Top of the World, Ma!

       Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, whose conservative credentials are far better than those of Orange Blatherskite, has nonetheless decided to nail her flag to Trump's mast.  Showing loyalty to someone who shows none to his Attorney General seems a big mistake.  Apparently, Jeff Sessions is supposed to refuse to prosecute Republicans when they break the law.  What's more, apparently Orange Blatherskite also called his own Attorney General a "stupid Southerner" and "mentally retarded."  (Remember all those people who tried to say that he hadn't made fun of a journalist's disability, and Ann Coulter's worrisome explanation that O.B. was ridiculing a "standard retard?"  Some pro-lifer, that Donald Trump!)
       How will Marsha Blackburn use Trump to win votes when Tennessee voters are, in the president's estimation, "dumb Southerners?"  A perplexing question.
       The president shows no loyalty for his underlings.  He uses people for his own advancement, and then throws them away.  Sort of like White Heat gangster Cody Jarrett.  
        In the 90s, Democrats made themselves look terribly silly defending the amoral Bill Clinton through his series of womanizing claims and worse.  Feminists in particular seemed to think legalized abortion made up for a president who used women like Kleenex.  Republicans are starting to look just as silly, defending a lout who can't even treat his own Attorney General with respect.  They should also remember how White Heat ends;  Cody Jarrett is cornered with no escape, and chooses a violent explosion rather than facing more jail time.

Utilize, Facilitate and Idolize

      The neologisms where nouns are transformed into verbs are usually to be avoided, especially if there are alternative words that work.  Utilize is probably the most egregious of these.  I suspect that utilize arose out of a love affair with John Stuart Mill.  "Use" is an alternative that is not only shorter, but has no savor of pretentious jargon to it.  Facilitate is another turkey of a word.  Enable or sponsor are far better words, and once again, using them doesn't make it sound like you are making things more complicated than they have to be.
       Idolize is much the same as utilize or facilitate, with the exception that there aren't many words with the same shade of meaning.  The most similar word Estase can think of is venerate, but venerate has no ironic shade of meaning.  When one says venerate, that implies genuine religious devotion.  After all, one might say he or she idolizes Mick Jagger.  One would never say they venerate Mick Jagger.

Umlaut and U

       Estase has been annoyed to hear Fox News personalities mispronounce the name of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller.  He chalked it up to the stupidity of the Fox personalities, until he watched CNN and saw them do the same thing.
        The umlaut is a piece of German punctuation (ȕ) that essentially means that the character is given extra depth.  An umlaut u is pronounced "ooh" rather than just "uh".  Since English doesn't use umlauts, Mȕller is rendered the other way, with an e after the u.  (Mueller)  Similarly, in the original German, Ferris Bueller would be Ferris Bȕller.  Bueller?  Bueller?
        So for the love of pete, stop pronouncing the Special Prosecutor's name "mull-er," and pronounce it "mew-ler."  Otherwise, you are demonstrating you aren't aware of the special relationship between umlaut and u.

Luella Foster Ausbury (d. 1909)

       "Mrs. E.T. Ausbury died at her home, 220 South Dudley Street {ed.- Macomb, IL} at 10:55 Thursday evening, of a complicated trouble from which she had been suffering for the past five months and twenty days.  Short funeral services were held at the residence at 12:30 Sunday.  The remains were then taken to the Pennington Point church, where the services were held at 2:30, rendered by Rev. Thompson, interment in the cemetery there.
       Luella Foster was born in Eldorado township {ed.- McDonough County, IL}.  She was united in marriage to E.T. Ausbury Oct. 12, 1892.  About three years ago they moved to this city, where they have since resided.  She was a member of the Presbyterian church.  The following children survive her:  Ralph, Edward and Mary A. of this city.  She is also survived by the following brothers and sisters:  Roy and Henry of Eldorado township:  J.L., Industry township:  Mrs. William Vail, Table Grove:  Mrs. Nellie Barclay, Scotland township:  Miss Eva Foster, Table Grove.
       She has led an upright, Christian life, was a dutiful wife, a kind neighbor, and leaves many friends in the city and vicinity to mourn."

Macomb Daily Journal 1 APR 1909

Prelude to Carnage, Part Two

       The First World War led to the Armenian Genocide and the creation of the Soviet Union.  It involved the suspension of Europe's moral standards.
       Preceding American involvement in World War I, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson centralized Federal power in a way that had never been done before.  This allowed Wilson to manipulate the news, censoring coverage of German sabotage, and eventually creating popular opinion in favor of American involvement.

The nature of

World War I, with its casualties measured by the hundred-thousand, introduction of chemical weapons and massive artillery barrages broke down the barriers between normal war and genocide.  Thus, it came as no surprise when the Ottoman Empire decided to resolve its issues with its Armenian population.

       Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a stabilizing influence that united disperate ethnicities, its ancient, amoral relationship with the Ottoman Empire tarnished its moral legitimacy, and gave an element of truth to Entente propaganda.  Allied with militaristic, Prussia-dominated Germany, it is hard to believe that the Central Powers' victory in the war would have been benign, or that Hitler's rise out of the Weimar era could have been prevented by their victory.

Presocratic Moderns

       Alasdair MacIntyre's Whose Justice? Which Rationality? shows much learning and thought, but gives short shrift to Kant and Burke.
       The most fascinating part of MacIntyre's book is his discussion of Pericles, Sophocles, Thucydides and Plato.  MacIntyre demonstrates how they lead to Aristotle.  Sophocles' plays in particular demonstrate the conflict between Effectiveness (skills at practical tasks) and Excellence (moral virtues).  In Sophocles' Philoctetes, Neptolomos compromises his morals, and yet fails on the battlefield anyway.  Similarly, Plato rejects the idea that anyone can have practical reasoning, insisting that one must have understanding (based on morality) to have practical reasoning.  Plato's standard of truth is testability:  "The theory of forms is primarily a theory of inquiry, a theory ignorance of which by those engaged in enquiry will necessarily lead them to fail, because they will not understand adequately what they are doing (p. 79)."  Yet even Plato's mouthpiece, Socrates, admits he doesn't know the forms!  Plato must also defeat Isocrates' opinion that rhetoric is superior to philosophy, as well as Thucydides' view that the success of the strong is justice.  Eloquence is inferior to logic, just as rules and procedures are necessary for justice.  All of this seems unexceptional enough now, but it made Plato's contemporaries think he was a lunatic.
       Aristotle continued Plato's fight to make logic and morals triumph over eloquence and brute force.  MacIntyre thinks there was a gulf between Plato and Aristotle over the nature of the forms.  (Francis A. Grabowski's Plato, Metaphysics and the Forms argues that a misreading of Plato is responsible for the traditional assumption that Forms are not concrete particulars.)
       This brings me to nous, the sort of thought that allows us to classify things of a type together.  Nous operates without logical demonstration, and is necessary for both practical knowledge and the knowledge of what it is possible to know.
       In an important sense, Whose Justice? Which Rationality? was written to correct false impressions drawn from MacIntyre's earlier After Virtue.  Apparently, many who reviewed the latter came away with the misapprehension that After Virtue was only written to argue against rules-based ethics.   As a follower of Aquinas, MacIntyre is necessarily a follower of Aristotle.  Aristotle believed that virtues were a precondition for practical reason, and practical reason was the basis of ethics.  The bulk of today's ethicists are living on an island between moral realism and moral idealism known as Utilitarianism.  As such, MacIntyre argues they are modern-day sophists who 1) see no independent source of morals, 2) cannot agree on logical standards and, 3) recognize no teleology (that is, no common vision of The Good or The Good Life).  These result in several problems.  First, modern conservatives usually reject the government as a moral entity with the end of creating a just society.  This is totally at odds with Aristotle's polis, which he considered morality in individuals impossible without.  A rejection of a common good by both right and left reduces all politics to class warfare.  Second, the utilitarians have reverted us into a state of confusion existing prior to Plato, where Effectiveness and Excellence are either conflated, or Effectiveness is deemed superior to Excellence.  Right and left-wing Philistines are both guilty of conflating Effectiveness and Excellence, and thus one sees the fingerprints of Utilitarianism on both forms of Philistinism.  Our legal system is a prime example of a system where Effectiveness is held to be a higher value than Excellence.  The dishonest lawyer is a return to Isocrates' belief that eloquence beats philosophy. 
        Third, Plato and Aristotle's emphasis on experience being a necessary requirement before one can be an ethicist lies by the wayside.  MacIntyre touches on a similar issue when he says, "It is a Cartesian error, fostered by a misunderstanding of Euclidean geometry, to suppose that first by an initial act of apprehension we can comprehend the full meaning of the premises of a deductive system and then only secondly proceed to enquire what follows from them.  In fact it is only insofar as we understand what follows from these premises that we understand the premises themselves (p. 175)."  For an author who abhors Burke, it is hard to imagine a more thoroughly Burkean statement!  MacIntyre starts his book by proclaiming "Burke theorized shoddily," apparently not realizing Burke's avoidance of intellectual system came from a realization that abstract premises lead to the unanticipated conclusions he himself acknowledges.  Burke was a fine Aristotelian, a stark contrast to the egocentricity of A.A. Cooper, which evolved through Hume into Utilitarianism.  Nor would Burke agree with Dugald Stewart that no behavior engaged in by any society was entirely immoral.
       MacIntyre bemoans the death of the sort of classical liberal arts education that allowed moderns to read classical authors in their original language, rightly saying this implies a disinterest in understanding what the ancients actually meant.  In a society that only values Effectiveness (eg. STEM, business, engineering) this is sadly not surprising.

Dateline: August 1944

Prior to President Roosevelt meeting with Soviet premier Josef Stalin, Senate Republican Hamilton Fish has one request to make of the President.  "We all know about President Roosevelt's cozy relationship with Premier Stalin.  To protect the nation from his giving away the store to Stalin, I must insist that at no point must President Roosevelt be allowed to meet with Stalin one-on-one.  There must always be other Americans in the room with the President and Premier Stalin."

Idiocracy

       The current debate over Brett Kavanaugh shows the terrible state of conservative opinion.  Last night, Estase was watching the Joe Pags show on Newsmax, when a caller voiced his opposition to Kavanaugh because he was "part of the Bush/Cheney/Obama swamp."  Brilliant.  First of all, that swamp term needs to die.  Now.  Second, what in Hell does GWB and Dick Cheney have to do with Barack Obama?
       This banal crap about how Orange Blatherskite is the man who is supposed to purify the corrupt Washington D.C. system was never true, nor will it ever be true.  The provenance of the "swamp" term is from Bela Pelosi, who used it against GWB and Congressional Republicans.  Why people on the right think this should be their terminology now escapes me.  O.B. making attacks on George H.W. Bush strikes me of more of this pretended purity, from the purveyor of strip clubs and casinos.  The character who has a problem with Kavanaugh is just another dime-store Mark Levin, offering opinions about things he doesn't even understand.
         Another genius whose brilliance graced Facebook called George F. Will "a left-wing weenie."  Yeah, just like that other left-wing weenie, William F. Buckley.  Trump didn't just win the nomination by stupid primary voters;  his success has made stupidity the desired characteristic of "conservative" political commentary.   Things like crudeness and refusal to acknowledge facts used to be what Estase hated about left-wingers.  Now, the age of Trump has made them things he sees on the right.

Switcheroo Theories, Real and Imagined

       Polar shifts in politics only occur when extreme changes in the practice of politics make the foundational principles of the party outdated.
       The actual switcheroo came in Nineteenth-Century Britain, where Benjamin Disraeli turned Toryism from an ideology that gave unlimited power to the Crown into a Conservative party.  Eighteenth-Century Tories were unremittingly hostile to commercial life, and considered landed gentry the only fit wealthy.  Disraeli romanticized pre-Reformation England, and had Charles I in his pantheon of Tory saints.  Old Tory ideology was about King over Parliament;  new Tory ideology was a rejection of Utilitarian attempts at utopia.
       The imaginary switcheroo came in Nineteenth or Twentieth-Century America.  The Republican Party, after opposing extension of slavery, the Dred Scott decision that black people were farm animals, and secession, supposedly changed place with the pro-slavery Democratic Party.  Perhaps it was after Charles Sumner authored the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.  It must have been after a Democratic president thought "Birth of a Nation" was a great film, and re-segregated the military.  As a matter of fact, black Americans were reliably Republican until FDR's presidency.
       Unlike the actual switcheroo, there was a genuine political change that caused Toryism to become Conservative (and Whig to become Labour).  The Reform Act of 1835 made more Britons entitled to vote.  This, combined with post-1688 Parliamentary ascendency made the Toryism of Henry St. John and Jonathan Swift an antique curiosity.  Republican ideology, being a continuation of old Federalist principles, has never been obsolete.

Left-Wing Philistines

       A few months ago, I did a post called "Right Wing Philistines."  In the interest of equal treatment, Estase will explore the similar liberals.  
       Left-wing Philistines think the solution to every problem is a new scheme for redistributing wealth.  The Bernie Sanders types are unconcerned with any issue save the fact that some people have money, and they don't.  Where Right-wing Philistines want lower taxes, Left-wing Philistines hate wealth and those who have it.  All their posturing about the 1% is like some Carlyle stereotype of the French Revolution.  These cultural Marxists are the new heart and soul of the Democratic Party.  Much of this arises from the fact that twenty-somethings are ignorant of the horrors that Soviet Russia and Maoist China wreaked upon the people of those countries.
       Extreme leftists hold equality as a higher value than liberty;  they would rather everyone suffer extreme poverty (like Venezuela) than live in a system where people on the top support those at the bottom.  Thus, the Left-wing Philistine might be compared to the proverbial story of killing the goose that laid golden eggs.                                                                          

"Robin Hood: Genesis of a Whig Myth" Revisited

       People with a legal degree usually assume they are an expert on everything.  Mark Levin, on his radio show, opined that Robin Hood was somehow Marxist, as he (as Levin saw it) took from the rich and gave to the poor.  Levin seems unaware of British political history, and took no note of the context of the myth.
       The villains in Robin Hood are the landed gentry, the Church and the Sheriff of Nottingham.  In the story, they are responsible for living high of the hog while the common people lived in poverty.
         In eighteenth century Britain, Tories were the defenders of the landed gentry, the Church of England, and were known for calling the emerging commercial class thieves.  The respectable way for people to be wealthy was the ownership of large amounts of land;  this, of course, was not open to the vast majority of Britons.  To the consternation of this commercial class, the Tory intelligentsia ( Jonathan Swift et al) considered traders and artisans thieves and riff-raff.
           Mr. Levin's theory that Robin Hood is Marxist ignores the opproprium that Torys attached to commercial life, and seems to ignore the fact that landed gentry are not necessarily the equivalent to rich Americans.  Rich Americans have no genealogical entitlement to their wealth.  Being born poor does not mean staying poor in America.  Becoming a businessman never meant being treated like a criminal (except on MSNBC!).  Thus, unlike eighteenth century Britons, we would not see despoiling rich people as tit for tat the way Whigs did at that time.  So, unless Mr. Levin is among those who see eighteenth century Whigs as the predecessors of Karl Marx ( and there are, admittedly, such people) he should recognize Robin Hood as a fantasy for commercial people sick of being treated like criminals for their efforts.

Black Friday

Bonfire of the Stereotypes

       The trinity of secondary liberal evils is racism, sexism and homophobia.  Anything perceived as violating this trinity is pure evil, and must be eradicated.
        The Simpsons is a left-leaning animated comedy that has been on TV since the late 1980s.  Based entirely on stereotypical characters, it is television's longest running series.  The main character is Homer Simpson, a stereotypical fat dullard.  His boss is Montgomery Burns, a stereotypical evil rich person modeled on John D. Rockefeller.  The family doctor is based on Cliff Huxtable, the main character from The Cosby Show.  Simpson's neighbors are the Flanders, a negative stereotype of Christians.  His bartender is Moe Syzlak, a stereotype lowlife.  Recurring in the show is a batch of illiterate hillbillies.  In short, The Simpsons is based on stereotypical characters.
        After years of lambasting rich people, nuclear power, children's TV, Christians, rural people, ad nauseum, suddenly the left hates the stereotypical Indian character Apu, who runs Springfield's convenience store.  Proving one thing:  stereotypical comedy is only funny when applied to groups the left is allowed to mock!  Comedy Central has created an entire industry ridiculing the right, with a gallery of faux Fox News hosts whose entire schtick is how stupid Republicans are.  Saturday Night Live stopped being funny when Tina Fey turned it into a broadcast-TV version of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.  For the left (and this includes the people who make The Simpsons, which includes leftist commentator Harry Shearer), comedy is politics conducted through other means.  Depicting Republicans as meeting in a spooky castle from Frankenstein is funny;  thirty years in, they decide that an Indian running a convenience store is hopelessly racist.  One can only laugh at rich people, fat people, stupid people, etc.  This is part of the politicization of comedy.  
       While I'm on a tear, I'd like to point out another thing the show did that Estase was deeply offended by.  Ned Flanders in one episode shows his sons a cartoon about blowing up an abortion clinic.  Nobody complained to the network about stereotyping Christians and pro-lifers in this way.  Hank Azaria never beat his breast in contrition about that skit.  Because any offensive stereotype that is aimed at the right is acceptable and funny, and any stereotype that isn't aimed at the right is offensive and racist.  I shudder to think what these modern comedy mavens would make of the Marx Brothers, whose comedy included send-ups of Jewish opera stars, Jewish doctors, the medical profession, etc.  Mel Brooks would find it impossible to make most of his films given the repressive pseudomorality that prevails today.

Lewis Eblesizer (1799-1884)

       Lewis Eblesizer of Blandinsville township {ed.-McDonough Co., IL}, a man prominent and well-known for years throughout the Northwest part of McDonough, died at his home Friday morning last at 3 o'clock.  He had been in poor health for the past three or four years, his disease being an affliction of the heart.  For six months he has grown worse rapidly, and during a month or more his death has been expected almost daily.  Funeral services were conducted at Blandinsville Saturday, after which the remains were buried in the Liberty burial ground northeast of town some two or three miles.  He was about 85 years old.  Deceased was born, we believe, in Indiana.  He migrated from near New Albany in that state, about the year 1839, coming to Illinois in company with the families of Andrew Huff and Jacob Keithley.  The deceased was then unmarried.  Mr. Huff and Eblesizer first settled in Rushville, Schuyler county, where for a few years they carried on a plow shop.  About 1844 or 1845 they came to McDonough and settled upon the land where the deceased spent the remaining portion of his life.  Deceased still single, boarded with Mr. Huff, and the two spent the time in improving their land in the summer, and blacksmithing in the winter.  Some years later, was united in marriage with Elizabeth Nance, whose parents resided in Hancock County, near LaHarpe.  The fruits of their marriage was one child, a son, C.C. Eblesizer, now some thirty years old and married.  The wife of deceased survives him.  Mr. Eblesizer was a first class farmer in every respect, a man of strong convictions, yet scrupulously honest withal.  He was a kind neighbor, a warm friend, a man whose living was a benefit to the community in which he lived.

The Macomb Journal Volume 29, Number 21, 21 FEB 1884

Honored Relic of War

       Geddes Post No. 142, G.A.R. has a relic in the shape of a beautiful silk flag--or the remains of a flag-- that was presented to Co. C, 78th Ill. Vol. Infantry by the ladies of Blandinsville in June, 1862, the day the company, under the command of Captain Hume, left for Macomb to go into camp in Springfield, Ill.
      The flag cost $60, and was a handsome one.  The money to purchase it was raised by the ladies of Blandinsville , and the presentation speech was made by Miss Joanna Buzzel, who was at that time teaching in the public schools of that village, and the lady is still living in the eastern part of the state, and there are still a few of the donors living in and around Blandinsville.  But of the 90 men who marched away under the bright folds of the beautiful flag but one resides in Blandinsville and one in La Harpe.  The company carried the flag to Springfield and it was used as a regimental banner for several months, when the government presented the regiment with the national colors.  Captain Hume then sent the banner home, and at his death a few years ago the flag was given to Charles Spielman, the only survivor of the company then residing in Blandinsville, who kept it until last fall, when he presented it to Comrade Elisha Hamilton of this place {ed.-LaHarpe}, who served in Co. C, and he presented it to the G.A.R. post, and it is kept in their hall.
       How many of the 90 men who marched away with the flag almost 43 years ago are alive today?  We doubt if anyone can tell, or what they endured during their three years' service no one can portray, for the 78th was a gallant regiment and the long list of dead and wounded as shown by the Adjutant General's report, shows that they did their full share in defense of the old flag and preservation of the Union, and those who are still alive are old and broken in health from their exposure in southern swamps or from wounds received in battle.
       Taking the muster roll we find that almost 30% of those who marched away that June morning were either killed, wounded or disabled before the war closed.  The records show the following casualties--27 out of 90.  But 35 of the original members of the company served to the expiration of their three years' service, and were mustered out June 7, 1865.
       Capt. Charles Hume resigned December 18, 1861.
        Lieut. Oliver P. Cartright resigned Oct. 4, 1864.
        George W. Blandin, first lieutenant, who was promoted to Captain, was killed at Kennesaw Mountain in that awful charge, June 27, 1864, where 10,000 men fell in less than 30 minutes.
         Marion D.M. Bond was wounded and discharged in May 1865.
        J.H. Bently was discharged April 6, 1865, on account of disability.
        Marshall J. Cline was killed Aug. 7, 1864, in front of Atlanta, Ga.
         George W. Dowell died at Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 29, 1863.
         John S. Forrest was killed at Jonesboro, Ga., Sept. 1, 1864.
          William W. Harmon died at Savanna, Ga., Feb. 21, 1865.
          John E. James fell with Captain Blandin at Kennesaw Mountain June 27, 1864.
          Thomas Lindsey died at Chattanooga, Tenn., June 25, 1864.
           Jacob H. Michaels was among the killed at Kennesaw Mountain June 27, 1864.
           Michael Menley was promoted to Sergeant and was killed at Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 4, 1864.
            Charles H. Magie died at Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 19, 1863.
           John Monahan died at Chattanooga, Tenn., April 3, 1864.
          Charles L. Norris also died at Chattanooga, Tenn., Nov. 6, 1864.
           John W. Rush was also among the killed at Jonesboro, Ga., Sept. 1, 1864, at which time every man who answered to the name John was killed.
            Sylvester Ruddell died at Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 30, 1863.
            Marion Sperry was discharged March 7, 1864, on account of disability.
            Cyrell Taft gave up his life amid the awful shot and shell at Jonesboro, Ga.
             James Tipton was discharged Nov. 11, 1863, on account of disability.
            Richard L. Terry lost a leg in the siege of Atlanta in 1864.
             Henry Venning was killed at Jonesboro, Ga., Sept. 1, 1864.
            James T. Doyle was discharged Feb. 1, 1864, on account of disability.
            John Duncan was discharged and was mustered out of the service March 13, 1863.
             Sylvester McFall was discharged on account of wounds Dec. 19, 1864.
             James O'Cain was discharged Sept. 13, 1864.
             They sleep in unknown and unmarked graves from the Ohio river to the Atlantic ocean, but they are not forgotten in the homes they left and the vacant chair is still a cherished relic of their memory while they await the coming of their comrades and friends to greet them on the other shore.

Blandinsville Star-Gazette 23 FEB 1905  

Macomb (IL) War Dead ca. 1885

From the Macomb Journal 28 MAY 1885:

       Buried in Oakwood Cemetery:
Col. Carter VanVleck, 78th ILL Inft.: enlisted Sept. 1, 1862;  died Aug. 23, 1864 of wounds received at Atlanta, Ga. a few days before.
Major William L. Broaddus, 78th Ill.;  enlisted Sept. 15, 1862;  killed Sept. 20, 1863 at the battle of Chicamauga.
Capt. David P. Wells, Co. B, 16th Ill.;  enlisted May 24, 1861;  died at home, in service, April 7, 1863.
Lieut. William P. Pearson, Co. C, 84th Ill.;  enlisted June 5, 1862; died since discharged.
Surgeon Wm. A. Huston, 137th Ill.; enlisted June 6, 1864; died in service June 25, 1864.
Henry Bailey, Co. B, 16th Ill.; enlisted May 24, 1861; died since discharged.
Wm. H. Keener, Co. B, 16th Ill.; enlisted April 1861; died since discharged.
A.J. Dillon, Co. B, 16th Ill.; enlisted Feb. 8, 1862; died since discharged.
George Wetherhold, Co. B, 16th Ill.; enlisted May 24, 1861; died since discharged.
Wm. H. Randolph, deputy provost marshal, ninth district; killed while in discharge of duty.
Edward S. Piper, Sergeant, Co. C, 84th Ill; enlisted June 16, 1862; died in service at Manchester, Tenn., June __, 1863.
Wilbur C. Clark, Co. C, 151st Ill.; died since discharged.
J. Grear Morgan, Co. H, 2nd Ill. Cav.;  enlisted Aug 6, 1861; died since discharged.
Parmenium Hamilton, Sergeant, Co. I, 78th Ill.;  enlisted Aug. 1, 1862;  died in service of wounds, Oct. 15, 1863.
Moses A. McCandless, Co. I, 78th Ill.;  enlisted Aug 4, 1862;  killed at Griggsville, Tenn. Nov. 29, 1862.
Josiah Swigart, Co. C, 84th Ill.;  enlisted June 19, 1863;  died since discharged.
John A. Eyre, Sergeant, Co. C, 84th Ill.;  enlisted June 13, 1862;  died in the service.
Samuel Patrick, Co. A., 84th Ill.;  enlisted Aug. 8, 1862;  died of wounds.
B.F. Clark, Co. A, 84th Ill.;  died since discharged.
Robert Barry, Co. C, 151st Ill.;  enlisted Feb. 24, 1865;  died since discharged.
John Farwell, West Point cadet;  died in service, Oct. 17, 1867.
James McClelland, Sergeant Co. B, 10th Mo.;  enlisted Aug. 2, 1861;  killed at Corinth, Miss. Oct. 3, 1862.
David Blazer, 11th Ill. Cav.; died since discharged.
Dallas Wolf, Co. C, 151st Ill.; died since discharged.
Jerry Randolph, Co. B, 10th Mo.;  died since discharged.
James B. Kyle, Surgeon 84th Ill.;  enlisted Aug. 1862;  discharged June 5, 1865;  died June, 1878.
Browning N. Wiles, Captain, New York Volunteers;  died May 1880.
A.N. Harris, Captain Co. K, 10th Mo. Cav.;  died since discharged.
Henry Parker, Co. I, 78th Ill.;  died May 24, 1880.
T. Laughlin, Co. C, 151st Ill.;  died since discharged.
James Clark, 4th United States Regular Cavalry;  died since discharged.
Charles Bennett, Co. I, 78th Ill.;  died in service, 1863.
Garner H. Bane, Surgeon, 50th Ill.;  died since discharged.
Wiley Amos, Ohio Volunteers.
Samuel Fields, War of 1812.
Harry Hampton, Co. A, 16th Ill.;  enlisted April 21, 1861;  died since discharged.
Lewis Wingett, 55th Ill.;  died since discharged.
Alex Jones, Battery H, 2nd Ill. Art.;  died since discharged.
T.S. Clarke, Co. F, 50th Ill.;  died since discharged.
George Iseminger, War of 1812.
R.H. Gordon, Co. A, 16th Ill.;  enlisted April 24, 1861;  died since discharged.
________ Frank, Illinois Volunteers.
B.F. Applegate, 10th Mo. Inft.;  died since discharged.
John Forrest*  Co. C, 78th Ill.;  killed in the charge at the battle of Jonesboro, Ga.  Sept. 1, 1864.
John G. Hammond, 10th Mo. Vols.;  enlisted Aug. 1864;  died Sept. 15, 1880.
J.W. Dilley, Co. B, 1st Mo. Engineers;  died Sept. 30, 1880.
Henry Shetterly, Indiana Volunteers;  died Apr. 2, 1881.
Daniel Byerly, 124th Ill.;  enlisted Aug. 1862;  discharged Aug. 1865;  died Apr. 2, 1881.
Ingram Pace, Co. I, 78th Ill.; died since discharged.
B.F. Lane*, Co. I, 78th Ill.;  killed Sept. 20, 1863, at battle of Chicamauga.
Lieut. A.J. Werden, Ohio Volunteers;  died since discharged.
Amos Gardner, Co. B, 85th Ind.;  died since discharged.
A.L. Booth, Co. B, 9th Ill. Cav.;  died since discharged.
W.R. McKee, War of 1812.
Lieut. M.A. Goodfellow, Ohio Volunteers;  died since discharged.
Thomas J. Martin, Co. C, 84th Ill.;  enlisted Aug 16, 1862;  mustered out at close of war;  died at Macomb, Ill. March 8, 1882.
Thomas Edmonson, Color Bearer 78th Ill.;  enlisted Aug. 1862;  mustered out at close of the war;  murdered at Good Hope, Ill. March 17, 1882.
O.P. Lamphere, Ohio Volunteers;  died October 1882.
George Robinson, Co. B, 10th Mo.;  enlisted Aug. 1861;  died March 11, 1883.
Richard Hillyer, 151st Ill.;  died March 18, 1883.
Lieut. John B. Pearson, Co. D, 28th Ill.;  enlisted July 1861;  discharged at close of war;  died May 26, 1883.
Richard Lawrence, Quartermaster 28th Ill.;  died Nov. 14, 1883.
Peter Clark, Eckdall's Battery, 2nd Ill. Art.;  died Aug. 31, 1883.
Wm. L. Hampton, Co. C, 84th Ill.;  died Feb. 3, 1883.
H.B. Livermore, U.S. Surgeon;  died May 21, 1884.
Levi Penniwitt, Iowa Volunteers;  died since discharged.

Buried in Old Cemetery

Capt. James D. Walker, Co. H, 2nd Ill. Cav.;  enlisted Aug 6, 1861;  died since discharged.
Wm. P. Chase, 98th Ill.;  died in service.
T.B. Lillard, U.S. Volunteers.
James P. Whitten, Co. H, 2nd Ill. Art.
Thomas Smithers, War of 1812.
Samuel Campbell, regiment unknown.
W.S. Stokes, Co. B, 10th Mo.;  killed at the battle of Corinth, Miss., October 1865.
Elias Vancleve, regiment unknown.
Wm. McDonald, soldier in Black Hawk War.
Abram Rowe, Capt. Co. B, 16th Ill. Inft., enlisted Apr. 6, 1861;  discharged December 1864;  died June 26, 1884.

Buried in Catholic Cemetery

Frank Hall, U.S. Army;  died in Bushnell.
George Hendricksmyer, Illinois Volunteers;  died since discharged.
Sergeant Patrick Noonan, Co. C, 98th Ill.
Albert Regner, Missouri Volunteers.
Isadore Walter, 2nd Ill. Art.;  died since discharged.

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*The remains of these soldiers are not buried here, but monuments have been erected to their memory in Oakwood, and the place thus dedicated will be decorated.
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Headstones for Soldiers' Graves 

Two weeks ago the JOURNAL announced the shipment to this place of a number of gravestones, furnished by the government, for the graves of deceased soldiers not having been supplied with stones.  They were delivered free of all expense at this station.  Here the local Grand Army Post took charge of them and paid the expenses of putting them in position at the cemeteries here.  A number of the stones are for soldiers buried at other points in the county:  the names appear in the list below, and the friends of the deceased are requested to call and get the stones and put them up.  The stones are 3 1/2 feet long, 12 inches wide and four thick.  The following is the list:  
Surgeon W.A. Huston 137th Ill.
Henry Nichols, Co. C, 137th Ill.
B.F. Clark, Co. A, 84th Ill.
Robert Barry, Co. C, 151st Ill.
David Blazer, Co. A, 11th Ill. Cav.
Capt. A. N. Harris, Co. K. 10th Mo. Cav.
Harry Hampton, Co. A, 16th Ill.
Lewis Wingett, 55th Ill.
Alex Jones, Co. H, 2nd Ill. Art.
T.S.Clark 50th Ill.
R.H. Gordon, Co. A. 16th Ill.
J.G. Hammond, 10th Mo.
Daniel Byerly, 124th Ill.
Ingram Pace, Co. I, 78th Ill.
Lieut A.J. Werden, Ohio reg't.
A.L. Booth Co. B. 9th Ill. Cav.
Thomas Edmonson, 78th Ill.
George Robinson, Co. B, 10th Mo.
Richard Hillyer, 151st Ill.
Lieut. J.B. Pearson, Co. D. 28th Ill.
Richard Lawrence, Quartermaster, 28th Ill.
Wm. L. Hampton, Co. B, 84th Ill.
Peter Clark, 2nd Ill. Art.
Capt. J.D. Walker Co. H, 2nd Ill. Cav.
Wm. P. Chase Co. A, 86th Ill.
J.P. Whitten, Co. H, 2nd Ill. Art.
Capt J.D. Walker, Co. H., 2nd Ill. Cav.
Wm. P. Chase, Co. A, 89th Ill.
J.P. Whitten Co. H, 2nd Artillery
W.S. Stokes, Co. B, 10th Mo.
Patrick Noonan, Co. C, 96th Ill.
Isadore Walters, 2d Artillery
Ephraim Baker, Co. H, 73rd Ohio
James Jellison Co. B, 16th Ill.
Capt. Abram Rowe, Co. C, 16th Ill.
J.B. Wortman, Co. A, 84th Ill.  Pennington Point Cemetery
J.H. Reymer, Co. I, 124th Ill.  Spring Creek Cemetery
J.B. Toland Co. H, 12th Ill. Eldorado Twp.
Martin V. Scudder, Co. I, 78th Ill. Industry
The following were omitted for want of a company and regiment:  J.W. Dilley,Levi Penn,George Henricksmeyer

You Won't Have Paul Ryan to Kick Around Any More

       The job of restoring the Constitutional importance of Congress is the most daunting task in the American government.  For over a decade, its traditional function of designing the nation's finances has been usurped by the executive, resulting in atrocities like the continuing resolutions and the most recent pork-filled omnibus bill.  (Thank you, Chuck and Nancy).  Paul Ryan fell victim to the same system that ground up John Boehner.  At one point I blamed Boehner for the continuing resolution mess.  Now Estase realizes that the system is so broken that it is a superhuman effort for one man to try to normalize our Constitutional system.
        It would be ideal if we had a President who understood and respected our Constitutional system.  Instead, we have one whose understanding of such is shaky at best.  It is also unfortunate that fixing the system means that the President needs to use his power to reduce his power--a sort of Lord of the Rings situation.  Orange Blatherskite is probably not the man for that job.
        So what you have is a situation that would vex the strongest and wisest of men.  Richard Nixon famously said upon leaving the vice presidency, "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more."  People have been monstrously unfair to Paul Ryan, inferring that the size and expense of the government is something he was comfortable with, or that he is a "liberal."  In reality, the only way to avoid absolute gridlock is to give Chuck and Nancy some of their desires, including the bitter pill of abandoning those whose whole reason for voting Republican was to defund Planned Parenthood.  The GOP base is rightly pissed, and it remains unclear whether the Republican voter will even bother to show up in November, seeing as how Chuck and Nancy seem to win in any event.  
       The constitutional abuses that have existed for the last decade make the Speaker of the House a man with a hopeless, thankless job.  Under the Constitution, as written, he should actually be the most powerful man in government, exceeding even the President.  It is not clear that this is a problem that can be remedied, and Ryan can be excused for wanting the peace of mind that comes from not attempting an impossible job.

The Brick Wall

       At the end of the horror classic Village of the Damned, George Sanders' character has to avoid thinking about his intention to blow up the alien children by thinking of a brick wall.  The children can read minds;  any hint of a thought of his intentions will thwart the entire mission.
      Sci-Fi Bruce Rauner, having alienated most Republicans through sanctuary state policies and publicly funding abortion, is in his death throes.  Yesterday Estase received three glossy pieces of junk mail aimed at stopping the candidacy of primary challenger Jeanne Ives.  Rauner ridiculously tries to claim that Ives is associated with Democratic oberfuehrer Conal Cochran, and that she wants to increase taxes.  This is, I guess, a contrast to Rauner's fiscal conservatism shown by publicly funding abortion when the state is already in arrears.
       

       It won't be necessary to control our thoughts to the extent that we cannot avoid concentrating on a brick wall.  Illinoisans need only remember how Sci-Fi Bruce Rauner betrayed them over and over again, mixing attempts at financial reform with the worst kind of liberal social engineering.  Even if a Democrat is elected next fall, at least that's a monster that comes under its own colors, and doesn't pretend to be something he isn't.

Right-Wing Philistines

       American conservatism at one time held a set of beliefs that included things like anti-Communism, belief in limited government, und so weiter.  These principles were reflected by an intellectual class who made reference to them in their writings.  There were different strains of conservative thought, but common themes united the Barry Goldwaters, Russell Kirks, and William F. Buckleys.
       The past decade has seen a dramatic deevolution in the complexity of conservative thought.  Talk radio, which at one time seemed like a means for bypassing the liberal messages of network news, has encouraged a pettiness that doesn't become any movement.  Conservative thought has become obsessed with the economic.  Right-wing philistines only concern themselves over the economic life of man.  Cutting taxes has gone from being a treatment for symptoms of liberalism to being the entire Republican message!  Limited government and the more philosophical aspects of the message have gone the way of the passenger pigeon. 
       A few years ago, the TEA party movement started this process, in an Ayn Rand reaction to budget-busting Obama policies.  The TEA party was agnostic on social issues, hence one never saw people in colonial garb protesting gay marriage or abortion.  Their simplistic tirades about taxes ended up becoming the dominant strain on talk radio.  It never occurred to the right-wing philistines that Obama was hardly the first president to go to absurd lengths in growing the size and cost of government.  When a New York liberal decided to try to get the Republican Party's nomination, the memories of the right-wing philistines didn't encompass the decades of sex and scandal that he brought with him.  Absurdly, many people who were strongly religious started to compare him to King David, or say that he was God's anointed, meant to bring America back to her roots.  Those of us who were skeptics were decried as liberals.
       The result is a Republican Party that is morally bankrupt.  Having abandoned her principles to a horde of talk-radio dittoheads, she created an Obama-style continuing resolution (weren't we supposed to be done with such things?) that even funded the worshippers of Moloch over at Planned Parenthood!  The obvious question is whether voting Republican has any discernible effect over what kind of government we get.  We may get a tax cut, but the schema of government remains the same.

Deep State, Deep Doo-Doo

       Many of O.B.'s supporters are fond of the term "deep state."  Their conspiratorial leanings incline them to believe that government employees exist primarily to frustrate the goals of the Trump Administration.  Somehow, previous Republican administrations never suffered from career government employees, but this one does.
       Naivete about how government functions seems to be a big problem with the alt-right, "populists," and other assorted Trump acolytes.  Non-military government employees are usually Ivy League graduates.  As a function of their origin, they obviously lean left.  They are career employees, as opposed to the political appointees every administration gets to install.  O.B.'s intention to radically cut the number of State Department employees no doubt incenses people who earned advanced degrees in International Relations with an eye to public service.  It also seems ill-advised in a world where diplomacy beats bloody slug-fests every time.  Even Ronald Reagan realized that the State Department served a vital function in preventing armed hostilities!   So if there's a war with the deep state, it's one that Trump started.
       Just as how O.B.'s supporters enjoy saying nasty things about Republican legislative leaders Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, they enjoy fantasies about saboteurs in Federal office buildings, plotting against the valiant patriots in the West Wing.  This manichean view of politics suits the uninformed and those who enjoy talk radio careers.  The latter are largely responsible for the simplistic views of most Trump supporters.  One might well say that Republican voters are less informed after 25 years of Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.  Their impossible standards of right-wing purity would be impossible to meet in a legislature, where compromise is a necessary tool of government.  This is why right wing crackpots say idiotic things like "Paul Ryan is a liberal."  Paul Ryan is a person who has to cobble together governing majorities on every issue.  This means that in order to govern, even subhuman bottom feeders like Bela Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have to have some of their desires met.  It's called democracy--look into it!