This Convention Vs. The Last

Differences between this political party's convention vs. the last

--This one did have humor in it

--It looks like America. It looks like a rainbow of color, not a box of saltine crackers

--The convention hall is full, not spottily or partially filled

--There are no calls at this one for anyone to be "executed" or "hung" or even arrested

--There ARE calls, however, for, finally and at long last, rebuilding and improving our nation's infrastructure of roads, bridges and highways, etc.

--Signs this week? About love. Literally. "Love trumps hate.'

--Tears. There were already, on the first night, tears of joy, tears of laughter, tears of inspiration

--No hate

--No fear

--At the end of this one, I would nearly bet there will be no musical groups insisting the political party or candidate not play their music

Finally, there's this:

Most Cities Evict Their Homeless Before Big Events. Philly Is Trying Something New.

A huge difference between what this Democratic National Convention, this week, in Philadelphia, the "City of Brotherly Love" did vs. the Republicans' convention in Cleveland. One evicted them. This one found them beds and places to go.

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.

Kansas City Real Estate in the NY Times Today

Because you wanted to know how much those lofts cost down in the River Market. And what you get.

• 
  

• 
  

• What You Get: $1.2 Million Homes in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Kansas City

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.

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/

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

A second great court case outcome in the same day

First, we got news that Roman Catholic Monsignor Lynn was found guilty in trying to protect Catholic priests in the Philadelphia diocese in their child/student sex abuse case.

Now, we find Jerry Sandusky is found guilty in 45 of 48 charges of sexual abuse in the Penn State case.

It's a great day for justice in America.

And coincidentally, both from Pennsylvania. Go figure.

Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/23/us/philadelphias-msgr-william-j-lynn-is-convicted-of-allowing-abuse.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-trial/index.html

Third week of April, 2012

Snow last night in Philadelphia--they were forecast to get 6 to 8 inches of it. Meanwhile, about 80 warm degrees just North of San Francisco, 104 in Palm Springs and about 65 here for the high, in the middle of the country. Grateful, anyone?

Notes on the outrage that is Bishop Finn

The Star reports today that Bishop Finn testified yesterday to a grand jury. Good. Great. But it's just a start. There's at least four things about yesterday's proceedings that seem extremely pertinent. The first is that Bishop Finn needs to be asked in a very public forum like this why Msgr. Robert Murphy, who was "the diocese's seond-in-command", didn't have direct orders from the Bishop himself to report any and all accusations of sexual abuse or suspicions of sexual abuse and/or misconduct. What was that about? Why would or did Msgr. Murphy get a letter from a principal in St. Joseph a year and a half before anything was done about it, yet he said nothing, not a thing, to Bishop Finn of it? And let me be clear, I don't blame Msgr. Murphy for this oversight completely at all. Bishop Finn should have spelled out he needed--not wanted, needed--to be notified of any and all improprieties or suggestions thereof, immediately up notice by anyone and everyone in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese but especially and particularly from Msgr. Murphy. Second, the Kansas City policeman--Capt. Richard Smith--who saw one picture of Ratigan's and said it "didn't constitute pornography" failed the Diocese, too. What if the one picture he saw was of his own child? Would that not have made any difference? Further, I find it extremely difficult to believe this officer didn't ask if there were any other pictures of which he should be aware. Third,The Star reports that "In December, diocesan authorities found what prosecutors later alleged was child pornography on Ratigan’s computer." And while that's true, actually, from earlier Star reports, it has become clear that Ratigan had at least inappropriate, if not pornographic, pictures of area Catholic Diocese children on three of his computers through the area. The first was in St. Joseph, the second in Independence and the third right here in Kansas City. Finally, I hope this grand jury will interview--at length--the principal I mentioned earlier, from St. Joseph, who sent the letter a year and a half before any concerns were raised about Sean Ratigan. It seems she and maybe some parents there could absolutely shed some light on Ratigan's activities and on Bishop Finn's total, complete and utter lack of response to this situation. Oh yeah, we need many more answers than what we've gotten. I still contend that, like Monsignor William J. Lynn of Philadelphia, Bishop Finn should be charged in some appropriate, local court for "a charge of conspiracy to endanger the welfare of children." For Bishop Finn to say, yesterday, as he did that "We're doing the best we can to cooperate with law enforcement" seems a blatant and ugly mistruth. Link to original post: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/16/3147922/bishop-testifies-before-grand.html

KCMO School District and CC Plaza have the same problem: irresponsible, lazy parents.

The bad news? Sure, we all know now, and have since at least Sunday morning that there were kids roaming the Plaza again, Saturday night and that shots were fired (5 to 6, it's said). Additional bad news? Mayor James was there. But therein lies, also, the good news because now, suddenly, our mayor is invested in both recognizing and solving this problem. I--and, I think others--have been calling for the mayor and his office and City Hall and the City Council and churches and their leaders and businesses and civic leaders to get together to see what kind of solutions could be offered to solve both this problem and the problems of shootings and drive-by shootings, etc. Now, suddenly, since Mayor James was there when the shots rang out, he's saying the same thing, fortunately. According to today's Star: "Churches, schools and businesses, also, need to get involved, he said." Thanks for finally joining us, Mayor. He also pointed out in this morning's article in the Star that parents are responsible for this, too. So maybe, just maybe, if the city and School District, both, are trying to solve this same parental problem--and I think we all agree they are--maybe we can get closer to a combined solution for both. It won't be a quick fix but the curfew for teens seems like a great, fair and sensible place to begin. I think we should follow Philadelphia's example with fines of $300.00 per teen and $500.00 per parent for violating the curfew, too. That would make people pay attention rather quickly. If it's good enough for Philly, it seems good enough for us, as well. Here's wishing us all luck. Here's hoping.

New way to get rich: snitch

To wit:

APNewsBreak: IRS awards $4.5M to whistleblower

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press 

PHILADELPHIA – An accountant who tipped off the IRS that his employer was skimping on taxes has received $4.5 million in the first IRS whistleblower award.

The accountant's tip netted the IRS $20 million in taxes and interest from the errant financial-services firm.

The bad news?

You lost your job.

The good news?

You don't need it any longer.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110408/ap_on_re_us/us_irs_whistleblower_collects

On President's Day

Some history on our first president I found today that I think fascinating:

Along with land, George inherited 10 human beings from his father. He gained more through his marriage to a wealthy widow, and purchased still more enslaved blacks to work the lands he aggressively amassed. But over the decades, as he recognized slavery's contradiction with the freedoms of the new nation, Washington grew opposed to human bondage.

Yet "slaves were the basis of his fortune," and he would not part with them, Chernow said in an interview.

Washington was not a harsh slaveowner by the standards of the time. He provided good food and medical care. He recognized marriages and refused to sell off individual family members. Later in life he resolved not to purchase any more black people.

But he also worked his slaves quite hard, and under difficult conditions. As president, he shuttled them between his Philadelphia residence and Virginia estate to evade a law that freed any slave residing in Pennsylvania for six months.

While in Philadelphia, Oney Judge, Martha Washington's maid, moved about the city and met many free blacks. Upon learning Martha was planning one day to give her to an ill-tempered granddaughter, Judge disappeared.

According to Chernow's book, Washington abused his presidential powers and asked the Treasury Department to kidnap Judge from her new life in New Hampshire. The plot was unsuccessful.

"Washington was leading this schizoid life," Chernow said in the interview. "In theory and on paper he was opposed to slavery, but he was still zealously tracking and seeking to recover his slaves who escaped."

Link to original post:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110221/ap_on_re_us/us_the_blackest_name

The original article, here, above, is highly recommended as it's full of good information about President Washington and the country.

Saturday, holiday weekend entertainment

And if you would like to see a live version, locally, keep in mind the Kansas City Symphony and their Symphony Choir is performing this in the coming weeks, too.  You might want to go check it out.

Enjoy your weekend, y'all.

$300 "bloggers license"?

Did you see this? Philly requiring bloggers to pay $300 for a business license This seems to fall under the rule, if it moves (or makes money), tax it. (God forgive me, I'm paraprasing Ronald Reagan). Have a great day, y'all. Link to original story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/philly-requiring-bloggers-to-pay-300-for-a-business-license-101264664.html