Posts
Thankfully, Kansas City Cameron Lamb Riots Never Happened
31 minutes ago
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Article and video on Wichita, KS and the Koch brothers in NYT today
First the video:
The Koch brothers have their name on a lot of things in Wichita, home of Koch Industries - a zoo exhibit, a YMCA, a basketball arena. But even in a city they've given millions to, there are skeptics.
And then the article:
For residents of the Kochs' hometown, Wichita, Kan., the brothers are known less for their political agenda and more for their extensive philanthropy, which some see as a mixed blessing.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Entertainment overnight -- Kagemusha
I love these guys' work. The sound quality here is far from the best since it was done with a cell phone but at least it's a live performance.
Much better sound quality here:
Monday, June 16, 2014
Demonizing the oppostion
I just saw the movie trailer for this movie coming out soon:
Funny thing, I can absolutely see people in America on the Left and Right, both, imagining the "Apes" as their political opposition in this country, each so certain the other is wrong.
So wrong. So totally, utterly, even demoniacally wrong.
We don't see each other as Americans any longer.
Big mistake. Big problem.
Notes on a Kansas City Weekend
Things noticed over the weekend;
1) Prairie Village seems to want to become either Kansas City, Missouri or just more like them. If you've driven 75th Street headed West lately, you know what I mean. I don't think any one Kansas City street has ever had any more construction plates on the road than that city (town?) does now;
2) Meanwhile, in nearby Mission, Kansas, holy cow, people. Johnson drive is a God-awful, bumpy, crowded, narrow, nearly dangerous mess. I suppose that's the only way it can be repaired but what a driving nightmare. As an additional note, I can't imagine how the businesses on the South side of that street are able to continue. I don't know how long it's been torn up but it's clear it won't be done any time soon;
3) And speaking of Mission, how about that mall, eh? Seems only two questions come up: First, will that thing ever be redone? And second, wouldn't it be terrific if they just hadn't torn down the old one?
And finally,
4) What on Earth would get someone--anyone--who's sane, anyway, to move 1/2 way across the country---all the way to Virginia, for pity's sake---but to STILL, after all these years, focus on our city, Kansas City, and whether or not we build light rail? What sick, twisted disease must be running around your body or mind to make you fixate like that? It has to be a combination of outrageous egotism and OCD, don't you think?
And I refuse to mention that person's name in any way here, ever, but the surname rhymes with *ss-stain.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Father's Day
Having met and known someone--well--who didn't/doesn't respect his own father (or mother, for that matter) helps me value and appreciate my own father (and yes, mother) that much more.
Happy Father's Day out there to all the dads. Enjoy your day.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Happy Flag Day
“What struck me as I began to study history was how nationalist fervor--inculcated from childhood on by pledges of allegiance, national anthems, flags waving and rhetoric blowing--permeated the educational systems of all countries, including our own. I wonder now how the foreign policies of the United States would look if we wiped out the national boundaries of the world, at least in our minds, and thought of all children everywhere as our own. Then we could never drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, or napalm on Vietnam, or wage war anywhere, because wars, especially in our time, are always wars against children, indeed our children.”
―-Howard Zinn, American historian, author, playwright, and social activist. from his book
A People's History of the United States: 1492 – Present
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Entertainment overnight -- song and dance
For the kids out there, go Google Bob Hope and James Cagney
HUGE news yesterday
It hit late last afternoon:
Eric Cantor Loses GOP Primary.
Wait, What!?
That is some big, even incredible news.
The ultra-Right Wing of the nation, of the Republican Party, the Tea Party and all of their ilk just keep cannibalizing the Republican Party and each other.
Outstanding.
What they don't seem to know is that it weakens them. What they also don't know is that it strengthens the opposition party.
What they also don't know is that all this is better--far better--for the nation, too.
And I love this. The guy who beat Cantor is named Brat.
That seems to me worthy of Charles Dickens.
And why did the Brat (you should have seen that coming) defeat Mr. Cantor?
Turns out, it may have been due to Cantor's nod to possibly accepting immigration reform. That's bad news for the mainstream Republican Party, also, because the core of the Party realized, rather reluctantly, that they need more and more of the Hispanic vote if they expect to both grow, as an organization, and most importantly, win future elections.
One more thing good for America here is that Mr. Brat only raised an estimated $150,000 in his campaign.
Mr. Cantor?
It's estimated Mr. Cantor raised $5.5 million.
The big money got tossed.
Even though it's the Tea Party, I'll still take that as a bit of a small win for America.
So, the coming 2016 election?
Monday, June 9, 2014
Health care in America
It's not about you. It's not about me. It's not about people.
For the businesses, the corporations, the insurance companies,
it's about the money.
We know that.
Now tell me how much we don't need the Affordable Care Act.
Yeah, Obamacare.
Statistics to back it up:
U.S. healthcare at $8,508 per capita -- most expensive
Medical Bills Are the Biggest Cause of US Bankruptcies
New Health Rankings: Of 17 Nations, US Is Dead Last
The American Slaughter
Here we go again, America. It happened again, just yesterday:
So 20 children--innocent, grade school children--were slaughtered, assassinated, in mere moments all that long ago and what did we do? What did America do?
Not a damn thing.
Changed nothing. Zip. Zilch.
In the meantime, between then and now, more shootings, more killings, more assassinations of innocents. College campuses, more children, all kinds. Heck, even a member of the House of Representatives.
And while so many think this is either okay apparently or just not that bad or wrong or repugnant, let's never lose sight of this:
No other civilized, industrialized, educated, First World nation in the world lives or has incidents like this, let alone repeated ones, the way we in our country, here in the US does.
It is shameful. It is irresponsible. It is, in fact, repugnant.
And that we have done nothing, to date, and that we continue to do nothing whatever about this is an obscenity and additional tragedy.
Face it, gun freaks, we're never taking your guns.
We know that. You should know that but the fear helps you whip up more frenzy and gun purchases, doesn't it?
But losing more and more of your fellow Americans--innocents, in this case, police officers--concerns you not a whit?
Work with us, for Christ's sake, for anything and everything that's good, work with us. For the good of America and for the safety of most Americans, let's reign in the weapons just a bit. There's only three things we really need to do. They are:
1) Do a background check on ALL for-profit purchases, including gun shows, for criminal history;
2) Do the same for mental stability and finally,
3) Put a top limit, per clip of 10 shots to any and all weapons, nationwide, starting now. You'd still have your weapons and we'd have a smidgen of restraint.
It's not complicated. It's very possible. They'd be effective, they'd be helpful and they'd be productive.
They'd be for the good of the nation and for the people.
Lots of data here: Homicide | Harvard Injury Control Research Center
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Recommended viewing
With the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landing having been just this last week, there can be no better time than to see the still-fairly-new "Monuments Men" movie.
It's a fantastic story, beautifully shot and told and has a terrific, very full, even fun, cast to it, too. The first sight of Bill Murray is perfect, more of his tongue-in-cheek style.
This movie feels like a privilege to watch, the story is so good, so well told and so well done. I also think it tells more of the true horrors of war because, besides the war scenes, which every war movie naturally has, it shows more and better than ever before, possibly, of the horrors for the average person, the people, in this case, too, the Jews, of what exactly what they went through and the horrors. It shows, again, more personally, on the civilians' level, to the average working person, what a psychotic maniac Hitler was and the incredible damage Germany and Germans, at the time, did. It also better gives the scope of what Hitler and Hitler's Germany did.
I would go so far to say it's even an important film people need to see. It is one of those rare, terrific films you, again, feel privileged to have seen and are sorry when it ends.
Have a great weekend, y'all.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Entertainment overnight -- tongue deeply in cheek
These guys do it all. Classical music, holiday, hip-hop and more. And all good. No. Very well.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
Quote of the day -- Right out of the Republican Party pllatform
To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.
--Oscar Wilde, "The Soul of Man Under Socialism"
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Very likely the cheapest gasoline in the nation now
And you've got it, Joplin, Missouri. Shot yesterday:
On this day...in nearby Oklahoma, 1921
In 1921, Greenwood (in Tulsa, Oklahoma) was one of the most prosperous African-American communities in the U.S. Serving over 8,000 residents, Greenwood’s commercial district was known nationally as the ‘Negro Wall Street’. The community boasted two newspapers, over a dozen churches, and hundreds of African-American-owned businesses. On the evening of May 31, 1921, Greenwood was ravaged by a white mob. By the conclusion of the riot at midday, June 1, virtually every building in a 42-square-block area of the community--homes, schools, churches, and businesses--was burned to the ground and thousands were left homeless. Over 1,200 homes were destroyed. Every church, school, and business in Greenwood was set on fire. Approximately 8,000 African-Americans were left homeless and penniless. (Continue reading here: http://bit.ly/1pGWfv5.)
(People) need to learn the hidden history of the 1921 Tulsa race riot (massacre) and how this links to racial wealth inequality today. Read "Burning Tulsa: The Legacy of Black Dispossession" by Linda Christensen of Rethinking Schools and see her classroom lesson: http://bit.ly/1fDOUvG
You can read and see more about that ugly, fateful day, here:
What happened to Black Wall Street on June 1, 1921?
Which brings up this article from this past week from The New Yorker:
What We Talk About When We Talk About Reparations
And it is based on this recent article from The Atlantic
Most Americans likely don't know there were, in fact, some reparations paid for slavery just after the Civil War, as Ta-Nehisi Coates points out. Trouble is, they were paid to slave owners. How's that for irony? And hypocrisy.
Food for thought.
Enjoy your Sunday, everyone.
June 1: International Children's Day
From Wikipedia:
Children's Day is recognized on various days in many places around the world, to honor children globally. It was first proclaimed by the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in 1925 and then established universally in 1954 to protect an "appropriate" day.
International Day for Protection of Children, observed in many countries as Children's Day on June 1 since 1950, was established by the Women's International Democratic Federation on its congress in Moscow (22 November 1949). Major global variants include a Universal Children's Day on November 20, by United Nations recommendation.
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