For Emmett

The Last Quatrain of the Balled of Emmett Till

after the murder,
after the burial
Emmett’s mother is a pretty-faced thing;
the tint of pulled taffy.
She sits in a red room,
drinking black coffee.
She kisses her killed boy.
And she is sorry.
Chaos in windy grays
through a red prairie.

Gwendolyn Brooks~ 1960

Most people know the story of Till, a black kid from Chicago who was beaten to death at the age of 14 because he had the nerve to whistle at a white woman in the lovely little cracker shithole known as Money, Mississippi. His eye was gouged out, and he was shot in the head. His body was weighted down with the fan from a cotton gin, and his body was dumped in the Tallahatchie River where it lay for 3 days before being discovered.

Till had traveled to Mississippi in August 1955 to stay with his uncle, Moses Wright. Three days after hs arrival, he was outside a general store owned by Roy Bryant and his wife Carolyn. Accounts vary but there's general agreement that, on a dare, Till whistled at Carolyn Bryant. Considering the timing of the "event", hot on the heels of Brown v Board of Education, and the location, deep in the heart of cracker country, it's somewhat understandable that Till's uncle told him he should get the hell out of that place.

Roy Bryant had been out of town on the 24th, but upon his return his 21 year old wife told him of Till's act of public defiance. Niggers just didn't whistle at white women in 1955 Mississippi. According to most accounts, Bryant and his half-brother J.W.Milam drove to Wright's house in the middle of the night, 12:30 AM Sunday Aug 28th, and roused Emmett from his sleep. They took him to Carolyn Bryant to confirm his identity as the person doing the whistling (or grabbing her about the waist asking for a date, or saying "Bye, baby.." depending on which story is to be believed.) Once she IDd Emmett as the offender, he was tossed in a pickup truck and taken to a beat up old shed on a plantation in nearby Sunflower County.

Initially, with Till still missing, Bryant and Milam claimed they had indeed taken him for a ride, but insisted they were just trying to scare Emmett, and only roughed him up a bit before releasing him. After hearing about Emmett, Medgar Evers went to Money, and passed himself off as a cotton picker so he could interview others about the missing Chicago kid.

Within 3 days, a body was discovered in the Tallahatchie, bloated and beaten beyond recognition. A ring on a dead finger, given to Till by his father, allowed positive identification. The dead body in the river was Emmett Till.

Bryant and Milam stood trial, and were acquitted by an all white jury of 12 men. Deliberations took just over an hour. According to one juror, it would have taken less time, but they stopped for a soda break.

Till's murder was seen as one of several key events during that shameful period of US history which led directly to the Civil Rights Movement.

After their acquittal, and thanks to laws protecting them against double jeopardy, Bryant and Milam admitted to killing Till in a January 1956 article in Look Magazine. They were paid $4000 for the story.

Emmett's body was brought back to Chicago. At the funeral, Mamie Carthan Till, Emmett's mother, insisted the casket be open."I wanted the world to see what they did to my baby." Emmett was buried at Burr Oak Cemetery on Sept 6, 1955. (the same day Bryant and Milam were indicted.)

In 2004, the US Dept of Justice announced that they were reopening the case to see if anyone else was involved in Emmett's murder. No autopsy had ever been performed, so the FBI exhumed Till's body in May 2005. After the autopsy was performed by the Cook County Coroner's Office, identifying the remains as those of Emmett Till, the body was reburied in a new casket.

Till's original glass topped casket was to be used as a shrine to Emmett, as well as the Civil Rights Movement according to the people who ran Burr Oak Cemetery. Instead, they tossed Emmett Till's casket in a storage shed where it has become home to a family of possums.

The people running Burr Oak Cemetery are now under investigation for re-selling as many as 300 plots. There are reports of bones being scattered about in rows of hedges, and trucks being loaded up with the remains of unearthed bodies.

Initially, it was feared that Emmett Till's grave had been dug up, the body discarded, and the plot sold again as part of this massive scandal that has rocked Chicago. As it turns out, it appears Till's body is still in his grave.

As of this morning, a new section of Burr Oak has been found to be the site of more grave digging and Tom Dart, Cook County Sheriff has now declared the entire Burr Oak Cemetery a crime scene.

Anger management

I've always hated men that hit women. Any man that would strike a woman, except in self-defense of course, is a gutless piece of shit. There is no excuse. No reason. No explaining.

There are two kinds of men in the world: those who wouldn't think of striking a woman, and the cowardly fucks who would.

Couple of winters ago, Feb 2007, there was an incident up here on the northwest side of Chicago that shocked the hell out of people. A Chicago cop named Anthony Abbate, who checks in at about 250 lbs., beat the heall out of bartender Karolina Obrycka, who's 5'3" & 115 lbs. The whole thing was caught on surveillance video, which had recently been installed at Jesse's Shortstop Inn on Belmont Ave.

Because of where I work, I have much contact with the Chicago police, and they make up a sizable percentage of my customer base. Simply put, the northwest side is loaded with cops, firefighters, and teachers (due to Chicago's residency requirement for city employees.)

It's a very tightly knit group, the police. They network like nothing I've ever seen before. There is one customer, I'll call him George the Detective (because that's his name), who has sent me no less than 20 of his fellow cops. They talk.

Also, the northwest side is loaded with Polish immigrants. I work with many Polish people, and believe me, it is also a very tightly knit community. For the most part they are honest, hard working people. Great neighbors. Great employees. Happy as hell to be living in America. Karolina Obrycka is a Polish immigrant.

In the wake of Abbate's brutal attack on Obrycka, anger ran high. Very high. Couple of the Polish guys that work for me know the owner of Jesse's Shortstop Inn, and they assured me that if Abbate doesn't get justice, it will be extracted by other means.

Polish immigrants in Chicago often speak of "justice, Polish style." For the most part, they don't bother calling the cops in Poland. You beat up somebody's wife, or girlfriend, or their child, they will come and find you, and they will beat the living shit out of you. Break your legs and shit.

I told my guys that my Chicago cop friends were just as outraged, and I repeated several stories I'd been told about this Abbate prick. Despite not having a record, it's not the first time this guy's been in trouble, and he had no support at all from his fellow cops, at least the ones I know. He was an outcast. (Some think that Chicago's police superintendent, who resigned shortly after, did so because of the Abbate incident.)

My Polish friends expressed their doubts. It's no secret that some Chicago cops treat immigrants as less than 2nd class; there are many cases of cops shaking down Poles for their pocket cash under the threat of calling ICE.

My Polish friends told me they expected the cops, and the courts, to stick together on this thing.

Abbate's defense hack, Peter Hickey, had the nerve to claim that the drunken thug was acting in self-defense despite the incriminating video, and the fact that Abbate has Obrycka by about 150 lbs. He said that Karolina was the aggressor, the instigator, despite the fact that Abbate is caught on the same surveillance video roughing up another bar patron earlier in the evening.

Well, yesterday, Cook County judge John Fleming announced Abbate's sentence.

2 years of probation, and 130 hours of community service.

People are stunned this morning. Absolute disbelief.

In "explaining" the "rationale" behind the feather light sentence, Fleming said “If I believed sentencing Anthony Abbate to prison would stop people from getting drunk and hitting people, I’d give him the maximum sentence."

To me, that makes no sense at all. Literally none. Since a stiff prison sentence wouldn't solve the problem of drunken mayhem, there is no reason to put Abbate behind bars? If I murder someone, a judge is going to give me a light sentence, because a heavy penalty won't stop other murders from occurring? If I steal a car, I'll get a slap on the wrist because my prison time won't stop car theft? What the fuck is that?

This is an outrage.

I should mention that Abbate has also been instructed to enter anger management classes.

I got news for you folks, at this point in time, Abbate is just one of a large number of people whose anger needs to be controlled, and I will not be surprised if Anthony Abbate winds up in traction. This thing isn't over. Not yet.

Burris Goes Blago

Now that Fitz's office has released the audio from a wire-tapped Nov 13, 2008 conversation between (now) Illinois Sen. Roland Burris and Robert Blagojevich, brother of impeached/removed/indicted/ former Gov Rod, it's become quite clear that Burris was indeed offering to pay in exchange for some play. At one point The Headless One mentioned the possibility of raising some funds for Blago via his law partner Tim Wright. "I might be able to do it that way."....or some such shit. You can read/hear the tapes anywhere now, I won't bother quoting the crook nor linking.

Roland's story has gone from "I didn't talk to nobody 'bout nothin' remotely related to buying Obama's US Senate seat." back in February to "The impeachment panel didn't ask me the right questions." here in late May.

On tape, Burris discussed raising money for Blago, getting it done before the end of December, perhaps funneling the money through his law partner to avoid the appearance of impropriety, and repeatedly emphasized that he was very, very, very interested in obtaining the appointment to Obama's vacated seat (and therefore insulting furniture everywhere.)

No involvement? What are we fuckin' stupid? Apparently, yes.

When asked about the apparent discrepancy between versions of his involvement with Blago, Burris urged reporters to "read the affidavit, have you read the affidavit?....please just read the affidavit."

I have.

If one reads the affidavit, one is immediately struck with the impression that Burris and then Gov Rod Blagojevich were discussing pay-to-play by proxy (Rob Blago.)

When pressed harder on the obvious line of bullshit, Roland has now claimed he was "placating" Blago, with no real intention of actually piping some geld to Springfield. Shucks, back in late '08, everybody was calling the offices of Friends of Blagojevich expressing interest in Obama's empty seat.

Problem is, FOB called Roland Burris, not the other way around. That is very curious indeed.

And now, Roland Burris is underscoring his innocence!!!... has clearly proven that he was telling the truth, by claiming that he was lying to placating Rob Blago, ...by reminding everbody that he never actually GAVE Rod Blago a penny.

I'd be slightly tempted to believe Roland but for the time line. Rod got the big cufflinks on 12/11/08 which is well before the end of December. Dozens of Blago fund raisers were cancelled within hours of him being Fitzed, which makes it entirely reasonable to believe that Burris planned on getting Blago some cash during that holiday fund raising period, and like many others backed away.

The tapes prove that. He knew he had to get Blago the cash by the end of '08, he knew that he had to keep it on the QT, and he not only badly wanted, but ultimately accepted Obama's seat. Now he's busted, and he's claiming to be completely free of any guilt.

He's gone Blago, and his sincerity is fucking Blago-like. He can't believe that we even doubt his story. He's gone from claiming no involvement at all, to now pleading his case by claiming he was telling the truth when he said he was lying. This is the former Attorney General for the State of Illinois. Now a US Senator. Emphasis on the word now. This guy's toast.

Franken in, Roland out?

Now that's what I call a great link!

Evolution deniers have been blathering on about a so-called "missing link" since Darwin's brilliant insights began gaining wide acceptance as scientific facts, which they are. Creationists mainly, those who are mortified at the idea of Genesis being proven to be utter crapola, have hung their denial of the truth on an "argument" that says without an unbroken chain of fossil evidence linking early primates to modern humans, evolution can be nothing more than a "theory." Many suggest evolution should be taught side-by-side with intelligent design in our science classrooms, which is sort of like teaching astronomy alongside astrology.

With a mountain of fossil evidence already pointing clearly to evolution as the most obvious explanation for the rise of the human species, the idea of a "missing link" always struck me as a last gasp of the desperate. Not coincidentally, those who insist that an unbroke fossil chain must be found to validate evolution as legitimate science, are the same people who overlook the utter lack of any evidence at all in their own position on the subject. Is there any evidence AT ALL that the tale told in Genesis is anything more than a fable? No. None. Not a shred of evidence to suggest the earth, the stars, and the animals and plants existing on our planet are the end result of a six day creationgasm that took place about 6000 years ago.

Quite the contrary. ALL evidence gathered by scientists over the past, ohhhhh 700 years or so, has suggested strongly that the story told in Genesis is patently false, and in the last 150 years or so ALL evidence has pointed to Darwin's theory as correct.

And yet, those who cling to the bible's infallibility dismiss the science as "theoretical" and ask for even more evidence, apparently ignorant of the concept that says the longer a theory goes without being disproven, the stronger the theory becomes. Some very fine scientists, shown by their impartiality to be in search of truth, have tried to disprove Darwin, and failed. Honest scientists embark on such a quest not hoping to find Darwin right or wrong, but rather hoping to put stress on his theory in ways untried before. And the more they stress tested Darwin, the stronger Charlie's theory became. Simply put, Darwin's theory has withstood the test of time, and the challenges of its doubters. But still, creationists have held on to the slender thread. By insisting there is a link missing in the fossil record, they've been able to convince themselves that without said link, the entire theory of evolution is in doubt.

Well, now we have Ida.

Ida is a near perfectly preserved primate fossil found in the Messel Pit in Germany. Ida's fossil has been dated to roughly 47 million years ago, and scientists are calling Ida a transitional species showing showing some characteristics of the non-human evolutionary line (prosimians, like lemurs), but is more related to the human evolutionary line (anthropoids, like apes monkeys, and humans.) Opposable big toes and nails indicate she was a primate, and the presence of a talus bone in her foot indicate she is at or near the root of the tree of human evolution.

In this morning's press release, entitled simply "The Link", scientists are calling Ida one of the most important fossil discoveries of all time.

Philip Gingerich, Paleontologist from the University of Michigan is comparing Ida to the Rosetta Stone.

Dr. Jorn Hurum, from the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo has been secretly studying Ida's fossil for 2 years, and is of the opinion that Ida's picture will be in science textbooks for the next 100 years.

Dr. Jens Lorenz Franzen, from the Senckenberg Research Institute says that when their complete findings are published, it will be like an asteroid hitting the earth.

I never thought there really was much of a debate, but it seems like Ida's fossil should be able to snip the creationists' slender thread once and for all.

Some scientists are actually calling Ida....the Missing Link.

LOST: One Chicago Bear

Powerful storms cruised through here last night. Serious high wind action and driving rain. About 10:30PM or so was when it really started going all Oz on us. There's always been something about violent weather that appeals to me. I absolutely love sitting in my cozy little apartment looking out the window when the trees are bent at a 45, rain just friggin' pouring down, lightning followed quickly by thunderclaps. Love it. Especially the lightning and thunder, and in the case of electrical storms, I prefer them at night. As long as I'm inside.

Not Bear though.

He absolutely hates thunder. He's a cop on the Chicago police force. Day in and day out he faces the nastiest elements this city can throw at him. He's gotten in a few scrapes with unruly suspects. In fact, when there's serious resistance on the part of a bad guy, Bear is almost always the one that pulls the tough duty of subduing some tweaked up meth head. More often than not, Bear's mere intimidating presence is enough to keep the shitheads in line.

His partner, Detective Richard King says Bear is "friendly, and very good natured. He's all about 'playing.'" Now I don't know what the hell King means by 'playing'; Chicago cops can be funny ducks, but I'll assume King means good playing.

Anyway, last night, about 10:30, 'friendly and good natured player" Bear goes out in his back yard, to have a bite to eat and take a piss. And then he hears the rolling of distant thunder, not even a huge boom, ...and he freaks out.

Mind you, he's a highly skilled specialist. He goes through a grueling 3 or 4 month training program before he can even get on the Chicago police force. They don't just take any tough looking son-of-a-bitch.

And yet, one distant thunder roll, and he jumps over the fence in his back yard, and takes off running.

And now, today, he's missing.

LOST: One 3 year old, 74 lb., black and tan German shepherd. Answers to the name "Bear."

HERE's a picture of the big baby.

If you see him, call 312-746-7180

Balls

Mikey

Stopped by the news stand earlier today. I love talking to Mikey the Cardinals fan. He was wearing the blue Cardinals cap today. We got chatting, and he asked me why I walked up today, rather than yapping from my car.

I told him it was for two reasons.....

First I wanted to know what he thought of the Cardinals hot 17-7 start.

"Oh it's good, but I just don't think they have the horses. The Cubs are gonna catch 'em."

And the second reason I parked my car and walked over to Mikey's corner of the world, ...was to take this picture.

(click on the pic to enlarge Mikey, he'd appreciate that)