Sen. Meeks No Longer an Isolationist on School Vouchers! Welcome to the War

Senator James Meeks has been the Joseph P. Kennedy* Ambassador to School Reform Isolationism and a powerful voice for tossing more tax dollars to the Chicago Teachers Union and hapless Public Schools.

Blocks from Calumet High School, now morphed into a hybrid Charter Academy/Warehouse, and few more from the 60 million dollar Simeon High School, Leo High School - a Catholic High School ( 100% African American Males)-commands the respect and direction of families seeking a path to success for their sons.

Leo High School is tuition driven and depends upon the giving of its largely white, Catholic and aging Alumni. White Alumni giving to Leo High School stands at 99.9%, though more Black Alums are giving in recent months.
Ninety Three percent of Leo's graduates go on to colleges and universities and the balance to the skilled trades unions and the military.

For decades Catholics and other private school families ( Jewish, Dutch Reformed, Lutheran, Muslim, and Independent) have called for School Reform through a universal voucher system. The Public School lobby has defeated any and all efforts. One of the Public School Lobby's most passionate and articulate voices - Rev./Senator James Meeks has pushed down efforts to bring about genuine Reform through Vouchers.

Like Ambassador Joe Kennedy in 1939-40, while Ambassador to Great Britain, Senator Meeks has called for Isolationism on Vouchers. Now, the Senator has witnessed the toll upon our society that this Isolationism has wrought. Like Joe Kennedy, Senator Meeks has had a Great Awakening!

the Chicago Teachers Union has figured out a way for teachers to not be evaluated on obvious criteria, such as how well they perform in the classroom.

Nobody wants to be held accountable, but the blood of every child is on our hands.

We must also decide whether Mayor Daley should continue to preside over the Chicago schools. Since he assumed control of the district in 1995, the Blackhawks have had nine coaches, the Bulls have had eight coaches, the Cubs have had five managers and the White Sox have had three managers.

For the first time in my personal and political career, I am exploring the idea of vouchers and charter schools to help facilitate choice and enhance academic performance. Why should we continue to make investments in a system that is bankrupt and weighed down with bureaucracy?

We must begin making decisions that are in the best interest of children, such as mandatory teacher evaluations. Since the will to change the system is nonexistent, we should allow students the flexibility to attend schools outside their district. What once worked before, such as the local school councils, may have run its course in today's competitive environment.

They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. We can no longer afford to have the blood of every child on our hands.

Welcome to the War Senator! Already the Isolationists like Eric Zorn ( using free Market tropes) are attacking Senator Meeks and 'Blaming the Parents!'

My problem with voucher-based education is that it relies on a level of parental involvement that's manifestly missing and on a free-market system that is failing the inner-city already. Not that there is any easy answer, but these communities need jobs and affordable housing, far lower single-parent birth rates and, yes, calm, safe focused classrooms in which students can learn and teachers can teach.

Since the will to change the system is nonexistent, we should allow students the flexibility to attend schools outside their district.
Interesting idea, the logistics of which boggle the mind. Even if we could pull it off, though, and allow certain, motivated students to flee, the basic problem they are fleeing -- joblessness and its attendant poverty -- will remain.

If PNG Zorn is against you, Senator, you are on the right path!We can use your voice, spirit and energy. Let's make Genuine Reform Happen in Illinois! Let's Kick Open the Doors for Vouchers!


* Old Joe Kennedy thought Adolph Hitler would 'not be such a bad guy' and just another guy doing business and after all Old Joe said during the Battle of Britain, "Democracy is finished in England. It may be here, [in the US]."

"There Lives Not Three Good Men Unhanged in N J, and One of Them is Fat"

The Genius that is Kliban!

“I’m pretty fat Don,” Christie declared.


“You weigh?” Imus asked.


“550 pounds,” Christie jokingly responded

from the Don Imus Show via Politico - click my post title.


Let me have men about me that are fat, sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights. Yon Corzine has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous. . . . And Corzine has that really creepy half-assed beard going that faux intellectuals and frauds tend to sport. Jon with no H is a dead-ass give-away that the guy is a skunk. Or is that Scunque? e.g. Like a Hyphenated Mick -T.Claude Biggs-MonahanEsq.

Give me Fat Brother Chris Christie! Corzine like most Progressives hate people with more than a few pounds on them. Corzine has a fat bank account and has been flooding the airwaves and TV beams with Fat, Fat Chris Christie ads.

In a better and more honorable day, such taunting of people of amplitude would be rounded out with a lusty pile on! Would not the Commonwealth . . .nay the Republic itself. . . not be well served by the Close-knit ( Italian Catholic) Ethnic and Corpulent Christie launching skyward to allow gravity its whim upon the oafish tweed wrapped Corzine! That is not an interrogative.

Welcome to the Pew, Brother Meeks!

Real School Reform = Vouchers! Short of that, Charter Schools do the most to bring some accountabilty. All the rest is hot air -for want of stronger tea.

Public Schools need competition. Catholic Schools ( and other private schools as well) provide Competition and Genuine Accountability! Vouchers are the only real tool to reform.Click my Post Title!

We Catholics and our friends have been praying for School Choice through Vouchers and many non-Catholics/non-Christian/non-Believers have helped fill the pews.

Brother Meeks, welcome to Church. We have been passing the plate and now intend to make sure that Vouchers and Charters see that the plates go to the right hands -Illinois Families and not scam artists and hacks.

For the first time in my personal and political career, I am exploring the idea of vouchers and charter schools to help facilitate choice and enhance academic performance. Why should we continue to make investments in a system that is bankrupt and weighed down with bureaucracy?

We must begin making decisions that are in the best interest of children, such as mandatory teacher evaluations. Since the will to change the system is nonexistent, we should allow students the flexibility to attend schools outside their district. What once worked before, such as the local school councils, may have run its course in today's competitive environment.

They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. We can no longer afford to have the blood of every child on our hands.

Democratic state Sen. James T. Meeks of Chicago is pastor of Salem Baptist Church.

Chicago Tribune - Op-Ed Page

President Obama is Commander in Chief - Well Done, Mr. President!

President Obama displayed True Greatness! This speaks well of Our President!

President Barack Obama made a midnight trip to Dover Air Force Base earlier today to meet the returning bodies of 18 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan on Monday.


Arriving at the base at 12:34 a.m., the president visited with the fallen troops' families in a chapel on the base grounds. Just before 4 a.m., the president and several other officials - including Attorney General Eric Holder, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and acting DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart - joined members of one service member's family to salute a flag-draped coffin being transferred from a C-17.


The president's group stood in single file to salute the casket holding Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin, whose family consented to media coverage of the Indiana soldier's return. The whole ceremony took approximately 15 minutes, according to the pool.


Monday's three helicopter crashes in Afghanistan - which killed 14 Americans, including three DEA agents - made October the deadliest month in the Afghan war to date.


Obama returned to the White House at 4:45 a.m., touching down on the South Lawn in Marine One.

St. Colman of Kilmacduagh - Helped Preserve Thought in the West - Feast Day October 29th

"St. Colman was retired into the wilderness for the benefit of his devotion. He had no living creature about him except a rooster, a mouse, and a fly. The use of the rooster was to give him notice of the time of night by his crowing, that he might know when to apply himself to his prayers. The mouse had a proper office, which was to prevent the Saint from sleeping above five hours within the space of twenty-four; for, when the business of his devotion, which he exercised with great reverence and regularity upon his knees, had so fatigued his spirits that they required a longer refreshment, the mouse would come to his ears and scratch him with his feet till he was perfectly awake. The fly always attended on him when he was reading. It had the sense to walk along the lines of the book; and when the Saint had tired his eyes, and was willing to desist, the fly would stay upon the first letter of the next sentence, and by that means direct him where he was to begin."

St. Colman was a Clare Man - like Christy Ring* and Muhammad Ali. Colman lived in the 6th Century, a time known as the Dark Ages, when Ireland was the depository of Western Civilization and Greek Thought as one barbarian horde after another extinguished civilized life in the West.

Colman built a monastery with a 110 foot Round Tower - Round Towers were used to hide and preserve treasure, books, and ideas from savages.

St. Colman Mac Duagh thus began a great and holy work that was destined to endure for all time. It was a work which would inscribe his name on the hearts of a grateful Irish people, who would transmit it, with the memory of his virtues, from generation to generation. King Guaire, with his characteristic generosity, not only granted the site for the cathedral and monastery, but also granted large endowments for its future maintenance. His benignity did not stop there. The King through his influence was able to secure the assistance of St. Gobban Saer the eminent architect who flourished early in the seventh century. St. Gobban Saer was an illiterate monk in the monastery of St. Madoc of Ferns. An excerpt from the life of this saint (St. Gobban) provided by an ancient Irish chronicler says,
"A church was to be erected, but no builder could be found to guide the religious brethren in the work. Wherefore, full of confidence in God, St. Aidan (Madoc) blessed the hands of the untutored man named Gobban. From that moment he became most skilled in the intricacies of the art, and was able in a most perfect manner to complete the church of the monastery."

Would that a Colman might appear today and preserve some thought from our contemporary savages . . . and ourselves.


* A Man or Lad of Spirit was identified by the Salt Water Irish on the south side of Chicago as being 'as Game as Christy Ring!'

'As long as young men will match their hurling skills against each other on Ireland's green fields, as long as young boys swing their camáns(hurling bat) for the sheer thrill of the feel and the tingle in their fingers of the impact of ash on leather, as long as hurling is played the story of Christy Ring will be told. And that will be forever.'

Pirates Grab Brits? Let Caesar Deal With Them - That's Caesar Obama, Mind You.

"The pattern has been that they don't harm the captives, these pirates, because they want money.

"But I want to assure the family that we will not rest until until we see the freedom of this couple."

Mr and Mrs Chandler were heading on a 150 nautical-mile passage south-west to the Amirante Islands en route to Tanzania in their yacht the Lynn Rival when they used the distress beacon.

Some months back when we were faced with our own Somali pirate problem, I waxed classical ( Plutarch) on the issue.

Now our NEA Lickspittle in Chief Rocco Landesman has declared this Our Obama - Caesar Imperator! "Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar."

Oh, yeah. Jefferson, Grant, TR, JFK, Reagan could pen Okay I guess but none were community activist like Barry and Gaius.


First, when the pirates demanded a ransom of twenty talents, Caesar burst out laughing. They did not know, he said, who it was that they had captured, and he volunteered to pay fifty. Then, when he had sent his followers to the various cities in order to raise the money and was left with one friend and two servants among these Cilicians, about the most bloodthirsty people in the world, he treated them so highhandedly that, whenever he wanted to sleep, he would send to them and tell them to stop talking.
For thirty-eight days, with the greatest unconcern, he joined in all their games and exercises, just as if he was their leader instead of their prisoner. He also wrote poems and speeches which he read aloud to them, and if they failed to admire his work, he would call them to their faces illiterate savages, and would often laughingly threaten to have them all hanged. They were much taken with this and attributed his freedom of speech to a kind of simplicity in his character or boyish playfulness.

However, the ransom arrived from Miletus and, as soon as he had paid it and been set free, he immediately manned some ships and set sail from the harbor of Miletus against the pirates. He found them still there, lying at anchor off the island, and he captured nearly all of them. He took their property as spoils of war and put the men themselves into the prison at Pergamon. He then went in person to [Marcus] Junius, the governorof Asia, thinking it proper that he, as praetor in charge of the province, should see to the punishment of the prisoners. Junius, however, cast longing eyes at the money, which came to a considerable sum, and kept saying that he needed time to look into the case.

Caesar paid no further attention to him. He went to Pergamon, took the pirates out of prison and crucified the lot of them, just as he had often told them he would do when he was on the island and they imagined that he was joking.
Plutarch - Lives of the Noble Romans and Greeks

"Did [the bankers] build anything? Create anything? . . ." No, Anna; Janitors Mop, Health Care Workers Empty Bed Pans and You Are Wearing their Dues !

Yesterday the shameless led the wageless by the hundreds against BANKS and got universal press coverage touting protesters in the thousands.

That's nice. SEIU corrals thousands of no skill and low skill workers into their pens with their dues and keep them there for life.

Time was a janitor's job was a pathway to the trades and the middle class. No more. SEIU does prepare people for the future - that is none of their business. Andy Stern and Anna Burger will tell them who and what to believe.

SEIU is ACORN with a better PR firm.

Yesteday, Anna Burger*howled out great hollow hypocrisy at the BANKS - you know - like Tom Joad's faceless; nameless; bloodless enemy in Grapes of Wrath - Metonymy in rhetoric that plays well with synecdoche.

Banks are the villain du jour.: Insurance Companies, Wall-Street Fat Cats; Wal-Mart, Big Oil & etc.


"Did [the bankers] build anything? Create anything? Do anything?" Burger asked the crowd, which repeatedly responded "No!" - Progress Illinois ( SEIU Funded Comic Blog)


Actually banks create wealth - unnaturally. Why the very vaults from whence Anna and Andy scoop dues to jet off to Red China/The Big Ed Schultz Show/Tapas With Chavez/Shakedowns with Jesse Jackson Universal come from Banks.

I would venture to say that very few of the workers in SEIU make enough of a wage to have more than a checking account - if they are lucky enough to have that.

The Cadillac Commies leading SEIU belong under the same microscope slide as ACORN.


*Anna Burger, born in Levittown, Pennsylvania, and daughter of a disabled truck driver and a nurse, began her activist career in 1972 as a Welfare worker. It was there she became involved in her local union. Burger organized a walkout in efforts to create a safer working environment for the office. Burger became more active in her union, and quickly moved through the ranks of the local union. Burger became SEIU local 668's first full-time woman president before moving onto the SEIU International office in Washington, DC, to work as National Director of Field Operations, under former SEIU president John Sweeney. Burger successfully ran Sweeney's campaign for president of the AFL-CIO. She was elected Executive Vice President of SEIU, and Secretary-Treasurer in 2001.

In her tenure at SEIU, Burger has worked with President Andy Stern to create the largest and fastest growing union in North America.[citation needed] While union membership across the country has been continually dropping[citation needed], SEIU is the only union that has continuously grown.[vague] As well, Burger and SEIU are working to create ties with unions in other parts of the world, especially Europe and Asia.

Burger and Stern called for a change in the AFL-CIO's strategies in June 2004. By the summer of 2005, 6 unions (including SEIU) withdrew their membership to the AFL-CIO, and created a new labor coalition, the Change to Win Federation. On September 27, 2005, Burger was elected Chair of the breakaway coalition. As the Chair of Change to Win, Burger became the first woman to lead an American labor coalition.

Burger is married to Earl F. Gohl and they have one daughter. Anna Burger currently lives in Washington, DC with her family.

Read This Book - Dan Senor's "A Start-Up Nation"

My uncles always said, " They got oranges growing in the desert - they'll beat any crumbs that attack them" Bart, Donny, Sy, Bud, Mike, Jack and my Dad were always Pro-Israel. I remember that strategic and tactical assessment of Israel at the time of the Six Day War back in 1967. As they were all WWII and Korea veterans they understood the State of Israel.

Israel has gone from the Up-Start Nation (Holocaust Survivors and children of the Diaspora Building a Home Nation)of 1948 to the Start-Up Nation of 2009. They still grow oranges in the desert.

American Dan Senor has written a book about Israel's remarkable economic leadership in developing more start-up NASDAQ industries than China, India, Europe, Japan and Korea combined. Dan Senor offered this analysis to the Matzoh Marvel.

Our book dives into many interacting factors, but one of the most important is the training and battlefield experience that most Israelis receive in the military. The military is where many Israelis learn to lead and manage people, improvise, become mission-oriented, work in teams, and contribute to their country. They tend to come out of their years of service (three for men, two for women) more mature and directed than their peers in other countries. They learn “the value of five minutes,” as one general told us. They even learn something more uniquely Israeli: to speak up — regardless of ranks and hierarchy — if they think things can be done better.

Click my post title for more.

This will be an important study for all Americans.

Greeks, Germans, and Gaels Commemorate Gallantry in 1939 Ireland.

More than 200 people attended various celebratory events in Ventry on Saturday, October 17 2009 to mark the rescue and landing of the Greek seamen.

The occasion was organised by the newly formed Ventry Historical Society.

The main ceremony was held on the green in front of Quinn's Pub, where an inscribed commemorative stone has been erected.

Guests included the German Ambassador Dr. Busso von Alvensleben and the Mayor of the Oinousses Islands in the Aegean, Evangelos Elias Angelakos who unveiled the memorial stone.

Other guests included descendants of Panagos Pateras, the captain and owner of the ill-fated Diamantis, officers of the Southern Command, members of the Irish Coast Guard, the crew of the Valentia lifeboat and a troop of Sea Scouts from Tralee.

The secretary of the historical society, Dr Breandán Ó Ciobháin, delivered a welcoming address in Irish, English, Greek and German and invited the German ambassador to address the gathering.

"I'm deeply moved about this gererous gesture of erecting this memorial. In that terrible war, which we all remember very well, it was indeed an exceptional action that we are going to honour today. I'm more than happy that nowadays our three countries are united in the European Union and that we can be sure that anything like that will never occur again. The only thing that should survive is the sense of magnanimity and of courage that will serve as an example for all of us," he said.

Mayor Angelakos said it was a great honour to attend the Ventry ceremony 70 years after the incident.

"I would like to remind you of the magnanimous stance of Werner Lott*, the commander of the U-35,
The Kerryman Newspaper

* Kptlt. Werner Lott was commander of U-35 from 15 August 1937 until 29 November 1939.
He was born on 03 December 1907 in Willenberg, East Prussia. He entered the Navy in 1926 (Crew 1926). He was promoted to the rank of Kapitänleutnant (Lietenant Commander) on 01 October 1934 (10th in the class). From September 1936 - 31 March 1937, he was commander of U-21. During April 1937, he participated in ship construction lessons at Germaniawerft, Kiel. From 15 April 1937 to 15 August 1937, he was commander of U-32. [1,3,15]
"I was named as commander of U-35 by Dönitz personally on 15 August 1937. Thereupon I gave up command of U-32 to Paul Büchel


"On board HMS KINGSTON after the sinking of U-35, Werner Lott entered the following note in the wardroom visitor's book: "Wishing you the best of luck except against German U-Boats" .
He was assigned POW Number 37421.

Morning Joe - Mika is as Dumb as a Box of Rocks and Mark Halperin Squirts Tears.

I got struck with MSNBC for morning news this A.M. - the cable was wacky. No wackier than the Zoo Crew of Morning Joe.

Mika Brzezinski is a busty babe and daughter of Henry Kissinger Never Could Be -Zbigniew Brzezinksi.

Mika is UmmmmDay - lacking in the old thought fuel - nine cents short of a dime - not the fullest can in the cold-case -bereft of original synapse pop.

A really smart kid who's married to CNN Harpy Campbell Brown commanded the show -Dan Senor. His new book Start Up Nation touts Israel's growing power as an economic force.

Anyway, Dan Senor said he agreed with Cheney's assessment that the Obama White House is 'Dithering' on Afghanistan in order to help keep New Jersey and Virginia in the control of the Democrats - the Good Taliban. Pop went the Weasels!

Mika went Third Grade - "Are You Kidding? You Really say you agree with Cheney? How can you say that?" Well, maybe not Third Grade but Graduate School Progressive - For Sure! Repeatedly! and with Prejudice - Extreme Prejudice.

Someone makes a statement. It is good grace to accept that statement.

"Hickey, you are putting on weight."

"Do you believe that? How Can you say that? Who told you to say that, Blind Man?"

The correct response would be - "Why how nice of you to point that out! #$%^ You!"

Mika went all 40 Watt Interrogative on Dan Senor. Indicative of a really challenged intellectual capacity, that gambit ( very Progressive).

Not to be outdone, Obama White House Cheerleader Mark Halperin looked like Dan Senor had taken his Raleigh Hot Rod 20" Big Guy Bike when Senor thumped Halperin repeatedly on the molasses like decision making of the Commander in Chief and a complete unwillingness to play in the "Bush Fault" Jungle Gym.


Halperin is 'so' in the tank that even the Obama people laugh at him - Davis Plouffe once said, "If Politico and Halperin say we’re winning, we’re losing." That does not stop MSNBC from tossing Halperin who writes for Time Magazine - also deep in the propaganda MINITRU of the the Obama White House.

It seemed that Mark Halperin squirted Real Tears, because a tough independent thinker would not cave in or play ball with cheerleaders. Mika is still having things explained to her through visuals and treats.

MSNBC - More Tools Than True Value!


http://twitter.com/morningjoeguest

Judge H. :Stinky" Lee Sarokin Calls Cook County States Attorney's Request a Gestapo Move

Old Judge H. "Stinky" Lee Sarokin a rock-ribbed Civil Rights Activist Judge who was overruled by an Appellate Court that a homeless gent 'did in fact stink' and could be asked to leave a Public Library - going without soap and water (at minimum) is not - it seems - a 1st Amendment right - free speech by stinking out loud and on ice.

Old Judge H. "Stinky" Lee Sarokin resigned after 17 years of Judicial Activism, which included opening the cell door for Ruben Hurricane Carter, because he was called names by Bob Dole - get this :

Federal judges granted the protection of lifetime tenure by the Constitution should be made of sterner stuff, even if it means having to endure public scorn and ostracism. Judges, of course, are only human. It is understandable that Judge Sarokin does not like being counted among those who have been singled out by Senator Bob Dole as excessively sympathetic to the constitutional rights of criminals. Nor does he relish the prospect of remaining a campaign issue until the Presidential election.

It is also easy to understand his frustration that a few controversial decisions in a generally energetic and honorable judicial career -- including a misguided 1991 ruling refusing to bar a homeless man from a New Jersey town library for his annoying behavior and bad odor -- have been used as grist by Republicans to paint Democratic judges as soft on crime.

But the right response to what Judge Sarokin has called attempts to "Willie Hortonize the Federal judiciary" is not to contribute to the demonetization of the institution he reveres, which is what he has effectively done by surrendering to judge-bashing politicians.

There is a question, too, of candor. President Clinton, who nominated Judge Sarokin to the appellate bench, supported him through bruising confirmation hearings in 1994 -- something the President might not have been willing to do had he known that just 22 months later the judge would surprise everyone by deciding to move to part-time senior status. Just weeks before Judge Sarokin's resignation, colleagues on the bench correctly rejected a nervy request by the judge to transfer his offices from Newark to California. That has led at least some judges to question whether political attacks are the real reason Judge Sarokin decided to resign.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/07/opinion/judge-sarokin-s-retreat.html

And that is the New York Times all but pulling down Stinky's Britches.

The Northwestern University Innocense Project has called in all its chips against the Cook County States Attorney, Anita Alvarez in her attempt to get the entitled and endowed University lambs to offer up the requested documents.

The Headline Club of which I am a member ( I think I paid the last dues) sent a letter of protest.

Now Huffington Post has trotted out Old Judge H. "Stinky" Lee Sarokin to roundly harrumph that this is Gestapo Stuff!! Click my post title for Stinky's howl - it's a good 'un!

Thus, ""the grades, grading criteria, class syllabus, expense reports and e-mail messages of their journalism students themselves" at Northwestern University warrants and deserves the Gestapo label.

It is a flagrant attempt to intimidate the Medill Innocence Project and other similar projects which have been so successful in overturning wrongful convictions."

Oh, Stinky. Non Sibi sed Patriae Not California Country/Beach Houses!

Jesus, Stinky, it's not like Ms. Alvarez is asking them to relocate to California?

Skinny & Houli Show on WNTD Radio 950AM - Wednesdays from 6-8 PM Starting 11/11/09

Coming Wednesday Night November 11th

The Premiere of the Skinny & Houli Show!

And none too soon! Voices made for Relevant Radio, James "Skinny" Sheahan and Mike "Houli" Houlihan will be heard - loud and clear - these gents are no NPR Hush Talkers. Skinny and Houli have something to say and invite people to share in what they have to say.

On WNTD Radio 950AMStarring Skinny Sheahan & Mike Houlihan

Join us from 6-8PM for two hours of rollicking fun as we chew the fat and shoot the breeze with Chicago's All-Stars, the real heroes, 'da people of our city! Featuring our special guest spotlight, listener call-ins, and OUR recap of the week in the windy city.

The Skinny & Houli Show
Every Wednesday from 6-8PM
WNTD 950 AM
Don't Miss It

I have WOW Cable - 88 channels and there ain't nothing on TV! Let's get back to real radio days!

Finally, Radio you can actually hear!

Blind Bartimaeus in All of Us. Well, me anyway.

Then they came to Jericho And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road.
When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

This Gospel passage from Sunday's Mass is interesting for two things:

1. The blind guy's name Bar -Timaeus is Jewish/Greek hybrid - and the author tosses in "the son of Timaeus" for all of us helots.

2. The blind guy calls out "Jesus, Son of David" which was a real messianic apellation. Unlike King David - the Son of David is a healer and savior.

King David was a thug in many ways. As King he abused his authority - or maybe that is actually what kings are supposed to do - by tossing Uriah into the front ranks and ensure that poor slob gets killed. Old Dave gets Uriah's Missus. Bathsheba.

Jesus appears - not to the bling guy of course -in Jerico and the bling Bartimaeus begs Jesus for sight.

He is given sight.

Father Gallagher, at Sacred Heart Church 8:30 A.M. yesterday, explained how the story of Bartimaeus was used in the early Christiam Church to enhance the beauty of Baptism - we are blind like Bartimaeus until the sight of saving Grace restores us to true vision.

Then we get so damn busy and making excuses and walking right past people who really suffer. We have vision, but are blind as bats.

Hell, I'm nearly as blind as Old Barty.


Son David, let me see.

To Lt. Colonel Brian Quirk, USMC - Navy Commissions USS Makin Island - The Atoll You Raided

South Sider Lt. Col. Brian Quirk is a wonderful man. At 86, he is slipping a bit but hanging onto to the command of his life with all the grit, spit and heart of the kid he was in 1942, when he took a rubber boat off of the USS Nautilus into the surf of the reef around Makin Atoll and onto that Japanese held base.

Then Private First Class (PFC) Brian Quirk was a Marine Raider - one of Carlson's Raiders named for Evan Fordyce Carlson - the man who coined the phrase 'Gung Ho.' This was an exercise in will. Click my post title for the story of the Makin Raid and Lt. Col. Quirk's role in bringing back the last men off of Makin.

This Saturday, October 24, 2009, The United States Navy will Commission the USS Makin Atoll an attack helicopter carrier that will carry 2009 vintage Marines into combat.

COLORS: Dark blue alludes to the sea, the theater of Naval operations and gold is for excellence. Scarlet refers to the U.S. Marine Corps.

SHIELD: The shield border shape and thickness symbolize Makin Island, the atoll in the Gilbert Islands and honors the 30 Marine Raiders who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country there. The five stars commemorate the five battle stars awarded to CVE-93 during World War II. The USMC Raider Crest, a blue shield with skull and five stars in the shape of the Southern Cross commemorates Marine Raider Companies A and B, Second Raider Battalion. The trident, symbol of sea prowess, with its three tines represents the future contributions of USS MAKIN ISLAND (LHD 8), its associated Expeditionary Strike Group, and USMC main battery in the air, across the surface, and under the sea. The trident also symbolizes the contributions that were made in these areas of Sea Power by the Second Raider Battalion and USS MAKIN ISLAND (CVE 93).

CREST: The inverted blue star honors SSGT Thomason, who distinguished himself during the Makin Island Raid and was the first enlisted U.S. Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II. The embedded stylized cross alludes to the Navy Cross and commemorates the 23 awarded to Carlson’s Raiders after Makin Island. The Phoenix is the symbol of transformation and new beginnings. It has two heads, one looking to the past and the other to the future representing MAKIN ISLAND’s role as the transformational bridge between the LHD class and the next generation of amphibious capital ships. The flames and lightning bolts below the Phoenix symbolize the rebirth of amphibious capital ships with Gas Turbines, Electric Drive and all-electric auxiliaries. In the wreath below the flames, Blue represents the US Navy and the United States. White represents integrity and loyalty. The two colors interwoven in the wreath represent how these two responsibilities are forever intertwined.

SUPPORTERS: A USN Officer’s Sword, 1917 Naval NCO Cutlass, USMC Officer’s Mameluke and a 1840 USMC NCO Sword were chosen to represent the teamwork required of Officer and Enlisted, Navy and Marine Corps for USS MAKIN ISLAND (LHD 8) to accomplish her mission

Thank you Colonel Quirk and thank you all who serve.

Hear Andy Shaw on WLS -"Cops Not Going 100%" Andy Must Have the Numbers

Listen to the WLS feed from this morning's Don Wade & Roma - slide the bar about 3/4 of way to the part where the Police Officer asks about no Contract for Two Years/Chicago's Thug Happy Violence Festival and BGA Andy's response.

Because, in Andy Shaw's BGA News Reader World View, Jody Weiss is Police Superintendent Chicago Police Officers are pooching the job.

The real mopes always get appointed positions.

BGA Andy Shaw on Don & Roma: "Cops Lying Down"

On the way into work, I heard Andy Shaw, Bed and Breakfast Magnate and Better Government Watch Pup, answer a Chicago Police Officer named Nicky's question as to why the Police and Fire Department memberships needed to go two years without contracts and remain 4,000 officers understrength given the swelling violence in the City.

Andy, with his usual aplomb replied (now, this is only what I heard mind you) to the effect that Cops always get their lump sums and the reason that violence is going MadDog in Chicago has more to do with police officers shirking their duties because they do not like Superintendent Weiss than it does to anything else -Chicago's Media Created Thug Comfort Zone, Lawsuit Lawyer Lotto Giveaways & etc..

Andy went on to praise the Chicago Reporter for real reporting.

Cops don't fight crime. Andy Shaw is a great intellect and a fine human being.
That is your Better Government Watchdog!

Click on to my title for the WLS site.

Vice President Biden Calms the Poles

"Did you hear about the million-dollar Polish Lottery?
You win a dollar a year for a million years. "

"How about the Polish car pool?
They meet at work. "

[Deafening Silence]

"“We appreciate Poland has stepped up and agreed to host an element of the previous missile defense plan, and we now appreciate that Poland’s government agrees with us that there is now a better way … with new technology and new information, to defend against emerging ballistic missile threats,” Biden said. . . . Continuing The Vice President offered, "Knock knock."

"Who's there?"
"Polish burglar."

[growing discomfort]

Discussing Cap & Trade and Global Warming, Vice President Biden then - Licks the cover of a book of matches, bends it back so the matches are exposed, and sticks it to His forehead.

The Vice President turned and Asked Polish President Donald Tusk "What am I?"

[Stoic silence]

"A Polish miner."

Re-turning to Foreign Policy and Afghanistahn Biden asked,

"What would you call a bunch of Polish guys wearing turbans?
A Pakistanleys. "

"Hey how bout the two biggest lies a Polak will tell? ' The Check is in your mouth . . . Hey, I better stop there! Goodnight Folks!"

Tribune Editorial Board's Hack Priority at University of Illinois

In the wake of the scandal, there's a lot of talk about building an impenetrable firewall around the U. of I.'s admissions system. One set of rules for everyone. No exceptions. But as long as the cheaters are able to hide, they'll always be looking for a way over, under or around that wall

Even You goofs? Sweet Suffering Sally! Can the Tribune add a little more hair to that shirt?

First off - The Chicago Tribune is blessed with great and talented working journalists. It is anchored by -not the looniest group of hypocrites, but they'll do -an Editorial Board that Warner Brothers Cartoonists could not have dreamed up.

This hypocritical howl on today's editorial page is just one more in the string of the Tribune Editorial Board's "We Want Stan Ikenberry" Campaign - you got him. You got him.

The Tribune Editorial Board launched a full-court press on Cook County Sheriff Mike Sheahan a few years ago with a wonderfully fabricated tale of Corrections Abuse at Cook County Jail that took less than twenty minutes for a jury to toss. Sheriff Sheahan mocked the rock-solid hypocrisy of the Bruce Dold Dolts.

Stan Ikenberry was trotted out during the Tribune Editorial Board Tsunami blown against the University of Illinois Trustees and Leadership - they all had to go in order to clear the way for Compliant Gov. Pat Quinn's selection of rocked-ribbed Illini Chris Kennedy - no dodgy carpetbagger he and all the other plum cupcakes for the Clean Board. Most of all the Tribune Editorial Board needed room for Stan Ikenberry.

Stan Ikenberry is their kind of hack. The kind who Clouted a Domestic Terrorist Billy Ayers -into a job at UIC and Laundered His History.

Stan has yet to divulge just how he minced along the path strewn with ComEd petals and danced a hearty jig for Thomas Ayers - giving "My Son Bill!" a no-cut contract at Cement City (UICC). Now that's Clout, Girls an Boys!

Nope - the tweedy goofs on the Tribune Editorial Board want to make war on common sense with Hegelian Hurricanos of Hypocrisy. Yes, yes ( in hushed tones and nods of puritanical assent).


State Legislators make recommendations for scholarships according to Illinois Law.

Congressmen make appointments to American Service Academies according to Federal Law.

The Chicago Tribune/Medill 501(c)3 Industries at Northwestern Law and School of Journalism practice 18th Century Hack politics. Nothing more and nothing less.

The Tribune Editorial Board recently hacked James Tyree, who had the purpose and resources to by the Sun Times.

The Tribune Editorial Board needs 'more' light shed on its practices.

Stan! Fess up on your hiring of Billy Ayers! Let's get that balloon head out of news.

MSNBC Smears Gen. Stanley McCrystal - Boudin Brained Chris Matthews -"It's Beau Geste!"

Beginning on Oct. 7th and continuing unabated fatuous forty-Watt flannel mouth Chris Matthews has outshouted every carbon-footprint to appear with him on Hardball with his latest shout-point -'Beau Geste' in order to smear President Obama's Commander in Afghanistan.

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, what does the president need to know that he doesn't know now before he decides on whether to give General McChrystal his requested 40,000 more troops?

MITCHELL: Well, White House officials are saying to me that, in fact, go back to the Bruce Riedel report, which led to the decisions of last March. We've all been saying the conventional wisdom in Washington has been that March is now moot, that the initial Afghan strategy is now being supplanted because of the changes, the decisions on the ground, and perhaps the political realities, although they will deny that.

MATTHEWS: Yes.

MITCHELL: But in fact, if you go back to the original questions that Bruce Riedel, a former CIA and NSC official, answered-on loan to the White House-it was, How do we come up with a strategy that will disrupt and end al Qaeda's influence and protect the United States? What we want to do is get into Afghanistan and disrupt al Qaeda.

And so the questions that the president is asking, to get to your point, are, How will these various recommendations lead to our goal? That goal remains to disrupt al Qaeda, to protect the security of the United States, and to enhance regional security, as well. Those are the questions he's asking. And right now, what he's getting are answers. At least-we don't know whether he's accepting the answers, but he's getting an intelligence briefing on how it relates to Pakistan today, followed by a regional diplomatic briefing from the secretary of state and her advisers. Obviously, Richard Holbrooke and others would be part of that. And then Robert Gates would give the military's perspective.

And what has changed today is that the Pentagon announced-Geoff Morrell announced from the Pentagon today, Chris, that they've actually given the president, officially given him...

MATTHEWS: Right. I know.

MITCHELL: ... the troop recommendations.

MATTHEWS: My concern is, as an American watching this, learning that Americans are building outposts of-to be manned by 140 people, it begins to look like "Beau Geste," one of these old French Foreign Legion movies, where we're putting troops, Western troops, our guys and women, out in the middle of these outposts...

MITCHELL: Exactly.

Yeah, exactly Balloon Girl. Remeber when that genius was overpowered by balloons at the DNC?


However, Milky always re-roasts his favorite chestnuts - be they Birthers, Guys Carrying Guns at Teabag Parties & etc. - and Matthews last used Beau Geste on General Petreaus. Here was Milky Matthews in 2007 doing his schtik on the Surge:

RIECKHOFF: Absolutely, and that‘s exactly the type of work that we did when I was there in 2003 and 2004. And then we had this period where we pulled back, went into these giant forward operating bases, and didn‘t mingle within the community like we had been. Now we are going back to kind of where we were in late 2003 and 2004, and for our guys and girls on the ground, it is incredibly dangerous.

You do not know who your enemies are, who your friends are. You are greatly outnumbered. You‘re already probably there for a second and third tour. It is extremely dangerous. You‘ve been bringing it up all week. And I think you have to put yourself in the shoes of those soldiers, just for a few days. Imagine how dangerous it is to be in a remote downtown outpost, where you are surrounded by Iraqis, and you do not know who is trying to kill you or not. It‘s incredibly dangerous. And that‘s one of the things that I try to do, is just try to communicate that personal experience. Think about how tough this is for our American soldiers and Marines on the ground. It‘s incredibly difficult.

MATTHEWS: This is “Beau Geste” all over again, fortresses out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Arabs who don‘t want you there. Anyway, thank you Paul Rieckhoff for joining us, and giving us this insight. We‘re going to come right back with the “Politico‘s” Roger Simon, one of the best columnists around. We‘ll talk about the debate coming up, also the Democrats and their big fight now with the president over the war funding issue, which is coming to a head tonight, as the president has vetoed the bill. It‘s all happening tonight, the big fight between the Democrats and the president over Iraq. We‘ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18438589/

Milky Chris Matthews -The Whitest Guy on the Planet - a faux tough guy Dinny the Dimwit who attempts to toss off his altar boy Suscipiat* when he justifies abortion, is now doing his Masters' biddings by undermining the integrity and motives of the very man President Obama tasked with developing a strategy for the Graveyard of Empires.

Milky - the outpost was manned some time ago and the tribes are coming at the troops. Try not to get any more of our troops killed with that moronic maw of yours.

MSNBC - More Tools Than True Value!

* This is how the Suscipiat goes "Suscipiat Dominus sacrificium de manibus tuis, ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui, ad utilitatem quoque nostram, totiusque ecclesiae suae sanctae."

Pope Benedict Welcomes Anglicans - Epicopalians Who Woke Up.

There was a sociology of Protestantism that went: A Methodist is a Baptist with shoes. A Presbyterian is a Methodist who has been to college. An Episcopalian is a Presbyterian who is living off his investments. This has all changed now. Now an Episcopalian is, I suppose, someone heading a campaign against AIDS.

- Joseph Epstein 2003. Click my post title for a thoroughly charming and insightful interview with Joe Epstein.


When a south side Catholic got tired of going to Church he became a Unitarian. That way he could safely believe in anything without the moral and societal complications of explaining Atheism, or spelling Agnosticism.

The great American Master of the Essay, Northwestern University's Joseph Epstein - a guy who says, " Don't call me Professor; that's a guy who bangs on a piano in a Cathouse."- wrote a number of short stories grouped as Fabulous Small Jews.
This collection presented Jewish Chicagoans as witty, complex, bitter, confused and lovely people who are thoroughly American. None of the Phillip Roth angst, for Epstein, but rather people comfortable in their own skins - no polemical table thumping, or fiddling up on the garage roof at 6800 N. Campbell - he was replacing the loose shingles. I read Joseph Epstein's collection a few years ago. I need to go back to it, but I loaned the damn book to retired Detective Billy Higgins who in turn passed it on to Gene Callahan - an Armagh Carpenter who still has my back-up banjo. The Irish are the Bermuda's Triangle of loaned items.

Joseph Epstein writes about the relationship between people and the truth. Epstein - be it in Fiction or Essay -always nails it. We poor Chicago Irish have only Father Andy Greeley, who gets about as close to the truth as I do to the Confessional Box. Mea Culpa!

There is Hope! Pope Benedict XVI welcomes Anglicans ( Henry VIII's Theological children) back to the Faith.

The Apostolic Constitution approved by the Pope creates a new structure, which will allow Roman Catholic provinces such as England and Wales to have their own “Personal Ordinariate” for ex-Anglicans.

Parishes and individuals can go over to Rome en masse and join the Ordinariate. Although Catholic priests must be celibate, married former Anglican clergy who convert under the Apostolic Constitution could be ordained as Catholic priests although they would not be allowed to become bishops.

The Ordinariate could take the form of those created to care for Catholics serving in the Armed Forces and will be supervised by a senior cleric called an Ordinary, likely to be taken from the ranks of the former Anglican clergy.

It will provide spiritual care for the converts and they will be able to ask the Vatican to approve new liturgy based on their former Anglican readings, which they would hear at their own church services. They may be allowed to use Anglican prayer books.

However it is claimed there would be “formidable legal obstacles” to former Anglican parishes keeping hold of their old church buildings.

As many as 50 Anglican bishops worldwide are expected to convert under the new procedure and Cardinal Levada said the number of ordinary worshippers who had asked for such a provision was “in the hundreds”.

He added: "If there was a woman pastor in one of these groups, I would be surprised."

The leading Anglo-Catholic group in the Church of England, Forward in Faith, has warned repeatedly of a mass exodus to Rome if women are introduced to the episcopate without proper provision for those who object to the innovation.

While the group has so far remained within the Church of England to defend its place as the battle continues over women bishops, the landmark move by the Pope is likely to tempt many parishes away.

Forward in Faith said it “rejoiced” at the initiative, which it called a “decisive moment” in the history of the movement.

If Anglicans can start to see the intrinsic beauty and attraction of doctrinal and moral certainty, maybe we Catholics can become as comfortable in our skins as our Jewish neighbors reflected in the pages of Joseph Epstein's wonderful book of stories.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6386833/Pope-Benedict-XVI-paves-way-for-thousands-of-disaffected-Anglicans-to-cross-over-to-Rome.html