Entertainment overnight

Mitt Romney, Candidate for President of Caucasiastan

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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No surprise. Jon Stewart hits it out of the ballpark yet again.

Our presidential contenders

The guy in the White House now gets negative marks for appointing people as he said he wouldn't but good marks for transparency in his funding sources.

The other guy--Mittens--doesn't tell where his money is coming from.

Nice, huh?

Makes you want to go vote, doesn't it?

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/obama-isn-t-telling-us-101948668.html

Sociological work that needs to be done

There seems to me to be a great deal of people in the nation--whites, mostly, if not exclusively--who have come to the conclusion that black Americans are violent, culturally, rather intrinsically, and that there is really nothing anyone can do about it.

I see and read it all the time.

Sure, it's by people who aren't sociologists or doctors or professionals in any way but it's not only a deeply held belief but it's a widespread one, too.

I see it online, written in comments sections, I see it over in the comments on Tony's Kansas City blog, I see it on Facebook. It seems to be a fairly ubiquitous opionion.

And every time some new article or news story comes out about black on black crime, the opinion gets made stronger.

This is only the latest such article:

Two former Auburn players killed, one player injured in shooting

"The Auburn community is mourning after former Auburn football players Ed Christian and Ladarious Phillips were shot and killed during an off-campus party Saturday night. Offensive lineman Eric Mack also was injured in the shooting, but his injuries are not considered life-threatening. A third person, who was not a football player, also died in the shooting."

The people with these opinions point to cities like Detroit, St. Louis, now Chicago and--yes--Kansas City, sadly.

So I think it's important that someone, somewhere do some in-depth research on this topic so we can put this idea and assumption to rest. And the sooner, the better.

Link: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/two-former-auburn-players-killed-one-player-injured-211745842--ncaaf.html

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/11/12166475-chicagos-bloody-weekend-8-dead-40-plus-wounded?lite?ocid=twitter

Entertainment overnight

Missouri State Legislature doesn't want you to have lower health insurance costs

Here we go again.

Yet another example of legislators--this time in Jefferson City--wasting their time and our money on issues they shouldn't be. There are all kinds of things they should be working on--like fixing I-70 all across the state, as I've said before but what do they work on instead? Blocking health care reform:

Coming To A Missouri Ballot This Fall: Another Health Care Referendum

"This fall, voters in Missouri will face a number of decisions: picking state and congressional representatives, the President. But also on the ballot will be a measure that like two years ago, has to do with the federal health law.

It follows months of political tension over a key component.

The federal health law envisions that by 2014, each state will have an online marketplace where individuals and small businesses can buy health insurance plans – plans that meet certain criteria and are more easily comparable. These marketplaces are also known as health insurance exchanges, and they can be run by either the state or the federal government. As it stands, an exchange does not exist in Missouri. Yet. And if it’s up to Missouri’s House majority leader Tim Jones, never will."

Sure, our health care system is broken--badly broken, at that. More than 50 million Americans have no health insurance coverage, we have the most expensive health care system in the world yet we are ranked 37th, at least, internationally in mortality rates (meaning you're more likely to die sooner, here in the US than 36 other nations) but the wise guys in Jefferson City want to block health care reform.

What gets me about this move, described here, is that what they're in effect doing is blocking lower health insurance premiums for you and me.

Yes, that's right.

This, in effect, protects health insurance companies from any further competition which should lower insurance rates.

Isn't that lovely?

Under the auspices of protecting Misourians from this President and his health care reform, they are, instead, protecting the very-wealthy-thank-you-very-much insurance companies.

And we're letting this happen.

We just don't seem to be that bright, do we?

Link: http://kcur.org/post/coming-missouri-ballot-fall-another-health-care-referendum

One more stereotype, shot to heck

Here's your "lazy Mexicans", according to reasearch from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (the OECD):

Quoting: "Mexicans...top international studies by working nearly 10 hours a day on the job and in the home."

So much for that stereotype, huh?

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/who-knew/work-hours-which-nation-spends-the-least-amount-of-time-on-the-job-29600877.html#crsl=%252Fwho-knew%252Fwork-hours-which-nation-spends-the-least-amount-of-time-on-the-job-29600877.html

Republicans and Libertarians: You really want to do away with the EPA?

For any Republican or Libertarian or anyone else in America who think it is or would be a great idea to do away with the Environmental Protection Agency--the EPA--or who think there's too much "red tape" from the EPA, I just have to ask if they want us to be like China.

The above situation, announced today and going on now in China, is just one more example of what a nation and an economy is like and would be like if we don't have protections from corporations, especially, so we have and keep cleaner water, air and soil.

A little from the article (link at bottom):

"Young and old residents of the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan were advised to stay indoors on Monday after a thick haze blanketed the city of nine million people, official media said.

Described by residents as opaque with yellowish and greenish tinges, the fug descended suddenly in the morning, prompting people to rush to put on face masks, witnesses told AFP."



"The official Xinhua news agency quoted the environmental protection department of Hubei province saying in a statement: "Children, the elderly and people with heart or respiratory diseases are advised to stay indoors."

Xinhua said straw burning was the cause and denied there had been any industrial accidents in or near Wuhan, after Internet rumours suggested there had been an explosion at a chemical complex northeast of the city."

In this case, the Chinese not only have this huge problem with their air quality, they don't even know what it is or what it's from.

And that's the kind of world we want to live in?

No, no thank you, very much. I'd like to keep an effective EPA, thank you.

It reminds me of the Native American quote: "When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money."

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-wuhan-city-covered-mysterious-haze-145340073.html

KC Royals in the news: for monumental screw-ups Saturday night

The good news?

The Royals are in the news.

The bad news?

It's for monumentally screwing up a play--in two different ways (from Yahoo! Sports):

Mike Moustakas misses first base, settles for very long, very strange single

On Friday, Oakland A's outfielder Seth Smith turned in a defensive gem that could receive consideration for Play of the Year in Major League Baseball.

On Saturday night, the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates were involved in what very well could be the exact opposite of the Play of the Year. And no, this has nothing to do with the insensitive gesture made by Humberto Quintero in the dugout during Bruce Chen's interview. Though that certainly qualifies as the poorest use of judgment we've seen recently.

This actually took place on the field, where Kansas City's Mike Moustakas and Pittsburgh's All-Star center fielder Andrew McCutchen teamed up to botch a routine base hit in every possible way.

Royals?

It's "Our time"?

Our time for what, exactly?

At least, bad as that was, it wasn't as out-and-out stupid as this:



Nice move, there, Rocket Scientist.

Links: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/mike-moustakas-misses-first-settles-very-long-very-165707854--mlb.html


http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/bruce-chen-interview-interrupted-teammate-humberto-quintero-making-153142438--mlb.html

Think about it

An adult male in San Francisco, of all places, who dresses up like an elderly nanny, so he can be close to his kids?

An education on America today

Renowned economist Joseph Stiglitz says

--America is no longer the land of opportunity

--our American inequality is worse than you think and

--the "American Dream" is a myth

It's not a pretty picture.

Links: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/american-dream-myth-joseph-stiglitz-price-inequality-124338674.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/u-economy-rx-fix-unemployment-healthcare-first-says-160409951.html

http://www.amazon.com/The-Price-Inequality-Endangers-ebook/dp/B007MKCQ30

Kansans being played for chumps by Topeka

What other conclusion can you come to but that you're being played for a chump when your state legislators in Topeka are blowing more than one-half billion dollars on unnecessary legal maneuvers that mix church and state?:

Kansas AG pays $644K to defend state abortion laws

TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Kansas attorney general's office paid outside lawyers more than $644,000 to defend anti-abortion laws enacted last year.

The office says it paid more than $328,000 as of Friday to Foulston Siefken, a Wichita firm helping defend a budget provision denying federal dollars for non-abortion services to Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood has filed a federal lawsuit against the measure.

Forget that abortion is legal in the United states and has been since 1973.

Forget that no one--no one--even thinks about, let alone goes through an abortion procedure without a great deal of thought and emotional upset.

Forget that there are plenty--too many--laws on the books in Kansas on abortions, abortion rights (or the lack of them) and abortion procedures.

Forget, finally, that the state of Kansas doesn't have a big budget, period, for most any services and that they need to make whatever funds they have go as far as possible.

Forget all that.

Just keep focusing on one single issue that you can mix your Christian faith with government on and blow $644 million on totally unnecessary legal machinations in the courts.

Brilliant.

Link to original article: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/11/3652327/kansas-ag-pays-644k-to-defend.html#storylink=rss#storylink=cpy

Quote of the day

"These times are so uncertain
There’s a yearning undefined
And the people filled with rage
We all need a little tenderness
How can love survive in such a graceless age?"

--Don Henley, The Eagles, "The Heart of the Matter"

Entertainment overnight

I think it's about forgiveness...

Quote of the day

“Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can.” -- John Wesley (1703-1791)

Entertainment overnight, Saturday edition

Quote of the day

"Only a crisis—actual or perceived––produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. . . . Our basic function is to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable." --Milton Friedman, 1962

To Gov. Nixon and Sen. Blunt: Here's your Keystonoe XL Pipeline across Missouri

As I said in the title above, this note is to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Senator Roy Blunt, to show them exactly why we Missourians and a lot of Americans, nationwide, don't want Canada's Keystone XL pipeline running across our state and nation.

See the above? It's yet another oil spill up in Canada. This one, this time, is in Alberta.

That is what we would have to look forward to, inevitably, with this TransCanada pipeline. Sure, we'd get--we are told--one billion dollars in our Treasury and some short-term contruction jobs out of it, sure we would.

But is it worth oil spills?

A lot of us out here submit that it absolutely is not worth it.

For a precautionary tale of what this pipeline in Missouri would be like, read just this little bit of this article from Canada yesterday:

Cleanup of latest Alberta oil spill could take all summer

Gord Johnston’s tranquil life along the Red Deer River in central Alberta was shattered Thursday night as the nauseating scent of crude oil hung in the air and a coffee-coloured liquid lapped the banks near his home.

He reported the oil leak and, within two hours, a helicopter dispatched by a local oil company landed on his 57-acre property near Sundre, Alta., to fly him over the devastating scene. Mr. Johnston, who works in the oil patch, could see oil “boiling up” in the river at the site of a pipeline crossing. By Friday morning, the situation had worsened. Oil clotted one of the province’s most crucial waterways and soaked nearby wetlands. He found a dead fish coated with oil and brought a tar-covered baby beaver to a wildlife refuge.

“My place is destroyed,” Mr. Johnston said, as he prepared to abandon his home and later head for a hospital to be treated for exposure to the fumes. “My whole life’s work is gone. I’ve pretty well lost it all here.”

For anyone still for this pipeline crossing Missouri, is this what you want? Is this what any of us want to see happen here?

I think it's obvious the answer is no.

Realize, too, that, once the pipeline is in place, it is intended to remain indefinitely, if not permanently, of course, so spills are virtually guaranteed. We can count on it.

So don't do it, Governor Nixon and Senator Blunt. Don't support this fiasco. Withdraw your support for the Transcanada Keystone XL pipeline. We don't want it here.

Let it "trans" somewhere else.

Like Canada, for instance.

Link to original post: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/alberta-hit-with-another-oil-spill/article4241238/

Senator McCaskill reportedly undecided on extension of the Bush tax cuts (for the wealthy)

This is disheartening.

I just saw this link on Facebook from the Think Progress site:

"Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D), both of whom are facing re-election fights this fall, refused to take a position on ending the cuts when asked Thursday, The Hill reports:

'If you want to do something in the spirit of compromise, you don’t start out by saying, ‘I refuse to do this’ or ‘I refuse to do that,’ ” said McCaskill. “\'It’s not my preference to extend tax cuts to multimillionaires — that’s not my preference — but I want to keep every option open in the spirit of compromise.'”

Compromise my ear.

She has to take this namby-pamby position becaus it's an election year and so many Missourians have gone Right Wing daffy.

The Right Wingers, Republicans and Tea Party members don't focus on compromise, now do they? Hell no they don't. They haven't in years. Every time Speaker of the House John Boehner wants to compromise, they slap him down.

Here we have deficits out the wazoo, the wealthy are just that, wealthy and we'd be asking them to take about a 4% tax increase, in order to bridge the gap. It would also be to help keep America strong, let's be clear. And the fact is, these tax cuts nearly exclusively for the wealthy should never have been passed in the first place. They're obscene. They're immoral. It puts much more of the welfare of the nation on the backs of the middle and lower classes who are just scraping by.

Then we have Democrats who can't stand up and say and do the right thing, what's best and right for the country, in at least two or three or more different ways.

This is disgusting.

We need statesmen (statespersons, I guess) in this nation and all we have, instead, is weak-spined people who have to shill the wealthy and corporations for "campaign contributions" so they can get elected and re-elected.

Pitiful.

Don't get me wrong, either. It's important--crucial, in fact--that Claire McCaskill be returned to the Senate so we don't get some other, additional wack-job Republican or, worse, Tea Party member in there. I just wish she could and would show some spine on this and all issues. I also wish my fellow, middle- and lower-class Missourians would vote in their own best, self-interests, too, and not for the Republican Party.

I wish Senator McCaskill--and all government representatives, of course--would remember and act on former President Harry Truman's words: "I shall continue to do what I think is right, whether anybody likes it or not."

We need more statespersons in our government.

And less campaign contributions. But that's another matter.

Here's hoping the right thing happens come November.

Side note to Sen. McCaskill: Do the right thing, Senator, and next time I'll use a far more flattering picture of you to go with the story. Just saying.

Link: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/08/496546/democrats-refuse-bush-tax-cuts/

And now for something completely different

The world's oceans: humankind's largest waste dump

A new docuemtary is coming out, telling of what we humans are doing to the oceans, the planet and ultimately, ourselves, by dumping as we do, into the oceans or the world. It seems at once, fascinating but scary and rather stupid, all, on our part.

Link: www.plasticparadisemovie.com

Annual OP Greek Festival starts today at 5 pm!

Friday, June 8th - 5:00pm to 10:00pm
Saturday, June 9th - 11:00am to 10:00pm
Sunday, June 10th - 11:00am to 8:00pm

DANCE PERFORMANCES:
Friday 6:00pm, 8:00pm
Saturday 11:30am, 2:00pm, 4:30pm, 6:30pm, 8:00pm
Sunday 12:30pm, 2:30pm, 5:30pm

For more information, check out their festival website at http://www.stdionysios.org/festival/index.php

Opa!

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Quote of the day

"Let us know peace. For as long as the moon shall rise, For as long as the rivers shall flow, For as long as the sun will shine, For as long as the grass shall grow, Let us know peace." ~Cheyenne

Breaking news: Kansas' Bramlage family killed in plane crash

From Yahoo! News and the Associated Press (AP) just now:

Kansas family killed in plane crash in Floride swamp

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas businessman, his wife and their four children were killed Thursday when their small plane crashed into a swampy area of central Florida, and word quickly spread to their hometown where the family was known for their charitable work and always having a house full of neighborhood kids.

The single-turboprop, fixed-wing plane was heading home to Junction City from the Bahamas when it broke apart and went down about 12:30 p.m. in the Tiger Creek Preserve, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office in Florida.

...the basketball arena is named for..." the father's "...grandfather."

Full story here: http://news.yahoo.com/kansas-family-killed-plane-crash-fla-swamp-015401997.html

Not being a "wise guy" or sarcastic here at all but, seriously, doesn't it seem, to an extent, as though the "good die young"? Read about this family to see to what I'm referring.

Additional link: http://www.kmbc.com/news/kansas-city/6-Members-of-Bramlage-family-killed-in-Florida-plane-crash/-/11664182/14738618/-/wep401z/-/index.html

Entertainment overnight

And so it begins...

The big push, from Summer, 2012, all the way to the first Tuesday in November--election day:

Romney bests Obama in May fundraising, raising nearly $77 million

It starts in earnest now but from now to that fateful election day, the big money--the really big money--from the wealthy and corporations of this country is going to pour out for Mitt "Mittens" Romney so they can get that corporate shill in the White House.

Mr. "I'll Say Anything, Just So You'll Elect Me President" is gunning for the presidency, as we know, and all those corporations and the rich people want him in there.

And they'll do anything and everything to get it, too, including shelling out all that big money and stealing your vote in the ballot box, let there be no dougt.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/romney-bests-obama-may-fundraising-raising-nearly-77-152825223.html

In response, an online petition to KEEP the statue in Overland Park

Go here: http://www.change.org/petitions/do-not-remove-the-sculpture-at-the-overland-park-arboretum

And thank you, in advance.

Sheesh, some people...

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, corporate pimp

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is understandably--I guess--but shamelessly shilling for a Canadian oil company, TransCanada, to have their oil pipeline go through the state.

This makes it official. Governor Nixon is now officially and publicly, clearly a corporate pimp.

He's out there, pushing for this TransCanada XL pipeline to transport Canadian oil through the US just so it can get to Texas and out to world oil markets for TransCanada and he's doing it for money.

Sure, he's doing it for money for Missouri's state treasury but hey, selling others--in this case, a state--for money, it doesn't matter where the money goes, just that you're out there selling people.

As if that weren't bad enough, what makes it really, additionally disgusting for and to me is that the prostitute he's selling is you and me. He's selling the state of Missouri--us.

The pipeline is to go from Illinois, through our state and then down to Texas. The Canadians are smart enough to know that in order to get their multi-billion dollar boondoggle, they need to line up all the people and states they can in order to get this thing.

It's beyond disgusting.

Why on Earth should any people or state in the US allow what is a Canadian pipeline, with its inevitable leaks and oil spills and environmental damage, go through their state and area and farm, whatever, just so a Canadian oil company can get richer?

And that's what this is all about, at its core--selling the American people on a pipeline through the country, just so a Canadian oil company can make millions and millions of dollars--more money--at our expense.

So Governor Nixon is trying to sell us all on the idea--and to sell us in the marketplace--so we can get a few temporary jobs and some more money in our state treasury.

This is obscene.

Missourians should no way stand for this.

Links (and further proof): http://www.kshb.com/dpp/news/state/missouri/new-pipeline-project-through-missouri-is-praised-for-creating-jobs

http://kcur.org/post/oil-pipeline-mapped-beyond-kansas-city-outskirts

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/06/1097886/-Florida-voter-purge-official-linked-to-Koch-funded-efforts-to-defeat-Obama

Jason Kander's first campaign video

As shown and suggested above, this is current Missouri State Representative Jason Kander's first YouTube video for his run to become Missouri's Secretary of State. Clearly, he's running heavily on his military career, as well as his government service otherwise.

Hopefully he--and we--can get some better, stronger ethics down in Jefferson City.

Hopefully we will get campaign contribution limits put back in place for government representatives, candidates and elections.

At least that.

If you can contribute to his campaign, go here: https://services.myngp.com/ngponlineservices/contribution.aspx?X=Kombg46fJQZ2cwe54v5kxSB/7Dc9YpoWUJcamvGTZmM%3D

Dorothy Parker, August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967

"I want so much to write well, though I know I don’t, and that I didn’t make it. But during and at the end of my life, I will adore those who have." --Dorothy Parker; Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Parker