One of Missouri's Biggest Cities Takes a Hit

An article hit the interwebs early yesterday.

These 5 Cities Have Lost Half or More of Their Populations Since 1950

And sure, I figured Buffalo, New York might be on there.

And Pittsburgh.

And Cleveland.

And very likely Detroit, and maybe it at number one.

But check out what major American city was, in fact, in the number one spot on this list and has lost half or more than half of its population since 1950

What the report had to say--

1. St. Louis

> Decline from 1950 decade peak: -64.7%
> 1950 population: 856,796
> 2018 population: 302,838

With a population of 856,796, St. Louis was the eighth largest city in the country in 1950. The city’s population has steadily declined since then to just over 300,000 in 2018, ranking as only the 64th largest city in the United States. Like other cities with long-term population declines, adverse socioeconomic conditions are prevalent in parts of St. Louis. East St. Louis, for example, is far and away the most dangerous city in Illinois and one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. Also, one in four people living in St. Louis live in poverty, well above the national poverty rate of 14.6%.

While St. Louis may not be booming, certain aspects of the city do show signs of renewed prosperity. Relatively high immigration from Asia has helped offset some of the out-migration. The city’s sports teams, the Cardinals and the Blues, do very well, which can help support population and economic growth. And, plenty of universities and large companies still operate and thrive in the city.

That’s depressing.

And sure, it's not Kansas City but hey, it's Missouri. It still hurts.

How Bad Are Trump and the Republican Party?

This bad.

Even old, rich white guys are bailing now.

First this one.

Money Talks. Will the G.O.P. Listen? 

Seth Klarman was once the biggest donor to the Republican Party in New England. This year he’s giving some $20 million to Democrats.

Not done there, this is today.

Wealthiest Republican supporter in Ohio 

quits party 

The wealthiest supporter of the GOP in Ohio said Thursday that he is no longer a member of the Republican Party.

"I just decided I'm no longer a Republican," L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner said during a panel discussion at a leadership summit, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

Wexner, who said he's been a Republican since college, added...he "won't support this nonsense in the Republican Party" anymore.

Note, too, these two articles both came out just this week, in the last two days.

I tell you.

It's enough to give a person hope.

(That said, VOTE!! And VOTE BLUE!! #BLUEWAVE )

This Convention Compared to the Next

Think about next week. Think about the Democratic National Convention, just days away from now.

What a contrast.

No hating.

No calling for the opposing candidate to be hung.

No calling for the other candidate to be executed.

Far less fear, if any at all.

People of color, minorities, far as the eye can see.

The convention hall is full to capacity.

There's excitement and happy anxiousness for it all to begin and take place. 

And jokes. There will be humor mixed in, like there hasn't been at all, this week, from Cleveland.

At least one former President will be on hand to see and be seen and speak because Democrats aren't embarrassed by, nor need to be of their former Presidents.

And the sitting President gets to come out and speak and so many are looking forward to it.

And why shouldn't they? Why shouldn't we?

More people in our nation have health insurance than ever have before.

We got out of Iraq. (Well, mostly).

We've cut the deficit. Yes. Really.

Deficit shrinks by $1 trillion in Obama era

We've added more jobs, millions more jobs, since the horrible 2008 election and economic nightmare, with 248,000 added just last month.

Not one true scandal out of this White House and/or administration in these 7 years. That's pretty huge.

In fact, there's plenty for Americans to be both happy and proud of.

THE List of 371 Obama Accomplishments so far, With Citations

So yeah, bring on this Democratic National Convention.  Let's put things back in perspective.

Let's let the adults take back over the narrative.

Donald Trump's Republican National Convention, Night II

Modal Trigger

Every time a candidate for national political office promises he's going to rebuild our military, as Trump just did, I want to scream.

______________________

Suddenly, according to Mitch McConnell, they're "Clinton Democrats."

______________________

I love this.

Every time Mitch McConnell comes out to speak--twice tonight--he's booed.

I love 'em.

_____________________

Republican, just now, on Hillary Clinton, says she would be a continuation of the status quo.

Right.

The first woman president. Ever. In the history of our nation.

Got it.

____________________

Now Chris Christy tells us Hillary is for Syrians, not Americans, not America.

Yeah.

____________________

That convention hall isn't full.

Nowhere near it.

Compare, in a week, to the Democratic convention.

____________________

Trump's oldest son has made fun of Harvard and Wharton schools and students and "fancy colleges" just now.

And not just once but twice.

___________________

"Everyone can prosper, together."

--Donald Trump's oldest son, tonight at the RNC Convention.

They just need to be given a million dollars to start their career like his father.

____________________

Donald Trump's oldest son says his father wants us to have the same opportunities his own children had.

I'm hoping he has all our mailing addresses to send the checks.

___________________

What you don't know about this Republican National Convention tonight if you've only watched TV, possibly, is that there were fights in the hall, among the Republicans, by different people, fighting for their states' votes, protesting the results of the vote and how their states votes were recorded.

___________________

Donald Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump, Jr., says a President Trump (shudder) will see to it all advance, not just the "crony elites at the top of the heap."

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Really. He has to stop. He's killing me.

___________________

That this evening's theme for the Republican National Convention is "Make America Work Again" is, once again, rich.

It's been the Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate, in Washington, that have, since 2008, since President Obama was first elected, that have blocked an jobs and/or infrastructure bills for the nation. Americans need the jobs, our infrastructure, heaven knows, needs the updating and improvements and the economy, then to now has needed the boost.

But not one, not one jobs bill from this Republican Congress.

____________________

Finally, at long last, someone on TV news mentions that the convention is grossly under-attended and the convention center largely under-filled.

And the ones that are there are in deep disarray.

_____________________

People are being shot and killed in our city, our cities, our state, our region and the nation in small and large numbers, daily yet we still have candidates of all stripes, saying they're fighting for "gun rights."

Wtf?

How many more gun rights do we need?


Isn't it clear it's "gun rights" that are getting all these people killed?

And they don't see this?

Notes and Observations of a Republican National Convention, Night One

Monday, Night 1

According to one of the panelists just now on PBS, Melania Trump doesn't want Donald to be president, either.

Suddenly I like her.
___________________________

Good God. Tom Cotton.

If there's a bigger, more empty demagogue, I don't know them.
___________________________

Tom Cotton, a nearly bleached white boy from Arkansas, saying we're all born equal.

If he were any less informed someone would have to tell him how to breathe.

___________________________

"No enemy the American military can't defeat....."

Well, except Vietnam.

And Iraq.

And Afghanistan.

___________________________

For the Republicans, at this political party convention of theirs, to bemoan the shootings in our nation of late when they and their blinding support of guns and the NRA and their constant blocking of required background checks for mental stability and criminal history all got us to where we are is nearly maddening.

___________________________

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, bitching about not enough jobs in America. Not one Republican in Congress all the way back to 2008, ever wrote, proposed or tried to pass a jobs/infrastructure bill for those jobs, improved infrastructure and a rejuvenated economy.

Then he goes on to say "Donald Trump will kill Obama trade."

What?

He wants more jobs but then he wants to kill "Obama trade"?

What the hell is Obama trade?

What is that old fool rambling about?

___________________________

"Thank you to the Cleveland Police Department for protecting us!"

---Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani

But we are not honoring your request to deny open carry of weapons at our convention!

___________________________

How rich is that, for Republicans, now, to claim Hillary is a liar?

Compared to Donald Trump?

__________________________

"Donald Trump loves all people!"

--Rudy Giuliani

Yeah, just not Muslims. Or Mexicans. Or gays. Or women. Or the poor. Or the disabled or physically-challenged.

_________________________

If the Republicans didn't want the power and the White House back again, they would be embarrassed. Embarrassed by this candidate Donald Trump. And they would know they should be.

_________________________

I hope the Democratic Party doesn't miss out on the opportunity to hear from an underwear model and their opinion on this campaign for the leader of the nation for at least the next 4 years.
_________________________

Stephen Colbert is savaging The Donald on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert just now. It's pretty wonderful.

_________________________

The Republican National Convention, 2016.

The gift that keeps on giving.

Entertainment Overnight -- Of A Sort

46 years ago today.



Links:  Kent State shootings

46 years later: Remembering the Kent State shootings

Kent State May 4 prepare-to-shoot controversy needs to be resolved by National Academy of Sciences

Cleveland Browns Wide Receiver Andrew Hawkins' Statement

His response to his wearing a t-shirt about the Tamir Rice shooting and killing:

“I was taught that justice is a right that every American should have. Also justice should be the goal of every American. I think that’s what makes this country. To me, justice means the innocent should be found innocent. It means that those who do wrong should get their due punishment. Ultimately, it means fair treatment. So a call for justice shouldn’t offend or disrespect anybody. A call for justice shouldn’t warrant an apology.

“To clarify, I utterly respect and appreciate every police officer that protects and serves all of us with honesty, integrity and the right way. And I don’t think those kind of officers should be offended by what I did. My mom taught me my entire life to respect law enforcement. I have family, close friends that are incredible police officers and I tell them all the time how they are much braver than me for it. So my wearing a T-shirt wasn’t a stance against every police officer or every police department. My wearing the T-shirt was a stance against wrong individuals doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons to innocent people.

“Unfortunately, my mom also taught me just as there are good police officers, there are some not-so-good police officers that would assume the worst of me without knowing anything about me for reasons I can’t control. She taught me to be careful and be on the lookout for those not-so-good police officers because they could potentially do me harm and most times without consequences. Those are the police officers that should be offended.

“Being a police officer takes bravery. And I understand that they’re put in difficult positions and have to make those snap decisions. As a football player, I know a little bit about snap decisions, obviously on an extremely lesser and non-comparative scale, because when a police officer makes a snap decision, it’s literally a matter of life and death. That’s hard a situation to be in. But if the wrong decision is made, based on pre-conceived notions or the wrong motives, I believe there should be consequence. Because without consequence, naturally the magnitude of the snap decisions is lessened, whether consciously or unconsciously.

“I’m not an activist, in any way, shape or form. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred I keep my opinions to myself on most matters. I worked extremely hard to build and keep my reputation especially here in Ohio, and by most accounts I’ve done a solid job of decently building a good name. Before I made the decision to wear the T-shirt, I understood I was putting that reputation in jeopardy to some of those people who wouldn’t necessarily agree with my perspective. I understood there was going to be backlash, and that scared me, honestly. But deep down I felt like it was the right thing to do. If I was to run away from what I felt in my soul was the right thing to do, that would make me a coward, and I can’t live with that. God wouldn’t be able to put me where I am today, as far as I’ve come in life, if I was a coward.

“As you well know, and it’s well documented, I have a 2-year-old little boy. The same 2-year-old little boy that everyone said was cute when I jokingly threw him out of the house earlier this year. That little boy is my entire world. And the No. 1 reason for me wearing the T-shirt was the thought of what happened to Tamir Rice happening to my little Austin scares the living hell out of me. And my heart was broken for the parents of Tamir and John Crawford knowing they had to live that nightmare of a reality.

“So, like I said, I made the conscious decision to wear the T-shirt. I felt like my heart was in the right place. I’m at peace with it and those that disagree with me, this is America, everyone has the right to their first amendment rights. Those who support me, I appreciate your support. But at the same time, support the causes and the people and the injustices that you feel strongly about. Stand up for them. Speak up for them. No matter what it is because that’s what America’s about and that’s what this country was founded on.”

This guy was never "on my radar", so to speak but he now has my respect, for what that's worth.

Americans polarized politically? Follow the money

As a nation, plenty have wondered aloud why we Americans are so polarized, politically.  Why so far Right Wing? Why so far Left?

There was a terrific, even important, if lengthy, article in The New York Times yesterday, describing at least in part precisely why it happened and is happening.  As usual, as I've written here and elsewhere before, it's a case of money--and political parties--buying us.  And votes.  And even legislatures:

A National Strategy Funds State Political Monopolies

By his third year as chairman of the Alabama Republican organization, Mike Hubbard believed his party had just about everything it needed to win control of the State Legislature.

He had a plan: an 88-page playbook for the 2010 campaign, with detailed, district-by-district budgets and precise voter turnout targets. He had candidates: doctors, lawyers and small-business owners, most of them political novices recruited with an eye toward the anti-establishment fervor roiling the country.

What Mr. Hubbard did not have was enough money. Alabama law barred corporations, deep-pocketed natural allies for state Republicans, from giving more than $500 to candidates and parties — a limit that did not apply to the state’s unions.

So began a nationwide quest for cash that would take Mr. Hubbard, plan in hand, to the Republican Parties in states like Florida and Ohio, to a wealthy Texan who was one of the country’s biggest Republican givers and to a Washington organization that would provide checks from dozens of out-of-state corporations, among them ExxonMobil,  Google, Facebook and Altria.

Exploiting a loophole in the state law and a network of political action committees in Alabama and Washington, Mr. Hubbard shuffled hundreds of thousands of out-of-state dollars into the Republican organization in Alabama, vastly outraising the state Democratic Party. On Election Day, Republicans won majorities in both the State Senate and House of Representatives for the first time since Reconstruction — and Alabama joined the rapidly growing fraternity of states where government is controlled by a single political party, now the largest it has been in more than half a century.

Further proof positive, folks.  We are being bought and sold. The wealthy and corporations, as shown here, are buying and selling us.

We have to fight to end this. 

We need to fight to end campaign contributions. 

We need to fight to get bills making this kind of out-of-state contributions illegal.

We need to make political campaigns--what?--one or two months long, total, on both the state and federal levels, as England did years ago so our legislators don't need or shill for this money.

And it's not just a Republican Party problem, by any means. It's both parties and any and every other political party that has any power whatever.

It's only then we'll get our country back, our government back, for the people.

Additional, great information on this very topic, too, from local blogger 

Radioman Kansas City:  

Leaked Republican Tape reveals they Manufacture Scandals

We're being bought and sold, folks.  You know it, I know it, we all know it.  We need to stand up and demand an end to it.  We can do this. 

In the meantime, these are just some of the results we're getting here in America, as we also know:

Doesn't this go against everything America and Americans are supposed to be about?

Four examples of ecological nightmares for fossil fuels

click on picture for easier reading


Is this what we really want?

In case you've never seen and read this letter

Text of ex-slave's letter to his former master (on Yahoo! News last evening):

The famed letter written by an ex-slave in response to his former master's request that he return to the plantation, soon after the end of the Civil War. Different versions of the letter bear various spellings of the writer's name.

Dayton, Ohio,August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir:

I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable.

Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy — the folks call her Mrs. Anderson — and the children — Milly, Jane, and Grundy — go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated.

Sometimes we overhear others saying, "Them colored people were slaves" down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to.

Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve — and die, if it come to that — than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

From your old servant,

Jourdon Anderson

Some good news for the new year

A little good news... 8 states are raising their Minimum Wage rates on New Year's Day, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Their rates will increase by 28 to 37 cents an hour to between $7.64 and $9.04. The National Employment Law Project (NELP) calculates that will bring nearly 1.4 million full-time minimum wage workers an extra $582 to $770 per year. Studies show that even during times of high unemployment, raising the minimum does not lead to a loss of jobs. Actually, the number of jobs has grown after each of the 19 times the federal minimum has increased over the past 73 years. Happy new year, y'all.

More good Kansas City news

US News & World Report has an article out right now on the "25 Worst Cities for Young People"--AND KANSAS CITY AIN'T ON IT. Take that, Kansas City haters. Denver? Yep. Portland, Milwaukee, Louisville, Columbus--all on it but we aren't. See? Things can always be worse. Link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/20/worst-cities-for-young-people-from-seattle-to-cincinnati-photos.html

Missouri 16th worst for air pollution

The National Resources Defense Council (www.nrdc.org) and Physicians for Social Responsiblity (www.psr.org) came out today with their rankings for the nation, by state, telling of the "most toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants" ranks Missouri in the top 20 at number 16. Yeehaw, eh? The report is titled “Toxic Power: How Power Plants Contaminate Our Air and States.” Additionally, "Nearly half of all toxic air pollution reported from industrial sources nationwide comes from coal- and oil-fired power plants, the largest industrial source of toxic air pollution in 28 states and the District of Columbia" and Missouri is one of those 28. Ohio, for what it's worth, is ranked worst at number 1 while neighboring Illinois is at 17 and Iowa holds the 20 spot. Interestingly, California, who has done so much with legislation and requirements, wisely, is ranked low at number 42. See? Government can work. Then, simultaneously today, with this report comes word that the Sierra Club is likely to get $50 million from Michael Bloomberg's foundation to help them fight new coal-fired power plants so we get into clean, renewable energy, instead. Good on you and thanks, Mr. Bloomberg! We'll get to that "green economy" yet. Links: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/07/the-most-toxic-air-pollution-from-coal-and-oil-fired-power-plants-can-be-found-in-ohio-pennsylvania-and-florida-according.html; http://www.npr.org/2011/07/21/138568843/mayor-bloomberg-donates-50-million-to-sierra-club

KC Chiefs: It sucks to be you?

Surprising, at least, news out this weekend for our Chiefs football team: NFL player quits for surprising reason. "Mike Vrabel, who won three Super Bowl titles with the Patriots, was expected to start for the Chiefs this fall. Vrabel's retirement won't come as a surprise to anyone with an eye on the buzz out of Columbus last week. Still, it might seem rather abrupt to his current employers, the Kansas City Chiefs, who (as of Sunday morning) still list him as a starter at outside linebacker and apparently expected him to return for his 15th NFL season this fall — you know, if there is an NFL season this fall. Vrabel has spent the past two years in K.C. after eight wildly successful seasons in New England, where he was one of the cornerstones of the Patriot teams that took three Super Bowl titles in four years from 2001-04 and delivered the most dominant campaign in league history in 2007 prior to being upset by the Giants in Super Bowl XLII. " Will it kill us? Doubtful but no one likes surprises. Link: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Mike-Vrabel-hangs-up-NFL-cleats-for-gig-at-his-o?urn=ncaaf-wp3448

How ridiculous

Boys Kicked Off School Bus For Passing Gas

We're getting so brittle, as a society, I think.

From the article: 

James Nichols, the father of the 13-year-old boy involved, said the incident Thursday led to giggling and heckling and prompted riders to lower windows, The Associated Press reported.

But this is my favorite part: 

His wife said she's offended by it after recently being hospitalized with gastro-intestinal problems.

Clearly, it's in at least one of  the boy's genes.

Ain't dat just a darn shame?

From the news today:

GOP Govs' Popularity Plummets

New York--Less than a year after a cadre of Republican firebrands swept into statehouses from Ohio to Florida to Wisconsin, voters are turning on them.

Well, let's see, if you slash worker's benefits and try to do away with medicare while trying, again and again to keep giving big tax cuts to the already-wealthy, etc., etc., what do you think is going to happen?

Let's just hope it sticks through next year, at least.

"All guns. All the time"

The mantra from the Right and the NRA.

Sick.

That is some sick stuff.

Their next frontier:

Ohio House Passes Bill Allowing Guns Into Bars, Bar Owners Reply ‘Guns And Alcohol Don’t Mix’

So the police chiefs and police and law enforcement people think it's a bad idea and the bar owners themselves think it's a bad idea.... but the Right Wing and the NRA, again, think it's just super-dee duper so they go ahead with it.

Idiots.

Two sports screwballs mess up their careers early

Weird news out today on two chuckleheads in sports--one already in the majors and one who was to be bound for the NFL:

Reds pitcher Mike Leake booked for stealing from Macy’s

By David Brown

In a stunning case of alleged of retail theft that makes little sense to anybody, Cincinnati Reds right-hander Mike Leake(notes) was arrested and booked Monday afternoon for allegedly stealing $59.88 worth of merchandise from a Macy's department store in downtown Cincy.

The second-year righthander, in case you're wondering, makes $425,000 a year and received a $2.3 million signing bonus after being drafted out of Arizona State.

The guy makes nearly half a million a year but steals about 60 bucks of junk.  WTH?  

I'm going to file that one under "What the heck were you thinking??"

Followed closely by this one:

Georgia recruits charged as Georgia locker room thieves

By Matt Hinton

Three suspects have been arrested in the Georgia locker room thefts, at least one of whom has been identified as a major football recruit.

Deion Bonner, Marquise Hawkins and an unidentified juvenile from Columbus were arrested by UGA police and charged with theft by taking over the weekend. They're accused of stealing iPods and iPhones from the unsecured lockers of seven football players on April 7 during an open-house event at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. The estimated value of the stolen items was $1,970.

So get that straight--this guy above, Deion Bonner, is a Georgia cornerback and recruit for the freaking NFL and he blows it by ripping off possible, future team mates, right from their lockers.

Definitely a good career move.

And you thought that would work how?

And you'd get away with it?

Then, both of these bozos on the same day.

Go figure.

Links:  http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Reds-pitcher-Mike-Leake-booked-for-stealing-from?urn=mlb-wp3741;  

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Georgia-recruits-charged-as-Georgia-locker-room-?urn=ncaaf-wp813

The "disease cluster" in our backyard

A report came out Monday tells of possible "disease clusters" occurring in the US:

Report: 42 disease clusters in 13 U.S. states identified

At least 42 disease clusters have occurred in 13 U.S. states since 1976, according to a report Monday by environmentalists calling for further study of the cause of these health problems."Communities all around the country struggle with unexplained epidemics of cancers, birth defects and neurological diseases," report co-author Gina Solomon, a senior scientist at the Naural Resources Defense Council, said in announcing the findings. "The faster we can identify such clusters, and the sooner we can figure out the causes, the better we can protect residents living in the affected communities."  

On Tuesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has scheduled an oversight hearing on the issue.

The 13 states, you ask?  They include:  Texas, California, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Delaware, Louisiana, Montana, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas.  (Go to the first link, below, to read of some examples.  The one on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina was a stunner since it was happening to males and with breast cancer.  You have to figure the federal government would possibly be responsible for that one, what with a huge military base there). 

I thought you'd want to know.

Now, I'd like to know where in Missouri this "disease cluster" is.  Is it in Sugar Creek?  Cameron, as some people have claimed up there?  Across the state in the St. Louis area?  Where, exactly?

Having Googled it, I can tell you it's in Herculaneum.  (see link below)

At least that's the one in the state that is recognized.  Who knows?  There may be more than one.

Further proof, as though we needed it, that the way we live is unsustainable.

Links:  http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2011/03/42-disease-clusters-13-states-toxics-environment/1?csp=34

http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_382c4b9a-c075-5aa6-9275-60eed4f543f9.html

Big ecnomic news today that can't be overlooked

What with all the other major world catastrophes going on right now, most especially the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear power plant meltdown, it would be easy enough to overlook a rather small but hugely important article I saw today online:

Home prices falling in most major US cities

Home prices falling in 19 major US cities, with 4 now at lowest level in 11 years 

Janna Herron and Derek Kravitz, AP Real Estate Writers

NEW YORK (AP) -- Home prices are falling in most major U.S. cities, and the average prices in four of them are at their lowest point in 11 years. Analysts expect further prices declines in most cities in the coming months.

Home values in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Detroit and Cleveland are now below January 2000 levels. A majority of the metro areas tracked by the index now have home prices at levels dating back to 2003, just as the housing boom began.

"The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's.

As either an economist or just a regular old citizen of this United States, that is big.  

Not finished there, there is also this out today: 

Inflation worries push consumer confidence lower

Soaring gas prices and soured outlook on income push consumer confidence down in March 

My point?

It is not to say "the sky is falling", I can tell you that.

My point is that, as Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman is pointing out more and again, lately, is that now is decidedly not the time to try to cut $61 billion out of the government's spending.  

I'm not all about big spending and we do need to address it and our debt and deficit spending, but to repeat Mr. Krugman, now is decidedly not the time.

I'm concerned that either the Right-wing and Republicans and Conservatives aren't listening and/or don't care because a) they have to cater to the "Tea Party" and extremists in their party so they can be re-elected OR they simply want/need this president and his policies to fail so, again, they can be re-elected.

My biggest concern is that all of those are true.

Links:  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Home-prices-falling-in-most-apf-2179818115.html?x=0; http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Inflation-worries-push-apf-1954887602.html?x=0; http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/contraction-is-contractionary/;  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/opinion/25krugman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss; http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/;