You Didn't Make the List, Kansas City!

Congratulations, Kansas City!  You didn't make the list!

America's Most Segregated Cities

I thought sure we'd be on here but we're not, thank goodness. Segregated and separated as we are, and by law, at the time, we aren't one of the worst.

As it turns out, however, St. Louis is, so Missouri didn't get left out. And the statistics are pretty brutal.

6. St. Louis, MO-IL
> Black ppl. in black neighborhoods: 42.2%
> Black population: 18.2%
> Black poverty rate: 29.7%
> White poverty rate: 9.0%

The St. Louis region earned a national spotlight in the summer of 2015 when Michael Brown, a black teenager, was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, sparking protests across the nation. Ferguson is a predominantly black neighborhood — and Brown’s death is inseparable from racial segregation in the area. One of the most damaging effects of residential segregation is funding disparities between neighboring school districts. Because property taxes play such a large role in school funding, well-off communities often
have an interest in keeping poor areas separate.

Instead of one, St. Louis has 24, quite disparate school districts. This August, water fountains in 30 predominantly black St. Louis public schools were shut down due to lead contamination. Some of the area’s wealthiest communities with some of the best-funded schools are less than 20 miles away, and with state-of-art facilities, have reliable clean water.

As is common in large metro areas — not just the most segregated — the poverty rate among black St. Louis residents, at nearly 30%, is approximately three times the poverty rate among the area’s white residents.

The St. Louis region earned a national spotlight in the summer of 2015 when Michael Brown, a black teenager, was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, sparking protests across the nation. Ferguson is a predominantly black neighborhood — and Brown’s death is inseparable from racial segregation in the area. One of the most damaging effects of residential segregation is funding disparities between neighboring school districts. Because property taxes play such a large role in school funding, well-off communities often have an interest in keeping poor areas separate.

Instead of one, St. Louis has 24, quite disparate school districts. This August, water fountains in 30 predominantly black St. Louis public schools were shut down due to lead contamination. Some of the area’s wealthiest communities with some of the best funded schools are less than 20 miles away, and with state-of-art facilities, have reliable clean water.

As is common in large metro areas — not just the most segregated — the poverty rate among black St. Louis residents, at nearly 30%, is approximately three times the poverty rate among the area’s white residents.

So you see, it's not just about people of different colors being separated. It's about opportunities and jobs and education, right on down to wealth, certainly. Segregation becomes about perpetuating both wealth and poverty.

And that's just wrong. 

Links:

How segregation creates chronic unemployment, 

poverty traps, and crime

The Effect of Segregation on Crime Rates

Poverty and Crime: Breaking a Vicious Cycle of Discrimination

Lead In Water: What Are The Health Effects And Dangers?

Why lead is so dangerous for children

How Long, America? How Long?

Yet one more case of what a huge proliferation of weapons in our nation gets us:

4 Marines killed in attacks on Chattanooga military facilities

Yet one more instance of innocent Americans being gunned down.

So that's the question, America.

How long?

How long do we keep tolerating these shootings and killings?

How long until we merely require all weapons purchases undergo background checks for metal stability and criminal background?

No, it won't end all these incidents, no, certainly not. But if it reduces them even some and reduces even SOME shootings and killings, isn't that good? Isn't that a good thing? Isn't that an improvement?

Of course it is.

How long, America?

On This Day, 1866

American history.

History they don't teach us.

Memphis riots of 1866

The Memphis riots of 1866 were the violent events that occurred from May 1 to 3 in Memphis, Tennessee. The racial violence was ignited by political, social and racial tensions following the American Civil War, in the early stages of Reconstruction.[1] After a shooting altercation between white policemen and black soldiers recently mustered out of the Union Army, mobs of white civilians and policemen rampaged through black neighborhoods and the houses of freedmen, attacking and killing men, women and children.

Federal troops were sent to quell the violence and peace was restored on the third day. A subsequent report by a joint Congressional Committee detailed the carnage, with blacks suffering most of the injuries and deaths: 46 blacks and 2 whites were killed, 75 blacks injured, over 100 black persons robbed, 5 black women raped, and 91 homes, 4 churches and 8 schools burned in the black community.

Modern estimates place property losses at over $100,000, also suffered mostly by blacks. Many blacks fled the city permanently; by 1870, their population had fallen by one quarter compared to 1865.

Public attention following the riots and reports of the atrocities, together with the New Orleans riot in July, strengthened the case made by Radical Republicans in U.S. Congress. The events influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to grant full citizenship to freedmen, as well as passage of the Reconstruction Act to establish military districts and oversight in certain states.

Investigation of the riot suggested specific causes related to competition for housing, work and social space between Irish immigrants and their descendants, and the freedmen. The white gentry also sought to drive freedpeople out of Memphis and back onto plantations where their labor could be exploited. Through violent terrorism, the white community at large sought to force blacks to respect white supremacy as the time of fully legal slavery was nearing its end.

Note there.

This wasn't the only time or place in American history this took place, either. It was, by no means, an isolated incident. It also took place in New Orleans.  And Tulsa. And Chicago. And I don't know where all. Again, it's history we don't like to teach, we Americans. It's history we don't really want to know. Or acknowledge. Or take responsibility for.

Why, if we took responsibility for all the things Americans have done to blacks in our nation, we couldn't blame them for being poor. And under-educated. And in poor jobs. And poor housing. And for having bad health. And for being in prison. Or for rioting.

Now could we?

Congratulations, Missouri!

You're not on the list!

You're not in the top (bottom) 10:

The Unhealthiest State Is...

Neighbor Tennessee?  Yep.

Oklahoma?  Yes.

Kentucky? Check.

Arkansas?  Oh, yeah.

But Missouri? In the 10 most unhealthy states?



No!

Not this year, anyway.

So, enjoy, Missourians! Celebrate!

Just don't overdo it.

Kansas City and our Google in the news

Not bad news, exactly, but not great, either:

Cities Find Google Fiber Networks Giving Them Too Much Speed

Kansas City, both the one in Missouri and the smaller one in Kansas, has an unusual Internet problem — the Google Fiber network they fought to get is too fast, and nobody is really sure what to do with all that power. 

Neither city is considered a prime location for technology company start-ups, reports The New York Times, and the average household doesn't need online speeds that can run at one gigabit a second, or about 100 times faster than the average connection elsewhere in the United States.

The article goes on from there, of course, describing the situation and some ironies in all of this rather truthfully, however unfortunately but here's the really illuminating thing most people don't know and consider:

The company (Google) has expanded Fiber to Provo, Utah and Austin, Texas, and is discussing service with nine other metro areas, including Chattanooga, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Portland, Ore.

Chattanooga already has its own fiber network, Chattanooga Gig,which offers the same speeds as Google Fiber, but keeps the system under local control.

The network is already paying off. "When Volkswagen announced Chattanooga as its headquarters for North American manufacturing, and Amazon.com chose our city for their new distribution centers, it was a nice confirmation that we're on the right track," the network says on its website.

So Chattanooga, Tennessee has a lower cost internet, just as fast as the "big boys", the corporate internet that's so bloody, unreasonably and unnecessarily expensive (thank you, AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, etc.) and in addition to all that, THE PEOPLES'/USERS' INFORMATION ISN'T CAPTURED AND SOLD.

Tell me again why government running things is bad?

A Liberal's dream

It may only be one evening and one night's entertainment but check it out:

Our black, "Liberal" president, first.

And he gives us this:

In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul

 

It's on PBS, of course.

 

Then, it's followed by this on the same channel:

 

THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE - PBS

 

And it's by none other than Ken Burns.

 

Entertainment. The Blues. History. Education.

 

Mmmmm.

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

Entertainment overnight, Sunday edition

Missouri and Kansas in "Top 10 States Hit by Extreme Weather in 2011

Missouri is, indeed, number 3 on the list of the "Top 10 States Hit by Extreme Weather" this year. Kansas was number 7. In a way, really, no surprise on Missouri, is it? Joplin was so famously, horribly hit by the tornado May 22. But that's not all on Missouri and extreme weather this year: Tornadoes were just one prong of the deadly onslaught of extreme weather in Missouri, as a combination of heavy spring rains and upstream snowmelt sent the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers surging over their banks. According to NOAA, in an average year the Missouri River channels 24.8 million acre feet of water. This year, it carried 24.3 million acre feet in May and June alone. When the Army Corps of Engineers essentially blew up the levees to save the small town of Cairo, Illinois, floodwaters inundated around 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland. Then there's Kansas: The massive heat wave and drought that devastated Texas and Oklahoma didn’t hit Kansas quite as hard, but it was bad enough to help push the Jayhawk State into the top 10 this year. By midsummer, much of the southwestern part of the state was suffering under “exceptional drought” conditions — it ended up being the ninth driest year ever recorded — and by year’s end, there was still no relief in sight. Wichita had more 100-degree-plus days than any year on record, beating out even the Dust Bowl summer of 1936.

Watch How 2011 Became a 'Mind-Boggling' Year of Extreme Weather on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

The number one state for most effected by extreme weather? Texas. They fried. This past year has been described as "weather on steroids." (see last 2 links below) Here's hoping 2012 is better to the planet. Links: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/12/30/395849/top-10-states-hit-by-extreme-weather-in-2011/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29; http://www.climatecentral.org/news/top-ten-states-hit-hardest-by-2011s-extreme-weather/; http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/12/30/395914/our-weather-on-steroids-the-mind-boggling-climate-disasters-of-2011/; http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/12/29/395730/pbs-covers-link-between-2011s-mind-boggling-extreme-weather-and-global-warming-its-like-being-on-steroids/

Think the KCMO School District has problems?

Thank our lucky little stars we don't have Memphis, Tennessee's issues. This from The New York Times today: Merger of Memphis and County School Districts Revives Race and Class Challenges, By SAM DILLON. "The largest school district consolidation in American history is taking place as the overwhelmingly black Memphis district is being dissolved into the majority-white Shelby County schools." And we thought it couldn't possibly be worse. Enjoy this beautiful Sunday, y'all. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/merger-of-memphis-and-county-school-districts-revives-challenges.html?_r=1&ref=us

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

First there was the MRSA anti-virus; now, CRKP is here in Missouri, too

If you've had any hospital stays in the last few years, you're likely familiar with the super anti-virus MRSA, for which hospitals have had little or no effect fighting.

It seems we've antibiotic-ed ourselves into a never-never world where little if anything fights these infections.  It can and has killed people.  You go into the hospital to get better but instead, contract MRSA and get worse.

Or die.

Honestly.

Well, now, news is out of a newer and apparently more strain-resistant infection, CRKP (carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae).  And the fact is, it's been found here in Missouri, too:

Just so you know, it's another strain-resistant bacteria.

And it's here.

    

Links:http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/antibiotic-superbugs-crkp-mrsa-risk

http://patients.about.com/od/medicalmistakessafety/a/CRKP-Superbug-Infection-Found-In-Hospitals-And-Healthcare-Facilities.htm

http://patients.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=patients&cdn=health&tm=14&f=00&su=p284.9.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.cdc.gov/HAI/organisms/cre.html

"Least peaceful" US states: all red?

Well here's an eyeful this evening that just makes a bluecoat Dem just as happy and reassured or something just good and positive.

It seems there's a study out right now on the "Most Peaceful US States" which, naturally, ends up also pointing out those on the other end of the scale---the "Least Peaceful US States".

And guess what?

To no one's surprise, the gun-loving, "shoot-'em-up" Red States (read Right-wing, Republican, Conservative, Redneck, etc.) are at the bottom, mostly, while the educated, Liberal, "Lefty", Leftist, Progressive Blue States are the former--the most peaceful states.

To wit and if you're a red-stater, eat yer heart out:

A study by the Institute for Economics and Peace finds that Maine is the most peaceful state in the country, while Louisiana is the least peaceful.

The group lists the ten most peaceful states in order as: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah,--oops, they slipped in there-- Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Iowa, and Washington.


What'd I say?


Now, the flip side:


And here are the least (also in order, with Louisiana leading the unrest): Louisiana, Tennessee, Nevada, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Maryland.

In that second group, all I see are guns, guns and more guns.  I can hear everyone in the Red States making excuses now, can't you?

In a completely unrelated but great fun note, they added this:    It's worth noting that Louisiana was ranked as the laziest U.S. state in a separate study last year. Apparently, kicking back and taking it easy doesn't amount to a life of calm in the eyes of some, though many Louisianians, this reporter among them, would probably argue that they're not lazy or non-peaceful, just misunderstood.

Of course, it could also just be because it's hotter and more humid than belly heck down there in the bayou, of course.

And don't blame us.

It's not OUR study.


Have a great evening, y'all.

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110406/ts_yblog_thelookout/study-maine-the-most-peaceful-u-s-state-louisiana-the-least

California: It sucks to be you

Years ago, seemingly forever, no one could say enough good things about California.

Remember that?

There were songs about the State and untold movies and books and who-knows-what-all.

If there were any one place so many people wanted to go, it was California, either for the jobs or the mountains or the ocean or the mild temperatures or the palm trees or the low humidity or desert or whatever.  The list of reasons to go seemed nearly endless.

Well, 'dem days are over and by a long shot.

Check this out--on the Forbes Magazine list out today on "15 Cities Where Economies Are Getting Worse", California has 7--count 'em, 7--of the entire 15.  Nearly half of the whole list is California cities where things stink economically and will likely get worse.

Of this list of 15, too, California also holds the extremely dubious distinction of having 4 of the top 5 cities "where economies are getting worse" and, on top of that, they hold the number one position.

So, given all this, how badly would you want to be governor of the great state of California right now?

Another reason to be here, in Kansas City, in the heartland.

Enjoy.

Links:  http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/16/cities-where-the-economies-are-getting-worse_slide_2.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPvZVdHDB4E

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

California and Florida: How the mighty have fallen

Okay, another Forbes Magazine "top" list, this one for "America's Most Miserable Cities".

Forbes does seem to go on and on with these rankings each week, don't they?  But hey, it's gets them lots and lots of viewership and re-quoting.

First, let's point out for Tony that KANSAS CITY IS NOT ON THE LIST.  Far from it.

But what's much more important and notable is who is most prominent on the list:  that is, California and Florida.

Remember back, a decade or two ago, when these 2 states were always the "best of the best" and where everyone either wanted to live or wanted to move to or to retire in, one day, if possible?

Yeah, I remember that, too.

Not anymore.

California has more cities than any other state on the list, with 5 (Stockton, CA 1, Merced 3, Modesto 4, Sacramento 5, Vallejo 9) while Florida is number two in this bad quantity with 2 cities on the list (Miami at number 2 and West Palm Beach in the number 8 slot).

Only 3 midwestern cities--Memphis, Tennessee at number 6, Chicago, Illinois, no. 7 and Cleveland, Ohio at number 10.

It used to be thought and assumed that California was heaven on Earth and that, naturally, no one would ever want to live anywhere but there.  Florida?  Pretty much the same.  It wa the "any place with palm trees" thought, you know?  If you have to live and work somewhere, why not someplace with a mild climate (and, in the case of California, mountains and beaches and desert, etc.)

It's a topsy-turvy world we live in out there, isn't it? 

Let's hope it doesn't get any more topsy or turvy than it already is.

Have a great day out there, y'all.

Link to original story:  http://www.forbes.com/2011/02/02/stockton-miami-cleveland-business-washington-miserable-cities_slide.html?partner=yahooree

KC Chiefs win & clinch AFC Title: Some local blogger had to announce it

Okay, quick, before Tony comes back Monday morning and both announces it and then trashes the Chiefs, it needs to be announced that

a)  the Chiefs won yesterday;

b)  they beat the Tennessee Titans 34 to 14;

c) they clinched the AFC West Title

Yahoo!  At least for now.

Besides, that's all there is, isn't there?  Now?

Link:  http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/26/2543800/chiefs-bring-postseason-football.html

Basil Marceaux for Tennessee Governor?

Is this what has happened with our election system? I know it's easy to get on television but seriously, folks, surely we're better and smarter than allowing this to happen to us. Holy cow. Since George W. Bush got the Presidency is anything now possible?

Want smaller government?

You/we are most surely going to get it, one way or another.

Check this out: "Government methodology for reporting retail sales is based on sampling stores in existence. It does not factor in stores not in existence but recently were. Nor does it handle closed stores when the chain is still doing business. Government reporting of retail sales is fatally flawed."

Here's the deal--states and the Federal Government are reporting sales tax collections down and considerably so and, as you know, the states can't operate on deficits so they're all slashing budgets, programs and staff, etc.

But the reports from the feds in Washington are based on same-store sales from the previous year.

What it doesn't take into account is that so many stores have closed doors and/or gone bankrupt.

So sure, same store retail sales are up.

But tax revenues? The money they get in to spend on you and I?

Down. And big time.

So yeah, with the exception of Washington, DC, you and I are going to get smaller government, no doubt about it.

So if you're Conservative or Independent or Libertarian or just a Liberal like me who wants to see government shrink a bit, stay tuned. You're going to get what you wish for.

(You should maybe check out that link above, to see both how much less the States have in tax revenues and the rather long list of companies whose stores closed).

Let's have a great week.