Toni "The Crypt-Keeper" Preckwinkle Oozes "Controveries" Our Complicit Media Glides Upon and Over and Out!

To Chicago Media ( i.e.agenda-hand-cuffed editorial boards and columnists who try to be someone) types Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is a genuine reformer and smarter than . . .almost as smart as Carol Marin.  That is  Chicago's Complicit Media doctrine with Abner Mikva and the ghost of not only Woody Guthrie, but Saul Alinsky's stamp of approval.

N.B. Chicago's Complicit Media does not include any of the hard working reporters who actually do wonderful, intelligent, gritty and tenacious work. Reports and some columnists like John Kass, Mark Brown, and Steve Huntley tend to be helots like all of us. Real reporters and columnists are not D-List Nick Von Hoffmans. They are Ray Coffeys - they tell the story. Like cops, foremen, teachers, nurses, cabbies and carpenters, they are doing a job.  CCM controls the public pulpit.



That said, if there is a tear shed upon reading one's Property Taxes, a prick of pain in the rump when finding Dept. of Revenue Meter Maid posting a ticket on your windscreen even you parked at a lawful un-yellowed curb sans a Meter Box and no Tow Zone Signs, or erupt like Pompeii in your britches with the realization that Red Light Camera's will shortly phalanx Western Ave. like Myrmidons,  or CTA Ventra Cards Come Sporting Bombardier Red Line Wheels What Don't Fit, you can and may attribute those irritations to  Chicago's Complicit Media -CCM and the fine pass-along political players they endorse, protect and feed.

Reporters report the news and the best columnists present both side of an issue.

The Chicago Sun Times' Dan Mihalopoulos reports

 Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has fired a top county ethics official who was trying to punish Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios for putting relatives on his payroll.
MaryNic Foster was quietly dumped from her $110,355-a-year post in May after five years as executive director of the county’s Board of Ethics.

Now, lookee, here, Dan!  Toni fired a Goo-Go?

With Preckwinkle’s support, the ethics board had hired attorney David Hoffman, the former City of Chicago inspector general, earlier this year to press its case that Berrios should pay $10,000 in fines and fire three family members.

Berrios, who also chairs the Cook County Democratic Party, has ignored ethics board rulings against him. He maintains that the county’s ethics rules apply only to the Cook County Board, not to the assessor or other countywide officials whose positions were established by the state of Illinois.
Foster said top aides to Preckwinkle didn’t give her a reason for removing her from the post she’s held since 2008 — a job that’s exempt from rules that ban political considerations from influencing county hiring or firing decisions. 

Now, that does sound familiar - The Morgue Lady, Underlings who disagreed with the Old Crypt Keeper on Supreme Court  candidates ( BTB they did not back the loser as CCPresident herself did) , the Cook County Comptroller, Whistleblowers of every stripe, or Orange jumpsuit

However this time Toni is merely 'replacing Ms. Foster with CCM darling David Hoffman - kind of an Eddie Munster playing Forrest Claypool.  Hoffman was all the rage in the waning days of King Richie, Distinguished Professor of the Grift at the University of Chicago.

There's chatter about Toni "The Crypt-keeper's" next bounce up the political food-chain - Mayor? Governor? Senator? President of the United States?  Dare I say it?  Metra, no . . .Out-going Metra Chair Madame??????

Personally, I do not believe that Toni Preckwinkle has managed to one thing that helped p

Toni Preckwinkle is a pass-along political person, who gets elected by dint of CCM protection with the full blessing of Pope Mikva's Hyde Park Vatican.

  

Tales of the South Side - Q (uirke) Erat Demonstradum

A Cajun, Tommy Quirke ( D' 68) and a Nova Scotian walked into a bar in Cardiff. . .over by Wales.


Tommy Quirke  never really experienced anything first hand in his life, as far as his converational skills could reveal. The amiable De La Salle Institute grad  T. Q. always referenced something heard on  the Q.T.
e.g.

Person -" Hey, Tommy did you notice that your fly is open?"

T. Q. - " No, but Butchie told me all about when I was coming out of the John."


Tommy Quirke  had, what one might call,  a Rich and Vicarious Life.

Recently, Tommy Quirke went on holiday in the United Kingdom where he charmed three vacationing gents like himself with Chicago Twice Told Tales ( at least)  .

In the beautiful Welsh costal town of Cardiff, T.Q. shared the vista taken in by millions from the Arthur of legend along with a Scot from Canada and a Cajun from Louisiana. They repaired to a pub and sampled the craft brews. The view was fantastic, the beer excellent, the food exceptional.

"Y'ken," said the Nova Scotian, "I still prefer the pubs back home. Why in Sayn Edmund's there's a wee bar called McTavish's. Now,the landlord there goes out of his way for the locals so much that when you buy 4 drinks he will buy the 5th drink for you."

'Aiyee! Mo chagren !" cried  the Cajun, " Getting down to my salle bière in  the Bayaou Teche,  Le Pecker Rouge, the barman there will buy you your 3rd drink after you buy the first 2."

"Ahhh, that's nothin," said Tommy Quike. "Back on the south side a' Chicago , there's Ryan's Bar, over by the Midas shop. Now,  the moment you set foot in the place they'll buy you a drink, then another, all the drinks you like. Then when you've had enough drinks they'll take you upstairs and see that you get laid. All on the house!"

The Scotian and the Cajun  immediately poured  scorn on the South Side Irishman's claims. But, the bold Tommy Quike swears every word is true!

"Well," said the Canadian Caledonian, "Did this actually happen to you?"

"Not me myself, personally, no," said the reliable Quirke, "But it did happen to me sister."

Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

The Varginha Dialogues - Words That Really Matter Avoid Body Parts

I was told by a woman sometime after the death of my wife in 1998, that one sure cure for my blues was buying a ticket to see the Vagina Monologues: ' Eve Ensler is a genius.'

I'm not all that bright. I failed to see the connection between a play that celebrates a woman's gear and my sense of loss, grief, anger, confusion and loneliness.  Maybe, I should have taken her advise, because I self-medicated by gambling like and idiot out of Tolstoy for too long.  Well, I am a male. I find it odd that the very people who gab about female castration are the first to condemn Israel and demand abortion 24/7 on my dime. Me, I don't chat body parts.

Notice above that I refused to use the V aside from it place in the Ensler text.  I am no prude, but I refuse to go all second wave feminist.  Words have meaning, context and most certainly place. Am I uncomfortable talking about a woman's gizmo?  Certainly not.  I do not refer to my own coital apparatii by the latinate and stick to the language of the sixth grade male awakening ( Glory Be to God!).

The Old Avenger has no place in public.

Due to my proclivity for ignoring articles, plays, poems, or chit-chat featuring the Female Johnson, I very nearly missed a delightful AP report on Pope Francis' visit to Rio Slums  -Despite heavy security and a cold rain, Francis waded into the cheering crowds and hugged and kissed residents young and old before blessing the altar at the shoebox of a church that serves the community. He prayed before a replica of Brazil's patron saint, the Virgin of Aparecida, and met with a family in their squat yellow home.
"He gave each of us a rosary, he took photos with everyone and embraced each one," said Diego Rodrigues, a 26-year-old friend of the da Penha family who received the papal visit. "I think everyone but the pope was speechless!"
Francis brought a message of hope, following in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II who visited two such favelas during a 1980 trip to Brazil and Mother Teresa who visited Varginha itself in 1972. Her Missionaries of Charity order have kept a presence in the shantytown ever since.
Like Mother Teresa, Francis brought his own personal history to the visit: As archbishop of Buenos Aires, then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio frequently preached in the poverty-wracked slums of his native city, putting into action his belief that the Catholic Church must go to the farthest peripheries to preach and not sit back and wait for the most marginalized to come to Sunday Mass.
In remarks to a crowd of several thousand Varghina residents, who slushed through a muddy soccer field to welcome him, Francis acknowledged that young people in particular have a sensitivity toward injustice.
"You are often disappointed by facts that speak of corruption on the part of people who put their own interests before the common good," Francis told the crowd. "To you and all, I repeat: Never yield to discouragement, do not lose trust, do not allow your hope to be extinguished. Situations can change, people can change."
It was a clear reference to the violent protests that paralyzed parts of the country in recent weeks as Brazilians furious over rampant corruption and inefficiency within the country's political class took to the streets.
Francis blasted what he said was a "culture of selfishness and individualism" that permeates society today, demanding that those with money and power share their wealth and resources to fight hunger and poverty.
"No amount of peace-building will be able to last, nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself," Francis said.

Rather than a shower of reports and round-tables on the Pope's dialogues with the poor, Americans are bombarded with news accounts, interviews and press conferences dedicated to Anthony Weiner's Tamale Textings and the effect that is having on his odious wife. That sin of omission is because the Pope and Catholics are dead set against abortion and defend the marriage between man and woman. 

Like Trampas in Owen Wister's novel The Virginian, America's corporate media sponsored by the Progressive Democratic National Party use language to deconstruct our common spirit.  The Virginian, like Pope Francis employs the gift of words to bring people together.

"Events like this, with the pope and all the local media, get everyone so excited," said Antonieta de Souza Costa, a 56-year-old vendor and resident of Varginha. "I think this visit is going to bring people back to the Catholic Church."
In the last two decades, the church has lost legions of faithful in the country, most of them poorer Brazilians who have switched to Pentecostal evangelical congregations with a huge presence in Varginha and most other slums.
The Varginha slum butts up against what until about six months back was the largest "cracolandia" — crackland — in Brazil, where hundreds of crack cocaine users gathered under a train overpass and used the drug openly night and day. Crumbling brittle shacks still give the area a bombed-out feel.

The Pope dialogues and the American media monologues endlessly.

I'd attend any Varginha Dialogue and will continue to the . . . . other Monlogue a huge pass. 

Religion - Grifters in Soros Paradise

Some feather-brained theologians equate Jesus with Che Guevara or a Scalp-hunting frontiersman.  Many more Chicago news media members tell only part of a story in order to fall in line behind editorial boards.

Jesus as I recall was Jewish preacher with Pharisaic tendencies who ran afoul of the Sadducees, King Herod, and Roman Procurator for Judea Pontius Pilate, was scourged, crucified and buried in a cave.  Then He rose from the dead and appeared to many contemporary eye-witnesses performed post mortem miracles and ascended to Heaven and a few weeks later, the Holy Spirit appeared to confirm the Triune God after that people of all races, incomes and proclivities took vows attesting to His Being - as Son of God.

From the late 1950's up to now, over-educated stiffs and well-heeled grifters decided to do to theology, in particular Christianity, what they have managed to do to government, entertainment and education.  The other day I read about a Progressive Evangelical workshop for the New Evangelicals for Socialism.  Here's a taste -

 Although historically justice has been understood differently, from “sevenfold retribution … where if someone hits you on the cheek you slit their throat … [resulting in] spiraling violence,” to “one for one kind of retribution,” Alexander stated Jesus brought a new “revolutionary” way as the “Che Guevara Jesus, the nonviolent revolutionary Jesus.”  This Jesus, as opposed to the “Colonial Settler Jesus” Alexander joked he asked into his heart at a young age, advocated “turning the cheek of equality, turning the cheek of respect, staying engaged in the conflict and in the problem and working toward hopefully transformation and a solution.”

He concluded: “I’m hoping that the next … few decades, the next few years, already starting that the European North American lighter pigmented folks that are this way because we live further from the equator and create the color hierarchies … that we can listen to and learn from the churches around the world … Skin pigment being a tie to privilege is a serious problem. Amen?”

Nah.   Historically justice has been understood differently, just as anything is understood differently by one whose cultural context is limited to Ward Churchill.  Che-sus of Nazareth?  Dan'l Boone of Bethlehem?

Evangelicals for Social Action are the Soros funded catchers mitt of the indigenous peoples seeking liberty in America from South and Central America and of course Mexico.  Like other quasi religious Political Action Networks funded by the beetle browed Bolshevik George Soros man and God are but one fabric in the quilt that is the Soros grift- academic freedom, political reform, eugenics, abortion, gay marriage, race and poverty as well. Interestingly, all of Soros mini-PACS come in exactly the same format as Move-on.org and Organizing for America.

Today in the Chicago Sun Times,  a Soros news feed was slipped on the desk of Francine Knowles for a hit piece on Cardinal George.

The source of the story is a Soros Funded PAC called Faithful America - The beef du jour stems from a petition generated by the Soros operation for  Be All -in For Gay Marriage Faithful America demanding that Cardinal George refrain from saying Mass today at a conference for Gay Catholics at St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein - owned and operated by Cardinal George.

But Michael Sherrard, executive director of Faithful America, which launched the petition drive, contends “priests and therapists will be trained in dangerous and debunked techniques that don’t cure homosexuality but do contribute to suicide and depression.”
He added, “By appearing at this conference and celebrating mass there, Cardinal George is implicitly endorsing practices that cost the lives of gay and lesbian youth.”
George responded in an email: “Courage is an organization of homosexually-oriented Catholics who support one another in their quest for holiness as homosexuals. I haven’t seen their program, but their literature speaks only of spirituality, not of therapy.
“When national Catholic organizations meet, the local Bishop is often asked to offer Mass for them. That’s the only reason I’ll be there. (It’s called loving your neighbor.)”

Faithful America's mission statement says " Love They Neighbor, No Exceptions,"  yet its members like Move-on.org and Organizing for American have ready made comment trolls to bash the likes of Cardinal Dolan and Cardinal George and Catholics in general. Ms. Knowles dug deeply to unearth all of persons and organization deemed objectionable to Faithful America, but offered absolutely no information about Faithful America in words or deed.

This is bad reporting at best or most likely a very slanted editorial piece without the courage of conviction.

The Sun Times has very good reporters, and a ditsy editorial board and just plain in-the tank columnists with the exceptions of Steve Huntley and Mark Brown.  

The goofs get passed off as sober and thoughtful petitioners.  They must have an image of a John Gielgud Jesus - old John was as Gay as Christmas.

 

http://www.faithfulamerica.org/about/

To Name the Prince - Add Timmy Guts.

All babies are alike, so long as they managed to stay out of the way of Planned Parenthood and educated butchers like Dr. Kermit Baron Gosnell.

There is no ugly baby.  They are all precious -male, or female; king, or commoner, healthy, or afflicted.

A miracle comes to pass that changes this tired old planet with new foot prints to be and perfumes the atmosphere with breath and cries echoing God's contract with mankind.

At 4:25 PM CST, we got the news that the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a little boy weighing in at 8 Lbs, 6 ozs, Well done, Kiddo.  If Prince Willie is any kind of a man and all signs point to the positive, he was there at the miracle and I hope he helped a bit.  Child-birth is the most humbling experience a male can endure.

The Little Guy Royal has to be yet named, or announced to the public. I am sure the Windsors have the little man's handle all wrapped up.

I imagine, like my own family, there will be pressure to maintain geneological cognomen templates We Hickeys follow the naming frames of the Batty-Lars of Crinnie Hill Castleisland, County Kerry: Identified by the the sept of Hickeys generated by Bartholomews/Laurences; thus, Batty's son Larry married Nora and their first child was Laurence & etc. the other twelve followed pattern as well.

The Little Guy Royal will no doubt be named according to his lineage, or in recognition of the four kingdoms - George, David, Patrick Andrew & etc, or the Teutonic Carpetbaggers of Bradenburg Victor, Louis, Albert,  Edward.

In time the little man will be publicly known by the names chosen for him and many more will follow. That is our all too human fate.  Our deeds often brand us.

One of the coolest names that I have ever encountered in my two score years belonged to one Timothy Devlin of the vast Red Devlin Clan,west of Damen Avenue at 78th Place.  Timmy-Guts Devlin was few years younger than me, but had reputation for fierce daring-do that would have made Errol Flynn pale timorously when challenged to follow Timmy-Guts anywhere.

Timmy-Guts would enter burning box-cars on the CSX rail lines that commanded Rum Valley at 79th Street in order to retrieve treasures untold and immeasurable, because they were there.  Timmy-Guts Devlin scared mad dogs away from his little sisters and climbed the Rheem Water Tower long before he entered Little Flower Grammar School.

Timmy- Guts Devlin was the template for anyone claiming a pair.  The Young Royal might be well served with name Timothy somewhere in his official handle - the world could use another Timmy-Guts.

Driving the Race Fueled 1978 Obama: "Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me 35 Years Ago"

Let me expand on my thoughts a little bit . . .First of all . . .President Obama is as genuine as as an Illinois Pension and the current cover of Rolling Stone.  That is why he has been so successful in our culture that honors 'the unexamined life.'

Deftly avoiding any contact with authenticity is the American Gold Standard for political and cultural apotheosis. Barack Obama managed to do just that with a great deal of help along the way.  What passes for political reform is merely the elimination of common sense, accountability, genuine empathy and competence for group ascent and mulish antagonism to any and all dissent from accepted doctrines and practices.  To chants of " Ain't He/she Great? X  (infinity and not a side-ways 8 -the old lemniscate) any selected carbon foot-print becomes as a god - no questions asked or allowed.

Yesterday, deftly mincing by the many political and ethical land-mines( IRS, Holder, Benghazi, Cairo, Syria, Snowden, Detroit*) laid by Team Obama themselves, the President weighed in, yet again, with his narcissistic POV on matters racial




He could have been shot while atop of George Zimmerman in a gated community in Florida having purchased Skittles and Arizona Ice Tea thirty five years ago. That would be in 1978; however, Barack H. Obama was in Hawaii with Choom Gang smoking Maui jig-weed, shooting hoops and dating blondies. There was, then, racism. There is, now, racism and it is a mighty two-way street with a big-assed cul de sca at each end.

Here is visual evidence of Obama Agonistes 1978





"We go play hoop." - the Demosthenes of DC, circa 1978.

A constant diet of bullshit (hot/cold/wet/dry)  should be avoided.   Examine, challenge, remember, learn and do as a healthy alternative.

* I heard a Chicago cop paraphrase Obama - "If Obama had a city, it would look like Detroit."  Now, that is authentic.

IRS Scandal Inching Closer to Valerie Jarrett's Fingerprints?

“I love coming to Asheville,” Obama said at a Linamar factory plant, where he stumped today on his post-State of the Union tour. He told the crowd that “after this whole presidency thing,” he and Michelle Obama will be “looking for a little spot, you know, to come on down, play a little golf, do a little hiking, fishing, eat barbecue.” February 2013

The Oval Office: Sometime in not all-to-distant future, or about all the future that will be left . . . "Well I'm gonna to go then! And I don't need any of this. I don't need this stuff, and I don't need *you*. I don't need anything. Except this.

[picks up an ashtray]

And that's the only thing I need is *this*. I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray... And this paddle game. - The ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need... And this remote control. - The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need... And these matches. - The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the paddle ball... And this lamp. - The ashtray, this paddle game, and the remote control, and the lamp, and that's all *I* need. And that's *all* I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one... I need this. - The paddle game and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches for sure. Well what are you looking at? What do you think I'm some kind of a jerk or something! - And this. That's all I need.

[walking outside]The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, and this magazine, and the chair.

 [outside now] And I don't need one other thing, except my dog.. . . I don't need my dog."

One day President Barack H. Obama will depart the White House, but there is so much to occupy Americans like myself. 

• Zimmerman?  Meh. My old ear drums are still bleeding from our National Discussion on Race, when old Henry Lou Gates lost his keys and President Sparklefahrts dipped his toes in the quiet waters of Cambridge Police 911 call. Stupid!  A few beers later and all was forgotten . . .by this Nation of Cowards.

• Snowden?    I hope the poor SOB can get some Mitchum in that Moscow Airport.  Man, he's gotta be ripe.  Well,  it is Russia and Old Shirtless in Saint Petersburg don't seem to mind.

• Rolling Stone? A great cop took care of that one.

• Metra Illinois? Already in the Illinois  memory hole.

• Motown?  President Al Green has left the building.

• Cairo?  In the national  memory hole 

• Benghazi? Getting warmed up.

• IRS?  Boiling like a pot of Englewood napalm and set to burn some scamps. R. Emmett Tyrell writes about the last six months of scandals oozing out of the pores of Brand Obama  

Congress also ought to be looking into the Obama Administration’s subpoenaing of journalists’ records and the allegations of a State Department cover-up of irregularities by our ambassador to Belgium. Then there is the NSA disaster. It now appears that the dimwit Edward Snowden walked off with a vast horde of intelligence. We are even hearing that he has in the cozy confines of the Moscow airport the manuals for keying into NSA intelligence gathering projects. How did he get them? Who is responsible?

All of this incompetence took place under President Obama’s watch. Now comes word that the president is popping off about Trayvon Martin again. Initially he blustered, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” With the acquittal of George Zimmerman he is saying we can “honor Trayvon” by putting an end to “gun violence.” Still worse is his outburst this past May on sexual assault cases in the military. Commenting on them he — the president of the United States and commander in chief of the military — pronounced that the accused should be “prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged…” You can be sure that his outburst put in jeopardy sexual assault cases all over the country. Thomas J. Roming, a former judge advocate general of the Army, told the New York Times, “His remarks were more specific than I’ve ever heard a commander in chief get…. Every military defense counsel will make a motion about this.”

Yeah, but didn't  Motown Barry look just smashing back in Denver, betwixt those swell Attic columns, though?  He did. Wasn't that a time?

For NPR and Bill Moyers, I am sure, but have never cottoned to national figure who demands that goons like Dr. Kermit Baron Gosnell ( Dr. Talented 10%) be allowed to spin the spinal cords of living children in defense of women.

Of all of the indications of the hapless misanthropy that is Brand Obama, nothing takes the cheese like IRS scandal.  Any self-respecting meth-head with a rudimentary understanding of English and a GED, like Eddie Snowden, knows that IRS was unleashed upon the Tea Party, Pro Israel, Anti-abortion, or America-Ain't- Bad 501 (c) 3 applicants to show Americans the might of the Brand and the lash waiting all dissenters. That means, Valerie Jarrett, Chicago Slum Queen, Obama Minister Without Portfolio Bully-Broad.

President Obama doesn't waffle-up in the AM without Valerie Jarrett's say-so.  Why Ms. Jarrett has become such a powerful force in American public life is easy to explain - politicians need access to money.  She is a crazy aunt with oodles of boodle that a daffy family will allow to not only pick out the curtains, but schools for the kids, cable shows, menus and toilet paper.  Valerie Jarrett operates off-camera, but pushes Commie Sit-com stars of the future into the full focus - Anita Dunn, Van Jones, Kevin Jennings, EPA Mini-Czar Salazar and IRS general counsel and White House go-to-guy William Wilkins. No less a past-Obama fan than Peggy Noonan writes:

The IRS chief counsel is named William Wilkins. And again, he is one of only two Obama political appointees in the IRS.
What was the chief counsel's office looking for? The letter to Mr. Werfel says Mr. Hull's supervisor, Ronald Shoemaker, provided insight: The counsel's office wanted, in the words of the congressional committees, "information about the applicants' political activities leading up to the 2010 election." Mr. Shoemaker told investigators he didn't find that kind of question unreasonable, but he found the counsel's office to be "not very forthcoming": "We discussed it to some extent and they indicated that they wanted more development of possible political activity or political intervention right before the election period."
It's almost as if—my words—the conservative organizations in question were, during two major election cycles, deliberately held in a holding pattern.
So: What the IRS originally claimed was a rogue operation now reaches up not only to the Washington office, but into the office of the IRS chief counsel himself.
At the generally lacking House Oversight Committee Hearings on Thursday, some big things still got said.
Ms. Hofacre of the Cincinnati office testified that when she was given tea-party applications, she had to kick them upstairs. When she was given non-tea-party applications, they were sent on for normal treatment. Was she told to send liberal or progressive groups for special scrutiny? No, she did not scrutinize the applications of liberal or progressive groups. "I would send those to general inventory." Who got extra scrutiny? "They were all tea-party and patriot cases." She became "very frustrated" by the "micromanagement" from Washington. "It was like working in lost luggage." She applied to be transferred.
For his part, Mr. Hull backed up what he'd told House investigators. He described what was, essentially, a big, lengthy runaround in the Washington office in which no one was clear as to their reasons but everything was delayed. The multitiered scrutiny of the targeted groups was, he said, "unusual."

What happens in the White House does not stay in the White House. Detroit Happens. Syria Happens. ObamaCare should not happen. Things happen because almost twenty years ago, Barack H. Obama, community activist, Woods Fund Executive Director, and neighborhood guy of Bill Ayers attached himself to Valerie Jarrett,Real Estate player and Slum Queen.  She's the crazy aunt who makes uncle Jeremiah Wright seem like Justice Clarence Thomas, in my humble opinion.

The IRS Scandal was far less bloody and foolish than Benghazi fiasco of 9/11/2011, but will prove mortal to Obama's last place finish in History's list of American Presidencies.  It is not Obama's fault, nothing is.  We voters drank the Cool Aid, Smoked the Hopium and felt the tingle up our thighs. We may soon realize the poor guys was just a Jerk with a sharp crease in his britches.

Will we learn from this side History?

Metra Board - If the Tribune Editorial Board Demands Your Resignation, It Is a Great Sign to Stay Put

Alex Clifford was plucked from sunny California and plunked down here in the Land of Lincoln where the weather and the politics shifts with the prevailing winds.

The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board would tell Newton that apples grow up from the rich and fertile soil, where toothsome maids gather up the fruity orbs with their delicate alabaster fingers and swaddle them in winsome aprons. Like the BGA, the Chicago Editorial Boards, are where clueless go to strangle common sense and abort the obvious.

The Metra Board, like other Illinois institutions fraught with problems that became editorial grist (CPS FAIL/Cop Bashing/ U of I Pay to Play & etc.) looked to a coast for a Champ.  We got a Ruth Love and Jody Weiss and a Michael Hogan - ubi sunt?  California Alex is yet with us. What passes for Illinois Intellectual Titans never stop to ask, " Will avocadi grow in Peotone; peanuts in Prospects Heights, or cranberries in Hegewisch?

Yesterday, Alex Clifford unleashed his Shakman Avocadonado on the Tribune Editorial and our Blue Ribbon Illinois Obtuse.

To say that California Al unloaded incontrovertible opinion is to do him damning praise.  His opinion was monumental.  The breaking of this wind no doubt sailed away the lithe, but singularly unpleasant husk that is Andy Shaw of the BGA clear in a popcorn field in Iroquois County, shook the mighty jowls of Thundering Dick Simpson.

The Tribune Editorial Board, captained by that former Wildcat disc jockey, Bruce Dold, went all Dutton Peabody in response to the Californian's allegations and  imprecations of Shakman Sinning!

We've seen little to suggest ( apples growing out of the ground again!)  they were unhappy with Clifford's job performance but plenty of evidence that they were aware of the behind-the-scenes acrimony involving O'Halloran and Huggins. One board member gave Clifford a heads-up that there weren't enough votes to renew his contract, then joined in the vote to send him packing.
Four of them have since written letters of recommendation to help him find a new job.
What good are any of them? They're supposed to be keeping the trains running, not taking care of politicians and their pals. But they're patronage employees themselves, handpicked by pols. They do what they're told in return for the paychecks they're clearly not earning. Getting rid of them is a nightmare; we learned that after the last scandal, which seems like yesterday. It takes eight board members to oust one, and it's not even clear whether the pols who appoint them can replace them mid-term. All of this is leading, once again, to talk about a legislative overhaul of the entire four-headed transit system.
Board members, save us all a lot of grief. Resign. Chicago Tribune Editorial

Well they have certainly gotten to bottom of things . . .as always.  Mark Brown of the Sun Times and Phil Kadner of the Southtown Star (Liberals unencumbered by limited I.Q.s) ovver thoughtful insights on the Metra testimony of California Al: each linked above.

California Al could not blossom and grow in Illini loam.  Andy Shaw of BGA, Mickey Shakman of Shakman Enterprises, and the Tribune Editorial board saw a mountain in this molehill, an opportunity bash somebody  and apples growing up betwixt them beans and corn.

Hoooooooooooeeeeeeeey!

Feeding the Watchdog after Waking Andy from His Snooze - It's a Shakman Thing

Pre-Metra Madigan Missive (above); Immediate Above Andy Epic Fail Shaw of The BGA!

If Andy Shaw told me that I was ' the coolest guy, that is what am,'  I'd leap as lordly as my lard-ass would allow away the pit of Despair and hit the nearest confessional and hope that the priest could talk me out of taking a Brodie off of the Skway Bridge into the 10th Ward.

More so, I have empirical knowledge of Andy Shaw's capacity for in-depth reporting, dating back to Terry Teel's resignation announcement.  Andy and his poor but amused cameraman for ABC burst into the Department of Planning and Development on the 10th floor of City Hall and Andy bleated to the patient woman manning the sign-in desk, " Andy Shaw, ABC 7 for the Teele Resignation."

The lovely woman smiled, " You are on the wrong floor."

Andy shrilled, as is his wont, " Terry Teele!!!  The Mayor's Zoning and Development Man!" and again the lovely woman softly informed the news hound, " Mr. Teele works for the Mayor and that would be on the 5th Floor?"

Can you say MICROPHONE!!!????


Of course not; nor would you.  Andy Shaw is the media, writ nasty,. . .well, the media without work which means a padded sinecure - The BGA. What set me on the Shavian Media-tation was Andy's cuddles with 560 Am- WIND's Joe Walsh Show which struck my fancy while returning from a wake in Indiana.  Giggled me up no end, it did.

On June 24th, as the saga goes Andy of BGA knocked the Bosses of Illinois to canvas with his exclusive Sun Times write up breaking wind all over the Land of Lincoln! I remember it like it was three weeks ago.
It's Metra scandal, I guess.  The California CEO Alex Clifford was sent packing with a chute full of moolah.

Heavens.  It turns out that patronage is the root of this evil. Mercy sakes.

Alex Clifford lawyer ed up with Goo-Goo Mogul and past master Machine Baiter Michael Shakman, LLc.

Michael Shakman is founder of Shakman Industries based upon the fairy tale notion that Government can be good and Politics well-scrubbed . . . of people who actually know what the hell they are doing. I can well imagine plutocrat Good Seal of Shakman kicking wideawake Andy to another Call to Doody,   " Howdy Andy, Andy, Andy Shaw!  Rouse yourself, gird your loins . . .your loins . . .there's mischief afoot and scoundrels abounding the rails . . .open wide; here's your feed. Now, scurry and scat!"

Alex Clifford has Michael Shakman and Andy Shaw on his side, which means that he has deep thinkers like Carol Marin, WTTW, WBEZ, and the Abner Mikva Coalition of Hand-Wringers, Whistle-Blowers and Ambulance Chasing Bottom Feeders with his back Rep.Deb Nepotism (LGBTQ and 33rd Ward Landfill Blind Girl) with his back.

The way I see the Metra mess is this.

• A CEO with an Italian name does the Dutch Act
• Metra needs a Goo-Goo approved suit -Alex Clifford
• IL GOP is so screwed up it will nod with conviction when Andy announces a chance to hack Mike Madigan 
• The IVI-IPI already agreed to play nice with the IL GOP to beat the BossesIllinois newspapers will have Mike Madigan bon fire until Labor DayAlex Clifford will speak nasty about Metra Board, Madigan, Ward Bossism, Culture of Corruption
• Gov. Pat Quinn will attempt to kick Mike Madigan ala Charlie BrownThundering Dick Simposn will join Andy Shaw with a press conference about the latest UICC study Metra Bad/Mell Good/Mikva Good/ Paul Simon Institute polling
• The Red Line will be closed to working folks, without access to millionaires and lobbyists
• Andy Shaw will rail.in Pullman with the banjo activists Sheila Simon and Eric Zorn doing BoxCar Willie Hits in a display of Railroad Solidarity with Hobo-sexual panhandlers - A two disc set and video of this event for donations to BGA's RTA
• Carol Marin will narrate The Life of Alex Clifford by Michael Shakman
• Metra will provide transportation for summer travelers and working folks just the people Pat Quinn buys beers for at Stash & Stella's Stardust Saloon over by Midway.
• Mike Madigan will cut his lawn, go by the  Jewel on Pulaski over by Midway, smile wryly, because he is the only non-dope in Illinois government.
• Illinois Dems will continue to back dopes like Deb Mell, Toni Preckwinkle, Pat Quinn and whomever Boss Terry Cosgrove deems suitable to screw up Illinois further - Out of Chaos Comes More Chaotic Orders
• Illinois GOP will back dopes with less gravitas than Democrats.  BTW_ Personal PAC is pumping tons of moolah into the coffers of souless suburban GOP phonies (38.8%).
• Francis Cardinal George will continue to lead with his heart and head and maintain grace, calm and dignity amongst a Brookfield Zoo of ninnies clerical and lay
• Mount Carmel/St. Rita/Loyola and west suburban Montini will begin double sessions in August

I will continue to recover my breath after scanning the my pay stub choc full of Obama care padding to tune of less-$145 than the previous two weeks after taxes and marvel that a nice salary ain't what it used to be, while awaiting the next property tax payoff to Karen Lewis and Speed cameras every twenty feet on Western Ave..  

Like I said, if Andy Shaw said that it was hot today, I'd bundle up like Quinn the Eskimo . . . no relation to  Quinn the Governor. If Andy Shaw informed me that a bird pooped on my head, I'd say, "Call Me Blondie!"

The Providential Diagnostician:Dr. Kennedy and the Kinky Boots

Dr. James R. Kennedy, M.D. was no Justin Bieber and certainly no Dr. Oz. He was the last man an incompetent wanted anywhere near whatever half-assed anything is being performed.  Kennedy's thick eyebrows and soft eyes could cut deeper than any scalpel crafted by the most exacting  Präzisionsstahlrohre Handwerker.

Dr. Kennedy beefed me when one of his kids turned over an essay that I had graded.  " You gave this paper a B?" I nodded.

" You had better hold the paper closer to your eyes next time.  I found three spelling errors, any number of glaring grammatical errors and the punctuation stinks."

I kopped a plea that sometimes getting near to the assigned task was more encouraging for . . .

" You are not here to make kids feel good. That's my job as parent.  Imagine if I got close to doing a good job with your mother's liver, or father's bowels with my knife?"

Message received (circa 1976).   I hope I did better.  Seemed to anyway.

While working at La Lumiere School, Mary and I had added Conor* to the family Hickey in 1989.  He was healthy little guy and as happy as a baby at a boarding school full of homesick kids could be.  In 1991,  our neighbors three old baby died of an odd form of childhood cancer that manifested itself with the toddler's inability to stand.  The entire La Lumiere School and Notre Dame Parish of Michigan City was heart-broken by the parents' grief.

Almost a year after this tragedy,  I was lining the football field for an upcoming loss to South Central. Father Jay, Pat Mulligan, Head Coach Mike Hall and I were pulling the lines and walking chalk.  Soon our we saw my blue Ford Taurus come tearing ass down the hill between Becket House and Newman House.  Mary was driving, daughter Nora (8) in the backs et and in the baby seat Conor (3). Mary was devasted -" Get in!  Now. Drop the Goddam, liner and get in this car!"

I hopped in.  " Conor can't stand up! Oh, God."  We headed to the ER at La Porte Hospital.

We had been in the ER and an examining room with two doctors and three nurses for the better part of an hour and understood exactly nothing.

As in any medical emergency, everything moves like a kaliescope and sounds like the Sgt. Pepper album and nothing makes sense but prayers.  I had the presence of mind to call Betsy Kennedy at their house in Long Beach. " Jim and I will be there - I'm driving."

Long Beach near Michigan City and La Porte Hospital are about twenty minutes apart - Betsy was driving and that meant a fifteen minute trip.

Ten minutes later, Dr. and Betsy emerged from an elevator.

Doctor Kennedy consulted with the medical staff.  They wanted to run some blood tests, scans, probes and etc.

Doctor Kennedy greeted Conor -"How you doing, old buddy!  What's the problem, Conor?"

The little man looked up at his friend who always let him eat scads of KeeWee Frupes, " My legs can't somehow work."

Doctor Kennedy examined the boy's feet.

He asked Mary, " Wasn't your Mom up here last week?"

Mary told him that Alice, my sister-in-law Gail Cleary and her two boys Pat and Danny had spent the weekend with us.

Dr. Kennedy nodded,  " Did Alice buy these three cowboy boots?"

Grandma Alice had indeed bought the the three lad cowboy boots and summer sun suits cut to make them look like railroad men with caps to match.  I still fail to associate cowboy boots with railroad man wear, but then again I am no Grandma.

Dr, Kennedy announced, " Conor's fine.  He won't need the exams, unless you feel it would be good, but they won't find anything.  Betsy and I bought cowboy boots too."

Further examination and probes were not performed.

A great surgeon only applies the knife, after holding the patient very close to his eyes.

A great soul misses nothing.

We miss a great soul.

* Conor played football on that very field for the La Lumiere Lakers; l remains healthy and happy as member of Local 399 Stationary Engineers.

Religio Medici: Dr. James R. Kennedy M.D.at Home With Christ - Rest in Peace? That Will Be a Tough One.

I thank God, and with joy I mention it, I was never afraid of hell, nor ever grew pale at the description of that place. I have so fixed my contempla- tions on heaven, that I have almost forgot the idea of hell; and am afraid rather to lose the joys of the one, than endure the misery of the other: to be deprived of them is a perfect hell, and needs methinks no addition to complete our afflictions. That terrible term hath never detained me from sin, nor do I owe any good action to the name thereof. I fear God, yet am not afraid of him; his mercies make me ashamed of my sins, before his judgments afraid thereof: these are the forced and secondary method of his wisdom, which he useth but as the last remedy, and upon provocation;— a course rather to deter the wicked, than incite the virtuous to his worship. Religio Medici - Sir Thomas Browne 1635

 Dr. James R. Kennedy is an esteemed assistant professor of gross anatomy  at Loyola's Stritch School of Medicine. A retired surgeon, Kennedy is a 1960 graduate of the Stritch School of Medicine and has taught at the school since 1989. He has been on the medical staffs of St. Mary's Hospital and Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee and since 1989, has volunteered as a surgical consultant, medical student supervisor and physician recruiter for Loyola's cooperative program with St. Jude Hospital in the West Indies.  Loyola Stritch School of Medicine Award 2000

 Elizabeth “Betsy” Finneran Kennedy ’59SMC and Dr. James R. Kennedy ’57 of Kankakee, Illinois, will be presented the Rev. Louis J. Putz, CSC, Award. The Kennedys have established a well-baby clinic, a Montessori school, day care centers and youth swim teams for under-served families. They spent 10 years as medical missionaries in Saint Lucia, British West Indies, and provide service to the United Way, Kankakee Valley Theatre, Amateur Athletic Union, the American Cancer Society, Red Cross and the Diocese of Joliet. Notre Dame Distinguished Alumni Award 2005

Not even close. Neither will be this that follows.

The Gates of Heaven, if they ever really close, banged wide open yesterday when a soul left the body of a fine man in a hospice care center in Michigan City, Indiana, yesterday.

Dr. Jim Kennedy is a great man.  He grew up in Joliet, Illinois, the son of a lawyer for Greyhound Bus, who sent its fleet to the Jim Crow south to accommodate Freedom Riders and later U.S. Marshals. Jim Kennedy went to Notre Dame where he played football on the reserves under Terry Brennan and excelled as a student. More importantly, Kennedy wooed away the beautiful Betsy Finnerane of the Bronx, NYC who had been dating some poor schmo by the name of Phil Donahue, who ended up with a TV show of some kind.

 Graduating in 1957, Jim Kennedy was accepted to the Loyola University School of Medicine, where he took his Medical Doctorate and then residency at Cook County Hospital and managed to keep the arm of Betsy.  Kennedy was called into his country's service as Naval surgeon, serving with the Fleet Marine Force.

Now, it gets good,  Kennedy returned to Cook County Hospital and won the reputation as a great surgeon and general practice all purpose medicine man.  At Cook County Hospital Kennedy became friendly with the Chief Engineer and fierce defender of unborn Larry Hickey.  Bud Hickey ran all of the power plants and operations of this hospital and later butted heads with the Marxist Dr. Quentin Young over abortion.  Kennedy and Uncle Bud saw eye to eye on human life. Dr.Jim and Betsy Kennedy began their own Pro Life model in the 1960's by bringing eleven (11) beautiful, talented and much loved children into the world.


The Kankakee Kennedy's at Hoosier Hyannis Port ( Long Beach, IN - Stop 28) Even then the Chicago costs of living must have been epic; the Kennedy's moved to Kankakee, Illinois.



In 1975, I signed a contract with Father Ken Yarno, CSV to teach and coach at Bishop McNamara High School and among the freshmen students was Jim Kennedy,  a tow-head with great basketball chops and razor wit.   Dr. and Mrs, Kennedy liked what I was doing for their son.  We became friends.  Dr. and Betsy were everywhere.  Betsy could bury any NFL roster Endomorphs with her lightening pace and Mary Poppins work ethic in a week.  Doc worked two hospitals and on his days off he attended burn clinics.

I met my future bride when she was helping Betsy with the kids. Betsy shoved Mary Cleary under my nose at every opportunity, but I was serial dating at the time.  A year later, Mary's charms, grace and sarcasm and Betsy's raps on the back of my head -"What's wrong with you?" - took hold.

Mary's grandfather happened to be the first surgical patient Dr. Kennedy operated upon in St. Mary's Hospital. Oliver Duval was a epic-ly evil-eyed, mean old bastard of Frog Eater.  He had penchant for swallowing peaches whole, it seems, and the pits did no good to the Old French villain's GI tract. When young Dr. Kennedy, fresh from Cook County ER, was served up Oliver on gurney - the Herscher farmer pulled up his gown and emitted a fart of Gargantuan proportions in salutation - " How's Those Peaches, Irish?" They remained an emergency room Roland and Oliver with Oliver blowing the trumpet. " Here's another kiss for you Kennedy!"

Dr. Kennedy often walked to his rounds from his modest home in east Kankakee's St. Theresa's Parish to St. Mary's and even Riverside Hospital.  A solid stretch of the legs of three to four miles.  One evening following a shotgun duel in St. Anne, the ER at St. Mary's and attending physician were overwhelmed and panic set-in.  A nurse on duty that night told me that Dr. Kennedy appeared as if by magic and pulled everyone together and no one died. Deus ex Machina?  Nope. Dr. Kennedy.

My catalog of stories is as thick as a Calcutta phone book.  Dr. Kennedy supervised the care of my wife when she was stricken with brain cancer. Betsy and Doc never left our sides through the two years of agony. For that I am most thankful.

Dr. Jim Kennedy went home to heaven.  He trained two of my best pals, Dr. Rick Clark and Dr. Mark Manning, to be Kennedy-esque doctors- Rick is an Internal; Medicine Honcho at Resurrection in Chicago and Dr.Maj. Mark Manning, MD, USAF(ret.) maintains surgical practice in Del Rio, Texas and over the border. Dr. Kennedy admitted students to Loyola's Medical School when the ravages of Parkinson's Disease prevented a genius with scalpel from practicing his art.  Kennedy demanded that students admitted to Loyola Med have CVs that witnessed commitment to others.  " You maintained a 4.0 GPA from high school through college, but you never played a sport, performed in a band, acted in a play, volunteered to help the poor?  You will do fine at University of Chicago or Northwestern; best wishes for a great medical career."

That is the religion of a doctor - a Catholic Doctor.  Try and take it easy, Doc. I talked to Betsy this morning and she said for you skip morning rounds and sleep-in. 

Divvy Chicago: Orders from Der BikeStag ( formerly Chicago Dept. of Transportation)

Now, I am a close-knit ethnic, Roman Catholic, meat eating (fish on Fridays),  south side dwelling heterosexual and then some, moderate-to-savage cigarette smoking, fossil-fueled motoring, tax-paying and tubby middle aged male - not cool. Unless. of course, I change and change utterly . . .Nah.

I hear tell of mean folks.  People who shout, "Hey That's My Bike!" whenever they spy two or more persons  aboard a Schwinn and out for a two-wheeled speed. Just mean.

I mean bikes are okay. If Jesus rode a bike he'd look like this -

 but He did not and the Romans nailed Him to Cross. Hey, I'm just sayin'!
Another morsel from the Right Sides of History - The Axis Armies used bicycles extensively in WWII



The Bataan Death Ride April 1942. Those ain't G.I.s aboard them Mitschwinbitsis.

I rode bicycles up to my twenty-fifth year on Mother Earth.  I took a header when the front tire of ten-speed blew like Susan Sarandon in White Palace.  I was biking back from a morning's fishing under Warner Bridge Road in Kankakee County, when this mechanical misfortune took me off the ten speed aficianado demographic for keeps.  

The hike back to Kankakee City which followed my ergonomic tossing of the bent frame in a big-assed dumpster somewhere near the Parkway Inn Tavern (above) in the region known as Altorff.  Fine folks there about the Brady family dominates the woods along the river -taught most the children, I did. Bandaged and spirited the seven mile perambulation to my windowless apartment above Home Appliances on Station Street was dedicated to Peace with Bikes.

Bikes are fine.  Most cyclists are grand folks, but every NPR listening jerk with a trust fund deemed it most important to become a mirror image of the bicycle messenger on PCP.  Congested,gentrified hipster communities attract bicycle fascists quicker than Obama makes a federal regulation. In recent years, after the new millenium, the bike lobby hooked Richard M. Daley through the gills and boated that bass.  Lance Daley cleared the way for Critical Mass activism to its supreme achievement (be like Seattle) -turning the Chicago Dept. of Transportation in Der  BikeStag.

I have nothing against bicycles nor the people who choose to ride them.  I have a universal dislike of jerks, JOs and Janissaries of agendas large, loud and limited.

Divvy is owned and operated, I think, by the City of Chicago in the same way that Chicago owns the Skyway and Parking Meters. The concept is swell:

• Ride Public Transporation
• Be a Divvy
• Bike away traffic
• Bike the shopping
• Bike the dining
• Bike the concerts
• Bike to court to bring suit against the Mexican Lanscapper you cut off when giving the finger to an elderly Jewish lady trying to cross Dearborn over by the Newbury library
• Bike the bars- you will not be charged with DUI unless you hit and scratch up Ald Cappleman's PriusLock the Bikes and make sure you lock it according to the code, People!
• Be Bangor, Be Bangalore, Be Bejing!

Already the the south and west side communities are Bike Deserts.  Is it Progressive, is it Hip, is it Coo, Is it Chicago Proco Joe to deprive people whose ancestors survived Maafa, Jim Crow and CPS the opportunity to Divvy? Is it Chicago values to break out Break Away Everyday in white upper class arugula and Whole Foods communities?

Divvy stations are taking up parking spaces - no parking -no driver - no customer at Wicker Park gin mill but walk-in trade. N.B. Biker peddlars don't tip

Bicyclists are as rare as Progressive philanthropists here in Gresham, Englewood, Roseland and even Chatham.  The bike lanes on Vincennes Ave. have faded like the last Rose of the 2012-13 Bulls Season.