Trump Really Has Me Upset? Not Really.

The Helsinki Stinky, President #45, Donald J. Trump has really  upset all and sundry. His remarks that say that he trusts Vlad the Bad more than Jim Clapper and Mullah Brennan have gotten the Old Maverick John McCain back in front of cable camera men and made Butch Maddow grind her gender specfic incisors.

Als de hemel valt, krijgen we allemaal een blauwe pet
(Translation: If the sky/heaven should fall, we will all be wearing blue caps

Me?

I am not a Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggge Trump Fan, for ever, BUT  doing just fine. Thanks so much. I mean it's not like Trump sold guns to a Drug Cartel, or deliver $I.4 Billion cash on air-lifted cargo pallets to Iran.

Update, post Helsinki:

• My teeth did not fall out 
• I Have not had the Miseries, the Twizzles, or the Vapors
• My oatmeal went down without a problem 
• I do not require fundoplication surgery . . . today
• Tinea pedis is not a problem
• My night terrors have turned into 25 Cartoons
• Feel like having me some Clancy's Pub Pot Roast Rolls
• I found a Double Sawbuck in my dryer
• The Boss said I was doing swell work
• The Dutch Club Borrel is August 16th
• Chicago Special Olympics received a donation of $ 100,000
• Lawman  is back on the Western Channel
• David Muir is having no problem with cue cards
• The Zebra Sisters has disappeared
• McNally's and St. Cajetan's are doing great
• Cardinal Cupich has one swell pallium
• My car is almost ready to pass the Illinois Emissions Test!

Helsinki?

Must be some serious, low-down, Trumpolicious bullshot dgoing down!

Oooooo Bing Cherries  $1.99 a pound at Mariano's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ignore Pfleger and His Stunts - Keep Civil. Keep the Peace and Pfleger Loses

The Dan Ryan March gambit is only one incendiary in fiery Pastor Pfleger's arsenal. It is not a a nuclear bomb.  It is a a sparkler meant to put out the eyes of fair-minded people.

Getting fair-minded people blinded is what Michael Pfleger is all about.

Once people are blinded to his motives (accumulation of power, money and media focus) they depend upon others to lead them about in the darkness.

Fair-minded people blinded by Pfleger's sparklers go silent to his most egregious deeds and words and say things like, " Well, Father Mike really cares and has done great things for his people."

Name two things?

Thought so.

This latest stunt is meant to force politicians to bully business and philanthropy to peel off a few more millions for projects with Pfleger's imprimatur - nothing more. Pflger might even toss Base a bone, because Cardinal Kilroy Was Here got behind Blond Jesus again.

Full disclosure, I know Michael Pfleger and you can have him.   He is a brilliant, calculating Munchhausen.  If you were as 'afflicted and assaulted' as much as Pfleger, you would be pretty secure. No is after him; never were.

I have known the pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina  since July 1996, when I went to work for Leo High School, just east of his fiefdom that includes the Great Auburn Gresham Community Development , senior residences, real estate holdings on 76th Street and other Michael Pfleger Industries.

Leo Principal and CEO Bob Foster sent me over to meet with Pfleger, my first week on the job.  We met in the St. Sabina rectory.  Pfleger told me that he was more a "prophet than a priest."  I could not supress a laugh and Michael Pfleger redened to purple - meeting over.

Foster agreed with me.  He is a dangerous guy.

While at Leo High School, I learned exactly who Michael Pfleger is and what he is all about - Michael Pfleger.  In my time at Leo High School, Pfleger

• Co-opted the Chicago Sun Times ( Kathleen Falsani and Editors) into creating a controversy where none existed - the Southwest Catholic Conference, while Cardinal George was in Poland. 
• Covertly worked with the Jesuits to establish an independent school on the site St. Killian's Parish to construct a Christo Rey knock-off unique to the African American community 
• Pfleger and ABC Channel Seven created a story that 'Cardinal George wanted to make Michael Pfleger' President of Leo High School and Pfleger told NPR's Tavis Smiley and Cornel West that 'Leo could not survive' without him  

In case Pfleger denied any ill-will toward Leo.  Leo President Bob Foster is the only man alive who could make Pfleger blush and run out of the room in shame.  Foster did just that by directly confronting Pfleger with proof of his back-handed schemes and attempts to take over the school.  

Foster did not threaten.  He confronted Pfleger with evidence - a business prospectus that included Pfleger's salary demands and personal governance rubrics.   The document was given to Leo High School by a Roman Catholic nun working on the project.  

The second time was in a governance meeting at the Office of Catholic Schools, which Pfleger had absolutely no stake in concerning the future of Leo High School and had no business being at the meeting.  Members of Leo 's Advisory Board were present and Dr. Nick Wolsonovich, former Supt. of Catholic Schools received a lesson in how to handle an arrogant and shameless opportunist. 

Bob Foster noted Pfleger's past attempts to harm Leo High School and the activist jumped up and stormed out of the meeting. 

Pfleger's march on the Dan Ryan is not about guns, deaths of innocent people, or bringing people together.  The march is intended to get one white (Caucasian) person to do or say anything that might provoke violence. A full-blown race riot would be just the thing for Michael Pfleger Industries. 

Pfleger wants hate mail

Pfleger needs anger.

Pfleger wants no peace.

With peace, justice and love, Pfleger gets no checks from banks. big business and do-gooder 501(c) 3 foundations.

Michael Pfleger has never drawn an un-calculated breath in his life.  He will not change - there is no percentage in it.

Pfleger is not aiming his march at Rahm Emanuel. Were that the case, Phleger would shut down Navy Pier, or the Skyway that Daley sold off.

Pfleger wants angry white people to overreact.  

Give him your love and your back. 

Ignore the phony Pfleger.

Boycott, the media that pumps him up.

Ridicule the politicians, priests, bishops and poltroons to dance to his tunes.

Maybe some Pfleger-sparkler blind people may recover their sight and start working against real racism, bigotry and injustice. 

Have a lovely weekend!

Goodbye to All That – Forty-Three Years of Catholic Secondary Education

Leo President Dan McGrath, "D" and Me in 2010 at St.Columbanus Catholic Church for Leo Graduation

I had a ball!  Since 1975, I have worked exclusively and loyally in Catholic secondary teaching and fund-raising.  I taught thousands of young people who have grown into remarkable men and women.  I have worked with brilliant people at Bishop McNamara, La Lumiere School, Leo High School and Brother Rice High School.

It was a privilege to work for Alpha-male teachers and school leaders like Bob Foster of Leo, the late Fr. Ken Yarno of Bishop Mac and with Headmaster Larry Sullivan of La Lumiere School. These gentlemen led the herd and protected its flanks – always.  Leading from the front is the action of a true servant.

I was out of the classroom for twenty-two years and when I returned the passive aggressives seemed to dominate.  I went to work as substitute/permanent sub -and at-will, no contract, we can fire without cause, salary saver.

I thought I was part of an old-timey, collegial faculty.  In fact, I was welcomed to the work by the key administrators with all the warmth of a Turk at a christening.

The faculty was very nice. They offered a great deal of help in matters like computer-based learning and scantron testing.

The bosses, not so much.

Wherever passive-aggressives thrive, the culture dies hard.  For years this seemed limited to ‘downtown’ – the educators who mandated directives, issued policy contortions and relayed third-hand dispositions, like “The Cardinal will never agree to that.”

Bob Foster said, “Well then, let’s go and ask His Eminence!” And he did and learned that the Cardinal was in full agreement with Bob Foster.


Today, the Beta primate-in-charge shrugs and smirks in too many Catholic high schools.
I ended my four decades of work in Catholic high schools on January 26, 2018.  Let’s let things go at that.

Safe to say, I walked into a passive-aggressive booby-trap and took the bait.
 I got to get back to fishing; don’t open your mouth and you won’t swallow a hook. The story is sad and sordid.

The day that my position as a substitute teacher was terminated, I applied for work as a laborer on one of the Flood Brothers Disposal Trucks, where my talents would suit the charism of that corporate culture.  I would rather haul trash than teach wonderful young people, while second guessing every assignment, lesson and word that I might dispense.

The school I worked at is staffed by some phenomenal teachers and administered by a passive-aggressive cohort, not unlike the ‘downtown’ crowd of alumnae of closed girls’ schools who dominated the education chancery.

I wondered about that.  Maybe that is all part of the ‘thinking-outside-the-box’ corporate culture that requires no candor and plenty of empty-sizzle- Marketing 101 stuff.

Anyway, I am out of it for keeps.  I loved teaching and the students seemed to appreciate what I was presenting. Now, I am an acquired taste, I know.

What worries me is the rooted nature of Catholic secondary school administrator passive aggression. It will not go away.

It is not only the school for which I last worked but many of them.  There are no leaders like the Father Kens, the Larry Sullivans, or the Bob Fosters.

Brother Rice President Dr. Kevin Burns and Cardinal Cupich

Teachers hunker down and wait for things to pass over, but Catholic schools do not have much time left.

Forbes magazine noted in 2013 that, “ Passive-aggressive behavior in any company is one of the most destructive cancers to a culture that ends up killing both a great company, and the self-esteem of the individuals working there.  “
Forbes offered these signs of the creeping cancer in an organization – Leader(s) who:
• on the surface appears to be agreeable and supportive, but behind the scenes will back stab, undercut, and sabotage. 
• constantly states that you can trust their words when their actions have consistently shown that not to be true.
• makes promises about things when they have no intention of ever following through, often then blaming things that were “out of their control” for precluding them from being able to fulfill their promise.
• smiles and agrees with you to your face, but then disagrees or even sabotages things behind your back.
• states “I was supportive of you, but this other person wasn’t so there is nothing I can do” in order to place blame on someone else rather than voicing their own lack of support for the matter.
• gives positive praise and feedback to you directly, but then takes actions to undercut you to coworkers and management. . . .

Demoralized faculty members are silent at meetings.  Coaches and teachers who had been part of a school’s golden age of recruitment, school spirit and instruction watched their programs, camps, mission goals and successes shoved aside, or dismantled, in favor of new blood that was anemic at best. The mantra now is - "Hey, what’s the big deal? It’s all good!"

Things are not all that good. If enrollment is down, it is not only the latest census figures to blame.  Kids want to go to a school with a sparked-up faculty and leadership that is willing to have the backs of its teachers and students; not merely, complaint department for helicopter parents.

My last lesson to my Theology 3: Social Justice class was this. “We are, who we used to be.  If we do not honor the Bishop Bernard Sheils, Mother Cabrinis and Terence Powderlys, how can we know what the hell Social Justice is all about?”

Likewise, if Catholic schools do not honor Alpha Dog leaders who built our schools, nurtured their traditions and reputations, how will they keep operating?  If I do not remain faithful to the creed that ran my family to America, I must be a Unitarian.

Catholic high schools will go the way of the carburetor, I'm afraid.

Cardinal George and Leo Legend Jack Schaller '43

Cardinal Cupich seems to agree.   Archbishop Blase Cupich is no Francis Cardinal George,

Sour grapes? Oh, hell no.  I had a ball.  The job is about the kids.  If I did a good job, or bad, they tell me.  They are far from Passive Aggressive.   They learn to be Passive Aggressive out in the work-world.

You will never find a Passive-Aggressive type taking out the trash - they send memos to have it done by others.

I am beginning a new career away from Catholic secondary schools.  I have been selling buckets of golf balls at 50 Acre Park in Evergreen Park, since April. On Monday, I begin a new career.

The Old Ranger Saved by The Kubota Whisperer (Gino C) at 50 Acre Park in Evergreen Park

Howdy Folks!  This is the Old Ranger with another true life adventure from 50 Acre Park!  The Old Ranger had a mishap with our trusty Kubota (used to pick up golf balls) and the rake hitch.  The Old Ranger was in a fix and that's darn tootin'!

Well, Mayor Jimmy Sexton hires  great people and I called one up!

Gino C is a Veteran Ranger at 50 Acres Park in Evergreen Park; I called upon Gino to help this Old but Newer Ranger unscrew-up a Kubota Mishap, on Friday morning. Gino lives close to the greatest family resource on the south side - Evergreen Park's 50 Acres Park.

 With Gino's help the Old Ranger soon had the Kubota ( Old #46 Public Vehicle) eating up driving range caviar like  a glutton at Old Country Buffet

 Then the Old Ranger personally washes each and every Wilson, Titleist and Scrub with Twenty Mule Team Borax . . .

 Via the Miracle of of the Wittek Ball Washer.

 The Old Ranger hand separates chopped balls and tosses them out like day old White Castles.

 Our Big Hitters are happ about that!

 Chopped sirloin, chopped liver and chopped chicken salad- GOOD

Chopped Ball - NO GOOD!

Come on out to the Driving Range at 50 Acre Park in Evergreen Park!!!!!! So long, Folks!

CPS Sex Scandal Only The Chorus of Rahm's Lullaby of Barbara Byrdland Bennett

Lullaby of birdland, that's what I
Always hear when you sigh
Never in my wordland
Could there be ways to reveal
In a phrase how I feel
Have you ever heard two turtle doves
Bill and coo when they love?
That's the kind of magic
Music we make with our lips when we kiss -(George Shearing / George David Weiss)

"Emanuel's plan to seek a third term using education as a major cornerstone has been blown out of the water by a scandal that hits home like none before it. This time, children have been directly victimized. And the adults in charge — including the mayor of Chicago — should have protected them. They didn't."  Fran Spielman Chicago Sun Times

 The CPS Sex Scandal is not a tune to  bother Rahm at all, Fran.  not a note of it. If the sex scandal bothered Rahm it would never appear in the Sun Times at all - let alone on front page.  Fran Spielman gets a con su permiso from the 5th Floor and her boss ex-Alderlad Edwin Eisendrath before any ink is spilled.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner are terrified of the Lullaby of Byrdland.

No not the great Sarah Vaughan's rendition

No, the one that might be sung by -Barbara Byrd Bennett.  Remember Triple B, Citizens?

Where is Rahm's Byrdland?  She was sentenced to 4 1/2 years at Federal Prison Camp, Alderson in West Virginia.  She was succeeded by Forrest Claypool.

For those of us paying attention and not just wildly delighted about much anticipated the 2+ Billion O'Hare Expansion of Terminal # 2, take glance at this:

In April 2015, Byrd-Bennett took a personal leave as Chicago Public Schools CEO during an investigation into a $20.5 million no-bid contract that had been awarded to SUPES Academy, a professional development organization she used to work with as a consultant.[8] She resigned in June 2015.[5]

The indictment against Byrd-BennettIn October, 2015, a federal grand jury in Illinois returned a 23-count indictment against Byrd-Bennett and two co-conspirators.[9][10]
On October 8, 2015, the U.S. Attorney handling the case announced that Byrd-Bennett would plead guilty to charges that she set up a kickback scheme in which she steered no-bid CPS contracts worth more than $23 million to her former employer, SUPES Academy, that would pay her 10 percent of that amount. Her former boss, the owner of SUPES, also promised Byrd-Bennett a job after she left her CPS post, trust accounts funded with $127,000 for each of her twin grandsons,[11] and other perks. It was reported that the U.S. Attorney's office found incriminating evidence against Byrd-Bennett, including an email to the SUPES owner that said, "I have tuition to pay and casinos to visit".[12][13] She had pushed parties aggressively to secure the corrupt deals.[14]
Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty on October 13, 2015, in federal court. In exchange for her cooperation prosecutors agreed to request a sentence of 7 1/2 years in prison, which is below the federal sentencing guidelines. She agreed to delay her sentencing until after the charges against her co-defendants were resolved.[11][6] On April 28, 2017, she was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.[15]
On August 28, 2017, Byrd-Bennett began serving her sentence at Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, nicknamed "Camp Cupcake", in West Virginia.[16] Wikipedia - the New York Times of Busy (emphases my own) 

 SUPES is  bi-partisan ( Rahm and Rauner) diddling of the taxpayer that makes the current sex scandal sound like an Oscar Wilde tete a tete. 

In 2013, SUPES received a $20 million no-bid contract for principal training that is the focus of the federal probe that has targeted Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who is now on leave from the CEO position. She has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
A source tells Catalyst Chicago that in 2011 and 2012, Byrd-Bennett was paid through the SUPES contract with the Fund to provide coaching for then-Chief Education Officer Noemi Donoso, whose position Byrd-Bennett eventually took over.
The Fund is a politically connected group made up of Chicago’s civic elite. The 15-year-old organization has funded a variety of projects, from a consultant who helped to write a CPS action plan to staff time at the University of Chicago to help develop the current teacher evaluation system called REACH.
In May of 2012, when CPS hired Byrd-Bennett to be the chief education officer, it was widely reported that she had been in Chicago for 10 months doing “executive coaching” and was being paid by the Fund. At the time, the Fund did not refute that, but now officials say that the Fund never paid Byrd-Bennett directly. Chicago Reporter

Twenty million dollars is a nice pile of cash, but compared to the landfill of filthy lucre from which it was spawned.

There is a rumor afoot - eight million dollars of that 20 million is yet unaccounted for - rumor mind you.

Eight millions of dollars!

Where could that wad of dough be yeasting?  My guess is in one of these havens: Caymen Islands, Panama, British West Indies, Nevis, Antigua . . .

Why?

Well Barbara Byrd Bennett will be getting out of Camp Cupcake, in almost no time at all, and as the lady sang, " I have tuition to pay and casino's to visit!"

Could it be that Mayor Emanuel is delighted by the fact that CPS hired some nasty sexual predators and career criminals?

Compared to the Lullaby of Barbara Byrd Bennett with full orchestra and Federal audience being played all over Chicagoland, you bet!

Eight million dollars!

No casino needed.

The Old Ranger's Report from 50 Acres Park in Evergreen Park

Howdy, Folks, this is the Old Ranger bringing you our news from the Driving Range at 50 Acres Park in Evergreen Park, Illinois!

Well, Folks, the bucket blasters have been hitting farther down range, now that the weather has turned around -like a Kardashian spouse.

Why only yesterday, I was out at 5:45 AM riding the range on my trusty Kubota Public Works vehicle and learned that:

• Someone has been hitting all the way out to the 300 yard marker or there abouts.  There were at least two dozen white roundies all nestled in the tall grass
• Our Bucket Buyers ( $ 5 for small and $ 10 for a large) are Slicers and not Hookers.  Must have been several hundred Titleist pearls hugging the right side range net and I had to dismount the Kubota more times than my old back can tolerate - not complainin' mind you, just sayin'
• Beer is still $3 for Miller High Life, Miller Lite and $4 for Modelo
• We have Snickers, Skittles, M & Ms ( plain and peanut), Chips and Slim Jims for measly $1.00 each
• Hot dogs, chips and a can of Pepsi, Sprite or Water for $ 3.00.
• A crew of rangers, including yours truly, who serve your desires - Shucks Gino, Frank, Dan, Steve and me would come over and make you breakfast,  if Mayor Jim Sexton gave us the go -ahead.
• The Disc Golfers are thicker than flies on a used Slo-Poke left on a porch swing
• Dogs are having more fun than a teenage boy with two . . .paper routes
• Mr. Kevin Kelly ( Leo HS '70) inspected the facilities and questioned the Old Ranger about his get-up-and-go and that sassy hitch in his step

50 Acres Park is best out door fun on the south side.

Come on out; jaw with us Rangers; visit the horse barn;

hit some of that white range caviar out to the far markers; grab a beer and a pop at our umbrella shaded tables and have some vigorous and healthy exercise!  

Well, I must attach the big rake to my trusty Kubota and clean up the campus.  The Old Ranger needs to  see more of you, Folks!

See you all on the range at 50 Acres Park - 2701 West 91st Street - in Evergreen Park Illinois!

Media Gives Shelter, Aid and Comfort to Slum Lord Valerie Jarrett

Former longtime Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacob remarked on Twitter: "One of the weirdest things about this Roseanne fiasco is that she went after Valerie Jarrett, who was probably the least controversial big shot in the Obama administration, a consummate technocrat, comfortable in the background, someone who tried to stay above the fray." Natasha Korecki's Illinois Playbook in Politico

 Grove Parc is one of the outstanding examples of this problem. It sits on the border of Obama's district. It is 504 apartments of subsidized housing, fully renovated in the early 1990s, that have fallen into such disrepair that the plan now is to demolish them and start all over again. It was built by a nonprofit led by a number of Obama's supporters. It was managed during the period of its greatest decline by a company called The Habitat Company, which is led by Valerie Jarrett, who is the senior advisor to Obama's presidential campaign, and it is, as I said, in his district, so it struck us as sort of emblematic of the issue that we wanted to write about. NPR 2009

Roseanne Barr is paying for her remarks.

Valerie Jarrett remains shielded by the Hopium Smoking Media Chiefs in Chicago and around the nation.

From the moment that Democrats like former mayor Richie Daley learned by public housing/public lands and Federal Dollars was the Comstock Load of the New Millenium, Valerie Jarrett has made millions of dollars for herself and  the Cook County oligarchs who have destroyed the City, County and State, but are no where near done.



Long after the smoke concerning Valerie Jarrett's nefarious abuse of poor people in Chicago's most under-served communities wafted out over the lakefront, the fire burns in Altgeld Gardens, Parc Grove and along Chicago's south shore lakefront neighborhoods, but the Watchdogs of Chicago, the invested political news media has yet to present the true nature of Ms. Jarrett's larcenous investments.

The woman who acted as the White House shadow governement for eight years and engineered the disasterous Iranian payoff of pallets of billions of dollars continues the grift and oozes nonsense on CNN, MSNBC and in the pages of Chicago's two daily propaganda rags.

I never saw the new Roseanne Show.   Hardly recall her old show.

I have witnessed the Valerie Jarrett Media Circus for far too long. When does the real 'teaching moment' begin on this powerful grifter and slum lord?

Hickey's Hesychasm - Let's Guard Our Hearts, Unlike Ireland

               

                Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. The Jesus Prayer

I say the Memorare about twenty-five to thirty times a day  - more when I am feeling particularly oafish, vain, self-pitying and ungrateful. 

This week I was disappointed but not surprised to learn that Ireland voted over-whelmingly to promote and pay for the slaughter of unborn children.   Ireland has wanted to become England ever since Eamon De Valera* fell out of fashion and historical memory.   The Catholic De Valera became less culturally attractive than did the secular Marxist pro- terrorist personalities who dominated the Republican zeitgeist in Ireland from the 1970's to the Repeal of the 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution that protected human life from conception to expiration.  

55% of Ireland's population voted for abortion.  Only County Donegal shouted for 'No' to abortion and repeal of the 8th Amendment. 

Yes voters celebrated the birth of Modern Secular Ireland - a highly educated and intrinsically stupid nation of BBC-Euro go-alongs and alcagüetes. In short,  Gypo Nolan was a more steadfast stalwart than RTE viewers, or readers of the Irish Times. The lives of unborn children were to 'Shove Wesht' from Cork and Kerry and Wexford to Mayo. 

This horror comes as no surprise, anymore than one watching the Triumph of the Will in 1935 could see that big things were happening in Germany.   Ireland is no longer your grandfather's Emerald Isle - its will has triumphed over God's will. 

In deserts of Egypt, Syria and Gaza around 219 AD, very educated and cultured people left the sophisticated and evolved world of the Roman Empire for caves, trees and pillars out where Christ lost His Sandals and found the means to overcome the very psychological worms that eat at our souls to this day. 

According to the Desert Fathers, uncontrolled thoughts are the origins of some of the sicknesses of the soul. They identified eight non-psychological sicknesses of a spiritual origin, classified by the monk Evagrius as: greed of any sort, a pathological relationship to sex, a pathological relationship to money, sadness, aggressiveness, acedia (an illness of the soul expressed by listlessness, boredom, laziness – a precursor to slothfulness) vanity, and pride. These eight generic diseases have a pathological source: narcissism, which the Fathers called   philautia, excessive self-love. . . .

Today cognitive sciences are in agreement with the diagnosis established by the Desert Fathers concerning the illnesses of the soul, which are growing rapidly today, along with the therapies which they had already recommended nearly 2000 years ago. It is recognized that today we are all suffering from countless and continuous demands no our attention, and that this trend disturbs our interiority. Xerri lists a variety of areas in which we are over-stimulated, thanks especially to digital media: food, material goods, sex, leisure, self-image, superficiality, criticism…

No one is asking anyone to sit on the Balbo obelisk at Soldier Field, or take up space under the Jane Byrne Interchange and begin a life contemplative, but we can begin to emulate the Greek Fathers of the Desert and guard our hearts.

Guarding the heart, in Greek nepsis (vigilance), is being attentive to everything that happens in our heart. It is a spiritual method which aims to free man of bad or passionate thoughts. It invites us to observe the thoughts which penetrate our soul, and to discern between the good and the bad. Evagrius said: “Take care of yourself, be the gatekeeper to your heart and don’t let any thought enter without questioning it.” As Xerri points out: “The elders noticed that holy thoughts led to a peaceful state, the others to a troubled state.”
The indispensable means of guarding the heart is paying close attention to thoughts and discerning between those which are good and healing, and those which are a source of distraction or obsession. The aim is to gain freedom, and to reach indifference, the ability to not be dominated by our thoughts.

Ireland's collective imagination was Greek Christian before it was Roman Catholic.  The Synod of Whitby put an end to Hellanized Celtic Church in favor of the episcopal over-lordship, still extant in that unhappy nation.  The secular bishops of the BBC and the state religion of Great Britain   has exorcised truth along with 8th Amendment.

America did that in 1973 with Roe v. Wade - more shame on us, Yanks.

Ireland is woke and countless children will be slaughtered for some time to come.

These day, repentance is only a three syllable word.   I know I am a sinful louse and work on it daily.

For those who feel they are woke and evolved, maybe The Memorare and the Jesus Prayer might be helpful.   A start anyway.

We are never evolved, by the way.






* Under de Valera's rule, the cultural identity of the Irish Republic as Roman Catholic and Gaelic was asserted. Complete independence was secured, but a lasting accommodation with the majority Protestant and British Northern Ireland receded as a result. BBC

The Old Ranger - A Catholic High School Teacher on the Open Driving Range

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6: 26-7

My job for the last month has been as a ranger - an Evergreen Park Recreation Driving Ranger.

This work for the Village of Evergreen Park is a huge help to me, as I have been out of work since January 26th.

During my search for work, my high school and Loyola University classmate, Evergreen Park Mayor James Sexton offered me this posting, God Bless him!

He made me a Driving Ranger at the glorious 50 Acre Park located at 2701 West 91st in the western half of the legendary Evergreen Park Country Club.   This south side jewel of a park includes

• One of the best  disc golf courses in Illinois
• A state of the park dog playground
• Walking paths over a pond with a fountain
• A beautifful concert gazebo
• A mini - farm and stable exhibit with three horses and squad of goats
• A golf putting green and driving range

Mayor James Sexton is the real deal -   a Democrat with the brains to be honest, faithful and not beholden to big money, or trends.  Evergreen Park sits next to Chicago, but is not a homicide blood sponge. 

The media beefs about traffic stops on 95th street ( a vast commercial stretch of road with more shopping malls than a John Hughes movies), but never asks why, "Chicago has more killings, violence, robberies and burglaries" than the village that is wedged on three sides within its own borders. Evergreen Park is not Chiraq, let alone Chicago.

• Evergreen Park pensions are fully loaded. 
• Evergreen Park Police and Fire Departments have high morale. 
• Evergreen Park schools are successful and peaceful
• Evergreen Park cares for its residents
• Evergreen Park love its Mayor

I became a Ranger on April 16th and proud to say so.

My obligations are these: 

In The AM shift 6/7AM - 3 PM:

Start, drive and attach the Kubota vehicle to a a ball rake that resembles a farm disc-ing tractor attachment at the front the of vehicle.  The rake is left far out on the range and requires a great deal ingenuity and luck to attach. That is most difficult task of the day - attaching the rake.

Then I spend two hours collecting range balls -in and out of the Kubota.  Using a handy device that pops balls into a canvas bag.   I wear a stout pair of Wellingtons, as the ground is always swampy due to our May Monsoons and the regulated sprinklers.  My first AM shift, I thought that I was in the movie The Birds.  I was being strafed by flights of birds the minute I shifted the Kubota into gear. 

  The disc-rake agitates the grass  sending millions of tiny winged insects out  of their morning ground-lairs and into the beaks of squadrons of Blue Jays, Finches and Robins. Jesus, I am St. Francis!  Well, not so much to the bugs. 

The range balls are disc-ed into four baskets on the rake and when full I transfer the balls to 5 gallon buckets with holes punched in the buttons to allow water to drain.  I carry fifteen buckets in the bed of the Kubota. 

Once all buckets are full, I detach the rake and head for the barn and begin washing the balls.   This is an easy task thanks to Wittek 50 G Superbowl washer.  I put in a scoop of Borax ( the product sold by the real Old Ranger on Death Valley Days) and fill the tanks with water. I turn on the agitators and cleaning wheels and in fifteen minutes thousands of balls are as clean as a Lithuanian sidewalk. 

I then take the fifteen buckets of cleaned balls and re-load the token operated ball machine. 

Now, I set up the range 

• Old Glory is unfurled and placed
• Umbrellas are placed at the tables
• Yellow flags go in the holes of putting green
• Heavy Green Ball basket stand placed near the edge of the parking lot
• Roadside signs are adjusted to open

At this point, I return to the office and count the bank drawer, count 59 tokens, sign the work shift's work sheet, open the windows and serve the public.

Then I restock water, beer/wine and pop; put out the candy and Slim Jim displays and get the hot dog steamer ready. 

On the PM shift, I begin where the AM shift ends.   I sell tokens and comestibles -eats and drinks. Clean counters and tables.  The only difference is closing out.  

We sell small baskets of balls (45) for $ 5.00 and large (90) for $10.  

This is a great little job and very well-suited to a Catholic high school teacher, who is finished with Catholic high schools.

I did not know what I would do, other than work again.

But, God and Jimmy Sexton taught this Old Ranger a lesson that he had forgotten.  The lesson I witnessed on the Kubota and in Matthew's gospel - “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air . . ."    Look outside the cab of the old Kubota!

Will the Skilled Trades Once Again Go 'All-In" for Rahm Emanuel ?

How 'Proudly Union' are the skilled trades leaders, the rank and file and their families about the re-election of Mayor Rahm Emanuel 2019?

I will be bet one out of the above three are wildly happy to re-endorse the Nine Digit Midget for Mayor.  The other two demographics might be problematic and look to Paul Vallas, Garry McCarthy, Willie Wilson, Bridget Gainer, or Ja'Mal Green.

Rahm's O'Hare Expansion means millions of dollars to electricians, operating enginers ( indoors and out), pipe-fitters, plumbers, carpenters, tile setters and laborers.  Much prevailing wages are on the table.

In any case, Rahm seems poised to be a Turd-Term Mayor and once again wear the Corona Triumphalis. 

The mad Roman emperor Caligula declared war on Poseidon, the God of water, and marched his legions to the sea and told his troops to attack the waves.  Rahm did the very same thing. 

The Chicagoland Pipe Trades were out early and often for Rahm Emanuel in his last go-around.  Your Water Bill reflects, the debt paid promptly by Rahm upon his re-election. 

The Public Sector Unions ( SEIU 'nuff said) were with Chuy Garcia.  They will grudgingly back Rahm this time. 

The Pipe Trades were paid handsomely upon Rahm's re-election, Chicago tax-payers not so much.

Rahm, like JB Pritzker, will count on voter apathy and the lock-step support of the Black Ministers and Cardinal Cupich.

But Skilled and Industrial Labor is the wild card for Rahm Emanuel's continued oligarchy.

Here are some nuggets of Skilled Labor's Fealty to Rahm Emanuel in 2015.

• Rahm Emanuel is a good friend of organized labor and Chicago’s working families. He’s been behind us the wholeway. “Now it’s time to get behind him,”said Business Manager James Coyne. Join a political rally to reelect Rahm Emanuel at the Feb. 10 union meeting.Local 130, UA will also support his campaign on three Political Action Saturdays on February 7, 14 & 21.Pick up your Plumbers for RahmEmanuel sign at the February 10 rally and proudly display it on yourfront lawn
• The mayor received $53,900 from the Illinois Pipe Trades political action committee
• Rahm Backed by Labor: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (representing two locals) Laborers District Council (represents eight locals) International Union of Operating Engineers (represents two locals) Ironworkers District Council (representing three locals)• Painters District Council 14 (representing 13 locals) 
• Why is Rahm Emanuel the best choice for our union?
• FIRST CHICAGO MAYOR TO MEET WITH LOCAL 1 MEMBERSHIP
• BROUGHT THE LIVING WAGE TO CHICAGO’S AIRPORTS, and made sure our 1750 members at O’Hare and Midway will be covered.
• RAISED THE MINIMUM WAGE
• BRINGING MORE HOSPITALITY BUSINESS: McCormick Place is now the #1 convention center in the country! That means more jobs for our members.DSC_0076
• Under Rahm, City Council passed an Airport Labor Peace Law that we supported, covering thousands of airport jobs.
• Mayor Emanuel has supported our union organizing. We have more union agreements since he became Mayor – the Marriott Marquis is just one example.
• Money for city projects – TIF – has been allocated for future projects like the arena at McCormick Place. TIF funds helped build Blackstone and Allegro Hotels.
• On April 7th, let’s keep winning.  

Unless someone, not currently in the race for mayor, announces a genuine challenge that will excite voters to oust Chicago's Caligula, Rahm will wear the Corona Triumphalis, yet again. 

Seriously Silly Satire on HBO's "Silicon Valley"

Jared: You can be openly polyamorous. And people here will call you brave. You can put micro-doses of LSD in your cereal, and-- and people will call you a pioneer. But the one thing you cannot be is a Christian. Silicon Valley -Episode 4, Season 5

 Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own. Jonathan Swift

On last week's episode of Silicon Valley, Mike Judge's send up of America's tech-culture on HBO, the uber-dweeb CEO of Pied Piper outs a fellow CEO who is openly gay, as a committed Christian - monogamous and church-going.  All sundry at a strategy meeting are shocked and both the outer and the outed stand to be shunned by the devout secularist majority.

  

This is satire worthy of Jonathan Swift -Swift is the guy who argued for the eating of Papist babies in the 17th century.

Jaimie Morrow of the Daily Post writes this

The show exists to call out the real Valley on its hypocrisy. To find the ruthless capitalism that glides beneath the veneer of “making the world a better place,” as when it highlights the dark side of the gig economy or presents tech billionaires powered more by self-aggrandizement and petty spitefulness than by their lofty rhetoric. This episode attempts to puncture the Valley’s much-vaunted commitment to diversity and inclusiveness by highlighting one group that is supposedly not included.

Yes, but later Morrow seems stung by the barbs and tries to salve those broad wounds with this in defence of Valley's ultramontane secularism

While the Valley has plenty of militant atheists, secular humanists and plain old nonbelievers, it doesn’t necessarily follow that Christians are oppressed. I’d certainly be interested to know what former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki, VMWare CEO Pat Gelsinger and Electronics Arts co-founder Dave Evans, all prominent Christians, think of the matter.

Uh, huh. and professional law enforcement officers are asked to serve on Rahm Emanuel's police watch-dog inquisitions - COPRA et al. - as opposed to Peoples Gas activists. 

Christians are not approved in our Brave New World of cable, tech, politico-activism and that fact is causing  the great divide in the state of the civil union, once called the land of the free and home of the brave.

Mike Judge has taken a bold step toward bringing people together.

The Sun Times in the 19th Ward? Don't Buy It

The Sun Times has a perfect right to smear a whole neighborhood and I defend its right to do so. 

In the same way, the people who live in Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood have a perfect right to ask that the Sun Times no longer be made made available for purchase.

My neighbors do not deserve to be regularly treated to this race-baiting editorial nonsense:

Like a match set to dry tinder, the slur set in motion a chaotic, Wild West-style melee on a sunny Saturday in November. Punches being thrown, bystanders forced to hide under restaurant tables, guns drawn and taunts called out?
That’s a scene that belongs in 19th Century Dodge City, not 21st Century Chicago.

This nonsense followed a fatuous cut-and paste job on Mount Greenwood by Frank Main and Sam Charles as an hors d'oeuvre to the above cited Sunday editorial.  People going to services at Mount Greenwood Community, Mount Greenwood Lutheran,St. Christiana, St. John Fisher, Queen of Martyr churches can pray for strength and a spirit of forgiveness.

After church and over breakfast maybe people can have a neighborly conversation about asking businesses in this neighborhood to stop carrying the Sun Times.

The Sun Times always wants to have a "conversation."


It goes like this , people who live in Mount Greenwood are hateful racists and  should accept any and all behavior - take it and like it and shut up about it. 

Fair enough. Well, in that spirit, sell your papers any where but here.

I pray that gas stations, franchisee-owned convenience stores located in and around the 19th Ward ask that Sun Times stop making delivery, because residents no longer want to read malignant nonsense from the Editors, Neil Steinberg, Mark Brown, Mary Mitchell, Jesse Jackson, Fran Spielman, Michael Sneed and the Watchdogs.

The people of my neighborhood will never, ever get a fair shake from the owners of Sun Times ( ChicagoReader et al) and they never have to this date.  The Chicago Reader called Mount Greenwood the worst neighborhood in Chicago - 'The Upside Down.'

I stopped buying the Sun Times years ago.

Where are our leaders on this?