Happy 18th Conor! Register to Vote and with Selective Service!

Happy Birhday, Conor!

It is hard to believe that you are 18 years old and it is even tougher knowing that for the last ten years you have become as good a man as I could only hope of being and all without the direct hand of your Mother's guidance.

Your Mom has been with you and that is certain. Mary picked your names - given and middle.

Mary Elizabeth Cleary ( she always went by Mary Hickey after 11/12/83 and said that women who went by Hyphenated names -like Cleary-Hickey- told the world 'Here Comes a Stone Gold-plated Bitch.' ) loved the name Conor and wanted your life marked out with that handle, but you are also named for your Great-Grandfather - Oliver Hercule Duval - Poppi ( I had a lot fun with him about that one). 'Hickey, you're an over-educated stiff and still dumber than than a French Retard.' - Yeah, at least I'm not named for a flower that means Dope, Frog-eater - ' The Irish are the Goddam stupidest looking bastards on earth - and looks don't deceive!'

Oliver was the meanest, toughest, ugliest, smartest and funniest old French farmer that it was my pleasure to spend a great deal of time with. Poppi held you up and said 'Yeah, he's ugly enough to be an Oliver!' You delighted the old guy! He was a WWI soldier who came home and married the 'looks of the family' Antoinette Fortin a redhead from St. George, Illinois. That is your Illinois French Heritage - that gave you your height and looks so thank God for that every day.

I am proud of you! Make no excuses for yourself. You are kind and loyal and that, Conor, is enough.

Register to Vote and for Selective Service. After that you can handle the rest. You have a great name Conor Oliver Hickey; Mary, your Mother with her angelic hand on your shoulder;two wonderful sisters; a large and loving family; and the instincts to be a good man, husband and father. All the rest is side-dishes - empty calories.

Here is the Saint for whom you are named:Read about him! Uncle Bart read some of this when he Bapitized you in the Faith.

Oliver Plunkett was born in Loughcrew, County Meath, Ireland in 1629 from well-to-do parents of Danish origins. He was related by birth to a number of families recently ennobled, such as the Earl of Roscommon and Fingall, as well as the Earl of Louth and the Earl of Dunsany. Till his sixteenth year, the boy's education was entrusted to Patrick Plunket, Abbot of St. Mary's, Dublin, and brother of the first Earl of Fingall who later became bishop, successively, of Ardagh and Meath. As an aspirant to the priesthood, he set out for Rome in 1645, under the care of Father Pierfrancesco Scarampi, of the Roman Oratory. At this time, the Irish Confederate Wars were raging in Ireland; these were essentially conflicts between native Irish Catholics and British Protestants. Scarampi was the Papal envoy to the Catholic movement known as the Confederation of Ireland. Many of Plunkett's relatives were involved in this organisation. Plunkett could not have known that, as a result of the outcome of this war, he would not return to Ireland for 15 years.

He was admitted to the Irish College in Rome in 1646 and there proved an able pupil. He was ordained a priest in 1654, and deputed by the Irish bishops to act as their representative in Rome. Meanwhile, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649-53) had defeated the Catholic cause in Ireland and, in the aftermath, the public practice of Catholicism was banned and Catholic clergy were executed. As a result, it was impossible for Plunkett to return to Ireland for many years. He petitioned to remain in Rome and, in 1657, became a professor of theology. Throughout the period of the Commonwealth and the first years of Charles II's reign, he successfully pleaded the cause of the Irish Church, and also served as theological professor at the College of Propaganda Fide. At the Congregation of Propaganda Fide on July 9, 1669, he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh, the Irish primatial see, and was consecrated on November 30 at Ghent by the Bishop of Ghent, assisted by the Bishop of Ferns and another bishop. He eventually set foot on Irish soil again in March 1670, after the English Restoration having made the political climate there less hostile. The pallium was granted him in the Consistory of July 28, 1670.

After arriving back in Ireland, he set about reorganising the ravaged Church and built schools both for the young and for clergy, whom he found 'ignorant in moral theology and controversies'. He tackled drunkenness among the clergy, writing 'Let us remove this defect from an Irish priest, and he will be a saint'. The Penal Laws had been somewhat relaxed and he was able to establish a Jesuit College in Drogheda in 1670. A year later 150 students attended the College.


[edit] Persecution

St. Oliver Plunkett's headWith the onset of new persecution in 1673 and the college being levelled to the ground, Plunkett went into hiding, traveling only in disguise, and refusing a government edict to register at a seaport to await passage into exile. In 1678, the so-called Popish Plot, concocted in England by Titus Oates, led to further anti-Catholicism. Archbishop Peter Talbot of Dublin was arrested, and Plunkett again went into hiding. The Privy Council in London was told he had plotted a French invasion.

Despite being on the run and with a price on his head, he refused to leave his flock. He was arrested in Dublin in December 1679 and imprisoned in Dublin Castle, where he gave absolution to the dying Talbot. At some point before his final incarceration, he took refuge in a church that once stood in the townland of Killartry in County Louth, in the parish of Clogherhead, seven miles outside of Drogheda. He was tried at Dundalk for conspiring against the state by plotting to bring 20,000 French soldiers into the country, and for levying a tax on his clergy to support 70,000 men for rebellion.

Lord Shaftesbury knew Oliver Plunkett would never be convicted in Ireland and had him moved to Newgate prison, London. The first grand jury found no true bill, but he was not released. The second trial was a kangaroo court; Lord Campbell, writing of the judge, Sir Francis Pemberton, called it a disgrace to himself and his country. Plunkett was found guilty of high treason on June, 1681 "for promoting the Catholic faith," and was condemned to a gruesome death.

On July 1, 1681, Plunkett became the last Catholic martyr to die in England when he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, the last Catholic to die for his faith at Tyburn. His body was initially buried in two tin boxes next to five Jesuits who had died before in the courtyard of St Giles. The remains were exhumed in 1683 and moved to the Benedictine monastery at Lamspringe, near Hildesheim in Germany. The head was brought to Rome, and from there to Armagh and eventually to Drogheda where, since June 29, 1921, it has rested in Saint Peter's Church. Most of the body was brought to Downside Abbey, England, where the major part is located today, with some parts remaining at Lamspringe. Some relics were brought to Ireland in May 1975, while others are in England, France, Germany, the United States, and Australia.

Oliver Plunkett was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975, the first new Irish saint for almost seven hundred years, and the first of the Irish martyrs to be beatified. He has since been followed by 17 other Irish martyrs who were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992. Among them were Archbishop Dermot O'Hurley, Margaret Ball, and the Wexford Martyrs.

Nevertheless, his ministry during its time was most successful and he confirmed over 48,000 people over a four-year period. Since 1997, he is the patron saint, adopted by the prayer group campaigning for peace in Ireland, namely, 'St. Oliver Plunkett for Peace and Reconciliation'.

Fom WiKpedia

Straight Talking Bloggers for McCain & News For the Media

A number of great sites in support of John McCain for President can be accessed to the immediate left of my Blog - no political statement that.

We people who buy newspapers are constantly tugged, turned, slapped, kicked, pulled, eased into and away from what is called the news. We want news - we want to be entertained - we want considered opinion but we get slanted pieces of the story, self-serving tales of a columnist's trips to hip-spots and we get milled agendas tossed like parade candy.

Click my Post Title for Chicago Sun Times commentary samplers -


Newspapers, particularly those now cork-screwing themselves into the marshy mud and clay of Chicago, seem bent on dividing people, insulting people, angering people, and selectively ignoring people in order to 'stir things up;' or offer a smarmy invitation to 'get into it.' That is why your paper is failing. People who used to read the Sun Times are going elsewhere for news.

We Chicagoans know what policemen, firemen, plumbers, back-hoe operators, clerks, electricians, school teachers, and sales people do for a living and how they live as neighbors. We also know what and how criminals, dope-slingers, phony activists, ghost-payrollers, and lazy journalists operate and how they cause suffering in our neighborhoods.

Tell a tourist - we live here! The poor guys holding the signs in the photos above would be ideal Chicago Sun Times Readers - Chicagoans know how to read and what the words mean.

Sweethearts, you do not want to 'get into it' with any of the talented, tough, caring, thoughtful and athletic young mothers and wives on Campbell, Maplewood, Rockwell, Artesian - let's not even talk about Talman , Washtenaw or Fairfield between 103rd and 111th Streets. You do not want to 'get into it' with these women - they are much too intelligent, hard-working and honest for you to get near the ropes. Trust me, you'll never get out of the ring. Don't go there.

The metaphorical challenge to 'get into it' is very, shall we say, 'High School Musical-ish Marxism.'

There are great Chicago writers! Neil Steinberg, Phil Kadner, Courtney Greve, Stephanie Gehring, Dan McGrath, Kate Grossman all give news and opinion without appearing to play dress-up Kropotkins.

People want straight talk - conviction, wit, and substance. When a newspaper reader buys a horse, don't bring a mule and try to tell her that it's Secretariat.

If you really want to get into it - come off of it!

McCain on Health Care

Here's some some thought on Health Care from the one candidate who can lead America in Time of war with Islamist Terrorism - the guy was right on the War from the get go and the Bush Administration needed to play catch-up. Hillary backed-off her Health Care Plan of twelve years ago and put more mascara on that plans cold sore.

McCain makes sense:

John McCain is willing to address the fundamental problem: the rapidly rising cost of U.S. health care.


Bringing costs under control is the only way to stop the erosion of affordable health insurance, save Medicare and Medicaid, protect private health benefits for retirees, and allow our companies to effectively compete around the world.
Families should be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over their care. We can improve health and spend less, while promoting competition on the cost and quality of care, taking better care of our citizens with chronic illness, and promoting prevention that will keep millions of others from ever developing deadly and debilitating disease.
While we reform the system and maintain quality, we can and must provide access to health care for all our citizens - whether temporarily or chronically uninsured, whether living in rural areas with limited services, or whether residing in inner cities where access to physicians is often limited.
America's veterans have fought for our freedom. We should give them freedom to choose to carry their VA dollars to a provider that gives them the timely care at high quality and in the best location.
Controlling health care costs will take fundamental change - nothing short of a complete reform of the culture of our health system and the way we pay for it will suffice. Reforms to federal policy and programs should focus on enhancing quality while controlling costs:
Promote competition throughout the health care system - between providers and among alternative treatments.
Make patients the center of care and give them a larger role in both prevention and care, putting more decisions and responsibility in their hands.
Make public more information on treatment options and require transparency by providers regarding medical outcomes, quality of care, costs, and prices.
Facilitate the development of national standards for measuring and recording treatments and outcomes.
Reform the payment systems in Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention, and care coordination. Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement.
Dedicate federal research on the basis of sound science resulting in greater focus on care and cure of chronic disease
Give states the flexibility to, and encourage them to experiment with: alternative forms of access; risk-adjusted payments per episode covered under Medicaid; use of private insurance in Medicaid; alternative insurance policies and insurance providers; and, different licensing schemes for medical providers.
Build genuine national markets by permitting providers to practice nationwide.
Promote rapid deployment of 21st century information systems.
Support innovative delivery systems, such as clinics in retail outlets and other ways that provide greater market flexibility in permitting appropriate roles for nurse practitioners, nurses, and doctors.
Where cost-effective, employ telemedicine, and community and mental health clinics in areas where services and providers are limited.
Foster the development of routes for safe, cheaper generic versions of drugs and biologic pharmaceuticals. Develop safety protocols that permit re-importation to keep competition vigorous.
Pass tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits and excessive damage awards. Provide a safe harbor for doctors that follow clinical guidelines and adhere to patient safety protocols.
Protect the health care consumer through vigorous enforcement of federal protections against collusion, unfair business actions, and deceptive consumer practices. John McCain believes that insurance reforms should increase the variety and affordability of insurance coverage available to American families by fostering competition and innovation.
Reform the tax code to eliminate the bias toward employer-sponsored health insurance, and provide all individuals with a $2,500 tax credit ($5,000 for families) to increase incentives for insurance coverage. Individuals owning innovative multi-year policies that cost less than the full credit can deposit remainder in expanded health savings accounts.
Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines, to maximize their choices, and heighten competition for their business that will eliminate excess overhead, administrative, and excessive compensation costs from the system.
Insurance should be innovative, moving from job to home, job to job, and providing multi-year coverage.
Require any state receiving Medicaid to develop a financial "risk adjustment" bonus to high-cost and low-income families to supplement tax credits and Medicaid funds.
Allow individuals to get insurance through any organization or association that they choose: employers, individual purchases, churches, professional association, and so forth. These policies will be available to small businesses and the self-employed, will be portable across all jobs, and will automatically bridge the time between retirement and Medicare eligibility. These plans would have to meet rigorous standards and certification.
John McCain Believes in Personal Responsibility
We must do more to take care of ourselves to prevent chronic diseases when possible, and do more to adhere to treatment after we are diagnosed with an illness.
Childhood obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are all on the rise. We must again teach our children about health, nutrition and exercise - vital life information.
Public health initiatives must be undertaken with all our citizens to stem the growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and to deter smoking.

Happy 23rd Nora! You Made God's Plan Clear!

Happy Birthday, Nora Love!

Your Brother and Sister are almost as proud of you as Old Dad! When Mom went back to God, it was you who raised them as a Mother! Good Work!

You made God's Plan clear to me, not sharpest tool in the bag, when you mirrored your Mother!

Study Hard.

Treat every person like he/she is the most important person in the world: he/she is.

Accept no excuses from yourself.

Get to work at least twenty minutes before you need to be there.

Work until the job is done - not how you think that it to be, but complete.

Love and you will be loved.

Know that Love is very hard work.

Honor God.

Honor the Elderly.

Honor your Country.

Stand by your friends - they need you, but not as much as you need them.

Give freely to others because everything is only on loan to you from God - We are only God's tenants.

Lay off the cigars.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

McCain is My Guy - But Rudy's 'Push' Seems Compelling

John McCain is the best Man to lead America in our War on Islamist Terror.

Mr. Mike McQuade, Patriot Anchor Steam Quaffer, Vietnam Vet, and Landscape Painter, sent me this compelling photo of Rudy's willingness to take one for the team.

In reality I have no doubt that there would be a former Mayor of the Big Apple trying to beat the A-Train back to the platform and not an erzatz Cub Fan racing its whirling wheels.

Gloves - Gives Kids Esteem

The Illinois Crime Commission, real deal elected officials like Illinois Representative Mary Flowers, the Police Athletic League and sites like Leo High School put gloves on kids who want to take life on and win.


Illinois State Crime Commission/Police Athletic League of Illinois

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 08, 2007


Contact: : Jerry Elsner
(p) (630) 778-9191
info@illinoiscrimecommission.com


GLOVES - NOT GUNS


Police Athletic League of Illinois to launch city wide boxing program


Who? Police Athletic League of Illinois and United States
Olympic Boxers

What? Kickoff of a national inner city anti-gun initiative

When? Thursday, October 11th, 2007
12:00 noon

Where? St. Margaret of Scotland Parish School
9833 South Troop Street
Chicago, IL 60643

Why? Because of unacceptable levels of violent handgun
incidents, the Police Athletic League of Illinois will be
kicking off a city-wide program modeled after the
highly touted and successful boxing program at Leo
High School.

Great photo opportunity with Olympic and local PAL-IL boxers along with hundreds of south side children.

Help give American Kids a Fighting Chance! Get in the Ring with these Great People!

Jesse's Shakedown Sleepover!

Jams! Popcorn! Pop! Movies! ( Mean Girls, Legally Blond 1 & 2, Mask 1 &2,Stand by Me, Scary Movie 1,2,3,4, 5) Scary Stories! Mary Worth in the Mirror! Building Cool Forts! at Ickes Homes on Tuesday
This is not about shameless publicity for the eclipsed Patriarch of Pecuniary Power strivers!

This is not an attempt to reap a financial windfall ( well, maybe a book deal, movie, MTV video, corporate sponsorship? Naw. that well done dried up!)

This is not about tinsel and foil symbolic gestures - like Bono and Oprah's Red shopping spree on Michigan Ave. to bring Famine to its knees!

This is about A SLEEPOVER!

If I appear to be making light of this - I am. This will be about as effective as Jesse Jackson gets - and about as meaningful that he has been in the impact on the lives of black Americans these more than forty years. Breadbasket to PUSH - nothing has changed. The Family Businesses have done just swimmingly, but folks are being left in the vortex of Jackson Enterprise Whirlpool. Vietnamese Boat People have kids at Harvard; Mexican immigrant Vietnam Vets see their grandchildren living in Winnetka; West Indian carpenter apprentices moved out of the apartments behind Leo High School and have their own wood trim finishing businesses up in Wicker Park. How's that? Burge didn't whack all those folks - shucks, he blew town before WMAQ's Renee Ferguson's interviewee had his first dope pinch. Real Dopes like Chris Matthews and O'Reilly and Hannity and Skelator Colmes will be glad to prop up Harold Hill of Broken Dreams All Week on TV! Sleep over? Why not.

Here is the question everyone is asking - IS AL COMING TO YOUR SLEEP OVER, Jesse? Invite everyone - not just the cool kids!


Cool time at Ickes - despite the name.


Click Title for Shamus Toomey's Invitation to Media - best believe they'll be jammied up, carrying Twister and the little hands stuffed with plush puppies!



Tribune Update: Oct. 8,2007

Man shot, killed near Ickes Homes
Tribune staff report
7:59 AM CDT, October 8, 2007
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An unidentified man was shot and killed this morning outside a public housing complex near Chinatown, Chicago police said.

The man, believed to be in his 30s, was shot in the head, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The shooting occurred about 5:50 a.m. outside the Harold Ickes Homes at 23rd and State Streets, police said.


Al Sharpton, grab the Greyhoud to Chi - the Old Cut-Purse caught you nappin'!


Further details were unavailable this morning.

Should be a Full Jackson Press on Tuesday! If Pope Benedict gets goosed by Lindsay Lohan, he won't see no ink!

Orestes Brownson: A Guy You Never Heard About in American Education

Here's a long excerpt for an Indian Summer's afternoon read.

Orestes Brownson was born in 1803, the same year as Ralph Waldo Emerson, and orphaned. Raised in New England Calvinism, he was baptized into the Presbyterian Church, converted to Universalism in the 1820's and was ordained a Universalist minister; rejected Universalism for Unitarianism and subsequently joined the Brook Farm Movement of Beecher-Stow, Hawthorne, and Fuller before 1834 when he and Emerson led the Transcendentalist Movement for ten years. Emerson, a man of dubious inclinations and contrarian self-absorbtions, pushed Brownson into a leadership role of the Transcendentalist Society. Emerson continues to be the touchstone for radical American thought.

Bownson, however, was a guy searching for a solid faith and life anchor. Brownson converted for the final time in 1844 as a Roman Catholic. That was his exit from the American Brahmin Caste.

In a Letter to the Protestant Churches of America Brownson coined the phrase that identifies the roots of American Intellectual pretensions - Odinism.

Odinism is tendency toward the worship of diversity in all things - a desire to make the sacred profane and the profane sacred; ugliness is art. Contrarianism in political thought. 'We must hang those who would hang a traitor.'

Brownson saw the proliferation of Journals in the 19th Century - dominated by Protestant or nominally Protestant journalists. These journalists valorized the sanctity of the secular.

Emerson Thoreau, Hawthroen Beecher-Stowe and their intellectual disciples to this day have done a Joe Stalin on Brownson - Orestes Brownson became a 'Non Person' and remains so in American Thought.

Brownson died in 1876 and is buried in the cryp of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame.

From Protestant Journalism in Brownson's Quarterly Review

We distinguish between the journal and the newspaper. The newspaper originated some three hundred years ago, if we are not mistaken, in the commercial city of Venice, and was designed chiefly to communicate such intelligence as was of special interest to merchants and bankers, or, as we say now, to the business classes. Gradually it enlarged its scope, especially when transferred to England, and gave political intelligence, as well as banking and mercantile information; but it confined itself to giving current news, and avoided all political and other discussions. It grew naturally out of the invention and general adoption of the art of printing, and simply superseded the intelligence which had been, from time immemorial, communicated by written instead of printed letters. The newspaper was not only a harmless, but a useful invention.

The journal may indeed publish news, but it is not by any means a newspaper. It is of recent origin, and owes its birth to the French revolution of 1789, that fountain of so many evils, and, to human eyes, of no good. The design of the journal is to influence and control public opinion, and, through public opinion, to influence and control public action. The public to which it is addressed may be a party, a faction, a coteric, or a sect, but its design is always to influence and control the thought and action of its public, whether its public be larger or smaller; and it seeks to do this by discussion, by arguments addressed to reason or prejudice, and by declamation, or inflammatory appeals to passion. The so-called independent journalism, represented by such journals as the N. Y. Herald, the N. Y. Tribune, and the N. Y. Sun of this city, professes to be independent of all parties, sects, and cliques, and to set forth the views and convictions of its management alone, or what its management believes, or pretends to believe, is for the public interest. But it must have popular support, a wide popular circulation, and, to gain this, it must court popular opinion, and study not to outrage popular prejudice. It can afford to have no unpopular principles, nor to support an unpopular cause. Indeed it cannot afford to have any principles, especially any religious principles, for any decided principles are sure to be unpopular with one or another section of the public. It, in fact, has no positive religion of any sort; and whatever religion it favors, is so vague and indeterminate that it is as good as none at all. Its influence in regard to religion is either to encourage infidelity pure and simple, or perfect indifferentism. Its religions is secularism, and it is less really independent and more fatal to all the great interests of society than even the partisan or sectarian press.

Satan never made a better hit than when he invented independent journalism; and the New York Herald, which so admirably represents the spirit of the age, should be, as we have no doubt it is, a great favorite with him. None but a renegade or bad Catholic could ever have founded and sustained such a marvellous journal; nor could even a bad Catholic have done it without extraordinary satanic assistance. The very design of the journal is satanic. It throws the forming and directing of public opinion and action into the hands of men who are responsible only to the laws, and hardly to them; who have and can give no guaranty of their wisdom, who scout all authority but their own, and proceed always on the assumption of their own infallibility, and that of the public to which they appeal. Independent journalism is Protestantism raised to its highest power, the deification of private judgment, and a fitting forerunner of Antichrist. Its power is immense, and its despotism is in proportion to its power. . . .

The greatest difficulty a Catholic reviewer encounters is in convincing Catholic laymen and journalists that catholic means catholic. The difficulty is almost as great as that of convincing certain routinist philosophers that nothing is nothing, not something. If religion is catholic, it is supreme and universal, the supreme law in every department of life, extending to every species of human activity. Whether we eat or drink, whether we sleep or wake, whatever we do, we are to do it for the glory of God. The goods of this life, whether national or political, social or economical, are never secured, or, if secured, cease to be goods,

That Old Boy understood America and the relativism that continues to diminish American Greatness.

Click on my Post Title for link to more on Orestes Brownson.

Finding Police Abuse Where the Sun Never Shines!

The Above presented items - might also have been used in Chicago Police Torture. Jon Loevy and other lawsuit daffy Court Dressers under the glow of St. Ivo of Kermartin would have local Burghers believe.

Again that doughty chap above is noted American Screen Idol Andy Dick and not Lawyer Jon Loevy.

My close-knit ethnic instincts raised doubts about Police use of a refreshing and satisfying alcoholic beverage concocted of fresh pulpy orange juice and a fine domestic vodka.

The Andy Williams/Claudine Longet Family Christmas gathering would be too obvious. Chilling.

The stout Harley Product full of fat guy and an 88 key player piano would induce the right effect upon a larcenous Gastrointestinal blow-hole.

The High quality multi-purpose Wenger Champion Tool -In One might find its place in the cornucopean trick-bag of a Law Enforcement Professional's attempt to exact evidence.

If one were to insert the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a solid 'Street Worthy' of Chicago might just say anything - just might.

Veteran Police Basher and Sun Times Columnist Mark Brown warned Chicago Police Officers on Sunday that -

It's no coincidence that all of these stories and others like them have converged on the front pages of the newspapers in recent weeks.
And there is no way to overstate what a crucial and dangerous time this has become for the Chicago Police Department and therefore for the rest of us.

The rest of us are concerned. Not so much about our confidence in the Chicago Police Officers, but more so with a newspaper's active complicity in undermining that trust.
Mark Brown wants it both ways - bash the police on a regular basis and group all cops in with Finnigan, Abbate and Burge while delicately protesting like Dolly Varden in Dickens' Barnaby Rudge:A Tale of the Riots of Eighty that he truly loves the Chicago Police Officers whom he continues to bash. Raahlley! The Chicago Sun Times parade of police abuse sagas is as long as the reach of the imagination and lawsuit addicted pettifoggers and their criminal clients in their confederated abilities to exact a lotto ticket out of each and every arrest.

This one does not - dare I make use of one of the most sacred -albeit over-used -olfactory tropes in the Progressive lexicon? - pass the 'smell test.'

My God! What have I done? Now I might find myself wearing patched corduroy jackets and raising a soul-patch above my cleft, and rudely handsome chin(s).

Lawsuit Loevy, the village smithy of the hammering howls of hilarious harangues for his criminally charged clients, has gone into the Craftsman Tool Box in the interests of his own and his client's debit card balances.

The Screwdriver charge ( three days delayed - which the Medill Kids, as well as CST call 'shortly': Dear Reader, click my post title above for the link) sure seems to twist and turn one's imagination. Owww.

Well the jury has been given the evidence. I wonder what else Jon Loevy will pull out of his old Coke and Blackstone in the days and weeks ahead with the help of The Chicago Sun Times

Spike O'Donnell in The Chorito Hog-Leg: A Novel of Guam in Time of War

25. A Homily on Targets

On March 15, 1943, just before Tim Cullen, Dick Prendergast and Jimmy Arneberg left for the Marines after early graduation, Spike O’Donnell walked south on Loomis and turned west on 83rd Street and right off the alley, between Loomis and Ada Streets, a guy creep-ed up and pumped a shot into Spike’s back. The louse tried to put one in Spike’s ear but the goof’s beezer misfired and the skunk jumped into a car and Spike crawled home to his wife Elizabeth and daughter Rita.

All this had to do with Spike’s ‘consulting work’ in the asphalt business. From the time that Spike quit the beer rackets, he had used his political clout to help asphalt paving contractors meet the right guy in Washington, when FDR started bringing the country back from the Depression with jobs. Mike Carrozza who ran the Laborers Union in Chicago was tapped as the paving czar for the PWA and he and Spike trusted and respected one another from the old days. One bright boy, a real clean good-government type, asked Spike’s help in securing the low bid for a three million dollar paving job for which Spike’s fee was agreed to be $ 70,000 the Cook County States Attorney and the Chicago Street Commissioner were already in the pocket of another bidder and tried to freeze Spike’s guy out; so the do-gooder reneges on his fee to get back in the good graces of the other pigs; so Spike gives the lying bastard a slap-around in front of his employees and the States Attorney has Spike pinched. Reason prevailed and the do-gooder louse woke up to the fact that Spike saved his hard-earned cash and thousands of dollars for Father Steve McMahon and Little Flower Parish by walking into the failing bank on Ashland Ave. in October 1929 with a violin case and telling the Bank’s President ‘I want to make a withdrawal – all accounts for Mr. Edward J. O’Donnell and all accounts for Father Steve McMahon and any and all for Little Flower Parish, please And I don’t want to make two trips, see?’ Neither Mr. O’Donnell nor Little Flower Parish lost a nickel in the great crash.

The reneging Asphalt mogul did not press a charge of assault and battery against Spike O’Donnell. But neither did he pay the tough-guy consultant the fee suggested. Mr. O’Donnell made it known that the Streets Commissioner of the City of Chicago was a crook and so was the States Attorney. From September 1942 to March 1943, while Marines fought to keep a foot - hold on Guadalcanal, while Ike landed American forces in North Africa, while millions of American boys were training to fight and die all over the globe, Edward J. Spike O’Donnell of 8234 S. Loomis in Chicago, Illinois fought a jungle war against the craven interests of crooked politicians (those not in Spike’s vest pocket) and two-faced louses who vote Republican - good government phonies.

On the same day that Brutus stuck a shiv in Caesar’s kidneys, 1900 years later; some louse popped a lead capsule just to the left of 53 year old Spike’s spine that lodged in his chest. Fortunately, Spike’s assassin was paid and not honorable and took to his heels when his beezer gave out. Spike laid up in Little Company of Mary Hospital for months with Capt. Dan’ Tubbo’ Gilbert and his boys keeping visitors out on orders from the States Attorney. The Papers screamed bloody murder as most Chicagoans got a kick out of Spike who publicly gave politicians the miseries with his circular narratives, punctuated by jabs to the ribs, and always delivered out of the side of his mouth. Spike O’Donnell was a tough-guy who got tough with louses and crumbs that had it coming, or so the common man held.

When visitors were allowed, Joanie Cullen brought her Mom’s homemade Chili sauce that was sweet and cinnamon zested and went great with pot roast and beef shoulder, a Mass Card from all the Cullens and a big box of candy from Steinberg’s drugstore – now called Steinway Pharmacy. Tim dropped by to tell Spike that he had joined the Marines and Spike wanted to kiss and also clout the kid. ‘Are you soft upstairs? You should be working on airplanes or in the Navy like your brother who wouldn’t know a pipe wrench from a Mary Jane. You clowns are all gonna kill Tojo. Well, pal, let me tell you this. I been shot at – and hit because my back was turned – and it’s no roller skate date at Foster Park. You make damn sure that you know how to operate what you're shooting and you had better keep it oiled and chambered. Now listen – when you shoot at a mug you are shooting at a target and that is all. If you get all Shirley Temple and human he’ll kill you – end of story. When you take off?’
‘The end of April Mr. O’Donnell.’ Tim was impressed by his friend’s frank and forthright – though – unwitnessed, tutorial on weapons and their uses.

‘Ten years ago, when Danny McGeoghan was trying to kill me everyday of the week – over beer sales – he had a nut-job Polack tough-guy jump ship to me. The guy killed about three guys, or so he said, and he wants to get close to me. One night, the guy comes into my house for the pad to old Capt. Somerville, and one of the kids, I forget who it was, comes out in diapers crying about the loud man. Anyway I picked her up and patted her back to sleep and put her to bed. The Polack is staring green at the baby the whole time. I’m not thinking clear, see, so I leave the him in the living – this was in my nice house over at 81st and Wolcott the one the G snatched from me for taxes last year –room and I go down to the basement for some money. I go round the front of the house for some reason and while I’m in the gangway I see him in my baby’s bed room giving the baby a crack. She’s bawling and by the time I come up the front porch he’s back on the sofa - as nice as pie. “Hey Spike that Baby is really giving out since . . .” I hold up my hand and wave it off ‘No sweat Pal.!’
Two weeks later we go down to Momence for some target practice. This guy Meehan has a shit farm south of the Kankakee River, see. We set up targets but the Polack sees these goats having lunch and decides to kill the poor things for no reason. “I tell him nice shooting and ask him to set up a target for me a couple hundred feet from where the dead goats are toes-up. Before he went two feet, four slugs ran into the back of the Polack’s head – nice target. Get me?’

Tim nodded with deep appreciation and conviction as he fully understood the entire tone and temper of the parable, which Mr. O’Donnell offered without homily – take care of your weapons and hit what you aim at. The targets put themselves there.

Lovely La Lumiere School Laker LaLupaloosa!

Away from matters too silly by half - war, goofy media, politics, and lawn care - I enjoyed time with the fruit of my loins for Parents weekend at La Lumiere School.

I taught at La Lumiere School from 1987 to 1994 and cherish every moment that God blessed my life with in the most beautiful place in the Midwest - north of LaPorte, West of South Bend. East of Michigan City in Indiana and just south of New Buffalo Michigan.

My son Conor ( Football Captain and Center #55), of whom I am well-pleased, is a senior ( 6th Form) student at LaLumiere School - noted for Alums: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts, Actor Comedian Jim Gaffigan, Director Producer Paris Barkley, District Judge Jim Flannery and Illinois Republican Chairman and one the nicest people on earth Andy McKenna.

La Lumiere School was founded by Catholic laymen in 1963 and continues to be one of the best seconday boarding and day schools in America. Headmaster Michael Kennedy, one of my former students, has developed a remarkable faculty of talented young teachers and coaches and is putting together a very smart capital campaign.

This is a remarkable place. LaLumiere School is well worth a visit just for the breathtaking beauty of the place. It is a great educational investment for any young person. LaLumiere School is a very happy place.

Click on the title of my post for more on La Lumiere School! Better yet - hop in the Dodge and take ride out there.

Lost On Kos -Lived on a Daily Basis: Our Kids Need McCain to Lead

Lost on those of us numbed by the information super-highway's endless shouts, is the continued Honor to Mission lived by the young women and men in Harm's Way.

Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, American Idol and the arrests and rehabs of America's most useless People numb Americans from the consequence of meeting our most important obligations.

The next President must not be the 'health care,' 'education,' 'economy,' or 'global warning' President. The next President must be the person to lead America in time of war on Islamist Terror. That War came home on September 11th a couple of years ago, and since that day too many of us have become distracted.

Focus.

It seems to me that the only candidate capable of leading America in this war is John McCain:

``I am obviously of the belief that the country would be safer with me as its leader,'' McCain added. He said that while he respects his Republican and Democratic opponents, ``this is all about who is best equipped to take on the challenge of radical Islamic extremism which will be with us throughout the 21st century.''

Amid signs of a potential rebirth of his weakened candidacy, McCain is emphasizing his deep foreign policy resume and military background anew - in campaign appearance and, for the first time, in ads - as he seeks to draw differences with GOP rivals Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.

McCain spoke to the conservative Hudson Institute as his campaign rolled out the first television and radio ads in the early primary state of New Hampshire. The state is a must-win state for the former GOP front-runner whose fortunes plunged this summer. He's seeking a comeback, and, in the ads, emphasizes his war-hero biography and decades-long experience on military matters.

In the speech and in an obvious reference to Romney and Giuliani, McCain said: ``Tough talk or managerial successes in the private sector aren't adequate assurance that their authors have the experience or qualities necessary for such a singular responsibility.''

Giuliani is a former two-term mayor of New York who moved into the business sector after elective office. Romney is a venture capitalist and one-term former governor of Massachusetts. Like Thompson, their campaign speeches are filled with rhetoric about defeating terrorists although their foreign policy resumes are thin compared with McCain's.

``We have to make far-reaching reforms to our government to prepare for the long threat our enemies plan for us, and the cruel and desperate means they will employ to harm us,'' McCain added. ``You don't just talk about or manage such changes, you lead them.''

McCain argued that the next president needs ``tested experience, political courage and strategic clarity to make sound and difficult decisions'' - implying he embodies all three attributes.

From the UK's Guardian: a very Left Wing newspaper - it seems McCain makes sense to its writer; now, is time for Americans to catch-up.

I wish to thank Mr. Frank Nofsinger of Connecticut for sending me the photos of our troops posted above.

Ahmadinejad-- The Persian Outlaw Live at the UN - By Golly!

Polite applause!

'Thank you. We are more polite in my Persia. Aw - Let's all get Country! Am I Right?
Here's the Band - Ya'll!

Dave Hartoonianjamid of Gittar

Cyrus Yoronatabncantdrinkuntilpaidup! Steel Pedal!

Darius HainsleptSinsCarterleft on Bass - Yeah, that's how he rolls Pure Outlaw!

AND! Xerxes Ihattedthethreehundred - Drums and Percussion That Scares Putin the Russian!


Give up, For My Boys!

LET"S TAKE New YORK, BOYS! Yeah!



'I got news for ya'll. Davey capo it to third fret in D - that's about right - We TUNE BECAUSE WE CARE!
yEAH!

Lissey Here, Ya'll, It's been a week of surprises for all of us. We Persians - from Darius to Cyrus- like to give ya'll a homey feeling - Davey I said D - Steel pedal this sucker up! Sorry folks - long week.

Here's a number that'll give you the feelin' that I'm feelin for all of you - in a manly way -

It's called

Got None A That Here!

Ah One, two, ah One two three and Ah . . .Davey its D. Third Fret. Alright here goes.

Bass line D/C; D/C



Its landscape is dominated by rugged mountain ranges/
that separate various basins or plateaus from one another.

Got None a That here/ Got None A that Here
It's Clear not Queer/ Now Lookeee here/
Got None a That Here (Chorus)

The populous western part is the most mountainous,/ with ranges such as the Caucasus, Zagros and Alborz Mountains;/


(Chorus)
the latter contains Iran's highest point, Mount Damavand/
at 5,604 m (18,386 ft), which is not only the country's highest peak/

(Chorus) Sing Out with Me! Like The Weavers! Got None A That Here!

But also the highest mountain on the Eurasian landmass west of the Hindu Kush./ (Yeow!)
The eastern part consists Of Men Who Like Their Pleasure and there Pleasure Likes their Men!

(Chorus) That's Country! That's Kos'in it!

Goodnight New York! And God bless . . .You know what I mean!

Apologies to Wikpedia

McCain is the only Leader Running for President

I backed President Clinton for two Presidencies, I backed Al Gore; I backed John Kerry; I like and admire Senator Obama, but feel that he is being badly under served and misdirected by the very people who embarrass the Democratic Party.

I have determined to support Senator John McCain as the only Leader in America who can win the war on Islamist terror - it is not Iraq, not Afghanistan; it is a global war on Islamist terror and the Iranian Rerror Leader,its very face, spoke at Columbia on Monday.

Here is how John McCain leads in his own words.

Bolster Troops on the Ground


A greater military commitment now is necessary if we are to achieve long-term success in Iraq. John McCain agrees with retired Army General Jack Keane that there are simply not enough American forces in Iraq. More troops are necessary to clear and hold insurgent strongholds; to provide security for rebuilding local institutions and economies; to halt sectarian violence in Baghdad and disarm Sunni and Shia militias; to dismantle al Qaeda; to train the Iraqi Army; and to embed American personnel in Iraqi police units. Accomplishing each of these goals will require more troops and is a crucial prerequisite for needed economic and political development in the country. America's ultimate strategy is to give Iraqis the capabilities to govern and secure their own country.

Implement New Counterinsurgency Strategy

For most of the occupation, military strategy has focused on securing all of Iraq by establishing bases and conducting short operations from them. Ultimately, this secured only small areas of the country. John McCain believes the current force structure and power vacuum persisting in many areas of the country demands a more robust counterinsurgency strategy. Iraqi and American forces must not only use force to clear areas occupied by insurgents but to stay and hold these areas to deny them as a base for insurgent forces and allow economic and political development to occur in a secure environment. By emphasizing safety of the local population, this strategy will create strongholds in which insurgents find it difficult to operate.

Strengthen the Iraqi Armed Forces and Police



Speech on Iraq at VMI

Watch video from the Speech on Iraq

John McCain on Navy SEAL Mark Robbins



Building a capable Iraqi army is a central requirement for ensuring Iraq's ability to govern and protect itself long after American forces have withdrawn. The U.S. must accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi armed forces and police to enable them to play a key role in securing Iraq. Only in a secure environment will the development of Iraq's political and economic institutions have a chance to succeed. Ultimately, Iraq's future lies in the hands of its people, government, and armed forces, and strengthening them is an essential requirement for bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq. Until Iraqi forces are ready, however, a precipitous U.S. withdrawal would condemn Iraq to civil war and intervention by its neighbors and energize al Qaeda and other jihadists across the globe. This would gravely jeopardize American security.

Create the security necessary for political progress and stability

John McCain believes that only by controlling the violence in Iraq can we pave the way for a political settlement. But once the Iraqi government wields greater authority, it will be incumbent upon Iraqi leaders to take significant steps on their own. These include a commitment to go after the militias, a reconciliation process for insurgents and Baathists, more equitable distribution of government resources, provincial elections that will bring Sunnis into the government, and a large increase in employment-generating economic projects.

Accelerate political and economic reconstruction in a secure environment

While it is crucial to focus military efforts on insurgents, particularly against Sunni fighters using violence to strengthen their political position, John McCain believes there must be a greater emphasis on non-military components promoting economic development and representative, accountable governance.

In territories newly secured by the "clear, hold, and build" counterinsurgency strategy, many of the critical steps to succeeding in Iraq can begin to be implemented. Massive reconstruction can go forward without overwhelming fear of attack and sabotage. A substantial employment program can begin to give hope and opportunity to Iraqi citizens. Political meetings and campaigning can take place more freely. Average Iraqis will be more secure as militias and terrorists are reigned in and violence reduced. All of this will help civil society to emerge and deepen.


"In Iraq our national security interests and our national values converge. Iraq is truly the test of a generation, for America and for our role in the world. Faced with similar challenges, previous generations of Americans have passed such tests with honor. It is now our turn to demonstrate that our power, ennobled by our principles, is the greatest force for good on earth today. Iraq's transformation into a secure democracy and a force for freedom in the greater Middle East is the calling of our age. We can succeed."

-Senator John McCain



Iraqis need to see tangible improvements in their daily lives or support for the new government will falter. Sunnis need to know that if they abandon violence they will have a role in the political process, and the Shia need to know that security will be provided by coalition and government forces - not by private militias. Kurds need assurance that their gains will not be jeopardized by sectarian violence. All Iraqis must be able to look forward to a future of growing security and prosperity overseen by a competent, representative government free of corruption and sectarian conflict.

Keep Senior Officers in Place

The Pentagon has adopted a policy of rotating our generals in and out of Iraq almost as frequently as the rotating of troops. John McCain believes this to be a deeply flawed practice. If these are, in fact, the best leaders for the task, they should remain on the job as long as possible. These generals and other senior officers with experience possess critical situational awareness and expertise necessary to prevail.

Call for International Pressure on Syria and Iran

John McCain believes Syria and Iran have aided and abetted the violence in Iraq for too long. Syria has refused to crack down on Iraqi insurgents and foreign terrorists operating from within its territory. Iran has aided the most extreme and violent Shia militias, providing them with training, weapons, and technology that they have used to kill American troops.

The answer is not to enter into unconditional dialogues with these two dictatorships from a position of weakness. The answer is for the international community to apply real pressure to Syria and Iran to change their behavior. The United States must also bolster its regional military posture to make clear to Iran our determination to protect our forces in Iraq and to deter Iranian intervention in that country.

Win the Homefront

If efforts in Iraq do not retain the support of the American people, the war will be lost as soundly as if our forces were defeated in battle. A renewed effort at home starts with explaining precisely what is at stake in this war to ensure that Americans fully understand the high cost of a military defeat. The war in Iraq is at a crossroads and the future of the entire region is at stake - a region that produced the terrorists who attacked America on 9/11 and where much of the world's energy supplies are located. Success is essential to creating peace in the region, and failure would expose the United States to national security threats for generations. Defeat in the war would lead to much more violence in Iraq, greatly embolden Iran, undermine U.S. allies such as Israel, likely lead to wider conflict, result in a terrorist safe haven in the heart of the Middle East, and gravely damage U.S. credibility throughout the world.

The American people also deserve to know that the path ahead will be long and difficult. They have heard many times that the violence in Iraq will subside soon - when a transitional government is in place, when Saddam is captured, when elections are held, when a constitution is in place. John McCain believes it is far better to describe the situation just as it is - difficult right now, but not without hope. The stakes for America could not be higher.

John McCain on Leadership

"Increasing U.S. troop levels will expose more brave Americans to danger and increase the number of American casualties. When Congress authorized this war, we committed America to a mission that entails the greatest sacrifice a country can make, one that falls disproportionately on those Americans who love their country so much that they volunteer to risk their lives to accomplish that mission. And when we authorized this war, we accepted the responsibility to make sure those men and women could prevail. Extending combat tours and accelerating the deployment of additional troops is a terrible sacrifice to impose on the best patriots among us, and they will understandably be disappointed when they are given that order. Then they will shoulder their weapons and do everything they can to protect our country's vital interests in Iraq."

- Senator John McCain

Sun Times is In Like Flint!

The Chicago Sun Times the Working Man's Pal argues to strip a fired employee of his pension benefits, that evidently, the courts feel are his - a whopping $ 30,000 per annum.


The Chicago Sun Times, unlike the other local papers, ran some stories and Tom McNamee's 'Chicago Way' yesterday germed out of G. Flint Taylor's Lotto Ticket Team Boiler Room that screach ' The City Must Pay Us NOW - It's for the Taxpayers! Somebody Think about the Taxpayers, People!'

Let's see: a guy ( Burge) gets fired that everyone is suppossed to believe is Vlad the Impaler; he has a pension - well, that's got to go! Why? - because we're not supposed to like him? He - now , Flint get this part - HAS NOT BEEN CONVICTED OF ANYTHING! That was your job, Flint, to bring him to Justice. You have been at bat - How many times? Never mind. Since when? Well before most of the Sun Times Readers were born? Evidence, my man!

I am a prosaic guy. Ants come into my house, because I forgot to call Orkin; not because of systemic racism. I got ants ! Who do I sue? I'm just joshing boys - just kidding. Don't start contacting Andy Shaw.

The Sun Times touted the City of Chicago's former ahem, ahem, epidemiologist - to spin the financials on this latest one:

Instead, the city will pay more than that just to lawyers for Burge -- a total of $16 million -- to prepare the case for him, interview witnesses, etc., says the study prepared by Steven Whitman, the City of Chicago's former chief epidemiologist.

Why not the Orkin Man? Or, I could stop by Keegan's and grab a couple of Roofers from Eddie Carroll!

Isn't an epidemiologist a man of medicine concerned with non-communicable diseases and what not? 'We got us a Burge Bug! Call the Press Conference, Sasha!'


Burge is alleged to have tortured. Tons of allegations, but no proof. No courts ( Federal, State, County, Tennis, Prom) seem to be banging down Flint's door to bring the Florida ruffian into Justice's Death Grip.

Instead - Flint plays the dopes in the media like a Stradivarius - or maybe a Stratocaster.

Today The Tribune and the Daily Southtown reported on Chicago News - you know that stuff - State Budget; People of Aurora fighting an Abortion Mill; Casinos, Museums, Bank of America Layoffs & etc. But the Chicago Sun Times is on all burners to make sure G. Flint Taylor gets a pay-day.

Before the Sun Times became an appendage of Flint's Foragers, one needed to pick up the Socialist Worker and People's Weekly World to get Flint's Palms Up!

Dear Reader, do check out the last paragraph of the excerpt from Today's Official Flint Commentary - 'We (the Readers, dear Reader) should take all the news that Abdon Pallasch and Tom McNamee have been chicken - little-ing Taxpayers about recently with a 'pinch of salt.' Mercy sakes alive! Everything they have been reporting about the sky, rocketing down on our tiny ears, was crafted by the Flint's Foragers? Hmmmm!!! Sneedless to say. N'cest Pas?

We've already urged the city to do whatever it takes to find a way to cut off Burge's $2,500 monthly pension. Now we're urging the city to settle those cases, and settle them quickly, to close an ugly chapter in its history.
. . .
There is only a 3 percent chance that the city would win every lawsuit, the report estimated. But even in that best-case scenario, taxpayers would still be on the hook for $16 million in fees to Burge's lawyers.

Those numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt, since they come from the men's legal team. But we can't argue with the premise that the city is betting millions on what looks like a losing hand. A $7 million report by special prosecutors last year concluded that Burge tortured suspects but that it was too late to prosecute him.

Are Lawyers Not supposed to win cases in Court? Mulligans are for the Links - not the Justice System. Do-Overs are for little guys - kids.

And you want to be our Latex Salesmen?

Allegations and Spent Lotto Tickets: Sun Times Wants Money for Lawyers

The Chicago Sun Times and Tom McNamee are working hard for G. Flint Taylor in his efforts to cash in on the allegations of police torture.

Today, Tom McNamee's Chicago Way - clips toe-nails into Mayor Daley's Cornflakes by linking the Children's Museum nonsense with G. Flint Taylor's efforts to bully some spineless ninnies into paying him for evidence that he can not seem to produce in any court.

You remember Burge.
He's the Chicago Police lieutenant with the magic bag of torture tricks. In the 1970s and '80s, before there was Abu Ghraib, there was a basement in a Chicago Police station where Burge could have squeezed a murder confession out of Mother Teresa.

Burge might begin by slamming a phone book to the back of a suspect's head. Then maybe a flashlight or night stick to the gut.

He might move on to a plastic bag over the head. Or arrange for the suspect to suffer a few "accidental" burns from a hot radiator.

And then he'd get down to business, flexing the alligator clips on his personal hand-cranked electric generator.

Deliver enough electric shocks to a man's testicles or anus, and he'll confess to kidnapping the Lindbergh baby, if he can stop screaming long enough.

Hold the phone: The Socialist Worker does not even go that far! Mr. McNamee argues that Burge did that as opposed to 'it was alleged' or 'claimed' 'or asserted'
or 'opined'

John Conroy who has helped write the Flint Taylor Playbook on suing the police uses much less assertive language:

(convicted murderer) Wilson sued the city, saying he'd been tortured by Burge and
detectives under his command. He wasn't the first former suspect to make this accusation,
and scores have been uncovered since. Wilson said Burge wired him up to a black box
and turned a crank that generated an electric shock. This technique bore a striking
resemblance to what American troops in Vietnam called "the Bell telephone
hour"--shocking prisoners by means of a hand-cranked army field phone. In defending
himself against Wilson's suit he ( Burge) said he'd never seen a black box, and though he'd served
as a military policeman in the Mekong delta in 1968 and '69 had never heard of field
phone interrogations. He bristled at the suggestion that Americans in Vietnam had
conducted them.

Later John Conroy admits that Burge, though in Vietnam, was in the convoy traffic division of his Unit.

Before the Chicago
Police Board in March 1992, he described his role with the MPs as "escort of convoys,
security for forward support bases, supervising security for the divisional central base
camp in Dong Tam, and I finished my tour as a provost marshal investigator." A
company roster of key personnel as of January 31, 1969, lists Burge as head of the traffic
section

But Conroy talked to many Vietnam era vets until someone brought up the telephone box torture device. Whew!

Now, at trial, Flint Taylor needed to build a torture device and demonstrate its 'chilly' effect. Where's the one Burge used? Must be lost due to the conspiracy. We (everyone Flint and McNamee are 'telling' to) are to assume that the alleged box is at the bottom of Lake Michigan - Burge owned a boat!

I'm just a guy who reads the newspapers. I read that Flint brought in a Boy Scout now in his 40's who 'stumbled upon' police torture. The problem was that the Boy Scout 'witnessed' Burge torturing a black man at the wrong police station.


Flint has been trying to cash-in allegations by using the media instead of the courts.

Flint strikes out in court. The Chicago Sun Times seems more than happy to help Flint and other police lawsuit addicted pettifoggers get a payday. That's just wrong.

Justice should be served - not fabricated. G. Flint Taylor has had how many whacks at Burge and the Police in Court? How many decades? That is some conspiracy. But whose? Who benefits from keeping this nonsense alive?

Sells papers. Gets Andy Shaw a few 'outraged' sputters on TV. Keeps Activists Active.

There are about 108 allegations of Police torture. There are millions of un-cashable lottery tickets covering the floors of Speedways. White Hens, 7/11s, and Thorntons like snow all over the country. Like the torture allegations of the self-confessed murdereres who see a means of 'getting out of jail with cash' tickets, charges are valid, until it comes time to cash them in during trial. G. Flint Taylor screams 'conspiracy and fix' before, during and after trial - that way he can not lose - just re-charge the nonsense with the help of lazy journailsts and the assumption that people can not think for themselves.

Evidence! Convict Burge - or buy a lotto ticket. Maybe the Sun Times will spring for one.

http://uic.edu/orgs/kbc/cpd/burgereader.pdf

Courtney Greve of the Daily Southtown Makes the Ordinary Extraordinary

For a number of years, The Daily Southtown - the absolute best Chicago source for the real news - has been blessed by the talents of Courteny Greve.

Recently, Courtney Greve joined Phil Kadner as a columnist who accurately reflects the events and the people who shape those events. The great Neil Steinberg explained the role of the columnist to a gathering at the Michigan City Library on Saturday September 15th that as a writer he tries to find the 'something' in a story that brings what is extraordinary to life and gave the example of a chicken processing plant where a woman would cut chicken breast fillets to the near exact 1/4 pound specifications without the use of a scale. Her art developed through practice. Courtney Greve is giving journalism an equally measured cut from life.

Today's Courtney Greve column is a masterpiece of practiced and measured presentation.

In a story about the Cook County Sheriff's Agricultural Program's Mike Taff - a wonderful man who helps convicts develop skills beyond the horrific realities of their confinement ( shank manufacturing and toilet distillation liqours) that take them into possiblities beyond CCDOC - Courtney Greve cuts a true masterpiece:

Taff, 55, is the project coordinator for the Cook County Jail garden. The program teaches nonviolent offenders in the sheriff's Department of Community Supervision and Intervention how to till, plant and weed.

Perhaps more importantly, it teaches inmates skills such as perseverance, teamwork and compassion.

"(The garden offers) a little bit of serenity where they can review their life and figure out how they can make it better," he said.

Taff stumbled into the job. After he retired from Chicago's building department, he decided to switch gears.

"I have six kids still at home, so I had to go to work," he said.

Taff and his wife, Katie, a former FBI employee, are the parents of Michael, Emily, Sara, Connor, Hannah and Natalie, ages 9 to 24.

"Besides, I made Katie a promise," he continued. "I said, 'The day you get pregnant, you never have to work another day in your life.' I'm keeping that promise."

The former Army police officer hoped to work in law enforcement.

"I loved the military and always wanted to be a policeman," he said. "This was the closest thing I could get to working with policemen."

Taff started working for the sheriff's department in 2004. About a year into the gig, he was asked to lead the garden program. The closest he had come to gardening was his parents' blueberry farm in Saugatuck, Mich.

"It was sink or swim," he said.

Taff took a 10-week master gardener course through the University of Illinois Extension Service, based at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences in the Mount Greenwood community.

This season, a record number of inmates - 32, up from 14 - completed the same certificate program. Three more are planning to take the exam in October.

"This garden changes lives and lifestyles," Taff said. "They can get out of here, become a good citizen, have a trade and get a job."

So far this season, about 4,500 pounds of produce were harvested by inmates and donated to soup kitchens, senior citizen centers and other charity organizations in places such as Robbins and the city's Roseland community.

A cornucopia of crops still need to be picked - pumpkins, eggplant, tomatoes, squash, peppers and collard greens.

"We spread this (bounty) around the entire county," Taff said.

The inmates are not allowed to bring any of the food they've grown inside the jail, but they do get to sample the goods during their shifts.

Taff is pleased with the garden's success, but he has plans to make it better.

"A project stays ordinary unless you bring something new into it," he said.

There is a waterfall of writers who fill up pages of words cut to someone else's agenda and specifications, but there are a few gifted craftsmen - Steinberg, Kadner, Greve, McGrath, Kass and Boston Globe's McGrory - who really cut, trim and present a masterpiece.

Journalism has hope with Courtney Greve!

Thomas Hayes - Confronts the 'Nightmare'

Trainer and Mentor Kevin Rooney of Catskills, New York



Leo Boxing Coach Mike Joyce has been a great friend to Thomas Hayes and guiding force in the good man's life.

From April Edition of Eastside Boxing:

James Slater: Firstly, Chris, what do you know about your next opponent, Thomas Hayes?

Chris Arreola: I know he's gonna come right at me and be in my chest. I know He's trained by Kevin Rooney and is very much in the Mike Tyson mold.

You have that right, Chris. You are Boxing's self-styled 'Nightmare.' Thomas Hayes has 'come right at' the Urban Nightmare.

While a student at Leo Catholic High School in Chicago, Thomas Hayes was shot while entering the school. Thomas Hayes went to class with a .22 caliber slug between his shoulder and bicep. His teacher, Bob Schablaske, said, 'Tommy, you are hit!' Thomas Hayes recovered and played Catholic League Football, but he also became a Leo Boxer.

Chicago lawyer and Leo Alumnus, Mike Joyce molded Tommy into a Chicago Golden Gloves Supeheavyweight Champion; introduced Thomas to one ofthe kindest and toughest men in America - boxing trainer Kevin Rooney. Kevin Rooney, no stranger to Nightmares himself, had his greatest boxer Mike Tyson pinched from his pockets by Don King, immediately after bringing that troubled and gifted kid to his greatest achievement -beating Michael Spinks. Thomas Hayes is no Mike Tyson.

Thomas Hayes is a Christian gentleman and a focused, disciplined student of Boxing and maintains a personal life that confronts Nightmares on a daily basis. Thomas Hayes will soon have his college degree and has applied to take the Chicago Policeman's Examination - following in the footsteps of Boxing Legend Toxey Hall.

Thomas Hayes will face a man in the square ring that is touted as a Nightmare. Chris Arreola has the height and the reach and the weight on Thomas Hayes. Thomas Hayes is trained by Kevin Rooney and guided by Mike Joyce. Thomas Hayes brings a massive heart into Friday Night's Fight in California. I'll take heart over a Nightmare any day.

Thomas Hayes will bring it to Chris Arreola immediately. We will see what will transpire and know about confronting Nightmares in the First Round of Ten.


God Bless Both Boxers!

Riverside’s Arreola at the Doubletree in Ontario, California, can be seen by a national audience (the undefeated heavyweight standout’s clash with once-beaten Thomas Hayes is the main event of Telefutura’s “Sole Boxeo” series).

From MaxBoxing.com
http://www.maxboxing.com/Fischer/Fischer092007.asp


This Fight will be Televised on TELEFUTURA "Sole Boxeo" a Spanish Language cable channel at 7PM Tomorrow Night! I will watch the fight at Hayes' Corner Man Ollie McGarry and John Kelly's Mackell's Inn -3259 West 111th Street

773-445-9181 Mackell's Inn

'Don't Taze Me, Bro!' - Faustus 2008

David Bowie from The Prestige (Click my post title for the news link.)

O God!
If thou wilt not have mercy on my soul, 60
Yet for Christ’s sake whose blood hath ransom’d me,
Impose some end to my incessant pain;
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years—
A hundred thousand, and—at last—be sav’d!
O, no end is limited to damned souls! 65
Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?
Or why is this immortal that thou hast?
Ah, Pythogoras’ metempsychosis! were that true,
This soul should fly from me, and I be chang’d
Unto some brutish beast! All beasts are happy, 70
For when they die,
Their souls are soon dissolv’d in elements;
But mine must live, still to be plagu’d in hell.
Curst be the parents that engend’red me!
No, Faustus: curse thyself: curse Lucifer 75
That hath depriv’d thee of the joys of Heaven. The clock striketh twelve.
O, it strikes, it strikes! Now, body, turn to air,
Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell. Thunder and lightning.
O soul, be chang’d into little water-drops,
And fall into the ocean—ne’er be found. 80
My God! my God! look not so fierce on me! Enter DEVILS.
Adders and serpents, let me breathe awhile!
Ugly hell, gape not! come not, Lucifer!
I’ll burn my books!—Ah Mephistophilis!

The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus Scene XIV


Christopher Marlowe had a way of looking at bad judgment: Faustus a Student - really smart guy and an active member of Moveon.org's Wittenburg Unversity Chapter, made a compact with Mephistophilis - Lucifer's ( The Devil) lawyer.

The Faustus kid was given all the powers of his Alchemist ( Rocket Scientist) Art - he could conjure up hot Babes ( Helen of Troy) and the power to Punk the Pope - 'You Been Punk'd Dude!' Until time was up. Then, in the speech above, like our young scapegrace in Florida, Herr Meyer, Faustus got Tazed - dragged to Hell by, Lucifer's Jon Loevy-like lawyer - Satan sued the cops after getting his Fork-tailed butt kicked by Michael the Archangel - The Patron Saint of Cops. Lawyers and devils - you gotta hand it to them.

Our American universities really need to slow-down to 60MPH, open the door of the academic Volvo and kick more Finklesteins and Churchills out of teaching. Maybe then young Faustus 2008 may know when not to over-play his tiny hand, by reading what is magnificent in our Human Culture.

By the way, the Tazered Student is never heard, just like our boy Faustus, to say 'I am truly sorry for what I have done.' Marlowe knew. So, do most parents.

The Chorito Hog Leg by O.J. Simpson

The parallels between Orenthal James Simpson and Patrick Francis Hickey are not to be believed:


O.J. was born on July 9,1947
Pat Hickey on November 8, 1952

O.J. was a Heismann Trophy winning athlete
I saw the Heismann Trophy owned by Johnny Latner at Jim McKeever's House and at Boz O'Brien's Reilly's Daughter Pub in 1997.

We are both widowers and single parents.

O.J. was Acquited of Murdering his wife in a Criminal Trial and convicted in Civil Trial. I was not.

O.J. has a ghost written book out that is # 1.

I wrote the Chorito Hog Leg, Book One: A Novel of Guam in Time of War that has sold tens of copies.

O.J. is National News and locked up in Las Vegas

I am not.

Makes the hair stand on one's neck.