Jack Roeser and Ben Joravsky.
“Political Shootout Sunday” will feature Jack Roeser (no relation), well-known conservative, founder of Otto Engineering in Carpentersville and also of Family Taxpayers…along with a first-timer, one of the best journalists covering Chicago—a man whose work I have admired for many years—Ben Joravsky of “The Reader.” Joravsky, a dogged researcher, has brought the issue of TIFs (Tax Increment Financing) to the fore in his savvy, knowledgeable columns in “The Reader.” At first glance you would say there are no two people more diverse than Roeser and Joravsky…and maybe that’s right—but both are hardy independents who are not afraid of challenging the prevailing system. That’s Roeser and Joravsky this Sunday at 8 p.m. WLS-AM (890).
Archdiocese.
Fr. Daniel McCormack, the child abuser, got five years. Even with the maximum of seven, he would be out of prison for good behavior in 18 months. Do you mean to tell me that if they picked up a lay creep lurking in an alley someplace…with a record of having abused five kids… they would have given him five years—even of a first-time offense? I don’t think so…but I can understand the reluctance of the boys’ parents not to have their children undergo the nightmare of having to testify in detail. The sentencing guideline ought to be stricter. Much more so.
All the same, my friends, did you read the “Sun-Times” story carefully? Colleen Dolan (she’s the jumbo-sized, white-haired super-Mom press spokesperson for the archdiocese who just happened to materialize overnight out of thin air: from where? Who hired her? What’s her credentials? Where’d she come from? Who does she report to?) had this to say to the press.
“He’s not been accused of rape. Never. There’s a big difference between abuse and assault. It wasn’t assault which is a more egregious crime.”
To which Fr. Thomas Doyle, author of “Sex, Priests and Secret Codes” responded: “There’s no distinction for the victims. If it’s a sexual intrusion on a victim by a priest, it’s devastating.”
Why didn’t she say this?
I understand the distinction between rape and assault but to me this cosmetics-type statement on the distinctions still shows that they don’t get it over on Superior street. The entire story of Dan McCormack is one of favoritism in the seminary, of “lost” records that could have proved someone was almost criminally delinquent about this guy, the failure to notify Cardinal George after he was charged although the Cardinal was on retreat at Mundelein.
I want to tell you the sense of urgency and importance is still not at Superior street. Bureaucracy rules. The point is, my dear Colleen Dolan, that kids have a right to trust a priest no matter whether it is abuse and non-rape…trust a priest from pulling down their pants and fondling them. This parsing of distinctions makes me ill.
Sneed has in her column the mention that possibly McCormack was on a vacation just before the sentencing with a high archdiocesan official.
Her sources on stories of clerical abuse are pretty accurate. They come from a highly bona fide source.
Bush.
Rep. Mark Kirk, afraid of his own shadow in his North Shore district, still doesn’t understand. The establishment Republican who has turned tail on his previous national security record in order to get reelected in 2008…so as to be a careerist…believes that Scooter Libby should not have had a commutation. Presidential pardons and commutations do not overrule the system, Mark. The pardon system is part of the system, designed by the founders to temper justice with mercy. Pardoning people who are not qualified is something each president has to wrestle with—but the power to pardon or commute is not extra-legal. Why can’t he get that through his noggin?
As for me, I think Bush should have gone the whole way and pardoned Libby. No less a prosecutor than Rudy Giuliani has said that offenses discovered peripheral to the central charge…if not germane…are regularly passed over. Bush may yet grant a full pardon, of course. We’ll see.
Pop Music Trivia.
All right, forsake the search engines. This is a pop song from World War II, “P. S. I Love You” words by Johnny Mercer, music by Gordon Jenkins. (Frank Nofsinger should know it). The lyrics purport to be part of a letter from a young wife to her World War II husband. Finish the appropriate lines. Remember the honor system’s on.
Dear, I thought I’d drop a line/
The weather’s cool, the folks are fine/
_______________________/
P. S., I love you.
Yesterday we had some rain/
But, all in all, I can’t complain/
_______________________?
P. S., I love you.
Write to the Browns just as soon as you’re able/
They came around to call/
______________________________/
And, let me see, I guess that’s all.
Nothing else for me to say/
And so I’ll close, but by the way/
__________________________/
P. S., I love you.
Have fun.
Mark Kirk was a staffer, so he started the career thing early. Porter wasn't going to endorse anyone in the '00 primary (due to "respect for the voters" or something like that) until it looked like Kirk was going down.
ReplyDeleteThis will probably be his final term. Given a choice between a liberal and a neo-liberal, liberals will go with the real Democrat most everytime.
Tom-
ReplyDeleteI toss in the towel. I was between ages four and eight during WWII, and not interested in love songs. I think that ditty has been doused in too much saccharine for my taste anyway. Why did you not choose a patriotic theme to celebrate the day, (i.e. "The Boogy Woogy Bugle Boy Of Company B," etc.?
Reality,
ReplyDeleteWho is the Liberal and who is the neo-Liberal? While Kirk has as few positives, he is certainly no neo-Liberal. Is he a plain old left "liberal"?
JBP
Congrats Tom on bringing in Ben and Jack to your show Sunday. That is like getting Larry Bird and Magic Johnson on the Olympic Team together.
ReplyDeleteTwo of the most interesting guys in Chicago, well-informed, provocative-and able to back it up. Outstanding combo!
JBP
Under your logic MERCY Tom, the dear sweet illegal Mexicans should be given AMNESTY!
ReplyDeleteLET ME BE BLUNT: Is it because Mark Rich or Scooter Libby are Dear Dear sweet Jewish boys with connections in high places that they deserve SPECIAL TREATMENT!? Is it now anti-semetic to convict such people regardless of what they have done? Just what part of the word PERJURY do you not understand THOMAS ROESER!!!!? Remember Boesky another sweetie.... MERCY? Affirmative action for the well connnected?
The judge appointed by Bush 1 stated the evidence was OVERWHELMING against Lewis Libby. AND the whole legal system is built on telling the truth!
Even President Clinton got away with Perjury because of his dear sweet merciful connections. Remember the book SELLOUT by Schippers, Tom? YOU had him on your show..... Are we to forget all of that?
Tom I am ashamed of you! Mushy Tom....
So much for 2008 and the GOP chances to retake Congress and hold onto the Presidency. The commutation of Libby's prison sentence made it obvious to everyone that privilege and power rule at the White House. I will not vote for any candidate that supports what Bush did with Libby. If the rule of law is to mean anything, it has to apply to all of us even Bush's buddies.
ReplyDeleteThe neo-cons who now infest the Republican party... you know, the Scooter Tooters like THOMAS ROESER could care less about 2008..... just like they could care less about the perpetuation of the tax cuts which will expire thanks to the flowering of their rancid self-serving NON-CONSERVATIVE agenda!
ReplyDeleteMr. Powers: Yes, I need to clarify. Given the choice between a liberal in the Republican Party and a liberal in the Democratic Party, voters tend to go with the Democratic candidate, and will probably do so this time around in the 10th Congressional. Especially based on Mr. Kirk's recent margin.
ReplyDeleteDuring the George Ryan years I as a conservative Republican got the strong feeling that George Ryan was not a Republican at all, but a Republican In Name Only, a RINO. There was a political stench that followed Ryan everywhere. George surrounded himself with professional "in for the buck" politicians which led to selfish corruption. That selfish corruption led to the downfall of the Republican Party in Illinois. To top the rancid cabal off Ryan commuted the sentences of the death row inmates.
ReplyDeleteWe now have a President, George Bush, who carries the same stench. He too is surrounded by RINOS called neo-cons, many former trotskyites and leftists who have stolen the Republican party at the national level by taking over think tanks and displacing traditional conservatism with their clever intellectual trojan horse deceit. Many non-thinking Republicans from reading their rags like the Weekly Standard have fallen for their flawed mantra which includes open borders, globalism at the expense of sovereignty (ie. WTO), blind love of communist China (constructive engagement), "free trade" at the expense of american jobs, hispanic voters at the expense of social conservatives, big government spending, and preemptive war with nation building (Iraq). George Bush carries their banner high. Their policies have taken the Republican party at the national level from control of the House and the Senate and Presidency to just the control of the Presidency with a President whose poll ratings from their policies are at a unredeemable historic low. None of their polices have been a success and yet they cling to them like a bar of gold. Additionally to get democratic support for their causes, the President has swung to the Kennedy left on everything from Education to Immigration. The middle class again and again has been against the neo-con goals. But the neo-cons and the President arrogantly simply don't care. They have virtually stepped on all the traditional conserative values from limited govenment with reduced government spending to a non-interventionist-non policing the world foreign policy. They have virtually ignored all the social conservative issues.
So here we are with a president and his neo-con buddies who are setting up the deck for a Republican loss of the presidency too along with the continued loss of the House and Senate! How many years will it take to reverse this damage? So is this not being a TRAITOR to everything that was Republican and Conservative? You tell me!!!
And now...... again... we have another false republican ala Ryan in a high place commutes the sentence of a convicted person, Scooter Libby because it suits his inner clique of neo-con stooges who are tearing everything that is Republican and Conservative apart....
Traitors?.... you bet!
Tom,
ReplyDeleteI was the first caller who commended Ben regarding his work (TIF / Olympic) in the Reader. I commented on the impact of ILLEGAL aliens on the taxpayers of Cook County and let Jack know he is wrong on immigration. I didn't appreciate Jack's condescending choice of words (good "boy") when I said I voted for Bush.
I am a 4th generation Chicagoan but I will most likely leave in the next few years because I can not afford tax increases in the thousands of dollars to pay for Daley graft and schools overcrowded with illegal aliens.
Conservative Republicans used to stand for enforcing the rule of law, America First policies and limited involvement in foreign affairs (people like Senator Taft). America needs candidates who are willing to defend the rule of law and the middle class and until the Republicans can find such a candidate, they will never win another election in Illinois or on the national level. Ted Kennedy lied about immigration “reform” (there would be no more Amnesty, borders will be enforced, immigrants will not be a burden on society, etc.) in 1965 and 1986 and Bush / McCain joined him this year.
Thanks Tom for putting on a new contributor (Ben Joravsky) and I look forward to future programs which will feature new guests with different takes on issues which will interest conservatives in the future. I also hope at some point our state and nation will elect Pat Buchanan type representatives who will support America First, Always First. The nation is coming around to his point of view (66% against the war, 78% against Leave No Illegal Alien Behind).
Jason
Norwood Park