Scene from a 20 mile run

A friend of mine took this photo of me with an LG CU500 camera phone this morning in Chicago's Lincoln Park, just north of Addison Avenue. A couple of minutes earlier I finished running 20 miles with the Illinois Runs training group.

Technorati tags: running Marathon LG cu500 camera phones Chicago run

Wildflower caption contest

Does anyone know what kind of wildflower this is? It just started blooming about a week a ago two blocks from my home in Morton Grove, Illinois, where a prairie seems to be restoring itself on an embankment next to Interstate 94.

It's tall, about 6 feet high.

Photo taken this afternoon with my Treo 650.

Technorati tags: Morton Grove Illinois photos wildflowers Nature Treo TREO 650 Photography

Eugene the Bunker Blogger's Pajamas podcast

During the recent Israel-Hezbollah War, Eugene, a Haifa blogger, gave podcast updates from his bunker as missiles landed on his hometown.

Pajamas Media's Roger L. Simon tracked down Eugene, who gives us an update on post-war Israel in this podcast from Pajamas' Politics Central.

As with Pajamas Blog Week in Review, free subscriptions to Politics Central podcasts are available at the iTunes web site.

Technorati tags: podcasts Podcast Podcasting iPod blog Pajamas Media Israel Israeli politics Hezbollah iTunes Politics Central

Duckworth running nationally for an Illinois congressional seat

Despite the delusions of a west suburban Chicago blogger (you know who you are), I don't support Democrat Tammy Duckworth in the race to succeed Henry Hyde in Illinois' Sixth Congressional District, I'm behind Republican Peter Roskam.

For those of you who don't know, Duckworth is an Iraqi war veteran who lost both her legs after the helicopter she was flying was shot down.

As a candidate, Tammy's main talent has been attracting prominent Democrats from outside Illinois to back her candidacy. Tammy lives outside the district she's running in--she resides in the Eighth--but that seat is held by Democrat Melissa Bean, who ousted longtime (too longtime, actually) Republican Phil Crane two years ago. Bean faces a tough re-election challenge from Republican David McSweeney.

Tammy, according to Dan Curry of Reverse Spin, is avoiding local media, but seems to have plenty of time for what seems to be bigger media game for the Hoffman Estates Democrat:

The only way to find out about one of the candidates in my congressional race is to read Time, or one of the other national publications writing publicity stories about Dem darling Tammy Duckworth, who is taking on Peter Roskam in the 6th Congressional District.

She apparently is more comfortable with the big, bad national media than local newspapers like the Des Plaines Journal & Topics, which is being stiffed by Duckworth as this column by Managing Editor Todd Wessell points out.

Duckworth is pursuing a foolish strategy running nationally for a local race. Despite that massive population of the Chicago region, area residents are quite clannish and suspicious of outsiders. Unlike the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, Chicago and its suburbs are not dominated by transplants.

And community papers are closely studied by Chicago area residents who vote.

Technorati tags: Tammy Duckworth peter roskam Illinois Politics Illinois Congress Iraq Democrats

Mr. Right's new photo caption contest....

...this photo caption contest from Mr. Right has two walking jokes in in: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Enter here.

Technorati tags: humor Jokes funny humour Ray Nagin Al Sharpton New Orleans

Update on my mother

After the Constitutional Public Radio show ended yesterday afternoon, I visited my mother in the hospital. As you may know, she broke her hip Tuesday afternoon.

Although she is suffering from pain--a broken hip and major surgery in a three day period is a lot for the body to cope with--she's doing fairly well.

New head of Islamic group criticizes "Islamicfascist" comment at annual convention

Earlier this week Ingrid Mattson, a female convert to Islam, was elected head of the Islamic Society of North America, the continent's oldest Islamic organization.

However, if decides to visit Saudi Arabia, she won't be able to drive a car.

The group's annual convention is taking place near Chicago's O'Hare Airport, and Mattson is off to a predictable start, criticizing Bush's "Islamicfascist" comment.

Which brings to mind this comment from Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, the general manager of the al-Arabiya network.

It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.

There's a problem within Islam, Ingrid: widespread violence committed in the name of the faith. And blaming Bush, or for that matter the West, colonialism, or the Jews is not solving that problem.

Technorati tags: Islam Muslim Terrorism Bush ISNA Chicago Illinois

Klocek appearance on CPR radio rebroadcast tonight

Click here to listen to Mark and Andrea's rebroadcast of their afternoon show, with an interview with Tom Klocek, former DePaul Univeristy professor; he will be on around 9pm Eastern, 8:00pm Central. Blogger Kitty Myers precedes the professor.

And yes, our old pals at CAIR are discussed.

Technorati tags: DePaul Free Speech Academic freedom Thomas Klocek Chicago Illinois Catholic CAIR

DePaul contacts, the co-chairs of the board of directors

These are people to contact at DePaul about the Thomas Klocek affair, the co-chairs of the Chicago Catholic school's board of directors.

John Simon: jsimon@jenner.com

Mary Dempsey: mdempsey@chicagopubliclibrary.org

DePaul Free Speech Academic freedom Thomas Klocek Chicago Illinois Catholic Muslims

Klocek radio day; Daniel Pipes on CAIR hypocrisy in Klocek case

This post will remain on top until this later this afternoon.

Thomas Klocek will be LIVE! on Constitutional Public Radio this afternoon at 4:00PM Eastern Time, 3:00PM Central. Yes, you can listen in on the internet!

UPDATE! The chatroom is open!

Noted author Daniel Pipes blows the whistle--again--on CAIR, this time revealing (surpise!) hypocrisy by CAIR.

From Front Page Magazine:

But in Chicago’s other high-profile academic-freedom case concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, and there, CAIR is exactly on the other side, seeking to have the instructor fired.

That would be the case of Thomas Klocek, a part-time adjunct professor since 1991 at DePaul University, the largest Catholic school in the United States. At a campus fair, Klocek expressed pro-Israel views, got into an altercation with two anti-Israel groups (Students for Justice in Palestine and United Muslims Moving Ahead), and, after they registered complaints against him, was suspended by the university. CAIR not only endorsed his suspension but, as articulated by Christina Abraham, CAIR-Chicago's civil rights coordinator (and a DePaul University law student), wanted him more severely punished.

Abraham gave a video interview in June 2006 concerning Klocek’s suspension, as revealed by John Ruberry, in the course of which she, speaking on behalf of CAIR explained the organization’s position on Klocek. About 1/8th of the way into the video, she says: “We were very concerned with the situation and we did request that he [Klocek] be terminated.” She confirmed this, later saying (about 1/6th of the way in) that CAIR-Chicago suggested to DePaul that “if the investigation were to have shown that he did make these statements that and he did act this way towards the students, yes, we did suggest that they should terminate him.”

More...

As Ruberry points out, CAIR fancies itself a civil rights organization, but is it the normal work of a civil rights organization to recommend that a private institution fire an employee, thereby depriving him of his livelihood (not to speak of the health insurance required for his serious kidney condition)? Some might conclude that CAIR is no civil rights organization; that would certainly fit with my own perception since 1999.

CAIR Chicago is pretty cozy with DePaul. Their office is at 28 E. Jackson in Chicago's south Loop, where DePaul has office space, and that building is right across the street from DePaul's downtown campus.

Two DePaul professors, M. Cherif Bassiouni and Aminiah McCloud have ties to CAIR. Bassiouni a regular on the CAIR speaking circuit. McCloud's most recent claim to fame is being named in David Horowitz' 2006 book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America.

DePaul is currently touting on its website the honor bestowed on it by the Princeton Review, which said DePaul had the "Most Diverse Student Body."

Overall however, DePaul, the nation's largest Catholic university, is not diverse enough to keep Professor Thomas Klocek on its payroll.

Related posts: Thomas Klocek defense fund seeking donations

Reinstate Thomas Klocek at DePaul petition nearing 1700 signatures

DePaul DeTritus

DePaul professor to me: "I would never allow you in my classroom"

Technorati tags: DePaul Free Speech Academic freedom Thomas Klocek Chicago Illinois Catholic Muslims Florida radio Diversity Daniel Pipes Aminah McCloud M. Cherif Bassiouni