St. Monica - August 27th is Her Feast Day!

St. Augustine - 'Jesus, Ma! That Hurt! You hit me in the Throat!

St. Monica - 'Watch your language, Austin! Now, say you're sorry.'

St. Augustine - 'Sorry.'

St. Monica - 'You want a fresh one, boy? Like you mean it! Now!'

Tomorrow is the Feast of St. Monica!

St. Monica was a girl from Roman Tagaste, North Africa. She was a Christian, but her parents married her off to a Pagan by the name of Patricius ( Paddy Boy) and from all accounts was a gold plated jerk in many ways - he teased his wife about her charity works and her piety. Paddy Boy had a lousy temper to go with his dissolute life style - " I'll be home in an hour -What? Two Beers for Crissakes -What . . .I can't hear you. It's about work. Kiss the kids."

Monica bore this mope three children and one of them was Honors student and Dad wannabe Augustine (Austey).

The old man took a dirt nap for keeps when Austey was 17 and Monica did all she knew how to drag the kids up right and in the Faith. The Old Man had not been a great help and now Austey was off to school in Milan and found himself - he became a Manichean -kind of like the Scientologists of 6th Century Rome in Decline.
Austey was like many of our contemporary soul-patched Arabica youths who believe -nay know - that they are absolutely correct on all matters -not unlike President 'It's Distraction' Obama:

I still thought that it is not we who sin but some other nature that sins within us. It flattered my pride to think that I incurred no guilt and, when I did wrong, not to confess it... I preferred to excuse myself and blame this unknown thing which was in me but was not part of me. The truth, of course, was that it was all my own self, and my own impiety had divided me against myself. My sin was all the more incurable because I did not think myself a sinner. (Confessions, Book V, Section 10)

Monica was no harpy, but prayed for the wee lad to snap out of it.

He did. Along with his teacher of rhetoric and mentor Ambrose, Monica brought the smart-ass around to where he began - in faith. His sins are his own and life is obligated to others. When Austey woke up, he went to work with a will.

St. Monica endured a crumb of a husband and know-it-all- jerk of a son. She did so out of love for both men and in communion with her Faith in God. We have several Monicas in the ever expansive Hickey Family and they all tend to be gems.

We have more than a few Pats/Paddys/Patricks/Padgrigs and some of us (including yours truly) seem not unlike the guy St. Monica got saddled with - no Augustines - yet.

Perhaps, St. Monica might interceded and send us an Austin/Augustine/Gus; but if not, more Monicas will do very nicely.

Kevin Myers on Irish Genes and the Splitting of Adam -

Some weeks ago, I introduced both of my readers to Mr. Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent. His latest offering examines the wiring of the Irish Race ( "120, 220 what's the difference" - Irish american Actor Michael Keaton) in the broadest of contexts.

Recent DNA studies on Schizophrenia and Alcoholism rank Ireland at the Tops. 'Roses are Red/Violets are Blue/I'm Scizophrenic and so am I' might be the key to the study of qualities that conflict Irish Americans: Catholics who hate abortion ( Personally) and promote the cause of the American Eugenic Champs in America's Holocaust - Planned Parenthood - for political cover and support.

Take look at Kevin Meyers' article - the two of me was enchanted.

By Kevin Myers

Wednesday August 19 2009

'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, is the truth", is one of the most insightful observations that Arthur Conan Doyle put into the mouth of Sherlock Holmes.

The 'science' of eugenics was born in Doyle's lifetime, and he died even as it was being turned by the Nazis into an evil parody of intellectual inquiry.

Thanks to that bunch, the western liberal world has largely disallowed the opening aphorism of this column to stand, if the 'truth' in questions concerns the cousin of eugenics, namely genetics, as an explanation for group conduct.

Now we know that both schizophrenia and alcoholism are inherited traits. We also know that Ireland has higher rates of both illnesses than any other country in Europe. So what if there are other genetically transmitted mental traits which are beyond the normally accepted confines of 'mental illness'? What if they caused behavioural characteristics that were specific to Irish people?

What if the prevalence of these genetic characteristics then helped shape the culture of the Irish so that they became societal norms, thus affecting the behaviour of people who were themselves not inheritors of the genes? It is not then a question of nature and nurture: the two are intertwined. The result is that academically-despised phenomenon: national character.

The DNA evidence for the origins of the Irish, curiously enough, conforms pretty closely with Irish mythology: the first Irish apparently arrived by boat from Spain. According to DNA analysis, so too did Irish hares and Irish pine martens and even, God help us, Irish badgers (no, please don't ask). The new Irish would presumably have been small in number and, if interrelated, might well have possessed a number of distinctive genes in unusual concentrations. Some of these genes could presumably have inclined their owners towards mental illness and alcoholism.

Possibly other genes caused a predisposition to disregard the future tense. Impetuosity, a refusal to plan, a contempt for consequence: for whatever reason, these would become common characteristics of the Irish people. ( emphasis my own -mots justes )

We know about other characteristics, which we are allowed to celebrate: a gregariousness, a volubility, an affable charm, a clannishness, an amiable distinctiveness, especially compared to the English. Despite the fact that the vast majority of immigrants to the US before the Famine were English, that English common law and English political libertarian culture are the basis for American freedoms, and that the founding fathers and the vast majority of subsequent US presidents are of English extraction, there is no such thing as "English-American." The same cannot be said about the Irish-American: too often, alas.

There are the good Irish-Americans, than whom there is nothing better: the US Marine Corps is full of them, and no ethnic group has provided the corps with more splendid leaders.

And there is the bad Irish-American, the Tammany Hall spiv, the blathering Noraid sociopath, reaching its dismal apogee with Richard Daly, mayor of Chicago, criminally fixing the presidential election for John F Kennedy in 1960. Stealing or packing ballot boxes, personating, corrupting the democratic will: familiar, anyone?

Yet even to consider that the characteristics of Irishness might have some genetic basis is to violate an all-powerful political taboo. And one such characteristic is both very close to a psychiatric condition and also a commonplace political phenomenon within Irish life: a perpetual sense of victimhood. Though admittedly, career victimhood is not uniquely Irish. In the US, it has formed a tactical alliance with political correctness, to prevent a reasoned, all-reaching analysis of why African-American society has been so very dysfunctional. The idea that 'race' -- or rather a specific genetic-inheritance within an ethnic group -- might be a determinant in that group's behaviour is, a priori, ideologically unacceptable. Scientific inquiry is either not allowed to consider the role of genetics on the conduct of an ethnic group, or if it is -- as in the Bell Curve theories -- its findings are ridiculed on almost entirely political grounds.

This is wilful ignorance, for an abiding, genetically acquired psychiatric condition could well explain much of Irish history. The golden thread of Irish republicanism, which can turn an affray in a farmyard into a 'Rising', takes much of its moral authenticity through a much-cherished sense of oppression. But the Famine aside, though rural conditions in Ireland were truly appalling, the people were physically superior to the working-classes of British industrial cities.

The British army that stood fast at Waterloo and at Inkerman was composed of Irish peasants: the broken, malnourished wretches of Manchester's factories would have perished of exhaustion long before they glimpsed an enemy musket.

But let's go back a bit. Why were the English -- until the Famine barely superior in number to the Irish -- able to impose their will (to a greater or lesser degree) on Ireland over the centuries before?

Why did Ireland never achieve any kind central kingship either before Henry II's arrival, or in the years that followed? Why did Ireland, almost uniquely among all the peoples of the Atlantic seaboard, not produce masted fishing and mercantile fleets, creations which -- not coincidentally - need the maximum of foresight and planning? Why did Irish earls repeatedly rebel against the crown to which they had personally sworn allegiance, yet always without proper preparation?

And is such a pathological tradition of treachery (or its companion vice, cute hoorism) the reason why division and betrayal are always presumed to be the likely outcome of any Irish co-operative endeavour? More tomorrow.

Hey, Myers, you asking me? Or Me -the other guy? Anyway -"An Irishman walks into a bar and they both get rip-roaring drunk . . ."

BGA's Andy Shaw Clouted His Kids into Magnet Schools, But NOW it's a Scandal. Scandalous, Shocking and Oh, So Progressive.

Beachwood Reporter's publisher, editor and scalpel sharp wit, Steve Rhodes, a rock-ribbed Liberal of the Old School, plucked this gem out of the same old manure that passes for Chicago Journalism:

By Steve Rhodes

Mayor Daley recently half-joked that the burgeoning CPS clout scandal at least showed that some Chicago schools had become so desirable during his tenure that parents and politicians were willing to cheat to get their kids admitted into them.

But Marj Halperin's 1988 Chicago magazine article called "The Lottery" - which she recently shared with District 299 blogger Alexander Russo - shows that clout admissions and the controversial "principal picks" now under federal investigation pre-date the Richard M. Daley era.

Here's how Halperin opened her piece:

"Governor Thompson got his kid in. So did state representatives Ellis Levin and Al Ronan. You'll find the daughter of Alderman Patrick O'Connor, head of the City Council's education committee, in a magnet classroom this year. Alderman Ed Smith's, too.

"TV reporter Andy Shaw's daughters are in LaSalle Language Academy, the same as one-time Chicago Sting soccer star Karl Heinz Granitza's children. Monroe Anderson, the Mayor's press secretary and a former Newsweek reporter, sends his son to Inter-American Magnet. Perhaps if he drops Scott off himself, Anderson gives a nod to some of the Board of Ed employees, who also send their children to Inter-American - such as Margarita Rosa, of the board's research and evaluation office. Fernando Colon got his daughter in while working for the board's law department.

http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/column/the_monday_papers_166.php

This morning, I read that the Principal of Whitney Young has been subpoenaed to appear before a Federal Grand Jury on clout for classes!

This nonsense was kicked into overdrive by the mopes who are too lazy to really follow a lead. The same hypocrites who gave padded jobs to Bernadine Dorhn and Billy Ayers were huffing and puffing about the smell of clout at the University of Illinois. They were demanding immediate resignations ( Can I get a Harrumph?) of Trustees and rending their garments that 'No Such Clout Actions Took Place on Their Watches! ( I Didn't Hear a Harrumph From That Guy.Abner! Let Me Hear a Harrumph!).

The Newly Minted BGA Watch Pup, Andy ('What Floor?') Shaw clouted his kids into a school and is now sniffing out corruption? The two Brooks Brothers Bolsheviks who ran University of Illinois (Urbana & CC) who clouted the Underground Nick and Nora Charles into padded sinecures at Northwestern and UICC and padlocked any information on their actions are Howling out Jeremiads?

Progressive Hypocrisy makes Bathhouse John Coughlin and Hinky Dink Kenna seem like Trappist Monks.

Well done Steve Rhodes!

Do You Work for Attila the Hun? or Randy Savage?

I was reading some fund-raising materials in my file cabinet and came across this chestnut from the 'think outside of the box' crowd. This boss seem familiar to you? This book came out at the close of the American Urban Cowboy mileau. Leaders are rarely bullies. Bullies inspire fear and inertia. Leaders inspire and get results from the team.

Soppy Milquetoasts are not leaders either. Leaders actually appreciate people and do not tend to imtimidate them, because they themselves are not intimidated. Leaders seem to really like people.

Being a good person is hard work, but it never costs you nickel one to be a good guy (gender neutral).

I worked for Huns. They generally ended badly and sadly for themselves and their institutions.

This review of Wess Roberts Hun Leadership series ( Victory, Leadership, & etc.) reminded me to try and treat every person with dignity.

This approach to leadership seems like a roadmap to a toxic workplace.

THE LESSONS OR SECRETS OF ATTILA*

#1: YOU'VE GOT TO WANT TO BE IN CHARGE -- You've got to be ruthlessly ambitious. Never be bored, disinterested, or cowardly in any way about always strengthening your position. Good leaders are lustful leaders. Power is like sex, but don't appear overeager, just extremely determined to succeed under any circumstances, fair or unfair. [This will inspire confidence in those you lead]

#2: ALWAYS APPEAR AS THE ONE IN CHARGE -- Dress appropriately for your high station in life. Own the biggest horse and sword. Be first in everything, but never appear pompous. [Be marked with armament that distinguishes you from the masses]

#3: MAKE OTHERS ADAPT TO YOUR "CUSTOMS" -- Make people do things your way, not their way. Make them adjust or adapt to you. Express this as the way things are going to be from now on, or pretend it's the way things have always been. Refuse to acknowledge any other way of doing things other than the way you do things. [This will extract tribute and praise from those you lead]

#4: NEVER CONDONE A LACK OF MORALE OR DISCIPLINE -- Terminate people at the first sign of disrespect for the common good, but by no means stiffle individualism or punish the innocent who don't know the common good. Definitely, do not allow uncontrolled celebration. Pillaging and looting are only fun if done in the name of nationalism. [Discipline will build morale]

#5: NEVER TOLERATE ANYONE WITH THEIR OWN AMBITIONS -- People who are "cunning" are dangerous, especially new people who have just joined the organization. Be vigilant about how people lose their ambition and become team players; that is the pattern you want everyone to follow. Never reward anyone for what is a common effort. [The spirit of unity must prevail]

#6: PERPETUATE A LEGEND OR REPUTATION FOR YOURSELF -- Find out whatever it is that your worst enemy calls you, and try hard to live up to it, with a passion. This will have its advantages to you whenever you need to use your fury and power, and it will accumulate minor privileges to you along the way. [You are your reputation]

#7: PICK YOUR ENEMIES WISELY -- Do not consider all opponents, or everyone you argue with, as enemies. These are accidental enemies. Choose your enemies with purpose. They may be people you have friendly relations with, and in fact, you should let them think of you as a friend, all the while never telling them anything, and lulling them into a state of complacence and acting prematurely. [Do not make enemies unless you mean it]

#8: EXPECT CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT -- You must encourage learning and innovation among those you lead. This can be done in several ways, by creating competitions among the people. Never allow them to wander aimlessly. Regularly upgrade your standards of performance. [This fulfills most of a leader's duties]

#9: USE TIMING IN MAKING DECISIONS -- Never rush a decision, although sometimes you have to because the moment is ripe or an omen exists. It's better to use timing, to find the obscure places and critical elements needed to ensure you always make the right decision. This way, you ensure that even a less-than-perfect decision is followed. [Time your decisions]

#10: EXPLOIT THE DESIRE TO ENJOY THE SPOILS OF WAR -- Harness your peoples' desires for short-term gains. Grant small rewards for light tasks. Reserve heaps of booty for other times, and be generous with items that hold a value to yourself. [Never underestimate the ability to buy obedience]

#11: ONLY ENGAGE IN WARS YOU CAN WIN -- Use diplomacy, negotiation, or other techniques of conflict in battles you cannot win. When in a political war, always keep an eye to your rear. When in an external war, go all out. [Waging war is a natural condition]

PRINTED RESOURCES:
Roberts, Wess (1987) Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun. New York: Warner Books.

* ATTILA
(406-53), king of the Huns (433-53)

Atli, or Attila, was called Etzel by the Germans and Ethele by the Hungarians. He was a member of the ruling family of the Huns, a nomadic Asian people who spread from the Caspnian steppes throughout the Roman Empire in search of global conquest. By AD 432, the Huns had gained so much power that they were receiving a large annual tribute from Rome.

By AD 451, Attila's army consisted of 700,000 warriors, and was content with nothing less than the ransacking of Rome itself. They had earlier moved against the Chinese Empire but were turned away. The Huns had a reputation for cruelty and barbarism that was not undeserved. They ate their meat raw (often human flesh), had little use for virgins, and possessed a strong appetite for murder and mayhem. No one could look Attila in the eyes, not even any of his 400 wives.


That's nice. How'd that work out for Attila? Oh, that' right. Poisoned. Dang.

Father McKenna and Sunday's Jewish Gospel of John 6: 60 - 69

Mass at Sacred Heart Church is a genuine joy. The tiny French Mission Church in the Washington Heights neighborhood east of Morgan Park on the south side of Chicago cradles a crowd of devout, humble and interesting Catholics.

At the 8:30 a.m. Sunday Mass Irish baritone Terry McEldowney rattles the stained glass widows and Aves with his inimitable -"Hey, Midget! ( Terry's sobriquet for the author of these lines) Good to see your dwarfish hide darkening the Lord's Banquet,Son!" and Vales the crowd out with America the Beautiful. At 10;30 a.m. Mass I get to run into John Sheehan and Jerry and Kathy Schumacher and the post Eucharistic giggles out on Church Street.

The celebrants tend to be retired Maryknoll or Archdiocese of Chicago priests and one of the best of the homilists is Father Edward McKenna.

Yesterday's treat was a tour de force commentary on The Gospel of John -

John 6: 60 - 69
60 Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"
61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, "Do you take offense at this?
62 Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before?
63 It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
64 But there are some of you that do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him.
65 And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
66 After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.
67 Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life;
69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

Father McKenna noted the Jewish quality of Questions and the Responsorial Questions, summed up in the exchange with Peter -Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

Father McKenna reminded all of us that we pester our God, our neighbors and ourselves with questions demanding a final answer. As Catholics, we say we believe in the Resurrection - end of story. Christ invites us to joy and we look for certainty and the frustration of somehow having our 'Final Answers' like the Regis Philbin show. It is the questions answered by more questions that should lead us to living better lives.

The beauty of Judaisim lies in the endless questioning and self-examination. Judaism washes over the walls of bigots and the certain folks who want to get up a pogrom. You never hear of a Jew calling another Faith, 'a gutter religion.' Atheists have all the answers. Some Fundamentalists coreligionists have the answers and too many of us Catholics demand final answers.

Father McKenna reminded us at Sacred Heart that through Faith one gets no empirical answers, but all the joy one should possess. That requires humility on our part and jerks like me tend to be too embarrassed to appear not to know something. It is tough to remember that "We Believe in One God & etc." - we got caught up in Life's minutiae and the quotidian care of the common place. If we KNEW we'd all be Lotto winners.

Thanks Father McKenna!

Health Care Legislation - The Goofy One - Deletes "Conscience Clause" - NY Pro Life Nurse Victim of Progressive 'Reform'

Abortion Will be the center-piece of Health Care Reform Legislation. As Progressive loudmouths have been quacking for months -"Um, we won; get over it; we won; get over it."

Um, is the prelude to a stupidity and the sole property of Progressive Wit. Avoid it all costs.

American Papist points out that in the 1,000 pages and change of the Obama -"Let Me Be Perfectly Clear" - legislation being ram-rod slicked by the Progressive brain-trust ( Soros, SEIU, Planned Parenthood, MoveOn.org & the cast of Friends) deletes the clause that President Obama has assured his Catholic partisans will be part of Health Reform. It ain't.

Here is a tale out of New York that sums up serious concerns of Catholics and most other Americans.

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital believes that a pro-life nurse has no legal rights to defend herself in court after she was forced to participate in an abortion. Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit last week for Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo who says she told the hospital about her objections.

Since 2004, officials at Mount Sinai Hospital knew that Cenzon-DeCarlo had deeply-felt pro-life views and would not consent to assisting in an abortion.

That didn't stop hospital officials from threatening her with disciplinary measures if she did not honor a last-minute summons to assist in a scheduled late-term abortion.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit last month for Cenzon-DeCarlo and now they filed a brief on Monday in response to Mount Sinai Hospital's claim she can't defend herself.

Attorneys for the hospital submitted a brief to the court Aug. 10 arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the federal law at issue “does not grant individual litigants a private right of action.”

ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman told LifeNews.com that's incorrect.

“Pro-life nurses shouldn't be forced to assist in abortions against their beliefs. Nonetheless, Mount Sinai Hospital is multiplying its injustices against nurse Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo," he said Wednesday.

“First it disregarded Cathy’s conscience; now it argues she can't go to court to defend her rights. Mount Sinai Hospital does not have the right to disregard federal law and then refuse to face the consequences of its actions," he added.

In its response, ADF attorneys noted that “Mount Sinai’s compulsion violates 42 U.S.C. § 300a-7(c), ‘the Church Amendment’ (named after Senator Frank Church)."

"This law provides that no recipient of federal health funds may discriminate in the employment or privileges of its health care personnel because of their religious objection to abortion," the brief explained.

"The law contains no exception letting Mount Sinai compel assistance based on their unbridled judgment that abortion is an ‘emergency.’ Mount Sinai’s actions are a quintessential example of discriminating in employment and privileges on condition that Mrs. DeCarlo violate her objection to abortion," the ADF legal document adds.

The ADF brief goes on to explain that “Mount Sinai compounds its contempt of the law” by denying that the law allows Cenzon-DeCarlo to defend her conscience rights.

It points out that the federal law involves all of the factors that the U.S. Supreme Court has used to recognize such rights and that Congress obviously intended to protect individuals from discrimination under the law it created.

Cenzon-DeCarlo previously told the New York Post about what it felt like to have to participate in an abortion against her wishes.

"It felt like a horror film unfolding," she said. "I couldn't believe that this could happen."

She told the newspaper she has been having nightmares and trouble sleeping ever since the May 24 incident.

"I felt violated and betrayed," Cenzon-DeCarlo said about how officials at the hospital treated her after knowing her faith and values.

Now, she hopes the lawsuit will be sufficient to restore protection for her religious and moral views about abortion in the workplace.

"I emigrated to this country in the belief that here religious freedom is sacred," she said. "Doctors and nurses shouldn't be forced to abandon their beliefs and participate in abortion in order to keep their jobs."
Despite the fact that the patient was not in crisis at the time of the surgery, the hospital insisted on her participation in the procedure on the grounds that it was an “emergency."

As ADF noted, federal laws prohibit hospitals that receive federal funds from forcing employees to participate in abortion procedures under any circumstances but that apparently didn't stop Mount Sinai Hospital from asking Cenzon-DeCarlo to join in the abortion of the 22-week-old unborn child.

According to the lawsuit, the abortion was not an emergency situation.

“Category I” is the classification reserved for “patients requiring immediate surgical intervention for life or limb threatening conditions," but the abortion in this case was classified as a “Category II." That is a determination for surgeries needing to take place within six hours.

ADF says that means the hospital had no reason to insist upon Cenzon-DeCarlo’s assistance in the abortion in order to protect the patient.

Bowman said plenty of time existed to find a different nurse to assist, especially since evidence indicates that the patient’s condition did not rise even to a Category II. The lawsuit adds that Cenzon-DeCarlo observed no indications that the abortion was a medical emergency while in the operating room.

ADF attorneys filed the complaint in Cenzon-DeCarlo v. The Mount Sinai Hospital with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

They are also requesting a preliminary injunction that would order the hospital to honor Cenzon-DeCarlo’s religious objection against assisting in abortion and refrain from retaliation against her while the case moves forward.

Related web sites:
Alliance Defense Fund - http://www.telladf.org

Another Distraction for President Distracted.

Mike McGill- All American!

One of the joys in life is meeting wonderful people. I continue to be blessed by association with smart, generous, thoughtful and witty human beings who add to life's purpose and make people happier by the simple act of being present.

Around the time that my wife Mary was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, a group of Inland Steel engineers, and executives with whom I became aquainted through my fund-raising work for Bishop Noll Institute, took great pains to help me maintain through the grief. One of this circle of well-educated and generous gents was an executive for Calumet Refractory which made bricks used in steel plants.

Mike McGill looks about ten years younger than his age and presents himself like an English teacher or a bookish scholar. I spent many hours talking literature and history and politics with Mike McGill. Mike had been an NFL Pro, but never talked a down of football. He was like the many heroes who fought at Khe Sanh, Bastogne and the Chosen Reservoir. Mike McGill, like the great newspaperman Ray Coffey, was there and did not need to advertise the fact.

Mike McGill would rather discuss Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson's Shenandoah Campaign of 1862, than the interceptions he made for Purple People Eaters of the Joe Kapp -Era Minnesota Vikings - which numbered MN Justice Allan Page and Jim Marshall among the greats. Nevertheless, Mike McGill would never ask "Do You Know Who I am?" Mike McGill waits in the long lines at Strack and Van Til grocery market until the lady with seven kids -and half of them crying -gets taken care of.

Mike McGill is devoted to his family, his church and his friends. Unlike too many of the Notre Dame Alumni, Mike McGill is a never 'ring knocker' - he is a gentleman and deeply read scholar.

I am proud to spend time with such a man.


Mike McGill

Born November 21, 1946 in Hammond, Indiana.

Playing career
St. Louis CardinalsLinebacker
1972 1971

Minnesota VikingsLinebacker
1970 1969 1968

Notre Dame Football
1967 1966 1965

Mike with his parents on the Notre Dame campus, Nov. 4, 1967.
Photo Courtesy of the Calumet Regional Archives, IUN, Gary

Mike McGill attended Bishop Noll High School and graduated in 1964. He was an all-star athlete in football, basketball and baseball at Noll and then went on to play football at Notre Dame from 1965-1967. He was an All-American in 1967 and was on the 1968 College All-Star team. McGill played six years in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings and St. Louis Cardinals. He also played in Super Bowl IV

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/McGiMi20.htm

Abortion is Health Care Reform:"We are God's partners in matters of life and death," Obama said to the Rabbis

Abortion is not a 'faith based initiative.' It is in the planned and pushed Health Reform Package and it will stay tucked in there until Illinois atheist Rob Sherman starts doing the collections at Sacred Heart 10:30 Mass on Sunday.

President Obama told a group of Rabbis,"We are God's partners in matters of life and death"
From Politico's Ben Smith:

A reader points out that President Obama's call with the rabbis today — as recorded in Rabbi Jack Moline's and other clerics' Twitter feeds — freights health care reform with a great deal of religious meaning, and veers into the blend of policy and faith that outraged liberals in the last administration.

"We are God's partners in matters of life and death," Obama said, according to Moline (paging Sarah Palin...), quoting from the Rosh Hashanah prayer that says that in the holiday period, it is decided "who shall live and who shall die."

The president ended the call by wishing the rabbis "shanah tovah," or happy new year — in reference to the High Holidays a month from now.

Shanah tovah - unless you happen to be the kid the womb.

Yep, President Obama is as beholden to the gals of Planned Parenthood as he is to the Purple Gang of SEIU and Brazilian Oil Tycoon Georgie Soros. It's the Chicago way to remember and do the bidding of your Chinaman (plural in this case).

Catholics voted heavily for President Obama and politicians gave them the will to do so and so did many trades unions and the old school operation of politics. It is very understandable.

I voted for many politicians who are beholden to Planned Parenthood - Dick Durbin, John Kerry, and many more. Now, it does not seem right to do so. There are too many Catholic public servants like Rep. Kevin Joyce, Sen. Ed Maloney and others who refuse to take the abortion coin and they are good Democrats. These gents stay true to their faith.

The fact is that abortion is and will remain a very important virtue of the President's Health Reform push.

I read these six points at American Papist.

1. The House bill specifically includes it. The Capps amendment explicitly allows abortion coverage in the public health plan and subsidizes health plans that cover abortion. (Passed 30-28 in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, July 30)

2. Senate Democrats admit it. "[The health care bill] would include, uh, it would include, uh, Planned, uh, Parenthood clinics." (Sen. Barbara Mikulski, July 9, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions-HELP-Committee meeting-Planned Parenthood is the No. 1 U.S. abortion chain.)

3. Senate Democrats refused to ban it. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah): "Madam Chairman, would you be willing to put some language in [about] not including abortion services? Then I think you would have more support."Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.): "...No, I would not, uh, be willing to do that at this time." (July 9, Senate HELP Committee meeting)

4. The mainstream media confirms it. ("Government insurance would allow coverage for abortion," Associated Press, August 5, 2009).

5. The Obama administration includes it in its definition of reproductive health care. "Reproductive health care includes access to abortion." (Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, July 19)

6. Every amendment to exclude it from health care legislation was defeated by the liberal sponsors. The following is a list of pro-life amendments that would have prevented abortion funding or prohibited abortion mandates for covered services. (For vote tallies and details, see our complete list at www.frc.org here)

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0809/We_are_Gods_partners_in_matters_of_life_and_death.html?showall

Aniston - This is Your Man - I Do Not Want To Hear About 'You and Your Heart" Again You. . um . . .Lady!

Aniston is the one who is not Zelweger. Though both are indistinguishable and equally repellent.

I have been working with a new fund-raising software here at Leo High School since about 6 A.M. and I am sweating like a strumpet on the Pope's lap. Leo H.S. was built in 1921 by Chicago architect Joseph McCarthy ( of Burnham's shop) and this limestone and mortar building retains heat like Kirstie Ally do lard. My inner wall cubicle (windowless) is about 85 degrees on a cool day.

I took a stroll to the Aquafina Bottled water Machine for a buck's worth of deep chilled water from some sump pump in BassAss MN - Ahhhhhhhh! I clicked on Google News and caught Stupid Shrapnel from a burst of Entertainment. I'm Hit!!!!! Jennifer Aniston (serial whiner) is disappointed in love yet again!

Bradley Cooper has a new enemy: Brad Pitt's ex-wife.Jennifer Aniston "honestly feels screwed over" after her date with the "Hangover" star didn't lead to a second, reports US Weekly.
"She wanted to turn her date with Cooper into something," a source told the magazine of duo's dinner date in New York on June 18
A few weeks later, Cooper was out with Renee Zellweger, but apparently Aniston "doesn't see what Renee has that she doesn't," the insider tells US.
Perhaps it is what Zellweger doesn't have that Cooper likes says: ie, no drama.
"She just does her thing, has her friends and her life and is cool. She's really happy and doesn't need anyone to feel complete," the magazine quotes another insider as saying about Zellweger.
But Aniston's going to be alright, adds a pal. Why? "She's used to rejection."
Yikes! With friends like that...

Time for action! I made some calls and took a drive south.

Okay , me and the guys at Kean had ponied up some dough for just such an occasion. We are going to dowry you Jennifer. We went over to the apartments on 103rd over by Jewels and made our offer to Charming Andy Brosnan ( County Kerry Born and Now a U.S. Citizen) with our offer of $74.86 and a pack of Marlboro Reds. This Celtic eye candy up above is your man, Jennifer. Take his hand and love him. He will NOT cheat on you. You are past the heart breaks!

Now, I got stuff to do.

Don't make us do this again. I mean it.

Klein's Nihilists? "Say what you will about the tenets of national socialism, dude, at least it’s an ethos"

Walter Sobchak: "Nihilists! F@#$ me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos."

Time's Primary Colorist Joe Klein whines about townhall folks, which he misidentifies for the purpose of propaganda as GOP, being Nihilists. Click my post title and be moved - or not, which was the case with me, but then again I am a mean selfish bastard.

I have nothing more to say on this topic. Nothing. Nada. Who cares? Zip. Oblivion. Nuttin'!

Whole Foods -Whole Truth - No Free Speech for Thought Criminal John Mackey

CEO and Founder of Whole Foods, John Mackey, offered his thoughts on the folly of Government Health Care. Here is what John Mackey wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

1- "Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts."
2- "Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits."
3-Allow competition across state lines.
4-"Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover."
5- "Enact tort reform."
6- "Make costs transparent."
7- "Enact medicare reform."
8- Revise tax law to make it easier to donate to those without insurance.

Now every Boiled Beets Progressive wearing hemp shoes wants to skin the guy's cucumber.

There is a boycott of Whole Foods afoot. However, like the Obama Health Care Reform initiative itself - a Trojan Horse for Government Run Medicine - this will require clean up in aisle 8.

Personally, I'd love to share a Slim Jim, a bag of Flamin' Hot Pork Rinds and a couple of Ho-Ho's with Mr. Mackey over a cold six pack of Green River and listen to the guy. He sounds sound.

Full disclosure - I shop at
County Fair
10800 S Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60643-3226
(773) 238-5576

Kickin' It Old School With Billy Hill!! Night Life After Ken's on Western Like Billy Dec!

Hat Tip to Steve Rhodes' Beachwood Reporter for an insight to the unsightly and unctuous Billy Dec whose south side counter part oozes down Western Ave. -Meet Billy Hill!



All About Me:

Peabody nominated former Children's TV Cast Member ( Chuck Bill's Adventure Theatre - Voice of Herman the German Moose) , Dis-barred Illinois Attorney, Harvard Il.Business School.Llp, Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee Director of Way Too Human Relations, Slept with Elke Somer in 1978 when she appeared in Please Don't Eat the Daisies at the Martiniquel owns top Chicago Beverly/Morgan Park & Mt. Greenwood venues ,D.B.Mc Spitsteeth; Suds & Underwear Pub and Laundrymat, & won US Coin Operator of the Year! Check him out on the Yellow Pages, The Sign Over Fox's Pub & his blog www.aSelfisThang.com

Kickin It Old School with Two-Ton Baker's Boy Madden:

When I was dropping quarters and dimes in the phone near Kean about hanging with jimmy fallon so many people freaked out! jimmy said "No Way!" so i know there are fans out there that will love this one... i love Jimmy fallon too, he is a huge chicago sport fan... which of course made the Olympics in chicago a no brainer for him to talk about to Billy dec who is the Orginal G of this and I'm crowding 60 now and had my best years when Boz owned reilly's daughter pub and banned me, before gangster billy dauber shot me and my date! (I also got my man love-muscle, drummer from the brian ferguson experience who plays at the glendora house in chicago ridge, in a killer interview coming soon). I have had the pleasure of being in 30 rock green rooms and backstage in the past when i got past security with con boyle who knew everyone, and every time, it's a completely intimidating example of the biggest in tv production at its greatest... but it didn't matter to jimmy, he told me to go #$%^ myself and i was all "dude I would if I could like the dog you know' he still would not drop anything to sit w/ me and get real about his love for chicago... enjoy! i'm no stranger to the strange if you get me. Mike Houlihan won't return my calls which is cool and neither will georgie wendt or mike keaton who was just in beverly for a movie. You can't swim with minnows. the number in chicago is - (773) TRY-U812.

This deep you ain't shallow -kickin' with Billy hill!

So i called the stage hand and road manager for Dick "two-ton" Baker*, Sonny Madden. we hungout and partied past 8p.m. at Jackie Casto's Ken**'s on western. don't think too many hotties didn't ask for a hook-up either - but it was not a night for the ladies it was all about music and the rush that is being a celebrity. Kickin with me is chicago! I kick with kessler and a C'Old Style. Don't drink 'n drive yo!


oh, and don't forget, I'm posting at least one new celebrity interview a day here until I land in Copenhagen, Ky.on oct. 2nd to hear the official announcement on the radio that (hopefully) chicago/usa wins the title of home to the 2016 olympics! how does that happen? you help spread the news! watch tv, pennysavers, go up to people you don't even know while walking at ridge mall, have the kids email blast,.. whatever you can to get everyone in your city, country, world,... to watch these videos and hear how great Chicago is (and the USA is in general), and hear how much we want to host this cultural, sport, and friendship strengthening celebration in our home country in 2016! The Olympics will be huge. . .to people backin' it so I am backin' it!


i'm too busy to punctuate - words -know what i mean. Kickin' it Old school!

* Dick "Two Ton" Baker was a Chicago Entertainment Legend who played at south side clubs like Casto's, Club El Bianco, Franklin House, Mirror Lounge and Mel Collins' Sea Breeze Lounge on Ashland Avenue:

Dick "Two Ton" Baker was a giant -- literally and figuratively -- on the Chicago entertainment scene for nearly four decades, from the late 1930s until his death in 1975. He played piano quite well and sang in a pleasing, infectious baritone voice, but mainly, he entertained, in whatever medium. He had several popular radio shows on on the Chicago Tribune's flagship station, WGN, one of which went out nationwide over the Mutual network. He was on the first television broadcast on WGN-TV (April 5, 1948), and later had very popular children's programs on that and other Chicago TV stations.

http://twotonbaker.com/

** One of the finest ( along with Schaller's Pump in Bridgeport) Old School Family Restaurants where a Billy Dec is shown the door in short order - no dweebs and no hipster doofii.NoteDescription of Ken's Restaurant
This ageless gem has been a mainstay on the strip for many years. Ken's solid menu features outstanding ribs and a scrumdillicious London broil in full meal or sandwich form. The bar rests in a separate room adjoining the restaurant and is a bit of a hangout for the older folks. In other words, this is where Beverly's career drinkers hang out.

Average cost: $10

Ken's
10522 S. Western Ave., Chicago
Tel: (773) 238-0234


http://www.centerstagechicago.com/restaurants/kensrestaurant.html
Click my post title for Billy Dec's smarm

Neil Steinberg says, "It does take a certain kind of monster to run for political office " Really? Meet Illinois Representative Kevin Joyce:Monster

It does take a certain kind of monster to run for political office, to kiss all those babies, raise all that money, and for what? A low-paying handhold in the rugby scrum of elected office.

Chicago Sun Times: Neil Steinberg

Really?

This is the new de Tocqueville? Political dilettante ink-slingers try to keep well-heeled urban hipsters from shopping for arugula at Whole Foods, because the CEO and Founder disagreed with President Obama's Government Health Initiative Blow Through.

They huff and puff about which kid got into the University of Illinois and ignore the idiot hack foisted on Chicago State University after that school was looted by its President for years. They huff and puff about Green Initiatives. They huff and puff about mean Police Officers. They huff and puff about damn near everything that means absolutely nothing to the proper running of government and making people aware of the greatness of our Republic. They are well-schooled ( educated might be a stretch) suburban and self-important. These Opinion Touters , the Marins, Browns, Zorns and Steinbergs, are direct opposites of most people in public service.

I know a guy from the north side who is responsible for a huge department in Cook County government and that department runs well. He is never mentioned in the news. He does not reach out to news people and news people have no idea who he is, because he is at work at 6:30 a.m. ( I get calls every now and then at Leo at that time, because I am at Leo by 6:00 a.m. most days) concerning Leo matters and County matters. He is efficient, demanding and professional. You do not 'get' anything from this guy without going through procedures that get goofier every time a mope on the Cook County Board gets jonesing for his name in the Sun Times or the Tribune.

Today , I glanced at Neil Steinberg's piece about Chris Kennedy's PT ( Political Tease) of the Illinois Pundits. The voters could give a fat rat's ass about Chris Kennedy's Camelot Dreams and the guy would be deader than a raccoon family crossing I-57 at Rush Hour, were he to run for State wide office. Back when, Paul Vallas was thinking about a run for Governor and meeting Blago in the Illinois Primary -WAIT-WAIT Chris Kennedy posed the idea that He should run as Governor and Vallas should be HIS Lieutenant Governor. Just a thought . . .an idea . . . a Trial Balloon which was laughed in the atmosphere and out of the room by much smarter people . . .after giving Kennedy the sober nods due a Kennedy. Pure Hickey hearsay! Pure.

Neil Steinberg wanted Chris Kennedy to run for Governor, or Senator, or Will County Coroner, because he is not like all those people in public service who stand for something and then stand in front of the voters and stand for election. Kennedy is no Steinberg Monster. Those are the people that put themselves on the line to make things better for other people and can expect a snotty crack from a Neil Steinberg.

Other Monsters I like - State Rep. Mary Flowers, Speaker Madigan, Sen. Dan Cronin, Rep. Patti Bellock, Rep. Jim Durkin, Rep. John Fritchey, Sen. Ed Maloney - Republicans and Democrats, Monsters all! Monsters in the same way that Neil Steinberg terms me and my neighbors as Nazis ( "It was a Joke" -giggles, Neil, giggles; rather a chuckle.)

Chris Kennedy is supine. Why climb the gradus, when the Levelers are controlling the Media. These Progressive Latitudinarian "Who's To Say-ers" and Huff Puffers, who could not name a precinct captain let alone a precinct worker and yet have self-absorption to rail against Politics as Usual. They are Cliffs Notes readers of literature and Life.

I live two blocks away from a very effective Neil Steinberg Monster - Illinois State Representative Kevin Joyce. He does not 'need' to kiss babies, because he has seven of his own. Joyce does legislation for people of the 35th District. He does legislation on Autism Education, Sex-Offenders and Career Criminals, Workplace Safety for the Tradesmen, Pro-Life Issues, and Care for the Elderly as Joyce Chairs the Committee on Aging.

Kevin Joyce attends every wake, baptism, funeral and benefit that his schedule allows as well as coaches football** for St. Xavier University. With seven children ranging in age from twelve to eighteen months, Kevin Joyce and his bride Krista would have more on their hands than any two young people could ask for, but Kevin Joyce is a Monster.

I saw the Monster last night dragging in the Little Tykes vehicles and he asked me how my kids were doing. ( Huff!) "Monstrous! ( Puff!)He should be about the State's business!"

Click my post title and see for yourselves!

*Monster–noun 1. a legendary animal combining features of animal and human form or having the forms of various animals in combination, as a centaur, griffin, or sphinx.
2. any creature so ugly or monstrous as to frighten people.
3. any animal or human grotesquely deviating from the normal shape, behavior, or character.
4. a person who excites horror by wickedness, cruelty, etc.
5. any animal or thing huge in size.
6. Biology. a. an animal or plant of abnormal form or structure, as from marked malformation or the absence of certain parts or organs.
b. a grossly anomalous fetus or infant, esp. one that is not viable.

7. anything unnatural or monstrous.

–adjective 8. huge; enormous; monstrous: a monster tree.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Origin:
1250–1300; ME monstre < L mōnstrum portent, unnatural event, monster, equiv. to mon(ēre) to warn + -strum n. suffix

Related forms:

monsterlike, adjective


Synonyms:
4. fiend, brute, demon, devil, miscreant.

**
From Neil's Chuckles:

Chris Kennedy's non-candidacy reminded me of a line from another of politics' tantalizing what-ifs, Minnesota senator Eugene McCarthy, who was running for president in 1968 when he said:

Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it's important.

Yeah, that Gene McCarthy was some grid-iron great. Ignorance never stops a Progressive.




http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/1722088,chris-kennedy-senate-not-running-081809.article

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Comes Clean

Grab a knee, Girls! Robert Gibbs explains exactly what you thought that you have heard from him, the President and the Obama White House.

Click my post title and listen up.

MSNBC Puppet Roger "Jowls" Simon Asks About President Obama's "Guts?" Is Rupert Murdoch Hiring?

"Sometimes it is not enough to have just your heart and your head in the right place. You have to have your guts there, too." Roger "Jowls" Simon August 18, 2009 -" Please, let it be him! . . .Rupert??! Thanks for taking my . . .Rupert? . . .Bill? Shep? Hello? Dang."

Roger Simon was a lightweight newspaper guy in Chicago about the same time that Dave Axelrod was a lightweight newspaper guy in Chicago. Roger Simon's old column art posed him to be an earnest clean-cut black crew-neck sweater with a white shirt and both collars pointing to the tips of his desert boots wearing kind of guy. The kind of guy that got the absolute crap beat out of him at Pete's Guiding Light Tap at 63rd & Pulaski. This I know because, I got the absolute crap knocked out me at Pete's Guiding Light Tap for wearing a blue crew neck sweater while tending bar for Pete Marin and that got Hawaiian Dave mad - " You Crazy! Hot Sweater'smakemesosickIKeeelyou!"

Now Roger Simon is given to Hart Marx Suits and has more chins than a Chinese Phone book.

Roger Simon is a proud member of MSNBC Big Top of Clowns that have managed to sink a cable network and pop more light-bulbs for GE than a homer hitting the scoreboard at Wrigley Field by Bob Redford!

Roger pops up on his hind legs and gives assent to whatever magic Matthews, Olberbloat or Maddow toss up to Joan Walsh, Gene Robinson, and Jowly Roger. Today, Roger has written a real snapping piece of Dog Yummy Treatsure to 'Wow the Gang' at some other network cable operation, before the Simonizing begins at MSNBC.

In this Politico piece Jowly Roger questions President Obama's tripes. Not good, Son! Why Roger, only last year you were Relentless in your Praise of then Candidate Barack Obama and since then an ardent acolyte! Why lookee here!

http://www.politico.com/relentless/

Could be that as the President's popularity cork-screws, MSNBC's cash cow no longer milks - "Time For ME To Fly!!!!"

Click me post title for Roger Simon's search for new employment on some other Cable News outlet.

Let's Play Hardball! Countdown! Big Ed's a Coming, Roger and he's bringing Butch Maddow!

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26197_Page2.html#ixzz0OXmn1SQU

Former Alaska Governor Palin Did Nothing to Keep Chicago's City Hall Open Yesterday

Yesterday was opening day for freshmen at Leo High School and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin could not be bothered to drop by and give the African American young men attending this venerable Catholic inner city high school a Howdy! Not only that Chicago City Hall was closed for business and Palin lifted not one finger to help.

Sarah Palin is the cause of all the problems President Obama has had since his historic election.

In Afghanistan, American troops face the Taliban, with whom we should be dialoging, but nowhere is Palin to be found.

When the late Michael Jackson was gulping down white gloved handfuls of crazy pills, did Palin intervene? 'Zounds - she did not!

Did she save Vick's Dogs? Nope.

MSNBC Chris "Milky" Matthews suggests with every breath in his thigh that Palin is ordering folks to strap on the shooting irons and attend Townhalls.

Sarah Palin is goading Americans to attend Townhalls in order that they may be infected by the H1N1 - Pig Puker Virus.

Every voice in electronic media devotes every level of volume in damning Palin, but her pernicious influence on the lives of all Americans continues unabated - like the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, Professor James Moriarty The Napoleon of Crime, Sarah Palin is La jeune fille à l'agneau.

Yet, considered unlettered and unwholesome to Salonitas and their lap-dogs like David Brooks and Kathleen Parker, Palin weaves a web of calumny and intrigue with the dexterity of Kali -Palin's tawny and sinew-ed Diana-like arms snake in and out of every aspect of the Life American!

Woe unto this Land! Unscrubbed of Palin.

Only this morning, I counted the bills in the silver clip inscribed with the honorific -#1. Dad ( Father's Day 1999) and was shocked to see that I had ten dollars fewer than the previous morning.

Palin is Afoot in this Land of the Free! The Game's Afoot!

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/08/17/palin_called_a_spade_a_spade_97916.html

Brian Dennehy Narrates Story of How the Catholic Church Got Off The Canvas in the 16th Century - Via Papale

America's best dramatic actor, Brian Dennehy, who recently helped Goodman Director Robert Falls bring Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms to life, narrates the tale of how the Roman Catholic Church revived its Gospel Mission after the Sack of Rome by mutinous soldiers of Charles V in 1527.

Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Church Door of Wittenberg in ten years earlier and the Protestant Reformation swept Northern Europe; Islam under Suleiman the Magnificent conquered the Balkans and threatened the Holy Roman Empire of Charles V. The corrupt Papacy was weakened by its self-interests and foolish alliances. England was schismatic. The Catholic Church was on its back and seemed never to rise again.

However, a succession of six Popes and simple journey that welded Piety and Aesthetics in an effort to rebuild not only Rome after the Sack by mutinous soldiers of Charles V, but the Catholic Faith world wide got the Church off the canvass after the many knock-out blows absorbed in the early 16th Century.

American Theatre giant Brian Dennehy lends his voice in the narration for the film about this singular road back by the Catholic Church. At at time when my Catholic Faith is assaulted and challenged by the Star Chamber Relativism due to the hegemony of political and cultural Progressivism in America, while the Catholic Church in America recovers from decades of pedophile scandals, this documentary may spark a renewed vitality in the American Catholic Faithful - we are on the canvass.

Via Papale - The Lost Road of the Popes is the film. Here is an excerpt from Catholic On-line:

Veteran actor Brian Dennehy will be recording the voice over for "Via Papale: The Lost Road of the Popes." The documentary film, slated for a 2009 release, is the first high definition film ever shot in Rome, Italy.

Mr. Dennehy, who has done previous voice over work, was drawn to this particular project because of its production value which he called "pretty extraordinary." The high definition technology adds so much to the viewing experience that he believes it could even visually surpass visiting the papal architecture in person. "It allows the possibility of seeing these works of art in a way they aren't usually seen." He was intrigued by the opportunity of high definition technology to show these works in a new light before they one day crumble or disappear. In his words, "Why not now?"
"Via Papale: The Lost Road of the Popes" is the untold story of the "lost" road on which 16th century Rome and its Church made the most profound urban and religious comeback in history. The film follows six powerful popes and their dynasties as they take on the task of first rebuilding, then glorifying, the new Rome. "Via Papale" unfolds the miracle of this remarkable renaissance, showing how Rome and its papal rulers not only survived, but were inspired by a holy road. Long since forgotten, the Via Papale was the papal processional route along which newly elected popes would process. It is along this road that were built the magnificent monuments, churches, art and architecture that define the city's skyline.

Click my post title for the link to this film

Milwaukee Mayor Wounded While Defending Woman Being Attacked

Hearing a woman's cries for help, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called 911 on his cell phone and was hit by a man with a metal pipe. The Mayor was seriously hurt while attempting to help a woman at the Wisconsin State Fair.

Public servant Tom Barrett did what too many citizens fail to do and offers a fine example of civic responsibilty. Well done, Mayor Barrett.

From Associated Press

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was in the hospital on Sunday after he was attacked by a person using a metal pipe as the mayor and his family left the Wisconsin State Fair.

Barrett was in stable condition Sunday at a local hospital and was alert and talking when he arrived there on Saturday night, the Milwaukee Police Department said in a statement. It did not provide more details, and a spokeswoman for the police department did not have any further information.

Police said Barrett was leaving the state fair on Saturday night when he heard a woman crying out for help in the city of West Allis, about six miles west of Milwaukee.

Police said Barrett began calling 911 when the suspect who was attacking the woman charged at the mayor and began hitting him with a metal pipe. The suspect then fled the scene, authorities said.

The woman was not injured, and police were still searching for the suspect, who has a criminal arrest record, authorities said.

No other details were immediately available Sunday.

Watch MSNBC Flannelmouth O'Donnell Get His Come-up-ance - Not That He Understands What That Means

You Got That Right, O'Donnell!
Lawrence O'Donnell is filling in for Chris "Milky" Matthews, another Mick Loud Mouth, on MSNBC's Hard Ball.

MSNBC is what I have on when doing the laundry for House Hickey. It is white noise that goes positively Albino when Matthews is on - now, I have see-thru Irish skin,but my God Matthews looks like one of those scary dudes in the Matrix movies or the poor kid Milky in Me, Myself,& Irene.

Matthews usually has on a cavalcade of Irish-American cartoon characters that anyone who attended a parish grammar school in America can recognize - Joan Walsh and Lawrence O'Brien the sure fire Rat-out Everyone else in Class Ass-Kissers and phonies who were sure to let SISTER know that 'Everyone else in Room 304 was talking and not acting as the Blessed Virgin would expect of Catholic children.'

Joan Walsh is afflicted with a perpetual slow-head-shake employed when an opposing point of view's representative is speaking,in order to visually poison the well of dispute for MSNBC.

O'Donnell is the Loud-Mouth Faux Tough Guy Son of the On-the-Pad Police Captain Who Will 'Have Your Old Man Pinched When He Comes Out of B&H Liquors' and only hits a guy when three of his toadies are holding his arms. He is the type of guy who wears his high school Letterman's jacket for the balance of his life though he never played a down of football or got his Chuck Taylor's dirty.

MSNBC has managed to coral every jerk-stereotype from every Catholic grammar school in America into its Democratic Progressive Irish Cartoon Panel. If you remember a creep from St. Malachy's, St. Gabe's, Little Flower, St. Brendan's or St. Columbanus, watch MSNBC and you catch that creep shouting or doing the weepy phoney act.

MSNBC is a propaganda mill. No News is Their News. MSNBC sports Tamron Hall who could not find a Chinaman on 22nd Street while reading news copy at Fox in Chicago; David 'Shay It Don't Shpray It - Fountainmouth' Schuester, a nebbish of the 1st Order; Fatboy Keith Olbermann -nuff said on that nut-job; Butch Maddow, the GLBT show dog of MSNBC and Herman Goring Wannabe Ed Schultz. A Ship of Fools. Volume does not mean quality. Birthers, Palin-Is-Satan, You are a Racist and We Are Not, You Are a Redneck and We Are Not is the full battery of MSNBC opinion slingers.

Lawrence O'Donnell had the sound tech pin back the arms of dispute with a Texas Congressman over the Health Care Debate - which MSNBC is working overtime to help derail. Real Clear Politics offered a video of the shout-down by O'Donnell, which really is Milky's shtick, of Rep. Cullbertson (R,TX) who manages to wedge in this shot on flannel-mouth O'Donnell:

Rep. John Culberson (R-TX): "You know, Lawrence, for your listeners, you're illustrating why MSNBC's viewership is in the tank because you don't allow your people you're interviewing to answer questions. And, you know Lawrence, this is why Katie and everybody else is going to Facebook, everyone's going to the Internet because why listen to MSNBC when you won't even let the people you're interviewing answer the question?"

Click my post title for the full treatment.
Anyone -Democrat, Republican, or any thinking bi-ped who goes on MSNBC should have his/her head examined. It was the first time that I have witnessed am abused guest on that idiotic channel punch back at a bullying creep - neither O'Donnell, nor Matthews would have graduated from high school with a full set of buckers on the south side of Chicago. Creeps of all faiths, races and political persuassions ( though most are Real Democrats) would have been treated to a sound, thorough and wholesome ass-kicking -for starters.


Huge thanks to Tom Bevan's Real Clear Politics for the Head's Up!

Catholic Schools Work for the Kids Who Attend Them - School Choice Needs Town Halls

My youngest, Clare, begins her high school experience next week at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School - the largest all-girls school in America. Clare graduated from St. Cajetan Grammar School in our Morgan Park Neighborhood. Her girlfriends are going to Mother McAuley, Marist, St. Ignatius and St. Francis of Assisi. The boys are going to Mount Carmel, St. Rita, Marist and Brother Rice. White, Black and Hispanic - they are going to Catholic High Schools.

Mother McAuley costs about $ 8,000 and change with tuition and fees each year and most of the other schools round out about the same with St. Ignatius Prep topping the crowd with its menu. The path to success is expensive - very expensive, because Catholic schools encourage not just participation but full immersion in activities that strengthen the moral, civic and religious virtues. Kids like Clare become Catholic League Athletes - cheerleaders, football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, Lacrosse, Rugby players, wrestlers, as well as track and distance runners. They work on Dramatic, Choral, Polyphonic productions as musicians, singers, actors, stage hands, lighting technicians and even crowd control. Life skills and people skills are part of benefits pad for in time, treasure and talent.

Catholic Schools Superintendent Sister Mary Paul McCaughey works, from what I can tell to be, a fifteen to twenty hour day bringing people of talent and treasure together in order to squeeze out some time for Catholic Schools. James O'Connor, Josh Hale and Tom Zbierski of the Big Shoulders Fund are shepherding millions of dollars in gifts so that any family wishing to commit to Catholic Schools can afford to do just that. This genuine commitment is learned when people are young.

The kids in Catholic Schools learn stewardship and the value of a buck, as most of them also try to find part-time jobs to help the Old Man and the Old Lady, one or other, or both, to meet tuition and expenses costs.

Kids learn what it means to do without - tonier vacations for the family, Gold-Cable Packages, water-sport toys, and time in front of the Idiot Box (TV) or thumbing the controls of X-Box and Text-messaging appartii.

The investment in Catholic Schools is a community forming activity that is in fact an extension of the Parish Life - we are responsible for each other. The Best example of this reality is Chicago's Big Shoulder Fund that provides millions of dollars in aid to inner city families who can not afford the cost of Catholic Schools.

I work at Leo High School that is 99.9% funded by white Leo Alumni who are graduates of that school from the 1930's, '40's, 50's. 60's, 70's and 80's. Leo has been 100% African American since the 1990's; however, men like Frank Considine ( '39) Bill Koloseike ('45), Andy McKenna & Dick Landis ('47), Tom Owens ('54), Don Flynn ('56), Joe Powers ( '70) and Bob Schemel ('71) have contributed millions of dollars to Leo High School over the years. The real miracle beyond these gargantuan sums from the very succesful great guys named above are the endless drops of $50, $100,$500, $ 1,000 and above by hundreds of Leo Men, who also open the doors of the 1926 School at 5:30 a.m. and tutor the kids for A.C.T. and S.A.T. prep like Denny Conway and Jack O'Keefe, or fill the bleachers at every event like Bob Hylard, Frank McDermott, Bill and Jack Farnan, Jim Farrell, Rich and Jim Furlong, Gene Earner and all of his many sons, Dan Stecich, Larry Lynch, Tom Lynch and . . . you get the idea.

Catholic Schools make a better America and very good Americans. Catholic Schools are the Original Gangsters* (The OGs) of Faith Based Initiatives. Catholic Schools are unapologtically Catholic and teach without bowing to the 'Tyranny of Relativism,' to quote the Pope, which has had all Public Education in a Full Nelson Head-lock for decades. Catholc Schools teach from a position of Faith and that Faith is rooted in unshakeable truths - You don't steal, you don't kill, you don't lie, you don't sleep around like an HBO hero, you don't forget that you are obligated to other people. That's Commitment.

An interesting fact from a recent study noted that Catholics who attend Catholic schools tended to remain married to the same partners for life. Catholics don not find ease and comfort in the Faith but endurance and charity. Charity means hard work and developing a big set of shoulders.

The Big Shoulders Fund is rooted in the Courage and Commitment that was developed in and around Catholic Schools. The money available to inner-city families did not get there by Osmosis.

Real School Reform depends upon the vitality of Catholic Schools. Catholic Schools offer competition -if not accountability.

When politicians and hand-wringing activists and think-tank agendanistas get wise to themselves they will see that Catholic Schools are the hub of genuine Reform. Ask Paul Vallas, who succeeded in Chicago by following the Catholic School gradus and took those reform victories to Philly and New Orleans.


Americans need to demand Town halls on Real Reform in Education. If you think Health Care is a concern, hold the phone on Education Reform!

Click my post title and commit to Catholic Schools.

Here are some findings on Catholic Schools by the Rand Corporation that are being forgotten:

In a study published in 1990,. . .the Rand Corporation analyzed big-city high schools to determine how education for low income minority youth could be improved.2 It looked at 13 public, private, and Catholic high schools in New York City that attracted minority and disadvantaged youth. Of the Catholic school students in these schools, 75 to 90 percent were black or Hispanic. The study found that:


The Catholic high schools graduated 95 percent of their students each year, while the public schools graduated slightly more 50 percent of their senior class;


Over 66 percent of the Catholic school graduates received the New York State Regents diploma to signify completion of an academically demanding college preparatory curriculum, while only about 5 percent of the public school students received this distinction;


85 percent of the Catholic high school students took the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), compared with just 33 percent of the public high school students;


The Catholic school students achieved an average combined SAT score of 803, while the public school students' average combined SAT score was 642; and


60 percent of the Catholic school black students scored above the national average for black students on the SAT, and over 70 percent of public school black students scored below the same national average.
More recent studies confirm these observations. As parents, politicians, and concerned observers become aware of the benefits of Catholic schooling, particularly for the poor, the rhetoric demanding action builds. Syndicated columnist William Raspberry, a self-described "Reluctant Convert to School Choice," wrote recently, "It seems as obvious for poor children as for rich ones that one-size-fits-all education doesn't make sense."3 Furthermore, according to a recent survey conducted by Terry Moe, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and John Chubb, founding partner and curriculum director for the Edison Project, a stunning 83 percent of public school parents and 82 percent of inner-city poor parents want parochial schools to be included in the choice of schools to which they can send their children.4

http://www.heritage.org/research/urbanissues/bg1128.cfm

That was in 1990, boys and girls and public schools have performed much worse, while Catholic Schools continue perform so much better.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/17413589.html?dids=17413589:17413589&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+08%2C+1996&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=BORROWING+SUCCESS+IN+THE+SCHOOLS&pqatl=google

*OG - Urba Dictionary
An Original Gangsta or Original Gangster.
Yo, What up OG? What's good in tha hood? Catholic School, Tru Dat.