Category: Blithe Spirit

Stand-up guys & gals

FYI, here are the non-Jews who have not resigned from Gov Blag’s hate-crimes commission over the Farrakhan-man flap, having apparently decided they can work with the top aide of a Jew-basher who won’t distance herself from his [if not his, whose?] contumelious remarks.  If any are Jewish, I stand corrected:
 
Rev. Willie T. Barrow, Commission Chair
Chair of the Board, Emeritus, Rainbow PUSH Coalition
 
Kimberly M. White, Executive Director
Governor’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes [staff]
 
Lisa Madigan
Attorney General, State of Illinois [oh?]
 
Honorable [sic] Robin Kelly
State Rep., District 38
 
Honorable [sic] Larry McKeon
State Rep., District 13
 
Honorable [sic] Carol Ronen
State Sen., District 7
 
Rev. H. Douglas Bankhead
Second Baptist Church
 
Ertharin Cousin
America’s Second Harvest
 
Rick Garcia
Equality Illinois
 
Denise Gordon
PCI Inc.
 
Sgt. Kelly Henby
Illinois State Police
 
Ernestine Jackson
City of Bloomington
 
Ann Lata P. Kalayil
South Asian American and Policy Research Institute
 
Shannon Sullivan
Coalition for Education on Sexual Orientation
 
Karen Lennon
Entreprenour
 
Laura McAlpine
The Coalition for Education on Sexual Orientation
 
[Sister Claudette Marie Muhammad
Nation of Islam {top aide of Jew-basher}]
 
Gail Purkey
Illinois Federation of Teachers [!]
 
Gilberto, Romero Jr.
League of United Latin American Citizens
 
Sgt. Anthony J. Scalise
Chicago Police Department, Civil Rights Section [!]
 
Laura Thrall
YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago
 
Rev. Ronald Webb
Shiloah Baptist Church

A moving experience

Just moved but have been reading the noosepapers. 
 
Have wondered where the non-Jews disappeared to in the wake of the Farrakhan man’s latest spew and subsequent resignations of Jews from Gov Blago’s love-hate commission.  Are Jews the only ones who object to Nation of Islam contumely? 
 
Have also wondered what went on in the mind of Cub manager Dusty Baker, if anything, when his player Barry Bonds showed up beefed up — steroid use is strongly suspected — when Dusty managed the San Fran Giants. 
 
Will have to consult notes on various receipts for services rendered by rug cleaners and telephone installers before offering further comments disguised as wonderings.  For now, however, the body is tired and th-th-th-that’s all, folks.

Off the Yids?

Such a day for Jews and cops in Chicago.  The former, excoriated by Minister [sic] Farrakhan, a.k.a. Calypso Louie, had to put up with one scheming governor and a condoning black state rep [wrong: senator] from Maywood who also represents part of Oak Park. 
 
The one cried the 1950s anti-anti-communist “guilt by association” as what motivates Jewish members of an anti-discrimination commission who resigned because another member is aide-de-camp to Minister [sic] F. and not only invited commission members to hear Louie excoriate Jews but did not denounce him, the gov talking as if she and Louie merely attended the same lodge or hung out together at the same barbershop.
 
“What I really enjoyed about the commission [when she was a member] is that it was unique, in that we were all different–different backgrounds, different religions, different geographical areas,” Lightford said. “If all were alike, or the majority were alike, and you were evaluating an issue that took place, it would be all like minds.”
Like all agreeing that you don’t excoriate Jews at the United Center?  That would sure be a drag.  What a ditz.  Her Jewish constituents, not to mention Catholics, Protestants, and secular humanists who presumably object to Louie’s tirades, have to love her.  She a stand-up girl.
 
Cops, meanwhile, find Alderwoman Madeline Haithcock still seeking to name a block or two after Fred Hampton, whose “off the pigs” comic books were a big seller among young bloods, one of whom lay in wait for two of them in 1969 and shotgunned them to death before being shot and killed by cops.  Yes, he was one of Fred’s Black Panthers, Fred had to admit.  Two weeks later Fred was shot and killed by cops who may have been a bit leery of asking questions before shooting.
 
Minister Louie drew a full house to the United Center for his most recent excoriation of Jews.  It was “Saviour’s Day” for his Nation of Islam.  He has a record of such effusions.  But Gov. Blago says so what?  Louie’s “minister of protocol” belongs on his commission anyhow.  What, me worry?  He’s not excoriating governors, is he?

Verbal

Never let it be said that Mayor Daley is lost for words.  Chi Trib’s Kass put a microphone in his face and asked him if Forrest Claypool, candidate in this month’s primary for Cook County board president, seeking to replace John Stroger, is a reformer, as he is being greeted by lib Dems in Oak Park and elsewhere.  The mayor said:
“He worked very hard as [Daley’s] chief of staff. He worked very hard at the Park District [where he was superintendent]. I am supporting John Stroger. I am not negative about anyone.”
 
Mayor, is Claypool a reformer?
 
“That would be up to him. I mean, everybody is a reformer. I think everybody is a reformer. I mean everybody is. Regardless of every life, you reform, you change. Some people don’t drink anymore. Some do. Some smoke. Some don’t smoke. We are all reformers. Everybody is a reformer.”
Does this mean Chicago is ready for reform, as Alderman Bauler famously denied in 1955, the night Mayordaley I was elected mayor?

Page one headlines!

Sun-Times: “Where are all the naked men?”  Vanity Fair has naked women.  Why no naked men?  Seriously, we want naked men!  We want naked men!  This an AP story out of New York exploring an important social phenomenon.  No thanks.
 
Chi Trib: “Wisconsin’s lonely crusader fights on,” about Sen. Feingold (who has his name on an anti-free-speech act that forbids buying air time at what he and McCain say is the wrong time) as arguer against Patriot Act is left-wing puffery.  Can you imagine a lonely-crusader story about Joe Scheidler, who’s made a career out of opposing abortion?
 
Next to it is “Pro-war ads take aim at swing state,” about 527 ads in Minnesota that feature war widows and other bereaved saying it’s worth it.  Power Line, which has been all over this story, notes, ” The story omits almost entirely any discussion of the wild local reaction to the airing of the ads in Minnesota.”  It also spells out GOP strategy in running the ads here with a view to going national with them or something like them, but that’s standard, isn’t it? 
 
The funding group, Progress for America, not to be confused with Howard Dean’s Dem party group Democracy for America, is mentioned in the same breath with Moveon.org but without mention of George Soros’ role in the latter.  I would have expected something more chewy, shall we say, from our home-grown nationally aspiring newspaper.  For a fairly neat rundown on 527s, have a look at a Wash Post piece of 10/17/04, “After Late Start, Republican Groups Jump Into the Lead: Since August, 527s Raised Six Times as Much as Democrats.”  Yes. ’04.
 
Finally, consider Sun-Times Controversy essay Sunday by Don Rose, “THE POWER OF ART MAKES GOOFS OF US ALL: WE WATCH WITH ASTONISHMENT AS MUSLIMS RIOT IN PROTEST OF A CARTOON, BUT PROVOCATIVE ART HAS TRIGGERED VIOLENCE FOR CENTURIES, EVEN IN CHICAGO,” which does not appear on-line.  It’s admittedly a thumb-sucker for a Sunday opinion section, but annoying because it shows what runs through writer’s and editor’s mind, as in such a bother, all this Islamo-fascism talk, we’ve seen it all (and done it, for that matter) before. 
 
Bad cess to thinkers of that ilk.  This is how MSM writers have their way, far more than slant and omission and exaggeration, but by deciding what’s worth discussing.  They frame the argument.  But the power of art to inflame (and inspire) is not what comes to mind for most people in these days of fatwa and beheading.  No, no.  Sorry, Don Rose.
================
Update:
From Reader Nancy:  Regarding the lonely crusade story about Feingold that appeared in the Tribune today, there was also one about Joseph Scheidler which began on the front page and ended on page 16.  It sounded like a lonely crusade story to me.  The title of the quite lenghty article was:  “Defiance pays off for abortion foe:  Justices rule protests weren’t racketeering” by Judy Peres and Mary Ann Fergus, Tribune staff reporters.  The headline on page 16 read:  “Roe vs. Wade led him from PR to activism.”  The article, at least in the way I interpreted it, highlighted Scheidler’s struggles throughout the years.  NJT
 
She’s right.
=======================
Update again:
From Reader Bob: I note that Feingold was treated even-handedly, with a section well  back in the story on what critics and admirers say about him.  On the other hand, Scheidler is called a “tireless zealot” in the  first graph, not by named critics but by the Trib writers.  And everbody knows that lonely crusaders are the good guys and  zealots are the baddies.

Oak Park village board speaks out

JIM BOWMAN

Wednesday Journal of OP&RF, March 1, 2006

Watching the Oak Park village board on TV, you see people walking on eggs with each other, except when Martha Brock has to take a breather, and then there’s nothing to do but watch Robert Milstein’s hair grow. Isn’t it time to translate for them and help them tell it straight?

Take the Board Majority (please) in the matter of buying the Baltimore Colt building for us at the low, low price of $5 million, plus maybe another building for $2.5 mill. Wouldn’t it be a relief for all concerned to let it all hang out, as they say in therapy? Let’s do it, citing nay-sayers and then reporting what the Board Majority-Milstein, Elizabeth Brady, Brock, and Geoff Baker-can’t say.

The Baltimore Colt decision-the building really was named after the Colts a long time ago-gives a “blank check” for historic preservation, says down-with-Colt Trustee Ray Johnson. “When I heard ‘History Matters,’ I didn’t realize they meant ‘at all costs.’”

Board Majority: You weren’t listening!

“I don’t know where this is going,” said Johnson. “I’ve asked the question, and you don’t get an answer; you get blank stares.”

BM: We’re tired!

Pro-Colt trustees listened only to “the few extremists” in their New Leadership Party, said Ed Baehrend, owner of a Wright-designed house.

BM: Hey. If it’s not moving, preserve it!

“Why anyone would bother to participate in another lengthy process,” when consultant, steering committee, and developer have all struck out, escapes Jon Hale, of Forum Oak Park.

BM: Hey. We’re Oak Park and they’re not! Do they want our business or don’t they?

“Rebuilding the Colt building would represent … a dogmatic, single-minded focus on historical preservation at any cost,” said the Business and Civic Council.

BM: We don’t care!

A new 10-step process for issuing the Colt-rehab and other requests for proposal (RFP) “need not be burdensome or consume an inordinate amount of time,” said President David Pope, pouring oil on troubled waters.

BM: You have a problem with burdensome and inordinate?

The BM kissed off the superblock citizen committee months ago, tipping their hand, says Jon Hale, of Forum Oak Park.

BM: You don’t get it. We don’t want no stinking committee advice! Let them put their stinking advice where the sun don’t shine!

The citizen committee’s plan was delivered after months of listening to citizens, developer Taxman’s architect, and village-hired experts on traffic, development and historic preservation, reported Wednesday Journal.

BM: How many times do we have to say we don’t want no stinking committee advice?!

Meanwhile, the BM has a trick or two up its sleeve in the contest being enacted before our very eyes on TV sets and at village hall. Consider recent public remarks and letter to the editor by BM member Milstein-and, if you don’t mind, piquant responses by my friend Jake (not his real name), who has been pestering for recognition.

 Milstein urges us “to rescue [by use of eminent domain power] areas of Oak Park [held] hostage for multiple decades.”

“I’ve got just the bozos for you,” says Jake. “As soon as you’re ready, let me know. I want to help.”

 He would like “an architectural contest.”

“No, no, no, no,” says Jake. “Let’s have a musical. One of us can be Judy, I’ll be Mickey, the other kids can be lots of other people. Somewhere there’s an old barn and …” (I shut him up.)

 He wants a definitive idea of what’s best for Marion Street.

“This one I like,” says Jake, who adds that he has spent his entire life looking for a definitive idea of something and is willing to pursue this goal “or at least watch others pursue it.”

That’s it, then. Pretty good day for me. I liberated village trustees from cramped board-meeting style. I got Jake off my back. Where Jake goes next is anybody’s guess. Same goes for the trustees, I suppose.

Disguise

Sun-Times has pic of Minister Farrakhan at Savior’s Day yesterday at the United Center, with head “FARRAKHAN SLAMS FILMMAKERS.”  But the caption (none of it is online), says he
hit “Hollywood Jews” for “promoting lesbianism, homosexuality” and other “filth” and said conservatives and Zionists manipulated President Bush into war.
That headline is misleading, I’d say, and disguises Farrakhan’s anti-semitism.  One must think Sun-Times wants to go easy on him, not upset readers, etc.  Why?  Chi Trib, on the other hand, doesn’t even have the item.  Why not?
 
Both papers carried the story last week about Gov. Blagojevich’s appointment to his Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes of Farrakhan’s “minister of protocol” — the Trib an AP story, S-T its own, by its Springfield bureau chief, Dave McKinney.  Some Jews objected (no one else apparently), citing Farrakhan’s history and last year’s Savior’s Day speech in which he said,
“Jewish people don’t have no hands that are free of the blood of us. They owned slave ships, they bought and sold us. They raped and robbed us.”
The new appointee invited commission members to attend this year’s Savior’s Day address, quoted above.  If any attended, they got the usual earful. 
 
One who would have been disappointed was commission member Richard Hirschhaut, director of the Illinois Holocaust Museum, who said the speech would be a “significant litmus test” on whether the new appointee should stay or go.  He had hoped that this woman’s presence on the commission could open a dialogue with Farrakhan’s group and perhaps moderate the past anti-Semitic tone of its leader.
 
Didn’t happen.

Cheney exposed

Was I the only faithful Sun-Times reader to do a double-take (you look once and then right away look again) at the Bobbsey-twin presentation yesterday, page three, under the AP Cheney-got-his-gun story? 
 
* Lynn Sweet (lsweet3022@aol.com) oozing irony from every pore with her very smart remarks, as “Hey, heard about cell phones?” when he said no press aide was with him and a closing “Mr. Vice President, you have to ask?” when he asked Brit Hume, “Are they going to take my word for what happened?”
 
* Doug Elfman seeing Cheney in the mold of “an officer in King Louis VVI’s court — proud of a blase disdain for the people he serves” and looking “non-contrite [showing] the sneer.  The chill.” 
 
The issue here is less Sweet’s bias in cutesy drag or Elfman’s obvious distaste for his subject than editors’ placement and featuring of their brief commentaries.  It’s the sort of thing that makes an editorial point better than any editorial.  Does Sun-Times have an op-ed page?