Peace,
Arlene Johnson
Publisher/Author
http://www.truedemocracy.net
>
>-----Forwarded Message-----
>>From: D'Anne Burley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>Sent: May 23, 2006 12:05 PM
>>To: SPIRIT OF RUSTY IS EVERLASTING <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>Subject: Re: illinoispolitics : Messages : 316-345 of 1836
>>
>> News
>> Conspiracy theorist helped bring down ex-gov
>>
>>*May 23, 2006*
>>
>>*BY MARK J. KONKOL Staff Reporter *
>>
>><http://a3.suntimes.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.suntimes.com/output/news/@Middle?x>
>>
>> Political gadfly Sherman Skolnick, "the grandaddy of all conspiracy
>>theorists," died peacefully Sunday in his sleep at his South Side home.
>>
>>Or did he?
>>
>>No disrespect. He did die. But that's just the cynical way Mr. Skolnick, 75,
>>saw the world -- a place he believed was filled with corruption and deceit.
>>
>>A couple of times he was right, tipping off federal agents and investigative
>>reporters to one of the biggest judicial scandals in U.S. history: the
>>resignations of Illinois Supreme Court justices Roy Solfisburg and Ray
>>Klingbiel in 1969.
>>
>>And a few years later, information he provided led to the corruption
>>conviction of Otto Kerner, the former governor and federal appeals judge.
>>
>>He even filed a lawsuit in 1969 that led to redrawing Illinois congressional
>>districts against the late Mayor Richard J. Daley's wishes.
>>
>>But the other theories Mr. Skolnick scattered with his shotgun style of
>>crying corruption made him the Chicken Little of tipsters, a media pariah in
>>Chicago.
>>
>>Among his very public claims, Mr. Skolnick believed former Chicago Mayor
>>Harold Washington -- who the Cook County medical examiner said had died from
>>a heart attack -- was murdered.
>>
>>And Mr. Skolnick accused the CIA and United Airlines of sabotaging a
>>jetliner that crashed near Midway Airport as part of a Watergate scandal
>>coverup in 1972.
>>
>>"Sherman was eccentric to put it mildly and made all kinds of charges about
>>everybody and believed every [judge] on every bench and most public
>>officials were corrupt and didn't hesitate to say so," retired Chicago
>>Sun-Times investigative reporter Charles Nicodemus said.
>>
>>"He knew as good as gold that Russians implanted radio transmitters in the
>>necks of cats and scattered them all over the country in hopes [cats] got in
>>the homes of government officials. ... It was only one of a variety of
>>things Sherman promulgated. The result is he was not taken too seriously."
>>
>>And for that, Mr. Skolnick didn't get much respect for his "Citizens
>>Committee to Clean Up the Courts."
>>
>>Born in 1930, Mr. Skolnick contracted polio and became wheelchair-bound when
>>he was 6 years old. He grew up on the West Side and later moved with his
>>family to 9800 S. Oglesby, where he lived the rest of his life.
>>
>>He graduated from DePaul University and attended John Marshall Law School
>>but didn't get a law degree.
>>
>>He referred to himself as a legal researcher and felt it was his calling to
>>root out corrupt judges.
>>
>>Mr. Skolnick's inspiration came when an investor lost his parents' life
>>savings, $14,000. They sued to get the money back, taking the case to the
>>Illinois Supreme Court -- which included justices Solfisburg and Klingbiel
>>-- and lost.
>>
>>"That's what got him started," said his brother, Seymour Skolnick. "He did
>>everything he could to dig up the s--- in the world."
>>
>>In 1971, Mr. Skolnick started a recorded phone message service, "Hotline
>>News," that disseminated his research and theories to the public. He wrote a
>>book, *The Secret History of Airplane Sabotage.* Since 1990, he made reports
>>on public access cable television shows "Broadsides" and "In Chicago,"
>>produced reports for his Web site *skol nicksreport.com,* and contributed to
>>a Canada-based Internet radio program called "Cloak and Dagger."
>>
>>Mr. Skolnick didn't like being called a conspiracy theorist and once told a
>>reporter it was a nice way for people to call you a "nut."
>>
>>Internet radio colleague D'Anne Burley says Mr. Skolnick was an activist and
>>a journalist.
>>
>>"What he did was more like a forensic thing ... based on facts. He used
>>court files, evidence and intelligence [sources]," she said. "Is that
>>[information] a conspiracy or is it fiction? That's what you have to ask
>>yourself."
>>
>>Mr. Skolnick is survived by his brother. A graveside funeral service will be
>>held at 1 p.m. Wednesday in Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park.
>>
>>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>
>>On 5/22/06, SPIRIT OF RUSTY IS EVERLASTING <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>
>>> D, I AM STILL ON..MESSAGES 12- 1,100+ MY DIARY
>>>
>>> VERNON C. SINN, MEDICAL-LEGAL RESEARCH 516 GREEN OAKS NORTH STE
>>> 1 ADDISON, ILLINOIS 60101-2324
>>> 630-543-9697
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/illinoispolitics/messages/316
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/
Please let us stay on topic and be civil.
OM
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
- Visit your group "cia-drugs" on the web.
- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
