La Lumiere School's 20th Science Olympiad - The Great Bryan Smith: Coach, Teacher, Mentor and Gentleman

Master Teacher - Bryan Smith - ageless, damn him! He's gotta be using Grecian Red!
La Lumiere School: boarding and day preparatory school -Arcadia in Indiana
La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana is Alma Mater to Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, HBO Director and producer Paris Barclay, John Buck Company Principle and Operations Chief Pat Buck, Actor & Comedian Jim Gaffigan and school Headmaster Mike Kennedy.

The school was established in 1963, by Chicago and Indiana Catholic laymen, like Andy McKenna, John Daly, Art Decio, Charlie Comiskey, Aidan Mullet, F. Miller Bransfield, Ed Stephan and Ed Proctor to name a few. It is positively one of the most beautiful places on earth. I lived and taught at La Lumiere School from 1988-1994 with some of the best teachers on the planet -Bryan Smith, Miriam Nasidi, Pete Campbell, Johanna Miller, Father Jay Schultz, Mike Hall, Pat Mulligan, Pat Buck, Chris Balawender, Larry Sullivan and Linda Weigel. It was wonderful.

Bryan and Judy Smith parented Augustine House (dorm) to the east of my dorm Becket House - each housed a family and twenty plus teenagers. Bryan Smith is a Baltimore native and Notre Dame Graduate who has spent his entire teaching career at La Lumiere School. Bryan married Judy Coppens and they became great friends to the Hickey Family.

I know many great teachers and Bryan Smith a biology and science instructor to be the very top of the food chain. Along with Larry Sullivan - Headmaster Emeritus - Bryan Smith possessed genuine academic command and mastery of the classroom. Moreover, Bryan Smith is the man any parent would want serving in loco parentis - Mr. Smith has been Dad to hundreds of brilliant, capable, snotty, ingracious, cooperative, saintly and more than a few kids with my instincts and inclinations.

In October of 1989, my son Conor ws born at La Lumiere during our football defeat at the hands, feet, teeth, ass & elbows of the Bridgeman Bees ( Michigan) and sixteen years later the native son returned to La Lumiere for his junior and senior years of high school. Bryan and Judy again watched over Conor.
# 55Conor Oliver Hickey '08 -Capt. La Lumiere Lakers Football-Center -in two years of play at St. Rita and La Lumiere Conor never muffed a snap, nor missed a block -thank Christ that Conor is his Mother's son!

Bryan Smith initiated and coached the La Lumier School Science Olympiad Teams - in twenty years Bryan Smith's teams have "gone to State!"

They are going again! God Speed Lakers! Go Blue! As always, well done Coach Smith! God Bless Bryan & Judy Smith!

The La Lumiere School Science Team took first place in the Indiana Science Olympiad Regional Competition at Goshen College, Saturday, February 5.

La Lumiere School placed first in 21 of 23 events. In over half of the events where La Lumiere placed first, they also captured second. Headmaster Michael Kennedy commented on the students’ accomplishment, “This exemplary performance, and that of our Regional Championship Academic Decathlon Team, is only surpassed by the outstanding character and commitment of these students. This confirms what many people already know: La Lumiere has the strongest academic program in the area, and this is just one example of our level of excellence.”

The Laker team will compete in the state tournament at Purdue University Calumet on April 2, 2011.

La Lumiere School students compete to qualify for a spot on the School’s Science Olympiad team. Through classroom activities, research and training, the team prepares for district, regional and state tournaments. La Lumiere has competed successfully at local, regional, and state levels for the past 19 years. La Lumiere School’s medal results are as follows:

First Place Medals

Anatomy and Physiology – Adnan Ahmed, Chesterton and Neathie Patel, Chesterton

Astronomy – Neal Patel, Chesterton and Andrew Yarger, South Bend

Chemistry Lab – Adnan Ahmed, Chesterton and Christian Allen, Valparaiso

Disease Detective – Christian Allen, Valparaiso and Anulé Ndukwu, Chesterton

Dynamic Planet – Neal Patel, Chesterton and Michael Spaeth, La Porte

Ecology – Laima Augustaitis, New Buffalo, MI and Mary Catherine Brown, Lakeside, MI

Experimental Design – Kelly Barr, La Porte, Andrew Bartels, South Bend, and Emet Murillo, La Porte

Forensics – Adnan Ahmed, Chesterton and Lucas Tang, Portage

Fossils – Christian Allen, Valparaiso and Anulé Ndukwu, Chesterton

Helicopters – Chong-xin (Dereck) Luo, China and Lucas Tang, Portage

Microbe Mission – Neathie Patel, Chesterton and Lucas Tang, Portage

Mission Possible – Chong-xin (Dereck) Luo, China and Michael Spaeth, La Porte

Mousetrap Vehicle – Christian Allen, Valparaiso and Hans Guentert, South Bend

Optics – Lindsay Ciastko, Hammond and Mackenzie O’Brien, La Porte

Ornithology – Robert Bartels, South Bend and Alexa Hicks, La Porte

Remote Sensing – Neal Patel, Chesterton and Andrew Yarger, South Bend

Robot Ramble – Hans Guentert, South Bend and Ryan Worl, La Porte

Sounds of Music – Lindsay Ciastko, Hammond and Anulé Ndukwu, Chesterton

Technical Problem Solving – Esmeralda Alvarez, Chicago, IL and Jin-uk (Tim) Heo, Korea

Towers – James Caplice, Michigan City and Lisamarie Nappier, Chicago, IL

Wind Power - Lindsay Ciastko, Hammond and Mackenzie O’Brien, La Porte

Second Place Medals

Astronomy – Emet Murillo, La Porte and Marina Walinski, Rolling Prairie

Chemistry Lab – Jin-uk (Tim) Heo, Korea and Esmeralda Alvarez, Chicago, IL

Experimental Design – Robert Bartels, South Bend, Mackenzie O’Brien, La Porte, and Andrew Yarger, South Bend

Forensics –Esmeralda Alvarez, Chicago, IL and Kelly Barr, La Porte

Fossils – Andrew Bartels, South Bend and Emet Murillo, La Porte

Helicopters – Jin-uk (Tim) Heo, Korea

Ornithology – Mary Catherine Brown, Lakeside, MI and Marina Walinski, Rolling Prairie

Protein modeling - Alexa Hicks, La Porte, Neathie Patel, Chesterton and Lucas Tang, Portage

Remote Sensing – Kelly Barr, La Porte and Emet Murillo, La Porte

Sounds of Music – Jacqueline Lange, La Porte and Marina Walinski, Rolling Prairie

Technical Problem Solving – Lindsay Ciastko, Hammond and Chong-xin (Dereck) Luo, China

Towers - Neal Patel, Chesterton

Write it-Do it – Mary Catherine Brown, Lakeside, MI and Jacqueline Lange, La Porte

Third Place Medals

Dynamic Planet – Andrew Bartels, South Bend and Jacqueline Lange, La Porte

Ecology - Robert Bartels, South Bend and Alexa Hicks, La Porte

Write it-Do it – Alexa Hicks, La Porte and Neal Patel, Chesterton
About Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad is a national organization that strives to promote and improve student interest in science and to improve the quality of K-12 science education throughout the nation. Its vision is to:

Create a passion for learning through the organization of tournaments.

Improve the quality of K-12 science education throughout the nation by changing the way science is perceived and the way it is taught (with an emphasis on problem solving and hands-on, minds-on constructivist learning practices).
Celebrate and recognize the outstanding achievement of both students and teachers in the areas of science and technology.
Promote partnerships among community, businesses, industry, government and education.

Kalends of March - We Got Nones and Ides Coming Up!

One of the mythical founders of Rome - Romulus (he and his brother Remus were raised by wolves and went all Cain and Abel on one another) - devised the first Roman Calendar ( Kalend - has the prosaic meaning of 'account book, or ledger after all The Rent is Due and The Rent Is Too High!). Julius Caesar revised the Roman Calendar that was used all up to St. Gregory which took into account the liturgical year.

As an English teacher, one of my favorite duties was to teach sophomores the great Shakspearean Tragedy/Historical play Julius Caesar. "Beware the Ides of March!" Bad happens on the Ides! And it do! The audience in Shaspeare's time understood the terms Kalends, Nones and Ides. Our times things get far to goofy and oh, so delicate with language.

The Roman calender was set up like this - Kalends was the first day then the subsequent days were counted back from the Nones and the Ides.

March 1: Kalends; March 2: VI Nones; March 3: V Nones; March 4: IV Nones; March 5: III Nones; March 6: Pridie Nones (Latin for "on the day before"); March 7: Nones; March 15: Ides Rent Due, Hickey!

The Romans were great organizers - roads, governments, book-keeping, grain futures, and census taking. Romans became high minded only after crucifying and slaughtering any and all opposition. The Roman Army was a marvel of organization and discipline and that pretty much kept the Calendar going well beyond the Renaisance. Our Bic shaver and pen toss-it-away attitude shapes what passes for culture, and goof-ball academics and lazy teachers have dumbed down our kids to this current point in history where language does everything it can to become void of shared meaning. Really? Words have meaning and reference actions and their results.

Facta Non Verba -Deeds Not Words! Nothing could be more true, than that - unless Noam Chomsky and his army of his "Yes-Butters" gets the say-so.

Last night, I helped my daughter Clare with her notes on literature and concentarted on the disctinction between metaphor and simile - Simile uses 'like' or 'as' in refernce to something - in order to makes sense of a teenage boy's gluttony we might say, "Conor eats, like he's going to the Chair." That requires and understanding of Metaphor or implies comnparison - The Chair used to mean execution and a condemned man was give a 'last meal' and thus, he ate with gusto.

'What's gusto,Dad?" Gusto, my dear comes from the Latin word for 'taste' -'gustus past particple. De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum There is no accounting for taste.

"My test is tomorrow, Dad, dial it back! I just got to know simile and metaphor."

Yes, the rent is Due!

"What are you talking about? God!!!!!"

The Last Oscar - Sappho's Curse

I fully intended to ignore the Oscars last night. Best intentions to the wind! Following a delightful phone chat with the woman I love in which she described the performance of the Merry Widow by Chicago's Joffrey Ballet she attended Sunday afternoon and the conclusion of a disappointing parody of Donny Brasco by the Simpsons on FOX 32, I surfed south to Channel 7 - Oscars.

The two hosts a tall gawky dark- haired babe and some monosyllabic monotone teen heart-throb gushed some nonsense about the Oscars. The tall gawky babe gushed out "It's been a great year for lesbians, not just in general, but in movies!"

Well, hell, I'm a lesbian!

From Sacheen Little Feather to Mack the Dyke - Oscar You come a long way baby!

(Click)

And the Hollywood Swingers worry that geese get corn stuffed down their gullets to make fois gras? Cor Blimey! - my Homage to The King's Speech!

I took the woman I love to see both The King's Speech and True Grit and both were exceptionally good films. My daughter Nora saw Black Swan and said that it was really creepy. The last ballet movie that I went to see was at gun point - my late wife Mary twisted my ear all the way into the movie theatre in Marycrest Shopping Center in Kankakee to see Shirley McClain and Ann Bancroft kick the $hit out of one another.

There was a movie about how wonderful lesbian parenthood happens to be starring two actress who happen to not be lesbians. I witnessed the raising of children by lesbians and empirically speaking the kids were not alright - I taught one poor kid adopted by lesbians and he was a train wreck ( dope, violence, suicide attempts, and many trips to rehab); same thing with a relative who happens to be homosexual and her life-partner - they were lesbian pioneers and adopted a kid as early as the 1970's and that poor boy did not end well, God love him. It seems to me that gay/lesbian lifestyle is just that -not a way of living as a family. Much in the same way that an unmarried man and woman can not artificially declare themselves parents. I read an article last week beefing that such patronizing might be akin to Black Face minstrelsy Here's more hair shirt nonsense for Hollywood to chew on -

When compiling research for this post, there was an abundance of information and analysis chronicled about gay male characters who had been honored by the Oscars but less so about lesbians. This discrepancy is probably due to more gay male characters having been written and, more paramount, having been featured in films that garnered distribution and viewership. Hollywood’s sexism is no secret and that bias infiltrates queer representations as well. This is not to say that gay male characters have fared much better fates than their lesbian counterparts. Most if not all of those representations have also been largely troubled as well. But here I’d like to focus more specifically on the issue of lesbian representations at the Oscars as to avoid losing my point by ignoring issues of intersectionality.

Why does this even matter? Aren’t the Oscars just, to quote Lindsay, “the ultimate pageant of Hollywood hegemony?” Aren’t homo award show enthusiasts generally relegated to the ranks of fashion correspondence and even then that’s only gay-male-inclusive? In many ways, yes, that is true. The Oscars are driven by capital and the problems that accompany forces capitalistically driven. But the Academy Awards do matter in their potential to serve as a vehicle for visibility, empathy, and insurance towards cultural relevance. If more lesbians’ and other queer folks’ stories are told, respected and honored, it will be easier to combat attitudes that drive institutionalized bigotry and ignorance. People make sense of their lives and the lives of others through art, including and especially movies and media. If stories aren’t told with sensitivity and accuracy then prejudiced representations of them will prevail.

Whoa there Hoss! Intersectionality?

Well, Lock Arms and Cross the Selma Bridge! No one wants homosexuals to be unhappy - that is their business. Happiness is very hard work. Live with your mate! Get the job you want. But same sex couples will not partner up and give birth. It will always be artificial. That's nature -not nurture.

I rented Winter's Bone - that was a great movie about a heroic whote trash girl fighting to keep her family together in contemprary Ozarks America. It centered on breeders and wildly dysfunctional they be - Meth Head dad, Crazy Mom, Criminal Uncle and Hillbilly Mafia cousins. However, the core element was natural preservation of the family. Not sex. That film, Winter's Bone was the best picture and there was no way that Hollywood would honor it beyond a nodding nomination or two.

Hollywood is no longer a reflection of America - it is an artistic plastic mold toy maker - like the gizmos at the Museum of Science and Industry.

This year it was cranking out plastic lesbians.

I am Distressed and I Just Can Not Appreciate Fashion

This is Tres Chic Fahionista John Galliano (Hey, we used to splash Dago Copper in Harvey Wall-Bangers!) seamstress and Jew-baiter and a hop-head. Get a load of this beauty!

I wonder if he ever took it into his to make money? Of course, silly, Galliano's fabulously wealthy.



I can Not appreciate what passes for fashion, nor chic Anti-Semites. I gotta add more arugula and fois gras into my feed, I guess. Meat and spuds and greens not doing it. Or, maybe that is just fine. Again, I'm conflicted.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny - The First Culchie

Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny has been handed a bog that was once the Emerald Isle.

The former primary school teacher has led the center-right Fine Gael party to a historic victory, on course for 75 plus seats and replacing the once dominant Fianna Fail party as the largest group in Ireland's parliament.

Yet at the start of the election campaign, many within his own ranks feared the father of three was a liability who would jeopardize key seats everytime TV cameras shone on him.

After decades of Fianna Fail ( Irish equivalent of the American DNC) governance, Enda Kenny of County Mayo and Fine Gael ( Irish GOP) has been swept into leadership of the toothless and de-clawed Celtic Tiger.

Voters' perception of any new leader almost always improves once they become prime minister and Kenny has so far struck the right notes.

His victory speech on Saturday night was measured rather than triumphalist and in his first major media interview after his win he struck a serious tone, warning people that there would be tough times ahead.

Kenny, whose only government experience in over 35 years in parliament was as minister for tourism and trade between 1994 and 1997, is also fortunate to be starting off from a relatively weak base.

Ireland has been all but mortgaged to European Union. Ireland is as bankrupt as Progressives seem to want America to be. Enda Kenny, a County Mayo Mountain Man, is married to a woman from the equally mountainous County Kerry, father of three,a former school teacher and a team player.

Here in America, many second and third generation Irish Americans, come from Irish Civil War (Irish: Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) stock - Up Dev! Irish Republicans from Kerry, Cork, Galway, Mayo and Clare. My grandfather, who came to America in 1912, was a Big Jim Larkin, James Connolly Labor Man, who had earned his labor chops on the Liverpool docks, after leaving Castleisland, Co. Kerry, before coming to Chicago's stockyards. He was growing a huge family in Chicago and fighting to organize the Engineers Union, during The Troubles ( 1916-'21) and during the Civil War in Ireland. Lawrence Hickey was a De Valara Republican, as were most Chicago Irish and opposed to the Treaty for the Irish Free State led by Michael Collins -founder of Fine Gael.

During and after the Irish Civil War many, many Irish Republicans escaped death or imprisonment at the hands of Free Staters. The south side of Chicago became loaded with tough Clare, Kerry, Galway, and Mayo men with those dangerous 'dead eyes.' They had killed Brits, Free Staters and Informers. They became Chicago tradesmen, police and firemen, streetcar drivers, People Gas diggers, and proud Americans, after fourteen years of course. They were hotly Fianna Fail sympathizers and imparted that brand of Irish Republicanism that was reflected in the Aran Sweater, Clancy Brother prejudices of their children who voted Democrat.

Fianna Fail's leadership of Ireland has been a disaster. Now, a Mayo man named for a 6th Century Warrior Prince from Galway, who became one of Ireland's greatest monastic saints and mentor to Brendan the Navigator and the peregrine apostles of Ireland who preserved the Christian Faith in Europe during the Dark Ages ( Sts. Finnian,Columba,Ciarran, Jarlath of Tuam), will become the first Culchie* (red-neck) Prime Minister.

The Republican Culchies always followed the big City Dublin, Cork or the more genteel eastern Irish county leaders. Eamon De Valara was a Yank born in New York **whose dad was a Cuban. MSNBC would call Enda Kenny, one of the Tea-bagging, Bible and gun clutchers.

Therefore, Enda Kenny is the First Culchie. Perhaps, the wild bog man will pull the Irish economy out of the bog.




*

The term is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "One who lives in, or comes from, a rural area; a (simple) countryman (or woman), a provincial, a rustic", a word derived from the remote town of Coillte Mach, County Mayo.[2] Another possible derivation is from the Irish coillte meaning "the wood/forest",[citation needed] to describe people who lived in the woods. A further, simpler, explanation is that the word derives from the word agriCULTURE, highlighting the industrial/agricultural divide between rural and urban populations.[citation needed]
Another potential derivation is an old Gaelic term "cúl na tí",[citation needed] meaning the back of the house. It was, and still is to a certain extent, common practice in rural areas to enter a neighbour's house through the back door, rather than the front (which is for more formal visits). Thus the term cúl na tí or culchie was applied to these people. Also, many city dwellers from Dublin tenements had to work as servants. The servants were not permitted to enter the house from the front but had to use the back door or servants entrance. It became common practice in Dublin to use the term in a derogatory manner. Over time as the numbers of servants dwindled away the term was still kept in everyday use to this very day.

**

No. Name Entered Office Left Office Party
1. Cathal Brugha 21 January 1919 1 April 1919 Sinn Féin
2. Éamon de Valera
(1st time) 1 April 1919 9 January 1922 Sinn Féin
3. Arthur Griffith[2] 10 January 1922 12 August 1922 Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty faction)
4. Michael Collins[2] 16 January 1922 22 August 1922 Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty faction)
5. W. T. Cosgrave 22 August 1922 9 March 1932 Cumann na nGaedheal[3]
Éamon de Valera
(2nd time) 9 March 1932 18 February 1948 Fianna Fáil
6. John A. Costello
(1st time) 18 February 1948 13 June 1951 Fine Gael
Éamon de Valera
(3rd time) 13 June 1951 2 June 1954 Fianna Fáil
John A. Costello
(2nd time) 2 June 1954 20 March 1957 Fine Gael
Éamon de Valera
(4th time) 20 March 1957 23 June 1959 Fianna Fáil
7. Seán Lemass 23 June 1959 10 November 1966 Fianna Fáil
8. Jack Lynch
(1st time) 10 November 1966 14 March 1973 Fianna Fáil
9. Liam Cosgrave 14 March 1973 5 July 1977 Fine Gael
Jack Lynch
(2nd time) 5 July 1977 11 December 1979 Fianna Fáil
10. Charles Haughey
(1st time) 11 December 1979 30 June 1981 Fianna Fáil
11. Garret FitzGerald
(1st time) 30 June 1981 9 March 1982 Fine Gael
Charles Haughey
(2nd time) 9 March 1982 14 December 1982 Fianna Fáil
Garret FitzGerald
(2nd time) 14 December 1982 10 March 1987 Fine Gael
Charles Haughey
(3rd time) 10 March 1987 11 February 1992 Fianna Fáil
12. Albert Reynolds 11 February 1992 15 December 1994 Fianna Fáil
13. John Bruton 15 December 1994 26 June 1997 Fine Gael
14. Bertie Ahern 26 June 1997 6 May 2008 Fianna Fáil
15. Brian Cowen 7 May 2008 Incumbent Fianna Fáil
[edit]

Wisconsin -Exploit the Disabled and Kill the Truth

This is the American Working Man?

The news media flooded a video of woman who claimed that Wisconsin budget actions by Governor Walker would 'kill her silently.' As in all things Progressive, the disabled were coached by an 'earnest youth' shouting through a megaphone in a closed room. In order to cloud the issue of public sector unions collective bargaining and the calamitous deficit, the forces at work claiming to champion the working man seem to be students and radicals who never had their hands on the business end of any tool -other than a megaphone.

Watch both videos - the first is the poor woman who believes that here Chemo therapy is tied to the issue of collective bargaining; the second one takes place prior to te woman's impassioned screed, when she was coached by the kid in the brown shirt, who also demands that the disabled not meet with State officials.





Card check should begin with our bearded Brown Shirt* with the microphone in the closed office in Madison.

* Jason Glozier with ADAPT - the kid's been busy blocking buses and and Pennsylvania Avenue.

America Needs to Remember Israel - The Scorpions are all around them.

I generally need to be reminded of important things - in order to avoid a basement flooded with sewage, I need to call the Kennedy Brothers Plumbing professionals to rod out my sewer lines. I need to get to the Confession Box and rod out my litany of recent follies, stupidities and vanities. I need to remind my children that I love them.

It is important to have a hygenic home and that requires some forethought and vigilance. It is vital to rein in my proclivity for folly and remember the forgiving God who gave me Life. Most importantly, it is essential to make our children, parents, relatives, neighbors and the many strangers we will encounter on this side of the grass of our capacity for love - our desire and will make others happy, useful and caring.

As a nation, we are neglecting our greatest ally in the world today - Israel. We are all about the social network revolution in Muslim nations, some tolerate our existence and some down-right hate everything America stands for and Israel as well. We are over-serving ourselves via the news media once again with Wisconsin and the Arab chessboard.

A pal of mine, Mark Cohen, reminds me of the many forces working their way against Israel, much like the tree roots that louse up my plumbing with great regularity. Here is a disturbing series of events.
Remember two weeks ago, when Iran sent two warships through the Suez Canal on 'games?' Iran does not play. In fact the I can not think of a playful Muslim anywhere. Rage is all the rage. The Iranian gunboat diplomacy was lost on our CNN,NBC, CBS, AP, ABC & etc. Kevlar heroes with microphones. The Iranian warships were headed for Syria - Iran with better PR.

More disturbing, read this -

MOSCOW: Russia announced Saturday that it intended to fulfil its contract to supply Syria with cruise missiles despite the turmoil shaking the region and the furious condemnation of the deal by Israel.

"The contract is in the implementation stage," news agencies quoted Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as saying.

Russia initially agreed to send a large shipment of anti-ship Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria in 2007 under the terms of a controversial deal that was only disclosed by Serdyukov in September 2010.

The revelation infuriated both Israel and the United States and there had been speculation that Russia would decide to tear up the contract amid the current turmoil plaguing north Africa and the Middle East.

Israel — which is still technically in a state of war with Syria and fears its close ties with Iran — suspects that the shipment is ultimately aimed at supplying Hezbollah militants in neighbouring Lebanon.

The disputed sale is believed to be worth at least $300 million and is meant to see Syria receive 72 cruise missiles in all.

Russia has not confirmed making any Yakhont deliveries to date and it remains unclear when the military intends to fulfil the agreement.

Serdyukov’s comments come amid Russian efforts to preserve its military supply line open to the Middle East despite the revolutions and social unrest currently shaking the region.

A source in the Russian arms exports industry said this week that the fall of the region’s regimes may see the country lose about $10 billion dollars in contracts.

Serdyukov himself confirmed that the unrest may force Russia to give up some of its Soviet-era clients in the region.

"There is a chance we might lose something," the defence minister said on a visit on visit to Russia’s Pacific port city of Vladivostok.

"But I hope that the main weapons and military equipment agreements will be fulfilled," Serdyukov said.

Russia’s sales to Syria have come under particularly close scrutiny because of fears that Moscow may be also be covertly assisting Damascus’ nascent nuclear programme.

The head of the country’s arms export corporation in October denied that Russia had also signed an agreement to supply Syria with its latest range of MiG-31 fighter jets.

But the same agency confirmed in May that Russia was in the process of supplying Syria with a less advanced fighter jet version — the Mig-29 — along with short-range air defence systems and various armoured vehicles.

Russia is the world’s second-largest arms exporter behind the United States and its sales are crucial to the country’s efforts to keep alive a creaking defence industry whose reforms have dragged on for years.

The military this week announced with some fanfare the start of a $650 billion rearmament drive that will add eight nuclear submarines and hundreds of warplanes to the under-equipped force by 2020.

Serdyukov said Saturday that Russia intended to arms its nuclear submarines with the high-tech Bulava long-range missiles whose deployment is being delayed by a series of embarrassing test failures.

But Russia’s last two Bulava launches were successful and Serdyukov said Saturday that the first new missiles would be dispatched to the country’s Pacific Fleet. – AFP

America, Isael is staked out in the sand with too many scorpions around them. Let's try and remember that.

By The way, I called Kennedy Bothers and fully intend to hit the Confessional this afternoon and I will tell the kids again that I love them -in between my usual nagging, grousing and pesterings.

The Beatles Live at the Indiana State Fair 09/03/1964

This is something - The first one is a bit rough but okay



If I Fell has great sound quality.
When there were live bands and no lip-synch'd performances, life seemed better.

This a live show at the Indiana State Fair - watch the Hossier girls - magic.



This one is familiar -



Music is wonderful even with the odd glitch.

Function at the Junction - Shorty Long

Ask me my plans. Do. Better come on, right now! Shorty!


FUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION
Album : Motown Hitsville, USA, Volume 1 disc 2
(Lyrics : Eddie Holland / Shorty (Frederick) Long)
Shorty (Frederick) Long


I'm getting ready for the function at the junction
And baby you'd better come on right now
Because everybody's gonna be there
We got people comin' from everywhere

We got Ling Ting Tong from China
Long Tall Sally from Carolina
We got 007, the private eye,
And he's bringin' all the guys from "I Spy"

Come one, come all, we gonna have a ball
down at the function at the junction
And baby you'd better come on right now

We serving egg foo yung and barbecue
having chicken dumplings and kidney stew
having heap big fun till the break of dawn
gonna shake a tailfeather shoot, it's gonna be a run

Hold a shotgun on the rooster, and dare him to crow
how could anybody sleep when they could get out on the floor

Tell him, tell them, tell one and tell `em all.
Tell `em `bout the function at the junction
Tell `em that they'd better come on right now
Tell `em `bout the function at the junction
Tell `em that they'd better come on right now

Oh the soul brothers, Jitterbugs
Hip cats and fancy hats and
Pretty girls with pretty smiles
All decked out in the latest styles
and Farmer Jim and Guitar Slim and
Betty Boop and ooo-boop-e-doop
and Mohair Sam from Alabam
and Minnesota Fats from Hobo Flats
Breath-takin' Hip-shakin' give it now
Talkin' bout some fascinatin' demonstratin'

They all be gathering here, from far and near
for the Function at the Junction
Brother, you'd better come on right now
Tell `em `bout the function at the junction
Sister, you'd better come on right now
Talkin' `bout a function at the junction
Everybody you'd better come on right now

Best Song of 1968? 25 Miles by Edwin Starr

Just got off the phone with a Leo Alum Class of 1969 - we talked about 'tunes' that stuck. He catalogued some great one La-La-La by the Delfonics; I Thank You by Sam & Dave and Dance to the Music by Sly and the Family Stone.

Here is what passed for the top hits of 1968 -69.

1. Hey Jude Beatles
2. I Heard It Through The Grapevine Marvin Gaye
3. Love Is Blue Paul Mauriat
4. Honey Bobby Goldsboro
5. People Got To Be Free Rascals
6. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay Otis Redding
7. This Guy's In Love With You Herb Alpert
8. Mrs. Robinson Simon & Garfunkel
9. Love Child Supremes
10. Judy In Disguise (With Glasses) John Fred & Playboy Band

Two out of ten - Otis and Marivin Gaye - Hey Jude? Number One? Love is Blue? Win The Future! Anything by Bobby Goldsboro????? Honey ????? The wife croaks. "See How Tree the Pig Has Flown! . . . " Where's my gun?

25 Miles Y'all! Much better than War - Good God, Lord!

How to Spot Democrat State Reps Visiting Illinois

Please, don't sing Joe Hill, or Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line that was real Labor. This is war on your neighbor and call him BOSS.

Oscar's Wilde! Houli's 'da Queen on WTTW - That is Mike Houlihan's Film; not T'other Way Around.

Oscar's Fabulously Wilde about Mike Houlihan's Her Majesty 'da Queen - the Docu-epic about Chicago's St. Paddy's Queen pageant.

Houli's film features of WTTW - of all places!

WTTW-11, Chicago's premier public television station, will debut

Mike Houlihan's engaging new documentary Her Majesty, 'da Queen on Sunday,



February 27 at 4:00 pm.

The 60-minute film is a sneak peek backstage at the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade Queen Contest and captures all the humor, heartbreak, and excitement shared by over 100 young women each year as they vie for the crown. Many of Chicago's most endearing Irish-American personalities are also featured in the film in intimate interviews during the pageant.

Her Majesty, 'da Queen was edited from video shot at both the 2009 and 2010 queen contests. This one-hour program is a prologue to Mike Houlihan's epic documentary Our Irish Cousins, which is currently in post-production. Our Irish Cousins was shot all over the U.S. and in Ireland, and reveals the Irish American experience in all its glory, humor, and spirit.

Pull them Rabbit ears aright and call the kids!

My Alderman Must a Poet, I Pray; Like Bathhouse John, Be Matt O'Shea

On May 16, 2011, Matt O'Shea of St. John Fisher Parish in West Beverly, north of 107th Street, will take the oath as Alderman of 19th Ward.

Matt is a ubiquitous civil servant ( he's all over the Ward 24/7) and nice young man. The toils and troubles of elected officials are the roiling tripes of government -favor seekers, grifters, activists, cranks, crabs, and bust-outs will knock, ring and phone Matt O'Shea interminably. "Matt, I was with you the whole time and I volunteered without anyone's say-so, did you see me over by the Quaker's on Artesian ( the polling place for the 23rd precinct -A Quaker Meeting Hall - no sh . . .kidding) I was there and took off the day from Target - I'm a greeter. Hey, Matty, think I can get a spot that don't need too much heavy lifting? I hurt my back playing ball at D' back in the '80's."

Poetry allows us to tap the shoulders of our better angels -'Wake up, Cherub! Wake the #$%^-up! I require soul massage!'

Read poetry -preferably 17th & 18th Century English poets who imitated the Romans -Dryden, Jonson, Pope, Johnson. Do read Paradise Lost by Milton and pay special attention to the moral and political caveats that thicken Absalom and Achitophel by John Dryden - in this post-Daley epoch.

If not, enjoy minor poets like Ogden Nash or Robert W. Service.

Begin slowly and with, of all things, prose - Read Lords of the Levee by Lloyd Wendt and Herman Kogan (click my post title, please, do) and immerse yourself in the life and sentiment of Chicago's Politician Poet -John Coughlin and his prosaic pal Michael Kenna.

. . .Coughlin and Kenna had men who were beholden to them in every city, county, state and federal office in the city. They controlled the jobs of city workers, including inspectors and the police, and were also, as aldermen, in a position to grant favors to respectable businessmen in Chicago. They could usually count on a routine take of between $15,000 and $30,000 per year, over and above the stipend of $3 per council meeting that they received from the city. Special votes that were purchased bought them in anywhere from $8,000 to $100,000 each, depending on the importance of the matter. The two men went carefully about their business filling the requests that the financiers of Chicago were willing to pay for, such as zoning variances, permits, tax deductions, licenses and other amenities.


However, things didn’t always go smoothly and the two men did manage to get attention brought to them, both personally and professionally. For instance, one of Bathhouse’s pet projects was the construction of a zoo on land that he owned in Colorado Springs in 1902. The zoo featured a refugee elephant from the Lincoln Park Zoo who had managed to lose part of her trunk in a trap door. Princess Alice, as she was called, was purchased by Coughlin and shipped to Colorado, where she caught a severe cold in the winter of 1906. Coughlin suggested that she be given whiskey, which cured his own ailments, and so keepers gave the elephant an entire quart, which quickly cured her cold. After that, Princess Alice acquired a serious taste for the hard stuff and began searching the zoo looking for visitors with flasks. She would beg for drinks from them and when whiskey was given to her, she would sip it daintily and then go off somewhere and pass out.

Epics that he penned included titles like "She Sleeps by the Drainage Canal", "Ode to a Bathtub", "Why Did They Build the Lovely Lake So Close to the Horrible Shore", "They’re Tearing Up Clark Street Again" and others. It was later revealed though that John Kelley, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, was the actual author of many of Coughlin’s poems, which he read regularly at city council meetings. But only Coughlin would have taken credit for a terrible song that he wrote called "Dear Midnight of Love", which was performed for the first and last time at the Auditorium Theater in October 1899.

The Dear Midnight of Love has a chorus that lilts -

Dear Midnight of Love.why did we Meet?
Dear Midnight of Love, your face is so sweet.
Pure as angels above, surely again we shall speak.
Loving only as dove, Dear Midnight of Love.

Now, how could such a heart and soul as this not do the public will?
Poetry -Blithe Spirit - Bird You Ain't!


http://www.prairieghosts.com/graft.html

Nancy Wilson - The Midnight Sun

Composed by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke in 1947 this became most linked to Ella Fitzgerald with Tasty lyrics by Johnny Mercer, but Nancy Wilson does a great version here

Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice, warmer than the summer night
The clouds were like an alabaster palace rising to a snowy height.
Each star its own aurora borealis, suddenly you held me tight
I could see the Midnight Sun.

I can't explain the silver rain that found me--or was that a moonlit veil?
The music of the universe around me, or was that a nightingale?
And then your arms miraculously found me,suddenly the sky turned pale,
I could see the Midnight Sun.

Was there such a night, it's a thrill I still don't quite believe,
But after you were gone, there was still some stardust on my sleeve.

The flame of it may dwindle to an ember, and the stars forget to shine,
And we may see the meadow in December, icy white and crystalline,
But oh my darling always I'll remember when your lips were close to mine,
And we saw the Midnight Sun

Hey, Take Obama White House Seriously . . .No Really .

Now, would that be Ben Gay Zee, Lybia, or Toe Brook, Lybia?

I was so pleased to know that President Obama calmed the Middle East, in particular the protesters in Libya, by touting Gay Marriage. Now, if Gays marry and have children, this troubled planet will weep no more.

Someone prank called Governor Walker of Wisconsin; the Obama White House is much more task in hand - they prank themselves and the globe. Well at least they did not put an 'A' after the 'L' - small blessings.

19th Ward 75% Turnout Is a Signal 'Engaged and Informed' WBEZ Ignores

“Chicago is pretty evenly split in terms of demographics and voting participation. You have to build a coalition to govern with the city council and he’s going to have to deal with the aldermen in those wards,” - from Southtown Star's best and Chicago's most honest news reporter Steve Metsch reporting the words of a professor of political science.

Last night I listened to a special show on 848 a panel on WBEZ -no kidding. It was the usual stuff. A diverse cross-section of activists and Progressive thinkers told us what is really, really important.

Mayor Elect Rahm Emanuel will be joined by some new faces at City Council. And 14 aldermanic races appear to be headed for April runoffs. We know some of the winners and losers, but what does it all mean? To find out Eight Forty-Eight was joined by a group of engaged and informed listeners, and a panel of political experts. The panel included Maria de Los Angeles Torres, director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Rick Kogan of the Chicago Tribune and WGN, Dick Simpson from the University of Illinois at Chicago's Department of Political Science, and Kyra Kyles from Chicago Tribune's Red Eye.

No Ward organization precinct captains, or committeemen, no cops or fire representatives, no helots - working stiffs from Edison Park, Garfield Ridge, Canaryville, or Morgan Park, only engaged and informed listeners need apply.

In fact the only panelist speaking standard and clear Chicagoese was the great Rick Kogan. Click my post title and give it a listen.

Rick Kogan spoke of the youth vote and related a tale in which a young earnest man in the Tribune fibbed about voting - he did not and was one of about 800,000 other registered voters who did not.

Well, the helots voted. In my 19th Ward home to thousands of cops, firemen, City and County workers, professionals, teachers, and the odd sprinkling of activists, bust-outs and lay-abouts living in Mom's basement until crooks and thieves get right with Jesus, we voted from the opening bell in January to the song by the chubby girl.

There is a Ward Organization - recently, it has been described by Chicago Renaissance Man Mike Houlihan as 'The Balkans.' There is diversity of opinion -very strong opinions - and it is effective. In fact, the young Committeeman Matt O'Shea, a splendid chap in my opinion, garnered more than 61% of the vote and will be our Alderman.

Listen to the WBEZ and take a drink of Old Style every time conversation and discussion is used in this gab-fest on real politik from passionate coalition talkers and you will be drunker than a skunk.

WBEZ talkers want engaged conversation. Conversation must be engaged and informed . . . and sit out there in ozone.

Rick Kogan nails it.

Rick Kogan was appalled, and rightly so, by the lack of commitment by Chicago's registered voters. However, the 19th Ward voted - 75% of the registered voters got off their rumps and voted. Gery Chico won the Ward. Gery Chico was endorsed by Cops, Firemen and many of the Skilled Trades Unions and also by former 19th Ward neighbor Paul Vallas.

The 19th Ward voters voted. That should get the attention of the Mayor elect. It plum evaded the engaged and informed listeners and cheerleaders at WBEZ.

I'm a gabby dude, but I voted. 800,000 Chicagoans did not. They did not vote too heavily in WBEZ demographic Wards -home to the engaged and informed listeners. On the south side, we helots have an appropriate aphorism - Only Suckers Beef.

Rahm Emanuel is the Mayor elect. Come May 16th, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will need committed voters who actually vote. Nice numbers where I live..


Mayor results, ward-by-ward
More results:

Summary »

Mayor, ward-by-ward »

Clerk, ward-by-ward »

Referenda »

This site does not report results in uncontested races.

Visit the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners for more information »

Hover over vote percentages to see the vote count. These results are updated less frequently than the summary.

Ward Turnout Emanuel Chico del Valle Braun Van Pelt-
Watkins Walls % Asian* % Black* % Hispanic % White*
Chicago
41.6% 54.8% 23.8% 9.2% 8.9% 1.6% 0.9% 5.4% 32.4% 28.9% 31.7%
1st 35.0% 53.9% 21.8% 21.5% 1.4% 0.4% 0.3% 4.0% 4.8% 34.2% 54.8%
2nd 39.7% 64.0% 16.3% 6.4% 9.6% 2.2% 0.8% 13.7% 34.7% 7.2% 41.7%
3rd 40.1% 57.8% 11.2% 4.5% 21.1% 2.9% 1.6% 4.1% 77.2% 8.2% 8.7%
4th 48.3% 59.1% 9.6% 8.4% 17.7% 2.5% 2.1% 7.5% 70.0% 3.3% 16.2%
5th 44.8% 62.0% 9.2% 7.0% 16.7% 2.9% 1.6% 4.0% 73.7% 3.0% 16.9%
6th 42.6% 58.3% 8.6% 3.0% 23.7% 3.6% 2.1% 0.1% 97.0% 1.0% 0.5%
7th 40.6% 59.2% 9.9% 3.7% 21.1% 3.5% 1.8% 0.2% 88.7% 7.7% 1.7%
8th 43.3% 58.9% 8.9% 3.4% 22.7% 3.3% 2.2% 0.1% 96.5% 1.4% 0.6%
9th 35.1% 58.7% 9.8% 2.6% 22.6% 3.7% 2.0% 0.1% 92.3% 4.9% 1.6%
10th 41.3% 34.8% 52.3% 7.8% 2.9% 0.7% 0.5% 0.3% 24.4% 57.7% 16.6%
11th 44.5% 42.2% 46.6% 9.0% 1.0% 0.3% 0.3% 30.7% 3.2% 34.0% 31.0%
12th 36.1% 28.2% 51.0% 16.9% 1.7% 0.6% 0.4% 3.6% 15.8% 72.2% 7.9%
13th 58.3% 36.7% 49.3% 10.9% 1.6% 0.4% 0.4% 0.8% 4.1% 71.9% 22.5%
14th 45.7% 24.4% 60.2% 13.2% 0.9% 0.4% 0.2% 1.7% 1.9% 87.8% 8.4%
15th 29.1% 53.1% 15.8% 6.0% 19.4% 3.2% 1.5% 0.2% 59.7% 36.0% 3.1%
16th 28.9% 50.5% 18.1% 6.0% 19.9% 2.8% 1.5% 0.2% 53.4% 43.5% 2.1%
17th 32.9% 59.8% 7.8% 2.3% 22.8% 4.8% 1.8% 0.1% 97.1% 1.4% 0.4%
18th 44.7% 52.2% 20.3% 4.3% 17.7% 3.2% 1.7% 0.4% 67.9% 22.1% 8.5%
19th 74.3% 37.4% 49.3% 6.2% 5.3% 0.9% 0.5% 0.6% 26.6% 5.5% 65.9%
20th 33.1% 55.5% 12.2% 4.9% 20.9% 3.5% 2.1% 1.2% 78.1% 15.3% 4.0%
21st 39.5% 59.0% 8.8% 2.6% 23.0% 4.0% 1.9% 0.0% 97.3% 1.0% 0.6%
22nd 30.5% 26.9% 43.4% 24.8% 3.0% 0.6% 0.2% 0.1% 5.1% 92.6% 1.9%
23rd 58.1% 36.7% 53.3% 6.9% 1.7% 0.4% 0.3% 0.9% 3.8% 47.3% 47.3%
24th 31.3% 59.0% 9.0% 3.2% 21.9% 4.2% 1.6% 0.2% 88.3% 9.2% 1.4%
25th 39.3% 35.6% 39.9% 18.5% 2.4% 0.6% 0.4% 14.8% 7.8% 58.7% 17.3%
26th 31.6% 38.0% 21.2% 35.9% 2.7% 0.8% 0.3% 1.3% 12.9% 60.3% 24.0%
27th 33.5% 62.9% 14.2% 8.3% 10.5% 2.4% 0.9% 4.3% 41.9% 17.6% 34.6%
28th 29.2% 59.7% 9.3% 3.9% 20.3% 4.1% 1.4% 0.4% 81.4% 14.9% 2.4%
29th 36.0% 59.8% 11.5% 5.0% 18.5% 2.9% 1.4% 1.0% 65.1% 28.0% 4.9%
30th 29.9% 41.2% 31.0% 24.6% 1.5% 0.6% 0.3% 1.9% 4.0% 73.2% 19.7%
31st 30.9% 37.7% 34.4% 25.7% 1.1% 0.4% 0.2% 1.6% 2.9% 80.7% 14.0%
32nd 39.7% 66.7% 19.8% 10.9% 1.2% 0.4% 0.3% 4.5% 3.9% 10.8% 78.7%
33rd 39.8% 55.0% 22.5% 19.8% 1.4% 0.6% 0.4% 8.4% 3.7% 54.2% 31.4%
34th 38.9% 59.4% 8.9% 2.4% 22.7% 3.9% 2.1% 0.1% 96.1% 1.3% 1.3%
35th 37.8% 44.0% 22.4% 30.9% 1.4% 0.6% 0.3% 2.8% 4.6% 58.2% 32.7%
36th 48.1% 49.7% 36.9% 9.5% 2.4% 0.5% 0.4% 3.5% 5.6% 33.1% 56.4%
37th 29.8% 60.1% 11.0% 5.4% 18.6% 2.6% 1.1% 0.5% 63.0% 33.5% 2.2%
38th 44.5% 53.3% 33.5% 11.1% 0.7% 0.5% 0.4% 4.7% 1.5% 34.5% 57.7%
39th 43.6% 58.1% 28.1% 11.2% 1.2% 0.4% 0.4% 17.7% 3.4% 33.8% 41.8%
40th 42.0% 61.2% 19.6% 15.8% 1.8% 0.7% 0.4% 15.7% 8.7% 23.3% 49.2%
41st 53.8% 42.1% 49.7% 6.4% 0.7% 0.4% 0.3% 5.1% 1.0% 10.2% 82.3%
42nd 44.0% 74.6% 18.1% 4.4% 1.9% 0.3% 0.3% 12.9% 6.4% 5.6% 72.8%
43rd 43.8% 74.5% 17.2% 5.2% 1.6% 0.5% 0.3% 5.3% 6.5% 4.6% 81.5%
44th 40.6% 74.0% 15.9% 8.2% 1.0% 0.3% 0.2% 6.1% 3.3% 6.6% 81.9%
45th 50.8% 50.8% 37.5% 9.4% 0.9% 0.5% 0.4% 7.7% 1.2% 24.2% 64.7%
46th 47.8% 68.8% 15.1% 9.5% 3.9% 1.0% 0.6% 9.2% 17.6% 12.0% 58.6%
47th 50.8% 66.4% 17.0% 14.4% 1.0% 0.4% 0.3% 5.6% 3.1% 15.6% 73.2%
48th 45.5% 68.1% 14.5% 11.8% 3.9% 0.8% 0.4% 13.2% 17.4% 13.7% 52.7%
49th 43.4% 60.6% 15.4% 16.1% 5.1% 1.0% 1.0% 7.5% 27.1% 23.1% 38.8%
50th 43.8% 62.0% 21.5% 10.8% 2.9% 0.7% 0.6% 22.5% 10.0% 19.7% 44.6%

* Asian, black and white percentages exclude those who also identified as Hispanic

Source: Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, U.S. Census Bureau, Tribune data analysis

Mayor Rahm Emanuel -Congratulations!

On September 13, 2010, I wrote on this blog,

The next Chicago Mayor will be either Oliver Cromwell* (someone take out a Cliffs Notes for the Progressives and explain the Lor' Protector's Commonwealth modus operandi following the collapse of Charles I Stuart's reign)or Happy Hooligan.

Rahm Emanuel is no Happy Hooligan. Last night, Rahm Emanuel won a compelling 55.2% of the votes cast. He has a solid mandate.

I voted for Matt O'Shea (19th Ward Alderman) and Gery Chico in this go-around. Matt O'Shea won by a landslide and Gery Chico did OK.

The City of Chicago looks pretty, but is a mess. Rahm Emanuel brings a great capacity for leadership to the table. This leadership will be no blanket at the beach for Mayor Emanuel or the people of Chicago.

The City has sold off its assets

The City has become a thug comfort Zone

The City has lousy public schools

The City has middling adequate public transportation

The City has a pension nightmare

The City has infrastructure nightmares coming down the pike - a simple lane closure on Lake Shore Drive becomes a WWII refugee film

The City has Bread and Circus and no clear path to economic recovery

There are thousands of public employees in the City of Chicago who bring a solid work ethic, original thought, serious dedication to public service and great capacity for innovation if they are lead by a Mayor who can say no to usual crowd of trough drainers.

There are Ward leaders who understand public service and effective service to constituents. Embrace these rivals. Dismiss the bright boys who believe that winning a campaign is same governing.

Restore real police to Chicago's streets - they may not be PC or seem like a good fit for mouthing platitudes to WTTW, but the bad guys wet their britches in their presence.

Put Race on the backburner and productivity on the front burner. Racial harmony begins when service is equal for all neighborhoods. Embrace the most qualified by dint of past service and not some hack's recommendation.

Ditch symbolism for substance. Go back to Chicken and Waffles and actually have lunch and have the waitresses and bus boys sit with you for a few minutes over coffee and tea - then pick up the check. Drop into a few schools unannounced - Simeon, Fenger, Calumet and then wander over to Leo, Mount Carmel and Maria. Go along with Water Department Crew during the next freeze of twenty below and stand with the guys when a burst pipeline is fixed -quickly and effectively. Take the RedLine with an undercover cop three seats behind you. Pop into Gresham ( 6th) and Englewood (7th) some Friday night between 6 PM-4 AM. Stop into the Fire House at 81st and Ashland and do a ride along on few ambulances in Englewood. Drop into a one of few remaining neighborhood taverns and buy a round and listen. Life does not begin and end at Anne Sathers.

Mayor Emanuel should wear Terry Peterson like a pair of tighty whities, nod agreeably to the so-called black leadership. Listen and learn from Terry Peterson.

Go to synagogue ( click my post title) and stay tight with a spiritual adviser; you're gonna need one. Most importantly, stay close to your bride and kids. This is their City and your responsibilty.


*"Government by one man and a parliament is fundamental," Olicer Cromwell- The City Council and the Wards can and will be 'examined.' Ward boundaries will change. Expect this Rump Parialment to be transformed into the Barebones Pariliament -ASAP.

Gabby Giffords, A Madagascar Spider, & Facebook Counter the Abortion Industry of Planned Parenthood, or Should.

Planned Parenthood is reeling from the truth and has ordered a full court press by President Obama - The Planned Parenthood President - the media and the few citizens who nod with agreement when the Dowager Class so orders.

Choice means killing a baby. Woman's Health Care is the camouflage of Choice - the chic woman's accessories.Life not only begins at conception, but continues. My favorite writer in journalism has been Kevvin Myers of the Irish Independent. On Friday, he offered a jewel that Planned Parenthood will never read.

Kevin Myers: Can it be that when the founding cells of life were formed, someone planned for a rainy day? By Kevin Myers


Friday February 18 2011

When Senator Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot, she was lucky that a Korean surgeon with a great deal of military combat experience was on duty in the local hospital.

He knew from operating on US servicemen in Iraq that the sooner one treats a gunshot wound to the brain, and stems the bleeding, the greater the chances of the patient surviving. "If I get them alive, there's a 95pc chance they're going to stay that way."

Medical techniques to head wounds used to be based on letting the brain recover from the trauma of the gunshot. Terrible experience in war has since taught doctors that the best response is to act immediately and to stem the bleeding, regardless of collateral damage to the brain: the brain will, as much as possible, then set about repairing itself. The manner in which the human brain will re-wire itself, and change the circuitry to match the wiring, to cope with injury has been one of the major medical discoveries of the past quarter century. The human brain has a simply staggering ability to repair damage, and to recover facilities lost through mechanical destruction.

A shooting in a shopping mall in Arizona is a reasonably long way from a desert in northern Madagascar, the subject of a BBC documentary by David Attenborough last week. This desert is a brutally unforgiving place, in which an ordinary spider would simply be desiccated, even in shelter. So one variety of spider has developed a technique by which it lassoes an empty snail-shell, and by a careful geometric arrangement of its web, is able to hoist the shell off the ground and suspend it from a branch in shade, safe from the heat and from ground predators, with the hole pointing vertically downwards, away from both the sun and intrusion by birds.

That little spider in Madagascar is also a long way from the communications revolution of the last couple of years, Facebook, though in five years' time the Facebook movie, 'The Social Network' will probably seem as obsolete as the 2-4-2 Enterprise steam-engine from Dublin to Belfast. No matter. I use the Facebook example as merely one example of the incredible built-in intellectual redundancy to the human brain, which has apparently been sitting in our craniums for 100,000 years, waiting for someone to discover a new and unexpected communications use for it.

But then, you could have said the same thing about the human brain throughout the entire history of discovery and exploration, from the circumnavigation of the world to the mapping of the universe.

Why did the human brain create such vast capacities, in advance? How did it know how to repair itself? How did it create an entire language region that knows how to both create and understand the impossible complexities of linguistic grammar -- universal to all peoples -- which other parts of the brain are able to emulate after cerebral injury to the language area?

And talking about redundant capacity: what magical circuitry did the spider possess that enabled it to create an entirely new home, involving complex suspensory trapezoids and a careful positioning of a crustacean shell, millions of years after it had emerged in entirely different ecological circumstances?

You can argue -- as the Natural Selectionists so dogmatically do -- that the newly successful spider resulted from genetic mutation and the trial-and-error of experience. But that belief may only be sustained by an ideological faith that random accidents can create design, and that failure does not mean inevitable death.

Yet the Madagascar spider could not have survived unless the snail-shell escape module had worked almost from the outset. Otherwise, it is a deathtrap. In other words, did it have -- like Gabrielle Giffords, or all those wonderminds toiling in Facebook -- purposeful redundancy of capacity that would enable its body to improvise a response to dramatically different environmental circumstances?

This miracle is before us, every day, in every kind of way: clear evidence -- though not, I accept, proof -- that nature is apparently teleologically inclined, which means that it has, from the outset, possessed purpose towards certain possible outcomes. To be sure, at one level, that outcome is survival: but on another level, it is also the means to survival.

Nature's 'intent' -- a rather humanoid word, I confess -- was not merely to enable the holder of these genes to meet and to overcome unexpected adversity, but also to provide the necessary wherewithal for it to do so.

So, we have the human brain that is the master of grammar, which it cannot possibly have developed over time, because "imperfect grammar" is like "imperfect navigation": it results in complete failure and probable death.

Similarly, a brain that either can rewire itself to cope with disaster, converting a non-grammatical part of it into a grammatical one, or another that can turn a snail-shell into an escape module, clearly have -- so to speak -- some spare capacity in mind.

Can it be that when the founding cells of life were formed, someone, or something, planned for a rainy day or two? Yet such is the dogmatic power of the secular religion of Natural Selection that even to ask such logical and obvious questions is to court ridicule, in this New & Liberal Age of Enlightenment.

- Kevin Myers

Irish Independent

Yep.

Vote - Because We Can.

This Afghan Woman Defied the Taliban and Voted, but many people will have an excuse for not voting today.

We can vote, or we can belly-ache. We can say that 'its is a done deal.' We can say that it is a rigged deal. We can complain that our our lives are a mess because of the damn politicians. We can blame :

absolutism doctrine of government by a single absolute ruler; autocracy
absurdism doctrine that we live in an irrational universe
academicism doctrine that nothing can be known
accidentalism theory that events do not have causes
acosmism disbelief in existence of eternal universe distinct from God
adamitism nakedness for religious reasons
adevism denial of gods of mythology and legend
adiaphorism doctrine of theological indifference or latitudinarianism
adoptionism belief that Christ was the adopted and not natural son of God
aestheticism doctrine that beauty is central to other moral principles
agapism ethics of love
agathism belief in ultimate triumph of good despite evil means
agnosticism doctrine that we can know nothing beyond material phenomena
anarchism doctrine that all governments should be abolished
animism attribution of soul to inanimate objects
annihilationism doctrine that the wicked are utterly destroyed after death
anthropomorphism attribution of human qualities to non-human things
anthropotheism belief that gods are only deified men
antidisestablishmentarianism doctrine opposed to removing Church of England's official religion status
antilapsarianism denial of doctrine of the fall of humanity
antinomianism doctrine of the rejection of moral law
antipedobaptism denial of validity of infant baptism
apocalypticism doctrine of the imminent end of the world
asceticism doctrine that self-denial of the body permits spiritual enlightenment
aspheterism denial of the right to private property
atheism belief that there is no God
atomism belief that the universe consists of small indivisible particles
autosoterism belief that one can obtain salvation through oneself
autotheism belief that one is God incarnate or that one is Christ
bitheism belief in two gods
bonism the doctrine that the world is good but not perfect
bullionism belief in the importance of metallic currency in economics
capitalism doctrine that private ownership and free markets should govern economies
casualism the belief that chance governs all things
catabaptism belief in the wrongness of infant baptism
catastrophism belief in rapid geological and biological change
collectivism doctrine of communal control of means of production
collegialism theory that church is independent from the state
conceptualism theory that universal truths exist as mental concepts
conservatism belief in maintaining political and social traditions
constructivism belief that knowledge and reality do not have an objective value
cosmism belief that the cosmos is a self-existing whole
cosmotheism the belief that identifies God with the cosmos
deism belief in God but rejection of religion
determinism doctrine that events are predetermined by preceding events or laws
diphysitism belief in the dual nature of Christ
ditheism belief in two equal gods, one good and one evil
ditheletism doctrine that Christ had two wills
dualism doctrine that the universe is controlled by one good and one evil force
egalitarianism belief that humans ought to be equal in rights and privileges
egoism doctrine that the pursuit of self-interest is the highest good
egotheism identification of oneself with God
eidolism belief in ghosts
emotivism theory that moral statements are inherently biased
empiricism doctrine that the experience of the senses is the only source of knowledge
entryism doctrine of joining a group to change its policies
epiphenomenalism doctrine that mental processes are epiphenomena of brain activity
eternalism the belief that matter has existed eternally
eudaemonism ethical belief that happiness equals morality
euhemerism explanation of mythology as growing out of history
existentialism doctrine of individual human responsibility in an unfathomable universe
experientialism doctrine that knowledge comes from experience
fallibilism the doctrine that empirical knowledge is uncertain
fatalism doctrine that events are fixed and humans are powerless
fideism doctrine that knowledge depends on faith over reason
finalism belief that an end has or can be reached
fortuitism belief in evolution by chance variation
functionalism doctrine emphasising utility and function
geocentrism belief that Earth is the centre of the universe
gnosticism belief that freedom derives solely from knowledge
gradualism belief that things proceed by degrees
gymnobiblism belief that the Bible can be presented to unlearned without commentary
hedonism belief that pleasure is the highest good
henism doctrine that there is only one kind of existence
henotheism belief in one tribal god, but not as the only god
historicism belief that all phenomena are historically determined
holism doctrine that parts of any thing must be understood in relation to the whole
holobaptism belief in baptism with total immersion in water
humanism belief that human interests and mind are paramount
humanitarianism doctrine that the highest moral obligation is to improve human welfare
hylicism materialism
hylomorphism belief that matter is cause of the universe
hylopathism belief in ability of matter to affect the spiritual world
hylotheism belief that the universe is purely material
hylozoism doctrine that all matter is endowed with life
idealism belief that our experiences of the world consist of ideas
identism doctrine that objective and subjective, or matter and mind, are identical
ignorantism doctrine that ignorance is a favourable thing
illuminism belief in an inward spiritual light
illusionism belief that the external world is philosophy
imagism doctrine of use of precise images with unrestricted subject
immanentism belief in an immanent or permanent god
immaterialism the doctrine that there is no material substance
immoralism rejection of morality
indifferentism the belief that all religions are equally valid
individualism belief that individual interests and rights are paramount
instrumentalism doctrine that ideas are instruments of action
intellectualism belief that all knowledge is derived from reason
interactionism belief that mind and body act on each other
introspectionism doctrine that knowledge of mind must derive from introspection
intuitionism belief that the perception of truth is by intuition
irreligionism system of belief that is hostile to religions
kathenotheism polytheism in which each god is considered single and supreme
kenotism doctrine that Christ rid himself of divinity in becoming human
laicism doctrine of opposition to clergy and priests
latitudinarianism doctrine of broad liberality in religious belief and conduct
laxism belief that an unlikely opinion may be safely followed
legalism belief that salvation depends on strict adherence to the law
liberalism doctrine of social change and tolerance
libertarianism doctrine that personal liberty is the highest value
malism the belief that the world is evil
materialism belief that matter is the only extant substance
mechanism belief that life is explainable by mechanical forces
meliorism the belief the world tends to become better
mentalism belief that the world can be explained as aspect of the mind
messianism belief in a single messiah or saviour
millenarianism belief that an ideal society will be produced in the near future
modalism belief in unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit
monadism theory that there exist ultimate units of being
monergism theory that the Holy Spirit alone can act
monism belief that all things can be placed in one category
monophysitism belief that Christ was primarily divine but in human form
monopsychism belief that individuals have a single eternal soul
monotheism belief in only one God
monotheletism belief that Christ had only one will
mortalism belief that the soul is mortal
mutualism belief in mutual dependence of society and the individual
nativism belief that the mind possesses inborn thoughts
naturalism belief that the world can be explained in terms of natural forces
necessarianism theory that actions are determined by prior history; fatalism
neonomianism theory that the gospel abrogates earlier moral codes
neovitalism theory that total material explanation is impossible
nihilism denial of all reality; extreme scepticism
nominalism doctrine that naming of things defines reality
nomism view that moral conduct consists in observance of laws
noumenalism belief in existence of noumena
nullibilism denial that the soul exists in space
numenism belief in local deities or spirits
objectivism doctrine that all reality is objective
omnism belief in all religions
optimism doctrine that we live in the best of all possible worlds
organicism conception of life or society as an organism
paedobaptism doctrine of infant baptism
panaesthetism theory that consciousness may inhere generally in matter
pancosmism theory that the material universe is all that exists
panegoism solipsism
panentheism belief that world is part but not all of God’s being
panpsychism theory that all nature has a psychic side
pansexualism theory that all thought derived from sexual instinct
panspermatism belief in origin of life from extraterrestrial germs
pantheism belief that the universe is God; belief in many gods
panzoism belief that humans and animals share vital life energy
parallelism belief that matter and mind don’t interact but relate
pejorism severe pessimism
perfectibilism doctrine that humans capable of becoming perfect
perfectionism doctrine that moral perfection constitutes the highest value
personalism doctrine that humans possess spiritual freedom
pessimism doctrine that the universe is essentially evil
phenomenalism belief that phenomena are the only realities
physicalism belief that all phenomena reducible to verifiable assertions
physitheism attribution of physical form and attributes to deities
pluralism belief that reality consists of several kinds or entities
polytheism belief in multiple deities
positivism doctrine that that which is not observable is not knowable
pragmatism doctrine emphasizing practical value of philosophy
predestinarianism belief that what ever is to happen is already fixed
prescriptivism belief that moral edicts are merely orders with no truth value
primitivism doctrine that a simple and natural life is morally best
privatism attitude of avoiding involvement in outside interests
probabiliorism belief that when in doubt one must choose most likely answer
probabilism belief that knowledge is always probable but never absolute
psilanthropism denial of Christ's divinity
psychism belief in universal soul
psychomorphism doctrine that inanimate objects have human mentality
psychopannychism belief souls sleep from death to resurrection
psychotheism doctrine that God is a purely spiritual entity
pyrrhonism total or radical skepticism
quietism doctrine of enlightenment through mental tranquility
racism belief that race is the primary determinant of human capacities
rationalism belief that reason is the fundamental source of knowledge
realism doctrine that objects of cognition are real
reductionism belief that complex phenomena are reducible to simple ones
regalism doctrine of the monarch's supremacy in church affairs
representationalism doctrine that ideas rather than external objects are basis of knowledge
republicanism belief that a republic is the best form of government
resistentialism humorous theory that inanimate objects display malice towards humans
romanticism belief in sentimental feeling in artistic expression
sacerdotalism belief that priests are necessary mediators between God and mankind
sacramentarianism belief that sacraments have unusual properties
scientism belief that the methods of science are universally applicable
self-determinism doctrine that the actions of a self are determined by itself
sensationalism belief that ideas originate solely in sensation
siderism belief that the stars influence human affairs
skepticism doctrine that true knowledge is always uncertain
socialism doctrine of centralized state control of wealth and property
solarism excessive use of solar myths in explaining mythology
solifidianism doctrine that faith alone will ensure salvation
solipsism theory that self-existence is the only certainty
somatism materialism
spatialism doctrine that matter has only spatial, temporal and causal properties
spiritualism belief that nothing is real except the soul or spirit
stercoranism belief that the consecrated Eucharist is digested and evacuated
stoicism belief in indifference to pleasure or pain
subjectivism doctrine that all knowledge is subjective
substantialism belief that there is a real existence underlying phenomena
syndicalism doctrine of direct worker control of capital
synergism belief that human will and divine spirit cooperate in salvation
terminism doctrine that there is a time limit for repentance
thanatism belief that the soul dies with the body
theism belief in the existence of God without special revelation
theocentrism belief that God is central fact of existence
theopantism belief that God is the only reality
theopsychism belief that the soul is of a divine nature
thnetopsychism belief that the soul dies with the body, to be reborn on day of judgement
titanism spirit of revolt or defiance against social conventions
tolerationism doctrine of toleration of religious differences
totemism belief that a group has a special kinship with an object or animal
transcendentalism theory that emphasizes that which transcends perception
transmigrationism belief that soul passes into other body at death
trialism doctrine that humans have three separate essences (body, soul, spirit)
tritheism belief that the members of the Trinity are separate gods
triumphalism belief in the superiority of one particular religious creed
tuism theory that individuals have a second or other self
tutiorism doctrine that one should take the safer moral course
tychism theory that accepts role of pure chance
ubiquitarianism belief that Christ is everywhere
undulationism theory that light consists of waves
universalism belief in universal salvation
utilitarianism belief that utility of actions determines moral value
vitalism the doctrine that there is a vital force behind life
voluntarism belief that the will dominates the intellect
zoism doctrine that life originates from a single vital principle
zoomorphism conception of a god or man in animal form
zootheism attribution of divine qualities to animals

Vote - too many people have paid the price for you to do so.

Harry S. Truman - The Last Lion President

"Boss Tom Prendergast: I've got a job for you.
Harry S. Truman: Well, that's mighty nice of you. What's the job, dog-catcher?
Boss Tom Prendergast: How would you like to run for Congress?
Harry S. Truman: Well, Jesus Christ and General Jackson. The answer's yes.”

Harry Truman, recently elected Vice President of the United States in January of 1945, ignored the nuanced political advice to toss a friend and mentor under the bus.
Boss Prendergast of Kansas City, MO had been convicted of income tax evasion and had died. The Vice President was advised that it would be unseemly to attend the funeral mass of this 'unsavory' man. Truman replied, "He was always my friend, and I have always been his." Truman attended the funeral Mass.

Harry Truman was anything but glib, but his deeds were eloquent. Harry Truman was a South Baptist and briefly was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, whose largest voting base were American Roman Catholics. He was a champion of the working man, but threatened to draft railroad workers in the service when a national railroad strike was called after World War II.

Truman ended WWII by heroically ordering the drop of the bomb developed and invented by Robert Oppenheimer who moused out pious quotes about his weapons inhumanity - pipe smoking phony.

Truman saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of American lives fated to invade Japan:

The alternative Truman faced was to order use of the atomic bomb which might shock the Japanese into surrender, or order the planned invasion of Japan's home islands; casualty estimates for Americans ranged very widely. Casualty estimates for Japan ranged into the millions. Secretary of War Henry Stimson made the real decision: to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan immediately surrendered on terms that allowed Emperor Hirohito to stay on the throne and not be tried as a war criminal. Truman put General Douglas MacArthur in charge of occupying and controlling Japan; MacArthur remained in charge until the peace treaty was finally signed in 1951.
Truman kept control of the bomb in civilian hands—the Air Force and State Department did not even know how many bombs existed until 1948, when only eight had been built. The postwar military strategy was not built around nuclear weapons.

Harry Truman was a very complex simple man. A simple because he was most like most Americans. Truman understood poverty and failure and steered a course for America that created the greatest peace time standard of living in world history.

The former Klan member ended segregation the military.

Truman fought the Progressives under Henry Wallace and the Dixiecrats behind Strom Thurmond.

Truman ignored the striped-pants intellectuals of the State Department and recognized Israel.

Truman ignored the Progressives and contained the spread of Soviet communism.

Truman signed the Taft-Hartley Act that gave workers the right to bargain in good faith, but not imperil the nation.

Harry Truman fought a conventional war against the North Koreans and Red Chinese and avoided a nuclear war with Russia. He fired MacArthur for insubordination and took the heat and damned the critics.

Harry Truman would be mocked by CBS,NBC, MSNBC, CNN and detested as a war-mongering, Zionist, racist, political stooge, were he in today's political arena.

Harry Truman was the last great American President.