Redemption

From the backwoods of Kentucky to the backstreets of Memphis, this is a story of redemption for a boy named Kelly.  As a boy he began to follow his Wildcats who played basketball.  He knew no better coming from a small town in Kentucky where all the confused blindly followed what they thought was a major league team.

 Over time, Kelly learned the sun did not rise nor set behind those Kentucky hills.  He soon realized a much larger world was out there waiting to be explored.  He learned of Memphis and the team that played under the title of Tigers.  He wondered if all that he had learned as a boy was false.  He moved to Memphis and soon married a gal who called the University of Memphis her Alma Mater.  His new sisters in law called Mississippi State of the Intolerable Cow Bell, and the Community College of Tennessee as their own.  Kelly began to realize that he may have been wrong all of his life.

His curiosity led him to other schools who for years played far better than his Wildcats.  He learned that many of these schools had better talent, better coaches and just as much tradition as found in a small town in Kentucky.  That quest led him to Kansas.  There he found a team worthy of his attention.  Kelly became a Jayhawk.

I never get tired of posting this picture.

DS of the Week - Bernadine Kline

Full of santimony and claiming to know the mind of God, Bernadine Kline is the DS of the Week.  Her letter to the KC Star follows.

Occupy Wall Street


And it came to pass that the Almighty looked down upon earth to check on his creation. He peered into the halls of Congress and was astounded at the obstructionist behavior of his people.

“What’s this?” he roared. “How dare they protect the 1 percent over the 99 percent? How dare they create a person out of a corporation.

“How dare they disenfranchise the poor, minorities and the elderly of their right to vote claiming voter fraud! How dare they defund education, science, medical research and the arts? Do they not hear the cries of my people?

“My people need jobs. My people need generosity and compassion in their time of need.”

One of the angels then whispered into the Almighty’s ear, “They will not act because they intend to defeat President Barack Obama at any cost, even unto the destruction of the homes and families and lives of millions of your people, Lord.”

It was at this point that the Almighty, righteously angered, picked up a sign and joined the Occupy Wall Street protests. But Fox News didn’t recognize him.

Bernadine Kline
Liberty

So many lies and distortions, it is difficult to know where to start.  I could be nice and just say that Bernadine is just confused.  Or maybe that she has been brained washed by the liberal media.  But I don't think so.  Those things can be fixed in time.  With a name like Bernadine, she must be a mature adult but has somehow not learned how to look beyond the superficial.

You can fix confusion.  You can fix misinformed.  I think the comedian Ron White must have met Bernadine during one of his tours.  Bernadine inspired Ron to write his infamous line, "You can't fix stupid."

Deathtraps

Indy car racing is one of the most spectacular styles of racing in the world.   It is also one of the deadliest of all racing sports as was witnessed yesterday in Las Vegas.  Dan Weldon, one of the brightest stars in open wheel racing was killed in a multi-car collision near the start of the race.  It isn't surprising.  The Indy car is designed for speed.  Very little has been done to improve driver safety.



If you were to design the most unsafe race car imaginable, you would start with open wheels.  As one driver hits the wheels of another, the effect is to launch the race car into the air as happened during yesterdays accident.  If that isn't enough, the driver's head is slightly extended from the fuselage of the car which travels at 220-240 MPH.  It is a vehicle that tends to kill drivers.

It will be interesting to see how the Indy Car league reacts.  After NASCAR lost Dale Earnhardt in 1991, they set about improving driver safety.  Soft walls were installed at every track.  The HANS device was invented and widely adopted to stop the drivers hear from whipping forward at impact.  The entire car was redesigned with fire suppression systems and foam protective panels.  A carbon fiber seat acts like a safety cocoon for the driver.  The result is a safe race car. 

Just Saturday evening, Jimmy Johnson, the biggest star in NASCAR, slammed head on into a wall going 190 MPH.  Five minutes later he was being interviewed on the broadcast.  His biggest complaint was that he had the wind knocked out of him.  The Indy Car series will need to take dramatic steps to avoid a repeat of yesterday's mishap.  They may need to slow the cars down as NASCAR did years ago with restrictor plates.  They definitely need to protect their drivers heads and keep the cars on the track. 

Christmas in October

The Christmas in October program has been around Kansas City for years, yet I had never worked in a work group that provided the opportunity to participate.  That is, until this year.  I few weeks ago I volunteered to donate a Saturday before hearing the horror stories of those volunteer teams who got stuck with a family with younger members who seemed disturbed that you would inconvenience them by working on their house.  Or those who worked in a house so uninhabitable that breathing was a risk.  Or the unfortunate team who volunteered to do more work than could be done in a month of Saturdays.  I heard the horror stories and wondered if last Saturday would be a good day or a bad one.

But I did have the sense to throw in with a veteran team leader who took the time to both review the work load versus the team size, and interview the residents we were planning to help.  It made all the difference in the world.  At 8:00 AM we pulled up to the small 2 bedroom home of Mr. and Mrs Love who lived at 111 Ghetto Drive, Kansas City, Missouri.  Mr. Love was 80+ and had significant health problems brought on by a career in a burlap bag factory which exposed him to formaldehyde and led to the loss of a lung.  He was the healthier of the two.  Mrs. Love was on dialysis, and couldn't move around much.  Both were very nice people who appreciated the help we were there to offer.  I couldn't have asked for anything better than to provide assistance to an intercity couple who couldn't do for themselves.

Still I worried that -T would have a problem. The first job was to clear out the front and back yards of years worth of trash, debris and overgrowth.  I knew that one rat or snake and -T would be done for the day.  But while the work was hard and sometimes unpleasant, the critters left us all alone and by noon, much of the outside work was finished.  Even my "skilled" work was already underway.  I had finished replacing a 4x8 sheet of plywood that served as a ceiling in their back porch, and had replaced a rotted out panel in their back door.  A couple of others were working to replace the couple's sink and counter top.  That sounds like a massive project until you consider the tiny kitchen had only one counter about 5 feet long, and in that section was the sink.  Somehow, the Love's had raised 4 children in that small home.

By 3:00 PM, the projects were complete and the volunteer ladies were helping Mrs. Love clean and organize her living room.  -T and I took that opportunity to leave.  We said our goodbyes to the couple who profusely thanked us.  We were both whacked, and in bed by 8:00 PM.  We never do that.

This morning at work I spoke with another volunteer who stayed a little longer than we did.  She told me that Mr. Love spent an hour working his newly repaired and painted backdoor.  He had never had a backdoor with a lock and key before, and estatic that he now had one.  The experience left me amazed at how those who live in the same city are not accustomed to the little things we take for granted.  I don't think about small homes or locks on my door. I have a large house with many locks.  I don't worry that I don't have cabinet or counterspace to make my peanut butter and cheese sandwich.  I never worry about a triple homicide ccurring across the street.  But the Love's do because it happened a couple week ago.

It is a different world and only a few miles away.  I plan to volunteer again, or maybe even lead a team next year.  I think Terri will do the same.  It was a satisfying experience.

Where's Lisa?

A local Kansas City missing child case has now moved to a national story.  Ten month old Lisa Irwin was supposedly abducted from her crib sometime between last Monday evening and 4:00 AM Tuesday morning.  The parent's story goes the father came home from work around 4:00 AM and found the child's bedroom window open, the front door unlocked and Lisa was gone.  Sorry parents, I ain't buying that story.  Especially since you recently added that 3 cell phones were also stolen.  The story doesn't make sense. 

First, stealing a sleeping child from their bedroom just doesn't happen often.  Sure, there was the Lindbergh baby and Samantha Smart, but that is about it.  That's 2 out of a couple million supposed kidnappings.  The other 2 million times ends up being the parents or another family member did the snatching.  There is a good reason for that.  It can;t be that easy to kidnap a sleeping child from their bedroom.  Even if the perpetrator manages to quietly enter the room, the kid is going to scream their lungs out when they see it isn't Mommy picking them up.  And then the perp walks out the front door?  I don't think so.

But is gets more unbelievable.  Not only are we to believe the perp walked out the front door with a quiet kid, they also stopped somewhere along the way to steal two working cell phones, and one old non-working one.  Who keeps all their phones at one location?  Who leaves a non-working phone in the same place they keep the working ones?  And unless the perp is "box of rocks" stupid, a cell phone is tha last thing they would steal.  Turn it on and the cops show up a few minutes later.  I think the cell phones are the break the police will eventually use to solve this case.  The question they will answer is why were they included in the kidnapping story?  But it could take a few more days.

Currently we are in the hysterical Mother phase of the case.  Lisa's Mother can't speak without breaking down.  Remembering Susan Smith (who offed her 3 boys), you gotta wonder if she is hysterical because her child is missing, or from the trauma of some crime she committed to the child. 

I'm liking the Mother for the deed.  She had the time and opportunity while hubby was working.  If I am right, the case will soon move to the Orange phase.  That is when the mom and dad are marched off to arraignment in handcuffs wearing orange jumpsuits.

Herman to the Occupiers

"Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself. It is not someone's fault if they succeeded, it is someone's fault if they failed."

"When I was growing up I was blessed to have had parents that didn't teach me to be jealous of anybody and didn't teach me to be envious of somebody. It is not a person's fault because they succeeded. It is a person's fault if they failed."




Okay Herman, you now have my attention.

Cats Still Rule, Yes Really

Over 2 years ago, a dual blog post that was incredibly articulate. sophisticated, and amazingly insightful, conclusively established that Cats do rule while Dogs in fact, drool.  Since that time there has been no further discussion on the subject, proving the accuracy of the hypothesis.  Metaphorically, cats are the musicians of the animal world.  They sit inconspicuously with their sunglasses on, and say cool things in their Lou Rawls-like voice such as "what's happening mama?" to their owner.  Conversely, dogs are trying frantically to catch a sniff of somebody's crotch - very uncool.  If you happened to miss those posts, you can become edified at Cats Rule and at Dogs drool.

Since that time, the number of cat inhabitants at our home has increased 100%.  Allison's cat, Acura a.k.a. Miss Puss, now lives with us.  Miss Puss was, at first, very antisocial - very uncool, but stopped short of crotch-sniffing.  She didn't want to be around us and would hiss at her smarter, maler, more intelligent partner, Chumley.  Recently she has become more social, allowing the humans to pet her occasionally.  She has also taken a subservient position as shown in the picture below. 

Chumley has claimed the dominate sun drenched position on the kitchen table, while Miss Puss knows her place on the floor.  Things are coming together as nature intended.

Occupy Wall Street?

The far left loonies and a few misguided righties have recently descended to near flash mob tactics to protest what they see as an American injustice - highly compensated people on Wall Street.  They have bought into a socialist mindset that says only government is capability of distributing wealth and ensuring that all people are treated fairly.  Government does this by regulating business and taxing the wealthy so they cannot earn too much.  Their belief system is flawed. 

Government is not the fairest arbiter of wealth and success. Instead, a far more fair and just system is already in place.  The laws of supply and demand.  Wall Street Fact Cats are highly compensated because there are so few who know how to do what they do.  Occupy Wall Street protesters are compensated so meagerly because there are millions of low paid losers like them just waiting for a job.  Where there are few, the price increases.  Where there are many, the price decreases.  Basic supply and demand.

Wall Street Occupiers believe that when a Wall Street fat cat earns a $10 million salary, that is $10 million no longer available to others.  In fact, everyone has the opportunity to educate themselves and take a Wall Street job and make their $10 million dollar salary.  If it was easy to do, we'd all be doing it.  Of course, supply and demand says that if we all did it, there would be an oversupply of Wall Street fat cats and a corresponding decline in demand. leading to lower Wall Street Fat Cat salaries.

Terri and I saw a couple of Occupy Wall Street protesters Sunday afternoon on their way to the KC mecca of left wing lunatics, the Country Club Plaza.  These feeble-minded losers are simply protesting their own inability to be successful.  They are sad people who have little understanding of how economic work.  Just like many in our federal government.

Jobs Bill

Obama say "Pass this bill, pass this bill", even before there was a bill.  He really doesn't expect congress to pass this bill.  In fact, he knows they won't.  That was his carefully calculated plan.  He sees the jobs bill as a win-win for him.  In the unlikely event they pass it, he can spend a half trillion dollars for votes in 2012.  He will create more union work by funding infrastructure projects, increasing education spending, and extending unemployment benefits even further.  But Obama knows his bill will never pass, and will use its failure to lambaste republicans for the sick economy that will persist through the 2012 elections.  So he either gets money to buy votes, or he gets a scapegoat to run against.

The Sunday news shows were already coming to Obama's aide.  The Meet the Press panel yesterday was a collection of worn out and wrinkled liberal kooks.  Their common message was that republicans were not going to allow Obama to win the jobs bill battle.  It was personal they said.  Republicans wouldn't allow Obama to get his bill at the cost of more jobs and suffering by the little people the democrats care so much about.  Obama can't fix the economy because of the republicans.  The carefully avoided a couple of facts that show just how specious their argument is. 

First, "the bill" Obama wants congress to pass has no co-sponsors.  None, either in the house or the senate.  Nobody in congress wants to be seen as a sponsor of this flawed bill.  If it was a good bill, there would be 10 or 20 co-sponsors jumping on the jobs bill bandwagon.  Co-sponsorship is how they claim significant election year results to their constituents.  But no co-sponsors. It would be a waste of energy and political capital to co-sponsor the DOA bill.

Second, the bill was introduced in the democrat-controlled senate. Yet, the bill Obama wants congress to pass without delay has not yet been brought up for debate and won't for at least another week.  Harry Reid could have put it on the senate's agenda immediately if he wanted to pass it now as the president asked.  He didn't.  Now, other democratic senators are saying that it wouldn't have the votes needed to pass the senate.  The republicans would kill the jobs bill.  That is a certainty, but they may not need to.  The democrats may do it themselves.

So Obama has  begun his campaigning with the "pass this bill" mantra - a bill he knows has no hope of passage.  But true to form, he will use this bill as a way to blame his failure on someone else - the republican house.  This is the same group who have become the media whipping boys.  The republican house is seen by libs as the root of all problems in Washington.  They are attempting to convince the voters of this.

The media continues to not mention the republican house has passed a budget, a balanced budget amendment, several deficit reduction bills, a jobs bill, and each was sent to the democrat-controlled senate where they were tabled.  Who is the party of NO?  Harry Reid and Barack Obama lead them.