Ventra Cards - Why Can't We See (Hear) Forrest for the Fees?

You got that right, my brother!

Career Grifter and Government Job Hopper, CTA Boss Forrest Claypool, is invisible in today's Chicago Tribune article and only mentioned in passing by the Sun Times' account of the Ventra Card Debacle. 

CTA employees are being “verbally attacked daily by angry riders’’ who are blaming them for problems with the new transit fare-payment system, the rail worker union’s leader said Thursday, calling on the agency to scrap Ventra until all the bugs are worked out.
“The Ventra program is not working. There are people who are getting triple-, double-, quadruple-billed. Their credit cards are being billed that shouldn’t be. People are mad, they’re angry,’’ said Robert Kelly, Local 308 president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
“But they are mad at the wrong person,’’ Kelly said at union headquarters downtown. “CTA should stop (Ventra) now, pull back, until they can work out all the kinks.’’ Tribune

Concerning double-charges, CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase said previously that Ventra customers could be double charged if they tap a Ventra reader and get a “go” signal and then change turnstile lanes and get a second “go” signal. However, Ventra customers are not charged for “stop” messages, even multiple ones, she said.
Cubic Transportation Systems, which won a contract worth up to $454 million to manage and operate Ventra, was so inundated with calls in early October that, on Oct. 9, CTA President Forrest Claypool cancelled some Ventra deadlines. The move was intended to give Cubic time to triple the number of operators — from 100 to 300 — in its call centers and reduce the hold times of frustrated customers. Sun Times

 The Chicago Sun Times appears to Gimme Shelter Forrest with this passing props for cancelling some Ventra Rollout deadlines after the metaphorical halibut had already rotted on the transit poop deck.

I like to ride the bus to work and I would buy the CTA/PACE cards at CVS on 79th street.  They worked great and their value was obvious.  When something is not broken, a Progressive like Forrest Claypool will come in with an already divvied up deal to screw things into loam.  The newspapers will nod with conviction -"Ain't He Great?"

You see both Chicago papers ( read Editorial Boards) have a great deal of time, talent and treasure invested in the Carbondale Career Grifter.

Forrest Claypool can not keep his yap closed most times, because words are easy and deeds are tough.  When deeds follow the words that spill out of Claypool like mysterious Avondale fence ooze things get pretty tough on people other than Forrest Claypool - CTA workers' potty breaks get snipped off in mid - stream, Peep-hole camera's get located in locker rooms, a CTA yard worker* gets sanctioned, hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans, get their nickels snitched by Cubic Transportation Systems, and the Chinese wheels of the Canadian Bombardier L Cars don't fit the tracks.

How did Ventra become the "This CAN'T Wait" opportunity of a lifetime for CTA riders?

Forrest Claypool yapped up a storm for months.

Today?

It's a very different story but the same old song.

If Forrest Claypool is involved, we all pay.

*
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 President Bob Kelly is what real labor is all about - he stared done the Chinless Claypool over the Pee Break Embargo, called out the Bomdardier Wheel scam and is standing up for his people.  He should be doing Forrest's job.
n.b.- Robert Kelly was elected as President/Business Agent of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 in 2008. Mr. Kelly is responsible for protecting the collective bargaining rights of over 4000 active and retired Chicago Transit Authority workers who work on the rail side. Mr. Kelly serves as a Vice President of the Illinois AFL-CIO and is President of the ATU Local 308 Scholarship committee. He is the proud father of 11 children.
ATU 308 Officers

www.atu308.org, 13 Dec 2012 [cached]
Robert Kelly has been a member since October 1, 1986. Employed by the "Authority" on August 27, 1986. Robert has worked the classifications of Conductor, Motorman, Flagmen, Foot Collector, Switchman and Towerman. Appointed a steward in 1997 until he was elected as President/Business Agent on December 16, 2008. Robert demonstrates vision, insight and tenacity in representing Local 308's priorities. Re-elected to a second term on November 15, 2011 winning over 55% of the votes against 4 other candidates (emphasis my own)

Claypool Wouldn't Know the Truth Unless It Came With a Government Paycheck

DNA Erica Demerest photo

Forrest Claypool - say it with me, please " Forrest Claypool."  There; isn't that like a Yoga moment, or cucumbers on the eyelids?

For most Chicago journalists, just saying " Forrest Claypool" is a tonic akin to a seventh grade fat boy getting a Saint Valentine's Day card from a tween stunner - the Hope, Oh the Hope!

You see over the last forty years, Chicago newspapers gave up integrity for access.  Columnists and Editorial Boards care more about the news morsels tossed by a Daley, a Blago,  an Obama, a Rahm, a Mike Quigley, or a Pat Quinn than it does about getting out the full story. Public television and radio, WTTW& WBEZ share the agendas of the elected Progressives who run this city, county and this state and the activists and PACs who help keep them in power, They feed at the same tax-funded trough.

I'm just a working stiff, with a mortgage and a new tax on something I own or don't own every sixty seconds in Cook County. To me, the name " Forrest Clayyyyyyyyyyyypoooooooooool " portends a looming grift - a government sanctioned pinch of my wallet.  Forrest Claypool to my waxless ears is akin to the names of great grifters, cads, bounders, cut-purses and ne'er-do-wells of common culture Reese Kilgore, Butch Cavendish, Velma Valento, Bill Sykes and of course Galworthy's hideous Soames Forsyte. .  Uriah Heep is Congressman Mike Quigley's sole property, though Forrest Claypool would give Wee Mike a run for his money.

Thanks to the capriciously snorting snouts of Chicago's iconic news hounds, Forrest Claypool does not get away with murder, only character assassination of better persons -Amalgamated Transit Union Local #308 Bob Kelly.  Why only yesterday, Forrest Claypool celebrated the continued employment of 65 felons turned CTA apprentices with this -"Despite Mr. Kelly's commitment to end the rail car servicer apprentice program and put his own union members out of work, we've been able to work with Local 241's leadership to find a place for these individuals, guaranteeing them the opportunity to work and put food on their families' tables for another year," CTA President Forrest Claypool said previously." And often.

Robert Kelly has been portrayed in our collective Chicago media as cross between Simon Legree and Sir Percival Glyde, from the moment that the doomsday clock on the Forrest Claypool, Rahm Emanuel, Michael Pfleger CTA School for Felons was announced last March. Though the ex-cons were placed in rail cleaning posts, no one bothered to let the union governing such labor in on the plans.  Kelly wanted the workers placed in the jobs at the Local 308 recommended salaries, but Rahm Pinchpenny Savior and Forrest Claypool chained the workers to Micky D salaries in the name of Saul Alinsky.

But Kelly has said he wanted the CTA to pay the rail workers more money. The 65 rail apprentices are dues-paying union members, but they’re paid a considerably lower wage than their union counterparts, and they don't get benefits.
“What do I say to people when I say you’re going to do the exact same work next to a guy making $25 an hour and benefits, and I'm not going to pay you benefits?" Kelly asked on "Chicago Tonight" recently.
"They're using these people to save money. Give them the right wages, health, pension, benefits. Let’s give these people a real second chance. Let’s do it. I will sign that deal tomorrow, turn these people over, and give them a real shot at life,” Kelly said.

The SPIN fed to the gaping maws of the Chicago news hounds avoids the facts, minutes, calendars and records of Forrest Claypool.  No one from WTTW to Chuck Goudie to Eric Zorn will bother with the facts missing from a good Claypool news feed.

Claypool is such a gutless, sniveller that he and Rahm hired Citizen Michael Pfleger to perform the character hit on Bob Kelly.  Michael Pfleger wrote a Jeremiad on the alleged nasty nature of Bob Kelly in the always complicit Chicago Tribune, followed by an idiotic smear piece about Kelly's daughter winning a scholarship in the Sun Times.  Pfleger led a December protest that included accomplished grifter and activist Rep. Bobby Rush and a score of Pfleger acolytes at the offices of ATU 308, during the Local's Christmas Party. Now, Michael Pfleger has issued a Fatwa on Kelly via one of his FaceBook pages.

Post by Father Michael Pfleger.

Claypool knows enough to duck a working man in an honest forum.  I have never met Bob Kelly, but I have had more than enough personal contact with Forrest Claypool for one lifetime - usually at political fund-raisers for good people in public life who must admit Claypool on the guest list or near their coat tails.  Usually those same people find themselves subject to scurrilous charges on TV or in a column, later to be dropped.

Claypool would not know the truth if it came with a government check.  He does not need to know it.  Forrest Claypool is fine. Rahm Emanuel is fine.  Michael Pfleger is fine.

Chicago?  Not so good.

Robert Kelly?  We shall see.

ATU Local 308 Accused of Discrimination? No, ATU Local 308 Keeping Grifters Hands Off the Controls

What came first?  The activist Reverend, or the political grifter?

Neither.  What came first was a historical drama that began in the 19th Century over the power and the integrity of organized labor between working tradesmen and progressive radical dilettantes.  One historical fact that has been buried by the academic allies of the progressive radical dilettantes is the betrayal of the 1904 Strikers by Jane Addams and her cadre of women activists.  The strike was deadly and created the the endless animus between African Americans and ethnic white workers and the perpetual mythology of systemic racism.  Racism has always been a one way street - beginning and always ending in affluent homes, parlors and communities of thought.

For years the Reds ( let's just say, for the sake of argument, Progressives are trained, funded and pushed into the streets or the polling place by followers of Karl Marx and not Jesus of Nazareth) have wanted to control American labor.  They are getting there.  Big Labor always means SEIU and other monster political PACS like the teachers unions and any and all manifestations of the public service unions.  The skilled and industrial trades played ball with massive memberships SEIU managed to organize into slave labor unskilled, low-skilled, or temporary necessity skilled workers into life membership.  Government is required to set standards for membership and placement.

This is all about the conflict between Authority ( a person or person skilled with some competency) and Power ( We Can and We Will).

Here in Illinois Emil Jones made failed attempts to wrest control of union apprenticeship programs away from the trades and palm that power in the mitts of government grifters.  The State would control requirements and standards.  No drug testing, no residency requirement, no back ground check, no examination of skills and aptitude, because those are said to be the tools of systemic racism.   Rather, jobs and income will be equally distributed among the political class - the Party who controls government.  Pat Quinn learned these ideals at the knees of Dr. Quentin Young, MD, so you can expect his looming support for this power grab.   When that happens, what is left of the middle class in Illinois will wander the roads like Tom Joad.

Today, both of Chicago's limping newspapers reveal the spark set to burn down Labors house - an Op Ed Piece in Chicago Tribune  by Michael L. Pfleger (citizen)

The Chicago Transit Authority's Rail Car Servicer Apprentice Program — a vital and unique initiative that helps nonviolent ex-offenders, people who've overcome drug addiction, victims of domestic violence and other hard-to-place individuals re-enter the workforce — is unfortunately set to be killed off by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 President Robert Kelly.
It is particularly disturbing that this incredible resource faces its demise on Dec. 31 after having provided job opportunities for more than 800 people — most of them African-American — since its creation in November 2007.
From their first day as CTA employees, these apprentices have completed job readiness training provided by referring social service agencies. As apprentices, their jobs are to help clean CTA rail cars. They are ATU Local 308 dues-paying members. For that reason, the program cannot exist unless Mr. Kelly agrees.
For reasons he refuses to explain to CTA officials, the media or the public, Mr. Kelly has decided to push 65 apprentices back into unemployment. In short, Mr. Kelly is discriminating against his own members, insisting that they be laid off, treating them as second-class citizens in his own union. He takes their dues money, but he won't represent them.  Michael L. Pfleger

More social engineering ( placing criminals in jobs that might just benefit families who work without robbing or peddling flesh and dope) in the name of Social Justice, which translates to Render Unto Rahm/Quinn/Burke/Clyapool/Preckwinkle et al 24/7, because God's doing just fine,

 Then we have  a Sneedling Gusher Dontachknow in the always daffy Sun Times.
A choo choo boo boo at Christmastime?

◆ Translation: Sneed hears activist Catholic priest Michael Pfleger wants to clean up a CTA janitorial mess impacting ex-offenders trained to clean trains.
◆ Explanation: Pfleger is said to be infuriated with the unwillingness of union chief Bob Kelly to extend a second chance initiative; a CTA apprenticeship with pay program ending Dec. 31 that also trains recovering drug addicts and spousal abuse victims.
◆ Buckshot: Watch for Pfleger to lead a protest outside Kelly’s office at noon Thursday.
◆ Backshot: “[Pfleger] has had multiple conversations with Kelly, who represents CTA train employees as head of the Amalgamated Transit Union’s Local 308, about what he considers a wildly successful apprenticeship program in developing job skills,” said a source.
◆ Upshot: “Kelly’s approval could save 65 positions, but Kelly has rebuffed the CTA’s requests to extend it past Dec. 31,” the source added.

This bespeaks an orchestrated campaign that was begun weeks ago.

Now, let's consider that the CTA is run by Rahm Emanuel and Forrest Claypool, born of the same DNA as Rev. Citizen Pfleger and the Coalitions That Have Begat the Cook County Democratic Party ( formerly known as 'The Machine."

Rahm and Forrest have the run the CTA like Valeria Jarret has run the White House - the wheels don't fit the tracks, the workers want a pee-break and the Ventras don't roll out.  The CTA should be run by 'someone' who has worked on a railroad car, driven a bus, routed passengers, avoided collisions and the like, but is not Progressive.

Robert Kelly is President of Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 308 and within its charter are tthe people who clean up stations - janitors.  These janitors are not under the control of SEIU Reds in Purple.  President Kelly has magnificently represented his sisiters and brothers much to the chagrin of Claypool and Emanuel.

Rev. Citizen Pfleger's press gambit and noon demonstration is not only political payback for Kelly's Stewardship of ATW 308, but also a signal for the media and the clowns in government to go after all the trades unions, not run by Reds in Purple.

Bob Kelly and ATW Local 308 will be given the gun-shop treatment for the next few months. Other Union Leaders can expect the same very soon after.

Donald Kelly - Gresham Son, Leo High School Benefactor, Religious and Civic Leader R. I.P.

Mr. Don Kelly was a son of the streets of the Gresham Neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. A graduate of the school with one of the largest Catholic populations in Chicago - Calumet High School: Chicago Public School - Don Kelly gave back.

To Mrs. Byrd Kelly and all the Kelly Family, Leo High School offers its prayers and sympathies.

God Bless You, Don & Byrd!

Donald P. Kelly, one of Chicago's most notable business, financial and philanthropic figures of his era, passed away at his home in Naples, FL, early Thursday morning after a battle with cancer. He was 88.


The Chicago-born Mr. Kelly was chairman, president and chief executive officer of Esmark, Inc. from 1977 to 1984. He then formed an investment company, Kelly, Briggs & Associates. He served as chairman of BCI Holdings Corp., later Beatrice Companies, Inc., a major food processing company, from 1986 to 1988. He has been president and chief executive officer of D.P. Kelly & Associates since 1988. Mr. Kelly served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Envirodyne Industries, Inc. from 1989 to 1996.


He has served as chairman and a director for E-II Holdings Inc.; Kelly Briggs & Associates, Inc.; Esmark, Inc.; Swift & Co.; G.D. Searle; General Dynamics Corp.; Inland Steel Industries Inc.; Harris Bankcorp, Inc.; Harris Trust & Savings Bank; and McGraw-Edison Co.


In 1986, he organized at that time the largest leveraged buyout in American business history, when he, along with the New York investment firm of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., acquired Beatrice Companies for $6.2 billion. As chairman and chief executive officer of E-II Holdings, Inc., Mr. Kelly led several $1 billion transactions. Throughout his career, Mr. Kelly led multiple billion dollar transactions.


Mr. Kelly began his business career in 1946 in the computer department of United Insurance Company of America. He was with A.B. Wrisley Company from 1951 to 1953, when he joined Swift & Company. He moved up at Swift, becoming assistant controller in 1965, controller in 1966, vice president of corporate development and controller in 1967 and financial vice president and director in 1970. In 1973, he led the reorganization of Swift & Company becoming a financial vice president and a director of Esmark, Inc. He was appointed CEO in 1977.


Mr. Kelly grew up in Chicago's South Side Gresham neighborhood. His parents were Thomas. N. Kelly and Ethel M. Kelly. He attended the Ryder Grammar School, Westcott Junior High School, and Calumet High School. Although he did not go to college, he attended night classes at De Paul and Loyola universities and was a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University.


Mr. Kelly was born on February 24, 1922. As a youth, his family lived at 8516 S. Union Avenue in a three-bedroom, one-bath house. His mother was a taskmaster, he said. His father had lost his job during the Depression and like many families the Kellys struggled through it. "However, we made it and I still remember a home where laughter was more prevalent than tears," Kelly said. "Our parents were always there when we needed a supporting word or pat on the back." Kelly had three brothers, William, Thomas and Robert.


Mr. Kelly enlisted in the Navy at the outbreak of World War II and served from 1942 to 1946 . He served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters aboard the U.S.S. Osterhaus. He was stationed at the Caviti Naval Base in the Philippine Islands from mid-1945 until discharged in 1946. He was proud of his naval service, he said. "I was not one, but I saw many who I consider to have been heroes," Kelly said. "We helped many of them on their missions and I know they will never be adequately or truly appreciated by those who will not and frankly cannot know the sacrifice they made or the hell they went through. You had to be there. I will always be proud of having served in the greatest Navy ever assembled."


At age 30, in 1952, Mr. Kelly married his wife, Byrd M. Sullivan. The two met at an insurance company where she worked after attending college and until their first child was due. Mr. Kelly joked that on the news of their engagement, an aunt sent her a sympathy card.


Mr. Kelly used his financial success to contribute to others. His philanthropy has supported the interests of numerous agencies and educational institutions. In 1986, he established the Donald P. and Byrd M. Kelly Foundation of Oak Brook, IL, which provides financial support for organizations, institutions and individuals who are involved in providing or seeking formal education.


Mr. Kelly supported the University of Notre Dame, DePaul University, Loyola University, St. Norbert College, Regis University, and the University of Kansas. The Foundation has provided a perpetual scholarship fund at Loyola. It has supported the heart transplant unit and the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center of Loyola University Medical Center and provided a grant to Loyola's Mundelein College. For their support and involvement in the university, Loyola awarded Mr. and Mrs. Kelly the Damen award in 1985 and later, Mrs. Kelly, with the school's Camelia Award for women in recognition of their contributions.


Mr. Kelly was a member of the advisory councils of the University of Notre Dame College of Business Administration and the DePaul University College of Commerce. He was a member of the board of trustees of University of Notre Dame and St. Norbert College and a life trustee of Fenwick High School. He received honorary doctoral degrees from Loyola University and DePaul University. He was also active in numerous other business and civic organizations.


Mr. Kelly is survived by his widow, Byrd; two sons, Patrick and Thomas; a daughter, Laura Kelly Smith; and 12 grandchildren.


Visitation will be at the Hallowell & James Funeral Home, 1025 W. 55th Street, Countryside, from 3 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 23rd. A funeral mass for Mr. Kelly will be said at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, March 24th, at St. John of the Cross Church, 4920 Caroline Avenue, Western Springs, followed by interment at the Bronswood Cemetery, 3805 Madison Street, Oak Brook.

Chicago's Progressive War on Labor - Watch CTA Assault on ATU Local 308

Forrest Claypool and Rahm Emanuel have a real problem with people who actually know how to fix a rail that has come loose due to miscalculated gauges and neglected grading, folks who meet a shift in any kind of weather and start up a bus that has not been overhauled due to cut-backs and pick up angry, cold, wet impatient commuters who can not use cash anymore, nor the efficient and easy to use pass cards, or start up a rail car and maintain a safe level speed, in a sober and serious state of mind and body, while moving thousands of souls to and from stations, and  members of the Chicago community from all neighborhoods who maintain a careful watch over routes with aid of complicated technical gadgets, monitors and headsets.    They have a real problem with these people because they, like many Chicagoans, belong to a union of skilled trades persons with an elected leadership comprised of skilled trades persons.

CTA President Forrest Claypool has not held any tax-funded public job longer than five years by my simple empirical estimation and has managed to have his patrician shanks appointed to comfy chairs by Progressives, or dinosaur Democrats foolish enough to trust Forrest Claypool with or about anything.

If a CTA electrician's tool bag were dumped out on Forrest Claypool's desk, I would Ventra to say that this CTA President would be hard pressed to identify any of the items. "Well," one might say, " Forrest Claypool is far too important a media created Reform Minded Champion of the Working Poor to bother with such minutia. He is a macro-manager of all things micro."

True.  However, one might just suggest that such a puffed-up pinch of an oligarch might fain respect for the people who can and do know the nomeclatures and applications of such items.  He most certainly does not.

Forrest Claypool, appointed to the plum political posting of CTA President by Rahm Emanuel,  has displayed nothing but very public contempt for all CTA workers and the trade union local, Amalgamated Transit Union # 308 and its President, Robert Kelly, from the moment Claypool began collecting huge public pay checks and Robert Kelly has always proven to be the class  cat of the many exchanges - only concerned for the rights and safety of his fellow union members.

Forrest Claypool is a creature of the media and the Illinois Progressive oligarchy that controls city, county and State of Illinois government.  Bob Kelly is a working stiff elected by the rank and file membership to lead Local 308 - most members are proud African American heads of households.  I know the CTA workers who come in to pay tuition wearing their CTA uniforms, whose sons at Leo High School might follow them into the trade of their mothers and fathers.  They are Local 308.

This week, after months of having his head handed to him by the forthright Mr. Kelly, Claypool enlisted Chicago's Progressive pan policy preacher and public person assassin Michael Pfleger to cast a union man in the role of racist power broker.  Mr. Kelly, as I recall, from the March 2013 declaration of released convict employment with CTA, had no part in the initiative for which he is portrayed as some union Simon Legree, nor a place at the public podium with Pfleger, Clapool and Emanuel.  Claypool promised ex-cons jobs with his CTA. The jobs require membership in Local 308.  Did anyone mention this to Local 308 ?  ? ?

Well, Preacher Pfleger does what he wants, where he wants, and to whom he wants.  The facts matter not.  This is an orchestrated campaign of character assassination ( the two Chicago paper editorial boards, Planned Parenthood, the Chicago Urban League, Midnight Basketball, The GDs/Vice Lords/ Four Corner Hustlers and UICC will all have something to say), because Pfleger, unlike Claypool, never draws an uncalculated breath.

Did anyone speak with President Kelly?

Nope.

Skilled trades set the standards for membership and not merely the payment of dues  Can the applicant pass a test?  Can the applicant provide a valid drivers license with and accurate address, can the applicant pass a drug test?  Has the applicant ever been convicted of a felony?  Progressives hate skilled trades unions and want all labor to come under the aegis of the State government.  Skilled trades unions do not have massive memberships, because membership requires skills and accountability.  Blind kids do make great high beam walkers with the Iron Workers.  A guy who can ot tell 1/8" from 1/32 should not cut anything.    Now, given the litany of crimes perpetrated aboard CTA vehicles by non-members of Local 308 as passengers, does it make any sense to have criminals emeriti add to the mix?

Progressives believe so and demand that everyone of the unevolved people* who work for a living also believe so.

Pfleger, Claypool, Rahm Emanuel and their media creatures will heap scorn and lies about Bob Kelly for a while.  How that will end?  I do not know. . .I can guess.

Know this - this is about a public character assasination of working man, because Forrest Claypool is a trainwreck for CTA, but the Progressive coalitions have too much invested in Forrest Claypool to admit that.  No Republican has ever threatened organized labor as much as the Progressive.

More importantly, this is opening act for a tragedy.  Once again, Progressive Grifters will seek to destroy Labor autonomy and stewardship of apprentice programs in Illinois. If the skilled trades unions of Chicago do not support Local 308 and Bob Kelly in this battle, you can expect Illinois labor to lose the war.

* But the Progressive coalition eventually became a victim of its own success. The economic difficulties of the Depression and the costs of World War Two were followed by the relative comfort and security of the late forties and the 1950s. Political pressures began to shift, and the Progressive concern moved away from wealth and toward other indicia of hardship, such as race, extreme political, social or religious views, indigent criminal defendants, alienage, and eventually gender, affectional preference and disabilities. Although Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights movement were essential steps to fairness, they came at a very high price: the new Progressive concerns tended to divide rather than unite the coalition. Since the 1960s welfare liberals have increasingly played the game of recognizing new groups as disadvantaged, while risking the allegiance of others. At its best, the Democratic coalition has been barely held together by its fear of the political alternative. At its worse, it has been a set of bickering groups struggling for recognition as disadvantaged so that its members can also become the beneficiaries of government largesse. Meanwhile, government entitlement programs such as social security and Medicare began to move up the social scale until their principal beneficiaries became, not the poor and unemployed, but the employed and relatively affluent middle class.
The kind of "boutique" liberalism that has characterized the 1970s and particularly the 1980s has found political unity almost impossible to maintain. Each new group brought into the coalition is marginally less attractive to those already in than the previous group had been. For example, bringing in abortion rights and gays came at a heavy price in terms of loss of support from the Catholic and evangelical working classes - indeed, the political losses were almost certainly greater than the gains.
The result has been disjointed, fragmented governmental policy that has had an extraordinarily difficult time presenting a coherent ideology. Against this background, the classical vision of the market looks pretty good, particularly to those who see themselves as the financial contributors rather than the beneficiaries of this unfocused Progressive largesse.
Today, the legacy of Progressive legal thought is important but no less controversial than it was a half century ago. For more than thirty years Progressivism's critics have railed on its distrust of markets and the naivete of its faith in government. Ronald R. Coase's famous article on "The Problem of Social Cost," published in 1960, was thought to describe a common law system that inevitably produced efficient results. But the last ten years has seen substantial scholarship challenging the robustness of the Coase Theorem and limiting its domain. As a result, our once-firm belief in "deregulation" is gradually giving way to a belief that faith in unregulated markets can be carried too far, and that there are numerous areas where carefully designed government intervention can make things better. The concern for equal treatment to people of every race has perhaps suffered from a period of neglect, but concerns for equal treatment for others continues to carry political momentum. Legal Progressivism continues to produce its greatest successes, when it focuses on bread and butter issues related to wages, employment and economic equality and security. In the final analysis, it seems, escaping the legacy of Progressive legal thought is much more easily said than done.

Chicago Needs A Neighbor as Mayor - ATU 308 President Bob Kelly Makes Sense

Laura Washington, God love her, suggests that Chicago needs a hometown De Blasio.  If De Blasio translates to ' a powerful enema,'  I agree. Chicago's blocked colon is the result of, not the lack of Progressives.

However, De Blasio name probably come from the Italian of Biazz in Tuscony, or the Italian Swiss town of the same name.  De Blasio is avariant of the name Biasi.  There was a famous Italian manufacturer of explosives by the name of Mario Biazzi (1897-1974), which would factor nicely with the former Sandinista Boy Scout, a married a former lesbian and is now Mayor of the Big Apple.

I did not know that there were former lesbians.  I thought they were like members of Irish Republican Army, or the U.S. Marines - Once In, Never out. Lord have mercy.

Bill De Blasio and Rahm Emanuel are cuts from the same cloth. However, once a Progressive gets a taste for corporate boodle, he can not get his snout out of the trough.  Bill De Blasio is only just wetting his beak.  Rahm has had a moolah bath for decades in golden tubs filled by Goldman Sachs, Hollywood, Planned Parenthood and the Non-Euclidian Plutocracy.

When corporate suits play at Progressive and the political rubber meets the road there is always a blow-out.  Real estate and real politics are a fixture not unlike sticking a starving rat and rabid raccoon in a burlap bag. One will win the fang and claw fest but you end up with a useless and bloody bag.

A recent study of Santa Cruz, CA offers this insight, " Since most cities are usually controlled by real estate developers and their buddies, Santa Cruz is a good test case for comparing theories of urban power. Atypical cases are helpful in eliminating theories from consideration if they cannot explain the unexpected events." Not true.  Most cities are controlled by coalitions of interests outside of the city limits.  The suits don't live in the city.

Now, don't get all nasty on the real estate developer.  Their 'buddies' are banks, lawyers, Friends of the Parks, Universities, political weasels and the media.   They have tony zip codes.

Toni Preckwinkle, President of the Cook County Board and recent Single Mom, is poised to challenge Rahm Emanuel for Mayor.  Toni has a tony zip code.

Most Chicagoans do not.  Chicagoans need a mayor who is also a neighbor and not just some cork-screw in Armani who stashed the old lady's wedding dress in the family rental, while in greener pastures.

If Chicago want to break the cycle of dynastic Kleptarchy and Progressive blow-out government ( which have nationally, state-wide, county level and at City Hall), Chicago needs to get a neighbor in the brawl.  I'd pick ATU Local 308 President Robert Kelly.

• Kelly is no friend of the grifting interests that begat Emanuel, Claypool, Preckwinkle & Quinn
• Kelly is a middle class wage earner who earned his Carhartt gear
• Kelly is a geuine labor leader, unlike the Marxist myna bird - Karen Lewis
• Kelly is a Chicago tax paying homeowner with eleven children
• Kelly is leader of a broad and diverse labor local of skilled professionals
• Kelly has managed one of the only Pension funds in Illinois that is going to benefit its membership
• Kelly is already in the political cross-hairs
• Kelly is already a media target - how can one not trust person whom Eric Zorn, Rich Miller, Carol Marin and Michael Sneed just don't like.

Chicago could use an enema with firehouse on full strength.  Chicago is not New York, never was and never should be. Every stupid idea Chicago City Council ever nanny stated on its people came from New York. Vote in Chicagoans.

The difference between Rahm (Bloomberg) and Toni ( De Blasio) is the difference between cancer and strychnine.

Big Shot Rahm and His Chicago Media Purse Puppies Deflect Failure on City Workers

“The video, I think, is there for all to see and make a judgment. … Rahm Emanuel on dozing cop video
Like every bully, sneak and politician, Rahm offers "BUT" with this ". . .You have to look at what the men and women in uniform throughout the city do all day" in order to smear and avoid a subsequent and well-earned ass-kicking from his betters. You know, weasel words.

Rahm Emanuel is a nasty little man, but a Big Shot.  A Big Shot is an inflated ego supported by sycophants and opportunists.  The opportunists will keep the video alive for a week or so, beefed up with bitchy commentary from the likes Mike Flannery, Dane Placko, Chuck Goudie and Carol Marin and sauced with threats to ruin the life of the man in the squad car who closed is eyes. That's the Chicago Way!

Kill the working stiff and make sure that Big Shots stiff us all.  Rahm is a Big Shot and change.

He is also the Mayor of the Cty of Chicago who promised one, all and sundry that he has learned his lessons and will no longer be a nasty little man and a Big Shot.  That was re-call election days and  night. When night passed, and he rubbed the sleep from his dark-rimmed eyes, his feet hit the floor and he strutted to City Hall the same nasty little man and Big Shot we all know him to be. The problem is that the City of Chicago's sophisticated finances are all over the rails.

So, when some cell-phone equipped citizen caught a Five-O dozing in his squad, Rahm had a golden opportunity to deflect outrage at another city worker, instead of doing his job. The pure gold of this opportunity lies in the fact that the police officer is white.

Rahm, like all good Progressives. detests working people.  Working people are Subjects, or Predicate Nominatives used as rhetorical devices, only.

Working people are The Masses, toilers, breadwinners, hard hats, rank and filers who populate neighborhoods and pay taxes used in and for communities where employment is about as common as the White Rhino - the animal, not Senator MARQUE KIRQUE.

Taking a page from the Richard M. Daley playbook, written for that particular  rare reader at the University of Chicago in the mid-1990's, working stiffs, hirelings, boyhood friends, breeders and unevolved Raoman Catholics. became the meat tossed to Chicago's toothlees media lions.

The minute Rahm appointed career gifter and job hopping milquetoast Forrest Claypool to run Chicago's buses and trains, that worthy told Chicago that its transit problems had to do with CTA employees taking a break to urinate.

Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 308 President Robert Kelly fought back and embarrassed the onion-skinned mayor and his stooge at the CTA.  Immediately, the nasty little man and Big Shot and his career grifter stooge from moss-back Illinois began a campaign to vilify Kelly - a working man.

They brought in no less a loud mouth than Pastor Pfleger and and old Black Panther Bobby Rush to paint Kelly as a racist, over paid white devil who hated children and recently released convicted youth.

With Chicago's soaring homicides, why blame it on a dozing cop?

Idiot media creatures make political hay off of stories that expose the hiring of a labor leaders kid, a napping cop, a Streets and San plumber getting paid overtime, or a meter reader fudging her ticket books.  Soon they find themselves appointed to political postings, or Government Watchdog leadership.

Chicago is blessed with hard-working investigative journalists, but they always seem to be harnessed with a Carol Marin, Dane Placko, or Chuck Goudie in the story's travois, which drags no further than where the Big Shots want it to land.

When Chicagoans toss the Tribune and the Sun Times, turn off ABC, NBC, CBS, WTTW and start taking the plight of our City very seriously and talk to cops, firemen, City Workers about the realities of our wasted talents and treasure, then it might be time to empty City, County and State government of the looters, the leaches and the Big Shots.

Until then, . . .boy how about those Cubbies? . . .can't wait to get my Riot Fest tickets . . .sweet!

John McCain: Endorsed by Everyone: Mitt Romney: All His Aches in One Basket -Rick Santorum

Ladies and Gentlemen!

In This Corner - Weighing in at the United States of America* - in the Purple (Red and Blue) John McCain!

*
GENERAL CHAIRMAN
Robert Mosbacher
Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Texas

GENERAL CO-CHAIRMEN
Phil Gramm
Former Senator, Texas
Thomas G. Loeffler
Former U.S. Representative, Texas
Lindsey Graham
U.S. Senator, South Carolina
Sam Brownback
U.S. Senator, Kansas
Jon Huntsman
Governor, Utah
Tim Pawlenty
Governor, Minnesota

NATIONAL FINANCE COMMITTEE Co-CHAIRS

The Honorable George Argyros, California
Mr. Michael Ashner, New York
Mr. Brian Ballard, Florida
Mr. Lawrence E. Bathgate II, New Jersey
Mr. Wayne Berman, Washington, D.C.
Mr. Donald L. Bren, California
Mr. John Chambers, California
Mr. Jim Click, Arizona
The Honorable James A. Courter, New Jersey
Mr. Donald R. Diamond, Arizona
Mr. Ray Dalio, Connecticut
Mr. Lewis M. Eisenberg, New Jersey
Mr. Jon Hammes, Wisconsin
Mr. James B. Lee, Jr., New York
The Honorable Frederic V. Malek, Virginia
Mr. John A. Moran, Florida
Mr. Carter Pate, Virginia
Mr. A. Jerrold Perenchio, California
Mr. Fred Smith, Tennesse
Mr. John A. Thain, New York
The Honorable Ronald Weiser, Michigan


U.S. SENATORS
Sam Brownback, Kansas
Richard Burr, North Carolina
Tom Coburn, Oklahoma
Susan Collins, Maine
Pete Domenici, New Mexico
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
Jon Kyl, Arizona
Joe Lieberman, Connecticut
Mel Martinez, Florida
Gordon Smith, Oregon
Olympia Snowe, Maine
John Thune, South Dakota
John Warner, Virginia

FORMER U.S. SENATORS
Howard Baker, Tennessee
Conrad Burns, Montana
Rudy Boschwitz, Minnesota
Dan Coats, Indiana
Alfonse D'Amato, New York
John C Danforth, Missouri
Dan Evans, Washington
Peter Fitzgerald, Illinois
Slade Gorton, Washington
Phil Gramm, Texas
Trent Lott, Mississippi
Mack Mattingly, Georgia
Don Nickles, Oklahoma
Warren Rudman, New Hampshire
Mike DeWine, Ohio
Howard Baker, Tennessee
Conrad Burns, Montana
Alphonse D'Amato, New York

U.S. REPRESENTATIVES
Spencer Bachus, Alabama
Gus Bilirakis, Florida
Mike Bilirakis, Florida
Mike Castle, Delaware
Tom Davis, Virginia
Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Florida
Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida
Jeff Flake, Arizona
Jim Gerlach, Pennsylvania
Darrell Issa, California
Ric Keller, Florida
Peter King, New York
Mark Kirk, Illinois
Randy Kuhl, New York
Ray LaHood, Illinois
Steven LaTourette, Ohio
Frank LoBiondo, New Jersey
Dan Lungren, California
Jeff Miller, Florida
Todd Platts, Pennsylvania
Chip Pickering, Mississippi
Deborah Pryce, Ohio
Jim Ramstad, Minnesota
Peter Roskam, Illinois
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida
John Shadegg, Arizona
Chris Shays, Connecticut
John Shimkus, Illinois
Fred Upton, Michigan
Joe Wilson, South Carolina
Jeff Miller, Florida

FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVES
Steve Bartlett, Texas
Mike
Jim Courter, New Jersey
Joseph J. DioGuardi, New York
Chuck Douglas, New Hampshire
Ambassador Fred J. Eckert, New York
Lou Frey, Florida
Greg Ganske, Iowa
Steve Kuykendall, California
Tom Loeffler, Texas
Joe Schwartz, Michigan
Rob Simmons, Connecticut
Dick Zimmer, New Jersey

GOVERNORS
Charlie Crist, Florida
Mitch Daniels, Indiana
Jim Douglas, Vermont
Jon Huntsman, Utah
Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota
Rick Perry, Texas
Arnold Schwarzenegger, California

FORMER GOVERNORS
Paul Cellucci, Massachusetts,
William Clements, Texas
Jim Edgar, Illinois
Tom Kean, New Jersey
Frank Keating, Oklahoma
Jim Martin, North Carolina
John McKernan, Maine
William Milliken, Michigan
Walter Peterson, New Hampshire
Tom Ridge, Pennsylvania
Buddy Roemer, Louisiana
Don Sundquist, Tennessee
Jane Swift, Massachusetts

LAWYERS FOR McCAIN
Dick Wiley, Chairman, Washington D.C.
Stanton Anderson, Washington D.C.
A.B. Culvahouse, Virginia
Hayden Dempsey, Florida
Thomas Leary, Washington D.C., Former Federal Trade Commission Commissioner

STATE PARTY CHAIRS
George Gallo, Connecticut
Alec Poitevint, Georgia

FORMER STATE PARTY CHAIRS
Winton Blout, III, Alabama
Jean Inman, Massachusetts
Marlys Popma, Iowa

NATIONAL POLICY
Bill Simon, National Policy Co-Chair

ECONOMIC POLICY ADVISORS Grant Aldonas, Department of Commerce
Carlos Bonilla, Sr VP Washington Group
Jeff Brown, Associate Professor of Finance, Univ of Illinois
Juan Buttari, Independent Consultant and Researcher in Development Economics
Kathleen Cooper, Dean, College of Business, Univ Of North Texas
Steve Davis, CRA International And University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business
Richard Dekaser, Senior Vice President And Chief Economist, National City Corporation
John Diamond, Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Fellow in Tax Policy, Baker Institute Of Public Policy, Rice University
Martin Feldstein, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, President Reagan's Chief Economic Adviser, member of President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
Emil Frankel, Transportation Consultant And Former Assistant Secretary For Transportation Policy, Department Of Transportation
Luke Froeb, Professor, Vanderbilt University
Senator Phil Gramm, Former U.S. Senator From Texas
Kevin Hassett, Resident Scholar And Director Of Economic Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute(AEI)
David John, Senior Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation
Tim Kane, Director, Center for International Trade and Economics, Heritage Foundation
Melissa Kearney, Assistant Professor Of Economics, University Of Maryland
Anne Krueger, Professor At The Johns Hopkins School Of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) & Former First Deputy Managing Director, IMF
Adam Lerrick, Visiting Scholar For The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) And Friends Of Allan H. Meltzer Professor Of Economics For Carnegie Mellon
Phil Levy, Resident Scholar for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and Former Senior Economist for Trade on the President's Council of Economic Advisers
Will Melick, Gensemer Associate Professor of Economics, Kenyon College
Michael Moore, Professor Of Economics And International Affairs, George Washington University
Tom Miller, Resident Fellow for American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
Tim Muris, Foundation Professor, George Mason University School Of Law, Former Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission
Sean O'Keefe, Former Secretary Of The Navy, NASA Administrator, & Deputy Director Of Office of Management & Budget, The White House
Gerry Parsky, Senior Economic Advisor
Nancy Pfotenhauer, Former President, Independent Women's Forum
James Rill, Partner, Howrey LLP and Former Assistant Attorney General (Antitrust), U.S. Department of Justice
Kenneth Rogoff, Professor Of Public Policy, Harvard University
Harvey Rosen, Professor Of Economics And Business Policy, Princeton University
John Silvia, Managing Director, Chief Economist, Wachovia Bank
Aquiles Suarez, Vice President For Government Affairs For National Association Of Industrial And Office Properties & Former Special Assistant To The President For Domestic Policy
Dr. John Taylor, Professor Of Economics At Stanford, Senior Fellow At The Hoover Institution & Former Under Secretary Of Treasury
Anthony Villamil, Chief Executive Officer, The Washington Economics Group, Inc. & Former Under Secretary Of Commerce For Economic Affairs
Joseph Wright, Chairman Of The Board For Intelsat
Mark Zandi, Chief Economist For Moody's Economy.Com
STATE LEADERS
Delaware Leaders
Georgia Leaders
Colorado Leaders
Maine Leaders
Minnesota Leaders
Montana Leaders
West Virginia Leaders
Oklahoma Leaders
New Jersey Leaders
New York Leaders
Connecticut Leaders
North Dakota Leaders
South Carolina Leaders
California Leaders
New Hampshire Leaders
Tennessee Leaders
Florida Leaders

FORMER U.S. OFFICIALS

Former Secretaries of State
Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Former Secretary of State
Alexander M. Haig, Former Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger, Former Secretary of State, New York
George P. Shultz, Former Secretary of State, California

Former Cabinet Secretaries
Jack Kemp, Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Former U.S. Representative, New York
Ann McLaughlin Korologos, Former Secretary of Labor, DC
Robert Mosbacher, Former Secretary of Commerce, Texas
Peter Peterson, Former Secretary of Commerce, New York
Anthony Principi, Former Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Maryland
Former Governor Tom Ridge, Former Secretary of Homeland Security, Pennsylvania
James R. Schlesinger, Former Secretary of Defense

Former National Security Officials
Tom Kean, 9/11 Commission Chairman, New Jersey
Robert C. "Bud" McFarlane, Former National Security Advisor, Washington, DC
R. James Woolsey Jr., Former CIA Director
Robert Inman, Former National Security Advisor and Deputy Director of the CIA

Former Army Generals
Norman Schwarzkopf, General U.S. Army (Ret.)
Click here to read the endorsements of over 100 Admirals and Generals.

Former Navy Secretaries
William Ball, Former Secretary of the Navy, South Carolina
John Lehman, Former Secretary of the Navy, New York

Former Ambassadors
Chuck Cobb, Former Ambassador, Florida
Sue Cobb, Former Ambassador, Florida
Fred Eckert, Former Ambassador, North Carolina
Fred Malek, Former Ambassador, Virginia
Ron Weiser, Former Ambassador, Michigan
Al Hoffman, Former Ambassador, Florida
Otto Juan Reich, Former Ambassador, Florida

FORMER POW'S
Commander Everett Alvarez, (ret), Maryland
Al Carpenter (ret), Virginia
Captain Mike Cronin USN (ret), Maryland
Colonel Bud Day, MOH USAF (ret), Florida
Commander Paul Galanti USN (ret), Virginia
Lt Colonel Orson Swindle USMC (ret), Virginia
Click here to read about more military Veterans who support John McCain.

BUSINESS LEADERS
John Chambers, CEO of Cisco
Carly Fiorina, Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard
Steve Forbes
James Huffines, Banking Executive
David Pottruck, Chairman of Red Eagle Ventures
Frederick W. Smith, CEO of FedEx
Dax Swatek, President of Swatek and Associates
John Thain, CEO of Merrill Lynch

ATTORNEYS GENERAL
Bill Barr
Griffin Bell
Mike Bowers, Georgia
Steve Carter, Indiana
Richard Cullen, Virginia
Troy King, Alabama
Jerry Kilgore, Virginia
Rob McKenna, Washington
Henry McMaster, South Carolina
Mark Shurtleff, Utah
Wayne Stenehjem, North Dakota

SOLICITOR GENERALS
Theodore B. Olson

SECRETARY OF STATE
Mark Hammond, South Carolina


FORMER STATE SECRETARIES OF STATE
Randy Daniels, New York
Jim Smith, Florida

STATE SENATE LEADERS
Glenn McConnell, South Carolina President Pro Tempore

STATE SENATORS
Bill Baroni, New Jersey
Michael S. Bennett, Florida
Lee Constantine, Florida
Joseph Delahunty, New Hampshire
John Gallus, Michigan
Anthony Guglielmo, Connecticut
Jim King, Florida
Hugh Leatherman, South Carolina
John E. Lyons, Jr., New Hampshire
Michelle McManus, Michigan
Kevin O'Toole, New Jersey
Durell Peaden, Florida
Randy Richardville, Michigan
Robert Watson, Rhode Island

STATE HOUSE LEADERS
Kevin Elsenheimer, Assistant Minority Leader, Michigan
Kevin Green, Minority Whip Leader, Michigan
Bobby Harrell, Speaker of the House, South Carolina
Ric Killian, Republican Freshman Leader, North Carolina
Jim Merrill, House Majority Leader, South Carolina
Doug Smith, Speaker Pro Tempore, South Carolina
Josh Tardy, House Leader, Maine
Chris Ward, Minority Floor Leader, Michigan

FORMER STATE SENATE LEADERS
Bob Brown, Former Senate President, Montana

FORMER STATE HOUSE LEADERS
Rick Johnson, Former House Speaker, Michigan
Chuck Perricone, Former House Speaker, Michigan

STATE HOUSE MEMBERS
Ellyn Bogdanoff, Florida
Jason Brown, Missouri
Judy Emmons, Michigan
Marcelo Llorente, Florida
Carlos Lopez-Cantera, Florida
Stand Jordan, Florida
Brian Calley, Michigan
Adam Hasner, Florida
Fred King, Sr., New Hampshire
John Labruzzo, Louisiana
David Law, Michigan
John Legg, Florida
David P. Rible, New Jersey
David Russo, New Jersey
David Russo, New Jersey
Chris Saxman, Virginia
David Simmons, Florida
Glenn Steil, Jr., Michigan
Eric Stohl, New Hampshire
Robert Watson, Rhode Island
Trebor Worthen, Oklahoma
Lorence Wenke, Michigan

MAYORS
Rudy Giuliani, New York
Tommy Joe Alexander, Irondale, Alabama
Carlos Alvarez, Florida
George Andersen, Iowa
Rick Anderson, Iowa
Ron Colling, Iowa
Nelson Crabb, Iowa
Rich Crotty, Florida
Darrell Dobernecker, Iowa
Darrell Downs, Iowa
Thomas Ginger, Iowa
Sandra Hatfield, Iowa
Jim Heavens, Iowa
Dave Kleis, Minnesota
Dennis Kunkle, Iowa
Rick Lott, Florida
John Meserve, Florida
Virgil Murray, Iowa
John Nieland, Iowa
Reynold Peterson, Iowa
Ruth Randleman, Iowa
Steve Samuels, Iowa
Bernie Streeter, New Hampshire
Bob Walkup, Arizona
Ed Winborn, Iowa

FIRST RESPONDERS FOR McCAIN
Sheriff Lee Baca, Los Angeles County Sheriff
John S. Dempsey, Captain, NYC Police Department (Ret.)

Tom Kean, Former 9/11 Commission Chairman
Frank Keating, Former Oklahoma Governor
Robert "Bud" McFarlane, Former National Security Advisor for President Ronald Reagan
Mr. Edward D. Mullins, President of the Sergeants Benevolent Association of New York City
Tom Ridge, Former Secretary of Homeland Security
[read more]

NATIONAL HISPANIC ADVISORY BOARD
Mayor Carlos Alvarez, Florida
Honorable Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Florida

Honorable Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida
Pastor Mark Gonzalez, Texas
Honorable Manuel Lujan, New Mexico
Mr. Tony Orlando, Florida
Honorable Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida
Mr. Solomon D. Trujillo, Colorado
Major General Freddy Valenzuela, Florida
Honorable Albert C. Zapanta, Texas
[read more]

ACADEMIC LEADERS
Bernie Machen, President, University of Florida

RNC MEMBERS
Bruce Ash, Arizona
Sharon Giese, Arizona
Jerry Lathan, Alabama John Matlusky, Delaware
Alec Poitevint, Georgia
Mary Jo Arndt, Illinois
Steve Cloud, Kansas
Alicia Salisbury, Kansas
Gary Emineth, North Dakota
Mary Jean Jensen, South Dakota
Chuck Yob, Michigan
Holly Hughes, Michigan

Former Commissioners
Michael Powell, FCC

ENTERTAINER/ATHLETES
Curt Schilling, Pitcher, Boston Redsox
Sylvester Stallone


And in this Corner - weighing in with Former Pennsylvannia Senator Rick Santorum** - wearing the Albino Conservative Weight Trunks -The Flyweight Willard Mitt Romney


Are You Ready to . . .what am I looking for? . . . Boggle? Scrabble? Knit with Mitt?
Count the Lights? Jump the Shark? Surf the Channels? Do the Hustle? . . . dang! Nap Time. I'll be back.
** Added to Willard Mitt Romney's weight is Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Joe 'No Statute of Limitations' Scarborough, Hughie Hewitt, and Terry Jeffrey

La Lumiere School's 20th Science Olympiad - The Great Bryan Smith: Coach, Teacher, Mentor and Gentleman

Master Teacher - Bryan Smith - ageless, damn him! He's gotta be using Grecian Red!
La Lumiere School: boarding and day preparatory school -Arcadia in Indiana
La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana is Alma Mater to Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, HBO Director and producer Paris Barclay, John Buck Company Principle and Operations Chief Pat Buck, Actor & Comedian Jim Gaffigan and school Headmaster Mike Kennedy.

The school was established in 1963, by Chicago and Indiana Catholic laymen, like Andy McKenna, John Daly, Art Decio, Charlie Comiskey, Aidan Mullet, F. Miller Bransfield, Ed Stephan and Ed Proctor to name a few. It is positively one of the most beautiful places on earth. I lived and taught at La Lumiere School from 1988-1994 with some of the best teachers on the planet -Bryan Smith, Miriam Nasidi, Pete Campbell, Johanna Miller, Father Jay Schultz, Mike Hall, Pat Mulligan, Pat Buck, Chris Balawender, Larry Sullivan and Linda Weigel. It was wonderful.

Bryan and Judy Smith parented Augustine House (dorm) to the east of my dorm Becket House - each housed a family and twenty plus teenagers. Bryan Smith is a Baltimore native and Notre Dame Graduate who has spent his entire teaching career at La Lumiere School. Bryan married Judy Coppens and they became great friends to the Hickey Family.

I know many great teachers and Bryan Smith a biology and science instructor to be the very top of the food chain. Along with Larry Sullivan - Headmaster Emeritus - Bryan Smith possessed genuine academic command and mastery of the classroom. Moreover, Bryan Smith is the man any parent would want serving in loco parentis - Mr. Smith has been Dad to hundreds of brilliant, capable, snotty, ingracious, cooperative, saintly and more than a few kids with my instincts and inclinations.

In October of 1989, my son Conor ws born at La Lumiere during our football defeat at the hands, feet, teeth, ass & elbows of the Bridgeman Bees ( Michigan) and sixteen years later the native son returned to La Lumiere for his junior and senior years of high school. Bryan and Judy again watched over Conor.
# 55Conor Oliver Hickey '08 -Capt. La Lumiere Lakers Football-Center -in two years of play at St. Rita and La Lumiere Conor never muffed a snap, nor missed a block -thank Christ that Conor is his Mother's son!

Bryan Smith initiated and coached the La Lumier School Science Olympiad Teams - in twenty years Bryan Smith's teams have "gone to State!"

They are going again! God Speed Lakers! Go Blue! As always, well done Coach Smith! God Bless Bryan & Judy Smith!

The La Lumiere School Science Team took first place in the Indiana Science Olympiad Regional Competition at Goshen College, Saturday, February 5.

La Lumiere School placed first in 21 of 23 events. In over half of the events where La Lumiere placed first, they also captured second. Headmaster Michael Kennedy commented on the students’ accomplishment, “This exemplary performance, and that of our Regional Championship Academic Decathlon Team, is only surpassed by the outstanding character and commitment of these students. This confirms what many people already know: La Lumiere has the strongest academic program in the area, and this is just one example of our level of excellence.”

The Laker team will compete in the state tournament at Purdue University Calumet on April 2, 2011.

La Lumiere School students compete to qualify for a spot on the School’s Science Olympiad team. Through classroom activities, research and training, the team prepares for district, regional and state tournaments. La Lumiere has competed successfully at local, regional, and state levels for the past 19 years. La Lumiere School’s medal results are as follows:

First Place Medals

Anatomy and Physiology – Adnan Ahmed, Chesterton and Neathie Patel, Chesterton

Astronomy – Neal Patel, Chesterton and Andrew Yarger, South Bend

Chemistry Lab – Adnan Ahmed, Chesterton and Christian Allen, Valparaiso

Disease Detective – Christian Allen, Valparaiso and Anulé Ndukwu, Chesterton

Dynamic Planet – Neal Patel, Chesterton and Michael Spaeth, La Porte

Ecology – Laima Augustaitis, New Buffalo, MI and Mary Catherine Brown, Lakeside, MI

Experimental Design – Kelly Barr, La Porte, Andrew Bartels, South Bend, and Emet Murillo, La Porte

Forensics – Adnan Ahmed, Chesterton and Lucas Tang, Portage

Fossils – Christian Allen, Valparaiso and Anulé Ndukwu, Chesterton

Helicopters – Chong-xin (Dereck) Luo, China and Lucas Tang, Portage

Microbe Mission – Neathie Patel, Chesterton and Lucas Tang, Portage

Mission Possible – Chong-xin (Dereck) Luo, China and Michael Spaeth, La Porte

Mousetrap Vehicle – Christian Allen, Valparaiso and Hans Guentert, South Bend

Optics – Lindsay Ciastko, Hammond and Mackenzie O’Brien, La Porte

Ornithology – Robert Bartels, South Bend and Alexa Hicks, La Porte

Remote Sensing – Neal Patel, Chesterton and Andrew Yarger, South Bend

Robot Ramble – Hans Guentert, South Bend and Ryan Worl, La Porte

Sounds of Music – Lindsay Ciastko, Hammond and Anulé Ndukwu, Chesterton

Technical Problem Solving – Esmeralda Alvarez, Chicago, IL and Jin-uk (Tim) Heo, Korea

Towers – James Caplice, Michigan City and Lisamarie Nappier, Chicago, IL

Wind Power - Lindsay Ciastko, Hammond and Mackenzie O’Brien, La Porte

Second Place Medals

Astronomy – Emet Murillo, La Porte and Marina Walinski, Rolling Prairie

Chemistry Lab – Jin-uk (Tim) Heo, Korea and Esmeralda Alvarez, Chicago, IL

Experimental Design – Robert Bartels, South Bend, Mackenzie O’Brien, La Porte, and Andrew Yarger, South Bend

Forensics –Esmeralda Alvarez, Chicago, IL and Kelly Barr, La Porte

Fossils – Andrew Bartels, South Bend and Emet Murillo, La Porte

Helicopters – Jin-uk (Tim) Heo, Korea

Ornithology – Mary Catherine Brown, Lakeside, MI and Marina Walinski, Rolling Prairie

Protein modeling - Alexa Hicks, La Porte, Neathie Patel, Chesterton and Lucas Tang, Portage

Remote Sensing – Kelly Barr, La Porte and Emet Murillo, La Porte

Sounds of Music – Jacqueline Lange, La Porte and Marina Walinski, Rolling Prairie

Technical Problem Solving – Lindsay Ciastko, Hammond and Chong-xin (Dereck) Luo, China

Towers - Neal Patel, Chesterton

Write it-Do it – Mary Catherine Brown, Lakeside, MI and Jacqueline Lange, La Porte

Third Place Medals

Dynamic Planet – Andrew Bartels, South Bend and Jacqueline Lange, La Porte

Ecology - Robert Bartels, South Bend and Alexa Hicks, La Porte

Write it-Do it – Alexa Hicks, La Porte and Neal Patel, Chesterton
About Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad is a national organization that strives to promote and improve student interest in science and to improve the quality of K-12 science education throughout the nation. Its vision is to:

Create a passion for learning through the organization of tournaments.

Improve the quality of K-12 science education throughout the nation by changing the way science is perceived and the way it is taught (with an emphasis on problem solving and hands-on, minds-on constructivist learning practices).
Celebrate and recognize the outstanding achievement of both students and teachers in the areas of science and technology.
Promote partnerships among community, businesses, industry, government and education.

Christ Welcomes Home A Great Lady - Marita Sheehy

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

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

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

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

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

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

Killing a Rotter - The Title of Bill O'Reilly's Last Book?

"Rotter is a beautiful word because - to me - it sums up a particular type of person who's a middle-aged untrustworthy cad. I think of the actor Terry-Thomas, someone with a pencil moustache and brilliantine hair who will pick your pocket while smiling." BBC slang historian Tony Thorne

“O'Reilly has had tremendous run,” Drudge

Whatever.

I watch Fox News at 5 P.M. CST.  Brett Baeir is the best news anchor since Frank Reynolds.

I appreciate the nice looking girls who dominate Fox News and they get less than a glance from me,  as I am  over sixty, been a widower for over a decade, raised two lovely daughters and a son who treats women like he did his mother and welcomed a granddaughter to clan Hickey in February.

I worship women and know the difference between Megyn Kelly and Camille Paglia.  I read Camille Paglia as I have for more than thirty years and have yet to glance at a review of Ms. Kelly's Settle for More.  I do, Ms. Kelly.  I do.

Barbara Tuchman is more. Eudora Welty is more.  Edna Ferber is more.  George Eliot is more. Camille Paglia is way more.

Why settle for less?

Dopes do all the time.  They order Fifty Shades of Grey when they could read A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century.  They order Nutri-System, when they could learn to make wholesome meals.  Old dopes settle for their ego, a thick wallet and all that it can buy, or the vanity of human wishes. They buy them vanity wheels, with the savings from hiding assets in an ugly divorce, as well as gallon jugs of little blue pills, when Mr. Johnson goes on the fritz,


Old guys drooling over hot babes is the gateway to porn addiction, Lads.  Worse, Old Guys using their power and position to force their wicked ways on toothsome young ladies is, was and always shall be loathsome - be they sporting silk bathrobes, academic gowns or corporate gray worsted wool.

Decrepit debauchers and reprobate Romeos deserve equal revulsion - Bills Cosby and O'Reilly.

O'Reilly I know of, due to public opinion and a brief sampling of his schtick ten years ago, which was about as enriching and enjoyable as being handcuffed for days in an old AT&T phone booth to a blacked out drunk, marinated in Wild Irish Rose since the Clinton Adminstration, with irritable bowel syndrome.

My O'Reilly awareness is only due to commercial breaks on FOX touting the latest in his series of KILLING books - Jesus, Kennedy, Robert Hall, Earl Scheib and the Kingston Trio and the American news media.  Fox News buys up tones of copies and Bill-O gets a positive rank on the New York Times Best Sellers List.  Try and read one.  Go ahead! I dare you.

I understand Mr. O'Reilly (aka Martin Dugard) is having trouble with some young women and it appears that his star is in rapid descent - 'They mount, they shine, evaporate and fall!'  Do they not. O'Reilly's career seems to be falling apart, like a Robert Hall suit.

Well, he had himself a fine old time.  Now, the world might be saved from having its tired old ears pounded about Bill O'Reilly's latest KILLING Book.  Might it be titled, Killing Me?

No.  Vain clowns use the third person when discussing themselves. Vain clowns force themselves on younger women. Rotters manage to succeed and expect to get away with it.

Killing a Rotter - the Bill O'Reilly Story serves nicely.

Thank You Friends of the Park for Saving our Lakefront and Outing Chicago's Bullies

The Friends of Park have saved Chicago's lakefront, for now.  This is Chicago, neighbors, and you can set your watch by the next public looting boondoggle.

I wonder how Rahm's profanity crusade is going.  Of course NBC Chicago forgives Rahm everything as does WTTW. I Imagine the Rahm swear jar is topped off and ready for a trip to the cash changer at any of Chicago's fine Fifth Third Banks.

That is a Progressive Thinking and Acting Bank

The Progressives ( former Liberals, Goo-goos and Hand-wringers) are in control of every branch of Government - yep, I include Governor Rauner who is merely buying time for his Corporatist Progressive Pals and Oligarchs.

From the White House to Hyde Park, the New Machine controls Chicago and Cook County. The New Machine is not about building legions of Democratic Party workers ready, willing and able to get out the vote as a way of saying 'Thank You" for a job on the trucks, a seat in a Patrol car, a place in an Emergency van, a pick and shovel filling pot holes and reconfiguring curbs.  No this new machine is a faceless blob of bank accounts, 501(c)3 foundations, blue-stocking law firms, real estate monte grifters, Commnity Activists and the News Media.  The poor get a taste of quick cash and lunch boxes and T-shirts, the Armani clad pink cheeks who write small checks not exceeding the the Federal Election Law limits reap huge returns and the middle class, once served so well by the Democrat Party of Cook County pay the bills and get contempt from both the poor and the oligarchs.

This week was a Wow!  The middle guys, who really are the little guys, won one here in Chicago.  The middle/little guys in the UK won the same.

The same ugly and unfair narratives heaped upon Brexit backers, were meted out to the Friends of the Park here in Chicago.

Friends of the Park were villified by every Friend of Rahm/I'm With Her/Hope and Change voice in Cook County.  These forces were marshalled on a huge scale that reminded me of Rahm Emanuel, Forrest Claypool and Pastor Pfleger's smear campaign against the President of Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 308 all through 2013-2014. This was the age of the CTA scandals regarding the Bombardier Rail Car boondoggles and the Ventra Card foul-ups.

Like President Robert Kelly, Friends of the Parks were treated to the attentions of the starving hounds in Rahm Emanuel's kennels.  Pastor Pfleger calls Friends of the Parks Gangsters - you know like the GDs. The Rev says, "Tell me the difference between Friends of the Parks and the Gangster Disciples?"

Well, the GDs shot at me, killed a good number of students that I love, shake down local business people, terrorize everyone, Vote Straight Party on Demand ( call on Elder Hal Baskin GD Emeritus) , launder drug money, sling drugs, possess firearms of every variety and caliber, sport snappy gray, blue and black attire on more formal occasions, can not seem to paly well with the Stones and say 7-4 Til the World Blow and Trust by the old six-pointed star . . .yep, just like Friends of the Park.

• Pastor Pfleger the political preacher who is probably With Her in 2016   
• Newton Minnow - The Man who Discovered Barack Obama and Called Television A Vast Waste Land predicted that Rahm would prevail in this dual to death and warned the helots who still read Chicago Editorials without wetting their britches that Friend sof the Park were 'small group setting an agenda' and the might be setting a 'dangerous precedent' - like keeping the public trust. Shucks, can't have that around this burg, Newton.
• The Sun Times Editorial Board always on the right side of fixed polls and fixed pols
• The Chicago Reader, the script for the hip, chimed in with the Friends of the Parking Lot Meme - the hip don't tailgate, unless it is for an ironic goof on the squares

The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board surprised me on this one.  They did not swallow the Rahm Bait and to this I attribute the sound voices of John Kass and Kristen McQueary.

The people who really do not like people in the neighborhoods are the people who really hate Friends of Parks.

Friends of Parks, like the Sons of Liberty long ago and forgotten in public education, could be the spark for  Cook County Revolution!  Friends of the Parks proved to be friends of Chicago's Neighborhoods. 

I am making a modest gift to Friends of the Park . today.