Roofer & Philosopher Eddie Carroll on Chinese Astronaut Babes

"Well, mine is pretty nice . . ." Eddie Carroll

As I pulled into my drive-way on 108th Street at Rockwell, I spied a neighborhood icon starring up at my roof.  It was none other than Eddie Carroll, President and CEO of Carroll Roofing -'Old World Craftsmanship - We hire Only DPs from Eastern Europe and pass the savings on to you.'

Roofing Contractor Eddie Carroll, as readers of this Blog (Seb Costin and Aunt Aurelia) will recall, is a Morgan Park father-figure, accomplished but always discreet sexual swordsman, wit and master of disguises. Eddie eyes scanned sky-ward and peripheral vision took in my approach signalled by a beckoning arm.

" You have some pinched tiles up there, Patrick My Boy; when did you last have your home shingled?"

2000, Eddie.

" I need not ask who did your work as it is as plain as the nose on a homely Serbian girl's face.  It is clear that you did not engage Carroll Roofing and Construction"

As you might recall when I tried to engage you at that time, you indicated that your charitable work with Air Icelandic took up far too much your time.

" Spot on, Patrick!  Sorry for my pique. Those poor girls at least had a place to hang their natty-flight caps after long, tiring and lonesome flights from Reykjavik to O'Hare.  Carroll House was more than a home to those blue-eyed and shapely waifs, it was welcome, warmth and one hell of a workout.  The funding ran-out quicker than some of the more timid stewardesses, thanks to the Bush Economy inherited by My President."

'Tis so.How long before I need a cover? The last one was a tear off.

" It was a rip-off you mean.  That roof should have been good until 2015 - honor bright.  Let me quote you and I'll stick it in your mail box by the end of the week. Your children sleep beneath this shoddy work. Skimp not, as a father."

Eddie never once took his eyes off of the roof but they now elevated towards the heavens.

" Heaven is our destination, whether we gain entry or not is up to what we do here on earth.  I do what I can and certainly know that you do the same given the work that you and Dan do for the young gents at Leo.  We are all too often our own worst enemies, Patrick. Sin begets sin and we must always be aware that sin is what it is and not something else."

How do you mean?

"At the height of the Spanish Civil War, Time Magazine asked Pope Pius XI what was the greatest threat to the church - Soviet or Fascist ideology. Time always a rabid anti-Catholic rag like the Chicago Tribune attempted to play the pharisee to the Pope -Vicar of Christ. His Holiness confounded the sneaks and said 'The Church’s worst persecutors have been her own unfaithful bishops, priests, and religious. Opposition from outside is terrible; it gives us many martyrs. But the Church’s worst enemy is her own traitors.'


"You see?  Sin takes no sides.  We like to believe that while we sin we are somehow doing good. Chesterton remarked to a similar sneaky question posed him when he was welcomed into the Faith - Why are you becoming Catholic?  The rotund wag rejoined, 'Why to have my sins forgiven.' It is only through the Mystical Body of Christ that sin may be forgiven.  Sin is not expunged by a committee of nuns, or some guy named Sister Farley with a best seller about Catholics and Sex; Oh, no my friend.  The Church is as fixed in its doctrines as your roof will be."

I see that you have read Father Schall's latest piece from The Catholic Thing! And these observations -roofing, the heavens and sin - will be merged shortly?

Look heaven-ward, Patrick - I never miss that Jesuit's insights -beyond your roof.  Heaven is fixed -our destination.  Shortly two Chinese fighter pilots sans the old marriage tackle* will fight gravity and ascend to the Empyrean.  I recall reading as a young lad in the barber shop over by Damen - Casey's about Chinese Babes who were Commie Jet Jockeys in Korea.  . . .

These Mig Maids went against our John Glenns and Ted Williams in Sabers over the Yalu River.  I believe it was Argosy, True Men, Flame or some other testosterone fueled periodical - while getting clipped and butch-waxed that lit my loins on this issue of preter- feminisim. Babe Jet Jockeys and Asian Babes to boot.

Often the white male's burden.

" I have sampled the Asian buffet, beyond the fine fare at Chi Tung over on Kedzie, my boy. I am fully delighted to see that Red China is meeting the template of Korean era combat yet again. Have you seen the two babes selected to Red Star Voyage?"

I have not.

"Mine is pretty nice, but your's . . .is probably a damn fine pilot."

With that his neck and head returned to the concrete and clay of our lives.

" I'll get that estimate to you by Friday."

I am awed on a daily basis.

*One of two female fighter pilots will become the first Chinese woman inspace later this month, after the two were shortlisted for a place in the three-person team that will blast off in the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, the state news agency Xinhua said.
Chinese media described Major Liu Yang, from Henan, as a "hero pilot" who achieved a successful emergency landing after a dramatic birdstrike incident spattered the windshield of her plane with blood.
Meanwhile, her rival, Captain Wang Yaping, from Shandong, is said to have flown rescue missions during the Sichuan earthquake and piloted a cloud-seeding plane to help clear the skies of rain for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
"They are selected as members of the first batch of female astronauts inChina because of their excellent flight skills and psychological quality," said Xinhua.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18410501
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1974793,00.html

http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-churchs-worst-enemies.html

More David Bromberg And Our World Might Make Sense

In last twenty minutes or so, have I mentioned that I play guitar?, or that I did.  My Gibson J-45 is now in the possession of fruit of my loins.  I played 5-string banjo and it rests next to my bed.

My stubby digits no longer pluck and plunder the quiet of God's Vale of Sweetness - Praise Him!

I bow to my betters in all things.  David Bromberg stands tall on Guit-box Olympus!

Witness! HebrewCelt!



A man of sense!


And one that really speaks to the authentic male - the human being with marinara- stained fashion wear, no loss for words after nine cans of Huber, or bear-trap memory when called at the bar!  " Your eight year old  son is and has been waiting for you at Kennedy Park - Baseball practice ended at three and it is now 4:30!"
( prgenant pause) and bluster! . . .Go, Man go!

He's fine it's a park, for Crissakes! I'm on my way! Honey, I picked up those flat-bread crackers tha. . . you (CLICK!) like. . .gotta go!



Have mentioned that I write?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/gibson-j-45-true-vintage-red-spruce-acoustic-guitar#

http://www.davidbromberg.net/

The Hickey Challenge - Argue with This!

Each human being has right to personal opinion.  No man has sole ownership of Truth.  Facts can be troubling things:

I feel twenty years younger!  Then I climb the stairs at Leo.  People value my opinion, in the same way one turns to cannibalism when their plane crashes in the Andes, enjoy three hour hospital visits from septuagenarian Blue Army of Mary Captain Maiden Aunt Gert every day, while trying to heal in a full body cast.

I have been told,

"You're full of #$%^!" - Mayhaps.

         " You think alot of yourself" If not me, whom? You'm? Think again.

" You're out of your depth!" - Nevertheless, I tread like Michael Flatley dropped in the Marianas Trench

" You're a hack!"  - Only when Mammon tickles my hollow palm

Acknowledging my all-too-human demerits, Argue with this!




Yet again, I posit!


Quod Erat Demonstrandum!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/txblacklabel/bulldog-puppies-chase-mom-28m7

Dan McGrath's " Leo: This How We Roll."

This Is How Leo High School Rolls

by Dan McGrath Jun 8, 2012

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Every parent knows the agony and ecstasy of watching a child perform.

Whether it’s a concert, a school play, or an athletic competition, it’s always fun, in that it evokes a real sense of pride in what little Millie or Billy has learned to do.

It’s also torture because you want your child to perform well—perfectly, if possible—for the child’s sake, of course. And it’s totally out of your hands.

My kids are well beyond their child-star years, but I have great memories of the hundreds of events I sat through…well, most of them.

Enthusiastic but staunchly objective: That was how I rolled. I was there to lend support to all the kids, not just my own, and wouldn’t think of criticizing an opposing player or belaboring an official or lobbying a coach for more playing time. No, sir.

Well, there was this one ref who somehow missed it when that beefy girl from Burbank blatantly went over my daughter’s back going for a rebound and a put-back basket at St. Francis one evening. What game was he watching?

And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an umpire squeeze a pitcher any worse than my son got it from that nearsighted dweeb at Dooley Field one Saturday morning.

Hawk, I hear you.

But I’m over it now.

Or at least I thought I was until a recent Saturday when I found myself at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston for the Illinois High School Association state track finals. The state championship in Class 1-A would be decided in the final event of the two-day meet: the 4-by-400-meter relay. Newton High, from the tiny, Central Illinois town of Newton, needed to finish fourth or better to claim its first state title.

Newton’s anchor-leg runner was a gritty young man who had helped his team accumulate its 30 points by competing in three events in two days of blistering heat. Newton’s relay team was in third place as he took the baton from the No. 3 runner, and if he could hold that position for his grueling lap around the track, the Eagles would be state champions.

I was hoping he’d take a wrong turn. Or worse, fall. I was ashamed of myself for thinking that, and I tried to suppress the smile that came to my face and grew wider as each of three runners passed the game-but-spent Newton youngster, relegating the Eagles to sixth place in the event and a runner-up finish in the meet, with 34 points.

The Lions from Chicago’s Leo High School were first-place finishers, with 35 points, and state champions for the second year in a row.

I couldn’t have been happier if those were my own kids out there running for Leo. And, in a sense, they were. I went to Leo, more than a few years ago, and I work there now, as the school president, a surprising destination for me after a long career in journalism. I think of Leo’s students as “my kids,” and I’m proud to.

(Video by Cresencia Felty)

Leo is a small, all-boys, inner-city school of about 150 students in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on the South Side. We’re a Catholic school, so we have to charge tuition, and we serve some of the most disadvantaged areas of the city. Nearly all of our kids receive financial aid, most of it provided by a predominantly white, unfailingly generous alumni network.

Our kids are polite, friendly, motivated and well-behaved. They understand that someone is making a sacrifice for them to be at Leo—their parents, their grandparents, a guardian or an alum—so they work hard in school and they try to do the right things as people.

Being around “my kids” every day, I pick up on their likes and dislikes, on what’s important to them—for many, sports is the currency of the culture. I realized this shortly after I was introduced at my very first assembly. A well-meaning but windy speech was drifting right over their heads, going nowhere and drawing yawns until the vice-principal who had introduced me bailed me out.

“Before Mr. McGrath came to Leo,” he told the students, “he was a sportswriter.”

Well, it wasn’t like Derrick Rose had walked through the door, but it gave me a smidgen of credibility in the kids’ world. Sure enough, a little guy seated near the front immediately jumped to his feet. “Kobe or LeBron?” he demanded, and a lively discussion followed.

Darnell, the little guy, is now part of a group that comes by my office every Monday morning to recap the weekend in sports. They want me to know what they know.

We’re an academic school first and foremost, and we’re proud of our scholastic achievements. The week before the state track meet we graduated 100 percent of our seniors, for the third year in a row. (ESPN’s Stephen Bardo, co-captain of the 1989 “Flyin’ Illini”, did a terrific job as our commencement speaker). Each graduate has been accepted to at least one college, and they have earned more than $700,000 in scholarship assistance.

But sports is important at Leo. We believe that the hard work, dedication, and commitment necessary for success on the playing field will help a youngster get ahead in life.

The track team embodies that lesson. We don’t have anything resembling a track, indoor or out, on our 87-year-old, one-building campus; the kids get ready for the season by running the halls and stairways. The marble floors are murder on the shins, too, but I’ve yet to hear anyone complain. It’s a point of pride among our kids that our meager facilities don’t hold them back when they compete against more affluent opponents.

A big hurdle: track practice is relegated to school hallways at Leo High.

We had an all-school assembly to honor the track team a few days after the state meet, and the pride in the room was palpable when the captains walked in carrying the state championship trophy. It was our seventh one for track and field. The team has also received seven IHSA academic citations for carrying a GPA above 3.0

Senior Keith Harris Jr., a track co-captain, is an All-State running back who has a football scholarship to Northern Illinois University. He’s also the Class of 2012 valedictorian, a sharp, talented, dedicated young man. One of our best.

Winning state was especially meaningful for Keith because he was injured and missed last year’s meet. He scored points in each of his three events this season, so he’s leaving Leo a state champion, and when he addressed the assembly he thanked his coaches and teammates for making that possible.

“I love you guys,” he said.

That’s how we roll.

*     *     *     *     *

DAN McGRATH is the former sports editor of the Chicago Tribune and the current president of Leo High School.

STORY ART: Main image made in-house with photo courtesy Dan McGrath.

This entry was posted in Prep and tagged chicago, ESPN, IHSA, Illinois High School Association,Keith Harris Jr., Leo High School, leo high track, Newton High, Northern Illinois University, Stephen Bardo, track and field. Bookmark the permalink.




http://chicagosidesports.com/this-is-how-leo-high-school-rolls/

Illinois McDonough Contract - The Progressive Random Purg

 This is the common manner Progressive Democrats employ when saying thank you to a benefactor. - Pat Quinn gave James McDonough a random send off for his charity and support.

"The actions being taken against McDonough grew out of a random audit of McDonough last year in which officials examined a wide range of state engineering contracts the firm won between 2000 and 2009."

Some one in Governor Pat Quinn's Illinois Government decided to randomly examine McDonough Construction.

I wouldn't know James McDonough ,if he walked on me.

I have heard about the generous gifts showered on hospitals, universities, charities and especially St, Xavier University and St. Ignatius.

Mr. McDonough is one of the successful people that Directors of Development want to address as "Jim" after months of cultivation, golf, lunch and moist kisses to the McDonough rump and pry open the family wallet.

I do that, but I do not golf, tend to eat with gusto sans conversation until perspiring and then tend to pick my aging teeth and pucker-up only to secretaries, as they are the genuine engines of power in all matters of corporate citizenship.  The less time a Seven Figure and Change Prospect spends face-to-face with Patrick Francis, the more that person is  inclined to write a husky check for benefit of Leo High School.  Make the case, present the documentation and make yourself scarce are the three legs of Hickey's Development Tripod.

Common sense also dictates - never rub another man's rhubarb - Don't Poach Prospects Not Your Own.

James McDonough has never heard his executive secretary say, " A Pat Hickey from Leo High School keeps calling and sending drawings by him of happy students at Leo who would have bigger smiles, if you send lots of money. Do you want to talk with him?  Jim O'Connor* said he is harmless.  Okay, I'll tell him to . . . what is it he should do with himself?"

Mark Brown wrote a very balanced assessment of the ritual throat-cutting, in my estimation, of James McDonough in today's Sun Times. Mark Brown's commentary follows the fine investigative report by Chris Fusco and Tina Sfondeles that detailed to State of Illinois cast breadcrumbs leading to James McDonough. The Master-key word in this report is "random."

If allowed to stand, the cascading effect of the contract bans threatens the very existence of the firm, which is expected to go to court to challenge the state’s ruling.
Now, you may have noticed from time to time that newspapers will hype a story just a bit to get your attention.
Well, this is the flip side of that coin: a story so significant we can hardly put it in proper perspective in the space allotted.
McDonough and his company have been a major part of the fabric of this city and its politics for more than four decades since he left a post as Streets and Sanitation commissioner under Mayor Richard J. Daley to enter the engineering world in 1974. . . . In short, McDonough is a major player to be wiped off the board so suddenly, not that there won’t be any number of engineering firms vying to replace his company.Mark Brown Chicago Sun Times ( emphasis my own)

Mark Brown's nose smells blood in this random throat-cutting of McDonough.   I have seen this movie many times before - follow the bones to Dawn Clark Netsch. Mike Quigley, Forrest Claypool, Toni Preckwinkle. Jan Shakowsky, or Pat Quinn and you will be able to construct the dinosaurs tossed in the tar-pits.

Nothing is random - especially any full blown departmental  forensic audit of a random cash cow.


n.b.  -

John Carroll University Receives
$1 Million Gift from Chicago Couple

John Carroll University alumnus Jim McDonough and his wife, Jacque, have made a  $1 million gift to John Carroll University to be used for The President’s Opportunity Fund. 

The President’s Opportunity Fund was created in 2006 and is intended to enable JCU President Robert L. Niehoff, S.J., to strategically allocate resources to academic programs, service projects, and capital improvements.

Father Niehoff praised the Chicago, Illinois, couple for their support, stating, “We are very thankful for their generous investment in our future.  Jim and Jacque epitomize our mission of developing individuals of intellect and character who lead and serve in their own communities and around the world.”

“We are delighted to make this gift to the University because of its commitment to educational excellence in the Jesuit Catholic tradition,” remarked Mr. McDonough, a 1955 John Carroll graduate.  “John Carroll University was a formative experience in my own life, and Jacque and I are especially pleased that our daughter, Maureen, is a graduate of the University.”

Mr. and Mrs. McDonough are among John Carroll’s most loyal and generous benefactors and have long been enthusiastic supporters of the University. Mr. McDonough is president and chairman of McDonough Associates, Inc., a full-service engineering architectural consulting firm with a worldwide client base. In 1990, Mr. McDonough received the University’s Alumni Medal, the highest honor given by the JCU Alumni Association in recognition of an individual’s distinguished service to their profession, exemplary family and personal life, contributions to their community, and service to the University. 

I mentioned only Mr. McDonough's philanthropic gifts, because like any  person in Chicago with two nickels to rub together Clan McDonough is politically taxed by all and sundry.

Are there any random audits of Personal Pac associated gifters and captains of industry?  Cable News?  Print Media? Advocacy Industrialists?

Governor Pat Quinn does not exercise his sphincter without the say-so of Terry Cosgrove, e.g.  No random eructations for sensible Pat, let alone bill support and signage, or the random forensic audit of traditional political ally of the Old Guard.

From the slightly cracked steps of my front poarch, it looks like Old Time and Dependable funding-sources to Old Guard Democrats are being purged by the Personal PAC, Abortion, Gay Marriage Progressives funded by people who do not give to schools, hospitals and charities linked to a Saint's name. Fred Eychaner comes to mind.  I am sure that Pat Quinn and Dick Durbin have spilled more than a few fun-toddies and flat-breads heaped with caviar on Fred's carpets and couches.

Why?  Power needs to be demonstrated.  Nothing says power, like the very public execution of the powerful to signal the purges to come.  Play nice with a Progressive if you must, but expect to be kicked to death with a random act of kindness and show of Good Government.

Read and follow -Mark Brown and the Sun Times investigative team on this purge and the death by of thousand cuts awaiting Mr. McDonough.


* Jim O'Connor - St. Ignatius graduate, philanthropist founding member of The Big Shoulders Fund and gentleman to the backbone.  No doubt Jame McDonough is as good a man as Mr. O'Connor and I imagine the polar opposite of a Governor Pat Quinn.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/brown/13071894-452/theft-accusations-against-mcdonough-associates-a-huge-deal.html

http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/13040609-761/state-clout-firm-committed-theft-billed-idot-for-bonuses-outings.html

Chances of a Catholic Vote for Obama

Ask a Catholic today at the Rally for Religious Liberty in Federal Plaza ( 50 W. Adams) at High Noon today!

Consider!

http://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=27468
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/religious-freedom-movement-holding-new-national-rallies-june-8/
http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection/

Why Vie, Guy? Fie! Cops Got Authoritie!, Know Why? Try

Gary, a current guest of CPD, has a noggin on him like a Weber Kettle
Gary C. Wagaman / Photo provided by Chicago police.  
The Chicago Sun Times is blessed with very fine reporters. Goofs on the editorial board to be sure and more than a fistful of fatuous ninies spinning columns, but the reports are the silk!


Whoever covered the protest arrests of Occupy kittens and the skillet tossing goof above in the photo - looks like an a escapee from a Campbell's Soup Kids audition, young Trotsky be - my compliments.


In this particular story,the unnamed  reporter captured the pretentious pleonasms and skewed rhetoric infecting the speech patterns of children from Evanston's Public schools - home to its Classic Comics Curricula.


Five Chicago Police Officers were injured in a post-NATO encounter with America's VISA/Mastercard & bail -ready armed youth.


A kid with a head the size of Weber Kettle, to quote Terry McEldowney, tossed a frying pan at a police officer.Arrests were made.DHAN- DUn Dun -Dhan-Duh -Dun-Dhahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!  ( think Jack Webb)


Chicago Police arrest people who violate the laws and ordinances of City of Chicago in order to Serve and Protect.


An Evanston educated youth offered this brutal assessment -“We were vying for the street when they started pushing us over the curb and pushing us down,” said Daniel Goering, 18, of Evanston. “Arrests started happening and everything got tense." Daniel Goering, 18 of Evanston.


"We were vying for the street" - We?  Occupiers?  Occupiers and Police Together?  


"WHEN THEY started pushing us over the curb and pushing us down" - Please do vizualize this epic cascade of young, vigorous and earnest Urban Mutineers being forced by phalanx of Chicago Centurions over and down the standard 6" of a Chicago curb*. The Horror!!!!!!!


"Arrests started happening. . ."  Is there no limit to the instrusion of Passive Voice in PC Evanston?????? . . .and everything got tense."


Got?  Nemo dat what you ain't got there, Danny Boy! Am I given to understand that "things" only were tense, once arrests were made, or had there been some element of tension during the VIE for the street. FVI -Nemo dat Quod Non Habet - One can not give what one does not possess.


Vie is a Old French in its etymology ( where words got started for Evanstonians) and means to invite.Now it means to compete in a fair and friendly competition.  


The Chicago Sun Times reporter fully understood the inarticulate Mr. Goering and "quoted his vying" words and meaning.


I am never bored.




http://www.suntimes.com/13024290-761/five-officers-injured-12-protesters-arrested-on-magnificent-mile.html








*In Chicago, the standard curb and gutter used is the BV.12 (Type 3 Curb), a variation on 
a common B6.12 curb and gutter design used in Illinois.  The design provides a variable 
height barrier curb between 3 inches and 9 inches, as opposed to a constant 6-inch curb 
height, with a 12-inch gutter flag.  The width of the top of curb is 0.5 feet for planning 
purposes. 

Rally for Religious Liberty -Noon in Federal Plaza (50 W. Adams) Tomorrow!

 People have deeply-held beliefs on all sides of these discussions, and you, as public policy leaders, will be called on to help move these debates forward. . . .These debates can also be contentious. But this is a strength of our country, not a weakness. In some countries around the world, it is much easier to make policy. The leader delivers an edict and it goes into effect. There’s no debate, no criticism, no second guessing.


-Kathleen Sebelius to Georetown University Public Policy Graduates


Hear you this Triton of the minnows ? mark you (HHS) "absolute shall ?" - Shakepeare Coriolanus ( bowdlerization my own)


In some countries, you fatuous ninny Kathleen?  Let's talk about January 2012 right here in the old Land of Free and the Home of the Brave.
\

Collectively, Catholic organizations provide services to more Americans than any other entity except the federal government itself. Its 600 health care institutions, for example, provide care to one in six patients treated in the United States every year. Catholic schools provide education to millions of elementary and secondary school children, while more than a million students attend the nation's 200 Catholic colleges and universities. And it is this very ubiquity that is the real target of the anti-conscience mandate. The "fundamental transformation" Obama and his accomplices wish to inflict upon America can't be managed while large, autonomous institutions like the Catholic Church and its charitable organizations remain in place.

A Catholic belongs to the Catholic Church because of faith in the Church as the Body of Christ.  A "Cultural Catholic" is an art lover.  A Progressive Catholic is a politician.  Catholics are Democrats, Republicans and Americans.


I am what might more accurately be called a 'bad' Catholic. If I miss Mass it is not because I have fundamental objection to the all-too-humanly-flawed celibate patriarchy that protects the Church's Magisterium* ( bishops and stiff-collars), it because I did not drag my lazy-ass to Church. If you belong to the club, go to the meetings. It is that fundamentally simple.


My liberty to exercise my faith is challenged by the current occupant of the White House and the folks who give him his marching orders -Planned Parenthood, NOW, the DNC, SEIU, General Electric, Hollywood & etc.


I will exercise my Rights at Federal Plaza tomorrow at noon in Chicago Federal Plaza** with thousands of my co-coreligionists, neighbors and friends.  I will go to Confession for my parade of sins.  I will get my ass to Mass. I will vote against the people who want to end my liberty. 




* "The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him."

**Chicago, Ill., Jun 5, 2012 / 02:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On June 8, Stand Up For Religious Freedom will hold its second round of national protests against the contraception mandate, continuing the movement that drew tens of thousands of protesters in March.

“We're up to 154 rallies across the country now, which is about 10 more than we had last time on the rally day,” said Stand Up For Religious Freedom's communications director Matt Yonke. The group is “expecting a few more (cities) to trickle in before Friday,” when the events begin at noon local time.

Organized in response to the Obama administration's denial of conscience rights to religious institutions, the first set of rallies included 28 Catholic bishops as well as other Christian and Jewish leaders. This time around, Yonke said, publicity and group endorsements have “only been bigger.”

“We had 64,000 (people) last time,” he recalled, noting the attendance tally from the first round of coast-to-coast demonstrations that took place March 23. “I definitely think we're going to top that.”

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/05/22/catholic-institutions-revolt-e
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/hhs-secretary-kathleen-sebelius-full-remarks-to-georgetown-universitys-public-policy-institute/2012/05/18/gIQAYER
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/religious-freedom-movement-holding-new-national-rallies-june-8/
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2012/06/ej-dionne-and-the-contradiction-of-progressive-catholicism

Real Labor - The Skilled Trades and Private Sector Unions - Betrayed

Here is a post that I wrote last March:

THE WIN BY GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER YESTERDAY SHOULD BE STUDIED BY REAL LABOR WITH A HARD EXAMINATION OF S.E.I.U. AND ITS GROWTH AS A PAC BEGINNING IN THE 1970'S, THROUGH THE RISE OF JOHN SWEENEY (SEIU) AS HEAD OF THE AFL-CIO AND ANDY STERN'S COUP.

SATURDAY, MARCH 05, 2011

Why Labor Will Lose in Wisconsin

American workers are the best. American labor made the standard of living that is being eroded by people who want the American middle class to disappear.

The issue in Wisconsin will not end well for organized labor. The skilled and industrial trades, in my simple opinion, made a pact with the devil by siding with public sector unions ( PACs in reality) and allowing the likes of Andy Stern to hijack not only the voice of labor, but the very meaning of the word.

Taxes and the salaries of public sector unions are paid by electricians, carpenters, millwrights, pipe-fitters, plumbers, auto workers, steel workers, engineers and industrial workers. These folks are American labor.

Here is the face of labor -hijacked labor - in 2011.


This is face of real laborThis great photo was sent by Max Weismann

Time with Rip Pecatonica: Recall Scott Walker? Nope, Can't Say I Do.

Russell Issac "Rip" Pecatonica of Moscow, WI was in Chicago last week.  Rip P runs the Happy Viking Lounge in Blanchardville just south of Moscow in Iowa County and west of New Glarus in Green County all tangled up in Rts. 39, 78 and bunch of Fs, Js, Ks and Ms. The Happy Viking Lounge is more of a bar and much less of a lounge as there are no tables other than shuffle board and pool and no booth other than phone.

You can get your deer processed by any number of habitues of The Happy Viking.  The Swiss Pabst quaffers outnumber the Swedes and most Happy Vikings have more Native American Indian blood coursing through their veins than 32 Elizabeth Warrens.  Rip, as his surname proclaims, is,  a scion of the Algonquin tribe - attributed to the cognomen Bekaaniba or "Slow Water". I got to know Rip during my frequent visits to The Happy Viking as part of my fistful of annual peeks beneath The Cheddar Curtain.

I met Rip in the Loop while he was on a purchase of bar equipment.  I found my contemporary mixed-breed Swiss/Injun Packer Fan on the corner of Jackson and Franklin with his neck craned back and taking in a full view of Chicago's Own 2001 black obelisk structure intruding the heavens, " Dat's one Serious Tower, dere Hickey."

No, Rip. that is no longer Sears Tower, but Willis Tower.

"Didn' day Sears, said  SIRIUS!  Big!"

I agreed but offered to moderate his observation to the more accurate -Tall.

"Big too."

That it is.  With that proportional debate settled we walked to Lou Mitchell's for coffee. As my Badger State boon-chum and master tap-tun was available, I asked about today's political focus.

Rip, will you recall Walker?

"Depends."

Upon?

"On if he done something for me."

Has He?

" When?"

In this past year or so.

"Can't say as I recall"

Will Walker be recalled next Tuesday,? I asked peremptorily I hoped.

" If he done something."  Hopes dashed.

For the State of Wisconsin?

" For anything and anywhere"

Will you recall Walker?

" Depends."

Have you voted already?

Yes. Month back

How did you vote, Rip

"Easily"

By what method?

"Absentee"

For whom did you vote?

" The ones running."

Walker?

"Which one"

Scott Walker.

"Can't recall. 'S a month back. Pricey coffee down here."

On me, RIP.  And do take the powered donut holes with you.

"Ahead of you!"

Always.

Tales of the South Side: Scorcher O'Malley's Final Exam

Scorcher O'Malley was leaving Keegan's Pub when he was run over by a bus. 


The late Scorcher was enrolled in, but never attended Brother Rice, Leo, Mount Carmel Catholic High Schools and received his high school diploma from Calumet Public High School in 1971.  Scorcher was so named because he burned every bridge constructed during  his life.


Scorcher owed everyone, but no one ever expected re-payment for loans granted.  Scorcher lived life fully to his own talents and inclinations, which happened to be the laws of physics and the mechanics involved in draining a beer glass.


Upon gulping his penultimate pint prior to Paradise purchased by patrons of the pub, Scorcher stepped out onto the public pavement and again into the bustling thoroughfare that is Western Avenue at 10618 south.


Scorcher saw the approach of two bright beams belonging to the Chicago Transit Authority and then a great welcoming light luring Scorcher to a Tall Fisherman with a fabulous set of keys.


Scorcher was at the gates of heaven and St. Peter informed  him that he may not enter the Pearl-Perfect Gates  unless he passed a test.  Never having taken one in his entire time on Terra Firma. Scorcher cast a quizzical mug attached to a cocked noggin. 


What choice did he have, O'Malley agreed to give one a whirl. 
.
St. Peter decided to go easy on him, 'What has 5 fingers and is made of black leather?' he asks. 


O'Malley scratches his head, thinks hard and finally gives up." Hell,. . . I dunno."


 'It's a glove says St. Peter.'

'Glove, yeah.'

The Rock-like patience of the Fisher of Men coaxed out a smiled, 'Let's try again.  What has 10 fingers and is made of black leather?' asks St. Peter.


 O'Malley's jaw dropped. After a few minutes of pacing in a circle and scratching his head, the Scorcher  gives up.


 'Why it's 2 gloves - don't you see 10 fingers, black leather, . . .?'  says St. Peter amazed.

Being in a generous mood and recalling his own walk on the water, St. Peter deigned to give O'Malley yet another chance but thinking of an even easier question. 'Who is the patron Saint of Ireland?' asks St. Peter, thinking he can't miss this. After all, Three had been the salvific charm in Peter's own bout in the Garden. 

'Hey, I gotcha now! It wouldn't be 3-gloves, would it?' says O'Malley.


'Yeah, St. Three-Gloves . . . get your ass in!'

Rally for Religious Liberty - Friday June 8th at Noon in Chicago's Federal Plaza

I participated in Chicago's Rally for Religious Freedom in March of this year.  It rained like a son-of-a-gun, but more than 2,000 people jammed Federal Plaza in a very peaceful, dignified and good humored show of support for Religious Freedom.

My family spent decades pounding the sidewalks for workers rights.  Early on we were all taught to never cross a picket line - we never did. If a store was struck by real labor, we purchased else-where.  My father and his brothers and my cousins, picketed in support of the printers at the Chicago Tribune.

Likewise, we hit the kneelers in church to pray for aborted children.  My uncle Larry Hickey, who was the Chief Engineer for Cook County Hospital,  made national news (AP Chicago 1975 linked below).    Uncle Bud was ordered to install crematory furnace for the disposal of unclaimed and unidentified bodies from the County Morgue, but primarily aborted fetuses.  The crematory furnace was not fired for five years, because the Chief refused to dispose of human remains. This was in February of 1975.

I started teaching in Catholic schools in 1975.  Roe v. Wade was giving the abortion industry its baby steps and the American media its universal assistance.  Democrat politicians who happened to be Catholic were not yet fully bought by Planned Parenthood's dead-baby bucks.   George Dunne, President of the Cook County Board, never fired Uncle Bud for the Chief's Civil Disobedience; in fact, Dunne made Larry Hickey the Chief Engineer of Cook County.  That was then;this is now.

Now, Democrat politicians who happened to baptized as Catholics would see a Larry Hickey become an occupant of Cook County Jail, after firing, convicting, sentencing and stripping him of pension, of course.

There are no Democrat George Dunnes.  In fact the last genuine Catholic Democrat that I can recall in recent years, resigned as State Representative - Kevin Joyce. Rep. Dan Lipinski might be. There are Dick Durbins, Dan Hynes, Pat Quinns, Mike Quigleys and Rich Daleys.  They and Planned Parenthood, SEIU and other left-leaning PACs put Barack H. Obama in the White House

President Obama stripped St. Xavier University of its religious identity and immediately the school invited former Obama mouthpiece Robert Gibbs to be a guest speaker.  Governor Pat Quinn revealed his complete submission to Illinois Personal PAC's Terry Cosgrove, over Francis Cardinal George all through the fall of 2011. Cosgrove orders and Quinn jumps.

In January 2011, President Obama's baptized Catholic HHS Secretary made official war on the American Catholic Church.

So, on Friday June 8th, I'll be in Federal Plaza with thousands of Catholics, Protestants and Jews voicing support for Religious Liberty. I hope that you will also enjoy the fresh air and great company.

Rally for Religious Freedom

Uncle Bud's ( Larry Hickey Chief Engineer Cook County Hospital) saga linked here:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19750222&id=QpxOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uvoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2606,5132451

Cardinal George Checks In

Leo Men -Francis Cardinal George ( Leo 2012) and Jackie Schaller ( Leo 1943)

On May 11th Chicago Archbishop Francis Cardinal George paid a visit to the young men, parents, staff and Alumni of Leo High School.  It was the first visit by Chicago's Archbishop since 1926, when George Cardinal Mundelein dedicated, blessed and consecrated the school's corner-stone situated on the northeast corner of the school at 79th & Peoria.

Cardinals Stritch, Meyer and Cody never dropped by for a chat with the Lions. More hurtful than no visit was the fact that all financial subsidies to Leo High School from the Archdiocese of Chicago ended during the last years of Cardinal Cody's episcopate.  Subsidies were cash grants determined by the size and needs of school.  The last subsidy amounted to about $ 80, 000 in 1981.  Joseph Cardinal Bernardin wanted to close Leo when the Irish Christian Brothers pulled out in 1991, only to be challenged by this school's  fiercely loyal and dedicated Alumni bulled into action by the heroic Bob Foster, the school's first lay-Principal and later President.  Foster and the Leo Family was told ' You are on your own' in no uncertain terms.  Leo flourished through the 1990's and bounded into the New Millennium with robust Alumni and private financial support.

Just before the new century, Cardinal Bernardin died and the Catholic Church itself was rocked by scandal universal.  During Cardinal Bernardin's stewardship, Catholic school and church closings became as common as a politicians lies.The Big Shoulders Fund was organized to help Catholic schools in the inner city of Chicago ion Bernardin's watch.  Leo men like Andy McKenna '47 and Frank Considine '39 help their Church by bringing Catholic and Jewish civic and business leaders to work with Jim O'Connor and the Big Shoulders Fund.  The Catholic Church in Chicago, as elsewhere struggled and Cardinal Bernardin went home to Christ. The first Chicago born and bred Archbishop succeeded the beloved Cardinal Bernardin - Francis George of the Oblates of Mary Immaculata.

Cardinal Bernardin closed schools and churches to strengthen the Archdiocese of Chicago financially, but the Faith lost the foundations of Faith - parishes and schools.  Archbishop George was determined to maintain Chicago's Catholic identity, vitality and viability.  His task was much more difficult. No more closings, meant greater sacrifices.  These sacrifices were asked in a climate of unprecedented hostility to religion from the Chicago media and the secularist national culture which made every opportunity to shout about scandal, an opportunity to shame faith itself.

Cardinal George and Leo High School were on their own.  Cardinal George received nothing but hostility from the newspapers, and the electronic media while he fought to nit only maintain Catholic education but push it beyond mere academic success.  Cardinal George faced the rise of Charter Schools developed by the brilliant Paul Vallas to ape the superficial aspects of Catholic education - school dress, dedication to mission (Charter), academic flexibility due to freedom from the teachers unions, and accountability.  Charter schools more often than not operated on the sites of closed Catholic schools. Charter Schools are Public Schools -funded by the State and  absent of God.

Cardinal George made Catholic schools more Catholic and more successful.  Yet, he was on his own as far as the once Catholic Chicago secular culture was and remains concerned.

Cardinal George visited Leo on May 11th.  Chicago television covered the visit and the Cardinal's chat to our family. This visit coincided with President Obama's support of Gay Marriage and the Cardinal's public defense of marriage between a man and a woman managed to wedge its way into the story. The Cardinal immediately engaged Jack Schaller, who hosted the Cardinal and Father Dan Flens at the historical Scahller's Pump on Halsted and the crowd of Leo leaders and luminaries in President Dan McGrath's office.

The real story is this - before the Cardinal's arrival several of the guys asked how they should address the leader of the Archdiocese. President McGrath informed them that the most common form of address would be to greet the Cardinal as " Your Eminence."  Eminence is not a word that gets featured very much in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.  Dan told them that the Cardinal title is an honorific.  Bishop is the real position, but core Francis George is a priest -"Father would be Okay."

Francis George is a priest.  After personally shaking hands and chatting with every graduating senior from the Class of 2012, offering a simple and beautiful lesson to scores of tough but fragile inner city teenagers - mostly African American Protestants, Muslims a very few Catholics and five Mexican and one Irish American Catholic from Canaryville - and being made a Leo Alumnus by Dan McGrath, Mike Holmes, Mike Anderson, Ken Mason, Bernie Pepping , Jackie Schaller, Dick Landis and  Bob Sheehy,  Cardinal George and I had a chance to talk.

We talked about one freshman who was on thinnest layer of ice at Leo - tall handsome, street-smart, self-dumb, talented, athletic, lonely and tormented kid.  This young man had been abandoned by his mother and somehow survived a succession of seven foster families before he was fifteen years old.   He is a damaged soul who first impulse is rage.  He is challenge to younger teachers and a few veterans.  His button gets punch with " Why are you late?  Pull up your Pants!  Take that hat off!  Sit down!"  His dial is always set in rage range that goes from One immediately to Ten -" #$% You, Bitch!" & etc.  Can't have that.

All year every person drawing pay at Leo has had a run-in or a counselling session ( I have had MORE than few chin-wags with my young friend).   I see real promise in this kid, but life has really done some crucial damage to his heart and soul.  He is self-destructive in his sense of self preservation.  Cardinal George offered to counsel the young man personally.  The Cardinal said, " Let's arrange a talk between J_____ and me."

The following week this planned session was halted by the actions of the kid. J_________ finally overplayed his hand. The ice cracked and the young man did something completely unacceptable, Leo could no longer help him.

Close on the heels of the expulsion, Cardinal George checked in and wanted to schedule a chat with the boy.  I reported the problem to the Cardinal.  "Our guy is expelled."

That priest is not finished.  We protected the school in expelling the kid.  The guy from St. Paschal's Parish on the north side -The priest who became a bishop and then was conferred the honorific of Cardinal is now a Leo Alumnus. is not finished with the one we could not help. The Cardinal, a real priest, checked in.

There will be more to this story.