Did He Ever Return?

Charlie and the Old Lady on the . . .Tube.
Let me tell you the story 
Of a man named Charlie 
On a tragic and fateful day 
He put ten cents in his pocket, 
Kissed his wife and family 
Went to ride on the . . .(MTA ) Public Transportation


I'll bet Charlie and the Duchess took one long-assed bath in Hand Sanitizer after that particular roll on the rails.

My Son Has More Money in Beverly Bank Than the Nation of Zimbabwe

 My Son Conor on the Far Right with Two Boon Chums, celebrating Conor's Bank Account!

There are cash-strapped governments and there are broke governments. And then there's Zimbabwe, which, after paying last week's government salaries, has just $217 left in the bank. No, we didn't forget any zeroes to the end of that figure. Zimbabwe, the country that's home to some of the world's largest platinum and diamond reserves, literally has the same financial standing as a 14-year-old girl after a really good birthday party. The country's finance minister admitted as much in a press conference on Tuesday. "Last week when we paid civil servants there was $217 [left] in government coffers," Tendai Biti told reporters. "The government finances are in paralysis state at the present moment. We are failing to meet our targets."

Tendai, old son, them  targets must be the size of a gnat's nuts.  If all you got $ 217 in the old cartera.

My son is 22 years old.  Conor is a big strapping handsome guy ( Mom's DNA) with a ready smile and , in the manner Hickey,quick with a buck!  Nevertheless, the lad has some fundamental thrift.  An apprentice tradesman, Conor is doing alright.  He is on the path to a debt free young manhood.  No college debt.

An apprentice does not make a great deal of money, but Conor lives at home and only needs to pay his union dues, class fees, car insurance and car payments. Of course, there is dispensable capital.   Like most of his contemporaries, the lad has few cares and fewer sleep-depriving responsibilities.


Zimbabwe* is an idiotic piece of Africa that stands as a metaphor of liberal thought.   It is nation run by a blood-thirsty idiot, Robert Mugabe, and for idiots - only people like Bill Ayers, Jimmy carter, Rammsey Ckark, Rev. Al Sharpton, Bill Moyers and MSNBC have deep admiration for this folly on wheels of a nation.

To quote Conor Oliver Hickey, "Hey, You can't spend everything!"

Not so, says Old Bob Mugabe!



Zimbabwe is nine years older than my son Conor, but it has only $ 217 left in its bank account.  Conor could buy three Zimbabwe's and have enough to buy a round at Dubliner, Keegans and Cork & Kerry. Beverly Bank and Trust is a neighbor friendly institution.

Stout fellow and sound dollar husbandry, my son!

If an old guy named  Bob Mugabe tries to put the bite on you for a touch, my son, explain that you give only to Catholic Charities.


*

WELCOME TO ZIMBABWE

The country of Zimbabwe is 390,580 sq km and is bordered on all sides by other countries. Zambia lies to the northwest with the Zambezi river and its Victoria Falls forming the border. Mozambique lies to the northeast with its border formed by the Eastern Highlands. Botswana lies to the southwest and South Africa to the south (its border formed by the Limpopo River)

Again, Governor George Ryan - The Man I Know is a Very Good Man.

 I wrote this in 2008:

I first met George Ryan, in 1975 when I was a baby teacher/coach at Bishop McNamara in Kankakee - a Chicago 18th Ward Democrat in Republican Land. In Fact Mimi Shapiro asked me to run for City Clerk as a Democrat - I figured what the hell -good way to learn the town. George’s brother Tom was the Mayor. The GOP slated Gene Glenzinski for City Clerk and the Dad of one my wrestlers and a better man never pulled on socks.

The Race was a blast and we had frequent ‘debates’ and run-ins with the Machine. George Ryan was a lovely guy. One day while walking to work, up Brookmont from my apartment in White City near Washington Park. I saw guys replacing Democratic signs that had been knocked down. I asked one of the guys ‘What gives?’ He said, ‘ George said to get them back up. You guys are gonna get waxed anyway.’ Laughed my butt off.

The Democratic slate was slaughtered, in fact I got the most votes -novelty votes for the kid, I imagine.

George Ryan was present wherever anyone from Kankakee, especially his political opponents, were in a jam or suffering. I saw George Ryan at St. Mary's Hospital visiting dying relatives of people who hated him politically. George Ryan had time for everyone. He was the reason why the Kankakee GOP was so successful and it was because he genuinely cared for people. The only person nicer than George Ryan is his bride Lura Lynn. That woman was everywhere! 

I never once voted for George Ryan. Oh Hell, I'm a Party Democrat . . . I was anyway. I backed candidates who wouldn't give a penny to starving blind man . . .they would enact Programs for Hungry Blind and Indigent . . .once elected.

I have met George Ryan at many wakes and weddings, in Kankakee and Joliet. He is a very nice man. I’d buy the man a steak any day, at Ken’s in my neighborhood, or Krapil’s, or Franconello’s or some such homey place reminiscent of Kings Court and Town and Country in Kankakee, if he’d allow me. George Ryan did not seem to match Gibson’s or Tavern on Rush or the other news-ghoul & hustler eateries. These other fore mentioned places are where George Ryan’s people eat.

The type of people who go to Ken’s and other neighborhood dining spots are the people George Ryan connected to - not political allies, hangers-on or opportunists, but people like Ryan himself. I witnessed quite a few of George Ryan’s many acts of kindness to people who could never do any political boon for anyone - let alone George Ryan - too numerous to catalog. He treated Joe Blow from the docks at Tenney Sales on 5th Ave. in Kankakee like he was a Sam Zell with an ink wet contribution check.

Conversely, I have followed the words of many familiar voices in print that have universally called for a mighty punishment on George Ryan - most of the people writing those words seem like people that I can do without. John Kass and Tom Roeser are the only two valid voices of anti-Ryan sentiment in my opinion - there are others to be sure, mostly regular folks and I respect their feelings.

However, there are many more, mostly media creatures. who are stone hypocrites -DuPage GOP ‘almost weres and fatuous Polka Partners like Judy Topinka who could not get snug enough in George’s back pockets when he was flush with clout and now stomp on his crippled limbs.

It seemed to me that Ryan’s Judge and Federal Prosecutors were going to get George Ryan come Hell, Highwater, or the lady with the blindfold. and they did - the voices in print ( paper and electronic) - sock-puppets or anonymous back-shooters for the most part - howl in genuine agony that George Ryan has the same rights as other citizens. ‘The quicker he is in jail the happier I’ll be’ read one such post, or ‘Ryan can rot in Hell’. Must be a lovely people . . . to avoid.

Forrest "Cartoons" Claypool Asks Fat Cats To Go Halves on Train Robbery!

The CTA is receiving strong and enthusiastic feedback from the private sector about investing in two mega-projects along the Red and Purple lines that the transit agency could not afford to undertake on its own for many years, CTA President Forrest Claypool said Monday. Chicago Tribune, a subsidiary of Medill Enterprises and Northwestern University think tanks.

Hey, Chicago! Are as Shickled TitLess as the Chicago News Media and CTA Payroller Forrest Claypool about the greedy 1% -er Fat Cats of Goldman Sachs (Obama Approved) going snacks with us on the Purple/Red Lines?

Forrest Claypool, the government payroll hopping Goo-Goo and Boss Fighter, whose beak is always soaked in tax dollars, is that same daffy Forrest Claypool who bought defective wheels from Red China that went on bum Canadian made railway cars that were the wrong gauge for the rail tracks of the CTA!  He's the same Forrest Claypool who wanted to save nickels by timing the pee-breals of CTA employees.  He's a Progressive! And He's a howl!

CTA officials and financial adviser Goldman Sachs are studying potential public-private partnerships to construct the proposed Red Line extension to 130th Street, and to demolish and rebuild track, aging stations and crumbling viaduct structure on the North Side, from north of the Belmont station through Evanston, Claypool told a gathering of transportation experts at Northwestern University.

Yeah, this can't miss. SkyWay, Parking Meters, Red Light cameras . . .should be . . .just a dandy caper!  Goldman Sacks Chicago!

President Bullets Obama's Homeland Army?

Mmm, Mmm, Mmmmmmmm! We never see ourselves as others see us.  
Oliver Hardy 

 " We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations."  President Obama's second inaugural address 2013

That why all the bullets being stockpiled, Mr. President?

They are. Billions of bullets. Bullets go into guns. Spending on way cool assault vehicles as well.  What's up with that?

Now, like most folks I like to think the worst about people whom I have already dismissed as 'breathing my air."  Folks who make that category have usually displayed a history of ungracious or just obnoxious behavior.   I have nothing in particular against them, just a desire to have very little to do with them.  I know for a fact that I am no triple scoop of hand-cranked peach, but I really try to put people at ease offer welcome. Sometimes the offer is slapped away. Fair enough. So, when I hear about some daffy, or deceitful carryings-on by persons who have disappointed my basic expectations for human conduct ( don't slap the help; puff yourself up; lord it over folks; take advantage of good nature & etc.),  I tend to savor the flavor, so to speak.

That does not mean that I will necessarily think that such goings-on by those folks are gospel, but I tend to nod with conviction and murmur, "Sounds about right."  I set a very  low bar for human folly and find that I am never disappointed when some lower it still. People who tend to say, " Do you know who I am? generally come to belong to my above defined dipstick demographic.

I have never been enamored of Barack H. Obama. I met him on at least six different occasions. One time, at the Falling Leaves Festival in Morgan Park, I even helped the then Illinois State Senator pick up his little girl's crayons  papers and snacks when the wind kicked up mightily and on another the Nobel laureate in-waiting  quizzed me about my thorough grilling of Winston's Irish Bacon and  Breakfast Sausages prior to a south side parade. On more professional level,  I was disappointed by the tone and template of his rejection letters in his capacities as head of The Woods Fund ( turned down Leo HS funding request '95, '96, '97 & '98); again,  when Bobby Rush skinned him in the 2nd Congressional Primary and  his career as a back-bencher State Senator in Illinois where he voted present on most issues and for anything Planned Parenthood put on his plate; lastly, as a candidate for President and as President ( terms one and Two).  I did not and do not believe that Mr. Obama was prepared for our country's highest office.

I do not think that our President is a Kenyan, a Marxist, a Red, or a Democrat.  I do not believe that he could accurately define any of the aforementioned appellations.  He reads a good speech and can hang some Hart Shaftner and Marx vines on his frame like he was born to the fashion runway.  Like Exeter in Henry IV, Part , I respect the office but view the man with Scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt, and any thing that may not misbecome this humble sender. Barack Obama is an ambitious guy with about as much personal warmth and genuine humanity as a Triple Crown running oat-blower, but that's just me. 

This President who calls for shared sacrifice spends millions on self-pumping parties with jackels and sycophants -(.Alicia Keys, Black Violin, Brad Paisley, Far East Movement, FUN., members of the Glee cast, John Legend, Katy Perry, Maná, Smokey Robinson, Soundgarden, Stevie Wonder and Usher) It's his party and our bill.

What bothers me is my growing sense that twice is not enough for Obama.  For a President bent on outlawing guns, he sure has bought up a mountain of bullets and he seems to be building a private army, while cashiering and insulting professional warriors. This weird bit of news came not from a GOP Wingnut site, but from Old Polar Al Gore - The Green Giant!

The Obama administration is openly escalating its campaign against private gun ownership, and shaking up the top ranks of the military command structure -- but is it also preparing to make war on the American population? According to a person identified as a former senior military official, the answer to that shocking question is yes.
World-renowned educator and human rights activist Jim Garrow says that the source, man regarded as "one of America's foremost military heroes," told him that President Obama is using a new litmus test for "determining who will stay and who must go" among top-ranked military leaders. That test is whether they will fire on US citizens or not. Garrow says that his source made the disclosure in order to "sound the alarm" over the administration's plans. - Al Gore's Current TV

Another Distraction Stanley!  Next, people will whisper that President Obama wants amity with Catholics and a third and fourth term!

DHS raising an armed armyThe first problem one finds with this ‘new army’ is the fact that they are mere children. Yes, 18 is generally the legal age a person can sign a contract, join the military or be tried as an adult. But ask any parent - an 18, 20 or even a 24 year-old is still a naïve, readily-influenced kid.
The second problem with this announcement and program is its timing. Over the past two years, President Obama has signed a number of Executive Orders suspending all civil and Constitutional rights and turning over management of an America under Martial Law to FEMA. Also in that time, domestic federal agencies under DHS, including FEMA, have ordered billions of rounds of ammunition as well as the corresponding firearms. Admittedly, these new weapons and ammunition aren’t to be used in some far-off war or to fight forest fires in California, but right here on the streets of America.
Strange Armored Fighting VehiclesIndividuals around the US have begun reporting the site of strange, new, heavily-armed FEMA fighting vehicles. What would a disaster relief agency like FEMA need with 2,500 brand new GLS armored fighting vehicles? According to the agency’s own mandate, as well as President Obama’s recent Executive Order, the answer is ‘population control’ during a time of Martial Law.
One set of images made available by Rense.com shows trailer after trailer carrying these new DHS and FEMA armored fighting vehicles, complete with machine gun slots. They’re labeled with the usual backward American flag and the title, ‘Homeland Security’. Below that and the DHS logo, it also reads, ‘Immigration & Customs Enforcement’. Joining those markings, the black vehicles with white lettering also display ‘POLICE/RESCUE’ on one side and ‘Special Response Team’ on the other.


DHS & FEMA armed fighting vehicles. Images courtesy of Rense.com.
FEMA CorpsFEMA Deputy Administrator Rich Serino gave the keynote address at the ‘Induction Ceremony’ for the inaugural class of FEMA Corps members. According to the DHS website, ‘Corps members assist with disaster preparedness, response, and recovery activities, providing support in areas ranging from working directly with disaster survivors to supporting disaster recovering centers to sharing valuable disaster preparedness and mitigation information with the public.’

---

---

Serino describes what the first FEMA Corps class has accomplished so far, as well as where they’ll be going next:
‘Yesterday, we welcomed 231 energetic members into the first ever FEMA Corps class. The members just finished off their first month of training with our partners at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and are one step closer to working in the field on disaster response and recovery. They will now head to FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness to spend the next two weeks training in their FEMA position-specific roles. Once they complete both the CNCS and FEMA training, these 231 dedicated FEMA Corps members will be qualified to work in one of a variety of disaster related roles, ranging from Community Relations to Disaster Recovery Center support.’
A standing armyUnlike most local disaster response teams who are volunteers, training periodically and only showing up when there’s a disaster, the FEMA Corps will be a paid, full time, standing army of government youth. FEMA Deputy Administrator Sarino goes on to explain, ‘The new members, who range in age from 18-24 years old, will contribute to a dedicated, trained, and reliable disaster workforce by working full-time for ten months on federal disaster response and recovery efforts.’
In closing his announcement of the first graduating class of FEMA Corps Youth, Sarino describes his and the agency’s vision of the future, one where ‘FEMA Corps sets the foundation for a new generation of emergency managers’.
DHS arms itselfAs we detailed in the August 28 Whiteout Press article ‘History of DHS Ammunition Purchases’, federal emergency management agencies are looking more and more like a military army every day.
The federal government’s procurement website actually lists DHS’ requests for bids to supply it with ammunition and military weaponry. All of the orders listed in the above article, including the orders for hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition, are publicly available athttp://www.fbo.gov.
One look at a chart of DHS ammunition purchases over the past decade reveals a drastic spike in orders of bullets recently, totaling in the billions of rounds. Other charts available online show a similar drastic spike in the purchases of accompanying weaponry by the Department of Homeland Security.
What is the US federal government preparing for? And why does it feel it needs an army of brainwashed youth, millions of guns, thousands of armored fighting vehicles and literally billions of rounds of ammunition, just to provide relief to the American people during a natural disaster? Any historian will tell you it sounds more like the arming of the Hitler Youth than an army of first responders fighting forest fires and hurricanes.
Subscribe to Whiteout Press. It’s FREE and you can unsubscribe at any time. Simply submit your email address below.Related articles:Obama Martial Law EO moves power from FEMA to PresidentHistory of DHS Ammunition PurchasesMap of Unmanned Spy Drone Bases in USACLU sues US over Obama Assassinations of AmericansSC Citizens rush to defend Posse ComitatusInsect Size Spy Drones unveiled

President Obama, in my C +/B- student's estimation is not real smart - he is ambitious, vain, prickly and humorless in manner that not real smart folks tend to be.  I sure do hope that those who write his speeches and draw up his vision for him are not really planning to use FEMA/DHS and other shadowy agencies as a private army of occupation.

That could get me all paranoid and stuff, but not enough to become a Republican.

Sun Times Investigative Reporters Tim Novak and Chris Fusco are Worth Ten Pat Fitzgeralds and Change.

Tim Novak and Chris Fusco of the Chicago Sun Times - real newsmen.

"I got a guy," is the Chicago Preamble . . .to everything.  There is always 'a guy' who makes something happen for better or worse.  If you have tree roots insinuating their arboreal fingers through your sewer pipes, someone will have ' a guy' once you utter the first syllables of your plaintiff cries of anguish - Kennedy Brothers Plumbing - their bona fides - Brother Rice guys, who roded out Mrs. Balauskas's pipes and never charged the octogenarian widow.  Where they come from and past performance, plus the cache of your mentioning Bubbles Quinlan during your call to the Brothers Kennedy are what make them 'your guy,' now; much more than the actual plumbing job and subsequent billing.

Your guy has an ever expanding web of connection linking you and souls Six Degrees of Separation square rooted to the sum of length of service and geography.

The Chicago Preamble is math based. Tim Noval knows this.  That is why he is the preeminent Chicago investigative reporter.  He is a gum-shoe ink-slinger without parallel.

If you live in Chicago, you have a guy and that guy may have gone to school with you, dated your sister, played over cousin in the St. Rita v. Brother Rice Championship game of 1983, helped your mom on the Richard M. Daley for Cook County States Attorney Race up at Congressman Marty Russo's old office, bought World's Finest Chocolate bars from your kids, or helped you boost freight out of yards over by 49th Street & Kostner when you were on the shorts after two semesters at DePaul.

An incident, a favor, a phone call, or larcenous dabble on the edges of the law may link you and 'your guy.'

We are only as good, as what we do when no one is watching.   You and your guy ( or person/woman/life-partner & etc.) might become public figures.  It all depends.. . on lots of stuff.

Chicago knows the Vanecko name because of its association to Clan Daley.  The nearer 'your guy' is power connects you to the juice - for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part. . . .and sometimes long after that.  

Chicago knows the sad and tragic connection between the name Vanecko and Koschman only because Tim Novak and his teamwork with Chris Fusco is a pitbull who does not let go of a story found the Chicago Preamble working all over the city with investments, sewers and possibly . . .possibly . . .influence barter at all levels of city government.

Today, Tim Novak continues with a case involving several 'guys' - mutually attracted souls -and weapons violations.

Finkl is a member of the family that formerly owned A. Finkl & Sons Co., the Near North Side steel business founded in 1879, eight years after the Great Chicago Fire. The Finkls were major supporters of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, hosting political events for him at the steel plant where Blagojevich’s father once worked. The Finkls sold the steel company five years ago.Finkl, 49, is founder and chief executive officer of Finkl Enterprises, whose holdings included Jetty Security, Radar Pictures and several other businesses. Radar has helped finance movies for Radar Productions, which is headed by former Chicago Sun-Times owner Ted Field. Some of those movie deals involved Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley who late last year was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of David Koschman nearly nine years ago.

Novak's prose morphs to poetry at line eight of the above: " . . .deals involved Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley who . . . "

See? Reporters with the honesty, skills and Chicago savvy are much more valuable than a stick-figure talisman of  ethical purity like former US Mouthpiece Patrick Fitzgerald.  What did the guy actually do about corruption besides net a few smelt, get a saliva soaking from Media types and land swell sinecures - The Big Apple -cheeked boy went the Chicago Way, God Bless him.

Tim Novak remains on the scent and given Chicago's intricate web of connections any one of us 2 million souls might have or strand of spider silk get a tug from Tim.

I only wish that Tim Novak could apply his tenacity and courage and skills to G. Flint Taylor, Jon Loevy Locke Bowman and Lawsuit Lotto Lawyer industry. Now, that is one smelly old bone that needs a good chaw.

Y'All Feelin' Me? -Our Village in the American Balkans

Community First Slate Candidates Boxing Night at Bourbon Street January 30th

Worth Township Democratic Committeeman John O'Sullivan between and the legendary Kansas Comet, NFL Bears Gayle Sayers and Leo High School President Dan McGrath.

Worth Township Democratic Committeeman John O'Sullivan is a public leader who puts Community First and is one of the last of the public people who actually walk-the-walk.John O'Sullivan, like 19th Ward Alderman Matt O'Shea, is a 'with the voters' public servant who can be seen out on the streets actually listening to the voters. Johnny O' listens to people and respects what they have to say about the government that they are getting; so, when John O'Sullivan speaks, I tend to listen as carefully to what he has to say because I know that he is speaking for my neighbors.  When Johnny O' speaks, it reflects what he is already doing. 

Johnny O' has been there for the constituents of Worth Township that takes in a healthy chunk of the south side of Chicago, taking the fight to powerful and the 'bullet-proof' as he did leading the way in the Burr Oak cemetary nightmare, standing up to bosses and finding real paths away from street violence
John O'Sullivan is backing the Community First Slate of Candidates. 

I'll be at Bourbon Street on wednesday, Johnny!

 

Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 8:56:26 PM
Subject: Worth Township Community First Party

Dear Friends,

It is with great pleasure that I proudly endorse the Community First Party for the Worth Township Government.  After much consideration I do believe it is time for a change. The Township of Worth includes the communities of Oak Lawn, Evergreen Park, Alsip, Blue Island, Palos Heights, Chicago Ridge, Worth, Crestwood, Merrionette Park, Bridgeview, Hometown and Robbins. The Community First party consists of 8 unique individuals that each bring fresh new ideas to township government.  The slate of candidates has agreed upon some very proactive points that you should be aware of :

1. Term limits for elected township officials.

2. Suspension of pensions for elected township officials.

3.  Salary freeze for elected township officials.

They have agreed upon these points because they want MORE FOR YOU - for our seniors, our families and our children!  They put our COMMUNITY FIRST!

Please join us for a fundraiser on Wednesday, Jan. 30th at Bourbon Street from 6-9 pm. $35 includes open bar, buffet style dinner, Olympic style boxing matches featured by Celtic Boxing Club in Mt. Greenwood. It's sure to be a great time and an opportunity for you to meet the candidates.  

Please take a minute to open the attached documents.  I'm sure you will be impressed.  Attached you will find:

1.  Candidate information

2.  Event Ticket /information

Please feel free to call me with any questions or concerns.  I look forward to seeing you there and I look forward to the future of Worth Township.

Regards,

John O'Sullivan

Worth Township Democratic Committeeman

708-259-7443

A History Lesson on Abortion:The Catholic Clownfish

 An Evangelical Theologian credits the American Catholic Church for taking the lead from the get-go over the monstrosity of ruling -Roe v. Wade, or the start of the decline in America's greatness.  This article from the Washington Post by R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary provides a historical perspective that is all too often lacking these days.

By the time Roe was handed down, Catholic leaders had developed sophisticated arguments and growing organizations to fight for the pro-life cause. In 1967, six years before Roe, Catholics had led in the creation of the National Right to Life Committee. The Catholic tradition, drawn largely from the natural law, became the foundational intellectual contribution to the development of a united front against abortion. Nevertheless, for evangelicals to join the movement in a decisive way, arguments drawn directly from Scripture had to be formed and then preached from the pulpits of evangelical churches.
Those arguments captured the conscience of the evangelical movement and produced a seismic shift within the movement and within the political life of the nation. From the 1980 U. S. presidential election until the present, the pro-life movement has been populated, funded, and directed, for the most part, by evangelical and Roman Catholic leaders. Beyond that, the emergence of crisis pregnancy centers and support systems for women considering abortion have come from the work of millions of pro-life Roman Catholics and evangelicals at the grassroots.
Does this represent a new ecumenism? The reality is actually quite counter-intuitive. The fact that Roman Catholics and evangelicals work together on the front lines of moral and cultural issues should not mislead. The cooperation is genuine and necessary, as we both understand. At the same time, the very Roman Catholics who remain stalwartly pro-life are those Roman Catholics who most closely adhere to the doctrinal teachings of their church. The same is true on the evangelical side, where moral conviction is most clear where doctrinal convictions have the greatest hold.

A devout Jew, who happens to be one of Illinois' most influential civic and business leaders, once told me about the reality of Chicago philanthropy - "It's a Catholic thing."  To paraphrase his words he explained,  without Catholic leadership in philanthropy, like most other public endeavors, Chicago would be one big smoking hole in the ground.  He suggested that I  look at the governing boards of all of the great charities, museums, art galleries, opera, symphony as well as hospitals and social services and you will them dominated by the same big Catholic money people.  To be sure there are Jewish names in abundance, but not any where near the number of Catholics.

My cynical self reflected on the political symbioses that must be considered - the Catholic as clownfish*?  Catholics do not have a tradition of tithing, because of its echo to British Penal Laws that required Irish Catholics to pay tithes in support of the Anglican Church.  The Micks set the table for the American Church for better and worse. Catholics bought pews, kneelers, glass and plumbing in order to build cathedrals.  Pennies made Billion$.  Philanthropy was tribal.  Germans built German national churches, Italians built Italian, French, the French and the Poles the most magnificent Catholic infrastructure in the city of Chicago.  The Irish were called, ironically enough American. That all changed with Cardinal Mundelein in 1916.  Chicago was going to be an America Catholic city.  It is, for better, or worse.

For Better - Mundelein adopted and rivaled the far-sighted Jewish United Fund of Chicago and pulled together a massive social contract with all Chicagoans -

• The CYO
• CISCA, or Catholic Action in all schools
• St. Vincent De Paul Society
• Catholic Charities
• Chicago Catholic Schools Office and hundreds of schools
• Catholic Labor
• St. Mary of Lake Seminary
• Mundelein, IL
• Leading Church voice voice against International Fascism and the "Paper Hanger" & American Communism in Labor and Progressive politics
• Demanded Catholic lay philanthopy

Cardinal Mundelein made the Chicago Catholic Church singularly and unashamedly American.  This is the 'worse' coming into play.

• Priests and nuns mistook the gospels for John Dewey social lab notes
• Some priests and far too many lay persons demanded that Ecumenism replace Catholicism until many parishes became indistinguishable from a Universalist-Unitarian meeting house
• Democracy is hard to parse in hierarchy
• Catholics wanted to become less Catholic and more spiritual - Jocists movement may have had too much to do with this
• Bishop Shiel is forgotten and Saul Alinsky is taught in Catholic schools ( DePaul most especially)
• Democratic politicians used their Catholic identity and helped undermine the faith and the faithful
• Turned Catholic institutions over to the State only to have those institutions gelded

Catholics are not as strong as they were in the 1920's and have far less clout e.g. The HHS Mandate, Government Definition of Marriage and the American Holocaust - Roe v. Wade.  Catholics still pump millions of dollars into Chicago charities and philanthropic ventures, but seem to have ignored the fundamental  reason for philanthropy in the first place - it's an obligation of faith.  Now, too many Catholics give to Planned Parenthood and Gay Marriage initiatives.

Cardinal Mundelein once said , "that not war, nor famine, nor pestilence have brought so much suffering and pain to the human race, as have hasty, ill-advised marriages, unions entered into without the knowledge, the preparation, the thought even an important commercial contract merits and receives. God made marriage an indissoluble contract, Christ made it a sacrament, the world today has made it a plaything of passion, an accompaniment of sex, a scrap of paper to be torn up at the whim of the participants." That was in 1935 and nothing on that truth has changed, except some Catholics and the people they are trying to please.  Cardinal George has said the very same thing for years.

A Clownfish is a good thing. A Catholic Clownfish does great things.  Catholic clowns have not anyone much good.

Baptists and devout Jews are keeping the Church honest about itself anyway.

* Clownfish live in a "symbiotic" relationship with certain anemones. This means they benefit from living with the sea anemone, and the sea anemone benefits from the presence of the clownfish. They are the only fish that are able to live in sea anemones and not get stung by their tentacles. Clownfish are very active fish and are extremely aggressive. Because they are quite active, the clownfish are thought to be "clowning around". They defend their territory and the sea anemone that they live in. Clownfish eat the leftovers from fish on the anemone and algae. The leftovers include copepods, isopods and zooplankton. 

Clownfish have a few ocean predators, but their greatest threat is humans. People who catch clownfish and keep them as pets in aquariums are making a mistake. There are only ten out of more than one thousand types of anemone that are able to host these fish. Many people put the fish in a tank with the wrong anemone. In captivity, the clownfish can live from 3 to 5 years. In the wild, they live 6 to 10 years.

Christ Welcomes Home A Great Lady - Marita Sheehy

My daughter Clare had the honor and privilege of meeting and in a small way caring for another Lady from The Greatest Generation: Mrs. Marita Sheehy.

Clare works for Smith Village in my Morgan Park neighborhood and has helped bring meals to and meet with our elderly heroes. They were once young and energetic kids from Chicago's south side who now form a band of sisters and brothers in a superb and respectful elderly care home.

Marita Sheehy, nee Eckenstein was a south side girl who lived through the Depression, watched her brothers and boyfriend Bob Sheehy go off and fight fascism. Like most women of her generation, Marita devoted her life to the vocation of Marriage and created a wonderful home for their many children.  All of the Sheehy kids are athletes, scholars and devout Catholics.

The Sheehy home at 80th & California in St. Tommy More Parish was place open to every kid from every parish who befriended their kids.  There was always welcome and warmth.  Mrs. Sheehy, like so many great women who raised us Baby Boomers gave the home and hearth their fullest devotion.

We are all blessed to walk the same pavement as such heroic women. Mrs. Sheehy is setting the table in God's kitchen.

Marita F. Sheehy, nee Eckenstein. Beloved Wife of the late Robert J. Sheehy. Loving Mother of Patricia Sheehy, Robert (Kathleen) Sheehy, Mary (Terry) McElligott, Donna McCauley, James (Patricia) Sheehy, Mary Ann (George) Holly and the Late Maureen Kelly. Cherished Grandmother of Katie (Nathan) Coutinho, Tracey (Tyler) Stilley, Brian Kelly, Matthew Sheehy, Brendan Sheehy, Patrick (Julie) McElligott, Kara McElligott, John McCauley, Megan McCauley, Michael, Sheehy, Alison Sheehy, Daniel Sheehy, Ryan Sheehy, Elizabeth Holly, Maggie Holly and the late Scott Simon. Special great grandmother of Conor, Sophia and Oliver Scott. Dear Sister of Patricia (Jack) Shanahan, John (Suzanne (the late Catherine)) Eckenstein, and the late Jean (the late William) Knight and the late Helene (the Late Willard "Bro") Luzzo. Kind Aunt of many nieces and nephews. Fond Sister-in-Law of Mary M. Lehr and Helen J. Finn. A wonderful lady who will be missed by all whose lives she touched in so many special ways. Visitation Friday from 2:00-9:00pm. Funeral Saturday 9:15am from the Robert J. Sheehy & Sons F.H. 9000 West 151st Street to St. Elizabeth Seton Church, Mass 10:00 am. Interment Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Contributions to the Mulliganeers (Giving Kids a Second Chance) 612 72nd Court, Downers Grove, IL 60516 or Little Company of Mary Hospital Foundation, 2800 West 95th Street, Evergreen Park, IL 60805 would be appreciated. 708-857-7878 www.sheehyfh.com.  

The Creeps of Planned Parenthood & The Center for Reproductive Rights Celebrate 40 Years of American Genocide!

In the 1950's women regarded some members of my gender creeps - undesirable males, nerds, 90lb weaklings, or a loathsome bi-ped given to staring with obvious lust.

In our evolved, willfully androgynous popular culture, a woman may also be considered a creep. In the UK, a creep is someone trying desperately to curry favor with his, or her betters. Going along to get along.
e.g.


There are some real creeps in this world and most of them live very safe, comfortable and secure lives of degenerate self-absorption. A creep is a monstrous person who would do anything that was once considered   unspeakable.

Bill O'Reilly
PeeWee Herman
Peter of Peter Paul and Mary
Most Kennedy Males
Kathy Griffin
Paul Krugman
Ronald McDonald(s)
Ward Churchill
Oprah's Girlfriend
The Congressional Progressive Caucus
MSNBC

Hollywood is overpopulated with creeps; the Halls of Ivy have a shower of them; Washington D.C. attracts creeps like any dropped Dreamsicle on a Chicago sidewalk in August draws diverse species of ants.

It seems odd that the more ostentatious display of wealth, real or imagined - like ManTi's girlfriend, one tends to be a creep.

Planned Parenthood is populated 100% with a creep population - wealthy dowagers and their consorts, or sweet- boys.  Abortion shills take cake when it comes to creeps.  The Center for Reproductive Rights issued the creepy video above. 

Imperishable Wreathes: Philosopher Gordon Marino on Boxing's Police Athletic League Initiative to Fight Violence

 

“Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” St. Paul Corinthians 9:25

"In order to box you need to control your emotions, your anger and your fear. And the more in control you are of your emotions the less likely you are to do something mean or stupid." George Foreman

Gordon Marino is a boxer, philosopher, nationally syndicated writer and professor of Philosophy at St. Olaf College in Minnesota.  Today, Marino writes about the Police Athletic League and the Illinois Crime Commission's initiative to steer more young girls and boys away from the madness of the streets and into boxing centers around Chicago.  The goal is to place young people in a gym where they will exercise, learn the science of boxing and spar with men and woman who serve and protect - firefighters and police officers.

One of those centers is one floor above me, on second floor here, at Leo High School in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood of Chicago.  Leo High School has provided this community with a Christ centered, safe, nurturing educational institution since 1926.  Leo High School has operated a boxing gym since the late 1990's and produced scores of amateur boxers, twenty-five of whom are Golden Gloves champions.One such boxer Tommy Hayes ( Leo 1999) is a professional heavyweight boxer with a record of 27-1.

Scores boxed, 25 won amateur titles, one has a distinguished professional record; thus, it is, like life.  All who competed won what St. Paul would call 'imperishable wreathes."  Imperishable wreathes are character, self control, courage and commitment.  Those who entered took away with them pride born of humility.  That is what George Foreman might call Toughness.  Toughness is not determined by how much pain one might dish out, but how much pain one can endure.

Gordon Marino in today's Huffington Post offers this challenge:

In a fresh Police Athletic League initiative police officers and firefighters will begin training in local gyms for a "Battle of the Badges;" that is a grand night of boxing between a team of fire fighters and police officers. Proceeds from the event will flow to police and firefighter charities as well to the Chicago Park District Boxing Program.
Mike Joyce, Director of the PAL Boxing Program, emphasized, "We want to expand our 1st Annual PAL boxing gala to include private businesses, faith based organizations, and organized labor unions. We are all in this together. We need to give these kids opportunities. We need to give them hope and a stake in the community. We want our kids to have the means to build up our neighborhoods, rather than tear them down."
A former fighter and coach of the Leo High School boxing team, Joyce explained that the most significant aspect of this effort is not to raise funds, though that is important as well, but to bring people together. "The key,"he noted, "is that police and firefighters will be training side by side with the kids, getting to know them, and acting as mentors."
There are currently 25 Chicago boxing centers and a handful of other PAL affiliated boxing facilities, but the plan is to add three gyms in the coming year and to increase the number of boys and girls lacing up the gloves and getting into shape.
It might seem counter intuitive to fight violence by teaching boxing. However, Hall of Famer George Foreman once put it this way, "In order to box you need to control your emotions, your anger and your fear. And the more in control you are of your emotions the less likely you are to do something mean or stupid."

Competition is a life challenge that kids can not learn at a keyboard, or through the controls of an X-Box.  Interestingly, the phrase used by  St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, a host of citizens known for, shall we say, licentious behavior - what happened in Corinth did not necessarily stay in Corinth - "competes in the games" comes from the Greek word agonizomai. (I learned this years ago in order to understand Milton's Samson Agonistes) - from which own word agony is derived. To compete requires agony which is very different from fear.

Fear is what creates meanness and stupidity - gun violence and savagery.  A boxer learns this without the need to turn to Milton.

Turn to Foreman, Ali, Marino, Joyce and above all St. Paul - those who compete win imperishable wreathes.

Chicago Print Journalism, Really? - Depends Upon the Journalist

"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." John Swinton 1829-1901)

The Nicene Creed has worked pretty well, given the bumps and starts and start again nature of history.  I more than go along with that code and have a devil of a time living up to that Athansian paradigm almost as much as the four gospels, Acts, Epistles and Apocalypse sequel to the Old Testament.

Aside from that Code, pretty much everything else depends upon how well I think and act in its light.  Trial and error have had a remarkable effect upon me - I no longer light tire fires under viaducts, climb water towers upon challenge, vote the Party line, answer 1800-# phone announcements, regard Male Lo T or The Mood On Demand Products commercials with anything short of a belly-laugh, or worry about fairness in print journalism. By journalists, I refer to the opinion makers and heart breakers who go unchallenged in this traditionally hick burg.  I leave out of this very inky mix - news writers - reporters, Tim Novak, Natasha Korecki, Maureen O'Donnell, Dan Mihiopoulas, Chris Fusco & etc. They are a credit to the canons of taste.

For journalists I must include the disc jockeys turned editors and their peers who run opinion in both papers.

Journalism is as hit-or-miss as American movies. Sometimes you get My Weekend With Marilyn, most times you get what ever is playing On Demand.( Hey, at least you didn't spring for AMC& Lowes prices and the $12 small combo, parking and gas!).

There's good stuff out there, but you really must be discerning -trial and error - I'd take one Steve Rhodes over any number of Eric Zorns, Carol Marins, Mary Schmichs, or Richard Roepers; one Dennis Byrne over a parliament of  Steve Chapmans, Clarence Pages, Neil Steinbergs, or David Brooks-eses..

They are the cheerleaders for the powers that be and wanna be, if funded and sanctioned by the political social engineers and their wallets .Shucks, a hack ink-slinger who barks on demand may . . . .just may end up as a career king maker, or helping the thieves steal more efficiently.

John Kass remains the only true link to the Arrch Wards, Ray Coffeys, Nick Von Hoffmans, Herman Kogans and Mike Roykos of Chicago's great writers.

Wit has been replaced with snark -whatever the Hell that is; opinion is not wanted - e.g. Steve Rhodes.

Like betting on clams in the Midwest, too many of the passed along and institutionally agreed-upon talents ( Manya Brachear, Megan Daum, Mary Mitchell, Stella Emerita, Dawn Turner Trice, Rich Miller and the Latino Line-up at the Sun Times -Alejandro Escalano, Suzanne Ontiveros, et.al.) will give that uncomfortable tum-tum followed by 

• A feeling that your teeth are loose and about to fall out
• Confusing hot and cold temperatures (for instance, you will feel that an ice cube is burning you, while a match is freezing your skin)
• Headache (probably the most common)
• Low heart rate and low blood pressure (in very severe cases)
• Metallic taste in the mouth
• 
  

Trial and error, the gradus to discernment, may lead one to believe that there are more than one bad clam in the bag.

Thundering Dick Simpson's Latest Circular Non Sequitur

“An historic institution, which never went right, is really quite as much of a miracle as an institution that cannot go wrong.” 
― G.K. Chesterton

“The gang problem has always been serious in Chicago, in part, because the problem of police corruption has always been so serious,” John Hagedorn -lead research and corresponding author UIC: Crime, Corruption and Cover-ups in the Chicago Police Department

Thus, it follows!

The kid shot to death at the Simeon Game is a direct result of Police Omera!  Let Lawsuits Begin!


Dick Simpson is as vital to the world of science as he was to world of . . . City government?  Dick's latest thunder was clapped when two huge settlements were being 'discussed' by the Chicago City Council prior to universal approval. 

Political science is an oxymoron like Good Government, Clean Campaign, Honest Politician, Political Ethics, Honest Journalism, Distinguished Professor, Zero Deficit, Illinois Government.  Dick Simpson is a political scientist - Politics (from Greek politikos "of, for, or relating to citizens") is the art or science of influencing people's beliefs on a civic, or individual level, when there are more than 2 people involved./ Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge") is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.

Got that?

One of the great American political historians was Carl Russel Fish of University of Wisconsin. who, in 1905 wrote an exacting study of political corruption developed from Washington through the advent late 19th Century Progressive Reform.

Unlike Thundering Dick et al's UIC Corruption for Dummies Series , Dr. Fish was a very serious scholar of the dueling systems -spoils v. merit - and the outcomes of each application.  Both worked and did not work.

Thundering Dick is a practiced Dewey/Hegelian short-cut artist: Begin with a conclusion (Cops Torture, Steal, Kill and Bully) and arrive there, with an opportunity to wrest power from the people who actually know something and turn things over to Dick's pals -The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Poitical Repression*

Thundering Dick is the paper boy for the NAARPR whose stated goal matches exactly Thundering Dick's Police Corruption Conclusion -Identical Twins: Hypothesis/Conclusion!

Establish Civilian Control of Police

From its inception the NAARPR campaigned against police crimes, primarily against the poor and people of color. Model Legislation to establish a Civilian Police Control Board that holds police officers accountable for their actions has been drafted and circulated. At the same time we are cooperating with other groups that have drafted ordinances to achieve the same goal of police accountability to the citizens of the city of Chicago.

Thundering Dick tossed the petition onto the study and onto the frontporches of folks who still sunscribe to the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times!

Oh,  Thundering Dick, You LooLoo!

* Dick's focus group and source for candidates to any Chicago Police Board

National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression

Contents  [hide] 1 Communist Party "intermediate form" 2 Sponsors of the Founding Conference of the NAARPR, May 11-13, 1973 3 NAARPR & Jewish Cultural Center 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Daily World 4 6th National Conference May 29-31, 1981, Birmingham, Alabama 5 Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression "Salute to Outstanding Women of Struggle" Oct. 24, 1981 6 The Eddie Carthan Support Project in Los Angeles, November 6, 1982 7 Executive Committee 8 Angela Davis 40th Birthday and NAARPR Celebration, January 29, 1984, City College, New York City 9 Committees of Correspondence Connection 10 2008 awards 11 2009 awards 12 2010 awards 13 Personnel 14 External links 15 References

National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) was founded in 1973 in Chicago, Illinois. Its (sic) grew out of the struggle to free Angela Davis from a "racist frame-up" on murder charges surrounding the aborted attempt by Jonathan Jackson to free his brother, George Jackson and the Soledad Brothers, from jail, in 1970.^[1]

It was led by Communist Party USA members and supporters including Davis herself, Charlene Mitchell, Anne Braden and Frank Chapman.