Monday, March 21, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Eyeless on Gaza - Israel Mills it Alone. God Help Us.
. . .Promise was that ISamson Agonistes ll.39-52 John Milton (1608–1674).
Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver!
Ask for this great Deliverer now, and find him
Eyeless in Gaza, at the mill with slaves,
Himself in bonds under Philistian yoke.
Yet stay; let me not rashly call in doubt
Divine prediction. What if all foretold
Had been fulfilled but through mine own default?
Whom have I to complain of but myself,
Who this high gift of strength committed to me,
In what part lodged, how easily bereft me,
Under the seal of silence could not keep,
But weakly to a woman must reveal it,
O’ercome with importunity and tears?
O impotence of mind in body strong!
All eyes are on Libya - for now. All eyes were on Tunisia, Eygpt and other Iranian backed satrapies in the womb. All eyes are on the gas pumps. All eyes are on Charlie Sheen, Michael Moore and the race to the Final Four. Soon all eyes on Rio.
Israel is being shelled from Gaza - again.
Civilian areas in southern Israel were heavily shelled by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza on Saturday morning, when more than 50 mortars were fired at the regional councils of Sha'ar Hanegev, Eshkol and Sdot Hanegev.
There is a push to force the new government in Eygpt to further lift the blockade of weapons to Gaza. The hand-wringers and do-gooders call that humanitarian aid.
I read. I read the news. I read the New York Times and posts from NPR, as well as foreign press. I also read literature. John Milton is one of those Dead White Men that Noam Chomsky and other fashionable academic nut-bags have managed to purge from textbooks. Milton is tough. He was tough in Cromwell's time and he is tough to read now. Toughness is endurance.
Israel is tough. By south side Chicago standards, toughness is measured by how much one can endure. Like Samson in Milton's epic poem Samson Agonistes ( Agonsistes is Greek for 'struggle,' or even 'athleticism'), Israel is a flawed hero.
Milton, according to the dictates of epic form - begins his poem In Medias Res - in middle of the action.
Samson has been blinded and forced to push a mill stone and grind for his enemies - this hero wonders if his sins have brought him to this low work, when he was to be the source of liberation for his people. Israel is not blinded but it mills for civilization,surrounded by enemies and worse -feckless allies.
Samson fights despair. Samson fulfills the will of God, in a manner unforeseen. That's how God rolls.
Israel fights annihilation, while the world goes dark.
Milton was no Noam Chomsky. Milton understood God's will. Milton endures. Israel endures. Let's see if the rest of us get our sight back.
Friday, March 18, 2011
In The Long View of Things - Post St. Paddy's and Other Things
NEW SOUTH WALES
cho: Here we are in New South Wales Shearing sheep as big as whales, with Leather necks and jaggy tails And hides as tough as rusty nails.When shearing comes, lay down your drumsStep to the boards you brand-new chumsWith the rattum-rattum-rub-a-dub-dubWe'll send you back on the lime juice tub.The brand new chums and cappy sonsFancy they're the greatest guns.Fancy they can shear the woolBut the beggars can only tear and pull.[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/l/lloyd-lyrics/new-south-wales-lyrics.html]Though you live beyond your meansYour daughters wear no crinolines;Nor are they bothered by boots or shoesBut live wild in the bush with the kangaroos.Oh it's home I'd like to beFar from the bush and back countrySixteen thousand miles I've comeTo spend my life as a shearing bum.
Well, if you've got a wing-o,
Take her up to Ring-o
Where the waxies sing-o all the day;
If you've had your fill of porter, And you can't go any further
Give your man the order: "Back to the Quay!"
And take her up to Monto, Monto, Monto
Take her up to Monto, lan-ge- roo,
To you!
Have you heard of Buckshot Forster,
The dirty old impostor
Took a mot and lost her, up the Furry Glen.
He first put on his bowler
And buttoned up his trousers,
Then whistled for a growler and he said, "My man!"
Take me up to Monto, Monto, Monto
Take me up to Monto, lan-ge- roo,
To you!
You've seen the Dublin Fusiliers,
The dirty old bamboozeleers,
De Wet'll kill them chiselers, one, two, three.
Marching from the Linen Hall
There's one for every cannonball,
And Vicky's going to send them all, o'er the sea.
But first go up to Monto, Monto, Monto
March them up to Monto, lan-ge- roo,
To you!
When Carey told on Skin-the-goat,
O'Donnell caught him on the boat
He wished he'd never been afloat, the dirty skite.
It wasn't very sensible
To tell on the Invincibles
They stand up for their principles, day and night.
And you'll find them all in Monto, Monto, Monto
Standing up in Monto, lan-ge- roo,
To you!
Now when the Tsar of Russia
And the King of Prussia
Landed in the Phoenix in a big balloon,
They asked the police band
To play "The Wearin' of the Green"
But the buggers from the depot didn't know the tune.
So they both went up to Monto, Monto, Monto
Scarpered up to Monto, lan-ge- roo,
To you!
The Queen she came to call on us,
She wanted to see all of us
I'm glad she didn't fall on us, she's eighteen stone.
"Mister Me Lord Mayor," says she,
"Is this all you've got to show me?"
"Why, no ma'am there's some more to see, Póg mo thóin!"
And he took her up Monto, Monto, Monto
He set her up in Monto, lan-ge- roo,
For you!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Jim Tyree - A Shining Star
James C. Tyree, chairman and CEO of Mesirow Financial and the chairman of Sun-Times Media, died Wednesday afternoon after battling cancer for several months. He was 53.
So much more . . .
God Welcome Jim Tyree!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Leo High School and God's Works - How He Goes About It? Get A Load of a Platypus
The bizarre appearance of this egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, with some considering it an elaborate fraud. It is one of the few venomous mammals; the male platypus has a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans. The unique features of the platypus make it an important subject in the study of evolutionary biology and a recognisable and iconic symbol of Australia; it has appeared as a mascot at national events and is featured on the reverse of the Australian 20 cent coin. The platypus is the animal emblem of the state of New South Wales.Platypus -Wikipedia
Until the early 20th century it was hunted for its fur, but it is now protected throughout its range. Although captive breeding programmes have had only limited success and the platypus is vulnerable to the effects of pollution, it is not under any immediate threat
Lord Have Mercy! There be some strange things.
We had an Advisory Board sub-Committee meeting here at Leo High School last night. The seven Leo Alumni and Principal Phil Mesina and I, talked for hours about recent college admissions of Leo seniors to Marquette, University of Illinois,Valparaiso, Ripon, Iowa, De Paul and twenty other great schools, the testing of the largest incoming freshmen class including white and Hispanic students, new patrons, and engaging the great Leo Latz - the absolute best friend maker and institutional advancement wizard in America.
As Al Swearingen, CEO and President of Gem Saloon and Cat House in Deadwood remarked, "announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh." We are not tipping our hands at all. God has plans for Leo High School that reach back to Chicago's greatest Archbishop - Cardinal Mundelein. That far-sighted German-American ordered that a Catholic high school for boys be established at 79th & Sangamon. It is and it is here to stay.
God works 24/7. I work because I enjoy it. What I accomplish often looks like the dog's dinner, or has an emetic effect on many people. Trying does not get it done and you do not get atta-boys for doing your job.
Thanks to the great Bob Foster and the wildly great hearted Leo Alumni, Leo survived the wrecking ball of Hennighan Demolition that took down the Irish Christian Brother Monastery on the west side of Sangamon Street. Leo became the fortress for success to African American young men like Lt. Mario Bullock, USA ( West Point Grad), Lonnie Newman, head pipe-fitter at O'Hare Airport, Jelani Clay, rocket scientist, and hundreds of others. Leo High School held its ground.
Now, Leo High School is bolting out of the blocks and down a bright path behind President Dan McGrath. I love the work!
God's plans are worked out somehow by the fat fingers of mopes like me following the vision, authority and concern of many people aiming at the same goal. We will see this work through according to God's Will.
God's Will includes many strange sights along the bright path to His Kingdom. Get a load of the platypus - it is there for a reason, beyond eating crayfish, worms and other Australian goodies.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Go Israel -Hamas Gaza Bound Terror Tug Taken!
Chicago sneak Kevin Clark who gets naive kids killed and arrested, while he megaphones for Hamas with ISM has bamboozled the lazy media over Israel's heroic defense of itself.
Here is why Israel maintains its strict vigilance - bad people* still want to murder Jews**.
(IPT)- Israeli commandos intercepted a ship loaded with tons of Iranian-supplied weapons that was destined for Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, reports indicate.
The elite Naval Commando 13 unit, the Shayetet, boarded the Liberian-flagged ship Victoria 200 miles off Israel’s coast in the Mediterranean Sea Tuesday. Its last port of call was in Turkey.
Haaretz reports that the cargo started in Syria, stopped in Turkey and was to arrive in Egypt’s El-Arish port. From there, it would be sent by land into Gaza. Crew members apparently were unaware of the nature of their cargo, and an Israeli military official said Turkey was not responsible “in any aspect.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to release more details about the shipment in the next day. He gave the order to board the ship based on what the Jerusalem Post called “firm intelligence” it carried Iranian arms headed to Gaza.
“The attempt to smuggle weapons into Gaza shows that there are radical forces who continue to try and harm Israel and undermine stability in the region,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.
*
Gaza residents from the southern city of Rafah hit the streets Saturday to celebrate the terror attack in the West Bank settlement of Itamar where five family members were murdered in their sleep, including three children.Gee, and academic dim-bulbs and elected racists can not fathom the idea of Congressman Peter King's inquiry into Islamist Teror and their pals.
Residents handed out candy and sweets, one resident saying the joy "is a natural response to the harm settlers inflict on the Palestinian residents in the West Bank."
**
On Friday night, twelve-year old Tamar Fogel came home to find both her parents, Ruth and Udi Fogel, two brothers Yoav (11) and Elad (four), and her three-month old sister Hadas murdered in their beds. They had had their throats cut and been stabbed through the heart.
That’s not shocking: There is no shortage of young Muslim men who would enjoy slitting the throat of a three-month old baby, and then head home dreaming of the town square or soccer tournament to be named in their honor.
Back in Gaza, the citizenry celebrated the news by cheering and passing out sweets.
That’s not shocking, either: In the broader Palestinian death cult, there are untold legions who, while disinclined to murder Jews themselves, are content to revel in the glorious victory of others
Why Ellen Degeneres is no Oprah . . .Well, who is?
Oprah never did anything for me. That troubles me. Ellen Degeneres does even less. That troubles me not.
Click my post title for a palate cleansing dose of Keeley Smith.
Education is About Vision, Authority and Concern - And Then There is the Department of Education.
On May 9th 1852 in Baltimore, the Pope appointed Apostolic Delegate Archbishop Kenrick who opened the First of Three American Plenary Councils that included six archbishops thirty five suffragan bishops, provincial heads of the religious orders and other prelates.
Twenty Five decrees were issued one of which - the establishment of Catholic schools in each parish to be overseen by the pastor.
Decree 13.Bishops are exhorted to have a Catholic school in every parish and the teachers should be paid from the parochial funds.Subsequently,
Title ix, Of the Education of Youth.-(i) Of parish schools. Teachers belonging to religious congregations should be employed when possible in our schools. The latter should be erected in every parish. For children who attend the public schools, catechism classes should be instituted in the churches. (ii) Industrial schools or reformatories should be founded, especially in large cities. (iii) A desire is expressed to have a Catholic university in the United States.
And finally,
Title vi, Of the Education of Catholic Youth, treats of (i) Catholic schools, especially parochial, viz., of their absolute necessity and the obligation of pastors to establish them. Parents must send their children to such schools unless the bishop should judge the reason for sending them elsewhere to be sufficient. Ways and means are also considered for making the parochial schools more efficient. It is desirable that these schools be free. (ii) Every effort must be made to have suitable schools of higher education for Catholic youth.
Vision, Authority and Concern were the three legs of the Catholic model that has become the foundation for morphing of public schools - Charter Schools are Catholic Schools without God of course.
Education requires Vision - A view of a systematic approach to teaching the acquired mastery of shared knowledge and wisdom needed; Authority - the dissemination of thought, method and purpose should lie in the care of a master teacher who connects to a higher authority; Concern - an operational organization and oversight that recognizes the shared Vision and Authority.
Then we have the United States Department of Education - “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively; or to the people.”
,
established in 1977, because . . . ?
Where there is no vision, the people perishProverbs 29:18 . . .however, that maxim, or aphorism, or dare I say it proverb is not allowed in public education.
Money is all that is needed by the Department of Education.
Catholic schools flourished in America, because of Vision, Authority, and Concern. The Authority thing is always a sticking point for the John Dewey - "Well, Who's to Say" crowd. "Who's to say that teaching X-Men is not more likely to stop bullying of 'questioning adolescents, than offering Henry V? Besides, Mr. Navel has never read Henry V, or anything by that misogynist Hemingway." The Baltimore Councils banned books that were 'considered' bad for Catholic school kids - bad because they lured innocent, ignorant and independent little minds away from the Vision. That takes Care, or Concern.
Secretary Duncan leads a Federal Department that seems to be lacking vision. Secretary Duncan demonstrates a solid lack of authority in the piece above and who Cares?
Education in American needs radical transformation - witness the recent nonsense at one of America's most prestigious schools -Northwestern. American essayist and retired Northwestern professor Joseph Epstein writes in The Weekly Standard
That so many of the faculty at Northwestern had no qualms about her proselytizing students is noteworthy. But then there is always faculty ready to back up the most egregious behavior of colleagues. In the case of J. Michael Bailey, the Chronicle of Higher Education chimed in with an article by an assistant professor of sociology at Middlebury College named Laurie Essig, who finds the Northwestern sex scandal, as we now say, a great learning moment. Professor Essig is of the view that shaking things up, attacking the status quo, is of the very essence of education, what the whole enterprise is really about.
“Clearly,” Essig writes, “this ‘live sex act’ triggered a national conversation about what we can and cannot look at.” She goes on to ask “what is it about the fact that there were people there on the stage that makes it different than a film with a sex scene or a book with a sex scene? . . . Why are we so damn uncomfortable with sex that is not mediated by film or text that ABC, CNN, and all the rest of the media outlets can’t stop talking about it?” Essig even wonders if “the live sex act had occurred between a straight, vanilla, normatively gendered and married couple, would we have cared as much?” She concludes: “These all seem like important questions and questions that can be asked because a professor allowed something to happen in his classroom and triggered a national debate about the dangers
of sex and education getting into bed together.”
Professor Essig joins Professor Bailey as one of the university’s shock troops. A student I talked with, who had earlier taken Bailey’s human sexuality course and who did not otherwise speak harshly of him, noted that he seemed more than normally pleased to shock his audience of students. Does Professor Bailey, one has to wonder, thrill to his own acts of épater les bourgeois? Does he, so to say, get off in his combined role as Pied Piper, Krafft-Ebing, and the Diaghilev of the kinky?
Where is the Vision? Where the Authority? Sex toys for a liberal education and grounding in the shared wisdom of ages;teachers of English who can not spell Chaucer, Shakespeare, or Emily Dickinson have become the common feature and money is the only answer. Concern? Who Cares?
Many do.
Like this skilled tradesman who responded to Illinois SEIU's Progress Illinois warning about School Choice 'bubbling up' again in Springfield, Illinois with a voucher legislation proposal,
Vouchers offer a way out of the expanding cost of education in the state of Illinois.
Give every kid a voucher for use at the choice of their parents. Public, private, it should make no difference.
If public school are superior they will overwhelm the private schools. If Private school are superior they will overwhelm the public schools.
Labor unions can organize and represent teachers at whatever school they labor at. Unions fear private school because they're afraid they can't organize them and they don't want to extend the effort to organizing.
Free choices should be available to the citizens of the state of Illinois.
Bob Kastigar
IBEW Local 1220
http://www.progressillinois.com/posts/content/2011/03/14/vouchers-bubble-again-springfield
Monday, March 14, 2011
War in Wisconsin - Only in Michael Moore's Head
"This is so not the end," Wisconsin School Teacher:
Protests have rocked the Capitol almost every day since Gov. Scott Walker proposed taking nearly all collective bargaining rights away from public workers, but the largest came a day after the governor signed the measure into law. Madison Police estimated the crowd at 85,000 to 100,000 people – along with 50 tractors and one donkey – by late afternoon. No one was arrested.HuffPo ( click my post title)
I was there. I was in Wiconsin. I was on the streets . . .and in the diners, the bakeries, The Glarner Stube in New Glarus (Geschnetzelets "Stube Style" - Tender veal slices sauteed with white wine, cream and mushrooms), Baumgartner's in Monroe ( Klaberwurst and sauerkraut with a slice of Limburger and draft root beer), Chalet Landhaus ( Roesti and eggs), 10:30 AM Mass at St. Pat's in Hollandale, the BP in Argyle, and coffee and at the MM diner in Monticello (This Dude can Activist!) - the mood was . . .palpable, tasty, friendly, and Walker favorable.
On Saturday, a reported 85,000 to 100,000 protesters convened in Madison for the MSNBC rallies in solidarity with the public salaried union members, Michael Moore, Martin Sheen, Big Ed Schultz, Rev. Pops Jackson and the many, many talented drum and bongo players of the youth generations of all ages.
About thirty minutes south on Rt. 39, the rolling hills of Wisconsin were less congested and quiet.
I arrived in New Glarus on Friday night. In the Chalet Landhaus, packed with the Guernsey Breeders Convention, there was some atmosphere. There was concern. There was anticipation. What would happen were numbers of Holstein Breeders to enter the Landhaus bar room and bump bellies with the Guernsey crowd? " Brown and White - You Gotta fight! Black and White -I know I'm Right!" Bloodshed? I asked that very question of the Swiss Miss attending the counter. " Oh, they get along just fine," she assured me. I asked about the controversy in Madison. " Oh, that should be settled soon. Are you goin there?"
No Ma'am.
Instead, I infused stimulus money into the troubled Wisconsin economy. I wandered the home of Swiss settlers and took in the frosty but inviting air of Wilkommen.
The only Fighting Bob La Follette rhetoric that I heard in Wisconsin between Friday and Sunday afternoon came from a bald priest from Notre Dame University in civies, who wasaddressed as 'Father So-abd So' by his lay person table makes in the Glarner Stube, as Father tore into a giant sized cut of prime rib of beef with a skillet side of Roesti ( a Swiss potato/Swiss Cheese version of has browns that is artery clogging goodness itself - I opted for the creamy roasted mashed potatoes - silked by cream and Swiss Cheese). The shiny headed Curé of Ars opined to one and all - "This is Class War! Koch brothers and the same George Bush nonsense all over. Walker's a dead man. Try the klaberwurst it is made next door."
Yes, it is. Sign me up 24/7.
Welcome to the Village of New Glarus ~ America's "Little Switzerland"!
New Glarus was established as a Swiss Colony in 1845 and incorporated as a Village in 1901. The Village has retained its Swiss charm with Alpine-style architecture, ethnic festivals and Swiss delicacies. The Village is located in beautiful Green County in southwestern Wisconsin. We are just 28 miles south of Madison and 17 miles north of Monroe on State Highway 69.
Monroe is a community of 10,000 people located in Green County's rich cheese producing area of southern Wisconsin. It can be reached within an hour's drive from I-90 by exiting at either Beloit or Janesville; a 30-minute drive from Freeport, IL, by traveling Highway 26 and 69 North; less than an hour from Madison by taking Highway 69 South; and a pleasant 60-minute drive from Dubuque, IA, on Highway 11. Once you are here, the Swiss-style front on the downtown square marks your destination.
Baumgartners
1023 16th Avenue
Monroe, WI 53566-1764
(608) 325-6157
Friday, March 11, 2011
Myles Standish O'Grady - Twice Blessed
Leo Advisory Board member John Linehan ( Leo '77) sent word that a pal of his from St. Justin Martyr Parish and Quigley South ( '77) Mr. Myles Standish O'Grady, a career counsellor for the State of Michigan, informed John of his brilliant streak of south side Irish Luck!
"Johnny! Last Wednesday I hit the Mega Millions for $ 118 million buckos - after taxes!!!! The next day I met my soul mate. John Meet Mrs. Myles Standish O'Grady! Unbelievable! How's the Leo Man doing? Check it out, Johnny!Thank you, God!"
Thank God indeed. Best wishes to Mr. & Mrs. O'Grady.
A small prayer in celebration of sweet Mrs. O'Grady:
"Armani, which art in Harrods, hallowed be thy Gucci.
Thy Cartier watch, thy Prada bag, on Rodeo, as it is in Tiffany's.
Give us this day our Gold MasterCard and forgive us our overdraft as we forgive those who decline our Visacard, lead us not into Top Shop and deliver us from Primark. Sothlice!" Tradition Anglo-Saxon Incantation
Oak Lawn VFW Benefit for an American Hero -Cpl. Yuriy Zmysly USMC
Iraq - 2005
Yuriy Zmysly was born in the Ukraine, and came to this country as a teenager. He loved America and proudly enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps to fight for his new country. He bravely served two tours of duty, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. During a routine appendectomy in a military hospital, an incompetent butcher cut off the oxygen supply to Yuriy's brain, leaving him brain damaged, paralyzed and partially blind. Because of the Feres Doctrine, he and his wife Aimee cannot sue for medical malpractice, and receive no government support to pay for his astronomical living expenses. How's that for taking care of our soldiers?Huge hat tip to Chicago Firefighter Hero - Jim McMahon
Even though our government has turned their back on this patriot, that doesn't mean that we should too. I believe we owe him at least that much. http://blogs.suntimes.com/konkol/2010/05/us_supreme_court_shows_no_love.html
Please help support this fine young man by forwarding this email to everyone in your address book and help make this Oak Lawn mans fundraiser a huge success this coming weekend.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Question to The Tribune Death Penalty Editorial Authors
I have a question to follow your heart-tugging editorial on the abolition of the death penalty -Editorial: No government can sanction an instrument of justice that takes risks with the lives of innocent people.
How does that square with Roe V. Wade?
Update and message from Max Weismann of the Center for the Study of Great Ideas:
Dear Pat,
Trouble is, for some strange reason, a vast amount of people do not consider humans residing in a womb, to be people.
1) The commonsense view is that human life (personhood) begins at the beginning -- inception/conception (successful fertilization).
2) Unique potentialities distinguish human life from all other (known) life forms.
3) These potentialities are innate. They are not acquired at any point or stage during the development or actualization process. The nucleus has everything it will ever have. In this sense, nothing new is acquired. For example, the incipient organism has the potential to think, see and play tennis long before it has a brain, eyes, arms and legs (or even a racket). These potentialities differ in capacity from individual to individual, and become actualized (or do not) in varying degrees and time frames until death.
You may post this, if you wish,
Max
Stalkin' Union Dues Blues
MSNBC's Face of Labor.
"Some may find them [songs] merely diverting melodies. Others may find them incitements to Red revolution. And who will say if either or both is wrong? Not I." - Pete Seeger, banjo/12 string guitar/vocals CPUSA
Here's Ol' Pete
and acontemprary Young 'un
Ol' Commie (sorta"drifted away") Pete Seeger* had a song called Talkin' Union
TALKING UNION
If you want higher wages, let me tell you what to do;
You got to talk to the workers in the shop with you;
You got to build you a union, got to make it strong,
But if you all stick together, now, ‘twont he long.
You'll get shorter hours,
Better working conditions.
Vacations with pay,
Take your kids to the seashore.
It ain’t quite this simple, so I better explain
Just why you got to ride on the union train;
‘Cause if you wait for the boss to raise your pay,
We’ll all be waiting till Judgment Day;
We’ll all he buried - gone to Heaven -
Saint Peter’ll be the straw boss then.
Now, you know you’re underpaid, hut the boss says you ain’t;
He speeds up the work till you’re ‘bout to faint,
You may he down and out, but you ain’t beaten,
Pass out a leaflet and call a meetin’
Talk it over - speak your mind -
Decide to do something about it.
‘Course, the boss may persuade some poor damn fool
To go to your meeting and act like a stool;
But you can always tell a stool, though - that’s a fact;
He’s got a yellow streak running down his back;
He doesn’t have to stool - he'll always make a good living
On what he takes out of blind men’s cups.
You got a union now; you’re sitting pretty;
Put some of the boys on the steering committee.
The boss won’t listen when one man squawks.
But he’s got to listen when the union talks.
He better -
He’ll be mighty lonely one of these days.
Suppose they’re working you so hard it’s just outrageous,
They’re paying you all starvation wages;
You go to the boss, and the boss would yell,
"Before I'd raise your pay I’d see you all in Hell."
Well, he’s puffing a big see-gar and feeling mighty slick,
He thinks he’s got your union licked.
He looks out the window, and what does he see
But a thousand pickets, and they all agree
He’s a bastard - unfair - slave driver -
Bet he beats his own wife.
Now, boy, you’ve come to the hardest time;
The boss will try to bust your picket line.
He’ll call out the police, the National Guard;
They’ll tell you it’s a crime to have a union card.
They’ll raid your meeting, hit you on the head.
Call every one of you a goddamn Red -
Unpatriotic - Moscow agents -
Bomb throwers, even the kids.
But out in Detroit here’s what they found,
And out in Frisco here’s what they found,
And out in Pittsburgh here’s what they found,
And down in Bethlehem here’s what they found,
That if you don’t let Red-baiting break you up,
If you don’t let stool pigeons break you up,
If you don’t let vigilantes break you up,
And if you don’t let race hatred break you up -
You’ll win. What I mean,
Take it easy - but take it!
'Problem is Old Pete was howling to actual workers about bein' workers, back in the day. Commies were and are dead set against a middle class and that is what American labor built along with a standard of living that was the envy of the free world.
Along abouts the 1960's, lefties gulled Mayor Wagner of New York into padding the tax-rolls and public service employees became the rage. Civil Service was not near enough - a worker needed to qualify for a position.
Private sector union membership declines through the 70's, 89's, and 90's and public sector labor swells with members and dues paid to SEIU and AFSCME and salaries paid through taxes of real labor - carpenters, sheet-metal workers, coal miners, auto workers, pipe fitters, &etc. Pete's team won the battle. Taxes shrunk the American Middle Class and bankrupted local and state economies.
Thus, the war in Wisconsin.
Gov. Walker of Wisconsin looks to be winning the war.
The photo above is what passes for workers these days, kids, lay-abouts, MSNBC's Big Ed and Hunger Striker Michael Moore.
* In 1936, at the age of 17, Pete Seeger joined the Young Communist League (YCL), then at the height of its popularity and influence. In 1942 he became a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) itself. He eventually "drifted away" (his words) from the Party in the late 1940s and 1950s
Death Penalty Ban - It Happened and No Surprise :Same Old Same Old Solipsism.
Pat Quinn signed the death penalty ban yesterday. He was going to do it. Like Civil Unions for same sex couples the corporate media pushed for the GLBTQ Activists is cause to celebrate - The Tribune, The Sun Times, NPR, told you to celebrate no get to celebrating.
You have been told what is Justice. Celebrate.
I was used to think that the death penalty was a bad a thing. I used to argue with people much smarter than me that God did not put Cain to death after the murder of Abel,. How's that for a head scratcher? I really had 'em on the run. The very same manner solipsism appears on editorial pages, columns, and heart-tugging shout-outs on NPR. On all issues.
This is vacuum packed thought - group thought. Here is Justice, We say so; deal with it.
Solipsism comes from the Latin for Self (solus) Alone (ipse) - or in Irish Sinn Fein.
Solipsism gives the individual or the group the full reign of the universe - that is why the young love it. Begin at point A and end at point A - short journey. Mumia is innocent, Burge is a monster, Same Sex Sex is Human Right, Death Penalty is Wrong, only people who listen to NPR are smart, religion causes all of the world's woes, Catholics need to disappear with Israel, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, Michael Moore is not obese - believe it.
Ourselves alone! Yep, and that is what God left old Gramps Cain - alone after his murder of Brother Abel. Solipsism worked fine for the old vegetable grower, now that he busted a cap in the shepherd's ass. Cain begot aplenty and the fine family of man pumped out the blood of Cain's mom and pop - the apple eaters Adam and Eve.
Now, the old death penalty issue did not come on the screen until Moses trotted out the tablets with Old Number 6 - Thou Shall Not Kill Murdering a human being is a capital sin. Jews and Christians had a problem with murder.
Like I said, your humble correspondent had a problem with society putting a murderer to death, until Danny Edwards and Nancy Rish plotted for months to cold-bloodily kidnap, bury and murder Stephan Small - a wealthy Kankakee businessman. Small's neighbor Governor George Ryan was involved and so was I.
A few month before the murder, my wife Mary and I sat on a picnic table with Danny Edwards, who happened to be a cousin of the people throwing a fourth of July picnic in the Kankakee Riverside neighborhood. Danny was celebrated pot-head and loser, whose parents happened to be very nice and good people. Danny imagined himself and projected the image of a drug-kingpin. He was a snotty, simpering and obnoxious jerk. I thought two of his cousins were going to pound him into atoms. Danny departed the party to which he had brought nothing but his stoned to the bone asininities.He had an electricians card, but his real game was dope or so he proclaimed.
Mary and I had met the weasel on a few occasions. Every family seems to have one.
Kankakee is a small town and it is wonderful place to live. People look out for one another. Steve Small was the grandson of an Illinois Governor and heir to a media empire that covered Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. Kankakee had recently become headquarters for the new national tabloid - USA Today. Steve Small was in real estate.
One morning, Mary Jo Warmoth, a wonderful Math teacher at Bishop McNamara, where Mary and I taught appeared shaken to her marrow - Steve Small is missing. Mary Jo and Ray Warmoth were neighbors of Steve Small. Over the next few days the mystery of the cold-blooded and calculated murder unfolded.
Here it is in summary:
Around 12:30 a.m. on September 2, 1987, someone claiming to be a Kankakee police officer called the Small home and told Stephen Small that a burglary had occurred at the Bradly House. Small got dressed and left his home. Around 3:30 that morning someone called the Small residence and told Stephen's wife, Nancy, "We have your husband." Nancy then heard her husband say that he had been handcuffed inside a box underground. Small told his wife to obtain $1 million in cash. The caller directed Mrs. Small not to report the matter to the police. The matter was reported to the authorities, however, and devices were connected to the Smalls' telephone line to record incoming calls and to determine their origins. At 5:03 that afternoon, the same person called again, asking Mrs. Small how much money had been collected. This call was placed from a telephone located at a Phillips 66 gas station in Aroma Park. Edwards was seen there at that time, in the company of a blonde-haired woman. At 5:40 p.m., Jean Alice Small, Stephen Small's aunt, telephoned the Small residence to tell them of a call she had just received. Jean said that the caller had told her that he knew that Nancy Small's telephone was tapped. After telling Jean that the victim was buried, the caller threatened to kill Jean's husband. Nancy Small received another telephone call from the kidnapper at 11:28 that night. This call originated from a telephone at a Sunoco station in Aroma Park, where an FBI agent saw a white male at a telephone, and a blonde-haired woman in a car that was later identified as belonging to Nancy Rish, Edwards’ girlfriend; Rish had blonde hair. The caller played a tape recording of Stephen Small's voice. On the tape, Stephen provided instructions for delivering the ransom. After audio enhancement, a voice in the background could be heard threatening Small.
Tracking and Arrest of Edwards and Rish
Nancy Small received one more telephone call from the kidnapper, at 11:46 that night. The call was placed from a Marathon service station in Kankakee. The caller accused Nancy of having notified the police and refused her offer of the ransom. Minutes later, at 11:50 p.m., an Illinois state police officer saw Rish's car, with its trunk partly open, driving from Kankakee toward Aroma Park. Law enforcement officers then placed Edwards’ home under surveillance. They saw a dark-colored Buick, with its trunk partly open, arrive at the house in Bourbonnais where Edwards and Rish lived. Edwards and a white woman with blonde hair left the car and went inside. Officers carried out a search of the residence later that morning, on September 3, Rish and Edwards were arrested at that time. Later that day, Edwards led law enforcement officers to the site where the victim was buried. There, officers dug up a wooden box and found the victim's body inside. The box measured about six feet long and three feet wide, and was constructed of plywood. It contained a light connected to an automobile battery, a one gallon jug of water, candy bars, gum, and a flashlight. A medical examiner later determined that the victim died of asphyxiation caused by suffocation. The medical examiner believed that the victim would not have survived more than three or four hours inside the enclosed box. The medical examiner noted that the pipe extending from the box into the open air was too long for its diameter to serve as an adequate air-exchange system.
Edwards Trial
The State presented other evidence connecting Edwards to these offenses. On the night of the victim's disappearance, around midnight, a neighbor of Edwards heard Edwards say, "Let's go, let's hit it," get into his car, and drive off. Also, two neighbors of the Small family saw Edwards’ van, or one similar to it, parked in their neighborhood after midnight on September 2. One neighbor also noticed a mid-sized car at that time, heard two car doors slam, and saw the car and Edwards’ van drive away with their lights off. Several witnesses saw Edwards constructing a wooden box in his garage during summer 1987, preceding the offenses here. Edwards gave various explanations for the project, saying that it would be used for a lemonade stand, or by his brother for transporting things, or at his brother's pool in Florida. A neighbor of the Smalls had seen a white van similar to Edwards’ van driving through an alley next to the Small's home about 10 times that summer. While Edwards and Rish were visiting a boat store that summer, Edwards saw Stephen Small leaving the store in a sports car; Edwards was heard to say, "Boy, it sure would be nice to afford stuff like that." The search of Edwards's residence at the time of his arrest turned up a Kankakee telephone book with the name "Small" circled. Edwards' boots were found behind a washer and dryer at the residence, and soil on the boots matched a sample from the location where the box was buried. Soil in Edwards’ van also matched the sample. White caulking material on gloves found in Edwards’ trash had the same chemical composition as the caulking material used to fill in the seams of the wooden box in which the victim had been buried. Edwards' fingerprints were found on PVC pipe and duct tape recovered from the box. A person who owed Edwards money had had a pair of handcuffs stolen from him, and the same pair was later discovered on the victim. Another person who owed Edwards money had had a gun stolen, and it was found by investigators in the countryside near Aroma Park. Edwards purchased a battery that was found in the wooden box. Bolt cutters belonging to a company owned by Edwards’ brother were found at a point between where the box was uncovered and where the victim's car was found, and they could have been the implement used to cut the chain connecting the handcuffs on the victim's wrists.
Edwards Sentence
At the close of evidence, the jury found Edwards guilty of first degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. A capital sentencing hearing was then conducted. At the first stage of the hearing, the jury found Edwards eligible for the death penalty because of his commission of murder during the course of another felony, aggravated kidnapping. [2]
Nancy Rish
On September 2, 1987, during the kidnapping and murder of Kankakee business man Stephen B. Small, the investigation focused on Danny Edwards and Nancy Rish, who lived together in a townhouse in Bourbonnais. On September 4, a search warrant was executed for the townhouse. That evening, Edwards led the police to a rural area where Small's body was recovered. It appeared that Small had been placed in a wooden box which had been fitted with a PVC pipe designed to give him air for 24 to 48 hours. Small's wrists were handcuffed and the box was buried. The coroner later determined that his death was caused by "asphyxia due to suffocation." That same night, the police arrested Rish and held her at the station for questioning. Rish requested a specific attorney, J. Scott Swaim, who had previously represented her, and she was given an opportunity to obtain his counsel. Rish did not know that Swaim was friends with the victim. For the next four days, between September 4 and September 8, the police questioned Rish with counsel present. Eight statements were elicited concerning her knowledge and actions in the early days of September. None of the statements was totally consistent with any other.
Rish Trial
On October 1, Rish was charged by indictment with first-degree murder and aggravated kidnaping for her alleged role in Small's death. On November 2, 1988, Rish was tried by a jury. No direct evidence was presented linking her to the kidnaping or death of Small. However, the State was able to enter Rish's eight inconsistent statements into evidence. Witnesses were also presented who testified that they had seen her at various times with Edwards when he was purchasing some of items that were ultimately found with Small's body. Other witnesses reported that they had observed her at various related locations during the course of the kidnaping and ransom calls. Lastly, the State submitted evidence that Edwards had used their garage to build the box in which Small's body was found. The jury found Rish guilty on both counts, and the trial court sentenced her to a term of natural life imprisonment and a concurrent 30-year term. [3]
Ryan Commutation
On January 11, 2003, Illinois Governor George Ryan, a native of Kankakee, commuted all death row sentences in Illinois to life imprisonment. This act commuted the sentence of Danny Edwards who had murdered Ryan’s next-door-neighbor Stephen Small. This is what Ryan had to say about the Small case at the time of the commutation. “I grew up in Kankakee which even today is still a small midwestern town, a place where people tend to know each other. Steve Small was a neighbor. I watched him grow up. He would babysit my young children – which was not for the faint of heart since Lura Lynn and I had six children, five of them under the age of 3. He was a bright young man who helped run the family business. He got married and he and his wife had three children of their own. Lura Lynn was especially close to him and his family. We took comfort in knowing he was there for us and we for him. One September midnight he received a call at his home. There had been a break-in at the nearby house he was renovating. But as he left his house, he was seized at gunpoint by kidnappers. His captors buried him alive in a shallow hole. He suffocated to death before police could find him. His killer led investigators to where Steve’s body was buried. The killer, Danny Edwards, was also from my hometown. He now sits on death row. I also know his family. I share this story with you so that you know I do not come to this as a neophyte without having experienced a small bit of the bitter pill the survivors of murder must swallow. My responsibilities and obligations are more than my neighbors and my family. I represent all the people of Illinois – like it or not. The decision I make about our criminal justice system is felt not only here, but the world over.” [
Danny Edwards and Nancy Rish willingly murdered a good man, because they could then have more money to expand Danny's drug business. They were not impoverished minority persons. Rish and Edwards did not kill Steve Small in a bar fight. They planned stalked, kidnaped and murdered a man for money without regard for consequences or justice.
Solipsism works great with group thinkers. One world and one answer. Solipsism works great in politics and law - lawsuits. Beat drums loud and long.
There is a reason for human society to execute, not murder, people who slaughter.
I'll celebrate Justice 24/7 - I will not play solipsism anymore. Steve Small smothered to death. Solipsism buries thought.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
How the World Wags and We Don't Seem to Mind
Personally, I believe that the death penalty is a very good thing. It is not nice. It is good. It is good, because for ultimate crimes, there must be ultimate consequences.
I did not ask for Charlie Sheen, but there he is; nor, did I ever request Extreme Fighting, Dances with the Stars, TIVO, Cable Rates, Chris Matthews, or Larry The Cable Guy, American Historian.
The world wags because we allow it to do so.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez are trumped by Sister Prejean and Bishop Desmond Tutu, as well as every iconic columnist and mouthpiece in the media; especially Lawsuit Lotto Lawyers.
Governor Pat Quinn campaigned to overturn the Death Penalty Ban by Governor Ryan. However, Governor Pat Quinn loves the Easter Bunny. I backed Pat Quinn and hoped that he would have a successful term as Governor. Not gonna happen.
Pat Quin still hugs the Easter Bunny - Abortion is just dandy, but one must not execute a murderous louse.
I noticed a poll in the Tribune.
Death penalty decision
Should Gov. Quinn sign the bill banning the death penalty in Illinois?
Yes. The justice system is too flawed. (17 responses)
14%
Yes. Capital punishment is wrong. (21 responses)
17%
No. Some crimes and criminals deserve a death sentence. (86 responses)
69%
124 total responses
I am in the 69%, but trumped by the Easter Bunny. Well, perhaps a contemporary and hip-poet can go all Vachel Lindsey on Quinn- 'The Easter Bunny That is Forgotten' or
'The Pigeon I can't Recall' . . ."To live in mankind, far, far more * * * than
to live in a name."
Governor Something 'er Other.
Strap in Governor and get ready for the ride of you life. These next four year are not shaping up to be so hot. Ralph Martire still calls the budget and taxes; the All-Star Lefties seem to motivate your decisions. Well, that's just me. Or is it 69% of Illinois?
Dies Cinerum: Ash Wednesday - It is in God's Hands.
We can, perhaps, conceive of a world in which God corrected the results of this abuse of free will by His creatures at every moment: so that a wooden beam became soft as grass when it was used as a weapon, and the air refused to obey me if I attempted to set up in it the sound waves that carry lies or insults. But such a world would be one in which wrong actions were impossible, and in which, therefore, freedom of the will would be void; nay, if the principle were carried out to its logical conclusion, evil thoughts would be impossible, for the cerebral matter which we use in thinking would refuse its task when we attempted to frame them.Clive Staples Lewis
"Evil is threefold, viz., metaphysical evil, moral, and physical, the retributive consequence of moral guilt. Its existence subserves the perfection of the whole; the universe would be less perfect if it contained no evil. Thus fire could not exist without the corruption of what it consumes; the lion must slay the ass in order to live, and if there were no wrong doing, there would be no sphere for patience and justice. God is said (as in Isaiah 45) to be the author of evil in the sense that the corruption of material objects in nature is ordained by Him, as a means for carrying out the design of the universe; and on the other hand, the evil which exists as a consequence of the breach of Divine laws is in the same sense due to Divine appointment; the universe would be less perfect if its laws could be broken with impunity. Thus evil, in one aspect, i.e. as counter-balancing the deordination of sin, has the nature of good. But the evil of sin, though permitted by God, is in no sense due to him; its cause is the abuse of free will by angels and men. It should be observed that the universal perfection to which evil in some form is necessary, is the perfection of this universe, not of any universe: metaphysical evil, that is to say, and indirectly, moral evil as well, is included in the design of the universe which is partially known to us; but we cannot say without denying the Divine omnipotence, that another equally perfect universe could not be created in which evil would have no place."Catholic Encyclopedia
The Democratic governor on Tuesday quietly invited death penalty opponents to a private bill-signing ceremony scheduled for late Wednesday morning in his Springfield office. Quinn's office confirmed that the governor has an event at the Capitol on Wednesday to announce his decision on the death penalty measure.Chicago Tribune
"It's all good." Urban Dictionary
Is it?
On the other hand, I have and continue to sin - cause pain. I cause pain with my thoughts words and deeds. I neglect or I act in a way that hurts others. By hurting myself, I also hurt others. This is my season. Lent arrived today. From the time that I receive the Ashes in the Catholic ritual, following Quinquagesima Sunday (just the other day, at Sacred Heart Church)which means fifty days before Easter and Resurrection of Christ, I will attempt to remember that I am not bullet proof.
All of this means nothing to the 'It's all good' devotees. It means much to a sinner like me. Memento Mori is spoken when the priest, probably Father Tony Brackin later today at St. Odilo's in Berwyn, places the ashes on my fore head - 'Remember you must die.' That is an imperative verb followed by a deponent infinitive - active in meaning and passive in form which means that it is going to happen. Like in the DMV on Pulaski at 147th Street - 'Mr. Hickey you will be called.'
I sit there waiting with my check, my ID and my proofs of residence ( Gas and Light Bill) and understand that I will be called, baring a computer malfunction, tornado, act of war, or I decide to light up a Marlboro in the Illinois Secretary of State's facility and enjoy mellow flavor of fine rich Virginia tobacco. Then, I can expect to be taken out and summarily given the bum's rush.
I believe in Heaven and I believe in Hell and what I do to balance my actions, thoughts, and words accordingly will determine God's Bum's Rush.
It Ain't All Good; Most of It Is. Behave accordingly.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Great Grindings! Quid Nunc! Hamlet was an Irishman!
This one will make your eyes bleed Tom Hopkins and St. Cajetan's!
•"A little more than kin, and less than kind." Hamlet 1.2
Believe it or not dear reader. but your humble correspondent has an article published and noted in the Oxford Review of Victorian Literature. On the square. It has been read by tens of people and it concerns the critical treatments of Dickens and Thackeray.
As a result of this perquisite, I receive notes from my pals with the Oxford Review.
Today, over my Fat Tuesday lunch at Leo, I read a nice note from my pal Neha Mistry informing me that a recent Oxford study reveals that Shakepeare's brooding Dane might actually have been a boozing Mick.
Scholars have long accepted that Shakespeare took the core of his Hamlet character from ‘Amlethus’, a legendary figure found in ‘The History of the Danes’ but new research proposes that an older Hamlet name can be found in a mysterious Gaelic tale, written in the eleventh century, based on eighth- or ninth-century materials.
The tale tells the story of a flawed king who broke taboos and was consequently killed in a strange hall, filled with uncanny figures. Among these figures were three players, one of whom was called Admlithi.
“As soon as I saw ‘Admlithi’, I thought of Hamlet” says Dr Collinson.
**Read this headline-hitting article, picked up by The Guardian, FREE online:**
- A New Etymology for Hamlet? the Names Amlethus, Amlothi and Admlithi:
http://oxfordjournals-marketing.oup.com/c/16sVCUYL3erlxd6Gy
By L.A. Collinson
“Earlier scholars based theories about the Gaelic origins of Hamlet on an odd name – ‘Amlaide’ - embedded in a short verse found in Irish annals. They constructed interesting arguments which allowed for Celtic influence on ‘Amlothi’, but they struggled to explain the form of the annal name, which remains obscure” explains Dr Collinson.
If Dr Collinson’s hypothesis is correct, then the association of Hamlet’s name goes back several hundred years longer than has previously been believed.
I hope you enjoy reading this article. Please feel free to forward this email on to any friends or colleagues you think might be interested, using this form:
http://oxfordjournals-marketing.oup.com/f/16LrTEHvEZk53O
Best wishes,
Neha Mistry
Oxford Journals:
http://oxfordjournals-marketing.oup.com/c/16sW6JK2DywjhJhCd
Oh Hell Yeah!
The acting the goofiness, the whining and the mother complex - sounds like a lad from Visitation, or Little Flower. I looked deeper into the Oxgford study.
Hamlet was believed to have been a historical person, like Lear. Scholars of Icelandic and Old Danish as well as Irish have come up with this -The precise etymologies of Amlođi, Amlethus and ultimately Hamlet have remained unclear, despite many previous attempts to elucidate these. (Currently, the best-known interpretation of the name(s) is probably that offered in the latest Arden edition of the play: ‘stupid’.)5 The aim of the following discussion is to explore the possibility that all of these names might descend from Admlithi, recorded as a player-name in the medieval Irish tale Togail Bruidne Da Derga (TBDD, ‘The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel’), and to suggest some potential implications of this for our understanding of the histories of the Hamlet-figures developed by Saxo, and by Shakespeare.6 (For the sake of clarity, I shall keep to a minimum discussion of Haveloc.7
More so -the kenning and simile of the rich Skaldic, Irish poetry run on to the fantastically deep weaves of the uses of "mill." and "grinder" as tropes -Admlithi as Sea-Grinder: Irish, Norse, or both?
Despite its tiny (almost inconsequential) role in TBDD, it seems to me that the name Admlithi would have had an exceptionally broad range of potential applications, and could have been used in many, very diverse contexts. One reasonable possibility, I think, is that Admlithi was used to refer to a specific area of the sea when indirect expression was, for superstitious or poetic reasons, desirable. In the late-ninth or early tenth-century Irish glossary, Sanas Cormaic46—which itself appears to contain at least two Norse loan words47—the currents surrounding a whirlpool called Coire Brecáin (‘Brecán's Cauldron’) are compared to the paddles of a mill-wheel (orceil or orcéil).48 This complex work is currently being re-edited for the Early Irish Glossaries Database,49 but Paul Russell has published a provisional translation of the relevant passage, as it stands in the Yellow Book of Lecan (the manuscript containing the text of TBDD cited above):
Coire Brecáin, i.e. a great whirlpool which is between Ireland and Scotland to the north, i.e. a meeting place of many seas: the sea which comes round Ireland from the north-west, and the sea which comes round Scotland from the north-east, and the sea from the south between Ireland and Scotland. Then it takes them each in turn like whirling spirals50 and puts each of them in the place of the other like the paddles of a millwheel as it goes past, and sucks them down into the depths so that it is like an open-mouthed cauldron which would suck down even the whole of Ireland, and would put it in all together. Again it vomits up that mouthful and its thunderous belching and its crashing and its roaring can be heard among the clouds just like a cauldron boiling on the fire.51
This descriptive passage is followed by a narrative, belonging to a subgroup within the Sanas Cormaic entries which, through shared, ‘criss-crossing’ features, seem to evince particular interest on the part of the compilers in obscure language (including poetry), liminality (for example, sea and shoreline locations), and mysterious figures (superficially unpromising youths with great futures, and the fool (drúth), Lomna, whose head speaks after decapitation—and who, incidentally, has a similar namesake in TBDD).52
In the first part of the Coire Brecáin entry, it is the motion of mill-paddles, rather than grinding as such, which is invoked to describe the action of the currents of Coire Brecáin.53 Nevertheless, the content of the following entry (not only in the Yellow Book of Lecan, but also in the short version of this glossary in Leabhar Breac, and the Book of Uí Maine) does make it possible to suggest that, at some point in the creation of Sanas Cormaic (or one of its sources), the mill-reference may have been felt to be connected with grinding, specifically: ‘Cumal [a she-slave] i.e. a woman that is grinding at a quern; for this was the business of bondswomen before the mills were made’.54 After Cumal, the next-but-one entry is ‘Cotud ‘a whetstone’ i.e. everything hard [?], ab eo quod est cotis i.e. a stone (lie) on which iron weapons are ground.’55
The clustering of Coire Brecáin, Cumal and Cotud entries might of course be a compilatory coincidence, but, on the other hand, it is clear that, in the Irish glossaries, some entries had in fact been harvested from the same sources as those found close to them in their manuscripts, or else had been re-ordered, or even tailor-made, to fit in with their neighbours.56 In other words, entry order could be significant. The point I wish to make is that, in these manuscripts of Sanas Cormaic, Coire Brecáin is associated with mills, and mills are, immediately afterwards, linked to grinding (indeed, to much the same sort of grinding-context described in Grottasǫngr), and that this might conceivably reflect some sense that Coire Brecáin was itself a kind of grinder. Certainly, the whirlpool is depicted in Sanas Cormaic with a ‘mouth’, like a mill (the feature described as an ‘eye’ in Grottasǫngr).57 Even its name has a mill-aspect: although presented in Sanas Cormaic as meaning ‘Cauldron of Brecán’, where Brec(c)án is an untranslated personal name, Coire Brecáin could, I think, alternatively be interpreted as ‘Cauldron of The-One-Roughened-As-A-Millstone’. According to the Dictionary of the Irish Language, Coire Brecáin contains Brec(c)án, a ‘fanciful personal name’, meaning ‘speckled thing’. Brec(c)án is, in its turn, interpreted in the same source as deriving from brecc, ‘speckled’; this appears to be related to the verb breccaid ‘speckles’ and the verbal noun breccad, ‘act of speckling’. However, breccad could, very specifically, refer to the process of ‘picking’ (deliberately roughening) a quern or millstone with an instrument called a breccaire, ‘speckler’.58 Consequently, although brec(c)án is not specifically attested in DIL as meaning ‘one roughened as a millstone’, this would seem to me to be a fairly unproblematic interpretation of the word found in the genitive in Coire Brecáin. As ‘Cauldron of The-One-Roughened-As-A-Millstone’, the name Coire Brecáin could, I would argue, reflect some idea that the whirlpool resembled (or seemed to contain) a roughened millstone, complete with mouth.
Although it must be admitted that there is no evidence that Irish speakers ever did call a whirlpool ‘Admlithi’, it would seem that, had any wanted to give Coire Brecáin, for example, a nickname, ‘Great-Grindings’ would probably have made a perfectly appropriate choice—at least for one or more of the compilers of Sanas Cormaic. (This would mirror the kind of thinking behind the coining of the Dutch word maelstrom, ‘grinding-stream’ which has become a common European term for ‘whirlpool’.)59 Yet such a tag could have packed greater punch still in contexts which were at least partially Norse, its foreignness rendering it more obscure and thus more powerful (as a noa-term) and exotic (in poetry).60 Irish words were, after all, rather rare in Norse literary texts—although, importantly, a handful were preserved, including (in compound) men/min, the word for ‘flour’ which was mentioned earlier as an element in one (Irish) version of the Admlithi-name.61 My suggestion is therefore that Amlođi represents a corruption of an Irish name which was applied to (or perhaps even coined for) a specific area of grinding sea,62 such as the ‘Coire Brecáin’ of Sanas Cormaic, in the mixed-language region stretching from Ireland itself, across the North Channel, into the Hebrides and up towards the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland.63 Where exactly Coire Brecáin was thought to have been located is another question: the standard view is that the name probably originally referred to a whirlpool off Rathlin Island, but that another between Jura and Scarba in the Hebrides was—at some point—also given the same name (now, Corryvreckan).64 Either of these eddies could, I suspect, have been given a noa-name or heiti (Admlithi) in skaldic verse.
Coire Brecáin. As ‘Cauldron of The-One-Roughened-As-A-Millstone’ A whirlpool; Maelstrom; Hamlet; history and it is a giggle and keeps the old brain-pan fresh.
•"Let me be cruel, not unnatural;
I will speak daggers to her, but use none."
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet, 3.2
Yeah, He's a Mick.
Yep, works for me.
P.S Visit The Review of English Studies online at:
Ralph Martire Has Wound Up Yet Another Kick in the Goodies for Illinois
“The bag of tricks is empty,” said Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a union-funded fiscal watchdog group in Chicago.
Kick Illinois again,Ralph! The bag ain't near empty! Oh, Hell no! Empty don't mean done! Ralph is after Grannie and Gramps and their private pensions - It's a fairness issue.
This was last week - in SEIU's Progress Illinois. SEIU funds Ralphie and SEIU exist only because of the Tax Troughs in America.
Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, said the budget pitch and the cuts it foresees were predictable, given the structure of the state's tax system. "You can't lay this at the governor's feet," he said. "If you have a fiscal system that doesn't support current level of expenditures ... you've got to do something. He tried to mimimize the pain these cuts will cause. But you can't really minimize some of these cuts. They're really, really harmful." Illinois remains a relatively low-income tax state with an inefficient sales tax code, CTBA and other budget reformers have pointed out repeatedly, for years. The tax hike helped stabilize the state's fiscal outlook, but it did not resolve those two issues.Merciful Mountebank!
Today, the media is a-ablaze with TAX Retirement! Johnny Cullerton is rowing this boat built with planks cut by Ralph Martire
Influential Senate President John Cullerton on Monday suggested the state should start taxing retirement income. Illinois does not currently tax pensions or retirement funds such as 401(k) plans, but Cullerton suggested that the idea be in the mix as part of an effort to change the state's outdated tax system.Fairness - that's Ralph Code for prepare your jewels for the ride of their lives! Kick!
"It would just be a matter of fairness," Cullerton, D-Chicago, told a City Club of Chicago luncheon.
Cough it out, Illinois, and ice them!
Ralphie wraps every lifting of wallets in the cozy goo-goo goodness of social justice and policy. Policy in politics has given us Wisconsin.
Ralph Martire is a career tax-pirate who has helped SEIU and other public sector unions board and loot the State of Illinois. Ever since sweet old Dawn Clark Netsch and other bow-tie wearing Policy Play Actors pushed Ralph Martire's public sector union funded Center for Tax and Budget Accountability down the Golden Goose's throat with howls of Policy Human Services, Impoverished, Children, Destitute Mental Health Waifs, Teachers - Think of the Teachers People!!!!!!! Pensions and tax-larded salaries have all but destroyed the Illinois middle class.
Hold the phone! Here's an update -
UPDATE: Arne "Too Smart" Duncan, former Aussie Hoop Pro and . . . secretary of Education jut appointed Ralph "The Tax Pimp" Martire to his Equity ( again airness - What's Mine is Mine and What's Your's Is Mine - you know, Fairness) and Excellency Commission - read this BS below about Ralph - he's Martin Luther King!
Ralph wants Grannie's pension from her forty years of service with Rheem over by Damen at 74th Street and Gramps' pension from Nabisco over by Kedzie. They did not go to Cancun. They saved and cut coupons. They are the rich that Ed Schultz on MSNBC and Michael Moore are talking about - Rich means that you did not spend your savings and still have some. It is time that Policy and Social Justice make Grannie and Gramps responsible for Tina, the teenage mom of four without her GED, who needs to go to college and become a community activist; Taffy Tarington of Winnetka who was appointed to three terms on four different salaried boards and panels through six Administrations, because 'Ain't She Great' she is the Chairwoman of Ladies for Abortion and a Planned Parenthood Anti Death Penalty Activist; and for Rod Blagojevich.
Well cough up! There is plenty of untapped wealth in Illinois! Ralph is paid to say so with pie charts and easy Media access. Ralph slipped this one under Johnny Cullerton's door.
Ralph's pie chart tells us that Illinois Ain't Broke with equal gusto of Subway Slim Michael Moore who tells us that America Ain't Broke. Grannie's got a Pension! Gramps has Silver Certificates from WW II in a safe deposit box! Hickey's got quarters in a five gallon Hinkley and Schmidt jug that he stole from . . .Charlie Olson, sorry Charlie. You had three and I had none and now I have one and you still have two - it's Policy and Justice Issue.
I plan to vote against anyone of any party that has had or continues to do anything remotely suggested by Ralph Martire.
*
Ralph Martire: Ralph Martire is executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. Mr. Martire teaches a Master's level class on education finance and fiscal policy for the University of Illinois and Roosevelt University. He has received numerous awards for his work on education policy reform, including the 2007 Champion of Freedom Award, presented by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition to individuals whose professional work embodies Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, commitment to equal educational opportunities.
And mine that of Edward Teach the Pirate!
http://educationnationforum.blogspot.com/2011/02/us-secretary-of-education-appoints.html
Wisconsin Border Meet-Up at Checkpoint Chedder
In a televised news conference, Walker threw cold water on an offer from Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller to meet near the border and work out their differences. Walker argued that Miller had been a barrier to past talks on resolving Wisconsin’s legislative impasse.
“Sen. Miller is misleading the public just like he misled us,” said Walker, who added that he had sent two staffers to meet with Democrats on Sunday but could not reach an agreement that would bring the 14 senators back from Illinois. “For us to move forward, we need reasonable and responsible officials,” the governor said. “This letter is absolutely ridiculous. He [Miller] is the person standing in the way.”
I have been over the border and its not like here. There's Swedes and Swiss and funny County road signs that double the value of letters just when you think that you've got a grip on the directions - 'Take County F four miles until you come to the Swedenborgian Church in the Dell; take aright on County U and go 500 yards to County C; that crosses a wooden bridge near the Culver's at Argle by the Pheasant Fryer; thats K.
Now, you go north on County Y over the last gulley of the Pecatonica Millrace - not the river mind . . . you'll see the Interstate off in the distance . . .County Road O veers little and then jogs right at the Old Barn -take O until the road ends in the limestone quarry and that's U. Welcome, FIP! Have some Cheese?
The Madison exiles wanted a meet up with Governor Walker and he said, "Nix on that."
An abritrator is needed. I'll go. Anything to help make this world a better place - that's how I roll.
I can see it now - just north of Cedarburg - Sheriff Ed Galt is worried about Democratic Senators Finn and Doyle and Republican State Chairman John Smith understands. Hickey wanted the meet up to be nice, but like most situations nice happens only when force takes the most comfortable seat.
Sheriff Ed Galt: [about Doyle] If he sends Hickey after me, he's coming straight after you.
John Smith: Yeah, Hickey. I've heard he's a real scary guy.
[he starts to open the door, Galt shuts it]
Sheriff Ed Galt: Let me tell you just how scary. It goes that when Hickey was ten years old, he took a butcher knife and cut his own father's throat, ear to ear. So they put him in an orphanage. Fifteen years old, he burned it to the ground!
(Hickey arrives)
Hickey: I heard you got Finn. That was Doyle's best shooter.
John Smith: I thought you were the best.
Hickey: Nah, just the best lookin'.
Finn: I guess you'll just have to kill me.
John Smith: It'll hurt if I do
Hickey: [Final scene, speaking to Smith] I don't want to die in New Glarus. Chicago, maybe... but not Texas. You can meet me there if you like . . .(really cool music -ominous and ironic) FADE
Makes about as much sense as outlaw elected officials eating croissants, hard boiled eggs, toaster waffles, assorted mixed fruit, some great tasting coffees and teas and talking to Rachel Maddow thanks to internet access at the Public Trough Comfort Suites for three weeks acting like hunger strikers. Hunger strikers refuse to eat.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116830/quotes
Monday, March 07, 2011
Thoughts of Glenna and the War of Roses and my Toeses
When I went to Loyola back in the early 1970's, I took a class with Dr. Trimble - English History: The Wars of the Roses To The Tudors. Only five students took the class and by the second week it was down to me and a girl named Glenna, most days as the other three students made only perfunctory appearances.
Dr. Lionel Trimble was a scholar*of the old school. He was close to seventy years old and spoke in very mannered, low and formal English, but what he spoke of -Perkin Warbeck, Nat Tyler, Bolingbroke, Hotspur, Mortimer, Richard II,III, Pope Nicholas Breakspear, York and Lancaster, Richard Duke of Gloucester, Buckingham, Owen Glendower, and Henry Tudor honeyed the air of Loyola's Lewis Tower on Rush Street, or so I believed.
Dr. Trimble began lecturing the moment he closed the door at the appointed time - if you were late you were locked out. History after all is about time.
Glenna was from the far North - Kennilworth or Winnetka and dressed like she was going to a board meeting at Northern Trust Bank. This was in the days when blue jeans were uniform of the day for Catholic girls freed from jumpers of Longwood Academy, Queen of Peace, Maria, St. Scholastica and other convents-lite.
Glenna had jet-black hair and alabaster skin and wore pearls most days and horn-rimmed black glasses. More importantly, to this late-adolescent testosterone bubbling scholar-manque, Glenna was graced by God with the body of mortal sin itself.
Her calves and legs, usually encased in grey or blue hose, were magnificently athletic and femininely arched at the feet, shod in low heeled pumps or black boots.
Glenna was a twenty year old Mary Tyler Moore encorpified. It took every level of self-control and self-worth in my poor powers to focus on the Wars of the Roses, when the war of hormones and romantic day-dreaming of a life as the kept man of Glenna: she attending to the world of corporate banking and larding our savings and checking accounts and me ministering to her every passion, while cooking and cleaning our Tudor Brick Home adorned by Red and White Rose bushes and maintaining my wash-board like belly, and rock hard chest with feats of home-spun athleticism.
To say that I was distracted is understatement.
Glenna and I communicated but once as I recall - days before the end of the Spring Semester. I was seated in my usual position of advantage angled just behind and to the right of this exquisite beauty, in order to take in every move and crossing of legs, but most importantly the neck, ears and superior jaw occasionally draped by the raven hair - flicked with an elegant racking by manicured and lovely fingers.
As was my wont - I was adorned in my janitor's uniform grey green work slacks and light grey long sleeved shirt with patches over each pectoral -left emblazoned HICKEY and right in Gothic script ORCHESTRA HALL. I wore heavy work boots and thick white socks. I would go from my classes directly to 220 S. Michigan and work the 3-11 shift, get relieved by cousin Willie and Tony Gac, study and sleep. Get up take a shower in the musicians locker room and return to class. Ah, the Days of Ivy!
My legs stretched comfortably in anticipation of Dr. Trimble's arrival and luxuriating in the breath-takingly sexy propriety that was Glenna and I checked my notes.
Glenna forced down her Oxford University text and pulled her horn-rimmed glasses off, tossed her cascade of black hair in a sweep that scarfed her neck and stared into my eyes with her own lavender blue orbs - "Excuse me."
My heart stopped. Yes?
"Please move, or do something. Your feet smell awful. Really. I am sorry. Please; before I throw up."
Slack jawed and silently I skulked back several seats and rows away. Dr. Trinble saved me from further shame by transporting me to Bosworth Fields.
I got and A + for my essay, notes and exams; never saw Glenna again.
By the way, my feet had soured due to the fact that I wore the same work shoes day-in-day out in rain, snow, and slush. My doctor gave me a formaldehyde regimen. Rule -toss boondockers and tennis shoes; merely washing feet don't do it.
My feet are like Roses, ever since Glenna.
*
Powicke, F.M. (1953). The Oxford History of England: The Thirteenth Century 1216-1307. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198217080.
Green, V.H.H. (1955). The Later Plantagenets: A Survey of English History Between 1307-1485. Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd. ISBN 0713151765.
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