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Arthur "Bucky" Barrett was a small-time jewel thief in 1983 when he was lured to a meeting with alleged Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, chained to a chair and tortured for hours, a federal prosecutor told jurors during opening arguments in the accused Irish gangster's murder trial today.
After Bucky Barrett talked, "this man over here, James Bulger, shot him in the back of the head,'' Assistant United States Attorney Brian T. Kelly said. And then, Bulger took a nap as others allegedly buried Barrett in the dirt cellar of the small house on E. Third Street in South Boston.
"It's crimes like these, vicious crimes, that Bulger stands accused of,'' Kelly said, telling jurors that the Bulger case will tell the story of "a group of criminals that ran amok for almost 30 years."
While they went amok, Kelly said, people died.
Bulger killed Eddie Connors because he had a big mouth; Brian Halloran was executed, along with his friend Michael Donahue, because he was an informant; Roger Wheeler refused to play ball; Debbie Davis was a liability, Kelly said.
Then the prosecutor played a slideshow with photographs of all 19 people Bulger stands accused of killing, including two women.
"At the center of all this murder and mayhem is one man: James Bulger,'' Kelly said. "He was a hands-on killer."
The long-awaited Bulger trial began 18 years after Bulger fled Massachusetts and became one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives, second only to Osama bin Laden.
Bulger escaped prosecution until today, Kelly said, because he had been tipped to a pending federal indictment by a corrupt FBI agent and went on the lam, settling in a small apartment in a tony section of Santa Monica, Calif., in 1996 with his longtime companion Catherine Greig.
"Bulger runs away and hides,'' Kelly said. "But then his luck ran out."
In June 2011, more than a dozen FBI agents and U.S. marshals waited in the garage of the Princess Eugenia apartments where Bulger and Greig lived as Charlie and Carol Gasko for 16 years. Their apartment was rent-controlled and two blocks away from the beach.
The building's manager, Josh Bond, cooperated with FBI agents on the night Bulger was arrested and told his neighbor Charlie that someone had broken into his storage locker. When Bulger came into the garage, he was arrested. He called Greig from an agent's phone and said, "It's over."
Bond had befriended "the nice old man" and told ABC News he continues exchange letters with Bulger, who is being held at the Plymouth County House of Correction near Cape Cod.
Bulger's attorney, J.W. Carney, attacked the credibility of some of the government's witnesses who are ex-mobsters who are expected to testify against him. But the bulk of his opening statement was about the "depth of corruption in federal law enforcement" he claims ran rampant through the Boston FBI field office throughout the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. He also dejected the FBI's insistence that Bulger was a top echelon federal informant.
"James Bulger was not an informant,'' Carney said. "James Bulger is an Irish person. The worst thing an Irish person could do is become an informant."
Carney argued that Bulger instead was paying the FBI for information that allowed the Winter Hill Gang to create a stronghold on bookmaking, loansharking, and drug dealing in Boston without fear of federal prosecution, not providing information on Italian criminal compatriots.
"Whitey" Bulger's Lawyer Denies Bulger Was Informant
"In order to protect this business, he wanted information and paid for it from corrupt law enforcement officers,'' Carney said. "He was told where the bugs were placed, where search warrants were being executed, so he could clear his stuff out."
Carney pointed out that Bulger was making "millions upon millions upon millions of dollars" with his criminal enterprise but was never targeted for federal prosecution until 1995.
"What does that tell you?" Carney said.
Corrupt agents, Carney argued, didn't look for Bulger – whose California apartment was seven miles from FBI headquarters in Los Angeles.
"He settled in California. Not hiding. Living openly in plain sight while those FBI agents pretended to look for him,'' Carney said.
The Gaskos, who blended in with the elderly community who live along the beach, walked the Santa Monica promenade most nights, ate an at an upscale Italian eatery named Michael's a block away from their apartment, and watched the Celtics win a championship at the Boston-themed bar Sonny McCleans.
Bostonians have described the Bulger case as the trial of the century. The 83-year-old defendant stared ahead wordlessly at a defense table wearing a green long-sleeved jersey. His brother, John "Jackie" Bulger, was in the courtroom.
Spectators hoping to see another Bulger brother, former Massachuestts Senate president William Bulger, were disappointed. After Whitey Bulger fled, William Bulger famously testified at a Congressional hearing that he had no idea his brother was a criminal.
Also present in the courtroom were family members of murder victims. Some families wore buttons emblazoned with the names or photographs of their slain loved ones.
"It's bittersweet,'' Steve Davis told ABC News. Bulger is accused of murdering his sister Debra Davis and burying her in the same dirt basement as Arthur "Bucky" Barrett.
Bulger's stronghold on South Boston, and his sordid relationship with the Boston FBI field office, inspired the movie The Departed and a cable television series on Showtime called Brotherhood.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Bike Miami Days is featured on the Livable Streets Network this week in an article entitled, "Florida's Ciclovias and Potential for Transformation of the Right-of-Way ". Read the entire article and learn more about the Livable Streets Initiative HERE.
Bike Miami Days has received national attention and has been held more than five times since its inception in November 2008. As with Bogota, Miami's event was the mayor's idea and is coordinated through Mayor Manny Diaz's Office. On designated [Sundays], crowds of cyclists and pedestrians flood the streets of downtown Miami… Music, food, and basic bicycle mechanic lessons are available for all participants. The event itself is free, provides a forum for community interaction, gets people outside and exercising, and provides much needed visitation and an economic boost for local businesses on what might otherwise be a quiet day downtown.


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As I understand it, Simon and Garfunkel were sitting in a car, smoking pot, when listening to the first radio broadcast of their music. Apparently, the ecstasy of living an accomplishment few would know wasn't sufficient enough that it had to be supplemented with drugs.
During a recent business trip, I watched a program where a person was attempting to scale the north-face of the Eiger without ropes. His reason for this, as is likely the same motivation for all similar stunts, is perhaps paraphrased as follows: "I feel most alive when I confront certain death head-on."
A few weeks ago I watched one of my favorite films, Doctor Zhivago. As always one of many scenes covering the sordid antics of Victor Komarovsky caused me pause. Specifically, he had been having an affair with a widowed business woman, and then decided to move in on her beautiful daughter. Upon learning this, the widow attempted suicide by swallowing iodine. Komarovsky, fearing a scandal, called a professor from the medical school to discretely handle the case. Now, what I would like us to note from this all too real fictional situation is what the professor tells the young Zhivago after the two of them save the widow's life: "He [Komarovsky] knows life; he had a scare, tonight, though."
Jesus tells us that he came to give us life, and life to the fullest. We immediately know from this that whatever we mean by life falls far short of what God intended for us. And because He loves us so much, He came to dwell with us in order to restore us to true life.
Perhaps you don't agree, and hold up the above-mentioned people in support of your position. I propose that none of those people, nor those they might represent, have experienced the abundant life Jesus promised us. True life involves achievements, to be sure; but such achievements require no augmentation. The life God wants for us is so rich, multifaceted, compelling, and unending,we need not trick it out to assure ourselves it's real or sustain interest in it. And the life that Christ has redeemed us thrives through the power of God's love working in a community, not selfish-ambition.
I submit that this true and abundant life that God created us for in the beginning, and in later times came to restore, can only be lived by authentic human beings—people who stay in the correct lane.
As we have learned, an authentic human knows his/her true identity, so he/she seeks to please God first by making his/her unique contributions to His kingdom. And this is fully gratifying and thoroughly satisfying to the person because his/her accomplishments resonate perfectly with whom he/she is; the person lives life to the fullest.
A good example of this is my wife. She works with children with autism. And even though there are numerous challenges, she is fulfilled by her work, and is, as she often says, in her element. She is one of those fortunate ones whose kingdom work is also their vocation. But the key to her success is she seeks to please God and therefore serve others instead of herself.
Most of us struggle with finding our identity because we look for it within ourselves; we do this most often on the basis of other people's expectations, our own whims and romantic ideas, and, sometimes, desperation. I cannot possibly know for sure, but great talents such as Simon and Garfunkel may have found their element—many like them may not be that far from whom God created them to be--only never fully apprehended it because their focus has been on themselves rather than glorifying God. It's an observation, not a judgment; I just know how much my own dissatisfaction in my own life—something I struggle with to this day--has been because too much of my self has gotten in the way.
Only by pursuing our creator fully and singularly can one hope to find one's place in the kingdom, and know true fulfillment. And such fulfillment is perfectly satisfying because we are a part of something outside of ourselves.
The full life that Jesus promises is also not living to die. To attempt to intensify life, to experience a full life, by tempting death is totally self-serving. True courage is facing death for the preservation of life, not to see life as a cheap commodity that somehow gains value when we are willing to toss it away. Authentic humanity was created to live, not die. Besides, the authentic human is too caught up in the splendor of true life to ever question its reality.
Finally, the full life Christ promises is realized in a community—the kingdom of heaven. True life is first seeking to please God, and in so doing, celebrating and promoting others ahead of ourselves. This is axiomatic of the kingdom: to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and then love others as God has loved you.
Komarovsky and the human race with him have sought to live by manipulating and exploiting others. His ilk supposes to find fulfillment by making and breaking alliances, moving in and out of marriages, cheating others in business deals, withholding their property when others are in need, playing one against the other, bearing false witness, betraying others, and on and on. Such are the lifestyles of the dead, not the truly alive authentic human. We know this is true because Komarovsky feared only for himself at the widow's brush with death.
Jesus came to restore authentic humanity, to bring life, and life to the fullest. This means being who we were created to be, preserving and valuing life at all costs, and being kingdom dwellers--all through the power of God, for His glory. Therefore, we can only live life to the fullest by sharing in the Divine nature. And sharing in the Divine nature, we not only live life to the fullest, but live forever, because God is.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Are you in the correct lane? Part 4
As I understand it, Simon and Garfunkel were sitting in a car, smoking pot, when listening to the first radio broadcast of their music. Apparently, the ecstasy of living an accomplishment few would know wasn't sufficient enough that it had to be supplemented with drugs.
Posted by Bruce Kokko at 7:58 PM 0 comments
Monday, September 19, 2011
Are you in the correct lane? Part 3
Several years ago a race was run at the Special Olympics. As the runners made their way around the track, one of the competitors stumbled and fell. The other runners stopped and went back to the fallen runner, helped him up, and together they ran the remainder of the race and crossed the finish-line.
Those Olympians were truly special and certified champions; they all deserved gold medals; for they understood the kingdom of heaven probably better than anyone else has, including me. Indeed, they should be writing this blog instead of me.
We have been discussing authentic humanity, how it involves individuals with unique identities. But we must be careful not to overstate this. We humans have a penchant for swinging pendulums to the extremes. Authentic human beings are individuals with unique identities, but they are unified in a community—the kingdom of heaven—without annihilating those identities.
As we have shown, the kingdom of heaven diverges radically from the various systems promoting assimilation. However, the kingdom of heaven is also decidedly not a model for the rugged individualism fundamental to American political philosophy.
The American political paradigm is the best in the world, but it isn't perfect. Thanks to philosophers such as John Locke who had more than incidentally influenced its inception, America has exaggerated the importance of the individual.
Unfortunately, these Lockean concepts have insinuated their way into the Christian church, such that we saw the rise of spot-conversions during the nineteenth century. Instead of focusing on becoming disciples, as Jesus commanded in His great commission, people (not all people responding to the Gospel message) have tended to view the transaction as just another box checked off their to-do list. This individualistic approach to Christianity has festered into an unhealthy self-interest all too prevalent in the American church today.
Of course, Jesus came to restore the individual. This is a great and glorious and unfathomable act of God in His Love for us. But the restoration of the individual is only a part of God's intent to restore the kingdom of heaven and, ultimately, the cosmos—the Glory of God manifested through His Glory (yes, that's right: God's Glory—who He is in power and faithfulness—is manifested in His Glory that is the vast growing fabric that is the kingdom of heaven.)
What happens in a society based on rugged individualism is everyone attempts to promote and distinguish themselves above everyone else. Surprisingly, both a unity in purpose and the true distinctions of identities are lost. The best--and I use this superlative loosely--outcome will be a unity of kind because everyone becomes grasping, jealous, suspicious, greedy, resentful, and on and on. In short, everyone becomes competitive.
I'm the first to enjoy a good football game. I'm very competitive, myself, especially when it comes to the game of Scrabble; they don't call me the crusher for nothing. Competition is certainly the driving force of capitalism, of which I have reaped benefits for myself and my family; I have been very fortunate. Even though competition drives our world, it is not what drives the kingdom of heaven.
God created us to be a kingdom with Him, where we work through, by, and for Him to, maintain and grow the universe He created. We accomplish this by knowing and acting in accord with our true identities through the grace that God provides. When we do this, competition ceases because we are content in who we are and each of us celebrates who the next person is, and together as a community we accomplish God purposes; we become a unity of purpose—a community—while preserving our unique identities.
We could all stand to learn this from those special Olympians. They all ran the race, and together they each did their part. And they all won the race—something was built, improved, healed and revealed that day--because they completed it together without compromising who they each were as individuals. They were authentic human beings. And they demonstrated for us in very simple clear terms the kingdom of God.
Posted by Bruce Kokko at 8:36 PM 3 comments
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Are you in the correct lane? Part 2
One of my favorite recurring themes in the Star Trek franchise is, the Borg. I like it for the same reason I like Invasion of the Body Snatchers; if you're in the mood for a thriller, neither ghosts, monsters, espionage, nor zombies will quite cut it; the definitive word on terror is, assimilation. Why? Because, assimilation is all about losing our identities.
As terrifying the prospect of losing one's identity is, it's interesting that numerous belief systems in the world hold assimilation as the ultimate objective.
The stoics saw us as being caught up in a single pattern of fate repeating itself over and over forever, where we start from fire and eventually reabsorb back into fire. The evolutionary materialists see us all disintegrating into the elements from whence we came, and re-assimilated into an infinite repository to be recast like so many dice. The sundry eastern religions seek an assimilation into the One.
The attraction of these various systems for us is they take us off the hook. They satisfy our innate hunger for a spiritual reality while putting very little demand on us. Indeed, the little demand imposed by these systems, such as meditation, only serves to temporarily sedate us who are an angry, frustrated, fearful, and insecure humanity. The great irony here is our acquiescence to fate allows us to remain in control--or so we would like to believe.
We have become this desperate race because we have all misplaced our authentic identities. We don't know our real names. We misplaced them because we have insisted on defining our identities on our own. In the words of my teenage daughter: "Fail!" We cannot hope to be authentic humans unless we start from the self we were created to be. And only God knows what that is; only God can explain it to us; and only by walking intimately with the one true God will we ever fulfill our identities.
I must digress for a moment to note that our fascination with assimilation and death and such things stems from a central belief that they are natural and therefore inevitable. Hence, we say to ourselves: I'm going to be wearing this someday. I might as well try it on for size.
But death and assimilation are not natural outcomes. They are unnatural. God created us to live, and to live as unique individuals bearing a singular identity—a name belonging to no other.
What do I mean, then, by this all important thing called, identity? My friend Tim Brygger has spent years pondering this question, and this fall he will publish a book called, Becoming, to answer this difficult question. I recommend going to his web site, www.timbrygger.com, for further details. For now, I will quote, from the introduction of Becoming, Tim's definition of identity for us to consider:
Identity is an idea, but an individual idea. He is not humanity or mankind, but the distinct idea of each individual person. He is tricky to get a solid grasp of because every person's identity is different.
Identity started out as the great idea of his Creator. When he was only that idea, he had a distinct form….
What defines him is his uniqueness; his specific attributes. These are his unique offerings from The Creator to all the rest of creation. His unique attributes have incredible value and purpose – not because of what they do, but because of the potential that they were created with! As He plays upon those uniquenesses with creativity and takes hold of the intrinsic, beautiful potential, he finds incredible satisfaction and joy in being himself and playing his part.
To further describe him would be to describe a person. His identity is what makes him who he is, everything he was equipped with at his inception: natural talent, created personality, his 'bent' to contribute in a distinct fashion… every characteristic that was original in him (that preceded the influence of "environment").
Quite a beautiful and elegant synopsis, wouldn't you agree?
We were created to be authentic humans. Only as authentic human beings will we achieve the purposes and meanings intended by God. God created us in His image, so we are necessarily relational individuals. To be relational individuals who achieve the purposes of God requires we each have an identity. Jesus has redeemed us to lead us back to our true identities. He tells us that if we believe in Him, acknowledge him as King, He is our Shepherd and we are His sheep who He calls each by name, and we respond because we know Him.
Therefore, God intended all along that we should be a community in which He dwells: a unity of unique individuals without losing the distinctions of the individuals--not an assimilation. This community is what Jesus called, the kingdom of heaven, and is both God's intended purpose and the vehicle He chose in His Love and holiness to achieve His purposes. This community is God's glory, and the topic of next week's posting.
Posted by Bruce Kokko at 6:08 PM 0 comments
Monday, September 5, 2011
Are you in the correct lane?
Every day driving home from work I pass a sign that reads, "Are you in the correct lane?" The reason for this sign is the city had decided to spot its landscape with rotaries. In my opinion, it's a good idea because it keeps traffic flowing with less fatal accidents. But Midwesterners are used to stop-and-go lights, and find the rotary a bit of an enigma--hence the sign. Apparently too many people have been entering the rotary in the wrong lane, and when they realize it, they attempt to change lanes within the rotary, and whether or not it will be less fatal than past intersection collisions, there will be an accident, eventually.
But this blog is not going to be a commentary on civil engineering. The sign in question got me thinking about something else far more important. I know what you're thinking; you're thinking he's going to talk about the Gospel: are you saved? Or are you following Jesus?—that sort of thing. No, the sign prompted me to ponder once again the outcome of the Gospel message; specifically, what does it mean to be authentic humanity?
The church fathers called the consummation of our salvation in Christ, deification. By this, they didn't mean that we become God; rather, we share in the Divine nature. No created being can ever be God. But every human being, because he or she was created in God's image, was created to share in His Divine nature. Why? The answer is because, for the same reason, all Mankind was created to be authentic humanity. And it is not possible to be an authentic human without sharing in the Divine nature. Therefore, what the church fathers meant by deification was becoming authentic humanity.
The church fathers were correct. We were created to be authentic humans. Thus, when I see that sign each day, I wonder if I'm am in the correct lane to becoming an authentic human being, or if I'm in the wrong lane leading farther and farther away from that destination. If the latter is the case, then despite what the statisticians might say, I'm in for a fatal accident.
Authentic humanity can be broken down into at least three important parts (of course it can because three is the number of completion). I propose that the three aspects of authentic humanity are identity, community, and eternal life.
During the course of the next several blogs I will attempt to flesh out these three attributes of authentic humanity. But first I want to leave you with a little homework assignment. This week I want you to consider this question: What is my name? Now don't you dare come come back with John, Freddy, or Freda. I don't mean your given name. I want you to ask yourself who you are as a unique individual; if you were to strip away all the pretence, noise, and the claims of others, what would you find remaining? Who are you really? And what name would you give that person?
Bon chance! See you next week.
Posted by Bruce Kokko at 8:10 AM 2 comments


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|Allegro CL version 9.0
Unrevised from 8.2 to 9.0.
8.2 version
Arguments: object
object may be a module, module-group or system. Returns the root system object which contains the object. Note that this may be different from the parent-object of the object, since parent-object returns the object directly containing the object, but containing-system searches up the tree of parent-objects until it finds one with no parent object.
See defsystem.htm for general information on the Defsystem facility in Allegro CL.
Copyright (c) 1998-2017, Franz Inc. Oakland, CA., USA. All rights reserved.
This page was not revised from the 8.2 page.
Created 2012.5.30.
|Allegro CL version 9.0
Unrevised from 8.2 to 9.0.
8.2 version


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Season 22 starts this Sunday. Looks like 3 teams are leaving in the first episode.
I have the blondes Caroline and Jen in an office pool who are friends in a band together.
looking forward to a great show.
First they end up at a wrong house thinking they are doing the detour.
Then they get eliminated with an Espress Pass in hand.
Jessica & John sure had a tough time in Bali. How do you not use that Express Pass?


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NYPD investigating assault of Sikh man by group of young men who made anti-Muslim statements
NEW YORK – Police are investigating an attack on a Columbia University professor in upper Manhattan by a group of young men who made anti-Muslim statements.
Prabhjot Singh (sihnj), who is Sikh (seek), tells the Daily News (nydn.us/1gQLErp) he suffered a fractured jaw in the beating, which police are investigating as a possible hate crime.
Police say it happened just after 8 p.m. Saturday on 110th Street near Lennox Avenue.
Police say Singh was approached by a group of 15 to 20 young men on bicycles. Police say one of the men pulled Singh's beard and as the group fled they kicked him several times to the body and face.
Police say he was treated for his injuries.
There have been no arrests.