A Name is No Crime - Unless You Come from Kerry

"I heard a County Kerry farmer interviewed on Irish Radio, ... and they asked him, "Do you believe in the Pookah yourself?"
And he said, "That I do not! and I doubt much that he believes in me either!"

~ Robert Anton Wilson


"A jug of wine, a leg of lamb and thou! Beside me, whistling in the darkness."

http://countykerrylogic.blogspot.com/





The FBI - Most Wanted List*:
Edward Eugene Harper
Usama Bin Laden
Jason Derek Brown
James J. Bulger
Emigdio Preciado Jr
Robert William Fisher
Victor Manuel Gerena
Glen Stewart Godwin
Jorge Alberto Lopez-Orozco
Alexis Flores

The FBI is offering rewards for information leading to the apprehension of Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Check each fugitive page for the specific amount.
Notice: The official FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list is maintained on the FBI World Wide Web Site. This information may be copied and distributed, however, any unauthorized alteration of any portion of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives posters is a violation of federal law (18 U.S.C., Section 709). Persons who make or reproduce these alterations are subject to prosecution and, if convicted, shall be fined or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.

A couple of economists reported in Social Science Quarterly this week that there's a link between having an unpopular name and ending up in trouble as a teen boy.

To figure this out, Shippensburg University economics professors David Kalist and Daniel Lee (both of whom, it must be noted, have very popular names) gathered up four years' worth of boy names (15,000 in all) from one state's birth records and compared them with the first names of about half of that state's juvenile delinquent males born in those years. They found that the more unpopular the name, the more likely it was to be associated with kids who ended up with substantiated charges in the juvenile justice system.

Kalist and Lee take pains to point out that simply having an unusual name is not going to lead to a boyhood of crime. "It is not that the name is causing the crime," Kalist said.

Instead, he said, it looks like troubled families—the kind that tend to raise troubled kids who end up in the juvenile justice system—also tend to give those kids unusual names.

So go ahead and name your boy Rocky (No. 914 on the Social Security Administration's list of 1,000 popular names for 2007), Bentley (No. 990) or Blaze (No. 876). Your family's solid, right?

Naming a son can be a terrible problem for some parents. My own parents ( Pat and Ginny) found this out when they named my brother Kevin. You see, in Irish families especially those with roots in the Culchie(an old Gaelic term "cúl a' tí", meaning the back of the house.) ** West of Ireland ( Donegal, Sligo,Mayo, Galway, Clare, and the bogmen of the Kingdom of Kerry) where families tend to give boys the same name for generations; thus Michael Patrick, Michael Joseph, Michael John, and have Mickey Pat, Mickey Joe, & etc. or a family brand set of names like the Hickey Clan. The Hickeys of County Kerry can be distinguished by these male cognomens - Lawrence, Sylvester, Barthlomew, Patrick, John, and Michael with very few exceptions.

Last year I took My Love to a Hickey Wedding - an event of lavish welcomes and warm embraces by the women, who dance every dance, and the men to tend stand with hands and forearms locked at the groin and nod ascent or damnation to their male counterparts and dance when bidden to do so by their better halves. The young woman who holds my affections comes from Ohio and is unfamiliar with the Chicago Irish tribal subtleties. At one point in the evening, the band leader called into the microphone, 'Will Pat Hickey go to the photographer's set-up for a picture with the bride' and me and twenty of my cousins showed up.

The Hickeys tend to have waves of children and all the males bear the same names handed down for generations with multiples of given names spiced by the baptism names and the concomitant nicknames attached to weaknesses, foibles, quirks, sins or physical traits. Patrick the son of a Patrick might become the diminutive Padgin *** or 'Little Pat'( pronounced as Pat Sheen in Chicago dialect) and he may have seven to ten cousins bearing the exact same handle. Hence Red Pat, Paddy Piss-in-His -Britches, Paddy Mike, Larry's Pat, Paddy the Goat, Pig-eyed Little Sneak Paddy, Pat The Girl's Rump and Run, or Father Patrick,O.S.A. Who is Still in Orders e.g.

When my brother Kevin (Caoimhín in Irish and means 'fair begotten'), a very blond man, was born my mother and father named him Kevin after St. Kevin of Glendalough, which is no where near County Kerry. Lovely.

My Grandfather ( Lawrence) a genuine Kerry Bogman, roared in response 'Christ Jesus Almighty! And where did the two of them come up with a bollocks of a name like that, so?'-as if my parents had named the wee man Caligula or Adolph. Kevin is a rock-solid Union Man and gifted carpenter who has only generous bones to match his expansive heart.

Remember, it is for the deeds one does in this life that a name bears honor, shame ignominy or whatever the hell else follows in the wake of your deeds - Unless of course the Family are Kerrymen. ' I see no Sylvie, or Bateen or Mossy up above on the names in the FBI Listing, so.' Like the story . . .

* Please note that there are No repeats of the first name in the Ten Most Wanted List

**The term in Ireland is often a derogatory one used by those living in the capital (Dublin) for anyone who lives "outside of the pale" or "down the country"

In Hiberno-English, culchie is a term sometimes used to describe a person from rural Ireland. It usually has the pejorative sense of "country bumpkin", but is also reclaimed by some proud of their rural origin, and may be used by either side in banter between town and country people. Dublin GAA fans call supporters of any other of the county teams from Ireland as culchies, fans from counties in the north are called nordies. Dublin's fans are themselves called Jackeens in retort. In large cities such as Cork, Limerick and Galway, the term may be sometimes allocated to anybody who comes from outside an urban area. The same is true for Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland, where the term is also popular.[1] Generally the term is more humorous than abusive in rural areas, as opposed to the more offensive term "muck-savage".

*** - Your humble correspondant was tagged Patrick Francis Hickey - My father is Patrick Eugene Hickey; thus, Padgin and subsequently as 'Dipshit,' 'Useless Amadaun (,Amadaun; Irish for 'fool'. It also refers to the court jester of the Sidhe - the people of the hills of Irish legend. The Amadaun is beautiful and graceful, but can kill with merely a thought.) and more than universally - Hickey,

Douce Saint-Valentin d'amour! Entre deux coeurs qui s'aiment, nul besoin de paroles -Two hearts in love need no words- Desbordes-Valmore.

A Woman's Poem:

Before I lay me down to sleep,
I pray for a man, who's not a creep,
One who's handsome, smart and strong.
One who loves to listen long,
One who thinks before he speaks,
One who'll call, not wait for weeks.
I pray he's gainfully employed,
When I spend his cash, won't be annoyed.
Pulls out my chair and opens my door.
Massages my back and begs to do more.
Oh! Send me a man who'll make love to my mind,
Knows what to answer to 'how big is my behind?'
I pray that this man will love me to no end,
And always be my very best friend.



A MAN'S POEM:

I pray for a deaf-mute gymnast nymphomaniac with huge boobs who owns a bar on a golf course and loves to send me fishing and drinking. This doesn't rhyme and I don't give a shit.

.

Get Your Blago Pez Dispenser - 'It Actually Feeds You!'

Given the significant financial set-back to Rod Blagojevich incumbent upon the conviction of said Rod Blagojevich by the Illinois Senate yesterday, this fund-raising novelty might have appeal to nostalgia buffs, political wannabees, community activists, tooth assassins and shrinking Blagojevich extended family.

Blago Pez - It Actually Feeds You! Charge My Heart, if this won't be a top seller!

SEIU Helped Create the Blago We All Know - Watch Them Now

Progress Illinois, SEIU's Junior Commissar Mikey Mouse Club, is huffing and puffing about more grassroots reform now that Blago has been 86-ed by the State of Illinois.

In our latest feature article, Adam notes that Rod Blagojevich's removal from office could clear the way for some far-reaching -- and much-needed -- campaign finance restrictions in Illinois. On WTTW's Chicago Tonight yesterday, former state comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch echoed that sentiment. She highlighted the "window of opportunity" created by Blagojevich's departure and cited caps on campaign contributions as "essential." Watch it: Netsch's observation that "it can't just be legislators" pushing these sorts of reforms is very important. Grassroots and institutional support is going to be crucial. And to that point, I want to highlight the fact that SEIU Illinois (which sponsors this website) is itself pushing for strict restrictions on campaign contributions, which bodes well for the cause.

Oh Heavens Yes, Gracie! Josh, you are a dilly!


SEIU you will recall was mired deeply in Blago's Honey-Dipping Governorship and SEIU figures in Federal Prosecutor Fitzgerald's Criminal Complaint against the only Governor in Illinois History Impeached and Convicted by the Legislature.

Andy Stern's SEIU will be there, to quote Tom Joad from Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath to troll for and make new Blago. Make no mistake.

Here is a lovely compilation of SEIU/Blago Bedroom Eyes from the World Socialist Website -published by International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)them own selves!

In any event, Blagojevich and the SEIU have a lengthy and mutually beneficial relationship. The Wall Street Journal notes that the union “was an early and strong supporter of Mr. Blagojevich, backing him over several other candidates [for Illinois governor] in 2002.” As a condition of its support, the SEIU won a pledge from Blagojevich that once in office he would issue an executive order directing the state government to negotiate a union contract with home health-care workers.


Shortly after taking office, the new Illinois governor signed an order allowing as many as 20,000 such workers to unionize. They were signed up by the SEIU. Blagojevich also appointed Balanoff to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, which approves hospital construction projects.


A second executive order, signed in February 2005, allowed collective bargaining for child-care workers. “The day after it received a letter from the governor’s office saying that a union election could be held, SEIU submitted 18,000 cards from workers it had signed up” (Wall Street Journal). The workers involved are highly exploited, suffering from low wages and a lack of benefits.


Officials of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) complained of the “special relationship” the SEIU had with Blagojevich. The latter union was the number one contributor to the governor’s re-election bid in 2006, donating more than $900,000, or some 5 percent of his total campaign fund.


The SEIU also has a close relationship with the president-elect. The union’s political action committee “spent at least $26 million on Mr. Obama’s behalf in the presidential campaign, making it by far the largest single PAC donor in the campaign” (New York Times).


The union, in the words of the Washington Post, has “become an omnipresent force in Democratic politics.”


An SEIU spokeswoman, Michelle Ringuette, defended the contributions. “Many unions make political donations to political candidates,” she told the Times, “in the interest of making sure we have elected officials who represent the interest of working families, men and women who get up and go to work every day.”


Neither Blagojevich nor Obama represent “working families,” although they may posture along those lines. Their policies defend the interests of big business and the corporate-financial aristocracy. The present corruption scandal provides a glimpse into the reality behind the rhetoric of Democratic Party politics: corrupt, well-heeled individuals pursuing their own selfish goals.


Moreover, the SEIU and the rest of the American union bureaucracy do not make use of their members’ dues money in the form of contributions to Democratic candidates to advance workers’ interests, but to safeguard their own incomes and privileges.


Stern and the SEIU have recently made a specialty of reaching contracts with governments and corporations that benefit themselves and the employers, at the expense of union members. (See Backroom deals by US service unions strip workers of rights)


The SEIU broke away from the sclerotic and discredited AFL-CIO promising a new brand of dynamic unionism, with a special emphasis on organizing the unorganized. As the WSWS noted last May: “However, this has nothing to do with defending or improving conditions, but involves colluding with employers to impose union membership on low-paid workers, who are denied the right to vote on union certification and in some cases don’t even realize they are joining a union.”


The union has set itself up as a kind of labor contractor, offering employers “labor peace” in exchange for the right to collect dues.


In its contract with California nursing home chains, reported the San Francisco Weekly, the SEIU agreed that workers would have no input regarding hours, vacations, pay, layoffs, staffing levels or any other matter concerning their jobs. The newspaper reported, “The employers may outsource work performed by union members, and speed up, reassign, or eliminate jobs at will. The employer may eliminate vacations, or any time off, as the employer sees fit.”


The SEIU went on to use this arrangement as a model for other “organizing” efforts in Washington and New Jersey.


At the time of his arrest Blagojevich was reportedly preparing to issue another executive order that would have allowed 1,200 workers who care for the developmentally disabled in Illinois to organize. Spokeswoman Ringuette told the Wall Street Journal that the SEIU “was aware of the executive order but didn’t know what role, if any, the union played in developing it.”

Illinois Chief Justice Tom Fitzgerald and Sen. Ed Maloney - Leo High School Heroes of Blago Battles

Here's 1964 Leo Grad State Senator Ed Maloney -who can still hit 3-pointers ( he nailed five in a row on his last visit to Leo) while wearing a suit and wing-tips.



Illinois Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald is a paragon of integrity - here he is with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whose Old Man is a great pal of Leo High School.

Illinois Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald - Leo Hall of Fame; Leo Class of 1959

Thomas R. Fitzgerald is a native Chicagoan and attended Loyola University before enlisting in the United States Navy. After his tour of duty in the Navy, he graduated with honors from The John Marshall Law School, where he was one of the founders of the school’s current law review and served as the law review’s associate editor.

The son of a Circuit Court judge, Chief Justice Fitzgerald began his own career in the law as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office. When first elected to the bench in 1976, he was, at that time, the youngest elected Circuit Judge in Cook County. He served as a trial judge in the Criminal Court form 1976 to 1987 when he was assigned Supervising Judge of Traffic Court. In 1989, he returned to the Criminal Division as Presiding Judge. He also was appointed to serve as presiding judge of Illinois’ first statewide grand jury.

In April 1999, he was appointed by the Supreme Court to be a member and chairperson of the court’s newly-formed Special Supreme Court Committee on Capital Cases to assess and improve the administration of justice in Illinois death penalty cases. The Committee, under Judge Fitzgerald’s leadership, drafted innovative rules which were approved by the Supreme Court to improve the quality of justice in the trial of capital cases.

Chief Justice Fitzgerald was elected to the Supreme Court of Illinois for the First Judicial District in 2000.

His accomplishments on the Supreme Court include a recommendation to his fellow justices that the Court find a way to improve the delivery of free legal services to veterans in obtaining disability and educational benefits. The Court assigned the task to its Commission on Professionalism; and in September 2007, Justice Fitzgerald joined Director L. Tammy Duckworth of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, officials of The John Marshall Law School, the Illinois State Bar Association and the Commission in announcing a broad initiative to help Illinois veterans with free legal services. With the support of the Illinois State Bar Association, the initiative was expanded to include legal help for the families of Illinois service members scheduled for deployment.

Since becoming Chief Justice in September 2008, Justice Fitzgerald announced a new Special Committee on Illinois Evidence, composed of a blue-ribbon roster of judges, practitioners, law professors and state legislators whose aim is to codify existing evidentiary law so it is available in a single source.

Also as Chief, Justice Fitzgerald announced an expansive and broad series of initiatives to improve the judiciary and public confidence in the state’s courts. Those initiatives include mandatory participation for the more than 900 Illinois Circuit and Associate judges in a Judicial Performance Evaluation Program, improvement to the New Judge Mentoring Program and New Judge Seminar; and a Statement of Expectations that was issued to all Illinois judges in December.

Chief Justice Fitzgerald is the recipient of numbers awards and honors.

On September 11, 2008, he received the prestigious John Paul Stevens Award. The John Paul Stevens Award, given by the Chicago Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Foundation, celebrates Illinois attorneys and judges who have demonstrated extraordinary integrity and service to the community throughout their careers.

Other awards and accolades Justice Fitzgerald has received include the Outstanding Judicial Performance Award by the Chicago Crime Commission; Celtic Man of the Year by the Celtic Legal Society; the Herman Kogan Media Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism. The Lawyers’ Assistance Program honored him in 2000 with the Hon. John Powers Crowley Award. He is the 2001 recipient of The John Marshall Law School Freedom Award. In 2003, Justice Fitzgerald was awarded the Joel Flaum Award by the Chicago Inn of Court, and the Chicago Kent College of Law Professional Achievement Award. In 2005, Justice Fitzgerald was named Catholic Lawyer of the Year by the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago. He is a member of the Leo High School Hall of Fame.

Justice Fitzgerald has taught at The John Marshall Law School and Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he was assistant coordinator of the trial advocacy program from 1986 to 1996. He also has taught at the Einstein Institute for Science, Health and the Courts.

Justice Fitzgerald has served as president of the Illinois Judges Association, was a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Crime and Corrections, chairman of several committees of the Illinois Judicial Conference, member of the Chicago Bar Association’s Board of Managers and past chairman of the Chicago Bar Association’s committees on constitutional law and long-range planning.


Senator Ed Maloney (D-18th District) Leo Hall of Fame; Class of 1964

Illinois State Senator -Years served: 2003 - Present

Committee assignments: Sen. Comm. Whole; Higher Education (Chairperson); Labor (Vice-Chairperson); Approp I; Local Government.

Biography: Senator Ed. Maloney (D - Chicago)is an assistant principal and dean of faculty at Brother Rice High School in Chicago. He has also been a manager and professional development director for the Chicago Park District, and a teacher and school administrator. He served in the House for the last 4 months of the 87th General Assembly (1992-93). He has a bachelor's degree in political science from Lewis University, and a master's degree in education from Chicago State University.

When Blago did his Swan Song before the Senate and attempted to coax crocidile tears from some Ed Maloney responded with Leo Language ( Southtown Star item):

Blagojevich's address blended denial of wrongdoing, naked appeals for sympathy, circuitous asides, sudden biographical detours and out-of-left-field analogies - all delivered with remarkable conviction and fluidity.

"I stand before you in a very unique and lonely place," he said. He gave not an inch, admitting only to caring too much and "maybe pushing and prodding too hard."

Sen. Ed Maloney (D-Chicago) rolled his eyes at Blagojevich's attempt to tug at listeners' heartstrings with his tale of his immigrant parents' striving.

"My grandfather came over from Ireland at the age of 13, illiterate," the South Sider said. "Couldn't write, never did. This is not something that's unique to Rod Blagojevich."

Facta Non Verba! Go, Lions!

Click my post title for more Real Deal Leo Heroes!

Governor Quinn -Blago's Gone;Leave the Signs

The last thing the Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, needs to worry about is covering up the name of Rod Blagojevich - there ain't that much paint.

Governor Quinn, right the State. Get the Legislature on task to lower taxes and raise confidence in Illinois Government. Restore the State to the Land of Lincoln.

It will cost nearly half a million bucks to paint over the name of Blagojevich and that will be money wasted. No one should forget that an under-prepared egoist (megalomaniac?) was ushered into the chair, with a great deal of political help from many people, you now occupy.

Governor Quinn this is not the time for symbolism and rhetoric. You should be moving to rebuild Illinois, like scalded puppy. Leave the signs.

The controversial signs at Illinois tollway plazas announcing "Open Road Tolling—Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor" will soon be changed, a tollway spokeswoman said Thursday.

New signs, keeping the open-road-tolling message but covering Blagojevich's name, will be placed over the old ones, said Joelle McGinnis, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, before the Illinois Senate voted to remove the governor.

The new signs will have the toll plaza's name and number, McGinnis said. They will not feature the name of Gov. Patrick Quinn or any other politician.

The 32 blue Blagojevich signs were erected in 2004 at a cost of $480,000. McGinnis estimated it would cost $15,000 apiece to change them. Crews probably will replace the signs at night to minimize disruptions.

Tollway News and Blago Signs = Pat Quinn, Leave the Blago Name Up!

Pat Quinn – Leave the Name; Maybe People Will Remember and Vote Thoughtfully in the Future - as If! This was in the Tribune yesterday:

Should the Senate vote to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday that he would immediately begin erasing some of the imprints his former running mate made on the state.

One target would be the signs displaying Blagojevich's name over state toll ways, which Quinn called a symbol of "pompous government."

"The signs will go down, and we'll probably have a ceremony to do it," Quinn told the Tribune. "I might even ask some toll payers to help us out."

Speaking in his Chicago office with the Senate impeachment trial blaring in the background, Quinn said he would end a period of "imperial governorship" that began under Republican Gov. George Ryan and was continued by Democrat Blagojevich.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-quinn-sidebar28jan28,0,2666469.story
Okay Here's me -

Dear Governor To Be Quinn,

A painting contractor will be needed to remove the name of Rod Blagojevich on all those Toll Booths, Signs, and Stations throughout the Highway System of this great State of Illinois. It will mean work and maybe some over-time for many painters. That could amount to some hundreds of thousands of dollars in time and material. Let’s save a couple of bucks.
More importantly, Illinois just might need a daily reminder of the man that 1,118,000 and change voters helped to put into the Office of the Governor. Let’s leave the name Rod Blagojevich up on State of Illinois property for a while – a good long while.

Governor To Be Quinn, you are a Fenwick man who trained with the Order of Preachers – the Dominicans – ‘The Dogs of the Lord ‘– in the Latin pun – founded by St. Dominic. It was Dominic who said, wear humility rather than fine clothes. Signage is not clothing but I think that you get the idea. The People of Illinois and the citizens of the world will know that you are the Governor, thanks be to God and some solid voting in the Illinois Senate. Therefore, make your first act as Governor a completely splendid act – ignore the fact that Rod Blagojevich’s name adorns anything but the contempt of the people of Illinois and the world.
Do not make the mistake of willfully spending tax-payers dollars to obliterate the name that has so shamed this State. Let it sit out there – for years if need be – as a cautionary sign to every person who registers to vote. Your act of humility will do more to promote your name as Governor than any number of layers of paint.Thanks for the use of the Hall!
Sincerely, Pat Hickey

Read the wonderful Tollway News for an accurate accounting of Governor Auntie Nixon's loot speedway! Click my post title to begin your journey.

Pat Quinn Leave Blago's name up there for a good long while and let everyone who tosses in $.80, $1.00, or $ 1.50 as well as those great plastic window Expressway Bandits remember the goof who looted Illinois.

An Enchanted Encounter - from the Files of Max Weismann

Having already downed a few power drinks, she turned around, faced him, looked him straight in the eye and said, "Listen here good looking, I screw anybody, anytime, anywhere, your place, my place, in the car, front door, back door, on the ground, standing up, sitting down, naked, or with clothes on, dirty, clean... it doesn't matter to me.I've been doing it ever since I got out ofcollege and I just love it!"
Eyes now wide with interest, he responded,"I'm a lawyer too, what firm are you with?"

Cathy O'Connell Valentine's Day Concert

My first date with a stunning woman, who is herself a gifted jazz singer and choral music director, was for a Cathy O'Connell Concert at John Devins' Old World Music Company in Beverly on the south side of Chicago a year ago this February. The elegant and lovely young woman declined my offer to 'pick her up on the North Side' and instead took the Metra south to the 103rd street stop, not knowing whether or not I possessed a fully dressed family of five in my basement freezer as well a gift for chat. She was dressed in an elegant black ensemble and looked like the girl Dr. Zhivago would marry. I escorted her into John's concert hall and was met with admiring and curious eyes from friends of many years, who seemed as rattled by the delicate dark haired beauty in my company as I was myself.

Cathy O'Connell greeted my date and graciously ignored the litany of my epic sins, transgressions, vices and penchant for dining while bibbed in a drop cloth.

Cathy is a wonderful woman and brilliant artist. She performed with Irish musicians John Williams, who appeared in Road to Perdition and the fiddle genius Liz Carroll. My date was enchanted and reassured. In fact, she allowed me to drive her home, having secured hundreds of witnesses and easily verifiable cross references as to my intrinsic harmlessness. She even agreed to go out in public with me in the future. I am forever grateful.

Do yourself a favor this Valentines Day - take your Love to Old World Music Company and be carried off on the gossamer wings that wrap the voice of Cathy O'Connell!

Singer Catherine O'Connell grew up in Chicago and in love with Chicago. Her affection for performing was nurtured by her parents, James and Mary, who shared with her their passions for music and theater. Her father, a talented amateur singer, gave her this early advice: "Tell the story and sing the song with a tear in your voice. Her mother, an accomplished actress, offered this: "Enunciate or no one will understand you."

Catherine, who was the St. Patrick Day Parade Queen in 1976, later developed her distinctive style and dramatic stage presence by performing in dozens of pubs, saloons and cabarets in Chicago, New York and the Caribbean.

Leaving the club scene to raise three boys, she switched direction in her career to focus on more intimate spaces in the city and suburbs, where the emotional impact of her singing has gathered her a large and devoted following. Bill Fraher, director of music at Old St. Patrick’s Church, calls her "the best communicator" he has ever worked with and one friend said "I never thought I could live through my mother’s funeral and you made me sing."

The Chicago Tribune's and WGN's Rick Kogan says, "Catherine is an original, as gifted a singer and as sensitive a performer as I have ever heard and seen. She might easily have become a star in the New York scene but, God love her, she's tied to our town."

March 2002 Catherine released her CD entitled 'I Arise Today' and December 2003 released 'Songs From My Father' available at Irish shops around the city and catherineoconnell.com.

From saloons to Symphony Center, chapels to cathedrals, funeral homes to festival halls, Catherine has touched the hearts and lifted the spirits of thousands of Chicagoans. She is currently working on a Christmas CD.

Saturday, February 14th

~ One night only ~

Two (2) shows - 5:00pm & 8:00pm



Catherine O’Connell

and

The Usual Suspects

Jimmy Moore, Dennis Cahill and Kathleen Keane



at

The World Music Company

1808 West 103rd Street

Chicago, IL 60643

For Tickets call:
Tickets are $25.00

(773) 779-7059

POTUS Obama Stimulus Package Tosses Rubbers to the Road

The President's Economic Stimulus Package will go Sexually Unprotected as Congress fires Condoms from the Legislation. Thus,

Ahead of a meeting this afternoon with Republicans opposed to his $825bn economic stimulus plan, Barack Obama has asked congressional Democrats to remove a measure funding family planning for poor women from the legislation.

"While [Obama] agrees that greater access to family planning is good policy, the president believes that the funding for it does not belong in the economic recovery and reinvestment plan," the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said.

The measure, which budget analysts estimate would cost an estimated $200m, provoked an outcry from Republicans who described it as wasteful spending.

"How can you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives?" asked Republican congressional leader John Boehner of Ohio on Friday. "How does that stimulate the economy?"

Loaded question, that Congressman! I am hopelessly juvenile and offered these Euphemisms for Condoms for future reference and the gratification of all. My personal favorite is 'reliance appliance.'

To the Girls of Planned Parenthood. . .nice try ladies! Put a lid on it . . . sorry. Can't be done under the current Stimulus Package.

There are more childish sperms of endearment arrestors here than Jack Hurley, CPD might spout in under a New York Minute.

The Sheath File
Euphemisms for a Condom
pole lock- peckerwouldn't - feltcher squelcher -
Purple Warrior Armor - ferret sock - Coney Island whitefish -
no overflowed choad load sowed - indicktment - Don Johnson -
hickory dickory dock - peterfied cast - milk miser -
Wrinkle Chapeau - bearded blood sausage - Nub pneumatic
fetus filter - der weiner fits-all - life saver
wet suit - ball blinder - groin cloth -
fiveskin - corn husk - clam dam -
poon balloon - tool topping - geyser cork -
package protector - sperminal terminal- dong depot
detour - stop sign picket line -
cock cloak - Bismark barrier - penis shroud
scabbard - Horse hanger - gent tent -
manhood shell - banister canister - party favor -
peter pouch - rod rind - corn cob husk -
burrito poncho - swaddle - protein packet
crash helmet - condom - banana peel -
sheath - dong sarong - willy wrap -
third leg trouser - membrane - canyon slicker
masthead - peanut shell - pen top -
shrink wrap - wand wallet - bang bottle -
chicken charriot - noodle nylon - member muzzle -
jock jacket -caulk valve cover -
seed sack - sugar cone - eel envelope -
Depends defender - dunce cap - wrapper -
love capsule - pump cover - John Thomas overcoat -
trunk bark - boner bucket - goose noose -
hefty sak - hot juice balloon - sperm breaker -
cream collector - slip cover - hard hat -
pork cork - giz dam - cock frock -
DNA dashiki - squirt shirt - ejaculation station -
crank tank - missile silo - head shed -
peter parka - pregnot - Pressure Cooker -
pickle jar - cum cathador - stuff sack -
spunk trunk - bullet bag -ink well -
chromosome dome - wiener receptical - dog house
chicken coop - rail pail - feed bag -
natural leaf wrapper - wacker laquer - iron matin' -
cum catcher - head veil - rubber
fence - hard again cardigan - vein vale -
pin cushion - restrictive headgear - weenie beanie
one-eyed beret - flesh flute boot - load bearing pud stud -
sperm dam - dick dike - lover cover -
swell casing -she squealed shield - he stick hindrance -
rod retardant - boner binder - beanie my cecil -
mister log's sex hat - spunk spittoon - throbben hood -
she shell - peacekeeper - paternaway
giz fizzler - rally cap - soap dish -
bone blanket - batting glove - pony stable -
cloak for dagger - nub cap - French letter
man cream screen - nookie nook - Siemon Block
Jock Lock - Breeder's Cup - emergency brake -
Clap cap - Laytex Safety Nut -
Dust Cover - Parachute - Jack Rack
salami skin - sleeve - pudding packet
pud pod - snakeskin glove -
hogleg stocking -sperm bag - sausage casing -
stick suit - snatch guard -insecurity blanket -
hose wrapping - prophylactic - boxing glove -
Johnson jacket - tapioca tupperware - doggie bag -
sperm aside - penal pullover - loin luggage -
oven mitt - hog holster - sword shield -
manhole cover - submarine surprise - full latex jacket -
missile mask - shlong shed - hot dog bun -
wank tank - body armor -dixie cup -
raincoat - shower cap - swim suit -
embryno - Jimmy hat - pork rind -
pigskin - hump hindrance - spunk stopper -
dick dam - sleaveland - meat tenderizer -
wood hood - dipper slipper - worm womb -
banana bandana - whore bore - baby block -
zuccini beanie - cyclops eye patch - straightjacket -
fill-er-up - back pack - bird feeder -
seapage keeper - check-the-oil - bag lady -
muscle muzzle - trouser trout -salad sandwich -reliance applicance -
fornication filtration - sperm lance-a-not - no-drip faucet -
conception redirection - acorn shell - hub cap -
third testicle - goo-be-gone - jiffy lube tube -
quicker picker upper - jewelry box - trouser trojan -
carrot top - peter purse - go between -
prostitute chute - gender guard - child proof lid -
quif thief - tunnel funnel - spiral binder -
boa contricter - runt stunter - tool shed -
screw top - egg beaters - man quart thwart -
heir alter - anti proliferation device - family crisis -
dead end - inconceivable - milt kilt -
knock-me-knot - knob swab - cameltoe noflow -
python pocket - gonad girdle- parenthood -
muff moat - oil pan - gas tank -
candleabra - pillowcase - galloshes -
casino worker - knob knot - silly puddy -
pine tar - shaft shell - windmill -
dick partition - continental divide - rain fly -
distributor cap - vacuum bag - head light -
hood ornament - tire pump - bitch glitch -
dink tank - water buffalo balloon jissim prison
Quaker moat - indickitive - Brooke Shields
ground crew - cup o' soup -spunk mug
throbber thermos - blockaides -h.i.v. net -
fish ladder - mis-direction - sleave it to beaver
snail shell - slug housing -muzzle loader
wad wallet sleeper car dicktionary
wet bar - cell block DNA lounge
knot from concentrate tie one on hereditary halter
gene pool milt filter cum cup
cummer bun wanger hangar meat locker
corn dog cock dock pencil tip eraser
Catholic cathador - bulge grudge - loaded question
scrot coat -kiddie lidder crown
flesh fedora - cumbrella - baby buffer buggy
pit stop sperm worm birth berth
the ump - chromosome tombstone - offspring sling
relative preventive - phone sex booth blast casket
cum crypt - side winder binder - baby strainer -
semen hammock - conceivable receivable - rod pod
juice jar - cock cap - gland gate -
prick pouch - shot glass - jister holster -
turkey neck tourniquet - salami stop - dork cork
baggie - saran wrap - rope restricter -
slut safety

Wear them Mittens, Kittens!
http://www.rollerfeet.com/etrigan/wu/fluff/The_Sheath_File.html

EU Chick Magnets 'Help' President on Gitmo Sleepover Rules

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, right, talks with Austria's counterpart Michael Spindellegger as they arrive for an EU Foreign Ministers meeting at the EU Council in Brussels, Monday Jan. 26, 20 - Taking a break from fending off scores of Euro -Babes these gents got hot to work on dithering about solving President Obama's Gitmo Executive Order Cart Before the Hearse.

That Michael Spindellegger is Dreamy!!!! Google him girls!

While released Gitmo inmates mock the President, the debt to the looney Left world wide must be honored by the American President.

“We can’t give a quick answer,” Schwarzenberg told reporters after the meeting.

European leaders have had contrasting positions about what they’re ready to offer. Portugal, France, and non-EU member Switzerland have said they’ll consider taking prisoners on a case-by-case basis, while Italy is open to the idea but wants a common EU position. …

Germany hasn’t decided whether to take prisoners, while the Dutch government has refused on the grounds that the U.S. should handle the situation. The U.K., which has accepted six of its nationals and four residents since 2004, will “offer our experience” to EU allies, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

Gitmo will close and the residents - lovely chaps one and all - will be harbored . . . MMmmmmmmmmm let's see . . . we'll get back to you on that.

Steve Rhodes & NBC Live Blog Exposes Boy Impersonating Illinois Governor

Leno laughs at Chicago Police Department and Geraldo Stalks the View to chat with Milorod, but the real expose of the day is Steve Rhodes, publisher of Beachwood Reporter, and his Live Blogging of the Impeachment Trial in the Illinois Senate. Rhodes exposed the pre-adolescent boy who has impersonated the Governor of Illinois since 2002.

Click my post title for the link up to the wee lad's impeachment. I got to pop in for the show yesterday, during a break in my day and it was wonderful to see the sharp insights and clever turns of phrase as Illinois scrapes the gum off its shoes.

Well done, Brother Rhodes!

Planned Parenthood's Heroes of Eugenics - Slobodan Milošević ,President of Liberia Charles Taylor, Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic

Planned Parenthood wants you to know that making this planet a little less populous is everyone's concern - like Global Warming* - let's get behind heroes of Eugenics like these great fellows!

Distinguished Eugenics Community Activists and Planned Parenthood Honorees in the Making!

Slobodan Milošević
Charles G. Taylor
Radovan Karadzic

Why, only the other day the gals at Planned Parenthood chirped,

“With the stroke of a pen, President Obama has lifted the stranglehold on women’s health across the globe. His repeal of the global gag rule ends eight long years of policies that have blocked access to basic health care for women worldwide. No longer will health care providers be forced to choose between receiving family planning funding and restricting the health care services they provide to women. ( Real Choice - Abort AND Win Valuable Prizes!)

“Expanding access to family planning is not only good, basic health care; it saves women’s lives. In some parts of Africa, women have a one-in-10 risk of dying in childbirth, a sad fact only exacerbated by the gag rule. Women’s health and well-being are the bedrock of freedom and independence for individuals, families, and entire communities. Avoiding disease, having access to clean water and nutritious food, deciding whether and when to have children, and being safe in pregnancy and childbirth make women stronger and improve the quality of life for families and communities. ( Give African Kids A 100% Chance of Being Murdered!)

“Planned Parenthood thanks President Obama for taking immediate action on this critical health issue. With President Obama, women in the U.S. and around the world have a president who puts protecting and strengthening women’s health first. Just a few days after he’s taken office, we can clearly say that thanks to President Obama, it truly is a new day for women’s health.” ( Gosh -YES!)

Source: Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević was brought to trial for war crimes and genocide, but died in custody on March 11, 2006, before the trial could be concluded.
Former Liberian President Charles G. Taylor was also brought to the Hague charged with war crimes; his trial was provisionally scheduled to begin in April 2007, but was postponed until June 2007 to allow the defense more time to prepare, and is now ongoing.
Former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade on 18 July 2008 and brought before Belgrade’s War Crimes Court a few days after. He was extradited to the Netherlands, and is currently in The Hague, in the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He has not yet entered a plea; his next appearance was on 29 August 2008.


The above mentioned Eugenics Heroes are pikers compared to the Harpies of Planned Parenthood -

*WORLDWIDE INCIDENCE AND TRENDS
• The number of induced abortions declined worldwide between 1995 and 2003, from nearly 46 million to approximately 42 million. About one in five pregnancies worldwide end in abortion. [1]

• For every 1,000 women of childbearing age (15–44) worldwide, 29 were estimated to have had an induced abortion in 2003, compared with 35 in 1995.[1]

• The decline in abortion incidence was greater in developed countries, where nearly all abortions are safe and legal (from 39 to 26 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44), than in developing countries, where more than half are unsafe and illegal (from 34 to 29).[1]

• Most abortions occur in developing countries—35 million annually, compared with seven million in developed countries[1]—a disparity that largely reflects the relative population distribution.

• On the other hand, a woman’s likelihood of having an abortion is similar whether she lives in a developed or developing region; in 2003, there were 26 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 in developed countries compared with 29 per 1,000 in developing countries.[1]

Planned Parenthood to Honor Congolese Community Activist ? Probably.

Planned Parenthood will be delighted to honor former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga charged with recruiting and training hundreds of children to kill, pillage and rape in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between 2002-2003. Maybe a Margaret Sanger Award - the Hookey - or some such schnoze related title! Now, that International Abortions Worldwide will get U.S. Tax Dollars the Harpies of Planned Parenthood can celebrate a plenty!

When asked about the too real possiblity of becoming the the darling of Planned Parenthood Abortion cocktail and canape set, the 48 year old Community Activist with a smile that could 'light up' a village replied, "We have Bunia in our grip and they will not wrestle it from us," Another media rock-star in the making! Call Nancy Pelosi! Get Thomas's People together with Your People! Nancy, get Thomas on Bill Maher and The View - Oprah first! Oh, would that he were for Gay Marriage! Meow, Girls!

Community Activists like Mr. Lubanga helped the world economy in by-passing the G.W. Bush ban on U.S. aid to fund abortions* world wide. Undeterred Mr. Lubanga, put kids to work and affected change in his own country to keep world population low.

Planned Parenthood is happy. The World Court at the Hague is trying to convict Thomas Lubanga - that could have a chilling effect upon world abortions.

The court's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said some of the child soldiers recruited by Lubanga's group are now using drugs. Others are engaged in prostitution or are jobless or orphans.

Dozens of witnesses are expected to be heard in the case, which is the first trial by the war crimes court since it was established in 2002.

Eastern Congo as a whole has been torn apart by fighting from various rebel groups and militias for years. In an unprecedented move last week, Congo and Rwanda joined forces to rout the groups. So far, this has led to the arrest of one top rebel, ethnic Tutsi leader Laurent Nkunda.

The Hague must be working with that damn Vatican again.


*Induced abortion is the main cause of maternal mortality in the People's Republic of the Congo. Few statistics are available on the extent of induced abortion in the Congo, but in 1975, 1413 induced abortions leading to 40 maternal deaths were identified, while in 1977 1 hospital registered 345 induced abortions and 429 spontaneous abortions and another registered 402 induced and 328 spontaneous abortions. The average age of the women was 21-23 years. The main causes were undesired births, births too close together, family size too large, conjugal problems, refusal of parenthood, school attendance, infidelity, and medical causes. Traditional procedures such as introduction of caustic substances or use of knitting needles may lead to mortal complications. Immediate complications of abortion may include hemorrhage leading to shock, perforations, and death. Late complications may include infection or longterm bleeding, and very late complications may include sterility. Among 737 women hospitalized in 1 institution in 1976, 53 had adnexitis and secondary sterility. Induced abortion is not legal in the People's Republic of the Congo, but is tolerated in some health areas. There is some pressure to liberalize abortion law under certain conditions. Apart from its medical consequences, abortion has numerous consequences for society, the family, and the couple. Because of the alarming abortion situation, the government signed an accord in 1979 with the UN Fund for Population Activities for contraceptive assistance. 4 information seminars have been held to inform the population of the risks of induced abortion. It is recommended that a sex education program and moral aid be provided in cases of unplanned pregnancy as measures to help reduce the incidence of induced abortion.

Woman world-wide demand the choice of an induced abortion! It's the Truly Nuanced thing to do.

http://www.popline.org/docs/0632/023783.html

Blago and Kipling Celebrate Diversity

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools

R. Kipling

Blago quotes Kipling! Bloody Marvelous! The Jig's Up; Brass It Out, Old Man!
Kipling, Old Man, was the poet of Empire! Bash the Wogs! Hang Paddy! Ulster will Fight and Uster will be Right! Show 'em Good British Steel!

What? What? Haw, Haw. See here, now.

Governor Blagojevich celebrates the Poet of Diversity; here is Rudyard Kipling's American Notes:

The Chinaman waylays his adversary, and methodically chops him to
pieces with his hatchet. Then the press roars about the brutal
ferocity of the pagan.

The Italian reconstructs his friend with a long knife. The press
complains of the waywardness of the alien.

The Irishman and the native Californian in their hours of
discontent use the revolver, not once, but six times. The press
records the fact, and asks in the next column whether the world
can parallel the progress of San Francisco. The American who
loves his country will tell you that this sort of thing is
confined to the lower classes. Just at present an ex-judge who
was sent to jail by another judge (upon my word I cannot tell
whether these titles mean anything) is breathing red-hot
vengeance against his enemy. The papers have interviewed both
parties, and confidently expect a fatal issue.

Now, let me draw breath and curse the negro waiter, and through
him the negro in service generally. He has been made a citizen
with a vote, consequently both political parties play with him.
But that is neither here nor there. He will commit in one meal
every betise that a senllion fresh from the plow-tail is capable
of, and he will continue to repeat those faults. He is as
complete a heavy-footed, uncomprehending, bungle-fisted fool as
any mem-sahib in the East ever took into her establishment. But
he is according to law a free and independent
citizen--consequently above reproof or criticism. He, and he
alone, in this insane city, will wait at table (the Chinaman
doesn't count).

He is untrained, inept, but he will fill the place and draw the
pay. Now, God and his father's fate made him intellectually
inferior to the Oriental. He insists on pretending that he serves
tables by accident--as a sort of amusement. He wishes you to
understand this little fact. You wish to eat your meals, and, if
possible, to have them properly served. He is a big, black, vain
baby and a man rolled into one.

A colored gentleman who insisted on getting me pie when I wanted
something else, demanded information about India. I gave him
some facts about wages.

"Oh, hell!" said he, cheerfully, "that wouldn't keep me in cigars
for a month."

Then he fawned on me for a ten-cent piece. Later he took it upon
himself to pity the natives of India. "Heathens," he called
them--this woolly one, whose race has been the butt of every
comedy on the native stage since the beginning. And I turned and
saw by the head upon his shoulders that he was a Yoruba man, if
there be any truth in ethnological castes. He did his thinking
in English, but he was a Yoruba negro, and the race type had
remained the same throughout his generations. And the room was
full of other races--some that looked exactly like Gallas (but
the trade was never recruited from that side of Africa), some
duplicates of Cameroon heads, and some Kroomen, if ever Kroomen
wore evening dress.

The American does not consider little matters of descent, though
by this time he ought to know all about "damnable heredity." As
a general rule he keeps himself very far from the negro, and says
things about him that are not pretty. There are six million
negroes, more or less, in the States, and they are increasing.
The American, once having made them citizens, cannot unmake them.
He says, in his newspapers, they ought to be elevated by
education. He is trying this, but it is likely to be a long job,
because black blood is much more adhesive than white, and throws
back with annoying persistence. When the negro gets religion he
returns directly as a hiving bee to the first instincts of his
people. Just now a wave of religion is sweeping over some of the
Southern States.

Up to the present two Messiahs and a Daniel have appeared, and
several human sacrifices have been offered up to these
incarnations. The Daniel managed to get three young men, who he
insisted were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, to walk into a
blast furnace, guaranteeing non-combustion. They did not return.
I have seen nothing of this kind, but I have attended a negro
church. They pray, or are caused to pray by themselves in this
country. The congregation were moved by the spirit to groans and
tears, and one of them danced up the aisle to the mourners'
bench. The motive may have been genuine. The movements of the
shaken body were those of a Zanzibar stick dance, such as you see
at Aden on the coal-boats, and even as I watched the people, the
links that bound them to the white man snapped one by one, and I
saw before me the hubshi (woolly hair) praying to a God he did
not understand. Those neatly dressed folk on the benches, and
the gray-headed elder by the window, were savages, neither more
nor less.

What will the American do with the negro? The South will not
consort with him. In some States miscegenation is a penal
offence. The North is every year less and less in need of his
services.

And he will not disappear. He will continue as a problem. His
friends will urge that he is as good as the white man. His
enemies--well, you can guess what his enemies will do from a
little incident that followed on a recent appointment by the
President. He made a negro an assistant in a post-office
where--think of it!--he had to work at the next desk to a white
girl, the daughter of a colonel, one of the first families of
Georgia's modern chivalry, and all the weary, weary rest of it.
The Southern chivalry howled, and hanged or burned some one in
effigy. Perhaps it was the President, and perhaps it was the
negro--but the principle remains the same. They said it was an
insult. It is not good to be a negro in the land of the free and
the home of the brave.

Actually, Rudyard Old Cock, the Colonists made one President, much like that Paddy some years before . . . Fitzgerald Kennedy something.

I voted for the other chap McCain, but stand damn proud of my country. Now, as to the well-coiffed Governor who spouts your verse - shackles and irons by year's end Old Top.

Sentiments, dear boy, sentiments. Kipling was a Progressive Clean Government Lad. Quite.

As IF!

Click my post title for Kipling's American Notes.

Soupe, or Potage? The Grace of Feasting With Yours Truly!

The issue of gracious dining came to light as a the result of John Rubery and Anne Leary's Illinois Blog Tag.

One wonderful Chicago Blogsite - The Chicago Bungalow - presented me with an opportunity to address the vanishing civility and grace of dining en compagnie.

re: Cream Soup Spoons -4. 'I place a lot of stock in knowing the difference between a cream soup spoon and a regular soup spoon. Too bad they only make regular soup spoons in my everyday silverware. So much for manners.'

This may help!

Here on the south side, the wonderful wooden flat spoons that came with Dixie Cup ice cream* make splendid additions to my cutlery collection and it is fun to watch guests shovel away at a nice steaming bowl of Le velouté or La bisque - determined by my guests preferences for fresh vegetable or shell fish, n'cest pas.

Dining alone, ala Le Gavroche, it is my custom to encircle the tureen with my powerful right arm's tender embrace and launch the ladle in at full gallop! Man, that's good eatin'!

Bon Appetit!


*

Dixie Cup ice cream
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 11:00 am Central Time

Why was it that eating a chocolate and vanilla twist Dixie Cup in school was the best treat ever?Any thoughts or memories?



This was the best during my younger elementary school days, I loved those little wooden spoons that came with the ice cream.I also think half the magic was eating the ice cream in school with all your friends in the cafeteria.
_________________
Far better it is to dare mighty things than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much,because they live in a grey twilight that knows neither victory or defeat....T.Roosevelt

http://www.retroland.com/retrotalk/viewtopic.php?t=17746

I Always Get Tagged - Anne Leary Tagged Me!

I'm slower than a roomful of morbidly obese Earth Science majors at an Indiana Community College and Anne Leary tagged me - no sweat.

It's January in Chicago--how can we amuse ourselves?


Following the brilliant and impala-like Leary required my jumping over many yard fences here in Morgan Park and negotiating many over-turned blue -barrel re-cycling dumpsterettes. I lost her at Artesian and she seems to have darted north on Western Ave. so I stopped in at Keegan's Pub at 10618 S. Western to re-charge.

The rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you (done, above)
2. Post the rules on your blog (you're reading them now)
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself (see below)
4. Tag six random people with a link.


1. Non-important thing: I get up and write at 4AM. - novels, screenplays, essays, hack-pieces, indictments of declining civilizations and pornographic epics with a widowed, middle-aged, sunny-dispositioned poetic rascal in the driver's seat.

2. Quirk: I believe that people are a blast - Get to Kean Gas in the AM for coffee as proof of a wealth of diverse, alive, and profound insights and giggles from American Patriots - cops, firemen, ComEd linemen, burial vault cement finishers, teachers, nurses and the odd lay-about.

3. Quirk: I am a sucker for babies - if Carla Gugina flirted with me, I'd opt instead to play with the kid in the stroller and ask the pre-verbal child questions about The False Decretals and the hegemony of Lombard over the Papal States in the early renaissance - kids love it.

4. Non-important thing: I jingle the change in my pockets when nervous about the economy.

5. Habit: I never call a bartender Chief and always over-tip. No Dukie - No Go-Outey!

6. Quirk: I need to have my daughters look me over prior to dates with the supremely talented, diminutive, gorgeous and elegant young woman who deigns to be seen publicly with me.

The links:
http://chicagoray.blogspot.com/
http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/
http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/
http://www.tomroeser.com/
http://wapellarocks.blogspot.com/
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/christine_flowers/

Mayor Daley Goes Ward Bond! The Searchers Meets the Press

In John Ford's iconic 1956 film The Searchers, Ward Bond as Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton; preacher and Texas Ranger captain, shouts to a young cavalry officer:

'Reverend Clayton: Mount! M-O-N-T-E! Mount!

2nd Lt. Greenhill: Can't I stay? Please?
Reverend Clayton: Oh, all right. But you watch me, boy! I'm the hardcase you're up against out here, not them childish savages! And if you don't hear my first holler, you better read my mind 'cause I don't aim to raise no two hollers on any subject at hand!
2nd Lt. Greenhill: [salutes with his sabre and nearly decapatates the Reverend] Yes sir!
Reverend Clayton: Boy, watch that knife!

A wonderful moment in film!

Yesterday, Mayor Daley treated us all to Ward Bond Goes Government!

The Tribune first reported that Daley's health commissioner cited the loss of $1.2 million in state funding in ordering the Feb. 1 closures. Public health advocates have blasted the move as unnecessary, but Daley said it wasn’t his fault.

"We didn't cut. It was the state of Illinois that didn't fund us," Daley said. "See, you've got the facts wrong. The state of Illinois funds those centers. We did not cut. They have cut state mental health facilities all over the state. That is state money. Underline that. S-A-T-E [sic] money. It’s called state money. Let’s get the facts. These facts are not correct, so you have to correct people."

The mental health centers receive about $13 million in funding annually, with $7 million coming from the state.

Another great moment in Illinois!

'Praise Song' by Alexander - 'Dis Prose' by Me

Studs Terkel could have done this . . .of course it would be somebody else's words that he recorded and transposed, but same thing.

Meandering thoughts . . .I used to get the same thing from panicked and lazy students who missed the deadline - 'It's a prose poem and much better than the five page essay, with MLA citation, that you assigned Mr. Hickey.'

YEAH RIGHT!!!!!! You still have Welch's Grape Jelly from your morning's breakfast muffin,Sweetheart! You got some on your collar too. Hand it in and F ain't a Zero.'

'You suck Hickey!'

'This we all know.'


Now, How 'bout this loose change from Poesy's Dresser?

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

Welch's Grape Jelly?

Get a load of John Rubery's consideration of Poetess Alexander's Offering at Marathon Pundit - too funny.

http://marathonpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-inaugural-poem.html

President Obama's Speech - Irony - Changes Mean Return to Old Truths

What will be changed will be seen in the days to come. What will be enacted by President Obama, today and in the days to come, might determine the course for the Nation for decades.



America is behind you. However, your words did not so much reflect change as they did the words and values of the man you defeated. Change seems to require that America cling to John McCain's message.

President Obama defeated John McCain on September 15, 2008 when he stated that the fundamentals of American capitalism were still sound and that sound byte allowed the Obama Campaign to cascade an avalanche of change rhetoric on his crippled shoulders. That's politics and this now is government leadership.

On September 15, 2008 McCain said this, "You know, there's been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street and it is -- people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think, still the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult time. And I promise you, we will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. We will reform government."
I promise you we will never put America in this position again."

John McCain also said, "This is a failure. We've got take every action to build an environment of robust energy supplies, lower inflation, control health care costs, access to international markets, low taxes and reduce burden of government to allow people to move forward toward a future of prosperity."



The irony being - what McCain said and meant on September 15, 2008 is reflected in President Obama's inaugural speech:

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

Hope floats. The Ship of State must sail true.

God Bless your efforts, Mr. President

A Catholic Prayer for President Obama

God of power and might, wisdom and justice,
through you authority is rightly administered,
laws are enacted, and judgment is decreed.
Assist with your spirit of counsel and fortitude
the President and other government leaders of these United
States.
May they always seek
the ways of righteousness, justice and mercy.
Grant that they may be enabled by your powerful protection
to lead our country with honesty and integrity.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

God Bless Our President and God Bless the United States of America!

Senator Caroline Kennedy -Schlossberg on the President

We need a President who is not afraid of complexity, who believes in an open and tolerant society, and who knows that the world can be made new again - and that President is Al Gore.
Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg

'Uh, er, Uh . . .I think , er Uh . . .( Kennedy-esque patois), er, em . . .'

Now, Just Wait a Doggone Minute. Oh, that was BEFORE she got Hip to Hope.

"Hail Chicago Cardinals!" - Thanks New York Times and Vince Banonis!

The hard character on the far-right is Chicago Cardinal Vince Banonis! The Bidwills could pick them!


Hail Chicago Cardinals, crimson and white,

We’ll back you ever, down the field, we’ll fight, fight, fight.

We’ll whip the Green Bay Packers, Rams and the Bears,

We’ll take Detroit and Pittsburgh, and do it fair and square.

Yea, Cardinals!


This John Branch story in today's New York Times is pure Grantland Rice!

The burly old two-way player, a center and linebacker who is now 87, is one of the few people alive to know how it feels to be on the Cardinals and play for a championship.

For Vince Banonis, 60 years and another title tilt with the Eagles were reasons enough to break out the old fight song. He and some teammates recorded it back in another time, another place.

Over the phone from Southfield, Mich., Banonis sang:

Hail Chicago Cardinals, crimson and white,

We’ll back you ever, down the field, we’ll fight, fight, fight.

We’ll whip the Green Bay Packers, Rams and the Bears,

We’ll take Detroit and Pittsburgh, and do it fair and square.

Yea, Cardinals!

Like his surviving Chicago Cardinals teammates, Banonis has long cheered the Arizona Cardinals from afar. Now there is increasing curiosity, even suspense, six decades in the making.

The Cardinals play the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday’s National Football Conference championship game. Millions will watch on television. A handful of viewers will see it differently than anyone else.

“It’s kind of a reminder of the games we had with the Eagles, oh, 60 years ago,” Banonis said.

Before they moved to Arizona, and before they moved to St. Louis, the Cardinals were Chicago’s team — or its other team. They played mostly at Comiskey Park, mostly in the broad shadow of George Halas’s Bears, who played at Wrigley Field.

But for one season, at least, the Cardinals outshined everyone.

“In 1947, we had a good run,” said Charley Trippi, now 86, then a nimble halfback from Georgia in the first year of a Hall of Fame career.

It never occurred to anyone that the Cardinals’ championship victory — a 28-21 defeat of the Eagles on Comiskey’s frozen and slippery field — would be the last that most of the franchise’s coaches, players and fans would live to see. No current N.F.L. franchise has gone longer without a title. The Cardinals have not even played for a league or conference championship since 1948, when they were 11-1 and lost a rematch with the Eagles.

“I didn’t think it would be forever, which it has been,” Jimmy Conzelman Jr said. He was 10, a “locker-room pest,” when his father, a gregarious future Hall of Famer with a shock of silver hair named Jimmy Conzelman, coached the Cardinals to the title.

This is a great story . . .and it is in the New York Times. John Branch is almost as good as Chicago Tribune's Dan McGrath - almost.

Click my post title for the full story.

My Dad, who could not be more happy about the Cardinals and for the Bidwill Family ( 'I knew Old Charley and the two kids, Billy and Stormy, - he was a hell of a nice guy and great to Veterans') called to remind me of the old Bidwill Stadium that served as a great Chicago Women's 12" Softball stadium over east in the South Shore neighborhood which brought me to this great South Shore Neighborhood Site - Shouth Shore Newspsot:

http://bradwell66.org/SouthShoreNewsSpot/NewsSpots/2006/November%202006.html


Nota Bene!!!! I deleted e-mail addresses from the excerpts.



BIDWELL UPDATES

Regarding Bidwill Stadium, it was the home stadium for the Bluebirds who were in the Chicago area women's baseball league. They played with a 12" and hard baseball. They had played with somewhat oversized gloves since the 12" ball is larger than the smaller ball used in the major leagues. Jerry Barich Hyde Park HS 1956



Bidwell stadium and it was named after Charlie Bidwell. It was also the home stadium for the Women's fast pitch (12" not 16") league during and immediately following WWII. There was another stadium around 76th St and Loomis called Shewbridge Stadium, another home stadium for the league. I recall one team was the "Bloomer Girls" and the other was the "Blue Jays". My father was part owner of one of the teams (the one that played @ Loomis Ave) but we used to go to Bidwell to see games in the late 40s & early 50s. John McNeal, Asst. Atty. Gen. (ret), originally from 73rd & Luella, Graduate of Mt. Carmel 1960 J



I remember going to Bidwell Stadium to watch DONKEY BASEBALL! Does anyone remember that? Also, I think they used to hold carnivals there. My brother and I and the neighborhood kids used to walk along the railroad tracks to get there. We all lived on East End Avenue between 73rd and 74th Street. Sara Zaremberg



I wrote back to Sara asking her if the donkeys played baseball and here is her reply.



Hi Caryn, your response really made me laugh! The GUYS ran the bases riding on the donkeys and of course, the asses didn't always want to cooperate! I don't remember if the BATTERS were on the ASSES when batting. It was an advertised event if I remember correctly. It was generally used as a softball field. Sara



All of my life I've pronounced the name of the stadium Bid-well and spelled it that way. In fact it's actually Bid-will. Still, nice to know some of the old time memorabilia is of interest to some people. Don Turner



Don Turner's recollection of Bidwell stadium is correct. The "Bluebirds" played there during the early 1940's. The Bluebirds was a woman's baseball team. I saw a baseball game there that was played on donkeys. That was quite a sight. The Bidwell family still owns the Cardinals. They are now the Arizona Cardinals. I would appreciate any pictures of the stadium that you might have. I made a slide-show of Chicago pictures. Any additional pictures would be a welcome addition. My wife, Gail Miller class of 1954, and I, class of 1953 enjoy your newsletter very much. Joel Wolff



I spent a lot of time at Bidwell Stadium growing up. The Bidwell family still owns the Cardinals, the Arizona Cardinals. I will send you some expansion of details on the area bounded by the B&O tracks, Jeffrey and 75th Street. Also some information on the "Stone Factory" in the triangle bounded by the B&O tracks, 77th Street and Chappell. Ronnie and Kennie Sone lived north of the tracks on Chappell. Their father was a doctor or dentist, I believe. Jim Gibbons /blockquote>

Bidwill's Bonanza - Cardinals Carry Charley's South Side Dreams to the Top Floor!

Mario 'Motts' Tonelli Italian American Hall of Fame Member, Bataan Death March Survivor and Chicago Cardinal


The Cardinals are America's oldest Professional Football franchise -founded in 1898 and they are based in Glendale Arizona outside of Phoenix, but the root of Cardinal Mystique is the south side of Chicago. They began as the Morgan Athletic Club and played on Racine Avenue and were owned by Chicago painting contractor Chris O'Brien. In 1932, the Bidwill family bought the Cardinals. Charley 'Blue-Shirt Charley' Bidwill, a former VP for the Chicago Bears, worked to build a Chicago Powerhouse. He did just that by the end of World War II.

Elmer Angsman,Paul Christman, Pat Harder, Marshall Goldberg, and Charlie Trippi were members of the Million Dollar Backfield. They took down the Philadelphia Eagles in 1947. They were brought together by Charley Bidwill after World War II. In 1947 the Cardinals won the NFL Championship and in 1948 a Division Title for the south side football franchise that began as the O'Brien Cardinals playing at what is now Morgan Park Academy in the 1920's. Charley Bidwill died in April of 1947, before his Dream Team coached by the great Jimmy Conzelman could realize their potential.

Charley's sons Charley and Bill took command. The Cardinals moved to St. Louis and eventually to Phoenix. The Bidwill Family retain their ties to Chicago and are powerful but quiet participants in all Chicago Philanthropic initiatives. Stormy Bidwill runs Sportmans Park racing track and helps poor kids at Leo High School get an education.

The Bidwill Family always seemed to take the high road. When Notre Dame running great Mario 'Motts' Tonelli* returned to Chicago from the Japanese Death Camps from Bataan to Japan after being captured in the siege of Bataan, Charley Bidwill, though putting together a Million Dollar backfield, signed the skeletal Tonelli and had him carry the ball against the Green Bay Packers:

Slightly more than one in every three men captured on Bataan returned home. But few did so to recognition of their peculiar ordeal. In the flush of V-J Day, Americans yearned for their antebellum status quo. In just such a spirit Cardinals owner Charley Bidwill** asked Tonelli, home not even a month, to rejoin the team. It was a publicity stunt, but one in which all parties eagerly conspired. War hero Tonelli, The Chicago Sun declared, had been "nursed back to full strength and health." Tonelli played along. "My weight is back up to 183 pounds," he told the papers, though he weighed more like 140. He still had malaria. Since that day his wife, Mary, and his parents had met him at Chicago's Union Station, doctors had twice cut him open to treat his intestines.

Bidwill's gesture was well-intentioned, but football doesn't run on sentiment. Three days after signing in front of the cameras, Tonelli carried twice against the Packers in Green Bay, each time for no gain, and so ended his NFL career. The next morning's Chicago Tribune carried both news of the Cardinals' 33-14 loss and the headline WAR VETERANS RETURN AND GO HOUSE HUNTING.

Click my post title for Toneli's heroic saga.

The Football Chicago Cardinals remain the south side team, along with Charlie Comiskey's White Sox and our Holy Mother's Notre Dame, due to the Bidwill Family. Their franchise might be in Arizona, Missouri, or Lower Slobovia, but so long as they are running the show, the Cardinals are the south side's team.


*Star fullback for Notre Dame who survived the Bataan Death March during WWII. He was best known for a 77-yard run that helped Notre Dame beat the University of Southern California. At the beginning of the death march, a Japanese guard ordered him to remove his Notre Dame graduation ring only to have the ring returned moments later by a Japanese officer who said in perfect English that he had attended the USC game and watched the famous run. He spent 42 months as a POW and saw his weight drop from 212 pounds to only 92 pounds. He is a member of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.


**

One man Tonelli holds dear to him is Charles Bidwill, the owner of the Chicago Cardinals. Bidwill came to Motts in the hospital after the war and said, "Motts, before you left the Cardinals, you still had a three-year contract. We expect you to honor it." By renewing the contract, he provided Motts with a wonderful opportunity because, under the rules of the NFL, you had to play both before and after the war to get credit for your pension. They both knew it was nearly impossible for Motts to play again but he was determined to do his best. On one Sunday in October of 1945, after a few practices with his coach, Motts earned his pension. Mario "Motts" Tonelli has become a hero on both the battle field and football field.

http://und.cstv.com/sports/monogramclub/spec-rel/122604aaz.html