I don't get it

What bizarro world/alternate reality do these people live in?

I mean, this is more out of touch, by a long shot, than even our Mayor and his wife.

But I can't place if they're out of touch by just several decades or a century or more.

I'm thinking the latter.

Get with this century, people.

That is some sad, sad stuff.

Question for Catholics: Can you show me, exactly, where in the Bible there is one pope/bishop/cardinal/Vatican/nun?

Or how about that worshiping the "Virgin Mary" thing?

And the "saints"?

I thought he said no "false gods before me"?

Etc., etc...

Oh, well.

Once in a while I just like beating my head against rocks and that was this day.

Another Funkhouser Fail

Seriously, I'm not just writing this to "dog-pile", in effect, on the Mayor.

This morning, I went to the Star, expecting a front page article--with pictures--of the Mayor's self-promotional giveaway party last evening that cost us all $6300.00.

No pic.

No story.

No nothing.

On further searching, buried on A4 of the local section was a picture, for sure, and a short 9 paragraph story on his "town hall meeting" he threw for us last evening.

Man, is this guy out of touch. Whew.

First things first, though. The Star's picture was unfair to us, the public, and pretty distorted of the event and its attendees.

If you saw the picture as I did, it looked like the Sprint Center was packed.

But it wasn't.

Check this out--go to the Pitch website and see their pictures of the same event: http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2010/05/mayor_mark_funkhousers_sparsely_attended_carnivaltown_hall_meeting_at_sprint_center_slideshow.php

Not packed at all.

So, Star, you've upped your game concerning local coverage and it's much better and I salute that and you now for it but this was badly represented to us, your readers. You need to give us a good, representational picture of public events like these and this was off the mark.

Now, back to the Mayor.

Don't you know he's got to be feeling a bit like Jay Leno right now?

I mean, nobody likes him. Nobody wants him. Nobody thinks he's a success. But the show keeps going on. Ouch. It's gotta hurt.

I love the fact that the story was covered and written by Dave Helling and that's all in got in the paper. If Dave gave it little note, you know it's not important.

And what is important?

How about the fact that Kansas City, Missouri is up to 39 homicides this year?

Sure, it's not Chicago, with their record-breaking killings but it's not even Summer and hot weather and we keep getting senseless, needless shootings and killings in town and still, THE MAYOR AND HIS OFFICE HAVE DONE NOTHING--ZIP, NADA--TO ADDRESS IT.

I had to attend my daughter's graduation last night or I was going to attend this thing. Had I gone, I wanted to ask him what, if anything, he EVER intended to do about the murder rate in town.

I've said, here, time and again that he should announce that he is going to align with church and community leaders, neighborhood groups, etc., to address this problem in the city.

I was going to ask him last night if he could/would do that and if he didn't think it was long overdue.

No, instead he wants to borrow "$100 million to fix sidewalks, streets and curbs near schools..." as well as get "a renewed quarter-cent sales tax to provide more police officers near school buildings."

Terrific. His answers are--both--to raise taxes. Great idea.

Is there anyone out there who thinks getting new sidewalks, streets and curbs near public schools is going to improve the learning that's going on in the schools?

Let's ask Superintendent Covington. And the teachers, let's ask the teachers.

And why hasn't the city--already--been taking care of the streets, curbs and sidewalks anyway, as they're supposed to be doing, instead of trying to come up with yet another tax and program to do all this?

But the Mayor doesn't get all this. He thinks it's a great idea and wants us to join him.

Not gonna' happen. Sorry, there, Funk. It just isn't going to happen.

Besides being a poor and poorly thought program--THAT ALSO RAISES 2 TAXES, in effect--he doesn't have enough time to get this through, who is he kidding, besides the Squirt and himself?

So if it were a grade, Mayor, you'd get an "F" for that assignment you turned in last night.

Could you forget about this now, stop embarassing yourself and maybe address the murders and murder rate in town?

You probably have time enough for that.

Too important not to repost

Ten Things You Should Know About Poverty In America

by SARAH NELSON, Contributing Writer, Causecast.org

The overwhelming statistics of global poverty often overshadow the very real issue of poverty in America. With the collapse of the housing market and a painfully stagnant economy, millions of Americans are facing hunger, homelessness and unrelenting debt. Just like the billions of global citizens trapped in poverty around the world, impoverished Americans often find themselves oppressed by a cycle that makes it difficult to break free.

1. Poverty and homelessness are not synonymous, meaning that the poor are not always homeless. Poverty can leave an individual or an entire family without adequate housing, food, access to heath care, education and employment.

2. There are more than 40 million Americans living below the poverty threshold. The largest percentage of impoverished Americans are between the ages of 25 and 44.

3. Approximately 14 million Americans living in poverty are children – that’s about 19 percent of all American children.

4. Across the country, 30 million American families face housing deficiency. About half of those dealing with housing deficiency issues qualify for government aid, but only 4.1 million are actually receiving it.

5. Poverty can lead to housing concerns like overcrowding or other inadequacies. One of every seven poor families lack a vital housing component, such as electricity, hot water or access to a toilet or shower.

6. In 2009, approximately 32.2 million Americans were enrolled to receive food stamps. In 2010, that number climbed to 40 million and is expected to continue growing. Experts predict 43 million Americans will be facing food insecurity by 2011.

7. The official measurement of poverty is determined by the U.S. Census Bureau. The threshold is adjusted for inflation annually, but the methodology used to calculate the poverty threshold (or the amount of cash income required to support an individual or family) has not been updated in more than 40 years.

8. For a single person under the age of 65, the poverty threshold is an annual income of $10,836. In the state of California, a person who works full-time at a minimum wage job will make just over $15,000. That’s before taxes.

9. In 2009, more than 3 million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure. Experts suggest that the housing recession will force an additional 1.5 million people into homelessness by 2011.

10. While poverty in America shows up in every state, nearly every city and spans urban and rural communities, American minorities are much more likely to live in poverty. In 2008, black and Hispanic families made up approximately two-thirds of America’s poor, while white families only accounted for about 12 percent.

But if they're poor, it's their own fault, right?

Link to original post here:
http://www.causecast.org/news_items/9807-ten-things-you-should-know-about-poverty-in-america?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+causecast/latest_news+(Causecast+-+Latest+News)

Brandeis University study shows racial wealth gap growing

New study finds racial wealth gap quadrupled since mid-1980s

National data reveal the effects of policies that benefit the wealthiest, persistent discrimination in housing, credit and labor markets

WALTHAM, Mass. – The wealth gap between white and African-American families increased more than four times between 1984-2007, and middle-income white households now own far more wealth than high-income African Americans, according to an analysis released on Monday by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at Brandeis University.

IASP, in a research brief, also reported that many African Americans hold more debt than assets and at least 25 percent of African-American families had no assets to turn to in times of economic hardship. The fourfold increase in the wealth gap, it said, reflects public policies, such as tax cuts on investment income and inheritances, which benefit the wealthiest and persistent discrimination in housing, credit and labor markets.

"Our study shows a broken chain of achievement. Even when African Americans do everything right -- get an education and work hard at well-paying jobs -- they cannot achieve the wealth of their white peers in the workforce, and that translates into very different life chances," said Thomas Shapiro, IASP director and co-author of the research brief.

And here is the crux of the matter, at least to me:

"A U-turn is needed. Public policies have and continue to play a major role in creating and sustaining the racial wealth gap, and they must play a role in closing it," said Shapiro, author of The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality and the co-author of Black Wealth/White Wealth.

Indeed, the data indicate that the general trend in lending, in which consumers of color pay more for accessing credit, increases their debt and blocks opportunities to move forward, putting them at a severe economic disadvantage. These are concerns that must be addressed through the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, now being debated in Congress, and other policy changes, IASP said.

"The data suggests we need renewed attention to public policies that provide real opportunities for advancement by reducing barriers to mobility inherent in our tax system and increasing transparency, regulation and access in our housing and credit markets," said Laura Sullivan, another co-author.

I remember, years ago, speaking to a friend in the car sales business--I'll never forget it--and he told me that if an African-American walked on their car lot, the price of the car automatically jumped up a few thousand dollars.

I was stunned.

I also remember seeing a picture of the city--our city--after the subprime meltdown in home mortgages, showing where most of the late loans and possible foreclosures were going to be in town.

And that was East of Troost, frankly.

Clearly, it was later reported, mortgage companies had gone out, into the neighborhoods over there and offered the people these loans, taking advantage of them.

Did those people have to sign for those loans?

No, certainly not.

But for a lot of people--white, black, brown, whatever--if a banker tells you it's a good thing, they believe him or her. Sure, it's foolish but people have done it. And they will again, I'd wager.

So if you're white and reading this, don't think minorities are not and have not been financially discriminated against and that it hasn't been widely used and practiced.

Just don't.

Link to original post:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/bu-nsf051210.php

Link to Brandeis University Institute on Assets and Social Policy:
http://iasp.brandeis.edu/

P.S. I highly recommend you go, at least, to the top link because it has a great deal more terrific, insightful information than I can or did post here. It's great and important reading, I think, for all of us, nationwide.

Kansas City could use such a blog

From NPR today :

County officials recorded 740 homicides in the Los Angeles area last year. That's an average of 14 violent deaths every week. With few exceptions, most victims simply become statistics — just numbers.

But in 2007, the Los Angeles Times set out to dig beneath those numbers and tell the story of each and every person on a blog called The Homicide Report.

Each week, a blogger checks in with several city and county agencies — the LAPD, the county coroner, whoever can tell the stories of who died and why.

The names go on and on and on. A photograph is attached to almost all of the entries.

I'm thinking this is what Kansas City needs--a newspaper column, if they could do it, or, like this, a blog that shows who died and who they were.

It would personalize the killings and shootings and murders in town.

Then, maybe if it did, more people would be incensed at the senselessness of these killings and we'd come together, as a community--churches, community leaders, the average Joe on the streets, all of us--even the Mayor, their office (if you get my meaning), the City Council, virtually everyone, and find solutions for drive-bys and all the other pointless, needless killings.

As I have often said, hey, I can hope, can't I?

And don't look at me for this--I already have 2 blogs going, thanks very much.

Quote of the day

"'We are no longer in a global, free-market economy. There are now two systems out there. There is a free-market system, largely in the developed world. There is a state capitalist system in China, Russia and the Persian Gulf. The systems are mutually incompatible,' Bremmer says. 'When your principal actors are multinational corporations in the private sector and they rely for their growth on unfettered access to global markets, and state capitalist systems don't do that, you are going to have a problem. And we are just at the beginning of that problem.'" --Ian Bremmer, The Eurasia Group from his book The End of the Free Market.

Link to original, complete post, including an excerpt from the book:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126835124

Hey, it could always be a lot worse

At least we're not Detroit:

Aiyana Jones, 7-Year-Old Shot And Killed By Detroit Police, Was Sleeping According To Family

Or Chicago:

Homicide rate jumps in Chicago

Think happy thoughts.

Things newspapers--and online news blogs--need to learn from The Huffington Post

First, change up the site virtually constantly. Change the headlines, change the titles, change the stories, rotate them through. Give readers a reason to keep checking in. Keep it vital. Keep it informative. Heck, even keep it entertaining. Make it clear that each morning, afternoon, evening--virtually any free moment a person has--is reason to check in to the site and keep them coming back.

Newspapers were frozen in time. Staid. Static. But then, that's the way the world and world news was.

Newspapers and all the media should have learned from CNN, before The Huffington Post, that news is 24 hour, 7 days a week.

Now, any news website needs to be the same way and that, of course, is the way Huff Post is, of course, and all the good news sites.

It can end up more expensive, having 24 hour employees but isn't that the way a newspaper was, anyway?

There were people at the paper to write and edit it, mostly 9 to 5'ers, but then the rest of the crew had to print it--mostly at night--and then distribute it, in the middle of the night.

Now, the change is to virtually all computer people, all the time, writing the articles and managing the site so it's not that big a change, to begin with and secondly, it's a lot cleaner and, hopefully, more educated staff that's doing it, Third, finally, it's a lot greener a process. No more paper to print and then have thrown in the garbage, trash and dumps and no more cars and trucks running around the city to "throw the paper" and burn gas and pollute. Really, it's an improvement over the way things used to be on a few different levels.

But media people have to switch to this new system.

The ones that do will "win" and continue to exist.

The ones that don't will fail and fail fairly quickly.

Hear that Kansas City Star??

Notes from a weekend

--If/when you can ever see a Cirque du Soleil performance--and can afford it--do it. Don't miss;

--To the hillbilly nuclear family of 3 that sat behind our group last evening at said, above, perfromance--get a freaking clue, people. We don't want to hear you, your child or your notes, thoughts, ideas and/or comments about the performance. At some point, you really can tell your daughter to be quiet and considerate of those around you. It works. It has worked for millions of us;

--The Spring Center is cool, yes, but only because of the glass bowl exterior. If it weren't for that, it would just be another auditorium;

--After last evening, I decided that if Rockfest is ever conducted in the rain again, I'm going to go down at the end of it and photograph the attendees. Driving by some of them last night, we all, in our car, got the biggest laugh, seeing these mud-caked people--one of them looking like an ax murderer, sans the ax--walking to their cars. It was a real hoot;

--This morning I searched a direct title of an article right out of this morning's Kansas City Star on their website AND IT DIDN'T COME UP. Note to Star website manager: make it work. It can't be that difficult. Note to Editors/Managers of same Star: you've improved the writing and local coverage of your paper, great. we thank you. If you want to engage, further, your readers, particularly and especially the ones who are computer-savvy (read: the upcoming generations), you need a website that relates from the paper to the site. It's just not difficult. And you have to do this, eventually, and the sooner for us and so, consequently, for you, the better;

--The title I searched was "Lobbyists want to shape federal health care rules" in the Star today. And it struck me that the answer to this should be---tough. So what? They want to shape it but why should they be allowed to be even in the room and/or have input, let alone shape the policy? The fact that this is a possibility is both obscene and absurd. Them shaping this policy protects THEM, the health care organizations and corporations, instead of the American people--the ones it's supposed to be created for, remember? ;

--The oil spill in the Gulf is one huge clusterpuck, obviously, and President Obama had better separate himself from BP by at least declaring the apparently truer,larger magnitude of the oil spilled or he's going to damage himself far worse by not doing so. He'll look like he's on their side and colluding with them to save their bacon;

--Aren't we all over the phrases "back in the day..." and "at the end of the day"? Holy cow. How overused can it be?;

--I guess none of us has to say we're tired of the rain and grey skies, huh? But there, I've said it. Put me on that list;

--They're predicting sun beginning Wednesday through Friday, at least, and finally in the upper 70's. Yahoo.

Let's have a great week, y'all.

Travel Arizona, indeed

Roy Blunt? Come clean?

"Man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"

So here's hoping.


Have a great weekend, y'all.

The latest and greatest--KC in the NYT this Sunday

This is always cool--as I said, our very own Kansas City highlighted in the travel section of The New York Times this Sunday.

How cool is that?

And the thing is, it's online right now. Check it out:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/travel/16hours.html

To further heighten its coolness factor, they're saying in the article what I've said here a few times and that is, wait until next year, when the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opens.

There will be no holding us back, then.


Have a great weekend, everyone.

Good vs. Evil; Light vs. Dark

The Star outdid themselves yesterday.

The 2 pictures of the candidates for the US Senate from Missouri on the front page, along with the story, were magnificent.

Really, if ever a race were good vs. evil, dark vs. light, the little guy vs. the corporation, etc., etc., it's this race.

Robin Carnahan vs. Roy "Show me the money" Blunt.

Both old political families.

Neither perfect people but come on, you can't get too much dirtier than the Blunt family, individually and collectively, for payoffs and supporting corporate interests over the man on the street.

Who can forget Roy's son, the previous governor, letting his brother help get in legislation, as a lobbyist--while his brother is still that same governor--to let corporations the brother/lobbyist represents, get legislation squarely in their favor and that hurts the citizens of Missouri?

Aside: If Dickens were still writing, what better name for a corrupt political family in the state than Blunt? In fictional terms, that's just beautiful.

And while it's good vs. evil, and David vs. Goliath and all the obvious comparisons for this race, given Missouri's swing to more of a "red" state (meaning Republican, unfortunately), and the fact that the Rethugs took away any campaign contribution limits last year, it looks bad for us Democrats, liberals, "Leftists" and people for the people and the "common man" or working class guy.

It's still anyone's race, for sure, but it doesn't look good.

I'd think, at this point, there is a high likelihood that the big money and corporations are going to pull out all the money stops in the last 3 months of this campaign, in their effort to get ol' buddy Roy in that Senate seat.

Ugh.

Here's wishing us luck.

Here's hoping David can beat Goliath.

Screwed-up priorities

Wow.

Did you see this story?

It's on page A2 of the Star today, and a small article, at that, under "Today's Top 5".

It seems someone let their dog urinate on a 69-year old former-Marine's well-manicured lawn and he got upset. He got so upset, he killed the neighbor whose dog it was.

To repeat: wow.

Holy cow.

Stunning.

Shocking.

Disturbing.

Disturbed.

And sure, that's what I mean by "screwed-up priorities".

But that's not all.

The other, further part of this is that the guy's bail is set at three million dollars. That's right, $3 million.

It seems that, as a culture, we are so quick and decisive to do something really tough to people who do things to pets--dogs and cats--but if you do it to a child, an infant, well, you get punished, but not anything like if you did/do to that pet.

Abuse a child? Sure, you get spanked.

You might spend a few years in jail or something, absolutely.

But somehow kill a dog?

Fugghedaboudit.

You're going away.

And this is one such case, it seems to me.

You can have children starving in Mississippi for decades--but that's just because they're poor or black or trying to abuse the system.

Abuse one animal?

You're going down, big time.

What's the number one newer news segment on the 10 O'clock news?

Frequently, it's the "adopt-a-pet" feature.

Where's the one about the 13 year old boy or girl who needs a foster home?

Oh, that's right. That would make the news channel "Liberal" or "Left" or Left-leaning" or just too political or sympathetic, wouldn't it?

Pathetic. Pitiful.

Yeah, we have screwed up priorities, all right.

Wow.

Quote for the day

"I do not attend church. The cloying, feel-your-pain language of the average clergy member makes me run for the door. The debates in most churches—whether revolving around homosexuality or biblical interpretation—are a waste of energy. I have no desire to belong to any organization, religious or otherwise, which discriminates, nor will I spend my time trying to convince someone that the raw anti-Semitism in the Gospel of John might not be the word of God. It makes no difference to me if Jesus existed or not. There is no historical evidence that he did. Fairy tales about heaven and hell, angels, miracles, saints, divine intervention and God’s beneficent plan for us are repeatedly mocked in the brutality and indiscriminate killing in war zones, where I witnessed children murdered for sport and psychopathic gangsters elevated to demigods. The Bible works only as metaphor." --Chris Hedges, Truthdig.org


Link to complete, original post here:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/after_religion_fizzles_were_stuck_with_nietzsche_20100510/

we can solve our problems

We have a lot of problems, folks.

We can either continue to tear each other apart or we can work together.

It's our choice.

Come on, Kansas City--let's do better than this

Men's Health recently released its report on the top 10 fittest and fattest cities in the US and the news for us in Kansas City could be worse but it's not good:

Top 10 fattest Cities:

1. Corpus Christi, TX
2. Charleston, WV
3. El Paso, TX
4. Dallas, TX
5. Memphis, TN
6. Kansas City, MO
7. San Antonio, TX
8. Baltimore, MD
9. Houston, TX
10. Birmingham, AL

Sixth. Ick.

At least we're not in first, like we were some years ago, eh?

But we can do better than this and we need to.

So, folks, get to know nutrition. Get to know food. Too many people don't.

Eat less pizza. Eat less pasta. Eat less carbohydrates and starchy foods.

And for pity's sake, eat more vegetables and fruit.

Lots more.

And get up off the sofa.

http://hitchfit.com/micahhitchfit-com/2010/05/10/nutrition/weight-loss-and-fat-cities/

Casino Jack: Coming to a theater near you

And we still don't have meaningful financial reform.

Quote of the day--peaceful coexistence

"We are on the cusp of a significant turning point in history - either these instances of really terrible seemingly unstoppable catastrophic disasters will increase and get worse or we will wake up and make the changes we need to make to transform them into planetary peace and stability. It is up to us to choose, but first we must each take responsibility for our own part of the problem." --Yehuda Berg

Link to original post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yehuda-berg/what-the-is-going-on_b_561642.html

Quote for the day

By E.J. Dionne

Ever heard the one about the guy who hated government until a deregulated Wall Street crashed, an oil spill devastated the Gulf of Mexico, a coal mine collapsed, and some good police work stopped a terrorist attack?

Link to original post:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/will_we_keep_hating_government_20100506/

Today's Kansas City Star

For anyone and everyone who has ever complained about the state of the newspaper in general but the Kansas City Star, in particular, including myself and Tony at the TKC blog, today's paper proves itself to be everything a good newspaper issue should be.

The front page alone, with an article on the alleged Waldo rapist and another on the KCMO School District and a third on mothers who became moms at a young age and what they learned from it--gave terrific local coverage and color to these stories.

Nowhere on that front page was an article about national, international or--worse yet--sports issues. Just great, local, important stories and writing.

So here's to the Kansas City Star today. Kudos. You did a great job. We'd love to see more in this vein.


Other, brief notes on Star stories today:

--If you haven't read that article, mentioned above, on the KCMO School District and Superintendent Covington's plans to take it into "standards-based education", you need to. It's well researched, it seems and explained. It's important for the city to know what's going on, besides being a fascinating read;

--It looks as though, finally, President Obama may move the country towards banning land mines. (Pg A2). This is way overdue;

--A woman was elected, for the first time, to head the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Another milestone in women's growth;

--There's a terrific, if surprising and, for me, disappointing article (pg A12) on President Obama inspiring blacks to run for office. The only disappointment for me is that they're Republicans and running for those seats. (Question: Why join a group that hates you?);

--Good news--if not great--from the Pope, the Vatican and the Catholic Church in that the resignation of a Cardinal in Germany was accepted (pg A17). He admitted to slapping (read: abusing) children and apparently also sexually abusing some, too. Change seems to be slowly coming to the church after all, at long last;

--The story about the Jordan River (pg A18) being grossly over-drained and polluted through Israel, Jordan and Syria is an important one for that entire area but also as a lesson to the rest of the world on what we do with water and what a precious resource it is. Water will clearly become one of the most important scarce resources in the world shortly, it seems. Maybe, if we're lucky, it will mean we'll all finally start treating it better and wiser as the vital, important item in our lives it really is and so, stop wasting and polluting it. Who knows? Maybe it could bring us al together, as people, to work together for what we need. Call me a dreamer;

--There is a fairly short but important article about a US-born Muslim cleric now living in Yemen who's calling for a Jihad against the US.


So there you are, folks--just good stuff. I hope you caught or catch it.


Now let's all go out and have a great week.

The beginning of a panic?

As I wrote the other day, after the Dow dropped nearly 1,000 points in a day, I have to say again, the government had better jump all over this and find out what happened and make certain it doesn't happen again.

Check out this video. This blogger, Felix Salmon, won't be alone. Investors in the markets want and need dependability, integrity and accountability in the markets or they'll bail.

And that won't be good for those markets or this country.

Hopefully Congress is listening.

First Friday last evening

 

In case you missed First Friday last evening in the Crossroads District. This guy was a lot of fun. (Nothing you maybe haven't seen before but still, live, it was fun).

Predictably, a great deal of people showed and it was great fun.

Get over to the Nelson for the new Egyptian Gallery, too, if you can, this weekend. Great stuff.

In it, you can learn about:

--the origin of prayer and prayers (eat! eat!)

--the original source for the phrase "the evil eye"

and a whole lot more.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Water Department Chief leaves: wth?

The Star reports today that the KCMO Water Department Chief resigned this week.

What?

The questions come from the facts that a) he resigned, and somewhat quickly and surprisingly, first and b) three weeks ago he was "suspended last month with pay." It seems "an investigation was being undertaken of serious allegations" against him--Bernardo Garcia--since these allegations were "raised by someone in the Water Services Department."

Excuse me?

Three weeks ago he's suspended and now he quits, saying he "had voluntarily resigned to pursue other interests and spend more time with his family."

Right. I'm certain of it. It was just that.

Say, did you see those flying pigs last night?

No, no, you watch, more will come of this yet, I'd expect.

And I believe it will involve attorneys, at some point.

And it won't be pretty.


Have a great weekend, y'all.

Big and busy weekend for KC

Yeah, if you can't have fun and/or learn something this weekend in Kansas City, you have serious problems.

Tonight, it's "First Friday" , of course, in the Crossroads District, downtown.

This should really be a "rip snorter", for lots of reasons, mainly having to do with the fact that it's supposed to turn sunny this afternoon and, while cool, it's perfect for going around down there. It will be great for seeing all the art, artists and performances, before it gets Summer hot and humid.

You won't want to miss that, likely.

Be forewarned, though--hundreds or thousands of us are going to be going down there so parking will be looney. Here's a thought--either take "The Max" bus from further in the city, down Main Street and zip in easily or park outside the area a bit and walk in. That's the only thing that will make sense.

Secondly, the new Egyptian Gallery at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opens tonight.

Yowza.

I've been waiting for this all winter. It should be a stunner. (Again, big crowds. If you don't like them, wait a week and it will improve). Also, this is a ticketed event, understandably, so don't think you're getting in free. Just sayin'.

And then Sunday is Mother's Day--but you knew that, right?

If you're taking Mom out for dinner, you'd better already have your reservation or some secret plan to get yourself out of your jam.

That's only three things but those right there, along with everything else we have to do--right?--will fill up the weekend quickly and nicely.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Concerning that drop in the Dow yesterday

Unless you slept the last 24 hours, you know the Dow Jones dropped the most it ever had yesterday, about 1,000 points, before recovering a bit for "only" a loss of 347.80 points.

Whew.

That was close.

But looking into this further, there was already news out this morning that--oops--it may have been a computer accident.

Or something.

And I'll tell you what, the government better look into this--thoroughly and quickly--to find out what, exactly, happened, why, how and whether anything even inappropriate happened, if not out-and-out manipulative and/or illegal.

A few days or times of that kind of trading happening and any faith in the markets would not just be shaken but destroyed.

How likely is it people and companies would want to trade when markets are that volatile?

Nothing would be safe.

Check this out from Bloomberg News today:

The market rout triggered scrutiny from lawmakers. U.S. Representative Paul Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat, set a May 11 hearing. U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman, a Delaware Democrat, questioned whether markets that increasingly rely on computer algorithms to execute thousands of transactions in seconds triggered false trades.

“This is unacceptable,” Kanjorski, who leads a House Financial Services subcommittee that oversees the SEC, said in a statement. “We cannot allow a technological error to spook the markets and cause panic.”

Yeah, I'll say.

Then there's this from Talk Left Blog :

Algorhithms may be the culprit.

High-speed trading, which uses sophisticated computer algorithms based on specific scenarios to automate transactions at speeds in the millionths of a second, now accounts for about 60 percent of U.S. equity volume.

"The potential for giant high-speed computers to generate false trades and create market chaos reared its head again today," Senator Edward Kaufman said in a statement.

"False trades"?

So yeah, Congress, please look into this, right away and thoroughly, please.

And don't pander to the corporations running this show, either.

(Man, that last line is funny, ain't it?)

Have a great weekend, folks. (If the markets don't collapse).

Clay Chastain? Back? Again?

What sick, twisted thing (things?) did Kansas City do to deserve being haunted and hounded by Clay Chastain, again and again, over the last many years?

I'm thinking it was either the racism of the city that divides us, physically, too much, even to this day, or the city sprawl that has us from Platte City to Louisburg and from Odessa to Gardner--or both.

That must be it.

Did you hear this?

Clay Chastain is back YET AGAIN to try to get signatures for another freaking campaign to get light rail? I heard it on KCUR this morning.

Holy cow.

This guy never gives up.

He has got to LOVE attention, don'tcha know? But I've thought and said that for years.

And get this--rather than him come to us for our signatures, he got the lapdog media in town to announce for him that he'll be at Union Station tomorrow so WE CAN COME TO HIM.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Man, that's good.

Yeah, right, Clay. We'll be right there.

Hold yer breath.

I think I might go down myself, with my camera, and take pictures of him standing there, all alone, waiting for people to come in.


Have a great weekend, y'all.

I know I will.

If you thought that last "flash mob" was fun...

I think this one was even better.

Again, let's organize and coordinate some flash mobs like this on the Plaza for Saturday night entertainment with people from all over the city. We could do them in Mill Creek Park.

Anybody game?

This, then, is a "flash mob"

Could we organize these on the Plaza on Saturday nights?

It looks like everyone had a good time, everyone was entertained and no one was intimitdated or hurt and no laws were broken.

Arizona's new slogan

Arizona: Come for the racism. Stay for the Fascism.