LAWYERBRUCE

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/KomenPhilly?feature=mhsn#p/a/u/0/cfRSDbV8Adw

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Civil War and IL governor's race

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

The Civil War ended in 1865. One of the main reasons for the Civil War was to establish equality regardless of race. It resulted in the abolishing of slavery. So, here we sit, one hundred forty-five years after the end of the bloodiest and only war ever fought on our soil and there will not be a black in the United States Senate in 2011. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Please go to the site below and watch the video. A $.10 donation goes to breast cancer

research every time someone watches it.

By 10:00 p. m. Wednesday, Gov. Quinn’s lead had risen to over 19,000 votes. If Brady keeps prolonging the inevitable, he may be able to lose by 100,000 votes. President Obama called Quinn to congratulate him. Brady should take a clue from that fact. The President is still cleaning egg off his face from Tuesday. He wouldn’t spread more on his face on Wednesday. He and the Democrats are quite sure Quinn has won. Even the Republican Party is telling Brady to give it up. The spoiled little rich kid from Bloomington just will not listen. In Central Illinois, you do not say no to the Brady family, until now anyway.

Back in August of this year, I contacted both campaigns and asked them if they would complete a simple questionnaire I had prepared. Both camps requested I send it to them for review. They would fill it out closer to the election, if it were not objectionable. I Emailed both candidates the questionnaire. It was a simple two page document that tried to be more personal rather than political. Both candidates received the same questionnaire. Below is the questionnaire. Neither candidate ever filled it out and returned it. It is below:

POLITICAL QUESTIONAIRE

DATE:_______________

NAME:__________________________________________

HOME TOWN:____________________________________

MARITAL STATUS:__________________________________

CHILDREN?________________________________, _______________________________________

__________________________________________, ________________________________________

COLLEGE/YEAR:______________________________________________________________________

HIGH SCHOOL MASCOT:_______________________________________________________________

ATHLETE?-EVENTS:___________________________________________________________________

DID YOU EVER DATE A HOMECOMING QUEEN? Yes________________ No___________________

Where did you propose to your wife?___________________________________________________

Was it expected?__________________________________

Other elected office(s):______________________________________________________________

Best Movie?_______________________________________________________________________

Favorite Godfather Movie?___________________________________________________________

Favorite John Wayne Movie?_________________________________________________________

Favorite song of 50s__________________________ 60s__________________________________

70s_________________________________________ 80s__________________________________

90s__________________________________________00s______________________________

Chicago __________or Blood, Sweat & Tears__________ or Ides of March____________

Ginger or Mary Anne? _______________________________________________________________

Notable births on this date:

1876 James Fraser designed buffalo nickel
1879 Will Rogers Oologah Indian Territory (Oklahoma), humorist

1913 Gig Young St Cloud MN, actor (They Shoot Horses Don't They)
1916 Walter Cronkite St Joseph MO, news anchor (CBS Evening News 1962-81)
1918 Art Carney Mount Vernon NY, actor (Ed Norton-Honeymooners)
1918 Cameron Mitchell Dallastown PA, actor (Buck-High Chaparral)
1919 Martin Balsam NYC, actor (Murray-Archie Bunker's Place, Catch 22)
1929 Jimmy Piersall baseball player (Red Sox, Senators, Indians)
1930 Doris Roberts St Louis MO, actress (Angie, Maggie, Emmy 1983)

1962 Ralph Macchio Huntington NY, actor (Karate Kid, 8 is Enough) - MAN he’s 48

Notable deaths on this date: SLOW DAY TO DIE IF FAMOUS

1984 Merie Earle actress (Maude-Waltons), dies of uremic poisoning at 95
1987 Raphael Soyer artist (Depression scenes in NYC), dies at 87
1995 Yitzhak Rabin IDF Chief of Staff, diplomat and the fifth Prime Minister of the State of Israel, dies at 73

Notable events on this date:

1842 Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd in Springfield, Ill
1845 1st nationally observed uniform election day in US

1879 James & John Ritty patent 1st cash register, to combat stealing by bartenders in their Dayton, Ohio saloon
1884 Grover Cleveland (D) beats James G Blaine (R) for 1st presidential term

1922 Howard Carter discovers tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt
1924 California legalizes pro boxing (illegal since 1914)
1924 Nellie Tayloe Ross elected 1st US female gov (Wyoming)

1939 1940 Olympics awarded to Helsinki, Finland
1939 1st air conditioned automobile (Packard) exhibited, Chicago, Ill
1939 US allows "cash & carry" arms sales during WW II

1952 Eisenhower (R) elected 34th President beating Adlai Stevenson (D)

1956 Israel captures Straits of Tiran from Egypt
1956 Israeli troops reach Suez Canal

1963 John Lennon utters his infamous "Rattle your jewelry" line at the Royal Command Variety Performance ("The people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands... and if the rest of you would just rattle your jewelry.")

1978 Iranian troops fire on anti-Shah student protesters by Tehran U - Thanx Jimmy Carter

1980 Ronald Reagan (R) beats President Jimmy Carter (R) by a landslide. The Iranians were afraid of Reagan.

1990 Iraq says it is preparing for a "dangerous war"
1990 Secretary of State James Baker visits US troops in Saudi Arabia
1991 Mid East peace conference ends in Madrid Spain

PEACE CONFERENCES ARE ALWAYS ENDING WITH NOTHING ACCOMPLISHED IN MIDEAST

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Way to go Tom and Clay; now make us proud.

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

CONGRATULATIONS TO JUDGE-ELECT TOM DOHERTY. EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY HE IS OUR NEWEST JURIST. HE IS A CLASS ACT WITH THE BEST INTENTIONS BEHIND HIM ALONG WITH SUPERIOR ABILITY.

OUR NEW STATE’S ATTORNEY WILL ALSO BE A WELCOME ADDITION TO THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT. HE HASTHE NEEDED EXPERIENCE AND ABILITY TO BE FAIR AND PRACTICAL. HE WILL FIGHT THE BATTLES THAT NEED FIGHTING BUT THAT CAN BE WON. I DO NOT EXPECT HIM TO IGNORE THE CRIMINAL PROSECUTION SIDE OF HIS DUTIES WHILE FUNNELLING TOO MUCH ENERGY AND TOO MANY RESOURCES TO FAMILY LAW ENFORCEMENT.

One thing I learned from my dad was to follow politics. He felt it was important to stay current in the latest trends and it starts by following politics. It is nice to know who the powers to be are and, when available, get to know them. My father was a businessman. Like all businessmen, it’s nice to know people.

I have always enjoyed keeping track of politics, locally, statewide and nationally. Nights like last night have always been enjoyable to me. It is a Tuesday in November so no huge sporting events are on. I watch the returns. I play a game against myself to see if I predicted the winner, predictions I usually keep to myself. That way I can always claim I knew who would win. Last night was no different. I watched the returns come in, secretly keeping score to myself. I was up past 1:00 a. m. watching the results and visiting the Daily Chronicle’s website and chat room.

So now, let’s see who won what? Who are we going to vote out of office in two years? We can start with President Barack Obama. Even if it is not his fault, and it is, he has got to go. His fifteen minutes has already lasted too long. Cutting off the head does not always kill the evil creature so we must keep cutting.

I pray the Tea Party is a distant memory by November 2012, but we will see. I imagine the few Tea Party members that got elected yesterday will have figured out Washington politics by the next election. They will not want to run as an outsider again but will be touting the bacon they brought home for their constituents. If they insist on being outsiders, they will have accomplished nothing and have a terrible record to run on.

In my opinion, the winners were;

1. The people in Randy Hultgren’s district

2. The people of DeKalb County

3. Kishwaukee Community College

4. Republicans

5. Political neophytes

6. The people of Illinois since we can fire them all again in two years.

The loser’s were;

1. The people of Illinois, we still have a Senator to be ashamed of.

2. The people of Illinois, we still cannot elect a governor. If Quinn is the best we have, we suck.

3. Democrats

4. Incumbents

As always, the losers were the American people. It is time to spend less time exporting democracy and more time exercising it properly. We can’t be to convincing to the rest of the world when we complain about the graft and corruption in a foreign government when, in reality, we are not much better.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

ill.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Bye-bye Bill!

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

It is time to vote. Get out to the polling places and exercise your franchise. The politicians may not listen but they surely cannot hear the Sounds of Silence. America we are in a fight. We must become The Boxer to stop from Slip Slidin’ Away. We have to Keep the Customer Satisfied along with Mrs. Robinson as we are on our way to traverse the Bridge Over Troubled Waters. We must be steadfast in our resolve; we must be Like a Rock.

With the election over, can Bill Clinton, Karl Rove and Sarah Palin go away for two years? Please? Can we really take four years of Governor Moonbeam in California? No matter what happens, the immediate impact will be nil. Nothing will change except the people arguing and who will be accomplishing nothing.

Something has to change, quickly and decisively. Even though he’s my brother, he’s getting heavy.

It was a wimpy end to the baseball season but congratulations to the San Francisco Giants foe winning their first World Series since 1954. At that time, they were still the New York Giants. It has been a long wait for California National League baseball fans to get a World Series Championship.

BE PATIENT CUB FANS, MIRACLES HAPPEN, AT LEAST IN THE LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS.

My bet is Health Care Unreform will not happen. If the Republicans do not win both houses of Congress, anything the House does that the Democrats do not like will sit in committee, never getting before the President for signature. The best hope for changing the Health Care Reform Act will be if a Court rules it unconstitutional. That would give the Democrats an out. They could campaign next time claiming they tried but the Courts would not let them. The Republicans can campaign, claiming they got rid of the Health Care Reform Act.

The ‘Bush’ tax cuts will be extended. The extension will go beyond the next election. That way, both parties can claim victory. Neither party wants to rehash this race in 2012.

Something needs to be done about the length of the election season and the cost of running a campaign. Elections should start the day after Labor Day the year of the election. The cost of every election should be limited to $1.00 per citizen in the election area. Nationwide elections could cost $1.00 per American. Statewide elections would be limited to $1.00 per citizen in the State, and so on. The pool of election money would be divided equally between every candidate polling at least 10% on Labor Day. This election reform would allow the voters to see how a candidate budgets his limited resources. Violations of the campaign laws would be a crime with the named candidate subject to charges caused by the actions of his/her underlings.

Every ballot should have a ‘None of the Above’ box to pick. If that box wins the election, that office remains vacant until the next election. This will help get the vote out. It will also bring out a better crop of candidates. No one will want to run for office and get beat by ‘None of the Above’. This should insure a quality slate of candidates who do what they say they will do or risk being beat by an empty seat.

Just a few thoughts from me to you.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

Monday, November 1, 2010

lincoln and Fido

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Halloween celebration. Now we can get serious. Thanksgiving and Christmas, here we come. There are just 55 shopping days ‘til Christmas.

I was speaking to my brother Sunday. He is a well-known Lincoln Scholar. We were discussing our family yore and a book he was reading about Abraham Lincoln. Some of the information in this article comes from him.

I mentioned a couple of books I am e-publishing shortly. I mentioned Lincoln was the second most written about person in history following only Jesus Christ. My brother said he was aware of this and told me that the three most popular subjects of best sellers currently being published are, in no particular order;

1. Abraham Lincoln

2. Health or medicine

3 Dogs

He took the position that to write a guaranteed best seller you just have to write a book about Lincoln’ veterinarian’s care of Fido.

Yes there actually was a dog named Fido (at least one) and he belonged to Abraham Lincoln.
When Lincoln lived in Springfield, Illinois, he and Fido could often be seen walking around the town. Fido was a floppy eared, yellow dog of mixed ancestry. Fido loved attention and enjoyed chasing his tail, often catching it which merely ended the game prematurely from the dog’s perspective.
When Lincoln was elected President, he decided not to take Fido to the White House because of the long train ride between Illinois and Washington, DC, Fido had been terrified by the loud church bells and cannons that had announced Lincoln as President and Lincoln figured the train whistle and sirens announcing him in every town would disturb Fido..
Instead of subjecting Fido to the stress, Lincoln gave him to the Rolls, a neighboring family that had two boys, to look after until the Lincolns returned.
Lincoln gave the following rules for Fido:

He was not to be scolded for entering the house with muddy paws.
He was not to be tied up alone in the backyard.
He was to be allowed into the Roll home whenever he scratched at the front door.
Since he was accustomed to being fed by members of the family during mealtime, he was to be admitted to the dining room during those times.

The Lincolns gave the Rolls their horsehair sofa so that Fido would feel at home.
Shortly before they left for Washington, Lincoln and his two sons, Willie and Tad, took Fido to a photographer to have his picture taken. This is the first photo of a Presidential dog.
Lincoln had a horse named Old Bob. Lincoln did not take him to Washington D. C. either. The horse did, however, march in Lincoln’s funeral processions.

Notable births on this date:

1815 Crawford Williamson Long surgeon/pioneer (use of ether)

1871 Stephen Crane US, novelist/poet (Red Badge of Courage)

1880 Grantland Rice sportswriter (NY Herald Tribune 1914-30, Colliers 1925-37)

1929 Betsy Palmer E Chicago IN, actress (Mr Roberts, Friday the 13th)
1935 Gary Player South Africa, PGA golfer (US 1965, British 1959,68,74)

1942 Larry Flynt magazine publisher (Hustler)
1942 Marcia Wallace Creston Iowa, actress (Carol-Bob Newhart Show) They don’t look like twins

1960 Lyle Lovett country singer (Desert Rose Band, Give Back My Heart)

Notable deaths on this date: Apparently Halloween does not scare the life out of people. The list is short.

1947 Man O' War dies

1985 Phil Silvers comedic actor (Sgt Bilko), dies at 73 in his sleep
1986 Paul Frees animation voice (Bullwinkle), dies at 66

1994 Noah Beery Jr in California, actor (Rockford Files, Quest, Doc Elliot), dies at 81

Notable events on this date:

79 Pompei buried by Mt Vesuvius

1512 Michelangelo's paintings on ceiling of Sistine Chapel, 1st exhibited
1604 William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" 1st presented
1611 Shakespeare's romantic comedy "The Tempest" 1st presented

1800 1st President to live in the white house (John Adams)
1834 1st published reference to poker (as Mississippi riverboat game)

1938 Seabiscuit beats War Admiral in a match race at Pimlico

1966 NFL awards New Orleans its 16th franchise (All Saints Day)

1969 Beatles' "Abbey Road," album goes #1 & stays #1 for 11 weeks

1990 Sandra Miller awarded $100 for Mike Tyson fondling her breasts $50.00 each. Must not have been much.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Have a "Horror"able day

OCTOBER 31, 2010

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Let’s be careful out there.

Let me tell you a little story from my youth. My mother took me and my brother and sister trick or treating in the early 1960s in Streator, IL. This left my dad home to deal with the kids that came to our door. Back then, kids went trick or treating for several days. We always made a haul. This particular year, on Halloween, we ran out of candy, after we left with my mother. This was not good since my parents had a small chain of convenient marts. We always had the good stuff at our house when our friends wanted a snack.

My dad came up with an idea that solved two problems at once. Our cat had given birth to a litter of kittens weeks before. We had four or five left. My dad didn’t want them around. He dropped kittens into the treat bags of the next several kids who came around until the kittens were gone. The kids apparently thought this was great. Of course when they got home and saw what kittens do when they are excited or scared, the kids realized most of their haul had been peed on by the kittens. They didn’t seem to care.

We returned home with our mother. After a few minutes, a lady knocks on the door and my mother answers it. The lady is a little upset with us. She is loudly voicing her displeasure to my mother as she hands the kitten to her. She wasn’t real concerned with the ruined candy but explaining to her daughter that the kitten had to go home was another matter. My mother had no idea what this woman is talking about. She glances over to my dad who is rolling on the floor in tears from laughter. At about this moment, my sister notices the kittens are gone. Now she is upset. I think my dad was more a scared of my whimpering sister than he was of my yelling mother. He had likely seen my mother upset much more often than my nine year old sister.

This was the only Halloween we were told to take our bag of candy to our rooms and go to bed. My parents wanted to be alone and not for the usual Catholic reason.

The lady that yelled at my mother was the only one who brought a kitten back. We also never got soaped again. And, we got rid of most of the kittens. I don’t think my sister ever got over that event but it became part of family yore from then on. My dad only spoke of it when company was around to prevent my mother from reventing. She too laughed about it for years after a while.

Before you vote on Tuesday, read these statistics and then vote them rascals out of office.

Health Statistics

An "Investor's Business Daily" article provided very
interesting statistics from a survey by the United Nations
International Health Organization.

Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years
after diagnosis:

U.S.    65%

England    46%

Canada 42%

Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received
treatment within six months:

U.S.    93%

England    15%

Canada 43%

Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it
within six months:

U.S.    90%

England    15%

Canada 43%

Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within
one month:
U.S.    77%

England    40%

Canada 43%

Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million people:

U.S.    71

England    14

Canada 18

Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in
"excellent health":

U.S.    12%

England    2%

Canada 6%

I don't know about you, but I don't want "Universal Healthcare"
comparable to England or Canada .

Check this last set of statistics!!

AND THE WINNER IS VERY INTERESTING!

The percentage of each past president's cabinet who had worked in
the private business sector prior to their appointment to the
cabinet. You know what the private business sector is... a real
life business, not a government job. Here are the percentages.

T. Roosevelt........ 38%

Taft.....................40%

Wilson ................52%

Harding..................49%

Coolidge.............. 48%

Hoover................. 42%

F. Roosevelt......... 50%

Truman..................50%

Eisenhower........... 57%

Kennedy.............. 30%

Johnson.................47%

Nixon................... 53%

Ford..................... 42%

Carter.................. 32%

Reagan...................56%

GH Bush................. 51%

Clinton ................. 39%

GW Bush................ 55%

And the winner of the Chicken Dinner is:

Obama........... 8% !!!

This alone can explain the incompetence of this administration....! ! ! !! 8 %

How can the president of a major nation and society...the one
with the most successful economic system in world history...
stand and talk about business when he's never worked for one?..
or about jobs when he has never really had one??! And neither
has 92% of his senior staff and closest advisers! They've spent
most of their time in academia, government and/or non-profit
jobs....or as "community organizers" when they should have been
in an employment line.

I don’t make this stuff up. I merely report it. The accuracy has not been fact checked.

Notable births on this date:

1887 Chiang Kai-shek Chekiang Province, China, pres of Nationalist China

1912 Dale Evans Uvalde Tx, cowgirl (Roy Rogers Show) now that’s scary. Lyle Lovett could never marry an old Dale.
1920 Dick Francis Wales, jockey/novelist (Whip Hand, High Stakes) good horse racing novels

1931 Dan Rather Wharton Tx, news anchor (CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes)
1937 Michael Landon Forest Hills NY, actor (Bonanza, Highway to Heaven)

1942 David Ogden Stiers Peoria Ill, actor (Winchester-M*A*S*H, Doc)

1950 Jane Pauley Indianapolis Indiana, newscaster (Today, NBC Weekend)
1950 John Candy Ontario Canada, comedian (SCTV, Uncle Buck)

Notable deaths on this date:

1865 William Parson 3rd Earl of Rosse & maker of large telescopes, dies

1926 Erich Weiss better known as magician Harry Houdini, dies in Detroit He has never come back like he said he would as his last trick.

1983 George Halas NFLer, dies at 88
1984 Indira Gandhi PM of India assassinated by 2 of her Sikh bodyguards

Notable events on this date:

1517 Luther posts 95 theses on Wittenberg church-Protestant Reformation

1815 Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner's safety lamp
1864 Nevada admitted as 36th state

1922 Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier of Italy
1940 Deadline for Warsaw Jews to move into the Warsaw Ghetto

1950 Collazo & Torresola attempt to kill Truman in Washington, DC
1952 1st thermonuclear bomb detonated-Marshall Islands

1963 Ed Sullivan witnesses the Beatles & their fans at London Airport
1963 Leaking propane gas explodes, kills 64 at "Holiday on Ice" (Indiana)
1964 Barbra Streisand's "People," album goes #1 for 5 weeks

1987 1st jockey to win 9 races in 1 day (Chris Antley at Belmont)

1988 1st Monday Night NFL game in Indianapolis, Colts beat Denver 55-23

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Thank you Chief Feithen

OCTOBER 30, 2010

Right, wrong or indifferent the DeKalb Police Department and I am sure many other agencies apparently solved the Toni Keller murder. The information surrounding this case was slow in coming out and did not always seem to make sense but they got their man. William P. Curl, 34, was arrested in Louisiana for multiple counts of murder, sexual assault, obstruction of justice, car theft and arson. He could face the death penalty since two of the murder charges re death penalty eligible. The murder occurred during the sexual assault. The obstruction charge is for lying to police and leaving the State. The car theft charge is foe taking his mother’s car without her permission. He drove to Mexico and then back to the United States before being found in Covington, Louisiana.

I could not locate a William P. Curl or a Billy Curl on Facebook or Twitter. I didn’t bother looking on LinkedIn, he doesn’t fit the profile.

Good job Chief Feithen and everyone that helped. The community will sleep better and feel safer about sending our children trick-or-treating tomorrow.

Speaking of monsters.

It’s almost here, Halloween that is. With it comes an old song most of us has heard before. “Monster Mash" is a 1962 novelty song and the best-known song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. The song was released as a single on Gary S. Paxton's Garpax Records label in August 1962 along with a full-length LP called The Original Monster Mash, which contained several other monster-themed tunes. The "Monster Mash" single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on October 20 of that year, just in time for Halloween. It is the only song to reach number one with the word “electrodes” in it. It has been a perennial holiday favorite ever since. "The Crypt-Kickers". was a five member group that recorded the song with “Boris” Pickett. One of the Crypt-Kickers was Leon Russell.

It appears a terrorist organization has planned and conducted a run through of a multi pronged terror attack. The success or failure of the exercise is hard to determine. We are not going to be given all the facts. So we don’t know if an intelligence agency discovered the plan, if someone found a suspicious device that helped uncover the plan or if an agency received a tip, anonymous or otherwise. It is hard to brand this an intelligence success. At least one device made it onto a plane. Had it been a bomb and it was built properly, it would have exploded.

Officially, the most popular name in England is Oliver, knocking Jack out of first place, If, however, you count the several different ways of spelling Muhamet as one name, it would be in first place. The British should be concerned about this. King Muhammed doesn’t sound good.

The richest man in India is moving into his one billion dollar home shortly, after several delays. A billion dollars just doesn’t get you what it used to.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com