Michael Moriarty Fights PC Jazz Goofs & Erroll Garner - I'll Remember April

Progressive Jazz: How the Left’s ‘Teachable Moments’ Killed Bradley’s Michael Moriarty's poignant and on-target essay on the Progressive PC poisoning of jazz focused my attention on the Great Erroll Garner Click my post title for pure genius.

Errol Garner is ignored. It seems to me that Mr. Garner is ignored because he was not angry enough - to the contrary.

Garner remains unique. Playing consistently to a very high standard, he developed certain characteristics that bear few resemblances to other pianists. Notably, these include a plangent left-hand, block-chorded pulse, a dancing pattern of seemingly random ideas played with the right hand in chords or single notes, and playful introductions, which appear as independent miniature compositions, only to sweep suddenly, with apparent spontaneity and complete logic, into an entirely different song.

Sumptuously romantic on ballads, and fleet and daring on up-tempo swingers, Garner’s range was wide. Nicknamed ‘The Elf’, more, perhaps, for his diminutive stature than for the impish good humour of those introductions, Garner was the first jazz pianist since Fats Waller to appeal to the non-jazz audience, and the first jazzman ever to achieve popular acclaim from this audience without recourse to singing or clowning. Dudley Moore acknowledges much of his style to Garner, and ‘swinging 60s piano jazz’ owes a massive debt to him. Stylistically, Garner is in a category of which he is, so far, the only true member. Since his death in January 1977, there has been no sign that any other pianist other than Keith Jarrett is following his independent path in jazz.

Michael Moriarty, a jazz pianist as well as a great American actor, wrote this

My God, the politicizing of jazz had grown to a militant exclusivity that infuriated me!
Had I not been with my director and had downed a few more drinks, I might have tipped over a few tables.
Now the atmosphere of this Nicole Henry album was inspired in one of the most jazz-addicted nations in the world, Japan.
They obviously retain a freedom within their increasingly sensitized souls more American than that most American giant of world cities, New York!!
Perhaps it was the moment the sportscaster, Dick Schapp asked me, “Michael, is there anyone in New York you haven’t offended?!”
“Yes,” I should have said, “You, Dick!”
Tighten the phones to your ears, if you’re using them to listen to the intimacy Ms. Henry maintains with herself – and that, mind you, is the first necessity of any recording … or film artist for that matter – and then let the “still, small voice” in.
Let the deep and quietly, blissfully disturbing surrender happen.
Bradley’s is no more and hasn’t lived for many years because once Bradley himself had died, his poor wife could not keep the Progressive Militants out.
That crowd of elitists, enlightened despots and intellectual supremacists had driven the regular customers like myself … had forced them out.
Eventually even they didn’t come.
Why?
They had no one to give a “teachable moment” to.
What happened to Bradley’s has now happened to all of America.
How long we will be in for this horrifyingly arrogant, “teachable endlessness” … and how long this soul-less and tragically American fascism can continue … will perhaps depend upon the depth of agony we all must feel repeatedly when the quintessentially American forms of music are fed to us as a privilege only afforded us by the Progressive dictators who claim to own it.

Big Hollywood 4/10/210

Jazz belongs to all of us. Thanks Mr. Moriarty and thank you Mr. Garner

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmoriarty/2010/04/09/progressive-jazz-how-the-lefts-teachable-moments

http://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Erroll-Garner.html

John Kass? Dithering Dick Durbin - Alexi's Zorba the Creep!

Just when WTTW had a golden opportunity to fight the power ( Illinois Speaker Mike Madigan- the only adult in Illinois Government) and allow Carol Marin to smugly snark-out Bosses, Bossism and Boss malapropisms weaving a purple toga ( that's a Roman thing) for Forrest Claypool - the panjandrum ( always appointed rarely elected) Zelig of Reform, John Kass of the Chicago Tribune hosed on the Greek Fire!

Oprah!

Just when will Claypool allow his buddies in the Obama White House to persuade the toxic Alexi Giannoulias to drop out and draft Claypool for a run against Republican Mark Kirk for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois?

"Excuse me?" Claypool asked, as if he hadn't thought of it. "I have no interest in running for the Senate. I'm running to be the next Cook County assessor."

Claypool, the liberal Democrat, is indeed campaigning as an independent for assessor against Democratic Party warhorse Joe Berrios, D-Madigan.

"I'm not considering the Senate," he told me.

But he must have considered it, at least fleetingly, even as he's trying to gather 25,000 petition signatures to get himself on the November ballot.

And so have Democrats and Republicans who want to look past the latest sound bite and the next Claypool suck-up session. I'm sure President Barack Obama and his City Hall guys have thought of it.

Roasted Lamb, by the beard of Zeus! Kass, where's Illinois Senior Senator Dithering Dick Durbin? Boutsokefalos Durbin has been the Greek Mentor to Alexi Giannoulias and took the boy to fabled Hellas for a walk among the ruins and imparted his sage counsel on all things melon, lemon and felon!

Remember? Last Spring - 2009. The Odyssey of Durbin? What wisdoms did he impart to the young Treasurer? What pearls? What skata was Dithering Dick Talkin'?


"I believe he(Alexi) will be more forthcoming. There are some things we do know and should acknowledge. He (Alexi) has not been involved with his family bank for four years.The current portfolio of that bank, only 9 % of those loans reflect loans that were on the books when he(Alexi) left the bank 4 years ago, so the loan package out there now at that bank is substantially different. I think he should come forward. He's talked to me about it what happened there, he's very proud his father started this bank and built it up from nothing. The controversy there whether it reflects on Alexi himself personally or the banking practices remains to be seen, but I've encouraged him to answer all the questions." Senator Dithering Dick Durbin

IOANNES (Ιωαννης) Kass! While our anger is often aimed at the obvious man in power, or the most skilled or the most successful, it is not always the Great Man who is the puppetmaster, but often the Iago, or the Catesby, or the Bacon. Just because Senator Durbin presents himself as a hapless dope, does not mean that he is without his ability to seed folly and influence a young man. Remember what Aristotle said in Rhetoric -

Anger may be defined as an impulse, accompanied by pain, to a conspicuous revenge for a conspicuous slight directed without justification towards what concerns oneself or towards what concerns one's friends. If this is a proper definition of anger, it must always be felt towards some particular individual, e.g. Cleon, and not "man" in general. It must be felt because the other has done or intended to do something to him or one of his friends. It must always be attended by a certain pleasure -- that which arises from the expectation of revenge. For since nobody aims at what he thinks he cannot attain, the angry man is aiming at what he can attain, and the belief that you will attain your aim is pleasant. Hence it has been well said about wrath,

Sweeter it is by far than the honeycomb dripping with sweetness,
And spreads through the hearts of men.

Stay angry, John Kass - IOANNES ( Ιωαννης)!!!!!! NOW!!!! I MUST Dance!!!!!!!!!!!!

MSNBC Hates Real Nuns and Why I Can't Tea Party - for Real - It's A South Side Thing -My Problem, Really.

I mean, by the MSNBC definition they would be racist: After all, 79 percent of those polled were white. That's a lot of white people and Chris Matthews must reckon, a lot of hoods*.Why the Left Hates the Tea Party
I count three Hoods - Old School South Side-ism for Nuns.
My buddy John Rubery - the Marathon Pundit - sent me this great photo of three nuns attending a Tea Party event in Rockford, Illinois.

I witnessed the first big Tea Party event last year in Chicago, when I was in the Loop on Leo High School business. It was a very tame, respectful and nice crowd of people.

N. B. -Given the fact that I aged ( we say 'dragged up') on the south side of Chicago, where mothers and fathers; extended family; neighbors; friends; teachers and coaches protect the young from ridicule ( ' Murtagh!, you are not wearing that cape out to play again; you are a senior at Marist, for Crissakes! Only Mike Joyce can get away with that and you are no boxer, Honey.') very early in life, Tea Party sports wear does not suit me. Therefore, I feel uncomfortable intruding in mufti. For example, were I to don a tri-corner hat, black vest and swell knee-britches and hose worn only by serial bicyclists on Milwaukee Avenue, Gino Ford, Eddie Carroll ( 'Put a net over Hickey') , Mike Regan ( "Get Him That Canvas Sweater with Tuck-Away Arms," Joe Capagna, Tommy Kordas, and Boz O'Brien ('Don't let His Kids Know') would call the CFD paramedics and have me shot up with animal tranquilizers until I got better. Thus, due to cultural cowardice, I am not a Tea Partier.

You see, the lovely lady with whom I am utterly flattered by her tolerance and acceptance of my Gordian psychic package and I stroll the tony streets of Chicago's Gold Coast and the delightful and impish Old Town. She is charmed by the sight of thirteen and fourteen year old boys decked out like Harry Potter and remarks on that sight. She shudders when I offer the insight, "Victims."

My heart goes out to these uninhibited young fellows festooned as they are in whimsical garb on a blustery April Sunday. I can well imagine the drubbing these romantically inclined boulevardiers would take at the hands of the less whimsically inclined denizens of 108th & Rockwell ' "Hey, Harry,is Hogwarts' Off for Easter? Get over here and empty your pockets for me and Frankie, Buzz and Knuckles or Hermione’s Time Turner will zap your nuts!"( 5th graders at St. Cajetan's). It is my hang-up.

However, I admire and respect and envy the many, many, many Americans who stand up!

These three wonderful women are an example to us all. It nice seeing Nuns without needing to shudder, flinch and recoil from their folly of escorting kids to an abortion factory, or encouraging goofballs to toss blood at Easter Mass - which some nuns did, as a matter of fact, - and avoided getting bracelets put on their flabby wrists when the cops showed up.

Get the Context from Dan Kelley in the Joe Berrios Brawl

Chicago Daily Observer columnist and attorney Dan Kelley presents the best analysis of the Cook County Assessor Race coming soon to voters near you!

Dan Kelley presents the context for this race being papered over by the dimwitted corporate media - especially the ever fatuous icon Carol Marin. I like Joe Berrios and Carol Marin does not. That is usually Okay by me.

For the real deal dig here and find the gold.

Thus:

Berrios might have been vulnerable to a primary challenge in 2008, but the only opponent to emerge was Jay Paul Deratany, a lawyer with ties to US Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) and her husband, the former felon, Robert Cremer. Deratany enjoyed financial support from the gay community, but his campaign money could not buy him love from the primary electors. A stronger opponent might have caused Berrios some sleepless nights, but the leftist Shakowsky endorsed a Board of Review candidate who could not play to the voters in the bungalow belt. Had a more conventional opponent filed against Berrios in 2008, he may have been retired already.

If Claypool qualifies for the November ballot, this may be the most interesting local contest in more than a decade. Claypool has a political resume that is enviable when contrasted with that of Berrios. For the time being, voters will have to wait and see what develops.

Click my post title for Dan Kelley's Chicago Daily Observer piece

Lent's Over! A Titillating Tale of Knocker's Up Feminism From Portland

With devotions and mortification's of the flesh replaced with the Joy of Forgiveness, I offer this telling and titillating tale of Feminists Folly. Be assured that I shall be chastised by a singularly devout, albeit sexy, young woman who deigns to be seen in public with your humble correspondant - " Exactly, how old are you? Ten?"

'Oh My, My! Oh, Hell Yes! Better Put on That Party Dress!'

PORTLAND – About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy's Park this afternoon in an effort to erase what they see as a double standard on male and female nudity.
A group of women and men who had shed their tops march down a Congress Street sidewalk from Longfellow Square to Tommy's Park. They were promoting the freedom of women to be topless in public. The group attracted many amateur and professional photographers.

The women, preceded and followed by several hundred boisterous and mostly male onlookers, many of them carrying cameras, stayed on the sidewalk because they hadn't obtained a demonstration permit to walk in the street. About a thousand people gathered as the march passed through Monument Square, a mix of demonstrators, supporters, onlookers and those just out enjoying a warm and sunny early-spring day.
. . .Ty McDowell, who organized the march, said she was "enraged" by the turnout of men attracted to the demonstration. The purpose, she said, was for society to have the same reaction to a woman walking around topless as it does to men without shirts on.

However, McDowell said she plans to organize similar demonstrations in the future and said she would be more "aggressive" in discouraging oglers.

Gals, me and the gents appreciate your struggle . . .out of the Knocker Harnesses.

U of I Chris Kennedy and Stan Ikenberry -Billy Ayers' Chinaman? -Continue Progressive Transparency

You gotta love Progressive ( Not The Machine) Transparency. No More Machine Clout from the Progressives who make Clout look Clean!

Stan Ikenberry*, the Interim President of University of Illinois and long-time One-Man- Ruler of University of Illinois Back in the Day when ComED Billy Ayers got slipped in the back door and had his Career as a Terrorist Laundered, and his panjandrum packed Board announced the candidates for U of I President. Well, sort of:

U. of I. board members met in closed session Monday in Chicago and will convene again Friday to interview at least some of the top candidates.

Strobel and board chair Christopher Kennedy would not name the candidates, citing their concern for confidentiality. They also declined to say how many individuals the trustees would meet. While state law allows the candidates' names to remain private, a final board vote on the appointment must be taken in public.

Chris Kennedy, who gets appointed to everything, just like Sheila Simon, and does not need to run for public office, is the Chair of this fine exercise in Progressive Transprency.

You see they do not want to announce the names of the candidates for concerns about confidentiality - confidentially that stinks Chris.

Stan Ikenberry is still very confidential about just how Billy Ayers became a distinguished professor of education. Confidentially, Stan, it was because Billy's Dad had scads of dough. Pay to Play, Bubba!

Well, Chris Kennedy, who has scads of dough, is just a tingle with excitement!

"Kennedy described the candidates as coming 'from the finest universities in the country.'

'Everybody wants the job,' Kennedy said.
The meetings will be part sales pitch by the board, however.
U. of I. is struggling with mounting budget concerns, with the state now $466 million behind in payments the university had expected to receive already this fiscal year. Faculty and administrators are required to take up to 10 furlough days by June."

Chris Kennedy and Stan Ikenberry and Billy Ayers - Now that's Fresh Air . . .in a closed-tight, windowless barn full of hogs with the runs.

*

And, as these same records also demonstrate, the advisory committee that Ayers co-chaired played no operational role whatsoever once the Challenge hired its Executive Director at the end of its first year.

Ayers had nothing to do with Obama’s recruitment to the Board. Barack Obama was encouraged to run for Chair by Deborah Leff, with whom he served on another board, recommended by Pat Graham, and elected by the bipartisan founding board members: Susan Crown, Pat Graham, Stanley Ikenberry, Ray Romero, Arnold Weber, and Wanda White.

Barack Obama months ago confirmed that he had contact with Ayers during the course of his foundation work, and he pointed out that “We served on a board together that had Republicans, bankers, lawyers, focused on education”. Senator Obama also said earlier this year that Ayers was “not somebody who I exchange ideas with on a regular basis”, a fact that is not in any way contradicted by their contact through the Annenberg Challenge which ended 12 years ago, or by any of the Challenge records.

http://article.nationalreview.com/372023/obamas-challenge/stanley-kurtz

Chicago's Progressive Cork Screw: Sun Times Needs Facts Like Rep. Phil Hare Needs U.S. Constitution

Cartoon by the Great Dan Piraro
The dappled underwear that is the Chicago Sun Times editorial page once again exceeds my expectations and lowers the bar of any moral high ground.

The Sun Times is loaded with talented writers like Mark Konkol, Natasha Korecki, Mike Mulligan, and Tim Novak; however, the Progressive cadre calling the editorial tune and the self-proclaimed icon-columnists are a pretty stale box of unsalted mixed nuts.

Carol Marin's "Bossism" smooch for Forest Claypool was flare gun signal for the goofy editorial board of the Chicago Sun Times, which has thought manufactured for it by Planned Parenthood, IVO-IPO, SEIU, the most strident Leftists at University of Chicago, Northwestern University and UICC, pulls its own britches down for public inspection with this hate mail to Boss Madigan, Boss Cullerton, Boss Berrios and Boss Sounds Everywhere!

We have no evidence Berrios and Madigan have ever swapped a single lucrative favor, but anybody can see this is far too cozy a relationship.

But howl they do!

Time for a trip to the mighty Kankakee River to snag some smallies and put the Sun Times to good use!


http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.changetowin.org/connect/moron.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bi

Easter 1916-2010: Ireland's Proclamation and Prayer

On Easter Monday 1916, Irish rebels seized the General Post Office in the heart of Dublin and launched years of resistance to Great Britain and a bloody Civil War - The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

This is the 94th Anniversary of the Birth of the Irish Nation and a call to rekindle the Faith that has been shake by clerical arrogance, ignorance and intransigence. Of the many speakers calling for a renewal of the Irish Nation was Irish Army Chaplain Eoin Thynne.

Army chaplain Msgr Eoin Thynne, in the name of “the compassionate and merciful God”, recalled with affection those who fought and died for freedom.

He asked for God’s blessing on the men and women they were remembering before focusing on contemporary events.

Msgr Thynne said: “Guide our nation on the ways of justice, integrity and truth. Give us the strength to bear the fatigue and hardship of our present economic difficulties.

“Enlighten our hearts with the willingness to forgive those who have been contaminated by the virus of corruption, the selfishness and greed. Those whose pride and arrogance have inflicted misery and hardship on your people.”

Msgr Thynne prayed that Ireland would “rediscover the feelings of security, peace and inner comfort”.

He added: “Give us the courage to improve ourselves and to shape a society built on a solid foundation of ethics.”

Relatives of those who died in 1916 present, included Nora de hÓir, from Limerick, niece of Kathleen Clarke who was married to Thomas Clarke. Kathleen Clarke remained active in public life after her husband’s execution and was lord mayor of Dublin.

Meet the Gardener! Happy Easter and Rejoice in Your Neighbors!

John's Gospel was given a turbo-charge by Father Gallagher at this morning Easter Mass at Sacred Heart Church.

The little 107 year old French Shrine Mission Church at 11652 S. Church on south side of Chicago was packed - the Sheas, the Wardinglys, the Reillys, the McEldowneys Brothers, Chief Jimmy Corbett, Jimmy Littleton, the Schumachers, the Vasys, the Dukevichs, the Garcias, The Esplanados, the Finns, the Sheahans, the Knightlys, the Moores, and Hickeys & etc.. Firefighters, Cops, teachers, nurses, City Hall clerks, tradesmen, WWII,Korea,Vietnam, Desert Storms veterans and two young guys just back from Iraq and Afghanistan. They are tough, generous, simple and brilliant people of faith.

Father Gallagher beamed as the two Schumacher toddlers pushed the envelop, because Grandpa Jerry was two pews in front. Father Gallagher called our church within The Catholic Church "The Shrine of the Blessed Intermission." Everyone turned around to cast the glance of recognition toward Baritone Terry McEldowney whose commentaries on homilies - even while in progress - are legendary. " No, not today. This is for the beautifully dressed young ladies."

In Today's Gospel, the Risen Christ is unseen, the Tomb is Empty, Mary Magdalen tells the disciples Peter and John, John bolts to the tomb followed by the lumbering fisherman and find the funeral shrouds and wrappings. Magdalene went conspiracy theory -"' They' have taken Him away!" No they, Toots, but He. Interesting to note that secular feminists and parsing Progressives tend to ignore the fact that Christ chose the gospel's 'fallen' but forgive woman to reveal the wonder of his Resurrection.

John the Gospel writer credits himself with. “He saw and believed” (Jn 20:8) offering a bit of writer's hubris and shameless self-promotion - as is our wont.

Father Gallagher talked of the appearance to Magdalene of Christ whom she mistakes for a Gardener.

That is what the Resurrection and our Catholic Faith is all about - the Risen Christ whom we self-absorbed people mistake for something else. Christ merely says, "Mary."

That is what is waiting for us - we hope and pray.

Christ might say, "Hickey. Your wife's here. What the Hell she see in you? Just, stroking you . . .come on in."

The Catholic Church will be fine. God Bless Father Gallagher. The joint was packed.

A Catholic Response to Washington Post's Know-Nothing Editors

The Washington Post* wants Gay Marrage, Abortion, as secular America and the Catholic Church to disappear. The Washington Post issued this fatwah on Catholics.

From today's On Faith section: Should the Pope resign? Richard Dawkins answers:

Pope Ratzinger should not resign. He should remain in charge of the whole rotten edifice - the whole profiteering, woman-fearing, guilt-gorging, truth-hating, child-raping institution - while it tumbles, amid a stench of incense and a rain of tourist-kitsch sacred hearts and preposterously crowned virgins, about his ears.

Here's my response - It only takes two of us, though we started with twelve.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
one in Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.

For our sake he was crucified
under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son
he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic
and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.



*

WASHINGTON POST MAY BE THE MOST UNDERVALUED media company in America today. That's because investors give it virtually no credit for Kaplan, a large and rapidly growing education division that generates more than half the company's revenue and profit.


Shares of the Post (ticker: WPO) trade for 445, less than half their 2004 peak, and about 50% of Barron's estimate of the company's asset value. Controlled by the founding Graham family, the low-profile Post is a mini conglomerate, operating Kaplan, a cable-TV business with 669,000 basic subscribers, a group of network-TV stations, the Washington Post newspaper and Newsweek magazine

Huge Hat Tip to Jill at Pundit and Pundette

The Chicago Police - Christ and the Harrowing of Hell

Today, in Catholic and most Christian liturgical observances, witnesses the Harrowing of Hell.

Following His death on the Cross, Jesus descended into Hell ( Sheol in Hebrew) and freed the good people from Satan and Death.

"We got shots fired over here!" Chicago Police Officer heard on News video.

Everyday is Holy Saturday for the women and men of the Chicago Police Department. On that Channel News Video from Thursday caught in full truth and it is remarkable to witness the Chicago Police Officers charge to sound of gunfire while the good people and victims protect themselves as best they can. Click my post title for the heroic Truth about Chicago Police Officers

Christ Harrowed - Looted - Hell of the Good and freed us from Death and the lure of Satan -ha-Satan ("the accuser") Hebrew.

Chicago Police are accused every day of every sin and motivation by lawyers and politicians who get rich off of the suffering people of Englewood, Austin, Gresham, Roseland & etc. They really get the truth tossed at them

These places are madhouses of criminal activity and tie down precious resources which could be deployed fighting crime," Weis said.

The 41 people shot between the end of Wednesday and 2 a.m. Friday included four people who were wounded outside the Magnolia nightclub near 122nd and Halsted, Weis said.

Other shooting sites included Bronzeville, Grand Crossing and South Shore. During one especially violent stretch, 16 people were shot in a little more than two hours.

Among those was a woman who said she was shot in the arm in Millennium Park about 12:30 a.m., but did not report it until she was treated in a Melrose Park hospital. Police have questioned where the shooting happened.

Weis noted that the second Englewood shooting occurred despite the immediate presence of three dozen heavily armed and uniformed police officers.

"It shows the complete brazen lack of respect for authority." Weis said. "The question that I have to ask is, what would they do when we're not here?"

This is the Old English and Middle English term for the triumphant descent of Christ into hell (or Hades) between the time of His Crucifixion and His Resurrection, when, according to Christian belief, He brought salvation to the souls held captive there since the beginning of the world. According to the "New English Dictionary" the word Harrowing in the above connection first occurs in Aelfric's homilies, about A.D. 1000; but, long before this, the descent into hell had been related in the Old English poems connected with the name of Caedmon and Cynewulf. Writers of Old English prose homilies and lives of saints continually employ the subject, but it is in medieval English literature that it is most fully found, both in prose and verse, and particularly in the drama. Art and literature all through Europe had from early times embodied in many forms the Descent into Hell, and specimens plays upon this theme in various European literatures still exist, but it is in Middle English dramatic literature that we find the fullest and most dramatic development of the subject. The earliest specimen extant of the English religious drama is upon the Harrowing of Hell, and the four great cycles of English mystery plays each devote to it a separate scene. It is found also in the ancient Cornish plays. These medieval versions of the story, while ultimately based upon the New Testament and the Fathers, have yet, in their details, been found to proceed from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, the literary form of a part of which is said to date back to the second of third century. In its Latin form this "gospel" was known in England from a very early time; Bede and other Old English writers are said to show intimate acquaintance with it. English translations were made of it in the Middle Ages, and in the long Middle English poem known as "Cursor Mundi" a paraphrase of it is found.

Chicago Street Violence - The Savage Wars of Peace: CPD =USMC?

CHICAGO - Six people were shot on the South Side this morning in two separate incidents at the same place.
It began when four people were wounded near 66th Street and Marshfield Avenue on the South Side around midnight this morning.

Chicago Tribune April 2, 2010 - or Haiti 1919?


I have been reading several histories of Haiti and a biography of Chesty Puller. Poor Haiti. Eternally, Poor Haiti.

Historian and biographer Jon Hoffman wrote in Chesty,

The island of Hispaniola had a long and troubled history. Spanish colonizers disposed of the Indians who lived there and imported African slave labor. The French took over the Western third of the island in 1697 and christened it Haiti. These eleven thousand square miles - 75 percent mountainous interior and 25 percent coastal plain- produced an abundance in coffee, sugar, and other cash crops. By 1791 the rich colony had a population of twenty-five thousand whites, thirty thousand free mulattoes and half a million black slaves.The slave rebelled that year. A decade and half of conflict brought the creation of an independent state and the death of 70 percent of the inhabitants, including all the whites. The nation never achieved prosperity or stability due to an unending series of revolutions and coups. The mulattoes, advantaged by their status under colonial rule, maintained French culture and governed the country. The true power brokers, however were the cacos, lawless rural blacks who formed gangs and provided a violent boost to any would-be leader willing to pay for their assistance. With their interests ignored by both the mulattoes and the cacos, the vast majority of population remained poor, illiterate and sickly ( Hoffman, 24.)

Into 19th Century Haiti came Imperial German agents of the Kaiser and American sugar and coffee interests (HASCO: Haiti Sugar Company). By 1914, Woodrow Wilson sent U.S. Marines with an occupying force from 1919 -1934. In The Savage Wars of Peace Max Boot recounted this tale of how America and Haiti came into a diplomatic agreement boosting American involvement in Haiti

In 1915, President Wilson sent Marines to occupy Haiti, where they would stay for nineteen years. But, being a legalistic people, we wanted to put a legalistic gloss on this occupation, and, therefore, the State Department drafted a treaty that would ratify long-term, open-ended American occupation of Haiti. The question was how to get the President of Haiti to sign this treaty, because in the past when Haitian presidents had seen their poll approval ratings plunge, they had often literally been torn to pieces. Therefore, this was not something that the President of Haiti wanted to risk.

The job of getting the treaty signed was given to Major Butler, U.S.M.C., who was detailed to the Haitian gendarmerie. Major Butler went over to the Presidential Palace and asked for the President and was told that the President was in the bathroom, so Butler said, "Okay, I'll wait." And then, as one hour turned to two, it suddenly started to dawn on Major Butler that perhaps the President was not planning to emerge from the bathroom. But, being an enterprising Marine, he did not let a minor thing like this stand in his way. He just marched outside the Presidential Palace, grabbed a ladder, propped it up against the wall, climbed up to the second floor, and looked inside the window of the bathroom, where he saw the President sitting, fully clothed in his pinstriped trousers and top hat and morning coat, reading a magazine on the toilet. So Major Butler calmly opened the window, jumped into the room, took out a pen, took out the treaty, and said, "Sign here, Mr. President," and the President did.

The Marines landed. These Marines brought roads, sanitation and safety. In their wake came Progressive/Pacifists alleging torture, abuse and racist Imperialism.

The Marines left in 1934 and Haiti returned to its independent ways under the Duvalier Family. The killing and misery continued, but a mythology emerged that portrayed the Cacos ( the gang-bangers) as heroic and noble. Not unlike, the public relations work that Chicago newspaper columnists, Marxist Lawyers and Academics have done for Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, Mickey Cobras, Four Corner Hustlers and the Black P. Stone Nation.

Last night Chicago witnessed Chicago Police in the role of the U.S. Marines in Haiti circa 1919-1934.

Chicago police are investigating nine separate shootings spanning a 24-hour period that left two dead and seven wounded. The victims' ages ranged from 11 to 27-years-old.

The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the fatalities as Lacharles Johnson, 27, and Jeremy Lindsey, 16, both of Chicago.
And a disturbing trend appears:
Police have no one in custody in any of the shootings.
The 800-man-shortage in the Detective Division rears it's ugly head. That 30-something percentage clearance rate last year? We'll bet 100 dollars toothpicks it dips lower this year. All thanks to no hiring for two years by Daley.

from Second City Cop

History visits Chicago streets every day. Maybe Chicago cops should adopt the Old Campaign Hats of Small War Marines.


http://www.cceia.org/resources/transcripts/139.html

Lawyer Christine Flowers Explains the Hypocrisy Behind The Faux Outage Over the Catholic Church in the Media

Christine Flowers is a lawyer and columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News. It is my honor call this beautiful and talented woman my friend.

Christine Flowers is an Italian American rooted in our shared Catholic Faith, appalled by the pedophile abuse by predator priests protected by PC-enthralled bishops and disgusted by the hypocrisy of the corporate media that shills for the abortion industry, radical feminists and advocacy Progressive political opportunists who seek to damage the moral authority of the Pope and diminish the place of Catholics in America.

We are not a secular nation. We are a people and nation of many Faiths. My Faith is under assault.

Christine Flowers has our backs.


Christine M. Flowers: The New Inquisition


By Christine M. Flowers
Philadelphia Daily News

I'M ALWAYS
touched when hostile readers express an interest in my credibility.

I take it as a backhanded compliment, an acknowledgment that they read me on such a regular basis that they've come to recognize certain themes in my work. The list would include empathy for the police, antipathy for abortion and apoplexy about the Eagles. And a profound attachment to the Catholic Church, my spiritual home.

Which is why I wasn't at all surprised when I received an e-mail from someone who has written before about my "hypocritical" failure to criticize the pope and the faithful: "I'm waiting with bated breath for you to write about the current pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church, Christine. Unless you do so, you've lost all credibility."

Of course, whenever I've written positively about something the church deserves praise for, I never get a pat on the back from the peanut gallery to which this particular type of fan belongs.

These people don't want balance about the church and its perceived - and in some cases real - failings. They aren't concerned with a nuanced and comprehensive view of this magnificent but flawed institution.

They're out for blood, and seize on any opportunity to tear it apart, piece by highly publicized piece, reveling in and sometimes even distorting events that happened decades ago, making it appear as if the Catholic Church is merely a sinister enterprise preying on the innocent.

And they want me to fall in line like a good soldier and aim my inky arrows at Rome.

Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not about to do that just to pacify people who, after all, don't

really care about the church except when it's portrayed in a negative light.

In the past, I've railed against the insensitivity of church hierarchy for failing to adequately address the pain of victims.

I've criticized it for attempting to evade the criminal laws, choosing therapy for the victimizers over justice for the aggrieved.

I've doubted the existence of some so-called "homosexual cabal" that supposedly preyed on altar boys, even while acknowledging that the church has been negligent in dealing with troubled priests. And I've wondered out loud how Bernard Cardinal Law, the man who single-handedly orchestrated the coverup in Boston, could be living the good life in Rome.

But it's never enough.

Now, a new set of scandals has been thumped in the press, one that reaches from middle America to the hills of Ireland to Pope Benedict's Germany.

The details, while shocking, refer to horrors committed more than 20 years ago, but they're being used to condemn a church that - more than any other organized faith institution in the world - has made the most public and painful act of contrition in history.

Yes, grievous mistakes were made, under a veil of secrecy that has destroyed the confidence of so many Catholics and driven many more from the pews. This pope has recognized it, and has been courageous and unflinching in his attacks on what can only be called the most mortal of sins. That is why it's so painfully ironic that he's become the new favorite whipping boy.

Personally, I'm tired of my church being exposed to the same boilerplate attacks every time some long-ago transgression is revealed in the press, usually around the time Catholics prepare to celebrate a sacred moment like Christmas or Easter.

Like clockwork, people who have always had a bone to pick with Rome channel their anger and frustration on a wide range of topics (abortion, female priests, celibacy, same-sex marriage, meatless Fridays in Lent) into rants against the institution.

For example, the Philadelphia Gay News recently published a column titled "Shut up, Pope, part II" (thank God I missed Part I) demanding that Benedict "come clean and confess." It's about the pedophilia scandal, taking a break from the publication's usual drumbeat of criticism of the church's views on homosexuality and AIDS.

Pity it missed the pastoral letter where Benedict directly addressed those who were abused:

"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. . . I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity violated."


I HAVE the feeling that no amount of "confession" and self-flagellation would make the PGN and other critics truly happy. Their goal is a user-friendly church, one that not only addresses the pedophilia scandal in terms to their liking, but also changes its fundamental nature.

I know the wish list: Celibacy gone? Sure! Female priests? Come on down! Seal of approval for abortion? We hear ya! Same-sex marriage? Can we register at Macy's?

And they think my credibility is on the line.

Christine M. Flowers is a lawyer. Listen to her Thursdays on WPHT/1210 AM, 10-midnight.

E-mail cflowers1961@yahoo.com.

Good Friday is God's Friday in Anglo/Saxon.

Sue ACLU? Racist on School Choice and Rev. James Meeks and Voucher

Ed Yohnka and ACLU needs to be sued for hundreds of millions of dollars in a class action brought by Reverend James Meeks, every Church that operates a school for the benefit of all Illinois Tax-payers, every parent of every child of every color and ethnic origin.

Ed Yohnka's ACLU is always anti-Catholic and now ( on the pages of SEIU's Progress Illinois by Angela Caputo) appears to be intrinsically racist in its powerful objection to Senator James Meeks legislation concerning School Choice Vouchers.

Mr. Yohnka offers this noose-like threat to poor black kids in Chicago on the pages of Progress Illinois!

Those schools would be free to use these funds to pay for religious indoctrination, including the construction of worship spaces, the purchase of religious books, and the hiring of religious instructors.

That is an insult to the Baptist, AME and Muslim children who attend Leo High School.

Is Ed Yohnka ( spelled YONKA by Angela Caputo at Progress Illinois) telling these black kids that they are brain-washed; ignorant; unable to think for themselves?

Mr. Yonka, I have not witnessed one conversion to Catholicism. Not One, Sir! 85% of Leo's 100% black young men are not Catholic, Mr. Yohnka. However, all 100% of our young men are impoverished. So, are the many hundreds of poor black young men who want to have a Choice in Education find themselves lynched by the ACLU! Again!

Indoctrination?
It is simply inappropriate to use state taxpayer dollars to fund religious indoctrination.

Indoctrination is the process of inculcating ideas, attitudes, cognitive strategies or a professional methodology (see doctrine).[1] It is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critically examine the doctrine they have learned.[2] As such it is used pejoratively, often in the context of political opinions, theology or religious dogma. Instruction in the basic principles of science, in particular, can not properly be called indoctrination, in the sense that the fundamental principles of science call for critical self-evaluation and skeptical scrutiny of one's own ideas. In practice, however, a certain level of non-rational indoctrination, usually seen as miseducative, is invariably present. The term is closely linked to socialization; in common discourse, indoctrination is often associated with negative connotations, while socialization refers to cultural or educational learning.

Good Old ACLU Catholic bashing aside - Ed Yonka accuses parochial schools of being miseducative and also says that black kids are easy prey for indoctrination.

Sue the ACLU! It is what they do! To everyone with Common Sense.

Dear Friend,

Since the founding of our country, Americans have believed that entanglement of church and state was a bad idea. Senate Bill 2494, which passed out of the Senate last week, would do just that.

Urge your State Representative to oppose SB 2494!

Sponsored by Senator James Meeks, this bill would allow payment of public taxpayer funds to private religious schools, by means of tuition vouchers to certain parents. Those schools would be free to use these funds to pay for religious indoctrination, including the construction of worship spaces, the purchase of religious books, and the hiring of religious instructors.

It is simply inappropriate to use state taxpayer dollars to fund religious indoctrination. Tell your State Representative that SB 2494 is a really bad idea.


Sincerely,


Edwin C. Yohnka
Director of Communications
and Public Policy

Single User Government Run Hygiene Will Follow the Tipping of Guam

“My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.” Hank Johnson, (D-GA)

Guam has been occupied by the Spanish, the Americans, the Japanese and is an American Territory. My Dad still carries Japanese grenade fragments that he got as souvenirs on Guam from July 21st through Oct. 1945, with a trip to Iwo Jima in between.

I wrote a novel, read by tens of people, centered on Guam.

Today, a Georgia Congressman warned that Guam might tip over. Thoughtful.

Hank Johnson begged America to get behind Obama Care. This intellectual Giant just might help President Obama earn government control over all of us beasts of the earth.

Hank, you are a caution.

Click my post title for more from Hank, hat tip to Max Weismann and Anne Leary's Backyard Conservative

Essay - Quam Videri: Spy Wednesday & Judas and Judy Outrage on MSNBC & the Progressive Media

``Where the Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be;
even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church'' Ignatius of Antioch, 1st c. A.D


I went to Catholic grammar school for eight years; attended a Minor Seminary ( St. Augustine's in Holland Michigan) for three years; graduated from a Catholic neighborhood high school ( Little Flower at 78th & Honore); took my Bachelor of Arts at Loyola University; taught at a Catholic high school ( Bishop McNamara in Kankakee); received my Master of Arts at Loyola University; taught and coached at a Catholic boarding school ( LaLumiere School in LaPorte, IN); worked in development at two Catholic high schools ( Bishop Noll Institute & Leo High School) and never once personally encountered or witnessed clergy sexual abuse.

While in the Minor Seminary at Holland, MI run by the great Augustinian priests and brothers I slept in two- tiered bunks in a barracks-like dormitory with forty of my classmates and a priest occupied an adjacent room. Nothing.

At Bishop McNamara, one student, among the many hundreds of boys and girls with whom I had daily contact, reported to me and several of my male colleagues about sexual abuse by a priest in in the rectory of St. George's parish six miles from Kankakee. We reported the abuse to our Principal Father Ken Yarno.

Father Yarno, a graduate of Bishop Mac and varsity football star on the fighting Irish, took direct, immediate and very public action. The priest was arrested in the public eye, cuffed, perp-walked and punished.

The abuse of a child is the most horrific thing human beings are willing to inflict in this life.

The Catholic Church is scourged. But that is not enough for too many who find the Church in adamant opposition to abortion, sexual libertines, financial predators, and political animals.

Yesterday, was Spy Wednesday* in the Catholic Faith's Holy Week that began last Sunday.

I was treated to faux Catholics on MSNBC Hardball - Chris Matthews and Joan Walsh - two the most fatuous and oily fatheads walking on shod feet.

Holy Week and the continuing sex-abuse scandal allowed the French-kissing Judas and Judies of the corporate media - self-styled reformed Catholics - to spew, shout, interrupt and howl calumnies about their points of view ( Walsh shrilled,wailed and keened about the Partiarchy of Male Prelates, because a WOMAN should be the Pope! Mathews did his usual Charlie McCarthy musings and drones) that the insitutional Catholic Church is intrinsically evil. This is the place for politics as the MSNBC Progressive Cheerleading Squad of Matthews, Schultz, Olbermann, Maddow, O'Donnell and their fellow lesser lights taut and taunt as MSNBC ratings plummet.

Pope Benedict XVI has been targeted by the corporate media since long before the Holy Spirit led him to the Chair of Peter - He was Ratzinger - the Pope's bully boy; the Nazi Flak Gunner; the foe of Feminism and dauntless shepherd of the unborn children.

A gutless, but politically correct and protected Bishop, Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, protected pedophile priests and tossed the sins of these lice to Rome and into claws of the enemies of the Catholic Church.

I detest all my sins. One of my biggest sins is the sin of Anger. I would have every child-predator executed - publicly. That's how I roll, I guess and will face my God for that stiff-necked point of view.

I detest the hypocrites of the corporate media who collect huge bags of silver by calumnizing the Church in order to 'Change the Narrative.'

Pope Benedict XVI will survive his Gesthemane and the Church will long outlive the idiot box Judas and Judy shows on MSNBC.


*

For thirty pieces of silver was Our Lord betrayed, as prophecied by Zacharias: 1

Zacharias 11:9 -12
I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die: and that which is cut off, let it be cut off: and let the rest devour every one the flesh of his neighbour. And I took my rod that was called Beauty, and I cut it asunder to make void my covenant, which I had made with all people. And it was made void in that day: and so the poor of the flock that keep for me, understood that it is the word of the Lord. And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes, bring hither my wages: and if not, be quiet. And they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
St. Luke explains how this vile betrayal happened: a devil entered into Judas:

Luke 22:3-6
And Satan entered into Judas, who was surnamed Iscariot, one of the twelve. And he went, and discoursed with the chief priests and the magistrates, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and convenanted to give him money. And he promised. And he sought opportunity to betray him in the absence of the multitude (see also John 13:2).
But Jesus already knew this would happen, as we know from this earlier exchange with His Apostles, after He revealed that we must eat His Body and drink His Blood. He knew what Judas would do with the free will God gives to all men:

John 6:64-72
The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him. And He said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to Me, unless it be given him by my Father.

After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away?

And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God (see also John 12:26-29 and Matthew 26:25).

Jesus answered them: Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray Him, whereas he was one of the twelve.

Click my post title for a wonderful web page Fish Eaters

Judy Garland Died for My Sins.

Fabulous!Let me tell you about my sexual exploits . . . why only . . .you Yawn?

10% of Americans are Gay. Really.


Okay, how about some Gay statistics?

10-40 % of the trees that fall in the forest are heard and they will be heard. Really.


Gay is good and gay can be great; but Gay ain't that big. Well it is if you are Gay and Gay Progressive Friendly. Gay is the new Green.

General Sheehan has been made the 21st Century Alfred Dreyfus by the sneaky little turd Senator Carl Levin in a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about Gays in the Military with regard to Don't Ask; Don't Tell. The Dutch Pink Army ( Gay Soldiers Group) threatened to sue Retired General Sheehan - he retracted a statement refering to a conversation that he had with a Dutch officer in Bosnia, after his Dutch counterpart got amnesia.

I am neither a Veteran, nor a homosexual, but neither is Senator Carl Levin - Senator Levin is a sneaky little turd. Click my post title for some common sense on the General Sheehan affair.

Now that Obama Care passed everything is Gay - Priest scandals in the Catholic Church begin and end with the Gay Mafia or the Lavender Clerics - Don't ask;Don't tell worked real well in the institutional Catholic Church - did it not? Ironically, the very same people who would tear Pope Benedict XVI apart would free Roman Polanski. SNAP should be renamed PAPAL- People Abused by Priests and Artificed by Lawyers. The Folks who boil up the media about the Catholic Church never point their fingers at the Lavender Priesthood, as Tom Roeser so well terms the clerical daisy-chain.Mr. Roeser points out that -

First: The SNAP people as social and political liberals cannot bring themselves to admit that homosexuality which has run rife, producing the Lavender Priesthood, is the overwhelming cause of the scandal. They have adopted the same cultural bias of today’s liberals and media about homosexuality…that it is not a sinful choice or a weakness and definitely not an abuse of the sexual faculty…but misled by certain liberal pathologies they believe that it is neither reversible but merely a normal variation, like being left-handed.
In fact if SNAP had used its findings to blast the Lavender Priesthood, the chances are great that the media would be loath to run the stories.
Most SNAP authorities declare that if in fact homosexuality is the cause, the so-called “repression” factor is responsible: victims are those too ashamed of the sin that “dare not tell its name.” Many feel that matters would be improved if only the Church would relent in its insistence of the male only priesthood. Others have told me that celibacy should be relaxed (not understanding that the celibate priesthood is not covered by inflexible
BTW- save all the outrage about pedophiles in the priesthood not being Gay - if you are a man doing a boy you are a homosexual(Gay) pedophile; if you are a man doing a girl, you are a heterosexual pedophile.

An American Hero is being pilloried as the Alfred Dreyfus to Gay Militancy Media.

If Gay's suffer, . . .hell, sorry for your troubles; get in line.

If the tail wags the dog then the whole dog needs to shake. One can not have a touch of cancer - a girl is never a little bit pregnant, unless she belongs to Planned Parenthood.

Here's the deal, neighbors (Gay/Breeder/Celibate/Disinterested). If you must proclaim your presence on this our earth and God's creation, entirely by the means by which you sexually find gratification . . .no one is asking and please do not tell.

The Kinsey study of 1948, which homosexuals often cite to say that 10% of the population is homosexual, actually says that only 4% of the population is EXCLUSIVELY homosexual. This study involved a disproportionate number of people who had been in jail for sex crimes (hardly a random sample of the population). Kinsey also did perverse studies involving young boys and pedophiles. Information on Kinsey.
Current research shows that the true percentage of homosexuals is in the 1-2% range (15,23,26,28). Consider how small this number is when compared to most of the numbers above.
(15) Morton-Hunt Study for Playboy
(23) Science Magazine, 18 July 1993, p. 322.
(26) United States Census Bureau
(28) University of Chicago's Nation Research Corp.”

Some studies conducted in response to the AIDS epidemic reported that 3% of males are or should preferential homosexuals and another 4% are closeted homosexuals.

Well that last demographic got a boost the other day from Joto Fortunado Ricky Martin.

R. I. P. Firefighter Brian Carey, 28 years of age - Killed in the Line of Duty

Homewood Firefighter Brian Carey, 28 years of age, was killed in the line of duty.

Fireman Carey was killed in combat with a raging fire.

Firefighter Brian Carey, 28, of Evergreen Park, died at South Suburban Hospital.

Glenwood Fire Chief Kevin Welsh did not identify the firefighters or the homeowner, whom firefighters saved from the house on their second attempt to rescue him.

Fire officials would not discuss a report from a source who said the resident and the injured firefighters were burned when oxygen tanks inside the home exploded.

The elderly man’s wife escaped the blaze and was taken to a hospital, fire officials said.

Rest in Christ's Peace young man.

Senator Roland Burris to Hickey - What do you want on your Tombstone?

Boy what a great guy! Roland just sent me a note telling about all that he has done to and for me and my kids!

"Hey, I got this one, Hickey! Put your money away!"

Well, Senator, I'll have the pepperoni, mushroom, green olive, onion, extra garlic and just a handful of spinach on my Tomstone, Senator! What'll you have on your's?

Que Hombre!

My fellow Illinoisans,

After nearly a century of false starts and following more than a year of national debate, my colleagues and I have finally passed sweeping health reform legislation, which President Obama signed into law.

We?ve achieved historic reform ? but many Illinoisans have been left wondering: ?What exactly does this mean for me??

There are a number of key provisions that will take effect almost immediately. These include:

- Tax credits for as many as 144,000 small businesses in Illinois
- Immediate access to affordable coverage for 201,233 Illinoisans who are currently uninsured due to a pre-existing condition
- Medicare improvements and lower-cost prescription drugs for 1.8 million Illinois seniors
- Prohibiting insurance companies from using pre-existing conditions as an excuse to deny care to 3.2 million Illinois children

And this is only the beginning. Once the new law is fully implemented, family health insurance premiums will be reduced by $1,630-$2330 with no reduction in benefits. Up to 1 million Illinoisans will receive tax credits. Approximately 1,100-1,700 jobs will be created in our state. A total of 570 Community Health Centers in Illinois will receive additional funding.

In Illinois and across the country, this landmark reform law will provide tremendous benefits in both the short term and the long term. It is even projected to cut our deficit by $143 billion in the first ten years and an astounding $1.3 trillion in the decade after that.

Please log on to my website at www.burris.senate.gov to contact me with any questions or concerns and find out about the work I?m doing on your behalf in Washington. On the issue of health care reform and on every other challenge we face, I am proud to represent you in the U.S. Senate, and I remain committed to fighting for your interests every day.

Sincerely,
Roland W. Burris
United States Senator

Really, how about Repealing this nonsense. It is the worst legislation to come down the pike and down our throats in . . .forever . . . or at least 75 years as this Virginia businessman says.

Here's why from David John Marotta who runs a Wealth Management Company, Senator:

The bill requires all Americans to have health insurance and imposes a $900 fine for not having it. And all health insurance companies must insure people for the same price regardless of any preexisting conditions.

In the past people would pay thousands of dollars for health insurance so it would be there if they needed it. Now they will be able to pay a $900 fine and still be guaranteed insurance even after they develop a serious illness. As a result, healthy people with insurance will do better to drop their coverage and pay the fine until they get sick and need health care.

Rather than increasing the rolls of the insured, this legislation could actually encourage healthy people to opt out of insurance. If insurance can’t discriminate based on my health before insurance, why pay a dime until my out-of-pocket expenses are expected to exceed the cost of insurance?

No insurance system can survive such folly. Savvy consumers will only buy insurance if they anticipate that their expenses will exceed what they pay in premiums. Insurance companies will have no way to screen for a truly average risk pool. As a result, costs will go up until even the sick won’t want to buy insurance.

The bill also provides measures for cost containment, which generally means it will be harder for doctors to get paid for their work. As much as half of the expense of running a medical office is trying to get reimbursed, and this legislation will only exacerbate the situation.

Although the details are not specified, much of the legislation will enable a broad range of powers to be granted to the federal government to use however it sees fit. Committees will decide which procedures are allowable and with what frequency. Technical groups will design the required reporting format for your private medical data. Stakeholder groups will fix prices after consultation with special interest groups. And new agencies will set minimum standards for health-care insurance. Patients pay for about 12 cents of every health-care dollar today. This is not enough to deter health-care consumption. Costs cannot be controlled when the person who pays for a service, the person who benefits from a service and the person who grants the service are all different. Only when most of the money spent comes out of pocket will people have a vested interest in cost containment. Empowering patients to make their own health care decisions is the only viable solution. Although the best economic alternative is having more out-of-pocket dollars, the current legislation requires insurance to pay at least 85 percent of health-care costs.

That last part may kill Health Savings Accounts, which could save much of what ails our health care system. HSAs are coupled with a high-deductible health insurance policy. Such policies are extremely inexpensive.

HSAs are based on the principle that because you pay the high deductible, you are motivated to keep costs low. And because you are unlikely to reach your deductible, your insurance costs are low. Insurance is affordable only when the likelihood of using it is low. An added benefit is that employees own their own health insurance. Hence it is completely portable. If they are laid off or decide to work elsewhere, they can take their insurance with them. In every way, privatized HSAs are working to contain costs. Given the new requirement that 85 percent of costs must be paid by insurance, HSAs will probably not survive the federal bureaucracy.

You can compare the current legislation to having grocery store insurance that pays for the first dollar you spend. Everyone in our risk pool will order filet mignon. First the costs will skyrocket. And then the meat will be rotten.

It isn’t just that some portions of the bill are poorly implemented but the broad scope of the legislation could be fixed. It is fundamentally wrong. And it will have implications that will impoverish rather than empower individuals. The result is not good intentions with unintended consequences, but in fact ill intentions with disastrous consequences.

Only a utopian centralized planner could believe we will be able to anticipate or correct the consequences going forward. The unknown unknowns are liable to produce even more dire meltdowns. Government intervention, monopoly and regulation cause the rigidity that in turn provokes economic forces immune to market adjustments. Bubbles, shortages, deficits, defaults and moral hazard will result.

Once the government competes with the private sector, there is no competition. It is like the referee starting to play on the field. The government has banned private companies from competing with them on mortgages, Social Security and the U.S. Postal Service, and we all know how well those organizations are run.

Quality health care will suffer a similar fate. There is no systemic regulator for expenses, and consequently costs will go up and benefits will dwindle. As a result, the subsidy of the truly needy will be completely swamped by a tsunami of middle-class entitlements.

The current legislation has left undone the incentives to provide quality lowest cost health care. And it is put in place incentives that work toward impoverishing the quality and economics of our current health care system. For these reasons and many more, the current legislation is the worst legislation passed by Congress in the last 75 years.

Cool Drool! Thanks for thinking of me and the kids, Senator.


David John Marotta is the president of Marotta Wealth Management INC. of Charlottesville, providing fee-only financial planning and wealth management at http://www.emarotta.com. Questions to be answered in the column should be sent to questions@emarotta.comor
Marotta Wealth Management INC.,
One Village Green Circle, Suite 100,
Charlottesville, VA 22903-4619

Diagram Dyson! and Win Valuable Prizes - Afro-Rococo Flannelmouth Out- Faulkners William Faulkner

To tweak Sist'ah Walsh ( Joan Walsh of Salon.com - Hate Whitey, I posed a challenge - Diagram one of Michael Eric Dyson's sentences.

The former Chicago flannelmouthed say-nothing has made a fabulous career where his talents in saying nothing of consequence are valuable - The Ivy League and Cable News.

I used to tell my students at Bishop McNamara High School and at La Lumiere School that the longest sentence in English Literature belonged to William Faulkner in his novel Absalom, Absalom* ( it's about 1,250 + words).

Michael Eric Dyson whips out words like a jacked-up product shill on TV at 3AM, but generally is incomprehensible to human beings - with the exception of Bill Maher who did way too much glue sniffing as a child it seems.

Here's the Diagram Challenge -

And so when we think about warring against White Supremacy in American society, it is so seductive to believe and invest in the mythology of superiority, especially among White ethnic brothers and sisters, who, having been closed out of so much in American society, hold fast to that lie, hold fast to that myth, hold fast to that illusion because they have been so disenfranchised otherwise that they have to pump up the myth of their inherent superiority.

M.E. Dyson

In our comments section tell me what this means and if possible find the verb phrase. Sentence?

Absalom, Absalom - 1st sentence -

"From a little after two weeks oclock until almost sundown of the long still hot weary dead September afternoon they sat in what Miss Coldfield still called the office because her father had called it that-a dim hot airless room with the blinds all closed and fastened for forty-three summers because when she was a girl someone had believed that light and moving air carried heat and that dark was always cooler, and which (as the sun shone fuller and fuller on that side of the house) became latticed with yellow slashes full of dust motes which Quentin thought of as being flecks of the dead old dried paint itself blown inward from the scaling blinds as wind might have blown . . ."
ad infinitum . . . well, pretty long anyway.