respublica

Roseland, it was a wonderful life

On January 2 I wrote a post about my grammar school on the south side of Chicago's Roseland neighborhood.  Saturday night I received a comment on that post from a man who grew up not only in Roseland the same time I did, and not only lived on the same street as I did, but who grew up in the same house my father grew up in.  How is that for kismet?  The main discussion was about Brenan school, now known as Alex Haley Academy, but thanks to the comment and emails going back and forth, I now have some very old photos of Roseland itself. 

Here is what Gary wrote about Brenan and Roseland:  "Teachers at Brenan used to call the school the "country club," because it was such a middle class, grounded school with few behavior problems and plenty of good students. The neighborhood wasn't wealthy, just very solid and close. The Roseland community was a wonderful place in which to grow up."

Here is a view of old Roseland in pictures, scenes well before my time I have to add.  Thankfully something is still before my time.

Love this, home delivery, wonder if any old milk bottles survive?

Gately's People Store, an institution

State Theater, spent many a Saturday afternoon there, not when this photo was taken, of course.

Roseland, 1934

1927

Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom has taken up the "math formula" gauntlet which is proving to be so popular with writers and ad agencies and psychologists these days.  What gives here?  I really believed once I got out of high school my exposure to algebra and geometry was over, kind of like getting a flu shot.  Age should protect us from somethings.  Guess not.  Jeff is using algebra, he says geometry, to explain the left liberal position on the Iraq elections. 

d/dt (mv) = 0 ; v = const
Which means...well just read it for yourself.

Monday's Etiquette lesson

In our sporadic series on etiquette as taught by the Belleville News-Democrat's Monday morning manners expert, Dianne Isbell, we once again reconstruct this morning's conversation between the man about the house (MAtH) and myself.  I dearly wish Dianne's columns were put up on the paper's internet site, but alas, they are not.  So you just have to trust that I am quoting accurately.  Truth is better than fiction most of the time anyway.

Me:  Dianne Isbell used her entire column today discussing gravy boats.

MAtH: 

Me:  She got five questions about the use of gravy boats and ladles from someone and she commends the thoroughness of the questions.  This person seems to have two gravy boats, one of which has a "permanently glued plate underneath" and another one which is "glass but doesn't have a plate underneath but does have a spout."  Who has two gravy boats?

MAtH:  Do we have a gravy boat?

Me:  I don't think so.

MAtH: 

Me:  Get this question..."Is it proper to pour the gravy on the potatoes by smashing a hole in the center with the bottom of the ladle?" 

MAtH:  Smash?  Someone who is worried about proper use of gravy boats is using the word smash?

Me:  Here is what Dianne said:  "Many years ago the standard rule for pouring gravy was to pour it..."  wait, that's just too long, hold on,  "...it is not acceptable to use the bowl of the ladle to smash a hole in the potatoes."

MAtH:  Smash...harhahheh

Me:  Listen to this:  "Can diners use a piece of their roll or bread to sop up leftover gravy on the plate?"

MAtH:  Stupid question, of course they can, I do it all the time.

Me:  Dianne says:  "It is not acceptable to use your fingers and a piece of bread to sop it up.  It reminds me of lifting your plate to lick it clean.  It also gives the impression you didn't get enough to eat, or that you are a glutton."  hahahahahhahaa

MAtH:  You're not supposed to lick the plate?

Me:  Listen to this ending:  "Definitely do not use your teaspoon to eat gravy either, not only is it improper, but you would then not have a teaspoon for your dessert or coffee."

MAtH:  Do we have teaspoons?

Me:  Don't you have to get to work?

MAtH:  When did you ever make gravy?

And how did you feel?

John Podhoretz writing in today's New York Post takes on all those who just can't be happy for the Iraqis and their election.

WHEN you heard about the stunning success of the Iraqi elections, were you thrilled? Did you see it as a triumph for democracy and for the armed forces of the United States that have sacrificed and suffered and fought so valiantly over the past 18 months to get Iraq to this moment?

Or did you momentarily feel an onrush of disappointment because you knew, you just knew, that this was going to redound to the credit of George W. Bush? This means you, Michael Moore. I'm talking to you, Teddy Kennedy.  And I would add the writers of this weeks Newsweek, still appearing on cable news shows and finding it difficult, if not impossible to swallow their disappointment that the election did not turn out to be a monstrous horror.

Podhoretz:  Okay, what politician wants to join Kerry in pooh-poohing an election in which at least 8 million Iraqis braved death to cast a ballot? What politician wants to cite Mubarak and Abdullah in support of that position?

Hillary? Hillary, are you there?

Wow, suddenly it's so quiet in here you can hear crickets chirping. 

The view from Chris Muir

Day by Day Cartoons weighs in: click to enlarge

Scrappleface takes aim at media reporting on Iraq elections with satire.  Satire?  More like truth.

(2005-01-30) -- News reports of terrorist bombings in Iraq were marred Sunday by shocking graphic images of Iraqi "insurgents" voting by the millions in their first free democratic election.  read it all

Faces of the election

The election in Iraq is presenting some amazing images

The DB rears its ugly head just as predicted

Friday I linked a post by James Lileks who described what to watch for when the press corps began reporting on the Iraq election.  He used the phrase "damned but" meaning no matter how well the election turns out each report will couch the good news with a "but" and then go on to emphasize the bad.  Turns out he was correct.  Look at the new Newsweek cover (Meet the Insurgents)which flys in the face of what is going on in Iraq today in so far as voting is concerned.  Could they have put a cover photo of joyous Iraqis showing off their purple finger as proof that they had voted.  Sure, but what did they choose?  Insurgents.  The author of the cover story was on Foxnews this morning and he expressed surprise that the election seemed to being going better than expected.  Looks like the editors of this magazine might just have been betting on the opposite.  Betting?  Hoping maybe.

Career politicians

The idea of term limits is often bandied around, especially during election years, but have you ever wondered who the congressmen are who have served the longest?  Here is a short list.

Rep. Jamie LLoyd Whitten (D-Mississippi) 54 years-1941-1995,    Rep Carl Vinson 50 years-1914-1965,      Rep John Dingell (D-Michigan) still in office, 49 years and after taking over the office from his father, between the two of them have served 72 straight years.

As for the Senate:  Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina) 47 years-1956-2003.  He was the oldest person to hold office, retiring at age 100.  Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) 46 years-1958 to present. Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) 42 years-1962 to present,  and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)  42 years-1962 to present.   

Man, its a mess

This weekend it is the southeast being battered by lousy winter weather.  Georgia has been hit especially hard by over an inch of ice.  Unlike other weather patterns lately, this storm has no real weather type name like the "Alberta Clipper" which hit Chicago last week or the "Pineapple Express" which hit the northwest a couple weeks ago.  The fact that there is no name probably doesn't make it any less miserable.  We got the northern end of this present storm, whiteish sleet under some snow.  Here is my dog this morning sitting on the porch admiring it.

It's a crisis here and this is a top priority

With these words, Illinois state rep. Tom Holbrook, (D-Belleville) and several other democrats have joined with local downstate republicans to bring about legislation aimed at keeping doctors in the state.  The exodus of doctors is extreme in downstate, the reality cannot be waved off as imaginary like the trial lawyers would have us do, pointing the blame everywhere but themselves and their lawsuits.  The fact that local democratic state officials are willing to buck the state party boobahs to call for a cap on "pain and suffering" jury awards speaks volumns about how bad the crisis really is.  Meanwhile, Governor Blagojevich has previously said he would not sign any legislation containing the cap clause and his spokesman gave no real promise he would do so this time. 

"The governor will take a look at what they're talking about, but the Supreme Court has already ruled on the issue," Blagojevich spokesman Rebecca Rausch said.

Which means no.  The Illinois Supreme Court is the court involved here.  Other states have enacted the very same "cap" restrictions without incident and have had no exodus of doctors.  So we shall see if the restrictions placed on legislation by our supreme court hold up.  It seems unlikely given the success of these laws in most other states.