Let the Defunding Process Begin

Posted on 04/03/2011 by Grumpa Joe

Why do we pass laws to keep us from feeding bears, but pass laws to make humans dependent on Uncle for subsistence? Progressives have a vision of a perfect world. One in which nature is preserved as is, and humankind is controlled for his own good.

When will we learn that the handout method only makes us more dependent? When will we wake up and realize that we are only a few moments away from losing the Liberty and Freedom that our Founders bestowed upon us. They were wise men, much wiser than those men of today who believe that men do not have unalienable Rights of Life Liberty and the pursuit of happiness endowed by our Creator. Instead, the Progressives of today  believe that all men must share equally, and be cared for by they who are better than the the rest of us.

Like the bear, the Progressives know that if they eliminate a thriving economy, the rest of us will become hopelessly dependent on Uncle. Wrong, I’m here to tell you that those of us who know Liberty, and self-sufficiency will rise up and exercise our rights to defend ourselves from tyranny. It is for this reason that the Progressives must indoctrinate us to believe the Constitution is a tired old set of ideas that don’t work anymore. Well, I am also here to tell you that those tired old ideas have worked successfully for over two hundred years, while the Progressive ideas of socialism have failed on numerous occasions at the expense of millions of martyrs who stood in the way of their cause.

I have to give this new breed of socialist credit. They have invented many new strategies to overtake our country. Many of them have been successful, like the Cloward-Piven strategy, or the Alinsky Rules for Radicals which spawned ACORN. They have been relentless in their pursuit to overtake us and to turn us into their slaves. It is not too late to bring them down.

We must retake control and support every effort to undo the damage done by the current administration. Number one is to fire the current President. As we work on electing a new President we must begin tearing down every law that has ever been passed by Progressives. Start with Obamacare, continue to TARP,  the Community Reinvestment Act. All funding to any subversive organization like ACORN, SEIU, Planned Parenthood must be defunded; not supported as though they are the salvation of mankind. They are not. Each of them has been invented to bring down America.

We must secure our borders. Stop the flow of illegals coming in. All it will take is an effort to enforce current laws. We must stop the President from instructing the Attorney General to ignore the enforcement of laws that he believes are not in his favor. As I have repeatedly stated in my blog pieces, “we are a nation of laws, except those that don’t benefit a political agenda.”

Let the process begin. Get involved. Write to your Representatives. Let him know how you feel. Tell him how to vote on issues. Insist he stop the spending, and begin the defunding of damaging laws. Our voice must be heard.

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Rec Hall

Posted on 03/03/2011 by Grumpa Joe
A 1910 Pullman car which served as the Denver ...

Image via Wikipedia

REC HALL

One nice thing about Mendel was the campus layout and the buildings.  The school was formerly the Pullman Technical School.  The area of Roseland where it is located is very near the Pullman neighborhood and the Pullman factory.  Pullman, the man, believed in providing his employees with everything they needed.  The result was an entire community built around the factory.  Block after block of row houses were rented by people working for the Pullman Car Company.  He also built the school for his employee’s children.  The school specialized in the trades that were required to build the railroad sleeper cars that Pullman sold.

The Augustinian Fathers bought the old Pullman Tech and turned it into Mendel Catholic High School for boys.

The main building was flanked by a wing on each side; one east, the other west.  Behind the main building was smaller brick structure that formerly housed the auto shop.  Mendel didn’t need or want an auto shop so it was used as the recreation center.

All the students went to the rec center at lunch time.  It was set up with tables and chairs for eating.  A vendor set up a kitchen to sell hamburgers, hot dogs, and fries.  I was surprised to see how many boys bought their lunch.  I was also surprised to see so many boys smoking.  The rec hall was the only building on campus where smoking was allowed.

At lunch time the center provided music from the juke box and ping-pong tables for those who wanted to play.

After school hours the building was home to many clubs.  One of the most popular clubs was the radio club.  Kids who joined the radio club learned how a radio worked by building one from simple parts.  They also learned about ham radio.  This club was probably the most popular at the school.  Many of the boys who were in the club graduated, and then started careers in radio or communications.  One of my classmates ran WTTW, Channel 11 in it’s early days.  Recently, I met a man on a Folks on Spokes bike ride who graduated after me who is a ham radio operator.  He helps the bike club with communications on the Easter Ride.  He got his start in radio in the Mendel Radio Club.

I remember a single song from the juke box paying in the rec room.  It was very popular and was played over, and over, and over every day.  The singer is Patti Page, the title of the song is “How Much is That Doggie in the Window”.

The rec room was a popular spot but was replaced within the next year by a new cafeteria.  Two projects began during that first year, 1952-53.  One was the gymnasium/cafeteria; the other was the chapel/monastery.  The monastery was to become a major part of my life in the following year.

The gym was really necessary.  After seeing the gyms at the other schools, ours was really fourth class.  The new one would allow teams to come to play on our campus.

The Monastery was needed to free up class room space in the east wing.  The priests and brothers all lived in the upper floors of the east wing above the wood shop.

The new building went up fast and the following year when the gym, monastery and chapel opened, the school improved tremendously.  However, another 400 kids arrived also.  The old rec hall lost its flavor once the new cafeteria opened.

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Pep Rally

Posted on 02/03/2011 by Grumpa Joe

PEP RALLY


After a couple of weeks of getting acclimated to the school, the announcements during home room began to include social items.  One of the first I can remember is the announcement for the Friday night pep rally and bon fire.  Wow! All of that in one night!  The big game against St. Rita was on Saturday.  Mendel was run by the Augustinian Order of priests, and so was St. Rita.  A lot of the brothers and priests were betting on the outcome of the game.  Most of the priests that taught at Mendel had been re-assigned from Rita.

I never head of a pep rally before so I asked Mom if I could go out after supper to the rally and come home late.  Surprisingly, she said yes.  Perhaps my brother Bill had paved the way by going to activities like that at Leo.  He turned out okay, so why not let Jun do the same?

After an early supper, I took the streetcar back to school.  I was an old pro at this now.  The rally began on the field behind the school where a giant pile of wood was stacked into a teepee shape.  The pile was at least twelve feet high.

A sophomore came out with a Mendel sweater, white pants, white shoes, and a big megaphone.  He led us in a series of cheers.  I should say, he taught us the cheers.  He told us he would lead us in the same cheers during the game tomorrow.  After the cheering, Coach Mills gave us his talk. He was followed by Father Seary, the Principal. He could have been a stand up comedian he was so funny.  All of them spoke positively, and left us wanting to go to the game.  I always felt pumped after a pep rally.

Finally, when the rally part was over, the bonfire was lit and we watched the wood burn down to the ground.  The next day we lost our game to St. Rita.

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In Over My Head

Posted on 02/03/2011 by Grumpa Joe

IN OVER MY HEAD

I visited Mendel High School once before I signed up. They held an open house in the winter.  Mom and I took the tour and got to know the place, or so I thought.

On my first day, entering the main hallway, was very exciting.  All of a sudden I didn’t know where anything was.  The letter I got said to report to room 103 for home room.  “Where is room 103”, I asked myself.  I climbed the stairs up to the main floor. There were people everywhere but no one to help.  I walked the main floor looking for 103 but couldn’t find it.  I finally broke down and asked.  By this time my heart was pounding fast because it was getting closer to the 9:00 a.m. start time.  A loud bell rang and then shut off.  That scared me.  The bustle of activity in the halls was even faster now.

Room 103 was on the ground floor downstairs.  Whew!  I got into the room with a minute to spare.

The bell ruled my life at Mendel.  The idea of a bell ringing to let us know a class was over or beginning was totally new to me.  Getting up from your desk at the bell seemed disrespectful to the teacher.  AT OLH we stayed in the same seat all day, we got up when Sister told us to.  We would never think of getting up and walking out on her because the time was up.

My home room meant that it was the very first class of the day, and that is when the teacher took the roll call. My home room teacher was Mr. Mills;  he was also the football coach.

Another strange new practice was the ‘announcements’.  When the principal or a school leader wanted to talk to us, he’d turn on the public address system.  Each room had a speaker and we listened to the announcements during our home room session.   Once roll call and announcements were completed, Mr. Mills started teaching General Science.  This subject fascinated me because it covered all of the practical things in life, like water seeking it’s own level.  I’d learn much later that General Science was basic physics.  Physics is the foundation of engineering.

It always seemed like we just got started in General Science when the bell rang and class was over.  The next class was Algebra, taught by Mr. Magee, the assistant football coach.  He came to our room to teach the class.  I never heard of algebra before and wondered what it would be.  Once he started, I loved it.  The whole idea of algebra was fascinating.

Being in a Catholic school meant we always had a class in religion, which, for the first time in my life, was taught by a lay person.

After lunch on Monday, Wednesday and Friday I had woodshop for two hours with Father Hennessy.  There was also English and something called Social Science.  Of all the classes, I hated English and Social Science the most.  What do they have to do with being an engineer? The question haunted me.  Yet, in looking back over my years as an engineer, those two subjects were an integral part of my life and work.  So many times during school, both high school and college, I would ask myself the question “What does this subject have to do with engineering?”  The answer was always ‘nothing’.  The simple truth is that subjects like Social Science, Art Appreciation, Philosophy and Religion may not directly be a part of engineering, but they are a huge part of life. Knowing about many things makes me a better person all over.  I didn’t believe it or understand it back then.  I did know that I wouldn’t graduate with the credits.

Credit is another concept that was new to me.  In grammar school, everyone learned the same things, but in high school the kids in a home room could be learning along four different tracks.  At Mendel, it was Pre-engineering, Scientific, Business or General.  All of the curricula were preparing the student for college, but each one had slightly different subjects to learn.  Each subject carried credit hours and to graduate I needed a certain number of credit hours completed successfully.  Credits made it easier for the school and student to know how close one was to graduation.  Oops, the bell just rang; it’s time to go to the next class!

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