Shut up, they said

Oh my, archdiocese of Chicago lawyers at work here, with $15G to spare if this accuser just stops blogging.  Long account, full of details of buffoons and shyster-like behavior. 

Accuser an ex-scriptwriter, names two of the lawyers “Jowls” and “Beady,” gives them starring roles.

They be church lawyers with an offer she refused.  Phew.

Update:  Something’s going on.  As of 2:17 pm, 4/20:

This post has been temporarily removed, it will return soon

Wonders not ceasing yet

Detroit unions under the gun.  Did you say Detroit?

DETROIT—A new state law has emboldened the Detroit mayor and schools chief to take a more aggressive stance toward public unions as the city leaders try to mop up hundreds of millions of dollars in red ink.

Associated Press

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, right, presented his budget to City Council last week.

Robert Bobb, the head of the Detroit Public Schools, late last week sent layoff notices to the district’s 5,466 salaried employees, including all of its teachers, a preliminary step in seeking broad work-force cuts to deal with lower enrollment.

Earlier last week, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing presented a $3.1 billion annual budget to City Council in which he proposed higher casino taxes and substantial cuts in city workers’ health care and pensions to close an estimated $200 million budget gap.

Yes, I said Detroit.

 

Be reasonable and lose, Republicans

Red State’s Erick Erickson on why Trump is doing so well in the polling:

At a time when Republican leaders are trying to look “grown up” and “reasonable” in the eyes of the Washington Press Corps, Michele Bachmann is fighting the left.

Michele Bachmann is willing to pick a fight to replace Obamacare when John Boehner and Eric Cantor are willing to roll over. Bachmann is willing to pick a fight on the debt ceiling when the leadership is, even now, negotiating an increase in the debt ceiling while yet again selling out conservatives.

No time for Mr. Nice Guy in this scenario, he’s saying.  Time to say forget-you to the mainstream media, who love a Republican loser.

On the other hand:

Obviously, the primary reason that this has occurred is that we have become such a bizarrely celebrity-obsessed culture (and therefore our ratings-driven media is totally celebrity-driven) that if one is well known enough, then literally nothing is off the table. It is almost as if we have created an unofficial class of royalty whose members are automatically taken seriously in almost any endeavor simply because they are one of the “chosen people.”

What makes this development particularly offensive is that there isn’t any distinction between fame and infamy anymore. Being well known is just about all that matters, regardless of how or why it happened.

So when Trump approached CPAC with the proposal to speak (for what would become an episode of his Golf Channel reality show), he already had at least half of the credentials needed to qualify for a spot on the podium: He was famous enough to “trump” his extremely questionable “conservatism.” While obviously I can’t prove it, based on what I know about how things are done at CPAC (as a former co-sponsor), I would be surprised if some sort of “donation” from Trump didn’t smooth over any lingering doubts that they may have had about handing over the conference to such an obvious fraud.

Jefferson on another wall

T. Jefferson quoted in other context than the old favorite in a letter about “wall of separation,” here warning about “domiciliary vexation” (!):

“At home, fellow citizens, you best know whether we have done well or ill. The suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless establishments and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our internal taxes. These covering our land with officers, and opening our doors to their intrusions, had already begun that process of domiciliary vexation which, once entered, is scarcely to be restrained from reaching successively every article of produce and property.”

Unnecessary offices, eh?  Useless establishments and expenses, eh?  Covering our land with officers . . . opening our doors to their intrusions, eh? 

That, fellow citizens, is domiciliary vexation.  We must guard against it, eh?

This Catholic did not watch his back

Chancery blokes are credibly accused of axing a pro-life program manager who ran athwart the politically correct and politically connected in the archdiocese of Chicago.  His friends aim to help.
 

Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2011 9:53 AM

Subject: Benefit Dinner for Rey Flores and Family with a talk by Joe Scheidler
Dear Friends,
 
Rey Flores lost his job as Chicago Director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development as a result of the reforms he was making to insure that funds were going to organizations that conform to the teaching of the Church.  He has not been able to find employment since that time and he has a family of five young children to support.  This benefit dinner has been planned to assist the family through a difficult time.
 
Please feel free to forward this notice to your own e-mail list.  Note the options for attending the dinner or donating at the bottom of the invitation.
 
Mary Anne Hackett
 
     
 
Catholic Citizens of Illinois

Pro_life Action League

Present

Benefit Dinner for Rey Flores and Family

Pro-Life Action League founder

Joe Scheidler

will speak on

“Peace in the Pro-Life Movement:
Focusing on the Goal of Defending Life”

Thursday, May 19
7:00pm – 10:00pm
Blue Star Wine Bar
1209 N. Noble St, Chicago, IL

This benefit helps to alleviate the hardship Rey Flores’s family is experiencing during a difficult time of unemployment. More info:

www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/nov/10111201.html

www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2010/aug/10080609

www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2009/nov/09111612

To purchase a ticket or donate visit:

reyfloresfamilybenefit.eventbrite.com

to donate or pay by check, call Nick at 312-952-4855



Catholic Citizens of
                                      Illinois
Pro_life Action League
Students for Life of
                                      IllinoisCatholic VoteBlue Star Wine Bar
Rey Flores is an experienced consultant who has worked in promotion, marketing, and advertising both inside and outside the Catholic Church. He is bilingual and can do marketing in English and Spanish. He is currently job searching and available for work. Rey lives in the Chicago south suburbs with his wife and five children.

Join us for an enjoyable evening on

Thursday, May 19 · 7:00pm – 10:00pm

at the Blue Star Wine Bar

Blue Star Wine bar

View Larger Map

 
     

Trouble ahead for school teachers

Will technology do for schools (teachers) what it did for newspapers (news people)?

“In the final analysis, what technology requires is a substitution of technology for human labor. Computers will do a lot of what teachers do now.” Jumping forward in his chair, he lights up: “Technology is cheap. Labor is really expensive. Education has always been very labor intensive, so if our education system can substitute technology for labor and still provide kids with high quality education, then great!”

It does this everywhere.  I got a computer etc. in the ’80s because it was that or hire a typist because I needed clean copy for clients and editors.  (My newspaper had closed down, I no longer had a copy desk to clean things up, etc.)  Was huge initial outlay I couldn’t afford.  But necessary.

My newspaper, an evening sheet, was done in partly (largely?) by TV, in the ’70s.  What’s to come, therefore, for teachers, many of whom will be priced out of the market, like bicycle-factory workers when that boom went bust early in the 20th century?

Trade deficit be damned, full speed to free trade

You probably think we’re bad off when we import more than we export.  Of course I do, you say.  It’s better to sell more than you buy, right?  Money in the pocket and all that, including more jobs for more Americans.  You are wrong, says this guy from Cato Institute, via Carpe Diem blog, w/hat tip to Newsalert:

“The time to reform the prevailing doctrine of the trade balance is long overdue. The goal of U.S. trade policy should not be to maximize exports and minimize imports in a misbegotten quest for “balanced trade.” The goal should be to maximize the freedom of Americans to buy and sell in global markets for mutual gain, whatever the mix of goods, services, and assets we freely choose to trade.”

How so?

“What the past 30 years show is that the U.S. economy exhibits no sign of suffering during periods when the trade deficit is expanding. To the contrary, the U.S. economy grew more than three times faster during periods when the trade deficit was expanding as a share of GDP compared to those in which it was shrinking (see chart above, click to enlarge):

The chart above?  Here ’tis, below:

trade deficit good

The more the deficit, the better.  Who’d a-thunk it?