illinoisreview

Looking hard for a silver lining

By Mark Rhoads

Not far from the Harlem Avenue exit on the eastbound side of the Eisenhower Expressway 42 years ago, there was a large billboard privately financed with a picture of Barry Goldwater that said, "In your heart, you know he's right."  About a week after the election, everyone thought sign painters were going to change the sign and all they did was strike out the words "your heart" and made other changes so the sign read "In time, you will know he was right."  The private benefactor left the sign up for another two years. Then just before the 1966 election, the painters returned to change the sign one more time to read, "Now you know he was right."

Some of us who are old enough have been here before. I was a junior in high school the day after the 1964 election. LBJ had clobbered Barry Goldwater in the second largest landslide in American history. Barry, my candidate, had carried just six states, five in the south and his home state of Arizona. In the U.S. House, Republicans wound up with about 139 members to 293 for the Democrats and the Senate was lopsided in favor of the Democrats also. It was as bad as it could get we thought.

GOP First Principles Still Shine

By Mark Rhoads

The picture at right was taken in 1927. It is the Lyonsville Church south of Western Springs and Indian Head Park at the southeast corner of Wolf Road and Joliet Road, the old Route 66.  The church is still there today and has been standing there for more than 150 years. It was a stop where escaped slaves from the south could find a night's refuge on the underground railroad to the north before the Civil War.

The farmers in Lyons Township in the 1850s were church-going people and abolitionists, the backbone of the new Republican Party in 1854. They wanted an end to slavery and rejected the pro-slavery arguments of Sen. Stephen Douglas and pro-southern Democrats because they believed in a moral principle.  That principle was that "no person has the right to spend another person's life." In their view it was a sin against God to buy and sell human beings and deprive them of their freedom and take their labor from them.  For as many years as the early Republican Party stood on that platform, it stood on moral high ground.

Dedication to personal freedom still defines the core values of the Republican Party today in spite of scandals or policy mistakes or ineffective candidates or campaigns.  A party is the voters who believe in its principles, not just--and maybe least of all--the small handful of candidates who run under its label.  The latest Pew Research Poll released on Sunday, Nov. 4 shows Republicans coming home to back GOP candidates.  Support for President Bush is increasing among independents by a few points but it can be measured.  The trend is encouraging but much depends on how fast Republicans come home in the next 24 hours. Congressional Quarterly has the best track record of any survey over 50 years and the last CQ survey on Wednesday, Nov. 1st says only 18 house seats are seriously in play.  That's 18, not 60 as some crazy news media pundits and other Democratic cheerleaders have been shouting. So the sky is not falling and there is good reason for Republicans to keep working in spite of what Democratic pundits are trying to sell.

Will the last Comrade leaving North Korea please turn off the lights?

By Mark Rhoads

The ability to generate electric power is at least one measure of what is or is not a developed country. This satellite image was taken just after 9 PM last week of the Korean Peninsula with the borders of the two Koreas drawn in by computer. The capitol of Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK) and its largest city, Pyongyang, is that small white dot all by itself in the west where the lights are still on.

Madonna Blasphemy is OK with NBC

by Mark Rhoads

According to Drudge Report on Tuesday, Sept. 19,

" NBC has given the green light to include Madonna-on-the-Cross footage in an upcoming November Sweeps concert special!"

"In the show, Madonna, wearing a gittered crown of thorns, descends on a suspended mirrored, disco ball-type cross singing her hit 'Live To Tell.'

"NBC suit Kevin Reilly said Madonna considered the crucifixion a highlight of her show."

"We viewed it and didn't see it as being inappropriate," NBC explained."

Remembering The Sharon Statement

The IR blog is a crossroads of the conservative community in Illinois.  But there seem to be as many definitions of the word "conservative" as there are people who describe their own beliefs with that label.  That is not surprising given that many conservatives are individualists.  Conservatives are far from monolithic as is demonstrated on this blog every day. There is healthy diversity among conservatives and honest differences of opinion as to the merit of different candidates and positions.

So is there a common denomiator of basic principles for most conservatives?  I think so, and that is the idea that indivudal freedom and responsibility are very high values.  Economic conservatives stress the free market while social conservatives stress the importance of the Creator, church, and family in our society.  But both groups agree on the whole and for the most part in the bedrock constitutional principles of America and the rule of law.

I have not recently seen a cohesive statement of general conservative principles even as many people discuss their principles by references to a particular issue of the moment.   But I do recall one from almost a half century ago that still resonates with many today.

Real Gold Star Mothers Are Not Political

By Mark Rhoads

About 25 years ago, I had the sad duty of making a trip to the WGN Flag Company at 7984 S. Chicago Avenue to purchase a Gold Star banner for the mother of my next door neighbor, a sailor who had lost his life in the line of duty.  WGN Flag is still in business and is a very old family-owned business that started up ninety years ago in 1916.  Even during World War I they sold the famous blue and gold star banners and they still sell a few today. 

Over the Hill Pop Icon Ages Ungracefully

Last year she was busy offending rabbis in Israel for her stupid exploitation of holy sites and names for one of her videos.  Now several European news sources say the pathetic has-been singer calling herself Madonna might actually be inviting excommunication from the lapsed Roman Catholic faith of her birth according to Ernest Cardinal Tonino who apparently is speaking with the knowledge and approval of Pope Benedict XVI. 

The position of the Catholic Church might seem moot since Madonna supposedly took the name "Esther" in recent years and has been a groupie for a particular Kabbalah sect of Judaism.  In her European tour, to be performed in Rome, Madonna wears a crown of thorns and appears to hang on a silver cross in a deliberate mockery of the faith of more than two billion Cathoics and Protestants worldwide.  To their credit, leaders of Islam, Judaisim, and Christianity in Rome have condemned her "act" called "Confession tours."

Illinois Hall of Fame: "Uncle Joe" Cannon

By Mark Rhoads

"Teddy Roosevelt has no more use for the Constitution than a tomcat has for a marriage license."  - Uncle Joe Cannon.

Joseph Gurney Cannon (R-Danville) represented Vermilion, Coles, Douglas, and surrounding east central Illinois counties in Congress for a total of forty-six of the fifty years between 1873 and 1923. He was out of office only four years after two defeats in 1890 and again in 1912.  He was the first of three members of Congress from Illinois who were elected to the office of Speaker of the House.  Cannon served eight years as Speaker from March 1903 to 1911. The other two speakers from Illinois were Henry T. Rainey (D-Carrollton) from 1933 to 1934 and J. Dennis Hastert (R-Yorkville) from 1999 to the present time.

Howard Dean is Still Lucid

By Mark Rhoads

For those who have any sense of humor at all, Howard Dean is a really interesting person with many unique ideas.  Republicans in Florida should stop picking on Howard Dean just because he might have implied at a speech this week that Congressman Katherine Harris had something in common with former Soviet dicator Joseph Stalin. 

For more about this story, see The Palm Beach Post.

What does George Soros Really Want?

By Mark Rhoads

Mr. George Soros has made a large fortune as a financial speculator.  Never mind if that sounds a little fuzzy, good for him and is this a great country or what?  Soros is also generously described as a "philosopher" in some venues that tilt to the port side of the boat.  There is no doubt that this super rich man would like the world to see him as a Great Thinker of Deep Thoughts.  But just exactly where his Deep Thoughts take him is a little cloudy at the moment.

A Kind and Generous American

By Mark Rhoads

Mr. Gerald Gidwitz of Highland Park passed away on Tuesday at the age of 99.  He would have observed his 100th birthday next week.  Mr. Gidwitz and Louis Stein founded the Helene Curtis Industries cosmetics company in Chicago in 1927.  Gerald Gidwitz was the father of Ronald Gidwitz, the candidate for governor in the 2006 GOP Primary.  Incorrect reporting on WBBM Radio and Associated Press yesterday confused the two names and reported that it was Ronald who had died.  There has been no correction by WBBM but the AP copy seems to be correct today.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Eliot Ness

By Mark Rhoads

If you have ever seen the 1987 movie called The Untouchables, starring Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness and Sean Connery as Officer Jim Malone, you likely saw a very entertaining action film.  The problem is that characters in the film were given the names of real historical figures such as Al Capone played by Robert DeNiro.  Some people might still think that movie was based on real events which it was not. It was a good movie at the level of fictional entertainment.  But apart from the character names, it is important for Chicagoans to understand that the film is a work of fiction and had no connection at all to real Chicago history in the 1930s.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Ray Kroc

By Mark Rhoads

McDonald's Corporation founder, CEO, and Chairman Ray Kroc started a fast food revolution on April 15, 1955 when he opened his first McDonald's Restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. Today, fifty-one years later, McDonald's Corporation is headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois and is the world's most successful fast food retailer.  In 2006, there are more than 30,000 local McDonald's restaurants in 120 countries with assets of $40 billion and annual revenues of $20 billion.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Fulton J. Sheen

By Mark Rhoads

Central Illinois-native Fulton J. Sheen, in addtion to his vocation as a Bishop and Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church, was also America's first TV personality to win a very large audience for a network program about the Christian faith. The top-rated program called Life Is Worth Living was watched by thirty million viewers each week in the 1950s, an impressive number for the population of that time.  The program started on the DuMont network in September 1951 and its first run on various networks ran until 1957 and won an Emmy Award for Sheen in 1952.  Even today the show can be seen on the Eternal Word Network.  Although the show covered all of life's serious topics such as alcoholism, education of children, marital relations, money problems, crisis in faith, and so forth, Bishop Sheen also had the ability to keep his audience entertained by telling funny stories as a way to break up his blackboard-illustrated lectures.  Ratings for the program sometimes even exceeded the top rated comedy and variety show of 1952 called Texaco Star Theater.  A reporter asked the host of that show, comedian Milton Berle, how was it possible that Berle had lower ratings than Bishop Sheen?  Berle replied, "The bishop has much better writers than I do.  But our show has new stuff, the bishop uses old material."  When he accepted an Emmy in 1952, Sheen replied to Berle's famous joke by saying he wanted to thank "our four best writers" for his show: "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John."

Fulton J. Sheen was born on May 8, 1895 in the small town of El Paso, Illinois in Woodford County.  He was born in a room over the Newton Sheen Hardware Store owned by his parents at 25 West Front Street.  When he was very young, Fulton's father sold the hardware store and the family moved to Peoria where Fulton attended parochial schools.  As a teen growing up in Peoria, one of Fulton's best friends that he played basketball with was Jim Jordan, who later became a famous star of radio for his role as Fibber McGee for 25 years along with his wife Marian on the Fibber McGee and Molly program.   Fulton Sheen graduated with honors as the valedictorian from Spalding Academy in Peoria in 1913.  He then attended St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, Illinois a few miles northwest of Kankakee. After some further graduate study at St. Paul's Seminary in Minnesota, Sheen returned to Peoria to be ordained a priest in 1919.  He did post-graduate study at Angelica University in Rome, Italy and in 1923 was awarded a doctorate degree in philosophy from Catholic University in Louvain, Belgium.  He came back to Illinois in 1926 to work as a pastor at St. Patrick's Church on Peoria's south side.  He later said he believed that being a parish priest would be his vocation but that parish was the only one he ever served.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Hyman G. Rickover

By Mark Rhoads

Admiral Hyman George Rickover was called the father of the modern nuclear Navy.  He was also the longest serving Navy officer in American history.  Rickover was born on Jan. 27, 1900 in Makow Mazowiecki, a town in Poland that was then occupied by Russian troops.  In 1905, Rickover's mother took him and an older sister to Belgium in order to escape anti-Semitic pogroms.  They fled again to America to follow their father, a deserter from the Russian Army, who was making a new life in America as a tailor.  Arriving in Chicago in 1905, Hyman grew up on Maxwell Street, the center of the garment trade.  The family later moved to the Lawndale neighborhood on the west side.  At the age of only 9 years old, Rickover went to work to help support the family.  Rickover said of his childhood later in life that it was one of "hard work, discipline, and a decided lack of good times."

In 1916, Rickover got a job working as a page and message runner at the Republican National Convention in Chicago.  He stayed as close as he could to the speaker's platform in order to get more deliveries.  He delivered one message to a U.S. Congressman who later nominated Rickover to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.  He graduated from Annapolis in 1922 with a class rank of 106 from the top out of a class of 539 midshipmen.  With his commission as an ensign, Rickover went to duty at sea for the next six years as an officer on the destroyer USS Lavallette and the battleship USS Nevada.   He was granted shore duty to attend and graduate from Columbia University with a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1929.  He met his future wife at Columbia.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Dred Scott

By Mark Rhoads

July 4 is a day to celebrate the freedom of America.  One hundred and seventy years ago there was a man who only lived in Illinois for less than three years and who could not read or write.  But he nevertheless would one day file a law suit based on his residence in Illinois that led to America's worst war but also helped set the stage for millions of his fellow Americans to become free.

Recount in Mexico: Here We Go Again

By Mark Rhoads

There is no specific Illinois angle here except that illegal Mexican immigrants living in Illinois were legally eligible to vote in Mexico but most did not make the trip home to do so.  There is however, some good news for conservatives in the voting in Mexico on Sunday.  Sometimes a close election is just a close election.  Because voters are closely divided does not mean someone committed election fraud or that the system is broken.  It might mean the system is working.  With 98 percent of ballots counted, as of early on July 4, 2006, the official count of ballots for the next president of Mexico showed a vote total for the relatively conservative economist Felipe Calderon (pictured at right) of PAN (National Action Party--the same party as Vincente Fox) that was 380,000 more votes than the total for the left-wing candidate Lopez Obrador, candidate of the PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution).  The PRI (Instituional Revolutionary Party) finished a distant third but retained seats in Congress.  The margin for Calderon over Obrado is about one percent with 800,000 ballots not yet counted.  But since those ballots are in states of Mexico where PAN candidates are doing well for the legislative branch and PAN will have the plurality in the Congress, it seems highly unlikely that the Calderon margin can be erased.

Now as you might expect, there is a lot of silly talk both in Mexico and in the US in left-wing circles and blogs that this is Florida 2000 all over again.  Please.  In Florida, the margin between Bush and Gore was about 500 votes out of five million in that state that decided the Electoral College.  There is no Electoral College in Mexico, only a raw national head count.  A margin of one percent, if it holds up for Calderon, is small but statistically decisive and absolutely nothing like Florida in 2000.  The Mexican stock market was up more than four percent on Monday because, analysts said, investors were hopeful over the expectation that Calderon would win.

To his shame, Mr. Lopez Obrador tried a preemptive strike on TV Sunday night by ignoring the plea from the official election authorities to remain silent and declaring he had won by a half million votes based on his private data which of course he would not share with news media.  Also to his shame, he refused to rule out street demonstrations and civil unrest if he lost.  To his slightly redeeming credit however, he seemed to be more reasonable in statements on Monday, saying that he would accept defeat but only if he thought the official count was fair and impartial.  The last thing Mexico needs is weeks of legal wrangling and recounts reminiscent of the Florida battle in 2000.  Unlike the U.S., there is a greater liklihood that mass street demonstrations in Mexico City could lead to violence.

In the context of Mexican politics, a win for Sr. Felipe Calderon and PAN is a win for a continuation of free-market reforms that Mexico badly needs.  The last six years under Vincente Fox have been no picnic for the poor of Mexico who have never had an easy time any more than the poor in any country.  But to reverse course now and abandon free-market economics would only result in a bleaker prospect for new jobs and Sr. Lopez Obrador only offered more of the same tired Leftist programs that have been tried in many countries before with no success.  Fortunatetly for Felipe Calderon and the future of Mexico, while some Left Wing activists will cry fraud at the top of their lungs, it should be nothing but noise.  Most people in Mexico do respect their independent election administration and its reputation for fair counts in 2000 and in local and state elections.  After all, in 2000 Vincente Fox was the first independent candidate to defeat the PRI which had ruled Mexico without a break since 1929.   It may take another several days for the majority of Mexicans to accept the results.  But if the results are fair and accurate, they will stand on their own merits and all of Mexico will win.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Ronald Reagan

By Mark Rhoads

Ronald Wilson Reagan claimed two states as home, Illinois as a youth and student, and California during his two professions in motion pictures and politics.  But he often wrote fondly of his growing up years in Illinois that shaped his later life.  He was one of three presidents of the United States to be associated with Illinois and the first to be born in the state.  Abraham Lincoln lived most of his life in Illinois but was born in Hardin County, Kentucky and lived briefly in Indiana as a child.  Ulysses S. Grant was born in Marion County, Ohio and he moved around a lot as a young Army officer.  But Grant maintained his longest voting residence in Galena, Illinois for about 20 years from 1860 to 1880. 

Illinois Hall of Fame: Clayton Moore

By Mark Rhoads

Some of you reading this who are old enough can close your eyes right now and hear the exciting music of The William Tell Overture at the start of a show introduced by an announcer who said, "Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, The Lone Ranger rides again!"  When the medium of black and white television was still new and rapidly growing from 1949 to 1957, Illinois-native actor Clayton Moore had a huge base of young fans across America for his role, adapted from radio, as The Lone Ranger on ABC-TV.  The role of The Lone Ranger was popular not only as an action adventure but also for the values of honesty and fair dealing that the former Texas Ranger stood for.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Lottie O'Neill

By Mark Rhoads

Illinois was the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.  The amendment guaranteed the right of women to vote in all elections.  Mrs. Lottie Homan O'Neill, a Republican from Downers Grove, was the first woman elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1922.  In 1923 Winnifred Sprague Mason Huck won a special election to fill the Congressional seat of her late father but served only briefly.

With the exception of one term, Lottie O'Neill served continuously in the House until 1950 when she became the first woman ever elected to the Illinois State Senate.  The election of women candidates to state legislatures and Congress was a relatively rare event until the early 1970s.  U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R-Maine) was the first woman to mount a serious bid for a major party presidential nomination in 1964.  But since 1971, the average number of women serving in state legislatures has increased four times so that today women account for about 23 percent of the members of state legislatures and women also hold about 15 percent of the seats in both houses of Congress.

Superman Movie Disses The American Way

By Mark Rhoads

Back in 1972, the Chamber of Commerce in Metropolis, Illinois persuaded both DC Comics and the Illinois House of Representatives to declare that Metropolis was the bona fide "hometown" of Superman even though he was born on Krypton and was raised in Smallville.  The fiber glass statue of Superman in the Metropolis town square carries the famous legend at its base, "Truth, Justice, and The American Way."

In July, when a new Superman Returns movie comes out from Warner Brothers, the phrase will be replaced, this is not a joke, by the line read by actor Frank Langella playing the part of The Daily Planet editor Perry White: "Truth, Justice, and all that stuff."  The great filmmaker and American patriot Jack Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers, will be spinning in his grave tonight if he is not already.  This is an unbelievably sad commentary on the ultra Left Wing values of Hollywood in 2006 vs. the values of most Americans. The screen writers are quoted at length in today's Washington Post.

Illinois Hall of Fame: L. Frank Baum

By Mark Rhoads

Lyman Frank Baum was born near Syracuse, New York in 1856.  HIs father worked as a barrel maker but later became wealthy in the oil business.  In the 1870s as a young man, Baum's father put him in charge of managing some theaters and in 1881 he wrote and published a successful musical play called The Maid of Arran.  He married Maud Gage in 1882 whose mother was a major figure in the campaign for woman's suffrage and was a friend of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  He tried to be a newspaper publisher but his early ventures failed, including a newspaper in South Dakota.  Frank often struggled with poor health.  He moved to Chicago in 1891 to work as a reporter for the Chicago Evening Post.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Arthur J. Goldberg

By Mark Rhoads

The life of Arthur J. Goldberg was a classic rags to riches story in the tradition of Horatio Alger.  He was born in 1908 on the west side of Chicago.  Arthur was the youngest of eight children of Russian Jewish immigrants.  His father was a peddler who delivered fresh produce in a horse-drawn wagon until his heart gave out in 1916.  After their father's death, the seven older children quit school to go to work in order to support the family.  But as the youngest at only 8, Arthur was encouraged to continue his education.  Starting at the age of 12 after school and on weekends he worked odd jobs wrapping fish, selling shoes, and selling coffee to Cub fans at Wrigley Field.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Michel & Shriver

By Mark Rhoads

This article was based on a picture that I did not know was copyrighted by Corbis and therefore I have had to delete it.  The picture showed former Congressman Bob Michel (R-Peoria), (above) who served as Minority Leader of the U.S. House, and former Merchandise Mart President R. Sargent Shriver (below), who was the 1972 Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States.  They are shown in 1994 at a White House ceremony honoring winners of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  Both men were active members of the nonpartisan Illinois State Society of Washington, DC in the 1960s and Michel was president of the society 1966-1967.

Bob Michel was born in Peoria on March 2, 1923 and attended Peoria public schools.  He served as a combat infantryman with the 39th Infantry Regiment in World War II from 1943 to 1945.  Michel saw service in England, France, Belgium, and Germany.  He was wounded by German machine gun fire and was awarded the Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars, and four battle stars.  He fought in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes Forest on the German-Belgian border.  The bitter battle in severe winter weather raged from Dec. 16, 1944 to Jan. 25, 1945 and engaged more than 1,155,000 British, American, and German troops.  It was the largest single battle for 600,000 American soldiers since the combined Union and Confederate armies faced each other in 1863 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the Civil War.

Flag Amendment Fails by One Vote

By Mark Rhoads

Since the post below was published, on Tuesday night the US Senate failed by just one vote to pass an Amendment to the US Constituion that would allow Congress to enact legislation to protect the American flag from desecration.  Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama both voted against the amendment.  The measure received 66 affirmative votes, one short of the two-thirds affirmative vote required by Article V of the Constituion for Congress to propose an amendment, already passed by the House, that would then be sent to the fifty state legislatures for debate and votes on ratification.

I don't know if the amendment could have resulted in successful prosecutions that were nullified by a 1989 Supreme Court case called Texas v. Johnson.  As a practical matter, maybe its true that the amendment would be difficult to enforce through legislation to implement it.  But that is why it only empowered Congress to pass laws on this topic.  It would not by itself reverse Texas v. Johnson, but would give Congress the opportunity to fashion a new law that would not be overly broad and might meet the court's objections.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Dr. Mae Jemison

By Mark Rhoads

As a young girl growing up in Chicago, Mae Jemison loved to watch the original Star Trek TV series (1966-1969).  Mae says that her role model was actress Nichelle Nichols who grew up in Robbins, Illinois in south Cook County. Nichelle played the role of the communications officer on the Star Ship Enterprise, Lt. Uhura.  Nichelle started her career as a singer for the Duke Ellington Orchestra before she auditioned for Star Trek. Robbins was also the hometown of Janet Harmon Bragg, an aviation columnist for The Chicago Defender, who was the first African-American woman to earn a commercial pilot's license in 1943 to fly passengers and cargo.  And Janet's role model was aviation pioneer Bessie Coleman of Chicago who was the first African-American woman to earn an international pilot's license for a single engine plane in 1921.

Are Earmarks Really a Big Deal?

By Mark Rhoads

I used to edit a newspaper for Citizens Against Government Waste (www.cagw.org) which was then chaired by J. Peter Grace who also chaired the Grace Commission under President Reagan.  That commission 22 years ago made hundreds of recommendations to reduce government waste and while some were adopted, many were not. Few conservatives and some liberals don't like government waste. I read General Accounting Office (GAO) reports which I thought were well researched and I praised inspectors general who found waste and corrected it.  CAGW continues to offer a yearly pork report called The Pig Book and has recently praised Members of Congress such as Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) for offering practical amendments to reduce pork in several department budgets.

Like most people, I look down on "pork barrel" spending and special projects that Members of Congress promote that have only a local appeal and may not be needed at all from a national perspective.  But if you sense the word "however" in the near future here it is.

However, compared to so many different ways that the federal budget can get out of control, I wonder just how much pork barrel spending or "earmarks" by Members of Congress contribute to the budget deficit compared to say, a clerical error in calculating the so-called "automatic" cost of living increase for social security payments.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Everett Dirksen

By Mark Rhoads

Everett McKinley Dirksen straddles the line between history and legend.  The most famous quote attributed to Everett cannot be documented by scholars at the Dirksen Congressional Center.  The quote is often presented as "A billion here, and a billion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money."  It sure does sound like a Dirksen quote.  But while a version of the first part of the sentence was said by Dirksen in 1962, the "real money" part was not part of it.  But because Ev Dirksen had a good sense of humor and great style, the dubious quotes and anecdotes live on.  He could be eccentric, as when he campaigned to make the Marigold the national flower.  Another story told about Dirksen may also be a legend that cannot be documented.  This one said that he was campaigning outdoors in front of a court house in Tazwell County when a local union organizer heckled him.  "Dirksen you're a bum, I wouldn't vote for you if you were St. Peter." the man hollered.  Dirksen supposedly replied, "Sir, if I were St. Peter, you wouldn't be in my district."

Illinois Hall of Fame: Legends Of The West

By Mark Rhoads

Illinois has seldom been associated with the folklore of the Old West.  Neverthless, two of the most famous legends of the west were born in Illinois and both were pioneer lawmen.  One was James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickock (pictured at right) who was born in the very small town of Troy Grove south of Mendota in La Salle County on May 27, 1837.  Troy Grove is still there, with a population just over 300, near the crossroads of US Highway 52 and Interstate 39.  At the age of 18 In 1855 Wild Bill left his father's farm to work as a stage coach driver at different times on the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail.  In his twenties, he was a town constable in Nebraska when the Civil War started and he went to work as a scout for the Union Army.  After the war, Wild Bill worked as a U.S. Marshall but at other times listed his profession as gambler, gunfighter, and Indian fighter.  In fact, some historians think that one of the first gunfights of the Old West involved Wild Bill when he killed Davis K. Tutt, Jr. in Springfield, Missouri on July 21, 1865 over a gambling debt.  In 1873, he was working in a stage play with Buffalo Bill Cody that was a forerunner to Cody's famous Wild West Show.  He met and became friends with Martha Jane Cannary-Burke who was better known as "Calamity Jane."  She later claimed to be his girl friend but since he was newly married this claim was likely a publicity myth of her invention.  On Aug. 2, 1876, Wild Bill was playing poker at Saloon Number Ten in Deadwood, a small mining town in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory, when he was fatally shot in the back by Jack McCall.  According to poker and western legends, at the time he was shot Wild Bill was holding two pair--aces and eights-- which from that day to this has been called "the dead man's hand."

Illinois Hall of Fame: Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart

By Mark Rhoads

Action movie star Harrison Ford was born in Chicago in 1942.  He grew up in Morton Grove and Park Ridge and graduated from Maine East High School in 1960.  Former First Lady and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton also graduated from Maine East in 1965 as did pioneer children's TV actor Hugh Brannum (aka "Mr. Green Jeans" on Captain Kangaroo) in 1927.  Harrison Ford's grandfather had worked in vaudeville and his father was an advertising executive and a part-time "voice over" actor who recorded some radio commercials in Chicago.  Harrison attended Ripon College in Wisconsin but did not finish the credits needed for a degree.  After some acting in summer stock plays, Harrison tried hard in the late 1960s to support a family and to make a living as an actor in Hollywood but with limited success.  He quit acting for four years to work as a carpenter before making a successful new start in films in 1973 when George Lucas hired him for a small role as the hot rod driver Bob Falfa in American Grafitti.  His major films have included the Star Wars series, the Indiana Jones movies, Force Ten From Navarone, Patriot Games, Air Force One, and The Fugitive which was filmed almost completely on locations in Chicago and southern Illinois.  He was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his role as John Book in Witness.  Harrison Ford now lives most of the time in Wyoming when he is not making movies. 

Ford's fiance Calista Flockhart was born in Freeport, Illinois in 1964.  Her father worked for Chicago-based Kraft Foods.  While she considers Freeport her hometown, she also lived in other states before college studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey.  She acted in TV soap operas such as Guiding Light and had some small roles in films such as Quiz Show.  She played the daughter of Illinois-native Gene Hackman in The Bird Cage which also starred Illinois-native Robbin Williams.  Gene Hackman is from Danville and Robbin Williams was born in Chicago.  Calista won the 1998 Golden Globe Award for best comedy address on TV in her role as Ally McBeal.  Since leaving that TV series, Calista has enjoyed success in Chicago, on Broadway, and in other cities in legitimate theater productions.  She won critical good notices for her performance in New York in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Managerie.  Various news wire stories reported on June 19, 2006 that Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart are planning to be married in the fall.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Milton Friedman

By Mark Rhoads

Professor Milton Friedman was born July 31, 1912 in Brooklyn, New York to a working-class family of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.  He earned his BA at Rutgers and his MA in economics at the University of Chicago in 1933 and a Ph.D. from Columbia in 1946.  Friedman then taught economics at the University of Chicago for the next 31 years from 1946 until 1977.  He is considered to be the founder of the "Chicago School" of economists who specialize in free-market theory and applications.

Illinois Hall of Fame: The Marx Brothers

By Mark Rhoads

Sam and Minnie Marx moved their family from New York to Chicago in 1909.  In 1910 and 1911, Chicago City Directories list them in an apartment at 4649 South Calumet Avenue.  In 1912, they had moved to a large house at 4512 South Grand Boulevard (now called Martin Luther King Boulevard).  The house is still there.  After war was declared on April 6, 1917, the family moved to a farm south of La Grange described by Groucho as being north of Joliet Road (Route 66) and East of La Grange Road (locally called La Grange Road or Fifth Avenue in that era, or Route 45 or Manheim Road elsewhere).  The area is now part of Countryside.  Apparently Sam and Minnie thought that "farmers" would be exempt from military draft if war came to America as it did in 1917.  The boys were supposed to be in school and spent little time farming in any case.  But they spent a great deal of time playing hookey from school and taking the Chicago, Burlington, and Qunicy train to Chicago to attend White Sox and Cubs games and vaudeville matinees.  As it turned out, the latter activity was thier version of formal schooling for their profession in vaudeville.  They learned their craft from master vaudeville performers and writers.

Hall of Fame: Billy Graham in Illinois

By Mark Rhoads

Rev. Billy Graham is the most famous Christian evangelist of the last century.  He has been a friend and spiritual advisor to ten American presidents and has been called America's Chaplain.  Billy was born in North Carolina in 1918 and his residence has mostly been in that state when he was not traveling on crusades.  But at the very start of his ministry, he spent five important years of his life studying and preaching in Illinois and on Illinois radio stations.

Hall of Fame: Lindbergh in Illinois

By Mark Rhoads

Charles A. Lindbergh was born in Michigan in 1902 and raised in Little Falls, Minnesota.  His father Charles August Lindberg, an immigrant from Sweden, represented Minnesota as a Republican Member of Congress from 1907 to 1917.  Just before he became famous, Charles the pilot worked more than a year on several Illinois jobs.  Lindy was only 23 years old In 1925 when The Chicago Tribune hired him to fly to Murphysboro in downstate Jackson County to pick up negatives of tornado damage.  But a reporter for a competing Hearst newspaper went to the airfield and gave Lindy blank glass plates to prevent a Tribune scoop.  That dirty trick angered Lindbergh and feuled his lifelong dislike of reporters.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Mahalia Jackson

By Mark Rhoads

Although she was born in New Orleans and did not move to Chicago until she was 16, the Windy City area became her home for the rest of her life.  Mahalia Jackson was probably the best loved and most famous Gospel singer of the 20th Century with fans all over the world.  She was a member of the Salem Baptist Church in Chicago for 45 years while she recorded many great albums for Decca, Appollo, and Capitol Records.  Among her most popular albums was one recorded with Percy Faith at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival that became a smash hit on regular, not just Gospel, charts.  She died in January 1972 at her home in Evergreen Park at the age of 61.  Mayor Richard J. Daley joined 6,000 mourners at her funeral service held in the Airie Crown Theater at McCormick Place.  Mahalia Jackson was both a great artist and a fine human being and another reason to celebrate the rich heritage of Illinois history.

Outstanding Illinoisans--Father Daniel Coughlin

By Mark Rhoads

There is one officer of the U.S. House of Representatives who is in the unique position of not having to worry too much about whether Republicans or Democrats win a majority of seats in November.  He has already been told by leaders of both parties that they will renominate him for his current job, Chaplain of the House.  He is Father Daniel P. Coughlin, a Chicago native, who formerly served as Vicar of Priests in Cook County as the special liaison for Cardinal George to the priests and visa versa. 

Illinois Hall of Fame--Charles Dawes

By Mark Rhoads

The man on the right standing next to President Calvin Coolidge is  Vice President Charles G. Dawes from Evanston who served from 1925 to 1929.  He was one of two Vice Presidents of the United States from Illinois.  The other was Vice President Adlai Ewing Stevenson from Bloomington who served with President Grover Cleveland from 1893 to 1897.  Almost no students in Illinois today have ever heard of Dawes nor have their teachers.

Mr. Cub Still Loves the Game

By Mark Rhoads 

Crain's Chicago Business reported Saturday, June 10 on its web site that 75-year old Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, recently told the Tribune Company he would be interested purchasing the Cubs or being a part owner. 

London Times editorial June 6

By Mark Rhoads

Bravo for the editorial page of the world's most prestigious newspaper, the London Times, for speaking out today against Europe's popular sport of America bashing.  Unlike most of the world's press, they are able to make a critical distinction between a horrible crime that might happen during time of war and a delieberate policy used by al Quaeda and others to routinely use war crimes as a legitimate tactic of war every day.  Here is the editorial:

Why Principles Trump "Issues"

In a piece explaining why "principles trump issues," IR contributor former State Senator Mark Rhoads advises Republican candidates: 

The wisest Republican candidates this year will be those who don't worry about focus groups and polls on various transient issues.  They will instead stand by principles, apply them, and let the temporary issues of the day sort themselves out as measured against the truth of enduring ideals.

Read more . . .

Haditha is not My Lai--not yet

By Mark Rhoads

Three allegations have surfaced in recent days concerning the possiblity of murder or war crimes against Iraqi civilians by US Marines and soldiers.  An investigation into shootings of 15 Iraqi citizens including a three-year old girl at Haditha last November has been opened by both the Iraqi government and the Pentagon.  A report of US military crimes at Ishaqi in March seems to be without foundation.  A third report is being looked at. 

An Illinois Memorial Day in Washington, DC

By Mark Rhoads

The State of Illinois was proudly represented in the Memorial Day events of Washington, DC this weekend with two actors from the Land of Lincoln leading the way.  Chicago native Joe Mantengna teamed with Blue Island and Highland Park native Gary Sinise (right) to co-host the Memorial Day Tribute to Veterans on PBS at the West Front of the Capitol on Sunday night.  Gary Sinise has been to Iraq several times and has been generous with his time in support of USO shows for the troops overseas.  Front-row dignitaries included Battle of the Bulge veteran and former Illinois Congressman Bob Michel of Peoria and Father Daniel Coughlin, Chaplain of the U.S. House and former Vicar of Priests in Chicago.  Father Coughlin was also voted in as the official chaplain of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC at its annual meeting at Fort McNair Officer's Club last Wednesday, May 24.

On Monday, May 29, the Illinois State Society co-sponsored the Memorial Day Ceremony with the National Park Service at Logan Circle, NW.  Union Maj. Gen. John A. Logan from Murphysboro, Illinois was a Union Democrat who campaigned for President Lincoln in 1864.  A former Illinois Congressman and US Senator, Logan ran for Vice President on the GOP ticket with James G. Blaine in 1884.

Who Prefers Tyranny to Freedom?

By Mark Rhoads

   At my apartment building brunch this morning a neighbor tossed off a familiar cliche to the effect that “our system of democracy is not right for everyone.”  I guess I have to then ask the question, who is tyranny right for and who prefers it if they can avoid it and live under freedom instead?

   When someone makes the argument that democracy is not good for everyone, what are they really advocating as a substitute policy?  That we in the US should not even try to promote the spread of freedom?  That such efforts are not worth the cost and sacrifice?  Did the removal of Saddam create more danger and less peace?  Is that what history really shows?  Have we forgotten already Saddam’s nine-year war with Iran, his gas attacks against the Kurds and murder of Shiite rebels, his invasion of Kuwait, his launch of Scud missiles against Israel, his brutality toward any dissenter, his murder of his own family members?  Have we forgotten the crimes of his two sons?    History more often shows that democracies seldom wage war on each other, that the spread of freedom leads to long-term peace, that the spread of freedom leads to the rule of law and the encouragement of prosperity. 

  It does no good now to endlessly argue about the decision to remove Saddam in 2003 or about why larger caches of weapons of mass destruction were not found even though those that were constituted a sizable arsenal.  For the first time ever, there is a new unity government that was freely elected by the voters of a large Muslim country in the Mideast and that is a good thing, not a bad thing.

   

The Real Lost City is Cuba Libre

By Mark Rhoads

    I had the great privilege of seeing Andy Garcia's film The Lost City yesterday.  It is small wonder that the usual left-wing dominated film festivals would not allow this well-crafted cinematic treasure to be shown in their venues.  The film is outstanding on the level of art but by dominant Hollywood standards, the political message is not acceptable.  The film dares to unmask the brutality of Fidel Castro and his murder accomplice Che Guevara.  Hollywood is a place where T-shirts glorify these maniacs and where tragically misguided actors such as Danny Glover defend them as heroes.

    Many reviews have said this film is a personal statement by Mr. Garcia.  Bravo for actors such as Chicago's own Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman for having the courage to appear in this film and run the risk of incurring the wrath of the leftist elite in Hollywood.  Garcia describes the revolution in Havana from early 1958 until the lead character escapes some time in 1960.  It is important to remember that Fulgenico Batista was a tryant who had thrown out the democratic constitution of 1940.  He too was a cold-blooded killer like Castro and Guevara.  But under Batista on his worst day, Cubans were free to change jobs, attend church, join a labor union, buy overseas publications, leave the country, move within the country, and take advantage of many other freedoms that vanished under Castro.  For a better review read Kathryn Jean Lopez at: National Review On Line

Critics pan The Da Vinci Code

By Mark Rhoads

The great majority of reviews from The Cannes Film Festival have been blistering The Da Vinci Code as plodding and dull.  One exception is our own Roger Ebert who can be beyond eccentric at times.  Variety gave it one of the worst reviews of the year.  Now its true controversy can help a film.  But if the word of mouth on the first weekend is bad, the fall off for the second weekend can be noticeable and one can know many weeks in advance if The Code will make enough revenue to recover $125 million in production costs not counting the marketing expense.  Check the Box Office Mojo web site as the week progresses.

What's Missing from Kennedy Story

By Mark Rhoads

There is little inside information I can offer on the Patrick Kennedy crash just because I live in Washington and I am familiar with the neighborhood.  But there are so many legitimate questions that need to be answered.  For example, how was Kennedy dressed when he crashed his car?  Was he wearing a suit and tie?  If so, that would indicate he never went home at all but had come from one of several bars on Pennsylvania Avenue, SE where is a known to be a regular.  The Hawk "n" Dove is both a local neighborhood bar that stays open late.  It is also a hangout for younger Congressional staffers who live in nearby apartments.  Kennedy is 39 years old in chronological age but younger in terms of maturity.

"Of all the words of tongue and pen"

By Mark Rhoads

"Of all the words of tongue and pen, the saddest of these are it might have been."  This once famous quote is of dubious origin but it has circulated for decades because it has the ring of truth.  The closest quote similar to it that one can document is from the writer Arthur Gutterman (1871-1943) whose work Prophets in Their Own County included the words "Of all cold words of tongue or pen, the worst of these are, "I knew him when."

I am sad about the Ryan verdict not because I think the jury was arbitrary or justice was not served, it was.  I am only sad because when I knew George Ryan as Speaker of the Illinois House in the early 1980s, he was always fair with me, supportive, and always appeared to be trying to do a decent job under difficult working conditions.  Were it not for the Willis family tragedy, one could be more sympathetic for the self-made series of wrongful acts that have resulted in the conviction of the former governor.