Blog Catalog

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Entertainment overnight


New, just out from Ben Howard:

One more big endorsement for this President



Important to note:

Washington Post endorsement: Four more years for President Obama

By Editorial Board, Published: October 25

MUCH OF THE 2012 presidential campaign has dwelt on the past, but the key questions are who could better lead the country during the next four years — and, most urgently, who is likelier to put the government on a more sound financial footing.

That second question will come rushing at the winner as soon as the votes are tallied. Absent any action, a series of tax hikes and spending cuts will take effect Jan. 1 that might well knock the country back into recession. This will be a moment of peril but also of opportunity. How the president-elect navigates it will go a long way toward determining the success of his presidency and the health of the nation.


Here's the money-quote:

President Barack Obama is better positioned to be that navigator than is his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Republican? Right Wing? Libertarian? Independent?

Whatever you are, unfortunately for us, at least right now, until we change the system, there are only two real, viable candidates for the next president of the nation.

Re-elect this President.

Links: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/washington-post-endorsement-four-more-years-for-president-obama/2012/10/25/6ca309a2-1965-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_story.html?hpid=z2

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/washington-post-endorses-obama-in-2012-race/2012/10/25/327d3f8a-1eca-11e2-8817-41b9a7aaabc7_story.html

Don't like long, seemingly unending elections?



Keep this quote in mind, then.

If you don't like these interminably long elections or the obscene corporate money in our election system and so, our government, keep this in mind.

It's all this way because we allow it.

Want shorter elections?

Do something about it.

Raise heck with your Senators and Representatives in Congress. Email them. Post as much on their Facebook page.

Don't just sit there and gripe.

Do something.

We can still fix this political mess that is America but it will take work.

And it has to come from us.

The Kauffman



A friend of mine put this picture up on his Facebook page of the Kauffman. I haven't verified but I think he took it with his cell phone, maybe last evening.

I just liked it too much and wanted to share it. I think it pretty outstanding. (Kudos, Barry).

We're so fortunate to have the Kauffman Center.

I'm so old...


...I remember when the notifications, messages and friend requests on Facebook were at the left hand top of the page.

THAT old.

What a staunch business magazine has to say about this election



From Forbes on this election and these two presidential candidates:

Want a Better Economy? History Says Vote Democrat!

"...The common viewpoint is that Republicans are good for business, which is good for the economy. Republican policies – and the more Adam Smith, invisible hand, limited regulation, lassaiz faire the better – are expected to create a robust, healthy, growing economy. Meanwhile, the common view of Democrat policies is that they too heavily favor regulation and higher taxes which are economy killers."

According to Bob Deitrick and Lew Godlfarb in their reputedly "easy to read book", “Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box”, they found the following and more:

--Personal disposable income has grown nearly 6 times more under Democratic presidents

--Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown 7 times more under Democratic presidents

--Corporate profits have grown over 16% more per year under Democratic presidents (they actually declined under Republicans by an average of 4.53%/year)

--Average annual compound return on the stock market has been 18 times greater under Democratic presidents (If you invested $100k for 40 years of Republican administrations you had $126k at the end, if you invested $100k for 40 years of Democrat administrations you had $3.9M at the end)

--Republican presidents added 2.5 times more to the national debt than Democratic presidents

--The two times the economy steered into the ditch (Great Depression and Great Recession) were during Republican, laissez faire administrations


And that's just for starters. The book holds much more information and data.

I thought it important to point out, so close to election day.

Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/10/10/want-a-better-economy-history-says-vote-democrat/

A new Kansas City International Airport?


A funny thing happened yesterday.

I've been posting on this blog and on Facebook--both at "Things
and places we loved in great KC when we were younger"
and "The Kansas City International Airport" page--that I'm squarely against the plans to vacate the existing KCI/MCI airport, only to build an entirely new facility.

Because of that, Mr. Joe McBride, Senior Manager in Marketing and Communications for the Kansas City Aviation Department wrote me. He sent me a note, asking me to read through it and then this information on the airport:

A new, single terminal for KCI Airport customers

Kansas City International Airport reached its 40th birthday in 2012. In the last 20 years KCI has undergone two Master Plan Update Studies. Both studies called for investigating building a new, single terminal to address aging infrastructure, outdated features and inefficient design from the 1960s. The Kansas City Aviation Department was given Federal Aviation Administration and City Council approval to commission a study to investigate the feasibility of building a new terminal.

Now underway is an 18-month study by Landrum & Brown. Funded by a Federal Aviation Administration grant, the study's Scope of Services includes: Airport planning services to identify passenger terminal operational requirements; a survey and inventory of environmental conditions; a plan to implement a program for the design and construction of a new terminal; and a financial planning document to provide funding alternatives. A critical step in the refinement of the terminal complex facility requirements is the need to better understand and respond to the needs of passengers arriving and departing the Airport. This will be accomplished through user intercept surveys in the terminals.

After the study is complete, the Aviation Department will evaluate and determine if it is feasible to go to the next steps, which include financing and terminal and roadway design. The total project cost estimate is $1.2 billion. Funding may include federal, existing Passenger Facility Charges, Aviation Department funds or other mechanisms.

To put the study into perspective, KCI's passenger terminals were designed in the late 1960s, prior to airline hubbing, terrorism and security checkpoints. The layout is very inefficient for passenger flow, security screening, baggage handling, concession variety and the taxi and bus operation. While the terminals were renovated nearly 10 years ago, the infrastructure is aging and there is little room for growth. City officials at that time decided to extend the useful life of the passenger terminals at the lowest possible cost. Shortcomings still exist.

Most issues are rooted in the narrow structure and not enough room. Lanes cannot be added to alleviate long security lines at peak times or to incorporate lanes for TSA trusted traveler programs. Adequate seating and amenities cannot be added inside security. Mergers create issues like United operating out of two terminals, closure of concessions after an airline moves, empty gate areas, and Terminal B garage filling up three days each week. The latter is not as simple as moving Delta or Southwest since no other existing areas have the capacity and infrastructure to accommodate them.

Features of a new terminal would include: just 30 gates needed - smaller overall footprint than the other three terminals combined, making it more efficient and cost-effective to operate; more room for a variety of concessions and amenities; more room for security checkpoints, cueing and less intrusive security screening technology; easy walks due to efficient layout and people movers; reduced ticket lobby size; self bag check; common-use gates for airline flexibility; separated arrival and departure areas for less traffic congestion and safer pedestrian routes; green LEED building design standards; lower operating costs; and others.

The new terminal can be the next big project for Kansas City, creating many construction jobs. A more efficient layout might make Kansas City more attractive to airlines. The new terminal would be a facility Kansas Citians can now be proud of and help Kansas City attract new businesses and jobs. After the new facility is constructed the Aviation Department will explore ways to make good use of the old terminals still standing.

If it is feasible to build a new terminal we will task planners to produce efficient concepts that best achieve the level the customer convenience of KCI's current terminals that Kansas Citians appreciate. As is in the case of the Master Plan process, terminal design will be developed with public input. The prospect of starting from scratch and to incorporate the strengths of KCI's terminals in a sparkling new facility is an exciting opportunity!


Here, then, are reasons I wrote back to him of why I am, to date, strongly against the plan to build a new airport:

It's my contention that the conclusion to tear down or walk away from the current KCI/MCI was made long ago. The Airport Authority only seems to be searching now for a way to make it happen, without the input or agreement of Kansas Citians as to what should happen. It's not enough to want to make the airlines happy alone. Kansas Citians and all the people from the region need to be behind these ideas, too, and that hasn't happened, to date.

I'm absolutely no fan of replacing our terminals at KCI, certainly.

Part of the reason is that it is a good, workable layout and the other
part is that it makes no sense to "throw buildings away" and start all
over.

Yet another reason, however, is because I've seen in the Star reports for months on months that the Airport Authority decided they should do this--throw the old terminals away and start all over yet the plans have continued to change, over these same months. It seems clear there is not now nor has there ever really been a clear plan for KCI. Now, you show here that there is a study, going on at this very moment, on what we should do at, about and with our airport.

So if change needs to come to KCI/MCI, cannot the center, existing terminal be turned over to security, with the other two are then used as the connections to our planes? That seems far more workable and less wasteful. It seems it would be a way to accomplish the goals for reducing security costs while not, again,"throwing away" the entire airport. I'd love to see if that's an option. It seems far more responsible, less wasteful and less expensive, too.

It also seems that the conclusion to get rid of the airport was clearly made prior to any study, let alone this one that is now ongoing.

Another note on the evolving, elusive "plan"
of a new terminal at KCI, deals with the part about "The new terminal can be the next big project for Kansas City, creating many construction jobs."

This is a weak argument, at best, as the jobs would be extremely temporary. Would local construction companies want the work? Sure. Would there be benefits of the work for these people? Again, yes, but it would be just months of work, at longest. This is a fairly weak argument for tearing down an entire airport only to build another.

As for the claim about "green LEED building design standards" in the new facility--this is laughable since about the least "green" thing you can do is walk away from or tear down an older, existing, working facility. It would be very "un-green" to plow up the new ground and build this new facility, too, on top of this, so please, forget the "green" claim. It insults our intelligence.

The next comment, that "A more efficient layout might make Kansas City more
attractive to airlines,"
while true is not something anyone can possibly promise and we all know that. It's possible but no guarantee.

Then there is the statement that "The new terminal would be a facility Kansas Citians can now be proud of..."

The fact is, Kansas Citians are already proud of our airport, at least some, even lots of us. We needn't tear down the old airport to make us somehow yet more proud.

The next claim that a new airport would "help Kansas City attract new businesses and jobs"?

Regarding jobs, no one can really promise new jobs as the result of a new airport. Could it happen? Yes, sure. Can it be promised? No, certainly not. The arts in town seem to be doing far more for growing any attraction for our metropolitan area than any development like this.

Finally, the claim that "After the new facility is constructed the Aviation Department will explore to make good use of the old terminals still standing."

We understand they'll do their best to make the most of that old airport--if left standing--but even in a good, strong economy, no one can promise anything to come of the old location. In the worst economy in the last 80 years--since the Great Depression--no one can really make any promises along those lines.

I have to say, I will continue to fight this any and every way I can, on the KCI Facebook page, here on my blog and everywhere else I can unless or until I'm shown why this needs to happen for the people of the area and not for the airline companies.

I'm all about change in my life and city and nation and world but I'm for smart change and change that is well thought-out and planned.

The plan to tear down and replace our airport has been anything but.

Happy Hallowe'en


An oldie and a goodie:

Happy Hallowe'en

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Notes on a hurricane


--How ironic--and horrible for the people effected by it--that hurricane Sandy should hit the most dense part of the nation, hardest of all;

--How, again, ironic and awful that the same storm should also hit on the very day of the full moon, increasing high tides that much more;

--How unfortunate that these three storm fronts should collide in this one area and create everything from downpours of rain and so, flooding, as well as heavy snow, this early in the season;

--It has always seemed unnecessary to me that the Weather Channel should and would have their reporters outside, in the midst of the storms, period, but especially the hurricanes, to report to us. We know it's raining/snowing/storming (whatever). They shouldn't need to stand out there in the rain/wind/snow or whatever, do you think?

--It nearly makes me feel guilty for the perfectly calm, mild, even beautiful and comfortable weather we're experiencing here, in the middle of the nation, while so many hundreds of thousands are in the midst of a huge, even dangerous weather event, just to our East.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Entertainment overnight


Joss Whedon on the importance of voting Romney/Ryan




You know he's right.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Whedon

Mitt Romney to the East coast right now: "Helping you would be immoral"



Yes, he actually said that in the Republican presidential debates. Mitt Romney said federal assistance to Americans for emergencies is and would be "immoral."

Nice, huh?

Link: http://www.politicususa.com/remember-mitt-romney-called-disaster-relief-immoral-wanted-privatize-it.html

The biggest and most under- or un-reported story of the year?


Have you seen anything on or about this story?:

Israel accused of air strike on Sudan munitions factory



1,000-mile air raid on Khartoum seen as signal to Iran of ability to attack nuclear facilities

Sudan has complained to the UN security council that Israeli planes bombed a munitions plant in Khartoum, an attack that has been widely interpreted as a warning to Iran over its nuclear programme.

Israeli military commentators said that the Yarmouk facility in the Sudanese capital was owned by Iran and had been used to supply weapons to Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip. The "impressive" reach of the secret operation was said to have demonstrated an ability to hit Iran's nuclear facilities — a similar distance from Israel.

As reverberations continued from Tuesday's 1,000-mile attack, Israel would neither confirm nor deny it was involved. Ehud Barak, the defence minister, said : "There is nothing I can say about this subject." But one of his most senior officials praised the country's air force and called Sudan a "terrorist state".




Get that?

Israel--or someone--flew in, blew up a nation's nuclear facilities LAST TUESDAY, flew out and there has been precious little news coverage of it here in the States.

I was told about it earlier in the week by a friend but hadn't seen or heard anything of it and I'm a rabid news hound. I had to do a Google search to find these links and stories.

This has got to be one of the biggest stories of the year, to date, and simultaneously, one of the most unreported or under-reported of the year, I believe. It has huge implications and potential ramifications for the world, really, since it deals so much with the Middle East.

The scary part--the really scary part--is that naturally Sudan has already said they will "retaliate," of course. Naturally.

Oh, boy.

It's a huge, huge story with incredible international implications but I--a newshound--haven't heard a thing about it. That is freaking weird. It's also grossly irresponsible on the part of the American news media, I think, unless I've only just missed it.

"Hang on to your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

Links: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/25/israel-accused-sudan-munitions-air-strike

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/25/israeli-sudanese-factory-secret-war


http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/24/world/la-fg-sudan-airstrike-20121025

Quote of the day


Saturday, October 27, 2012

Entertainment overnight




Have a great weekend, y'all.

One more caution on Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan


Standard caution with Bill Maher: there is one expletive here:



Friends don't let friends vote Romney/Ryan.

The real Mitt Romney, from a Reagan Republican


Click on picture for easier reading:


And he's not for you and me, folks.

You, me, America and the Congressional "fiscal cliff"



Yes, our own US Congress created this "fiscal cliff" and now they're bringing us closer and closer to it. They created it and they're the only ones who can bring us away from it.

How's that for irony?

And hypocrisy?

Want to know what "uncertainty" is responsible for a lack of growth in our economy? Look no further, this is it. This from the Wall Street Journal yesterday:

Firms Hit Brakes Before Fiscal Cliff

Here is why dozens of chief executives have inserted themselves into the debate over reducing the federal budget deficit: Some say uncertainty over the looming "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts already is hurting their business.

Here is why dozens of chief executives have inserted themselves into the debate over reducing the federal budget deficit: Some say uncertainty over the looming "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts already is hurting their business.

The "fiscal cliff" is shorthand for the double whammy set to take place at the end of the year. That is when spending cuts enacted to end a 2011 standoff over the U.S. debt ceiling are to take effect. At the same time, tax cuts first passed under George W. Bush will expire.

The spending cuts were designed to be so unpopular that they would prompt Congress to adopt a more sophisticated deficit-cutting plan. So far, that hasn't worked and officials of both parties don't expect serious talks until after the Nov. 6 election, which will go a long way to determining the course of negotiations.

The urgency of the situation was underscored Thursday when chief executives of more than 80 big U.S. corporations released a statement urging Congress to reduce the federal deficit with tax-revenue increases as well as spending cuts...

...There is no doubt most companies would suffer if the U.S. goes over the cliff. Economists say the tax increases and spending cuts would slow economic growth, and could push the U.S. back into recession.


Email your representative in the House. Email your senators. Let them know this is completely, totally and utterly unacceptable and that they need to get back to work. They need to get back to Washington and they need to compromise on this most-important of issues right now.

To close, a side note to our Representatives and Senators--get back to work, you slugs.

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203400604578074920349130776.html

We need to kill "campaign contributions", folks


Click on picture for better viewing


Unless and until we get the big, ugly, corrupting money, and its influence, out of our election system, we will continue to have our representatives, their legislation and so, our laws and finally, our government bought for corporations and the wealthy and not for the nation.

And it will never happen unless or until we, the people, demand it and make it happen.

Quote of the day




And Mitt Romney and his friends and cohorts are only too happy to take us all there, to their collective benefit.


USA Today comes to the same conclusion as the rest of us



Among the rest of USA Today's evaluation of NFL Sports for this weekend's games in Friday's paper is the fact that the Chiefs are in a bad way and that things need to chage:

As chill in air grows, hot seats come out


8:24PM EDT October 25. 2012 - Firing season has started early in the NFL this year. Less than a week after Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid dismissed defensive coordinator Juan Castillo, the Carolina Panthers dumped general manager Marty Hurney on Monday.

And the season hasn't even hit halftime.

More changes are coming. That's a fact of life in the pressurized, win-now NFL, where patience seems to be more a liability than a virtue.

Scott Pioli and Romeo Crennel, Kansas City Chiefs.
While Chiefs owner Clark Hunt has not sent any public signals suggesting his brain trust is in jeopardy, fans are getting restless amid a 1-5 start. There's a Save Our Chiefs site on Twitter with 70,000-plus followers. Will fourth-year GM Pioli get another offseason to draft the quarterback of the future? His 2009 trade for the quarterback of the future, Matt Cassel, has been a bust.

Crennel is just in his first full season, but his fate is likely tied to Pioli's.


Hope for a good game and outcome this weekend. One of the only teams that stink as bad as the Chiefs lately is the Raiders.

Link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/2012/10/25/coaches-on-the-hot-seat/1659169/

Friday, October 26, 2012

Entertainment overnight


Here's Libertarianism for you


If you've been following the news lately, you may have, likely have heard the story about the people who've been exposed to and some even killed by, having received medication from what we now hear is a "compound pharmacy":

‘High risk’ drug making is at center of meningitis inquiry

Federal officials are investigating practices at New England Compounding Center in Framingham, a compounding pharmacy that has been linked to an outbreak of fungal meningitis. The outbreak has been blamed in 24 deaths.

Inside its sprawling red brick offices, New England Compounding Center engaged in the most hazardous type of pharmacy drug making. The company bought unsterilized powders and turned them into liquid steroids and other medicine supposedly pristine enough to inject into a patient.

It’s called “high-risk compounding,” and doing this safely, industry specialists say, requires elaborate and expensive manufacturing processes, sensitive tests for sterility and potency, and exacting attention to detail.

At the center of the federal and state investigation into New England Compounding, whose steroids were contaminated with a fungus that led to an outbreak of meningitis that has killed 24 people nationally, is whether the company violated these procedures.


My point?

My point is, this is yet one more example, like the BP oil blowout and spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the 2008 financial collapse that nearly took down the nation's and world's economies, that we need at least some government oversight and--gasp--regulations.

Without government and without that oversight and without regulations the Libertarians and so many Republicans and Right Wingers and "Conservatives" abhor, we--the people--are left exposed to the greed of we-don't-know-who.

No, thanks.

Leave me out, please.

I'll take some regulation, thank you.

Links: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/PA-lacks-patient-protection-against-sterile-compounding-errors.html

http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/10/25/framingham-pharmacy-engaged-high-risk-compounding-higher-chance-contamination/BxwAtkfmCg9rW7EsJqv7HM/story.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/PA-lacks-patient-protection-against-sterile-compounding-errors.html

http://www.npr.org/2012/10/25/163641002/after-meningitis-deaths-a-look-at-drug-safety

KCUR---Wth?


KCUR, buddy, we had a great thing going.

Every Friday, we could count on you for either restaurant reviews and criticism, one week, and movie reviews the next.

It's been great. Week in and week out, you were there.

Sure, we had Walt Bodine for years--decades, actually--and at 90, he finally retired but we still had this every-other-week date and arrangement.

Now, this week, you had what?

Actually, who cares?

You didn't have Charles Ferruzza and his crew for local foodie input.

Additionally, this happens to be a HUGE weekend for movies coming up, what with another big Tom Hanks film coming out and so on.

Yet you covered neither?

What, you don't love us any more?

Chinese ignorance and hypocrisy in full flower


Last weekend, Sunday's New York Times had two full-page advertisements in it, I noticed.

One was from, by and for Saudi Arabia, so we'd like them more and, I'm sure, so our business people would invest more in their country.

The second was for the same reasons and was by and for China.

It struck me as interesting at the time and I very nearly wrote about the two ads just because I thought it interesting and unusual.

I got busy and now I write about one of them--the Chinese one--for completely different reasons that happened to break late yesterday. This is it:

China Blocks Web Access to Times After Article


While this is the article they're blocking:

Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader


It is unclear how much Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who has staked a position as a populist and a reformer, knows about the $2.7 billion in assets his family has amassed.
(Links at bottom)

How ironic--and even hypocritical--is that?

First the Chinese are spending what I'm sure is big money to impress us Americans to invest in their country and think of them differently and then this. They shut down a report on the possible or even likely corruption of one of their leaders.

Considering this, that there is no freedom of the press--or, likely, any real freedom there--and that businesses can be and sometimes are taken over by the government, no questions asked, how can they advertise to us like that?

You want us to invest in your country why?

And how?

Link: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=new+york+times+china+news&btnK=

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/business/global/family-of-wen-jiabao-holds-a-hidden-fortune-in-china.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121026

The State of the Union



And it will stay this way--if not get worse--until we tamp down the NRA, folks.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Entertainment overnight


Quote of the day (on Romney? or Fox? Beck? O'Reilly? Hannity?)



It's Rush Limbaugh, all over, at least.

Catholic Church protest this Sunday morning


From one David L. Biersmith on the "Bishop Finn Must Go" Facebook page:

"I have not visited this site for a few weeks, trying to get over my anger with what has happen concerning Bishop Finn.

It seems like it never happened.

Bishop Finn has not resigned, nor is he gong to resign, and the Vatican has not moved him, nor are they going to move him.

And we laity have not done a damn thing about any of it.

We are reacting just like the Diocese thought we would, with apathy.

I have marched in front of the Cathedral for the last four weeks before the Sunday 11:00 a.m. Mass protesting the situation and create interest for change.

Would you join me on Sunday Oct. 28, 2012 @ 10:45?"


Yes, Mr. Biersmith, by all means, lets.

Lee Judge on KCI: On target, as usual



To the KCI Airport Authority: We don' wan' yor steenkeeng new airport.

Seriously.

John Belushi redux, right here in Kansas City?


From the Star today:

Man with samurai sword robs Church's Chicken

Kansas City police are looking for a man who robbed a Church’s Chicken restaurant Tuesday night armed with a samurai sword.

The man demanded money from the cash register at the store at 55th Street and Prospect Avenue just before 10 p.m. He then left in a brown, two-toned Chevrolet pickup truck, possibly a 1980s model.


I love that. I love the insanity of it. Well, at least as long as no one was hurt.

It naturally reminded me of this:



Link to original story: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/24/3882132/man-with-samurai-sword-robs-restaurant.html#storylink=misearch

Great possible anthem for women to the Republican Party


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Entertainment overnight


Dear Religion,



Quote of the day


"We're losing what's left of our democracy under a tsunami of big money.

On Day One after Election Day -- whoever wins -- we must mobilize and organize to get big money out of politics: campaign finance reform, public financing of elections, reversal of Citizen's United by constitutional amendment if necessary, full disclosure of all sources of money used to campaign for or against any candidate."


--Robert Reich,American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator.

Please join him and his--this/our--effort here: https://www.facebook.com/RBReich?ref=stream

Other links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Reich

Blame the economy on this President?



That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Go here, REALLY do something to help cancer victims and research


Instead of posting some inane note on Facebook or Twitter or some such, however heartfelt or well-intended, you can actually go to a British research organization's website and help do some research for them and for cancer victims across the world. I saw it in the Star today but, as usual, couldn't find it on their online website. (I swear, the Kansas City Star has the worst internal search engine quite possibly in the world):

Charity creates world's first citizen science project to speed up cancer research

Cancer Research UK Press Release

TeenagersCancer Research UK has launched the first ever interactive website
- http://www.clicktocure.net - that will allow the public to delve into real-life cancer data from research archives and speed up lifesaving research, outside of the laboratory.

At the moment, cancer samples are given special stains that highlight certain molecules as part of research. These molecules could reveal how a patient will respond to treatment. But this process is slow and analysis is mostly done by trained pathologists, who are often also cancer researchers.

The new website – Cell SliderTM – is the first time real cancer data has been turned into a format that can be analysed by the public. By getting as many people as possible to take part, more samples will be analysed faster and more effectively, freeing up scientists to carry out other cancer research.




More from the article:

Cell SliderTM presents real images of tumour samples to the world for analysis in the form of a simple game of snap. Users will be guided through a tutorial that explains which cells to analyse and which ones to ignore.

Once cancer cells have been spotted by their irregular shape, users will be asked to record how many have been stained yellow and how bright that yellow is by simply clicking on another image that closely matches the sample they are viewing.

This information will be fed back to researchers who will look for trends between types of cells and a patient’s response to treatment.


So go to the website and help cancer research. Then, go again and again, as many times as you can, whenever you can to really help in the fight against cancer.

Link to full press release: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/news/archive/pressrelease/2012-10-23-worlds-first-citizen-science?view=rss

More on Romney and Republican politcal stances


Here's your Republican Party for you, ladies and gentlemen:


And if anyone is to say this was "taken out of context", here's the video of his statement:



As I said last week, why any aware woman--or the men who support them--would vote Republican is beyond me.

Link: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/24/1149414/-Sorry-ladies-but-Romney-only-has-two-weeks-left-No-time-for-principles

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Right. Makes perfect sense



"See you in heaven if you make the list." --Michael Stipe, R.E.M., et.al

On Libertarians


Click on picture for better viewing.


And this would just be the beginning.

Link: http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur

Apparently, Todd Akin's staff can't make him not talk


He's at it again. Some more.



Did you get that? Republican, Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin said “The bottom line is, you’ve got a conservative House, you got a bunch of Socialists in the Senate and you got a Commie president… that’s where we are.”

Surely Missourians are far brighter than to elect this clown to represent us in Washington.

Right?

Link: http://liberal-agenda.com/2012/10/the-ridiculousness-escalates-todd-akin-you-got-a-commie-for-a-president/

Big weekend for Kansas City



Yes sir, a big few to several days coming up for the metropolitan area.

First up, Saturday night, Waterfire on Brush Creek on the Plaza. A great, fun, unique and free event.

Next up, also Saturday night, the defacto Hallowe'en Saturday night since the actual Hallowe'en falls a few days later on a week night. It will likely be crazy.

Because the full moon is the 29th, it's rather perfectly situated as nearly full for Saturday night and then, again, nearly full on the actual Hallowe'en, the 31st.

I'm thinking it's going to be at least a crazy weekend in the area, if not also a deadly one for some.

Here's hoping I'm wrong on that last point.

Happy Hallowe'en, y'all. See you at Waterfire.

Link: http://moravings.blogspot.com/2011/10/brush-creek-two-fer-tonight.html

The crystal clear evolution of Willard "Mitt" Romney



First he was the very Left Wing, Liberal Governor of Massachusetts. tried to out Left Wing Ted Kennedy, he was so Liberal.

Then, years later, as we got closer to the 2000's and Mr. Romney got closer to running for the Presidency, he got further and further Right Wing. Due to the Tea Party pull, strength and power, he got extreme Right Wing on us all. He was then trying to out-Right Wing the likes of Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann and all, again, as we know.

Now, Willard is zeroing in on the last 2 weeks of the biggest presidential campaign run of his life and now, now he's come to the realization he has to be perceived as real and realistic so he's taking a far more middle-of-the-road tack so he's appearing centrist.

Like the Salt Lake City Tribune newspaper that did not and would not endorse him, shouldn't we all come to the conclusion that there are just too many Mitt Romneys out there in the world and that there's no telling what this man stands for, besides supporting big business and the wealthy?

On that debate last evening



Republican David Frum:

"I remember naively supporting Obama in 2008 because I hoped he cared about civil liberties and thought for the future. What we saw tonight was a conservative Democrat who fights to preserve the economy of the 20th century, a bipartisan consensus in favor of a foreign policy that endangers the America we love, and a Republican who could criticize the President but can't seem to figure out a way forward."

The sad state of American politics today.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Republicans in charge in Jeff City, cutting spending. Yeah, right


Did you see this headline in yesterday's Star:

Missouri House employees got three raises in the past year

JEFFERSON CITY -- Employees of the Missouri House have received three raises during the past year — more than other workers in state government.

The first raise was last year in mid-November and another was approved this past summer, the Jefferson City News Tribune reported.

Besides the raises specifically for House employees, the state budget that took effect this past July calls for a 2 percent raise for all state workers earning less than $70,000, including House employees.


And these are the people who are supposed to be cutting government spending?

They--the Republicans, who are in charge down there--are supposed to be the ones who are "good stewards" with the people's money?

Three raises in one year?

Seriously?

That's defensible how?

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/20/3876219/missouri-house-employees-received.html

Seriously, could we stop these things?



Phone books?

Come on, who uses them any more?

Let's stop cutting own trees for these things.

All true but they want to vote for this guy?


A load of business nonsense in the Star today


You have to see the "As I See It" column in today's Star, if only because it's such irresponsible nonsense:

Missouri must answer Kansas tax cuts

By Brenda Talent and Patrick Ishmail

Special to The Star (1st link, below).

It's these two people's contention that, since the Governor in Brownbackistan has irresponsibly slashed taxes for the wealthy and corporations that we, here in Missouri, must do the same.

Sure, forget fiscal responsibility, forget that we have to balance our budget by state law, sure, forget all that. Just slash taxes. Give corporations even more profits, thereby draining our schools and cities and towns and counties of their funds.

Even the Guv himself admitted his tax cuts are going to cause him, the legislature and the whole state problems:

Brownback concedes his tax cuts will cause big problems

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback this week finally conceded the truth: The income tax cuts that he signed into law after arch-conservative Republicans pushed them through the Legislature this year will blow a big hole in the state budget for at least the next two years. (See 2nd link, below).

And we're supposed to follow that lead?

Unfortunately, they're serious.

Slashing Missouri's tax base would be grossly irresponsible, for starters, if not downright stupid.

Do we not believe or think our schools and our children and grandchildren need good schools and good education and good teachers and so, our support?

Who, exactly, is going to pave our highways and, more specifically, widen and update I-70 from St. Louis to Kansas City as it needs so badly?

Apparently the Right Wing, Republican dogma about slashing taxes as a way to increase revenue--long left over from Ronnie-the-Raygun's era--is the way to go. These two people are just shills for the very Right Wing Chambers of Commerce, corporations and business.

Their proposal and claims in this column aren't simply nonsense and irresponsible, they're downright stupid.

Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/21/3875603/missouri-must-answer-kansas-tax.html

http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/brownback-concedes-his-tax-cuts-will-cause-big-problems/

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/oct/10/brownback-not-ruling-out-sales-tax-plan-next-year/

Robert Reich asks more good questions, no surprise


As he asked yesterday on his Facebook page, what do you think the chance is that either candidate--Romney or Obama--will mention the "military-industrial-congressional" complex in tonight's final debate?



Further proof of why we need to overturn the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court and why we need to kill the bribes that are "campaign contributions."

Two things I can't imagine


1) Starting your day--even if it's the weekend--with, say, mimosas for breakfast or bloody marys. I know one restaurant in that has an offer for $15 for bottomless mimosas for brunch, for example.

What a way to destroy a day.

2) The second, other thing I can't imagine is going to a bar for entertainment on a Sunday night, even if I didn't have to work in the morning. I saw where a place had an "$8.00 all-you-can-drink special last evening.

In either case, how alcoholic do you have to be to want either of these situations?

K-State and KU Football last Saturday


K-State vs. West Virginia: 55-14

KU vs. Oklahoma? 52-7

The first?

Magnificent.

The 2nd?

Brutal.

It's like they flipped the score for the games.

Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/20/3876602/undefeated-k-state-routing-west.html

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/21/3877299/no-10-sooners-put-the-hurt-on.html#storylink=misearch

"60 Minutes" on Goldman Sachs: Matt Taibbi is (somewhat) vindicated


Last evening, CBS' "60 Minutes" had a segment on a Goldman Sachs executive, one Greg Smith, and his leaving the company because of their low internal standards and lack of respect for clients in a rather famous op/ed in The New York Times last year.

There are a few things about this, too, that need to be pointed out, I think.

First is that it's amazing, to an extent, that it ever came out on CBS News at all, unfortunately. This kind of coverage from the "Big 4" networks just doesn't occur any more, it seems. As a kind of "gentlemen's agreement" between big corporations, one doesn't reveal much or anything of other companies if it's negative. It's the kind of thing Edward Murrow warned us of, so many decades ago, that the television networks would be about profit and profits and not on reporting what's important to the people, nation and world.

It's disgusting.

Second, it needs to be said that the reporter, Matt Taibbi, over at Rolling Stone has been reporting on various companies and their involvement in the huge 2008 financial collapse, for years now. His reporting seems to be lost to anyone and everyone who doesn't read this music/reporting, unconventional magazine.

It's a shame, too, since Mr. Taibbi's coverage has been both scathing and important, given the millions of people across the world that were hurt financially by this fleecing of America and the world.

The third thing
about last evening's report from CBS is that it was the 2nd story.

The first story of the evening--what you'd t hink was the most important story of the show--was about medicinal marijuana. One of the biggest financial thefts in the nation's history, it nearly brought down the nation's economy and then the world's, yet it was relegated to the 2nd show of the evening. The last story before the "fluff piece" of the night. Nearly unbelievable.

Finally, the thing about this story being told last evening is that it involves one of the biggest banks in the nation and world, the theft was large scale in both dollars and people and nations that were effected by this debacle and stealing yet this is the bank that is still and has been for years in the White House.

Does this make sense to anyone who isn't in Goldman Sachs?

Links: www.cbsnews.com/8301.../goldman-sachs-vp-explains-why-he-quit/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/20/business/why-i-left-book-about-goldman-falls-short.html?pagewanted=all


http://youtu.be/tOpUM3Uvz7U

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Entertainment overnight


Rest in peace, George McGovern



"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in."
--George McGovern

Thank you, Senator McGovern, for your work and diligence and for speaking up and out. We need more--many more--like you.

Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_mcgovern

http://www.mcgoverncenter.com/george.htm

What will no doubt be a great, funny fundraiser tonight


Jon Stewart is having his "Night of Too Many Stars" fundraiser to benefit New York Collaborates for Autism and to help contribute to the development of autism schools, services and programs across the country. Tune in to "Night of Too Many Stars" live on Comedy Central and CC.com, tonight at 7 pm Central Time.


One out of every 110 children was diagnosed as autistic in 2010. This year, as Mr. Stewart says, "...just two years later, it's one in every 88."

Please watch, laugh and support, if you can.

Links: http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/night-of-too-many-stars/celebrity-auction?xrs=eml_stars

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Entertainmnet overnight


When was the last time you entertained us from your bathroom this much?

Romnesia



Romnesia, (pron. rahm ne' zhuh) noun:

An affliction causing one to say the opposite of what they had already said; An affliction causing memory loss; An affliction causing one to forgo facts; An affliction causing one to continually change positions; An affliction resembling schizophrenia ; An affliction causing one to constantly lie; An affliction that deprives one of empathy or understanding. Can be a combination of two or more or all of the above, also.

Stupid for 30 years is still stupid



I ate lunch this afternoon with friends at the Westport Flea Market.

Wow.

We all decided it was a mistake and that we won't repeat that a second time and for a few reasons, too.

First, we ordered. That shouldn't be tough, right?

Except you order your food at the walk-up counter, just as I'd remembered from years past. That was okay. Lots of restaurants have you do that.

But your drink?

If you want a drink with your meal--and most of us do--you go to your table and order that from your waitperson. (I'm being PC here).

Yes, you got that right. You order your food at the counter, pay for that and then go to your table, only to order your drink AND THEN PAY AGAIN.

I asked the young lady at the register if I had that right and she confirmed.

I told her how absolutely silly it was and asked if there were some parallel universe or planet on which that made any sense.

The "boss lady" said "That's the way we've done it for 30 years", thus making for today's headline.

The effect this 2nd-order-for-your-drink policy had was to insure that no one at our table ordered any additional drink. All they did was assure they made less money. Brilliant.

Then, be forewarned, ladies and gentlemen. If you order one of their burgers--most all in the $7.50 to $8.50 range--you are asked if you want anything additional on it.

CHECK THE MENU.

"Garnishes" are extra.

If you say, like in most burger joints, that you want "everything on it", you will be summarily charged for the onions, mushrooms, cheese, anything and everything, you will be additionally billed for it all.

What effect does that have, you might ask? What's the big deal?

Well, it turns that big $8.49 burger into a ticket that ends up costing you more than $14.00 AND YOU HAVEN'T EVEN ORDERED A DRINK YET.

Care for a screwing? Here's your place.

One final word of caution.

If one in your party orders, as I did, the Cajun chicken sandwich--and enjoyed, I will give them that, lest you think all I want to do is complain--while the rest of your group orders burgers, prepare to sit through at least half your friend's lunches WHILE YOU WAIT.

Apparently, after all these years of cooking and serving food, they haven't figured out how to get everyone's meal in one group out at remotely a similar time frame.

Maybe that will happen sometime in the next 30 years.

Links: http://www.westportfleamarket.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Westport-Flea-Market-Bar-Grill/95092657967?fref=ts

KC Star's site still doesn't work



Note to the Kansas City Star:

The internets are the thing of the future.

Really.

I went to the Star's site today, after having seen an article in the paper this morning about a billboard that was put up in town, saying that the Catholic Church's Bishop Finn should be dismissed.

I searched for it online, sure.

No article.

What I did get, instead, was an add for Kohl's department store that not only came up but, when "closed"--three times--would not go away, instead.

Clearly, the folks at the Star just don't get it.

Maybe one day they will.

If the Star makes it that long.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Very cool Harvesters news today from Richard Petty and Farmland Foods


FARMLAND FOODS ANNOUNCES $50,000 DONATION TO HARVESTERS AS RESULT OF SUMMER “BACON A DIFFERENCE” CAMPAIGN


Above, from left, Mike Brown, President and Chief Operating Officer; Farmland Foods, Dan Weaver, Harvesters Board Member; George Richter, President and Chief Operating Officer; Smithfield Foods Pork Group; Richard Petty, NASCAR driver and member of NASCAR Hall of Fame. Courtesy: Protential LLC

Partnership provides more than 250,000 meals for Kansas Citians and raises awareness of hunger issues in Farmland’s hometown

Kansas City, MO (October 18, 2012)—Farmland Foods and Richard Petty today presented $50,000 to Harvesters—The Community Food Network as a result of a summer-long campaign to raise awareness about hunger in the Kansas City area. During the “Bacon A Difference” campaign, which ran from Memorial Day through Labor Day, Farmland donated 4.3 cents to Harvesters for each bacon package purchased at participating grocery stores in Kansas City.

In addition, today Farmland Foods donated more than 5,000 packages of signature Hickory Smoked, Thick Sliced Hickory Smoked, Lower Sodium/Less Fat, and Re-sealable Applewood Bacon, helping to ensure families, children and seniors across the region have access to much-needed protein.

“On behalf of Farmland, I’d like to offer my heartfelt thanks to all of Kansas City for their exceptional support of our ‘Bacon a Difference’ campaign this summer,” said Mike Brown, President and Chief Operating Officer of Farmland. “It is through your generosity that Farmland is able to provide a staggering 254,000 meals to families, children and seniors in need in our hometown this fall.”


Beyond today’s donation, Farmland also is raising awareness of Harvesters’ mission by featuring the organization on the legendary No. 43 Ford at the Sprint Cup Series Race at the Kansas Speedway this weekend. If the No. 43 Ford wins Sunday’s race, Farmland has pledged to double the donation to Harvesters for a total donation of $100,000.

“Through Farmland’s partnership with Richard Petty Motorsports, we are taking advantage of this unique opportunity to spread the word about hunger relief efforts to a broad audience,” said George Richter, President and Chief Operating Officer of Smithfield Foods Pork Group.

“We are excited to kick off race weekend with Farmland’s generous donation to Harvesters. Our team is proud that Farmland and Harvesters will appear on the No. 43 Ford at the Speedway this Sunday,” said Richard Petty, legendary racecar driver and team owner.

In addition to cash and bacon donations, Farmland is committed to supporting Harvesters’ hunger relief efforts through ongoing employee volunteering and activation. Since April 2012, Farmland employees have donated more than 400 hours of service to Harvesters. This month has been designated ‘Fight Against Hunger’ month at Farmland Foods. Employees are collecting canned goods and nonperishable items with the goal of overflowing the Harvesters barrels stationed through the Farmland offices in Kansas City.

“Farmland Foods has set a high standard for corporate involvement and demonstrated a company-wide commitment to Harvesters’ mission of feeding hungry people today and working to end hunger tomorrow,” remarked Karen Haren, President and CEO of Harvesters.

About Farmland Foods

Farmland Foods, Inc., based in Kansas City, Mo., provides a broad selection of pork products to retail and foodservice customers in the U.S. and abroad across a variety of categories, including bacon, fresh pork, hams, fresh sausage, hot dogs and lunchmeat. Farmland Foods has a large and growing international business, exporting products to more than 60 countries across six continents. Since its founding in 1959, the company has maintained a proud heritage of working side by side with American farm families. Farmland Foods, which reached over $4 billion in sales in 2011, is a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods.

About Harvesters—The Community Food Network

Harvesters is this area’s only food bank and was Feeding America’s 2011 Food Bank of the Year. Serving a 26-county area of northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas, Harvesters provides food and related household products to more than 620 not-for-profit agencies including emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, children’s homes and others. Agencies in Harvesters’ network provide food assistance to as many as 66,000 different people each week. Harvesters, which was founded in 1979, is a certified member of Feeding America, a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks, serving all 50 states. For more information, visit www.harvesters.org.

About Richard Petty Motorsports

Richard Petty Motorsports (http://www.richardpettymotorsports.com/), co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty, Andrew Murstein and Douglas Bergeron, fields two teams in competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Aric Almirola pilots the famous No. 43 Ford Fusion with primary partners Smithfield Foods, U.S. Air Force and STP, and Marcos Ambrose drives the No. 9 machine with primary partner Stanley and DEWALT. In addition, Michael Annett wheels the No. 43 Pilot Flying J Ford Mustang full time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The team is headquartered in Concord, N.C.

Kudos to you, Mr. Petty, and your organization and thank you. Many thanks to you, Farmland and yes, Harvesters, for sure.

Kansas City: Prepared to get screwed



Yes, we're about to be screwed, Kansas Citians. Wait for it.

The big, main story on the front page of the Star today tells it:

Terminal A is the likely destination of the new KCI

Aviation director tells the City Council the preferred choice is to build a new all-in-one terminal there.


For reasons that only appeal to airport authorities, security companies and airline companies, our beloved Kansas City International Airport (MCI) is still, still being considered for total demolition and replacement.

Sure, it's convenient. Sure, we like it and sure, it will be hugely, hugely wasteful, expensive and senseless to tear the whole thing down and build an entire new one but that's just what our own airport authority wants to do.

Screw you people.

Screw your opinions and preferences.

We're getting a new airport terminal whether we like it or not.

Those ultra-convenient drop-offs and pick-ups we've always enjoyed?

They'll be gone.

The functional buildings and functionality of the airport? 86'ed.

And the worst part of it all?

We get to pay for it all.

It's disgusting.

If you agree, go here and tell them so at the Star's poll today: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/19/3874571/poll-what-should-be-done-with.html

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/18/3873386/terminal-a-seems-likely-site-of.html

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Note to Congress: Get back to work, you slugs!



Write your Congressman--both the House and Senate, all 3--and tell them to get back to Washington and get the country back, away from the "fiscal cliff" they themselves created and that only they can fix.

Please.

Two movies I believe I want to see


The first, with Denzel Washington:



And the second, with Tom Hanks:



Is it just me or do the trailers seem to resemble one another, with all the blue sky and white letter graphics?

I'm thinking that's somehow no accident.

Anyway, thoughts on the 2nd film:

First, Halle Barry could not possibly be more physically beautiful, I'm convinced.

Second, it looks like the "Boomers" are considering life, death, the possible afterlife and all that entails again (ala' "The Big Chill", etc.) from the looks of this film. It looks like Shirley McClaine created a movie with Ridley Scott or something, given all the "before lives" "and after lives" and space ships, etc., suggested in the trailer. We'll see.

With all the "Life", "Death" and "Rebirth" and "Everything's Connected", it looks like somebody smoked some serious stuff in the 2nd one, too.

Stay tuned.

Watch the extended, 6 minute "Cloud Atlas" trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgI6EeYbV84&list=UUzPAlRRUqh-PUYL5h9-PO8w&feature=player_detailpage

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Very Conservative, Republican Bill Kristol, on Mitt Romney



'nuff said.

Republican Senator John McCain on the Citizens United ruling



When Senator McCain was asked about corporate influence in elections at Oxford University, he responded:

“They said money is free speech.

Since when is money free speech? Money is money.”


We need, as a nation, to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizen United ruling, let's be clear.

We need, also, to kill "campaign contributions."

We need, once and for all, to get the big, ugly, corrupting influence of money from the wealthy and corporations out of our election system and so, out of our government.

Until we do, nothing will change in America.

Our government will continue to be owned and controlled by the corporations and wealthy of the nation and world.

And the only way this will happen is if we, the people, agree on and demand it from them.

Links: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/10/13/mccain-speaks-to-the-youth-offers-advice-and-blasts-citizens-united-decision/

(Psssst. Mittens can't HAVE a beer)



It sucks to be you.

On health care reform


The great American dilemma this election year



On the one hand, so many Americans see that Mitt Romney is either a liar or disconnected or out-of-touch or inconsistent or not Conservative enough or not moderate enough or far too much of a flip-flopper or some combination, thereof.


On the other hand, they just can't see themselves voting for a Black man.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

A very scary Hallowe'en for us all



3 highpoints of human development


Beethoven's Ninth Symphony



Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" (and "Kashmir", of course. For sure).



And TS Eliot's "The Wasteland"

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965). The Waste Land. 1922.

The Waste Land

I. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering 5
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, 10
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie, 15
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, 20
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock, 25
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust. 30
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu,
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
“You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; 35
They called me the hyacinth girl.”
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, 40
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Öd’ und leer das Meer.

Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, 45
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations. 50
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water. 55
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.

Unreal City, 60
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. 65
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying “Stetson!
You who were with me in the ships at Mylae! 70
That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
Oh keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men,
Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again! 75
You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!”

II. A GAME OF CHESS

The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Glowed on the marble, where the glass
Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines
From which a golden Cupidon peeped out 80
(Another hid his eyes behind his wing)
Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra
Reflecting light upon the table as
The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it,
From satin cases poured in rich profusion; 85
In vials of ivory and coloured glass
Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes,
Unguent, powdered, or liquid—troubled, confused
And drowned the sense in odours; stirred by the air
That freshened from the window, these ascended 90
In fattening the prolonged candle-flames,
Flung their smoke into the laquearia,
Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling.
Huge sea-wood fed with copper
Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone, 95
In which sad light a carvèd dolphin swam.
Above the antique mantel was displayed
As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene
The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale 100
Filled all the desert with inviolable voice
And still she cried, and still the world pursues,
“Jug Jug” to dirty ears.
And other withered stumps of time
Were told upon the walls; staring forms 105
Leaned out, leaning, hushing the room enclosed.
Footsteps shuffled on the stair,
Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair
Spread out in fiery points
Glowed into words, then would be savagely still. 110

“My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.
Speak to me. Why do you never speak? Speak.
What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?
I never know what you are thinking. Think.”

I think we are in rats’ alley 115
Where the dead men lost their bones.

“What is that noise?”
The wind under the door.
“What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?”
Nothing again nothing. 120
“Do
You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember
Nothing?”
I remember
Those are pearls that were his eyes. 125
“Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?”
But
O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag—
It’s so elegant
So intelligent 130

“What shall I do now? What shall I do?
I shall rush out as I am, and walk the street
With my hair down, so. What shall we do to-morrow?
What shall we ever do?”
The hot water at ten. 135
And if it rains, a closed car at four.
And we shall play a game of chess,
Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.

When Lil’s husband got demobbed, I said,
I didn’t mince my words, I said to her myself, 140
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Now Albert’s coming back, make yourself a bit smart.
He’ll want to know what you done with that money he gave you
To get yourself some teeth. He did, I was there.
You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set, 145
He said, I swear, I can’t bear to look at you.
And no more can’t I, I said, and think of poor Albert,
He’s been in the army four years, he wants a good time,
And if you don’t give it him, there’s others will, I said.
Oh is there, she said. Something o’ that, I said. 150
Then I’ll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look.
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
If you don’t like it you can get on with it, I said,
Others can pick and choose if you can’t.
But if Albert makes off, it won’t be for lack of telling. 155
You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique.
(And her only thirty-one.)
I can’t help it, she said, pulling a long face,
It’s them pills I took, to bring it off, she said.
(She’s had five already, and nearly died of young George.) 160
The chemist said it would be alright, but I’ve never been the same.
You are a proper fool, I said.
Well, if Albert won’t leave you alone, there it is, I said,
What you get married for if you don’t want children?
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME 165
Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon,
And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot—
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight. 170
Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight.
Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.

III. THE FIRE SERMON

The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed. 175
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends
Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed.
And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors; 180
Departed, have left no addresses.
By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept…
Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song,
Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long.
But at my back in a cold blast I hear 185
The rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear to ear.

A rat crept softly through the vegetation
Dragging its slimy belly on the bank
While I was fishing in the dull canal
On a winter evening round behind the gashouse. 190
Musing upon the king my brother’s wreck
And on the king my father’s death before him.
White bodies naked on the low damp ground
And bones cast in a little low dry garret,
Rattled by the rat’s foot only, year to year. 195
But at my back from time to time I hear
The sound of horns and motors, which shall bring
Sweeney to Mrs. Porter in the spring.
O the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter
And on her daughter 200
They wash their feet in soda water
Et, O ces voix d’enfants, chantant dans la coupole!

Twit twit twit
Jug jug jug jug jug jug
So rudely forc’d. 205
Tereu

Unreal City
Under the brown fog of a winter noon
Mr Eugenides, the Smyrna merchant
Unshaven, with a pocket full of currants 210
C. i. f. London: documents at sight,
Asked me in demotic French
To luncheon at the Cannon Street Hotel
Followed by a week-end at the Metropole.

At the violet hour, when the eyes and back 215
Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits
Like a taxi throbbing waiting,
I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives,
Old man with wrinkled female breasts, can see
At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives 220
Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea,
The typist home at tea-time, clears her breakfast, lights
Her stove, and lays out food in tins.
Out of the window perilously spread
Her drying combinations touched by the sun’s last rays, 225
On the divan are piled (at night her bed)
Stockings, slippers, camisoles, and stays.
I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs
Perceived the scene, and foretold the rest—
I too awaited the expected guest. 230
He, the young man carbuncular, arrives,
A small house-agent’s clerk, with one bold stare,
One of the low on whom assurance sits
As a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire.
The time is now propitious, as he guesses, 235
The meal is ended, she is bored and tired,
Endeavours to engage her in caresses
Which still are unreproved, if undesired.
Flushed and decided, he assaults at once;
Exploring hands encounter no defence; 240
His vanity requires no response,
And makes a welcome of indifference.
(And I Tiresias have foresuffered all
Enacted on this same divan or bed;
I who have sat by Thebes below the wall 245
And walked among the lowest of the dead.)
Bestows one final patronizing kiss,
And gropes his way, finding the stairs unlit…

She turns and looks a moment in the glass,
Hardly aware of her departed lover; 250
Her brain allows one half-formed thought to pass:
“Well now that’s done: and I’m glad it’s over.”
When lovely woman stoops to folly and
Paces about her room again, alone,
She smoothes her hair with automatic hand, 255
And puts a record on the gramophone.

“This music crept by me upon the waters”
And along the Strand, up Queen Victoria Street.
O City City, I can sometimes hear
Beside a public bar in Lower Thames Street, 260
The pleasant whining of a mandoline
And a clatter and a chatter from within
Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls
Of Magnus Martyr hold
Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold. 265

The river sweats
Oil and tar
The barges drift
With the turning tide
Red sails 270
Wide
To leeward, swing on the heavy spar.
The barges wash
Drifting logs
Down Greenwich reach 275
Past the Isle of Dogs.
Weialala leia
Wallala leialala
Elizabeth and Leicester
Beating oars 280
The stern was formed
A gilded shell
Red and gold
The brisk swell
Rippled both shores 285
South-west wind
Carried down stream
The peal of bells
White towers
Weialala leia 290
Wallala leialala

“Trams and dusty trees.
Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew
Undid me. By Richmond I raised my knees
Supine on the floor of a narrow canoe.“ 295

“My feet are at Moorgate, and my heart
Under my feet. After the event
He wept. He promised ‘a new start.’
I made no comment. What should I resent?”

“On Margate Sands. 300
I can connect
Nothing with nothing.
The broken finger-nails of dirty hands.
My people humble people who expect
Nothing.” 305

la la

To Carthage then I came

Burning burning burning burning
O Lord Thou pluckest me out
O Lord Thou pluckest 310

burning

IV. DEATH BY WATER

Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep seas swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea 315
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, 320
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

V. WHAT THE THUNDER SAID

After the torch-light red on sweaty faces
After the frosty silence in the gardens
After the agony in stony places
The shouting and the crying 325
Prison and place and reverberation
Of thunder of spring over distant mountains
He who was living is now dead
We who were living are now dying
With a little patience 330

Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink 335
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think
Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand
If there were only water amongst the rock
Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit
Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit 340
There is not even silence in the mountains
But dry sterile thunder without rain
There is not even solitude in the mountains
But red sullen faces sneer and snarl
From doors of mud-cracked houses
If there were water 345
And no rock
If there were rock
And also water
And water
A spring 350
A pool among the rock
If there were the sound of water only
Not the cicada
And dry grass singing
But sound of water over a rock 355
Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees
Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop
But there is no water

Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together 360
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
—But who is that on the other side of you? 365

What is that sound high in the air
Murmur of maternal lamentation
Who are those hooded hordes swarming
Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth
Ringed by the flat horizon only 370
What is the city over the mountains
Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air
Falling towers
Jerusalem Athens Alexandria
Vienna London 375
Unreal

A woman drew her long black hair out tight
And fiddled whisper music on those strings
And bats with baby faces in the violet light
Whistled, and beat their wings 380
And crawled head downward down a blackened wall
And upside down in air were towers
Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours
And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells.

In this decayed hole among the mountains 385
In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing
Over the tumbled graves, about the chapel
There is the empty chapel, only the wind’s home.
It has no windows, and the door swings,
Dry bones can harm no one. 390
Only a cock stood on the roof-tree
Co co rico co co rico
In a flash of lightning. Then a damp gust
Bringing rain
Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves 395
Waited for rain, while the black clouds
Gathered far distant, over Himavant.
The jungle crouched, humped in silence.
Then spoke the thunder
DA 400
Datta: what have we given?
My friend, blood shaking my heart
The awful daring of a moment’s surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed 405
Which is not to be found in our obituaries
Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider
Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor
In our empty rooms
DA 410
Dayadhvam: I have heard the key
Turn in the door once and turn once only
We think of the key, each in his prison
Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison
Only at nightfall, aetherial rumours 415
Revive for a moment a broken Coriolanus
DA
Damyata: The boat responded
Gaily, to the hand expert with sail and oar
The sea was calm, your heart would have responded 420
Gaily, when invited, beating obedient
To controlling hands

I sat upon the shore
Fishing, with the arid plain behind me
Shall I at least set my lands in order? 425

London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down

Poi s’ascose nel foco che gli affina
Quando fiam ceu chelidon—O swallow swallow
Le Prince d’Aquitaine à la tour abolie
These fragments I have shored against my ruins 430
Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo’s mad againe.
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.

Shantih shantih shantih