Northwest Indiana Discussion

I have to cop to a bit of bloviation, but it is only out of incredulity. How else to react to your overwrought paeans to a Hammond history that never existed or to regionites as only they see themselves? You toady up to Peter Katic and praise him as if he bears the stigmata but you don't list a single concrete accomplishment of his. So he is an attorney? Tier Four schools like Valparaiso or John Marshall will accept pretty much anyone who can cobble together tuition. He is an able administrator? So is your average secretary.

As to why I continue to be interested in Da' Region and the Ree-jects that remained behind? Well, I did grow up there and am amazed that almost fifty years down the road that nothing has changed. Even though I was knee-high to a precinct committeeman when I lived there, I still recall the groveling and name-dropping by those whose skill set doomed them to a life of patronage employment. I am ashamed to admit members of my own extended family were small players in that scene. The names were different but the characters were the same. The Fowlers, Woerpels, McDermotts, and Philpots of that day would often show at family functions and though my parents treated them like the friends and family they were, I distinctly remember my Father's distaste at fulfilling that obligation.

So, to me, these chat boards and local papers and WDEM 1230 are a bit like National Geographic used to be to it's readers in the 30's through the 60's: a means of observing primitive cultures from afar. Like that magazine's readers, who didn't want to walk around with a bone through their noses or shooting poisoned darts at arboreal monkeys, I don't want to be trapped in boring, white bread Munster while trying to maintain my street credibility by boasting of my forays into East Chicago for a quick Mexican lunch or a basketball game with some Negros. However, I do find those practices quaint and interesting.

I mean, you know that both "JED" and "KUZ" (and you can throw Matt Reardon into the mix too) grew up in the ultimate bedroom community but they just can't quit acting like they toughed out their formative years in a neighborhood where, if you let your guard down for just one second, you got one of these <WHAM!!>. Then there's yourself, who, like Harold Washington, hides behind flowery language to compensate for the fact that he is saddled with an inferior upbringing. After all, the paralegal profession is really the province of shapely female twenty-somethings whose reason for existence is to bend over suggestively for their leering employers. I've heard your calls to WDEM and your Rodney Dangerfield meets John Kass diction comes straight from the JED/KUZ handbook.

So, therein lies my interest in the whole Region scene. For fifty years you all have been recycling practices and personnel while fooling yourselves into thinking you're fooling the rest of the civilized world about the cesspool in which you live. I'm sure it goes on elsehwere, but I didn't live in any of those elsewheres.

You don't know me, Laughin. You don't know the first thing about me or what I have achieved. Don't presume to pass off an abstract series of generic inferences as indicative or, given your haughty self-referentiality, definitive of anything about me.

You're just some smug jiveass who thinks he has the world by silver-spooned balls. Save the affectation of superiority for someone who cares. I assure you nobody here does. You sound exactly like the type of person who's competes only in rigged contests, never on an even playing field. You, a too big to fail kinda person who then prattles on about socialism and government intrusion.

But my guess is you're the one with the inferior upbringing and all your bloviation - shtick.

Neo, I believe by your writing style, I do know who you are and given that assumption on my part, Geo, your a bright guy.

Philpot's radio side kick was some what entertaining, bright guy, but his mantra was marching to the music of the two Tommies.

Now being such a bright guy, you apparently have given support, possibly given marching orders of the LC Democratic Chairman, just like the blind support that Seaton received from the Party. For such a smart guy, your support of Katic, says one of two things Geo, either someone is promising you something or your working on getting favor for your efforts.

Katic has a history of problematic behavior, if I was a clinician, I am not, but with what depth of knowledge I have in that field, implies that Katic may have a bipolar disorder in need of management my meds.

Nothing wrong with being bi polar, many of our brilliant minds in the science and literature field have had that malady, but have contained their inappropriate behaviors or at least kept them under the radar. Again my speculation is meaningless, but what is fact, is Mr. Katic's past history of some really problematic behavior for someone of his public stature. Baring his ass, in a judicial setting, is a bit beyond reasonable actions by a lawyer and sitting judge. Then we have some of the other antics of wrecking county owned vehicles, some one reported 6 of them, and then as an officer of the court, endorsing a candidate for office.

Lake County is full of politicians named Tom and a city attorney who ha s put their foot in their mouths costing the taxpayers big money.

Silver spoon? Too big to fail? Prattling on about socialism and government intrusion? Stripped of all the Harold Washington-ish ruffles and flourishes, your schtick is pretty one-dimensional.

And "jiveass"? The "Keep On Truckin'" guy on Facebook? Your deification of a good portion of the wax museum of Lake County politics? I half expect to turn on the TV and see Rooster and Huggy Bear stylin', pimpin', and stoolin' to Baretta and Starsky and Hutch tonight.

C'mon! "Silver Spoon"? I was born in Da' Harbor. I'm one of youse guys. I had the upbringing about which JED, KUZ, and Matt Reardon can only dream.

ROFLMAO! You had the upbringing about which JED KUZ & READON can only dream...SHAAAZAAAM! I feel as though I should genuflect before you. So it's you. Indeed, you're the guy - to hear you tell it, you're prototype of the most interesting man in the word. So it's true then, huh, that:

- You once had an awkward moment, just to see how it feels
- Police often question you, just because they find you interesting
- You live vicariously through yourself
- Even your enemies list you as their emergency contact

And the icing on your solipsistic socio-political-economic cake is you were born in da Harbor! Wow, i guess that automatically makes you a bad-ass, huh? Now that's pedigree.

I got a new handle for ya: Laughed-at-out-loud-in LakeCo. You're right, jiveass was something of a misnomer. I shouldda said pompous jiveass.

You're a counterpuncher, incapable of generating any materiel of your own. Ya just sit around waiting for someone to post and then you come along like a dog and lift your leg to piss on it. You're a parasite who's read far too many Taylor Caldwell novels.

Stay thirsty

You may have hit upon something here! Could that be the reason that the WDEM crew and so many callers speak in whispers of their Munster or Crown Point or Winfield existences but trumpet every foray they make into Hammond/Gary/EC/Whiting? They just can't help it! They're like mob groupies who after quitting time at the local Allstate office or cash-for-gold joint flock to Rosebud in Chicago to rub elbows with guys named Vinnie and Vito. You don't find that quaint and fascinating?

You know that when your ramblings posts veer from topics like alcohol, strippers, and petty county complex intrigues towards authors and words like "solipsistic" you lose every reader south of 80/94....better make that 45th Street these days. You'd best stick to "jiveass" to keep your region creds.