Sun Times: Man Stabbed in Kennedy Park - Stop Gun Violence!

A 41-year-old man was stabbed Monday evening in the Kennedy Park neighborhood on the Far Southwest Side.
He was walking down the street about 5:50 p.m. in the 11100 block of South Washtenaw when an unknown person stabbed him, according to Chicago Police.  The man suffered a puncture wound to the abdomen and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in good condition, police said.Stop Gun Violence

Was the man Stabbed with a Gun?

The Sun Times casts great light on gun violence, but keeps the savagery of the individuals perpetrating the perpetual attacks on innocent people like toddlers, children, tourists and people walking near a Chicago park at 5:30 P.M. in any neighborhood.

This is because the Sun Times is all about making it possible for individuals to bring lawsuit against the society that protects their actions and give the lie to the pre-caste political narratives of the Chicago oligarchs. The Chicago Reader, owned by the Sun Times, calls the 19th Ward( especially Mount Greenwood)  the Upside Down.  

In short, dead fish would jump from the pages of the Sun Times, rather than be shrouded in lies.

Kennedy Park is in the Morgan Park neighborhood.  I live here.  The news media goes to great pains to portray this neighborhood as some kind of Celtic Copland-  Leave it To Beaver Oasis for White Flight Racists, where Rahm Emanuel counts upon and gets high voter turn-outs and matching Rahm Votes each election cycle.  In return, Rahm flips pancakes at Original House of Pancakes on Western, blesses a Blackhawks endowed Hockey Rink at Kennedy Park.  Rahm also solemnly nods with the news media about the people who live here, pay taxes, obey the law and call 911  more than they should.

People, white black, brown and yellow in this neighborhood as well as  Beverly and Mount Greenwood are robbed, burglarized, threatened, assaulted and mugged by thugs - frequently. With the great number of CPD, County, State and Federal law enforcement professionals residing here, one might think - The Bad Guys Know Us, But They Leave Us Alone.  No.  They get around.

Last week,  and off-duty cop was attacked by young thugs with pistols, a number of thugs came into The Upside Down to rob UPS, FEDEX and USPS deliveries.


Chicago is a Thug Comfort Zone.

A comfort zone denotes that limited set of behaviors that a person will engage without becoming anxious. Alternatively denoted as a "plateau" it describes that set of behaviors that have become comfortable, without creating a sense of risk. A person's personality can be described by his or her comfort zones. Highly successful persons may routinely step outside their comfort zones, to accomplish what they wish. A comfort zone is a type of mental conditioning that causes a person to create and operate mental boundaries that are not real. Such boundaries create an unfounded sense of security. Like inertia, a person who has established a comfort zone in a particular axis of his or her life, will tend to stay within that zone without stepping outside of it. To step outside a person's comfort zone, he must experiment with new and different behaviors, and then experience the new and different responses that then occur within his environment.

Following the thug murder of Leo High School Valedictorian, Golden Gloves Champion and college student Jason Riley in 2007, I wrote the following:

I accuse the news media of creating a Thug Comfort Zone here in Chicago. Only cases where Police can and will be accused of abuse based upon race receive any attention - the more ludicrous and outrageous accusations get tried in the public glare with the full support of cynical creeps who sit their milky fat asses on Editorial Boards.

I use cynical creeps because 1. - they are cynical - 'Let's get into it!' and sell some papers - easier than being good at your work and 2. creeps because only a creep would actively engage in 'criminal' enterprise to enrich lawyers and thugs, while bankrupting public monies and public confidence.

It is now 2017 and milky rumps remain on editorial boards and chirp about - gun violence.

Thugs feel very free to rob, steal, assault and use guns to kill people, because There's a 73% chance that Foxxx (Cook County States Attorney)won't charge you

• and another 78% chance you'll make bail, even on murder and hate crime charges
• and another 82% chance you beat the charge at court.  ( emphases and parenthetical my own) 

Thugs Kill People

Thugs Rob People

Thugs Terrorize People, because they can. 

Guns kill people, like pencils flunk tests.

Shakman Exempt Career Grifter Forrest Claypool Explains The Pad in The Sun Times

 Career Grifter and Shakman exempt Forrest Claypool CPS Boss and Ron Marmer, CPS’ top attorney are amused. So would we all, were we oligarchs and not helots.

To be "On the pad" means that someone, usually in law enforcement or other position of authority, regularly takes bribes.Detective Dolan was kicked off the force because he had been on the pad to local wiseguys for years.Urban Dictionary

Shakman Exempt - Anyone Micheal Shakman deems to be

• A-OK, on-the-level, a stand-up Progressive, really great person, who will feed all news outlets precious pieces of propaganda to ensure that no helots, their fat breeder wives, or horrible kids ever get a fair shake, much less a job dragging a shovel behind a big, blue City, operated Garbage truck and just keep their damn traps shut about how good Shakman Exempts have it . .  . well, not as good as Michael Shakman, but then again, Michael was blessed by the late Abner Mikva

• Necessary to maintaining "Our Village City," for US, By Us and only US in this urban Banana Republic

Forrest Claypool, more than any other public person in Chicago, is the perfect Progressive Shakman Statesman.

Since the fabled and idiotic 1983 Federal Decree, limited to Cook County, gelded the Cook County Democratic Committee and made a Committeeman as useless as a mint flavored suppository.

Claypool boarded the Cook County Ship of State,right after law school where he branded himself as "an attorney and served in several non-elected positions in state and county government, including deputy commissioner of the Cook County Board of Appeals and as Deputy State Treasurer " and yadda, yadda, yadda from meeting Dave Axelrod to Kopping a plea in the Chicago Sun Times this morning, and has been looting it to the scuttles ever since.

Today, Forrest fogs the facts with his love of children and heroic chinless jaw thrusting in the name of the people, as well as working his Huckleberry Hound-like-Carbondale Hillrod eyes in perplexed self-pity at being caught out.

In response to your editorial (CPS can’t afford to flunk ethics, transparency class — Aug. 12), as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, I take seriously the trust the public places in us and my responsibility to protect every dollar for our classrooms. ( scan for giggles, tittering, or rolled eyes and go thundering!)
That’s why my administration pursued (BUT never brought) a potential ( Yeah, I said Potential) civil rights lawsuit against the state of Illinois. With the district’s very survival at stake, and years of academic progress at risk because of a racially discriminatory funding system, retaining the finest legal counsel was paramount.
A last-minute settlement by Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislators altered the need for such a drastic measure. However, had the lawsuit been necessary, the skills of outside counsel could have been the difference between defeat and victory. That’s why, with the concurrence of CPS Board President Frank Clark ( AKA- The COMEd Mailroom Guy), I sought out Jenner & Block, perhaps the nation’s leading litigation firm with a proven track record in civil rights cases. CPS’ general counsel himself ( Ron Marmer, CPS’ top attorney).is one of the country’s preeminent litigators,( Ron Marmer, CPS’ top attorney.).having served as the American Bar Association’s litigation chair.
The Sun-Times’ character aspersions are beneath the well-considered views of this editorial page. Our general counsel ( Ron Marmer, CPS’ top attorney).earns a tiny fraction of his private-sector pay and the attorneys at Jenner & Block took this case at steeply discounted rates, because of their belief in the cause. Few attorneys (Ron Marmer, CPS’ top attorney). or firms of this stature and expertise would do so. . . ."

And so on with the firm belief that everyone in Cook County is a dope and  Forrest Claypool is not - he's a Shakman Exempt!

The Inspector General told the Sun Times these pearl onions of interest left out of Claypool's gimlet:

• Acting in closed session on July 27, the school board voted to pay as much as $250,000 to Jenner & Block, which spent months preparing a never-filed lawsuit against the state seeking increased funding.
• The Sun-Times reported Marmer left the law firm in 2013 but has continued to receive yearly payments of $200,000, which are to end in 2018.
• Under CPS’ code of ethics, school officials can’t have any “contract management authority” over any deal with a contractor “with whom the employee has a business relationship” — defined as any transaction worth at least $2,500 in a calendar year to the school system employee.
• According to Claypool, Marmer wasn’t involved in hiring Jenner & Block, which he said “was my decision” along with Frank Clark, the board president.
• A CPS spokeswoman declined to comment Monday. ( You Know It, Mabel!)
• The lawsuit Jenner & Block was preparing didn’t get filed because legislators and Gov. Bruce Rauner agreed on a stopgap budget deal on June 30 that’s to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding to CPS.
• Marmer and Claypool once worked together at Jenner & Block. Claypool worked there in 1982 — his first job out of law school. Marmer was at the firm from 1978 to 1993 and 1997 until 2013.
• Marmer — who had a solo law practice after leaving Jenner & Block and started his $185,000-a-year job at CPS on Nov. 2, 2015 — has made $29,000 in campaign contributions to Claypool’s bids for elected office since 2003. That includes $10,000 toward Claypool’s unsuccessful run for Cook County assessor in 2010. Marmer also gave $5,000 to Rahm Emanuel’s first campaign for mayor in 2011. (And Forrest Got the CTA! Ventra and Bomdardier!!!)
• Jenner & Block began working for CPS on March 3, though the contract with the firm that Claypool’s administration released last month was dated June 20.
• Through June 30, the firm had billed the school system for more than $182,000.
• CPS had refused to release any of the firm’s invoices for more than two months after the Sun-Times filed a public records request seeking them in May.
• The Jenner & Block lawyer who signed the deal with CPS was Randall Mehrberg, who worked for the Chicago Park District in the 1990s when Claypool was parks chief under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. State election board records show Mehrberg contributed a total of $30,500 to Claypool’s campaigns and $10,000 to Emanuel.

Let's all join hands and sing the joys we all share in our Chicago oligarchy and let's try to remember that Forrest Clypool, really, really  "takes seriously  the trust the public places in us and my responsibility to protect every dollar for our classrooms."

Stosh and Stella in Garfield Ridge can't call Cap Mizenshky, over by the Ward, to see, if, maybe, their son Marek, in the Marines after St. Rita, can get a job on the trucks, when he gets back from KAIA by the Kabul airport this September, because no that would be just Shakman wrong.  Ask Forrest Claypool.

Chicago Sun Times Wants Catholics to Shut Up - Abortion Is A Great Way For Woman to Look Better and Get Empowered!

A woman's right to choose means that she should be empowered to have Old Doc jam a sharp or blunt object into her wombed child; yank the corpse out and toss Junior's guts into a can unencumbered by civil, moral or ethical constraints whatsoever.

The Chicago Sun Times a wad of thinning sheets of howling opinion and bugger all thought slicked up some encomiums from its three readers in reaction to Catholic Bishops doing their jobs:

Catholic Church forgets other 9 commandments
Comments

November 13, 2008

I love stories about the abortion issue and the Catholic Church. The last time I checked there were 10 commandments, not just one.

They pick and choose our politicians to punish for their personal beliefs on commandment No. 5 ("Thou shalt not kill"), yet they overlook all the other ones.

How about commandment No. 6 ("Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife") or No. 7 ("Thou shalt not steal")?

Are these lesser offenses in the eyes of the Catholic Church?

Sean Lowry, Beverly

Stay out of politics
Please, as a Catholic, I ask if there isn't someone who will tell Catholic bishops to get out of politics?

Their moral stance is fine when it is applied to their religion, but not to a whole country. After all, it was not God who told us that abortion was wrong, but a group of cardinals who voted that a child was given a soul at the moment of conception rather than at the moment of birth, and it only won by one vote.

Arlene Cozzi, Lake View

George should step down
Cardinal Francis George needs to step down. Any person who does not protect innocent children needs to be replaced. He has allowed pedophiles to have close contact with children for years. That shows that something is really wrong. This is just another example of what our society thinks of children. Our laws do not protect them, because they cannot vote. So our politicians turn their backs on them.

Lea Tomassone,

River Grove

Yep, powerful commentary.

Here's the AP on the Catholic Bishops Stand on Abortion:

Cardinal Francis George told a gathering of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Monday that continued support for abortion rights will undermine any advances in social justice that come from a new president and Congress.

George, president of the bishops group, said: ''we must all rejoice'' that an African American will be in the White House for the first time in a country that ''once enshrined slavery'' in law.
But he said the U.S. still violates universal human rights by keeping abortion legal.

''The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice,'' George said.

His speech didn't directly address the policies of President-elect Barack Obama, who is Protestant, and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, who is Roman Catholic. Both men support abortion rights and take other stands that differ from Catholic teaching.

At a later news conference, George said bishops are preparing to lobby the Obama administration on policies that diverge from Catholic teaching on marriage, abortion and other issues.

AP

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The Chicago Sun Times while sinking like a doughball in the gullet of a Kankakee River Channel Catfish, fights for a woman's right to cosmetically get rid of excess weight brought on by sexual relations. Abortion is no more than liposuction, if one has no moral root. In my experience, the only women who have ever argued stridently for abortion seemed to be as willing to toss husbands, unruly pets and even their unaborted children. Too much bother. 'Get that Duck out of MY Oven!'

The Pink T-Shirts of Planned Parenthood stayed in the wearhouse this Campaign Cycle, but the fashionable and smart ladies who Salon will be out in full howl and the Chicago Sun Times will whine its way into oblivion.

Father Bob Barron had nice explanation that would be lost on the threeMetro Chicagoans getting their Shouts Out with the Sun Times above - you see the Catholic Church is not the Democratic Party! Troubling, LuLu?

The problem here is that the social teaching of the church flows necessarily from and is subordinated to the doctrinal convictions of classical Christianity. We care for the poor precisely because we are all connected to one another through the acts of creation and redemption. More to it, we worry about the marginalized precisely because all of us are cells, molecules and organs in a mystical body whose head is Christ risen from the dead. And our work on behalf of social justice is nourished by the Eucharist, which fully realizes and expresses the living dynamics of the mystical communion.

Read more - read something -http://www.catholicnewworld.com/cnwonline/2008/1109/faithculture.aspx

Abortion is an evil. Parse up a Nuanced storm.

Oh, Bitter Dicta! Sun Times Editorial Board Re-Writes St. Francis to Welcome Pope Francis

 Listen to her!  About what*, I have absolutely no clue.

St. Francis, though born to wealth and position, cared nothing for material things and even less for hierarchy or rules. Sun Times Editorial 3/14/13

Pope Francis no sooner appeared through the curtains of the Papal window above St. Peter's Square than the 40 Watt powered intellects of the Sun Times Editorial Team ( read Carol Marin) decided to do a solid for abortion - gay marriage happy and sacerdotal ordination sappy nuns.  Now, though Ms. Marin is not, per se, a member of this august opinion panel, the tracks of her tears for the protesting nuns flood this tabloid. Hence, today's Papal Marin-ade!

Too often in recent decades, the Catholic Church has been defined — and defined itself — by what it opposes in modern life. It has stood mightily against abortion. It has opposed premarital sex and all forms of contraception. It has opposed same-sex marriage.

It has opposed the ordination of women as priests. It has called on the carpet American nuns whose only offense was to look and sound a little too liberal, focusing on issues of poverty and health care rather than on abortion.

While Chicago Catholics obviously are not of one mind on such public policy issues, we suspect they share our concern that the Church should be less a “party of no” and more a force for enlightened good. (emphases my own)

Egads, Citizens!  Pope City is GOP Headquarters!

Placing the Church universal in the Carol Marinade might boost interest among Ms. Marin's legion of fan in taking a gander, in deference to the geese, at her Sun Times Video All About Carol World print and electronic app, but  it is spoiled sauce.

First of all this editorial balloon juice holds that the 13th Century mystic monk  "cared nothing for material things and even less for hierarchy or rules."

Francis of Assisi was not named Francis by Mom and Pop.   He was baptized Giovanni son of Pietro and his bride Pica:  Pete and Pica's boy Jack..  Old Pete did pretty well as a merchant.  This was the time of the Crusades, which did more for building the middle class of Europe than it did freeing Jerusalem from the Turks and like any doting Dad, Old Pete decked the kid out in some snappy duds and tossed him the keys to the charabanc, or a stallion.

So taken was opulent young Jack with the latest fashions from . . .France! . . .that Old Pete started calling the boy Frenchy, or Franchesco - "No one loved pleasure more than Francis; he had a ready wit, sang merrily, delighted in fine clothes and showy display. Handsome, gay, gallant, and courteous, he soon became the prime favourite among the young nobles of Assisi, the foremost in every feat of arms, the leader of the civil revels, the very king of frolic." Thomas of Celano

Giovanni is no different from all  regular guys universal and historical .  One of the rites of passage is having other people define you in recognition of physical traits, quirks of character, or unresolved issues in manly development - to some tepidly blooded individual that is called bullying.  A guy with a head the size of a boulder in a Gene Autry movie might be called Headsy; one with auditory appendages that give him the appearance of a Taxi speeding at you with its driver and passenger side doors open, might be the recipient of the appellation Ears. Frenchy it was; thus, it shall be.

The kid went off to the army of Assisi , which had its collective ass handed to it by Perugia and Frenchy became a POW. Being a prisoner of war, even for a well-to-do kid of privilege, wakes one up I imagine and I am sure that Franceso of the Army Assisi learned all about cold, hunger, loneliness and pain.  Old Pete eventually bought the lad out and Pete's boy returned to his roistering ways, which got the boy pretty run-down and liverish.

Frenchy slowed down his alcoholic intake, laid off the trans fatty acids and gave the bread basket a pass.With the  spare time clean living afforded him, Frenchy took to reflection, meditation and prayer.  He had changed.

He had changed so much that he decided his rather brief military dreams should allow God to turn the swords into crosses.  He would command Crusaders for the Pope - that's hierarchy by the way. Guess what Frenchy asked permission to group like minded gents, not ladies, to form up with him to help the Church. Instead of chasing skirts and busting heads in gin-mills Frenchy and his pals went about nursing lepers and eventually sold their colorful high-priced duds and bling and now sported wool tunics the color of donkeys and jackasses.  At first these guys were hooted at and verbally bullied, but managed to act in a manner that was on-the-level.  More guys wanted to good. Just like in real life.

Francis asked permission to form the Friars Minor - the little brothers; not the big shots.  They had no 13th Centiry ad men designing frescoes to tout The Frenchy Report is a fast-paced, insightful look at the day's top news from renowned Perugia POW and Veteran monk Frenchy Assisi. Watch it each weekday at noon. Instead he wrote THE RULE OF THIRD ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR!

St. Francis, though born to wealth and position, cared nothing for material things and even less for hierarchy or rules. Sun Times Editorial 3/14/13

One -Frenchy cared for material goods and services -BUt he gave them a pass.
Two -Frenchy respected authority and sought out permission from the Hierarchy
Three- He not only followed the rules; he wrote the Rules.

It seems to me that the ego-maniacal Ms. Marin bullied the balance of board into making the paper's Gaudeamus Papam an idiotic Progressivo Monialis Edictum - Rebel Nunsense.  The disident nuns are not to be confused with the real nuns.  The disident nuns are whackjobs who demand that priests be women, Catholic doctrine must be acceptable to Pope Bill Moyers and WTTW and that heart wants what the heart wants.  I never run into the dissident nuns, because I work at a Catholic school.  Dissident nuns have time on the hands. Real nuns are too busy actually doing some good.

This silly editorial demand that the Nuns be Heard! by Pope Francis.Who, Pope, Preacher, or Pimp has NOT heard the loud Ladies of Liturgical Dance?   Again, the answer will be a resounding no. A priest is a guy.  Two guys can not make a baby.  Promiscuity can not be parsed.

The dissident nun is unhappy.  She is a woman.  The Church hierarchy is guys.  For too many dissident nuns, becoming an Anglican (Episcopalian priest) is no-longer an option due to age and Unitarians do not have Nun Retirement communities.  Unhappy.

Sad to say, these unhappy women will never cheer up.

If the editorial geniuses can be so wrong about their initial premise ( Francis WAS a Rebel Marxist), imagine how wrong, silly, sad and stupid the rest of the piece can be . . .on so many levels.

 Sun Times Editorial Board? As far as I know,  the Editorial Page Editor is Tom McNamee and he has help.

 Obiter Dicta - An obiter dictum is a remark or observation made by a judge that, although included in the body of the court's opinion, does not form a necessary part of the court's decision. 

Matt O'Shea Works for the Good and Fran Spielman Mocks the WorK

 

“I am proud of this effort which makes it easier for our City agencies to crackdown on illicit massage parlors as well as identify some of the most vulnerable victims in our communities. This ordinance reduces barriers to inspecting these illegitimate victims and mandates preventative measures. Not only will we make our communities safer, but we will also provide the opportunity for legitimate small business growth in Chicago,” said O’Shea.    

 Ald. O’Shea seeks to rub out massage parlor abuses: Fran Spielman Headline Sun Times

I know of no massage parlors in Beverly, Morgan Park, or Mount Greenwood and that is a pretty good sized chunk of Alderman Matt O'Shea's 19th Ward. Matt O'Shea wants to hurt human traffickers who supply some massage parlors with children.  Fran Spielman of Chicago Sun Times ridicules this good work.

On Sunday, I chatted with the Alderman as he directed a blood and bone marrow drive at St. John Fisher Parish for two year old Beau Dowling.  As I read the questionnaire for donating to Life Source, O'Shea assured me that he would help me with the more difficult words like "injections and vaccinations" - He went to Mount Carmel, by the way. We did not discuss his proposed ordinance to levy greater fines and fees upon operators of massage parlors who benefit from human trafficking.

Human trafficking is slavery.

When I worked at Leo High School in late 1990's, the now abandoned and massive motel on the east side of Halsted between 83rd and 79th Street was home to a score of 15-18 year old Eastern European girls enslaved by pimps, drug dealers and the politicians who protect them.  These girls worked Racine, Vincennes and Halsted and were at death's door.  They were carefully guarded by armed men.  Leo Principal and President Bob Foster made some powerful noise with the 17th Ward and the command at District 6.  The Hotel was shut down.

Enslaved girls, very few Caucasians, continue to work Racine, Vincennes, Halsted, Ashland, Loomis & etc in Zip code 60620.  No central headquarters. The clientele continues to be a Rainbow of diversity - white working men, black entrepreneurs, Hispanic Padrones and I have even spied the odd Asian gent 'looking for love in all the wrong places.'

The massage parlor seems to be more of a suburban phenomenon to me. Where I live, high school romances blossom into families connected to a house of worship. The 19th Ward is pretty unevolved and not very HBO.  I have no doubt that various sins of the flesh get sampling here and there, but for the life me it is not a norm.  Mr. Spaulding, Mr. Talman, Mr. Washtenaw and Mr. Rockwell don't frequent sex spas; they go to Hinky Dinks, Cork & Kerry, Harte's, Dingers, McNally's, Hippos and TR's.  Horizontal refreshment, not so much; liquid refreshment - Hell, yes.

However, people who live around a church seem to appreciate children from birth and very often through adulthood.  All children matter- black, Asian, challenged, boys, girls and uncertain.    That is why Matt O'Shea had a more than husky crowd of blood donors this past Sunday.

Human trafficking pisses off parents.  Matt O'Shea introduced  this City ordinance even though the 19th Ward is a Massage Parlor Desert.  Matt O'Shea is what an elected official should be - a hard working neighbor who respects the people who vote for him.  He is a vanishing breed.

Why would Fran Spielman and the Sun Times editorial board make a sophomoric joke of O'Shea's ordinance?

Massage Parlors where the happy endings take place are hilarious?  Dreamers forced into prostitution and drugged numb make great snark?  The concerns of a Breeder Catholic whose Ward does not even have a massage parlor are ludicrous?

All of the above.  The same giggling snobs who have crashed journalism into the loam and made Donald Trump more than palatable to traditionally Democratic voters like me, get approval in hipper quarters of the City.  Here are some comments found in DNAinfo Chicago:

  abby1997  May 22, 2017 "Nothing else better to go after"

  con-man  May 22, 2017 "Damn it, gone are some of my favorites. I was so "happy" with their service!!!

  jackie-rose  May 22, 2017 "This is stupid, I doubt anyone working there was being trafficked. But the definition has been expanded to include consenting adults. Doesn't bother me if it's happening behind closed doors."  

SteveTheCubsFan  May 23, 2017 "This is definitely not a priority for our city.  What a complete waste of police manpower.  We would be better served if they went after all the idiots that endanger people's lives everyday, while trying to drive and use smartphones.  Better yet, how about the gangs, guns, and theft that is so rampant throughout the entire city?  Go back to Beverly.  What a grandstanding a**.

How about them gangs, guns and theft, SteveTheCubFan?  Sounds like this tulip is all aboard for that Textalyzer ordinance.  Tres Hip!

That was from  DNAinfo Chicago, mind you.

The Sun Times ditched commentary long ago.   They give opinion - they do not require yours.

Matt O'Shea is a very good Alderman.  He is a great elected official.

Fran Spielman works for the Chicago Sun Times.

Ray Coffey -The Ear of the Grunt in Vietnam Gave Voice to Truth in Chicago

Ray Coffey covered the Vietnam War for nearly three years in the 1960s, marching through swamps with U.S. soldiers and winning journalism awards in the process. ( from Chicago Sun Times) Click my post title for the tribute to Ray Coffey.



Mr. Ray Coffey was a great friend to the kids of Leo High School for whom he always had time - to listen.

God bless you Holly Coffey! God bless all of your kids! God Bless the heart of Ray Coffey that made his ear the organ and conduit of truth in Chicago Journalism.

Ray Coffey 'gave his ears a chance.' That rule is lost on too many of us who want to hear the sounds of our own voices rather than articulate a means to bring people together. In America's most divisive war - Vietnam - Ray Coffey turned his ears to voices of the kids taking the shots from the enemy and returning their fire. Ray Coffey endured the horrific pounding of General Giap's artillery from hills around Khe Sahn with the Marines, while Brooks Brothers journalists took notes from command sources.

Ray Coffey listened to Ronald Reagan. He listened to Civil Rights Marchers. Coffey listened to cops and firemen. His ears were not the sole property of agendas or or strategic demographic initiatives.

Chicagoans read the thoughts and feelings of people through the pen and the typewriter of Ray Coffey.

Ray Coffey went home to Christ this weekend. He leaves a gaping hole in our hearts, but thick body of writing that accurately reflects our American times.

This is from Governor George Ryan's proclamation of Illinois Ray Coffey Day:



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 30, 1999



Governor Ryan Proclaims December 30, 1999 As Ray Coffey Day



CHICAGO -- Governor George H. Ryan today congratulated Raymond R. Coffey on 38 years of service in the windy city working on newspaper business and announced that Thursday, December 30, 1999 will be proclaimed as Raymond R. Coffey Day.

"Many have said that Ray Coffey is an indelible name in Chicago journalism and that when you read his columns one hears the voice of Chicago," Ryan said. "To that I will add that the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times newspapers are all the better for having Ray Coffey's name appear on their pages."

At the age of 70 years old, Coffey will end his journalism career after working as a columnist and editorial board member at the Chicago Sun-Times from 1987 through 1999. Most of his newspaper days were spent with the Chicago Daily News from 1961 to 1978. Before signing on with the Sun-Times, Coffey began working at the Tribune in 1978.

Since before Ryan joined government service, the governor noted that Coffey has been reporting on political events and even worked at the UPI bureau in Springfield. Although he grew up in Racine, WI, Coffey adopted Chicago as his hometown and raised his seven children there with his wife, Holly.

"I consider it an honor to be able to name a day on behalf of a civic-minded, compassionate journalist like Ray Coffey, " Ryan said. "And I challenge all aspiring journalists to look to Ray for inspiration on how to do it right. To Ray, I want to say thank you. The newspaper business is better today because you were a part of it."

Thank you Ray Coffey!

HuffPo Chicago Launders and Sun Times Chokes on the Cook County Crypt Keeper

When not declaring dead folks anathematizamus, Zeus and Toni Preckwinkle like to get their opera on!

Man, just when you think that Todd Akin is the champion clod in the U.S.of A,  Cook County Board President and Crypt Keeper Toni Preckwinkle raises the bar on stupid.

Huffington Post -the Hollywood Squares of Third Rate opinion - fails to give Chicago meme-gobblers a Taste of Toni. Naturalment.  Greek Golddigger Arianna's stable of nags includes check-kiting felon and hubby to the always hilarious Jan Schalowsky, Bob Creamer.  The local talent is comprised of Windy City Times and SEIU mouthpieces - its missioning rubric should read -Keep it Stupid, Simple! They went dark on Toni's damnation of Old Dutch. There is no mention of Toni Preckwinkle's post-mortem anathema of President Ronald Reagan from yesterday's leadership confab run by Governor Fatuous Ninny-Emeritus Jim Edgar at U. of I. in downstate Illinois.

Laundered.  Memory Hole'd.

Even the Editorial Cheerleaders of the Chicago Sun Times needed to choke back it's previous white-wash of
Toni Preckwinkle's stewardship over the warehouse of stiffs at the County Morgue.  The Sun Times Editorialistas had, only hours before, run the ink-wagon over their columnists scoop-interview with the former County employee who was fitted for the Morgue Mess jacket, by the wife of Zeus and new Medusa President Toni "Crypt Keeper" Preckwinkle. Voila!

Even as we were writing the editorial to the left on Tuesday in praise of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle for her enlightened approach to juvenile justice, she was stepping in it Downstate.
Participating in a panel discussion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Preckwinkle remarked that former President Ronald Reagan deserves “a special place in hell” for his role in the war on drugs.
When the audience gasped, she asked, “What? You didn’t like that?”
Reasonable people can disagree on the Reagan administration’s drug policies. Reasonable people can believe, as we do, that he took too much of a punitive law enforcement approach, rather than a public health approach.
But we can disagree on policies without — quite literally — condemning the man.
Perhaps Preckwinkle momentarily thought she was back home in Hyde Park, trading liberal quips over wine and cheese.

 Mmmmmm, Perhaps? You think?

Nope. Toni kicks corpses - the late Saul Bellow, the multi-tiered Departed at Morgue(s) Cook County and why not the let President Ronald Reagan?

The Sun Times wants you to believe that Toni Preckwinkle is a deep thinker, a later day Simone de Beauvoir, when in fact she is a 40 Watt sour-puss.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chicago/
http://www.suntimes.com/opinions/14636041-474/editorial-toni-preckwinkles-goofy-circle-of-hell.html

Forrest Claypool - Quare desine/Why Resign? Club Fed, n'cest pas?

Quare Desine- Latin:  Why resign?

Forrest Claypool resigned on December 8, 2017 - A day that will live in someone's calendar.

Why? Quare desine,  as  the Latin Fathers asked. Here' a bit of Why

Claypool wanted CPS to hire Jenner & Block to handle the case. The firm’s lawyer who signed the deal with the Claypool administration was Randall Mehrberg. He’d been the top lawyer for the Chicago Park District in the 1990s, when Claypool was parks chief under then-mayor Richard M. Daley. Mehrberg later gave tens of thousands of dollars to Claypool’s political campaigns.
Mehrberg also was a volunteer adviser to Claypool in the mayor’s office when Claypool was Emanuel’s chief of staff, in 2015.
After Claypool went to CPS, Mehberg left City Hall, too. He went to work at Jenner & Block, where he began focusing on what would be CPS’ case against the state.
On March 1, 2016, Mehrberg sent a message to Claypool from his new job: “I started at Jenner today. I will get the file opened.”
Two days later, the firm started billing CPS, records show.
Claypool wanted Marmer to supervise the Jenner & Block lawyers working for the cash-strapped public schools. And Marmer did, the Chicago Sun-Times has reported, citing internal emails.
By April 2016, Mehrberg had sent Marmer copies of a draft lawsuit, and Marmer reported to Claypool on the case’s progress. Also that month, Mehrberg emailed Claypool to tell him he and Marmer had a “good conversation” about the planned suit.
“Great,” Claypool replied.
But there was one problem. Under the school system’s ethics code, officials can’t supervise the work of any CPS contractor with whom they have a “business relationship.” And Marmer was getting a $1 million severance package from Jenner & Block, in five $200,000 yearly installments through 2018.
Four in-house lawyers agreed Marmer shouldn’t be supervising his old employers. Two outside lawyers consulted in the spring of 2016 agreed.
But Claypool scurried to find a seventh — this time favorable — legal opinion from political supporter J. Timothy Eaton in June 2016.
By that time — May 12, 2016 — the Sun-Times had filed the first in a series of Freedom of Information Act requests for CPS records on the deal.
CPS didn’t comply with the requests until after the school board approved the deal with Jenner & Block in late July 2016. A Sun-Times report on the issue prompted CPS Inspector General Nicholas Schuler to begin investigating.
On Tuesday — 16 months later — Schuler handed Board of Ed members a searing report that called for Claypool’s firing, saying the CEO lied repeatedly to him in a “full-blown cover-up” of a clear ethical violation by Marmer.
Schuler wrote that Claypool refused to pay one of the outside lawyers and got the other to alter the work description on his firm’s invoices, all to hide what was going on.
“None of this should have happened,” Schuler said.

Quare desine?  Why resign?

“None of this should have happened,” Schuler said.

No, it should not have happened and the Sun Time and the Tribune and the goofs at WTTW and WBEZ knew  all along that some shoe was about to drop and they were helping the powers that be make hurt go away.

The media never takes a chance at losing access - sneedless to say.

The 5th Floor's reliable Sneed of the Sun Times wrote this on December 6th:

Well, that may no longer be a question in the case of former top cop Garry McCarthy, who detests Mayor Rahm Emanuel — the man who fired him — and the man whose job he wants.“An announcement on McCarthy’s decision could come as soon as the aftermath of the Super Bowl,” said a top McCarthy supporter who cites recent polling as a hopeful sign McCarthy will green-light a bid next month for mayor of Chicago.
“The polling was encouraging,” the source said.
Sneed has learned a polling firm called We Ask America, which is run by XPS, described as “a political fulfillment firm owned by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association,” did some polling “which did not shut the door” on the McCarthy movement, a top political source said.
• Backshot: A McCarthy for Mayor Exploratory Committee was created after papers were filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections in mid-September.• Big bucks shot: “Garry knows the campaign is going to cost $10 million and he’s got a lot of  money to raise — and it’s not going to happen until he gets into the race,” said the source, who is one of his backers — but asked to remain anonymous.
“But from what we’ve seen so far his sidewalk support is huge. . . . I can’t tell you how many people come up to him on the street and ask him to run. I’ve been with him when it happens and it is astounding. And we’ve heard rumblings Rahm’s approval rating is not great.”
• Upshot: But an attempt to reach McCarthy was unsuccessful on Wednesday.

The Same Day - the usually reliable Fran Spielman wrote this:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in a no-win position now that Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool has been exposed as a liar and the architect of a cover-up.
If Emanuel fires Claypool, he’ll be turning his back on a friend of nearly 40 years whose tenure has included impressive results on both the education and school funding fronts.
The mayor would also be emboldening the Chicago Teachers Union in the run-up to the 2019 mayoral election by serving up the head on a platter the union has long demanded.
If Emanuel keeps Claypool — even after he “repeatedly lied” to Inspector General Nicholas Schuler — it will invite CPS employees to do the same, send a dangerous message to students and gamble that a schools CEO whose integrity has been tarnished can still function.

Uh, oh!!!!!!!!! Conflict!!!!! Bet a call from the Nine Digit Midget on Five shook up Comrades Tom Frisbee and Tom McNamee a bit.

On December 8th, Fran Spielman wrote this about Rahm orchestrated public fellation for Forrest:

On Friday, Emanuel called his longtime friend “selfless” at least half a dozen times in as many minutes as he praised Claypool for restoring faith in the schools after his predecessor, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, left amid a bribery scandal that sent her to prison.
“He can walk out with his head high because he did the job well, and he will always be my friend,” the mayor said. “He did a great job for the children of the city of Chicago.
“Wherever he has worked, he’s left an incredible, indelible mark on every endeavor,” Emanuel said. “He has been selfless, and more than just selfless, he has been courageous to take on institutional inertia and make the entity — whether it was the park district, the CTA or CPS — better.”
In the 103-page report Schuler delivered to the school board Tuesday, he painted a different picture of Claypool. He said he “repeatedly lied” during the investigation of Marmer for overseeing work for CPS done by his former law firm even as he was receiving payments toward a $1 million severance. (emphasis my own) 
 

And?

How about asking if Claypool doctored the wording on Marmer's contract?

That is a felony, or as Claypool weaseled, “Good men can make stupid mistakes.”

Do good men lie and shop for lawyers in the pursuit of justice for CPS kids?

More telling though is this - Why is the Chicago media slow-rolling a block-buster scandal?

Why is Fran Spielman backpedaling? Here is a hint:

David Axelrod, formerly a top aide in the Obama White House and a close friend of Emanuel and Claypool, had predicted Thursday that Claypool would remain in office.
“The mayor never asked him to” resign, Axelrod said after Claypool quit. “But it’s also obvious that this would be an issue as we enter political season, and that would make it hard to do the job.”

Why bring out Comb-over Dave?

Abusing Federal budget - cover-ups after the crime!  Claypool a practiced lawyer has two or more predicate acts in the Marmer case alone commited by by the head of an organization and a criminal conspiracy with his old college rommie? Can you say RICO?

Why resign?

Hell, why not indict?

I think the Feds are snuffling very close to Rahm's rump and where Rahm's rump ranges, there you will find  Claypool.

The media, as expected the Sun Times and as follows the Tribune ( with the exception of John Kass) works for City Hall the County Building and the money infrastructure of Illinois all serving the few - the clouted and the bullet proof.

Things are chaotic with that crazy old Trump in the White House and even crazier with an independent Justice Department.

The Tribune wrote this weasel-word editorial for Forrest and Rahm the day before Forrest Claypool resigned"

Is this a firing offense? Based on what we know, no. We take ethics in government — and everywhere else — seriously. We strongly support the IG’s role in keeping a vigilant eye on CPS brass. You don’t need a long memory to recall that the last CPS chief, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, now resides in prison on corruption charges.
But every rules violation isn’t a firing offense. This looks like a case in which the actions that drew the ire of the IG in the first place are less serious than later efforts to cover them up. But lying to the ethics watchdog is a serious matter. We think Claypool now understands that.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Board of Education members should consider the high stakes here. Ask yourselves: Are Chicago’s schoolchildren better off today because Claypool leads the district? We think the answer is an unqualified yes. Claypool was whistled in to do a grueling job: Get CPS in shape. He deserves a large share of credit for helping to shore up the district’s finances and boost its academic performance.
One more factor: From what we’ve heard, there’s plenty of friction between Claypool and Schuler. They’ve battled over the IG’s report on problems at the school at Cook County Jail, for example. We don’t know where all of this is headed.
For now, Claypool is on notice that he can’t pick and choose which ethics policies he’ll follow. This brouhaha may or may not get him fired. Everyone else who thinks ethics rules maybe don’t apply to them — including politicians and school officials — watch and learn.

Bite me, Bruce!

Watch this - from your editorial yesterday:

 It’s easy to see why Claypool concluded that he couldn’t continue under an ethics cloud. Even if he had the support of Emanuel, the optics of Inspector General Nicholas Schuler’s report were terrible. Headlines about how Claypool engaged in a “full-blown cover-up.” And how the schools chief “pushed the matter beyond all bounds when he chose to lie through two separate OIG interviews,” in the words of Schuler’s report.
“It goes without saying that if any line employee had done that much, he or she would be fired,” the report concluded.
We didn’t think Claypool’s transgressions amounted to a firing offense.

No. it is a felony.  Did Claypool doctor a contract ( one of many, many, many more - Ventra/Bombardier) ? Hmmmm?

Claypool, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked schools chief, has staunchly defended Marmer’s actions since the Sun-Times reported last year that Marmer is getting the $1 million package from Jenner & Block LLP, the Chicago firm hired to help CPS sue the state to try to win more funding for city schools.
But Schuler says six lawyers — four at CPS and two from outside firms — privately advised school officials that Marmer was violating the ethics code by supervising Jenner & Block’s work.
Only after CPS went to a seventh lawyer, in June 2016, did Claypool secure a legal opinion defending Marmer’s conduct. That opinion came from J. Timothy Eaton, a lawyer who has contributed to Claypool’s political campaigns.
“The clear inference is that Claypool had to shop through six lawyers until he found a seventh one who would publicly clear Marmer,” Schuler wrote to the Board of Education in the confidential report, which the Sun-Times reviewed

Good men make mistakes. Right?

 Political Weasels and Career Grifters lie, hide, doctor and cover-up.

Why Resign?  Quare desine?

Is it because the Feds are about to put the bracelets on some protected Progressive Species?


Rahm Emanuel?
Claypool?
Mike Quigley ( with Claypool over the voting machines?)

Maybe all  squirming in one big net?

The media knows and is not saying.  They will know when we know.  That is why we have contempt for the media - they print and report only what they want.

Fran Spielman indicated that she was on to something on December 8th.   Why back off?

Maybe we already know answer.

Things are chaotic!  It's a crisis!  Let's not waste a crisis!

Hugo and Get these Premiums for Sun Scribing to the Daily Worker . . Chicago Sun Times

The Workers Pal The New Chicago Sun Times- never a disappointment since Madame Commisar Reed's July 15th Manifesto!

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/reed/468729,CST-EDT-reeded15.article

All Hailed By the Peoples Free Press last week!

http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/hottype/070720/

From the Manifesto on we have been treated to showers of homages to Lefty Lawyers (The Loevy- Flint - Locke Combine) who sue the HELL out of taxpayers and toss vitriol into the mug of Each and Every Chicago Police Officer.


Today, the Editorial Politburo kicks Cook County States Attorney Dick Devine for keeping Professionals - lawyers - out of a union. Every Worker must Fight This Devine Monarch! Good Grief!

Now, how about The Sun Times supporting SEIU's efforts to get Sam Walton, Bill Gates, Oprah, Sumner Redstone, and other 'non-orgainized' workers to develop Plutocrats Local # 1 of the International Violent Oppressors of the Workers Union. These people have rights! 'Oh, That Dick Devine Makes The Combine so Angry!'

http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/489388,CST-NWS-contro30.article

But a Voice of Reason and Common Sense sneaked one in under the Radar!

Thought Criminal Shout Out to Common Sense Afflicted Neil Steinberg - the Man always makes sense to people who actually work for a living. Today he gives Progressive America's Favorite Commie Dictator a kick while reporting on the Democratic pillow fight between Hilary 'Chesty' Clinton and Barack 'Phat Barry' Obama over whether or not to ice out pin-heads. Neil Steinberg offers this common sense

'if only we'd treat these tin pot despots with the respect they crave, why then maybe they'd be our friends. My gut tells me that kind of sincerity only works in the movies.

It's bad enough we have the United Nations as a gilded frame for whichever lunatic dictator can make his way to the podium. We don't want to make the White House into "American Idol" for our enemies.' Good On You, Neil!

I think Neil is in for some mandatory TWO MINUTES HATE TIME in CST's AV Room: WE HATE TRADES UNIONS: WE HATE LAW ENFORCEMENT: WE HATE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT ENAMORED WITH SUING THEMSELVES INTO OBLIVION!

Or Maybe Neil will need to handle the NEW SUN SCRIBERS ACCOUNT - New subscriptions get TWO(2) Hugo Action Figures! Like the recent subscriber - SUNSCRIBER - gent below!

http://illinoisdemnet.com/node?page=1


Hi Ms Reed,

I read your article "Time to Move These Pages Forward -- with a Return to Our Past" and took great encouragement from it.

I don't think it's particularly provocative or earth-shaking to give a byline to yet another person with "libertarian/conservative views" -- as you've done with Steve Huntley -- but I'm willing to give you and the Sun-Times the benefit of the doubt as far as your intentions are concerned.

For that reason I will subscribe to your paper (the first paper I've ever subscribed to in my life) and I will recommend that others do likewise.

What I find particularly heartening is your realization that Chicago deserves a paper that reflects the "ethnic and social diversity of our city". But most importantly, and I hope you take this to heart, we deserve a paper that reflects our values -- the values of working people who believe in equality and a positive role for government.

Time after time in the city of Chicago, we've voted overwhelming for people who reflect these values. It's about time we got a newspaper that reflected them as well.

Sincerely,

Leo Klein
Chicago, IL

Independent Illinois Grassroots: IllinoisDemNet.com

These Hugo Action - Political Action! - Figures - will keep deep thinkers busy for hours - mapping out the ultimate mobilization of cadres of workers and afflicted until a class free society emerges! Diversity through Unanimity! One World; One Thought!

Neil - keep writing! Even if they want to try to make you Winston Smith.

Dennis Byrne Reveals - Personal PAC Commands the Good Ship Quinn

doublewide at 3:26 AM November 15, 2011
Byrne this boat has sailed long ago give it up! from Chicago Tribune Comments

Dennis Byrne is a Chicago Newsman. Ballyhooed by the Progressives who are so glad that they are no longer around, Chicago Newsmen reported and presented an independent voice free of political tentacles. Chicago Newsmen like Dennis Byrne, the late, great Ray Coffey, Mike Royko, Steve Neal, Basil Talbott, John McHugh, Herman Kogan, S.E. Kiser Robert Herguth,and Nick Von Hoffman are praised but never emulated by the contemporary species of ink-slinger.

The narrative is controlled. The narrative is pre-determined and pre-set for type. . .or font.

Chicago's supine media, to quote the late Tom Roeser, is in-the-tank for Progressive everything. Nowhere is that more in evidence than with the editorial boards of the two extant Chicago Dailies and the iconic "Ain't They Great" columnists.

The narrative is controlled. The story line of reports are edited to fit the Procrustean Progressive racks and the Opinion if Progressive agenda driven.

Gainful Employment for Protected Species - Forrest Claypool, Terry Cosgrove, Sheila Simon, & etc.

Gay Marriage is a must

Police Torture, though there has not been one conviction in the three decades of journalistic partnership with G. Flint Taylor's Peoples Law Office, is doctrine.

Redistribution of Wealth via Ralphie Martire's Pie-Charts is legislation

Public Schools are a howling success and need more money -For the Children!

Systemic Racism determines everything and anything from breakfast to black-on-back crime

Sexual Predators avoid meat on Friday, say the Memorare and conduct May Crownings

Sexual Preference is a Civil Right

Marriage is for White People - the stupid ones.

Bullying is a wholly owned subsidiary of LGBT industries

Abortion is cosmetic choice

Human Life begins and ends with the State.

Former Governor Pat Quinn turned to Planned Parenthood's Illinois Personal PAC President Terry Cosgrove when the Illinois Catholic Bishops yelled at Quinn and hurt his feelings for participating in Personal PAC's Awards Dinner.

Terry Cosgrove deftly gamed the media and took hold of the story, for the Governor who could not find a Chinaman on 22nd Street. The Bishops it seems hurt the feelings of a person being awarded for her efforts to advance the Cause of Women killing babies.

Dennis Byrne revisited this Orwellian gambit today. The ever-ready Vox Abortus a coalition of Gay Rights and Abortion activists turned on the News Cycle hate - much longer than two minutes.

Byrne pointed out the secular issue:

Outfits like Personal PAC would prefer to fight this issue on purely secular grounds, insisting that people who have a moral compass butt out. So let's consider this controversy from a purely secular perspective.

In that light, Quinn provides a lesson in Illinois' pay-to-play politics. He owes Personal PAC large. The group gave more than $400,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to Quinn's campaign. It ran its own TV ad campaign at a critical time. Terry Cosgrove, head of Personal PAC, was appointed to a $46,960-a-year seat on the state's Human Rights Commission.

The bishops' criticism targets Quinn's betrayal of his faith. My criticism is that Personal PAC is not just your average political action committee. It represents the most extreme political views about questions of life, and it's every bit as extreme as it accuses the Catholic Church of being.

Personal PAC opposes common sense regulations that would allow parents to be notified if their child is set for an abortion. Not only do Americans strongly support such parental notification, but according to a Gallup poll that was updated Nov. 11, 71 percent favor laws requiring parental consent for juveniles, education about possible risks of an abortion (87 percent), a 24-hour waiting period (69 percent), a ban on partial-birth abortions in the last six months of pregnancy (64 percent) and that patients be shown a pre-abortion ultrasound. Answers are similar for both men and women. Pro-choicers of Personal PAC's stripe oppose every one of them, arguing they cramp the "right to choose."

Personal PAC's position can be summed up by its support of proposed state legislation called the Reproductive Health and Access Act. It would grant an absolute right for any elective abortion before viability . It also would grant the right to an abortion at any time during pregnancy when it's "necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant woman."

Who's To Say - the Progressive Mantra - works everyday!

Pat Quinn got elected Governor by promising the moon and stars to members of the Skilled Trades and Industrial unions. Absent from Quinn-A-Rama's were the XXXL Purple T-Shirts of SEIU. Quinn was a working guy. Quinn delivered for the public service unions and Pipe-fitters, Carpenters, Electricians, Operating Engineers, Millwrights, Iron Workers, Teamsters, and Machinists are getting laid off by the cohort. Abortion, Gay Marriage, Cop Torture, and State Welfare are doing just fine thank you.

In fact, the compelling narrative has shifted from Quinn to Speaker Madigan for the next few weeks.

All the while, a real Chicago Newsman, Dennis Byrne stays on the story of Personal PAC's ( Terry Cosgrove et al) control of the Goodship Paddy Quinn.








Dennis Byrne

1998-Present: Freelance writer and consultant
• Writing under my own byline and ghostwriting.
• Appearing weekly as Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist (2000 to present) and regular contributor to RealClearPolitics.com, Human Events, PoliticalMavens and other publications
• Chicago Sun-Times freelance op-ed columnist appearing twice weekly (1998 to 2000).
• Commercial writing of many kinds for corporate, governmental and other clients.
• Consulting on public affairs matters and public relations.

1986-1998: Chicago Sun-Times
• Columnist: Appearing up to four times weekly in Commentary section; writing on public policy, political, economic, cultural and other topics of my choosing.
• Editorial Board Member: Responsible for setting newspaper’s editorial policy, writing editorials, endorsing political candidates and interviewing government office holders, corporate executives, civic and community leaders, and a multitude of others.


1984-1986: Director of Public Relations, Specialty Chemicals Division, AlliedSignal, Inc., Des Plaines, IL
• Responsible for public relations for this $1-billion regional headquarters of a Fortune 50 company. Helped move the company’s corporate image toward one of a high-tech enterprise.
• Oversaw public relations for its dozen operating divisions, from developers of petroleum processes to the commercialization of reverse osmosis water purifiers.
• Writing and public relations for the AlliedSignal Corporate Research Center, interpreting complex scientific and engineering developments for mainstream media.

1978-1984: Chicago Sun-Times
• Science and Technology Writer: 1981-1984
• Transportation Writer: 1978-1981
• Special Projects Writer, heading up political polling, computer analysis of public issues and other projects.

1970-1978: Chicago Daily News
• Assistant Financial Editor: 1975-1976
• Urban Affairs Reporter: 1971-1974; 1976-1978
• General Assignment Reporter: 1970-1971


1967-1970: United States Navy
• Assistant Supply Officer, U.S. Naval Air Reserve Station, Olathe, Kansas: 1969-1970.
• Disbursing Officer and Assistant Supply Officer, USS Jonas Ingram (DD-938), homeported in Mayport, Florida: 1967-1969.
• Student, U.S. Navy Supply Corps School, Athens, Georgia, 1997.
• Officer Candidate, Navy Officer Candidate School, Newport, Rhode Island, 1997.

1965-1966: Chicago Daily News
• General Assignment Reporter

1962: DePere Journal-Democrat, De Pere, Wisconsin
• Summer Editorial Intern

.
Education
• Post Graduate Russell Sage Fellow in Social Science Writing, University of Wisconsin, Madison. 1964-1965
• M.S. Urban Affairs, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1963-1964
• B.A. Journalism, Marquette University, 1959-1963


Recognitions
• Nominated for Pulitzer Prize by the Chicago Sun-Times for column writing, 1998.
• Nominated for Pulitzer Prize by the Chicago Sun-Times for investigative series on police underreporting of rape cases, 1982.
• Nominated for Pulitzer Prize by Chicago Daily News, for investigative series on shoddy home construction, 1973
• Peter Lisagor Award, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, for editorial writing, 1991, 1993.
• UPI, third Place Award for Spot News reporting in Illinois, for mass transit funding crisis, 1981.
• Chicago Newspaper Guild Stick-O-Type Award for editorial writing, 1988.
• Chicago Newspaper Guild Stick-O-Type Ward for analytical reporting on the crash of American Airlines DC-10 in Chicago, 1979.

John McCain: Sun Times Endorsement - Now it Can be Told - Cheryl Reed, Editor (resigned) Didn't write it - it was too good.

Chicago Sun Times under Editor Reed was an avowed enemy of all Chicago Police Officers and helped create the Thug Comfort Zone in Our City - in my opinion.


La Pasionaria, Cheryl Reed, resigned as editor of the Chicago Sun Times on Monday, after complaining that the paper's endorsements were re-written. I read the Sunday endorsement of John McCain and knew that it could not have come from the Cheryl Progressive Independent Voice of the City - Let's Get Into It ! Reed. No way no how.

Since Reed's July 15th Manifesto, The Chicago Sun Times has helped create a Thug Comfort Zone in Chicago, insulted the very working people who purchased the paper with doctrinaire Progressive non-sense, and daily undermining of public confidence in the American Justice system.

The Talented Ms.Reed will no doubt be snatched up by the radical lawyers that she helped enrich themselves with her editorial complicity. The Sun Times has a long road to recovery - this is a great start.

Click my post title for the history of my unhappiness with this once great paper.

For John McCain

February 3, 2008
Facing an uphill battle in the November elections, Republicans need to nominate a presidential candidate who represents the best traditions of the Grand Old Party: fiscal responsibility, devotion to national security and honest conduct of the nation's business.

Republican voters should consider themselves lucky. They have two candidates highly qualified to occupy the Oval Office: John McCain and Mitt Romney, two principled political figures who could chart a new course for our country and lead it forward with honor.

In a close call, our endorsement goes to McCain, a war hero, experienced player in the U.S. Senate and Washington politics, a principled conservative and a leader with an extra something -- that crucial capacity to stir our souls.

If the GOP's chances in November don't look so good these days, they certainly don't look any worse than McCain's own hopes of securing the GOP nomination just a few months ago. His campaign bank account empty, forced to lay off staff and dismissed as a viable contender, McCain soldiered on against the odds and now appears poised to capture the party's nomination.

His character, political courage and grasp of the crucial issues facing the country guarantee that McCain can energize Republicans and capture the independent voters the GOP will need to retain the White House in the face of the low poll numbers of President Bush.

No one can read his account of the cruel years of torture and solitary confinement in the Hanoi Hilton without feeling a lump in the throat. He never broke.

And anyone who reads his memoir, Faith of My Fathers, understands the foundation on which McCain built a reputation as a politician of the highest ethical standards not afraid to defend unpopular positions and fight for what he believes in. He clung to his belief that the U.S. should increase the troop commitment in Iraq, which caused his early lead to evaporate, and most thought would kill his chances to be president.

McCain is a free thinker who judges each issue on its merits, not on its political implications.

Like the GOP base, McCain understands -- in a way Republicans feel that the Democrats fail to comprehend -- that America faces an implacable enemy in Islamist fanaticism. He articulates eloquently the conservative belief that the consequences of defeat in Iraq would be crippling to the U.S. military's morale, damaging to national security and a signal victory for America's enemies. Like the GOP base, he believes that it wasn't the invasion of Iraq that was a mistake, it was the misguided strategy that didn't put enough boots on the ground. Continued success in the surge will enable McCain to make that argument persuasively to war-weary American voters.

On domestic issues, McCain adheres to Republican orthodoxy that cutting taxes, government spending and regulatory red tape are necessary to preserving a strong economy. McCain risked political suicide last year to promote, unsuccessfully, a reasonable and humane immigration reform package, which included border security provisions, along with a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants.

McCain now says he knows America wants border security first. But he has not hedged on his commitment to treat illegal immigrants with compassion. It may be unpopular in some conservative circles, but immigration reform is of vital interest to traditional Republican allies in business.

While boasting core Republican credentials, McCain also has proved that he can reach out to Democrats and work cooperatively toward meaningful solutions -- a trait in rare supply in today's deeply divided capital.

McCain has also been a consistent and loud voice against pork-barrel spending, he is in favor of campaign finance reform, and he has warned about the risks of global warming.

If he is nominated, as we expect he will be, McCain should make Romney America's No. 2 Republican. Given McCain's advanced age, a vice presidential choice has never been more important. A man of impeccable personal integrity, Romney has amassed an enviable record of accomplishment in the business world, public service and elective office. He built a lucrative venture capital and investment business, valuable experience for a White House faced with today's economic insecurities.

He raised the Olympics in Utah from the ashes and led them to a successful conclusion. And as governor of Massachusetts, one of the nation's bluest states, Romney demonstrated how a Republican leader could work with a Democratic legislature to promote economic growth and tackle a complex issue such as expanding health care. Romney has excelled in everything he has done.

But it is McCain we want to see at the top of the ticket. The Democrats are promising the voters what Republicans see as a simplistic and defeatist way out of Iraq -- just withdraw the troops. Straight-talking McCain sees different realities and declares, "The American people deserve to know that the path ahead will be long and difficult."

Admittedly that may be a hard sale in an election year. But it's what Republicans believe, and in McCain they have the standard bearer who can carry that message to the nation and who stands the best chance of convincing Americans that a Republican president needs to lead the nation in seeing Iraq through to a successful end.

Republicans are hungering for a thoughtful Republican who knows how to get things done. That is evidenced by McCain's wins in states as diverse as New Hampshire, South Carolina and now Florida, where only registered Republicans could vote.

Cast a ballot for John McCain. Cast a ballot that counts.

Cardinal George is No Sun Times Columnist!

 

Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago*, past President of the American Conference of Catholic Bishops, internationally honored author and theologian, Oblate of Mary Missionary priest is no newspaper columnist and he certainly is no Progressive member of the Cook County Democratic Party, nor is he any way near a GOP tasseled loafer suburban fence sitter, like Senator Marque Kirque and gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner.

How can a scholar of sacred theology expect to reason with a Mark Brown**, an Eric Zorn, a Carol Marin, a Neil Steinberg, or a Proco Joe Moreno and maintain any semblance of moral high-ground? Recently these folks have opined upon the Secular Redemption of Milliken Don James St. James who merely slaughtered his entire family in 1960's served his time in the nut house, deemed clean, was released, advanced degreed, changed his name and lived anonymously among the folks as respected member of the academic community, not unlike Dr. Josef Mengele or other South Americans of post-Holocaust redemption. Columnist love this American Progressive Gatsby narrative. But that is Columnist Theology.

Today, Mark Brown, one of the very few columnists who actually offers a semblance of a fair shake, recounts his 'cordial' exchange with Cardinal George concerning this summer's hoo-ha over Proco Joe and company's outrage in letter form protesting Catholic Campaign for Human Development's (CCHD) decision to no longer fund the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights( ICIRR).

Mark Brown wrote a searing column that burned the fibers of manly hearts that already agree with him on matters relating to same-sex marriage and scorched the muscles of that vital organ in the womanly breasts of maids and dowagers who equate bike repair with non-Euclidean sex and Civil Rights.

Cardinal George found fault with Mr. Brown's column; hence the 'cordial' dialogue.

George expressed his opinion that the funding cutoff “wouldn’t have been an issue if we weren’t in a campaign for governor.”
That confused me a little, because I certainly would have raised the issue whether there was an election next year or not. The cardinal reiterated that his understanding is that some people want to use gay marriage as an issue in the governor’s race.
I suggested it was his decision to halt funding from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to the immigrant groups that made this an issue. He rejected that assertion, arguing that the leaders of the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights in effect cut off funding to their own member groups with the decision in May to endorse gay marriage.

You see, Cardinal; George is not only an episcopal and evangelical leader of the Catholic Church in Chicago, but he also happens to be a Chicagoan and someone who can and does read print.

To avoid any confusion, there is a race for governor.  The signer of the hostile and historically damaging Illinois Civil Union Bill, Governor Pat Quinn, lost the May bid to make Same -Sex Marriage the Lincoln Log Cabin for his Reelection, chinking every crack with Progressively pious platitudes.  Quinn is even more unpopular than his enemies who are growing up out of the ground from the dragon's teeth sown by the very forces that own Quinn's political soul - ( SEIU, Planned Parenthood, Dr. Quentin Young, Abner Mikva, the ACLU and Fred Eychaner). We now have Bruce Rauner, a billionaire buccaneer hopping out of Rahm Emanuel's vest pocket as a GOP standard bearer and Bill Daley who gave Rahm his first job.  We have Kwame Raul as a wedge candidate to gobble up Quinn's African American base, if there ever had been such, and a cavalcade gimpy-wimpy GOP dependables.

Now, that is something to confuse one, Mr. Brown.

The Catholic Church has been sanctioned for fire bombing by the DNC, because of its implacable defense of the unborn and traditional marriage.

Cardinal George knows the political landscape and it is hostile.  What passes for an evolved culture in this country finds the Gay Ann Landers, Dan Savage,  to be a sober and thoughtful Catholic voice and it finds the certitude of ethical and moral principles just too mean for a queen. Mark Brown offers his last word on the matter ex-cathedra, or swivel seat, or easy chair in a much less than cordial manner.  Mark Brown wants that to be his column's take away?

The cardinal acknowledged his own characterization of the pope’s comments on gays may have been “jarring,” as I put it, but he said he was frustrated by journalists missing the pope’s point.
“In our culture, ‘Who am I to judge’ means nobody has the right to distinguish right from wrong,” which wasn’t what the pope meant, the cardinal said.
“He was saying that a person who has given up their sinful ways, you don’t judge them. You accept them,” George said. “. . .He started out saying: gay sex is wrong.”
I told the cardinal I never believed for a moment that the pope was changing church policy toward gays, only setting a different tone that was missing from his own approach.
The cardinal expressed frustration that, in the current political climate, Catholics can’t express their opposition to same-sex marriage without being regarded as bigots.
“”When that becomes the criterion for accepting gay and lesbian people, then we’re in the bind we’re in now, which is a real bind,” he said.

No - that is not what a Sun Times reader must take away from the 'coridal' exchange of the columnist and mere Cardinal.  It is this.

"Nobody really expects the Catholic Church to change, only to adapt."

Millions of European Jews were told that very thing. Now, that was some lesson in social evolution . . . very scientific.

* Francis Cardinal George, OMI Education
Bachelor in Theology, University Ottawa
Master in Theology, University Ottawa, 1971
MA in Philosophy, Catholic University America, 1965
PhD in Philosophy, Tulane University, 1970
STD, Pontifical Urban University, Rome, 1989
Career
Ordained priest Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 1963, provincial central region, 1973—1974, vicar general, 1974—1986; coordinator Circle of Fellows Cambridge Center for Study of Faith & Culture, Massachusetts, 1987—1990; ordained bishop, 1990; bishop Diocese of Yakima, Washington, 1990—1996; archbishop Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, 1996—1997, Archdiocese of Chicago, 1997—; elevated to cardinal, 1998; cardinal-priest S. Bartolomeo all'Isola, 1998—
Career Related
Vice president US Conference Catholic Bishops, 2004—; chancellor Catholic Church Extension University St. Mary of Lake, 1997; member Congregation Divine Worship, Discipline of Sacraments, Congregation for Oriental Churches, 2001—, Congregation Institutes, Consecrated Life, Societies Apostolic Life, Pontifical Commission for Cultural Heritage of Church, 1999—, Pontifical Council Cor Unum, 1998, Congregation Evangelization of Peoples, Pontifical Council for Culture, 2004—, Catholic Commission on Intellectual & Cultural Affairs
Creative Works
Author (pastoral letter): Becoming an Evangelizing People, 1997, Dwell in My Love, 2001
Memberships
Mem.: Am. Catholic Philosophical Association, Am. Society Missiologists
Religion
Roman Catholic
Address
Office: Archdiocese of Chgo Pastoral Ctr PO Box 1979 Chicago IL 60690-1979

** Mark Brown

Brown grew up in central Illinois, graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1977 and then attended the Public Affairs Reporting program at University of Illinois-Springfield, then known as Sangamon State, where he was a Sun-Times intern. Brown worked four years at the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa, before joining the Sun-Times full-time in 1982.
At the Sun-Times, Brown worked mainly as a general assignment reporter specializing politics and government, which led him into investigative reporting. In September 2000, Brown began writing his column, which currently appears Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday. One of his strengths is that he has experience covering not only Chicago City Hall, but also Cook County government and the Illinois Statehouse.
Brown, a third-string high school basketball player, grew up obsessed with St. Louis Cardinals baseball, Chicago Bears football and Bradley basketball. Only Bradley has moved down on his radar, replaced by the Bulls.