Friday Night Noise -Black Sinatra Marvin Gaye: Do Play Smooth!

Friday Night Noise - Sir Douglas Quintet - Play quite loud.

"Well, she strolled on up to me and said,
Hey, big boy, whats your name?"

Madame, You have the full advantage of me!

John B. Murphy Auditorium - 50 East Erie on The Gold Coast: This is worth a peek inside!

Last night I had the pleasure to a attend a reception for gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady at the Murphy Auditorium at 50 East Erie Street in the Gold Coast.

The reception was attended by about 150 people ( by my Dir. of Development quick count of the room methodology and years of counting head in the classroom). It was a nice affair, though I am a Democrat and still like Pat Quinn, even though he appears to believe in the Easter Bunny in matters of policy and administration and that hanging on to every word of Progressive loudmouths even though that has landed Illinois in its current fiscal jackpot.

Bill Brady was personable and sharp. He's supposed to be,

Now, the venue is wonderful! In fact I was delighted to see my cousin Cathy Carey running the place.

I remember drinking a quart of Drewery's on the steps of the Murphy Auditorium in 1973 with Mike Miller and Mike Stankewicz, between classes at Loyola LT. The place was gray and needed a good steam-cleaning - the whole section of the south Gold Coast was pretty bummy back then. We added to its charms -no doubt.

Today, adjacent to the Richard Driehaus Muesem and across from the Driehaus Building were the philanthropist parks his candy aplle red Phaeton on the sidewalk behind wrought iron gates, The Murphy Auditorium is magnificent.

The building was constructed by friends of John Benjamin Murphy, M.D. -Order of St. Gregory.

Murphy was born in a log cabin to Irish immigrant parents near Appleton, Wisconsin and died among the swells on Mackinac Island, Michigan, while staying at the Grand Hotel.

In between, Dr. John B. Murphy distinguished himself as an American surgeon and expert in gastrointestinal surgical techniques and the diagnoses of appendicitis symptoms. Murphy attended to the victims of the Haymarket Riots. When not in surgury, John B. Murphy conducted clinics for fellow cutters and saw bones from Mercy, Rush, and Cook County Hospitals. When Teddy Roosevelt was shot Dr. Murphy attended to the Bull Moose at Mercy hospital.



After Dr. Murphy's death, his many friends built an Auditorium to be used as clinical operating theater for surgeons. The Auditorium is built like a Cathedral and was modelled upon the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

The John B. Murphy Auditorium is worth a peek inside.

Daniel B. McGrath - Leo High School President

Daniel B. McGrath ( Leo '68) signed the contract and will assume the duties of President for Institutional Advancement.

Leo High School is blessed to have Dan McGrath lead fund-raising and capacity building for Leo High School. One of the best prose craftsmen in America, Mr. McGrath was Chicago Tribune Sports Editor and contributor for thirteen years. Recently, his fine work graced the pages of the New York Times- Chicago News Cooperative:

Before joining the Tribune, McGrath worked for newspapers in Freeport, Ill.; Reno, Nev.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Francisco; Philadelphia; and New York. While he has worked most of his career in sports, he also has been a media critic, national correspondent, metro columnist and book reviewer.

Sports sections McGrath edited have won more than a dozen top-10 awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors Association. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for spot news coverage in 1992 and for commentary in 1993. A Chicago native, he is the co-author or editor of five books on the city’s sports teams, including the best-selling Out of the Blue on the 2003 Chicago Cubs.

More importantly,Mr. McGrath is the husband of Jo-Anna and the father of Megan and Matthew McGrath, as well as the author of "Believe It: The Story of the 2005 World Championship White Sox."

Some years ago, Dan wrote a beautiful piece ( click my post title for this touching story) about a beautiful young man - actually two wonderful young men - Eric Ersery and Cecil McCulre. In 1999, Eric Ersery was weeks away from graduation when he was murdered by gang-bangers as he tried to protect a young girl, Shamika Ingram, like Eric 17 years old. Cecil McClure was Dan's pal while both studied at Leo High School. Cecil was murdered by gang-bangers in 1967.

In tribute to both men, good men martyred to gang violence, Dan McGrath developed the Cecil McCulre Scholarship and put together the late Bill Gleason, Mike Mulligan, Terry Armour, Bill Jaus, Lester Munson, Phil Rogers, and Fred Mitchell for a "Sports Writers Q & A" at Corrigan's Pub and the old Beverly Arts Center.

Dan McGrath brings people together to help people who can use leg up. Leo High School is blessed to have Daniel B. McGraths heart and hands getting the young men of Leo High School one great education.

The signing of Dan McGrath marks a new beginning for a proud old Catholic high school.

Is General McCrystal an Egoist Like MacArthur or a Warrior like Chesty Puller? Obama's Moment.

"They are a damn site better than the U.S. Army, at least we know that they
will be there in the morning."

Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller,
when a journalist asked him about being surrounded by twenty-two Red Chinese divisions.

General Stanley McCrystal will find out this morning whether or not he is the historical parallel to General Douglas MacArthur, or Chesty Puller.

MacArthur defied policy and was insubordinate.

Chesty Puller spoke like a warrior.





Stanley McCrystal is a warrior in an MTV world - he seems to have gotten punk'd.
The Over and under this morning's meeting with The Commander-in-Chief and General Stanley McCrystal must be something.

It was a 10-minute photo op," says an adviser to McChrystal. "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his #$%^ing war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed."

Rolling Stone.

Grannie, Gramma, Babcia/Busha, Nana, Abuela, & etc.

It is as grandmothers that our mothers come into the fullness of their grace.
-- Christopher Morley

Song by Seamus Heaney
A rowan like a lipsticked girl.
Between the by-road and the main road
Alder trees at a wet and dripping distance
Stand off among the rushes.

There are the mud-flowers of dialect
And the immortelles of perfect pitch
And that moment when the bird sings very close
To the music of what happens.


Photo:
http://superdadspeaks.blogspot.com/

President Obama Must Fire General Stanley McCyrstal

President Barack H. Obama is the Commander-in-Chief and his Afghan Theatre Commander is General Stanleyt McCrystal.

General Stanley McCrystal swore a soldier's oath when he entered West Point.

General McCrystal has served his Country, the Constitution and his Commander-in-Chief with Honor, until he decided to allow an interview with a free-lace writer for Rolling Stone , no less a silly rag, and let off some steam.

Kids in my neighborhood serve under General Stanley McCrystal and President Obama.

These words broke faith with them:

"Even though he had voted for (President Barack) Obama, McChrystal and his new commander-in-chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn't go much better. 'It was a 10-minute photo-op,' says an adviser to McChrystal. 'Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his f-ing war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed.'"

– "Last fall, during a question-and-answer session following a speech he gave in London, McChrystal dismissed the counterterrorism strategy being advocated by Vice President Joe Biden as 'shortsighted,' saying it would lead to a state of 'Chaos-istan,' The remarks earned him a smackdown from the president himself, who summoned the general to a terse private meeting aboard Air Force Once. The message to McChrystal seemed clear: Shut the f- up, and keep a lower profile. Now, flipping through printout cards of his speech in Paris, McChrystal wonders aloud what Biden question he might get today, and how he should respond. 'I never know what's going to pop out until I'm up there, that's the problem,' he says.

Then, unable to help themselves, he and his staff imagine the general dismissing the vice president with a good one-liner. 'Are you asking about Vice President Biden?' McChrystal says with a laugh. 'Who's that?' 'Biden?' suggests a top adviser. 'Did you say "Bite Me?"'

– "In private, Team McChrystal likes to talk s- about many of Obama's top people on the diplomatic side. One aide calls Jim Jones, a retired four-star general and veteran of the Cold War, a 'clown' who remains 'stuck in 1985.' Politicians like (John) McCain and (John) Kerry, says another aide, 'turn up, have a meeting with (Afghan president Hamid) Karzai, criticize him at the airport press conference, then get back for the Sunday talk shows. Frankly, it's not very helpful.' Only (Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton receives good reviews from McChrystal's inner circle. 'Hillary had Stan's back during the strategic review,' says an adviser. 'She said, "If Stan wants it, give him what he needs.'"

– "McChrystal reserves special skepticism for (Richard) Holbrooke, the official in charge of reintegrating the Taliban. 'The Boss says he's like a wounded animal,' says a member of the general's team. 'Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous. He's a brilliant guy, but he just comes in, pulls on a lever, whatever he can grasp onto. But this is COIN (counterinsurgency), and you can't just have someone yanking on s-.'"

– "By far the most crucial - and strained - relationship is between McChrystal and (Karl) Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador. According to those close to the two men, Eikenberry - a retired three-star general who served in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2005 - can't stand that his former subordinate is now calling the shots. He's also furious that McChrystal, backed by NATO's allies, refused to put Eikenberry in the pivotal role of viceroy in Afghanistan, which would have made him the diplomatic equivalent of the general.

"... The relationship was further strained in January, when a classified cable that Eikenberry wrote was leaked to The New York Times. The cable was as scathing as it was prescient. The ambassador offered a brutal critique of McChrystal's strategy, dismissed President Hamid Karzai as 'not an adequate strategic partner,' and cast doubt on whether the counterinsurgency plan would be 'sufficient' to deal with al Qaeda. ... McChrystal and his team were blindsided by the cable. 'I like Karl, I've known him for years, but they'd never said anything like that to us before,' says McChrystal, who adds that he felt 'betrayed' by the leak. 'Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so.'"

General Stanley McCrystal should resign and that failing President Obama must fire him.

St. Thomas More -Patron Saint of Lawyers: Tommy Do 'Something' With Them, Please?

Lawyers are like people - sort of. There are very good lawyers, very bad lawyers and lawyers who sleep walk.

I have been especially hard on some lawyers like Jon Loevy and G. Flint Taylor, because I believe that their talents, actions and desires have helped create a City where 62 people can be shot between Friday and Tuesday. These two gents in particular have so undermined public faith in Justice that a Thug Comfort Zone has been created.

Some lawyers work for that magic 30% + the billable hours. To me they are like the school teachers. Catholic schools and private schools have the distinction of launching bad, lazy and ineffective teachers. Public schools do not have that legal right, due to the power public salaried unions and gutless politicians.

Remember, not all politicians are lawyers.

I know great Lawyers who work like priests and monks - they want the best for people and not just their paying clients - Joe Powers, Christine Flowers, Tamara Holder, Lisa Madigan, Margaret McGann, Judge and former Alderman Tom Murphy, former States Attorney Tisa Morris* -a heroic black woman, Mike Buck, Mike Joyce,Dan Barry, Larry Rogers - Dad and Lad, Dan Kelley, Burt Odleson, Mike Cleary, Judge John Michela of Kankakee, Illinois Chief Justice Tom Fitzgerald, Jack Donahue, Judge Louis Fontenot, Judge Bill Phelan, Ed Vogt, Mike Brennan, Stephan Karparski, Mike Monico and the late E. Michael Kelly.

I pray that St. Thomas More -Tommy More to south siders - lays hands -gently on the great ones and sternly on the mediocre and the vicious.

St. Thomas More Feastday: June 22
Patron of Lawyers
1535

St. Thomas More, Martyr (Patron of Lawyers) St. Thomas More was born at London in 1478. After a thorough grounding in religion and the classics, he entered Oxford to study law. Upon leaving the university he embarked on a legal career which took him to Parliament. In 1505, he married his beloved Jane Colt who bore him four children, andwhen she died at a young age, he married a widow, Alice Middleton, to be a mother for his young children. A wit and a reformer, this learned man numbered Bishops and scholars among his friends, and by 1516 wrote his world-famous book "Utopia". He attracted the attention of Henry VIII who appointed him to a succession of high posts and missions, and finally made him Lord Chancellor in 1529. However, he resigned in 1532, at the height of his career and reputation, when Henry persisted in holding his own opinions regarding marriage and the supremacy of the Pope. The rest of his life was spent in writing mostly in defense of the Church. In 1534, with his close friend, St. John Fisher, he refused to render allegiance to the King as the Head of the Church of England and was confined to the Tower. Fifteen months later, and nine days after St. John Fisher's execution, he was tried and convicted of treason. He told the court that he could not go against his conscience and wished his judges that "we may yet hereafter in heaven merrily all meet together to everlasting salvation." And on the scaffold, he told the crowd of spectators that he was dying as "the King's good servant-but God's first." He was beheaded on July 6, 1535. His feast day is June 22nd.

*
St. Thomas More
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Feastday: June 22
Patron of Lawyers
1535

St. Thomas More, Martyr (Patron of Lawyers) St. Thomas More was born at London in 1478. After a thorough grounding in religion and the classics, he entered Oxford to study law. Upon leaving the university he embarked on a legal career which took him to Parliament. In 1505, he married his beloved Jane Colt who bore him four children, andwhen she died at a young age, he married a widow, Alice Middleton, to be a mother for his young children. A wit and a reformer, this learned man numbered Bishops and scholars among his friends, and by 1516 wrote his world-famous book "Utopia". He attracted the attention of Henry VIII who appointed him to a succession of high posts and missions, and finally made him Lord Chancellor in 1529. However, he resigned in 1532, at the height of his career and reputation, when Henry persisted in holding his own opinions regarding marriage and the supremacy of the Pope. The rest of his life was spent in writing mostly in defense of the Church. In 1534, with his close friend, St. John Fisher, he refused to render allegiance to the King as the Head of the Church of England and was confined to the Tower. Fifteen months later, and nine days after St. John Fisher's execution, he was tried and convicted of treason. He told the court that he could not go against his conscience and wished his judges that "we may yet hereafter in heaven merrily all meet together to everlasting salvation." And on the scaffold, he told the crowd of spectators that he was dying as "the King's good servant-but God's first." He was beheaded on July 6, 1535. His feast day is June 22nd.

*Morris, Tisa – Chief of the Juvenile Justice Bureau with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Morris became an Assistant State's Attorney in 1991. She left in 2004 to take a position with the Chicago Police Department's Office of Professional Standards and returned in 2008. She currently supervises the Juvenile Justice Bureau.

Grazyna Auguscik & Paulinho Garcia at Katerina's June 24th

A Polish Diva and a Brazilian guitarist will grace Katerina's on Thursday June 24th.

G

razyna comes from Poland and sings in Portuguese, English and scats with Chicago Brasileiro Paulinho Garcia. This is a beautiful recording of vocal duets and acoustic guitar with some light percussion overdubs from Paulinho (he was once a percussionist in Brazil). The program consists of well-known Brazilian standards like Voce, A Ra, Bridges, Agua de Beber and So Dance Samba among others. My personal favorite is their treatment of Sting's haunting Fragile, a tune that is destined to become a standard.

Katerina's
1920 West Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL 60613-2408
(773) 348-7592

Burge Trial - Peoples Law Office Reenactment of Burge Torture

"He said he wasn't abused. He said he never got electro-shocked," Shaw said, dressed in a bright orange prison jumpsuit, his arm and leg irons clanking occasionally as he shifted in his chair. "He said it was all a lie. He said there were all kinds of attorneys on it, and there were others that were dying to get on the case. He talked about movie deals, book deals. At the time, I thought it was far-fetched."

Lawyers seeking to benefit financially from a slam dunk accusation of systemic racist police torture? Far-fetched? Not really.

As compelling as most of John Conroy's narratives ( chock filled with Burge rumors and hearsay, as well as the mystery Black Box)and every mobilized coalition's thoughtful consideration of the chain of events of these last thirty years in the Burge Saga it might be, I say it might be, useful to take a serious look how seriously G.Flint Taylor's Peoples Law Office takes Jon Burge and Justice.




Far-fetched? Not really.

I Gotta Piece of Mike Houlihan - I Won't Say Which, But I am Now a Film Producer

" . . .So . . .Hickey took all of his Mercury Head Dimes up to Beverly Bank and asked the girl for a Certified Check Made out to Our Irish Cousins and his Cousin Willie cashed it! Hickey took the short bus to school."






I just bought a piece of Mike Houlihan's New Documentary Film - Our Irish Cousins (click Post Title). Actually, I made a tax-deductible donation.

As a civic minded patron of the arts in Chicago, I believe that my financial largesse is needed to make sure that fine films find their way to a public athirst for features that build community.

I call upon every Big Shoulders Gaius Maecenas to drop a few Jacksons and help Mike Houlihan get this work out of the can and threading the projectors in fine theatres near you!

Your White House Circle of Jerks! An Un Precedented Amateur Hour

Photo via No Quarter!

White House: To Do to Whom List

1. Have the Governor of Arizona in for an Oval Office chat and assure her of help at the Border - then sic the Justice Deartment on her!

2. Blame Bush - the eggs were runny.

3. Get Chris Matthews to do another of his side-splitting documetaries - If you Thought The Kennedy's was riot . . .Wait until the Grannies at Tea Parties Got Guns! Milky Rocks!

4. Get Desiree Rogers a Job at Johnson Products in Chicago . . .

5. Get more fiber in Ed Schultz' diet. . .no strike that!

6. Have Rachel Maddow address the Dyke Bikers MCC of Sturgis, Michigan from the Oval Office - they voted Democrat

7. Wake the President at 3AM. . . quietly!

8. Send Hillary to Ecuador . . . why not.

9. Pony up bail for Lady Gaga. Call Sir Paul.

10. Get Sox tickets for the All Star Game . . .no the Bulls . . . name a White Sox player. Look the Bulls won the Stanley Cup for sailing the Mackinaw! Get Axe on it.

11. Super Soakers!

12. There is some Dot-head named Bobby on hold from Louisiana. . . $%^& Him!

Progressive - American English for Going Backward at Full Speed!

Our Progressive Yin and Yang!


President Obama is our Jobs President - American Unemployment is at 9.7%. Unemployment happens because of deficit spending. President Obama is pouring more Federal dollars into extending the Unemployment Credits to stimulate growth for more unemployed and that is his plan to reduce unemployment to 8.7% by the end of this year. More Unemployment benefits means more employment?

I plan to take off ten pounds and save $10,000 by July 1st, by eating in Heart of Italy *( 24th & Oakley) at Miceli's, Bruna's Bachanalia, & etc. every meal - six times a day. I am doubling my meals, because this is an Unprecedented Application of Progressive Thought.

I caught Henry Waxman's soul mate on the Sunday Chat Fests -there must be an embargo on lens crack Henry's mug. Man, the guy is the ugliest!

Congressman Ed Markey has that Johnny Edwards thang going on. Together the yin and yang of male eye candy ( Markey/ Waxman) have concocted the Most Idiotic Piece of Legislation since Prohibition. The Cap 'N Trade Cereal!

It is so idiotic that Para-Sailing Fop John Kerry can't talk about anything else! Carbon Credit! Oh, Baby!

Here is Dandified Ed Markey at his most revealingly Progressive Knitting of Wit in an exchange with a former Shell Oil Executive about the Gulf Oil Disaster - Obama's Pearl Harbor. They are talking about the 1920 Jones Act that embargoes foreign, no-union ships and vessels in American waters.

MR. HOFMEISTER: It would have to have a waiver. There was a waiver after Katrina to help do whatever needed to be done. There should be a waiver now. This is a unique, unprecedented situation. The U.S. hasn’t made supertankers in–ever. Supertankers have always been made in foreign shipbuilding yards. And we need to bring that kind of scale to bear, in my opinion.

MR. GREGORY: Congressman, you’re shaking your head. You don’t…

REP. MARKEY: The, the Jones Act, the Jones Act does not apply to situations like this, emergency situations, relief situations.

MR. GREGORY: You should be able to get those ships in there right away.

REP. MARKEY: Yeah, and they can. There has been no request from another country that has been denied by the Obama administration at all.

Yet,

The Houston Chronicle reported a week and a half ago that the Dutch govt. offered help and was turned down. But the paper now reports that the U.S. is using foreign ships to help battle the spill:

U.S. ships are being outfitted this week with four pairs of the skimming booms airlifted from the Netherlands and should be deployed within days. Each pair can process 5 million gallons of water a day, removing 20,000 tons of oil and sludge.

For breakfast I plan to have the garlic and butter stuffed Artichoke, Porterhouse Vesuvio, a nice Chianti, a basket of bread, and Tiramisu.

Six pack abs by, July 1, 2010! I'm a Progressive!!!!!

*The Heart of Italy
24th and Oakley dishes it up, Italian-style.
Wednesday Mar 02, 2005. By Dennis Foley Food Feed



In the second half of the 19th century, Chicago became a huge stopping point for many Italian immigrants. Sicilians flocked to the Taylor Street area (now affectionately known as "Little Italy"); when the Tuscans left Northern Italy, they settled in what became known as the "Heart of Italy" neighborhood, centered near 24th and Oakley on the city's near South Side. Today, the stretch of Oakley that runs through the Heart of Italy has been renamed "Vito Marzullo Boulevard" in honor of the late, legendary alderman who did so much for the people of this neighborhood.

A walk along Oakley in the Heart of Italy always gives one the feel of times past. The buildings that house the shops and restaurants have been around for a century or more, and the city has installed wonderful retro streetlights, which only serve to add to that yesteryear feel. When you come to eat at the restaurants in this neighborhood, be prepared for all Italian all the time. And that's a good thing. Though the food offered in these wonderful eateries may have its similarities, each place has its own distinct style, its own personality and moves to its own beat. Price-wise, all of the Heart of Italy restaurants fall in a similar range, with dinners running roughly $8-$20, making it a great destination for a reasonably priced date.

Come June, don't miss the Taste of the Heart of Italy, the hood's festival of great Italian food and music. In the meantime, make a beeline south and try one of these Italian eateries:

Ignotz Ristorante
For starters, the Ignotz staff brings warm bread, oil, cheese and baked garlic to your table. Talk about a way to jump-start your engine: This is it. The pre-dinner delights don't end there. A number of solid appetizers are available, including baked clams. The dining area here is intimate and just as welcoming for those looking for a great place for a hot date or to tote a boatload of kids in for a family dinner. Chances are affable owner Roger Wroblewski will stop by your table, say hello and make sure your chow is to your liking. The menu features pastas, a wide range of veal meals, steaks and more. The shrimp versace is melt-in-your-mouth good, and solid pizza dishes are also available. Don't leave without asking for the dessert specials, featuring an assortment of items (tiramisu, pyramid cake) that will make the perfect bookend to your meal.

Il Vicinato
This lovely eatery features two dining areas, one in the front by the bar section, and a second larger room in the back. The bar area isn't huge, but with 12 seats or so, there's plenty of room to chat while you wait for a table. Both rooms are decorated nicely and always filled with lively patron conversation. Make certain you order the Il Vicinato salad for starters; this salad features your standard array of greens, but comes with assorted meats, blue cheese and a fantastic house dressing. Possibly the finest salad in the city, it's brought to you in a big bowl so everyone at your table can enjoy it. After that, dive right in to any of the pasta dishes you find, many of which come with a Bolognese sauce. The meat-filled ravioli is fantastic, as are the whitefish dishes. Try the filling roast sirloin of beef should you be in a meat mood. This always-tender special is a crowd pleaser.

Bacchanalia
Of all the eateries on Oakley, Bacchanalia has that 1970s sort of "Goodfellas" look and feel to it. Mirrors can be found throughout the dimly lit dining area, and the tables are set close enough to let you listen in on your neighbor's conversation, should you feel the desire to eavesdrop. There's not a bad dish on the menu, but some of the big winners are scampi alla romana, where you'll find your shrimp resting on a bed of fettuccine served with a marinara sauce, as well as chicken vesuvio and mouth-watering manicotti. The fish specials (tilapia) are often excellent; for dessert make sure you try the tiramisu.

La Fontanella
This tiny eatery is a delight. There's a smallish bar up front where you can rest your elbows for a bit, before moving into the two-car garage-sized dining area which features roughly 15 checkerboard tables. Pasta dishes abound: The sausage and peppers and the eggplant parmigiana are definite winners. You'll also find some wonderful whitefish and salmon dishes spiced to perfection. Should you feel like a pasta dish but want something other than standard spaghetti, go for the always-tasty fusilli in vodka sauce if it's on the specials sheet. Meat-wise, the lamb scaloppini will have you returning again and again. La Fontanella is suitable for any occasion, but it is the tiniest of the Oakley eateries. If you need special arrangements for seating, call in advance.

Bruna's Ristorante
As you approach Bruna's, you'll find bottles of wine resting in the windows; once inside the tiny eating area, you'll find posters and photos of various scenes from the old country. With lively patrons, an intimate setting and a friendly wait staff, this place definitely exudes fun. There are many wonderful pasta dishes to choose from here, but the wise won't pass on the spaghetti carbonara, where the spaghetti comes in a cream sauce with Italian bacon. Other popular specials include veal chops, eggplant parmigiana and spinach-cheese ravioli. When former Chicago cop turned actor, Dennis Farina, is in town, he spends time in all of the Heart of Italy eateries, though Bruna's is one of his favorites.

Miceli's Deli
Miceli's isn't a big league dinner destination like the others in the Heart of Italy and it doesn't pretend to be. This is a lunch joint, plain and simple, and without the flair and cost of the other eateries on the block. Here, you'll find a number of tables set in the midst of this deli, and at lunch the seats fill up quickly. Miceli's serves great sub specials, hot meals like sausage and peppers and linguine and clams, as well as tasty salads; prices range from a wallet friendly $3.50-$8. If you see the spicy tuna steak salad on the specials sheet, dive right in. It will gas up your tank for the rest of the day. Police and attorney-types from the nearby Cook County criminal court's complex at 26th and California frequent this eatery.

Burge Trial - Like "The Black Box" Frank Sirtoff Seems to Have Vanished, sort of

Everyone, we are told repeatedly, must accept that Jon Burge tortured hundreds of black men between the 1980's and 1990's.

However, wheels keep falling off this bandwagon - hundreds of black men, came down to five two weeks ago when the prosecution in the perjury trial of Jon Burge took flight and the black box electrical torture has yet to appear in anything but rumor and hearsay.

For quite a while, especially during the Cook County Special Attorney's Report development and publication, readers were treated to an eye-witness account by a then Boy Scout in Bluhm Center Literature and Counterpunch articles by Eric Ruder of the Socialist Worker.Frank Sirtoff told of witnessing the torture of black men by Burge with the fabled 'Black Box."

Where is this 'Witness for the Prosecution?"

Like the 'black box' Frank Sirtoff no longer seems relevant to the people who demand that we all must accept that Jon Burge tortured hundreds.


Frank Sirtoff then,

ABC7 Exclusive: Former Boy Scouts claim to have witnessed torture

Two former Boy Scouts say they witnessed the torture of a suspect and they believe former commander Jon Burge was involved.

There was a 1980′s film called “Stand By Me” about kids who stumbled onto a crime scene and it changed their lives forever. Not only are the following memories remindful of that film, they are also the first independent, corroborated witness accounts of possible torture inside a Chicago police station.

“I’ve tried to put it in the back of my mind most of the time and tried to live my life as good as I could. But after seeing something like that, it’s a life-changing experience,” said Frank Sirtoff, alleged torture witness.

Forty-five-year-old Frank Sirtoff says he will never forget what he saw during the summer of 1975 when he was a 14-year-old boy scout living on Chicago’s Southwest Side. Sirtoff says he and a cousin, who was also a scout, entered the Area 3 police headquarters — then at 39th and California — to visit their scout leader who was a detective in the youth division on the third floor.

“We made it a habit of going there quite often, at least once a week,” said Sirtoff.

But that day, the boys went exploring on the second floor. Sirtoff says he remembers opening a door and seeing a black man in distress sitting at a long desk.

“And this man was sitting in the wooden chair, strapped down with handcuffs on his arms, his legs,” Sirtoff said. “The leg of the chair and wires all over his body, wires on his arms, his hands, his forehead, by the temples of his head … and on top of the desk was a black box with a crank handle and all of the wires going into the box.”

Frank’s cousin wished to remain anonymous as he talked about also seeing the black man, the box and the wires and a large, red-haired detective.

“He had red hair, mustache, big guy. He said, ‘shut that n—-r up and get these f—–g kids out of here,’ ” said Frank’s cousin, who was 13 at the time.

Sirtoff says, after seeing news reports during the past 30 years, there is no doubt in his mind the red-haired man was Jon Burge, the now retired police commander under investigation for the torture of nearly 200 black men.

“I look at Burge, and Burge looks at me right in the eye, and says, ‘kill the n—–r and get the kid,’ ” Sirtoff said.

Police department records say that in 1975 Burge was not assigned to Area 3. That year he was a sergeant working as a detective in the intelligence division and for the Fourth District on the South Side.

Sirtoff’s scout leader, Martin W. Conroy, who retired as a detective in 1995, says he remembers Sirtoff and the other boy “frequently visited at the youth division”. By telephone from his home in Texas, Conroy said, “I believe them. Why would they make it up?”

On Burge being at 39th and California that day, Conroy said, “If outside detectives made an arrest in Area 3, they might come there for an interrogation or to take part in it.”

Attorney Flint Taylor has represented alleged victims in 10 torture-related lawsuits.

“It’s been documented that in the ’70′s there were cases where people would be picked up in another area of the city, for Burge, that Burge would either go to him or he’d be brought to Burge,” said Flint Taylor, People’s Law Center.

Sirtoff says, after the confrontation with the red-haired detective, he and his cousin ran to Conroy’s office on the third floor where they were ordered out of the building. It wasn’t until many years later, after seeing news reports on alleged police torture, that he began suffering guilt for not telling someone about what he had seen.

“I want to be able to say to myself and think to myself that I didn’t die taking this to the grave with me, and that guy that was sitting in the chair, he knows that I finally told somebody about it,” said Sirtoff.

Sirtoff says in 1994 he told the FBI in northwest Indiana about what he saw. He says he did not tell the FBI in Chicago fearing it might be as corrupt as police. The FBI will neither confirm nor deny that such an interview took place.

Sirtoff left voice mail messages at the People’s Law Center in Chicago three years ago. He told the same story on the tapes — that still exist — but he did not leave his name or a number where he could be reached.

Neither Sirtoff nor his cousin talked to the special prosecutor who has been conducting the official investigation.

Frank Sirtoff now,

Frank Sirtoff III, 49, of Ottawa was charged with domestic battery, aggravated assault and fleeing and eluding following an incident in which Spring Valley, Ladd and Peru police officers pursued the suspect's vehicle after he allegedly struck a car in the parking lot of the BP Amoco station and left the scene at 4:11 p.m. March 25. Officers were pursuing Sirtoff's vehicle north on Route 89 at high speeds when it went off the roadway on the ramp to Interstate 80 and became stuck in the mud. Sirtoff allegedly struck a 47-year-old female passenger in the face during the pursuit. She was taken to St. Margaret's hospital by 10-33 Ambulance Service as a result of the injury from the domestic battery. A 15-year-old male passenger in the car was

Where is Frank Sirtoff? The Boy Scout Frank Sirtoff swore he saw Burge do it. Scout's Honor.

ttp://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=391498

http://socialistworker.org/2006-1/592/592_05_ChicagoTorture.shtml

Burge Trial - Burge Gives G.Flint Taylor What He Howled For . . . Taylor and Company Are Not Happy.

I know the Fahey family, not real well, but I know Packey and Mike. Their brother Chicago Police Officer William Fahey along with Officer Richard O'Brien was tortured, murdered and their bodies were urinated upon by the Wilson Brothers.

I do not know, nor have I ever met Former Detective Commander Burge. I do know several Chicago Police Detectives who worked under Jon Burge, in Area 2. They universally admire Burge for courage and leadership 'from the front' and say he was a great boss.

All I know about Jon Burge's nemesis G. Flint Taylor is what I have read in the news and other media publications and witnessed on television or heard over the radio. My impression of G. Flint Taylor of the Peoples Law Office is wildly unfavorable. Not a big deal.

The media love G. Flint Taylor because he is edgy and wraps his dubious agenda in rhetorical flourishes that would make Atticus Finch seem like the leader of a lynch mob.

“

There should be indictments and prosecutions of Burge and his men for obstruction of justice, perjury and conspiracy,” said Flint Taylor, Orange’s attorney. He called for hearings for the 25-30 black men imprisoned after allegedly being tortured into confessions of crimes they didn’t commit. . . .Meanwhile, Orange’s lawyer failed to produce a properly drafted document giving him power of attorney to settle, Georges said. . . . an attorney for one of the plaintiffs had not been able to produce a power of attorney executed by his client, a form that would demonstrate he had the authority to settle the case.

Chicago Sun Times


G. Flint Taylor it seems to me is a Marxist millionaire lawyer with the bulliest of pulpits - American Progressive High Ground. He is a nasty piece of work, it seems to me, because he has been at the plate with his Burge bats for decades and never hit one even remotely within the foul line. G. Flint Taylor's most telling moment occurred when career criminal and current Federal inmate Aaron Paterson's day in court went south on the thug. G. Flint Taylor and Urban Translator Gator Bradley as well as another attorney all but came to blows over the money that was settled out of court - yet, Aaron by dint of his thuggish instincts returned to prison.

Three of the alleged victims have remained free, but Patterson is serving a 30-year prison term on gun and drug charges.

In one of the strange twists in Patterson's civil case, a judge allowed Wallace "Gator" Bradley, a former gang enforcer, to sit in court with Patterson's attorney as an "urban translator" to control the volatile defendant. Now Bradley says Patterson's attorney, Frank Avila, owes him $250,000 for his work. Avila and Flint Taylor, Patterson's former lawyer, are fighting over their share of the legal fees.

Chicago Sun Times

G. Flint not only demands the spilled nickels on the courtroom floors, but also demands that the American Justice system be deconstructed. Any and all confidence in Law Enforcement and the Institutions of Justice must be undermined - in that way, G. Flint Taylor can continue to milk the Systemic Racist Police Torture Cow.

Every time, and he will again, Taylor fails make charges stick to Jon Burge and other police officers, he howls like a pig with a hair lip.

A panel of judges must study Burge and his Midnight Crew!!!!!

They did and produced a finding that cost millions of dollars and did not come up with Taylor's script.

Howls!!!! They are related to cops!!! It is more racism and cover-up!

Flint demands and the corporate media choruses along with Flint "The Federal Prosecutor MUST Charge Burge with Perjury!:

They did.

Flint Howls!!!!!!!!!!!"I want Burge on the witness stand!"

There is Burge in all of his beefy splendor!

Flint Howls!!!!!!!!!!!! to Elizabeth Brackin on WTTW. Naturally. Brackin wants Burge stomped -give her a listen. Hack.



I have a feeling that Burge will go back to Florida -John Conroy's editorialized reports for NPR notwithstanding. Many, many, many very good people believe G.Flint Taylor. I do not. I am around police officers very often and I am also around people in the news media very often. Some cops are thugs and most are not. Some journalists are lazy, scripted hacks, most reporters are not that at all.

The Burge Saga has been an orchestrated effort to create the facts -pure Hegelian/Dewey method. Facts are troubling things. What is ignored by the media is the fact that much of testimony in past trials concerning police torture were ruled as inadmissable. The 'black box' is an urban legend. I first read about the black box years ago, when Bernardine Dohrn strapped on her job at Northwestern. Sasha Abramsky echoed the tale and John Conroy then with Chicago Reader hammered it home.

G. Flint Taylor even had a re-production of the torture instrument brought into a courtroom.

A boy scout who later said that he had seen the device -melted into La Salle County Illinois and a series of arrests in Ottawa. UBI Sunt?

The City of Chicago, like other towns and municipalities walked right into G. Flint Taylor's agenda - they tried to toss money at a glutton.

Now, with witnesses against Burge self-impeaching and the high-minded suspender snapping oratory melted, Jon Burge is answering questions with piss and vinegar.

When and if Burge is acquitted and I believe that he will be. G.Flint Taylor and his orchestra will play more loudly. This is not about justice -this is all about money for G. Flint Taylor and his industry. But right now, things are not looking too good and it is torturing G. Flint Taylor.

G. Flint Taylor knows all about torture - he is a past master.


http://jailjonburge.org/tag/flint-taylor/

Friday Night Noise - The Four Tops featuring Levi Stubbs! Play All The Way Up!

The Four Tops! Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton, and the Great Levi Stubbs

Now THIS is a Gracious Concession Speech

Here in Illinois we get Jan Schakwoski, Mike Quigley, Marque Kirque and other assorted fatuous filberts. In Alabama, you get Dale Peterson!

Dale Peterson is back -- with a vengeance.

The straight-talking, rifle-toting candidate for Alabama Agriculture Commissioner, who came up short in his bid but whose, um, offbeat web ad garnered more than 1.7 million hits on You Tube, has released a sequel (and the crowd goes wild) endorsing one of his former rivals in the race.

"I'm endorsing John McMillan because he gives a rip about Alabama," Peterson says in the new ad, in which he also fires a shotgun rifle at a man trying to steal one of McMillan's campaign signs. (Not kidding.)

McMillan, a former state representative, finished first in the June 1 Republican primary with 36.5 percent while farmer Dorman Grace took second with 35.2 percent. Peterson placed third (out of three) with 28 percent.

Much as he did in his first web video, Peterson takes after Grace again -- referring to him as "that dummy with all his illegal campaign contributions" and urging voters to "send him back to his chicken farm."

The runoff is July 13.

Small Person Bart Stupak - Congress's Little King Hypocrite

One of the stand-out hypocrites of this politcial year is Michigan ( UP) Representative Bart Stupak.

This oily little gent played abortion - the death of babies -to parlay his honor for something coming down the pike, I believe. Bart Stupak announced that we does not care to be trounced. Once out of office, watch Bart get a Federal Gig.

Today with every balloon head and phony in Congress lining up to take a pimp slap at BP's Tony Heyword - MSNBC even had resigned Commie Czar Van Jones doing-the-play-by-play with nepotism's Wee Russert -appointed when Dad Tim cashed in this summer.

The King of the Small People is Bart Stupak -

"We are not small people, but we wish to get our lives back," Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.
Like the aborted babies, Bart pretended to care so much about that he was compelled to vote for Planned Parenthood Approved ObamaCare.

I'll Gas- Up at BP - I Have Friends Who Work at Whiting, Indiana's BP Refinery

Whiting, Indiana is a British Petroleum ( BP)Town and one of the gems of the Lake Michigan area. The town is lock-stock and barrels of oil a BP town - before that Amoco and before that Standard Oil.

I lived in Griffith, Indiana from 1994 until 1998. My neighbors worked at Inland Steel, LTV Steel and Amoco. My son Conor's buddy Frankie Alvarez's Dad was an Amoco Firefighter - yes, they had their own fire department. Amoco had a Piper Cub plane that used to buzz the pipelines along Chicago Avenue in East Chicago with a gas leak detector. Pechous, Danyanovich, Colley, and so many other families took Cline Avenue North to Whiting's Amoco works. Thousands of Indiana and Illinois people work there.

I will not boycott BP. The BP guy at 103rd & Western's station is an Arab American whose livelihood depends on customers from the neighborhood and those passing through.

Today every balloon-head and jerk in Congress will try to "kick some BP ass!" The idiot box loudmouths on CNN,ABC,MSNBC & etc. will go all street on BP. Big Ed Schultz will do his Hermann Goring schtick.

The Irish invented the boycott for a real villain - not some media fabricated one. My heart breaks for the folks in the gulf.Take a breath. You have neighbors close by who depend upon their jobs with BP.

As Day 60 of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill nears and tens of thousands of gallons of crude continue to gush from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, South Floridians are venting their outrage over the spill at the pumps.

Some drivers have been boycotting South Florida BP stations for weeks now, forcing some independent owners to distance themselves from the oil giant. One station owner in Boca even created big signs to let customers know where he stands.

Owners like Max Alvarez, who owns or supplies more than 300 gas stations throughout Florida, many of them BP, said locals are feeling the pinch of the boycott -- not BP.

"The message if not affecting the right people, the message is not affecting BP," Alvarez said. "The messages are affecting the very families who are innocent, who are also very upset and angry of what happened."
On Facebook, the BP boycott has over 640,000 people on board, though BP Oil doesn't own stations in America, it only supplies them with gasoline.

While thousands of people are boycotting BP, there are many more who are not, and price, customer loyalty and convenience are the reasons why.

"I just came in because it was the cheapest gas," said one customer.

"This time, I did think about it, but, like I said, I'm guilty, I put gas in," said another.

Alvarez points to one of his stations, where 30 people are employed. He says those are the people who would be affected by the boycott. Local vendors who supply the store with food and other items would be impacted too.

But for many people, boycotting BP is about principle, not economics, and Alvarez said he understands.

"A boycott, it's people demonstrating their anger over what happened, we can understand that," he said.

Tribune Genius Reveals "Jessie" Jackson? Daughter by That Name? Dang. Did Not Know That!

The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, Boys and Girls! Trib Ed Board packed with Disc Jockeys, Ladies Who Lunch, Real Estate Barons, and Really Earnest NPR Listeners and the noted Business Writer and Medill School of Journalism Graduate and Business/Law Ink-Slinger Ameet Sachdev wanted to smear attorney and journalist Tamara Holder. Why?

Why does the Tribune do what it does?

Anywho, I saw the web edition ( saves me some dough-ray-mee) but a pal tossed me the print copy of the article attacking Tamara Holder's coverage of the Blago Trial in Huffington Post, which I thought was about the only accurate piece in that comic page. Low and Behold! The Chicago Tribune Editorial Masters and Ameet Sachdev reveal that "Jessie Jackson" is implicated!

I know that Congressman Jesse Jackson is named for his Old Man -Rev. Jesse Jackson, but I had no idea that young Ms. Jessie was involved in the Illinois Blagojevich Fire Sales.

A guy once told me, "Hickey you spell well." I told him that I was a well speller from way back - got cuffed and whacked daily by the Sisters of Mercy for my not well spelling.

I blog fast sometimes as I need to get to Leo and do real work by 6:30 AM. Spell checker still requires a wide-awake look see.

That Tribune Editorial Board! Talk a Laugh! Next, they will tell folks that Tamara Holder looks like Ward Bond.

I love Ward Bond, but . . .