Sinatra and St. Francis DeSales - Anxiety? Remember April and Smile!

Reduction in force; Sub-Arctic temperatures and the wood of pews popping during 8:30 Mass; Peoples Gas bills' ComEd bills; Unemployed neighbors; Goofballs on the February 2nd Primary Ballots with better name placements than the qualified people; Kids with too much texting capacity and no communication skills; anxiety over the changes at work; Yemen becomes important all of a sudden and the kid down the block is deploying to Afghanistan - we'll be okay.

Read this:

Anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall a soul, except sin. God commands you to pray, but He forbids you to worry.

-- St. Francis de Sales

Click my post title and soak in some Sinatra - the lyrics could only have been written by a woman - and they were.

This lovely day will lengthen into evening, we'll sigh goodbye to all we ever had.
Alone where we have walked together, I'll remember April and be glad.
I'll be content you loved me once in April.
Your lips were warm and love and spring were new.
I'm not afraid of autumn and her sorrow, for I'll remember April and you.
The fire will dwindle into glowing ashes, for flames live such a little while.
I won't forget but I won't be lonely, I'll remember April and smile.

Music by Gene DePaul and lyrics by Patricia Johnston, and Don Raye

It will be a Happy New Year

Terry O'Brien and Bobby Douglas - Pros

I spent a great evening with about two hundred south side Chicago and Oak Lawn residents at the home of Oak Lawn commission candidate John O'Sullivan. The gathering welcomed Chicago Bears Great Bobby Douglas and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terry O'Brien.

Bobby Douglas held the record as one of the greatest rushing quarterbacks in NFL history - In 1972 Bobby Douglas, out of Kansas and signed with the Bears in 1969, ran for 968 yards and 8 touchdowns on 141 carries. That record went unbroken until Mick Vick broke the string in 2006. Bobby Douglas amassed a career 2,040 yards rushing. Passing? Well, no one alive could hold onto to a ball thrown by Bobby Douglas. He was an Iron Man among Iron Men - hell, he took snaps from Mike Pyle. Bobby Douglas saw some real promise in the 2009 Bears and was very candid about the things that will bring about real change. Hard judgments and hard dollars can no longer be allowed to get tossed away. Which brings us to his appearance with my neighbors.

Bobby Douglas drove from Lake Forest to Oak Lawn John O'Sullivan's home, because he loves Chicago and the people who keep Chicago great. Bobby Douglas likes Terry O'Brien's style. The Bears need a Terry O'Brien-like manager. Bobby Douglas is a retired NFL Pro Football player, but here he was in the kitchen of a middle class working man who wants to make a difference in his community. Bobby Douglas and John O'Sullivan really hit it off. John O'Sullivan brought many friends to help Terry O'Brien and Bobby Douglas is a friend. There were also Local 399 engineers and their wives, 597 Pipe-fitters of both genders, Local 12 Carpenters, Electricians from Local 134, Operating Engineers of Local 150, school teachers, Sal, a retired City Colleges librarian, Terry Cox, an independent plumbing contractor, small business owners, postal workers, and a couple of candidates for elected office.

Prominent among these talented and thoughtful people was Terry O'Brien the twenty one year President of the fourth largest government agency in Illinois - The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD)of Great Chicago.

MWRD formerly the Sanitary District is one of the engineering marvels of the world*.

I met Terry O'Brien for the first time. He is a solid guy and he lived up to my expectations. We voters get to know candidates only slightly, but the little I do know of Terry O'Brien is enough. He knows the job - it's mission and the operations that match the mission.

He is not a Sierra Club dilettante - he does not play at protecting the environment through policy papers and agendas. Terry O'Brien works at the job of protecting the citizens of Greater Chicago's lives with proper, scientific water treatment and sound engineering of waters. You will not see Terry O'Brien kayaking the Chicago River or preaching the gospel of Green. That is for the Brie nibblers to do. Chat on Public Radio and bully gutless editorial boards.

Terry O'Brien will manage Cook County Government, trim waste - treat it, consolidate and eliminate out-moded departments and treat taxpayers to genuine respect.

Terry said, "In 2008 alone, the MWRD refunded over $56 million to the residents of Cook County in tax abatements, and the MWRD has received an AAA bond rating from all three bond rating agencies. Since my election to the Board of Commissioners in 1988, the MWRD has seen no massive layoffs or unpaid vacation days. At the MWRD, I have worked hard to combine fiscally responsible policy with environmentally friendly initiatives. We have AAA ratings from all Three Bond agencies. Now, is the time for competent people in positions of Cook County Government based upon what they know and not who they know. We will cut the 1% tax. We will trim waste. We will manage Cook County Government."

Bobby Douglas recognizes a Pro. So do my neighbors. Come on out Saturday and meet Terry O'Brien. I'll hold the door open for you. Noon - Southwest Corridor/Southwest Burbs (3012 W. 111th St., Chicago, IL 60653)

*

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (District) is an independent government and taxing body encompassing approximately 91 percent of the land area and 98 percent of the assessed valuation of Cook County, Illinois.

The District is a separate legal entity sharing an overlapping tax base with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Board of Education, the Chicago School Finance Authority, the County of Cook, the Cook County Forest Preserve District, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Public Building Commission, the Cook County Community College District, and various municipalities and school districts outside the City of Chicago but within the District’s boundaries.

The District was originally organized as the Sanitary District of Chicago in 1889 under an act of the Illinois General Assembly which has been modified from time to time to increase the District’s authority and jurisdiction. The enabling act in 1889 was in direct response to a long standing problem with contamination of the water supply and nuisance conditions of the rivers. The District reversed the flow of the Chicago and Calumet River Systems to stop the discharge of sewage to Lake Michigan and instead, discharge it to the Des Plaines River, where it could be diluted as it flowed into the Illinois River and eventually the Mississippi River. Prior to the District’s construction of a 61.3 mile system of canals and waterway improvements, the Chicago and Calumet River Systems were tributary to Lake Michigan. These river systems are now tributary to the Illinois River system.

From 1955 through 1988, the District was called The Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago. In order to provide a more accurate perception of the District’s current functions and responsibilities, the name was changed effective, January 1, 1989, to Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

http://www.mwrd.org/irj/portal/anonymous?NavigationTarget=navurl://138bf9fb3cd95634e37c28ef50eccef1

Salon's Blubbery Joan Walsh Wants You to Know That She Is Outraged - Outraged

Getting Showered and Shaved a bit ago, in order to attend to local Democratic Party functions ( good people one and all and nothing like the National Nitwits of the DNC) my son Conor was power surfing the cable and left on MSNBC, before heading to the door and work at Di Cola's Fish on Western Ave.

As I completed my wardrobe assessment for the evening Tweed Ride - frock, shirt and collar cravat, sword-cane and Churchill Waterproof, I noticed that damn his eyes - the lad had left the station tuned to MSNBC.

Salon's Joan Walsh, plumped up from the Holiday Feasting and appearing to have gone 'Double Dutch' with the Mashed Spuds ladles, was rehowling her morning's 'Props' to the Commander-in-Chief with MSNBC Meathead and resident flannel-mouth Chris Matthews. Joan and Milky were doing "the dozens" on the cross-eyed, Black Dude who sounds like steam escaping - the guy had worked for Dick Cheney. MSNBC always invites Republican or Blue Dog Democrat Victims -as opposed to guests.

In essence, Plump and ever weepy Joan had this to say:

" President Obama's candor Tuesday describing the mosaic of warnings . . ." . . . that's enough.

Keep Napolitano - Desiree Rogers Might be our Next Homeland Security Diva!

I read Christine Flowers, Philly Lawyer and syndicated columnist, give a sober assesment of Janet Napolitano's Holiday Screwed Pooch - the Nigerian Security Gate-crasher who tried to murder 250 people on a flight from Amsterdam to the Good Old U.S.A.

First came Janet Reno, the Clinton attorney general who helped set the fire at Waco (with some help from the ATF) and had trouble with an illegal Elian.

But as wacky as she was (wrestling with crocs, both real and rhetorical), she looks positively competent compared to Janet Napolitano, the Obama administration head of homeland security who declared in the wake of the foiled terror attack on Christmas Day that "the system worked really very, very smoothly." (She also oversaw a report that equated political opponents of President Obama and some veterans with terrorists and hate groups. Apparently, she has a tenuous grip on reality.)

( click my post title)

I shiver with the notion that the Amatuer Hour White House might force the resignation of DHS Czarina who looks like Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos and replace her with an experienced hand at handling Gate Crashers - Desiree Rogers.

"Lots of people just come anyways," she said. "They won't take no for an answer. Finally, I just said, 'All right, come on in. It's no use kicking you out.' " Desiree Rogers

http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-york-post-quotes-desiree-rogers-all.html


http://www.npr.org/blogs/tellmemore/2009/12/desiree_rogers_social_secretar.html?ft=1&f=6831923

"Obama seemed like an avatar of modernity" -Crazy Aunt Maureen Dowd with Buyer's Remorse

Dang! A friend of mine bought a new Saturn several weeks ago and learned through an oafish associate - "Hey, you bought too soon! Saturn is knocking off Seven Grand to clear stock!"

Thanks so Mucking Fuch! In this case, who knew?

Had the buyer but known! The Saturn's a nice car. At least it runs. Sometimes we buy a shiny new flivver and it is a real pig. It is still your heap. Did you take it out for a spin? Read up on it? Kick the tires? Pop the hood? Those things you could have done and avoided some heart ache.

You buy it and you live with it. Thus, so with our elected officials. They come to us from the political showroom shiny and swell smelling and then whammo! They're pigs, dogs, lemons, less than we expected, not up to snuff and bum deals.

We all experience that. That is called life. Maureen Dowd, the Irish spinster who seems like the Crazy Aunt Mo that every family seems to own, is beefing today that President Obama is her Saturn, Yugo, Pinto, Opal Hatch-back. ( click me post title for Maureen Dowd's hissy fit!)

Citing the attempt of the Nigerian’s father to warn U.S. authorities six months ago, the president intoned: “It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list.”

In his detached way, Spock was letting us know that our besieged starship was not speeding into a safer new future, and that we still have to be scared.

Heck of a job, Barry.

Heck, Maureen! You never kicked the tires, let alone popped the hood on this one! President Obama is the same guy you and most of America embraced as the Avatar of Modernity! He is as new as he was when he announced his candidacy on that blustery day in Springfield - a back benching short term Illinois State Senator with an invisible resume.

Nothing shocking. Especially that sticker shock. President Obama has all the knocks and pings that keep his Administration in neutral, but he still has that swell showroom scent.

President Obama is Our President and we own him. Now, deal with it.

Happy New Year! Happy and Productive and Above All Else Safe in 2009 and 2010!

May This New Year Bring all of us Happiness, Fulfillment, Prosperity ( remember that one), and, God Help Us, Peace.

God gave us another 365 days to do all that we are meant to do. That is a Blessing!

God Bless You All!

This great faux Edwardian Chap comes fro Max Weismann of the Center for the Study of Great Ideas! Happy New Year, Max - and all the Gang at the Jumping Pump Room!

"A Solid Rumor " from a Solid Softball- Andy Martin- Trigona-Atchison-Topeka and the Santa Fe

Mark Kirk is not my cup of tea. I don't drink tea. I like coffee from Kean Gas on 111th & Talman. Mark Kirk is not my congressman, but he smugly voted for the Cap * Trade ( Markey/Waxman) and was the Republican cupcake who floated that idiotic bill over the fence. Mark Kirk wants to replace Roland Burris.

Jimmy the two-headed boy could replace Roland Burris, but that is another Graphic Novel ( comic book) entirely.

Andy Martin ( the legendary 'String Any Cognomen Together' Martin-Trigona -Shoo Fly Pie) is Illinois' Deluxe Annual Edition Comic Edition* This whey-faced mope** is nuttier than a Stuckey's Log. Andy Martin wants to replace Roland Burris.

Andy Martin is telling everyone that Mark Kirk is Gay - not gleeful, jovial, glad, joyous, happy, cheerful, sprightly, blithe, airy, light-hearted; vivacious, frolicsome, sportive, hilarious, but homosexual. He bases this on "Solid Rumor!"

There's Gold in the Kankakee River Bayou at the Warner Bridge Road! Sell the house and get to panning!

A Solid Rumor that a guy is Gay?

Who Shives A Git?

I could care less if George Washington or Gertrude Stein were Homosexual - I am 50% right on that one. One historical figure is the Father of Our Country. Metaphorically speaking a dedicated Homosexual could be the "Father of Our Country." A heterosexual no matter how energetic or lascivious could not, in fact be, the literal "Father of Our Country."

An elected official works to serve the will of the people who elected her, or him.

Mark Kirk violated that one with his vote on the Markey/Waxman bill. Out he must go.

Outed? That is the man's own business. Gay or Straight? Das macht nicht!

Andy Martin is a goof. There are many goofs in public life. Gee, you think, Hickey? Yep.

A Gay public official not bound to GLBT Agenda Doctrine would have my vote. Just as a heterosexual Boiled Beets Progressive Doofus would certainly not have that vote.


Vote for a good steward. I will vote for Patrick Hughes. I am a Democrat, but Alexi Giannoulias and Dave Hoffman have too many goofs in their corners.





*A comic book annual customarily has a larger page count than its monthly counterpart, leaving room for longer single stories, multiple stories in a single annual, and/or "extra" material that the monthly series lacks the space to publish. These "extras" may include biographical information on featured characters, full-page pin-ups of characters, reprints of previously published material, or all-new short stories (often called "back-up" stories). An annual as a whole was once considered an "extra" in itself, providing story material in addition to the customary twelve issues per year of a monthly series.

**

The Illinois Republican Party released a statement condemning Martin and his ad.

"His statements today are consistent with his history of bizarre behavior and often times hate-filled speech, which has no place in the Illinois Republican Party," the statement said. "Mr. Martin will no longer be recognized as a legitimate Republican Candidate by the Illinois Republican Party."

Martin, who has run for political office several times, was convicted of attacking two photographers in Florida, CBS 2 Chicago reports, and was denied admission to the Illinois Bar for "moderately severe character defect." He reportedly once ran for Congress to "eliminate Jew power in America."

In a bid for the presidency in 1999, Martin ran a television ad in New Hampshire contending that his opponent George W. Bush "had a cocaine problem" and suffered from "alcohol abuse," the Chicago Tribune reports. He also reportedly attacked Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, claiming he is a Muslim and questioning whether he is a U.S. citizen.

Kirk's office released a statement calling Martin's claims "untrue and demeaning to the political process," CBS 2 reports. Jacob Meister, an openly gay candidate for the Democratic Senate nomination reportedly called the ad reminiscent of McCarthy-era tactics and said it could damage Kirk's military career. Kirk is on active duty as a Naval Intelligence officer.

Andy Martin is So Gay. The Beggar's Opera Falls Flatish

"Kirk has surrounded himself with homosexuals." Heavens! Sparks of Flint!- Hell, had I surrounded myself with homosexuals, I'd have a better diet, less robust a waistline, a snappier arsenal of witty bon mots, more a sense of fabric and design, a better lawn, a least some garden and a better ear for vocal jazz.


Boys and Girls, the following Ballad Opera fully explains why I am not nor can ever be a Republican ,yet one who can fully appreciate and reflect manfully on the life Corinthian! Gay shmay! Kirque, Gay or Straight, is, in my Helot's point of view, a thorough going fraud, jape, howler, sidesplitter, thigh-slapper, wow, belly laugh, riot, scream -and Andy ( add a list of nomenclatures and pronouns) a litigous gag line, punch line, tag line, laugh line,blue joke, blue story, dirty joke, dirty story teller and snitch.

Now, Ladies and JanTell Muhn! Our Opera!

Ditty one -"Can Love Be Controlled By Advice?" by John Gay

The Scene: We are in the home of Peachum ( Andy Martin), a supposedly respectable businessman who actually fences stolen goods for professional thieves. He and Mrs. Peachum (Intercahngeable as are the cloths they affect) have just discovered that their daughter Polly ( Rep. Marque Kirque) has secretly married the infamous highwayman Captain Macheath, who is not present. Nor is he ever. (Note the contemptuous way that Mrs. Peachum dismisses the nobility, saying that a "Lord" is no better a husband than a thief).

MRS. PEACHUM: Played by Andrew Elton Olivia Newton John Martin Les Paul and Mary Ford Dewey Cheatum and Howe Trigona.

OUR POLLY IS A SAD SLUT!
NOR HEEDS WHAT WE HAVE TAUGHT HER.
I WONDER ANY MAN ALIVE
WILL EVER REAR A DAUGHTER.
FOR SHE MUST HAVE
BOTH HOOPS AND GOWNS
AND HOODS TO SWELL HER PRIDE,
WITH SCARFS AND STAYS
AND GLOVES AND LACE,
AND SHE WILL HAVE MEN BESIDE;
AND WHEN SHE'S DRESSED
WITH CARE AND COST,
ALL-TEMPTING FINE AND GAY,
AS MEN SHOULD SERVE A COWCUMBER,
SHE FLINGS HERSELF AWAY.

POLLY: Played by Rep. Marque Kirque

CAN LOVE BE CONTROLLED BY ADVICE?
WILL CUPID OUR MOTHERS OBEY?
THOUGH MY HEART
WERE AS FROZEN AS ICE,
AT HIS FLAME
'TWOULD HAVE MELTED AWAY.
WHEN HE KISSED ME
SO CLOSELY HE PRESSED,
'TWAS SO SWEET
THAT I MUST HAVE COMPLIED:
SO I THOUGHT IT
BOTH SAFEST AND BEST
TO MARRY,
FOR FEAR YOU SHOULD CHIDE.

Sing it Girls!

The Back Door "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" When not a Blasphemous Curse

My Grandfather, Lawrence Hickey, inspired a great respect for the power majesty and magically entertaining value of words in me and all of my cousins.

He was a genuine County Kerry Bogman - a Culchie.* Despite the many years here in America he never lost a bit of the Kerry Mountain Bog. A Culchie is said to be any rural rube in Ireland. There is a town in Mayo called Coillte Mach( Culchie Ma) that means woodlands or forest. Some hold that to be the root of Culchie. I believe that it comes from another Irish phrase meaning the "back door." In Irish the term cúl na tí mean 'back of the house' as friends and loved ones did and continue to enter one's home using the back door. My grandmother was cúl na tí girl when she arrived here in Chicago in 1912 speaking only Irish. Nora Sullivan worked as a cook's helper and cook for the wealthy on Prairie Avenue in Chicago. She entered the homes of the Rich Yanks by the back door.

Thus; cúl na tí culture is a paradox - friends and family are associated with the back door and servitude/humility/social class as well.

South Side Irish in my neighborhood of Beverly/Morgan Park/Mount Greenwood continue the cúl na tí culture. No one comes to my front door but deliverymen, precinct captains, and African American Church Folks.

Yesterday, was the Feast of the Holy Family and it put me in mind of the cúl na tí culture and Granpa Hickey. One of my earliest memories is the sound of his Kerry Yowl intensifying with each step closer to our Georgian at 75th & Wood as he marched across the unpaved alley from Marshfield and 75th Street - "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!! Jesus, Mary and Joseph!!!! Mrs. Hickey ( he never called my Mom Virginia or Ginny) Mrs. Hickey Your Bastard of a Husband!!! Is He Home??????" These shouts and imprecations were repeated like monastic plain-song until he tossed open the alley gate and thundered into our yard. The Man had issues - he was a Rage-a-holic before it got on the map. Thirteen children might have had some factor in that issue.

My father had been accused, no doubt by one of his six brothers, to have 'borrowed' a push wheel lawn mower. pipe wrench, assortment of batteries, or good nails from his FATHER's personal horde of items that he had stolen from the Sanitary District.

My Dad worked three jobs and was often absent during Grandpa Hickey's wildly colorful visits to my mother.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph were not so much the Holy Family to us all as they were elements of a malediction poured down on the head of my father. "That Little Bastard!!! Mrs. Hickey!!!! Has My Shtep Ladder from Cook County Hospital!!!! I am painting my sills!!! I am not painting my sills, because that Little Bastard has my Shtep Ladder!!!! Jesus Mary and Joseph open the garage!!!"

No Shtep Ladder ( Step ladder in common vernacular). Our Sameday Visitor would eventually calm down, have tea, and tease the spalpeens ( my brother and I),and then head off to pull the tongue out of the son ( Bart, Jack, Donny, or Sy) who had falsely accused my father - who had in fact taken the shtep ladder, used it and given it to another brother.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph reminds me of the Holy Family and also of the odd cúl na tí culture we Chicago Irish possess - one that somehow soothes with a shout. It is a paradox and fun to watch.

Roman Catholic religious festival falling on the first Sunday after Christmas. Although major feast days dedicated to each member of the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—also exist, the Feast of the Holy Family commemorates their life together and the celebration focuses on religious family life. Because of the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, a feast for the Holy Family has been observed by the Copts from early times. In Western Christianity, however, a cult of veneration for the Holy Family as a group, rather than as individuals, did not arise until the 17th century and was not officially recognized until the feast day was instituted in 1921. Originally celebrated on the Sunday after Epiphany (January 6), the Feast of the Holy Family was moved to the Sunday after Christmas in 1969, bringing it within the Christmas season.

* culchie is a term sometimes used to describe a person from rural Ireland. It usually has the pejorative sense of "country bumpkin", but is also reclaimed by some proud of their rural origin, and may be used by either side in banter between town and country people. However it is often derogatory, used by those living in Dublin for anyone who lives "outside of the pale" or "down the country". In large cities such as Cork, Limerick and Galway, the term may be sometimes allocated to anybody who comes from outside an urban area. The same is true for Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland, where the term is also popular.[1] Generally the term is more humorous than abusive in rural areas, as opposed to the more offensive term "muck-savage". Culchies are seen as simple people who have a fairly direct manner, physical strength, limited social skills, and a rich accent.[citation needed]

Angel Lauren McGovern Home for Christmas!

Huge Hat Tip to Jim McMahon

In case you haven’t heard, Lauren McGovern came home from the hospital earlier this month and was able to be together with her family this Christmas.

Jewel Food Stores are hosting a Shop & Share for Lauren this December 29th, 30th and 31st. Go to http://www.lovinglauren.org/uploads/jewel_Dec28_29_30.pdf to download and print the forms to give to the cashier. This is NO COST to you, and a small percentage of any purchases you make at Jewel on any of these days gets credited to the McGovern family. You are prohibited from handing these forms out in front of any Jewel-Osco Stores, but you should print a few extra ones in case you run into any of your neighbors at the store that didn’t hear about this.

There will be a benefit for her at Bourbon Street on April 17, 2010 to help raise funds for her ongoing rehabilitation. Please visit http://www.lovinglauren.org for details.

Thanks for supporting this fine family and their beautiful little girl.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ARTICLE TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, AS THEY ARE HONORED AT ANY JEWEL-OSCO STORE NATION WIDE.

www.jimmcmahonchicago.blogspot.com

Skilled Trades in Progressive Cross-hairs: Plumber Mike Hanley Sets Things Straight

Progressives want to see the end of the Skilled Trades, because they believe that all labor should be subsumed by Andy Stern's SEIU.

The Skilled Trades built the vanishing American Standard of Living and the American Middle Class.

Skilled Trades Unions are always targeted by media investigative cadres. There is never an inquiry of the power and corruption within Services Employees Services Union. That has been the case since the Leftist SEIU devoured the old janitors unions back in the 1970's.

Today a Skilled Tradesman, Plumber Michael Hanley, hits back at the broad brush media smears. Well done , Mike!

Plumbers work hard, earn their pay

December 26, 2009
While I agree with critics who say the city plumbing inspector accused of violating codes should be fired, why bring his salary into it?
I am a union plumber and proud of my trade, though I've been laid off for 21 months.

What do critics think is a fair wage?

If I were working now my salary would be similar, though as a private-sector plumber I would not get paid holidays, sick days, vacation, etc.

I am tired of people commenting negatively on our pay and charges for work performed.

I and every other union plumber out there went through five years of apprenticeship, and we work very hard to earn that money, whether that's rodding out sewer systems, plumbing single-family homes or 95-story high-rises. We do the work that you don't want to or don't know how to. It's a skilled trade, and you pay for that skill.

Without qualified plumbers and the plumbing inspectors, everyone's health could be put at risk through improper water connections or sewage disposal.

Instead of complaining how much a plumber makes, next time thank him for providing safe drinking water for you and your family and for getting that razor out of your sewer that you flushed down the toilet so your home isn't backed up with raw sewage.

Michael Hanley, Canaryville

Grazyna Auguscik and Paulinho Garcia's Summer Samba Sweetens St. Stephen's Day

Santa Sent Summer Samba Sweethearts!

Grażyna Auguścik & Paulinho Garcia Polish and Bazilian Jass Geniuses Grażyna Auguścik & Paulinho Garcia melt that snow!

Terry O'Brien for County Board President - He Can Tell You What the Hell the Job Is About!

Toni Preckwinkle has a pass from the Chicago Editorial Boards and the humorless and, in my opinion, not really all that bright 4th Ward Alderman (Nobel novelist Saul Bellow was racist* because the NYT said so and Toni falls down open manholes -c.1998)wants to be CCBP. Progressives have welded their beings to Toni, as they always do once the central thought machine determines who is really whom. Old Harold Washington thought that Toni Preckwinkle was 'not all that' and backed Judge Tim Evans. Toni got the backing of national joke Carol Moseley Braun( Dorothy Brown on Steroids) and managed to squeak into the Alderman's chair in 1991.

Terry O'Brien worked at the Sanitary District, as did his father. He worked to become President of one of the largest fresh water management districts on earth - the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago. Terry O'Brien is a manager.

Cook County is mismanaged. Really, really, really mismanaged. Terry O'Brien is the last guy that Mayor Daley wants as President of the Cook County Board.

Toni Preckwinkle would be Todd Stroger without the laughs.

Terry O'Brien understands the job. Here is a Q & A from Cliff Carlson's great Irish American News ( click my post title):

Q. What is the Cook County Board
responsible for?

A. About a third is health care, a
third is safety which includes prisons
and courts, and another third is the
infrastructure system. Increase in
electronic monitoring, home confinement
and work release programs
would decrease incarceration of nonviolent
criminals, cutting the costs of
housing offenders.

* In October 2007 Preckwinkle opposed naming a landmark in the 4th ward for 1976 Nobel literature laureate Saul Bellow, reportedly on the grounds that Bellow had made remarks that Preckwinkle considered racist.[32][33] She also opposed the renaming of a stretch of street near the original Playboy Club "Hugh Hefner Way",

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRISTMAS AND CHANUKAH

Two Neat Guys with Holy Hats!


From My Pal Sammy! The Yid with Lid

For all of us Goyishers and Chicago is thick with us. I will highlight, as is my wont and will to do so, Sammy's Gems of Genius!

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN XMAS AND CHANUKAH


Now, if anyone asks you what the difference is between Christmas and Chanukah you will know what and how to answer!

1 Christmas is one day, same day every year, December 25. Jews also love December 25th. It's another paid day off work. We go to movies and out for Chinese food and Israeli dancing. Chanukah is 8 days. It starts the evening of the 24th of Kislev, whenever that falls. No one is ever sure. Jews never know until a non-Jewish friend asks when Chanukah starts*, forcing us to consult a calendar so we don't look like idiots. We all have the same calendar, provided free with a donation from the World Jewish Congress, the kosher butcher, or the local Sinai Memorial Chapel (especially in Florida ) or other Jewish funeral home.

2. Christmas is a major holiday. Chanukah is a minor holiday with the same theme as most Jewish holidays. They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat.

3. Christians get wonderful presents such as jewelry, perfume, stereos... Jews get practical presents such as underwear, socks, or the collected works of the Rambam, which looks impressive on the bookshelf.

4. There is only one way to spell Christmas. No one can decide how to spell Chanukah, Chanukkah, Chanukka, Channukah, Hanukah, Hannukah, etc.

5. Christmas is a time of great pressure for husbands and boyfriends. Their partners expect special gifts. Jewish men are relieved of that burden. No one expects a diamond ring on Chanukah.

6. Christmas brings enormous electric bills. Candles are used for Chanukah. Not only are we spared enormous electric bills, but we get to feel good about not contributing to the energy crisis.

7. Christmas carols are beautiful...Silent Night, Come All Ye Faithful.... Chanukah songs are about dreidels made from clay or having a party and dancing the hora. Of course, we are secretly pleased that many of the beautiful carols were composed and written by our tribal brethren. And don't Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond sing them beautifully?

8. A home preparing for Christmas smells wonderful. The sweet smell of cookies and cakes baking. Happy people are gathered around in festive moods. A home preparing for Chanukah smells of oil, potatoes, and onions. The home, as always, is full of loud people all talking at once.

9. Christian women have fun baking Christmas cookies. Jewish women burn their eyes and cut their hands grating potatoes and onions for latkas on Chanukah. Another reminder of our suffering through the ages.

10. Parents deliver to their children during Christmas. Jewish parents have no qualms about withholding a gift on any of the eight nights.


11. The players in the Christmas story have easy to pronounce names such as Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The players in the Chanukah story are Antiochus , Judah Maccabee, and Matta whatever. No one can spell it or pronounce it. On the plus side, we can tell our friends anything and they believe we are wonderfully versed in our history.


12. Many Christians believe in the virgin birth. Jews think, "Yossela, Bubela, snap out of it. Your woman is pregnant, you didn't sleep with her, and now you want to blame G-d? Here's the number of my shrink".

13. In recent years, Christmas has become more and more commercialized. The same holds true for Chanukah, even though it is a minor holiday. It makes sense. How could we market a major holiday such as Yom Kippur? Forget about celebrating. Think observing. Come to synagogue, starve yourself for 27 hours, become one with your dehydrated soul, beat your chest, confess your sins, a guaranteed good time for you and your family. Tickets a mere $200 per person. Better stick with Chanukah!

HAPPY CHANUKAH - MERRY CHRISTMAS!! And a Joyous New Year

Merry Christmas from the House of Hickey & Keely Smith!

Click my post title for Keely Smith -I Wish You Love! That ought to just about do it!

Merry Christmas and May God's Blessings Shower on You All!


THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST LUKE
CHAPTER 2

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all athe world should be btaxed.
2 (And this ataxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called aBethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his aespoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her afirstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the binn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the aglory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you agood tidings of great bjoy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is aborn this day in the city of David a bSaviour, which is Christ the cLord.
12 And this shall be a asign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 aGlory to God in the highest, and on earth bpeace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with ahaste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it awondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and apondered them in her heart.

Nativity -Lake County Indiana

The Census was hiring but the process was much too long for Joseph, an unemployed Carpenter who had been laid off since the trim work on the Elderly Residence at 79th & California went in and that was October. Jesus Christ!

His wife was all set to give birth and the HMO had been notified that Joseph and Mary were visiting relatives in Porter County, Indiana. They were spending the Holidays with Mary's folks in Duneland just east of Gary.

Joseph had maxed out the Mastercard, but their Visa Debit Card was still good. The forty or so miles out of Chicago would be a hell of burden on the rusting 1998 Pontiac Bonneville SE that Joe's brother had ground out the crankshaft and bored-out the cylinders and rewired the whole machine, but the damn thing still ate gas and burned oil. The tank would cost them $45 at Thornton's in Blue Island near their apartment. They had a house until last year,but it went south with the economy.


Mary and Joe would eat lunch at Old Country Buffet in Lansing, as opposed to Jedi's Garden or even Cracker Barrel in Griffith or Highland as they were too pricey. Mary's Mom was working at the Blue Note Casino in Michigan City and her Dad had a job with Hancock Orchards in LaPorte at Christmas Time.

Joseph was hoping to get work as a Census taker, but like everything in government - those with drag are the first called.

Mary ate little at OCB and complained to Joseph. It could be the baby. They paid with the debit swipe and headed out to the Pontiac. Joseph placed his swollen bride into the passenger seat and scraped ice off the windows and mirrors and started up the dinosaur Saudi ATM.

The car shuddered a bit as they eased onto I-80 off of Torrence and Joe maintained a sensible interval between cars in the right lane. The Bonne's dashlight went red - CHECK ENGINE.

Joe pulled the car off at Kennedy Ave. and took the south exit toward Highland, Indiana. He parked in front Calumet Tobacco Wholesalers and, Armin Scheidler of Hessville in Hammond, the owner saw the young couple from through the front window -Christmas Eve! The Preston boys! Armin got on his Cingular One.

The Preston Brothers, Jason and Mark, had gone to Hobart High School, served in Desert Storms I & II as Transportation Pool Master Sergeants and opened a service center on the far south side of Griffith, just south and east of Highland. While Joe , a very good framer if not the absolute best finisher in the wood butchery trade, the boy was all asses and elbows with electricity, plumbing and automobiles.
Joe had popped open the hood of the Bonneville and helplessly and pathetically like most of us males attempted to perform a miracle. For twenty minutes, Joe muled under the hood with gizmos and gadgets, while Mary moaned to him through the floor panel.

Armin Scheidler stuck around the store and sold cigars and cartons of cigarettes to Illinois and Hoosier last minute shoppers. He was already late for the party at V.I.P. Lounge on Glen Park Road. Armin called Mike McGillie the retired refractory salesman, Notre Dame All-American, Minnesota Viking and St. Louis Cardinal Alumnus.

Armin told McGillie about the plight of the two kids with Illinois Plates and said also that he thought the little girl had a duck in the oven. They didn't seem to have two nickels to rub together.

McGillie and Trib sports writer Freddie Matchell and real estate man and race horse owner Dennis Churilla took up a collection from the retired Inland, LTV and Republic steel workers and honchos who still drank at VIP, even though George Applegates sold the joint.

After twenty minutes, Jason Preston fired the Preston Brothers 2007 Ford F-650 Super Cab XLT wrecker into the lot on Kennedy Ave. Jason joined Joe under the hood and immediately diagnosed a blown oil pump. Jason got on the cell phone -no need for the CB anymore - and asked his Bro about the spare Melling M155. No, he had not done the full diagnostic. Asshole.

Mary had had it. Joe checked on his girl and saw that her water had broken. She was tough - no panic. Munster Hospital was ten minutes away. Jason called Terry Miller at the Griffith Fire House. The ambulance was on its way. Joe was told to go with Armin and Jason hooked up the Bonneville and took it to the shop where his brother was waiting with the Melling M155 Pump.

Terry Miller had Mary. Armin had Joseph. The Preston Boys had the Bonneville and Mike McGillie, Freddie Matchell and Dennis Churilla had a hat full of money ( Mike McGillie's hat was pretty big - he had a head on him like a boulder in a Gene Autry movie). The Preston Boys owed Dennis Churilla for part of the loan that they needed as a cash down stroke to Bank of America for their shop, back in 2005. Mike McGillie and Armin had a long and close relationship that networked the purchase of many high-end cigars to NFL players past and present and a few remaining American and Dutch Steel Magnates. Freddie Matchell wrote for The Tribune and had been coached by crabby George Applegates - who had once owned the spot on which the V.I.P. Lounge now stood. The Christmas Star was aligned with a whole bunch of stuff as they say.

Joe and Mary had a baby boy that they named Joshua. The baby was fine - they always seem to be so. Armin gave Joe the contents of McGillie's hat later when he took Joe in to meet the gang. Joe did not have a beer. He did not cry when he pocketed the money that these kind people had forced on him, though he really wanted to do so. It was a couple of hundred bucks. Mary's Mom and Dad were at the hospital. Joe's car would be done by Tuesday. Hell, he was set. Joe did not need to get that Census Job after all. Freddie Matchell wrote about the couple and the Christmas story went National. Dennis Churilla's horse won the next six races at Keeneland and Oak Lawn. The Preston Brothers placed some spare change on that bet and paid off Dennis's loan to them - Dennis was not too worried about it.

Armin Scheidler went to Florida after New Years.

Mike McGillie does this stuff all the time. Joseph and Mary moved out of their apartment in Blue Island and to a small house for the same rate in Griffith, Indiana.
Mike McGillie talked to some guys that Dennis Churilla did business with in East Chicago and like magic -Joseph worked as a Carpenter again. I can't say how - it's Christmas.

AND it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

The Succinct and Pastoral St. Luke

Tamara Holder On Ben Nelson -Ben Went Full Gangsta

President Obama matches Street Cred with Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson - The Originah G!


I believe that the current Health Care Push went something like this:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D. Nev.) "Ben, we will exempt Nebraska!"

Senator Mastah B ( D. Neb.)-"Yo Bitch I needs a Jackson, A Lincoln an Sum Wons fo My 40s and Cheese, Yo! Don't Gots All Day, Foo! Dis Han'Cannon Shouts MuthaFuckah!"

OHRajeous Mastah B! - Mos Def! - ben nelson, senator from Nebraska, took a bribe.

My buddy, Chicago Lawyer Tamara Holder presented this mind-candy during her fine appearance on Fox this morning.

Monday Night Tamara appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, sans the pompous pundit, and matched the tough and funny Laura Ingraham nicely.

Chicago Democratic Lawyer & Strategist Tamara Holder Debates Health Care on Fox

My friendly and much, much, much more athletic and better looking adversary Tamara Holder, a young but Old Timey Liberal Civil Rights lawyer, has debated the American Health Care dilemma on Fox.

Click my post title for this thoughtful and energetic young woman.

Twelve Days of Christmas Was an Irish/French Catholic Rebel Song

(Carraig an Aifrinn - Mass Rock in Ireland celebrates Faith under Persecution)

Only Atheists take out billboards to mock the faith of people. Illinois Atheist Bob Sherman bought a bus. Churches do not persecute anyone in this country - that is for the ACLU to decide when a where the facts can be taffy-pulled into a new St. Batholomew's Day Massacre. That usually has to do with a five year old cupping hands in class and thank Jesus, or Yaweh, of Allah, or Vishnu for the peanut butter sandwich in her lunch. What I always found interesting was the fact that the American Congregationalist Evangelical Movement of the 19th Century, rooted in William Wilberforce's Enthusiasm for Abolition in England, was rooted in the religious/civil point of view that created the Anti-Catholic Laws in England. Ironically, William Wilberforce actively fought for Catholic Emancipation and his sons became Roman Catholics. Something left out of the PC version of this Champion of Abolition.

American intellectuals erase Catholic influence in all things. It's as old as the Great Awakening and the Brook Farm Movement, from which Orestes Brownson was cast away when he converted to Roman Catholicism. The ACLU's founders Roger Baldwin et al were the secular preachers of Secular Enthusiasm.

Mother England codified much of the ACLU's "Do-Away With" Pettifoggery from Good Queen Bess, the Cromwellian period and through the Glorious Revolution.

Ireland suffered under Penal Laws* (Na Péindlíthe) that outlawed the practice of religion while Wilberforce fought to end the slave trade around the world.

In Ireland, no catholic could hear Mass and priests were hunted, like wolves. Father Nick Sheehy was the las recorded Outlaw Priest 'murdered by the Crown in 1766. Irish peasants heard Mass.

Christmas is as much under assault as my ancestors were when they attended the Eucharist at Mass Rocks ( Carraig an Aifrinn ) out in the cold and wind and rain. We squeak when Terry McEldowney opens all the windows at Sacred Heart before Mass-
" Wakes You Clowns Up!"

The 12 Days of Christmas is often thought to be a nice Secularist French Seasonal Song - nope, it seems that the tune and the words were ones of resistnace against religious persecution. The numbered items hold religious conotations. "The 12 Days of Christmas." It is said that each gift represents an aspect of the Catholic faith and that the song was used to teach children during a time when Catholicism was banned. Many versions of the story abound, one being written by a Friar who states that he was doing research in some old Latin texts when he came up references to the song in "letters from Irish priests, mostly Jesuits, writing back to the motherhouse at Douai-Rheims, in France." ( click my post title)



2 Turtle Doves = Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity
4 Calling Birds = Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = first Five Books of the Old Testament
6 Geese A-laying = Six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
8 Maids A-milking = Eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = Ten Commandments
11 Pipers Piping = Eleven faithful Apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = Twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

Ironically enough the Partridge ( that sits in the Pear Tree- Fruit Tree for Wassiling Cider?)symbolizes the Church and has also been used to represent Satan. Both might work in this song.


*Exclusion of Catholics from most public offices (since 1607), Presbyterians were also barred from public office from 1707.
Ban on intermarriage with Protestants; repealed 1778
Presbyterian marriages were not legally recognised by the state
Catholics barred from holding firearms or serving in the armed forces (rescinded by Militia Act of 1793)
Bar from membership in either the Parliament of Ireland or the Parliament of Great Britain from 1652; rescinded 1662-1691; renewed 1691-1829.
Disenfranchising Act 1728, exclusion from voting until 1793;
Exclusion from the legal professions and the judiciary; repealed (respectively) 1793 and 1829.
Education Act 1695 - ban on foreign education; repealed 1782.
Bar to Catholics entering Trinity College Dublin; repealed 1793.
On a death by a Catholic, his legatee could benefit by conversion to the Church of Ireland;
Popery Act - Catholic inheritances of land were to be equally subdivided between all an owner's sons with the exception that if the eldest son and heir converted to Protestantism that he would become the one and only tenant of estate and portions for other children not to exceed one third of the estate. This "Gavelkind" system had previously been abolished by 1600.
Ban on converting from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism on pain of Praemunire: forfeiting all property estates and legacy to the monarch of the time and remaining in prison at the monarch's pleasure. In addition, forfeiting the monarch's protection. No injury however atrocious could have any action brought against it or any reparation for such.
Ban on Catholics buying land under a lease of more than 31 years; repealed 1778.
Ban on custody of orphans being granted to Catholics on pain of 500 pounds that was to be donated to the Blue Coat hospital in Dublin.
Ban on Catholics inheriting Protestant land
Prohibition on Catholics owning a horse valued at over £5 (in order to keep horses suitable for military activity out of the majority's hands)
Roman Catholic lay priests had to register to preach under the Registration Act 1704, but seminary priests and Bishops were not able to do so until 1778
When allowed, new Catholic churches were to be built from wood, not stone, and away from main roads.
'No person of the popish religion shall publicly or in private houses teach school, or instruct youth in learning within this realm' upon pain of twenty pounds fine and three months in prison for every such offence. Repealed in 1782. [2]
Any and all rewards not paid by the crown for alerting authorities of offences to be levied upon the Catholic populace within parish and county.

Steve Rhodes Explains his Resignation from NBC on WBEZ

Here is a great interview with Steve Rhodes by Justin Kaufmann, Web Editor for WBEZ.

However, yesterday I posted a WBEZ interview.