The Sad State of the State Stem-Winder:Pat Quinn's Bartlett's Moment- "Hard is not impossible,"

"Hard is not impossible,"  Next, Gov. Quinn gave the old defilbrillator a go and the dummy died.

Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802), appointed finance minister by Louis XVI in 1783: si cʾest possible, cʾest fait; impossible? cela se fera, if a thing is possible, consider it done; the impossible? that will be done (quoted in J. Michelet Histoire de la Révolution Française (1847) i. ii. 8).

And then there is the Governor of Illinois!  Old Squeazy Himself!  Pat Quinn, ladies and gentlemen, he'll be here for a while and boy is he ever winded after today's State of the State stem-winder!  

Here's some highlights:

“Do we want, in the years to come, a prosperous Illinois where working people continue to have good jobs, where businesses thrive, and where all our children have a world-class education?” Quinn told the House and Senate. “Or do we want to stop the progresss (sic) and watch our economic recovery stall?”

Well????  Waiting for answer, Here! Oh, Rhetorical Question.

Like this dandy, ". . . doing what's hard isn't always what's popular at the moment, but we must remember that hard is not impossible." 

How about these? -"$10 is the new 25 % . . . .I mean $ .25 " - Why should only big industry move to Wisconsin and Indiana?
                    "Squeazy is the new Caterpiller!"                   
                   " LaShawn Ford is the new Dawn Clark Netsch!"
                   " Pensions is the New. . . Catholic Doctrine."
                   "Gay is Black; Marriage is Selma"
                   " I am Dr. King and Dan'l Webster!"
                   

Billy Gibbons - Sharp Dressed Man in 1966

 Above: Bill Gibbons and the Coachmen V, working the teen circuit in Houston, late 1965 or early 1966. From the great Texas website 1966

 Here is handsome young lad ( lower left) with Jimi prior to teaming with Dusty Hill and Frank Beard.

The man in full!!!!
Every Girl Crazy 'Bout a Sharp Dressed Man!

Hey Johnny Cope: A Sound Manvotional

The legendary Irish band Planxty took this Scottish ballad into the 21st Century as a Manvotional.
A Manvotional is an unambiguous male reflection - an examination of conscience.

Today, we bear witness to savagery on our streets with cries and threats of legislation to come.  Violence is not new, but violence has lost meaning.  Politicians use bombast and rhetorical hectoring, but few go in the way of hazard to make things right.  The young, especially of my gender are taught to shrug and turn to Halo-4 heroics fueled by Doritos and Big Gulp Mountain Dews.

The strenuous life is now on Playstation.  Poetry, music and literature can, if taught well, get the young lard-asses out into the fresh air and eventually into purposeful living.

The Jacobite hopes were dashed on Culloden Moor in 1745 and Bonnie Charlie scampered off to France where the Stuarts remain.  However, the romance of the 'lost cause' is eternal in the novels of Walter Scott, the poems of Robbie Burns and the drones of pipes.




Cope Sent a challenge tae Dunbar
Said; 'Charlie meet me if you daur,
'And I'll learn you the arts of war,
'If you'll meet me in the morning'

Chorus:
Hey Johnnie Cope are you wauking yet,
Or are your drums a- beating yet?
If you were wauking I would wait,
Tae gang tae The Coals in the morning

When Charlie looked this letter upon,
He drew his sword the scabbard from,
Come follow me my merry men,
And we'll meet Johnnie Cope in the morning.

When Johnnie Cope he heard o' this,
He thought it wouldna be amiss,
To hae a horse in readiness,
To flee awa' in the morning.

Fye now Johnnie, get up and run,
The Highland bagpipes mak a din,
It's better tae sleep in a hale skin.
For 'twill be a bloody morning.

When Johnnie Cope tae Dunbar came,
They spiered at him, 'where's a' your men?'
'The Deil confound me gin I ken,
For I left them a this morning.'

Now Jonnie troth, ye were na blate,
Tae come wi' news o' your ain defeat,
And leave your men in sic a straight
So early in the morning.

'Faith', quo Johnnie, 'I had sic fegs,
Wi' their claymores and their philabegs,
If I face them again Deil brak ma legs,
So I wish you a' good morning.'

The Battle of Prestonpons:

On 25th July 1745 Prince Charles landed near Moidart in the Highlands of Scotland with seven companions. He raised his standard at Glenfinnan and assembled an army from the clans that supported his bid for the throne. This army marched into Edinburgh on 17th September 1745. The two royal dragoons regiments fled at the highland approach in the infamous “Colterbrigg canter”.

General Sir John Cope, the commander of the small royal force in Scotland, had marched to Inverness with his four regiments of foot. Cope brought his troops south to Dunbar by sea and met up with the dragoons. None of his troops, dragoons or foot, were experienced or even adequately trained. Cope’s artillery can only be described as a “scratch” force comprising invalids and seamen under headed by one aged gunner. Cope marched North along the coast road towards Edinburgh.

The cavalry found the rebel army to be inland and to the south, causing Cope to form his army against the sea behind a marsh. During the night of 20th September 1745 the rebels made use of a path through the marsh to come up on the left flank of the royal army. . . . .On being threatened the dragoon regiments also fled and the foot began to give way. Finally under the impact of the highland attack the whole royal army, other than small groups of men under officers such as Lieutenant Colonel Peter Halkett, fled the field. Only the dragoons were able to get away in any numbers. All the foot bar some 170 were killed, wounded or captured. The injuries inflicted by the highlanders using broad swords and bill hooks are reported to have been horrific.

Live Jazz at Pleasant Home The Terry Sullivan Trio with virtuoso guitarist Zvonimir Tot and Renowned Bassist Rich Armandi

"All men are created free and equal, so it says in the books. Who am I equal to? Nobody. Throw away the books, Honey. " _ Ms. Terry Sullivan a tough but big-hearted dame with great pipes

Sunday, February 17th and April 21st, 4pm

 

A rare, intimate jazz performance. Vocalist Terry Sullivan, whose style is influenced by Anita O’Day and Blossom Dearie, sings in small nightclubs and concert venues in the Chicago area. Guitarist Zvonimir Tot has performed around the globe and has recorded with many world-renowned musicians. Bassist Rich Armandi, one of Chicago’s busiest jazz musicians, completes the trio. Tickets $35 or $50 per couple. For reservations and information call 708-488-1701.

Rev. Jesse Jackson - Homeland Security for Chicago?

" ICU!!!!!! - Next!  I see You; ICU!!!!  . . . Next!"

“A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible. But since, in practice, no one is infallible, it is frequently necessary to rearrange past events in order to show that this or that mistake was not made, or that this or that imaginary triumph actually happened.” 
― George Orwell, Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 2 My Country Right or Left 1940 - 1943

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security forcethat's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." (emphasis added) Barack Obama 2008

Chicago, IL (Friday, February 1, 2013) — Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. and
Rainbow PUSH Coalition call for immediate Federal Intervention and Homeland
Security in Chicago as January homicide totals exceeded 45. This morning, in Chicago,
a woman’s van was riddled with bullets as she was executed on a major highway. Two
days ago, a 15-year-old Dr. Martin Luther King College Prep honor student, who had
recently performed as a majorette at the President’s inaugural ceremony, was killed
after trying to seek shelter from the rain less than a mile away from the President’s
home. Another student was shot but survived. The gunman is still at large. Days before
these tragedies, seven people were killed, 6 from gunshots, all in one day; most of
their murders have been unsolved. Reverend Jesse Jackson reaffirms that gun control reform is critical and the ban on assault weapons paramount. The REV.

With Junior set to attend Federal 'college,'  the 7th Ward up for grabs and unhappy fact that Rev. Al Sharpton is more cuddly to MSNBC, Rev. Jesse Jackson is thinking outside of the box again.
The same crowd of deep thinkers and civil libertarians who have destroyed any and all public support for Chicago Police officers will love this idea!  They also loved Rahm's gift to the Gang-banger pensioners of CeaseFire and Calypso Louis' March of the Bow-Tied Brothers all over Gresham and the Englewood.  Murders spiked, but that's Okay.

Now, the REV. doesn't draw an un-calculated breath on-camera or within range of audio reception and it makes perfect sense that he had cleared his latest "Stop the Madness" gambit following a call to Slum Dog Billionaire Real Estate Mogul and Presidential Ramrod Valerie Jarrett and the lads at the Obama Aeterna Stipendium eodemque Consule Vita  headquarters.

Imagine, DHS security forces in thick competition, not with Chicago Police Department professionals, but the Millions Dollar Ceasefire  Quartet ( Gary Slotkin, Tio Hardiman, Wesley Skogan and Dan'l Webster) and perhaps the contracted players of Rainbow Putsch Coalition's Community For State Security.

Anyway, the good REV tossed that trial balloon out there.

On Raglan Road - The Incomparable Luke Kelly Sings Patrick Kavanaugh's Poem

Raglan Road is named for a 'hero' of the Crimean War - FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan.  Dublin is loaded with British identity.  A great poet from County Monaghan Patrick Kavanaugh wrote one of the great love poems about a gent who met a girl on the Raglan Road in Ballsbridge Dublin. The poem's voice recalls the choice of engaging love and being shattered in the heart by taking the plunge. or retreating like sniveling craven and risking nothing. The lad went at it!

Here is the great Luke Kelly's version.

 

On Raglan Road

On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue;
I saw the danger, yet I walked along the enchanted way,
And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day.

On Grafton Street in November we tripped lightly along the ledge
Of the deep ravine where can be seen the worth of passion's pledge,
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts and I not making hay -
O I loved too much and by such and such is happiness thrown away.

I gave her gifts of the mind I gave her the secret sign that's known
To the artists who have known the true gods of sound and stone
And word and tint. I did not stint for I gave her poems to say.
With her own name there and her own dark hair like clouds over fields of May

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly my reason must allow
That I had wooed not as I should a creature made of clay -
When the angel woos the clay he'd lose his wings at the dawn of day. 

Patrick Kavanagh

This Dude was Hacked - Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered

Yep, I was hacked.  The other day I received a note from a Leo Alumnus, close of the heels of a legitmate inquiry from the man himself.

Hey, PATRICK!
Check this out! http:/SOMEBSOROTHER.com

The Dude abides.  Mr. "Hey- I-Read Old Anglo Saxon Poems in OE " took a peek.  The link was for some job opportunity site run by the clowns at MSNBC. SPAM!

Within a few hours, I received a flood of notes from contacts universal asking if I had sent them a note - I had not.

The missive they received was signed by PATRICK.  I never use that cognomen and tend to sign notes:

Pat, or Hickey, or Numbnuts,  or Mr. Light Green Smith, The Anaconda of Affection, Prince of the Mid-Air, Pale Rider, The Forgotten Cough-Drop in the Bottom of Your Purse, Audie Murphy's Side-Kick, Mr. Johnson, Cole Younger, Simon Stylite's Cousin Eddie, the Man Who Cuckholded Manti, Just Plain Bill, Scorch, or the Earl of Rockwell . . .Never PATRICK.

Patrick - is the prelude to an ass-kicking; a Duke's Nancy Boy, a morbidly obese Persian Cat; the last one picked.

I blame Yahoo and this Yahoo.

Mea Culpa, for my unwitting part in this dastardly breach of world-wide-web  privacy willing compliance to an imperative sentence.

hack ¹  (hk)v. hacked, hack·ing, hacksv.tr.1. To cut or chop with repeated and irregular blows: hacked down the saplings.2. To break up the surface of (soil).
3.a. Informal To alter (a computer program): hacked her text editor to read HTML.b. To gain access to (a computer file or network) illegally or without authorization: hacked the firm's personnel database.4. Slang To cut or mutilate as if by hacking: hacked millions off the budget.5. Slang To cope with successfully; manage: couldn't hack a second job.v.intr.1. To chop or cut something by hacking.
2. Informala. To write or refine computer programs skillfully.
b. To use one's skill in computer programming to gain illegal or unauthorized access to a file or network: hacked into the company's intranet.3. To cough roughly or harshly.
n.1. A rough, irregular cut made by hacking.
2. A tool, such as a hoe, used for hacking.
3. A blow made by hacking.
4. A rough, dry cough.

Did He Ever Return?

Charlie and the Old Lady on the . . .Tube.
Let me tell you the story 
Of a man named Charlie 
On a tragic and fateful day 
He put ten cents in his pocket, 
Kissed his wife and family 
Went to ride on the . . .(MTA ) Public Transportation


I'll bet Charlie and the Duchess took one long-assed bath in Hand Sanitizer after that particular roll on the rails.

My Son Has More Money in Beverly Bank Than the Nation of Zimbabwe

 My Son Conor on the Far Right with Two Boon Chums, celebrating Conor's Bank Account!

There are cash-strapped governments and there are broke governments. And then there's Zimbabwe, which, after paying last week's government salaries, has just $217 left in the bank. No, we didn't forget any zeroes to the end of that figure. Zimbabwe, the country that's home to some of the world's largest platinum and diamond reserves, literally has the same financial standing as a 14-year-old girl after a really good birthday party. The country's finance minister admitted as much in a press conference on Tuesday. "Last week when we paid civil servants there was $217 [left] in government coffers," Tendai Biti told reporters. "The government finances are in paralysis state at the present moment. We are failing to meet our targets."

Tendai, old son, them  targets must be the size of a gnat's nuts.  If all you got $ 217 in the old cartera.

My son is 22 years old.  Conor is a big strapping handsome guy ( Mom's DNA) with a ready smile and , in the manner Hickey,quick with a buck!  Nevertheless, the lad has some fundamental thrift.  An apprentice tradesman, Conor is doing alright.  He is on the path to a debt free young manhood.  No college debt.

An apprentice does not make a great deal of money, but Conor lives at home and only needs to pay his union dues, class fees, car insurance and car payments. Of course, there is dispensable capital.   Like most of his contemporaries, the lad has few cares and fewer sleep-depriving responsibilities.


Zimbabwe* is an idiotic piece of Africa that stands as a metaphor of liberal thought.   It is nation run by a blood-thirsty idiot, Robert Mugabe, and for idiots - only people like Bill Ayers, Jimmy carter, Rammsey Ckark, Rev. Al Sharpton, Bill Moyers and MSNBC have deep admiration for this folly on wheels of a nation.

To quote Conor Oliver Hickey, "Hey, You can't spend everything!"

Not so, says Old Bob Mugabe!



Zimbabwe is nine years older than my son Conor, but it has only $ 217 left in its bank account.  Conor could buy three Zimbabwe's and have enough to buy a round at Dubliner, Keegans and Cork & Kerry. Beverly Bank and Trust is a neighbor friendly institution.

Stout fellow and sound dollar husbandry, my son!

If an old guy named  Bob Mugabe tries to put the bite on you for a touch, my son, explain that you give only to Catholic Charities.


*

WELCOME TO ZIMBABWE

The country of Zimbabwe is 390,580 sq km and is bordered on all sides by other countries. Zambia lies to the northwest with the Zambezi river and its Victoria Falls forming the border. Mozambique lies to the northeast with its border formed by the Eastern Highlands. Botswana lies to the southwest and South Africa to the south (its border formed by the Limpopo River)

Again, Governor George Ryan - The Man I Know is a Very Good Man.

 I wrote this in 2008:

I first met George Ryan, in 1975 when I was a baby teacher/coach at Bishop McNamara in Kankakee - a Chicago 18th Ward Democrat in Republican Land. In Fact Mimi Shapiro asked me to run for City Clerk as a Democrat - I figured what the hell -good way to learn the town. George’s brother Tom was the Mayor. The GOP slated Gene Glenzinski for City Clerk and the Dad of one my wrestlers and a better man never pulled on socks.

The Race was a blast and we had frequent ‘debates’ and run-ins with the Machine. George Ryan was a lovely guy. One day while walking to work, up Brookmont from my apartment in White City near Washington Park. I saw guys replacing Democratic signs that had been knocked down. I asked one of the guys ‘What gives?’ He said, ‘ George said to get them back up. You guys are gonna get waxed anyway.’ Laughed my butt off.

The Democratic slate was slaughtered, in fact I got the most votes -novelty votes for the kid, I imagine.

George Ryan was present wherever anyone from Kankakee, especially his political opponents, were in a jam or suffering. I saw George Ryan at St. Mary's Hospital visiting dying relatives of people who hated him politically. George Ryan had time for everyone. He was the reason why the Kankakee GOP was so successful and it was because he genuinely cared for people. The only person nicer than George Ryan is his bride Lura Lynn. That woman was everywhere! 

I never once voted for George Ryan. Oh Hell, I'm a Party Democrat . . . I was anyway. I backed candidates who wouldn't give a penny to starving blind man . . .they would enact Programs for Hungry Blind and Indigent . . .once elected.

I have met George Ryan at many wakes and weddings, in Kankakee and Joliet. He is a very nice man. I’d buy the man a steak any day, at Ken’s in my neighborhood, or Krapil’s, or Franconello’s or some such homey place reminiscent of Kings Court and Town and Country in Kankakee, if he’d allow me. George Ryan did not seem to match Gibson’s or Tavern on Rush or the other news-ghoul & hustler eateries. These other fore mentioned places are where George Ryan’s people eat.

The type of people who go to Ken’s and other neighborhood dining spots are the people George Ryan connected to - not political allies, hangers-on or opportunists, but people like Ryan himself. I witnessed quite a few of George Ryan’s many acts of kindness to people who could never do any political boon for anyone - let alone George Ryan - too numerous to catalog. He treated Joe Blow from the docks at Tenney Sales on 5th Ave. in Kankakee like he was a Sam Zell with an ink wet contribution check.

Conversely, I have followed the words of many familiar voices in print that have universally called for a mighty punishment on George Ryan - most of the people writing those words seem like people that I can do without. John Kass and Tom Roeser are the only two valid voices of anti-Ryan sentiment in my opinion - there are others to be sure, mostly regular folks and I respect their feelings.

However, there are many more, mostly media creatures. who are stone hypocrites -DuPage GOP ‘almost weres and fatuous Polka Partners like Judy Topinka who could not get snug enough in George’s back pockets when he was flush with clout and now stomp on his crippled limbs.

It seemed to me that Ryan’s Judge and Federal Prosecutors were going to get George Ryan come Hell, Highwater, or the lady with the blindfold. and they did - the voices in print ( paper and electronic) - sock-puppets or anonymous back-shooters for the most part - howl in genuine agony that George Ryan has the same rights as other citizens. ‘The quicker he is in jail the happier I’ll be’ read one such post, or ‘Ryan can rot in Hell’. Must be a lovely people . . . to avoid.

Forrest "Cartoons" Claypool Asks Fat Cats To Go Halves on Train Robbery!

The CTA is receiving strong and enthusiastic feedback from the private sector about investing in two mega-projects along the Red and Purple lines that the transit agency could not afford to undertake on its own for many years, CTA President Forrest Claypool said Monday. Chicago Tribune, a subsidiary of Medill Enterprises and Northwestern University think tanks.

Hey, Chicago! Are as Shickled TitLess as the Chicago News Media and CTA Payroller Forrest Claypool about the greedy 1% -er Fat Cats of Goldman Sachs (Obama Approved) going snacks with us on the Purple/Red Lines?

Forrest Claypool, the government payroll hopping Goo-Goo and Boss Fighter, whose beak is always soaked in tax dollars, is that same daffy Forrest Claypool who bought defective wheels from Red China that went on bum Canadian made railway cars that were the wrong gauge for the rail tracks of the CTA!  He's the same Forrest Claypool who wanted to save nickels by timing the pee-breals of CTA employees.  He's a Progressive! And He's a howl!

CTA officials and financial adviser Goldman Sachs are studying potential public-private partnerships to construct the proposed Red Line extension to 130th Street, and to demolish and rebuild track, aging stations and crumbling viaduct structure on the North Side, from north of the Belmont station through Evanston, Claypool told a gathering of transportation experts at Northwestern University.

Yeah, this can't miss. SkyWay, Parking Meters, Red Light cameras . . .should be . . .just a dandy caper!  Goldman Sacks Chicago!

President Bullets Obama's Homeland Army?

Mmm, Mmm, Mmmmmmmm! We never see ourselves as others see us.  
Oliver Hardy 

 " We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations."  President Obama's second inaugural address 2013

That why all the bullets being stockpiled, Mr. President?

They are. Billions of bullets. Bullets go into guns. Spending on way cool assault vehicles as well.  What's up with that?

Now, like most folks I like to think the worst about people whom I have already dismissed as 'breathing my air."  Folks who make that category have usually displayed a history of ungracious or just obnoxious behavior.   I have nothing in particular against them, just a desire to have very little to do with them.  I know for a fact that I am no triple scoop of hand-cranked peach, but I really try to put people at ease offer welcome. Sometimes the offer is slapped away. Fair enough. So, when I hear about some daffy, or deceitful carryings-on by persons who have disappointed my basic expectations for human conduct ( don't slap the help; puff yourself up; lord it over folks; take advantage of good nature & etc.),  I tend to savor the flavor, so to speak.

That does not mean that I will necessarily think that such goings-on by those folks are gospel, but I tend to nod with conviction and murmur, "Sounds about right."  I set a very  low bar for human folly and find that I am never disappointed when some lower it still. People who tend to say, " Do you know who I am? generally come to belong to my above defined dipstick demographic.

I have never been enamored of Barack H. Obama. I met him on at least six different occasions. One time, at the Falling Leaves Festival in Morgan Park, I even helped the then Illinois State Senator pick up his little girl's crayons  papers and snacks when the wind kicked up mightily and on another the Nobel laureate in-waiting  quizzed me about my thorough grilling of Winston's Irish Bacon and  Breakfast Sausages prior to a south side parade. On more professional level,  I was disappointed by the tone and template of his rejection letters in his capacities as head of The Woods Fund ( turned down Leo HS funding request '95, '96, '97 & '98); again,  when Bobby Rush skinned him in the 2nd Congressional Primary and  his career as a back-bencher State Senator in Illinois where he voted present on most issues and for anything Planned Parenthood put on his plate; lastly, as a candidate for President and as President ( terms one and Two).  I did not and do not believe that Mr. Obama was prepared for our country's highest office.

I do not think that our President is a Kenyan, a Marxist, a Red, or a Democrat.  I do not believe that he could accurately define any of the aforementioned appellations.  He reads a good speech and can hang some Hart Shaftner and Marx vines on his frame like he was born to the fashion runway.  Like Exeter in Henry IV, Part , I respect the office but view the man with Scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt, and any thing that may not misbecome this humble sender. Barack Obama is an ambitious guy with about as much personal warmth and genuine humanity as a Triple Crown running oat-blower, but that's just me. 

This President who calls for shared sacrifice spends millions on self-pumping parties with jackels and sycophants -(.Alicia Keys, Black Violin, Brad Paisley, Far East Movement, FUN., members of the Glee cast, John Legend, Katy Perry, Maná, Smokey Robinson, Soundgarden, Stevie Wonder and Usher) It's his party and our bill.

What bothers me is my growing sense that twice is not enough for Obama.  For a President bent on outlawing guns, he sure has bought up a mountain of bullets and he seems to be building a private army, while cashiering and insulting professional warriors. This weird bit of news came not from a GOP Wingnut site, but from Old Polar Al Gore - The Green Giant!

The Obama administration is openly escalating its campaign against private gun ownership, and shaking up the top ranks of the military command structure -- but is it also preparing to make war on the American population? According to a person identified as a former senior military official, the answer to that shocking question is yes.
World-renowned educator and human rights activist Jim Garrow says that the source, man regarded as "one of America's foremost military heroes," told him that President Obama is using a new litmus test for "determining who will stay and who must go" among top-ranked military leaders. That test is whether they will fire on US citizens or not. Garrow says that his source made the disclosure in order to "sound the alarm" over the administration's plans. - Al Gore's Current TV

Another Distraction Stanley!  Next, people will whisper that President Obama wants amity with Catholics and a third and fourth term!

DHS raising an armed armyThe first problem one finds with this ‘new army’ is the fact that they are mere children. Yes, 18 is generally the legal age a person can sign a contract, join the military or be tried as an adult. But ask any parent - an 18, 20 or even a 24 year-old is still a naïve, readily-influenced kid.
The second problem with this announcement and program is its timing. Over the past two years, President Obama has signed a number of Executive Orders suspending all civil and Constitutional rights and turning over management of an America under Martial Law to FEMA. Also in that time, domestic federal agencies under DHS, including FEMA, have ordered billions of rounds of ammunition as well as the corresponding firearms. Admittedly, these new weapons and ammunition aren’t to be used in some far-off war or to fight forest fires in California, but right here on the streets of America.
Strange Armored Fighting VehiclesIndividuals around the US have begun reporting the site of strange, new, heavily-armed FEMA fighting vehicles. What would a disaster relief agency like FEMA need with 2,500 brand new GLS armored fighting vehicles? According to the agency’s own mandate, as well as President Obama’s recent Executive Order, the answer is ‘population control’ during a time of Martial Law.
One set of images made available by Rense.com shows trailer after trailer carrying these new DHS and FEMA armored fighting vehicles, complete with machine gun slots. They’re labeled with the usual backward American flag and the title, ‘Homeland Security’. Below that and the DHS logo, it also reads, ‘Immigration & Customs Enforcement’. Joining those markings, the black vehicles with white lettering also display ‘POLICE/RESCUE’ on one side and ‘Special Response Team’ on the other.


DHS & FEMA armed fighting vehicles. Images courtesy of Rense.com.
FEMA CorpsFEMA Deputy Administrator Rich Serino gave the keynote address at the ‘Induction Ceremony’ for the inaugural class of FEMA Corps members. According to the DHS website, ‘Corps members assist with disaster preparedness, response, and recovery activities, providing support in areas ranging from working directly with disaster survivors to supporting disaster recovering centers to sharing valuable disaster preparedness and mitigation information with the public.’

---

---

Serino describes what the first FEMA Corps class has accomplished so far, as well as where they’ll be going next:
‘Yesterday, we welcomed 231 energetic members into the first ever FEMA Corps class. The members just finished off their first month of training with our partners at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and are one step closer to working in the field on disaster response and recovery. They will now head to FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness to spend the next two weeks training in their FEMA position-specific roles. Once they complete both the CNCS and FEMA training, these 231 dedicated FEMA Corps members will be qualified to work in one of a variety of disaster related roles, ranging from Community Relations to Disaster Recovery Center support.’
A standing armyUnlike most local disaster response teams who are volunteers, training periodically and only showing up when there’s a disaster, the FEMA Corps will be a paid, full time, standing army of government youth. FEMA Deputy Administrator Sarino goes on to explain, ‘The new members, who range in age from 18-24 years old, will contribute to a dedicated, trained, and reliable disaster workforce by working full-time for ten months on federal disaster response and recovery efforts.’
In closing his announcement of the first graduating class of FEMA Corps Youth, Sarino describes his and the agency’s vision of the future, one where ‘FEMA Corps sets the foundation for a new generation of emergency managers’.
DHS arms itselfAs we detailed in the August 28 Whiteout Press article ‘History of DHS Ammunition Purchases’, federal emergency management agencies are looking more and more like a military army every day.
The federal government’s procurement website actually lists DHS’ requests for bids to supply it with ammunition and military weaponry. All of the orders listed in the above article, including the orders for hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition, are publicly available athttp://www.fbo.gov.
One look at a chart of DHS ammunition purchases over the past decade reveals a drastic spike in orders of bullets recently, totaling in the billions of rounds. Other charts available online show a similar drastic spike in the purchases of accompanying weaponry by the Department of Homeland Security.
What is the US federal government preparing for? And why does it feel it needs an army of brainwashed youth, millions of guns, thousands of armored fighting vehicles and literally billions of rounds of ammunition, just to provide relief to the American people during a natural disaster? Any historian will tell you it sounds more like the arming of the Hitler Youth than an army of first responders fighting forest fires and hurricanes.
Subscribe to Whiteout Press. It’s FREE and you can unsubscribe at any time. Simply submit your email address below.Related articles:Obama Martial Law EO moves power from FEMA to PresidentHistory of DHS Ammunition PurchasesMap of Unmanned Spy Drone Bases in USACLU sues US over Obama Assassinations of AmericansSC Citizens rush to defend Posse ComitatusInsect Size Spy Drones unveiled

President Obama, in my C +/B- student's estimation is not real smart - he is ambitious, vain, prickly and humorless in manner that not real smart folks tend to be.  I sure do hope that those who write his speeches and draw up his vision for him are not really planning to use FEMA/DHS and other shadowy agencies as a private army of occupation.

That could get me all paranoid and stuff, but not enough to become a Republican.

Sun Times Investigative Reporters Tim Novak and Chris Fusco are Worth Ten Pat Fitzgeralds and Change.

Tim Novak and Chris Fusco of the Chicago Sun Times - real newsmen.

"I got a guy," is the Chicago Preamble . . .to everything.  There is always 'a guy' who makes something happen for better or worse.  If you have tree roots insinuating their arboreal fingers through your sewer pipes, someone will have ' a guy' once you utter the first syllables of your plaintiff cries of anguish - Kennedy Brothers Plumbing - their bona fides - Brother Rice guys, who roded out Mrs. Balauskas's pipes and never charged the octogenarian widow.  Where they come from and past performance, plus the cache of your mentioning Bubbles Quinlan during your call to the Brothers Kennedy are what make them 'your guy,' now; much more than the actual plumbing job and subsequent billing.

Your guy has an ever expanding web of connection linking you and souls Six Degrees of Separation square rooted to the sum of length of service and geography.

The Chicago Preamble is math based. Tim Noval knows this.  That is why he is the preeminent Chicago investigative reporter.  He is a gum-shoe ink-slinger without parallel.

If you live in Chicago, you have a guy and that guy may have gone to school with you, dated your sister, played over cousin in the St. Rita v. Brother Rice Championship game of 1983, helped your mom on the Richard M. Daley for Cook County States Attorney Race up at Congressman Marty Russo's old office, bought World's Finest Chocolate bars from your kids, or helped you boost freight out of yards over by 49th Street & Kostner when you were on the shorts after two semesters at DePaul.

An incident, a favor, a phone call, or larcenous dabble on the edges of the law may link you and 'your guy.'

We are only as good, as what we do when no one is watching.   You and your guy ( or person/woman/life-partner & etc.) might become public figures.  It all depends.. . on lots of stuff.

Chicago knows the Vanecko name because of its association to Clan Daley.  The nearer 'your guy' is power connects you to the juice - for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part. . . .and sometimes long after that.  

Chicago knows the sad and tragic connection between the name Vanecko and Koschman only because Tim Novak and his teamwork with Chris Fusco is a pitbull who does not let go of a story found the Chicago Preamble working all over the city with investments, sewers and possibly . . .possibly . . .influence barter at all levels of city government.

Today, Tim Novak continues with a case involving several 'guys' - mutually attracted souls -and weapons violations.

Finkl is a member of the family that formerly owned A. Finkl & Sons Co., the Near North Side steel business founded in 1879, eight years after the Great Chicago Fire. The Finkls were major supporters of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, hosting political events for him at the steel plant where Blagojevich’s father once worked. The Finkls sold the steel company five years ago.Finkl, 49, is founder and chief executive officer of Finkl Enterprises, whose holdings included Jetty Security, Radar Pictures and several other businesses. Radar has helped finance movies for Radar Productions, which is headed by former Chicago Sun-Times owner Ted Field. Some of those movie deals involved Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley who late last year was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of David Koschman nearly nine years ago.

Novak's prose morphs to poetry at line eight of the above: " . . .deals involved Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley who . . . "

See? Reporters with the honesty, skills and Chicago savvy are much more valuable than a stick-figure talisman of  ethical purity like former US Mouthpiece Patrick Fitzgerald.  What did the guy actually do about corruption besides net a few smelt, get a saliva soaking from Media types and land swell sinecures - The Big Apple -cheeked boy went the Chicago Way, God Bless him.

Tim Novak remains on the scent and given Chicago's intricate web of connections any one of us 2 million souls might have or strand of spider silk get a tug from Tim.

I only wish that Tim Novak could apply his tenacity and courage and skills to G. Flint Taylor, Jon Loevy Locke Bowman and Lawsuit Lotto Lawyer industry. Now, that is one smelly old bone that needs a good chaw.

Y'All Feelin' Me? -Our Village in the American Balkans

Community First Slate Candidates Boxing Night at Bourbon Street January 30th

Worth Township Democratic Committeeman John O'Sullivan between and the legendary Kansas Comet, NFL Bears Gayle Sayers and Leo High School President Dan McGrath.

Worth Township Democratic Committeeman John O'Sullivan is a public leader who puts Community First and is one of the last of the public people who actually walk-the-walk.John O'Sullivan, like 19th Ward Alderman Matt O'Shea, is a 'with the voters' public servant who can be seen out on the streets actually listening to the voters. Johnny O' listens to people and respects what they have to say about the government that they are getting; so, when John O'Sullivan speaks, I tend to listen as carefully to what he has to say because I know that he is speaking for my neighbors.  When Johnny O' speaks, it reflects what he is already doing. 

Johnny O' has been there for the constituents of Worth Township that takes in a healthy chunk of the south side of Chicago, taking the fight to powerful and the 'bullet-proof' as he did leading the way in the Burr Oak cemetary nightmare, standing up to bosses and finding real paths away from street violence
John O'Sullivan is backing the Community First Slate of Candidates. 

I'll be at Bourbon Street on wednesday, Johnny!

 

Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 8:56:26 PM
Subject: Worth Township Community First Party

Dear Friends,

It is with great pleasure that I proudly endorse the Community First Party for the Worth Township Government.  After much consideration I do believe it is time for a change. The Township of Worth includes the communities of Oak Lawn, Evergreen Park, Alsip, Blue Island, Palos Heights, Chicago Ridge, Worth, Crestwood, Merrionette Park, Bridgeview, Hometown and Robbins. The Community First party consists of 8 unique individuals that each bring fresh new ideas to township government.  The slate of candidates has agreed upon some very proactive points that you should be aware of :

1. Term limits for elected township officials.

2. Suspension of pensions for elected township officials.

3.  Salary freeze for elected township officials.

They have agreed upon these points because they want MORE FOR YOU - for our seniors, our families and our children!  They put our COMMUNITY FIRST!

Please join us for a fundraiser on Wednesday, Jan. 30th at Bourbon Street from 6-9 pm. $35 includes open bar, buffet style dinner, Olympic style boxing matches featured by Celtic Boxing Club in Mt. Greenwood. It's sure to be a great time and an opportunity for you to meet the candidates.  

Please take a minute to open the attached documents.  I'm sure you will be impressed.  Attached you will find:

1.  Candidate information

2.  Event Ticket /information

Please feel free to call me with any questions or concerns.  I look forward to seeing you there and I look forward to the future of Worth Township.

Regards,

John O'Sullivan

Worth Township Democratic Committeeman

708-259-7443

A History Lesson on Abortion:The Catholic Clownfish

 An Evangelical Theologian credits the American Catholic Church for taking the lead from the get-go over the monstrosity of ruling -Roe v. Wade, or the start of the decline in America's greatness.  This article from the Washington Post by R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary provides a historical perspective that is all too often lacking these days.

By the time Roe was handed down, Catholic leaders had developed sophisticated arguments and growing organizations to fight for the pro-life cause. In 1967, six years before Roe, Catholics had led in the creation of the National Right to Life Committee. The Catholic tradition, drawn largely from the natural law, became the foundational intellectual contribution to the development of a united front against abortion. Nevertheless, for evangelicals to join the movement in a decisive way, arguments drawn directly from Scripture had to be formed and then preached from the pulpits of evangelical churches.
Those arguments captured the conscience of the evangelical movement and produced a seismic shift within the movement and within the political life of the nation. From the 1980 U. S. presidential election until the present, the pro-life movement has been populated, funded, and directed, for the most part, by evangelical and Roman Catholic leaders. Beyond that, the emergence of crisis pregnancy centers and support systems for women considering abortion have come from the work of millions of pro-life Roman Catholics and evangelicals at the grassroots.
Does this represent a new ecumenism? The reality is actually quite counter-intuitive. The fact that Roman Catholics and evangelicals work together on the front lines of moral and cultural issues should not mislead. The cooperation is genuine and necessary, as we both understand. At the same time, the very Roman Catholics who remain stalwartly pro-life are those Roman Catholics who most closely adhere to the doctrinal teachings of their church. The same is true on the evangelical side, where moral conviction is most clear where doctrinal convictions have the greatest hold.

A devout Jew, who happens to be one of Illinois' most influential civic and business leaders, once told me about the reality of Chicago philanthropy - "It's a Catholic thing."  To paraphrase his words he explained,  without Catholic leadership in philanthropy, like most other public endeavors, Chicago would be one big smoking hole in the ground.  He suggested that I  look at the governing boards of all of the great charities, museums, art galleries, opera, symphony as well as hospitals and social services and you will them dominated by the same big Catholic money people.  To be sure there are Jewish names in abundance, but not any where near the number of Catholics.

My cynical self reflected on the political symbioses that must be considered - the Catholic as clownfish*?  Catholics do not have a tradition of tithing, because of its echo to British Penal Laws that required Irish Catholics to pay tithes in support of the Anglican Church.  The Micks set the table for the American Church for better and worse. Catholics bought pews, kneelers, glass and plumbing in order to build cathedrals.  Pennies made Billion$.  Philanthropy was tribal.  Germans built German national churches, Italians built Italian, French, the French and the Poles the most magnificent Catholic infrastructure in the city of Chicago.  The Irish were called, ironically enough American. That all changed with Cardinal Mundelein in 1916.  Chicago was going to be an America Catholic city.  It is, for better, or worse.

For Better - Mundelein adopted and rivaled the far-sighted Jewish United Fund of Chicago and pulled together a massive social contract with all Chicagoans -

• The CYO
• CISCA, or Catholic Action in all schools
• St. Vincent De Paul Society
• Catholic Charities
• Chicago Catholic Schools Office and hundreds of schools
• Catholic Labor
• St. Mary of Lake Seminary
• Mundelein, IL
• Leading Church voice voice against International Fascism and the "Paper Hanger" & American Communism in Labor and Progressive politics
• Demanded Catholic lay philanthopy

Cardinal Mundelein made the Chicago Catholic Church singularly and unashamedly American.  This is the 'worse' coming into play.

• Priests and nuns mistook the gospels for John Dewey social lab notes
• Some priests and far too many lay persons demanded that Ecumenism replace Catholicism until many parishes became indistinguishable from a Universalist-Unitarian meeting house
• Democracy is hard to parse in hierarchy
• Catholics wanted to become less Catholic and more spiritual - Jocists movement may have had too much to do with this
• Bishop Shiel is forgotten and Saul Alinsky is taught in Catholic schools ( DePaul most especially)
• Democratic politicians used their Catholic identity and helped undermine the faith and the faithful
• Turned Catholic institutions over to the State only to have those institutions gelded

Catholics are not as strong as they were in the 1920's and have far less clout e.g. The HHS Mandate, Government Definition of Marriage and the American Holocaust - Roe v. Wade.  Catholics still pump millions of dollars into Chicago charities and philanthropic ventures, but seem to have ignored the fundamental  reason for philanthropy in the first place - it's an obligation of faith.  Now, too many Catholics give to Planned Parenthood and Gay Marriage initiatives.

Cardinal Mundelein once said , "that not war, nor famine, nor pestilence have brought so much suffering and pain to the human race, as have hasty, ill-advised marriages, unions entered into without the knowledge, the preparation, the thought even an important commercial contract merits and receives. God made marriage an indissoluble contract, Christ made it a sacrament, the world today has made it a plaything of passion, an accompaniment of sex, a scrap of paper to be torn up at the whim of the participants." That was in 1935 and nothing on that truth has changed, except some Catholics and the people they are trying to please.  Cardinal George has said the very same thing for years.

A Clownfish is a good thing. A Catholic Clownfish does great things.  Catholic clowns have not anyone much good.

Baptists and devout Jews are keeping the Church honest about itself anyway.

* Clownfish live in a "symbiotic" relationship with certain anemones. This means they benefit from living with the sea anemone, and the sea anemone benefits from the presence of the clownfish. They are the only fish that are able to live in sea anemones and not get stung by their tentacles. Clownfish are very active fish and are extremely aggressive. Because they are quite active, the clownfish are thought to be "clowning around". They defend their territory and the sea anemone that they live in. Clownfish eat the leftovers from fish on the anemone and algae. The leftovers include copepods, isopods and zooplankton. 

Clownfish have a few ocean predators, but their greatest threat is humans. People who catch clownfish and keep them as pets in aquariums are making a mistake. There are only ten out of more than one thousand types of anemone that are able to host these fish. Many people put the fish in a tank with the wrong anemone. In captivity, the clownfish can live from 3 to 5 years. In the wild, they live 6 to 10 years.

Christ Welcomes Home A Great Lady - Marita Sheehy

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

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

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

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

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

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