September Songs, November songs, you get the idea

A (Facebook) friend has this up on his page today. Frankly, I think I'd heard the name Betty Carter and perhaps heard her sing but I don't know what. Having heard this, I'm sold, hook, line and sinker. I hope y'all had a wonderful Sunday and weekend.

Redux

"...and just like they say, nothing good ever lasts..."

I'm a new, but huge, fan

Holy cow (and thanks--many great thanks--to Donna).

Another weird one from Independence

I mean, come on. Check out this headline in the Kansas City Star: Independence woman accused of fatally beating KC man, 93, who wanted sex. Yikes. That's weird in a couple different ways, at least, even before you get into the article. Our hat's off to you, Independence. But that's all. Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/11/3260429/independence-woman-accused-of.html

Baby Lisa's parents: Innocent, they say, but not cooperating

Well, happy birthday, baby Lisa Irwin. Today she would be a year old. Hopefully she's safe and sound somewhere and will be home again soon. But if she is, if she ever is, apparently it won't be because her parents helped the police any further. From the Star today: "An attorney for the parents of missing baby Lisa Irwin said today that his clients will not sit down to separate interviews as police are requesting." If you're innocent, as we all want to believe Lisa's parents are, why would you not be interviewed any way the police want? A lot of us out here don't get that. Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/11/3260417/baby-lisas-attorney-explains-parents.html

Self-serving superintendent

Well, now we find out today that not only did now-former Kansas City Missouri School District Superintendent John Covington go shopping for a job elsewhere, FAR before his contract ended, AND lie about it, and then leave early, during the first week of a new school year--he's not done yet--NOW he also cherry-picked those 3 administrators that just left so he could take them with him to his new, high-paying job up there in Detroit, likely so it could help save his butt. Was this guy Machiavellian or what? Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/10/3258754/covington-introduces-three-from.html

The Catholic Church vs. the real world, 2011

In the real world, when/if there are sexual abuse/exploitation scandals, the people accused of said sexual abuse acts are--eventually--at least accused of said crimes, put up on charges and, quite possibly and likely, fired from their jobs. We have to look no farther than right now with Penn State, Head football coach Joe Paterno and school president Graham Spanier. And we need to keep in mind, these aren't even the people who are said to have performed the sexual abuse. They were only apparently lax in their handling accusations of sexual misconduct by another person who worked for them at that same university. The Catholic Church, by contrast? The accused sexual predator--one Shawn Ratigan--is reported by both news media and the police to have taken inappropriate and extremely inappropriate pictures of children in the grade school he was to be overseeing at three different schools in the area. He had been transferred twice, at least, rather than being scrutinized by the church he was to be working for or, at least as likely, having been turned over to authorities to examine the claims made against him, first by a principal at one of the schools and then later, finally, by a computer technician who found the pictures. The priest--Ratigan--finally does get turned in, and he attempts suicide. Is he done yet? Certainly not. He gets an attorney and pleas "not guilty" to charges finally, finally brought against him. Apparently, there is no shame. As if that's not enough, the man who was his superior, one Bishop Finn, claims no responsibility whatever, in any way, though he "apologizes" to his church, but also, like Ratigan before him, pleads "not guilty" to charges filed against him in court. See? In the Catholic Church, it's still far, far more important to protect both the institution and the hierarchy in that institution, than the children they are to be teaching or mentoring. Poor Joe Paterno. He should have just been a priest in the Catholic Church. Or a Bishop, eh, Bishop Finn? Then he wouldn't be dismissed from his job already. Links: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-pennstate-abuse; www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/us/15bishop.html; https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&site=&source=hp&q=father+shawn+ratigan+news&pbx=1&oq=father+shawn+ratigan+news&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=17257l22572l0l25120l25l13l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=8eaad5999fa7e232&biw=1140&bih=562

No! Not here in Kansas City!

I was just perusing breaking stories as I read email when all of a sudden I saw a headline that I thought would be great to have some fun with: "Woman found fused to vinyl chair." I figured I had to check it out, you know, see where she's from and write a short piece about it. I thought it would be perfect if she's from, oh, I don't know, Arkansas? Mississippi? Alabama? Anywhere South or Southeast from here. The nightmare? I read the first sentence and find out the world is presently reading she's from RIGHT HERE IN SUBURBAN KANSAS CITY. Serves me right. The "silver lining" for me, if there is one, is that it happened in Independence. Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/missouri-woman-found-with-skin-fused-to-chair-son-says-she-wanted-to-be-left-to-die-at-home/2011/11/09/gIQAnIGB6M_story.html

Rick Perry, going down just as Herman Cain is

From tonight's debate:This, ladies and gentelmen, is about the only reason I love this guy.

That does it--the KCMSD is toast

News from the Star today says "At least three of Kansas City Public Schools’ core cabinet members are leaving the school district. The district’s chiefs in finance, academics and curriculum are on their way out, a development that is particularly distressing to Kansas City school board members who are angry because they think that Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro, whether intentional or not, is stirring panic among top staffers." If anyone, anywhere in town thought there might be a chance at all that the State of Missouri might not take over the District after all, especially after the assistance Russ Ptacek kind of gave them with his report this week, claiming Superintendent Covington lied about not looking for a job out of town ahead of time, well, you can forget it. It's all over but the shouting. Come on, January, 2012. Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/09/3257129/three-top-administrators-leaving.html

"Love?"

I don't think I'll ever get over or forget that a pastor--a religious minister--named "Love" killed his "girlfriend's" husband, for starters, then DID THE OFFICIATING AT THE MAN'S FUNERAL. I mean, come on. Dickens didn't write stuff any better than that. That is some kind of sick and twisted. Links: http://www.pitch.com/plog/archives/2011/11/09/ex-pastor-david-love-pleads-guilty-to-killing-parishioner; http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/09/3256188/ex-pastor-david-love-admits-killing.html

I'm so old...

...I remember when people used to automatically click "yes" on the updates for new features on Google mail or Facebook pages or whatever. THAT old.

For baby Lisa Irwin's birthday...

I should think the things little baby Lisa Irwin's parents could and should do for her 1st birthday, coming up November 11th, would be to, first, allow her half-brothers to be interviewed by police and then, secondly, but more importantly, allow for interviews of each parent, separately, as the police have asked all along, because, after all, they're completely, totally innocent, as they've said from the start. Right? Link: http://news.yahoo.com/baby-lisa-irwin-case-huge-break-false-alarm-202200617.html

Big news last eveing

Big news last evening: First, according to the Star, "Voters in two urban Kansas City areas chose candidates Tuesday to fill vacancies in the Missouri House of Representatives, and Democrats were elected for both." Yeehaw. That's great news. Second, Locally, no surprise, the city voted for the zoo tax initiative. At least, the ones who showed to vote did, for better or worse. Here's hoping that turns out well. Third, Ohio voted down the curbs on union power. Third and finally, Mississippi defeated that whole "person begins at conception" idea, thank goodness. All in all, with the reports nationwide on different votes and elections, it was a night that went very much against Republicans, big business and the Right Wing. Yeehaw. Now, on to 2012. Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/08/3255360/kcs-ellington-morgan-elected-to.html; http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/08/3255333/clay-county-passes-zoo-tax-jackson.html; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-09/ohio-repeals-union-law-to-set-stage-for-2012.html; http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-voters-reject-republican-backed-union-limits-021951331.html; http://news.yahoo.com/miss-defeats-life-fertilization-ballot-prop-041831234.html

The biggest news of the year, possibly

The American media has finally, finally begun reporting on the Greek/European economic mess. Last evening, CBS had a report from Brian Williams on it. It was brief but it was something. Then, today, NPR had a story. There just hasn't been near the coverage of the story that there should have been, given both the size of the story and its ramifications. But big as that story is, the one story that will be far bigger than that is reflected in the report out today that the UN formally announced that it believes--has proof?--that Iran is working on making nuclear weapons. All bets are now off. With this declaration from the UN, that Iran is doing work specific to make nuclear arms--whether it's true or not (I suspect it is)--it's war for Israel. Or at least it means Israel will attack Iran and likely very soon.. I don't think we have any other conclusion but that it will mean war for the Middle East. As Margo Channing so aptly said in the movie, "All About Eve", "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." For the world, however, it will at least be a bumpy year, once it begins. Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45214845/UN_reports_Iran_work_specific_to_nuke_arms

A timely smile

The nation's--and world's?--"save": clean, renewable, affordable solar energy

"And now for something completely different: the success story you haven’t heard about. These days, mention solar power and you’ll probably hear cries of 'Solyndra!' Republicans have tried to make the failed solar panel company both a symbol of government waste — although claims of a major scandal are nonsense — and a stick with which to beat renewable energy. But Solyndra’s failure was actually caused by technological success: the price of solar panels is dropping fast, and Solyndra couldn’t keep up with the competition. In fact, progress in solar panels has been so dramatic and sustained that, as a blog post at Scientific American put it, “there’s now frequent talk of a ‘Moore’s law’ in solar energy,” with prices adjusted for inflation falling around 7 percent a year. This has already led to rapid growth in solar installations, but even more change may be just around the corner. If the downward trend continues — and if anything it seems to be accelerating — we’re just a few years from the point at which electricity from solar panels becomes cheaper than electricity generated by burning coal. And if we priced coal-fired power right, taking into account the huge health and other costs it imposes, it’s likely that we would already have passed that tipping point. But will our political system delay the energy transformation now within reach? Let’s face it: a large part of our political class, including essentially the entire G.O.P., is deeply invested in an energy sector dominated by fossil fuels, and actively hostile to alternatives. This political class will do everything it can to ensure subsidies for the extraction and use of fossil fuels, directly with taxpayers’ money and indirectly by letting the industry off the hook for environmental costs, while ridiculing technologies like solar. So what you need to know is that nothing you hear from these people is true. Fracking is not a dream come true; solar is now cost-effective. Here comes the sun, if we’re willing to let it in." --Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning economist, writer and columnist, The New York Times Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/opinion/krugman-here-comes-solar-energy.html?_r=1&src=tp&smid=fb-share http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/opinion/krugman-here-comes-solar-energy.html?_r=1&src=tp&smid=fb-share

The--surprising--quote of the day

"Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." And here's the surprise of it. It was said by Benito Mussolini. He could be talking about today.

Only in America...

"Only in the USA can you be Pro-Death Penalty, Pro-War, Pro-Nukes, Pro-Guns, Pro-Land Mines, Pro-Torture and still be 'Pro-Life.'" -Roy Kunkle (friend)

It could have been said yesterday

"They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection." —Henry Wallace, (1888–1965), U.S. Vice President 1941-1945, presidential candidate for the Progressive Party 1948

Oklahoma: It sucks to be you

Sure, we've always known Oklahoma was famous for its tornadoes and people called it either "Tornado alley" or knew it was part of it. Now? It seems Oklahoma is on a fault line. Did you know that? (The Meers). I didn't. That and it USED to have about 50 earthquakes per year. Now? Since 2009? It's increased. 2010? Way more. How about 1047 of them? Yeah, that many. And the thing is, much as these Oklahomans love their oil money and all that, ever since "fracking" for natural gas has taken hold down there, there are more and more earthquakes. Many more. Coincidence? It wouldn't seem so, would it? We'll see. Link: http://www.okgeosurvey1.gov/pages/earthquakes/information.php#FAQ"; http://news.yahoo.com/big-quake-follows-increase-oklahoma-rumblings-203947305.html

Quote of the day

"It has become no longer politically correct in certain circles in Washington to speak about climate change or carbon pollution or how carbon pollution is causing our climate to change. This is a peculiar condition of Washington. If you go out into, say, our military and intelligence communities, they understand and are planning for the effects of carbon pollution on climate change. They see it as a national security risk. If you go out into our nonpolluting business and financial communities, they see this as a real and important problem. And, of course, it goes without saying our scientific community is all over this concern. But as I said, Washington is a peculiar place, and here it is getting very little traction. Here in Washington we feel the dark hand of the polluters tapping so many shoulders. And where there is power and money behind that dark hand, therefore, a lot of attention is paid to that little tap on the shoulder. What we overlook is that nature — God’s Earth — is also tapping us all on the shoulder, with messages we ignore at our peril. We ignore the messages of nature of God’s Earthand we ignore the laws of nature of God’s Earth at our very grave peril." --Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to the US Senate last week. If you don't like or want to read, you can see his brief speech here: Link: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/10/19/347768/senator-whitehouses-climate-speech/

Casual about sexual abuse in America?

I've written here, before, about Bishop Finn, Sean Ratigan and the Catholic Church, of course, and all their sexual abuse issues and problems that have sprung up in the last several months. My "take-away" from that is that Bishop Finn should have been more pro-active on this situation, from when the principal first wrote him, from up in St. Joseph, to later, when pictures of children were known to be on Ratigan's computer. That seems easy enough to admit whether you think Bishop Finn should or should not be now charged with breaking Missouri laws. My point is, with their issues, the second anyone was aware there was a problem, people should have been all over it, addressing it, looking into it and seeing if there were anything they needed to know further and whether, possibly, it needed to be reported to the police. Now, there is the situation of reported sexual abuse by an assistant coach at Penn State and it seems as though the situation is, at least a bit, very similar. People reported things and then, well, they were looked into, but people took their time. As of Sunday evening, it's being reported that Coach Joe Paterno was informed of possible sexual abuse. Fortunately, he did report it. But check this out--he didn't report it until the next day. The next day. If you read that link, below, about the timeline, again and again, people put off the reporting, in spite of a first hand account of at least one incident. And that's what gets me about this and why it seems very like the Bishop Finn/Sean Ratigan/Catholic Church situation. Sexual abuse ought to be treated like, I don't know, someone bleeding. If someone came up to you and said someone had been cut badly with a saw or something, we'd run to them, check it out, call the ambulance and get right on it. If you read the second link, below, about this Penn State situation, you'll see the incident that finally got this investigation started was delayed, again and again. Instead of looking into each situation quickly, for the crimes they are, we dilly-dally and put it off and maybe--or maybe not--check it out and the victims suffer. That needs to change. Link: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-wetzel_paterno_statement_raises_more_questions110611; http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=6270; http://www.npr.org/2011/11/07/142085416/curley-schultz-step-down-amid-penn-state-scandal?ft=1&f=1001

A long lost, hopeful time

The 1960's. Wow. What we had. What we lost. What we gained. First, from 1964: And then there's this one, from 1968: And then there's this one: Wow. What changes. Such hope.

Autumn Leaves

by Edith PiaffThe falling leaves Drift by the window The autumn leaves All red and gold I see your lips The summer kisses The sunburned hands I used to hold. Since you went away The days grow long... And soon I'll hear Old winter songs But I miss you most of all My darling, when autumn leaves start to fall... C'est une chanson Qui nous ressemble Toi qui m'aimais Et je t'aimais Nous vivions tous les deux ensemble Tou qui m'aimais Moi qui t'aimais Mais la vie sépare Ceux qui s'aiment Tout doucement Sans faire de bruit Et la mer efface sur le sable Les pas des amants désunis. Since you went away The days grow long... And soon I'll hear Old winter songs But I miss you most of all My darling, when autumn leaves start to fall...

From Mizzou: It's official

Word out today is that Missouri is officially moving to the SEC. Love it or hate it, that's what's happening. So it goes. Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/missouri-sec-deal-14892450

Beat the Chargers but lose--big time--to Miami??

How in the heck do you do that? I don't know the answer but the Chiefs sure must. I thought the Chiefs would lose--LAST WEEKEND--to the Chargers, if only by a little but this weekend? I thought, since Miami was totally winless that this would be a walk in the park for the team. And then not to just get beat by a little bit but to be absolutely bloodied by falling 31 to 3? Holy cow. What, are they taking play lessons from David Glass and his Royals? And then, on top of it, for "Sporting KC" (what a ridiculous name for a soccer team) to lose, too. Wow. Really unfortunate. It's a good thing it was a beautiful, comfortable weekend, eh? Better luck next week.

Okay, somebody better check on Tony

I'm just saying. He hasn't written all weekend. I'm thinking he either went on a short vacation or "met somebody", if you know what I mean. Run over to his Mom's basement, will you, and let me know here if he's okay?

An important history lesson

As a nation, we learned our lesson(s). Then we unlearned them, unfortunately. Have a great weekend, y'all.

Timely comments on the Iraq War and George W. Bush from Andy Rooney

What with Andy Rooney just passing and a tribute to him this evening on CBS' "60 Minutes", it seems appropriate to remember some of his most lucid moments. Here's certainly one of them: If only we had all been more lucid and clear-thinking just after 9/11.