A Way The Star Could Sell More Newspapers

Yes, herewith, a way our own Kansas City Star could sell more newspapers.

In the paper Friday, there was an entire two page section of the paper called "Uplift." It had, on those two pages, four articles. Two each, obviously. So they were large articles. One was from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, another from The Washington Post, the 3rd and 4th simply from the AP. That was it. So here's the radical idea to get more readers. Hire one-- or at most, two--more reporters to do just that. Report. And for this and other sections of the paper, have this reporter or these reporters write--wait for it--LOCAL STORIES. Imagine that. Have this person or these persons send out a letter from them and the Star, to every church and local non-profit and charity organization, asking them for good suggested stories on local people, doing good to great, local work. Everyone from churches to the City Union Mission, the Nelson, art galleries, universities, everywhere. You can't tell me people wouldn't respond. And then you know what would happen? Local people would read and want to read those stories. Heartwarming story from Pittsburgh on sisters doing good work in their neighborhood? Sure, okay. But get stories on locals doing great work here? Watch your readership increase. It's a natural.

Quote of the Day -- Quote of this Impeachment Trial

                                                                                       

“The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.”

--Republican Senator Mitch McConnell 

Even he recognized this. He makes the case, right here for the trial this week.

#Impeach45

Link:

McConnell: Trump ‘provoked’ Capitol siege, mob was fed lies

Facts---and This President

Read it and weep.

AP FACT CHECK: Trump's misdirection 

on virus testing, deaths

Thanks, Republicans.

Republicans in Jefferson City, At It Again

Image: Think Progress

Yessir, Republican legislators in Jefferson City are at it again. They're writing and trying to pass very self-serving legislation, all in the guise of "protecting our vote." Here it is.

Missouri voter photo ID measures pass 

House committee

Never mind that it's been proven, time and again, that there really is no significant problem with vote fraud of any kind.

How Voter ID Laws Are Being Used 

to Disenfranchise

Never mind that the costs of voter ID far exceeds any value obtained in keeping voting rolls any more clean and accurate than they already are.

How Republicans Rig the Game 

This is yet more un-American, Right Wing, Republican vote suppression and disenfranchisement of Americans. It helps them get and keep the poor, blacks, Hispanics, the elderly and physically-challenged, at minimum---read: possible Democratic Party voters---from voting.

It's not just wrong but deeply wrong and we need to fight this, we need to end it in America. They've been pushing these "voter ID" laws and gerrymandering for far too long. It all needs to end and we need to get started on it. We can and should tolerate this no longer.

Links:

Texas Voter ID Law Is Unconstitutional and Discriminates

Federal Court Rejects Texas' Voter ID Law As Unfair

Dartmouth Study: N.C. Voter ID Law Unfair to Black Voters

Kansas, in the news. Again. Some more.

And as usual of late, it ain't pretty:

Hobby Lobby decisions reactivates gay-hating Kansas conservatives

A bit from the article:

Here's more of that slippery slope analysts have been talking about in the wake of the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision. If you can now legally discriminate against women in the workplace, Kansas religious conservatives are thinking, you can legally discriminate against the gays.

The Associated Press reported this weekend that social conservatives believe they have an opening to bring the state's religious freedom bill back in 2015. The legislation failed this spring; it passed the House, but stalled in the Senate after significant backlash from business groups. It would have prevented businesses from being sued if they refused to serve LGBT people for religious reasons.

"We are not going to let it die. We are very committed," Rev. Terry Fox, a leading Southern Baptist minister, told the AP. "The Body of Christ is a powerful movement when it comes together."

There's a cheery thought, huh?

It begs the question, though.  I can see the bumper sticker now:  WWJH?

Who WOULD Jesus hate?

Business, banks, Wall Street and the people, all against a government shutdown

Other than the extreme Right Wing of the nation, it seems most have lined up solidly against any government shutdown--most of the people, the business community, the banks and Wall Street:

Stocks Fall on Concern About Economy, Budget Fight

Concerns about the strength of the economy and the potential for a budget fight in Washington pushed down the stock market Monday...

...The threat of a looming political showdown over the budget also weighed on investors.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to defund President Barack Obama's health care law on Friday, a gesture that reminded Wall Street that the Republican-led House and the Democratic-controlled Senate are poised for a showdown over spending.

 

The debt ceiling must be raised by Oct. 1 to avoid a government shutdown, and a potential default on payments, including debt, later in the month.

 

"There seems to be a higher probability there will be more of a battle over that," said Scott Wren a senior equity strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors. "That could inject some volatility into the market."

_______________________________________________________

No one, no one wants a government shutdown except, again, the extreme Right Wing and uber-Conservatives and the extremists of the Republican Party, including and likely especially the Tea Party members.

There's nothing good--and a lot of bad--that would come with such an extreme, unnecessary, utterly avoidable and irresponsible move.

We need a jobs bill from this Congress

From 2008 on, we have experienced the worst downturn in the American economy since the Great Depression, 80 years earlier.

No small fact.

Then, additionally, there is this report, breaking yesterday:

Many US bridges old, risky and rundown

A little from the article:

An Associated Press analysis of 607,380 bridges in the most recent federal National Bridge Inventory showed that 65,605 were classified as "structurally deficient" and 20,808 as "fracture critical." Of those, 7,795 were both—a combination of red flags that experts say indicate significant disrepair and similar risk of collapse.

And here's a kicker for us, in Missouri:

There are wide gaps between states in historical bridge construction and their ongoing maintenance. While the numbers at the state level are in flux, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Pennsylvania have all been listed recently in the national inventory as having more than 600 bridges both structurally deficient and fracture critical.   (Bolding added for emphasis).

When you take that into consideration along with the fact that 2 bridges in the nation collapsed last year, it seems extremely clear what needs to happen.

We need Congress to come up with a jobs/projects/infrastructure bill.

We need the work, as a nation, as a people and our highways and bridges and streets and sewers and all kinds of infrastructure need updating and improving and even saving.

Our own I-70, as I have written here so many times, needs widening and improving and being made safer, alone, from Illinois on the East, all the way to Kansas on the West.  It's a no-brainer yet here we sit.

Instead, they legislate on women's reproductive rights and on loosening gun laws and trying to have us default on our debt.

It's irresponsible, reckless and nearly insane.

Link:  Don't worry ... that bridge you're driving over won't collapse. Probably.

Very cool thing coming out of Cape Girardeau this weekend

An electric car convention? In Cape Girardeau, Missouri?

Believe it:

Convention on electric cars set in Cape Girardeau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — A convention designed to help people convert cars to run on electricity is scheduled this week in Cape Girardeau.

About 150 people are expected to attend the Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention, which runs Tuesday through Sunday. Organizers say educational sessions and hands-on work will be held at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. The Southeast Missourian reports (http://bit.ly/1en6Kwc ) nearly 45 electric vehicles will be on display for the public.

Co-organizer Jack Rickard says the convention is drawing people from across the country, as well as countries such as Canada and Australia. He says many attendees are coordinating electric car projects with people on other continents, and the convention gives them a chance to meet.

It gets even more unpredictable, too:

The convention also will offer electric-vehicle drag races and autocross Friday afternoon.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/05/4390759/convention-on-electric-cars-set.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/05/4390759/convention-on-electric-cars-set.html#storylink=cpy

The one thing, the only thing that mattered in the George Zimmerman case

Police dispatcher:  "Are you following him?"

 Zimmerman:  "Yes"

 Dispatcher:  "Okay. We don't need you to do that."

Kansas City and our Supermoon, featured prominently

If you hadn't heard or seen, last Saturday evening we experienced what they call a "Supermoon" effect. The moon was 13 or 14% bigger in appearance, depending on the source you read, and brighter, all because it was 16,000 miles closer to Earth, in its orbit than usual.

With that, naturally, photographers from all around the world took to their cameras. As luck would have it, a local photographer, one Charlie Riedel, shot that beautiful orb over our own Kansas City downtown and NPR, National Public Radio, picked it up on their website as one of a dozen great shots of it:

Around The Earth, That Moon Was Pretty Super

And so, here's the pic (click on it for larger, easier, better viewing):

So kudos to the photographer, Mr. Riedel, and to you, Kansas City.

You look pretty darned good.

America's intrinsic racism. Still

Yet further proof today, in the news, of what is, in this case, not America's blunt, forthright, obvious racism, no. This is the far more subtle yet sinister side of racism and without being physically punishing or abusive, as it used to be, still some of the worst.  From the news today:

Wealth Gap Among Races Has Widened Since Recession

From the article:

WASHINGTON — Millions of Americans suffered a loss of wealth during the recession and the sluggish recovery that followed. But the last half-decade has proved far worse for black and Hispanic families than for white families, starkly widening the already large gulf in wealth between non-Hispanic white Americans and most minority groups, according to a new study from the Urban Institute.

“It was already dismal,” Darrick Hamilton, a professor at the New School in New York, said of the wealth gap between black and white households. “It got even worse.”

Given the dynamics of the housing recovery and the rebound in the stock market, the wealth gap might still be growing, experts said, further dimming the prospects for economic advancement for current and future generations of Americans from minority groups.

The Urban Institute study found that the racial wealth gap yawned during the recession, even as the income gap between white Americans and nonwhite Americans remained stable.

 

Two things need to be pointed out about this.

First, that anyone, then, who blames the minorities, once again, still, for being "lazy " or "unwilling to work" or who thinks that all our opportunities here in America are all on a level playing field is fooling themselves and doing a grave injustice not only to the victims, the minorities, but to reality itself.

Second, it's more, further, obvious proof, as if any were needed of the old maxim/cliche' that "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Put another way--I've always loved this one--that "them that has, gets", disgusting as that is.

It's why we need more fairness in this country.

It's why we need government. It's why we need laws. It's why we need regulations--yes, those awful things called government regulations.

It's why we absolutely do need--yes, I'm going to say it--some wealth distribution.

Sue me.

It's not just wrong. It's not just obscene.

For anyone, anyone who gives a damn, anyone who cares remotely about decency and fairness and what's right and for doing what's right, it's what we need some of in this country.

For anyone paying attention, and for anyone who is either in a church, a church group, a religion or even, of course, those without religion--probably especially them--it's immoral.  It's grossly immoral.

And it needs to be changed.  And as soon as possible.

You can now discriminate against WHO??

I can hardly believe this happened in America:

City bans man with high IQ banned from being a policeman

And now, I can hardly believe a court said the city can do so:

Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops

Wth, America?

Nothing, nothing good can come from this.

We need to be better than this.

We need to be SO much better than this.

So now we found yet another group we can discriminate against.

Freaking wow.

I can see the sign now:

"Intelligent police officers need not apply."

Brilliant.

Huge gun news from the courts yesterday

This will upset some folks:

Court Finds No Right to Conceal a Firearm

Said another way:

Court Rules There Is No Right to Carry a Concealed Weapon

 

From The New York Times  and Associated Press (AP), last evening:

 

DENVER (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that permits allowing people to carry concealed weapons are not protected by the Second Amendment.

      

The ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit was issued Friday in a case involving a Washington State resident, Gray Peterson.

      

A federal judge in 2011 tossed out Mr. Peterson’s lawsuit filed against Denver and Colorado’s Department of Public Safety. He claimed that being denied a concealed-weapons permit because he was not a Colorado resident violated his Second Amendment rights to bear firearms.

      

According to gun rights groups, Colorado is one of about two dozen states that do not honor concealed weapons permits from Washington State.

      

Colorado recognizes weapons permits issued by other states, but only for states that recognize Colorado permits. Washington State does not recognize Colorado permits.

      

The Colorado attorney general’s office was “gratified that the 10th Circuit Court has upheld Colorado state law,” a spokeswoman, Carolyn Tyler, said.

 

There will be some heads exploding in the nation today, I expect.

 

Watch for a big statement, with lots of hoopla, from the NRA and Fox "News."

 

I can hear it now, can't you?

 

"THEY'RE COMING FOR OUR GUNS!"

 

Man it gets so tiresome.

Detroit does what Kansas City should (on light rail)

So many people have left and are leaving Detroit, they're having to bulldoze whole blocks of homes that have been abandoned yet they have the fortitude and vision to still look forward:

Detroit Gets $25M In Federal Funding For Woodward Light Rail

From the article:

 

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - The U.S. government plans to spend $25 million on a light-rail system through the heart of Detroit, a development federal, state and local leaders said Friday will finally allow the city to join the many other major urban centers that have had mass transit operations for decades.

“We’re the only place that didn’t have this,” Gov. Rick Snyder said at a morning news event, adding that 24 attempts have been made over the past 40 years to develop a modern public transit system in Detroit.

No, Governor Snyder.  Not the only place.

One day into the new year and already the Republicans are messing with us

Isn't this just lovely?

Cantor opposes Senate fiscal cliff bill

 

The No. 2 Republican in the House is against the Senate measure that was passed overnight.

Passage Of Fiscal Deal Murky After GOP Resistance

House Republicans balk at "fiscal cliff" deal

Apparently they're going to put the kibosh to the compromise worked in the Senate for this whole "fiscal cliff" fiasco they themselves created--and now can't or won't fix.

They have learned nothing, apparently, from the election they just got beaten so badly in and here we go, in another, new situation and this new year..

I don't think we can assume anything but that this is what they have in mind for us, for the nation, in the coming year.

Heaven help us.

Great advice today out of Columbia, MO for someone in the country

From the news today on what is likely, today, the biggest story in the office, coast to coast:

Big winners share lessons, risks of Powerball win

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/big-winners-share-lessons-risks-powerball-win-081059542.html

I heard this afternoon that the lottery says 133,000 tickets are being sold nationally every minute.

Here's hoping someone or some group wins this tonight so it doesn't get any bigger.

The bigger it gets, the more likely it is to screw someone up, big time.

Good luck to the buyers of tickets out there.

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

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

Likely the quote of the night last night

And it was probably the quote of the night because, first, it was fun, and second, because someone from this administration finally, finally called out the Republican candidates for the highest office in the land for at least one of the misrepresentations of the truth (read: lies) that they've been telling.

Granted, there were other good to great quotes, too, and some of them really nailed inconsistencies in the opposing side but this was, as I said, both fun and sorely needed.

Good on you, Joe.

Go get 'em.

More here: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/elections-best-quotes-of-the-vice-presidential-debate-1350008240-slideshow/best-quotes-of-the-vp-debate-photo-1350010769.html

Entertainment overnight

As Walter Cronkite might have said, and that's the way it is, October 12, 2012: