Entertainment overnight

Final Part 3: "Public Lands, Private Profits"

Write your senators and members of Congress. Tell them to stop this mining in our national parks.

Link: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/07/public_lands_private_profits.Html

Part 2: Public lands, private profits

Link: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/07/public_lands_private_profits.Html

The Grand Canyon, under siege

Part two of the video on our national parks:



Link: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/07/public_lands_private_profits.Html

What's happening to "our" national parks and lands

Yet more proof of the results of our government being owned by the wealthy and corporations, due to campaign contributions.

Link: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/07/public_lands_private_profits.Html

Entertainment overnight

A Philip Glass "flash choir" in New York City's Times Square:



Happy 75th birthday, Mr. Glass.

And once again, thank you, NPR, for bringing the arts to us.

Low-class Country singer

Nice.

Nice touch.

First, he wears a t-shirt--an untucked t-shirt, at that--and blue jeans to sing the National Anthem at the 2012 Major League Baseball Allstar Game.

Way to show respect for the event.

Way to show respect for the National Anthem.

Way to show self-respect. (Not).

Second, has to read the national anthem off his hand.

Nice job, Lukester. Way to not prepare.

What a low-class jerk.

If his mother is alive, I hope she didn't see this nightmare.

If this had been a national anthem singing class, he would have failed it with an F.

"AIDS in Black America"

If you're not watching the Major League Baseball Game tonight, out of Kauffman Stadium here in town, you might be the type person that, instead, would watch and want to watch the "Frontline" special on PBS "AIDS in Black America:



It's one of the biggest killers of Black Americans today. It's important we recognize where this came from, where we are and where it's going.

It begins this evening at 8 pm.

Link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/endgame-aids-in-black-america/

Entertainment overnight

The failing American experiment (guest post)

"The narrative of openness and talent obscures the bitter truth of the American experience. Talents are costly to develop, and we refuse to socialize these costs. To be an outstanding student requires not just smarts and dedication but a well-supported school, a safe, comfortable home and leisure time to cultivate the self. These are not widely available. When some students struggle, they can later tell the story of their triumph over adversity, often without mentioning the helping hand of a tutor. Other students simply fail without such expensive aids.

These are more than liberal platitudes. Look at who makes up the most “talented” members of society: the children of the already advantaged. Today America has less intergenerational economic mobility than almost any country in the industrialized world; one of the best predictors of being a member of the elite today is whether your parents were in the elite. The elite story about the triumph of the omnivorous individual with diverse talents is a myth. In suggesting that it is their work and not their wealth, that it is their talents and not their lineage, elites effectively blame inequality on those whom our democratic promise has failed."

"Elites today must recognize that they are very much like the Gilded Age elites of old. Paradoxically the very openness and capaciousness that they so warmly embrace — their omnivorousness — helps define them as culturally different from the rest. And they deploy that cultural difference to suggest that the inequality and immobility in our society is deserved rather than inherited. But if they can recognize the class basis of their success, then perhaps they will also recognize their class responsibility. They owe a debt to others for their fortunes, and seeing this may also help elites realize that the poor are ruled by a similar dynamic: their present position is most often bound to a history not of their own choosing or responsibility.

It is past time for elites to give up the cultural project of showing how different they are from others. They should commit themselves instead to recognizing that there is a commonweal that we all have a responsibility to improve."

Link to original article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/the-new-elitists.html?pagewanted=all

It seems we all want our country back

This seems to be a recurring--very recurring--theme in our country.

If you feel, like so many do, that we need "our country back," help push to kill campaign contributions.

With them, the wealthy and corporations are able to buy their--our--representatives and so, their legislation, our laws and finally, our government.

If we don't get the big, ugly, corrupting money out of our election system, it will never get out of our government and nothing will change.

It's simple as that.

Thanks to Donna over at her "Just Me" blog for this video and link: http://donna-justme.blogspot.com/

Is China fighting "the next war" while the US is fighting the "last war"?

For anyone who's read about or studied war, there is a famous line of thought that too many losing sides were always fighting the "last war", the previous war.

With the US still spending at least $711 million dollars per year on war and weapons of war, I think the likelihood is high that the US is still, in fact, fighting World War II or Vietnam or something, while China realizes that spending on their people and society and business and their economy is the "next war."

China is working hard and spending big on manufacturing, period, but on photovoltaic cells and solar technology, specifically, apparently and that may be, in fact, that "next war" at present.

It's fairly well accepted as truth that China is, right now, manufacturing lots of solars panels and dumping them on our American market.

The fact is, it's been widely accepted that whatever country owns solar energy in general, but photovoltaic cells, specifically, owns the next century.

Maybe we need to wise up.

And fast.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=31825

Entertainment overnight

Ernest Borgnine (1917-2012) Rest in peace

Quote of the day

"Happiness does wonders to one's face." --Stephanie Marsilia (a friend)

Entertainment overnight, Sunday edition

Happy birthday to a local, fellow blogger

A very happy birthday wish to "Just Me" blogger, Donna.

I hope it's a great one for you, filled with family, friends, great food and some terrific memories.

Enjoy.

Allstar weather forecast for us holding!

Really, this is some good news.

We need the lower temperatures, period, along with slow, very wet, soaking rains, but if lower temperatures is all we can get, so be it. At least for now.

And with our Major League Baseball Allstar Game Week from Kauffman Stadium coming up, this forecast is a gift from the heavens--literally and figuratively.

Now, about that rain...

Great Depression coincidences

I've been thinking of this for some time.

We have the worst economy in 80 years, since the 2008 financial collapse (thank you, Wall Street) so it's the worst downturn since the 30's, since the Great Depression. They've called this one a few things like the "Great Recession" and the "Great Mancession" since so many men, proportionately, lost their jobs. It's even been referred to as the "Second Great Depression."

And now?

Now, the worst drought and heat wave since the 30's, at the same time. (See links below).

What are the odds?

1934 and 1936, specificially, were the worst drought and heat years of that time.

I tell you, the similarities and attributes these 2 economic downturns share are pretty uncanny.

Here's hoping it gets no worse. Let's hope there are no worse bread lines, like those of the 30's, etc., etc.

I don't think we're as tough now as those people were then. We aren't as close to poverty, as a group, as a nation, as a people, as they were then.

We aren't good at living without, I suspect.

Links: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48076883/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/05/12579687-drought-hits-56-percent-of-continental-us-significant-toll-on-crops?lite

Parody, right out of the heartland

A great parody for you from the heartland. Guys, celebrating the family farm, not corporate ones.

While you're at it, note those K-State t-shirts, too. What a hoot.

A great way to spend 17 minutes

An education on the 2008 national and international near-total financial and economic collapse due to American bankers and banking and where we are now.

You owe it to yourself--and the nation, your country--to see this documentary: http://www.insidejobmovie.com.au/

Entertainment overnight

Wonderful new performer, made aware to me by NPR and their music site.

Secrecy of "being on the DL" and "no snitching" killing African-Americans

I've written here about the insanity of the "no snitching" code in the black community in the US, generally, but here in Kansas City, specifically, when people--usually always young men--shoot and/or kill other blacks yet witnesses say nothing to the police. It's this "no snitching" rule that keeps the shooters out on the streets, in the communities, shooting still others and impervious to the police or justice.

It is insanity.

A second ugly reality struck me today, having listened to NPR's "Fresh Air" program by Terri Gross, et. al about how the secrecy of men in the black community being "on the DL" or "down-low" about either being gay and/or participating in gay sex yet not being honest about it is also killing black men and women, both.

Some statistics:

--In 1986, roughly 20 percent of all of the people in the United States who were living with AIDS were African-American," Robert Fullilove, professor of clinical sociomedical studies at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and chairman of the HIV/AIDS advisory committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control indicate that 45 percent of all the new cases of HIV infection are amongst African-Americans."

--In 2009, black men accounted for 70% of the estimated new HIV infections among all blacks. The estimated rate of new HIV infection for black men was more than six and a half times as high as that of white men, and two and a half times as high as that of Latino men or black women.

--In 2009, black men who have sex with men (MSM)1 represented an estimated 73% of new infections among all black men, and 37% among all MSM. More new HIV infections occurred among young black MSM (aged 13–29) than any other age and racial group of MSM. In addition, new HIV infections among young black MSM increased by 48% from 2006–2009.

--In 2009, black women accounted for 30% of the estimated new HIV infections among all blacks. Most (85%) black women with HIV acquired HIV through heterosexual sex. The estimated rate of new HIV infections for black women was more than 15 times as high as the rate for white women, and more than three times as high as that of Latina women.

--Blacks are 13% of the US population but make up 49% of the AIDS cases in the country.




I wasn't personally aware that AIDS in the black community is epidemic and that it's killing both black men and women at record rates.

It's a horrible, unnecessary tragedy and it needs to stop.

And one of the ways it can and must stop is for all blacks in America--those of faith and those without--to stop thinking or believing that same-sex attraction is new to humanity, that it's "against nature" and "God's will" and that it's wrong. The homophobia and fear and even hate, must end.

This will be asking a great deal, at least, I know.

The social stigma of being both black and gay in the US is so strong and heavy that it's not only keeping people from being who they actually are, it's also killing these men and women.

The radio show today also pointed out that the "corrections" system in America and drug use as well as poverty is also propelling the incidents of AIDS to these record levels.

This situation has many roots. America needs to start addressing this problem, these problems, and all their sources so we can halt these unnecessary illnesses and tragic deaths.

Links: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/05/156292172/aids-in-black-america-a-public-health-crisis

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/endgame-aids-in-black-america/

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/

http://www.avert.org/hiv-african-americans.htm

http://www.womenshealth.gov/minority-health/african-americans/hiv-aids.cfm/

http://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/content.aspx?ID=3019

KC, "hotter than Hell"

This, just now, from weatherman/meteorologist Bryan Busby from KMBC 9 News on his Facebook page:

"It is official. We are hotter than Hell (Michigan) They are 97. We are 101 in KC."

Nice touch, Mr. Busby.

At least if we're hot, let's try to lighten up about it.

Keep cool, y'all.

I'm so old...

...I remember when you could scan all of Yahoo!'s news/home page without signing in.

THAT old.

How did I miss this?

This is clearly from about 3 years ago, given the topics he covers but how funny is this? And true, of course, as usual, from him.

Friday, mid-day entertainment

I even enjoyed the music they chose.

The guy's bright.

KC Barbecue gets heads up from Bon Appétit

Here it is, this time Trader Joe's Kansas City style barbecue sauce gets the raves with coverage on Yahoo! News last evening:

Supermarket Standoff: Barbecue sauces

Bon Appétit

When they're not busy tasting dishes over and over, Bon Appétit's food editors are tasting other stuff like different brands of chicken stock. Because while we're into making things from scratch, sometimes there just isn't time to brown veal bones for rich broth, or simmer strawberries into preserves. When we do cut corners, though, we want to do it in the tastiest possible way -- hence the taste tests of store-bought items.

Today's item: barbecue sauce.

Sure, food editor Hunter "Carolina Boy" Lewis might have a mean recipe handed down to him by his great grandfather, but most of us don't.

The good news? Many bottled sauces -- some of them made by big companies, some of them by two dudes with a passion and a big ol' stockpot -- are darn good. Here are six of our favorites.

Trader Joe's Kansas City Style

"This is a total cheat sheet sauce." Translation: It's adaptable, and you could "put it on chicken and fake that it's charred." It's smoky, sweet, and has a pronounced tomato flavor.

$2.69 at Trader Joe's in New York City.

The conclusion?

Trader Joe's has been good for Kansas City and in return, Kansas City has been good for and to Trader Joe's.

Bon appétit, indeed.

Link: http://shopping.yahoo.com/news/supermarket-standoff--barbecue-sauces.html

America the beautiful

Sing it, brother Ray.

This Land is Your Land...

From the one and only Woody Guthrie.