Quote of the day

"I have come to hate war. War settles nothing." President and former General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Quote of the day

Robert F. Kennedy, Rest in peace

Murdered 44 years ago today. (Thank you Bob McWilliams for the reminder).

Entertainment overnight

Just discovered this today though I've been a fan and follower of Edgar Meyer and Bela Fleck for some time.

Enjoy.

And have a great evening.

Keep your Gram & Dun, I'll have Zocalo, thanks

A few weeks ago, for my birthday, a friend took me to the newish restaurant (there are a few) Gram and Dun. It's located in the former Baja 600 space, which I--and everyone, it seems--love. And why wouldn't we? It's got that great patio and, good weather or bad, the restaurant looks out over it and Brush Creek. Sure, you can't see the creek but it's an expanse of green in the city so it's a nice change.

And I had a nice meal.

It was good. Heck, it was even tasty. It was their "crispy smoked chicken." It came with something they called "Texaz Red Rice."

Cute, huh? I hate cute.

I'm happy it's a local restaurant, locally-owned. That helps. I love supporting local restaurants, restauratuers and businesses, period. It's just that this time, I was underwhelmed and it was underwhelming, with a bit of a high price, to boot.

Anyway, the food was good. Actually, it was okay. It was not memorable. It was dependable but didn't really rock my world, as I had expected since I'd heard so much good to great about this new restaurant. The ultimate result was that I came away disappointed.

I'd go back but only for cocktails on the patio in that window of time when we have good weather.



So imagine my surprise when, a few weeks later (this weekend, actually), I went to the newish Zocalo Mexican restaurant in the former Mi Cucina space. (Is every new restaurant in town replacing an older Mexican restaurant?).

I always enjoyed Mi Cocina for two reasons. First, it was Mexican food that wasn't the same old, same old (think Southwest Boulevard) and it had a terrific tortilla soup. It was made of a clear chicken broth with chunks of chicken and avocado and so forth. I loved it.

So then, I went to this Zocalo.

Wow.

Now here's some different, fresh, wonderful food.

And you know what?

It even costs less--far less--than Gram & Dun.

And I wasn't set out to have anything about either experience be about price, either, let me be clear.

I had what they call the chicken tinga tacos and wow, I say again (forgive me), were they good.

Very fresh with big strips of red onion and very fresh, made-that-day salsa with a corn tortilla that makes these taquitos taste so great.

Then, to make things even better, they came with killer black beans.

These are not your everyday, I-can-get-these-anywhere black beans, either, by a long shot. They were extremely flavorful with just a hint of spicy heat. Perfect for the people who need it spicy but not too for the other kind who don't want much spice at all. Really, just outstanding. And for nearly half the price of the chicken at G & D., not forgetttable at all, by any means.

So, sure, Gram & Dun has that great location and patio but now, here's this terrific food at Zocalo and, heck, they've added the big glass doors they can open in good weather, along with outside seating so it makes for great people-watching, in an effort to keep up other place's views.

So there you are. If you find yourself on the Plaza, looking for somewhere to eat and either like or haven't had Mexican food recently, keep in mind Zocalo. If you want, spend more money and get the bigger and/or more expensive entree's. It's just a quick, easy block from Gram & Dun and I think you'll come away far satisfied.

You may even have more money in your pocket when you leave, too.

Links: http://gramanddun.com/

http://gramanddun.com/

Why do we keep doing this to ourselves?

Click on picture for larger, better viewing and reading:
A better question: why do we let the wealthy and corporations do this to us?

For all of us who have ever been put on interminable "hold"

The Dragon Boat Festival returns this Saturday

The annual Dragon Boat Festival returns, once again, to the Country Club Plaza this Saturday.

Sponsored and organized by The Society for Friendship with China (Inc.), this is their 8th annual celebration. It begins at 10 am, goes until 3 pm and includes parades, stage performances and, of course, the dragon boat races.

If you've ever been, enjoyed it and wanted to return, it's back. If you've never been and wanted to go, here's your chance.

Side note: Someone should tell the organization, however, that their name is misspelled on their website. It's not Freindship.

Link: http://www.chinagardensociety-kc.org/

First, Joanne Hughes; Now, the art Nazis

First one prudish and priggish Ms. Joanne Hughes protested the statue, above, in the Overland Park Arboretum.

Now, a Church organization is getting into the mix, trying to censor what you and I--the public--can or can't see in the world.

From The Star today:

Petition drive launched after Overland Park refuses to remove nude sculpture

"Tuesday night, Phillip Cosby, the director of the Kansas and Missouri chapter of the American Family Association, George Hsu, a minister with Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church, and Joanne Hughes, a Stillwell resident who began an online petition against the statue, met with Overland Park Mayor Carl Gerlach to ask that the statue be removed from the arboretum."

Fortunately, a calmer, cooler and more intelligent head prevailed--so far:

"The mayor denied their request to remove the statue"

Kudos and salutations to the Overland Park Mayor and the City Council for not buckling to this closed-minded group--again, so far. Let's hope they don't.

Let's call these censor-freaks what they are: art Nazis. I love the irony that the name of the statue is "Accept or Reject." I'm sure that is all over these people's heads. I'm sure they don't get that. At all.

It's not bad enough their Kansas Governor Sam Brownback arbitrarily killed the state Arts Commission in the recent past, no. Now, these, again, prigs, have to go about the countryside, trying to clean the world of things inappropriate for eyes. At least they're trying to remove things "inappropriate" by their standards.

I say again, the Nazis.

Between these two moves, the Governor's killing of the state Arts Commission and now these censorship freaks, along with the Governor's much more recent destroying of the state tax base, it seems clear Kansas' arts future is dim.

Very dim, indeed. Sad, unnecessary and unfortunate.

It is, literally, going to be one sad state, Kansas.

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/05/3644162/overland-park-refuses-to-remove.html

Quote of the day

"Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." --Benito Mussolini

Take a moment and think about that.

Don't dismiss it quickly.

Apply it to America, today.

Quote of the day

"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day." --Dalai Lama

Humankind's future

"...an organism at war with itself is doomed." --Carl Sagan

You just can't understate how cool this photograph is

As lots of us have maybe heard, the transit of planet Venus is taking place today. People will be able to see the "tiny" planet Venus going across the Sun, between the Earth and Sun.

It's fascinating stuff.

What gets me about all this, are the pictures, like the one above, showing such a transit.

It blows me away showing the size and scale of Venus, compared to the Sun.

Sure, there's some distortion, naturally, because of the distances but still, it gives some better idea of what's out there and the sizes involved.

Incredible stuff, indeed.

Something I don't take for granted.

Brilliant.

Note: There's a great story on NPR's website, too, telling of how this transit of Venus figures in humankind's scientific development and when we first knew of it: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/06/05/154353521/how-the-transit-of-venus-helped-unlock-the-universe

The brilliant Helen Keller on rich v. poor and the working class

Congratulations to Senator Roy Blunt and the Republican Party for their continued, successful war on women

Our own Missouri Senator Roy Blunt and the Republican Party killed the possibility that equality--in this case, for women in the workplace--would take further root in the country.

Today, the Republicans voted down and killed the Paycheck Fairness Act, calling for women to receive the same pay men receive, doing the same or similar work.

Doesn't it seem obvious that women should get this? Already?

It's crazy we even have to have legislation saying as much.

The data given lately--you may have heard it--is that women make 77 cents for every dollar men make for, again, the same or similar work, at present.

Instead of defending equality and fairness, Republicans stood up and said they had to defend business interests, instead.

Seriously, they did. And they aren't even embarrassed by this public stance.

It's obscene. It's immoral. It's immoral to be anything but for equal pay in the workplace.

All that said, what's silly is that any political party is only proposing any legislation, knowing that the other political party is going to vote it down.

Instead of doing real legislation that would forward the country--for, let's say work in the nation, for instance--they are twiddling their thumbs and wasting time and money.

I say again, we need statesmen (statespeople, if you will) in government, rather than the demagogues we've been suffering with for far too many years.

Link: http://www.npr.org/2012/06/05/154377271/senate-republicans-block-paycheck-fairness-act

And now for something completely different

America's coup de' tat (guest post)

"I’m not a conspiracy theorist (you can’t have served in Washington and seriously believe more than two people can hold on to a big story without it leaking), but I fear that at least since 2010 we’ve been witnessing a quiet, slow-motion coup d’etat whose purpose is to repeal every bit of progressive legislation since the New Deal and entrench the privileged positions of the wealthy and powerful — who haven’t been as wealthy or as powerful since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.

Its techique is to inundate America with a few big lies, told over and over (the debt is Obama’s fault and it’s out of control; corporations and the very rich are the “job creators” that need tax cuts; government is the enemy, and its regulations are strangling the private sector; unions are bad; and so on), and tell them so often they’re taken as fact.

Then having convinced enough Americans that these lies are true, take over the White House, Congress, and remaining states that haven’t yet succumbed to the regressive right (witness Tuesday’s recall election in Wisconsin).

I desperately hope I’m wrong, but all there’s growing evidence I may be right."

--Robert Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, author, commentator, columnist for The New York Times, etc.

Note: You may want to read the article, too, as it is yet another excellent one from Mr. Reich, no surprise.

Link to original post: http://robertreich.org/post/24472398883

On Conservatives

Regrettable move by (President) Obama and NAACP?

The Reverend Jarvis L. Collier, pastor of Pleasant Green Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas had an opinion piece in the Star yesterday, with the headline, above, sans the question mark.

This is a response.

More than anything, the Rev. Collier thinks that gays and homosexuals don't deserve equal rights, it seems. This is an attempt to address his column, point by point.

He says "Many Christian leaders are both offended and saddened by the recent NAACP vote affirming same-sex marriage equality."

Yes, well, many Christian leaders are also offended by the idea that equality would be denied any human in the world, let alone the United States, especially if they want to try to base it on the Bible.

The Reverend's first point is that "...marriage represents a spiritual covenant ordained by God, reserved for one man and one woman."

He cites several Bible passages:

Genesis 1--I assume he's referring to "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

That says nothing about marriage or any union.

He then cites Genesis 2 which is about Adam and Eve and God creating Eve from Adam's rib and "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."

Again, pretty vague. It doesn't say anything about two people being forbidden from loving each other if they're the same sex, yet, does it?

He notes Matthew 19 which, frankly, is about why a man shouldn't divorce his wife.

He goes on to Ephesians 5 which says women should be subordinate to their husbands. Still no mention here. This is where the Bible says "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh."

Fine. But no word about same-sex couples, devoted to one another.

Finally, he points out Hebrews 13 which, ironically, starts out with "Let brotherly love continue."

I assume he's referring to this: "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."

Doesn't say a thing about a man and a woman, does it?

In fact, to Reverend Collier and anyone and everyone (both of you) who might read this, Jesus--you know, Jesus Christ, Son of God--never once said anything, anything about two men or two women loving and committing to one another.

Lucky for the Reverend he didn't bring up Leviticus. He likely knew better.

Let's move on. I'm not trying to make this a long entry.

He then mentions George Orwell's landmark, excellent book, "1984", as many people are wont to do down through time, saying we shouldn't redefine things and call them what they aren't. Then he says this: "The definition of marriage (one man and one woman) has long been settled."

Not only is that completely untrue, the only people for whom marriage has been truly defined, down through the ages, as only and exclusively between one man and one woman are people who don't know humankind's history.

Here, the Rev. Collier is wrong, unfortunately. Marriage, down through the millenia, has been defined and redefined, time and again, within and without any organized church. Even if you ignore all other religions and all other peoples, it has been defined and redefined within the Christian (and Catholic) Church. It's undeniable.

There isn't enough time or space to list all the different, church-sanctioned types and definitions of marriage here, but below are listed just a couple of links, showing just some of the various ways "marriage" has been defined through humankind's development:

--http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200505/marriage-history

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage

--http://marriage.about.com/cs/generalhistory/a/marriagehistory.htm

If you don't know or ignore humankind's history and your followers do the same, it's easy to tell yourself that marriage is the same now as it has always been. It's just patently untrue.

His second point is that "...as an African-American, I am deeply offended by the equivalence argument made by some.

Gay rights are not equivalent to civil rights for blacks."

Put that way, I can see how someone, anyone, would agree with that supposition. But the fact is that Blacks and African-Americans and gays (homosexuals, same-sex persons, same-sex couples, etc.) have both been fighting for the same thing, as long as they've existed.

We're all working for and fighting for equal rights. That's all.

Put that way--which is the simple truth of it, void of all other emotional and complicated trappings--we are, in fact, working for the same thing. Gay rights are equivalent to civil rights for blacks. Isn't that what America is all about and always has been? "Equal rights for all"?

Gays have been beaten and killed for being who they were, down through time, certainly, up to present day. No one is suggesting they've been owned and beaten and enslaved the same as the African-American in this nation's earlier history but they've been second class citizens and suffered for it.

"No one is free when others are oppressed." --Mahatma Gandhi.

This makes my point. I would think that Rev. Collier and anyone with any exposure to society and history would understand that.

Rev. Collier goes on to say that "During the 1950s and ’60s, blacks sought only what the U.S. Constitution guaranteed: freedom, opportunity and equal treatment. Blacks didn’t seek new rights, only the implementation of those already established."

What he doesn't understand is that that is exactly what's still being fought for here, in this battle. Gays only want equality. They--we--only want the same rights afforded to all other citizens of this nation, simple as that.

It's great to hear the Reverend Collier give his third point that "I (and all Christian leaders) reject bigotry, hatred or disrespect toward gays and lesbians."

Excellent. Great to hear, Reverend. Please be sure to make that known far and wide, by all means.

I should think the Reverend would also be against people being denied their equal rights. It would fit.

His fourth point, he says, is that "Christian principles must never be sacrificed on the altar of political expedience."

I can't think of anything more Christian than everyone being treated equal, can you?

He goes on to suggest that President Obama is doing this out of "political correctness."

I beg to differ, as he or anyone reading this would surely understand.

President Obama is doing this because it's the right thing to do and he knows it. The time came for him to stand up for equality for one more group of Americans, just as Harry Truman did when he integrated the US military, all those years ago.

Don't let there be any doubt here, either. President Obama took some risk in taking this stand. His opponents, made up as they are of a great deal of devout, Right Wing Christians who meet every Sunday and organize, could well present a difficult voting block against him this November, because of this stand. He took that chance. It's not just his being "PC." To suggest that is to simplify his stance rather ridiculously.

If there is or was anything wrong with President Obama's stance on equality for people of same-sex attraction, it was that he said it should be open to all 50 states definition of marriage. That was weak. In this one way, I would agree with Reverend Collier when he says "America must not countenance 50 definitions of marriage (each state having its own)."

I couldn't agree more. It would have been a far more consistent stance and more brave and even right to say this is the way it should be across the nation. If anything in this decision was "PC"--politically correct--it was this. That was unfortunate.

The fact is, the Reverend Collier is wrong about same-sex individuals and couples. They should, in fact, be afforded complete and total equality in all aspects in these United States. That's all they're--we're--working and fighting for. And it's the same equal rights African-Americans have been fighting for, all these hundreds of years.

What's sad is that the Reverend Collier doesn't also understand that this is why so many black men in this country are on the "down-low", the DL, as it's called. They're all hiding from the kind of opinions and judgment and condemnation that he and others like him in the black community hold. Sadly, some of them go ahead and get married, for fear of not fitting in, then they continue to search out same-sex situations, in order to fill the need they otherwise have.

And trust me, I say this to Reverend Collier and anyone and everyone out there in the world, in spite of what people may think or say, gays--we--don't "choose to be this way." It would be far, far simpler and easier to fit in and go along and be something we aren't, if only we weren't otherwise born this way, but it would living a lie and nothing good can or would come of that. Being on the "down-low" and not being yourself surely can't make for a good, honest, strong, healthy, happy marriage.

For all these reasons, I would hope that the Reverend Collier, his followers and more--indeed, all--in the black community would realize and accept that all gays are working and fighting for is, as I said above, just what they've been fighting for, all these years. That is, acceptance, sure, but equal rights for all.

Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/03/3637438/as-i-see-it.html


http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1&version=NIV

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+2&version=NIV

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+19&version=NIV

http://bible.org/seriespage/meaning-christian-marriage-ephesians-521-32

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+13&version=KJV

Quote of the day

“The rich man is always sold to the institution which makes him rich. Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue.”
--Henry David Thoreau, American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher, 1817-1862

Entertainment overnight

I'm so old...

...I can remember when YouTube didn't have the Apple iTunes autoplay and shuffle features available on your own favorites. (Kudos to Google, too, by the way, for ripping off Apple).

Great old song and group--now poignant?

I ran across this last evening.

What memories.

I'm so old...

...I remember when the first commercial ad, paid for at the top of the recommended list to the right of your main, selected video on YouTube wasn't about or for Mormons.

THAT old...

This looks promising

If you can't go there and see most of the continent, this is at least the next best thing.

Besides, this is one of things HD TVs do so well--showing us nature in full, deep, rich and very vivid color and detail.

All without so much as getting out of our easy chair.

A thought for a great story for the Star

It occurred to me last evening.

A great story for The Star.

They should at least do a story on local talent, photographer Eric Bowers and his work.

So much of it is so sharp, crisp, unique and wonderful. (He has his detractors but let's not quibble. That's a style issue).

This shot of downtown, above, for instance. It's just one of his latest pieces.

It would be great the paper, great for Eric and great for people who, if not on Facebook, have no idea, maybe, that he's out there doing great stuff.

Here's another of his latest work:


Clearly, he does stunning, creative, wonderful work.

Here's an extension of that thought for The Star:

Go beyond this one person and his blog. Cover other bloggers in the area--there are lots--and see what they do and why and maybe even where. There should be some great stories out there. Great, local stories. There are more photographers and attorneys and restaurant critics, etc. (And for the sarcastic out there, no, hell no, I absolutely don't mean me. Don't even start).

Yes, there may be the problem that it gets people away from newspapers, if that's the way they think down there (at The Star) but for the most part, the people who don't know of these people already, wouldn't and won't know of them otherwise. It's a natural link for the paper and its faithful readers.

Link: http://www.ericbowersphoto.com/

Kindness transcends all (or should)

A minimum tax for Americans and corporations makes sense

According to an article in The Star yesterday, from an article in Bloomberg News (ironically enough), 5 days earlier, more and more high-earning Americans are avoiding income tax altogether. (I say ironically enough because Bloomberg News is rather famously owned by the uber-wealthy billionaire Michael Bloomberg).

The article:

IRS Finds One In 189 High Earners Paid No 2009 U.S. Tax

The percentage of U.S. taxpayers reporting adjusted gross income exceeding $200,000 who paid no U.S. income taxes increased in 2009 to 0.53 percent from 0.51 percent, meaning that one in 189 high earners avoided taxation, an Internal Revenue Service study found.

My point in mentioning this today is not to rail against the wealthy who are, more and more, escaping and evading taxes altogether but to ask the rather salient and altogether appropriate question--doesn't it make sense that we have a national "minimum tax" for both individuals and corporations so that these wealthy people can and do pay their extremely fair share for a) being in America and b) having access to all the benefits therein like our schools, sewer systems, air traffic, all other infrastructure and--maybe most important of all, our markets?

Doesn't this make sense?

I'd propose that it kick in when people make over, say, $200,000 or $250,000 annually and when corporations do the same. (This might have to be tweaked for the corporations, I'm not a tax expert).

It's just logical.

First of all, they can afford it and second, it really is their duty to pay at least SOME taxes in order to enjoy--and maintain--all we have here. And by "some", I mean a 20% minimum. That's still a bargain.

No more skipping out totally on taxes. It's the right thing for them and for the nation. No matter how many deductions you pull out of your hat, there's a 20% minimum income tax.

Someone needs to propose such a thing.

And please, whatever you do, don't tell me it punishes success.

Don't even.

Link to original story: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-29/irs-finds-one-in-189-high-earners-paid-no-2009-u-s-tax.html

13 Soldiers killed last week in Afghanistan

6-02-2012 NATO NAME NOT RELEASED YET Not reported yet 0 Hostile - hostile fire Southern Afghanistan Southern Afghanistan ISAF Not reported yet Not reported yet Not reported yet Not reported yet

6-01-2012 UK Thacker, Michael John Corporal 27 Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire Helmand Nahr-e Saraj District British Army Wales Swindon, Wiltshire 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh Not reported yet

5-31-2012 US Povilaitis, Alexander G. Staff Sergeant 47 Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack Kandahar Kandahar U.S. Army Georgia Dawsonville 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA

5-31-2012 US Witsman, Joshua Lance Corporal 23 Hostile - hostile fire Southern Afghanistan Southern Afghanistan U.S. Marine Indiana Not reported yet Not reported yet Not reported yet

5-30-2012 US Brazas, Sean E. Petty Officer 2nd Class 26 Hostile - hostile fire Kandahar Panjwa’i District U.S. Navy North Carolina Greensboro Naval Base Kitsap Security Detachment Bremerton, WA

5-30-2012 US Olivas, Nicholas H. Corporal 20 Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack Kandahar Zharay U.S. Army Ohio Fairfield 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Fort Bragg, NC

5-28-2012 US Chase, Julian C. Sergeant 22 Hostile - hostile fire Helmand Helmand U.S. Marine Maryland Edgewater 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, III Marine Expeditionary Force Okinawa, Japan

5-28-2012 US Pratt, John C. Chief Warrant Officer 51 Non-Hostile - Helicopter crash Kabul Kabul U.S. Army Virginia Springfield 12th Combat Aviation Brigade Ansbach, Germany

5-28-2012 US Brainard III, John "Jay" R. Captain 26 Non-Hostile - Helicopter crash Kabul Kabul U.S. Army Maine Dover-Foxcroft 12th Combat Aviation Brigade Ansbach, Germany

5-27-2012 US Deronde III, Leroy Private 1st Class 22 Hostile - hostile fire Wardak Chak-E Warkdak District U.S. Army New Jersey Jersey City 125th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division Fort Bliss, TX

5-27-2012 US Jacobs, Kedith L. Specialist 21 Hostile - hostile fire Wardak Chak-E Warkdak District U.S. Army Colorado Denver 125th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division Fort Bliss, TX

5-27-2012 US Sutton, Steven G. Lance Corporal 24 Hostile - hostile fire Helmand Helmand U.S. Marine Georgia Leesburg 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force Camp Lejeune, NC

5-27-2012 us Tautolo, Tofiga J. Specialist 23 Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack Kandahar Bati Kot U.S. Army California Wilmington 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

In all of May, 2012, 37 American Soldiers died: http://www.militarytimes.com/valor/search?year_month=2012-05

I think it important--very important--we always keep this in mind--daily, weekly, monthly.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." --Edmund Burke

Link: http://icasualties.org/OEF/Index.aspx

Quote of the day