Thursday, October 14, 2010

NFL Hall of Fame Legend Gale Sayers Visits Leo High School

Leo President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath, Illinois State Rep. John O'Sullivan and NFL Hall Fame Legend Gale Sayers


On Wednesday October 13, 2010, Worth Township Committeeman and Illinois State Representative John O'Sullivan brought his friend Hall of Fame NFL legend Gale Sayers ( Bears # 40) for a visit to the students of Leo High School.

Gale Sayers met with President for Institutional Advancement and Morgan Park native Dan McGrath and talked to Leo Students about sacrifice and achievement.

The Kansas Comet* spent the morning meeting with Dan McGrath, Principal Phil Mesina and the staff of Leo High School.

In Leo Legend and former Principal Pete Doyle's science class a good number of Leo Lions football players were treated to serious lesson about the realities of playing sports beyond high school. Gale Sayers played 68 games in the NFL and cautioned student athletes that when you prepare for football one must also prepare for life well beyond the game. That means developing skills and interests well beyond the fields or the hardwood floors.

The soft spoken sports legend encouraged the Leo Lions to prepare themselves as men of character, family obligations and civic responsibilities.

The Leo Family thanks Illinois State Representative John O'Sullivan for inviting Gale Sayers out for one of what could be many more visits to Leo High School.


*

Like a twisting tornado on the Kansas plains from whence he came, the Chicago Bears' Gale Sayers swirled onto the National Football League scene in 1965, wreaking fearful havoc and destruction on every opposition defense that stood his way. The fluid, will-of-the wisp ball-carrying thrusts of the mercurial Sayers dazzled the pro football world in a manner that it had not experienced for a full 40 years, not since another whirling dervish runner, the fabled Red Grange, flashed into action, also as a Chicago Bear. There is no telling what the "Kansas Comet" might have attained not fate stepped in to neutralize the flashing feet that no defense could adequately contain. A right knee injury in the ninth game of the 1968 season was a foreshadow of things to come. Yet, more determined than ever, Gale underwent a tortuous rehabilitation program, and in 1969, rushed for his second 1,000 yard season and won universal NFL Comeback of the Year honors.

But a left knee injury sustained in the 1970 season effectively put a stop to the glittering career after just four-and-one-half seasons of full-time activity.

Even though he was named the top halfback in the NFL's first 50 years in 1969, there was concern for a time that Sayers' comparatively short playing span might prevent his eventual election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But the Hall's Selection Committee never wavered in its resolve at the 1977 meeting, the first one in which Gale was eligible for consideration. The Committee's vote was unanimous and its summation simple: "There never was another to compare with him. What else is there to say!"

On July 30, 1977, Sayers joined his fellow 1977 enshrinees, Bart Starr, Bill Willis, Frank Gifford and Forest Gregg, in receiving the impressive induction rites on the front steps of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

From the time he first handled a football as a youngster, Sayers was a sensation. Born May 30, 1943, in Wichita, Kansas, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, with his family in his early years. There he became an all-state football and track star at Omaha Central high school.

Heavily recruited by numerous colleges, Sayers picked the University of Kansas, where he enjoyed a sensational three-year career under Coach Jack Mitchell. While setting Big Eight records, Gale rushed for 2,675 yards, caught passes for 408 yards and added 835 yards on kick returns.

Sayers loomed as one of the top prizes in the raging AFL-NFL war in the mid 1960's. One of three first round draft picks of the Bears, Gale was also the No.1 choice of the Kansas City Chiefs. While Kansas City was closer to home, Gale opted for the NFL because he felt the older league could offer a better showcase for his exceptional talents.

Incredibly, it now seems, more than a few pro scouts questioned whether Gale could make it in the pros. Everyone recognized the Jayhawk all-America's natural abilities but some doubted that the 6-0, 200 pound speedster could stand the pounding that he was sure to face. Otto Graham, the 1965 College all-star coach, suspecting that Gale had exaggerated a practice injury, even declined to play him in the summer classic in Chicago.

Bears coach George Halas, more understanding of Gale's injury problems, opted to bring him along slowly to build his confidence as well as to heal his aches and pains. Sayers saw his first action in the third pre-season contest and started for the first time in regular season Game No. 3. Almost immediately, he flashed the comet-like form that soon was to shake up the entire NFL.

Against the Los Angeles Rams in pre-season, he scampered 77 yards on a punt return, 93 yards on a kickoff return and then surprised everyone with a 25-yard left handed pass for a touchdown as the Bears won, 28-14.

In his starting debut, Gale scored both Chicago touchdowns in a 23-14 loss to Green Bay. A week later against the Rams, he ran 80 yards with a screen pass and threw another touchdown pass as the Bears won, 31-6.

Rosey Grier, the Rams' great tackle, answered the skeptics who doubted the Kansas Comet could make it in the NFL. Speaking of hid 80-yard run, Grier pondered: "I hit him so hard. I thought my shoulder must have busted him in two. I heard a roar from the crowd and figured he fumbled. Then there he was, 15 yards away and going for the score."

Seven days later, Sayers scored four touchdowns as the Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 45-37. The game breaker was Gale's 96-yard kickoff return.

Still the best was to come!

On December 12, the next-to-last week of the season, playing on a muddy field that might have stalled most runners, Sayers scored a record-tying six touchdowns as the Bears annihilated the San Francisco 49ers, 61-20. His TDs came on an 80-yard pass reception, rushes of 21, 7, 50, and 1 yards, and an 85-yard punt return. For the day, the Bears ace amassed 336 combined yards.

"It was the greatest performance I have ever seen on the football field," an exuberant Halas, who had been watching NFL play for 46 seasons, proclaimed.

Sayers' rookie-season totals were staggering. He amassed 2,272 combined net yards and scored a record 22 touchdowns. A year later, he increased his combined net yards figure to a record 2,440 yards and led the NFL in rushing with 1,231 yards.

He continued to sizzle in 1967 and well into the 1968 campaign until, in the ninth game against, ironically, the same 49ers team that he had decimated as a rookie, Sayers suffered the first crippling injury of a series that would eventually end his career. On one of his familiar burst around end, Gale's right knee buckled as Kermit Alexander applied a clean, but crushing tackle. Massive ligament damage required immediate operation.

Gale, with almost complete intensity, undertook a strenuous leg-building program, determined that he would once again run as the Sayers of old. His pace in 1969 was slow at first but he finished with a rush and wound up with his second NFL rushing title with a 1,032-yard total. On a Chicago team that only won one game in 14, Sayers went over 100 yards four times, scored eight touchdowns and won a carload of "most courageous" type awards.

Much like the baseball pitcher who must perfect new deliveries after his first ball has waned, the Sayers of 1969 was still one of the NFL's most effective running backs but he no longer was the game-breaker that had startled the league such a short time ago.

As the Chicago Daily News observed, "Gone are that instant acceleration from medium to top speed and the incomparable ability to change directions on a dime without hesitation or loss of speed."

Backing up the News' Contention was the 1969 NFL record book which showed that Gale's longest rush was for only 28 yards. He did return one kickoff 52 yards, but he didn't score.

Still, the familiar No. 40 had enjoyed a remarkable season and it was not unreasonable to expect that he might improve even more in another season.

But fate struck again with cruel suddenness in a summer-season game against St. Louis Cardinals in 1970. Hit viciously hard by an eager Cardinal rookie on the kickoff team, Sayers suffered severe ligament damage once again, this time in his left knee.

Sayers delayed an operation and tried to play but could manage only 52 yards on 23 carries in two games. In mid-October and again in February, 1971, he underwent surgery to repair the damage.

Still determined, he tried once again in 1971 but could play only two games. Finally, after a desperate comeback attempt in the 1972 pre-season, Sayers reluctantly called it quits. By this time he had foot and ankle aliments to go along with the injured knees and the old magic had simply vanished.

But the marks he left behind will never vanish! In four-and-one-half heavy-duty campaigns, Gale totaled 9,435 combined net yards, 4,956 yards rushing and he scored 336 points. He still ranks as the NFL career leader in kickoff returns. He was named all-NFL five straight years from 1965 to 1969 and he played in four Pro Bowls. In three of them, he won Offensive Player of the Game honors!

Sayers at 34 is the youngest person ever elected in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His term of effective playing time is also the shortest of any Hall of Famers. Those facts stand out as two very strong testimonials to the gridiron greatness that came so quickly to Gale Sayers

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Leo Students Witness Politics Old School - Vice President Biden, Governor Quinn, Chicago Labor and Mary Ann Ahern Give a Tutorial





"I talked before about the mess President Obama and I inherited," said Biden. "Pat, I think you inherited almost as big a mess. Pat didn’t complain. He got to work. He passed a law giving small businesses a $2,500 tax credit for every person they’d hire.”

According to the Secret Service, there were about 1,700 people at Tuesday's event. Another 300 people were left outside, unable to get into the event.
Mary Ann Ahern NBC 5.

In that packed hall were six Leo High School students. Hakeem Chatman, who has been leading the Chicago Catholc League in tackles, is a middle linebacker and a superb track athlete ( shot & disc), marvelled at the packed crowd in Chicago Plumbers Hall on West Washington Street, where he and Jeremy Clark, Tevin Craft, Boxer Denzel Howard, Golfer and Scholar Brendan Mahan and Kaylon Rimpson rubbed elbows, hips and rumps with Congressman Danny Davis, Congressman Bobby Rush, and the Chicago news media.

Brendan Mahan did a video with Tiger Woods at Beverly Country Club last year - the video was eclipsed by the scandal and has yet to make an appearance. Brendan is a very tuned in young man who reads both Chicago papers back-to-back each day and therefore was able to identify Chicago's political elite.

Congressman Danny K. Davis, who appeared on stage with the Vice President Biden, Governor Quinn, Senator Durbin and Mayor Daley spoke with the six Leo Lions for the better part of hour outside of the packed Union Hall, as Secret Service Agents made safe passage for the Vice President. Brendan engaged the Congressman who was the soul of grace with the young gentlemen bedecked in bright orange Leo Boxing gear.

It was the school colors that attracted the attention of my old pal NBC 5 political reporter Mary Ann Ahern, whose father-in-law is Leo Man Dr. Jimmy Ahern ( Leo '44). Mary Ann put down her microphone and walked down from the TV Press Platform and spoke with the Leo Boxers. Freshman Jeremy Clark spoke with Mary Ann like a seasoned political professional. Mary Ann Ahern gave the guys her journalist's full press asking about their studies and interests and praised Hakeem Chatman's record on the football field. The guys witnessed a genuine news reporter at work - Mary Ann kept her focus on the rally and nevertheless gave the young fellows her attention.

It had been a full day of studies and activities for our guys, but they had all volunteered to witness the arrival of Vice President Biden. The Catholic high school heroes of Gresham dined on cheeseburgers with Boxing Coach Mike Joyce (Leo '86) at the legendary Palace Grill, while Secret Service agents swept the Plumbers Hall prior to the 5PM start of the rally. The Leo Van was given a great parking spot by a Federal Agent who had served under Agent Larry Lynch, recently retired from the Secret Service, who himself had been mentored by the heroic Tim McCarthy the Secret Service Man who save President Reagan.

Leo High School continues to produce great men. These six kids from Chicago's toughest and most dangerous neighborhoods are following in the paths of great Lions. In fact at the table next to the Leo Boxers sat Operating Engineers Local 399's Tom Keatty ( Leo '73) who runs operations for US Equity and was part of that union's huge contingent of supporters for Governor Pat Quinn.

Labor came out in droves - Engineers Locals 150 and 399, Plumbers 130, Pipefitters 597, Electricians 134, Painters, Hoisters and a sea of orange bedecked Laborers.

Vice President Joe Biden tossed the working class warriors slabs of red meat and they ate it up! Joe Biden is in his element among blue collar Americans and told poignant story after story of his father's heroic efforts to feed his family.

When it was time to head back to Leo, I could not have been more proud of the half dozen young gents in my charge. They called to have their parents pick them up at Leo.

I hung out with Hakeem Chatman and the next Golden Gloves Boxing Champ Denzel Howard on 79th Street in front of the statue of Our Lady and the Leo War Memorial. Both young men talked about how comfortable they felt meeting celebrities and national figures. It is no mystery, these kids work at it every day. Doing more than what is expected of one is the common place of great people - it takes practice - and these young gentlemen work at it.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Crains's Chicago Business and Greg Hinz Smear Sheriff Dart and Former Sheriff Sheahan and the 19th Ward in Two Smarmy Paragraphs.


Sheriff Mike Sheahan is the only elected official to my knowledge who did not profit from public service. This I know for a fact. I try to avoid getting behind Mike Sheahan in the check-out lines at County Fair Foods, because it is a sure bet that it will take a good twenty minutes of coupon counting, before my groceries get tallied.

Nevertheless, Media Types like Mark Brown, Carol Marin, and hugely unfunny Neil Steinberg take lame-ass shots at Sheriff Sheahan and the 19th Ward.

Here is Greg Hinz attempting out-Neil Steinberg on the Mayoral Race -


But the real question is how much Mr. Dart has cleaned up the sheriff's office, which for a couple of decades has been pretty much a 19th Ward fiefdom. Mr. Dart seems to have done a pretty good job, but then, he was chief aide to former Sheriff Mike Sheahan, who caught lots of flak.

You can bet the sheriff's operation will get a full airing before the mayoral vote. Mr. Dart doesn't need any other stumbles.

Greg another one those EVERYONE KNOWS it is true Craptabulous Columinist Pimp Slaps! Really. Shakman! Greg, Shakman!


Gee, Greg EVERYONE know s that Crain's Chicago Business is in bed with Rahm Emanuel - all of the Smart Money. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT!

Oh, that's right. I am not a columnist. Can't get away with that. I'd like to see Sheriff Michael Sheahan ( ret.) hire Joe Powers and sue Crain's and your sorry ass for defamation of character.
What is the exact statistical breakdown of 19th Ward residents in the employ of the Cook County Sheriff?

Mike Quigley used to wow cocktail waitresses with what passes for his wit with a snotty crack about 19th Ward residents with County Plates. No numbers, just Profiling.

19th Ward profiling is acceptable, because Irish Catholics rarely take people like Greg Hinz, or Neil Steinberg by their rolled lapels, pull them up close for a 'chin wag' let alone for a trip outside and a thorough and salubrious beating. Rarely.

Anapests and Ale; Beer and Ballads at Beachwood -Thursday at Beachwood Inn


Patron, Publisher and Publican Steve Rhodes pops the caps on litres of lager and loads Bob's Beachwood Inn for an evening of Ale and Alliteration by Chicago's best practicing and published poet -J.J. Tindall on Thursday October 14th - Unbuckle your chin straps! Grab a knee! Coach Steve's got soemthing to say. . .spit out that gum!

I'll be behind the bar tonight at the glorious Beachwood Inn slinging drinks and singing songs 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Ten free picks on the jukebox for whoever gets to them first! Other specials:

* Old Style: $2.50. Yes, that's a special!
* $1 off bottom shelf. That's the lowest shelf!
* Free football pizza from John's! Made to order!
* Free pool for $1!
* Dr. Dude pinball!
* Monday Night Football in HDTV!
* 18 jukebox picks for $5!
* And bar jokes!

Please join us on Thursday, October 14 for a very special presentation of J.J. Tindall's Ballots From The Dead at Open Books -

Open Books
213 W Institute Place, Chicago, IL 60610

(312) 475-1355 () ‎

Then amble over to Beachwood Inn

Choose your own poem to read from our Chicagoetry collection and bring books to donate to our gracious host, Open Books.


Also, don't forget our Thursday books event at Open Books.

Open Books
213 W Institute Place, Chicago, IL 60610

(312) 475-1355 () ‎


See you there!


Steve Rhodes
Editor & Publisher | Beachwood Media
-
www.beachwoodreporter.com
www.agonyandivy.com


J.J. Tindall has a practiced ear for lyrical poetry and gives voice to a poetic talent too often drown out by lesser lights. Here is a posting that I made last Fall on J.J. Tindall's works.



I love Poetry and there is a heap of very bad poetry - thanks to Slams and HBO.

Poetry is exacting work - The Sound must seem an echo to the Sense*. It is not something one tosses off when fully Kreuzened and touched by the Red Bull Muse.

One of Chicago's best practicing poets can be found in the pages of Steve Rhodes' wonderful Beachwood Reporter. J.J. Tindall has a great ear and a wonderful heart that shouts out wonderfully humorous lines.

Here's a bit:




Son of St. Francis of My Ass

I'm just trying to have a good time.
Hurt is Hell. Let's have a bell!
TONG! TONG!

And a crow.
My Hell is a deep Christian
well in a raw field

just beyond
the edge of the last
suburb.

A raggedy-ass crow,
nothing noble, no Narcissus
of wire. A red crow




Chicagoetry: Confession To The Future
By J.J. Tindall
Confession to the Future

I strove for wealth and sorely failed,
I did not save a single whale.
I did not raise my children well,
I told my friends to go to hell.

I did not know my neighbor's name,
I juried love a callow game.
I scorched the earth to fight for fame,
I stole a march on any shame.

I greeted fools with charming grace
then wiped that smile right off their face.
I cheated on schoolwork, taxes, wives,
then pleaded innocence all my life.

I sold the farm for booze and coke,
I relished vicious ethnic jokes.
I bought the biggest car I could,
I dumped my garbage in the woods.

I sold insurance on people's health
then prayed they'd die to spare my wealth.
I proffered bonds on people's homes
then jacked the price and rigged the loans.

I razed the forests to drill for oil,
I fouled the air and drugged the soil.
I said anything to get elected
then assured my interests were protected:

wildlife crushed to bone and ash,
mountains scarred with gouge and gash,
rivers poisoned drop by drop,
farmland rendered fetid slop.

Thus your Martian tundra reigns,
deserts, bog-holes, acid rain.
Thus you needn't send to know
which rake made your world of woe.

Always me. It was me. It was me.


* I always bow to Pope in matters poetic and the Pope in matters spiritual, moral and liturgical.


True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense:
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar;
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line too labors, and the words move slow;
Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise,
And bid alternate passions fall and rise!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Skinny Sheahan- Icon or Chick Magnet - Either Way He's Ahead of the Pack!


Yesterday, I was driving to O'Hare Airport on the Kennedy and was riveted by the above Chicago Marathon Icon - the woman who graces my company and passenger in Phaeton Hickey remarked, "Why, that is Skinny Sheahan* on that wall. That spot is generally given to images of scantily clad children, pouting suggestively."

With my customary focus to the Illinois Rules of Road- Sec. Jesse White editor and publisher- hands at 2 and 10, proper application of my leg, ankle and foot muscles to the accelerator with regard to posted speed limits, all electronic communications devices off, a grin of self-assured confidence strained with pity due to my witness of sinfully self-absorbed bad drivers, my peripheral vision took in the sight of the image of James "Skinny" Sheahan leading the pack of runners.

"Indeed, Madam, Skinny is on the Wall and wherever good and patriotic men and virtuous women and innocent bright-eyed children need a Champion! ( heroic orchestral music rising) There's a new spirit abroad in the land. The old days of grab and greed are on their way out. We're beginning to think of what we *owe* the other fellow, not just what we're compelled to give him. The time is coming, Ms. Sullivan, , when we cannot fill our bellies in comfort while the other fellow goes hungry, or sleep in warm beds while others shiver in the cold. And we shan't be able to kneel and thank God for blessings before our shining altars while men anywhere are kneeling in either physical or spiritual subjection.

But in the days to come, the American people for their own safety and the good of all will walk together in majesty and in justice and in peace. Skinny is on that Wall . . .We want him on that Wall . . .we Need Him on that Wall!
."

The elegant woman marveled, "Your words are so noble . . ."

I cut her off, as is my wont, post gerund but mid-thought, 'Not mine, Ms. Sullivan -James "Skinny' Sheahan . . .or from an old Sherlock Holmes movie, or something. I'm getting a big ass popcorn at O'Hare."

"Please, use that language with the boys at Keegan's, I don't care for that."

" Sorry . . .well I'm getting the large one anyway.'

"That's nice. Watch the truck in front of you, please."

In Hoc Signo Vinces!

*Jim "Skinny" Sheahan, 64, is president of Special Children's Charities/Special Olympics Chicago. He's also running the Chicago Marathon on Sunday (his 39th marathon overall). His course:
Huge Cap tip to John Ruberry Our Marathon Pundit!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036348/quotes

American MSM Ignores This Gripping Story in Philadelphia



Duck, Mr President! A dirty fat guy sat on President Barack Obama's head on stage during a rally in Philadelphia today. It is not clear who the dirty fat man was, where, or why he came from out of the crowd, or why he chose Mr Obama - who did not appear to notice the danger.

But it is expected that there will be fallout from the security breach as the Secret Service investigates how close the President came to danger.


The rally was clearly an eventful one - other images showed a dirty fat naked man being led away in handcuffs by police.

It is not clear if the man was involved in the face sitting incident - or why he was not wearing any clothes.

The bizarre incident recalled the moment in 2008 when an angry Iraqi journalist hurled a shoe at then-U.S. President George Bush during a press conference in Baghdad. The surprisingly nimble Mr Bush ducked the shoe - and the moment became immortalised with online parodies and internet video games.

But the incident was also marked with controversy as U.S. media questioned why the Secret Service - whose members are supposed to be willing to take a bullet for the President - were not close enough to Mr Bush to deflect the attack. It is expected that the same questions will be asked about yesterday's incident.

The incident came as Mr Obama tried to rally voters in Philadelphia to use to three weeks left before congressional elections to go to the polls.


One wonders; one ponders; one scans the paper and the mind just wanders.

Profound Apologies to the UK Daily Mail for this heavily and meatily Bowdlerized text - I mean that. Click my post title for the genuine article.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Diesel Fitter - It's all about jobs. Cousins Paddy and Mick


There is nothing in the least bit funny about the state the American economy. Unemployment has surged past 10%. In Europe things are worse and the idiot politicians want to make America more like Europe.

Ireland's Celtic Tiger Economy has been put down, like the cat I owned that used the baby's crib as a litter box.

Two cousins of mine from the once economically robust County Kerry(Farranfore and Scartaglen townships - the suburbs of Castleisland) visited briefly after a two years in Canada and have now departed in search of work in Mexico as bartenders.

Paddy Scanlon and Mick Prendergast are healthy and tough young lads -graduates of Meanscoil Phadraig Naofa, Castleisland and played for the Castleisland Desmonds (GAA) football club. They worked for Kerry Ingredients,Ltd. in Listowel in the powdered cheese division, but were laid off in 2006. Subsequently the two went to Dublin and later Liverpool as laborers. Their economic fortunes tanked and they sought brighter horizons far over the foam. They went to Canada in 2008.

Once in Newfoundland, Mick and Paddy worked on fishing trawlers and in local industry, but Dame Fortune smiled not on the likely lads and, sad to relate, which they did, nevertheless;it was time for unemployment insurance to pay them back.

Paddy Scanlon & Mick Prendergast worked together in St. John's, Newfoundland and were both laid off.

So off they went to the unemployment office together.
When asked his occupation, Paddy answered, "Panty Stitcher. I sew da elastic onto ladies cotton panties and tongs".

The clerk looked up panty stitcher on his computer and finding it classified as unskilled labour, and gave him $80.00 a week unemployment pay.

Mick was next in, and when asked his occupation, replied, "Diesel Fitter". Since a diesel fitter was a skilled job, the clerk gave Mick $160.00 a week.

When Paddy found out he was furious. He stormed back into the office to find out why his cousin and co-worker was collecting double his pay.

The clerk explained "Panty Stitchers are unskilled and Diesel Fitter's are skilled labourers".

"What skill?" yelled Paddy. "I sew da elastic on da panties and tongs; Mick puts 'em over his head and says: 'Yep, diesel fitter ..........'"

In the words of Slappy White,"The trouble with unemployment is that the minute you wake up in the morning you're on the job."

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Governor Pat Quinn - The Last Spartan

Sun Times Photo


Ye Gods, Mardonius, what men have you brought us to fight against? Men that fight not for gold, but for glory." Herodatus (Godley translation)




Governor Pat Quinn walks the talk. Today, Abdon Pallasch offers a succinct, thoughtful, accurate, warm and clear presentation of a genuine Illinois Spartan - probably the last Spartan: Governor Pat Quinn.

I have issues with the governor as a voter - he plays too closely with 'goo-goo' elements and Progressives: the Ralph Martire Pie Chart Tax Looters, the Tweed Patch Trust Fund Commies, SEIU, and every IVI-IPO anointed ding-bat. Most importantly, he is too close to the abortion happy harpies of Planned Parenthood.

Those issues aside, Pat Quinn is the real deal. He reminds me of last Irish Catholic Governor of Illinois who was a genuine reformer Edward Dunne.

I like Republican Bill Brady for his anti-abortion stand. However, he is wrapped too tightly to the Hate-Chicago, anti-Labor crowd. Bill Brady, I believe will lose the upcoming election for those last two very reasons. Chicago is the big brother fallen on very hard times living in the basement of the hard working earnest sister with ten kids. The big brother has fallen on tough times, in many due to his own goofy tendencies, but you can not kick him out -you are family. That same big brother will get back on his feet and make life better for that family. Bill Brady seems to want to kick Chicago to the curb and he should not do that, but that is the sad state of the Illinois GOP. They blow their toes off each election cycle, but always manage to find a slot for Judy Barr Topinka. Go figure; it is way beyond me.

Pat Quinn is a real family man and he is a real, genuine Illinois Spartan:

The no-frills governor sat at the dining room table of the modest 1,800-square-foot Georgian home he shares with his son David, 25, in Galewood on the West Side recently.

The screen on the front door is bent and needs replacing. The paint is cracking on the garage. Only two of the four bulbs in the light fixture in the dining room work. As befits a double-bachelor pad, the fridge holds only pomegranate-blueberry spritzer, V-8, mustard and ketchup.

This is a far cry from the home of his challenger in the upcoming election, Bill Brady, a stately, Better Homes and Gardens-type residence in Bloomington.

But it's in keeping with Quinn's austere approach to life and his background as a do-gooder/agitator.

"You have to be frugal if you don't have much money," Quinn said.

Quinn's crusades -- cutting the number of state legislators by a third, creating the Citizens Utility Board, becoming the state treasurer and lieutenant governor -- were done on a shoestring, he notes.

"In all these campaigns I've been in, we haven't had a lot of money," Quinn said. "This is obviously the biggest campaign I've ever been in, when you're spending a million bucks a week on TV. When I ran for lieutenant governor, we spent $375,000 [total]. So you have to watch your pennies."


Abdon Pallasch has painted a fine portrait of a Good Man, who prove to be a good Governor of Illinois.

Friday, October 08, 2010

The Talented and Handsome Pat Hickey -Not Me. Bea and Pat's Son -Northwestern Wildcat Pat Hickey!


My cousin Red Pat Hickey, a Chief engineer for Local 399 and his beautiful and brilliant bride Bea Reyna-Hickey are the proud parents of Pat Hickey.

In my massive immediate and extended family there must be a score of Pat Hickeys - I am Padraigin (Patsheen in Chicagoese Irish), then there is Mike's Pat, Red Pat, Red Pat's Pat, & etc. ad finem.

Red Pat's young man is the Long Snapper ( A Center with the ability to get the ball sans problems to a punter or a quarterback in the shotgun)for the very Hot Northwestern Wildcats. Pat Hickey the Wildcathand been Pat Hickey the Loyola Rambler and bears a striking resemblance to the young Mel Gibson.

This good looking and talented kid also writes for the Wildcat Players Blog.
Here is fine example of the talents of a Catholic League scholar athlete -

. . .I’ve been living like an NFL player for the past three weeks, and now I’ve been knocked back down to earth by classes and homework getting tossed on my plate.

Although not many people on our team were excited to start classes, besides maybe the bookworms Brandon Williams and JHP (John Henry Pace), everyone was excited to finally have a real student section at Ryan Field. Coach Fitz was calling this game our “true” home opener since the students are back at this university that we represent out there on the field. We had a great week of practice in prep for CMU. It was high energy and intense, but also a lot of fun. After the final practice of the week on Thursday, Coach Fitz told us about a new tradition starting at Ryan Field to get the fans into the game. Everyone was going to put their hands in the air at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and the song that goes along will get that point across just fine. So after Thursday practice, the film crew set up a camera, blasted the “hands in the air” song, and just let us bust out our best dance moves for the Jumbotron at Ryan Field. Niko Mafuli, Venric Mark, and even Coach Fitz were the best dancers of the day. They busted out some moves I’d never seen before.


As Your Grandfather and my sainted uncle Bud might say ( tones rise liltingly upon the italicized words) - "Is that Right? Well, the Jesuits are more liberal than they were when your Old Man went to Loyola, Kid! You got a preposition hanging out there like a wino's Johnson, for Crissakes."

More importantly Pay no attention to this crabby old dope, your Dad's cousin,Kid. I avoid hard work like I lived in Hyde Park. See you at the Walsh/O'Brien Wedding!

We are very proud of you, Pat!

Steinberg Tweaks Rev. Meeks? Dante, Neil, Dante. Brunetto Latini ?



Brunetto Latini was a GLBTQ civil servant in Florence in Dante's Day. Neil Steinberg reads Dante all of the time. I taught some passages from the Divine Comedy for years and have merely a high school teacher's middling familiarity with Dante. I never would buy a sweatshirt with Dante's Mug on the front, however. Who would?

However, I do remember Brunetto Latini*. Dante tossed folks with whom he had congress from Florence into Purgatory or the Inferno during his epic journey with the Roman poet Virgil through the afterlife in search of lost and beloved Beatrice - who is up in Heaven ( Paradiso) with Beatific Vision -All Three of Him.

Not Brunetto Latini. The poor guy was lumped into the third ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell ( Inferno) with the sodomites - gays.

There are plenty of breeders in Hell as well - folks who cave in to Lust. That is the sexual urge in all of its many manifestations -Diversity is Hell.

Well today, Old Neil goes after Rev. Senator James Meeks, who broke with the Left Coalitions by urging Vouchers for all school children. Contra Progresso! Che Brutta!

Rev. James Meeks has railed against homosexuality - contra natura, as Dante and Virgil and Pope Benedict XVI might say.

Rev. Meeks met with the Illinois Gay Papacy in Closed Session. Neil finds that to be great sport - treats James Meeks like people of the 19th Ward he does, Old Neil. Funny guy.

Damn! I never get invited anywhere. I would have loved to be in the room when the Rev. James Meeks explained to gay activists how his urging the state to continue denying them jobs and housing based on their sexuality, not to mention his firm, oft-stated belief that they'll all be roasting in hell with Satan for eternity, was merely a misunderstanding, now that he needs their votes. . . .The crux is what he is willing to say to the thousands of Salem Baptist faithful every Sunday. If the scales have indeed fallen from his eyes, and he has decided he wants to be mayor so much that gay people should now be judged, not by the color of their sexuality, but by the content of their characters, well, glory hallelujah, he should not whisper it to a few gay leaders, but shout it from the mountaintop to his faithful flock. I would get up early on a Sunday, put on a good suit and go to church to hear that sermon. If it ever happens, I'll let you know.


Neil's tongue tucked tightly to the cheek! Shades of Dr. King to make the sinful soul sing! Neil must be killing himself with laughter directed at all of the ignominious fools us mortal be who are not Neil Steinberg.

Not my cup of giggles. Like most people, I have more than enough grist for the giggle mill with my own personal and public follies.

Satura Lanx! Dante is a pretty good student of human nature and could teach all of us about tolerance. Well not all of us. Certainly not those who puff themselves up as Dante scholars, to be sure.

As I said, I have a middling familiarity with Dante, but full appreciation of literature's ability to make better human beings of us -were we not to use literature as a coffee table book.

Dante admired the genius and the poetic abilities of Brunetto Latini and is saddened to witness the man's torment in the Inferno - it was not Dante's choice to toss Latini in the third ring of the Seventh Circle - that is God's work. Dante has much more in common with Rev. James Meeks than with Neil Steinberg.

James Meeks has a congregation and a constituency.

Neil Steinberg has a column -for now.

* Brunetto Latini- Florentine philosopher and statesman, born at Florence, c. 1210; the son of Buonaccorso Latini, died 1294.

A notary by profession. Brunetto shared in the revolution of 1250, by which the Ghibelline power in Florence was overthrown, and a Guelph democratic government established In 1260, he was sent by the Commune as ambassador to Alfonso X of Castile, to implore his aid against King Manfred and the Ghibellines, and he has left us in his "Tesoretto", (II, 27-50), a dramatic account of how, on his return journey, he met a scholar from Bologna who told him that the Guelphs had been defeated at Montaperti and expelled from Florence. Brunetto took refuge at Paris, where a generous fellow-countryman enabled him to pursue his studies while carrying on his profession of notary. To this unnamed friend he now dedicated his "Trésor". After the Guelph triumph of 1266 and the establishment of a new democratic constitution, Brunetto returned to Florence, where he held various offices, including that of secretary to the Commune, took an active and honoured part in Florentine politics, and was influential in the counsels of the Republic. Himself a man of great eloquence, he introduced the art of oratory and the systematic study of political science into Florentine public life. He was buried in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Among the individuals who had come under his influence was the young Dante Alighieri, and, in one of the most pathetic episodes of the "Inferno" (canto XV) Dante finds the sage, who had taught him "how man makes himself eternal", among the sinners against nature.

Brunetto's chief work, "Li Livres dou Trésor" is a kind of encyclopedia in which he "treats of all things that pertain to mortals". It was written in French prose during his exile, and translated into Italian by a contemporary, Bono Giamboni. Mainly a compilation from St. Isidore of Seville and other writers, it includes compendiums of Aristotle's "Ethics" and Cicero's treatise on rhetoric. The most interesting portion is the last, "On the Government of Cities", in which the author deals with the political life of his own times. The "Tesoretto", written before the "Trésor", is an allegorical didactic poem in Italian, which undoubtedly influenced Dante. Brunetto finds himself astray in a wood, speaks with Nature in her secret places, reaches the realm of the Virtues, wanders into the flowery meadow of Love, from which he is delivered by Ovid. He confesses his sins to a friar and resolves to amend his life, after which he ascends Olympus and begins to hold converse with Ptolemy. It has recently been shown that the "Tesoretto" was probably dedicated to Guido Guerra, the Florentine soldier and politician who shares Brunetto's terrible fate in Dante's Inferno. Brunetto also wrote the "Favolello", a pleasant letter in Italian verse to Rustico di Filippo on friends and friendship. The other poems ascribed to him, with the possible exception of one canzone, are spurious.
New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Abortion Happy Harpies of EMILY's LIST Warn Women


EMILY’s List president Stephanie Schriock will go after House Minority Leader John Boehner in a speech to the Women’s National Democratic Club this afternoon, warning that the number of women in Congress could drop this year and empower “a party that believes that women belong in the kitchen.” “ - Thats Right, Emily and the DNC is the party that believes that women belong in an ABORTION Clinic!

DOPIUM Addicted Illinois GOP Get Heads Up from Tamara Holder


My pal attorney Tamara Holder raises some valid concerns that Illinois GOP folks have whistled away while walking past the political graveyard. A Tea Party candidate for Senate has been ignored, while the Illinois GOP have fired-up the DOPIUM Bowl - see John Kass.

( HOPIUM* is the Obama hallucinogen that brings tears to eyes of worshippers; DOPIUM is the hard core Crystal Meth that trots out Judy Barr Topinka in every election cycle -'It's All Good, G! Polka Time!')


Warning to Republicans


(or those who are considering voting Republican): If you vote for Mark Kirk, you will be voting for a liberal. So, if you are going to vote for a liberal, then make it easier on yourself and simply vote for Alexi Giannoulias, since he’s the real Democrat.

Wait, before you get all worked-up and accuse me, an Illinois Democrat, of trying to persuade the right to lean left, please continue reading because my point has zilch to do with Giannoulias…I simply want to make sure that the person you vote for accurately and properly represents you.

Michael Labno may be your guy, instead of Mark Kirk. Why?

Kirk is a Republican. Or is he? Kirk voted to allow the government to confiscate your legally owned firearm in the event of a national emergency. He is pro-choice, saved millions in funding for Planned Parenthood and was just one of 17 Republicans to vote to fund abortions for female inmates. Kirk is for cap and trade and voted for TARP not once, but twice.

Labno is a self-proclaimed “recovering Republican; three years sober, officially.” He wonders why we still haven’t found Osama bin Laden and is disappointed with the Republicans’ support of the bailouts. He wants small businesses and community banks to thrive again. He is pro-life and pro-guns. Labno owns his positions and he hasn’t manufactured his qualifications or made up outlandish stories to gain support.


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/07/republicans-beware-mark-kirk-is-a-liberal/#ixzz11ftowC9a

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-obama-1007-20101007,0,4382854,full.column

* from the Urban Dictionary - John Kass' neologism:

Hopium A substance that the media and press abuse, it makes them mesmerized by Barack Obama. For instance, when Obama swatting a fly was a headliner on the news, that camera man was on a double hit of Hopium.
e.g
"Wow did you see the Obama Chia?!"

"Yeah man, wonder if the hair is actually Hopium, I need some NOW."

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

A Note From R. Emmett Tyrrell to Chicago Voters


Public Nuisances
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

With Rahm in the Windy City

Washington—On Sunday Rahm Emanuel declared his candidacy for mayor of Chicago. Instantaneously, he had problems with his campaign, not the least of which is that he is as much a resident of Chicago as I am. So on Monday I declared my candidacy for mayor of Chicago. Why not? I did it on the national television show of the estimable Sean Hannity, who immediately threw his support behind me. I was born in Chicago, come from a long line of Chicagoans, and like Rahm I am occasionally in town. The place is a gastronomic paradise, a cultural delight with great museums and a fine orchestra, plus opera—surprisingly Rahm and I have never crossed paths while in town. Supposedly, he attends rock concerts. He could attend the Chicago Symphony but he opts for Bruce Springsteen.
My candidacy already had the national endorsement of the New York Sun, which tapped me the day before I declared. I have a new book out, After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery, to provide Chicagoans, and Americans generally, with a blueprint for getting out of our present political and economic fix. The blogs are alive with support (and occasional rudeness), and more newspaper support is rumored on the way. All Rahm has is a few big names and our mutually held residency problem. Rahm is still seeking newspaper support, and his “listening tour,” begun Monday, has gotten off to a rocky start. A lot of Chicagoans do not like him. He has a reputation for yelling at underlings and for profanity.
As for me, I am free of any hint of Chicago corruption, certainly no hint of a connection to ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich. Frankly, I could not pick him out of a police lineup—at least a police lineup of gaudily dressed gigolos. Rahm is recorded on the telephone with Blagojevich suggesting deals shortly after President Barack Obama’s election. All of this and any other questionable dealings will be rehashed over and again during the run-up to the February election. When it comes to political connections with the Chicago machine or for that matter almost any connection at all—my family lives in the suburbs—I am clean as a hound’s tooth.
More to the point, though Rahm owns a house in Chicago, he does not live in it and cannot live in it. He leased it out nearly two years ago to one Rob Halpin, and it appears that Rob is a patriot. He is not going to let some capricious politician run him out of his home just because the politician decided to leave the sinking ship of President Obama and enter the mayor’s race. He has responsibilities. Moreover, he renewed his lease just days before Mayor Richard M. Daley announced his retirement on September 7. That apparently inspired Rahm to run, and it does raise the question: why did Rahm not leave himself free to move back to Chicago when he took his ill-considered job as President Obama’s chief of staff? President Obama has maintained his home there and is freer to run for mayor than Rahm. Why, as recently as the first week in September, did Rahm not see this mayoral race as at least a possibility, or maybe some other Chicago electoral endeavor? As I say, he suddenly decided to jump ship.
It all smacks of opportunism, and Rahm’s usual proclivity for bullying people. He tried it on me, when as a prelude to siccing a grand jury on The American Spectator, his Clinton White House sent me not a dead fish but a copy of Bill Clinton’s book Between Hope and History, suitably inscribed but with no explanation. It was sent on February 26, 1998, and marked the beginning of a year-long investigation of the Spectator on felony charges meant to tarnish Ken Starr’s witness in the Whitewater matter. The proceedings were dismissed as a witch hunt, but it did last a year, and it was unpleasant. In fact it reeks of bully politics.
Now Rahm envisages his unpleasant bully politics for Chicago, but he is dealing with serious pols, Sheriff Tom Dart and state Senator James Meeks. Charges of “carpetbagger” are in the air and that word again, “bullying.” Still these guys can deal with bullies, especially Dart who is sheriff of all of Cook County. Moreover, experts on the electoral law have weighed in, and they see tremendous hurdles for Rahm to leap—and me too. I shall throw myself on the mercies of the court. Will Rahm trust the courts?
One of Chicago’s top lawyers, Burt Odelson, told the Chicago Sun-Times that “The guy does not meet the statutory requirements to run for mayor.” Odelson elaborated, “He hasn’t been back there for 18 months. Residency cases are usually hard cases to prove because the candidate gets an apartment or says he’s living in his mother’s basement. Here the facts are easy to prove. He doesn’t dispute he’s been in Washington for the past 18 months. This is not a hard case.”
Well, Rahm, how about joining my legal case and throwing yourself on the mercy of the court? You got one thing right in all of this. Now is a good time to leave the White House. It might be a good time for Barack, too. Can one run for mayor while being president of the United States? Check it out, Barack. We can all run.




R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator and an adjunct scholar at the Hudson Institute. His new book is After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery.

Rahm'n It to Attorney Burt Odelson. Rahm Listened, Burt!- You are Next Chicago!


Chicago! Get aload of this beauty. Two days in town and Rahm Emanuel is already assasinating - or try to assasinate the character of Attorney Burt Odelson for daring to ask questions and raise the issue of Residency Laws - Rahm seems to be not to terribly detail oriented.

from Rahm's Website -Tell it like it is - great tune. However, when weasle sings it comes out like this -. . . Got Residency?

3. Burt Odelson, who has been the principal spokesperson questioning Rahm’s residency, was a member of George W. Bush’s legal team in Florida recount following the 2000 election. (follow this link for details)

He’s the same guy who insisted that Todd Stroger was a “reformer” who would hire talent on the basis of merit. (link here)

Odelson has also acknowledged that he has represented politicians who are themselves considering running for Mayor. (Here’s a link to a report of Odelson making that admission.)

4. Odelson’s characterization of election law in this story is selective and misleading. He rests his case on a provision that says you can’t be denied your residency if military service takes you out of town. Odelson argues that everyone else who has to be out of town a year prior to the election is ineligible to run. But he doesn’t acknowledge that—as the Board of Elections has explained—someone who leaves for work, but continues to own property and vote retains his residency. He also ignores a separate section of the law that specifically says you can’t be denied your residency if “business of the United States, or of this State” takes you out of town. (10 ILCS 5/3‑2(a)) (from Ch. 46, par. 3‑2)


If Rahm were in anyway a Chicagoan he would know that while Chicagoans are tough they hate bullies and thugs to the marrow. Smear tactics and character assasination by the DNC have sickened working class Americans and Chicagoans in particular.
Oh, by the way -Facebook don't vote.

Phyllis Lockett, CEO of the Renaissance Schools Fund Should Head Chicago Public Schools

Dr. Phyllis Lockett at the podium -Ron Huberman looks off for his next appointment and opportunity for a six, or seven figure salary and something to screw up.
So, Ron Huberman is hitting the silk as CEO of CPS. Mach Nichts. Forgedaboudid. A Hearty Joe Biden BFD! It was in all (both) of the newspapers.

Ron Huberman*, Chicago's Post-Shakman Clout King went from the cops,where he did what? -to the CTA, where he did less -to CPS where gunfire is the Chicago school bell.

Huberman came on after Arne Duncan, who speaks like a marble salesman with mouth full of samples. Duncan is the creature of Ariel Capital Management's John Rogers, who gave Arne his shove into the limelight created by Rogers-happy media with gloves padded with Buckeens, The Elusive Spondulix, The Long-Green Difference. This is a Green City.

Arne Duncan was foisted upon the only effective CPS Leader in the last thirty years - Paul Vallas who was driven into exile.

Well, Ron Huberman who is a PC ICON is bailing out. Ron Huberman is Black, Jewish, Young Handsome, Articulate ( really?) Media Tagged "Really Smart" ( always dead give-away that the guy is a clever dope), and as Gay as Christmas! What is not to love and admire? The question -rhetorical and jam-packed with nutritious and delicious irony!

CPS? It is to laugh, if were not so tragic.

Phyllis Lockett, CEO of the Renaissance Schools Fund would make a great CEO for Chicago Public Schools, but she will be opposed by Bill Ayers, Mike Klonsky, Karen Lewis, Marilynn Stewart, the Chicago Teachers Union, Chicago's daffy editorial boards, and every other person responsible for the destruction of education in Chicago.

Dr. Phyllis Lockett is the real deal and has earned the respect and attention of Chicago's most effective Business Leaders. Dr. Lockett is no Media Poser. She is tough, smart, energetic and responsible teacher, manager and fund-raiser. Dr. Lockett understands that competence,competition and accountability are the foundations of education.

No wonder Bill Ayers and Mike Klonsky scream nonsense at Dr. Lockett - like this drivel -

"The business
community has a responsibility, as we all do, to
support public education. But these partnerships can
be built without selling off large chunks of public space.
Small schools are not a panacea, and, while they create
wonderful possibilities, the language of small schools
can be twisted to become an excuse for inequity and
promotion of the ownership culture. Every wave of official
“school reform,” including small schools and Ren
10, must be met with skepticism, agnosticism, and doubt
by those of us who hope and struggle for a more democratic
future, a more just social order.
A school renaissance built on the ideals of the ownership
society, on privilege for a few, on creating winners
and losers among students and among neighborhoods
will never sustain itself. On the other hand, small
schools and classrooms built on equality and community,
on shared power, on the right to humane treatment,
on full participation, and on access can flourish
and nourish a community."



Who let these two clowns near our children?

Bye, Ron!

http://www.pdkmembers.org/members_online/publications/archive/pdf/k0602aye.pdf



*RON HUBERMAN
Work: Police Department, 1995-2004; Office of Emergency Management and Communications, 2004-05; mayoral chief of staff, 2005-07; CTA president, 2007-09; Chicago Public Schools CEO, 2009- present.
Personal: Born in Israel, grew up in Tennessee and Chicago's western suburbs. He and his partner have adopted a son.
Chicago Sun Times

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Why there are more Pay Phones than GOP Members in Chicago


Given a Republican base vote of 15-19% and a plethora of Democratic candidates, a viable Republican candidate would very relevant to the election. At least one well-known local Republican, with previous experience as a candidate, has expressed strong interest, and directly discussed that interest at length with Chairman Gerson. A nationally known Conservative has also been mentioned in Conservative blogs, but has not contacted the Chicago GOP. We will not take that seriously until he does, as he cannot hope to win without the ground assets of the Chicago GOP.
( Emphasis my own) Giggles and Gaffaws -Citywide.

That's Thin Crust Thinking Outside the Box it Came in!

Seamus Heaney - Anything Can Happen 2004


In 2004 Seamus Heaney, wrote this beautiful imitation of Horace's Odes -many people recognize the terror assault of America on 9/11 here - I see so much more - a young man from the neighborhood is tragically killed, a young mother comes home from a doctor's visit with a diagnosis of breast cancer, a little boy comes in from play to find his mother in a gran mal seizure,a tradesman can no longer make mortgage payments and must give up the home all of his children grew up in, a husband comes home to an empty house - he only cheated once and he was drunk.


Anything Can HappenSeamus Heaney

After Horace, Odes, I, 34

Anything can happen. You know how Jupiter
Will mostly wait for clouds to gather head
Before he hurls the lightning? Well just now
He galloped his thunder cart and his horses

Across a clear blue sky.. It shook the earth
and the clogged underearth, the River Styx,
the winding streams, the Atlantic shore itself.
Anything can happen, the tallest towers

Be overturned, those in high places daunted,
Those overlooked regarded. Stropped-beak Fortune
Swoops, making the air gasp, tearing the crest off one,
Setting it down bleading on the next.

Ground gives. The heaven's weight
Lifts up off Atlas like a kettle lid.
Capstones shift. Nothing resettles right.
Telluric ash and fire-spores boil away.

R. Emmett Tyrrell - The Anti- Rahm is Running for Chicago Mayor



Only one day into the Rahm Run and Chicagoans are reacting to the sight of Emanuel at Whole Foods, Munchies in Bronzeville, and on the L-Stops of Windy City! From what I can gather, Rahm's pressing of flesh -as it were - is being treated by us helots with all of the joy and delight that a hot tub owner might elicit had Jimmy The Leper done a cannon ball into the foaming brine!

Now here come the anti-Rahm!

Fenwick Alumnus and publisher of the conservative American Spectator, Robert Emmett Tyrrell announced his bid for Chicago Mayor last night on the Sean Hannity Show.

I received an e-mail from Bob this morning and I must say - R. Emmett Tyrrell comes armed with a newspaper endorsement - The New York Sun.

Chicago's most talented writers are in exile - Dan Mihalopoulos, Mick Dumke,Jim Warren and the great Dan McGrath - writing the Chicago News Cooperative for the New York Times; therefore, an endorsement from a New York paper is not too much of stretch for this Chicago jingoist.

It is a very solid case for Mr. Tyrrell - give this a close look -


R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. for Mayor:A Typhoon Brews in the Windy CityEditorial of The New York Sun | October 3, 2010

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/r-emmett-tyrrell-jr-for-mayor/87100/

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The reason Rahm Emanuel is leaving the White House, it is said, is that he’s getting set to run for mayor of Chicago. There’s actually a lot we admire about Mr. Emanuel, and we wish him luck. But our sentiments are with the editor-in-chief of the American Spectator, R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. The word is that Mr. Tyrrell, a contributing editor of The New York Sun, is hatching his own plan to run for mayor of Chicago the way one of his heroes, William F. Buckley, once ran for mayor of New York. Tune into the Sean Hannity broadcast Monday evening. If he does run a campaign, it’ll be the freshest breeze out of the Windy City since Lincoln.

Let us say right off the beam that we understand some will be puzzled in respect of why a newspaper in New York is making such an early endorsement in Chicago. We would just remind our readers that it was The New York Sun that gave Chicago its most famous nickname — the Windy City. The moniker was penned by our erstwhile editor, Charles Dana, in 1893. He was referring to the gusty nature of the politics of what the other papers liked to call the Second City. Wikipedia contends that others used the term before Dana, but it was Dana who made the phrase synonymous with Chicago.

Mr. Tyrrell is right in the Chicago tradition. It is said that Mr. Emanuel can’t say but a few words without delivering himself of the most awful expletives such as require parents to clap their hands over the ears of their children. Mr. Tyrrell is of the more literary turn, but he can talk with the windiest of the Chicago wise men. If the topic is Chicago itself, a certain twinge of warm affection starts to enter his voice, no doubt due to the fact that he was born in Chicago of a family with deep roots in the best tradition of Illinois politics.

The first time we met Mr. Tyrrell was in his private study, where he was seated beneath the portrait of Abraham Lincoln that the family of the 16th president gave Mr. Tyrrell’s family in appreciation for the role that one of Mr. Tyrrell’s ancestors, an agent of the Secret Service named P.D. Tyrrell, played in foiling a plot, by a band of currency counterfeiters, to steal Lincoln’s body from its first grave. The Lincoln connection may be what impelled Mr. Tyrrell to align himself with all the best traditions in the GOP. Mr. Tyrrell’s great-grandfather, Frank Tyrrell, was for many years the last surviving officer of the Haymarket Riot.

As a journalist, Mr. Tyrrell has lived in the grand tradition. President Reagan once ducked out of the Oval Office to have dinner with Mr. Tyrrell in his home. When, during Mr. Tyrrell’s long journalistic campaign against President Clinton, the editor found himself in the same restaurant with the 42nd president, the editor sent over a bottle of champagne and the two ended jousting jovially about the president’s political crisis. Such is Mr. Tyrrell’s charm that Mr. Clinton’s great counsel, Bernard Nussbaum, while defending Mr. Clinton, once gave a favorable review to Mr. Tyrrell’s book on Mr. Clinton.

Mr. Tyrrell, in contradistinction to Mr. Emanuel, is not a man who pokes people in the chest. Mr. Tyrrell runs a supper series called the Saturday Evening Club that meets mid-week. To these dinners repair Supreme Court justices, foreign dignitaries, governors, senators, and presidential aspirants, all to be drawn out by Mr. Tyrrell’s friendly spirit and passion for the political debate. It’s a spirit that will serve him well if he actually mounts his campaign for mayor, in which, incidentally, the talk is that he’s going to unfurl the slogan “a tax cut in every pot,” demand an investigation of the city’s pension obligations, and unveil a plan to maneuver the Cubs into the World Series.

One of the things Mr. Tyrrell will no doubt do is seek to remind voters of Mr. Emanuel’s entanglements with Governor Blagojevich. Mr. Tyrrell likes to put it this way: “Having lived in Washington longer than Mr. Emanuel, I’m cleaner of Blagojevich than he is.” He’ll no doubt stress the ties between Mr. Emanuel and President Obama, whose health care nationalization will hurt Chicagoans so hard. And Mr. Tyrrell will be able to assert that he himself is blameless in the mortgage crisis, having never served on the board of Freddie Mac.

* * *

There are those who will set down Mr. Tyrrell’s campaign as satire, and satire is one of his favorite journalistic weapons. The great scoop of Mr. Tyrrell’s career is the story of how, during the 1970s, liberalism had become laughable. There are others who will say that the crisis into which Mr. Obama, with Mr. Emanuel’s help, has precipitated the country is no laughing matter, what with the government’s trillion dollar deficits, the dollar having collapsed to below a 1,300th of an ounce of gold, and the Bush momentum ebbing in the war. The Democrats may have their mandate in the Congress trimmed sharply or even revoked. But there are others who say Mr. Tyrrell’s penchant for good humor and optimism are just what our country needs, and what better place to start than by restoring to the heart of the American heartland a fair wind.


Bob, I think that you will find a much warmer greeting from Chicagoans at L Stops and at Whole Foods , than Robo-call Rahmbo.

Monday, October 04, 2010

Boxing Legend Emanuel Steward Schools Leo Students




Legendary Boxing trainer Emanuel Steward visited the students at Leo High School to talk about personal commitment and work ethic only hours before his fighter Andy Lee took down another opponent at Hammond’s Horseshoe Casino, on Friday October 1st*.

Mr. Steward met with nearly one hundred Leo High School students in the Leo Boxing facility. Boxing Coach Mike Joyce introduced the man who trained such boxing greats as Thomas Hearns, Miguel Cotto, Vladimir Klitschko, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and Andy Lee. Mr. Steward told the Leo Men about a boxer’s day that begins and ends with hard work. Vladimir Klitschko, Steward explained, dances for eighty minutes, before he begins his morning’s workout, in order to temper his balance. Boxing is not all hitting and Emanuel Steward to the Leo students that European boxers concentrate much more on boxing basics -balance, footwork and timing – much more than hitting and are therefore better schooled than American fighters. Emanuel Steward, as a trainer, does much to correct that and has opened his own boxing gymnasiums in Detroit and Phoenix.

Mr. Steward spent the better part of hour talking to Leo Men about committing themselves to their school work and developing a strong work ethic. Mr. Steward’s words were reflected in the victory of middleweight boxer Andy Lee (25-1-0, 19 KOs) over Troy Lowry (27-12-0, 11 Kos) by TKO when the Referee stopped the fight in the 3rdRound.
The training by Emanuel Steward will make Andy Lee the next Middleweight Champion; the words to the students of Leo High School by Emanuel Steward will help make committed and courageous scholars, athletes and citizens.


*Lee-Lowry: Photo/Report By Jacob Chavez at ringside
Photos by John Booz

Rising star Andy Lee (25-1-0, 19 KOs) of the middleweight division stayed active with an annihilation of Troy Lowry (27-12-0, 11 Kos) Saturday night at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, IN., just 15 days after scoring a TKO over Michael Walker. This victory secures a proposed meeting against fellow Irishmen, John Duddy at Madison Square Garden in December. In Lee’s corner was Legendary trainer Emanuel Steward and IBF Junior Middleweight champ, Cornelius “K9” Bundrage. The fights were promoted by Bobby Hitz, who also celebrated his birthday before the cheering of the entire crowd.
Lee got right down to business, using his height and a stiff jab to set up Lowry with wicked left. Lowry appeared very willing to mix-it up with Lee but had no game plan as to how to shorten the distance. After a very one sided opening round, things only got worse for Lowry, as a big right to the ear dropped him seconds into round two. Lowry got up shaken more than hurt, but he was limited to ineffective counter punching.

In round three there was another knockdown scored by Lee, courtesy of a quick three-punch combo to Lowry’s head. Midway into the stanza, there was a flash knockdown after another right-hook tagged him. The game Lowry got up but the frustration on his face was very apparent. Lee looked to end it in round four. He came out loading up on heavier punches and setting up the left uppercut with the jab. With a minute into the round, a left to the body hurt Lowry and he dropped in complete agony. Surprisingly, he got up but Lee was waiting to pounce. After enduring some more punishment, it seemed as though Lowry would survive the round, but seconds before the bell, the final right to the head dropped Lowry hard. He got up once again but was unable to continue when questioned by Referee Celestino Ruiz. The official time was 2:59 of round four.

Burt Odelson Getting the "Full Medill" on Rahm Residency


Burt Odelson has ties to Brother Rice, Baraco's Pizza on 95th Street, and the thousands of people he has helped as an attorney.

Medill Industries, headquartered at Northwestern University, sic'd an earnest little girl on Burt on behalf of Rahm Emanuel. Burt will get the Full Medill - which means that by the end of the week Huff and Puff ink-slingers will say that when Burt Odelson was not torturing black men as part if Burge's Midnight Crew, he was shovelling money into bad causes and killing baby ducks with a Louisville Slugger.


Burt is a gent. In 2000, Burt was hired by the Bush Team, even though Odelson was a Democrat with ties to Bill Daley and Al Gore. Burt Odelson won the legendary Hanging Chad Case before the Supreme Court of the United States. Burt Odelson had helped Richard M. Daley get elected as Cook County States Attorney and later Mayor of Chicago. Burt Odelson has ties up the ying-yang.

However the Cupcakes of Medill School of Jounolism(sic) breathlessly huff this post -linked by Huffington Post - The Hollywood Squares of Web Info. -

Emanuel owns a home at 4228 N. Hermitage, which he leased to a family in 2009. The family declined Emanuel’s request to terminate the lease, preventing him from moving back in.

Does this mean Chicago will have its first homeless mayoral candidate?

One prominent election law expert, attorney Burt Odelson, who has ties with House Speaker Michael Madigan and two potential Emanuel rivals in the mayor’s race, state Sen. James Meeks and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, said Wednesday that the law clearly prohibits Emanuel from running for mayor. (Voila, The Medill Well,well,well wedged in -emphasis my own)

Odelson noted that a section of the statute in the Illinois election code allows individuals who are in service to the U.S. to keep their residency status, but only for voting purposes.

“Even if Mr. Emanuel could make a claim that he’s in service of the U.S. and still vote absentee, he cannot make the claim he has been a resident of the city of Chicago for one year prior to the election because he leased his house to a family,” Odelson said.


Gee, them ties are binding. Binding to an intellectually constipated dope maybe, but not Chicago readers.

That cute Medill Well,Well, Well is is hardly poisoned. The fact of the matter is Burt Odelson discharges more brains with a trip to the loo than the collective wisdom of the Tweedy-Pie Profs at Medill School of Journolsim (sic).

If Burt Odleson says that Rahm Emanuel has a residency problem, Dreams from My Mayor Boy had better get himself one great election attorney -too bad that Burt Odelson is booked.

Why John O’Sullivan Backed Forrest Claypool





My State Representative and the Worth Township Democratic Committeeman, John O’Sullivan is backing Forrest Claypool for Cook County Assessor. He is doing so out of loyalty to the working people of our Legislative District – the hard working tax paying citizens of our community. John O’Sullivan honors commitments. Real politics is based upon the obligation of the man elected to the people who voted for him. To some people in and on the fringes of politics it is a parlor game.



Some people want to make everything a Race issue. It seems to me that the upcoming race for Cook County Assessor is more about property taxes than anything else and that, unless tax attorneys could be conceived to be a Race, this race is anything but racial –it is election of a person who will best serve the interests of Cook County home owners and tax payers. I am no demographer, but I must wonder - are there really a powerful number of black and Hispanic tax attorneys in Cook County? If not, then, perhaps, this election should only be about electing the person who would make the fairest Cook County Assessor. John O’Sullivan believes that Forrest Claypool would be that person.



John O'Sullivan is what he is -a 25 year union laborer from a family of union men and women. A Pro-Life Democrat, husband of an elementary school teacher and the father of 3 boys receiving Catholic educations at catholic schools, John has served as a volunteer youth wrestling, football and little league coach at his alma mater, parish and Park District respectively. John also serves as the Worth Township Democratic Committeeman and Illinois Representative from the 35th Legislative District - for both of these positions, O'Sullivan accepts no compensation. John is also a man who is not afraid to take stands, which made the subject of a recent Carol Marin article in the Sun Times



John O'Sullivan is backing Democrat tuned independent Forrest Claypool over Democratic Party Chairman Joe Berrios for Cook County Assessor much to the chagrin of party bosses.



I ran into John O’Sullivan and asked him about his endorsement of Forrest Claypool for Cook County Assessor. Johnny O’s answer was very much the same as the one that he gave to Carol Marin and it struck the same notes that Mike Houlihan wrote about in the October issue of Irish American News. Mike Houlihan writes, “The old Democratic Party was hijacked over the last thirty years by eugenics, philosophers, and advocates of what Clarence Thomas called ‘social engineering.’” Instead, Johnny O’Sullivan concerned not with engineering society, but in backing the candidate best suited to make decisions that will help Cook County home-owners and tax-payers.

I asked O'Sullivan, who is also a staunch Governor Pat Quinn supporter, about his endorsement of Forrest Claypool and he stated, “I’m not taking aim at any machine. My responsibility is to the taxpayers. My loyalty is to my community. I'll be damned if I'm going to be intimidated by threats of retribution by those who seek to inject race into politics. I faced the same threats four years ago when I backed Forrest Claypool over John Stroger for Cook County Board President and, still, I was elected this year with a 75% majority for Worth Township Democratic Committeeman. The office of Cook County Assessor is an economic office and who we elect should not be based on racial or party politics. Joe Berrios is not a bad person but I am supporting Forrest Claypool because he has a strong record of standing up for the taxpayer. I also know many working and middle class Hispanics and African Americans who are also supporting Forrest Claypool for the same reason."



This is politics at its best. John O’Sullivan is meeting his obligation to the voters and to man he believes will best serve the home owners and tax payers of Cook County.



That is a solid answer from a very solid man.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

"Autumn" - A Poem by Percy Dovetonsils -Poet Laureate





In a few brief years in the 1950s there were actually a number of different Ernie Kovacs shows. The first, Ernie in Kovaksland, originated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and appeared on NBC from July until August 195 1. The Ernie Kovacs Show (first known as Kovacs Unlimited) was programmed on CBS from December 1952 to April 1953 opposite Milton Berle on NBC. Yet another Ernie Kovacs Show aired on NBC from December 195 5 to September 1956. The existence of these separate shows is testament to both the success and failure of Ernie Kovacs. A brilliant and innovative entertainer, he was a failure as a popular program host; praised by critics, he was avoided by viewers.

Kovacs was one of the first entertainers to understand and utilize the television as a true "medium," capable of being conceived and applied in a variety of ways. He recognized the potential of live electronic visual technology and manipulated its peculiar qualities to become a master of the sight gag. Characters in pictures on the walls moved; sculptures undulated; pilots flew away without their planes. For one gag that lasted only a few seconds he spent $12,000: when a salesman (played by Kovacs) slapped the fender of a used car, the car fell though a platform. According to Kovacs, 'Eighty percent of what I do is in the category of sight gags, no pantomime. I work on the incongruity of sight against sound."

Television was a new toy to Ernie Kovacs, a fascinating array of potential special effects. He created an invisible girlfriend who gradually disappeared as she undressed. He cut a girl in half with a hoola-hoop. As another young lady relaxed in a bath tub, a succession of characters climbed out through the soap bubbles. Ernie taped an orange juice can to a kaleidoscope, placed the can in front of a camera lens, turned a flashlight into the lens and created what might be the first psychedelic effect on TV. Kovacs loved the unusual, the unexpected. He tilted both the television camera and a table so that as a character seated at the table attempted to pour milk, the milk appeared to defy gravity and flow to the side.

Many of Kovacs' effects were remarkably simple. He used his face to illustrate the effects of the horizontal and vertical controls of a television set. As he adjusted the vertical, his face grew longer; as he adjusted the horizontal, it stretched side to side. To aid viewers who had black-and white television sets, Kovacs labeled each piece of furniture on the set so viewers would know its color. As he opened a book, sound effects illustrated the plot. As he prepared to saw in half a woman inside a cabinet, two voices were heard from within. Many of his characters were also simplistic. Percy Dovetonsils drank martinis and read poetry. The three apes of the Nairobi Trio never spoke: one played the keyboard, one directed the music, and the third hit the director with a set of drumsticks. Eugene, perhaps Kovacs' most memorable character, never spoke, but managed to sustain a thirty-minute program and win Kovacs an Emmy.

He did not neglect sound, but used it in its proper place, as a compliment to the visuals. He captured the sound of a bullet rolling inside a tuba. He used music to accompany the movements of office furniture: filing cabinets opened and closed, typewriter keys typed, telephone dials rotated, water bottles gurgled, all to the rhythm of music

The influence of the Ernie Kovacs shows-has been extensive. Dan Rowan, one of the hosts of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In said many of that show's ideas came from Ernie Kovacs. On Saturday Night Live, another show directly influenced by the earlier comic, sight gags were so much a staple that when Chevy Chase received an Emmy for his performance on SNL, he thanked Kovacs. And Kovacs' character "The Question Man," who supplied questions to answers submitted by the audience, reappeared as "Carnac" on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The Ernie Kovacs shows were products of the time when television was in its infancy and experimentation was acceptable. It is doubtful that Ernie Kovacs would find a place on television today. He was too zany, too unrestrained, too undisciplined. Perhaps Jack Gould of The New York Times said it best for Ernie Kovacs, "the fun was in trying."

--Lindsy E. Pack

Rahm to Announce Via Website- "The Guy Thinks He's Me!"




Preston Sturges would have a field day the Rahm Emanuel plan to announce his run for Mayor by way of satalite TV and web-cast.

The Guy kills ME He thinks he's Me!

Friday, October 01, 2010

Chicago Attorney and Journalist Tamara Holder Out-Sneeds the Media On Rahm Emanuel



Tamara Holder out-Sneeds the Chicago Media! Get this -

The one person who has remained tight-lipped about his possible run for mayor is White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. During the past three weeks, he has allowed the mere speculation to make front page news.

Why?

According to my source, it has to do with that one guy who just won’t go away: Rod Blagojevich.

Emanuel needs certainty that the Blagojevich re-trial will not put a wrinkle in his campaign. We know Emanuel was sent by Obama to convey one message to Governor Blagojevich: appoint Valerie Jarrett to my soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat. We also know that Emanuel was an alleged victim in a totally separate criminal charge against Blagojevich who allegedly attempted to extort Emanuel when he was a congressman. According to the complaint:

It was further part of the scheme that, in response to inquiries by a high-ranking state official as to whether the grant money could be released, defendant ROD BLAGOJEVICH informed the official that ROD BLAGOJEVICH wanted it communicated to United States Congressman A that United States Congressman A’s brother needed to have a fundraiser for ROD BLAGOJEVICH.


It was further part of the scheme that defendant ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Lobbyist A that ROD BLAGOJEVICH was giving a $2 million grant to a school in United States Congressman A’s district and instructed Lobbyist A to approach United States Congressman A for a fundraiser.

The problem is that Emanuel was a key witness for the prosecution but was never called in the first trial. Now, because the jury was hung on both the attempted sale of Obama’s Senate seat and the attempted extortion counts, Emanuel’s testimony is required if the prosecution doesn’t want to lose the case again.

Read more: Click Me Post



Two of my favorite Beautiful People are Chicago Tribune's John Kass and Chicago True-Believer Liberal Lawyer and Journalist Tamara Holder.

I have been a pain in the rump to each of these lovely people, because I am pain-in-the-rump with heart made of 100% pure Columbian Coco, mixed with only the richest of cream by delicate and toothsome Swiss Maidens who look like the St, Pauli Beer Girl.

True. John Kass caught the receiving end of my sophomoric barbs with regard to is public lashing of George Ryan and several 19th Ward gents, who I know to be superb human beings. Better people than I would say, 'Well, good people can agree to disagree.' To which I would cock an eyebrow and rejoin, " Is that right,Cupcake?"

I have the training and inclination to stick by friends or people that for whatever reason are unable to fight back.

Tamara Holder was maltreated by my acid tongue, when I attempted to give Chicago Police Officers the benefit of the doubt when they were tasked with clearing drug houses at the Horner Homes, a few years ago. Ms. Holder gave me a tune-up that the Media Mythic Midnight Crew might envy.

John Kass is a Helot Solon - a wise man of the Polis Chicago, who cuts through the treacle-nonsense that accompanies prosings of most columnist, right through to the meat and muscle of the heart of the story.

Tamara Holder has a mind like a Swiss Watch, the tenacity of a Homicide Dick, and the soul of a Poor Clare. Tamara is a Fox News Legal Analyst and columnist for The Daily Caller and . . .sad to say The Huffington Post - the Hollywood Squares of Journalism.

Tamara and John tangled on FOX a couple of months ago during the Blago Trial. They will again.

I am blessed to know these fine folks.

Densey Cole Benefit this Sunday at Bourbon Street


Mount Greenwood's Chicago Firefighter Citizen, Jim McMahon reminds all of us to lend a hand and land some dollars for Chicago Police Officer Densey Cole, this Sunday. See you there!

On May 27, 2009, Chicago Police Officer Densey Cole II was responding to a burglary in progress call in the 022nd District. While en route, Officer Cole’s vehicle was struck by another vehicle that had crossed over the median. Officer Cole’s head slammed against the roof of the SUV and that impact broke his neck. Shortly after the accident while he was still unconscious, two offenders entered his marked police vehicle, moved him, and removed his sidearm and wallet. This movement exacerbated Cole’s injuries. An offender was subsequently arrested and charged with disarming a police officer and robbery. Officer Cole was diagnosed a quadriplegic and is currently rehabbing in the Chicago area.

Densey Cole’s friends and family will be hosting a benefit to assist with the overburdening cost of medical bills, rehabilitation and necessary home renovation to accommodate his life as a quadriplegic and are asking for your help.

Standing Up With Densey
115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park, IL
Sunday - October 3, 2010
2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Tickets $25.00

Food, Drink, Raffles, Silent Auction, Live Music

As part of the event we plan to hold a silent auction & raffles and were hopeful you could make a donation: we are asking for any type of merchandise, electronics, gift cards, tickets, services, etc…Any donation you make can be picked up by a committee member.

Monetary Donations can also be made via this website or at Archer Bank 3435 W. 111th Street Chicago, IL 60655 or see www.archerbank.com for your nearest location. Please make checks payable to Densey Cole Benefit.

You may fill out the auction Donation sheet by clicking here, download and print. Return it with your donation or send us an email at DenseyBenefit@Gmail.com or ColeBenefit@Gmail.com for immediate response to questions and/or item pickup.

http://denseycole.com
Posted by Jim McMahon at 6:59 PM