I noticed the great photography of Chicago Artist Araceli Arroyo a couple of weeks ago. I really like her take on the working class streetscapes around Midway Airport and her shots of kids at play.
Most telling are her winter images especially the one above that captures Chicago's Hawk in full flight.
Click my post title for more of Ms. Arroyo's work.
"You don't consciously set out to do something gallant. You just do it because that is what you are there for."
Richard Todd
"I don't subscribe to murder" - Liam Clancy
Two Irishmen - Actor Richard Todd and Singer/Guitarist Liam Clancy- died last week. Kevin Myers wrote an essay today on the nature of gallantry and grace.
Tuesday December 08 2009
TWO Irishmen died last week. They both seem to have been good men, their lives crossing only as vapour trails from different flight-paths might mingle. Each provided a different kind national stereotype -- one for Ireland, the other for Britain -- and the myths they helped create still live on in the imaginations of those outside their respective countries.
Richard Todd was born in 1919 in Dublin to Irish loyalists who were not about to remain in a state run by Sinn Feiners. He was raised in England and India before becoming an actor. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the British army, later becoming a paratrooper. He was among the first allied airborne soldiers to land in Normandy, before the sea-borne invasion hit the beaches. His own diffidence about this time matched his natural heroism. Later, as a film actor, he was to play in war scenes in which he had participated -- even watching other characters play the part of himself.
Two films defined him, and the mythic "Britishness" which he came to embody. The first, 'The Dam Busters', remains one of the finest British war movies ever made. It is successful partly because it conforms so totally with the requirements of myth, particularly in his portrayal of the legendary RAF Wing Commander Guy Gibson. Time has not been kind to either the dam-busting bombing raid, nor to its hero. The attack on the Ruhr dams in May 1943 could not possibly have succeeded in its stated objective in paralysing the German hydroelectric power systems. No measurable reduction in German industrial output was achieved.
The loss of aircrew -- eight out of 19 aircraft were shot down, with 56 men killed -- was quite shocking. On the receiving end, the result was even more terrible: more than 1,000 people -- more than half of them slave-workers and allied prisoners of war -- were killed.
History is only tangentially related to myth. And the legend of 'The Dam Busters' took flight with the film about the operation, with Richard Todd playing Gibson to perfection as the "typical" English officer. It is irrelevant that Gibson was, in addition to being a man of spectacular personal courage, actually a bumptious, insensitive and insufferable bully. The British people needed a hero, and Richard Todd's Guy Gibson provided it.
The second archetypal British character Todd played was Major John Howard in 'The Longest Day', the leader of the famous glider-borne assault on Pegasus Bridge in Normandy. Extraordinarily, Todd the soldier was actually a paratrooper in support of that operation. But John Howard once told me how he hated Todd's upper-class portrayal of him, which was utterly unlike the real John Howard; a working class boy, with a strong London accent, who had been commissioned from the ranks. This (to my mind) would have been a more compelling story; but to the American mind behind 'The Longest Day', and to the British also, British officers should always be toffs.
The real Guy Gibson was killed in action in 1944.
Two of the aircrew serving with the RAF at that time were the Waterford brothers, air-gunners Paddy and Tom Clancy. Only one-in-four of Bomber Command survived a tour of missions, and they both did; going on, in a second exile in the US, to form the Clancy Brothers. The youngest and last of the Clancys, Liam, died last week, just hours after Richard Todd.
The Clancys became an Irish caricature, but a wholly benign one, and only the too-sensitive worry about these things.
For those of us in the great Irish diaspora, the Clancy Brothers lit a torch of creative and cultural certainty. That it might have been largely mythic is irrelevant.
They also inspired many American folk artists, including Bob Dylan, and, of course, uncountable numbers in Ireland. But they were largely responsible, too, for the English folksong revival, the main protagonists of which -- Martin Carthy and the Watersons -- not merely followed their example, but were themselves of Irish extraction. A cliche is only tiresome to those who are too familiar with it.
The Clancys brought joy to millions, and made simplicity pleasurable. There was the darker side, of course; the fights and the booze, and so on. But they had their limits.
And whereas the Clancys revelled in 19th century ballads about the '98 Rising, they were uncomfortable with the gruesome musical lore of more recent vintage. John Boland's story on Saturday of Liam's rebuttal of an 'An Phoblacht' seller -- "I don't subscribe to murder" -- pretty much sums up the brothers' politics. Liam was the last of them to go, and I greatly regret never having met him.
NOT merely do the bawneen stereotypes of the Clancy cliche live on: so do its disciples. Children who never heard of the brothers live richer, better, happier lives today because of the music they helped save.
And another thing, equally relevant and always worth remembering: Europe is free today because of the likes of Richard Todd, and Paddy and Tom Clancy, and John Howard, and Guy Gibson. For behind all great myths are usually great truths.
The problem is that we usually don't know what they are.
- Kevin Myers
Irish Independent
Que Ojos!
Click my Post Title for Araceli Arroyo's Wonderful Chicago Photos - from which I posted three great shots of Chicago Winter in Full Force and Fury.
In honor of this Artist's Cold Eye Cast on Winter's Chill, I add the overlooked Dead White Man of the Yukon!
The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill
by: Robert W. Service
I took a contract to bury the body
Of blasphemous Bill MacKie,
Whenever, wherever or whatsoever
The manner of death he die --
Whether he die in the light o' day
Or under the peak-faced moon;
In cabin or dance-hall, camp or dive,
Mucklucks or patent shoon;
On velvet tundra or virgin peak,
By glacier, drift or draw;
In muskeg hollow or canyon gloom,
By avalanche, fang or claw;
By battle, murder or sudden wealth,
By pestilence, hooch or lead --
I swore on the Book I would follow and look
Till I found my tombless dead.
For Bill was a dainty kind of cuss,
And his mind was mighty sot
On a dinky patch with flowers and grass
In a civilized bone-yard lot.
And where he died or how he died,
It didn't matter a damn
So long as he had a grave with frills
And a tombstone "epigram".
So I promised him, and he paid the price
In good cheechako coin
(Which the same I blowed in that very night
Down in the Tenderloin).
Then I painted a three-foot slab of pine:
"Here lies poor Bill MacKie",
And I hung it up on my cabin wall
And I waited for Bill to die.
Years passed away, and at last one day
Came a squaw with a story strange,
Of a long-deserted line of traps
'Way back of the Bighorn range;
Of a little hut by the great divide,
And a white man stiff and still,
Lying there by his lonesome self,
And I figured it must be Bill.
So I thought of the contract I'd made with him,
And I took down from the shelf
The swell black box with the silver plate
He'd picked out for hisself;
And I packed it full of grub and "hooch",
And I slung it on the sleigh;
Then I harnessed up my team of dogs
And was off at dawn of day.
You know what it's like in the Yukon wild
When it's sixty-nine below;
When the ice-worms wriggle their purple heads
Through the crust of the pale blue snow;
When the pine-trees crack like little guns
In the silence of the wood,
And the icicles hang down like tusks
Under the parka hood;
When the stove-pipe smoke breaks sudden off,
And the sky is weirdly lit,
And the careless feel of a bit of steel
Burns like a red-hot spit;
When the mercury is a frozen ball,
And the frost-fiend stalks to kill --
Well, it was just like that that day when I
Set out to look for Bill.
Oh, the awful hush that seemed to crush
Me down on every hand,
As I blundered blind with a trail to find
Through that blank and bitter land;
Half dazed, half crazed in the winter wild,
With its grim heart-breaking woes,
And the ruthless strife for a grip on life
That only the sourdough knows!
North by the compass, North I pressed;
River and peak and plain
Passed like a dream I slept to lose
And I waked to dream again.
River and plain and mighty peak --
And who could stand unawed?
As their summits blazed, he could stand undazed
At the foot of the throne of God.
North, aye, North, through a land accurst,
Shunned by the scouring brutes,
And all I heard was my own harsh word
And the whine of the malamutes,
Till at last I came to a cabin squat,
Built in the side of a hill,
And I burst in the door, and there on the floor,
Frozen to death, lay Bill.
Ice, white ice, like a winding-sheet,
Sheathing each smoke-grimed wall;
Ice on the stove-pipe, ice on the bed,
Ice gleaming over all;
Sparkling ice on the dead man's chest,
Glittering ice in his hair,
Ice on his fingers, ice in his heart,
Ice in his glassy stare;
Hard as a log and trussed like a frog,
With his arms and legs outspread.
I gazed at the coffin I'd brought for him,
And I gazed at the gruesome dead,
And at last I spoke: "Bill liked his joke;
But still, goldarn his eyes,
A man had ought to consider his mates
In the way he goes and dies."
Have you ever stood in an Arctic hut
In the shadow of the Pole,
With a little coffin six by three
And a grief you can't control?
Have you ever sat by a frozen corpse
That looks at you with a grin,
And that seems to say: "You may try all day,
But you'll never jam me in"?
I'm not a man of the quitting kind,
But I never felt so blue
As I sat there gazing at that stiff
And studying what I'd do.
Then I rose and I kicked off the husky dogs
That were nosing round about,
And I lit a roaring fire in the stove,
And I started to thaw Bill out.
Well, I thawed and thawed for thirteen days,
But it didn't seem no good;
His arms and legs stuck out like pegs,
As if they was made of wood.
Till at last I said: "It ain't no use --
He's froze too hard to thaw;
He's obstinate, and he won't lie straight,
So I guess I got to -- saw."
So I sawed off poor Bill's arms and legs,
And I laid him snug and straight
In the little coffin he picked hisself,
With the dinky silver plate;
And I came nigh near to shedding a tear
As I nailed him safely down;
Then I stowed him away in my Yukon sleigh,
And I started back to town.
So I buried him as the contract was
In a narrow grave and deep,
And there he's waiting the Great Clean-up,
When the Judgment sluice-heads sweep;
And I smoke my pipe and I meditate
In the light of the Midnight Sun,
And sometimes I wonder if they was,
The awful things I done.
And as I sit and the parson talks,
Expounding of the Law,
I often think of poor old Bill --
And how hard he was to saw.
Why is it that the bishops are more concerned with restricting millions of American women from making health care decisions that are best for them and their families than they are with ensuring that millions of Americans — women, men, children, immigrants, the poor, the middle class — get much-needed health insurance?Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
As a Catholic, I dare say it’s because the Conference of Catholic Bishops has lost its way. For example, in Missouri, the Catholic Conference issued an e-mail alert urging “those who are opposed to health care reform but are also pro-life” to “stay focused on the abortion issue and get the Stupak-like amendment adopted in the Senate.”
Winter's allure to delicate and romantic individuals who delight in the miracle that is snow is magic!
Click my post title for such scenes as to delight the delicate heart!
Thus!
Now Winter Nights Enlarge
by Thomas Campion (1617)
Now winter nights enlarge
The number of their hours,
And clouds their storms discharge
Upon the airy towers.
Let now the chimneys blaze,
And cups o’erflow with wine;
Let well-tuned words amaze
With harmony divine.
Now yellow waxen lights
Shall wait on honey love,
While youthful revels, masques, and courtly sights
Sleep’s leaden spells remove.
This time doth well dispense
With lovers’ long discourse;
Much speech hath some defence,
Though beauty no remorse.
All do not all things well;
Some measures comely tread,
Some knotted riddles tell,
Some poems smoothly read.
The summer hath his joys
And winter his delights;
Though love and all his pleasures are but toys,
They shorten tedious nights.
50cc Briggs & Stratton OHV 4-cycle engine
28" Clearing Width
Up to 45' Throw Distance*
Up to 2,000 lbs. per Minute*
6 Forward, 2 Reverse Speeds
Like most American males, having time to play golf is a challenge; Not that were I given the time, would I play golf. I look ludicrous in Golf togs and the duds I'd choose for a round would be unacceptable on the links - you know - from the toes to the crown: Converse All-Star Black Chuck Taylor's Leo football sweats or old cut-offs, Bass Pro T-shirt and La Lumiere Blue pith helmet.
The pith helmet was from cutting the grass on the fields at La Lumiere and it lends a genuine Frank Buck aura to my usual Walter Mitty-ish mien.
I just read that Golf Wiz and snappy dresser Tiger Woods is believed to have dallied with Seven (7) extra-Matrimonial Doxies. (Rachel Uchitel, Jaimee Grubbs, Kalika Moquin, Jamie Jungers and Porn Auteur Holly Sampson.) One for each of the Seven Deadly Sins, Tiger? Positively Old Testament there Tiger.
Dawg! = as my younger colleagues and charges at Leo High School might offer.
He did after all nail a Fire Hydrant and a Tree as well as the Concupiscent Seven!
The North Korean goofball Kim Jong Il has him an Army of leggy G.I.'s - no Sad Sacks They.
We have Desiree Rogers. Hey, my fault, I know. I am posting almost exclusively on the Desiree Rogers Agonistes. It keeps me from going to Lardo's Scottsdale Hobby Shoppe and buying kits of Schooners and Galleons in bottles, or waiting for my Green Chicago Parkway trio of trees to insinuate their roots deeper into my sewer egress lines -Both wonderful ways to pass my quality time.
One has only a thin wedge between the window and sill of opportunity to place a thorn in the thong of a self-absorbed Thimble-Rigging Job Jumper like Mardi Gras Chicagoan Desiree Rogers. As I noted, my animus stems from, but certainly not limited to, Ms. Rogers' revelation of character when she scooped Corporate Contributions form Peoples Energy Corporation's annual education grants to poor Black Kids attending Leo High School in Auburn Gresham and plumping up her Fash Bash - Fashion Show featuring Desiree Runway Rogers.
I liked this Rockefeller Center photo rendition of North Korean Military Hi-Jinks that came from my pal Mr. G of Chicago: http://superdadspeaks.blogspot.com This put me in mind of the New York Times piece I read before Mass this morning by Maureen Dowd - the bottled Mick Red-head wit and harridan.
Crazy Aunt Maureen Dowd - the bitter and marinated fifty and change spinster aunt who has given up meeting a nice man at St. Patrick's Novenas - has linked Desiree Rogers and Tiger Woods. Aunt Mo is generally all "Hey You Bitch Get Over Here!" about Sarah Palin, who could kick Mo's Rump from here to Nome and Back, in her cocktail and Virginia Thins Menthol throaty skirl*.
Both Tiger and Desiree hid and stayed silent because they mistakenly thought they were protecting the Brand. But despite their marketing savvy, these two controlling players spiraled out of control. They made the same colossal error in opposite ways.
She mistook herself for the principal, sashaying around and posing in magazines as though she were the first lady, rather than a staffer whose job is to stay behind the scenes and make her bosses look good. (Even if Barack Obama is a brand, Desiree shouldn’t talk like the First Marketer or call him a brand — and she definitely shouldn’t refer to it in a proprietary way as “we.”)
He is the principal. But he forgot that he’s no longer a solo brand. He has been marketing himself since he turned pro and 21 in 1996, becoming a billionaire with endorsement deals with Nike, American Express, Titleist and the two Generals, Mills and Motors.
Let's be clear - I learned what a self-absorbed dim-witted Diva Desiree Rogers happens to be years ago. When Desiree Rogers was ushered away from her post as Illinois Lotto Ball watcher and seated in position at People Gas that oversaw corporate citizenship by the utility the Diva turned that citizenship ( Corporate Charity) on herself.
Desiree Rogers ended Peoples Energy Corp.'s long standing annual grants to the Black kids at Leo High School.
Leo High School received $ 3,000 annually following a formal written request ( all that 501(c)3 stuff) to help families in need of financial assistance. Desiree Rogers ended that and told me that she going to do "more systemic good."
That year Peoples Gas funded a Fashion Show that featured Desiree Rogers. It was in ALL the columns, Magazines, Janet Davis & Features and Mary Cameron Frye stuff! Desiree was said to be Gorgeous! The Fash Bash did more "systemic" good for the kids from Englewood, Gresham and Brainerd who wanted an education in a high school where they could avoid getting Lit Up. That is Desiree Rogers, Boys & Girls! Leo Alumni many of them Peoples Gas workers themselves made up the grant - thank God.
Oh, so that's what clouds my opinion of Ms. Rogers? Yep.
Lynn Sweet* has a reputation for being a serious reporter. Today she writes, "The Rogers I know is down-to-earth. She grew up in New Orleans, graduated from Wellesley College, picked up a MBA from Harvard, and then built a successful, lucrative business career in Chicago, starting at AT&T. I met her around 1991, when she was the director of the Illinois State Lottery." Pravda?
Today Lynn Sweet offers a flak-catching puff piece on Desiree Rogers - the Diva with a Government Job.
President Obama was put in harm's way, not because of the Secret Service, but because Desiree Rogers' ego can be powered by her limited mental capacities and moral compass.
Two goofballs crashed America's 1st State Dinner in Honor of the Indian Prime Minister at the Obama White House.
Rogers' Social Secretary Policy placed President Obama in danger of harm and the Secret Service has been ordered to wear the jacket.
Chicagoans know Desiree Rogers. Chicagoans continue to be asked to 'really admire' Desiree, even though the pretty, wealthy and protected dimwitted woman can not handle a simple task - Rogers left a simple job at Illinois Lottery under cloud, at Peoples Gas, Rogers oversaw gas-shut offs to the elderly, explosions in Mount Greenwood and insulted skilled tradesmen. Rogers holds appointed positions on charities, business and civic boards and tax-funded sinecures, due to the authority of her ex-husband John Rogers.
Lynn Sweet is giving Desiree Rogers cover that she neither deserves nor appreciates.
It appears in Politics Daily and not in The Chicago Sun Times.
Maybe the Sun Times should hire April Ryan, who seems to ask real questions concerning the very limited capacities of Desiree Rogers and her responsibilities to our President.
What is sad is that Lynn Sweet's flack-jacket woven for the Dimwitted Diva appears only out of town. Chicagoans should read this. Click my post title.
* No Defense of Desiree by Lynn Sweet here in Chicago! Blackout?
LYNN SWEET ::
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Friday, December 4, 2009
Party crashers Salahis face subpoenas Desiree Rogers does not
WASHINGTON -- Reality TV show wannabees Michaele and Tareq Salahi face a subpoena from the House Homeland Security Committee after skipping Thursday's hearing on how they passed through Secret Service checkpoints to crash President Obama's Nov. 24 state dinner and ended up shaking hands with him.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
State delegation divided on Thomson
Members of the Illinois congressional delegation -- after an unusually long meeting Wednesday -- were divided over the possibility of the Obama White House transferring inmates at the Guantanamo Bay military prison to a nearly vacant prison in northwestern Illinois.
This D.C. invite turned down
The Obama White House on Wednesday blocked social secretary Desiree Rogers from testifying today before the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on how wannabe reality TV stars Tareq and Michaele Salahi whizzed by Secret Service agents and crashed the Nov. 24 state dinner.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Obama's friends on left wrestling with policy
Lynn Sweet: President Obama's decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan by adding 30,000 U.S. troops -- at the same time announcing an exit strategy to start in July 2011 with no firm end date -- was clearly difficult for many of his most ardent supporters. This is not a popular policy with an important segment of Obama's base.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Rogers asked to testify about party crashers
WASHINGTON --White House social secretary Desiree Rogers has been asked to testify at a Thursday hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee about how wannabe reality TV stars Tareq and Michaele Salahi crashed the Obama's first state dinner last week.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
State dinner gate-crashers met Obama
WASHINGTON -- The White House confirmed Friday that President Obama met the couple who crashed Tuesday's state dinner --wannabe reality-show stars Michaele and Tareq Salahi -- releasing a picture of Michaele Salahi shaking hands with the president in a receiving line that included first lady Michelle Obama, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife, Gursharan Kaur.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
State dinner, Obama style
WASHINGTON--President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama hosted their first state Tuesday night, including their closest friends from Chicago among the guests honoring India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharon Kaur, with Chicago songsters Jennifer Hudson and Kurt Elling performing.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Burris heads for Iraq in wake of panel's rebuke
WASHINGTON -- A day after the Senate ethics committee handed him a stinging rebuke, Sen. Roland Burris on Saturday voted to advance the Democratic health-care bill to the Senate floor and then departed for an official visit to Iraq.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Illinois' Gitmo could bring 3,000 jobs: White House
Lynn Sweet: A White House analysis of a federal purchase of the nearly vacant northwestern Illinois prison to house Guantanamo detainees and other federal prisoners, obtained by the Sun-Times on Saturday, concludes that in the first year 2,290 to 2,960 jobs would be created, and local residents would be "excellent candidates" for 1,240 to 1,410 of those jobs.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Senate ethics panel admonishes Burris, but no charges coming
Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) was admonished today by the U.S. Senate ethics committee over his testimony in Springfield concerning how he got appointed to Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. But his actions following his appointment by then Gov.-Rod Blagojevich did not rise to level of pursuing ethics charges against Burris, the committee ruled.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Trials: 'Failure is not an option'
WASHINGTON -- Trying terrorist suspects now detained at Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba in U.S. federal courtrooms -- rather than military tribunals, which operate under different rules -- met with skeptical questioning by some senators at a Wednesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
If you like Sarah Palin, you’ll like 'Going Rogue'
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Going Rogue is really two books: about half an interesting telling of growing up in Alaska, an outdoor and sport-filled life -- and a good chunk of the second half whacking her McCain campaign crew of handlers.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Dems at risk of losing Obama's old Senate seat
WASHINGTON -- About a year ago, thousands jammed Grant Park in Chicago to celebrate Barack Obama's election to the White House, a communal civic defining moment. But those giddy days are long gone as Democrats in Illinois face the potential of losing the Senate seat President Obama once held next November.
Durbin, Quinn see economic boon
WASHINGTON -- Detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba may be transferred to a nearly vacant maximum-security state prison in northwest Illinois, the Obama White House said Saturday.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Exclusive interview with Sam Kass White House chef
WASHINGTON -- A lot of lives have changed since Barack Obama won the presidential election one year ago last Wednesday, none so much as the life of Chicago's Sam Kass, the engaging, shaved-head assistant White House chef and food initiative coordinator, a crusader for healthy eating who has shot to fame in the almost 10 months the Obamas have been in the White House.
" Dude, THIS is So Awesome! Desiree Said it was cool. Got any snacks?"
President Obama's social secretary quipped that she regularly let event crashers into White House gatherings -- months before two reality-TV wannabes waltzed into last week's state dinner.
Desiree Rogers claimed in an interview with the trade magazine BizBash at the Creative Coalition's annual meeting in June that she had added extra tables and benches at every event to accommodate uninvited guests.
"Lots of people just come anyways," she said. "They won't take no for an answer. Finally, I just said, 'All right, come on in. It's no use kicking you out.' "
But an administration official yesterday insisted that Rogers "was clearly making a tongue-in-cheek comment about White House staff, already cleared to be on the complex," not about the general public.
Tareq and Michaele Salahi crashed last week's White House gala and were photographed with the president and Vice President Joe Biden.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/aide_crasher_confession_H3KDTbOhqGxAzmiomqV2MO#ixzz0YopN3CVm
I hope to see her on fire swinging like a boxer seeking blood.If she demands his university records are made public,and goes to the offense this will be a great battle.I like her energy, if she can pivot to an all out attack she can push this on his lap effectively.His BC is not the issue,she and everyone knows he is American.This is her moment for a cuda attack to force his university records into the public eye.He must be hiding his Marxist thesis or something of that nature, to keep hiding these records.Its time she goes after the issues Mccain didn't and calls him on his records, all of them.That includes the campaign donations list of those under 200 dollars.Mccain released there list so should Obama.from Politico
Dave Hoffman for You Esssssssssss Sssssennnnate. Click my post title - it sounds like steam escaping from a hole in a pipe.
Dave Hoffman - you approved this one? Yikes. You sound like my prissy old Aunt Bridget - whom we refered to as Aunt Bird$hit. "F'what Did Ye Say?" Aunt Bridge It.
Dave you ain't Errol Flynn on this one. Get a good sound guy.
Bad News:
America should pull out of Afghanistan immediately - if not sooner.
Were America to commit itself to victory that would be one thing, but to stall like a "fish" wrestler crawling to the edge the mat for three years, taking the penalty points and trying to avoid a pin might be considered disgraceful. Not to a Leftist, of course.
The Leftist takes the absolute frame of reference and chops, slices and dices any and all facts to agree with that absolute - America is racist, Imperialist, War-mongering George Bush Hill Billy Sexist - always and everywhere. If America commits Air Power to interdict terrorists on the ground, it is cowardly murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent children, women and baby ducks. If America puts 'boots on the ground,' it is an Army of Occupation bent on Nation Building.'
President Obama owes his election - not to the millions of centrists Americans but the vastly wealthy Leftists who pumped millions into his Campaign for White House.
America can not have a military presence anywhere and still have the dough-ray-me to pump millions of tax-dollars into Government Health, Government Labor, Government Education, and eventually Government Law Enforcement to keep tabs on this Nation of Cowards.
President Obama gave the Taliban a heads-up that come 2011 they can return to power and chop heads, castrate women and serve Allah, like a Klansman serves Jesus.
In order to save American lives, bring the troops home now. In three years another election will take place in America and a new President can inherit Obama's War and win the damn thing. Until, then America will be coached to 'Fish Off' the mat.
The Good News - Desiree Rogers Divas Yet! She will be sure to provide all Americans weary of eight years of George W. Bush and War on Terror a cavalcade of laughs in the months to come!
I'm Chris Matthews - tonight on Hardball - I have General Petraeus - he was in the audience at West Point last night and yeah I said it - the President was in Enemy Territory with A Bridge Too Far and Cheney under the bridge biting his ankles and our kids are staked out on anthills with the Berbers attacking like in Beau Geste.Obama "went to maybe the enemy camp last night. You were in Camp General. General, Welcome. The Surge whats with the surge, a serge used to be a fabric for men's suits - What's a surge?
Gen Petraeus - "It is to disrupt al-Qaeda and its ability to conduct sensational attacks and to try to continue the cycle of violence, which they have been trying to do all along. In addition, they are attempting try establish a real al-Qaeda sanctuary in Iraq, a caliphate."
Matthews - Excuse me if this off the subject a little bit, but just take a guess at how much I can bench press. Come on, what do you think? Take a guess. 315 pounds, at the top of my game, maxing out at 500!
Gen Petraeus - “There is a period of omnipotence. There was a period in the beginning when there was a ‘golden hour’. Inevitably, it does not matter how much you were viewed as a liberator, over time you will be seen as an occupier. The interesting dynamic here is that we have been here long enough to become liberators again for certain sectors of the population, those that are affected by extremism.”
Matthews - Doctor, question that's always bothered me and a lot of people: Mayflower, combined with Philadelphia - a no-brainer, right? Cause this is where the Mayflower landed. Not so. It turns out Columbus actually set foot somewhere down in the West Indies. Little known fact. Look at Scott! He is prancing along with the dog! Man, I tell you something, if you live in my neighborhood and you're dressed like that, you'd better be a hotel doorman.
. . . and there will always be more.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218839/quotes
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1963400.ece
White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers will not testify in the congressional probe of last week's security lapse at the president's state dinner, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.
“I think you know that based on separation of powers, staff here don't go to testify in front of Congress,” Gibbs told reporters. “She will not be testifying in front of Congress tomorrow.”
Rogers has been under scrutiny in the last week following reports that her office did not station a staff member at the White House gate to help the Secret Service screen guests at the state dinner, as has long been protocol in past administrations.
Gibbs acknowledged that procedure has been changed since last week and a staffer was present at the security checkpoint for a holiday social event Tuesday night.
“As the Secret Service has reviewed their security procedures for how people get into this complex, so, too, has the White House looked at its procedures,” Gibbs said. “Last night was the first of many holiday parties that will happen in this complex over the next several weeks. We had staff at the security checkpoint to ensure that if there was any confusion about lists those would be double-checked with somebody representing the Social Office.”
Still, the White House has maintained that Rogers's office bore no responsibility for the breach that allowed a Northern Virginia Couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, to sneak into the state dinner uninvited.
While Gibbs said Tuesday that the president and first lady were "angry" about the security violation, he said in his Wednesday briefing: "The first family is quite pleased with [Rogers's] performance."
White House: Social secretary will not testify
(AP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — The White House says its social secretary will not testify at a congressional hearing into the security lapse that mistakenly allowed a couple into last week's state dinner.
Press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that Desiree Rogers will not testify before the House Homeland Security Committee. The panel has scheduled a hearing Thursday and Rogers had been invited to testify. Gibbs cited the separation of powers and a history of White House staff not testifying before Congress.
The Secret Service has acknowledged that Michaele and Tareq Salahi got into the Nov. 24 dinner because its security procedures at a checkpoint were not followed. Rogers also has acknowledged that no one from her office was at the checkpoint to help identify guests.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
"The economy is everything," said a liberal Democratic consultant closely allied with Obama. "If more people are back at work and feeling better about their future, he'll get some slack for Afghanistan. If the economy's still in the toilet, he won't get slack on anything."
I've spent this year renewing our alliances and forging new partnerships. And we have forged a new beginning between America and the Muslim world -- one that recognizes our mutual interest in breaking a cycle of conflict, and that promises a future in which those who kill innocents are isolated by those who stand up for peace and prosperity and human dignity. And finally, we must draw on the strength of our values -- for the challenges that we face may have changed, but the things that we believe in must not. That's why we must promote our values by living them at home -- which is why I have prohibited torture and will close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. And we must make it clear to every man, woman and child around the world who lives under the dark cloud of tyranny that America will speak out on behalf of their human rights, and tend to the light of freedom and justice and opportunity and respect for the dignity of all peoples. That is who we are. That is the source, the moral source, of America's authority.
Since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, and the service and sacrifice of our grandparents and great-grandparents, our country has borne a special burden in global affairs. We have spilled American blood in many countries on multiple continents. We have spent our revenue to help others rebuild from rubble and develop their own economies. We have joined with others to develop an architecture of institutions -- from the United Nations to NATO to the World Bank -- that provide for the common security and prosperity of human beings.
We have not always been thanked for these efforts, and we have at times made mistakes.
"The economy is everything," said a liberal Democratic consultant closely allied with Obama. "If more people are back at work and feeling better about their future, he'll get some slack for Afghanistan. If the economy's still in the toilet, he won't get slack on anything."
Republican members of the House Homeland Security committee have invited White House social secretary Desirée Rogers to testify Thursday, a committee aide said Monday night, about how a couple from Northern Virginia slipped into the White House last week for a state dinner, despite not being on the guest list.Washington Post 12/01/2009
Rogers acknowledged to the Associated Press last week that no one from her office was at a security checkpoint Nov. 24 to assist Secret Service agents in determining whether partygoers should be admitted to the mansion. Tareq and Michaele Salahi were waved through the checkpoint and later came face-to-face with President Obama in a receiving line.
Unnumber'd Suppliants croud Preferment's Gate,
Athirst for Wealth, and burning to be great;
Delusive Fortune hears th' incessant Call,
They mount, they shine, evaporate, and fall.
On ev'ry Stage the Foes of Peace attend,
Hate dogs their Flight, and Insult mocks their End.
Hargrove said... “Butting” Desiree Rogers, and using a rear photo of her, to make that sexist point; accompanied by a haughty dismissal of her hard won achievements, is sad. I'll bet if she was a white woman, you would be holding her up as a model for what women can achieve!She has Hargrove; She will. Ms. Rogers has butted her way into sinecures that could fund villages around our happy planet.
It seems like your goal is to devalue Ms. Rogers enough for the reader to assent to implicating her in an error, that occurred at President Obama’s first state dinner, which she was not responsible for.
Only in matters of race is one judged by an error, they didn’t commit, without mentioning the task, which they did perform, and which the error is associated with. Perhaps because the task, The Obama First State Dinner, was an eye-popping, gasp worthy success, with ratings ranging from A to A+! But why acknowledge a glowing success, when you can waste your ink belittling an excellent person.
Do not be deceived, Hargrave (sic) is not the only person who can check a guest list! Members of the Secret Service were designated that responsibility, and they made a mistake. If Hargrave was there, she could have made a mistake too! Even she acknowledged that errors in the list were common when she worked for the Bush Administration.
Stop trying to rewrite the book of blame in this, the Secret Service has already acknowledged that IT WAS THEIR MISTAKE!
Desiree Rogers did herself and the Obama Administration proud, by her outstanding work, and creative vision, on behalf of the Obama State Dinner, and she should be given credit for that.
3:54 PM
With distant Voice neglected Virtue calls,
Less heard, and less the faint Remonstrance falls;
Tir'd with Contempt, she quits the slipp'ry Reign,
And Pride and Prudence take her Seat in vain.
In croud at once, where none the Pass defend,
The harmless Freedom, and the private Friend.
The Guardians yield, by Force superior ply'd;
By Int'rest, Prudence; and by Flatt'ry, Pride.
Here Beauty falls betray'd, despis'd, distress'd,
And hissing Infamy proclaims the rest.
Bill Zwecker notes the attempts by the Couple Salahi tp gain entre to the Midwest Polo Club - that used to trot out the chukkas for pukka at the Old Chicago National Guard Armory on Chicago Ave. a few semesters back.
Unreported - until this very moment - was the attempt by Michaele and Tareq Salahi to be admitted to the posh and exclusive (membership two -three pending: once Beachwood Reporter's Steve Rhodes pays his downstroke of a twelve pack of Drewry's Beer) Cleek Club of Chicago.
Readers ( Mom and that guy in Toledo) might recall that following an ugly incident at Chicago' Union League Club that film auteur, raconteur and libertine Mike Houlihan* and I formed the Cleek of Chicago - Gentleman's Club (No Lap Dancing and No Laplanders)
http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2007/12/mike-houlihan-and-files-of-cleek-club.html
Some weeks ago, following Cleek's Kangaroo Boxing Night and Oyster Dinner, Chicago Renaissance Man Mike Houlihan and Myself were enjoying our post-prandial tonsil wettings of brandies ( E&J of Course!) in our tall-backed overly stuffed Baker Chairs and damning the eyes of the Pathan Thuggee over their latest devilment and afront to Our President, when Worthington bowed - presidential I might add - and announced that a striking blond woman and tuxedoed gent were at the front-door.
Houli, sound chap, asked Worthingon to pass the silver salver and "Let's have a screw at the Chappy's card. What?"
Worthington announced that the two-some had not offered their card.
"No Card? They could be the damned Press, Worthington! Only a thoroughgoing skunk and scoundrel of the First Order would deem himself presentable sans ecart entre
I saw that Worthington was deeply troubled by this oversight, as he is generally quite good at his job. Worthington is no Desiree Rogers. Her resume got not a glance here at Club Cleek. I offered, " Don't trouble yourself Worthington on this score. Mr. Houlihan would demand to see Pope Ben's damned card and check it for the Union Bug before he even considered talking to its owner."
"True!"
"Houli, Old Son, should we not give the two the once over as Cleek overhead demands at least one more member and Brother Rhodes, taken up with Porcine Ague or some such botheration, is delinquent on the golden nectar brewed in South Bend, Indiana; Bottled Ambrosia **sporting the ruggedly handsome and reassuring Mountie!"
"No, Hickey. No Card; No Chat; No Chat; No Cleek! Standards Man! This is not an igloo or some tent on a lawn! Ecart entre connaissance et usage d'une langue minoritaire : essai de typologie des facteurs. Le cas de la langue basque! This is Cleek of Chicago!"
" What's the blond Crumpet wearing Worthington?"
" Quiet fetching, Sir and might I add that she is wearing a wanton and roguish smirk that . . .
Houli howled, "I would not care a jot if she were wearing a gown made up of Benjamins, Hickey!"
" Standards?"
" They ain't just tunes by Sinatra, my boy!"
" Quite right, Houli! Worthington, two more E & J's *** and a brace of Olde English 40's . . .What? What?"
" Oh, I dare say, Hickey Old Cock, might not be a good idea -mind you. Those are two toned chino slacks you are wearing?"
"God's Tripes!"
*Chicago Television Premiere of“Tapioca”
On WTTW
WTTW, Channel 11, willpresent the television premiere of Mike Houlihan’s independent feature film,Tapioca, on Saturday night/Sunday AM December 19th at 12:30AM.
Tapioca stars Emmy and Tonywinner Ben Vereen along with Mike Houlihan and his entire family andfriends. In a story as timely as The GreatRecession of 2009, abrasive blowhard Pipes McGonnigle (Houlihan), a TV hawkerfor a Chicago car dealership, loses his job, gets kicked out by his wife, andruns afoul of a Streetwise vendor (Vereen) with supernatural powers, whoconsigns him to life as a bum by way of a hex. Former Sun-Times columnistHoulihan expanded his stand-up act of the same title and cast a host of veteranChicago actors for this comic allegory of redemption set entirely in thegrittiest of urban locations.
Tapioca features SaturdayNight Live alum Tim Kazurinsky, Greg Hollimon from “Strangers With Candy”, MarkBorchardt from “American Movie”, as well as Jimmy Carrane, David Pasquesi, PaulKelly, Michael McNeal, Jack McCabe, and several other Second City veterans.Mary Carney of “Ryan’s Hope” is also featured as a mystical bag lady.
The film premieredtheatrically at the Park City Film Music Festival in Park City, Utah in 2008.Tapioca features an original score by Chicago jazz composer Ryan Cohan andcontributions from Gospel legends Otis Clay and Lena McLin. PulitzerPrize winning political cartoonist Jack Higgins designed cartoons for theflick. Paddy Houlihan directed the film and William Houlihan executiveproduced.
The Houlihans have screenedTapioca at The Texas Black Film Festival, First Take Film Festival, The OtherVenice Film Festival, and won Best Feature Film at the Geneva Film Fest.Vanguard Cinema has placed Tapioca in worldwide DVD distribution. Mike says,“Tapioca is proof that you don’t need a million dollars to make a cool littlemovie.”
Dan Soles, WTTW Program Director,said, “Tapioca spins a fresh Scrooge, an apt Chicago comedy for our Christmaspresent.”
**"First Case of Drewrys Ale Goes to Roosevelt
One Carload Shipped to Lima Today
President Roosevelt is to get first case of Drewrys Canadian Ale to be brewed in the United States. This is not done merely by way of advertising. Drewrys is the first Canadian Ale to be produced in America and it it fitting that the President who made this possible should be recognized by this feature.
The story back of this gesture may be interesting even to the President himself. Over six months before Mr. Roosevelt was elected, Mr. M. J. Black, the President of Drewrys Ltd. of Canada and representative of various English interests abroad, came down to the States with his mind decided that Roosevelt would be elected and that the sale of malt beverages would be permitted again, and backed his judgment with his company's capital.
It soon became evident, however, that an American company was necessary to operate on American soil. Therefore the Drewrys Limited. U. S. A., was formed and enfranchised and fully financed within itself. And this American Company after a most careful survey of the brewing facilities of America, formed its affiliation with The Sterling Brewers of Evansville, Indiana, whose long record of cleanly, careful, wholesome brewing measured up well to the Canadian standard of Drewry quality. Evansville immediately put in its fermenters and aging tanks. The Drewry Ale brewed according to the Canadian standards, where, also according to the Canadian standards, it has been aging and mellowing in since. It Is now ready at long last.
One carload will arrive here for you tomorrow. Their distribution to your various good dealers will follow immediately and by the day after tomorrow it ought to be ready for you. The Lima Beverage Co. No. Main St. Main 2171 Distributor DREWRYS ALE SINCE 1877" - Lima (Ohio) News, Aug 15, 1933
Alcohol: 80 Proof (40% alcohol by volume)
Color: Dark copper.
Aroma: Sweet nose, like Belgian candy sugar, surprisingly mild aroma. Very inviting smell.
Flavor: Bites like a bugger. Makes you wince. This first thing this brandy does when it hits your palate is that it digs-in and attacks your sensitive mucous membranes with a pungent, hot, and oily mouth attack. Finishes with a hint of cashew nut and a sharp, strong, flower-petal flavor smack. A unique flavor profile that would be interesting and even appreciated if this brandy didn't burn so much initially.
The breach in White House Security by the Bravo sponsored idiots and American Idols - The Salahis is turning the spotlight on Diva Nit-Wit and Serial Sinecure Hopper Desiree Rogers.
Desiree was rumped into seats here in Illinois the Land of Blago and Burris
thanks to her marriage to John Rogers of Ariel Capital Management and no PC Progressive Political Ploy plays without Mr. Rogers' nod.
Ex or No, Desiree has John Rogers' Imprimatur - from Illinois Lotto Ball Watcher, to People Gas Thug, to All State Insurance Whatever, to the Obama White House. Chicagoans have had a long look at this 40 Watt Progresive Eye Candy from the time that she blew up Mount Greenwood while guiding Peoples Gas and double billing consumers. Desiree Messalina'd all of the competant Peoples Gas Executives within her field of vision and scooped Peoples Gas Charity Giving into her pet projects and personal pedestals.
Now, Desiree has her tête in a wringer and will prove to be a major mal de tête
Voila! Desiree tête de nœud!
Of course Rogers was at the dinner as well, even pausing at one point to speak with reporters about which designer dress she was wearing (Comme Des Garcons).
But Hargraves wasn't at the gate, because she had resigned last June. She told Newsweek that when Rogers came in with the new administration, she changed her job, and revoked most of her responsibilities, essentially demoting her to a date entry clerk, prompting Hargraves to quit.
"I knew she [Hargraves] left but did not know they did not replace the job in the same way," a former White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity told ABC News, "That's really too bad - it really helps them to have this person because it is such a bear of a job but so important."
"It was Cathy who would input all the names, take all the responses, give them to the calligraphers who would address the invites, do the place cards," the former official said, "On game day she was a key link to Secret Service because she was posted at the East Portico with them because she was the most intimately knowledgeable of the list."
Hargraves said had she been there that night, the reality-tv hopefuls never would have made into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Desiree Rogers declined ABC News' request for an interview.
Chicago Criminal Attorney Tamara Holder nails it down - Trying the 9/11 Terrorists/White House Gate Crashers and Illinois Lotto Ball Watcher Desiree Rogers.
Thus!
Obama, the Secret Service, and his party-planner, Desiree Rogers (she decided to be a guest instead...could you imagine your wedding planner sitting down at your dinner?) should be embarrassed by the security breach. I will be shocked if the administration seeks to charge this couple.
Avec!
For whatever reason, Eric Holder thinks that if we try the 911 terrorists here on American soil, we are proving to the world that we are "not a nation of cowards." That idealism is just as bogus as when Plaxico Burress entered a night club with a gun in his sweatpants to make himself feel like a tough guy; instead, the idiot ends up shooting himself in the thigh. Our security is about as tight as Plaxico's waistband "holster": not at all. Holder should probably have a chat with Plaxico from his prison cell and ask Plaxico if trying to show that you are "tough" gets you very far. I am sure Plaxico can give him a wise man's advice.
Remember, just a few weeks ago, the Ft. Hood mass-murders proved our intelligence and security on American soil is lacking. To be honest, I don't really care if the shooter is a jihadist or a straight-up psycho. At the end of the day, the FBI had intelligence that he was blogging and communicationing very questionable ideas and yet our intelligence community did nothing.
Ft. Hood was supposed to be one of the most secure military bases in the country.
Then, a glamorous couple walks onto the White House property without security clearance and without an invitation. They coddle with Biden, Axelrod, and shake our President's hand. The next morning, they post their security breach all over America via Facebook. What a disgusting slap in the face to our country.
So how can Eric Holder assure Americans, especially NYC residents, that they will be protected from KSM followers? He can't. He must get the "we are not a nation of cowards" idea out of his head. He needs to put the kibosh on trying the "alleged" terrorists in our country. We are not safe now and we definitely will not be safe when those men are brought from Guantanamo to the United States. We can make our voices heard across the world by trying the men elsewhere.
Obama, his administration and the intelligence community better wake up. These security breaches, whether it's at Ft. Hood or on the White House lawn, prove one thing: Americans are not safe; therefore, we cannot try the 911 terrorists on our turf.
www.tamaraholder.com and www.xpunged.com
That's Desiree Rogers and her Resume!
The account of Cathy Hargraves, who formerly served as White House "assistant for arrangements," raises new questions about whether changes that she says were made by President Obama's social secretary, Desiree Rogers, may have contributed to the security lapses that permitted Virginia socialites Michele and Tareq Salahi to crash the state dinner for India's prime minister last week and get themselves photographed with the president.
Hargraves, however, says the lack of a social office employee on the scene at the gate might have made a difference. During her tenure, she says, it was not uncommon for guests at state dinners to arrive only to discover that their names hadn't been placed on the official guest list. In such situations, she says, she always refused the person entry until she could verify that they had actually been invited.
If she had been on the job at the White House last Tuesday night, the Salahis "would not have made it past the East Gate portico," she says. Once she had ascertained that they had not been invited, she says she would have called in the Secret Service officer who let them through in the first place and "they would have been escorted out."
After her tense meeting with Rogers last February, in which Hargraves says the social secretary made clear she did not want her to continue in the same role she had before, Hargraves says her job was essentially downgraded to what she calls a "data entry clerk": Her new job was simply to enter the names of White House guests into the Secret Services computers for clearance, not to broadly supervise state dinners and manage the invitations and arrival of guests. Dissatisfied with her new role, she says she quit on June 5 and moved with her husband, a State Department employee, to Houston. (Her staff slot was initially filled by a volunteer, who was later promoted to a full-time position but without her broad responsibilities for overseeing the guests at state dinners, she says.)
In some ways, Hargraves's account is reminiscent of culture clashes that have arisen in the past between outgoing and incoming White House staff members. Moreover, Hargraves acknowledges that the new Obama staff may have distrusted her because she had originally served as a political appointee in the Office of the cabinet secretary under President Bush. But Hargraves, who is a registered nurse by profession, says she has never worked on a political campaign and, as far as she is concerned, her loyalty was to the White House as an institution, not to the Bush administration.
I am a
Canna
What Flower
Are You?
