Monday, March 30, 2009
The Reporter as Counter-Intelligence Officer
By Nicholas Stix
Last summer, when “Barack Obama’s” friends were trying to cover up his work with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (see also here), where the two men wasted $149 million, while failing to improve Chicago students’ test scores one iota, an award-winning education reporter named Linda Lenz contributed to the cause in the pages of the Chicago Sun-Times.
In “The Lady Protests Selectively,” my Oak Park, IL (just outside of Chicago) journalist friend Jim Bowman wrote at his blog, Blithe Spirit,
I commented that Lenz is a self-described “progressive,” who used to be the Chicago Sun-Times education writer, and before that, she was at Jim’s old stomping grounds, the Chicago Daily News, where he was the religion reporter for the last ten years (1968-1978) of that legendary daily’s existence. She’s won awards for education writing, which are the contemporary equivalent, I suppose, to getting the Order of Lenin.
The impression I get of her magazine is that it was founded in 1990 to hide in plain sight what CAC and Chicago educational “progressives” were doing.
She oozes contempt for Stanley Kurtz (Jim’s point #2), a very sharp education writer and, based on her ideological background and activism, I have no doubt that she thinks Bill Ayers is as much a hero for bombing federal buildings as for his more recent propaganda work.
If Obama had been smart, he would have hired her as a counterintelligence office for his campaign. Then he wouldn’t have had to try and suppress the CAC material. After all, she’s been doing counterintelligence work for a generation, working against intelligence in the classroom, and against the truth coming out about “progressive educators’” agenda.
By Nicholas Stix
Last summer, when “Barack Obama’s” friends were trying to cover up his work with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (see also here), where the two men wasted $149 million, while failing to improve Chicago students’ test scores one iota, an award-winning education reporter named Linda Lenz contributed to the cause in the pages of the Chicago Sun-Times.
In “The Lady Protests Selectively,” my Oak Park, IL (just outside of Chicago) journalist friend Jim Bowman wrote at his blog, Blithe Spirit,
Three things wrong with Linda Lenz’s spirited defense in this morning’s Sun-Times of Annenberg Challenge, Obama, and William Ayers….
1. She does not address why Obama did not come clean about his extensive working relationship with Ayers,
2. She inaccurately dismisses the writer who sought access to the U. of Ill. library records as “a blogger for National Review.”
3. She hurts the cause of her magazine Catalyst Chicago in her careless attitude toward an Ayers connection…. [Read it all.]
I commented that Lenz is a self-described “progressive,” who used to be the Chicago Sun-Times education writer, and before that, she was at Jim’s old stomping grounds, the Chicago Daily News, where he was the religion reporter for the last ten years (1968-1978) of that legendary daily’s existence. She’s won awards for education writing, which are the contemporary equivalent, I suppose, to getting the Order of Lenin.
The impression I get of her magazine is that it was founded in 1990 to hide in plain sight what CAC and Chicago educational “progressives” were doing.
She oozes contempt for Stanley Kurtz (Jim’s point #2), a very sharp education writer and, based on her ideological background and activism, I have no doubt that she thinks Bill Ayers is as much a hero for bombing federal buildings as for his more recent propaganda work.
If Obama had been smart, he would have hired her as a counterintelligence office for his campaign. Then he wouldn’t have had to try and suppress the CAC material. After all, she’s been doing counterintelligence work for a generation, working against intelligence in the classroom, and against the truth coming out about “progressive educators’” agenda.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
How to Avoid Getting Your Ass Kicked by the Police
By Chris Rock
NS: I'd first viewed this video a couple of years ago. Upon watching it again, the laughter it elicited once more brought tears to my eyes.
A tip o’ the hat to Dennis Mangan.
By Chris Rock
NS: I'd first viewed this video a couple of years ago. Upon watching it again, the laughter it elicited once more brought tears to my eyes.
A tip o’ the hat to Dennis Mangan.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
The Wild Colonial Boy
By Nicholas Stix
My son just asked me to find the Irish-Australian folk song, “The Wild Colonial Boy.” The other day at school, a nine-year-old classmate of his played it in class on the piano, played it quite well, he did.
I was able to find the above video at google video, on a page full of different videotaped performances of it. I’d thank the fellow who posted it, but I can’t find his name. Anyhoo, it’s a spirited performance of four Irishmen, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, on The Mike Douglas Show, from February 1967.
I’ve heard the music before, but am not sure where. My hunch is that it was a John Ford movie, perhaps The Quiet Man. I am also pretty sure that at least one group of pipers played it at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, exactly seven days ago, to which my son just supplied independent confirmation.
What’s that, you say? St. Patty’s Day isn’t until Tuesday? Not where I live. We have the best (albeit the second biggest) St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the Western Hemisphere, and we have it first every year. Whereas the best pipers play for the world in the Ancient Order of Hibernians' St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan, in my neighborhood, they play for their neighbors. We celebrate two St. Patty’s Days every year!
The following lyrics come from a page full of different versions of “The Wild Colonial Boy,” and with a different video of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem singing it. Makem says he’s come across at least 36 different versions. But be forewarned; the page does not permit you to right-click, and copy and paste the lyrics. The following lyrics also do not match the version sung by the Brothers and Tommy, either above or below.
The Wild Colonial Boy
By Francis McNamara
There was a wild colonial boy,
Jack Duggan was his name,
He was born and reared in Ireland,
In a place called Castlemaine,
He was his father’s only son,
His mother’s pride and joy,
And dearly did his parents love
The Wild Colonial Boy.
At hammer throwing Jack was great,
Or swinging a caman,
He led the boys in all their pranks
From dusk to early dawn.
At fishin’ or at poachin’ trout,
He was the real McCoy,
And all the neighbors loved young Jack,
The Wild Colonial Boy.
At the early age of sixteen years,
He left his native home;
And to Australia’s sunny land,
He was inclined to roam,
He robbed the rich,
And he helped the poor,
He stabbed James McEvoy,
A terror to Australia was
The Wild Colonial Boy.
For two more years this daring youth
Ran on his wild career,
With a head that knew no danger,
And a heart that knew no fear.
He robbed outright the wealthy squires,
And their arms he did destroy;
And woe to all who dared to fight
The Wild Colonial Boy.
He loved the Prairie and the Bush,
Where Rangers rode along;
With his gun stuck in its holster deep,
He sang a merry song.
But if a foe once crossed his track,
And sought him to destroy,
He’d get sharp shootin’ sure from Jack,
The Wild Colonial Boy.
One morning on the prairie wild,
Jack Duggan rode along,
While listening to the mocking bird,
Singing a cheerful song,
Out jumped three troopers, fierce and grim,
Kelly, Davis, and Fitzroy;
They all set out to capture him,
The Wild Colonial Boy.
“Surrender now, Jack Duggan, Come;
“You see there’s three to one;
Surrender in the Queen’s name, Sir;
You are a plundering son!”
Jack drew two pistols from his side,
And glared upon Fitzroy,
“I’ll fight but not surrender!” cried
The Wild Colonial Boy.
He fired a shot at Kelly
Which brought him to the ground,
He fired point blank at Davis, too
Who fell dead at the sound,
But a bullet pierced his brave young heart
From the pistol of Fitzroy;
And that was how they captured him,
The Wild Colonial Boy.
By Nicholas Stix
My son just asked me to find the Irish-Australian folk song, “The Wild Colonial Boy.” The other day at school, a nine-year-old classmate of his played it in class on the piano, played it quite well, he did.
I was able to find the above video at google video, on a page full of different videotaped performances of it. I’d thank the fellow who posted it, but I can’t find his name. Anyhoo, it’s a spirited performance of four Irishmen, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, on The Mike Douglas Show, from February 1967.
I’ve heard the music before, but am not sure where. My hunch is that it was a John Ford movie, perhaps The Quiet Man. I am also pretty sure that at least one group of pipers played it at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, exactly seven days ago, to which my son just supplied independent confirmation.
What’s that, you say? St. Patty’s Day isn’t until Tuesday? Not where I live. We have the best (albeit the second biggest) St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the Western Hemisphere, and we have it first every year. Whereas the best pipers play for the world in the Ancient Order of Hibernians' St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan, in my neighborhood, they play for their neighbors. We celebrate two St. Patty’s Days every year!
The following lyrics come from a page full of different versions of “The Wild Colonial Boy,” and with a different video of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem singing it. Makem says he’s come across at least 36 different versions. But be forewarned; the page does not permit you to right-click, and copy and paste the lyrics. The following lyrics also do not match the version sung by the Brothers and Tommy, either above or below.
The Wild Colonial Boy
By Francis McNamara
There was a wild colonial boy,
Jack Duggan was his name,
He was born and reared in Ireland,
In a place called Castlemaine,
He was his father’s only son,
His mother’s pride and joy,
And dearly did his parents love
The Wild Colonial Boy.
At hammer throwing Jack was great,
Or swinging a caman,
He led the boys in all their pranks
From dusk to early dawn.
At fishin’ or at poachin’ trout,
He was the real McCoy,
And all the neighbors loved young Jack,
The Wild Colonial Boy.
At the early age of sixteen years,
He left his native home;
And to Australia’s sunny land,
He was inclined to roam,
He robbed the rich,
And he helped the poor,
He stabbed James McEvoy,
A terror to Australia was
The Wild Colonial Boy.
For two more years this daring youth
Ran on his wild career,
With a head that knew no danger,
And a heart that knew no fear.
He robbed outright the wealthy squires,
And their arms he did destroy;
And woe to all who dared to fight
The Wild Colonial Boy.
He loved the Prairie and the Bush,
Where Rangers rode along;
With his gun stuck in its holster deep,
He sang a merry song.
But if a foe once crossed his track,
And sought him to destroy,
He’d get sharp shootin’ sure from Jack,
The Wild Colonial Boy.
One morning on the prairie wild,
Jack Duggan rode along,
While listening to the mocking bird,
Singing a cheerful song,
Out jumped three troopers, fierce and grim,
Kelly, Davis, and Fitzroy;
They all set out to capture him,
The Wild Colonial Boy.
“Surrender now, Jack Duggan, Come;
“You see there’s three to one;
Surrender in the Queen’s name, Sir;
You are a plundering son!”
Jack drew two pistols from his side,
And glared upon Fitzroy,
“I’ll fight but not surrender!” cried
The Wild Colonial Boy.
He fired a shot at Kelly
Which brought him to the ground,
He fired point blank at Davis, too
Who fell dead at the sound,
But a bullet pierced his brave young heart
From the pistol of Fitzroy;
And that was how they captured him,
The Wild Colonial Boy.
