Entertainment Overnight -- I think Michael would be proud

What our corporations---and our food--are doing to us, as a nation

A documentary from last year:



Get that?

"This is the first generation of American children expected to lead shorter lives than their parents."

And this:

"Over 95% of all Americans will be overweight or obese in 2 decades."

And "The government is subsidizing the obesity epidemic."

So you know.

So we know.

And act and react.

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?

One More Reason for a New, Single-Terminal Airport

Yessir, here we are. Yet one more reason for a new, single terminal airport at KCI, tearing down and walking away from our existing terminals:

FLASH MOBS!



Think about it!

As it stands now, with those pesky, ultra-convenient, already-built terminals we have and enjoy, with a gleaming, shiny, new single terminal, the airport authority could hire people like this and film a "spontaneous" dancing, flash mob. And if you're lucky enough to be there, you'll get to see and enjoy it.

Worst case scenario?  You'll get to watch it, after the fact, on KMBC-TV and KCTV-5 "news", along with the daily YouTube catch-up and cat and dog video segments.

It'll go viral and JUST THINK OF ALL THE GREAT MEDIA ATTENTION KANSAS CITY AND KCI WILL GET.

Sure, it'll cost us millions and it's stupid to tear down good, working, again, convenient, existing buildings--that we actually enjoy and appreciate--and it's horrible for the environment, what with throwing two entire terminals in a dump somewhere and the airlines don't want or recommend it and, oh, sure, our price per ticket of flying in and out of that new airport will go WAY up, as other cities that have done this have learned, to their shame, expense and frustration but...

WE'LL HAVE FLASH MOBS!!

AND A SHINY NEW AIRPORT!

More of our bought and paid for government

It's bad enough we even allow campaign contributions, since they make it possible for the wealthy and corporations to buy our government representatives and so, their legislation, our laws and ultimately, as we have found and as we are living now, our government.  Here is yet more of the ramifications of allowing all this money to flood into our country and that government:

"The New York Times reports this morning that more than a dozen prominent Washington think tanks have received tens of millions of dollars from foreign sources in recent years while pushing U.S. government to adopt policies that often reflect the donors’ priorities. But the Times misses the really big story about foreign influence in Washington: Global corporations owned and run largely or partially by non-Americans that since the Supreme Court’s shameful “Citizen’s United” decision have been pouring unlimited sums into election campaigns. This includes major foreign-based banks, pharmaceutical and high-tech companies, as well as American-based global companies whose management and shareholders are substantially non-American. It’s a back door for non-Americans to have their way in our nation’s capital. In 2012 they began donating big-time to SuperPACs and secret 501-c-4 “social welfare” entities that don’t have to disclose sources of their money, and the sums are increasing. It's exactly what Justice John Paul Stevens anticipated in his prescient dissent in the case.

This is why all political expenditures must be fully disclosed, why public corporations must report all campaign contributions, and 'Citizens United' must be reversed if not by the Court then by constitutional amendment. It's also why corporations using tax inversions to desert the United States must no longer have a voice in American politics."  

--Robert Reich, today, on FB

Link to referenced article:

Foreign Powers Buy Influence at Washington Think Tanks

Entertainment Overnight -- A Way Forward

Why we need to reign in the wealthy and corporations in America

And to do it, we need, yes, more regulation(s), not less. Not "big government." Not at all. Just sensible, logical, intelligent restraints on greed.

Quote of the day -- Rich v Poor

Like

Entertainment Overnight -- A Favorite

To those against government and regulations

Want to be like China?



And this applies to their pollution too.

Do we really want to do away with the EPA?

I know I don't.

The question I can't answer

The question no one can answer.  Or understand.

Like

On Our American Priorities

Entertainment Overnight -- And now for something completely different

On where we are now

And where we need to go

Like

The Insanity of that Right Wing Political Party

And the hypocrisy

Quote of the day -- On Modern Day Americans

Entertainment Overnight -- August....

...die she must

Two of my houses are for sale

If only

Have a great Sunday, y'all.

Quote of the day -- Sunday Edition

Also the "Free-market Capitalism" Edition

Like

These make no sense whatever

Quote of the day

Here's your deficit spending for you

To any and all out there thinking this President is spending us to hell, so to speak:

Like

Entertainment Overnight -- Flashback

Loved these guys

Quote of the day -- present day American Capitalism

Entertainment Overnight -- Cover

Love that percussion

Entertainment Overnight -- Stay with me

Too late

Regarding Ferguson: What's with all the silence from the Right Wing?

Yes, it would be nice if all the Right Wingers---the Republicans, the Tea Party, the Libertarians, etc.--would all have already long since spoken up on this.  Not a peep, standing up for the unarmed man, gunned down by the police. In effect, by "government."

Huh.

Go figure.

Entertainment Overnight -- New Versions

If you haven't already, you might want to check out this new group Walk Off The Earth



Hope y'all had a great weekend.

Now, have a great week.

Quote of the day -- on human and even national potential

"In just one year, the expenditure of of the U.S.'s military budget is equivalent to the entire 50-year running budget of NASA combined."  

--Neil deGrasse Tyson

The Federal Reserve's KC Annual Symposium is WHERE?

Why is the Federal Reserve's "Kansas City annual symposium" in Jackson Hole, Wyoming if we're paying for it all?

Why the hell isn't this in Kansas City, Missouri, where it belongs? They could have stayed at our finest hotels and gone to our finest restaurants and STILL saved a LOAD of money.

Granted, it's a figurative drop in the bucket, moneywise, to the overall national budget but hey, you start saving money SOMEWHERE. This seems like a terrific place to start.  And cut.