Quote of the Day -- On Wealth Inequality and Inequity

"Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate." --Bertrand Russell

Said so many years ago but still so applicable today. Hear this, Mr. Bezos? Waltons?

You Must Go to the Wornall House

I've lived in the Kansas City area more than 35 years. Heck, I was only born an hour North in St. Joseph but I've lived here for years. And in all that time, I've driven by the old Wornall House on Wornall Road more times than I can count. Heck, I now live in the neighborhood. Again.

So yesterday, I'm driving by, yet again, when I see what are likely Civil War re-enactors on the lawn. It's Saturday. I have my chores done. I decided I have time so I park the car and go.

Am I ever glad I did.

If you have either never been or it's been a long time? Go. Go back. It's a terrific education. The original Wornall family did more to help develop this city and area than you have any idea. And the ties to even JC Nichols and his development of the Plaza, the family ties to Liberty and William Jewell College, local banks, all of it. Fascinating.

Here are just a few of the shots I took, on the outside. This is on the front porch.

A soldier and an officer's tent.

The inside of said tent.

More of the re-enactors.

I'm telling you, you'll get a terrific, fast national education on the Civil War and even the nation, as well as one more on the state of Missouri, the region, the Missouri-Kansas border war, slavery and area, all. Seriously fascinating.

Then, when that's done, either same day or some other time, maybe some other weekend, make a point to go to the Majors house at 82nd and State Line Road. It's under the same non-profit organization and can give you more information and history, at least, if not also entertainment.

Links:

John Wornall House Museum

Majors House - The Alexander Majors House Museum

Home - Wornall Majors House Museums

To That America, We Wish Happy Birthday

 

To the country that values citizenry over consumerism, 

that values liberty over enslavement,

that values equal opportunities for all, 

that values the health of one equal to the health of another, 

that learned that separate is not equal,
that put a man on the moon, 

that separated church from state in order that church could be that much more available, 

that helped free the world from Nazi tyranny and 

proudly had women build the machines that did it, 

that invented the blues, 

that overcame pitting brother against brother in order to break the evil of slavery, 

that exported rock and roll, 

that put storytelling on the big screen, 

that gave us Fred Astaire, 

that gave Einstein a home, 

that has a statue in the harbor welcoming the downtrodden, 

that figured out burgers and shakes go so well together, 

that wrote the social contract that has yet to be beaten that begins "We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal..." 

....to THAT America, we wish a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

--Lisa Wiffledust

Teddy Roosevelt On the Presidency---From Our Own KC Star

"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. 

Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. 

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

--President Theodore Roosevelt, Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918

Quote of the Day -- On This Day, 1938

True then, a lesson for us, still.

"The first truth is that the liberty of a Democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power."

--US President Franklin D. Roosevelt: April 29, 1938

Link:   Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies

On the border crisis just now (guest post)

I’ve been watching media coverage of angry Americans at our southern border waiving signs and yelling slogans, insisting that the children – most of whom are refugees of the drug war we’ve created -- “go home” to the violence and death that war has created, and I wonder who these angry Americans are. 

I also wonder where their parents or grandparents or other ancestors came from, and what they were fleeing from or hoped for when they landed in America. I’m not suggesting we allow in anyone who wants to come here, but these are desperate children. Whatever happened to the generosity, decency, and big-heartedness of this country? 

Emma Lazarus’s poem engraved in 1903 on the Statue of Liberty reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of our teeming shore. Send these, the homeless tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 

Why are we now allowing the hateful side of America to take center stage?

--Robert Reich

Slideshow from CBS of what the children's conditions are in Nogales, AZ:  http://fb.cbs5az.com/1phfGtS

Quote of the day

True then, true now:

“For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are: Equality of opportunity for youth and for others. Jobs for those who can work. Security for those who need it. The ending of special privilege for the few. The preservation of civil liberties for all. The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living."

--President Franklin Roosevelt

Quote of the day

"The words used by statesmen in our day no longer have a common meaning. Perhaps they never had. Freedom, democracy, human rights, international morality, peace itself, mean different things to different men. Words, in a constant flow of propaganda - itself an instrument of war - are employed to confuse, mislead, and debase the common man. Democracy is prostituted to dignify enslavement; freedom and equality are held good for some men but withheld from others by and in allegedly "democratic" societies; in "free" societies, so-called, individual human rights are severely denied; aggressive adventures are launched under the guise of "liberation". Truth and morality are subverted by propaganda, on the cynical assumption that truth is whatever propaganda can induce people to believe. Truth and morality, therefore, become gravely weakened as defences against injustice and war. With what great insight did Voltaire, hating war enormously, declare: 'War is the greatest of all crimes; and yet there is no aggressor who does not colour his crime with the pretext of justice.'" --Ralph Bunche, Nobel Lecture, 1950

Quote of the day

Click on picture for easier reading.

And thank you, Senator Sanders. It's nice to know at least some people are out there, knowing what we're going through and working for and with us. Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Senator-Bernie-Sanders/116434091699995; http://www.sanders.senate.gov/

Sorry, Lady Liberty

Ain't it the truth? We don't, either.

Quote of the day

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.” ―Franklin D. Roosevelt

On living in Kansas City

"I have been living in Kansas City for almost 40 years, and even though I curse the weather, I do feel happy being in this place! Kansas City feels to me like a Mix of Memphis, Dallas, Tulsa and a dash of New Orleans! HOT HOT HOT!! or FROZEN to the BONE! but always a good Sound Track Playing in the Background." --Bob Traviglione, Real Estate Agent, Amateur Photographer, Bon Vivante, Man about town

Fifty bucks says they take the money and run

Barnes & Noble Reports $1B Bid From Liberty Media

 

And why shouldn't they, right?

Founding Father James Madison, on war

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." ----James Madison, the essential author of Constitution.

Quote of the day

"Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army."  --Edward Everett

Fun breakfast fundraiser Saturday morning

From KCMO Police Chief James Corwin's blog today:

Kansas City area residents can enjoy a delicious breakfast delivered by a police officer and support Missouri Special Olympics at the same time with Saturday’s Tip-A-Cop event at metro Corner Café restaurants.

More than 40 police officers will be at three Corner Café restaurants in Riverside, Kansas City North and Independence from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 6. Instead of their usual job of fighting crime, the off-duty, uniformed officers will be taking orders, serving food, cleaning tables and assisting the regular wait staff at each location.

At the end of each customer’s meal, officers will encourage diners to tip their “real” waiter or waitress first and then ask them if they’d like to make a donation to Special Olympics, the charity of choice for law enforcement nationwide.

Last year’s Tip-A-Cop raised $3,000 for Missouri Special Olympics at just the Riverside Corner Café location. Thanks to the generosity of Corner Café, this year’s event expands to all three of their locations and will include not only Kansas City and Riverside police but also officers from Independence and Liberty police departments.

This year’s Tip-A-Cop Corner Café locations are:

Riverside, Mo.: 4541 NW Gateway Ave.

Kansas City: 8301 N. Flintlock Rd.

Independence, Mo.: 4215 S. Little Blue Parkway

Go! Enjoy! All for a great cause!

And have a great weekend.

Are we a good-sized, Midwestern city that works?

Driving in to work today, I had to come in from Liberty via 152, then 435 South to 35 South, Southwest Trafficway to the Plaza and on to work out 47th Street to Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard, Van Brunt and finally I-70 to Independence.

This gives you an idea of the size of the area--the amount of the city--I covered on my way work. With this much driving experience this morning, I feel I have a pretty good deal idea of the condition of the streets and highways in the area, in spite of not traveling the Kansas side.

And the conclusion for me is that the city of Kansas City still has a lot of work to do in clearing its streets.

The State highway offices did their job, I'd say. All the lanes of 435 and 35 were clear. Naturally, it was when you got in the city that there were--are--issues.

Check this out: Southwest Trafficway was still down to, I'd say, one and a half lanes. This includes the extensions of Madison and Bellview. Naturaly one and a half lanes means, really, one.

To me, considering they are such main business thoroughfares, that's unacceptable.

They were--all of these mentioned streets--just one plow scraping away from being completely clear.

Someone in the street department, either last night or early this morning, should have cleared these for the rush hour this morning, I think, feel and believe.

I'm sure they worked their tails off, so to speak, this weekend, but we still, as a city, weren't ready for the workday and new workweek.

That's unacceptable. That's not how cities are to function and operate.

In their worst cases, the streets weren't safe.

In the best cases, it made getting to work (read: productivity, business and the lifeblood of the city, area and country) less efficient.

On Southwest Trafficway, which I noticed is a declared, official snow route, the cars had remained parked in the street so the crews couldn't clear the streets.

That, too, seems unacceptable.

Again, it's not safe and it should be clear.

47th Street, coming out of the Plaza and going over to Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard and Van Brunt, was the same way. Still not cleared.

Between this and the big metal plates left on the streets, instead of truly repairing those same streets, seem to point out consistently that our street department doesn't work really well.

We seem to work, as a city.

But not really well, like we ought.