Kansas City company all over the NY Times this week

I saw this a few days ago--huge stories on this Kansas City company and some of our town, to boot:

Drug-testing company tied to ncaa stirs criticism - New York Times

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A wall in one of the conference rooms at the National Center for Drug Free Sport displays magazine covers, each capturing a moment in the inglorious history of doping scandals in sports.

Yes, by gosh, because we need guns everywhere

 

Man with gun permit accidentally shoots wife at steakhouse - KCTV5

Quote of the day--on America's health care

Writer T.R. Reid on the difference between the American health care system and most of the rest of the world:
"The key difference is that foreign health insurance plans exist only to pay people's medical bills, not to make a profit. The United States is the only developed country that lets insurance companies profit from basic health coverage."

From the article:

Five Myths About Health Care in the Rest of the World

New blog (to me) in town

Here it is:

Dodge's Motorcycle Adventures

And he's on YouTube, too:

 

New Blog Website (www.dodgerider.net) - YouTube

 

I was walking into the Quik Trip at I-35 and Lamar today and this guy with a matching motorcycle helmet and jacket was walking out. The jacket and helmt were both bright, bright yellow and that would have made me notice but what really got me was that he clearly had a camera on the side of his helmet.

 

I went on to the register and made my brief, quick purchase, all the while thinking about this guy with a camera on the side of his head. I'd kept my eye on him and saw he was still in the parking lot. I had to go ask him about it.

 

In a short conversation, he told me he liked to videotape his rides and did it frequently. He also told me he had a blog--that mentioned above--he also had, as well as his videos on YouTube.

 

I had to check it out.

It's the jobs, stupid

"What always interests me about the Sunday talk shows is the big topic they don't cover, the unmentionable large issue of the week. This time it was the nation's continuing job crisis, as reported last Friday by the BLS. Instead, the discussion was all about the fiscal cliff and upcoming debt ceiling -- in other words, the deficit. Yet the deficit isn't the crisis. It's actually dropping as a percentage of the economy. And America can now borrow at the lowest rates in memory. Our crisis is jobs -- and also our crumbling infrastructure and our schools in which 30 or more kids are crowded into classrooms. America should be borrowing more now to put more people to work rebuilding our infrastructure and hiring more teachers and teachers' aides. That we are obsessing about the deficit instead shows how much of the public agenda has been captured by the deficit hawks and shrink-the-government goons."

--Robert Reich, American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997.

Links:

Robert Reich | Facebook

Robert Reich - Wikipedia

Quote of the day--on government bribes and what's wrong with our government

"In the real world, there are only two ways to deal with corporate misbehavior: One is through government regulation and the other is by taking them to court. What has happened over 20 years of free-market proselytizing is that we have dangerously weakened both forms of restraint, first through the craze for 'deregulation' and second through endless rounds of 'tort reform,' all of which have the effect of cutting off citizens' access to the courts. By legally bribing politicians with campaign contributions, the corporations have bought themselves immunity from lawsuits on many levels."

--Molly Ivins,  (August 30, 1944 – January 31, 2007) American newspaper columnist, populist, political commentator, humorist and author

Link:   Molly Ivins - Wikipedia

Tax cuts for the most profitable industry in the nation--and world

Tax cuts for "Big Oil"?

Does that make any sense at all?

No.  Heck no. It's nearly insane.

It must end.

Didn't scream about Dubya' but screaming now

Sure, Dubya'--George W. Bush--took us into an unnecessary and nightmarish, arbitrary war and gave tax cuts to the wealthiest of the nation--the already-wealthy--and made it illegal for our government to negotiate lower drug prices for the nation from the pharmaceuticals and all the rest he did, but get a black man in the White House and all hell breaks loose.

Racist?

Nah.

Perish the thought.

Spain does it right on a big lottery

If nations must have lotteries--and apparently they must--it seems Spain does it a bit smarter:

Spain's 'El Nino' lottery hands out $1.1 billion

Sure, they handed out a load of money, but instead of just giving it to one winner, they distribute it:

MADRID (AP) — A lottery showered €840 million ($1.1 billion) on ticket holders in five regions of Spain on Sunday, in the midst of a deep recession and high unemployment.

 

The "El Nino" (The Child) lottery is held each Feast of the Epiphany — Jan. 6 — and the top prize tickets were sold in Alicante, Leon, Madrid, Murcia and Tenerife. The lottery's name refers to the baby Jesus, who according to tradition was visited this day by three kings of Orient bearing gifts.

 

The lottery tickets cost €20 ($26), and the most one can win is €200,000 ($260,240). But there's a catch. Thanks to new austerity measures aimed at reviving Spain's ailing economy, anyone who wins above 2,500 euros ($3,250) in the lottery has to pay 20 percent income tax on their windfall.

On Sunday, a cheering crowd gathered outside one ticket office in the southwestern Madrid suburb of Alcorcon where 200 of the winning numbers were sold, totaling €40 million ($52 million) in prize money.

I've written about this before, not that long ago.  Distributing lotteries, if we're going to have them, between more people could and should and would benefit from them, they would be far less likely to get or be really screwed up by such a large windfall of money and, finally, the benefit of the wins would be distributed across more economies, more towns, more cities, more counties and states.

It only makes sense.

Quote of the day---on life

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You'll have your heart broken and you'll break others' hearts. You'll fight with your best friend or maybe even fall in love with them, and you'll cry because time is flying by. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you've never been hurt.

 Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. you just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone's hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts.

Don't be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back.

 ~ Unknown

Really, does this make sense?

I've wondered this myself many times.

Why does a salad, for pity's sake--a small salad--cost more than a hamburger?

Of course, we know the answer.

The answer is that this is "free-market Capitalism" so companies charge whatever they wish on whatever they choose.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating or suggesting we should have laws making this illegal, far from it.

What I'm saying is that businesses and business people should have morals and practice them in their businesses.

It's not going to happen, not in America but there you are.

Way to go, McDonald's.

Just know, we're not "Lovin' it."

Link: Americans unaware of most obesity risks

On that Iraq War---and where we are now

From producer, writer, director Michael Moore's Facebook page earlier today:

You might have seen that on Monday President Obama will likely nominate former Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, to be Secretary of Defense.

But what you probably haven't seen – because everyone has forgotten – is that back in 2007, Chuck Hagel went totally crazy and told the truth about our invasion of Iraq. Here's what he said:

"People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are. They talk about America's national interest. What the hell do you think they're talking about? We're not there for figs." 

 Link:    The Costs of War for Oil | FPIF

 

Selfish, short-sighted Kansas

As I've said before, when it comes to public funds, if it's for "us", it's okay. It's great, in fact.

If it's for "them", it's bad.

Unthinkable.

Links: 

Congress OKs $9.7 billion in Sandy flood aid, with Kansas representatives voting no 
Daily Kos: The Republican hypocrites who voted against Sandy ...
  
Federal Government Responds to Devastating Greensburg Tornado

   Jim Ward for Kansas | Kansas Senate – District 28
  
Representative Jim Ward | Legislators | Kansas State Legislature
  
Jim Ward (Kansas politician) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Who we are

Don't doubt it.

America is the war monger of the world.

Bar none.

What are you going to do about it?

Helen Keller could see very well, thanks very much

 

If you doubt this claim, above, go here:

 

World's 100 richest gained $241B last year

Wayne LaPierre and his NRA and their "logic"

Note to Republicans, from a stellar one of your own

Note to Republicans:  Surely you remember this famous, famous quote from one of the most revered Presidents, statesman and, yes, Republicans this nation ever knew?

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Surely your remember that, right?

 Do you not see--does no one in your political party see--that we we all, all of us, as Americans, have to work together for the benefit of the nation? Do you not see and know that we have to be Americans first and members of some political party, second?

Do you not see and know that?

This is especially true of our representatives in Congress. We must, must work together, as one people, Americans first and all, to compromise on the problems facing us and it certainly applies now, this year, and it absolutely must come about time and again this year for our budget debates.

Compromise isn't capitulation, ladies and gentlemen of the Republican Party. I say again (and again and again), we have to work together to solve our problems.

We just went through a fairly rough set of negotiations, just to get past the "fiscal cliff" Congress themselves created and that only they could fix. In the months ahead, there are at least 3 or four more of these negotiations we have to go through. Read: endure. It seems ever since the former Soviet Union collapsed, we have taken on, internally, people in our own country as our enemies, since our former enemy--the Communist Soviets--collapsed.

Our political party opposites are not our enemies.

They are our countrymen and women.

Fighting one another, from within, only strengthens those on the outside of the country, while it weakens us and our nation.

Don't you see that?

Link:  "House Divided" Speech by Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the day

"To be capable of embarrassment is the beginning of moral consciousness. Honor grows from qualms."

 -John Leonard, critic (1939-2008)

American Exceptionalism

 

Yes, well, we're exceptional, all right.

Why we need to work together, all of us, as Americans.

ERMAGERD!! Pope blasphemes Capitalism!

Finally, finally, he takes an intelligent stand on a current day issue:

BBC News - Pope's new year address deplores rampant capitalism

While I applaud this stance of his, certainly, it kills me he doesn't see his own, gaping hypocrisy.

 

And then there's the whole problem with this it creates for most Americans but that's another issue.

 

 

Kansas, you're taking it in the pocketbook because of your Governor

 

From the Kansas Democratic Party FB page today:

Gov. Brownback is lining up support behind taxing working Kansas families through higher sales taxes so he can pay for even more tax breaks for large corporations and the wealthiest Kansans. And this is after he eliminated the food sales tax credit, increasing taxes on working Kansans and making it harder to raise a family on a modest income.

Nice, eh?

More importantly, there is this from the Wichita Eagle-Beacon:

Eagle editorial: Flip-flop on sales tax?

Given how strenuously conservative lawmakers and anti-tax groups opposed the statewide sales-tax increase in 2010, it is hard to believe that the Legislature would even consider going back on its word and not allowing the tax to expire on July 1. Yet Gov. Sam Brownback and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce already have flip-flopped; lawmakers may do so, too.

When the Legislature approved the temporary tax increase, conservative lawmakers protested that it would wreck the economic recovery. The Kansas chamber condemned the budget deal as catering “to the needs of those at the government trough,” and it targeted for defeat lawmakers who “voted to impose higher taxes on job creators and families.”

Brownback also criticized the tax increase when he campaigned for governor that year. But after he was elected, he changed his view.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/01/02/2620816/eagle-editorial-flip-flop-on-sales.html#emlnl=Morning_Headlines_Newsletter#storylink=cpy

Kansans, you're--we're--being taken for a ride, all so this Governor can, in his hopes, be the next president of these United States.

He need to hear from you and I, from all of us.

Quote of the day

"When it shall be said in any country in the world, my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am the friend of its happiness: when these things can be said, then may that country boast its constitution and its government."

--Thomas Paine

Top 10 Stories on the World's Ecology from 2012

Because it needs to be both said and remembered so hopefully we learn:

10 Most Popular Stories of 2012 – EcoWatch

10. Fracking—A Bad Bet for the Environment and Economy

 9. Tests Find Toxics in Broad Array of Consumer Products

 8. Cincinnati Passes Resolution Requiring GE Food Labeling

 7. BP Covered Up Blow-out Two Years Prior to Deadly Deepwater Horizon Spill

 6. Tell Congress to Expedite Renewable Energy

 5. Ohio Governor Halts Four More Fracking Wastewater Injection Wells After Yesterday’s Quake

 4. Hawaii Becomes First State in the U.S. to Ban Plastic Bags

 3. Analysts Conclude Fracking Wastewater Poses Substantial Risk to Drinking Water

 2. Mining Companies Invade Wisconsin for Frac-Sand

 1. Stomach Contents of Seabirds Show that Marine Plastic Pollution Is out of Control

The fact is, we humans, across the planet, need to recognize that the ways we live now are absolutely not sustainable.  We need to change and change big and as soon as possible, all of us.

On that deficit problem those Republicans are fighting?

Here's your deficit spending for you that the Republicans say they're fighting in Washington:

Don’t be fooled. This war was never over the federal budget deficit.

In fact, federal deficits are dropping as a percent of the total economy. For the fiscal year ending in September 2009, the deficit was 10.1 percent of the gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in America. In 2010, it was 9 percent. In 2011, 8.7 percent. In the 2012 fiscal year, it was down to 7 percent.

The deficit ballooned in 2009 because of the Great Recession. It knocked so many people out of work that tax revenues dropped to the lowest share of the economy in over sixty years. (The Bush tax cuts on the rich also reduced revenues.) The recession also boosted government spending on a stimulus program and on safety nets like unemployment insurance and food stamps.

But as the nation slowly emerges from recession, more people are employed — generating more tax revenues, and requiring less spending on safety nets and stimulus. That’s why the deficit is shrinking.

Yes, deficits are projected to rise again in coming years as a percent of GDP. But that’s mainly due to the rising costs of health care, along with aging baby boomers who are expected to need more medical treatment.

Health care already consumes 18 percent of the total economy and almost a quarter of the federal budget (mostly in Medicare and Medicaid).

So if the ongoing war between Republicans and Democrats were really over those future budget deficits, you might expect Republicans and Democrats to be focusing on ways to hold down future healthcare costs.

They might be debating how to make the cost controls in the Affordable Care Act more effective, for example, or the merits of moving to a more efficient single-payer system, as every other advanced country has done.

But they’re not debating this, because the federal deficit is not what this war is about. It’s about the size of government. Tea-Party Republicans (and other congressional Republicans worried about a Tea-Party challenge in their next primary) want the government to be much smaller.

“My goal,” says conservative guru Grover Norquist, “is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”

What’s behind this zeal to shrink government? It’s not that the U.S. government has suddenly become larger. In fact, non-military government spending relative to the size of the U.S. economy remains the smallest of any other rich nation.
Apart from the military, Medicare and Social Security account for almost everything else the federal government does – and these programs continue to be hugely popular, as Republicans learn every time they threaten them.

The animus toward government has more to do with the growing frustrations of many Americans that they’re not getting ahead no matter how hard they work. Government is an easy scapegoat, utilized by much of corporate America to convince average Americans to cut taxes, spending, and regulations.

The median wage continues to drop, adjusted for inflation, even though the economy is growing. And the share of the economy going to wages rather than to profits is the smallest on record.

Increasingly it’s looked like the game is rigged, especially when people see government bailing out Wall Street (the Tea Party movement grew out of the bailout, as did the Occupiers), and handing out corporate welfare to big agriculture, big pharma, oil companies, and insurance companies.

The outrage grows when average working people are told – wrongly — that a growing portion of Americans don’t pay taxes and live off government handouts.

The battle over the fiscal cliff is nearly over, but the trench warfare will continue.

--Robert Reich, American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator.

Oh, and then there's this:  The Biden-McConnell Tax Deal Would Save Less

The tax deal negotiated between Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and approved by the Senate early on January 1 would save less than half as much revenue as President’s Obama’s original proposal.

And if they really WERE concerned about all that pesky deficit spending, would this be true?

Eight Corporate Subsidies in the Fiscal Cliff Bill, From Goldman Sachs to Disney to NASCAR

Nice, huh?

All these, above, seem to make clear that in actuality, the Republicans aren't all about that pesky deficit after all. They're all for themselves and they simply want to stop this president and the other political party.

It's sick.
Links: Michael Hudson: America’s Deceptive 2012 Fiscal Cliff, Part II – The Financial War Against the Economy at Large
The "Fiscal Cliff" Hoax

Robert Reich - Wikipedia

Robert Reich

Robert Reich | Facebook

One day into the new year and already the Republicans are messing with us

Isn't this just lovely?

Cantor opposes Senate fiscal cliff bill

 

The No. 2 Republican in the House is against the Senate measure that was passed overnight.

Passage Of Fiscal Deal Murky After GOP Resistance

House Republicans balk at "fiscal cliff" deal

Apparently they're going to put the kibosh to the compromise worked in the Senate for this whole "fiscal cliff" fiasco they themselves created--and now can't or won't fix.

They have learned nothing, apparently, from the election they just got beaten so badly in and here we go, in another, new situation and this new year..

I don't think we can assume anything but that this is what they have in mind for us, for the nation, in the coming year.

Heaven help us.

Catholic sexual abuse case: here we go again

Breaking news today:

Abuse Case Announced in Mo. Catholic Diocese

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau says it has received a credible complaint of sexual abuse against a minor that allegedly occurred in the early to mid-1960s. The diocese says the accused priest, the Rev. Walter C. Craig, died in 1971. The Springfield News-Leader reports that the diocese has notified civil authorities of the allegation. Further details were not released.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/01/3989786/abuse-case-announced-in-missouri.html#storylink=cpy

But do anything about this, internally, in the Catholic Church? Learn lessons? Try to stop it?

Are you kidding me?

Here's to you, Kansas, in 2013

"Today's the day - the Brownback tax plan is officially the law of the land. Here is the final - and most important - Brownback Tax Fact:

The Brownback tax plan doesn't just cut income taxes for the state's 191,000 business owners that are limited liability corporations, subchapter S corporations and sole proprietorships. It eliminates their income taxes completely. Today marks the beginning of an era in Kansas where the workers pay taxes but the bosses do not. Meanwhile, schools will go underfunded, sales tax will increase, property taxes will skyrocket, and the American Dream will diminish. Is this the Kansas that you want for your family?"

--Paul Davis,  Kansas House Democratic Leader, from his Facebook page today (https://www.facebook.com/PaulDavisKS?group_id=0).

It's good--very good--to be already-rich in Kansas today.

Keep this in mind:

"In the 1950s, corporate income tax yielded one-third of federal tax revenue. What changed? Who is working for whom? By 2007, corporations paid only about 7 percent of total federal revenue.

In 1979, Kansas state corporate income tax was about 11.9 percent of total revenue. By 1989, 7.9 percent and, by 2007, only 5.6 percent of total taxes were contributed by corporate income tax. Perhaps business needs to pay its fair share for education."  (Link to quote here: Corporate tax / LJWorld.com ).

A graphic of Governor Brownback's tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy:

So if you declare yourself a corporation in Kansas, you needn't help any with the schooling of your employees or the paving of the streets that get your products out to your markets or for the defense of your nation or the sewage infrastructure that makes our towns, cities, states and nation work, none of that or anything else.

Right.

I get that. 

Totally.

Right?

Quote of the day--for the new year

"Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties."

--Helen Keller