Sun Times NewsPro Natasha Korecki Covers Burge Trial as it Should - Facts, Nothing But the Facts

The Chicago Sun Times has the best reporters and worst columnists in Chicago.

Mark Konkol, Tim Novak, Chris Fusco and sometimes Abdon Pallasch are strong and honest. My favorite read is Natasha Korecki she slides a sentence with the grace of sportswriter Dan McGrath and avoids the posing and posturing of the would be Menckens and Divas.

Paddy Fitz the Fed needs Media Points after his Blago Blunders and here he is playing to his orchestra. The Burge Trial will be a Circus and the Feds will play to the folks who only read what Carol Marin, Mark Brown, Mary Mitchell, and the Sun Times' weak-ass editorial board writes. The Sun Times has talent like Ms. Korecki who will report and not fabricate. BTW- The Sun Times Editorial Board is 10X better than the Chicago Tribune's.

Jon Burge has been convicted by the media and the media never checks its own sources - they are in agreement with all the nonsense that the Burge Industry ( Peoples Law Office, Mr. & Mrs. Ayres-Dohrn, Northwestern Law, CPUSA) have provided the lazy and the wildly ambitious columnists.

Thank you Natasha Korecki! This is a good read and a fine report.

Dressed in a black suit, tie, and blue shirt, former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge on Thursday spun around in his chair and seemed to struggle a bit as he stood up.

"Morning, ladies and gentlemen," said the man who for decades has been accused of torturing murder suspects.

» Click to enlarge image

Former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge as he leaves the Federal building for a lunch break Thursday.
( Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)


Burge was briefly inside a courtroom addressing the potential jurors who will judge his fate in his trial that starts later this month on obstruction of justice and perjury charges. A pool of jurors were summoned today to fill out a questionnaire but jury selection in the case doesn't begin until May 24. After court, a slow-moving Burge, who lives in Tampa, Fla., said he felt "terrible," physically and that it was "not unusual," to be back in Chicago.

Nearly 80 potential jurors were handed questionnaires in preparation for the upcoming selection.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow told the ethnically and racially diverse panel not to read or listen to any media coverage of the case.

While Burge and his underlings have long been accused of torturing suspects into giving confessions, he is not on trial for those actual acts. Burge is accused of lying on a sworn questionnaire that probed him of the alleged practices.

Read This Story to a Liberal & Twice to a Progressive - Verrrryyyy Sloooowwwwwly! Harrison Bergeron

I taught this wonderful short story to my students at Bishop McNamara High Schoolin Kankakee, Il in the early 1980's. They got a huge kick out of it - "No way that can Happen!!" Boys and girls, it can and pretty much did happen here!

I also taught Sinclair Lewis.

HARRISON BERGERON
by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away.

It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.

George and Hazel were watching television. There were tears on Hazel's cheeks, but she'd forgotten for the moment what they were about.

On the television screen were ballerinas.

A buzzer sounded in George's head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.

"That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did," said Hazel.

"Huh" said George.

"That dance-it was nice," said Hazel.

"Yup," said George. He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren't really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.

George winced. So did two out of the eight ballerinas.

Hazel saw him wince. Having no mental handicap herself, she had to ask George what the latest sound had been.

"Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer," said George.

"I'd think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds," said Hazel a little envious. "All the things they think up."

"Um," said George.

"Only, if I was Handicapper General, you know what I would do?" said Hazel. Hazel, as a matter of fact, bore a strong resemblance to the Handicapper General, a woman named Diana Moon Glampers. "If I was Diana Moon Glampers," said Hazel, "I'd have chimes on Sunday-just chimes. Kind of in honor of religion."

"I could think, if it was just chimes," said George.

"Well-maybe make 'em real loud," said Hazel. "I think I'd make a good Handicapper General."

"Good as anybody else," said George.

"Who knows better then I do what normal is?" said Hazel.

"Right," said George. He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that.

"Boy!" said Hazel, "that was a doozy, wasn't it?"

It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes. Two of of the eight ballerinas had collapsed to the studio floor, were holding their temples.

"All of a sudden you look so tired," said Hazel. "Why don't you stretch out on the sofa, so's you can rest your handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch." She was referring to the forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George's neck. "Go on and rest the bag for a little while," she said. "I don't care if you're not equal to me for a while."

George weighed the bag with his hands. "I don't mind it," he said. "I don't notice it any more. It's just a part of me."

"You been so tired lately-kind of wore out," said Hazel. "If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls. Just a few."

"Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out," said George. "I don't call that a bargain."

"If you could just take a few out when you came home from work," said Hazel. "I mean-you don't compete with anybody around here. You just set around."

"If I tried to get away with it," said George, "then other people'd get away with it-and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?"

"I'd hate it," said Hazel.

"There you are," said George. The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?"

If Hazel hadn't been able to come up with an answer to this question, George couldn't have supplied one. A siren was going off in his head.

"Reckon it'd fall all apart," said Hazel.

"What would?" said George blankly.

"Society," said Hazel uncertainly. "Wasn't that what you just said?

"Who knows?" said George.

The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin. It wasn't clear at first as to what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment. For about half a minute, and in a state of high excitement, the announcer tried to say, "Ladies and Gentlemen."

He finally gave up, handed the bulletin to a ballerina to read.

"That's all right-" Hazel said of the announcer, "he tried. That's the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard."

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said the ballerina, reading the bulletin. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred pound men.

And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use. Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody. "Excuse me-" she said, and she began again, making her voice absolutely uncompetitive.

"Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk, "has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous."

A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen-upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up. The picture showed the full length of Harrison against a background calibrated in feet and inches. He was exactly seven feet tall.

The rest of Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever born heavier handicaps. He had outgrown hindrances faster than the H-G men could think them up. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.

Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds.

And to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle-tooth random.

"If you see this boy," said the ballerina, "do not - I repeat, do not - try to reason with him."

There was the shriek of a door being torn from its hinges.

Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set. The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again, as though dancing to the tune of an earthquake.

George Bergeron correctly identified the earthquake, and well he might have - for many was the time his own home had danced to the same crashing tune. "My God-" said George, "that must be Harrison!"

The realization was blasted from his mind instantly by the sound of an automobile collision in his head.

When George could open his eyes again, the photograph of Harrison was gone. A living, breathing Harrison filled the screen.

Clanking, clownish, and huge, Harrison stood - in the center of the studio. The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand. Ballerinas, technicians, musicians, and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die.

"I am the Emperor!" cried Harrison. "Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!" He stamped his foot and the studio shook.

"Even as I stand here" he bellowed, "crippled, hobbled, sickened - I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!"

Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds.

Harrison's scrap-iron handicaps crashed to the floor.

Harrison thrust his thumbs under the bar of the padlock that secured his head harness. The bar snapped like celery. Harrison smashed his headphones and spectacles against the wall.

He flung away his rubber-ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder.

"I shall now select my Empress!" he said, looking down on the cowering people. "Let the first woman who dares rise to her feet claim her mate and her throne!"

A moment passed, and then a ballerina arose, swaying like a willow.

Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all he removed her mask.

She was blindingly beautiful.

"Now-" said Harrison, taking her hand, "shall we show the people the meaning of the word dance? Music!" he commanded.

The musicians scrambled back into their chairs, and Harrison stripped them of their handicaps, too. "Play your best," he told them, "and I'll make you barons and dukes and earls."

The music began. It was normal at first-cheap, silly, false. But Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it played. He slammed them back into their chairs.

The music began again and was much improved.

Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while-listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it.

They shifted their weights to their toes.

Harrison placed his big hands on the girls tiny waist, letting her sense the weightlessness that would soon be hers.

And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang!

Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well.

They reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered, gamboled, and spun.

They leaped like deer on the moon.

The studio ceiling was thirty feet high, but each leap brought the dancers nearer to it.

It became their obvious intention to kiss the ceiling. They kissed it.

And then, neutraling gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time.

It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.

Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on.

It was then that the Bergerons' television tube burned out.

Hazel turned to comment about the blackout to George. But George had gone out into the kitchen for a can of beer.

George came back in with the beer, paused while a handicap signal shook him up. And then he sat down again. "You been crying" he said to Hazel.

"Yup," she said.

"What about?" he said.

"I forget," she said. "Something real sad on television."

"What was it?" he said.

"It's all kind of mixed up in my mind," said Hazel.

"Forget sad things," said George.

"I always do," said Hazel.

"That's my girl," said George. He winced. There was the sound of a rivetting gun in his head.

"Gee - I could tell that one was a doozy," said Hazel.

"You can say that again," said George.

"Gee-" said Hazel, "I could tell that one was a doozy."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Harrison Bergeron" is copyrighted by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., 1961.

Burge Trial - "Call Bernardine Dohrn to the Witness Stand!"

Jon Burge grew up in the working class Irish communities of southern Chicago. A red-head with a pugilist's frame, he served as a military policeman during the Vietnam War. That's likely where he first came into contact with tools of the trade such as the electric shock-producing "Tucker Telephone," as well as psychological torture methods such as meticulously staged mock executions.

Sasha Abramsky -Mother Jones

Sasha Abramsky, as I recall, was introduced to the electric-testicle torture theory from Bernardine Dohrn based on fact that Jon Burge -
1. was in Vietnam
2. a telephone torture device was used in Vietnam
Therefore Burge used electric testicle torture

Bernardine Dohrn is far more credible and an authority on terror than the records and the facts of the case. Theory always precedes Truth in Dewey/Hegelian thought.
You see G. Flint Taylor keeps most of the real facts of his twenty years of Burge Bucks out of the media - like a witness who had been tortured by MI-5 who stated "these people were not tortured - I was tortured by Mossad and MI-5" or the medical professionals - those tiny issues, as I recall.

I recall Fahey and O'Brien. They were tortured and murdered . . .but they were police officers.

G. Flint Taylor has been at bat in the Burge Circus, ever since convicted terrorist and Norghwestern Law School Marxist Diva had her record laundered by the fat-cats and 501(c)3 Brie Eaters.

Bernardine Dohrn, who may not hold an Illinois Law License, was given a Northwestern Law School sinecure and grand platform to "Off the Pigs!" via death by a thousand cuts.

I credit the odious Ms. Dorhn, the smarter and far more dangerous half of Billy Ayers, with G. Flint Taylor's media stink bait to lure the press and mythopoeically create the Burge Torture Narrative - the electronic testicle zapper that G. Flint Taylor had built and was allowed to bring to court. Who built that goofy gizmo for G. Flint anyway - it was not Urban Translator Wally Gator Bradley. Shoot, he and G. Flint were last seen wrassling on the court house floor for nickels and dimes.

Call Ms. Dohrn to witness and back track on the journalistic break crumbs leading to Dohrn's early posit that torture was systemic.

G. Flint Taylor will swing and miss again . . .but that is exactly what this Commie Cadillac Lawyer wants. No closure brings more fee

Click my post title for my Burge fil

Il Rep. Kevin Joyce - A Man Stands for Kids and Reform-12 House Mice Republicans Scurry to Their Holes

"Think back to why you ran for office," said sponsoring Rep. Kevin Joyce, D-Chicago. "Was it for a pension? I doubt it. Was it to protect the leadership of a union? I doubt that. Actually in all cases, I believe each and every one of us here got involved to try and make a difference in the lives of our fellow man."

I have known Kevin Joyce, my State Representative and neighbor, for many years. He is Anti-Abortion and has seven children; He is for School Reform and sends his children to Catholic Schools.

He is tough man of a tough breed. Kevin Joyce is an example why I still tend to vote Democrat -locally. Kevin Joyce takes a hard look at the issues that face our community and votes his heart and well-tuned mind in the best interests of the people who vote for him.

I voted for one Republican in last thirty years, John McCain, and am sorry that I did so.

I get asked by some doctrinaire Republicans and Democrats why I remain a Democrat, given my social conservative views and the gimlet eye that I cast on the leadership of the publicly funded PACS that masquerade as Labor ( SEIU, Teachers Unions & etc.). I can vote for a Republican like Rep. Jim Durkin ( Western Springs) or the only real talent in the Illinois Republican field , Dan Proft. These are men.

Twelve ninnies of the GOP betrayed the taxpayers and children of Illinois - the Twelve Apostles of PACs- Brady, Brauer, Cavaletto, Cole, Eddy, Kosel, Mathias, Bill Mitchell, Jerry Mitchell, Moffitt, Mulligan, Pihos, Poe, Pritchard, Ramey, Reboletti, Reis, Rose, Sacia, Saviano, Tracy, Watson

These goofs do rise the level of arch-rodent - they are mice. They are enthralled to the PACS - Planned Parenthood, SEIU and all the rest.

Learn from Kevin Joyce and grow a metaphorical pair.

"Think back to why you ran for office," said sponsoring Rep. Kevin Joyce, D-Chicago. "Was it for a pension? I doubt it. Was it to protect the leadership of a union? I doubt that. Actually in all cases, I believe each and every one of us here got involved to try and make a difference in the lives of our fellow man."

The Twelve GOP Mice ? Save your parsing and the compelling narratives for WTTW fanny smoochers and editorial board mopes.

I am proud of State Senator James Meeks and Representative Kevin Joyce. They are why I remain a Democrat - locally.



http://www.cdobs.com/

Viva Puebla! Viva Juarez! God Bless America!

I am for immigration amnesty. Many of my family were Irish wetbacks, or two boaters -one to Canada and one across the St. Lawrence River. We ( Hickey/Sullivan)have only been here since the late 19 Teens. My mom's family were Back of the Yards Irish - 'Who the hell knows when they got here?'

I watch immigrants every morning at Kean - Mexican, Irish, Polish mostly. Hard working and proud young people and whether they have cards, or papers or not; Who Shives a Git? As far as I am concerned, they are Americans. I get a coffee refill at the 7-11 on Kedzie after I dump the girls off at Mother McAuley and every morning the parking lot looks like the Gdansk Shipyard and huge tough looking Polish kids, maybe a few semsters out of the Polish Army crowd around their trucks getting ready for a huge day of backbreaking work. I have never seen an immigrant kid leaning on a broom, shovel, or his foreman - I have witnessed American born slackers describe jobs that they would never be caught doing. Too proud to work? America?

The Arizona Law seems tailor made for Arizona. I do not get my righteous panties in a twist over a law that almost exactly mirrors the U.S. Code on Immigration. The media is making the issue uglier than it is and race baiters and phonies are getting their games on. Calm down. Illegal immigrantion can only be arrested by sealing the border and offering a genuine, serious and cold-blooded Amnesty to good people. That means giving up the thieves, murderers, drug merchants, gang-bangers and deadbeats. Toss them - out of immigrant communities and this great and generous country. Immigrants become Americans - learn English. Respect its customs and traditions. Stay away from Commies and their stooges. They blew immigration reform for good people two years ago. If you here some pasty skinned, pencil-neck geek shout about 'Workers and Students!' ask you his Union Card. Reds don't actually do a lick of work. That is only in movies and 1940's novels.

That said - Viva Mexico! Viva Puebla! Viva Poblanos!

Cinco De Mayo marks the anniversary of great fight of a proud people - Mexican defeated the French Armies of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in 1862. Proud people make proud Americans.

I hope an Amnesty is declared with the criminals sent home. Seal the borders. Prosecute the immigration mules.

Viva Mexico! God Bless America!

Carol Marin - Send a Mess-enger to be Campaign Manager of Forrest Claypool?

Yesterday, Eric Zorn Chicago Tribune's Voice of the Tofu and Whey Political Progressives demanded that we Lower the Bar - void the petitions ( or allow Millions to Pay-to-Play)for Independents, Bullmooses, and Loyal Order of Racoon Candidates in Illinois. I blog a few giggles Eric Zorn's way and noted that his cover on this issue is all for Forrest Claypool against Joe Berrios. I also mentioned that, in no time at all, Carol Marin would gin-up a collage for Claypool!

Voila! Here 'Tis -

What does matter, way down the ballot, is who is Cook County assessor.

Until a few weeks ago, Joe Berrios was considered the odds-on favorite.

Berrios is the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party and Madigan's political pal. A guy with a lot of sympathy for Madigan's law firm clients in search of property tax reductions.

With nominal Republican opposition, Berrios was coasting, until another -- and proven -- independent, retiring County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, announced an independent run.

If voters want to send a message to Madigan and Springfield, this is the race in which to do it.

The Corporate Media ( editorial boards and iconic columnists) gave us our political landscape - Fight the Power of the Machine; Scoop Taxes to Every Bug-eyed Mob of T-Shirted Shouters; however, they blame the 'stupid voters' for Todd Stroger and Scott Lee, when they themselves are the puffed-up watchdogs of the life political. Our gutless, or just dumb as dirt elected officials play ball these Blue Light Beauties.

I get my politics from people who have slowly and carefully 'put skin in the game.' Politics is an Art. Sometimes the Artist does not tell all about his craft -that makes it art. Carol, Eric and Mark Brown do not like Rembrandt Mike Madigan or any skilled elected official. They like street mimes like Forrest Claypool, Shelia Simon and Chris Kennedy. They are cute.

Carol Marin smiles at these same people all the time. That should give anyone with a lick of sense a very long pause.

Chicago's Tom Roeser - Renaissance Man and Christian Gentlemen - Gets Attention

I love this Wildly Talented and Good Man. He does scare up an epithet . . . from some.

Tough Times Ahead for Forrest Claypool - Just Like Romeo and Juliet -Hey,Hey, Hey!

Let me not to marriage of two-timers admit . . .I was with him . . .I was with her ... I think you're swell well you can go to Hell.

Shucks, Forrest Claypool a career political appointee is running as an Independent.

Seems to me he called in the compliant corporate media ( today, I played in Eric Zorn's sand box for giggles - I was up early and later waiting for a confirmation on a grant) and Eric Zorn provided a thick porridge of tofu and whey about the UnFairness of the Petitions Needed by Independents in Illinois. I think its swell. Makes for a muscular Grassroots Army of the Willing! Builds Character and what-not.

You see, Forrest is running against Joe Berrios for Cook County Assessor and Joe Berrios happens to be a grand guy and genuine political servant. Forrest Claypool pops up when a spot opens, or gets appointed. He can be seen almost nightly chatting up Cheshire-Grinnin' Why Ain't Forrest Winnin' Carol Marin on WTTW. The last few elections Forrest got all timid and loped off to the woodland glades and glens. Forrest Claypool has miles to go before he sweeps . . .any votes. He needs scads of signatures and that requires folks armed with clipboards and pens. No Fair. Tough.

That is why there are farm teams in baseball and amateur flying clubs. Independents demand that be treated like Boys of October when they have not yet hefted a wiffle ball bat and Ace Jet Jockeys because they para-sailed. Politics is an art and not finger painting. Sad, to be sure. Tragic?

Well, Romeo and Juliet had their troubles but they were a beautiful couple. Forrest Claypool is the man he is today thanks to his long and lucrative association with the Regular Democratic Party Organization of Chicago and Cook County.

Joe Berrios can get signatures . . .Oh, that's right. He does not need them.

Big Shoulders and Reilly's Daughter Nudge Skinny and Houli at Avenue 950

Tomorrow on AM Radio 950 6-8 P.M. ...........................Do NOT miss the Skinny and Houli Show!Special guests this week include Joshua Hale from the Big Shoulders Fund, which provides support for inner-city Chicago Catholic schools. 100% of the funds raised by Big Shoulders goes directly to students and schools for scholarships, special education programs, instructional materials, facility improvements and faculty support. In the second hour, we'll be interviewing Boz and Brendan O'Brien, owners of Reilly's Daughter Pub in Midway Airport. Plus, hear what's coming up in Chicago this week... don't miss a minute of this great show!

Well you can miss it . . .like if something comes up . . . like your draft number, or you get called in to work . . .or you forget . . . you the owner is buying at your corner saloon . . . I mean Mothra won't get into the City or squirrels in your ComEd Box and gnaw out all your wiring . . .but it will be a great show!!!

Eric Zorn's "Long Knives' Comment to Commenter:Hurtful Anti-Irish Catholic Hate Speech

Oh, wow. Hate Speech from Eric Zorn?
Following a dignified and rather sober question from an obviously intelligent and patriotic reader, the fiery Zorn let's fly with what can only be described as a Hate Trope!

Behold the exchange and avert your eyes, if needs be, as the second in 1-2 Zorn Knockout combination hits home.

Why is it "cowardly" to challenge bad petitions? If a candidate can't follow the law to get on the ballot, why should he or she be exempt from challenge?

I wonder if Eric would find an objection cowardly if a candidate for, say, governor filed petitions with 2 signatures? In the absence of a challenge, he gets on the ballot.

ZORN REPLY -- I'm pretty clear in the column: I think ballot-access fees are the way to go and that those who want to get on the ballot and make a good-faith showing of intent and energy and interest should be allowed on the ballot.

Get ready to watch the long knives *come out to knock Claypool off the ballot. And you know the motivation: Fear. Plain and simple fear. Mr. "Reformer," you ought to know that.

Posted by: Reformer | Tuesday, May 04, 2010 at 11:11 AM

"the long knives" is that not anti-Irish Hate Language? Madigan, Burke, Daley????????

Long Knives was a Native American euphemism for the US Cavalry of who the largest demographic were Irish Catholics, a minority group long considered 'close-knit, tribally racist and politically dominant' - Why this is nothing more than Hate Speech! Oh, Wounded Knees, Indeed!!!! Brush up your Ward Churchill! This is Hateful, hurtful. Hozanna Hannah!

Hath not a Mick feelings? Hath not Harp a Home? Hath not a Raw Jaw children?

He hath.


We know Hate Code, Eric. Joe Medill was a master. These are much better**!




* Long Knives

The full complement of the 7th Cavalry in June 1876 was 43 officers and 793 enlisted men. Of that number 473 were native born and 320 foreign born. The two largest foreign-born groups in the regiment comprised 129 Irish and 127 Germans. The remaining 64 foreign born were drawn from 14 other nationalities, including six Italians. These were: 1st Lt. Charles Camillus DeRudio (a k a Count Carlo Camillo Di Rudio) of Company A; Private Augustus L. De Voto (a k a Augusto De Voto) of Company B; Private John James (a k a Giovanni Casella) of Company E; Private Frank Lombard (a k a Frank Lombardy, Francesco Lombardi) of the regimental band; Private John Martin (a k a Giovanni Martini), trumpeter of Company H; and Chief Musician Felix Villiet Vinatieri (a k a Felice Villiet Vinatieri) of the regimental band. Two of the six were married. As might be expected, given that the pay of the era made it virtually impossible for junior enlisted personnel to wed and support a family, they were the two highest ranking: DeRudio and Vinatieri.

Unlike native-born Americans, Irish and Germans, the Italians were too few to constitute a group or subculture in the regiment. They were individuals who had come to the United States for a variety of reasons, both political and economic. In many cases the latter flowed from the former. Irish and Germans constituted major immigrant groups during the 19th century. Both nationalities immigrated largely for economic reasons by the mid-1800s. Socially, the Germans were more acceptable; they frequently were skilled craftsmen, and a very large percentage were Protestants. The Irish were much less socially acceptable; they were mostly unskilled, usually dirt-poor and Roman Catholic. In 1876 they constituted a clearly defined minority group that suffered very real social and economic discrimination. The Italians shared many of the social disadvantages of the Irish as well as some unique to themselves. They, too, were Roman Catholics; they were poor and, as southern Europeans, tended to be short and swarthy, and thus further removed in appearance from the northern European norm. Further, they came to the new country speaking a foreign tongue. The only advantage the Italians had over the Irish was that they were so few that they were not objects of such organized discrimination.

http://www.historynet.com/the-7th-us-cavalry-regiment-fought-in-the-battle-of-the-little-bighorn.htm

They live on beasts only, and live like beasts. They have not progressed at all from the habits of pastoral living. ..This is a filthy people, wallowing in vice. Of all peoples it is the least instructed in the rudiments of the faith. They do not yet pay tithes or first fruits or contract marriages. They do not avoid incest.
- Giraldus Cambrensis/Gerald of Wales, The History and Topography of Ireland, 12th Century

How godly a deed it is to overthrow so wicked a race the world may judge: for my part I think there cannot be a greater sacrifice to God.
- Edward Barkley, describing how the forces of the Earl of Essex slaughtered the entire population of Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim, 1575

Marry those be the most barbaric and loathy conditions of any people (I think) under heaven...They do use all the beastly behaviour that may be, they oppress all men, they spoil as well the subject, as the enemy; they steal, they are cruel and bloody, full of revenge, and delighting in deadly execution, licentious, swearers and blasphemers, common ravishers of women, and murderers of children.
- Edmund Spenser, A View of the State of Ireland, 1596

And first I have to find fault with the abuse of language; that is, for the speaking of Irish among the English, which as it is unnatural that any people should love another's language more than their own, so it is very inconvenient and the cause of many other evils. ...It seemeth strange to me that the English should take more delight to speak that language than their own, whereas they should, methinks, rather take scorn to acquaint their tongues thereto. For it hath ever been the use of the conqueror to despise the language of the conquered and to force him by all means to learn his.
- A View of the State of Ireland

I have often said, and written, it is Famine which must consume [the Irish]; our swords and other endeavours work not that speedy effect which is expected for their overthrow.
- English Viceroy Arthur Chichester writing to Elizabeth I's chief advisor, Nov. 1601

The time hath been, when they lived like Barbarians, in woods, in bogs, and in desolate places, without politic law, or civil government, neither embracing religion, law or mutual love. That which is hateful to all the world besides is only beloved and embraced by the Irish, I mean civil wars and domestic dissensions .... the Cannibals, devourers of men's flesh, do learn to be fierce amongst themselves, but the Irish, without all respect, are even more cruel to their neighbours.
- Barnaby Rich, A New Description of Ireland, 1610

All wisdom advises us to keep this [Irish] kingdom as much subordinate and dependent on England as possible; and, holding them from manufacture of wool (which unless otherwise directed, I shall by all means discourage), and then enforcing them to fetch their cloth from England, how can they depart from us without nakedness and beggary?
- Lord Stafford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in a letter to King Charles I, 1634

So ended the fairest promise that Ireland had ever known of becoming a prosperous and a happy country.
- Sir William Temple, about 1673, (the export of wool from Ireland to England was forbidden in 1660)

In all countries, more or less, paupers may be discovered; but an entire nation of paupers is what was never seen until it was shown in Ireland. To explain the social condition of such a country, it would be only necessary to recount its miseries and its sufferings; the history of the poor is the history of Ireland.
- Gustave de Beaumont, French visitor, 1839

Ireland is like a half-starved rat that crosses the path of an elephant. What must the elephant do? Squelch it - by heavens - squelch it.
- Thomas Carlyle, British essayist, 1840s

...being altogether beyond the power of man, the cure had been applied by the direct stroke of an all-wise Providence in a manner as unexpected and as unthought of as it is likely to be effectual.

The judgement of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson, that calamity must not be too much mitigated. …The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people.
Charles Trevelyan, head of administration for famine relief, 1840s

[existing policies] will not kill more than one million Irish in 1848 and that will scarcely be enough to do much good.
- Queen Victoria's economist, Nassau Senior

A Celt will soon be as rare on the banks of the Shannon as the red man on the banks of Manhattan.
- The Times, editorial, 1848

I am haunted by the human chimpanzees I saw along that hundred miles of horrible country...to see white chimpanzees is dreadful; if they were black one would not see it so much, but their skins, except where tanned by exposure, are as white as ours.
- Cambridge historian Charles Kingsley, letter to his wife from Ireland, 1860

A creature manifestly between the Gorilla and the Negro is to be met with in some of the lowest districts of London and Liverpool by adventurous explorers. It comes from Ireland, whence it has contrived to migrate; it belongs in fact to a tribe of Irish savages: the lowest species of Irish Yahoo. When conversing with its kind it talks a sort of gibberish. It is, moreover, a climbing animal, and may sometimes be seen ascending a ladder ladden with a hod of bricks.
Satire entitled "The Missing Link", from the British magazine Punch, 1862

This would be a grand land if only every Irishman would kill a Negro, and be hanged for it. I find this sentiment generally approved - sometimes with the qualification that they want Irish and Negroes for servants, not being able to get any other.
- British historian Edward Freeman, writing on his return from America, about 1881

...Furious fanaticism; a love of war and disorder; a hatred for order and patient industry; no accumulative habits; restless; treacherous and uncertain: look to Ireland...
As a Saxon, I abhor all dynasties, monarchies and bayonet governments, but this latter seems to be the only one suitable for the Celtic man.
Robert Knox, anatomist, describing his views on the "Celtic character", 1850

The Celts are not among the progressive, initiative races, but among those which supply the materials rather than the impulse of history...The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans and the Teutons are the only makers of history, the only authors of advancement. ...Subjection to a people of a higher capacity for government is of itself no misfortune; and it is to most countries the condition of their political advancement.
- British historian Lord Acton, 1862

You would not confide free representative institutions to the Hottentots [savages], for instance.
- Lord Salisbury, who opposed Home Rule for Ireland, 1886

...more like squalid apes than human beings. ...unstable as water. ...only efficient military despotism [can succeed in Ireland] ...the wild Irish understand only force.
- James Anthony Froude, Professor of history, Oxford

Eric Zorn and Mark Brown Parse for Scott Lee Cohen and Progressives Everywhere!

If you get passionate by what a columnist writes, seek a mental health professional!

Some commenters have remarked that I seem "Bitter, Angry and Nasty! or wildly partisan. Nah, I'm cool. It's a stone groove here among my hard-working and thoughtful neighbors. No one talks policy (Tax, Law, & etc) but standard common sense English. The 19th Ward air is as sweet as a chocolate dipped Holloway Slo-Poke carmel sucker!

However, I get giggley-amused when I read our iconic Chicago columnists!

Scott Lee Cohen wanted to be our Lieutenant Governor and Mark Brown had the goods on him . . .but determined 'No Big Deal.'

So, Scott Lee Cohen who operates a couple of wildly successful pawn shops, dead-beat Dad-ed for a number of years, tuned-up a hooker, dropped out of the Democratic Campaign after counselling with real elected officials, went on WLS Radio and saw the window of opportunity crack open a bit, announced that he will run for Governor of Illinois as an Independent.

An Independent is a person who can not get three people to vote for her/him, but has the ear of our corporate media columnists like Chicago Sun Times' Mark Brown and Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn . Carol Marin must be ginning up a swell feature for WTTW, as we opine.

Eric Zorn immediately parsed Mark Brown's pontifical dismissal of "The Scott Lee Cohen Saga." It's all good, Dude! No Media fault here, there, or anywhere!

Today EZ parses more peculiar Progressive Petunias:

One way to open up the process is to convert to a ballot-access fee system as used in primaries in two-thirds of the states, according to Winger's data.

In Florida, for example, if you've been following the wild politics down there, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist will simply pay a $10,440 filing fee to run as an independent in November against presumptive Republican primary winner Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek.

No tedious and costly door-to-door solicitations followed by an even more tedious, costly and often outrageous petition challenge.

Does this clog the ballot with wealthy, vain and/or kooky candidates? Does it merely confuse voters? It hasn't really been a problem, said Tobin said.

And as for the argument that filing-fee systems discourage low-income candidates, well, perhaps. But no more than the costs of running petition drives, hiring election lawyers or running a successful campaign discourages low-income candidates.

If Scott Lee Cohen wants to spend his time and money putting his record and his plans in front of the voters, let him, I say.

And for those cowards who will try to thwart Cohen and Claypool by challenging their petitions? They're just pitiful.

Oh, Let's do lower the bar! Ballot access! This is another Progressive 'Change the Rule Because I Can Not Get Signatures' gambit.

These goofs and pinheads demand that Machines (effective politics at the precinct and Ward level)get taken apart and then demand grease for some boob who could not otherwise attract a rally in a phone booth.

The fact remains - Progressives ( Rahm, Forrest?, Quigley, Schakowsky) depend upon that mean-old machine with all of its gears bells and whistles. Until, the time that no one cares to give them their time and talents to amass the signatures.

Yeah, lower the bar and give some more 40 Watt gushers a chance to 'make a difference' on MSNBC and generally louse up the economy and public safety even more.

Politics is an art and not finger painting -unless you happen to be Jan Schakowsky, Mike Quigley, or Forrest Claypool.

These Policy Playdough Artists only get into politics through some quid pro quo or timely appointment. They are panjandrums, like Shelia Simon and Chris Kennedy. No one at the Ward level gives a fat rat's ass what they think or hold dear, because helots know that these beauts would never raise a finger - well maybe a finger -let alone the receiver of a telephone on their behalf.

Most Progressives that I know would not give a penny to starving blind girl with rickets. I am a devout empiricists.

Scott Lee Cohen can pay for petitions with the lunch change in his jeans. He is still a Jewish Lad with a Redneck Name and much redemption to mill.

As to the Progressive Policy Priesthood? It is still given far too much serious attention by reall effective elected officials. Time for real statesmen to ridicule the dopes in public life and chase them back to the Salon.

Please Sign Petition to Keep a Cop Killer in Prison

On May 11, 2010, Theodore Bacino is scheduled for his annual parole hearing in Dixon, Illinois, which of us from the Command Staff will be attending to speak against. Bacino is serving a 75-100 year sentence for the on duty murder of Detective Mike Mayborne on March 15, 1974. Mike’s family has created a very impressive web-site, as part of a memorial to him, which I would encourage you to visit. www.mikemayborne.com

You will notice that there is an area for the on-line petition, protesting the parole for Bacino. The on-line petition also has a box to check to ask for the 3 year set. http://www.mikemayborne.com/ON-LINE_PETITION.html

As it currently stands, the family has to go through this petition process and attend the parole hearing to appeal parole every year. Just a couple of years ago in 2007, the parole board was within one vote (7-6) of granting parole. Last year, he only received one vote in favor of parole (10-1), so it is important that those who believe Bacino should be denied parole speak out. Hopefully, this year Bacino will again be denied parole, and the 3 year set will be granted to give Terry, Jennifer, and Kimberly (along with the rest of Mike’s family) an opportunity to have a break from this annual emotional visit back to the worst time in their lives.

Please share this with others within your circle of contacts who might support this effort. Thank you for taking the time to consider this important issue.

Chief Deputy Kurt Ditzler
FBINA 200th Session
Winnebago County Sheriff's Department
650 West State Street
Rockford, IL 61102
(815) 319-6312 Office
(815) 962-8551 Fax
DitzlerK@WCSO-IL.US



“WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU MIKE”

St. Jude and the Cops - Our Hopeless Media

“Saint Jude, Hope of the Hopeless, Pray for me”

St. Jude devotions go back to the Depression. My aunts made novenas to St. Jude and newspapers used to run endless strings for testimony and prayer in the Personals Sections.

St. Jude is patron of the Hopeless and the chief sin among Catholics is the sin of despair. This Devotion to St. Jude really took off during the Great Depression and the Claretians headed up much of that effort. Father Packy McPolin attracted Hollywood Star Power and helped develop the Great St. Hospital for Children.

The Police are devoted to St. Jude and yesterday marched to the Shrine. This event was always covered by the Chicago newspapers and television. This year not only were Law Enforcement Professionals slighted but also the faith of millions.
WGN TV offered this -

CHICAGO - Chicago Police, Illinois State Police, Cook County Sheriff's Police and others marched in the annual St. Jude Memorial March Sunday to honor officers killed in the line of duty.

The event took place on the museum campus along Chicago's lakefront.

As law enforcement officers marched, Chicago Police Department cadets and loved ones held signs with the names and pictures of fallen officers.

Not much, but something.

http://www.cpdmemorial.org/foundation_newsletter_4.pdf

Leo Men Never Box at Air - St. Paul, Support and Boxing as a Christian Prayer

“So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air.” – 1 Corinthians 9:26

"Well, it's a contact sport, and you're going to get hit," Mayweather said. "You got to suck it up and keep on fighting." -Floyd Mayweather

Yesterday, I toured members of the Leo High School Jubilee Class of 1960 following the April 30th Leo Banquet at the Lexington House in Hickory Hills, IL. This annual event is the template for alumni events and the empirical evidence of the support and love for our Catholic high school at 7901 South Sangamon.

There were about forty Leo Men and their wives shepherded by Chicago Fire Commissioner (ret) James T. Joyce and classmate Larry Bahnaman. We viewed the Leo Hall of Fame, the cafeteria which once served as the annex chapel for St. Leo Parish, classrooms, the storied Leo 3rd Floor Gym and the now famous Leo Boxing Room.

One 1960 Classman questioned the propriety of promoting the violent sport of boxing -'Should Christians try to knock one another out?"

God, Yes! St. Paul was a jockstrap and 1 Corinthians attests to athletics as prayerful path to spiritual power. The Greek for sports was Agonistes. The Struggle - The Battle. This is not some New Age Path to Enlightenment. Christ got nailed to a Cross after being spat upon, scourged, kicked and reviled, The Square Ring is a Crucifix for young scrappers. No excuses.

The guy rolled his eyes and asked, "Is the pool still open?"

No sir. Locked up. I am sorry but we had pipe damage and it is very costly. Not many kids ask to swim these days, but more than one third of the school box. They understand Agonistes.

In the gym, Jim Joyce and Larry Bahnaman informed the group of Leo's need to get its walk-in freezer replaced so the kids can be sure of lunch. It will cost upward of $ 5,000. Some blow? Not to Leo Guys.

Last night Floyd Mayweather had his knees buckled by Shane Mosely in the 2nd Round, but came back to win the decision.

The Class of 1960 stays in the fight - all Leo Men do. They don't box at air.

Tea Party Navy Blamed for Attack on LA. Oil Rig and Mega Spill

It seems clear to me that blame for the horrific oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, now swishing ashore in Louisiana, must be placed at the feet of GW Bush and the Tea Party Navy. HillBilly craft of the Tea Party Navy must have worked its way totally . . . totally, Dude! . . .undetected and managed a CSS Huntley on the BP Platform. That is the only answer that makes sense, because Chris Matthews was on HBO with Bill Maher talking about a Ménage à trois to explain the Charlie Crist story and Milkey Matthews blurts out his idea du jour -"Ménage à trois,Ménage à trois,Ménage à trois,Ménage à trois, Hey Remember Beau Geste?" - until someone slaps the back of his head.

President Obama today promised a review of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion at an oil rig.

Mr. Obama said he ordered Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to review what happened and report back within 30 days with "additional precautions and technologies" to prevent future accidents like this from happening again.

During the remarks in the White House Rose Garden, Mr. Obama sought to counteract perceptions that his administration had been slow to react to the disaster, saying that his team has been "working closely" with state and local officials since the day of the explosion last week.

He said that the federal government was "fully prepared to meet our responsibilities to any and all affected communities." Several Cabinet secretaries have already been dispatched to the scene, as well as 1,900 federal personnel and other resources. Mr. Obama also stressed that BP would be responsible for all costs related to the cleanup and said the administration is inspecting all deepwater rigs in the Gulf.

Support Big Shoulders and 1st Annual Field Day on June 19th!

The Big Shoulders Fund supports inner city Chicago Catholic schools - you know, the schools that help make kids successful and save tax-payers millions of dollars.

Chicago is a Catholic city and catholic city - Catholics comprise the largest demographic and universally help to make this city greater, safer and more dignified. Go to the list of directors for any 501(c)3 civic, educational or cultural organization and you will see the same names - Catholics. Chicago Jews and Catholics seem to dominate Chicago charitabale initiatives, in fact Chicago Jews have some of the broadest shoulders in the Big Shoulders Fund.

This year Josh Hale, Tom Zbierski and the great Jim O'Connor ( Little Flower Parish Alumnus and St. Iggy Grad) are hosting the 1st Annula Field BSF Day at De La Salle Institute.

Our first annual Field Day offers the unique opportunity to raise funds for scholarships, education programs, school, facility improvements, and faculty support while participating in fun events alongside students and faculty of Big Shoulders schools who benefit from your generosity. Make a difference in the lives of children in your community!

When:
Saturday, June 19, 2010

Where:
De La Salle High School (3434 S. Michigan Avenue)

Time:
9:00 am Registration
10:00am - 1:00pm Event

What:
Team competitions include: balloon toss, pass and punt contest, academic challenges, relays and more. One team will take home the Big Shoulders Fund Field Day trophy!

Cost:
$1,000 for a team of 4 with a partner school
$200 for a team of 4 without a partner school
$55 individual participant


Register online today or complete the registration form and mail to:Â

Field Day Committee
309 West Washington St.
Suite 550
Chicago, Illinois 60606

Download a complete sponsorship opportunity listing or contact the Big Shoulders Fund with questions at 312-751-3850 or adrozda@bigshouldersfund.org.


Big Shoulders Fund Field Day is brought to you by:

Stretch your legs and yank a pinch of greenbacks out of your wallets!

A Savage Leaves the Public Scene

Poem1038.
Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.
W.H.Auden



I have had the pleasure to work with great people. Sometimes greatness is mixed bag. Most great women and men are gracious, thoughtful, and fun to be around. A vey few are savages. Many times these individuals are what is termed transformational leaders - Attila the Hun, Stalin, V.I.Lenin, Mao, Saladin, Caligula.

They lead through the cult of personality. I once worked for a savage who bragged that his leadership model was Attilla the Hun. He was not kidding* . . . and had the heads around his tent to prove it. The image is all they really own.

When a savage icon leaves the public stage it is a very good thing.

THE LESSONS OR SECRETS OF ATTILA

#1: YOU'VE GOT TO WANT TO BE IN CHARGE -- You've got to be ruthlessly ambitious. Never be bored, disinterested, or cowardly in any way about always strengthening your position. Good leaders are lustful leaders. Power is like sex, but don't appear overeager, just extremely determined to succeed under any circumstances, fair or unfair. [This will inspire confidence in those you lead]

#2: ALWAYS APPEAR AS THE ONE IN CHARGE -- Dress appropriately for your high station in life. Own the biggest horse and sword. Be first in everything, but never appear pompous. [Be marked with armament that distinguishes you from the masses]

#3: MAKE OTHERS ADAPT TO YOUR "CUSTOMS" -- Make people do things your way, not their way. Make them adjust or adapt to you. Express this as the way things are going to be from now on, or pretend it's the way things have always been. Refuse to acknowledge any other way of doing things other than the way you do things. [This will extract tribute and praise from those you lead]

#4: NEVER CONDONE A LACK OF MORALE OR DISCIPLINE -- Terminate people at the first sign of disrespect for the common good, but by no means stiffle individualism or punish the innocent who don't know the common good. Definitely, do not allow uncontrolled celebration. Pillaging and looting are only fun if done in the name of nationalism. [Discipline will build morale]

#5: NEVER TOLERATE ANYONE WITH THEIR OWN AMBITIONS -- People who are "cunning" are dangerous, especially new people who have just joined the organization. Be vigilant about how people lose their ambition and become team players; that is the pattern you want everyone to follow. Never reward anyone for what is a common effort. [The spirit of unity must prevail]

#6: PERPETUATE A LEGEND OR REPUTATION FOR YOURSELF -- Find out whatever it is that your worst enemy calls you, and try hard to live up to it, with a passion. This will have its advantages to you whenever you need to use your fury and power, and it will accumulate minor privileges to you along the way. [You are your reputation]

#7: PICK YOUR ENEMIES WISELY -- Do not consider all opponents, or everyone you argue with, as enemies. These are accidental enemies. Choose your enemies with purpose. They may be people you have friendly relations with, and in fact, you should let them think of you as a friend, all the while never telling them anything, and lulling them into a state of complacence and acting prematurely. [Do not make enemies unless you mean it]

#8: EXPECT CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT -- You must encourage learning and innovation among those you lead. This can be done in several ways, by creating competitions among the people. Never allow them to wander aimlessly. Regularly upgrade your standards of performance. [This fulfills most of a leader's duties]

#9: USE TIMING IN MAKING DECISIONS -- Never rush a decision, although sometimes you have to because the moment is ripe or an omen exists. It's better to use timing, to find the obscure places and critical elements needed to ensure you always make the right decision. This way, you ensure that even a less-than-perfect decision is followed. [Time your decisions]

#10: EXPLOIT THE DESIRE TO ENJOY THE SPOILS OF WAR -- Harness your peoples' desires for short-term gains. Grant small rewards for light tasks. Reserve heaps of booty for other times, and be generous with items that hold a value to yourself. [Never underestimate the ability to buy obedience]

#11: ONLY ENGAGE IN WARS YOU CAN WIN -- Use diplomacy, negotiation, or other techniques of conflict in battles you cannot win. When in a political war, always keep an eye to your rear. When in an external war, go all out. [Waging war is a natural condition]

Sapphic Verse - Deb Mell Says and Sun Times Chimes "Joyful Ordinariness"

Red cheeked boyfriends tenderly kiss me sweet mouthed
under Boulder coverlets winter springtime
hug me naked laughing & telling girl friends
gossip til autumn

A. Ginsberg - Gay Guy Extraordinaire

"I know our governor and many of you on both sides of the aisle do not consider . . . our relationship equal to the relationship you share with your spouse," "So while this is a happy day and one to celebrate, it is also bittersweet."

D. Mell - Lesbian Legislator

Swell Dames in slinky silk make my day, like Kemps 2%
on a big-ass bowl of Wheaties topped off with bananas just past ripe
and maybe just maybe I'll cut a weak one out of herd!

P. Hickey Hopeless Romantic!

Eric Zorn's Reply to Speech Before the House of Burgesses

Tea Partier Pat Henry -

No man, Mr. President, thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging.

And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!



They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Eric Zorn -

Mr. President, my esteemed colleagues, especially the fiery cry-baby Mr. Henry, what do you really want? " These voters are "big babies," as political journalist Michael Kinsley wrote in the introduction of his 1995 book with that title: "They make flagrantly incompatible demands — cut my taxes, preserve my benefits, balance the budget — and then explode in self-righteous outrage when politicians fail to deliver."

A nicer term of art for such people is "symbolic conservatives and operational liberals," said retired SIU political scientist John Jackson, now a visiting professor at the Simon Institute. "I read most of the major polls routinely," he said. "And my long-term reading of those polls certainly seems to indicate that we want it all while damning the government and taxes." "We want Washington and the states to fix all of our problems now," as Slate's Jacob Weisberg wrote earlier this year. "At the same time, we want government to shrink, spend less and reduce our taxes."

Weisberg's essay was titled, "Down with the people: Blame the childish, ignorant American public — not politicians — for our political and economic crisis.What to do? Hope that our leaders find the courage to treat us like adults, and hope that we find the wisdom to appreciate it. When you are being robbed, Man Up! Pay Up! Buck Up! It's the Patriotic Thing! A BFD! Listen to Joe! Joe Biden!

Racist Babies! Look around, do you see any women, blacks, or Pacific Islanders in this House of Burgesses? Dude! What's all this Great Britain Stuff? Context and Narrative, you cry baby!

Liberal Contempt - Gillian, Gordon, the DNC, Corporate Media and all of us.

At my Dad's wake, a little cousin ( 2 1/2 YO) was repeatedly pulled away from the kneeler at my father's coffin, by his mother. The miniature man, as sharply dressed as the ZZ Top Tune, was fascinated by the man in the box. He'd be pulled away toward the cookies in the other room and nimbly scramble back to my Dad's mortal husk. Finally, he asked me "Can I get in with the Dead guy?" To which I replied with no hint of uncertainty, "He'd like nothing better, Pal!" The Little guy was honest and would not be treated with contempt by his elders and betters. Good on you, son!

The little guy spoke from the heart and so did the oafish PM Gordon Brown, when he called the widow Gillian Brown, a life-long Labor ( UK version of a Democrat) Voter 'A Bigot'(click my post title for the Brown stuff).

The two year old and change at a wake is a delight; a Progressive doctrinaire politician like Brown ( which translate to Dick Durbin, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Bill Ayers in Yank Speak) is standard fare like a smelly CTA vehicle - you get on, you pay, but don't expect Chanel #5 on Archer or Ogden.

Gillian Duffy would be a Democrat Tea Party Person and there are many. I live in a traditional Democratic neighborhood that is roundly treated to a Gillian/Brown Tune-up by the corporate media - people who hold traditional values -anti-abortion, patriotic, anti-Gay Marriage, Pro Real Tades Union Labor, Law and Order, Pay Your Taxes and Everyone Else's but Don't Make Me Smile About It, and Don't Raise Anymore.

These folks are treated with contempt and are expected to like it. Gordon Brown needed to parse his meaning and give full context - full something.