Love
is the only gold. Alfred Lord Tennyson
THE BEAT POETS
Beat
poetry evolved during the 1940s in both New York City and on the west coast,
although San Francisco became the heart of the movement in the early 1950s. The
end of World War II left poets like Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Lawrence
Ferlinghetti and Gregory Corso questioning mainstream politics and
culture. A Brief Guide to the Beat Poets | Academy of American Poets https://www.poets.org/poetsorg
Eight things you didn’t know about the Beat Generation.
by Brady Barrow
When many people think of The Beat Generation, they think of the same four things: Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” Neal Cassady and Lawrence Ferlighetti. The icons who passed the torch to the hippie movement in San Francisco have been honored in San Francisco's Beat Museum, founded by Jerry Cimino. He spoke in Big Sur at the Henry Miller Library about everything you need to know about the legendary poets, writers and artists. Here are 8 things, according to Cimino, you likely didn’t know about the Beat Generation.
1. In the original scroll of On the Road, the first line addresses the death of the father of the main character, Jack. The line was changed to “I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up” probably it was edgier and would attract more readers. “Dean” is Kerouac’s real-life friend Neal Cassady.
2. The original Beat Museum was located in Monterey, spawned from Cimino's wife’s bookstore.
3. The term “beat” came about after World War II. Kerouac reconfigured the definition from tired or exhausted, to beatific, meaning blissfully happy.
4. The first edition of “Howl”was printed in England by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a Big Sur resident, to avoid prosecution from the U.S. government. Later, he thought he might get arrested for "Howl" so he sent a pre-released copy to the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). The publicity surrounding the Howl obscenity trial gave the Beat Generation massive attention.
5. Many argue that poet Charles Bukowski is not a Beat. That was confirmed by Beat Generation expert Cimino: Bukowski was officially not a Beat and was loathe to be identified as such, but at the same time Cimino says he was “the most Beat guy you would want to know.”
6. Jack Kerouac didn’t speak English until he was six. His native language was French; he was born in Lowell, Massachusetts to French-Canadian parents.
7. Jack Kerouac was a sexual partner with Allen Ginsberg when Kerouac was drunk. Cimino said Kerouac never wrote about it.
8. Beat figure Neal Cassady partly inspired the character R.P. McMurphy from Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but questions surround that claim because the book was published before they met. Kesey reve
aled that the story is half true; he hadn’t met Neal when he wrote the book, but his McMurphy was inspired by Dean Moriarty in Kerouac’s On the Road.
aled that the story is half true; he hadn’t met Neal when he wrote the book, but his McMurphy was inspired by Dean Moriarty in Kerouac’s On the Road.
The art and joy of cinematography
MISH MOSH..........................................
Mish Mash:
noun \ˈmish-ˌmash, -ˌmäsh\ A : hodgepodge, jumble
“The
painting was just a mishmash of colors and abstract shapes as far as we could
tell”. Origin Middle English & Yiddish; Middle English mysse
masche, perhaps reduplication of mash mash; Yiddish mish-mash, perhaps
reduplication of mishn to mix. First Known Use: 15th century
A French foreign Legionnaire, circa 1919.
MUSIC FOR THE SOUL
Billy Stewart
AND NOW, A BEATLES BREAK
DON'T YOU WANT TO SEE THE ENTIRE WORLD?
I DO
I DO
Hakone, Japan
Hamnøy, Moskenes, Lofoten Islands, Norway
Hanham Court, Gloucestershire, UK
TODAY'S ALLEGED MOB GUY
Harry Aleman, Chicago
Aleman
Harry: Born Harry Peralt Aleman on January 19, 1939. Died May 5 2010. Harry Aleman drew up an
impressive early rap sheet. In 1960 he
was arrested for malicious mischief, in 1961, gambling, in 1962, possession of burglary
tools assault and criminal damage. In 1965 he was arrested for aggravated
assault. In 1966, grand theft auto and armed robbery. In 1968, criminal damage
to property in 1969, aggravated kidnapping. In 1971, violating Federal Reserve
Act and in 1975 keeper of gambling place
Aleman’s
mother was Italian, his father a native of Durango, Mexico, who became, as
Aleman put it "sort of a Mexican godfather" who was allegedly
involved in narcotics trafficking. Aleman grew up in an apartment building at
917 S. Bishop Street in Chicago that was owned by his maternal grandmother and
full of uncles, aunts and cousins.
"My
father was hard on me, extremely hard," Aleman said "He beat me every
day until I left home. He used his fist or a horsewhip. If I looked at him the
wrong way, he beat me. My mother . . . would intervene and consequently got hit
herself."
The
beatings stopped from age 7 until age 11, when his father went to prison on a
robbery conviction. While he was gone, the family was often poor but t got by.
Aleman seemed to excel in high school. He was
a halfback on the football team, a member of the physics club and took up
boxing, where he earned his nickname The Hook.
He graduated in 1955, rare for a hoodlum of that generation, and
enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and graduated in 1958 with a
commercial art diploma. Afterwards he hustled race track tout sheets and
working at the produce markets on the Near West Side. "I sold produce. I
sold drawings," Aleman said. "I hustled in general."
In 1962 Aleman, his brother Freddie and two
other men were arrested in the beating of Howard Pierson, the 23-year-old son
of the commander of the Chicago police robbery section. Police said the four
were in a bar on North State Street when Aleman pushed a woman through a plate
glass window. Pierson said he chased Aleman and the others out, then flagged
down a police car. Police were questioning Aleman and the others when Pierson
caught up with them. Without warning, Aleman attacked Pierson, breaking his jaw.
For that incident, Aleman received two years' probation.
Joe Ferriola, a rising power in the mob, had
married a sister of Aleman's mother. He took the young Aleman under his wing
and as Ferriola continued to rise in the mob, so did Aleman. He joined up with
the so-called Taylor Street crew with Butch Petrocelli, Louis Almeida, Leonard
Foresta and James Inendino. The group made their headquarters the Survivor's
Social and Athletic Club, on Taylor Street. In the 1970s, about the time that
Joe Ferriola became the Outfits underboss, he and Aleman started to reorganize
sports betting operations, and force independent bookmakers to pay tribute for
the right to operate. Aleman said Ferriola had instructed them "to
organize Chicago the way it was back in the '30s and '40s.” As an added source
of income, Aleman and the others started to commit home invasions and
burglaries. Each hood was paid $500 for his work and the proceeds were turned
over to Aleman
In 1964, he married, in a civil ceremony,
Ruth Felper Mustari, a widow with four children. Ruth's first husband, Frank
Mustari, had been a mobster as well. He was killed in 1957 in an attempted
robbery of a tavern. Ruth was the ultimate mob wife. She stood by her husband’s
story that he was a commercial artist and that, in true mob tradition, the
family was dead broke most of the time. In 1976 after Aleman was indicted for
the murder of Billy Logan, Ruth came to the Cook County Jail with a suitcase
containing $250,000 to bail him out, not realizing that she needed only
$25,000.
The couple had no biological children, but
Aleman focused instead on being a real father to Ruth’s children "I raised
them," Aleman said. "I consider them my own. I couldn't be any closer
if they were my own blood. I love my kids. I love my wife. I have six
grandkids--this gives me hope."
"He was wonderful to my children,"
Ruth Aleman recalled. "He took the kids to Kiddieland, to dinner, on
picnics, camping. He always had time for the kids.
Ruth
died in 2002.
Although he was slightly built, -5 feet 8
inches tall and 145 pounds, Aleman became so feared in underworld circles in
the 1970s that small time hoodlums trying to collect gambling debts simply
invoked his name to collect. Two Chicago loan sharks were convicted of
extortion and sent to prison in 1978 for collecting a $6,500 debt from a South
Side tavern owner by saying that Aleman would come after him if he didn't pay.
Prosecutors said it was a ruse and Aleman was not involved in any way. However,
authorities
publicly linked Aleman to at least four murders, although he was formally
charged with only one of them and was acquitted on that charge. He was
suspected, probably not correctly, in the murder of Richard Cain, a made member
of the mob who
infiltrated
the Chicago police before being exposed in 1964. Cain, a protégé of the late
mob boss Sam Giancana, was slain by masked gunmen in Rose's Sandwich Shop in
Chicago in 1973. Aleman was also a suspect in the slaying of Orion Williams,
39, a meat thief whose bullet-riddled body was found stuffed in a car trunk in
1974.
According
to the Chicago Crime Commission, Aleman was involved in the following deaths;
Oct.
19, 1971: Samuel Cesario, AKA Sambo,
clubbed and shot to death by two masked men as he sat with his wife in lawn
chairs in front of 1071 W. Polk St in Chicago
Cesario
was Aleman’s uncle. Butch Petrocelli was said to assist in the killing. Police
suspect that Cesario had secretly married the girlfriend of Felix
"Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio after he was sent to prison.
Sept.
27, 1972: William Logan, 37, a Teamsters union shop steward and ex-husband of
Aleman's cousin, shot to death with a shotgun in front of his home at 5916 W.
Walton St.
Dec.
20, 1973: Richard Cain, 49, a top aide to then-high-ranking organized-crime
boss Sam "Momo" Giancana, shot gunned at point-blank range by two
masked men in Rose's Sandwich Shop, 1117 W. Grand Ave.
Feb.
24, 1974: Socrates "Sam" Rantis, 43, a counterfeiter, found with his
throat slashed and with puncture wounds in his chest in the trunk of his wife's
car at O'Hare airport.
April
21, 1974: William Simone, 29, a counterfeiter, found in the back seat of his
car near
2446
S. Kedvale Ave., with his hands and feet bound and a gunshot wound in the head.
Sept.
28, 1974: Robert Harder, 39, a jewel thief and burglar who had become an
informant, found shot in the face in a bean field near Dwight, Ill. He once
escaped an assassination attempt by Aleman and a partner, James Inendino.
Jan.
16, 1975: Carlo Divivo, 46, a mob enforcer, cut down by two masked men who
opened fire with a shotgun and a pistol as he walked out of his home at 3631 N.
Nora Ave.
May
12, 1975: Ronald Magliano, 43, an underworld fence, found blindfolded and shot
behind the left ear in his burning home at 6232 S. Kilpatrick Ave.
June
19, 1975: Christopher Cardi, 43, a former police officer who made high-interest
loans to gamblers, shot eight times in the back and once in the face by two
masked men as his wife and children looked on inside Jim's Beef Stand in
Melrose Park.
Aug.
28, 1975: Frank Goulakos, 47, a federal informant, shot six times by a masked
man who stepped out of a car as Goulakos walked to his car near DiLeo's
Restaurant, 5700 N. Central Ave., where he was a cook.
Aug.
30, 1975: Nick "Keggie" Galanos, 48, a bookmaker, found shot nine
times in the head in the basement of his home at 6801 W. Wabansia Ave.
Oct.
31, 1975: Anthony Reitinger, 34, a bookmaker, shot to death in Mama Luna's
restaurant, 4846 W. Fullerton Ave., by two masked men.
Jan.
31, 1976: Louis DeBartolo, 29, a gambler deeply in debt, found shot in the head
and with his neck punctured four times with a broken mop handle in the rear of
the store where he worked at 5945 W. North Ave.
May
1, 1976: James Erwin, 28, an ex-convict who was suspected in the murders of two
other reputed mobsters, cut down by two masked men with a shotgun and a .45
caliber pistol. He was shot 13 times as he stepped out of his car at 1873 N.
Halsted St.
July
22, 1976: David Bonadonna, 61, a Kansas City, Mo., businessman, fatally shot and
found in his car trunk there. His murder was one of several unsolved
mob-related slayings that year in an apparent mob attempt to infiltrate
nightclubs featuring go-go girls.
March
29, 1977: Chuckie Nicoletti, one of Sam Giancana’s favorite men, he was shot
three times in the back of the head while sitting in his car parked at Golden
Horns Restaurant, 409 E. North Ave., Northlake Illinois.
June
15, 1977: Joseph Frank Theo, a burglar involved in stolen auto parts, found
with two shotgun wounds to the head in the back seat of a car parked at 1700 N.
Cleveland Avenue in Chicago
Lou Almeida was a small time thug who went
to prison for robbery and was released in 1970. Aleman gave him a $2,500 loan
and hired Almeida on as his driver. “He told me, `Come around, don't get lost,'
“Almeida said. “He was looking for armed robberies and burglaries and was
trying to get people to go on them. He was also bragging that he wanted to be a
hit man. I guess he had to announce to everybody that he was starting to kill
people for money or kill people who didn't listen to him."
Almeida, a Fifth grade dropout who had served
time for armed robbery, grand theft, burglary, and bond jumping, recalled “We
(He and Aleman) grew up together near Taylor Street and Racine. He used to hang
around on Bishop Street and I used to see him and talk to him," Almeida
recalled. "Everybody looked up to him because his family was supposed to
be in the Mafia. We hung around in the pool hall, in the park. He liked to bet
on the horses and I think he was bookmaking, too. He always had money . . .
nice clothes. We called him `The Sheik' because he dressed nice. He said he had
it rough at home, that his father beat him, handcuffed him to a radiator. I
don't know how much of it was true"
When
asked if he thought Aleman really killed twenty people, Almeida replied "I
don't know. He liked to kill things. But sometimes, the police, if they didn't
know who did a hit, I think they would just put it on Harry." When asked
what type of cars Aleman drove as a teenager he replied “I don't know--you mean
legit cars? I don't know, everybody drove stolen cars."
He recalled how Aleman met his wife, Ruth,
whom he married in 1964 "She worked in this club on State Street. We used
to go there quite a bit. Everybody loved Ruth, she was beautiful. Harry broke
off an engagement to an Italian girl from the suburbs to marry Ruth and he was
thrown out of the house because she was a cocktail waitress. It was a terrible argument. His father wanted
him to go to college, to marry this other girl. Harry didn't want to."
He said that Aleman was a strict father to
his adapted children Ruth's four children by a previous marriage, Almeida said.
"One of his sons, he wanted me to beat up one time. The kid was getting
drunk and staying out late and Harry didn't want to beat him up because Ruth
would feel hurt. So I gave him a couple of light taps on the head with a rope.
I was going to scare him, tell him I was going to tie him up with a rope and
throw him in the trunk."
He said that he broke away from Aleman in
1974 after escaping what he believed was an attempted murder by Aleman and
Inendino. In 1972, when, standing
outside Aleman's Melrose Park home, Aleman told him he had just talked by phone
with two of his robbery crew members and learned they had kidnapped a Hillside
Policeman named Anthony Raymond, taken
him to Wisconsin and tortured him to death.
“I said, `What are you telling me this for? I don't want to hear it. I
don't want to be involved. That was one of my bigger mistakes. Harry didn't
like that. He just looked at me. I thought he was going to have me hit."
Two years later in 1974, Almeida said he was sitting in the front seat of a car
next to gangster Jimmy Inendino. Aleman was in the back seat. "Harry put a
gun to my head," Almeida said. "I looked back and he put the gun
down. He and Inendino started arguing and then it seemed Harry sort of forgot
about it. The person we were there to shoot didn't show up. I never really
trusted him after that. Another time, right after that, we were in an alley and
Harry got out of the back and got a shotgun out of another car. He told me to
look straight ahead," Almeida recalled. "All I could see was windows
with white shades drawn down. I really believed he was going to try to hit me.
I left and I went my own way."
In 1975, Almeida was arrested in Ohio on
route to a murder “Some guy” in Pittsburgh. (“I used to get my ammunition from
Harry. He said once “He used to make his own ammunition in the garage of his
house.") State police stopped his car on suspicion and found a loaded
pistol with a silencer. He was sentenced to ten years in prison where he
attempted suicide. He began cooperating
with the government shortly afterwards, cutting a deal for early release and
entry into the witness protection program.
According to Almeida, teamster’s steward
Billy Logan refused to cooperate with the mobs plans to steal cargo from his
trucks. However, authorities believe that Logan was killed while involved in a
bitter custody battle with his ex-wife, Phyllis, who testified that she was
Aleman's second cousin and that after divorcing Logan, she had had an affair
with Petrocelli. Logan had a fist fight with Petrocelli, made threats about
making Petrocelli miserable. When his wife warned him to stay away or she would
ask Aleman, her second cousin, for help, Logan was said to have replied “Fuck that guinea," A few nights later
on September 27, 1972, Almeida drove Aleman to Logan's home and waited. Almeida said that in August of 1972, he and
Aleman discussed plan a to kill Logan and that Aleman gave him two license
plate numbers and Logan's home and work addresses, writing "Death to
Billy" on the same piece of paper. Almeida then trailed Logan to learn his
habits and schedule.
Billy Logan, then 37 years old, had grown up
on Chicago's Near West Side, an area known as "Little Italy." He
lived on the second floor at 5916 W. Walton St. with his sister, Betty, who was
divorced. His sister, Joanna, and her children, lived on the first floor. Logan,
part time cab driver, awoke for his night shift at Interstate trucking, dressed
and stopped to say good night to Betty. He also stopped on the first floor to
talk with Joanna. Logan's nephew William Dietrich was on the front porch and
watched his uncle walk across the street to his parked car and then heard a
voice say, "Hey, Bill, come here." Almost simultaneously, three
gunshots rang out: two from a shotgun, a third from a pistol. He heard his
uncle yell out "Oh, my God," Logan’s sister Betty raced out the
street where he lay dying. "He was still alive. He mumbled something. His
keys fell. I held his head. I said, 'I'm not getting up. I don't want his head
on the ground.' It was like in the movies."
"This
killing was personal, not business” she said years later "When you come
from the old neighborhood, people tell you things."[Aleman] didn't get an
OK to kill my brother. We found out."
Eleven days before the murder, on Sept. 16,
1972, Aleman directed Almeida and another hood to burglarize a home in suburban
Oak Lawn where Aleman believed $40,000 in cash was kept in the basement. But
after tying up a woman in the home and terrorizing her baby, Almeida and
Foresta left with only $1,800 and some jewelry.
Almeida said that had driven mob killer Harry
Aleman to Logan's home. Logan’s crime was that he refused to allow the mob to
steal truck cargos driven by his drivers.
"I
pulled up so the back door was where he was," said Almeida. "He was
stepping off the curb. Harry seen Billy Logan coming out of his house.
"Harry told me to start up the car, and I pulled the car to the car Logan
was getting into . . . so Harry could get a clear shot at him.
Then Harry called to him."
"What
did he say?" asked an assistant Cook County state's attorney.
"Hey,
Billy," Almeida replied. "Billy walked up the curb between the two
cars. That's when Harry shot him. Billy flew back and was crawling to some
bushes,"
Almeida heard the shotgun blast and Logan cry
out, "Oh, my God!" There was another shot, said Almeida, then Aleman
got out and fired a third time. When Aleman got back into car, Almeida
testified, he said, Drive slow. He's gone."
The government had another witness in the
case, a young man named Bobby Lowe who was walking his dog just at the moment
that Logan was gunned down. Lowe did not want to be a witness in the case.
Right after he saw the shooting, he says, his father told him it was possibly a
Syndicate killing and "to shut up and get inside" the house. When the
police interviewed him that night, Lowe never volunteered that he saw the
murderer. But Lowe kept worrying about what he knew and felt that he had a
responsibility to speak up. "I didn't feel it was safe for my kids on the
street. Did you ever watch a horror movie? You'd be sleeping, and then parts of
that movie would come back and scare you? Well, this was the same way. I'd be
trying to sleep, and I would see that face. I was always looking behind me,
looking for a car to pull up alongside me."
Three months after the murder, Lowe went to
the police and, after examining photos, picked out Harry Aleman, although he
had no idea who Aleman was or that he was suspected in taking part in at least
twenty mob murders, maybe more. But no case was brought against Aleman. The police however, later said that Lowe was
lying. He hadn’t come into headquarters and no one showed him photos. They
later changed the story and said that they had lost Lowe’s identification.
After Almeida’s statement was made,
Assistant State's Attorney Nicholas Lavarone
found
Bobby Lowe and got him to cooperate on the case. But, understandably, when Lowe
found out who Aleman was, he backed out. His family, his wife, mother and
father, urged him to stay away from the case. However, his brother, who had
been shot in a gas station holdup and later was helped by a witness who agreed
to testify for him, told him "think for yourself, be your own man."
Lowe agreed to be a prosecution witness.
He was forced to leave his job as a gas
station manager and give up his apartment. The family was put under 24 hour
guard. He was given a $250.00 a month allowance by the state and the strain
began to show and his marriage started to come apart and he lost weight and
couldn’t sleep.
With great fanfare, then-Cook County State's
Atty. Bernard Carey announced the indictment of Aleman in the fall of 1976. The
case came to trial in May 1977 before Cook County Circuit Judge Frank Wilson.
On the witness stand Lowe testified "Me
and that man (Aleman) just stared at each other." They were perhaps four
feet apart. Remarkably, the judge in the case, who was paid $10,000 by the mob
to throw the case, noted the discrepancies between police records and what Lowe
said in court and declared that "The fact Lowe lied on the witness stand
must cast a pallor over the testimony of this witness." He then pronounced
Aleman not guilty. The prosecutor, Nick
Iavarone, said ''It was incredibly frustrating. I convicted people on half the
evidence that we had for this case.''
The state of Illinois gave Lowe and his
family new identities and moved them to another undisclosed location. When
asked if he was sorry for what he did Lowe said
"No.
If there would be a new trial, I would testify again. I stood up for what I
believe."
Lowe drifted into substance abuse and petty
crime, which resulted in two years in prison. He eventually overcame his
addiction and reunited with his wife and children.
The police said that several days after he
was acquitted Aleman took part in the murder of Joseph Theo, a burglar involved
in the stolen auto parts business.
In March of 1989Aleman was paroled after
serving nearly 11 years of a 30-year sentence for the home invasions. Boss Joe
Ferriola, his uncle, would leave Aleman $100,000 in his will shortly after
Aleman's release from federal prison. He moved in with family members in Oak
Brook. He began working for his son-in-law's concrete cutting business,
Accurate Coring Company, 825 Seegers Rd., Des Plaines, as the personnel manager
and would later describe the next nine months as "the best time of my
life." "We were whole again,”
his wife Ruth said. "We cooked together, shared meals--years ago, Harry
taught me how to cook, how to make the gravy for the meatballs."
Aleman wasn’t free for long. In 1990, Aleman
Ernest Rocco Infelice and 18, essentially the Ferriola street Crew, others were charged with using bribery,
beatings and murder to run and protect the Outfit's multimillion dollar
gambling, extortion and juice loan operations. The primary witness against them
was one time mob gambler Bill Jahoda. The charges against Aleman involved
extorting money from two bookmakers whose betting operations competed with the
Ferriola-Infelice family. Aleman pleaded guilty in return for the negotiated
sentence. Given time already spent in custody, Aleman was sentenced to 8 years
in prison. Aleman, an accomplished
artist, asked the judge to send him to the federal prison near Oxford,
Wisconsin, so he could pursue his painting hobby. The judge agreed. Aleman said
that he had been in Oxford before and enjoyed the "artwork" there and
that as prison painting programs go, he said, Oxford's ranks among the best for
landscape and still life.
In 1997, Aleman was tried a second time for
the Logan murder a judge ruled that
the
rule of double jeopardy didn’t apply in Aleman’s case since the first trial was
fixed by a $10,000 bribe to the presiding judge in that trial. It was the first
time ever in U.S. history that a citizen acquitted of murder would go on trial
for the same murder a second time.
Right after he was indicted, a guard at
Oxford prison watched Aleman meeting with two men, whom he couldn’t identify.
He Aleman pass notes to the pair and say, "The two will be taken care of
if this goes to trial, one after the other." The government suspected that
Aleman could have been referring to witnesses poised to testify against him.
The notes were destroyed before guards could seize them.
One day into the trial, it was also declared
a mistrial when a juror, described only as a
suburban
woman who works as a flight attendant and nurse, called the prosecutor and said
she feared for her life and would like to be excused from the court.
"Well,
to be honest, I was just worried about this case and where it's going and what
could happen to me as well as, you know, family members," the woman told
the prosecutor "I just wanted to know if there was anything that I could
do to take myself out of it. When they (say) there are many witnesses who are
not here to be able to testify these days," she said. "I mean, I
don't know if that's all because of natural causes."
Just
basically, you know . . . `I hope we're around after this. We'll exchange
Christmas cards and hopefully we are all around at Christmastime.' Just things
like that. We just kind of lightheartedly, you know, talked about
it." The juror was dismissed.
Aleman’s lawyers cleverly muddied the waters
by suggesting that noted mob killer William "Butch" Petrocelli had
actually gunned down William Logan in 1972.
To
solidify the point, the defense called Phyllis Napoles, Logan's ex-wife, who
told the jury that six months before he was murdered, Logan was involved in a
fist fight with Petrocelli during which Petrocelli threatened to kill Logan.
Petrocelli, a longtime friend of Aleman's,
couldn’t argue the point. He disappeared on December 30, 1980. His body was
found in March of 1981 in the trunk of his car parked on a Southwest Side
street. The reasons given for Petrocelli’s killing vary. Some in law
enforcement believed he was murdered for stealing mob money, some suspect he
was trying to take over gambling operations that belonged to someone else, and
still others suspect Aleman ordered his death for reasons unknown.
Logan’s wife (They were estranged at the
time he was killed) said that in March of 1972, six months before Logan was
killed, that Petrocelli came to her home to pay his respects because her mother
had died several weeks earlier.
"It was a very sad marriage," said
Napoles "He (Logan) drank a lot. He was abusive to me and the
children."
After divorcing Logan in 1967, she said she
became “intimate” with Petrocelli and that
Petrocelli
asked her to marry him, although he was still married himself.
"I had a great deal of respect for his
dark side” She said about Petrocelli He had a very violent nature in him."
While they were drinking coffee, Logan
arrived and when he was refused entrance, Logan became abusive and attempted to
kick the door in, Napoles said. "He had been drinking heavily and he
started to kick in the door," she recalled. "Butchie (Petrocelli)
asked him to leave and they went to the alley. They struck each other
physically and there was a lot of profanity."
Under cross-examination, she conceded that
she did not see what went on in the alley, but added, "You could hear
them. They were fighting. . . . They threatened to kill each other." And
later added "I had a great deal of fear for Mr. Petrocelli. That's why I
didn't marry him." She was stunned however, when the prosecution presented
her with the fact that one of her daughters (by her third marriage) had visited
Aleman in prison to which she replied
"We were as close as cousins could be."
Aleman’s lawyers complained that much of the
evidence from the 1977 trial was missing including the defense trial file;
shotgun wadding and pellets recovered from Billy Logan's body were gone, as was
Logan's bloodstained clothing; diagrams and photo displays used in the first
trial were also gone. Worst yet, many of those who could have provided
testimony beneficial to Aleman were dead.
The judge had barred any references to
organized crime and as a result, Aleman background as a noted Mafia killer
suspected in 15 to twenty mob murders, was unknown by the jury, as was
Petrocelli’s. Nor were they allowed to learn that Petrocelli died because his
face had been burned beyond recognition and he had been stabbed twice in the
throat. His death, however, was caused by suffocation due to tape covering his
nose and mouth, authorities said at the time.
Robert Cooley, a former lawyer who
represented mob figures and later became a federal informant, testified he
delivered the $10,000 bribe to Judge Wilson at the mobs request, although he
was forbidden by the court to use the word mob, he instead said that he paid on
bribe on behalf of “Officials in the 1st
Ward.”
Cooley said he delivered the bribe to Wilson
on orders from the mob who told him that they could arrange to get Aleman's
case sent to Wilson if Cooley could arrange the payoff. It was odd because in
1977 Wilson had a reputation as a "hard-nosed, state-oriented judge who
had no empathy" for criminals.
How Wilson got the case is a mystery. It was
originally assigned to a Judge James Bailey, but Aleman’s lawyers filed a
motion for substitution of judge, naming Bailey and Wilson as unacceptable
because they were allegedly biased. The case was then reassigned to a judge
named Fred G. Suria Jr, but the lawyers also objected to Suria contending he
was biased, too, but the motion was filed beyond the deadline.
Suria
recused himself because the motion contained information that could have been
the basis for a reversal had he continued to hear the case. Suria then called
Chief Judge Richard Fitzgerald office to get the case reassigned and was told
the new judge would be Wilson even though Wilson had already been named by
Aleman's lawyers as unfair.
However,
by that time, Aleman’s lawyers didn’t object and Wilson was left with the case.
Wilson
committed suicide in 1990.
According to Cooley and later, Aleman’s
cellmate, a former Cook County Judge named
Thomas
Maloney was involved in the payoff as well. At the time, Maloney was a lawyer.
He
said that working on behalf of Boss Joe Ferriola, Maloney reached out to Pat
Marcy and told Marcy to contact Wilson about throwing the case, since it was
weak anyway.
“He’s
a good friend,' “Cooley quoted Aleman as saying of Maloney.” `I've been with
him for a long time. You can trust him. "
Monty Katz, Aleman's cellmate at a federal
prison in Wisconsin claimed Aleman told him the same thing. Katz also said that
Aleman bragged that (Butch) "Petrocelli was (Aleman's) lifelong friend who
he had flattened--he meant killed" because he feared Petrocelli was going
to become a government witness against him. Katz, a narcotics dealer whose
father was gambler David Zatz, a bookmaker who was murdered by Lenny Patrick in
952, was a lifelong criminal with 15 conviction behind him.
Cooley said he approached Wilson at Greco's,
a restaurant Cooley co-owned in Evergreen Park, while the judge was drinking,
just in case he reacted angrily to the proposed fix. Cooley said he figured
that if Wilson beefed publicly, "nobody would believe him." It was
generally agreed that Wilson as an alcoholic. Wilson wasn't offended, Cooley
said.
Cooley recalled "Who would question a
judge like that if the facts were relatively weak and he found him not guilty? I told him (Wilson) `It doesn't look like a
strong case. It's a real weak case. These are very dangerous people we're
dealing with. . . . You can't take it and change your mind. You have a problem
and I'll have a very serious problem,' He indicated OK, he would take the
case."
When Cooley raised the issue again with
Wilson, the judge said he didn't think the case could be assigned to him
because of the defense lawyer's opposition, Cooley testified. But Cooley
assured he could have it transferred to his court.
A
couple of days later, Cooley said Wilson agreed to fix the case as the two met
in a bathroom at Greco's. Cooley said he gave Wilson a $2,500 "down
payment" in an attempt to keep the judge from backing out. Cooley said he
didn't know how the case was transferred to Wilson, but that Pat Marcy, a
corrupt politician, had told him he would take care of the reassignment.
Cooley recalled meeting Wilson in the
bathroom of a restaurant after Wilson had acquitted Aleman. "I gave him
the money," Cooley said. "The seventy-five hundred. He was a broken
man. He said, `That's all I'm going to get?'
I started to tell him -- he turned his back on me -- that I would give
him more. He said, `You destroyed me. You've killed me,' and he walked out. I
knew what had happened to me and to the judge."
"What
was that?" the prosecutor asked.
"We
had been used," Cooley replied. "I destroyed him."
On
February 5, 1990, Wilson, retired to Arizona, walked into his back yard with a
pistol and fired a fatal shot into his head.
Bobby Lowe testified again. He said that he
saw a car with its engine idling, then a shotgun protrude from a back-seat
window. He heard gunfire. He saw Logan fall and then a man open the car door
carrying a pistol and fire the killing round. Lowe said he and the killer
stared at each other for a fleeting 4 seconds, and then he ran back to his
house.
On
October 1, 1997, twenty years after his acquittal in the same case, Aleman was
found guilty of murdering William Logan. He was found guilty and given 100-300
years in jail.
In December of 2005, Aleman was up for
parole and insisted that he didn’t kill Billy Logan, but that Logan’s killer
was his former business partner, William
"Butch" Petrocelli because Petrocelli, who was involved with Logan’s
ex-wife, said that Logan "used to knock Phyllis around and give her black
eyes all the time."
Aleman believes that Petrocelli was in
trouble with the government and that a relative in law enforcement persuaded
him to flip. And then the government didn't want to admit Petrocelli was the
Logan killer.
Aleman also denied he was part of the Mafia
or organized crime, and insisted he was set up by government "stool
pigeons". When asked if he had read mob lawyer Robert Cooley’s book on his
life in crime, Aleman spat out "Bob Cooley, the stool pigeon guy?"
"He's
the lawyer who allegedly carried the $10,000 to Frank Wilson, the judge,"
replied board member David Frier. "Oh, now I know who you mean, yeah. No,
I never read his book. He's a rat. He's going to say anything they want him to
say, sir. C'mon. A rat, that's what they do. Give him a script, and he reads
it."
Aleman also said of his 100- to 300-year
prison term "Serial killers get that. I caused no problems for anybody,
and I'm no threat to anybody. And 27 years is a long period,"
Scott
Cassidy, the Cook County prosecutor who helped put Aleman behind bars, urged
the board not to show any leniency toward Aleman who snapped at Cassidy
"Look at me and say that. I got 27 years in prison, almost half of my
life,"
"Harry”
continued Cassidy “should be denied parole because the fact he escaped justice
for so many years, and he lived the best part of his life while Billy Logan was
dead,"
DON’T WORRY-BE HAPPY
GOOD WORDS TO HAVE…………
Gratulate (GRACH-uh-layt) 1. To congratulate.2. To express joy at the sight of something or someone. From Latin gratulari (to congratulate), from con- (with) + gratulari (to show joy), from gratus (pleasing).
Jaculate (JAK-yuh-layt) To emit or hurl. From Latin jaculare (to dart), from jaculum (dart, javelin), from jacere (to throw). Earliest documented use: 1623.
HERE'S SOME NICE ART FOR YOU TO LOOK AT....ENJOY!
Ranuccio Farnese was only
12 years old when Titian painted his portrait. The boy had been sent to Venice
by his grandfather, Pope Paul III, to become Prior of an important property
belonging to the Knights of Malta. As a member of the powerful and aristocratic
Farnese family, Ranuccio went on to an illustrious ecclesiastical career.
How does Titian portray
the #Youth of Ranuccio? What do you see that tells you he is just a boy?
Adult responsibility came to Ranuccio when still a child, as Titian so
brilliantly conveyed through the cloak of office, too large and heavy, sliding
off the youth's small shoulders. The boy in the role of the man is what gives
this characterization such poignancy.
Titian, “Ranuccio
Farnese,” 1542, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Samuel H.
Kress Collection, 1952.2.11
HERE'S PLEASANT POEM FOR YOU TO ENJOY................
Shorelines
By Howard
Moss
Someday I'll wake and hardly think of you,
You'll be some abstract deity, a myth --
Say Daphne, if you knew her as a tree.
Don't think I won't be grateful. I will be.
We'd shuck oysters, cool them off with lime,
Spice them with Tabasco, and then scoop them up,
Who thought we were in Paradise. We were not.
Three couples and three singles shared that house
For two weeks in September. Wellfleet stayed
Remarkable that fall. And so did we.
Confessions, confidences kept us up
Half the night; the dawn birds found us still
Dead tired, clenched on the emotional,
Which led to two divorces later on,
Recriminations, torn-up loyalties,
The dreariness of things gone wrong for good.
Yet who could forget those wet, bucolic rides,
Drunk dances on the beach, the bonfires,
The sandy lobsters not quite fit to eat?
Well, there were other falls to come as bad,
But I still see us on a screened-in porch,
Dumbly determined to discover when
The tide turned and the bay sank back in mud.
We'd watch carefully, hour after hour,
But somehow never could decide just when
The miracle occured. Someone would run
Into the marshes yelling, "Where's the shore?"
We hardly see each other anymore.
AND HERE'S SOME ANIMALS FOR YOU...................
We need to do this in every state
Tennessee Becomes the
First State Ever To Create Animal Abuse Registry
Good news, animal
lovers! By January of next year, Tennessee will be the first ever state in the
nation to launch a statewide registry for convicted animal abusers! The
registry can be seen by the public and can be viewed online.
It was May of this
year when the Tennessee Animal Abuser Registration Act was officially passed.
So those who are convicted of any animal abuse will have his/her name and photo
recorded and posted for the public to see.
Representative Darren
Jernigan says, “If you’re gonna pull a dog behind a truck, if you’re gonna burn
a cat, if you’re gonna commit severe animal cruelty, then there needs to be
some consequences to your actions.”
Feelings, whether
of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an
absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating
is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and
mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving
the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than
anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and
teapot are all sacred.
The majority of us lead quiet,
unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no
ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does
not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for
someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion,
our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took
the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of
a touch, a smile, a kind word a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the
smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around.
It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make
our love felt. Leo Buscaglia
GREAT WRITING......................
He saw her before he saw anything
else in the room. F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sculpture this and Sculpture that
sculptor Sally Ryan photo by Yousuf Karsh
Sarah Tack "Sally" Ryan
(1916–1968) was an artist and sculptor best known for portrait style pieces and
her association with the Garman Ryan Collection. Sally Ryan was born in 1916,
and was the granddaughter of Thomas Fortune Ryan, a successful Irish-American
entrepreneur. Fortune Ryan had commissioned a portrait bust of himself by
Rodin, now in the Tate collection in London.
Ryan's artistic career began in
Canada in 1933, where she exhibited her first sculpture at the Royal Canadian
Academy of Arts in Toronto. The following year she went on to study with the
sculptor Jean Camus in Paris, where she achieved an 'honorable mention' at the
annual Salon. She exhibited work at The Royal Academy of Arts in London in
1935. Ryan was an associate of poet Ralph Gustafson and sculptor Jacob Epstein.
She was highly influenced by the latter's style.
Along with other members of her
family Sally Ryan received a large inheritance from her grandfather; much of
her personal wealth was used to collect art works with her friend Kathleen
Garman.
A number of her works are in the
public collection of The New Art Gallery Walsall.
Ryan died of cancer of the throat
in 1968. She bequeathed her art collection to Kathleen Garman and $50,000.
It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. Ralph Waldo Emerson
THE ART OF WAR............
PEN American Center
Liu
Xiaobo
"Free expression is the base
of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free
speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress
truth."
"I hope that I will be the
last victim in China's long record of treating words as crimes."
"The major wars that the
U.S. became involved in are all ethically defensible."
"I have viewed the West as
if it were not only the salvation of China but also the natural and ultimate
destination of all humanity."
"The free world led by the
U.S. fought almost all regimes that trampled on human rights."
"The Internet is truly God's
gift to the Chinese people."
"In China the underworld and
officialdom have interpenetrated and become one. Criminal elements have become
officialized as officials have become criminalized."
"Freedom of expression is
the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of
truth.” - Liu Xiaobo, arrested on this day in China. Today marks the seventh
anniversary of his arrest for writing seven sentences. He was sentenced to 11 years
in prison and is the only Nobel Peace Prize winner languishing behind bars.
Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese literary
critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political
reforms and the end of communist single-party rule. He is currently
incarcerated as a political prisoner in Jinzhou, Liaoning.
On December 8 2008, Liu was
detained because of his participation with the Charter 08 manifesto. He was
formally arrested on June 23 2009 on suspicion of "inciting subversion of
state power". He was tried on the same charges on December 23 2009, and
sentenced to eleven years' imprisonment and two years' deprivation of political
rights on 25 December 2009.
During his fourth prison term, he
was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent
struggle for fundamental human rights in China."
He is the first Chinese citizen
to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China and the third
person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison or detention. Liu was
denied the right, by his government, to be denied the right to have a
representative collect the Nobel Prize for him.
Liu Xiaobo's final statement, issued just two days before he
was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Christmas Day, 2009.
BY LIU XIAOBO
OCTOBER 8, 201o
I Have No Enemies
In the course of my life, for
more than half a century, June 1989 was the major turning point. Up to that
point, I was a member of the first class to enter university when college
entrance examinations were reinstated following the Cultural Revolution (Class
of ’77). From BA to MA and on to PhD, my academic career was all smooth
sailing. Upon receiving my degrees, I stayed on to teach at Beijing Normal
University. As a teacher, I was well received by the students. At the same
time, I was a public intellectual, writing articles and books that created
quite a stir during the 1980s, frequently receiving invitations to give talks
around the country, and going abroad as a visiting scholar upon invitation from
Europe and America. What I demanded of myself was this: whether as a person or
as a writer, I would lead a life of honesty, responsibility, and dignity. After
that, because I had returned from the U.S. to take part in the 1989 Movement, I
was thrown into prison for “the crime of counter-revolutionary propaganda and
incitement.” I also lost my beloved lectern and could no longer publish essays
or give talks in China. Merely for publishing different political views and
taking part in a peaceful democracy movement, a teacher lost his lectern, a
writer lost his right to publish, and a public intellectual lost the
opportunity to give talks publicly. This is a tragedy, both for me personally
and for a China that has already seen thirty years of Reform and Opening Up.
When I think about it, my most
dramatic experiences after June Fourth have been, surprisingly, associated with
courts: My two opportunities to address the public have both been provided by
trial sessions at the Beijing Municipal Intermediate People’s Court, once in
January 1991, and again today. Although the crimes I have been charged with on
the two occasions are different in name, their real substance is basically the
same—both are speech crimes.
Twenty years have passed, but the
ghosts of June Fourth have not yet been laid to rest. Upon release from
Qincheng Prison in 1991, I, who had been led onto the path of political dissent
by the psychological chains of June Fourth, lost the right to speak publicly in
my own country and could only speak through the foreign media. Because of this,
I was subjected to year-round monitoring, kept under residential surveillance
(May 1995 to January 1996) and sent to Reeducation-Through-Labor (October 1996
to October 1999).
And now I have been once again shoved into the dock by the enemy mentality of the regime. But I still want to say to this regime, which is depriving me of my freedom, that I stand by the convictions I expressed in my “June Second Hunger Strike Declaration” twenty years ago—I have no enemies and no hatred. None of the police who monitored, arrested, and interrogated me, none of the prosecutors who indicted me, and none of the judges who judged me are my enemies.
Although there is no way I can accept your monitoring, arrests, indictments, and verdicts, I respect your professions and your integrity, including those of the two prosecutors, Zhang Rongge and Pan Xueqing, who are now bringing charges against me on behalf of the prosecution. During interrogation on December 3, I could sense your respect and your good faith.
And now I have been once again shoved into the dock by the enemy mentality of the regime. But I still want to say to this regime, which is depriving me of my freedom, that I stand by the convictions I expressed in my “June Second Hunger Strike Declaration” twenty years ago—I have no enemies and no hatred. None of the police who monitored, arrested, and interrogated me, none of the prosecutors who indicted me, and none of the judges who judged me are my enemies.
Although there is no way I can accept your monitoring, arrests, indictments, and verdicts, I respect your professions and your integrity, including those of the two prosecutors, Zhang Rongge and Pan Xueqing, who are now bringing charges against me on behalf of the prosecution. During interrogation on December 3, I could sense your respect and your good faith.
Hatred can rot away at a person’s
intelligence and conscience. Enemy mentality will poison the spirit of a
nation, incite cruel mortal struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and
humanity, and hinder a nation’s progress toward freedom and democracy. That is
why I hope to be able to transcend my personal experiences as I look upon our
nation’s development and social change, to counter the regime’s hostility with
utmost goodwill, and to dispel hatred with love.
Everyone knows that it was Reform
and Opening Up that brought about our country’s development and social change.
In my view, Reform and Opening Up began with the abandonment of the “using
class struggle as guiding principle” government policy of the Mao era and, in
its place, a commitment to economic development and social harmony. The process
of abandoning the “philosophy of struggle” was also a process of gradual
weakening of the enemy mentality and elimination of the psychology of hatred,
and a process of squeezing out the “wolf’s milk” that had seeped into human
nature.
It was this process that provided a relaxed climate, at home and abroad, for Reform and Opening Up, gentle and humane grounds for restoring mutual affection among people and peaceful coexistence among those with different interests and values, thereby providing encouragement in keeping with humanity for the bursting forth of creativity and the restoration of compassion among our countrymen. One could say that relinquishing the “anti-imperialist and anti-revisionist” stance in foreign relations and “class struggle” at home has been the basic premise that has enabled Reform and Opening Up to continue to this very day. The market trend in the economy, the diversification of culture, and the gradual shift in social order toward the rule of law have all benefitted from the weakening of the “enemy mentality.”
Even in the political arena, where progress is slowest, the weakening of the enemy mentality has led to an ever-growing tolerance for social pluralism on the part of the regime and substantial decrease in the force of persecution of political dissidents, and the official designation of the 1989 Movement has also been changed from “turmoil and riot” to “political disturbance.”
The weakening of the enemy mentality has paved the way for the regime to gradually accept the universality of human rights. In [1997 and] 1998 the Chinese government made a commitment to sign two major United Nations international human rights covenants,2 signaling China’s acceptance of universal human rights standards.
In 2004, the National People’s Congress (NPC) amended the Constitution, writing into the Constitution for the first time that “the state respects and guarantees human rights,” signaling that human rights have already become one of the fundamental principles of China’s rule of law. At the same time, the current regime puts forth the ideas of “putting people first” and “creating a harmonious society,” signaling progress in the CPC’s concept of rule.
It was this process that provided a relaxed climate, at home and abroad, for Reform and Opening Up, gentle and humane grounds for restoring mutual affection among people and peaceful coexistence among those with different interests and values, thereby providing encouragement in keeping with humanity for the bursting forth of creativity and the restoration of compassion among our countrymen. One could say that relinquishing the “anti-imperialist and anti-revisionist” stance in foreign relations and “class struggle” at home has been the basic premise that has enabled Reform and Opening Up to continue to this very day. The market trend in the economy, the diversification of culture, and the gradual shift in social order toward the rule of law have all benefitted from the weakening of the “enemy mentality.”
Even in the political arena, where progress is slowest, the weakening of the enemy mentality has led to an ever-growing tolerance for social pluralism on the part of the regime and substantial decrease in the force of persecution of political dissidents, and the official designation of the 1989 Movement has also been changed from “turmoil and riot” to “political disturbance.”
The weakening of the enemy mentality has paved the way for the regime to gradually accept the universality of human rights. In [1997 and] 1998 the Chinese government made a commitment to sign two major United Nations international human rights covenants,2 signaling China’s acceptance of universal human rights standards.
In 2004, the National People’s Congress (NPC) amended the Constitution, writing into the Constitution for the first time that “the state respects and guarantees human rights,” signaling that human rights have already become one of the fundamental principles of China’s rule of law. At the same time, the current regime puts forth the ideas of “putting people first” and “creating a harmonious society,” signaling progress in the CPC’s concept of rule.
I have also been able to feel
this progress on the macro level through my own personal experience since my
arrest.
Although I continue to maintain
that I am innocent and that the charges against me are unconstitutional, during
the one plus year since I have lost my freedom, I have been locked up at two
different locations and gone through four pretrial police interrogators, three
prosecutors, and two judges, but in handling my case, they have not been
disrespectful, overstepped time limitations, or tried to force a confession.
Their manner has been moderate and reasonable; moreover, they have often shown
goodwill. On June 23, I was moved from a location where I was kept under
residential surveillance to the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau’s No.
1 Detention Center, known as “Beikan.”
During my six months at Beikan, I saw improvements in prison management.
In 1996, I spent time at the old
Beikan (located at Banbuqiao). Compared to the old Beikan of more than a decade
ago, the present Beikan is a huge improvement, both in terms of the “hardware”—
the facilities—and the “software”—the management. In particular, the humane
management pioneered by the new Beikan, based on respect for the rights and
integrity of detainees, has brought flexible management to bear on every aspect
of the behavior of the correctional staff, and has found expression in the
“comforting broadcasts,” Repentance magazine, and music before meals, on waking
and at bedtime.
This style of management allows detainees to experience a sense of dignity and warmth, and stirs their consciousness in maintaining prison order and opposing the bullies among inmates. Not only has it provided a humane living environment for detainees, it has also greatly improved the environment for their litigation to take place and their state of mind. I’ve had close contact with correctional officer Liu Zheng, who has been in charge of me in my cell, and his respect and care for detainees could be seen in every detail of his work, permeating his every word and deed, and giving one a warm feeling. It was perhaps my good fortune to have gotten to know this sincere, honest, conscientious, and kind correctional officer during my time at Beikan.
This style of management allows detainees to experience a sense of dignity and warmth, and stirs their consciousness in maintaining prison order and opposing the bullies among inmates. Not only has it provided a humane living environment for detainees, it has also greatly improved the environment for their litigation to take place and their state of mind. I’ve had close contact with correctional officer Liu Zheng, who has been in charge of me in my cell, and his respect and care for detainees could be seen in every detail of his work, permeating his every word and deed, and giving one a warm feeling. It was perhaps my good fortune to have gotten to know this sincere, honest, conscientious, and kind correctional officer during my time at Beikan.
It is precisely because of such
convictions and personal experience that I firmly believe that China’s
political progress will not stop, and I, filled with optimism, look forward to
the advent of a future free China. For there is no force that can put an end to
the human quest for freedom, and China will in the end become a nation ruled by
law, where human rights reign supreme. I also hope that this sort of progress
can be reflected in this trial as I await the impartial ruling of the collegial
bench—a ruling that will withstand the test of history.
If I may be permitted to say so,
the most fortunate experience of these past twenty years has been the selfless
love I have received from my wife, Liu Xia.
She could not be present as an observer in court today, but I still want to say to you, my dear, that I firmly believe your love for me will remain the same as it has always been. Throughout all these years that I have lived without freedom, our love was full of bitterness imposed by outside circumstances, but as I savor its aftertaste, it remains boundless. I am serving my sentence in a tangible prison, while you wait in the intangible prison of the heart. Your love is the sunlight that leaps over high walls and penetrates the iron bars of my prison window, stroking every inch of my skin, warming every cell of my body, allowing me to always keep peace, openness, and brightness in my heart, and filling every minute of my time in prison with meaning.
My love for you, on the other hand, is so full of remorse and regret that it at times makes me stagger under its weight. I am an insensate stone in the wilderness, whipped by fierce wind and torrential rain, so cold that no one dares touch me. But my love is solid and sharp, capable of piercing through any obstacle. Even if I were crushed into powder, I would still use my ashes to embrace you.
She could not be present as an observer in court today, but I still want to say to you, my dear, that I firmly believe your love for me will remain the same as it has always been. Throughout all these years that I have lived without freedom, our love was full of bitterness imposed by outside circumstances, but as I savor its aftertaste, it remains boundless. I am serving my sentence in a tangible prison, while you wait in the intangible prison of the heart. Your love is the sunlight that leaps over high walls and penetrates the iron bars of my prison window, stroking every inch of my skin, warming every cell of my body, allowing me to always keep peace, openness, and brightness in my heart, and filling every minute of my time in prison with meaning.
My love for you, on the other hand, is so full of remorse and regret that it at times makes me stagger under its weight. I am an insensate stone in the wilderness, whipped by fierce wind and torrential rain, so cold that no one dares touch me. But my love is solid and sharp, capable of piercing through any obstacle. Even if I were crushed into powder, I would still use my ashes to embrace you.
My dear, with your love I can
calmly face my impending trial, having no regrets about the choices I’ve made
and optimistically awaiting tomorrow. I look forward to [the day] when my
country is a land with freedom of expression, where the speech of every citizen
will be treated equally well; where different values, ideas, beliefs, and
political views . . . can both compete with each other and peacefully coexist;
where both majority and minority views will be equally guaranteed, and where
the political views that differ from those currently in power, in particular,
will be fully respected and protected; where all political views will spread
out under the sun for people to choose from, where every citizen can state
political views without fear, and where no one can under any circumstances
suffer political persecution for voicing divergent political views. I hope that
I will be the last victim of China’s endless literary inquisitions and that
from now on no one will be incriminated because of speech.
Freedom of expression is the
foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of truth. To
strangle freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, stifle humanity, and
suppress truth.
In order to exercise the right to
freedom of speech conferred by the Constitution, one should fulfill the social
responsibility of a Chinese citizen. There is nothing criminal in anything I
have done. [But] if charges are brought against me because of this, I have no
complaints.
Thank you, everyone.
And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good. John Steinbeck, East of Eden
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
John
William Tuohy is a writer who lives in Washington DC. He holds an MFA in
writing from Lindenwood University.
He is
the author of No Time to Say Goodbye: Memoirs of a Life in Foster Care and
Short Stories from a Small Town. He is also the author of numerous non-fiction
on the history of organized crime including the ground break biography of
bootlegger Roger Tuohy "When Capone's Mob Murdered Touhy" and
"Guns and Glamour: A History of Organized Crime in Chicago."
His
non-fiction crime short stories have appeared in The New Criminologist,
American Mafia and other publications. John won the City of Chicago's Celtic
Playfest for his work The Hannigan's of Beverly, and his short story fiction
work, Karma Finds Franny Glass, appeared in AdmitTwo Magazine in October of
2008.
His
play, Cyberdate.Com, was chosen for a public performance at the Actors Chapel
in Manhattan in February of 2007 as part of the groups Reading Series for New
York project. In June of 2008, the play won the Virginia Theater of The First
Amendment Award for best new play.
Contact
John:
MYWRITERSSITE.BLOGSPOT.COM
JWTUOHY95@GMAIL.COM
HERE'S MY LATEST BOOKS.....
This is a book of
short stories taken from the things I saw and heard in my childhood in the
factory town of Ansonia in southwestern Connecticut.
Most of these
stories, or as true as I recall them because I witnessed these events many
years ago through the eyes of child and are retold to you now with the pen and
hindsight of an older man. The only exception is the story Beat Time which is based on the disappearance of Beat poet Lew
Welch. Decades before I knew who Welch was, I was told that he had made his
from California to New Haven, Connecticut, where was an alcoholic living in a
mission. The notion fascinated me and I filed it away but never forgot
it.
The collected stories
are loosely modeled around Joyce’s novel, Dubliners
(I also borrowed from the novels character and place names. Ivy Day, my
character in “Local Orphan is Hero” is also the name of chapter in Dubliners, etc.) and like Joyce I wanted
to write about my people, the people I knew as a child, the working class in
small town America and I wanted to give a complete view of them as well. As a
result the stories are about the divorced, Gays, black people, the working
poor, the middle class, the lost and the found, the contented and the
discontented.
Conversely many of
the stories in this book are about starting life over again as a result of
suicide (The Hanging Party, Small Town
Tragedy, Beat Time) or from a near death experience (Anna Bell Lee and the Charge of the Light Brigade, A Brief Summer)
and natural occurring death. (The Best
Laid Plans, The Winter Years, Balanced and Serene)
With the exception of
Jesus Loves Shaqunda, in each story
there is a rebirth from the death. (Shaqunda is reported as having died of
pneumonia in The Winter Years)
Sal, the desperate
and depressed divorcee in Things Change,
changes his life in Lunch Hour when
asks the waitress for a date and she accepts. (Which we learn in Closing Time,
the last story in the book) In The
Arranged Time, Thisby is given the option of change and whether she takes
it or, we don’t know. The death of Greta’s husband in A Matter of Time has led her to the diner and into the waiting arms
of the outgoing and loveable Gabe.
Although the book is
based on three sets of time (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and the diner is
opened in the early morning and closed at night, time stands still inside the
Diner. The hour on the big clock on the wall never changes time and much like
my memories of that place, everything remains the same.
http://www.amazon.com/Short-Stories-Small-William-Tuohy/dp/1517270456/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444164878&sr=1-1&keywords=short+stories+from+a+small+town
The Valley
Lives
By Marion Marchetto, author of The
Bridgewater Chronicles on October 15, 2015
Short
Stores from a Small Town is set in The Valley (known to outsiders as The Lower
Naugatuck Valley) in Connecticut. While the short stories are contemporary they
provide insight into the timeless qualities of an Industrial Era community and
the values and morals of the people who live there. Some are first or second
generation Americans, some are transplants, yet each takes on the mantle of
Valleyite and wears it proudly. It isn't easy for an author to take the reader
on a journey down memory lane and involve the reader in the life stories of a
group of seemingly unrelated characters. I say seemingly because by book's end
the reader will realize that he/she has done more than meet a group of loosely
related characters.
We
meet all of the characters during a one-day time period as each of them finds
their way to the Valley Diner on a rainy autumn day. From our first meeting
with Angel, the educationally challenged man who opens and closes the diner, to
our farewell for the day to the young waitress whose smile hides her despair we
meet a cross section of the Valley population. Rich, poor, ambitious, and not
so ambitious, each life proves that there is more to it beneath the surface.
And the one thing that binds these lives together is The Valley itself. Not so
much a place (or a memory) but an almost palpable living thing that becomes a
part of its inhabitants.
Let
me be the first the congratulate author John William Tuohy on a job well done.
He has evoked the heart of The Valley and in doing so brought to life the
fabric that Valleyites wear as a mantle of pride. While set in a specific
region of the country, the stories that unfold within the pages of this slim
volume are similar to those that live in many a small town from coast to coast.
By Sandra Mendyk
Just
read "Short Stories from a Small Town," and couldn't put it down!
Like Mr. Tuohy's other books I read, they keep your interest, especially if
you're from a small town and can relate to the lives of the people he writes
about. I recommend this book for anyone interested in human interest stories.
His characters all have a central place where the stories take place--a
diner--and come from different walks of life and wrestle with different
problems of everyday life. Enjoyable and thoughtful.
I loved how the author wrote about
"his people"
By kathee
A
touching thoughtful book. I loved how the author wrote about "his
people", the people he knew as a child from his town. It is based on sets
of time in the local diner, breakfast , lunch and dinner, but time stands still
... Highly recommend !
WONDERFUL book, I loved it!
By
John M. Cribbins
What
wonderful stories...I just loved this book.... It is great how it is written
following, breakfast, lunch, dinner, at a diner. Great characters.... I just
loved it....
THE ART OF PULP
I'm a big big Fan of Bukowski
NASA Astronomy
Picture of the Day
Comet Catalina Emerges
Comet Catalina is ready for its
close-up. The giant snowball from the outer Solar System, known formally as
C/2013 US10 (Catalina), rounded the Sun last month and is now headed for its
closest approach to Earth in January. With the glow of the Moon now also out of
the way, morning observers in Earth’s northern hemisphere are getting their
best ever view of the new comet. And Comet Catalina is not disappointing.
Although not as bright as early predictions, the comet is sporting both dust
(lower left) and ion (upper right) tails, making it an impressive object for
binoculars and long-exposure cameras. The featured image was taken last week
from the Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa. Sky enthusiasts
around the world will surely be tracking the comet over the next few months to
see how it evolves.
Each river is different, but they all eventually lead to the ocean. No matter what we’re doing or when, or whether it brings us happiness or remorse, gain or loss, we’re all on our individual paths to enlightenment. Even when we’ve done something we consider wrong, we’re still on our path to enlightenment. Chris Prentiss
Each river is different, but they all eventually lead to the ocean. No matter what we’re doing or when, or whether it brings us happiness or remorse, gain or loss, we’re all on our individual paths to enlightenment. Even when we’ve done something we consider wrong, we’re still on our path to enlightenment. Chris Prentiss
Finally, Someone Does Something
Sensible: Finland to Bring In a Universal Basic Income
Tim Worstall
There’s rather a lot of
discussion around these days about the merits of a universal basic income. We
have, for example, those who tell us that the robots are about to steal all our
jobs and therefore we need to tax the capital owners in order to provide that
basic income for all. Well, maybe, but it’s not going to work out that way.
However, that universal basic income is still a startlingly good idea simply
because it’s better than any of the various welfare systems we have at present.
But do note: It works by being universal and basic.
And who would have thought it but
it looks like it’s going to be the Finns that bring it in:
The Finnish government is
currently drawing up plans to introduce a national basic income. A final
proposal won’t be presented until November 2016, but if all goes to schedule,
Finland will scrap all existing benefits and instead hand out 800 euros per
month—to everyone.
It’s hugely important that
everyone, simply as of right (whether you call it the right of residence or
citizenship is up to you), gets this payment. As is also that it’s not taxable,
nor is it conditional.
Imagine this: as you’re worried
about how to pay bills and make your rent, you get a check from the government
for $876. Every month.
That’s what Finland is doing. The
Nordic nation is getting closer this month to finalizing a solution to poverty:
paying each of its 5.4 million people $876 tax-free a month — and in return, it
will do away with welfare benefits, unemployment lines, and the other
bureaucracy of its extensive social safety net.
Charles Murray (in his book In
Our Hands) did the math for the US: $10,000 a year to each adult over 21. It
works. We spend about the same amount we currently do on welfare providing it.
Chris Dillow, the thinking man’s Marxist, has pointed to similar studies for
the UK suggesting £130 a week works.
This is a basic income. It is not
a living wage, it doesn’t even reach the full year full time minimum wage. But
you can, just about, in all the countries mentioned and with the sums for those
countries, just about get by.
From the right it gets rid of the
thing we worry most about welfare: the immense tax and benefit withdrawal rate
that makes poor people not desire (because they are rational in the face of 60
and 70% tax rates) to increase their incomes. And from the left it actually
increases workers’ bargaining power without, of course, needing those
potentially self-interested unions standing in the middle. If you can live,
just, without working, then the boss’ power over you is vastly reduced. Another
way of putting this is that reservation wages rise–the amount you have to be
offered to go to work rises.
This will, of course, reduce
inequality. The big problem has always been that while in theory it works no
one has ever really tried it. Now someone is: the Finns. So, we all get to see
whether it really is the deus ex machina that theory states it is.
My best guess is that it is and
that we should all be adopting it. But given that someone else is doing it,
perhaps not just yet. Let’s actually be scientists about this, observe what
happens and only if it works, as I’m sure it will, do we adopt it.
Abolish the entire welfare system
in its totality and just give every citizen just enough to scrape by each
month. Why not? We’re a rich country, we can do this. After someone else has
proven that it works of course.
Gaza’s largest refugee camps breathes life.
The glory of friendship is not
the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it
is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone
else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship. Ralph Waldo Emerson
DON'T YOU JUST LOVE POP ART?
Eugenia Loli's Collages
The Observation and Appreciation of Architecture
Christianity isn’t about doing
good deeds and hoping God takes notice. It’s about how God took notice of us
when we had nothing good to offer.
I LOVE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS FROM FILM
A deep sea diver is captured
mid-jump. The cover of Scientific American Supplement on October 23, 1915
Latin Word of the Day
Tyrannus: absolute ruler, tyrant
Example sentence: Sine pecunia tyrannus superare populum Romanum
non poterit.
Sentence meaning: The tyrant will not be able to overcome the
Roman people without money.
BLOGLAPEDIA’S
BLOGS
ARCHITECTURE
Architecture
for the blog of it
http://architecturefortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
THE ARTS
Art
for the Blog of It
http://artfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
Art
for the Pop of it
http://artforthepopofit.blogspot.com/
Photography
for the blog of it
http://photographyfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
Music
for the Blog of it
http://musicfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
Sculpture
this and Sculpture that
http://sculpturethisandsculpturethat.blogspot.com/
The
art of War (Propaganda art through the ages)
http://theartofwarcleverhuh.blogspot.com/
Album
Art (Photographic arts)
http://albumartsocheesyitsgood.blogspot.com/
Pulp
Fiction Trash (The art of Pulp Fiction covers)
http://pulpfictiontrash.blogspot.com/
Admit
it, you want to Read this Book (The art of Pulp Fiction covers)
http://goaheadadmitityouwanttoread.blogspot.com/
FILM
The
Godfather Trilogy BlogSpot
http://thegodfathertrilogyblogspot.blogspot.com/
On
the Waterfront: The Making of a great American Film
http://onthewaterfrontthefilm.blogspot.com/
FOOD
Absolutely
blogalicious
http://absolutelyblogalicious.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Book of Irish Recipes (Book support site)
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/
Good
chowda (New England foods)
http://goodchowda.blogspot.com/
Old
New England Recipes (Book support site)
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com/
And I
Love Clams (New England foods)
http://andiloveclams.blogspot.com/
In
Praise of the Rhode Island Wiener (New England foods)
http://inpraiseoftherhodeislandwiener.blogspot.com/
Wicked
Cool New England Recipes (New England foods)
http://whickedcoolnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
Old
New England Recipes (New England foods)
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
FOSTER CARE
Foster Care new and Updates
Aging out of the system
Murder, Death and Abuse in the
Foster Care system
Angel and Saints in the Foster
Care System
The Foster Children’s Blogs
Foster Care Legislation
The Foster Children’s Bill of
Right
Foster Kids own Story
The Adventures of Foster Kid.
HEALTH
Me
vs. Diabetes (Diabetes education site)
http://mevsdiabetes-bloglapedia.blogspot.com/
HISTORY
The
Quotable Helen Keller
http://thequotablehelenkeller.blogspot.com/
Teddy
Roosevelt's Letters to his children (Book support site)
http://teddyrooseveltsletterstohischildren.blogspot.com/
The
Quotable Machiavelli (Book support site)
http://thequotablemachiavelli.blogspot.com/
HUMOR
Whatever
you do, don't laugh
http://whateveryoudodontlaugh.blogspot.com/
The
Quotable Grouch Marx
http://thequotablegrouchmarx.blogspot.com/
IRISH-AMERICANA
A Big
Blog of Irish Literature
http://abigblogofirishliterature.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Blog of Irish Jokes (Book support blog)
http://theweeblogofirishjokes.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Blog of Irish Recipes
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/
The
Irish American Gangster
http://irishamericangangsters.blogspot.com
The
Irish in their Own Words
http://theirishintheirownwords.blogspot.com/
When
Washington Was Irish
http://whenwashingtonwasirish.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Book of Irish Recipes (Book support site)
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/
LITERATURE
Following
Fitzgerald
http://followingfitzgerald.blogspot.com/
Shakespeare
http://shakespeareinamericanenglish.blogspot.com/
The
Blogable Robert Frost
http://theblogablerobertfrost.blogspot.com/
Charles
Dickens
http://charlesdickensfan.blogspot.com/
The
Beat Poets of the Forever Generation
http://thebeatspoetsoftheforevergenera.blogspot.com/
Holden
Caulfield Blog Spot
http://holdencaulfieldblogspot.blogspot.com/
The
Quotable Oscar Wilde
http://thequotableoscarwilde.blogspot.com/
NEW ENGLAND BLOGS
The
Quotable Thoreau
http://thequotablethenrydavidthoreau.blogspot.com/
Old
New England Recipes
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
Wicked
Cool New England Recipes
http://whickedcoolnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
Emerson
http://emersonsaidit.blogspot.com/
The
New England Mafia
http://thenewenglandmafia.blogspot.com/
And I
Love Clams
http://andiloveclams.blogspot.com/
In
Praise of the Rhode Island Wiener
http://inpraiseoftherhodeislandwiener.blogspot.com/
Watch
Hill
http://watchhillwesterly.blogspot.com/
York
Beach
http://yorkbeachfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
The
Connecticut History Blog
http://connecticuthistory.blogspot.com/
The
Connecticut Irish
http://theconnecticutirish.blogspot.com/
Good
chowda
http://goodchowda.blogspot.com/
NOSTALGIA
God,
How I hated the 70s
http://godhowihatedthe70s.blogspot.com/
Child
of the Sixties Forever
http://childofthesixtiesforeverandever.blogspot.com/
The
Kennedy’s in the 60’s
http://thekennedysinthe60s.blogspot.com/
Music
of the Sixties Forever
http://musicofthesixtiesforever.blogspot.com/
Elvis
and Nixon at the White House (Book support site)
http://elvisandnixonatthewhitehouse.blogspot.com/
Beatles
Fan Forever
http://beatlesfanforever.blogspot.com/
Year
One, 1955
http://yearone1955.blogspot.com/
Robert
Kennedy in His Own Words
The
1980s were fun
http://the1980swereokayactually.blogspot.com/
The
1990s. The last decade.
http://1990sthelastdecade.blogspot.com/
ORGANIZED CRIME
The
Russian Mafia
http://russianmafiagangster.blogspot.com/
The
American Jewish Gangster
http://theamericanjewishgangster.blogspot.com/
The
Mob in Hollywood
http://themobinhollywood.blogspot.com/
We
Only Kill Each Other
http://weonlykilleachother.blogspot.com/
Early
Gangsters of New York City
http://earlygangstersofnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/
Al
Capone: Biography of a self-made Man
http://alcaponethebiographyofaselfmademan.blogspot.com/
The
Life and World of Al Capone
http://thelifeandworldofalcapone.blogspot.com/
The
Salerno Report
http://salernoreportmafiaandurderjohnkennedy.blogspot.com/
Guns
and Glamour
http://gunsandglamourthechicagomobahistory.blogspot.com/
The
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
http://thesaintvalentinesdaymassacre.blogspot.com/
Mob
Testimony
http://mobtestimony.blogspot.com/
Recipes
we would Die For
http://recipeswewoulddiefor.blogspot.com/
The
Prohibition in Pictures
http://theprohibitioninpictures.blogspot.com/
The
Mob in Pictures
http://themobinpictures.blogspot.com/
The
Mob in Vegas
http://themobinvegasinpictures.blogspot.com/
The
Irish American Gangster
http://irishamericangangsters.blogspot.com
Roger
Touhy Gangster
http://rogertouhygangsters.blogspot.com/
Chicago’s
Mob Bosses
http://chicagosmobbossesfromaccardoto.blogspot.com/
Chicago
Gang Land: It Happened Here
http://chicagoganglandithappenedhere.blogspot.com/
Whacked:
One Hundred years of Murder in Gangland
http://whackedonehundredyearsmurderand.blogspot.com/
The
Mob Across America
http://themobacrossamerica.blogspot.com/
Mob
Cops, Lawyers and Front Men
http://mobcopslawyersandinformantsand.blogspot.com/
Shooting
the Mob: Dutch Schultz
http://shootingthemobdutchschultz.blogspot.com/
Bugsy&
His Flamingo: The Testimony of Virginia Hill
http://bugsyandvirginiahill.blogspot.com/
After
Valachi. Hearings before the US Senate on Organized Crime
http://aftervalachi.blogspot.com/
Mob
Buster: Report of Special Agent Virgil Peterson to the Kefauver Committee (Book
support site)
http://virgilpetersonmobbuster.blogspot.com/
The
US Government’s Timeline of Organized Crime (Book support site)
http://timelineoforganizedcrime.blogspot.com/
The
Kefauver Organized Crime Hearings (Book support site)
http://thekefauverorganizedcrimehearings.blogspot.com/
Joe
Valachi's testimony on the Mafia (Book support site)
http://joevalachistestimonyonthemafia.blogspot.com/
Mobsters
in the News
http://mobstersinthenews.blogspot.com/
Shooting
the Mob: Dead Mobsters (Book support site)
http://deadmobsters.blogspot.com/
The
Stolen Years Full Text (Roger Touhy)
http://thestolenyearsfulltext.blogspot.com/
Mobsters
in Black and White
http://mobstersinblackandwhite.blogspot.com/
Mafia
Gangsters, Wiseguys and Goodfellas
http://mafiagangsterswiseguysandgoodfellas.blogspot.com/
Whacked:
One Hundred Years of Murder and Mayhem in the Chicago Mob (Book support site)
http://whackedonehundredyearsmurderand.blogspot.com/
Gangland
Gaslight: The Killing of Rosy Rosenthal (Book support site)
http://ganglandgaslightrosyrosenthal.blogspot.com/
The
Best of the Mob Files Series (Book support site)
http://thebestofthemobfilesseries.blogspot.com/
PHILOSOPHY
It’s
All Greek Mythology to me
http://itsallgreekmythologytome.blogspot.com/
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychologically
Relevant
http://psychologicallyrelevant.blogspot.com/
SNOBBERY
The
Rarifieid Tribe
http://therarifiedtribe.blogspot.com/
Perfect
Behavior
http://perfectbehavior.blogspot.com/
TRAVEL
The
Upscale Traveler
http://theupscaletraveler.blogspot.com/
TRIVIA
The
Mish Mosh Blog
http://theupscaletraveler.blogspot.com/
WASHINGTON DC
DC
Behind the Monuments
http://dcbehindthemonuments.blogspot.com/
Washington
Oddities
http://washingtonoddities.blogspot.com/
When
Washington Was Irish
http://whenwashingtonwasirish.blogspot.com/
FROM LLR BOOKS. COM
Litchfield Literary Books. A really small company
run by writers.
AMERICAN HISTORY
The Day
Nixon Met Elvis
Paperback 46 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Day-Nixon-Met-elvis/
Theodore
Roosevelt: Letters to his Children. 1903-1918
Paperback 194 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Theodore-Roosevelt-Letters-Children-1903-1918/dp/
THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND CIVILIZATIONS
The Works
of Horace
Paperback 174 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Works-Horace-Richard-Willoughby/
The
Quotable Greeks
Paperback 234 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Greeks-Richard-W-Willoughby
The
Quotable Epictetus
Paperback 142 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Epictetus-Golden-Sayings
Quo
Vadis: A narrative of the time of Nero
Paperback 420 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quo-Vadis-Narrative-Time-Nero
CHILDRENS
BOOKS
The
Porchless Pumpkin: A Halloween Story for Children
A Halloween play for young children. By consent of the author,
this play may be performed, at no charge, by educational institutions,
neighborhood organizations and other not-for-profit-organizations.
A fun story with a moral
“I believe that Denny O'Day is an American treasure and this
little book proves it. Jack is a pumpkin who happens to be very small, by
pumpkins standards and as a result he goes unbought in the pumpkin patch on
Halloween eve, but at the last moment he is given his chance to prove that just
because you're small doesn't mean you can't be brave. Here is the point that I
found so wonderful, the book stresses that while size doesn't matter when it
comes to courage...ITS OKAY TO BE SCARED....as well. I think children need to
hear that, that's its okay to be unsure because life is a ongoing lesson isn't
it?”
Paperback: 42 pages
http://www.amazon.com/OLANTERN-PORCHLESS-PUMPKIN-Halloween-Children
It's Not
All Right to be a Foster Kid....no matter what they tell you: Tweet the books
contents
Paperback 94 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Right-Foster-Kid-no-matter-what
From the Author
I spent my childhood, from age seven through seventeen, in
foster care. Over the course of those
ten years, many decent, well-meaning, and concerned people told me, "It's
okay to be foster kid."
In saying that, those very good people meant to encourage me,
and I appreciated their kindness then, and all these many decades later, I
still appreciate their good intentions. But as I was tossed around the foster
care system, it began to dawn on me that they were wrong. It was not all right to be a foster kid.
During my time in the system, I was bounced every eighteen
months from three foster homes to an orphanage to a boy's school and to a group
home before I left on my own accord at age seventeen.
In the course of my stay in foster care, I was severely beaten
in two homes by my "care givers" and separated from my four siblings
who were also in care, sometimes only blocks away from where I was living.
I left the system rather than to wait to age out, although the
effects of leaving the system without any family, means, or safety net of any
kind, were the same as if I had aged out. I lived in poverty for the first part
of my life, dropped out of high school, and had continuous problems with the
law.
Today, almost nothing
about foster care has changed. Exactly
what happened to me is happening to some other child, somewhere in America,
right now. The system, corrupt, bloated,
and inefficient, goes on, unchanging and secretive.
Something has gone wrong in a system that was originally a
compassionate social policy built to improve lives but is now a definitive
cause in ruining lives. Due to gross
negligence, mismanagement, apathy, and greed, mostly what the foster care
system builds are dangerous consequences. Truly, foster care has become our
epic national disgrace and a nightmare for those of us who have lived through
it.
Yet there is a suspicion among some Americans that foster care
costs too much, undermines the work ethic, and is at odds with a satisfying
life. Others see foster care as a part
of the welfare system, as legal plunder of the public treasuries.
None of that is true;
in fact, all that sort of thinking does is to blame the victims. There is not a single child in the system who
wants to be there or asked to be there.
Foster kids are in foster care because they had nowhere else to go. It's that simple. And believe me, if those kids could get out
of the system and be reunited with their parents and lead normal, healthy lives,
they would. And if foster care is a sort of legal plunder of the public
treasuries, it's not the kids in the system who are doing the plundering.
We need to end this
needless suffering. We need to end it
because it is morally and ethically wrong and because the generations to come
will not judge us on the might of our armed forces or our technological
advancements or on our fabulous wealth.
Rather, they will judge
us, I am certain, on our compassion for those who are friendless, on our
decency to those who have nothing and on our efforts, successful or not, to
make our nation and our world a better place.
And if we cannot accomplish those things in the short time allotted to
us, then let them say of us "at least they tried."
You can change the tragedy of foster care and here's how to do
it. We have created this book so that
almost all of it can be tweeted out by you to the world. You have the power to improve the lives of
those in our society who are least able to defend themselves. All you need is the will to do it.
If the American people,
as good, decent and generous as they are, knew what was going on in foster
care, in their name and with their money, they would stop it. But, generally speaking, although the public
has a vague notion that foster care is a mess, they don't have the complete
picture. They are not aware of the human, economic and social cost that the
mismanagement of the foster care system puts on our nation.
By tweeting the facts laid out in this work, you can help to
change all of that. You can make a
difference. You can change things for
the better.
We can always change the future for a foster kid; to make it
better ...you have the power to do that. Speak up (or tweet out) because it's
your country. Don't depend on the
"The other guy" to speak up for these kids, because you are the other
guy.
We cannot build a future for foster children, but we can build
foster children for the future and the time to start that change is today.
No time
to say Goodbye: Memoirs of a life in foster
Paperbook 440 Books
http://www.amazon.com/No-Time-Say-Goodbye-Memoir
BOOKS ABOUT FILM
On the
Waterfront: The Making of a Great American Film
Paperback: 416 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Waterfront-Making-Great-American-Film/
BOOKS ABOUT GHOSTS AND THE SUPERNATUAL
Scotish
Ghost Stories
Paperback 186 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Scottish-Ghost-Stories-Elliott-ODonell
HUMOR BOOKS
The Book of
funny odd and interesting things people say
Paperback: 278 pages
http://www.amazon.com/book-funny-interesting-things-people
The Wee
Book of Irish Jokes
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Series-Irish-Jokes-ebook
Perfect
Behavior: A guide for Ladies and Gentlemen in all Social Crises
http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Behavior-Ladies-Gentlemen-Social
BOOKS ABOUT THE 1960s
You Don’t
Need a Weatherman. Underground 1969
Paperback 122 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Weatherman-Notes-Weatherman-Underground-1969
Baby
Boomers Guide to the Beatles Songs of the Sixties
Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Boomers-Guide-Beatles-Songs-Sixties/
Baby
Boomers Guide to Songs of the 1960s
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Boomers-Guide-Songs-1960s
IRISH- AMERICANA
The
Connecticut Irish
Paper back 140 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Connecticut-Irish-Catherine-F-Connolly
The Wee Book of Irish Jokes
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Series-Irish-Jokes-ebook/
The Wee
Book of Irish Recipes
http://www.amazon.com/The-Wee-Book-Irish-Recipes/
The Wee Book of the American-Irish Gangsters
http://www.amazon.com/The-Wee-Book-Irish-American-Gangsters/
The Wee book of Irish Blessings...
http://www.amazon.com/Series-Blessing-Proverbs-Toasts-ebook/
The Wee
Book of the American Irish in Their Own Words
http://www.amazon.com/Book-American-Irish-Their-Words/
Everything
you need to know about St. Patrick
Paperback 26 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Need-About-Saint-Patrick
A Reading
Book in Ancient Irish History
Paperback 147pages
http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Book-Ancient-Irish-History
The Book
of Things Irish
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Things-Irish-William-Tuohy/
Poets and
Dreamer; Stories translated from the Irish
Paperback 158 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Poets-Dreamers-Stories-Translated-Irish/
The
History of the Great Irish Famine: Abridged and Illustrated
Paperback 356 pages
http://www.amazon.com/History-Great-Irish-Famine-Illustrated/
BOOKS ABOUT NEW ENGLAND
The New
England Mafia
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-England-Mafia-ebook/
Wicked
Good New England Recipes
http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Good-New-England-Recipes/
The
Connecticut Irish
Paper back 140 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Connecticut-Irish-Catherine-F-Connolly
The
Twenty-Fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers
Paperback 64 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Fifth-Regiment-Connecticut-Volunteers-Rebellion
The Life
of James Mars
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Life-James-Mars-Slave-Connecticut
Stories
of Colonial Connecticut
Paperback 116 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Colonial-Connnecticut-Caroline-Clifford
What they
Say in Old New England
Paperback 194 pages
http://www.amazon.com/What-they-say-New-England/
BOOK ABOUT ORGANIZED CRIME
Chicago
Organized Crime
Chicago-Mob-Bosses
http://www.amazon.com/Chicagos-Mob-Bosses-Accardo-ebook
The Mob
Files: It Happened Here: Places of Note in Chicago gangland 1900-2000
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-1900-2000-ebook
An
Illustrated Chronological History of the Chicago Mob. Time Line 1837-2000
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Chronological-History-Chicago-1837-2000/
Mob
Buster: Report of Special Agent Virgil Peterson to the Kefauver Committee
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Buster-Peterson-Committee-ebook/
The Mob
Files. Guns and Glamour: The Chicago Mob. A History. 1900-2000
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Guns-Glamour-ebook/
Shooting
the Mob: Organized crime in photos. Crime Boss Tony Accardo
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-photos-Accardo/
Shooting
the Mob: Organized Crime in Photos: The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-Valentines-Massacre
The Life
and World of Al Capone in Photos
http://www.amazon.com/Life-World-Al-Capone
AL
CAPONE: The Biography of a Self-Made Man.: Revised from the 0riginal 1930
edition.Over 200 new photographs
Paperback: 340 pages
http://www.amazon.com/CAPONE-Biography-Self-Made-Over-photographs
Whacked.
One Hundred Years Murder and Mayhem in the Chicago Outfit
Paperback: 172 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Whacked-Hundred-Murder-Mayhem-Chicago/
Las
Vegas Organized Crime
The Mob
in Vegas
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Vegas-ebook
Bugsy
& His Flamingo: The Testimony of Virginia Hill
http://www.amazon.com/Bugsy-His-Flamingo-Testimony-Virginia/
Testimony
by Mobsters Lewis McWillie, Joseph Campisi and Irwin Weiner (The Mob Files
Series)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Kennedy-Assassination-Ruby-Testimony-ebook
Rattling
the Cup on Chicago Crime.
Paperback 264 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Rattling-Cup-Chicago-Crime-Abridged
The Life
and Times of Terrible Tommy O’Connor.
Paperback 94 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Terrible-Tommy-OConnor
The Mob,
Sam Giancana and the overthrow of the Black Policy Racket in Chicago
Paperback 200 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Giancana-ovethrow-Policy-Rackets-Chicago
When
Capone’s Mob Murdered Roger Touhy. In Photos
Paperback 234 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Capones-Murdered-Roger-Touhy-photos
Organized
Crime in Hollywood
The Mob in Hollywood
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Hollywood-ebook/
The Bioff
Scandal
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Bioff-Scandal-Shakedown-Hollywood-Studios
Organized
Crime in New York
Joe Pistone’s war on the mafia
http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Petrosinos-War-Mafia-Files/
Mob
Testimony: Joe Pistone, Michael Scars DiLeonardo, Angelo Lonardo and others
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Testimony-DiLeonardo-testimony-Undercover/
The New
York Mafia: The Origins of the New York Mob
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-York-Mafia-Origins
The New
York Mob: The Bosses
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-York-Mob-Bosses/
Organized
Crime 25 Years after Valachi. Hearings before the US Senate
http://www.amazon.com/Organized-Crime-Valachi-Hearings-ebook
Shooting
the mob: Dutch Schultz
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-Photographs-Schultz
Gangland
Gaslight: The Killing of Rosy Rosenthal. (Illustrated)
http://www.amazon.com/Gangland-Gaslight-Killing-Rosenthal-Illustrated/
Early
Street Gangs and Gangsters of New York City
Paperback 382 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Early-Street-Gangs-Gangsters-York
THE RUSSIAN MOBS
The
Russian Mafia in America
http://www.amazon.com/The-Russian-Mafia-America-ebook/
The
Threat of Russian Organzied Crime
Paperback 192 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Threat-Russian-Organized-Crime-photographs-ebook
Organized
Crime/General
Best of
Mob Stories
http://www.amazon.com/Files-Series-Illustrated-Articles-Organized-Crime/
Best of
Mob Stories Part 2
http://www.amazon.com/Series-Illustrated-Articles-Organized-ebook/
Illustrated-Book-Prohibition-Gangsters
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Book-Prohibition-Gangsters-ebook
Mob
Recipes to Die For. Meals and Mobsters in Photos
http://www.amazon.com/Recipes-For-Meals-Mobsters-Photos
More Mob Recipes
to Die For. Meals and Mobs
http://www.amazon.com/More-Recipes-Meals-Mobsters-Photos
The New
England Mafia
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-England-Mafia-ebook
Shooting
the mob. Organized crime in photos. Dead Mobsters, Gangsters and Hoods.
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-mob-Organized-photos-Mobsters-Gangsters/
The
Salerno Report: The Mafia and the Murder of President John F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/The-Salerno-Report-President-ebook/
The
Mob Files: Mob Wars. "We only kill each other"
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-Wars-other/
The Mob
across America
http://www.amazon.com/The-Files-Across-America-ebook/
The US
Government’s Time Line of Organzied Crime 1920-1987
http://www.amazon.com/GOVERNMENTS-ORGANIZED-1920-1987-Illustrated-ebook/
Early
Street Gangs and Gangsters of New York City: 1800-1919. Illustrated
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-1800-1919-Illustrated-Street-ebook/
The Mob
Files: Mob Cops, Lawyers and Informants and Fronts
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-Informants-ebook/
Gangster
Quotes: Mobsters in their own words. Illustrated
Paperback: 128 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-Quotes-Mobsters-words-Illustrated/
The Book
of American-Jewish Gangsters: A Pictorial History.
Paperback: 436 pages
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-American-Jewish-Gangsters-Pictorial/
The Mob
and the Kennedy Assassination
Paperback 414 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Kennedy-Assassination-Ruby-Testimony-Mobsters
BOOKS ABOUT THE OLD WEST
The Last
Outlaw: The story of Cole Younger, by Himself
Paperback 152 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Outlaw-Story-Younger-Himself
BOOKS ON PHOTOGRAPHY
Chicago:
A photographic essay.
Paperback: 200 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Photographic-Essay-William-Thomas
STAGE PLAYS
Boomers
on a train: A ten minute play
Paperback 22 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Boomers-train-ten-minute-Play-ebook
Four
Short Plays
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Four-Short-Plays-William-Tuohy
Four More
Short Plays
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Four-Short-Plays-William-Tuohy/
High and
Goodbye: Everybody gets the Timothy Leary they deserve. A full length play
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/High-Goodbye-Everybody-Timothy-deserve
Cyberdate.
An Everyday Love Story about Everyday People
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Cyberdate-Everyday-Story-People-ebook/
The
Dutchman's Soliloquy: A one Act Play based on the factual last words of
Gangster Dutch Schultz.
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Dutchmans-Soliloquy-factual-Gangster-Schultz/
Fishbowling
on The Last Words of Dutch Schultz: Or William S. Burroughs intersects with
Dutch Schultz
Print Length: 57 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Fishbowling-Last-Words-Dutch-Schultz-ebook/
American
Shakespeare: August Wilson in his own words. A One Act Play
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/American-Shakespeare-August-Wilson-ebook
She
Stoops to Conquer
http://www.amazon.com/She-Stoops-Conquer-Oliver-Goldsmith/
The Seven
Deadly Sins of Gilligan’s Island: A ten minute play
Print Length: 14 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Deadly-Gilligans-Island-minute-ebook/
BOOKS ABOUT VIRGINIA
OUT OF
CONTROL: An Informal History of the Fairfax County Police
http://www.amazon.com/Control-Informal-History-Fairfax-Police/
McLean
Virginia. A short informal history
http://www.amazon.com/McLean-Virginia-Short-Informal-History/
THE QUOTABLE SERIES
The
Quotable Emerson: Life lessons from the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Over 300
quotes
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Emerson-lessons-quotes
The
Quotable John F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-John-F-Kennedy/
The
Quotable Oscar Wilde
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Oscar-Wilde-lessons/
The
Quotable Machiavelli
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Machiavelli-Richard-Thayer/
The
Quotable Confucius: Life Lesson from the Chinese Master
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Confucius-Lesson-Chinese/
The
Quotable Henry David Thoreau
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Henry-Thoreau-Quotables-ebook
The
Quotable Robert F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Robert-F-Kennedy-Illustrated/
The
Quotable Writer: Writers on the Writers Life
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Writer-Quotables-ebook
The words
of Walt Whitman: An American Poet
Paperback: 162 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Words-Walt-Whitman-American-Poet
Gangster
Quotes: Mobsters in their own words. Illustrated
Paperback: 128 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-Quotes-Mobsters-words-Illustrated/
The
Quotable Popes
Paperback 66 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Popes-Maria-Conasenti
The
Quotable Kahlil Gibran with Artwork from Kahlil Gibran
Paperback 52 pages
Kahlil Gibran, an artist, poet, and writer was born on January
6, 1883 n the north of modern-day Lebanon and in what was then part of Ottoman
Empire. He had no formal schooling in Lebanon. In 1895, the family immigrated
to the United States when Kahlil was a young man and settled in South Boston.
Gibran enrolled in an art school and was soon a member of the avant-garde
community and became especially close to Boston artist, photographer, and
publisher Fred Holland Day who encouraged and supported Gibran’s creative
projects. An accomplished artist in drawing and watercolor, Kahlil attended art
school in Paris from 1908 to 1910, pursuing a symbolist and romantic style. He
held his first art exhibition of his drawings in 1904 in Boston, at Day's
studio. It was at this exhibition, that Gibran met Mary Elizabeth Haskell, who
ten years his senior. The two formed an important friendship and love affair
that lasted the rest of Gibran’s short life. Haskell influenced every aspect of
Gibran’s personal life and career. She became his editor when he began to write
and ushered his first book into publication in 1918, The Madman, a slim volume
of aphorisms and parables written in biblical cadence somewhere between poetry
and prose. Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931, at the age of 48
from cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis.
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Kahlil-Gibran-artwork/
The
Quotable Dorothy Parker
Paperback 86 pages
The
Quotable Machiavelli
Paperback 36 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Machiavelli-Richard-L-Thayer
The
Quotable Greeks
Paperback 230 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Greeks-Richard-W-Willoughby
The
Quotabe Oscar Wilde
Paperback 24 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Oscar-Wilde-lessons-words/
The
Quotable Helen Keller
Paperback 66 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Helen-Keller-Richard-Willoughby
The Art
of War: Sun Tzu
Paperback 60 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Confucius-Lesson-Chinese-Quotables-ebook
The
Quotable Shakespeare
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Shakespeare-Richard-W-Willoughby
The
Quotable Gorucho Marx
Paperback 46 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Groucho-Marx-Devon-Alexander