DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRISTMAS AND CHANUKAH

Two Neat Guys with Holy Hats!


From My Pal Sammy! The Yid with Lid

For all of us Goyishers and Chicago is thick with us. I will highlight, as is my wont and will to do so, Sammy's Gems of Genius!

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN XMAS AND CHANUKAH


Now, if anyone asks you what the difference is between Christmas and Chanukah you will know what and how to answer!

1 Christmas is one day, same day every year, December 25. Jews also love December 25th. It's another paid day off work. We go to movies and out for Chinese food and Israeli dancing. Chanukah is 8 days. It starts the evening of the 24th of Kislev, whenever that falls. No one is ever sure. Jews never know until a non-Jewish friend asks when Chanukah starts*, forcing us to consult a calendar so we don't look like idiots. We all have the same calendar, provided free with a donation from the World Jewish Congress, the kosher butcher, or the local Sinai Memorial Chapel (especially in Florida ) or other Jewish funeral home.

2. Christmas is a major holiday. Chanukah is a minor holiday with the same theme as most Jewish holidays. They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat.

3. Christians get wonderful presents such as jewelry, perfume, stereos... Jews get practical presents such as underwear, socks, or the collected works of the Rambam, which looks impressive on the bookshelf.

4. There is only one way to spell Christmas. No one can decide how to spell Chanukah, Chanukkah, Chanukka, Channukah, Hanukah, Hannukah, etc.

5. Christmas is a time of great pressure for husbands and boyfriends. Their partners expect special gifts. Jewish men are relieved of that burden. No one expects a diamond ring on Chanukah.

6. Christmas brings enormous electric bills. Candles are used for Chanukah. Not only are we spared enormous electric bills, but we get to feel good about not contributing to the energy crisis.

7. Christmas carols are beautiful...Silent Night, Come All Ye Faithful.... Chanukah songs are about dreidels made from clay or having a party and dancing the hora. Of course, we are secretly pleased that many of the beautiful carols were composed and written by our tribal brethren. And don't Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond sing them beautifully?

8. A home preparing for Christmas smells wonderful. The sweet smell of cookies and cakes baking. Happy people are gathered around in festive moods. A home preparing for Chanukah smells of oil, potatoes, and onions. The home, as always, is full of loud people all talking at once.

9. Christian women have fun baking Christmas cookies. Jewish women burn their eyes and cut their hands grating potatoes and onions for latkas on Chanukah. Another reminder of our suffering through the ages.

10. Parents deliver to their children during Christmas. Jewish parents have no qualms about withholding a gift on any of the eight nights.


11. The players in the Christmas story have easy to pronounce names such as Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The players in the Chanukah story are Antiochus , Judah Maccabee, and Matta whatever. No one can spell it or pronounce it. On the plus side, we can tell our friends anything and they believe we are wonderfully versed in our history.


12. Many Christians believe in the virgin birth. Jews think, "Yossela, Bubela, snap out of it. Your woman is pregnant, you didn't sleep with her, and now you want to blame G-d? Here's the number of my shrink".

13. In recent years, Christmas has become more and more commercialized. The same holds true for Chanukah, even though it is a minor holiday. It makes sense. How could we market a major holiday such as Yom Kippur? Forget about celebrating. Think observing. Come to synagogue, starve yourself for 27 hours, become one with your dehydrated soul, beat your chest, confess your sins, a guaranteed good time for you and your family. Tickets a mere $200 per person. Better stick with Chanukah!

HAPPY CHANUKAH - MERRY CHRISTMAS!! And a Joyous New Year

Merry Christmas from the House of Hickey & Keely Smith!

Click my post title for Keely Smith -I Wish You Love! That ought to just about do it!

Merry Christmas and May God's Blessings Shower on You All!


THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST LUKE
CHAPTER 2

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all athe world should be btaxed.
2 (And this ataxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called aBethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his aespoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her afirstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the binn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the aglory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you agood tidings of great bjoy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is aborn this day in the city of David a bSaviour, which is Christ the cLord.
12 And this shall be a asign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 aGlory to God in the highest, and on earth bpeace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with ahaste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it awondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and apondered them in her heart.

Nativity -Lake County Indiana

The Census was hiring but the process was much too long for Joseph, an unemployed Carpenter who had been laid off since the trim work on the Elderly Residence at 79th & California went in and that was October. Jesus Christ!

His wife was all set to give birth and the HMO had been notified that Joseph and Mary were visiting relatives in Porter County, Indiana. They were spending the Holidays with Mary's folks in Duneland just east of Gary.

Joseph had maxed out the Mastercard, but their Visa Debit Card was still good. The forty or so miles out of Chicago would be a hell of burden on the rusting 1998 Pontiac Bonneville SE that Joe's brother had ground out the crankshaft and bored-out the cylinders and rewired the whole machine, but the damn thing still ate gas and burned oil. The tank would cost them $45 at Thornton's in Blue Island near their apartment. They had a house until last year,but it went south with the economy.


Mary and Joe would eat lunch at Old Country Buffet in Lansing, as opposed to Jedi's Garden or even Cracker Barrel in Griffith or Highland as they were too pricey. Mary's Mom was working at the Blue Note Casino in Michigan City and her Dad had a job with Hancock Orchards in LaPorte at Christmas Time.

Joseph was hoping to get work as a Census taker, but like everything in government - those with drag are the first called.

Mary ate little at OCB and complained to Joseph. It could be the baby. They paid with the debit swipe and headed out to the Pontiac. Joseph placed his swollen bride into the passenger seat and scraped ice off the windows and mirrors and started up the dinosaur Saudi ATM.

The car shuddered a bit as they eased onto I-80 off of Torrence and Joe maintained a sensible interval between cars in the right lane. The Bonne's dashlight went red - CHECK ENGINE.

Joe pulled the car off at Kennedy Ave. and took the south exit toward Highland, Indiana. He parked in front Calumet Tobacco Wholesalers and, Armin Scheidler of Hessville in Hammond, the owner saw the young couple from through the front window -Christmas Eve! The Preston boys! Armin got on his Cingular One.

The Preston Brothers, Jason and Mark, had gone to Hobart High School, served in Desert Storms I & II as Transportation Pool Master Sergeants and opened a service center on the far south side of Griffith, just south and east of Highland. While Joe , a very good framer if not the absolute best finisher in the wood butchery trade, the boy was all asses and elbows with electricity, plumbing and automobiles.
Joe had popped open the hood of the Bonneville and helplessly and pathetically like most of us males attempted to perform a miracle. For twenty minutes, Joe muled under the hood with gizmos and gadgets, while Mary moaned to him through the floor panel.

Armin Scheidler stuck around the store and sold cigars and cartons of cigarettes to Illinois and Hoosier last minute shoppers. He was already late for the party at V.I.P. Lounge on Glen Park Road. Armin called Mike McGillie the retired refractory salesman, Notre Dame All-American, Minnesota Viking and St. Louis Cardinal Alumnus.

Armin told McGillie about the plight of the two kids with Illinois Plates and said also that he thought the little girl had a duck in the oven. They didn't seem to have two nickels to rub together.

McGillie and Trib sports writer Freddie Matchell and real estate man and race horse owner Dennis Churilla took up a collection from the retired Inland, LTV and Republic steel workers and honchos who still drank at VIP, even though George Applegates sold the joint.

After twenty minutes, Jason Preston fired the Preston Brothers 2007 Ford F-650 Super Cab XLT wrecker into the lot on Kennedy Ave. Jason joined Joe under the hood and immediately diagnosed a blown oil pump. Jason got on the cell phone -no need for the CB anymore - and asked his Bro about the spare Melling M155. No, he had not done the full diagnostic. Asshole.

Mary had had it. Joe checked on his girl and saw that her water had broken. She was tough - no panic. Munster Hospital was ten minutes away. Jason called Terry Miller at the Griffith Fire House. The ambulance was on its way. Joe was told to go with Armin and Jason hooked up the Bonneville and took it to the shop where his brother was waiting with the Melling M155 Pump.

Terry Miller had Mary. Armin had Joseph. The Preston Boys had the Bonneville and Mike McGillie, Freddie Matchell and Dennis Churilla had a hat full of money ( Mike McGillie's hat was pretty big - he had a head on him like a boulder in a Gene Autry movie). The Preston Boys owed Dennis Churilla for part of the loan that they needed as a cash down stroke to Bank of America for their shop, back in 2005. Mike McGillie and Armin had a long and close relationship that networked the purchase of many high-end cigars to NFL players past and present and a few remaining American and Dutch Steel Magnates. Freddie Matchell wrote for The Tribune and had been coached by crabby George Applegates - who had once owned the spot on which the V.I.P. Lounge now stood. The Christmas Star was aligned with a whole bunch of stuff as they say.

Joe and Mary had a baby boy that they named Joshua. The baby was fine - they always seem to be so. Armin gave Joe the contents of McGillie's hat later when he took Joe in to meet the gang. Joe did not have a beer. He did not cry when he pocketed the money that these kind people had forced on him, though he really wanted to do so. It was a couple of hundred bucks. Mary's Mom and Dad were at the hospital. Joe's car would be done by Tuesday. Hell, he was set. Joe did not need to get that Census Job after all. Freddie Matchell wrote about the couple and the Christmas story went National. Dennis Churilla's horse won the next six races at Keeneland and Oak Lawn. The Preston Brothers placed some spare change on that bet and paid off Dennis's loan to them - Dennis was not too worried about it.

Armin Scheidler went to Florida after New Years.

Mike McGillie does this stuff all the time. Joseph and Mary moved out of their apartment in Blue Island and to a small house for the same rate in Griffith, Indiana.
Mike McGillie talked to some guys that Dennis Churilla did business with in East Chicago and like magic -Joseph worked as a Carpenter again. I can't say how - it's Christmas.

AND it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

The Succinct and Pastoral St. Luke

Tamara Holder On Ben Nelson -Ben Went Full Gangsta

President Obama matches Street Cred with Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson - The Originah G!


I believe that the current Health Care Push went something like this:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D. Nev.) "Ben, we will exempt Nebraska!"

Senator Mastah B ( D. Neb.)-"Yo Bitch I needs a Jackson, A Lincoln an Sum Wons fo My 40s and Cheese, Yo! Don't Gots All Day, Foo! Dis Han'Cannon Shouts MuthaFuckah!"

OHRajeous Mastah B! - Mos Def! - ben nelson, senator from Nebraska, took a bribe.

My buddy, Chicago Lawyer Tamara Holder presented this mind-candy during her fine appearance on Fox this morning.

Monday Night Tamara appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, sans the pompous pundit, and matched the tough and funny Laura Ingraham nicely.

Chicago Democratic Lawyer & Strategist Tamara Holder Debates Health Care on Fox

My friendly and much, much, much more athletic and better looking adversary Tamara Holder, a young but Old Timey Liberal Civil Rights lawyer, has debated the American Health Care dilemma on Fox.

Click my post title for this thoughtful and energetic young woman.

Twelve Days of Christmas Was an Irish/French Catholic Rebel Song

(Carraig an Aifrinn - Mass Rock in Ireland celebrates Faith under Persecution)

Only Atheists take out billboards to mock the faith of people. Illinois Atheist Bob Sherman bought a bus. Churches do not persecute anyone in this country - that is for the ACLU to decide when a where the facts can be taffy-pulled into a new St. Batholomew's Day Massacre. That usually has to do with a five year old cupping hands in class and thank Jesus, or Yaweh, of Allah, or Vishnu for the peanut butter sandwich in her lunch. What I always found interesting was the fact that the American Congregationalist Evangelical Movement of the 19th Century, rooted in William Wilberforce's Enthusiasm for Abolition in England, was rooted in the religious/civil point of view that created the Anti-Catholic Laws in England. Ironically, William Wilberforce actively fought for Catholic Emancipation and his sons became Roman Catholics. Something left out of the PC version of this Champion of Abolition.

American intellectuals erase Catholic influence in all things. It's as old as the Great Awakening and the Brook Farm Movement, from which Orestes Brownson was cast away when he converted to Roman Catholicism. The ACLU's founders Roger Baldwin et al were the secular preachers of Secular Enthusiasm.

Mother England codified much of the ACLU's "Do-Away With" Pettifoggery from Good Queen Bess, the Cromwellian period and through the Glorious Revolution.

Ireland suffered under Penal Laws* (Na Péindlíthe) that outlawed the practice of religion while Wilberforce fought to end the slave trade around the world.

In Ireland, no catholic could hear Mass and priests were hunted, like wolves. Father Nick Sheehy was the las recorded Outlaw Priest 'murdered by the Crown in 1766. Irish peasants heard Mass.

Christmas is as much under assault as my ancestors were when they attended the Eucharist at Mass Rocks ( Carraig an Aifrinn ) out in the cold and wind and rain. We squeak when Terry McEldowney opens all the windows at Sacred Heart before Mass-
" Wakes You Clowns Up!"

The 12 Days of Christmas is often thought to be a nice Secularist French Seasonal Song - nope, it seems that the tune and the words were ones of resistnace against religious persecution. The numbered items hold religious conotations. "The 12 Days of Christmas." It is said that each gift represents an aspect of the Catholic faith and that the song was used to teach children during a time when Catholicism was banned. Many versions of the story abound, one being written by a Friar who states that he was doing research in some old Latin texts when he came up references to the song in "letters from Irish priests, mostly Jesuits, writing back to the motherhouse at Douai-Rheims, in France." ( click my post title)



2 Turtle Doves = Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity
4 Calling Birds = Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = first Five Books of the Old Testament
6 Geese A-laying = Six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
8 Maids A-milking = Eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = Ten Commandments
11 Pipers Piping = Eleven faithful Apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = Twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

Ironically enough the Partridge ( that sits in the Pear Tree- Fruit Tree for Wassiling Cider?)symbolizes the Church and has also been used to represent Satan. Both might work in this song.


*Exclusion of Catholics from most public offices (since 1607), Presbyterians were also barred from public office from 1707.
Ban on intermarriage with Protestants; repealed 1778
Presbyterian marriages were not legally recognised by the state
Catholics barred from holding firearms or serving in the armed forces (rescinded by Militia Act of 1793)
Bar from membership in either the Parliament of Ireland or the Parliament of Great Britain from 1652; rescinded 1662-1691; renewed 1691-1829.
Disenfranchising Act 1728, exclusion from voting until 1793;
Exclusion from the legal professions and the judiciary; repealed (respectively) 1793 and 1829.
Education Act 1695 - ban on foreign education; repealed 1782.
Bar to Catholics entering Trinity College Dublin; repealed 1793.
On a death by a Catholic, his legatee could benefit by conversion to the Church of Ireland;
Popery Act - Catholic inheritances of land were to be equally subdivided between all an owner's sons with the exception that if the eldest son and heir converted to Protestantism that he would become the one and only tenant of estate and portions for other children not to exceed one third of the estate. This "Gavelkind" system had previously been abolished by 1600.
Ban on converting from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism on pain of Praemunire: forfeiting all property estates and legacy to the monarch of the time and remaining in prison at the monarch's pleasure. In addition, forfeiting the monarch's protection. No injury however atrocious could have any action brought against it or any reparation for such.
Ban on Catholics buying land under a lease of more than 31 years; repealed 1778.
Ban on custody of orphans being granted to Catholics on pain of 500 pounds that was to be donated to the Blue Coat hospital in Dublin.
Ban on Catholics inheriting Protestant land
Prohibition on Catholics owning a horse valued at over £5 (in order to keep horses suitable for military activity out of the majority's hands)
Roman Catholic lay priests had to register to preach under the Registration Act 1704, but seminary priests and Bishops were not able to do so until 1778
When allowed, new Catholic churches were to be built from wood, not stone, and away from main roads.
'No person of the popish religion shall publicly or in private houses teach school, or instruct youth in learning within this realm' upon pain of twenty pounds fine and three months in prison for every such offence. Repealed in 1782. [2]
Any and all rewards not paid by the crown for alerting authorities of offences to be levied upon the Catholic populace within parish and county.

Steve Rhodes Explains his Resignation from NBC on WBEZ

Here is a great interview with Steve Rhodes by Justin Kaufmann, Web Editor for WBEZ.

However, yesterday I posted a WBEZ interview.

Steve Rhodes - Chicago Journalist: Cyrano De Bergerac of Beachwood

I love Liberals and there are darned fewer of them than there were when I started teaching English.

Liberals were often very well-educated and well-dis positioned men and women who looked to the human heart for the path to God. Liberals are Cyrano De Bergerac*!

Liberals did not need Decalogues, Doctrines or Dogmas rather they found the wholeness of human decency to be a Universal.

I am far too lazy a man to have been a Liberal and far too ignorant to be a Conservative. Conservatives have already devoured the books that I intend to read - witness Steve Jordan, Elias Crim, Tom Roeser, Dan Kelley and Max Weismann. Conservatives are St. Thomas More.

I feature some where far between such heroes - a combination of Bob Newhart/Stanley Kowalski.

One of the great Liberals - no Progressive ( a Dogmatic Dewey Spewer and faux-Hegalian flannelmouth) - in my circle of friends is journalist and Beachwood Reporter Publisher Steve Rhodes.

I began to admire this energetic young man's work, while I was teaching at La Lumiere School in the early 1990's. Steve Rhodes wants God's poor and unprotected safe and happy, but will not distort or destroy history to make that happen.

Recently Steve Rhodes had been a contributor to NBC.com Chicago. Along with Mary Ann Ahern, Steve Rhodes was one of my favorite Peacock Reporters.

Today, I learned of attempts by NBC to silence a journalist. Steve Rhodes has more integrity in his chin-whiskers than Peacock has lawyers.

Click my post title for a full account of Steve Rhodes' refusal to "Tickle the Horns of Mammon."

Here's a gem!

News organizations are the biggest hypocrites on the planet because they so often violate ethical standards - conflicts of interest, deception of the public - that they so often try to hold others to. Nothing is more disheartening to journalists who actually believe in what they do to hear of and confront and become entangled such untoward activities.

*

What would you have me do?
Seek for the patronage of some great man,
And like a creeping vine on a tall tree crawl
upward, where I cannot stand alone? No
thank you! Dedicate, as others do, Poems to
pawnbrokers? Be a buffoon
In the vile hope of teasing out a smile
On some cold face? No thank you! Eat a toad
For breakfast every morning? Make my knees
Callous, and cultivate a supple spine,-
Wear out my belly grovelling in the dust?
No thank you! Scratch the back of any swine
That roots up gold for me? Tickle the horns of
Mammon with my left hand, while my right,
Too proud to know his partner's -business,
Takes in the fee? No thank you! Use the fire
God gave me to burn incense all day long
Under the nose of wood and stone? No thank you!
Shall I go leaping into ladies' laps
And licking fingers? Or, to change the form-
Navigating with madrigals for oars,
My sails full of the sighs of dowagers?
No thank you! Publish verses at my own
Expense? No thank you! Be the patron saint
Of a small group of literary souls
Who dine together every Tuesday? No,
I thank you! Shall I labor night and day
To build a reputation on one song,
And never write another? Shall I find
True genius only among Geniuses,
Palpitate over little paragraphs,
And struggle to insinuate my name
In the columns of The Mercury!
No thank you! Calculate, scheme, be afraid,
Love more to make a visit than a poem,
Seek introductions, favors, influences? No
thank you! No, I thank you! And again
I thank you! But . . .
To sing, to laugh, to dream,
To walk in my own way and be alone,
Free, with an eye to see things as they are,
A voice that means manhood--to cock my hat
Where I choose-- At a word, a Yes, a No,
To fight--or write. To travel any road
Under the sun, under the stars, nor doubt
If fame or fortune lie beyond the bourne--
Never to make a line I have not heard
In my own heart; yet, with all modesty
To say: “My soul, be satisfied with flowers,
With fruit, with weeds even; but gather them
In the one garden you may call your own.”
So, when I win some triumph, by some chance,
Render no share to Caesar--in a word,
I am too proud to be a parasite,
And if my nature is not that which grows
Towering to heaven like the mountain pine,
Or like the oak, sheltering multitudes--
I stand, not high it may be--but alone!

God Bless Good Men!

The Women of St. Cajetan's Parish

In Praise of Strong Catholic Women


Three Gents were bar stooling at Keegan's Pub. As I quaffed a Lime Ricky, I overheard a trio of Catholic Southside Squires waxing poetic and poignant on the Life Marital*. These three worthies were crafting rodomontade about how they had given their wives duties. The first Hector had married a sweet woman from Faith, Hope and Charity parish way up in Winnetka whom he had met at St. Pat's World's Largest Street Party and waxed thrasonical that he had told his bride that she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning. He said it took a couple days but on the third day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were done.



The second Punter had married a woman from Nativity Parish in Bridgeport. This St. Gabriel Parish raised Commodities Wizard bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. On that very first day, he didn't see any results, but the next day, it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done, and he had a huge dinner on the table.





The third Buckeen from St. Barnabas Parish married a girl from St. Cajetans Parish. The Boorish Buckeye told this Lady Warrior that her duties were to keep the house clean, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. Our Barnabian Burgomeister said that on the first day he didn't see anything near what he had ordained to be the Master's Will and on the second day he didn't see anything as well but by the third day most of the swelling had gone down, and he could see a little out of his left eye; enough to fix himself a bite to eat, load the dishwasher, and telephone Brian Hogan's Landscaping Services.

Hat Tip to Bob Hylard - Leo High School Class of 1946 & Leo Hall of Fame!


*Affirmation for Catholic Women

Because of the assaults against the Christian Faith and the family by elements within contemporary society which have led to pervasive moral confusion, to damage and destruction of families and the men, women and children who comprise them;

Because we adhere to the Catholic Christian faith as expressed in Holy Scripture, the Nicene, Apostolic and Athanasian Creeds, in the ecumenical Councils of the Church, and in the continued deepening of the understanding of the revelations of Sacred Truth to the Church by the Holy Spirit through the teaching authority of the Church and of the Successors of Peter, Apostle;

Because we wish to affirm our desire to realize our vocations and our duty as Christians and as women in accordance with these authentic teachings, following the example and instruction of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and the example of Mary, His mother;

Because we are cognizant of our obligations as Christian women to witness to our faith, being mindful that this witness is important to the formation of the moral conscience of our families and of humanity, we wish to make this affirmation:

1. We believe that through God's grace our female nature affords us distinct physical and spiritual capabilities with which to participate in the Divine Plan for creation. Specifically, our natural function of childbearing endows us with the spiritual capacity for nurture, instruction, compassion and selflessness, which qualities are necessary to the establishment of families, the basic and Divinely ordained unit of society, and to the establishment of a Christian social order.

2. We believe that to attempt to subvert or deny our distinct nature and role as women subverts and denies God's plan for humanity, and leads to both personal disintegration and ultimately to the disintegration of society. Accordingly, we reject all ideologies which seek to eradicate the natural and essential distinction between the sexes, which debase and devalue womanhood, family life and the nurturing role of women in society.

3. We affirm the intrinsic sacredness of all human life, and we reject the notion that abortion, the deliberate killing of unborn children, is the "right" of any human being, male or female, or of any government. Such a distorted and corrosive notion of individual freedom is, in fact, inimical to authentic Christianity and to the establishment and maintenance of a just social order.

4. We accept and affirm the teaching of the Catholic Church on all matters dealing with human reproduction, marriage, family life and roles for men and women in the Church and in society.

5. We therefore also reject as an aberrant innovation peculiar to our times and our society the notion that priesthood is the "right" of any human being, male or female. Furthermore, we recognize that the specific role of ordained priesthood is intrinsically connected with and representative of the begetting creativity of God in which only human males can participate. Human females, who by nature share in the creativity of God by their capacity to bring forth new life, and, reflective of this essential distinction, have a different and distinct role within the Church and in society from that accorded to men, can no more be priests than men can be mothers.

6. We recognize and affirm the vocations of women who subordinate their human role of motherhood and family life in order to consecrate their lives to the service of God, His Church and humanity. Such women's authentic response of consecrated service to the physical, spiritual and/or intellectual needs of the community in no way diminishes or compromises their essential female nature, or the exercise of inherent attributes, insights and gifts peculiar to women. Rather, it extends the applications of these gifts beyond the individual human family.

7. We stand with the Second Vatican Council, which took for granted the distinct roles for men and women in the family and in society and affirmed that Christian education must impart knowledge of this distinction: "In the entire educational program [Catholic school teachers] should, together with the parents, make full allowance for the difference of sex and for the particular role which Providence has appointed to each sex in the family and in society. (Declaration on Education, Sec. 8, paragraph 3, from Vatican II Documents, ed. Austin Flannery, 1981)

8. We pledge our wholehearted support to the teachings of Pope John Paul II concerning all aspects of family life and roles for men and women in the Church and in society, especially as contained in the Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio; and we resolve to apply the principles contained therein to our own lives, our families and our communities, God being our aid.

Copenhagen Again? Mr. President, You are 0-2 there. Go to Kankakee River State Park and Think Things Over.

"We are running short on time," he said. "We are ready to get this done today. But there has to be movement on all sides."

President Obama wants Health Care Something before Santa squeezes his cheeks down my Chimney.

Kim Jong Il put Obama's letter of concern about North Korean Aggression on his WI Golf. Oh yeah, he'll get back to you.

Send Troops! Cut Troops! Get Blacker Fast! Andy Stern is on the Red Phone! Card Check! Carbon Foot-Prints! Cap'n Trade! Tiger Can't Play Anymore! GW is looking Good! Saturday Night Live Tomorrow!

Chill.


You inherited this eight year mess from George Bush - we got it. Big Ed Schultz has it on 10.

Comb Over Dave and Rahm-a-Lama- Dang-Dong are pinching pectorals to make things look Okay, but things are bad.

Mr. President, five years ago you were a back-bencher in Springfield with a huge loss to Bobby Rush under your belt. You wanted to craft your biography. You did. However, you do not have much of a resume. Let's face it. Short Bus Sweeney could direct the Woods Fund. Send check to whomever Bill Ayers designates. Teach constitutional Law?
Not much of a stretch there, I'd say. I taught very low level American & British Lit. ( Breathing for Credit) to 37 Dukes of Hazard fans. That was taxing.

Nope. You can not rush things.

For instance, say Obama and his party had not muscled through a $787 billion stimulus package and spent nearly that much to rescue banks and car companies. Most experts say those steps averted the collapse of the U.S. economy. A collapse would have been, suffice it to say, far more upsetting to voters than the bailouts and deficit spending they are criticizing now.

Moving along to health reform, some pundits argue that Obama should have punted or gone small or written the darn bill himself to avoid the messy, irritating marathon now in progress. But delay or small ball would have left the field wide open for stories about health insurance horrors, Obama reneging on a central campaign pledge, and the general incompetence of Democrats. As for writing the bill himself, that came to naught for the Clintons in 1994. In any case, as many senators are now making perfectly clear, there is no way to control a senator who does not want to be controlled.

Obama has also raised expectations with his foreign trips, and as he headed for the Copenhagen climate summit, the Republican Party helpfully released an archive of negative assessments of his travels. On the other hand, what if Obama hadn't gone to Copenhagen in October to argue for a Chicago Olympics, or again this week to try to cement international progress on global warming? Then we would be hearing about how he might have made a difference but he didn't care, or he didn't try hard enough.

The truth is that presidents are hostages to fortune. George W. Bush had an 84 percent approval rating at this point in his first term because it was just after the 9/11 attacks. Obama is at the same level as Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, and that should be no surprise. All three inherited bad economies.

Yikes. Come home. Stay home for a while. Copenhagen - you are 0 and 2 - Chicago and the Climate Dodge. Mr. President, You are Willy Loman.

Go to Kankakee River State Park and sort things out over the Christmas Holidays.

Stop at Maple Tree Inn in Blue Island and treat the kids and Missus to Tommy's Smoked Ribs and smothered greens. Get the deep fried Green Tomatoes and Dill Pickles.

Pray.

Get some sleep. Fire some retainers. Start Anew.

Bobby Green 1973-2009 - God Bless Sharon & Paul Green

“Life is the soul's nursery -
Its training place for the destinies of eternity.” William Makepeace Thackeray


Bobby Green 1973-2009Posted by Joseph Ryan on Wed, 12/16/2009 - 17:15

The accomplished son of political professor Paul Green died recently after a lengthy battle with brain cancer.
Robert Green, 36, touched countless lives as the respected choral director at Fremd High School in the northwest suburbs.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Paul Green and his family.
The following is the obituary submitted by the Green family and below that is a recent article to appear in the Daily Herald:

Robert ‘Bobby’ Harris Green, age 36, a resident of Arlington Heights, Illinois passed away on Saturday, December 12, 2009 at his parents home in Chicago after a six and a half year battle with an inoperable brain tumor.
Bobby was the youngest candidate to be named Musical Director at Fremd high School at age 26 and thereafter served as Department Chairman for several years. Robert raised the quality of artistic performance and increased enrollment in the choir program at Fremd and was well respected in the district.
Bobby was the leading force enabling the Senior Fremd High School Choral Group to perform in a public concert at Carnegie Hall in 2002. He also organized concert tours in Europe and across the United State with his students where they sang at major cathedrals and theaters. His passion for music went beyond his students to even the parents who were recruited to sing with their children during holiday performances at Fremd. He arranged many of the pieces the choirs performed.
He was also known for having his Chamber Singers perform annually during the holiday season on WGN Radio. His friends looked forward to his annual formal ‘soirees’ at his home where they were required to perform serious and funny original songs.
Robert received the Principal’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at Fremd School and inspired hundreds of students to find careers in the field of music, both as teachers and performers. Facebook is alive with stories from his former students who credit Robert with their career success and passion for music.
Robert was a graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School, received two simultaneous bachelor degrees from the University of Illinois (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Chancellor Scholar and Bronze Tablet) and a masters in Music from Louisiana State University. From high school through grad school Robert won every school music contest he entered whether it was choir conducting or original variety shows.
He loved to travel and even during his last year managed to visit Hawaii, Alaska, New Mexico, Idaho and Germany and, two months ago, while in hospice care, drove with his family to Nebraska….reaching his goal of visiting all 50 states.
His parents, Sharon (Remaks) and Paul, and his sister Sarah Green of Newport Beach were at his side when his mighty fight for life ended. Throughout his diagnosis he spoke openly about his disease and raised over $30,000 dollars for brain cancer research through walks and special events. He is survived by grandfathers Sam Greenberg (Charlotte), Wilbert Remaks (Jeanne), aunts and uncles Bill and Jean Remaks, Howard and Christy Green, Rosalie Clark (William), Gloria and Shelley Welstein, Bob Welstein (Eleanor) and numerous loving cousins and friends throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe.
He was privately cremated.
A public celebration of his life will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 9, 2010 at Fremd High School, 1000 South Quentin Road, Palatine, IL. A music education college scholarship has been established in his name at Fremd High School.
Donations can be sent to the Robert Green Music Scholarship Fund, Township District #211 Foundation, 1750 S. Roselle Road, Palatine, IL 60067-7336. Farewell to Bobby, in harmony.

Here is the Daily Herald's article:

Students involved in musical theater in the Palatine area have suffered a one-two punch, with the passing of a second musical director in just more than a week.

Fremd High School choral Director Robert Green died Saturday from brain cancer at the age of 36. His death came on the heels of losing Susannah Kist, 47, who died Dec. 4 of breast cancer and had directed hundreds of students through the Palatine Park District theater programs.

"We have a lot of kids here who are really suffering," said Lauren Dennhardt, Fremd drama club director and media center specialist.

Mr. Green directed four levels of choir at Fremd and served as musical director for its plays. He was the son of Paul Green, the WGN radio political commentator and director of Roosevelt University's School of Policy Studies.

"He was the most beloved teacher, who was absolutely adored by all the students and faculty," Dennhardt added. "He had this youthful understanding of the students, and just a great sense of fun."

Teaching at Fremd was Mr. Green's first job after earning his undergraduate degrees in music and psychology at the University of Illinois and a master's degree in music from Louisiana State University.

He began at the school in 1998, and numbers in its choral program soared under his direction, his colleagues say.

"He covered all the bases, teaching his students serious college literature to a taste of pop music," says David Lang, music department chairman. "This may have well been a university; that's how high the bar was that he achieved with his students."

Over the course of his career, two of his choirs received prestigious invitations to perform at the Illinois Music Educators Association All-State conference.

At Fremd, Mr. Green served for a short time as music department chair, and he also was the assistant variety show director.

One of his most endearing roles was as part of the production team, directing vocals for the student musical mounted each December.

A memorial service for Mr. Green, who grew up in south suburban Flossmoor, is being planned for Jan. 9 at Fremd.

Dithering Dick Durbin the Turban Trolling for Safe Prison Czar Spot?

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime—Pol Pot or others—that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

Durbin the Turban 2005

I felt then, and still feel, that these policies were not reflective of American values.

Dithering Dick Durbin 2009

Shore Dew Look like Dithering Dick the Planned Parenthood Personally Prolife Parsing-Panda Panderer understands he is on short time as US Senator.

Roland Burris has eclipsed this unprincipled dope. Is Durbin the Turban sending messages to Rahm Emmanuel and Dave Axelrod that he wants to be the Safe-Prisons Czar?

Click me post title read this jerque's nonsense.

Terry O' Brien and Malraux the Boat Preckwinkle Sprinkles at Keegan's Pub

Discussing écrivain engagé, Andre Malraux with Smash McKenna at Keegan’s Pub during half-time of the Bears/Greenbay abortion, I quoted the author of La Condition humaine to make plain my point about the 4th Ward Alderman “There is always a need for intoxication: China has opium, Islam has hashish, the West has woman.”

It appears that Terry O'Brien will get the vote of many, many Cook County voters - nevertheless! Alas, as Andre Gide might offer!

As Mike Houlihan pointed out -

O’Brien has served as President of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, (MWRDGC), for 13 years and has served on the board of Commissioners for 21 years. He has overseen a budget in excess of $1 billion and runs one of the few government agencies in the State of Illinois to have an AAA bond rating from all three bond rating agencies.
O’Brien boasts of a “professional workforce”, because his employees are “hired for what they know and not who they know! They are required to take exams!”
Exams for public employees? Now that’s an idea that should strike fear into the heart of every loafer who ever picked up a paycheck from the county payroll. Maybe we should start holding exams for public office.
If an administrative exam were given for President of the Cook County Board could all the candidates pass? Would they ask to be graded on a curve? And who in the world would be grading these exams? Hopefully it wouldn’t be Todd Stroger’s cousin.
If Terry O’Brien can get his message out to all Cook County voters we might actually turn the corner on the ineptitude of the last few years. O’Brien represents the best opportunity for greater financial accountability and real leadership for the Cook County Board. He says, “I want to do for Cook County what I have done for the Water Reclamation District.”
It sure would be nice to wake up some morning next year and know that there is a professional in charge. If the electorate has the opportunity to learn more about Terry O'Brien, Cook County's days of misery may soon be over. Let's hope so.

Nevertheless the heady words of earnest activist polemicist Malraux popped out from my discourse - " Smash let me offer this from Malraux, 'The great mystery is not that we should have been thrown down here at random between the profusion of matter and that of the stars; it is that from our very prison we should draw, from our own selves, images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.'"

To which pipe-coverer McKenna cocked an eye-brow and rejoined, ” You poor simple Sonavabitch Hickey, it is not the need to feel proletarian that smokes our meats, but the “will” to be prolertarian – Toni Preckwinkle falls down manholes and your Little Flower cravat is in my Smithwicks.”

Shake Down the Hypocrisy at Notre Dame - Sign for Life and Free the Protestors

Chicago Firefighter Jim McMahon saves lives on the job and all the time. Notre Dame cares only about getting into a Bowl Game and fitting more mopes into goofy checked golf slacks, while kissing the fanny of America's Most Pro Abortion President.

Notre Dame University had scores of people arrested and charged - people who protested the asinine bestowal of a Doctor of Laws on Planned Parenthood's President -Barack H. Obama. Let's get those charges dropped.

Jim McMahon reminds all of us to help push Notre Dame to drop the charges aaginst the protestors.

Click my post title to the link and sign the petition.

You will do the right thing. It has been years since the PR Driven School in South Bend did the same.

Huge hat tip to Jim McMahon:

http://jimmcmahonchicago.blogspot.com/2009/12/shame-of-notre-dame.html

Thomson's LiteMo, or Gitmo Lite, Lures Melonaires!

O Beloved one, How did you manage to, so heartily eat those slices of melon ? Just one slice of the melon had such an effect on me, then how did you manage to eat so many slices ?" Luqman(A.S.) replied: "O Friend, from your hands I have received hundreds of gifts. The burden of thanks upon me is so great, that my back has gone crooked. Hence, I felt ashamed that the hand that had granted me so much favours, if one day some distastefulness or bitterness should come, how can I turn away from it ? O Friend, the pleasure of knowing that it comes from your hands has changed the bitterness of the melon to sweetness." Luqman Servant of Allah

Thanks Illinois Former Elected ( well not Pat Quinn of course) Officials for making Thomson Illinois the Epi-Center of Illinois Melonaires!


Former Governor Pat Quinn and Former Senator Dick Durbin are True Men of Genius!

Thomson, Illinois is the Melon Capital of the World. Some argue that Illinois will become more of a Terrorist Epicenter - Well, Never Pass Up a Catastrophe! Gitmo North will attract Terrorists You Say? Bring 'em on! They Gotta Eat and No one can pass up a delicious Thomason Melon!

Thomson, IL will become the World Melon Market. Melons Rock the Casbah and the Thompson Center and soon the White House!

Dig into the Melon groove! Futures and Commodities Melons ain;t no Oddity!

From High Plains Midwest AG Journal no less!


Time to thump the melons

Watermelon is no longer just the stuff of barbecues and seed spitting contests. It is all grown up and playing a sweet note in dishes, not just dribbling juices down your face.

The first problem one encounters when face-to-face with a melon is how do you tell when it is ripe. You can always cut a plug and taste, providing the melon is in your own patch, (for some strange reason purveyors of the juicy fruits frown upon plugging).

Thumping is fun, but it doesn't work for me. Sniffing, does however. Just go nose to nose with the fruit and if you can smell the taste of the melon, it is ripe. Some people push a bit on the stem end and if it gives a bit that is another indication of ripeness. Pay no attention if a melon has a light colored area on its fat body, that merely marks the part of the melon that was lying on the earth and out of reach of the sun. It has nothing to do with ripeness not with sweetness.

Sweetness is what most people enjoy about melons. The higher the fructose content the better we like it. The darker the meat of the melon, the more sugar it holds. If you are buying by the slice or the wedge, you can eyeball the color and pick accordingly. Avoid mealy melons as they are the old guys who lounged around in the sun too long. All melons and most fruits take kindly to salt and to lemon or lime juice as they enhance flavor and makes the melon taste sweeter.

Watermelon & Goat Cheese Salad

Red and yellow watermelon (or a combination of different kinds of melon) when served together make a colorful salad, but you can use just one kind if you like.

1 1/2 pounds red watermelon
1 1/2 pounds yellow melon
6 oz fresh goat cheese, cut into cubes or crumbled
1/2 cup hazelnuts (or other nuts), toasted and chopped*
8 fresh mint leaves, julienned
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Pinch salt

Cut rinds off melons, leaving fruit intact. Remove any seeds. Slice melons into 1-inch thick slices. Cut slices into long fingers or triangles. Place melon on a chilled platter. Intermingle goat cheese with melon pieces. Sprinkle hazelnuts, mint, olive oil and salt over the top. Makes 4 servings. *Note: Spread nuts on a baking sheet. Toast 10 minutes in a 300 F oven.


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

Watermelon & Cherry Tomato Salsa

Serve with grilled fish or use the salsa as a salad.
1 1/2 pounds red watermelon
1 1/2 pounds yellow watermelon or other melon
1 1/2 cups red and gold cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup tightly packed cilantro or parsley leaves
2 teaspoons minced shallot or scallions
Salt, to taste
3 tablespoons pure olive oil
1 tablespoon wine or raspberry vinegar, more to taste

Cut both melons into 1/2-inch cubes, remove seeds and place in a large bowl. Cut tomatoes in half or quarters and add to the bowl. Lightly chop cilantro or parsley, add to the watermelon, along with shallot, salt, olive oil and vinegar. Mix well. Depending on sweetness of melons and acidity of tomatoes, adjust seasoning with salt or vinegar, if needed. Serves 6 to 8 as a salad.


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Watermelon & Summer Berry Gazpacho

Berries of any kind can be used in this refreshing malange. It can be served for dessert, or as a first course or as a lunch.

6 1/2 cups cubed watermelon, to yield 4 cups puree
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
10 mint leaves, finely sliced
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse cracked black pepper
Pinch cayenne, optional

Seed melon cubes, if necessary. Put cubes in a blender and process until smooth. Pour puree through a strainer, pushing gently. Discard pulp. The remaining puree will be very thin, almost like juice; set aside in refrigerator. For gazpacho: To 4 cups of puree, add the lemon juice, vinegar, mint, onion, berries, salt, pepper and cayenne; mix well. Chill at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve in chilled bowls. Makes 4 servings.


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Watermelon Agua Fresca

This bright red and refreshing strained drink can also be made with yellow watermelon, honeydew or other varieties of melon.

3 pounds ripe watermelon
1 1/2 cups cold water
2 to 4 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
Squeeze of lime

Remove any seeds, then cut all but about 1 cup of melon into chunks and place in blender or food processor. (It's okay if a few seeds make it into the blender.) Add enough water to blend, sugar and lime juice; blend until quite smooth. Strain through a fine strainer, pressing solids to get as much liquid out as possible, and add remaining water, plus more sugar and lime juice to taste. Cut remaining melon into small dice and add to the agua fresca. Chill until cold or serve immediately over ice. Makes 4 glasses.


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Chunky Cataloupe Agua Fresca

This unstrained agua fresca has chunks of melon and more water than the strained version. Pick the ripest melon you can find. You can also use honeydew or specialty melons. This will hold in the refrigerator for a day or two.

1 1/2 pounds cantaloupe, about 3 cups chopped
2 cups cold water
2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
Squeeze of lime or lemon

Scoop out the seeds, then cut the melon into large chunks and place in the blender. Add enough water to blend, sugar and lime juice and blend on "liquefy" until quite smooth, up to a few minutes. Add remaining water and more sugar and lime juice to taste, if you like. Chill until cold or serve immediately over ice. Makes 4 glasses.

It's easy to see where watermelon got its name!

Date: 8/22/06

Thomson - More Than Gitmo-Lite It's America's Melon Bite!
http://www.hpj.com/journal/news/search2_VSearchResult.cfm



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson,_Illinois

A Real Nobel Winner -Sgt. Gebhardt - Merry Christmas!

John Gebhardt's wife, Mindy, said that this little girl's entire family was executed. The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head...but they failed to kill her. She was cared for in John's hospital and is healing up, but continues to cry and moan. The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both slept in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing.

He is a real Star of the war, and represents what America is trying to do.

This, my friends, is worth sharing. Go for it!! You'll never see things like this in the news. Please keep this going. Nothing will happen if you don't, but the American public needs to see pictures like this and needs to realize that what we're doing over there is making a difference.. Even if it is just one little girl at a time.

James Gates U. S. Navy

Thanks to patriot soldier in Iraq, Chad Longell, for this heartwarming material. God bless America's soldiers. And . Dr. Steve Maloney!

UK Man Delivers Baby Using Blackberry ! Google, We Have a Baby!

A gent in Britain helped bring a child into the world by Google-ing instructions from his Blackberry.

This Brave New World can be Child Friendly. Planned Parenthood will no doubt seek damages through an abortion friendly anti-trust litigating Federal Judge like Judge Posner.

Until then, Joy to and In The World!

When Emma Smith of Leytonstone, UK, went into labor, her husband Leroy realized that they wouldn’t be able to get to the hospital in time. He then used his BlackBerry to find instructions online on how to deliver a child:

So the 29-year-old grabbed hold of his BlackBerry, accessed the internet and sought help from search engine Google for step-by-step instructions.

And after following the detailed guide on the internet’s wikiHow Emma safely gave birth to daughter 6lb 11oz Mahalia Merita Angela Smith.

Five minutes after the delivery the midwife arrived to cut the umbilical cord of their fourth child.

Well done, Leroy!

Quinn and Durbin Open Thomson Al Qaeda B & B!

Former Governor Pat Quinn and Former Senator Dick Durbin Sing Be Our Guests to Gitmo Illini!

Sing it Voters! Then Laugh these two out of Office!

Quinn, Durbin at White House today for Thomson briefing
December 15, 2009 6:44 AM | No Comments
Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois meet with Obama administration officials at the White House today to be briefed on the federal government's plans to buy Illinois' little-used Thomson state prison in the northwest corner of the state for use housing federal prisoners and some of the detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Read more in Clout Street

Pat Quinn:

Ma chere Mademoiselle, it is with deepest pride
and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight.
And now we invite you to relax, let us pull up a
chair as the dining room proudly presents -
your dinner!

Be our guest! Be our guest!
Put our service to the test
Tie your napkin 'round your neck, cherie
And we'll provide the rest
Soup du jour
Hot hors d'oeuvres
Why, we only live to serve
Try the grey stuff
Chip:
It's delicious
Lumiere:
Don't believe me? Ask the dishes
They can sing, they can dance
After all, Miss, this is France
And a dinner here is never second best
Go on, unfold your menu
Take a glance and then you'll
Be our guest
Oui, our guest
Be our guest!

Quinn and Progressives:

Beef ragout
Cheese souffle
Pie and pudding "en flambe"

Quinn:
We'll prepare and serve with flair
A culinary cabaret!
You're alone
And you're scared
But the banquet's all prepared
No one's gloomy or complaining
While the flatware's entertaining
We tell jokes! I do tricks
With my fellow candlesticks

Chorus:
And it's all in perfect taste
That you can bet
Come on and lift your glass
You've won your own free pass
To be out guest

Quinn:
If you're stressed
It's fine dining we suggest


Durbin:

Be our guest! Be our guest! Be our guest!
Get your worries off your chest
Let us say for your entree
We've an array; may we suggest:
Try the bread! Try the soup!
When the croutons loop de loop
It's a treat for any dinner
Don't belive me? Ask the china
Singing pork! Dancing veal!
What an entertaining meal!
How could anyone be gloomy and depressed?
We'll make you shout "encore!"
And send us out for more
So, be our guest!

Quinn:
Be our guest!

Obama:
Be our guest!

Mrs Schakowsky:

It's a guest! It's a guest!
Sakes alive, well I'll be blessed!
Wine's been poured and thank the Lord
I've had the napkins freshly pressed
With dessert, she'll want tea
And my dear that's fine with me
While the cups do their soft-shoein'
I'll be bubbling, I'll be brewing
I'll get warm, piping hot
Heaven's sakes! Is that a spot?
Clean it up! We want the company impressed

Big Ed Schultz
We've got a lot to do!

Mrs Schakowsky:
Is it one lump or two?
For you, our guest!

MSNBC:
She's our guest!


Mrs Schakowsky & Billy Ayers:
She's our guest!


DNC:
She's our guest!
Be our guest! Be our guest! Be our guest!


Pat Quinn:

Life is so unnerving
For a servant who's not serving
He's not whole without a soul to wait upon
Ah, those good old days when we were useful...
Suddenly those good old days are gone
Ten years we've been rusting
Needing so much more than dusting
Needing exercise, a chance to use our skills!
Most days we just lay around the castle
Flabby, fat and lazy
You walked in and oops-a-daisy!

Quinn, Durbin, & President Obama:

Be our guest! Be our guest!
Our command is your request
It's been years since we've had anybody here
And we're obsessed
With your meal, with your ease
Yes, indeed, we aim to please
While the candlelight's still glowing
Let us help you, We'll keep going
Course by course, one by one
'Til you shout, "Enough! I'm done!"
Then we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest
Tonight you'll prop your feet up
But for now, let's eat up
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Please, be our guest!

Brit Hume Mops the Floor with Durbin - The Murderer of School Reform

Senator Dithering Dick Durbin is beholden no principle. The Thompson Gitmo Guest Haus Developer, Abortion Industry Baby-Daddy and SEIU Towel Boy is also the School Reform Child Molester of America.

Sen. Dick "American Troops are SS" Durbin does what he is bidden to do by SEIU, Planned Parenthood and the Education Lobby. Durbin has been caught strangling the baby of Reform in the cradle. This fatuous and mealy-mouthed dope is a parser for Abortion and then passes around his 1st Communion Photos to the voters.

Last night Brit Hume pasted this time serving dope -

The real reason seems to be that the program works and thereby threatens the monopoly the public schools and their unions now enjoy. So language to end the program was quietly inserted in that massive trillion spending bill now working its way through Congress.

Fingerprints are hard to find, but the point-man against the program has been the Senate's No. 2 Democrat: Dick Durbin of Illinois. The AFL-CIO's most recent rating of his support was 100 percent — small wonder.

To think that I vote for this amoeba Durbin makes my skin itch. He makes Roland Burris look like Curley Dirksen.

Pour it on him, Mr. Hume!

Toni Preckwinkle's Buying the Rounds At Keegan's Pub! Terry O'Brien Who?

Here's a question - How do you get Alderman Toni Preckwinkle off your front porch?

Answer: Pay for the Pizza!


Yep, Progressive Panjandrum Preckwinkle is Movin' On Up! - To the 19th Ward! The brilliant Laura Washington, a graduate of Academy of Our Lady on 95th Street and one of Chicago's most accurate political journalists - Washington predicted the defeat of Barack Obama by Bobby Rush years ago - sees hope for the 4th Ward Alderman.

Toni Preckwinkle just might be in the mood to drop by Keegan's Pub and announce - "Bernard! Get a round for the folks from the Street to the Shithouse! How's about some Bumps and Beers? Who's up for some Shooters? Come on, you Coppers like nothing better than that - Shooters? Just kiddin'!"

Today, Laura Washington decided to test the waters around my raised ranch on Rockwell, after seeing a Poll conducted by the Tribune that puts the Honaorable Dorothy Brown -Pearls and All at Number one and Toni "Two Shoes" Preckwinkle at Numero Dos.

White voters, particularly along the lakefront, are ripe for Preckwinkle's 21st century-style "Washington coalition." She has picked up nods from progressives such as U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston and officeholders such as Aldermen Helen Shiller, Joe Moore and Mary Ann Smith.

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), the city's first openly gay alderman, is still on the fence, but he says voters in his Lake View ward are split 50/50. "If the election were held today, the race would be between Toni and Terry," he told me Wednesday. Tunney adds that Stroger has gotten an unfair rap on the county tax issue, but concedes "people want to see a change from Todd."

Talk about change. Another reality check: A recent Chicago Sun-Times report that Preckwinkle may be breaking ground in -- gasp -- the white ethnic enclaves on the city's Southwest and Northwest sides.

Matt O'Shea is an O'Brien backer and committeeman in the "heavily Irish" Southwest Side 19th Ward. "Everybody thinks that if the ballot remains the same, it'll be a walk for Terry O'Brien, but I don't think so," he told the Sun-Times. "Toni Preckwinkle has the ability to reach out to a lot of white voters."

Toni might do a Western Avenue Death March and announce naming a street after Saul Bellow.

Losers have potential! Keep Hope Alive and watch out for open manholes!