Kansas City Hits the Big Time Media!

Yes sir, Kansas City hits the big time media and in a big way--in the very first paragraph. Just not in a good way:

The 10 Grossest Foods You Can Buy at the Ballpark

When they want "gross food", they come to us first, it seems. From "Mother Jones" today:

Five months ago, Jon Costa, a food safety manager for Aramark, told ESPN and local media outlets about the dire conditions in the kitchens at Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium (home to baseball's Royals) and Arrowhead Stadium (home to football's Chiefs). He discovered roaches in the vending area, mouse feces near pizza dough, mold growth in ice machines, and employees eating where food was supposed to be prepared.

KSHB reported that the Kansas City Health Department found critical violations at 20 of Kauffman's concession stands last November, after Costa came forward following the Royals' World Series loss. In a letter to ESPN that month, an Aramark official refuted Costa's allegations, which included expired pizza dough being served during Game 7 of the World Series, as "unsubstantiated claims raised by a disgruntled employee." Still, Aramark enlisted an external inspector to conduct additional sweeps of concessions and increased training for its staff. (Costa, meanwhile, was fired in March.)

That hurts.

Not only that, though, our beer costs too much:

Beer Prices At Every Major League Baseball Game

Two Huge Things the Nation Needs

Great news from--who else? Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders:

Bernie Sanders Introduces Bill To End Offshore Tax Havens and Outsourcing of Jobs

Two things that should never have been put in the books anyway but they were because the wealthy and corporations can buy our legislators with "campaign contributions" and get the legislation they want, in spite of what's good for the nation.

Right now, America, we have laws on the books making it legal to take profits that were made here in the US, take them to the Cayman Islands and so, make them tax free.

That is textbook insanity. It's certainly fiscally irresponsible.

And the other thing that should no way have ever been made law was that companies would get tax credits, too, for offshoring manufacturing and so, manufacturing jobs.

More crazy.

We all know we want more jobs back here in our country, maybe especially manufacturing jobs. This is an excellent way to begin that process.

These two efforts, that is, bringing profits and jobs back "on shore", back to America, would go a long, long way toward fixing two major problems in this country. The first being tax revenue on profits made here in the country and the other of bringing jobs back.into the country.

There shouldn't be one government representative that is against either of these goals.

Sadly, however, because the corporations and wealthy virtually own the Republicans and the Republican Party, they won't be for it.

Quote of the Day -- On Trickle Down Tax Cuts

And o










And on the new, latest Republican budget plan with yet more tax cuts for the wealthy while cutting Medicare, etc.

Entertainment Overnight --- Incredible

John Legend and Sam Smith.



The night, this emptiness, this hole that I'm inside
These tears, they tell their own story

On Hillary Rodham Clinton and Her Likely Juggernaut

Suddenly, all of a sudden, the foregone conclusion that Hillary Rodham Clinton is going to run for the presidency of the United States is here and done and the game is in play.

And even though it was a foregone conclusion, suddenly, I have to say, I am excited.

Hillary Clinton Laid a Clever Trap For Republicans

Also foregone is that the Republicans are going nuts and they are going to continue to do so.

And here's the big fact on Hillary's run for the presidency--and what the Republicans are going to do until November, 2016:

"Instead of coming back with their own positive vision for America and actually arguing issues, Republicans will come back with attacks."

And sure, Hillary is no Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders but she's smart, she's tested and she's electable.

She's also not one of these guys:

And then, to make it better, you see some headlines like this:

Bill Kristol floats Dick Cheney as “the most promising” of possible 2016 GOP candidates

And then there's beauties like this:

Mike Huckabee: ‘God’s blessing’ will make me president

It just keeps getting better and better.

Entertainment Overnight -- In Memoriam

Percy Sledge, November 25, 1941 -- April 14, 2015



Rest in peace.

Entertainment Overnight -- Be My Dixie Chicken

Missouri's Going to Execute Again

With Missouri's last execution, of a 74 year old man who was missing part of his brain, literally, and so, had a low IQ, it seems certain Missouri will once again execute another inmate tomorrow:

Advocates for inmate ask Missouri governor to halt execution

It seems certain.

After all, he's black.

Forget that he was tried back in 1992 in St. Louis when blacks/African-Americans were excluded from juries in that area.

Forget that.

He's scheduled to be executed tomorrow, too. Precious little time to get anything done on this now, likely.

I wonder where the "pro-life" people are on this one? All the Catholics, all of them. Anyone screaming that "life is precious."

No, I thought not.

It doesn't look good.

We have to go through with that age-old "good idea" that killing people is a great idea, to show people shouldn't kill people.

Links: 

Congratulations, Missouri! You kill me!

• Shame on you, Missouri

Quote of the Day -- Thomas Jefferson

Happy birthday, Mr. President, born this day, 1743.

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

--Thomas Jefferson

We can't say we weren't warned.  And we risk failure by not acting.

No Difference Between the Two Political Parties?

Really?

Entertainment Overnight

On This Day

The treasonists surrendered.

Robert E. Lee surrenders - Apr 09, 1865

Right Wing, "Conservative", Religious, Supposedly "Christian", Republican Springfield Repeals Equality

There's a shocker, huh?

LGBT protections repealed in Springfield

The bigots from the pews won.

This one, this time.

The thing is, what they don't recognize is that we all want equality.

This is America, right?

Didn't we always say, haven't we always been told, from grade school? that "...all men are created equal"?

What too many don't recognize is that the opposite of equality id discrimination.

What Libertrarianism Really Is

I have had no respect for the people who call themselves "Libertarians" nearly since I first became aware of them. To me, they are people who realized their political party--the Republican Party--was falling a apart and they wanted smaller government so they came up with this idea they'd be edgy and controversial, create a new political party and call themselves this.

But the fact is, as I've said before, the thing with Libertarians is that they can't collectively decide how small this new, functioning government is supposed to be, among other things.

Then, last week, I saw this and it helped clarify further more of the issues I know I have with these people and their very loosely-formed group. Enjoy:

You're Not the Boss of Me! Why Libertarianism Is a Childish Sham

Libertarians believe they're rebels, but they are really political children who scream through tears

Libertarians believe themselves controversial and cool. They're desperate to package themselves as dangerous rebels, but in reality they are champions of conformity. Their irreverence and their opposition to “political correctness” is little more than a fashion accessory, disguising their subservience to—for all their protests against the “political elite”—the real elite.

Ayn Rand is the rebel queen of their icy kingdom, villifying empathy and solidarity. Christopher Hitchens, in typical blunt force fashion, undressed Rand and her libertarian followers, exposing their obsequiousness toward the operational standards of a selfish society: “I have always found it quaint, and rather touching, that there is a movement in the US that thinks Americans are not yet selfish enough.”

Libertarians believe they are real rebels, because they’ve politicized the protest of children who scream through tears, “You’re not the boss of me.” The rejection of all rules and regulations, and the belief that everyone should have the ability to do whatever they want, is not rebellion or dissent. It is infantile naïveté.

As much as libertarians boast of having a “political movement” gaining in popularity, “you’re not the boss of me” does not even rise to the most elementary level of politics. Aristotle translated “politics” into meaning “the things concerning the polis,” referring to the city, or in other words, the community. Confucius connected politics with ethics, and his ethics are attached to communal service with a moral system based on empathy. A political program, like that from the right, that eliminates empathy, and denies the collective, is anti-political.

Opposition to any conception of the public interest and common good, and the consistent rejection of any opportunity to organize communities in the interest of solidarity, is not only a vicious form of anti-politics, it is affirmation of America’s most dominant and harmful dogmas. In America, selfishness, like blue jeans or a black dress, never goes out of style. It is the style.

I ask you, how do you run a nation of far more than 315 million people with little government? Or very little?

And how small a government is it, when you're done shrinking it? How small DO we go? What do we get out of, completely? Do we have a national highway system? How small do you shrink the military? And believe me, if you know anything of me, I'm all about shrinking our military spending.

Where do you stop with the cuts?  What's left?

I'm left wondering how much of a nation we are, collectively, if we make all those cuts.

Are we together?

Wouldn't Libertarianism mean that if a state wants to secede, you let them? Would that not be consistent with this train of thought? And if it's not consistent, what would be the position taken on such a situation.

As it is, we're becoming less and less the United States of America.

With Libertarianism, I wonder if we would even be the States, let alone United.

Quote of the day -- On True Small Government

The guy who was, at the time, the ultimate, utmost Conservative and Republican, Barry Goldwater (Google him or check him out on Wikipedia or something, if you must). He was the Convervative's Conservative. He was Conservative long before Conservative was the "cool" it is today:

Quote of the Day--On Where We're Headed?

Very insightful statement/quote. Is this not, possibly, what we're becoming, if not what we've become?

Kansas' Tax Woes, Come to Roost

So Kansas' Republican Governor Sam Brownback and all the Republican, Right Wing legislators over in Topeka got their way and slashed taxes for the wealthy and corporations with the promise it would bring business and tax money to the state's coffers.

We've all seen how that's turned out:

This was from April last year:

Moody's downgrades Kansas issuer rating to Aa2 from Aa1

This is from last August:

Kansas bond rating downgraded after tax cuts

This is from this past January:

Kansas tax cuts on trial amid huge budget deficit

And it was what Governor Brownback was warned of, as we know.

So this is what the Guv proposed to "fix" the budget/money problem:

Education Is Newest Target of Kansas Budget Cuts

And this, then, is the latest result of all this fiscal irresponsibility:

Kansas Schools Will Close Early This Spring For Lack Of Funds

So once again, this disproves the whole "trickle down" theory of government, of course. Slashing taxes for the wealthy and corporations does NOT create opportunity or even, as this shows, good, working budgets for governments to work on and function. And schools and education and the people will suffer. Terrific.

Not to be done there, California's example and situation also totally disproves the Ronald Reagan era, "trickle down" fallacy:

How Kansas and California Debunked the GOP's Tax Cuts

What a whole lot of us out here would love to see come from all this is the following:

1) Kansans and any other state going down this path need to learn from and stop this madness and, again, irresponsibility. Sure, a lot of damage has been done but next time around, here's hoping they learn or better yet, have already learned, and they vote the Republican tax slashers out;

2) That Americans, the nation over, see and learn this lesson, these lessons, so we no longer fall for this ridiculousness and we get on a path of working together and being responsible and, almost better yet, holding the wealthy and corporations responsible, too, for their very fair share of our nation's debt and expenses and functioning. And by this, I no way mean anything extraordinary or disproportionate to what they should or need to pay in taxes. We have schools and highways and bridges and sewers and airports and all kinds of infrastructure we need in order to function as a society. Their paying a bit in some cases, because they pay nothing, should no way be too much to ask of them.

Now let's hope Missouri and Jefferson City doesn't try to follow this ignorant, dangerous, irresponsible path.

Congratulations, Missouri! You kill me!

Check out these statistics on "corporal punishment"--the oh-so-polite word for state-sanctioned murder, execution of the convicted:

America Ranks in the Top 5 Globally—for Putting Its Citizens to Death

That one, that statistic, by itself, is bad enough, sure.That's awful.

Look at the company we're with, for pity's sake---only China, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia executed more.

This is the company we want to keep? These are the people we want to share this with? This is the kind of people we want to be? This is what we want to be known for?

I mean, I knew we incarcerated more people than any other nation in the world, sure:

The United States Has The Largest Prison Population

And that, by itself, is horrific enough but I didn't know we were also in the top 5 for killing our own citizens. 

And I figure you know China has to be in there by sheer numbers, the size of its population but all the rest of the nations in the top 5, including and especially us? That's just wrong. 

Then, to take it one step further, check this out, Missouri and fellow Missourians, from this article--

The overwhelming majority of those executions—nearly 90 percent—took place in four states: Texas, Missouri, Florida and Oklahoma.
And not to be outdone, it seems Utah may want to get into the top 5 states that execute, with their latest move, too. Seems lethal injection just wasn't effective, dependable--or barbaric?--enough for them:

Utah Senate OKs execution by firing squads

So kudos, America and congratulations to you, Missouri. Hats off to you, state sanctioned killers that you are.

When you put all this together with the fact that we grossly outspend all other nations on the planet, in the world, in and on defense spending, it's pretty eye-opening.

BusinessInsider

It seems clear, with all this information and all these statistics, America is fully wrapped up in the death and killing business.

And here you thought we were a "peace-loving people."

Happy Easter

Pagan Origin of Easter

The pagan roots of Easter

What You Didn't Know About What You Already Know About Easter

The Pagan Christ - Wikipedia

Quotes of the day -- Sunday Edition

Rather timely, given the Republican/Right Wing/Christian Right fiasco in Indiana this week.

What Campaign Contributions Are

Let's face it, we all know this. This is what campaign contributions have become. They are legal bribes.

We have to fight these things. We have to get the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling overturned and then we need to end campaign contributions totally. Unless or until we do this, nothing will change. It will still be legislation and government for the wealthy and corporations first and for the rest of us a distant second, if at all.

And it has to come from us.

Quote of the Day -- Us vs. the Rest of the World

Missouri's Rather Unfortunate Notoriety Lately

This is what it's come down to. This was the headline this week, 5 days ago, at Alternet:

After Vicious Smear Campaign by Ted Cruz Adviser, SecondMissouri GOP 

Official Commits Suicide

It will be interesting, at least, if not fascinating, to see if our own Kansas City Star and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch commit reporters to this story.

Someone needs to see what's at the bottom of and in this story.

Hopefully they still have the reporters and capability to cover this likely important story.

On this day, April 4, 1968, for the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

History, a reminder and even still, from then to now, an inspiration:

"What we need in United States is not division;

what we need in the United States is not hatred;

what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness

but is love and wisdom and compassion toward one another,

a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country

whether they be white or whether they be black."

Entertainment Overnight -- Redux

How many times do I have to try to tell you
That I'm sorry for the things, I've done?

I tell myself too many times
Why don't you ever learn to keep your big mouth shut?

I may be mad, I may be blind, I may be viciously unkind

...why can't you see this boat is sinking?
This boat is sinking, this boat is sinking

I don't think you know what I feel

Quote of the day -- On International Negotiations for Peace

More of the same from Republicans

And as soon as it was announced that this president reached the framework of an agreement to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons, the Republicans responded:

GOP rips Iran nuclear deal

Forget that they haven't seen the deal.

Forget that they haven't read it.

Forget that they then have no idea whatever what's in it.

They're merely continuing their same Republican platform regarding this president and anything he is for or represents:



So tiresome.

Meanwhile the rest of us Americans--you know, the ones attached to logic, calm, intelligent thought, peace and reality--are celebrating the possibility of a breakthrough. Even Iranians are celebrating and want this.

Iranians celebrate nuclear deal by taking 

selfies with Obama

They understand how they'd benefit from getting the economic sanctions lifted.

The Daily Kos got it right last evening:

Top Republicans pretty sure they don't 

like Iran deal

Yes, the rest of us understand what this could mean and "get it."

Not so, the Republicans.

If it's good for President Obama, even if it's good for America, they're against it.

The fact is, this is no time and this is certainly no issue for demagoguery.

President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize?

Just announced this afternoon:

Iran Agrees to Framework of Nuclear Deal 

Now, if the Republicans put their political party before the nation and negotiations and some little fragment of world peace and try to squirrel this...

Entertainment Overnight -- Good night

Small Government? Cut Government Spending?

Anyone who has ever complained about "big government" or that our government spends too much and that we should cut spending needs to see this video over 8 minutes and 18 seconds.



The fact is, we need to cut Defense spending. What we spend is obscene, the amount we spend is obscene, it's bloated, it's wasteful, it's unaccounted for, it's immoral it can easily be argued and it actually ends up  actually weakening the nation.