reequires more subtraction on the way to self-pity.

President Obama has done everything that the Amateur Hour White House Crew ( thick with Progressive Chicagoans) advised that he do and as a result -he is going down as the Millard Filmore of the New Millennium. Hell, even Jimmy Carter is looking good by comparison.

*
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Philly Lawyer and Journalist Christine Flowers on Abortionists Health Reform Hypocrisies

By Christine M. Flowers
Philadelphia Daily News

I FOUND myself smiling when I heard the usual suspects criticizing the Conference of Catholic Bishops for poking its nose into the health-care debate.
Actually, it was more like a smirk.

When word got out that the mitered ones had lobbied for the Stupak Amendment barring tax subsidies for abortion, which I wrote about last week, pro-choice groups and civil libertarians erupted in anger at this blatant scaling of the barricade separating Church from State.

That was to be expected. The sky, or the wall, is always falling in their universe.

But what I found particularly smirk-inducing was the total silence from these same quarters over recent decades as the Catholic Church threw its weight behind health-care reform. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama could have had no better champion than the leaders of the church who consistently criticized both Republicans and Democrats in Washington for failing to address the needs of the indigent and lower-middle class.

Apparently, when you're on the side of their own particular angels, the First Amendment is irrelevant. But not so when it comes to secular sacraments like abortion and same-sex marriage. If you start messing with those rights, watch out.

Carol Tracy, director of the Women's Law Project, penned a letter to the Inquirer that reads as if it were ripped from an anti-Catholic manifesto:

"How can an institution that permitted and facilitated the sexual abuse of countless numbers of children dare to proclaim what is moral? What has happened to this country's founding principle of separation of church and state? . . . That Congress is accepting the church's mandates is appalling."

Wow. I wonder if Ms. Tracy felt the same way when the church lobbied for the protection of immigrant women who were victims of abuse at the hands of their citizen spouses? Or when it advocated increased funding from the state and federal governments for low-income mothers? Or supported civil rights. Or lobbied for social services for aliens forced to "live in the shadows"?

And that's exactly what I'm talking about - the hypocrisy of those who have no problem with a religion that promotes and advances their own worldview but who are shocked and appalled by its behavior when the bishops have the temerity to speak out against values that they reject.

I actually have more respect for people like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, the professional atheists who see only evil in the divine. They, at least, walk the walk and talk the talk, refusing to condone any intrusion of faith into the public square. While I'm repelled by their myopic perspective on religion, at least they're honest enough to wish a plague on all of our houses of worship.

Then you have the politicians like St. Nancy Pelosi, who bows to kiss Pope Benedict's ring like a good Catholic schoolgirl but fights tooth and manicured nail to make sure abortion remains universally available.

That's fine if you simply say, "I reject the fundamental teachings of my church." But Madame Speaker has decided to be a theologian in addition to a legislator and has actually taken it upon herself to tell the bishops where the church really stands on this issue. (Is there Latin for chutzpah?)

The point is, you can't have it both ways. Either you criticize the church for getting its cassocks dirty in the fight for health-care reform, in which case you also tell it to shut up when it condemns the death penalty, the war in Iraq and the persecution of immigrants.

Or, you praise it for promoting a liberation theology in which the poor must be raised up and innocent life protected, and accept its right to principled and unwavering opposition to abortion.

The problem is, too many people want to have their Eucharist and eat it, too. They are happy to embrace the bishops when it suits their secular purposes, but turn on them when they stray from liberal orthodoxy.

There's an almost patronizing attitude among non- and recovering Catholics these days. I was traveling on the R5 a few days ago, and overheard a conversation between two women, one apparently an Episcopalian minister, the other Catholic. They were involved in a discussion of the flaws of Catholicism.


THE PHRASE that struck me came from the minister: "The difference between Episcopalians and Catholics is that we don't force you to leave your brain at the door."

Apparently, the church's health-care critics don't want the bishops to leave their brains at the door.

Just their principles.

Christine M. Flowers is a lawyer.

Leo Boxer for Team USA ,Lamar Fenner, returns from UK

All the BS and nonsense about race by morons like MSNBC's Chris Matthews and courage by Planned Parenthood lap-dogs like Senator Dithering Dick Durbin fade like the memory of the scents Sweetheart Rendering at 34th & Ashland and the Skyway over Gary twenty years ago, when kids dedicated to the sweet science of boxing and school success come back to Leo High School.

Yesterday afternoon I had the great pleasure of hearing about Leo Man and Golden Gloves Boxing Champ Lamar Fenner*.

Lamar was coached by Mike Joyce while he was here at Leo and continues to be with Mike Joyce's Celtic Boxing Club which trains, black, white, middle class and impoverished kids on the south side of Chicago.

Lamar is one tough kid and as a younger gent was as one might say - willful. He is the Third Ranked Best Heavyweight American Amateur Boxer.

He got himself into one jackpot after another but with Mike Joyce's 'hands-on' mentoring and blunt Irish Psychology 101 - "Listen you little #$%%er . . ." Love and Affection graduated and set a path for a life of commitment.

Lamar is a Mmber of Team USA Boxing:

flyweight Michael Ruiz, Jr. (Fresno, Calif.), bantamweight John Franklin (Fort Carson, Colo.), featherweight Ricky Edwards (Prospect Park, N.J.), lightweight Eric DeLeon (Lincoln Park, Mich.), welterweight Errol Spence (Desoto, Texas), middleweight Luis Arias (Milwaukee, Wis.), heavyweight Lamar Fenner (Chicago, Ill.) and super heavyweight Lenroy Thompson (Lenexa, Kansas). Female boxers Patricia Manuel (Commerce, Calif.) and Brittany Inkrote (Red Lion, Pa.) will represent the United States at the lightweight and welterweight divisions respectively.

The U.S. coaching staff will be led by newly named Volunteer National Coach Ed Weichers (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and he will be joined by Candy Lopez (San Jose, Calif.) and Gary Sullenger (Concord, Calif.). Richard Trindle (Mercer, Pa.) will serve as the Team Manager for the event with David Llaurdo (New York, N.Y.) and Richard Neves (Pleasanton, Calif.) serving as the AIBA officials.

Lamar and TEAM USA fought in London last week. Lamar Fenner lost against one of the top ranked British Boxers Heavyweight Stephen Simmons in 20-6 decision.
Lamar had nothing but praise for Simmons- "He left hand jabbed me, Mr. Hickey, and he held me off for the decision and the decision was his. He beat me."

No excuses. LaMar Fenner earns way. The Kids at Leo High School - a Catholic Hih School of the Archdiocse of Chicago - earn their way.

*

Chicago's own Lamar Fenner fought Michigan's Jordan Shimmell last night at the national Golden Gloves finals, and though he tried his damnedest, lost a 3-2 decision to the heavyweight. Shimmell, a four-time Michigan state champ and national Golden Gloves veteran, told Michigan Live that he thought the third round - when Fenner seemed to tire - was what probably won the split decision for him.

"In the first round, Fenner spent most of the time charging in and throwing body shots. But Shimmell was able to counter effectively.
Fenner had better luck in the second round, but he seemed to tire in the third, when Shimmell put together some of his best combinations.

With just seconds left in the fight, Shimmell staggered Fenner with a straight right. But before he could follow up, the bell ended the bout.

"The third round probably won it for me," Shimmell said. "It was a close fight. But I gave it my all and he gave it his all and I came out on top. ... I was really reaching for it in third."


Before yesterday's fight, Fenner told Chicagoist that he anticipated giving it his all - and that he wanted to bring the belt back home to the city. That may not have happened this year, but there's always next year for the 26-year-old, who celebrated his (and Tracy Rollins') birthday May 4 with the opening of the tournament. Fenner may still drop the 27 pounds between him and a lower weight class, or he may compete on the city's burgeoning mixed martial arts scene.

Either way, we'll be watching.

Liked our Golden Gloves coverage? Check out our stories here - and our photos here.

H/t Marcus Gilmer's Chicagoist

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://chicagoist.com/attachments/kategardiner/fenner0134s_restrict_height_110.jpg&imgrefurl=http://chicagoist.com/tags/boxing&usg=__19IoocaKK4Jm7cxw4SomHh7BMkw=&h=110&w=92&sz=8&hl=en&start=2&sig2=RUxUdwAh4cFwYQ-9jeINDA&um=1&tbnid=VKLqrpHdib-nbM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=71&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dboxing%2Blamar%2Bfenner%2Bteam%2Busa%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGIH_enUS268US331%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=XrEGS8bmGsiwnAejjvDOCw