Mo Rage

Uncanny timing tonight

2013-05-22T22:35:00.002-05:00

There was the most terrific 2 specials on tonight on the local PBS station, KCPT, about the Joplin tornado in 2011 since the anniversary was and is today.

I watched most of both. Bawled like a baby.

The thing is, the reason I write is because, first, it was 2 years ago today but second, it's hot on the heels, of course, of the Moore, Oklahoma tornado just yesterday, the poor people.

Uncanny timing and coincidence.

Devastating.

Deadline in Disaster

A community newspaper helps its town find hope in the aftermath of the EF5-tornado that nearly destroyed Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011. The Joplin Globe rolled the presses the night of the storm and hasn’t missed a beat since: continuing long hours, enduring difficult working conditions, and uncovering stories from the disaster.

Here's the 2nd:

Heartland: Portrait of Survival – 9pm

Heartland is a heartfelt portrait of the people who survived the EF5-tornado and a tribute to the lives who were lost in Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011. Amateur footage, home videos, news broadcasts, police dispatch transmissions, and interviews are woven into an inspiring narrative.

If you get a chance to see either or both, by all means do.

You've no idea what they've been through unless you know someone there or you've seen one of both of these.

Kudos, KCPT and PBS.

And may we all help the people, now, in Moore, Oklahoma.

Link: Remembering Joplin - KCPT

Muslim extremists hurting their own cause

2013-05-22T21:00:00.000-05:00

Did you see this rather big story from England today?

Chilling video of London attacker explaining machete attack

The report is that "..two men attacked a man believed to be a British soldier in the London neighborhood of Woolwich, but U.K. officials are already investigating it as a possible act of terrorism.

One of the two men are quoted as saying "We swear by Almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reasons we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. This British soldier is an eye for an eye a tooth for tooth. We apologise that women had to see this today but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don’t care about you."

And all I can say is that with the reports from around the world, that so many Muslims strapped bombs to themselves and blew themselves and innocents up, time after time, their fellow countrymen, frequently, and now this, it's all creating images of Muslims and Islamists that far too many people across in many countries, Americans, British, all kinds of people, all over the world, that they think "they're all like that."

This is going nowhere good for them, that's for sure, and for too many of them, they don't seem to care. How they expect this to go well for them, I don't know or understand.

In the meantime, here's something that won't get reported enough, also from today:

Woolwich attack: Religious groups condemn attack

And from this article:

...Muslim groups have condemned the attack after a video captured of the suspected attackers saying: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you.”

A statement from the Muslim Council of Britain said: “This is a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam and we condemn this unreservedly. Our thoughts are with the victim and his family.

“We understand the victim is a serving member of the Armed Forces. Muslims have long served in this country’s Armed Forces, proudly and with honour.

“This attack on a member of the Armed Forces is dishonourable, and no cause justifies this murder.”

The group called for vigilance and solidarity between “all our communities, Muslim and non-Muslim”, and for police to “calm tensions”.

Mohammed Shafiq from the Ramadhan Foundation said: “I wish to condemn the evil and barbaric crime carried out today in Woolwich.

“Our immediate thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims. From whatever angle you see today’s attack, it was at every level evil.

“We must allow the police to gather all the facts before unnecessary speculation and wait for the facts before determining its impact on our country.

“But what happens in the days to come, London and our nation will come together and will not be divided. The terrorists will never win and succeed in their evil plans.

“But tonight we think of the family of that soldier killed.”

So let's keep that in mind, too, if we can.

Don't think all Muslims are for this bararity.

Purely by fluke, I ran across this flip side of the coin, so to speak, this evening, too:

British soldier jailed for stabbing 10-year-old Afghan boy - Telegraph

But that's different, right?

Right?

Race will affect traffic on Memorial Day morning

2013-05-22T19:00:00.000-05:00

The City of Kansas City, Mo., is notifying motorists that the Amy Thompson Run (8K, 5K and 1 mile) will affect traffic in the Sunset Hill, Ward Estates and Country Club District neighborhoods on Monday, May 27 from approximately 7 a.m. to noon.

The following streets will experience rolling closures during the race:

- Wornall Road between 51st and 55th streets
- 55th Street between Wornall Road and Summit Street
- Belleview Avenue between 52nd Street and 60th Terrace
- Pennsylvania Avenue between 55th Street and Huntington Road
- Huntington Road between Pennsylvania Avenue and Belleview Avenue
- 59th Terrace from Belleview Avenue to Ward Parkway
- Summit Street between 60th Terrace/61st Street and Greenway Terrace
- Valley Road between Greenway Terrace and 64th Terrace
- 64th Terrace between Valley Road and Ward Parkway
- Ward Parkway (northbound) between 64th Terrace and Sunset Drive
- Sunset Drive between Ward Parkway and 54th Street
- 54th Street between Sunset Drive and Belleview Avenue
- 51st Street between 52nd Street and Wornall Road

Please observe caution and obey all posted detours and barricades.

Thanks and acknowledgement to Scott Wagner and his Facebook page for this information.

On KCI and Pitch Magazine's Cover Story

2013-05-22T16:30:00.001-05:00

The Pitch Magazine is out today, as usual, and this week, their cover story is on our airport and the pros and cons of building a new, single terminal.

It's an excellent article, very comprehensive.

And as usual, the Kansas City Star got scooped.

Sometimes, occasionally, even The New York Times scoops the local paper, as they did last year on a report out of Kansas but this time, the local free paper got the better of them.

The article points out some important, if rather obvious and already-covered points about any possible new terminal:

Does the city need a new, billion-dollar Kansas City International ...

Points the article and others of us make about our airport:

1) Airline traffic is down nationally, at least, anyway, for all airlines especially since the financial collapse of 2008. No one and nothing can or will change that;

2) Airlines are, if anything, shrinking and consolidating. There are fewer airlines, not more so expansion of any isn't on the horizon and isn't going to get more flights here;

3) Airlines, like all other businesses, want and need to keep their costs low. That just stands to reason. A new airport would, make no mistake, as the article points out, raise costs for those airlines, too. Sure, they'd pass them on to their ticket buying customers but their costs would be higher, period. As the article says:

"Costs would almost certainly increase with a new terminal — for parking, for a cup of coffee and for landing an airliner on a runway."

4) There is nothing wrong with our existing airport that can't be changed by revamping it, updating and innovating it and at far lower cost than of the 1.2 billion dollars a new airport terminal would cost. Not only that, but the updating and innovating, especially on heating and cooling, could well end up with additional savings on the facilities;

5) A little-known fact about our airport, at least to the person on the street--It has now 90 available gates for flights. We're using far fewer of those right now. With a new, very-expensive, single terminal, we would have 37 gates. Seriously. Yet people pushing a new terminal want to talk expansion;

6) There is even a question of whether or not Kansas City can AFFORD to pay for the new airport, let alone if it's really needed. Pitch seems to cover this, the financing aspects, very thoroughly and in all detail. They make just one great point here, as just one example:

Kansas City's finance team estimates that a single terminal could fetch 2.8 percent in interest rates. They would be lucky to find single-digit interest rates among private-equity financiers or pension funds looking to invest in municipally owned airports.

Bonds are sold to investors to drum up quick cash. The upfront money would pay for the airport's construction. Buyers would be repaid by airport revenues — from coffee, parking spaces, landing fees.

The city would not be on the hook to make up the difference if the airport didn't produce enough revenue to cover bond payments. Bondholders would be screwed on their investments, but so would the airport's reputation when it wanted to issue bonds in the future.

And federal funds? Fuggedaboudit: "You can't put together a financing plan that's dependent on the federal government," Kansas City Manager Troy Schulte tells The Pitch.

So the very financing and affordability of a new airport is even an issue and in question, let's be clear. Not only can we possibly not afford it, it doesn't make sense to tear a working, existing one down to do so.

7) City Manager Schulte and the Airport Authority want to make more money than we do now at the airport with concessions. With the existing layout, naturally, that's not possible because everyone's corralled in the security areas, away from the restaurants, etc.

I say again, if we use Terminal B for the main security clearance area--most or all of the building--and then have walkways out to Terminals A and C, we could have the security needed for today's post-9/11 airports as well as the restaurants and added concessions.

Both problems, solved. And at far, far less cost than the 1.2 billion dollar boondoggle they want with a new, single terminal.

8) As for deicing and the drainage it needs, the article covers that very well, again, and makes clear there's no reason that can't be done at the existing airport and at far less cost. And let's face it, how many days per year is that in use? It's not a high volume of deicer since there aren't that many days per year when its called for.

9) And finally, nearly most importantly, a new terminal categorically does not bring a new flying public to a city. To think otherwise is at least foolish if not utterly mistaken. No one flies to a city to see their new airport as I've written here before. A few architects might--might--and that's doubtful but that would be it.

So, again, kudos to Pitch Magazine for a good, comprehensive article that doesn't really take sides but just covers the issues in front of us.

Hopefully, in a couple of months or so, the Star will do an update on the subject of their own.

How many hours at minimum wage to pay just for an apartment in Missouri and Kansas?

2013-05-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

Check it out for yourself (click on image for larger view):

When will Congress do the people's and nation's business?

2013-05-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Standard and Poor’s is warning that it may downgrade the United States’ credit rating -- again. After downgrading our national credit, the firm said they are not seeing “any good evidence that there is more cooperation between the two parties than there was in 2011, nor that the American policymaking system as a whole is any more effective, stable, and predictable than it was in 2011 based on the latest debate.”

Click here to tell our lawmakers it is time to fix, not fight.

http://www.nolabels.org/blog/maybe-time-we-can-see-solution

Entertainment overnight

2013-05-21T22:00:00.000-05:00

Kind of.

Sort of.

If you can call it that.

This band, these two guys are called Daft Punk. They are and have been hugely successful.

To me, they are The Gap of music. That is, they are to music what the Gap is to clothing.

I do like the helmets, however.

Senator McCaskill? Your vote today?

2013-05-21T19:00:00.000-05:00

I could hardly believe what I read today about our Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill and her vote on the Farm Bill:

Which Democrats Just Voted against Food Stamp Funding?

From this article at The Daily Kos (bolding added for emphasis):

The Senate began its process of amending the farm bill this afternoon. Fom what I can tell from the Senate website, as of now, three amendments have received a vote so far:

--Sen. Maria Cantwell's (D-WA) amendment "to allow Indian tribes to participate in certain soil and water conservation programs" passed 87-8. The eight "No" votes were all Republicans: John Cornyn (TX), Ted Cruz (TX), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Mike Lee (R-WY), Rand Paul (R-KY), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Pat Toomey (R-PA).

--Sen. Pat Roberts's (R-KS) amendment to cut an additional $12 billion from the supplemental food assistance program (SNAP, or food stamps) failed 58-40. Three Republicans broke party lines against it: Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Roger Wicker (MS).

--However, the amendment on which I would like to focus attention here is that of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Gillibrand proposed to restore the $4 billion that the current farm bill--designed by Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS)--cuts from SNAP (Supplemental Food Assistance, known as food stamps--as I indicated above) and to offset this restored funding with a limitation on crop insurance reimbursements. Our current crop insurance subsidies benefit large farms at the expense of smaller ones and are one of the many glaring manifestations of corporate welfare that Congress never fixes. Gillibrand's amendment would, in essence, cut corporate welfare spending to restore social welfare spending. Did this progressive proposal pass? Not even close. It failed 26-70: not even a majority of Democrats voted for it.

Which Democrats voted against restoring food stamps--voting against veterans, children, seniors, and struggling to get by?

And that's when we find out that yes, as a matter of fact, our own Senator McCaskill voted against it.

I'm not saying absolutely here that she and all the Democrats who voted against it shouldn't have, necessarily. I'd just like a good, intelligent, honest answer why they did.

This seems as thought it was a vote FOR the common worker AND would have been against corporate welfare.

What was not to like?

Then, coincidentally, I saw this New York Times editorial piece today:

There Was a Time When Ending Hunger Was a National Goal for Republicans and Democrats

What happened to us? What happened to America?

First GE, now Apple Computer: Big profits, zero income tax paid

2013-05-21T18:00:00.000-05:00

First it was GE, General Electric Company, famously not paying any US taxes:

General Electric Avoids Taxes

It's insane, it's unfair, it's irresponsible on their part and it's even downright, truly immoral, even if it is legal, since they buy this kind of legislation from our government representatives with their "campaign contributions", which also need to be outlawed but that's a story for another day.

How do you take profits from and access the markets of a nation and then not pay anything back into it, so, well, let's see, that same nation can have good to great infrastructure like roads and schools and highways and sewage treatment, etc., etc. SO YOU CAN KEEP MAKING A PROFIT?

Forget about patriotism for a minute, how about paying some taxes so the whole thing functions and continues to function and it stays afloat?

Now, today, Apple, Inc., is shown to be doing the same thing:

Corporations Are Stealing Billions in Tax Breaks ...

Apple CEO Tim Cook appears today before a U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that's charging Apple with using had a web of offshore entities to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes. Apple has $102 billion in offshore accounts and shifted billions of dollars in profits out of the U.S. into affiliates based in Ireland where it negotiated a tax rate of less than 2 percent, according to the panel’s report. But Cook won't apologize today. Quite the contrary. In prepared remarks already distributed to the media, he and Apple have the chutzpah to recommend lower corporate tax rates on foreign earnings, in order to encourage companies to bring cash back to the U.S. and not “undermine U.S. competitiveness.”

This is exactly the same argument being used by Google, Amazon, GE, and every other major corporation that's hiding its income abroad. It's the same argument they're using here in the UK. They couldn't care less about U.S. competitiveness, or British competitiveness, or the competitiveness of any other nation. Their only interest is shrinking their corporate taxes, reducing their costs, and making the most money they possibly can. I don't blame them: That's what corporations are supposed to do. But to dress this up as anything else is a sham."

--Robert Reich, Economist, Columnist for the NY Times, Professor, Writer, etc.

Don't get me wrong, here, either. I don't for a moment think these are the only two firms doing this, far from it. I just think these are two of the worst, most egregious examples of this national theft and greed.

What I think we need to do, as a nation, and I've said this before, is to, first, make offshoring profits illegal because as crazy and destructive as all this is, it's quite legal in our country to do this, to offshore profits, however unpatriotic and even, possibly, I think it can be argued, treasonous. Then, second, put into place a minimum, say, 10% base tax all companies and corporations and even the wealthy must pay for both having access to our markets but also so we can help pay for the infrastructure that makes their company's profits possible in the first place.

This whole magical, wonderful thing we call the United States of America can't operate, obviously, without good roads and highways and sewage treatment plants and airports and schools, etc., as we all know.

It's not much to ask and it's the only way we can keep this whole thing running.

Oh, and again, it should and would also be patriotic.

At least, with all this sudden pressure on Apple lately, it apparently brought out the following result, just announced within the last few hours:

Next Mac will be made in Texas, Tim Cook says

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the only way, the only way companies and executives of them are going to be brought around to any good change for this country. That is, we have to keep the pressure on them to do the right thing, the moral thing and not just what is legal.

Missouri Senator Roy Blunt on "The Late Show With David Letterman"

2013-05-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

Yessirree, Bob, none other than our own Missouri Senator Roy Blunt was on the best late-night talk show there is last night. The only trouble is--for the Senator, anyway--it wasn't in person and it wasn't good for him.

For those who don't know, Dave does a segment called "Stooge of the Night" wherein Dave lampoons the Senators who voted against the weapons background checks last month, even though their constituents poll solidly for it. The fact is, 85% of Missourians are for background checks but our Senator voted against them.

An example, in case you've never seen one and is, coincidentally, about next-door-neighbor in Arkansas' Senator John Boozman:

As soon as CBS posts it, I'll put it here, likely.

For now, here is a link to more "Stooge of the Night" segments:

http://www.youtube.com/results?q=Stooge+of+the+night&sitesearch=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=w1

Good word out on our fair city

2013-05-21T12:30:00.000-05:00

Out today from Travel & Leisure Magazine and now, the Kansas City Star:

Travel + Leisure ranks KC as nation's most affordable getaway

Not only that but we rank No. 1.

What they have to say:

No. 1 Kansas City, MO

It’s one of the few cities where hotel prices have stayed the same or even dropped in the past year (the average summer rate is $137, according to Kayak). Sightseeing also remains a great value: you’ll get in free at three of Kansas City’s main art museums, as well as two fun factory-style tours (the Hallmark Visitors Center and the Boulevard Brewing Company). The savings continue at dinnertime. KC won the survey for its budget-minded, slow-smoked barbecue: a classic “burnt ends” sandwich at Danny Edwards’ Boulevard BBQ is just $5.99.

So kudos, Kansas City. If anything, let's just make it better.

Link to the Star's coverage of it: Travel + Leisure ranks KC as nation's most affordable getaway

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/21/4246261/kansas-city-offers-nations-most.html#storylink=cpy

Entertainment overnight

2013-05-20T23:00:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday, Honore' de Balzac

2013-05-20T18:00:00.000-05:00

From Wikipedia:

Honoré de Balzac (French pronunciation: [ɔ.nɔ.ʁe d(ə) bal.zak]; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon.

Due to his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. He is renowned for his multifaceted characters, who are complex, morally ambiguous and fully human. His writing influenced many subsequent novelists such as Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gustave Flaubert, Benito Pérez Galdós, Marie Corelli, Henry James, William Faulkner, Jack Kerouac, and Italo Calvino, and philosophers such as Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx. Many of Balzac's works have been made into or have inspired films, and they are a continuing source of inspiration for writers, filmmakers and critics.

An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac had trouble adapting to the teaching style of his grammar school. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. When he finished school, Balzac was an apprentice in a law office, but he turned his back on the study of law after wearying of its inhumanity and banal routine. Before and during his career as a writer, he attempted to be a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician; he failed in all of these efforts. La Comédie humaine reflects his real-life difficulties, and includes scenes from his own experience.

Balzac suffered from health problems throughout his life, possibly due to his intense writing schedule. His relationship with his family was often strained by financial and personal difficulties, and he ended several friendships over critical reviews. In 1850 he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime love; he died five months later.

What's this? GOOD news coming out of Jefferson City?

2013-05-20T16:00:00.000-05:00

Holy cow.

It CAN happen:

Clean Energy 4, Koch Brothers 0

MAY 20, 2013

The Koch brothers got more bad news over the weekend as the Missouri legislature joined the growing list of states to reject the Koch's proposal to weaken or eliminate state standards requiring the use of renewable energy sources.

Already Kansas, North Carolina, Colorado and New York have voted to keep or -- in the case of Colorado -- strengthen their renewable energy standards. However, there are proposals in another dozen states still being considered, so now is not the time to relax.

Working through a lobbying front group called the American Legal Exchange Council, the Koch brothers and the fossil fuel industry have proposed laws for more than a dozen states that would reverse the movement toward renewable energy.

Renewable energy standards have been passed in many to require public utilities to use a specific percentage of renewable energy sources to produce power. Most of those standards are being phased in over the next decade.

The people ARE standing up and doing the right thing, even in the state legislature.

Go, us!

Click here to sign our petition telling state lawmakers across the nation that Americans support clean, green energy and don't want states to cave to the wishes of the fossil fuel industry.

This will be making some Right Wing heads asplode today

2013-05-20T14:00:00.000-05:00

The very famously business-friendly Forbes magazine, no less, writes the following:

Economically, Could Obama Be America's Best President?

From the link:

"...Presidents universally take credit when the economy does well (such as Reagan,) and choose to blame other factors when the economy does poorly (such as Carter.) But there was a clear pattern, and link, between policy and financial market performance.

Although we hear almost no one in the Obama administration taking credit for record index highs, they should. Because the President deserves attention for how well this economy has done during his leadership.

The auto rescue plan has worked. American car manufacturers are still dominant and employing millions directly and in supplier companies. Wall Street reform has been painful but it has re-instated faith amongst investors. The markets are far more predictable than they were four years ago, as VIX numbers demonstrate greater faith and less risk.

Even for small investors, such as thoughs limited to their 401(k) or IRA investments, the average annual compound return on stocks under President Obama has been more than 24% since the lows of March, 2009. This is a better result than either Clinton, Reagan or FDR – who were the prior winners in our book.

To which, we have only one thing to say to the Republicans, the Right Wingers, the Neoconservatives and all the haters out there:

Suck it, beeyotches.

"Hell to pay" in Kansas and the plains states

2013-05-20T11:00:00.000-05:00

The New York Times ran an important article today (one more), this time on the Great Plains overall but Kansas, in specific, and how our water aquifers below ground are running dry:

Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust

Just a bit from the article:

HASKELL COUNTY, Kan. — Forty-nine years ago, Ashley Yost’s grandfather sank a well deep into a half-mile square of rich Kansas farmland. He struck an artery of water so prodigious that he could pump 1,600 gallons to the surface every minute.

Last year, Mr. Yost was coaxing just 300 gallons from the earth, and pumping up sand in order to do it. By harvest time, the grit had robbed him of $20,000 worth of pumps and any hope of returning to the bumper harvests of years past.

“That’s prime land,” he said not long ago, gesturing from his pickup at the stubby remains of last year’s crop. “I’ve raised 294 bushels of corn an acre there before, with water and the Lord’s help.” Now, he said, “it’s over.”

...Vast stretches of Texas farmland lying over the aquifer no longer support irrigation. In west-central Kansas, up to a fifth of the irrigated farmland along a 100-mile swath of the aquifer has already gone dry. In many other places, there no longer is enough water to supply farmers’ peak needs during Kansas’ scorching summers.

And when the groundwater runs out, it is gone for good. Refilling the aquifer would require hundreds, if not thousands, of years of rains.

This is in many ways a slow-motion crisis — decades in the making, imminent for some, years or decades away for others, hitting one farm but leaving an adjacent one untouched. But across the rolling plains and tarmac-flat farmland near the Kansas-Colorado border, the effects of depletion are evident everywhere. Highway bridges span arid stream beds. Most of the creeks and rivers that once veined the land have dried up as 60 years of pumping have pulled groundwater levels down by scores and even hundreds of feet.

On some farms, big center-pivot irrigators — the spindly rigs that create the emerald circles of cropland familiar to anyone flying over the region — now are watering only a half-circle. On others, they sit idle altogether.

Two years of extreme drought, during which farmers relied almost completely on groundwater, have brought the seriousness of the problem home. In 2011 and 2012, the Kansas Geological Survey reports, the average water level in the state’s portion of the aquifer dropped 4.25 feet — nearly a third of the total decline since 1996.

And that is merely the average. “I know my staff went out and re-measured a couple of wells because they couldn’t believe it,” said Lane Letourneau, a manager at the State Agriculture Department’s water resources division. “There was a 30-foot decline.”

And as it says above, we see this coming and we've seen it coming. There have been warnings. We can't go on like this forever. It isn't, it wasn't sustainable. We can't just take and take and take.

Something's got to change.

What has struck me most about our current situation, both about drought and the 2008 financial crisis, the worst in 80 years, since the Great Depression, is that it is, in those two ways--the financial crisis and drought--so very much like those years, the 30's. That is, people hurt by both the financial crisis and the drought.

In the case of the Depression, it was all man-made.

Turns out, really, it could be argued this one is, too.

As if that isn't enough, Robert Reich, writing from Europe today, posts the following on Facebook:

At a time when you'd expect nations to band together to gain bargaining power against global capital, the opposite is occurring: Xenophobia is breaking out all over.

Here in Britain, the UK Independence Party -- which wants to get out of the European Union -- is rapidly gaining ground, becoming the third most popular party in the country, according to a new poll for The Independent on Sunday. Almost one in five people plan to vote for it in the next general election. Ukip's overall ratings have risen four points to 19 per cent in the past month, despite Prime Minister David Cameron's efforts to wrest back control of the crucial debate over Britain's relationship with the European Union.

Right-wing nationalist parties are gaining ground elsewhere in Europe as well. In the U.S., not only are Republicans sounding more nationalistic of late (anti-immigrant, anti-trade), but they continue to push "states rights" -- as states increasingly battle against one another to give global companies ever larger tax breaks and subsidies.

WWIII, anybody?

One last thing from Facebook today that wraps this all up:

Anyone care yet?

Additional link:

When the Wells Go Dry in the Great Plains

On nature, the planet and what we need to do

2013-05-20T07:00:00.001-05:00

It takes our Senator McCaskill from Missouri to set things straight in Washington

2013-05-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

Perhaps you heard about this?

It seems certain executives in Washington would still be getting bonuses--large ones--even now, what with this sequestration in effect, supposedly cutting budgets of our federal government.

What the heck, right?

People are being laid off in all kinds of offices and work but another already-well-paid group gets bonuses?

Does that make any sense?

Naturally not.

So what one Senator rides in and proposes to right this wrong?

You got it, our very own Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill:

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) speaks during a press conference in May, 2011. McCaskill introduced a bill Friday that would eliminate bonuses for members of the Senior Executive Service during sequestration. (Photo: Geoff Holtzman / Talk Radio News Service)

Despite Sequester, High-Level Federal Executives Slated to Get Bonuses - Truthout

Washington - An elite group of federal employees is set to receive cash bonuses despite this year’s automatic budget cuts, according to a report that a Senate subcommittee issued Friday.

The report revealed that members of the government’s highly paid Senior Executive Service - who make up less than 1 percent of the federal workforce - had received more than $340 million in bonuses from 2008 through 2011. The bonuses came on top of annual salaries that ranged from $119,000 to $179,000.

In a process known as sequestration, $85 billion in across-the-board federal spending cuts took effect March 1, forcing the government to slash services and furlough workers. A month later, the Obama administration froze bonuses for the vast majority of federal workers.

But by law, agencies still must pay bonuses to Senior Executive Service employees who meet certain performance criteria, the report said.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, introduced a bill Friday that would eliminate bonuses for members of the Senior Executive Service during sequestration. McCaskill leads the Senate Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight, which produced the report.

“The idea that some of the highest-paid federal government employees could be getting bonuses while others are being furloughed is outrageous,” McCaskill said in a statement. “This legislation will ensure that doesn’t happen.”

Senator Claire McCaskill.

You go, girl.

(And who's that other Senator we're supposed to also have? What's his name? And what's he do?)

On where we are now and why we need labor unions

2013-05-19T23:00:00.000-05:00

From today's New York Times:

The Great Divide

The 1 Percent Are Only Half the Problem

One reason the left plays down the growing skills-based gap is that it accepts at face value the conservative claim that educational failure is its root cause. But the decline of labor unions is just as important. At one time union membership was highly effective at reducing or eliminating the wage gap between college and high school graduates. That’s much less true today. Only about 7 percent of the private-sector labor force is covered by union contracts, about the same proportion as before the New Deal. Six decades ago it was nearly 40 percent.

The decline of labor unions is what connects the skills-based gap to the 1 percent-based gap. Although conservatives often insist that the 1 percent’s richesse doesn’t come out of the pockets of the 99 percent, that assertion ignores the fact that labor’s share of gross domestic product is shrinking while capital’s share is growing. Since 1979, except for a brief period during the tech boom of the late 1990s, labor’s share of corporate income has fallen. Pension funds have blurred somewhat the venerable distinction between capital and labor. But that’s easy to exaggerate, since only about one-sixth of all households own stocks whose value exceeds $7,000. According to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, the G.D.P. shift from labor to capital explains fully one-third of the 1 percent’s run-up in its share of national income. It couldn’t have happened if private-sector unionism had remained strong.

Reviving labor unions is, sadly, anathema to the right; even many mainstream liberals resist the idea. But if economic growth depends on rewarding effort, we should all worry that the middle classes aren’t getting pay increases commensurate with the wealth they create for their bosses. Bosses aren’t going to fix this problem. That’s the job of unions, and finding ways to rebuild them is liberalism’s most challenging task. A bipartisan effort to revive the labor movement is hardly likely, but halting inequality’s growth will depend, at the very least, on liberals and conservatives better understanding each other’s definition of where the problem lies.

--Timothy Noah, author of "The Great Divergence: America's Growing Inequality and What We Can Do About It"

The Great Divide is a series on inequality — the haves, the have-nots and everyone in between — in the United States and around the world, and its implications for economics, politics, society and culture. The series moderator is Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, a Columbia professor and a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist for the World Bank.

Entertainment overnight

2013-05-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

Play loud

On Malcolm X birthday

2013-05-19T18:00:00.000-05:00

"I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being, first and foremost, and as such, I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole."

--Malcolm X

Malcolm X was far brighter and far more right, more correct than most of the establishment wanted to give him credit at the time--at least publicly--without doubt.

Most white people then and even far too many to this day have no idea what black people in this nation have gone through nor still go through to this day.

And they don't care to know, either, most of them.

Links:

Malcolm X - Wikipedia

Malcolm X Quotes

"Those people just hate America"

2013-05-19T17:00:00.000-05:00

Could we stop saying the other political side "Hates America"? Please? It's nonsense. It's untrue. It's patently untrue. It's downright stupid.

That other political party, whichever one being referred to "loves America" just as much as any one person or any one group. To say otherwise is just patent silliness or irresponsibility or something but it serves no good whatever.

I've heard it from Left Wingers, Right Wingers, Libertarians, Republicans, Democrats and far too many sources.

It gets old. It's gotten very tiresome. It serves no good purpose, too. It gets us nowhere.

That "other political party", again, whoever you're referring to, understands America and things differently, likely vastly differently than you but the fact is, we're all Americans and we all want good things for our country.

The problems arise because, first of all, we don't talk to one another, second, we get emotional and let that get in the way, third, we don't want to listen to the other side and finally, we haven't been good at working at compromises any longer, for all the above reasons.

Let's get to work. All of us. Together. For the betterment of the country.

Here's your IRS scandal

2013-05-19T16:30:00.000-05:00

Hey! I got a GREAT IDEA!

2013-05-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

LET'S FLY TO CITY X TO SEE THEIR NEW AIRPORT!!!

Said no one.

Ever.

So flights are down, period, the airlines are shrinking, paying for a new airport is problematic, at least, as these people point out...

but we should definitely build a new airport and not refurbish our existing one.

Right.

Got it.

Makes all the sense in the world.

What Sam Brownback wants for Kansas--and Kansans

2013-05-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

Most Kansans do not pay much in income tax, because most Kansans have a low to middle range income to begin with. Most Kansans pay their share of taxes through the sales tax.

By eliminating the state income tax and continuing the sales tax hike, Brownback is forcing the lower and middle classes to pay more, while the richest Kansans end up paying less.

Regressive taxation is not just immoral, it is bad economic policy.

Taken totally, utterly, completely from this Facebook page yesterday:

The Brownback Tax Scam

Link: http://www.kansas.com/2013/05/17/2806920/kansas-budget-negotiations-break.html