The Mystery of Col. Ellis' Death -Imperial Japan's Hand, the Bottle, or Both.

1920's Marines with a giant snake -Click on the photos for a better view. These guys were real swamp people. This was taken in the Philippines.


Guam University Professor of Micronesian Studies Dirk Anthony Balendorf and Merrill L. Bartlett have written a book about the Marine officer who along with Air Corps General Billy Mitchell realized the threat of Imperial Japan's naval ambitions in the Pacific. While Mitchell argued for an Air Corps separate from the United States Army
and capable of bombing ships from on high, Earl Hancock "Pete" Ellis articulated a strategy and the tactics for dealing with island warfare across the vast Pacific. This book, Pete Ellis: An Amphibious Warfare Prophet, 1880-1923 is based on the papers prepared by Prof. Balendorf in Micronesian JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Vol. 1, nº 1–2 December 2002 linked directly to my post title.

Balendorf's thesis holds that while the death of the Marine/spy in 1923 casts suspicion on Japan for it, the study of the extant records present a case that is purely circumstantial against Japan and moreso at Ellis' love of the bottle.

In any case, Baledorf's scholarly paper reads like a Raymond Chandler novel. Click my post title and read the whole paper.

1920 China Marine's view of his world.

Here below is a summary presented on a website dedicated to the death and subsequent inquiry concerning Pete Ellis:

Lieutenant Colonel Earl Hancock Ellis U.S. Marine Corps, was the author of Advance Base Operations in Micronesia, which formed the basis for Marine Corps Operations Plan 712H for war against Japan. Disguised as a trader, he smuggled himself into Micronesia in November 1922 in order to make a field study of his operations plan.However, half a year later, on 12 May 1923, his delirium tremens from alcoholism grew worse and he died, refusing a Japanese physician's medication. Immediately after his death, and also during the Pacific War, there were suggestions that he was poisoned by the Japanese. Even after the war the whole story still was not cleared up.This paper draws on some of the historical sources kept at the National Institute for Defense Studies of Japan, the Japanese Diplomatic Record Office, and the U.S. Marine Corps Historical Division to clear up the facts. Why did the argument that Ellis was poisoned arise in the United States, and why did the Colonel become a hero ?


Infiltration into Micronesia

　　　　　　　　　Major General John Archer Lejune, U.S Marine Corps, Ellis' superior in his Philippines and European days, was appointed Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps on 30 June 1920. On 20 August Ellis sent a letter to the new Commandant emphasizing the need to collect information in the Pacific in order to prepare for future war. Ellis proposed to make the reconnaissance himself, and to take every measure to ensure that the United States would not be embarrassed by his operations.１ Probably as the result of this action, Ellis was assigned to the Marine Corps Headquarters, Operations and Training Division in December 1920. In April of the next year, he completed his study Advance Base Operations in Micronesia, which was adapted as Marine Corps Operations Plan 712H in July, and then incorporated into the Joint Army and Navy War“Plan Orange" in 1924, the first U.S. Joint Army-Navy war plan against Japan.２

　　　　　　　After the completion of his study, Ellis requested of General Lejeune a three month leave in order to determine places suitable for landing operations and investigate Japanese defenses in Micronesia. His departure was delayed by hospitalization for alcoholism, but he left San Francisco in August bound for Australia by way of Samoa and Fiji３.In Sydney, he asked the Japanese Consulate General for a visa for entry into Micronesia, disguising himself as a representative of Hughes Trading Co, headquartered in New York City and operated by a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer４. However, finding no ship available for the passage from Australia to Micronesia, he left for Japan and reached Yokohama via the Philippines in early August, 1922. On 12 August his chronic nephritis grew worse as a result of heavy drinking, and he was hospitalized at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokohama, then operating in support of the U.S Siberian expedition of WW Ⅰ. Although he left the hospital temporarily, he was forcibly returned by ambulance from the Yokohama Grand Hotel on 20 September.

　　　　　　　　Ellis was returned to the hospital because the American Naval Attache in Tokyo, Captain Lyman H. Cotten, USN, feared that Japanese counter-intelligence might become aware of Ellis and his mission. Ellis was seen frequently in bars and shabby Geisha houses in Yokohama and had been reported to be saying that he was selected by Washington to spy on treaty violations by the Japanese goverment in Micronesia. Captain Cotten conferred with Commander Ulysses R. Webb, Medical Corps, USN, Commanding Officer of the U.S. Naval Hospital, Yokohama and decided to hospitalize and quarantine Ellis for security reasons before forcibly returning him to the United States.

　　　　　　　Captain Cotten had desired Ellis's immediate departure for the United States, but Commander Webb thought that Ellis was in extremely poor physical condition and needed to regain at least some of his strength. Cotten and Webb agreed to keep Ellis hospitalized for some time. However, Ellis became aware of the plans for his coercive return, and fled the hospital on the night of 6 October, evading the surveillance of Chief Pharmacist Lieutenant Lawrence Zembsch, USN.５ Post-war investigations revealed that he boarded the Kasuga Maru of the Nanyo Boeki Kaisha(South Sea Trading Co)line at Kobe, and after calling at Saipan, Yap, Jaluit, Truk and other islands, Ellis arrived at Koror in the Palau Islands in mid-March 1923.


(2)Japan-U.S. Contacts in Tokyo After Ellis's Death

　　　　　　　The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo was notified of the death of Ellis by the Japanese South Sea Islands Government Office. At 0620 on 21 May 1923, the following cablegram reached the State Department from U.S. Embassy Tokyo.A copy of the cablegram was passed to the Commandant of the Marine Corps Major General Lejeune via Captain Luke McNamee, the Director of Naval Intelligence.

　　　　　　 “I AM INFORMED BY GOVERNOR GENERAL OF JAPANESE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS THAT R.H.ELLIS, REPRESENTATIVE OF HUGHES TRADING COMPANY, #2 RECTOR ST., NEW YORK CITY, HOLDER OF DEPARTMENT PASSPORT NO.40249, DIED AT PARAO(sic), CAROLINE ISLANDS ON MAY 12TH. REMAINS AND EFFECTS IN POSSESSION OF GOVERNMENT AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS, WILSON ".６

　　　　　　Captain Cotten was informed by Washington of the death of Ellis and instructed to receive his remains and effects.７ He immediately sent Assistant Naval Attache Lieutnant Garnet Hulings, USN to the Ministry of Marine. On 26 May, Lieutnant Hulings visited Commander Yasuo Ko, aide to the Minister of Marines, and notified him that Ellis was not a trader but a naval officer(sic) on active service, and he explained that he was instructed by Washington to receive Ellis' “body and effects" for confirmation purposes and to transport them to the U.S. Naval Hospital, Yokohama.８ Commander Ko informed Hulings that “although the South Sea Islands Government Office is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Marine, it has been entirely independent of the Navy since April of last year. Therefore, it is considered appropriate for you to conduct future negotiations with the South Sea Islands Government Office through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs". And he also replied to Hulings ; “ We wish to give notification to the local office of the South Sea Island Government Office for your convenience. However, as regards the matter of sending Ellis' body to Yokohama as you want, we are unable to answer you forthwith because it has been interred temporarily and the situation there is unknown. Therefore, we shall inform Palau by cable of the gist of your request and the fact that Mr Ellis is not a trader as stated in his passport but a United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel on active service".９

　　　　　　　　　Two days later, on 28 May, Hulings formally submitted the above request in writing.１０After Hulings' visit at the Ministry of Marine, the Japanese Navy informed the European and American Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs how the matter had developed, and what had been done about it by the Navy.１１ The Navy also asked the Bureau to resolve the matter. Probably for this reason, there is no further record of nogotiations between the American Embassy in Tokyo and the Japanese Navy. Upon obtaining Japanese consent, Captain Cotten decided to send Yokohama Naval Hospital's Chief Pharmacist Lieutnant Zembsch,USN, to Palau and gave him careful instructions on how to gather information.１２ Zembsch left Yokohama on 5 July aboard SS Tango Maru of the Nanyo Boeki Kaisha Line, he exhumed the remains of Ellis, cremated them, and started back with Ellis' ashes in a plain wooden box.

　　　　　　　　　When Zembsch visited Palau, the Japanese officials gathered all persons concerned with Ellis, including the immigration officer William Gibbons, Ellis's native wife Matauie, and the native police chief Jose Tellei, and others, and explained the situation to Zembsch. However, Zembsch, who had had no health problems before his departure, was attacked by diarrhea and high fever. He grew so weak in a month that by 14 August he could no longer recognize the people who came to meet him in Yokohama. Upon his return to Japan, he was immediately hospitalized in the U.S Naval Hospital in Yokohama. With medical care, Zembsch's memory had begun to return gradually when the great Kanto earthquake of 1 September 1923 struck, and Zembsch was killed in the collapse of the hospital building.

(3)Reactions in the American Press

　　　　　　　　　Because the cause of Ellis' death was not made known by the Japanese side, the American press, particularly the Hearst papers and the local press in his home state of Kansas, reported his death with imagination and malice. Such newspaper reports１３ can be summed up as follows:Ellis joined the Marine Corps as a private, and he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as a “most prominent" or “distinguished" Marine officer. During the First World War, in particular, he was awarded the Legion of Honor, the Croix de Guerre from France,and the Navy Cross from the U.S. Navy for his meritorious wartime services.While touring the Orient on a vacation (or on a special mission,according to some newspapers), Ellis died on 21 May 1923 in the Caroline Islands, then under the mandate of Japan. The first newspapers said that the Japanese Navy's notification of his death came only two weeks after his death, and the cause of his death had not yet been given. The newspapers described his death as “unexplained" or “mysterious", or referred to the rumor that Ellis was “accidentally killed".

　　　　　　　　　It was also reported that the Caroline where Ellis died constituted a militarily very important strategic point,lying between the Philippines-Guam combination and the United States mainland. Washington had received numerous reports that Japan had built a submarine base there. The newspaper also said that foreigners were not welcomed in the Carolines Islands because Japan had built a naval base and fortifications there in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. In August, two months after Ellis' death, it was reported again that the Japanese side had given no explanation about his death, under a sensational headline to the effect that the fine Marine Corps officer would be buried on a Japanese island with no light shed on the cause of his death. In addition, his forced hospitalization by Captain Cotten was reported in a different version: Ellis had been arrested in Tokyo by the Japanese Army authorities.

2 Arguments and Evidence Against the Poisoning Charge
(1)Why poison was suspected

　Why was the Japanese Navy suspected of poisoning Ellis in the United States, until just recently ？ It is presumably because American researchers did not refer to Japanese historical sources, but rather believed and drew their conclusions from Hearst papers and Arthur V.Herrman's account before the war, and Secret Mission and LCOL W.W.Worden USMC's report after the war.Before the war,besides the Hearst papers,Herrman's report were added. Arthur V. Herrman, an American trader of German ancestry,paid a visit on 23 May 1923 to Major General George Barnett at Headquarters, U.S Marine Corps Department of the Pacific, and informed Barnett that１４:

　（1) He saw Ellis on Kusaie, Eastern Caroline Islands, on 16 April 1923 and found him in good health. 　　　　Ellis told him that the Japanese were talking of the possibility of war between the United States 　　　　　and Japan.
　（2) A great many of the Japanese were drunk, and it was their intention to put Colonel Ellis in jail.
　（3) The Japanese wanted no foreigners on the island, and they were “very anxious" to get rid of Ellis.

　　　　　After the war, U.S.Navy Captain,Zacharias's inaccurate memoirs “Secret Mission" added to the confusion. In his book,he expressed suspicion of the Japanese Navy's behavior for the following reasons１５:

　　（1) The Japanese Navy's notification of Ellis' critical condition came on the day before his death. 　　　　　When Captain Cotten requested Ellis be returned as soon as possible, the Japanese Navy answered 　　　that a concrete response would be given within 24 hours.It was quite unusual for the Japanese 　　　　　Navy to answer so quickly and positively. Captain Cotten suspected the presence of some evil 　　　　　design behind it. He told Zacharias that Ellis would not come back alive.
　　（2) The next day a notice of Ellis' death came,together with the notification that his remains had 　　　　　been cremated.(Ibn fact,Ellis's body not been cremated and no such notification had been recieved)
　　　Cotten concluded that the cremation immediately following death must have been intended to 　　　　　　preclude the possibility of poison being detected by an American autopsy,and strengthened his 　　　　　　suspicion that Ellis' death was a Japanese Navy plot.
　　（3) When Captain Cotten told the Japanese Navy that he wanted to send Chief Pharmacist Zembsch 　　　to receive Ellis' remains, the Japanese Navy took a long time before approval in contrast with its 　　　　previous quick response.

　　　　　　Cotten considered this delay in response attributable to the Japanese Navy's bewilderment by an unexpected American request.
　　（4) After being kept waiting for a long time, Cotten received permisson and Zembsch departed. 　　　　　　Before his departure from Yokohama, many notifications came from the Japanese Navy, but 　　　　　　　stopped after departure.
　　　Cotten was notified of Zembsch's return only one day in advance, and was given no information whatsoever concerning his mental and physical deterioration.
　　（5) Upon arrival,Zembsch was only able to murmur incoherently. The Commanding Officer of the 　　　　　Naval Hospital suggested that Zembsch's condition resulted from the addition to his food of a 　　　　　　powerful narcotic such as morphine or opium.

　　　　　　　　These were the points which according to Zacharaias,aroused Cotten's suspicion, and Zacharaias concluded: the Japanese,who knew of Ellis' secret objectives, helped him to enter Micronesia. During the voyage, the captain of the Japanese freighter induced Ellis to drink a great deal. In Micronesia, Japanese there held drinking parties for Ellis, serving him sake containing a narcotic which killed him.Then in 1950,the U.S. Marine Corps sent Lieutenant Colonel Waite W. Worden, USMC to Palau to investigate. Worden interviewed survivors and obtained the following statements from those involved in the case.１６

☆ Statement of Ngerdako Gibbons the widow of immigration officer William Gibbons, half caste son of Jamaican Negro.
　　　　　　　Upon his arrival in Palau, Ellis stayed for a week at the home of Gibbons, the one of only English speaking persons on Koror at that time. Gibbons had, at Ellis' request, obtained for him a house in the native district and introduced him to a 25-year-old native girl,Metauie, who became Ellis' Palauan wife. Ellis went out every day under the pretext of taking a stroll, but his activities were constantly under the watch of the Japanese or native police.Ellis drank all the sake, whisky or beer that he could lay his hands on. Once, when he asked Gibbons for more drink and was told that there was no more. Ellis destroyed a wall of Gibbons's house, suspecting that some might be hidden there.On the day of his death, Ellis was “crazy drunk" from the morning and died at about five o'clock in the afternoon. Gibbons made a coffin and buried Ellis at the native graveyard the next day.

☆Statement of Ellis' native wife,Metauie
　　　　　She lived with Ellis for six weeks until his death. He told her that he was a civilian. She did not know that he was a Marine Corps officer.He always went out, saying that he would take a stroll. She did not know what he actually did. Ellis always drank, and particularly in the two weeks preceding his death his drinking increased. She "believed" that “too much sake" killed him.

☆Statement of native police senior officer Jose Tellei
　　　　　Ellis arived in Koror in April 1923, but nobody suspected he was a spy. However, the police chief, a Japanese, apparently considered him suspicious, for he ordered a plainclothesman to tail and watch Ellis constantly.
These contents were essentially correct, but finally Worden concluded by his own comment that “Ellis was suspected by the Japs as being a spy, and to the extent that they constantly shadowed him, it may be that he was poisoned. With Ellis'apparent unquenchable thirst, and his frantic searches at times for something to drink, it would not have been too difficult to poison him"

(2)Counter-evidence in Japanese Materials
　　　　　　　　　　The Tokyo Embassy's cablegram of 21 May to the U.S. State Department contained the expression the “Remains and Effects", Lieutenant Hulings said “Body and Belongings" on the 26th, and he used words “Body and Effects" in the memorandum of 28th May. All this indicates that both Washington and the American Embassy in Tokyo knew that Ellis' body had not been cremated.
There is another relevant record, a cablegram of 31 May from the Resident Naval Officer in the South Sea Islands.１７
It reads as follows:

　　　　TO AIDE TO MINISTER OF MARINE AND NAVY GENERAL STAFF
　　　　FROM RESIDENT NAVAL OFFICER, SOUTH SEA ISLANDS
　　　　DATE 31 MAY 1923
　　　　　ELLIS, AMERICAN ALLEGEDLY ON COMMERCIAL INSPECTION TOUR, DIED FROM 　　　　　　　　　　　ALCOHOLISM ON KOROR ON TWELTH MAY. NO MILITARY PAPERS FOUND IN HIS 　　　　　　　　　　　EFFECTS.HE IS SAID TO BE COMMANDER ON ACTIVE SERVICE. IF TRUE, HE IS CONSIDERED 　　　　TO HAVE OBTAINED TRAVEL PERMIT BY FALSIFYING HIS OCCUPATION. IS IT ALL RIGHT TO 　　　　TURN HIS EFFECTS OVER TO AMERICAN AUTHORITIES？URGENTLY AWAITING YOUR 　　　　　　　　　INSTRUCTION.

　　　　　　It is considered normal in the case of a premeditated design to make an immediate report on its success to a limited number of people.The above cablegram is remarkable in that:
　　（1) It was sent three weeks after the death of Ellis and ten days after the Japanese Navy's receipt 　　　　of information on the death from the South Sea Island Goverment Office.
　　（2) It was addressed to both the Aide to the Naval Minister and to the Chief of the Naval General 　　　　　Staff.

　　　　　In addition, the Bureau of General Affairs official who recieved the cablegram (whose identity is unknown because this seal is undecipherable) wrote a note in the margin of the cablegram : “An improper action, but overlook it so we can use it as a countercharge,in case we are blamed for doing the same thing". Is it not possible to understand from this that the Japanese Navy was not involved in the affair？ When Zembsch visited Palau, the Resident Naval Officer in the South Seas reported as follows :１８

　　　　　TO AIDE FOR NAVY MINISTER AND CHIEF OF NAVAL GENERAL STAFF
　　　　　FROM RESIDENT NAVAL OFFICER, SOUTH SEA ISLANDS
　　　　　DATE 29 JULY, 1923
　　　　　CHIEF PHARMACIST OF U.S.NAVAL HOSPITAL,YOKOHAMA,ARRIVED HERE ON 21 JULY. 　　　　　　　　BRANCH OFFICE CHIEF DELIVERY OF ELLIS' BODY AND EFFECTS TO ZEMBSCH AND 　　　　　　　　　OTHER DISPOSALS COMPLETED.
　　　　　CREMATION SCHEDULED FOR TWENTY SEVEN JULY WITHOUT OPENING COFFIN TO
　　　　　EXAMINE DEAD BODY.１９ IT APPEARS AS IF CAUSE OF DEATH IS FULLY UNDERSTOOD.

　　　　　　　The above cablegram suggests a sense of relief that American understanding was obtained and that any suspicions were cleared up. The Japanese Navy transferred the matter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in the process the Aide to the Minister of Marine forgot to answer the 31 May cablegram from the Resident South Sea Naval Officer urgently requesting instructions. So on the 14th of June, the Resident South Seas Naval Officer once again sent a cablegram saying that he was waiting for an urgent reply on the matter of the Ellis, as cabled on 29 May.２０ Is it not possible to interpret this to show that the Japanese Navy thought so lightly of the matter that the Aide for the Naval Minister forgot to answer？

3 Who Falsified the Truth ?

　　　　　　　　Why did the case arouse suspicion in the United States and within its Navy？ Probably because neither the South Sea Islands Government Office nor the Japanese Navy did, or rather could tell the American the cause of Ellis's death or the name of his disease.The cablegram２１ received by the Japanese Navy from the South Sea Islands Government Office reads:

　　R.H.ELLIS 43, REPRESENTATIVE OF HUGHES & CO., RECTOR ST. 2 NEW YORK, PASSPORT 　　　　　　NO.40249, LANDED HERE ABOARD TAIAN MARU AFTER TOUR ON ISLANDS. BUT WHILE WAITING 　　FOR SHIP BOUND FOR MENADO, HE DIED FROM SHINSHINSENMOSHO AT SIX PM ON TWELFTH 　　MAY.
　　DEAD BODY WAS BURIED TEMPORARILY AND HIS EFFECTS ARE KEPT IN CUSTODAY.

　　　　　　　　The Japanese Navy couldn't understand what the disease name “SHINSHINSENMOSHO" meant, because there is no such name medically. In the margin of the cablegram is the note “A kind of dementia". On 30 May, four days after Hulings' visit to the Japanese Navy Ministry, the Resident Naval Officer in the South Seas Islands reported that Ellis died from alcoholism. But there is no trace that the report was made to the U.S. Naval Attache in Tokyo. Why was the report not made known to the American side？ Because just as Zacharaias and Cotten could not believe, in view of Ellis' behavior in Yokohama, that he was going to Micronesia under secret orders from Washington,２０the Japanese Navy must have found it hard to accept the fact that a U.S. Naval Commander (misidentified as such by the Japanese Navy) could have died from alcoholism. Particulary because the honor of an individual and the United States Navy was involved, the Japanese Navy may well have hesitated to conclude from a single report of the Resident Naval Officer in the South Sea Islands that Ellis was an alcoholic.

　　　　　　　　Also because the matter had been transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Navy may have let the matter drop. As mentioned above, the suspicion that Ellis was poisoned is considered to have arisen from the fact that all relevant writings on the American side were based on contemporary newspaper and Zacharaias' writings which were entirely different from the truth. What caused Zacharaias' misunderstanding？ At that time, Zacharaias was a junior officer and language student. Did he misunderstand because he was not directly concerned with the case？ However, he writes that he was a “witnessed" the case. Careful perusal of his memoirs reveals that he discussed delicate matters with the Naval Attache while gathering information in Japan.In September 1921, he was ordered to get the Japanese Navy's intentions of the Washington Naval Conference, and dined with Captain Kichisaburou Nomura and Osami Nagano. In consequence, Zacharaias writes, he successfully obtained the information that the Japanese Navy would agree to the American proposal for Naval limitations.２２

　　　　　　　　　As can be seen, Zacharaias was somewhat involved in intelligence work in Japan. But the next point must be considered that, at that time Captain Nagano was in Washington as the Japanese Naval Attache. According to Zacharaias' memoirs, Cotten often consulted him and informed him about Ellis' behavior, forced hospitalization, and escape from hospital. Why does Zacharaias' memoirs differ so markedly from the truth？ Forethermore,while the English edition of his memoirs contains a chapter on Ellis, as The Strange Case of “Colonel X", but the Japanese edition omits this chapter so closely related to Japan, saying “Several chapters in the original which are not particularly related to Japan are omitted, partly in compliance with the author's request.２３ Why？

　　　　　　　　　Japanese authorities may have placed Ellis under surveillance because he was a foreigner, but Japan did not know he was a Marine Corps Officer on active service, until the receipt of Hulings' memorandum. If Captain Cotten or the United States Navy had not attempted to get information on Micronesia by turning Ellis' death to good account,２４ the Ellis case would have been dealt with simply as the unfortunate case of an American traveler's death. Ellis's accident happened just three months after the Washington Naval Conference, and his mission and behavior were embarrassments to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. In order to cover up Ellis's “improper action"２５, and to protect the U.S. Marine Corps, Ellis must be a hero.

　　　　　　　　　　So probably, facts were gradually confused because the circumstances of Ellis' death were not clear. The suspicion regarding his death was amplified by Zembsch's death. Ellis served for many years under Lejeune,Commandant of the Marine Corps for thirteen years under three U.S. Presidents, and he acted with Lejeune's understanding. Ellis' adventurous and tragic actions were to the liking of the Americans. From an American point of view, he was a hero who smuggled himself into Micronesia, after long travels to Australia, Philippines and Japan in spite of his illness. He took a native Palauan girl to wife. And finally, he was poisoned by the Japanese Navy while engaging in espionage for the Marine Corps.

　　　　　　　　　The case of Ellis increased the American distrust and suspicion of Japan with regard to Micronesia. The growing distrust and suspicion were capitalized upon by advocates of racial discrimination and those fearful of a perceived military menace. In particular, the Marine Corps felt threatened postwar armament and manning reductions, and they were urging re-expansion,the developmenmt of amphibious operations,and improved amphious landing capability against Japan. Today the Amphibious Training building at the Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia, is named Ellis Hall.

　　　　　　　Earl Hancock Ellis
　　　　　　　Lieutenant Colonel　United States Marine Corps
　　　　　　　Pioneer Amphibious Prophet - War Planner
　　　　　　　Born At Iuka,Kansas, 19 Dec 1880
　　　　　　　He Forecast The Eventual Amphibious Struggle For the Pacific
　　　　　　　And Gave His Life For His Country As An Intelligence Officer
　　　　　　　At Koror Town In The Japanese Palau Islands 12 May 1923
　　　　　　　His Character Was A Most Lovable One And His Heart Was
　　　　　　　Dauntless And Full Of Courage
　　　　　　　John A Lejeune

Great sources on Ellis:

http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~y.hirama/yh_e_papers_ellis.html
http://marshall.csu.edu.au/MJHSS/Issue2002/MJHSS02-03.pdf
http://www.usni.org/store/books/biography-memoirs/pete-ellis-0
http://chinamarine.org/

Lt. Col. Earl Hancock Ellis (1880-1923): Marine, Visionary and Spy

Sixty-seven years ago, my late father was an eighteen year old Marine who survived the landing on Guam's Red Beach 2 with Able Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, the slaughter on Bundschu Ridge where only he and a dozen other Marines were not killed or terribly wounded, the largest and most savage Banzai charge of the Pacific war and fighting toward the northern jungles of Guam in the Marianas. Guam was American soil and had been taken by Japan hours after Pearl Harbor. From 1941-1944, America captured islands from Japan through amphibious assault. Vast fleets of ships brought troops to shore, covered by air and ship-to-shore bombardments from plans developed by a Marine officer in the 1920's. Though Guam was declared secured on August 10, 1944, fighting on Guam would continue after Japan surrendered.

Twenty one years before and a year before my Dad's birth, another Marine, a forty-three year old Lieutenant Colonel and the man who developed amphibious warfare doctrine, on authorized leave and in the guise of an American Businessman for the Hughes Trading Company died under mysterious circumstances on the Japanese controlled islands of Palau group in the Caroline Islands. Earl Hancock "Pete" Ellis joined the Marines in 1900 in Chicago, Illinois, as a private. Ellis served on Guam and the Philippines and was commissioned as an officer in 1901.

From 1901 up to WWI, Pete Ellis earned a reputation as planning genius and as a violent alcoholic. Ellis proved, on Guam during an exercise, that heavy artillery could be successfully landed in an amphibious attack. During a very dull dinner with a Navy chaplain, Ellis livened things up by shooting the glasses off of the dinner table. The balance of genius and self-destruction kept Pete Ellis in the game.

During WWI, Ellis rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and directed operations and planning for the 4th Marine Brigade through the Armistice. For his courage and genius French Marshal Foch awarded the Marine Brigade honors still worn of the uniforms of certain regiments and said this of Pete Ellis, "From the 2nd to the 10th of October, 1918, near Blanc Mont, Lieutenant Colonel Ellis has shown a high sense of duty. Thanks to his intelligence, his courage and hi energy, the operations that this Brigade (Fourth Brigade, Second Division) took part in, have always been successful."

Military men should and do plan for the next war and Ellis was certain that America would face the growing ambitions of Japan in a vast and bloody conflict on the earth's greates ocean. The Pacific and Japan dominated Ellis' thoughts and energies, but beer and whiskey controlled his blood stream and toxified his vital organs. Lt. Col. was hospitalized several times for alcohol related illnesses immediately after the World War, but, in 1920,he energetically drafted a study for the necessity to plan for war across the Pacific Ocean.

"Operation Plan 712 - Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia", which underlined that in the events of hostilities of Japan, advanced bases would be required to support the fleet. To include that the Territory of Hawaii constituted the 'only' support for the United States Navy due to the lack of facilities in the Philippines and Guam. In since, Japan has already occupied the Marshall, Caroline, and the Palau Islands, which flanked the U.S. lines of communications in the region by more than 2,300 miles. Ellis's conclusion in his document predicted that Japan will initiate the war, and furthermore indicating that Japan would stay near their own territorial waters until encountered by the U.S. fleet. He also added that great losses to the Marine forces would occur during the amphibious assault in what he termed "ship-shore belt". He advised the war planners to avoid 'blue-water' transfers, to form task forces prior to leaving base ports, and not to divide units up among several transports.

'... a major fleet action would decide the war in the Pacific; the U.S. fleet would be 25 percent superior to that of the enemy; the enemy would hold his main fleet within his defense line; fleet unites must be husbanded; preliminary activities of the U.S fleet must be accomplished with a minimum of assets; Marine Corps forces must be self-sustaining; long, drawn-out operations must be avoided to afford the greatest protection to the fleet; sea objectives must include a fleet anchorage.'[

Wikipedia

It is at this point the Father of Amphibious Warfare asked for and received the permission of Marine Corps Commendant John Lejune and Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. to quietly resign his commission and travel incognito through Japan's expanding Pacific empire.

A recent biography and study of Lt. Col. Ellis by Dirk Anthony Balendorf and Merrill L. Bartlett probes the mysterious death of Ellis and the loss of the charts, maps, tide schedules, and reports that were confiscated by the Japanese upon his death.

Tomorrow, I will post more on this fascinating American.

Ripped Educators! Ripped from the Pages of The Boone Examiner

One Man's Socrates is another man's MethMaster. Two gents who share my vocation in West Virginia now face more than a few semesters in the Iron Ivy League.

In a story we have been following for nearly two months, West Virginia State Police have arrested Keith Phipps and Jack Turley for meth precursor chemical offenses.
It had been reported earlier that the pair were being investigated for allegedly buying and smoking meth on school property in Boone County. Charges have not been filed directly relating to those allegations.
Phipps was arrested on a misdemeanor warrant for excessive purchase of pseudoephedrine (a meth* precursor chemical) in a month.
Turley was arrested on an 8-count Kanawha County felony warrant for excessive purchase of pseudoephedrine and other meth precursor chemicals.
Phipps was the principal at Boone County Career and Technical Center
and Turley was a teacher there. The Boone Examiner

This stuff is brutal. Yet, we hear voices to make drugs legal.

*Methamphetamine increases alertness, concentration, energy, and in high doses, can induce euphoria, enhance self-esteem, and increase libido. Methamphetamine has high potential for abuse and addiction by activating the psychological reward system via triggering a cascading release of dopamine in the brain. In the United States, methamphetamine is FDA approved for the treatment of ADHD and exogenous obesity, dispensed in the USA under the trademark name Desoxyn.
As a result of methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity to dopaminergic neurons, chronic abuse may also lead to symptoms which persist beyond the withdrawal period for months, and even up to a year. Research has found that 20% of methamphetamine addicts experience a psychosis resembling schizophrenia which persists for longer than six months post-methamphetamine use; this amphetamine psychosis can be resistant to traditional treatment. In addition to psychological harm, physical harm, primarily consisting of cardiovascular damage, may occur with chronic misuse or acute overdose.[Wikipedia

The Comedy of Our Epic Time

Obama website


"A man cannot have character unless he lives within a fundamental system of morals that creates character." Harry S. Truman


Last night I watched the news on ABC at 5:30 - The World News With Aging Cheerleader Diane Sawyer: Debt Ceiling Crisis X 5, The monster of Norway X two, Amy Winehouse, Happy Meals for Fat Kids, Bear Attacks 7 Youths Learning About the Dangers of Bear Attacks,The French Dude who beat the rape rap and some other stuff.

Diane Sawyer is really not fun to watch and seems to have the personality of a dial tone. I 86'd ABC News and caught the exchange between White House Press Wrangler Jay Carney - the kid always appears to be on the verge of tears.

I was tossing towels and cloths in and out of baskets in the endless assembly line of laundry and watched the comedy that is our times. We worry about the weight of other peoples children and wring-hands over the death of a talented girl who seemed determine to kill herself. We feast on nonsense and then endlessly analyze the stool samples.



Here it is in transcript:

Q Jay, why not release the last offer that Boehner made? I mean, instead of -- if you don’t want to release your own plan, release that plan. If that’s the deal -- if that’s the last offer he made and you guys are willing to go back with a few minor tweaks, release it. It’s the last week -- release it.



MR. CARNEY: I’m not going to -- look, we have shown a lot of leg on what we were proposing --



Q Where?



MR. CARNEY: From the podium, right here. (Laughter.) And from the Roosevelt Room. Certainly the Speaker of the House can address, or his people can address what they were -- what their last offer was. They claim that they walked away from the table because of the $400 billion --



Q Why not you do it? If they throw it out there and then you’re --



MR. CARNEY: The President stood here -- Chuck, again, I can’t remember if you were here -- it might have been Kristen -- but the President stood here on Friday night and went into great detail. You should look at the transcript. The President’s people met --



Q I understand, I’ve seen the transcript -- there’s still nothing out there. Why not just release that plan?



MR. CARNEY: Is it because you -- I mean, look, you need something printed for you, you can’t write it down? There is ample detail --

Harry they hardly know you!

HuffingTon Post Chicago's Most Walkable Neighborhoods: Us not You

I don't know the South Side - but on the North Side nothing compares to Andersonvi­lle. Darling comment on today's Huffington Post Chicago!

Gentry liberalism has established a strong presence on the Internet, where such websites as MoveOn.org and the Huffington Post are lavishly funded by well-heeled liberals. These and other sites generally focus on foreign policy, gay rights, abortion and other social issues, as well as the environment. Traditional middle-class concerns such as the unavailability of affordable housing, escalating college tuitions and the shrinking number of manufacturing jobs usually don't rank as top concerns.

Kotkin and Seigel 2007

Let's walk this one through. If you are a working stiff, married with children, paying taxes, if Catholic, or Rahm Emanuel two tuitions for private schools attended by your kids and public schools for everyone else, belong to the skilled trades, serve the public as a police officer, fireman, teacher, nurse, city worker, or mid-level professional, you are the problem

Your carbon footprint is keeping down Capt. Planet and his Green Rangers, because you own a home, run air-conditioning, have two vehicles ( you and the Missus) which you use to drive to work, to WalMart/Sam's Club/Best Buy/ Outlet Malls and to your rentals in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.

You do not take Public Transportation, you bastards!!!!! You need to get to feed your breed, see them set for school with lunches and hugs, and fight traffic in order to get to work on time.

The Walkable Gentry Neighborhoods with loft one bedroom condos starting at $145,000 like the ones in Printers Row, for a better Class of Person to walk to Whole Foods, CSO, Galleries, Bistros, and Venues are what you are not. You and your breed need to live in bedroom communities like Edison Park, Albany Park, Garfield Ridge, Clearing, Midway, Chicago Lawn, Gresham, Brainerd, Chatham, Grand Crossing, Hegewisch, Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood. Yep, I do.

My kids, parented by this single old widower Dad, needed to go to Catholic Schools. Damn my eyes.

I, like thousands of my tax-paying neighbors who bucked up for the TIFS and snappy wrought iron street scapes in Printers Row, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Old Town, and other walkable communities, can catch a bus every forty minutes on Western Ave., but that would necessitate forgoing child care in order to schedule a proper and timely path to work. Instead, we tend to drive all the streets we can in order to make it to the Dan Ryan, the Tri-State and the Stevenson and road rage it to work. Just kidding, we helots, in fact, tend to be more courteous and safe drivers . . .as a demographic of course.

When not carbonate-ing Mother Earth, we do, in fact, walk.

We walk to Mass on Sunday; the kids walk to St. Cajetan, St. Barnabas, St. John Fisher, Queen of Martyrs, Christ the King, St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Christina and St. Walter. Some walk to the very excellent Morgan Park Academy which is way out of my wallet and a few others walk to Sutherland, Clissold, and Mount Greenwood CPS elementary schools.

After school the kids bike or walk to Kennedy, Beverly, Monroe, Mount Greenwood and Ridge Parks for parish athletics ( football mostly but some basketball and volleyball) and Little League in the summers.

We walk to Jewel on 103rd Street. County Fair on Western, Fair Play on 111th, CVS and Walgreen pharmacies every twenty feet, Java Express, Beverly Bean, Dunkin Donuts and Kean Gas for coffee and even a . . .Starbucks!!!!!!!! on Longwood at 103rd. Street

Why shucks there's even an art gallery, Jack Simmerling's Heritage Gallery, a few paces from the Starbucks as well as Calabria Imports, and a gourmet cuisine shoppe. Shoot we got us a castle to look at on Longwood at 103rd Street.

I have no doubt that every neighborhood is walkable in some manner, though hitting the sidewalk with your rump facing the in-coming rounds might be de riguer on your ambulation in some food desert communities.

Making the comfortable cozier is too often the role of the Media. Watching WTTW, listening to Public Radio or glancing at the organs lapped up by soul-patch knit cap crowd of trust-funded urban adventurers, and hipster-doofus hangers-on, would tend to make one believe that living a happy, productive and community centered life is a bad thing. The Walk Against Breast Cancer** began in Chicago's helot neighborhoods.


Huffington Post Chicago, serial Gold Digger Arianna Huffington's bully dunghill for affluent Progressives offers the Chicago's Ten (10) Most Walkable Neighborhoods and they are - Printers Row, Near North, Gold Coast,Sheridan Park, Dearborn Park, Noble Square, Park West, Old Town, Lincoln Square and Dearborn Park. That settles it.

Get this explanation:

According to Walk Score, their ranking is intended to measure how easy it is to live a car-free or "car-lite" lifestyle in any given location. The site's algorithm awards points based on the distance an address is from any number of amenities including parks, coffee shops and grocery stores. (The score doesn't, the site notes, take into account pedestrian design or safety.) The site argues that better walkability can help an area's environment, health, property values and even community involvement.

Looking deeper into Walk Score's Chicago report (with a nerdy-fun map to match), HuffPost Chicago wanted to highlight the top ten neighborhoods identified by the site, the majority of which are within walking distance to Lake Michigan.

While some of the neighborhood names are a bit dubious -- when was the last time you heard someone neighborhood-drop that they live in Dearborn Park or Park West? -- the rankings are interesting nonetheless. Chicago's walk score averages 74 (out of 100), while all the top 10 neighborhoods cleared the 94 marker.

Really? All of the neighborhoods deemed "walkable" by the good folks at Huffington Post Chicago happen to be home to Chicago's Gentry Liberal* demographic. And that Greek pastry, Arianna, worries about Class? You either got or you haven't got Class,because you work at it. Class does not come with a trust-fund, or the hook-'em-through the lips divorce settlement paperwork.

The point of these trendy polls is not to inform, but to exclude. Fair enough.

Take a walk.



Mighty nice out!

*

But what kind of liberalism is emerging as the dominant voice in the Democratic Party?
Well, it isn't your father's liberalism, the ideology that defended the interests and values of the middle and working classes. The old liberalism had its flaws, but it also inspired increased social and economic mobility, strong protections for unions, the funding of a national highway system and a network of public parks, and the development of viable public schools. It also invented Social Security and favored a strong foreign policy.

Today's ascendant liberalism has a much different agenda. Call it "gentry liberalism." It's not driven by the lunch-pail concerns of those workers struggling to make it in an increasingly high-tech, information-based, outsourcing U.S. economy -- though it does pay lip service to them.

Rather, gentry liberalism reflects the interests and values of the affluent winners in the era of globalization and the beneficiaries of the "financialization" of the economy. Its strongholds are the tony neighborhoods and luxurious suburbs in and around New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco and West Los Angeles. . . .

Although many of the newly affluent are -- as is traditional -- politically conservative, a rising number of them are turning left. Surveys done by the Pew Research Center indicate that an increasing number of households with annual incomes greater than $135,000 -- the nation's top 10% -- are moving toward the Democrats. In 1995, there were nearly twice as many Republicans (46%) as Democrats (25%) in this category. Today, there are as many Democrats (31%) as Republicans (32%).

The political upshot is that Democrats now control the majority of the nation's wealthiest congressional districts, according to Michael Franc of the conservative Heritage Foundation.

In part, this is because the Democratic gains in the 2006 elections were in affluent districts once held by the Republicans. In Iowa, for instance, the three wealthiest districts now send Democrats to Washington, and the two poorest are safe Republican seats.

Perhaps the best indicator of the growing political power of gentry liberals, however, is their ability to generate campaign contributions. Chiefly drawing on Wall Street, Hollywood and the Silicon Valley, this year's Democratic presidential candidates have raised 70% more money than their GOP counterparts, according to the Wall Street Journal. The securities industry, which awarded Republicans 58% of their campaign dollars in 1956, gave the GOP only 45% in 2006. In the newest sectors of the securities industry, most notably hedge funds, Democrats are favored. This year, hedge fund managers have given 77% of their contributions to Democrats in congressional races, reported the Journal.

Gentry liberalism is not an entirely new phenomenon. Its intellectual roots can be traced to historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.'s 1948 book, "The Vital Center." Schlesinger himself was the archetype of the gentry liberal. A product of Harvard University, he was as comfortable in the fashionable precincts of Manhattan's Upper East Side as he was advising presidents in Washington. Schlesinger was suspicious of the traditional liberalism of President Truman, who baldy appealed to the basic interests of returning middle- and working-class veterans of World War II.

**

May 2011 -- At 8 a.m., Sun., May 8, thousands will fill the streets of the historic Beverly Hills/Morgan Park neighborhood for the annual Beverly Breast Cancer Walk.

What began as a small walk among friends is now the largest of its kind in Chicago’s Southwest area. The walk’s evolution honors the lively spirit of its participants. It also shows a resolve to continue battling a disease that has touched so many.

The three-mile route starts in Ridge Park (96th and Longwood Drive) and includes historic Longwood Drive. To help alleviate parking, a trolley service will transport walkers from the east end of Little Company of Mary’s parking lot at 95th and California.

The annual event has raised more than $1 million for breast cancer treatment. Register early to receive a T-shirt with your $30 entry fee. The entry fee for children ages 18 and under is $15. Same-day registration is $5 more and shirt sizes are not guaranteed. To register for the Beverly Breast Cancer Walk visit www.beverlybreastcancerwalk.org or call 708-229-5066. To take a free breast cancer on-line risk assessment visit www.pursuingpainfreecancer.org/breast .

My Irish Tan and Leo High School Culture

Irish tan
An Irish tan occurs when a very pale-skinned Irish person gets too much sun, causing their skin to become even more red and uneven. An Irish tan is not a sunburn; turning red and splotchy is just how some very fair Irish-Americans tan. Urban Dictionary

The day off at Leo High School, and yet I rose before Phoebus as is my habit. The Busy old sun who bothers lovers' locked arms and bids farmers to hie to the fields of corn and soy bean and the daily assessment about God and the Government in league to cheat a man, as well as that bastard Cotter over to the grain elevator in Herscher . . .; the Sun who bakes and breeds.

I showered and did not shave. I eschewed my nattier work day wear, for Chicago Yeomanry togs - a Leo High School polo and my white-guy hillbilly denim shorts and play shoes. Looking good,Hombre! Out into misting morning air.

I needed my morning amble for coffee and took the long route east so I could swing by CVS on Western at 111th Street and pick up some stuff that I forgot to get yesterday and County Fair opens at 8AM.

At 109th & Western next to the Dubliner Pub a crowd of maybe thirty folks, mostly African American, were lined up for jobs at the Security Guard Company. Folks would wait another hour or so in order to beat back the waves of economic mayhem, God Bless Them.

CVS was emptier than a politician's words and I picked my items discounted by the handy red Extra Care Pays You Back card. I reflected on my tasks today.

Leo High School is hosting a Comedy Night on the Friday after Thanksgiving at the Beverly Fine Arts Center just parallel to my morning's manly amble.

I needed to call back Leo Man, Comedian and Green Activist Paul Kelly about the performers - Leo Lions all and Kings of Comedy: John Caponera, Soups Campbell, Paul Kelly, and Kenny Howell.

Leo Men are rock-ribbed givers - not philanthropists, Philanthropists generally make more from their charity giving than they actually dispense. Witness Oprah, Bill Gates, Michael Jordan and the robber barons of old Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt. No, Leo Men, like people and foundations of good will, give. Huge difference.

Leo Men also will say exactly what is on their minds. I noted this fact in 1995 when I attended my first Leo Banquet at the now vanished Martinique/Drury Lane Theater. I was carrying three big boxes of Leo Sweatshirts for sale, through a throng of Brawny Stalwarts from the 1930's -1980's.

A tall gentleman from the Class of 1932 was making his way at his top speed through the beefy likes of Tom Hopkins, Joe Ramos, Moose Gilmartin, Barney Bulfin, Jack McNamara, Bill Holland and the saintly Jack Howard. At some point, I rather shyly asked the gentleman's pardon, in order to make a detour around the thick Alumni throng.

"You didn't go Leo, did you Kid." The well dressed gentleman who looked like he might have been the retired CEO of General Motors -Thomas Aquinas Murphy stated a fact and not a question.

"No sir. I went to Little Flower High School and . . ." I word- weaseled out.

" No kidding. You'd gone to Leo; you'd a told me to haul my #$%^ing old ass out of the way." concluded this Captain of American Industry Emeritus.

On this poignant encounter, I had good cause to connect - The Beverly Arts Center is run by a Leo Man -Mike Nix - who had run the Martinique. I was passing the Arts Center in my westward jaunt for coffee at Kean Gas - operated by Jimmy and Rolly Kean relatives of Leo President Dan McGrath and home to Leo Alumni patrons.

I bought my coffee, said hello to Kean Pumps Man and hero Ray and took my path homeward north on Talman. The white pick up truck of Leo Class of 1970 Man and plumber Mike Regan pulled in the drive before I hit the sidewalk. 'Hi, Hick!'

Leo men! Givers and Diogenes' Sons - the lamp of honest assessment and cant free courtesy.


At 109th Street Mike Regan's white pick-up slowed portending hearty fellowship and salutations of good-will.

" Next time you're at the beach, Hickey, try getting out of your car!"

This is but one of the rough hewn granite blocks of human experience that forms the pyramid to God's All-Seeing Eye!

Wu at Center of Sex Allegation To Explain

Rep. David Wu has been accused of an “unwanted sexual encounter” with the teenage daughter of a longtime friend, the latest scandal to engulf the troubled Oregon Democrat.

The Oregonian reported that the 56-year-old Wu “acknowledged a sexual encounter to his senior aides but insisted it was consensual,” according to sources aware of the incident.

. . .Shortly before the 2010 elections, Wu began behaving erratically, according to The Oregonian and other news outlets. Wu sent a bizarre picture of himself in a tiger costume to his staffers, and some of them urged him to seek psychiatric help. More than a half dozen staffers and campaign consultants quit as Wu bombarded them with troubling phone calls and emails.

“I freely admit that it was an intense campaign, and I was not always at my best with staff or constituents,” Wu said in a statement to Williamette Week, a Portland newspaper. “For all those moments, I wish I’d been better and I apologize.”

These latest allegations against Wu add to the growing list of sex scandals that have rocked Capitol Hill over the past two years.

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) recently resigned from Congress following a national firestorm over lewd photos he sent to women he met over the Internet.

Former Rep. Christopher Lee (R-N.Y.) was caught sending a topless online photo and also resigned. Former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) had an affair with one of his campaign aides, who also happened to be the wife of his deputy chief of staff. Ensign stepped down from office on May 3.

And ex-Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) quickly departed Capitol Hill in March 2010 after POLITICO reported he was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations of sexual harassment of male staffers. The Ethics Committee recently announced that it will continue looking into whether any Democratic lawmakers or staffers knew about those allegations but failed to take action against Massa.

Hello, Dahli! Skinny Sheahan, Irish Welfare and the Cat Man Do!

Last week, I joined Skinny and Houli for a live taping (oxymoron like German Jazz and Progressive Charity?) of their wonderful radio program ( AM -WCEV 1450) at Jack Desmond's Irish Pub. Skinny Sheahan related another ripping yarn from his vast catalog of true-life south side apologues.

This tale was about a gent on Irish Welfare, a good paying fringe-of-the-government job, who was tasked with driving Mrs. Maggie Daley and the Dalhi Lama to a charity event some years ago.

Mrs. Daley requested that the A/C be turned up in the limousine. The driver with the guileless charm of most hard-scrabble rooted south side ethnics, informed the First Lady of Chicago that 'The Dial for it was right there up over Dolly's head.'

Mrs. Daley was plussed, 'Excuse me? Excuse me????'

'Dolly, he's sittin' right there across from you. Reach up and grab the dial for Crissakes!'

Thus, a career change.

Who knows what will happen to Irish Welfare in this our Good Government Golden Age?


Katmandu!




. . . And readers wonder who I got this way.

Beachwood Reporter Steve Rhodes - Steel Spine, Razor Wit and Massive Heart

Steve Rhodes is a paragon. I get on Steve's nerves over my skepticism concerning the near universal acceptance that Jon Burge tortured every black man who stepped into Area 2 ( Old and New). Unlike most folks beyond my Zipcode, I believe that the entire Monster Burge Mythology is just that and the truth of what happened is buried under mountains of bullshit. I get Steve as sore as boil on this issue, but that is as nothing to what my presence and performance art has on most people I love. I am a good-natured pain-in-the-ass at times. Many times.

Steve Rhodes writes, edits and publishes, what I believe to be the best news and opinion post in Chicago, if not the whole damned country.

Rhodes has a nose for cant and singular moral code that escapes most of our more iconic Media creatures - Steve Rhodes is a power iconoclast. He lives integrity. Some time ago Steve Rhodes abandoned a lucrative post as an editor of NBC's Chicago website, and remained fastened to the mast of Truth. His monetary ship sank, but the juggernaut of Rhodesian Integrity still cuts through the waves of journalistic bullshit. In 2009, Steve Rhodes resigned as editor for NBC ( from Mike Miner of the Chicago Reader)

Rhodes explains why he left. It came down to a lack of trust and a lack of respect; Rhodes focuses on one post, about Randy Michaels succeeding Sam Zell as CEO of the Tribune Company, that he says NBC took down, and another post, about the suicide of Michael Scott, that it never put up. He writes that he couldn't get a straight answer about what the problem with the Michaels post was, but an NBC exec said the Michaels post "didn't meet the standards of the NBC brand." The post recalled an old lawsuit that alleged Michaels "roamed his old Clear Channel offices with a 'flexible rubber penis' tied around his neck" and accused him of "a host of other crude rituals."

Didn't meet standards? Rhodes doesn't buy that. He writes, "The Michaels post was partly about sexual harassment, not sex. It wasn't arted with yet another montage of cleavage that has become so familiar on the [NBC] site over the past few months."

As for the Scott post, Rhodes writes that he told it was "scotched because [Scott] was a friend of a high-ranking station official here in Chicago who had been 'ruffled' by the coverage of Scott's death."

Rhodes being Rhodes, he writes with a lot of heat and a fair amount of invective. He asserts at one point, "I didn't use names in this piece because I don't really intend this as a 'tell-all;' instead, to me, it's another in an incredibly long line of tales about journalism and its discontents. It's a sick, diseased industry that can't seem to get past the basics of what it is and what it's supposed to do.

"

This week, Steve Rhodes presents genuine analysis of the news concerning our President, his peeps, his foes and his handling of the Debt Crisis. It is his conclusion concerning lobbyists and the Obama Brand that is a masterstroke:

"The cynics, the lobbyists, the special interests who've turned our government into a game only they can afford to play," said then-Sen Obama in his February 2007 announcement speech. "They get the access while you get to write a letter . . . The time for that kind of politics is over."

Yes. Now we won't even read your letters!

"Nearly 80 percent of those who collected more than $500,000 for Obama took 'key administration posts,' as defined by the White House" iWatchNews reports. "More than half the ambassador nominees who were bundlers raised more than half a million.

"The big bundlers had broad access to the White House for meetings with top administration officials and glitzy social events. In all, campaign bundlers and their family members account for more than 3,000 White House meetings and visits."

Waiting for Superman
It's not the debt ceiling I'm worried about, it's the bullshit ceiling. Why do we keep raising that?

Click my post title for more Rhodes!

If you want the Truth, go to Steve Rhodes. He will tell you when you are a pain-in-the-ass. If you are not reading Beachwood Reporter, you should. If you are a philanthropist with a genuine love of good writing and analysis write a big check to Steve Rhodes.

If you are not any of the above, change.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2009/12/22/steve-rhodes-leaves-nbcchicagocom

John Dewey - The Father of Stupidity in Education

The Lab School at the University of Chicago is prestigious and pricey, but I would send my kids to Moses Montefiore, before I'd send them there. As I sent them through Catholic schools the point is as moot as it is root. Nothing against the good folks at the Lab School who come armed to instruct with degrees and certifications that would make the founder's moustache quiver with delight. More so, I would hazard a guess that most of the staff of Baronet Moses Montefiore,Kt ( British Jewish Financier.Philanthropist and Sheriff of London 1784-1885) High School on Ashland Ave. were trained in the methods and philosophy of John Dewey. That said, all American public schools are fostered in Dewey/Hegelian non-sense.

As I have posted many times, John Dewey bullied his way into American Education by dint of his intellectual gifts and membership in the American Brahmin Class. Dewey clicked with good old American contrarian ways and means. Dewey made inquiry and not the pursuit of truth the core of American public education. The Lab School at University of Chicago mandates inquiry as play and play as power. You can arrive at any pre-conceived outcome so long as that outcome fully agrees with the point that inquiry begins. e.g. All police officers are brutal agents of systemic racism - Alpha and Omega. President Obama is the greatest President Ever! Our Economy is Better Now Than Under George W. Bush. The Debt Debate is a crisis leading to the aversion of the crisis created by the the very crisis itself. A family consists of any human beings. The Act of Sex is a Civil Right. The New York Times said it and that settles it. More Tax Dollars Poured into Public Education Will Save Tax Dollars.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is sending his kids to Chicago Lab School and they will follow the intellectual and professional paths of Arne Duncan, the Obama kids, and Valerie Jarrett. They will be fine. Their self-esteem, personal growth and life-long associations will blossom.

Founded in 1896 by pre-eminent American educator John Dewey, the Lab Schools are known as one of the most diverse of the nation's elite private institutions; about 35 percent of its students are people of color. It's also known as one of the best: its high school is one of the top feeders in the country to America's elite colleges and universities, and its extracurriculars, from newspaper and yearbook to Model U.N., are regular winners of regional and national awards.

Such prestige doesn't come cheap: the lower school costs $21,060 per year, while the upper school is just shy of $25,000 annually. That means that the Emanuels will be forking over more than $60,000 each year for their three kids' tuitions.

Huffington Post - The Hollywood Squares of Journalism

Hey, Catholic schools are diverse. Leo High School for example in the heart of Gresham has 90.9% persons of color and a growing number of Mexican kids and now several white ethnic Catholics from Canaryville. There is greater diversity, to be sure, at Mount Carmel, De LaSalle, St. Rita and Marist, but Leo is a very happy campus.

One thing is certain, the kids at south side, west side and north side Catholic schools come from very homogeneous financial backgrounds - Mom, Dad, Auntie, Gramma and Alumni are President Obama's working stiffs: cops, firemen, nurses, public school teachers, skilled tradesmen, industrial workers, Unlike the Lab young 'uns, these kids will not have the path of inquiry festooned with placement, nor will they have the grease and juice backing their play necessary to waltz into Harvard, Columbia, Yale and Oberlin. Catholic kids will scratch their way into those same schools by dint of achievement. Lab School kids get cache with a diploma.

Cache is okay, but core values are much better. Here is a recent commentary by an American Academic and covert to Islam. The guy knows that Dewey is as dangerous to his Faith as it is to Jews, Catholics, Lutherans, Unitarians and Wiccans. In writing about the idiotic neologism THE ARAB SPRING coined by New York Times Dewey-boy Thomas Friedman

Truth, however, cannot exist in a culture with an educational system that denies the possibility of its very existence. Without truth and justice, there is no such thing as a moral disaster. The root cause of most of the injustices in the world, however, is the moral disaster of secular utilitarianism. The wielders of financial and political influence in America have imposed this utilitarian philosophy as a paradigmatic monopoly in the American educational system and with it infected the entire world.


In a compartmentalized system of education, where there is no coherence in anything, the products of this system necessarily are too narrow to value knowledge exogenous to their field of expertise or even to sense that a system of morality can even exist.

The spread of this moral disaster has been going on within the American educational establishment for more than a century, especially since John Dewey. Dewey was born before the American Civil War and set the standard for modern education in America and throughout the world a hundred years ago in his many books, perhaps especially in his Depression-Era book, How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative Process. Dewey invented the school of “philosophical pragmatism” which is associated originally with John Stuart Mill, but was further developed at Harvard by others who defined all meaning in life and all morality as the maximization of net utility based on pain versus pleasure. Avoid whatever gives one pain, and embrace whatever gives pleasure, which, in turn, is associated with the philosophy of hedonism. One can argue with this approach pro and con, but the major distinction is that in modern secular education there is no truth and no justice, because even the concepts of truth and justice are thought to restrict rather than maximize human freedom.

Dr. Robert D. Crane*

Back at you, Doc!

*DR ROBERT D. CRANE Chairman, Center for Understanding Islam, and President, The Center for Policy Research. Earned a doctorate (J.D.) at Harvard Law School (1959) in international investment and comparative legal systems. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (1981). Principal da’ii (religious instructor) at the Islamic Center, Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C. (l983-86). Director of Publications, International Institute of Islamic Thought (1986-88). Founding member of The American Muslim Council and Director of its Legal Division, 1992-1994. He has published 10 books and 50 professional articles on comparative legal systems, global strategy, and information management. Languages include English, German, Russian, Spanish, French and Arabic.

Rahm, Chicago Needs Catholic Schools - Vouchers Would Be a Great Help

As much as the Gentry Class* ( affluent, professional, college-diploma Progressives) hate to recognize it, Chicago is a Catholic city. Catholics tend to vote Democratic even though Catholics are about as welcome in the Progressively controlled Democratic Party as a Lesbian Methodist Minister at a Taliban goat-roast after Ramadan.

Catholics belong to a Faith that remains committed to the sacrament of marriage and defends life from conception to the Hospice. Ethnic Catholics tend to go into the military, take careers in Law Enforcement, become home-owners and tax-payers. Catholics are saddled with a Church hierarchy that until only recently took its eye off the ball where children are concerned and almost universally kissed the botox-ed fannies of Planned Parenthood and its Democratic Party minions;too many in the Catholic clergy tried to become Unitarian ministers with better perks, tax-loop holes, residences and cover from accountability.

Nevertheless, the pews remain full in Catholic neighborhoods and the children go to Catholic schools that out-perform public schools across the board.

Charter Schools fit nicely in the Progressive pattern of John Dewey education, but aped the veneer of the hall-marks of Catholic schools: selective enrollment, uniforms, uniform discipline codes, Mission Statements, teacher accountability, and do more in the classroom with few dollars. Charter Schools, even the very best ones like the Noble Street models, are not Catholic Schools.

Charter Schools get tax-dollars and Catholic Schools do not.

Because Charter Schools get State tax-dollars, Public Service unions directed by SEIU pushed teacher unions to agitate for unionization in Charter Schools. The door to that was kicked wide open in 2009. Charter Schools are public schools and over the years to come will be dominated by the teachers unions who helped create the mess that is public education.

Catholic Schools and the fewer Lutheran, Dutch Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Independent Schools operate on tuition and money from fund raising. Catholic cops, firemen, streets and sanitation workers, skilled trades union members, nurses and public school teachers in tax-targeted middle class neighborhoods send their children to Catholic Schools - because their kids will receive faith-rooted moral instruction, discipline, accountability, feed-back, and self-esteem.

Empirically speaking, I see thousand of teens wearing Mount Carmel, St. Rita, Marist, Notre Dame, St. Gregory, Gordon Tech, Leo, Maria, and Our Lady of Tepeyac sports wear.

N.B. I must give a shout out to the Green and Gold of St. Patrick High School on the north side in celebration of its Centenial and a Half of service to Chicago!

I have yet to experience the sight of young people sporting Simeon, Dunbar, Hubbard, or Whitney Young caps, hoodies, or t-shirts.

Kids represent. When they are proud of the association with their school's history, record of achievement and street cred they brand themselves, Mom and Dad, Grannie and Gramps and the extended family and neighbors with Maroon and Orange of Brother Rice, Brown and Vanilla Mount Carmel, the Blue and White of Maria, Red, White and Gold of Mother McAuley, Blue and Crimson of St. Rita, the Orange and Grey of Gordon Tech and of course the Orange and Black of Leo.

Today in a very cogent and practically articulated article John Kass of Chicago Tribune offers a sound bit of advice to Mayor Rahm Emanuel - get behind School Choice Vouchers and now. Here is the impact point - Chicago's tax-base send their kids to Catholic schools -middle class families black, white and Hispanic - with great personal sacrifice: they pay tuition twice, because they are required to live within the City limits:

. . . And under the restrictive — and selectively interpreted — residency laws, Chicago schools have a captive middle class. Cops and firefighters and city workers and teachers must live in the city to keep their jobs.

They can't leave town and raise their kids in the suburbs, even if they keep a house address in Chicago. The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that a presidential chief of staff, living in Washington, with kids in Washington, can be considered a resident of Chicago. But don't be naive enough to think this standard would apply to others.

So if students can't be squeezed into top magnet high schools, the parents are compelled to fork over more than they can afford for parochial education. Or leave the city.

This sets up an unequal, two-tiered system, with limited resources. And in a city so historically corrupt, the dispensing of limited resources has predictable and cynical outcomes.

In March 2010, for example, the Tribune reported on the VIP list maintained by Chicago Public Schools. A nephew of former Mayor Richard Daley's lobbied to get a political supporter's two daughters into an elite high school. And there were other reports that Chicago politicians — including a so-called reform alderman — tried to clout their own children into select schools.

Those who win a spot in the excellent magnet schools sing the system's praises and lavish the politicians with praise and votes. And those who don't are abandoned to fate.

Certainly Rahm knows this. And, I'd like to think, it's what truly angers him.

jskass@tribune.com

John Kass is a public school guy, but John Kass is not a member of the Gentry Class. He is a blue-collar ink-slinger.

The Gentry Class control the Media. The Gentry Class controls Democratic Party and very sizeable number of GOP elected officials. The Progressive agendas present a steady diet of empty rhetorical memes - a Buffet of Bullshit.

Most people take a pass on the offerings under these sneeze guards, but their elected officials for whom they continue to vote wolf the offerings down.

Rahm Emanuel needs to serve up Vouchers, Chicago needs Catholic schools and their non-Catholic cousins: Lutheran, Dutch Christian, Hebrew, Muslim and Independent schools.

Chicago is still a Catholic city and Chicago Catholics have had enough from the Gentry Class Progressive Buffet.

* from Joel Kotkin:

Gentry liberalism combines four basic elements: faith in postindustrial "creative" financial capitalism, cultural liberalism, Gore-ite environmentalism and the backing of the nation's arguably best-organized political force, public employee unions. Obama rose to power on the back of all these forces and, until now, has governed as their tribune.

Obama's problems stem primarily from gentry liberalism's class contradictions. Focused on ultra-affluent greens, the media, Wall Street and the public sector, gentry liberalism generally gives short shrift to upward mobility, the basic aspiration of the middle class.

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/02/opinion/op-kotkin2

Chicago in Michael Moriarty's Meditations & The Genius of Steve Allen

The guy can act, write, compose and tickle the 88s. Michael Moriarty is in the process of writing a series of prose reflections and this is the eighth rendering.

I have been blessed to know some really talented and good people in my 58 years of stomping on the terra. Michael Moriarty is as complex a moral man as the other Chicago rooted genius, actor, musician, comic, writer, composer and television pioneer Steve Allen, who was kicked out of Mount Carmel High School in his freshman year thanks to singer/actor and classmate Richard Kiley. Steve Allen was related to the Donahues, Murphys, Regans and Quinlans of the south side of Chicago and often returned to the old neighborhood even when he was at the height of fame as founder of the Tonight Show and played Hammond Organ concerts at the Franklin House on south Western Avenue*.

Michael Moriarty's grandfather George Moriarty was a baseball professional and contemporary of Tyrus Cobb, Buck Weaver, Eddie Collins and Jiggs Donahue who played for both the Cubs and The White Sox, before becoming an icon for the Detroit Tigers.
George Moriarty was also a musician and composer, but nowhere near as deeply talented as his grandson Michael. I like to think that Chicago and especially the south side of Chicago - the Stockyards and beyond - had much to do with the evolution of genius in families Billy Allen and Bella Montrose to Steve Allen and George Moriarty to Michael.

In the Eighth edition of Moriarty's Haunted Heaven prose scatting, we consider eternity.


The Haunted Heaven: Chapter Eight: The Theater of the Mysterious Same By Michael Moriarty
web posted July 18, 2011

As one hovers above the first and one of the most defining moments of a life, patience is the order of not only the day but the essence of eternity.

Eternity is one factor, however, that people can measure their lives by.

The infinity of the Universe and the eternity of Time?

These are the precepts upon which I now measure my life, both its relative insignificance but its spiritual importance as well.

Oh, I know, Stephen Hawking, whom I have never had the privilege to meet, might dispute the infinity of the Universe, and then again, since he has admitted to making mistakes himself, he eventually – because he is now an eternal factor of the universe – he eventually might change his mind again.

He might not dispute the infinity of the Universe.

If he is even slightly a pantheist, he might be willing to accept the Universe in its entirety as God Itself.

If, however, the Universe is infinite, then God is ultimately and infinitely incomprehensible.

"Not if it is just more of the same, Michael!"

I'm sure that metaphysically "It" is just "more of the same". However, the "same" is so infinite within "Itself" that It, Itself, demands to be capitalized.

The God of Same.

If we know that God looks in wonder upon Himself, then the "Same" is as bottomless a mystery as Life itself has proven to be for millenniums.

Then again, Stephen Hawking, as well as some of his certainties, might be exposed as hoaxes.

Global Warming, chapter two: Science as Inevitably Political Propaganda.

Therein lies the mystery!

Perhaps the Devil, at times, can put even God Himself in doubt, into anxiety.

Does God then call upon another God for reassurance?

No.

This is God The Father and whatever doubts He might have?

The Doubts must come from one question: what is He to do with His own creation, which in this case is the Devil?

Evil in all its secret and manifest forms, a fact that God Himself created.

The Devil Himself as a blessing in disguise, as it is the very necessitation of Human Free Will.

That makes sense to me.

I'm now listening to a playback of my Seeds, the title for my own, little, musical inspirations, melodic and harmonic thoughts that … well … might very well fit themselves together into a masterpiece?!

The Seeds themselves, at this point in musical history, are nothing new. It is the order in which they are placed and developed that will determine whether or not they are the seeds for a work of art or the distracted pastimes of a wannabe.

Ah, ego mania! The bane of all exceptional creativity!!

One must be patient, particularly with one's own shortcomings.

I look at myself metaphorically, feel and see the considerable amount of damage that Life and I have done to myself, but, then again, I look at it as God's own work of art.

The Devil had a hand, that is for certain. Must we think of God and the Devil as Rogers and Hammerstein?!

The division between my responsibilities and Life's gets blurred very quickly when Progressive Psychology becomes involved. So involved that Good and Evil, even High and Low become a relative matter.

That is when Madness sets in and Evil becomes the Master to destroy all Masterpieces.

What is Progressivism?

"Anything but the Same!"

"Damn the Same!!" cry the Progressives.

Just now, I came to a possible format – and I only say possible format – for my symphonic series: the first movement always being an Overture of sorts, there to introduce the audience to the themes of the coming movements. Oh I would love to wait and wait, as Brahms did before he unleashed his highest symphonic achievement, his First Symphony, but I'm 70 years old!

"On, don't go back!" as the great English director, Sir Tyrone Guthrie would order us to do.

We poor but proud players of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

This poor but proud composer soldiers on.

What theater am I working for now?

The Theater of the Mysterious Same!

Old songs but eternally new settings.

Those who know the old songs best?

They lead!

We follow.

The goal?

Our destination?

Heaven!

If you are really serious about your life, why settle for anything less?

Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and 4Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Contact Michael at rainbowfamily2008@yahoo.com.

I remember a top rated loud mouth FM radio personality, as they were termed, horse-laughing the mention of Steve Allen, in the early 1990's. His side-kick buzzed and hooted slight regard for the man who won Emmys for Network and Public TV and Grammys for some of his 5,000 songs, comic genius, artistry at the piano and prodigious literary output. Hell, he had the drive-time slot!



* Both Moriarty and Steve Allen are criticized for their defense of eternal truths:

Michael Moriarty--like Jon Voight before him--turns Right.

It's a sort of ritual for certain aging male celebrities to publicly retreat into social and/or poltical conservatism. Steve Allen, in his last years, became a cranky crusader against what he considered "filth" in entertainment. The late Ron Silver (once involved with the left-to-moderate Creative Coalition) became vocal about his rightist beliefs after 9/11. Jon Voight, who won an Oscar for playing an anti-Vietnam War paraplegic (inspired by Ron Kovic) in COMING HOME, now can be found opnionating on Fox News. And don't get me started on former comedian Dennis Miller.

Michael Moriarty has now come to the proverbial fork in the road--and has turned Right. Here are links to an interview and a Moriarty-penned article for Andrew Breitbart's showbiz-liberalism-bashing site BIG HOLLYWOOD.

http://poetry-arts-confidential.blogspot.com/2009/12/michael-moriarty-like-jon-voight-before.html

In This Summer Swelter, Consider the Cognomen Carmen at Keegan's Pub

Chicagoland and most of the continental United States is under a dome of heat and humidity, not experienced since 1999.

"It's a two-footer," my Old Pappy used to say, because on nights like these urban Chicagoans of yore would often post their feet on the window-sills and catch a cooling gangway breeze. The more fortunate south siders along Garfield Boulvard might pack up all the kids and sleep in the grass for miles along the tree shaded parkway - folks from Visitation and St. Basil's parishes between Wentworth to Western Avenues.

Did I mention that it is a trifle warm? Early this AM, as I wandered in search of a 20 oz. coffee, I passed several Georgians, bungalows and raised ranches with lawns sporting a sign for Carroll Roofing. Eddie Carroll is Carroll Roofing and a finer man never hitched up his strides in the pride of knowing that he remains not only a craftsman of Old World quality, but a roué of Old World manners and sensibilities to charm the affections of women - 16 to 60, blind, crippled or crazy. That last is much, too much a heavily layered jape. Suffice it say, Eddie Carroll is the Morgan Park Maurice Chevalier. Thank Heaven for little, mid-sized and Botticellian proportioned Girls!


Recently while quaffing a pint of iced soda water and lime with my pugish nose tucked into the leafs of Rilke's prose collection Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge, my peripheral gaze caught the sight of the affable contractor, Eddie Carroll himself, saunter through the black doors of Keegan's Pub ( 10618 S. Western Ave.)and amiably call for a round on him. Another soda water for me and some pink concoction for the young woman sitting on the North ( Protestant) side of the bar beneath the poster of Irish balladeer Christy Moore. She was the sunny side of forty and fetching in a summer weight frock with Auburn tresses that adorned the thick athletic whiteness of breasts that betoken the bounty that is woman.

Eddie Carroll immediately noticed this young lady at the bar on her own. After requisite cooling swallows of malted grain beverage, he decided to offer her another drink and make the afternoon light with small talk and the broad promise of mutual affection.

"What's your name?" Eddie aked after opening gallantries regarding her habiliments and the tautness of her frame.

"Carmen Needham," she replied.

"That's a lovely and operatic name," he said. "Did your mother or father name you for Georges Bizet's tragic gypsy who scornfully tosses the ring Jose gave her only to take his blade -Cette bague, autrefois? I absolutely live for dance and the Dionyisian spark of music! Did mother and Dada so name you?"

"Neither parent was responsible," she said. "I changed my name when I was 18 from Sharon to Carmen."

"Odd that -As Sharon betokens the the fertile plain of Israel, why did you do that? " he asked.

"Well," she explained, "I like men and I like cars, so that is how I got my name. What's your name?"

"Mr. Beertits Quickly," the affable contractor replied.

I thanked Eddie for the bonus cocktail and returned to Rilke.

Is it warm. or is it me?

*

Carroll Roofing & Construction
Carroll Roofing & Construction
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10912 S Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60643

(773) 445-5756