Kansas City Restore Sanity Reportage

NOTICE: I used the word "reportage" in the title because I'm an Intellectual Elitist who has no patience with "common, everyday Americans" who can't be bothered to expand their limited fucking vocabularies by going to the trouble of Googling new words.

So I had to leave the house today anyway to go into work to finish up some system testing.

As long as I was wearing grown up clothes and out amongst humanity, I figured I may as well go to the Kansas City Satellite Rally To Restore Sanity on The Plaza.

The second thing I noticed when I got there (after the anticipated low turn out...it was more of a nanosatellite rally) was the Po Po!


Apparently, before I arrived there had been a bit of a dust-up, if not an actual kerfuffle teetering dangerously close to an all out brouhaha!

It seems that while the Restore Sanity folks had gone through all of the proper Kansas City Parks and Recreation channels to get the required permit for their event (where they were told they COULD NOT use loudspeakers or any other voice amplification devices...a requirement they complied with), some rogue Tea Baggers showed up WITHOUT a permit and WITH a sound system to mount a counter-rally!





That woman creeped me out a bit. Looked like a Mormon sister-wife.

The Tea Bagger turn out was WAY smaller then the Sane people. It looked like the Tea Bagger speakers and their audience all rode together in the same van.

So I kind of eavesdropped on a conversation between the Po Po and some of the folks from both sides. The police were saying something about no actual law being broken while the Tea Bagging lady was saying

"But we DO have a permit! From God! It's called the Constitution!"

which she then brandished a copy of to the cop who seemed unimpressed.



Later, the police got bored and managed to find the only African-American on The Plaza to interrogate, much to their obvious delight.



The only News Crew on sight was from KSHB. I'll leave it up to you to figure out how I noticed their presence.




Yeah, I'd tap that.

I was only there for a few minutes when I saw my good friend and fellow blogger Average Jane who was giving out Free Hugs!



This was her sign...



That was typical of most of the signs I saw. Level headed, intelligent, rational, non-confrontational and inclusive.















Some of the signs were a bit more confrontational, but barely...









That last one may seem to be the most aggressive, but he's a gutless moderate next to my "Eat The Rich" campaign.



There were some Stephen Colbert supporters who infiltrated the rally in an attempt to Keep Fear Alive...









But these were my favorites...













After the rally I had a nice lunch with Average Jane and her friend Lisa at The Cheesecake Factory.

Nice day!

No Paternity Testing Needed

So my 16 y.o. daughter, young Galadriel Tanqueray Onassis, was invited to join her boyfriend Jimmy's family on their vacation.

They're flying out to Vegas tonight for the weekend. Then they are renting a car and driving to L.A. for the rest of the week. Where, among other things, they are going to Disneyland!

[When she was 5, I tried to convince her that the Midland Carnival that came to the Richmond Mushroom Festival was "Disneyland". Told her that was "Mickey" we saw scurrying under the Cotton Candy cart. She didn't fucking believe me. Me! Her own father! So young to be so cynical. Sad.]

Jimmy's family is paying for the trip, but her mother and I loaded her up with several hundred dollars of spending money so she wouldn't be a complete mooch.

GTO just texted me, and I quote:

"So, I was just thinking, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna spend all my money on cocaine and prostitutes. Sound okay with you?"

My reply:

"Only one of those things is legal in Vegas. Be safe! Use protection!"

They grow up so fast! I'm all verklempt here!

Plans for PM Thompson's funeral underway

Since being chosen over the weekend to coordinate the state funeral of Prime Minister David Thompson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Senator Maxine McClean has held a number of press briefings on the activities leading up to the funeral next Wednesday at the Kensington Oval.

Here're the details in a nutshell, courtesy of the Government Information Service:

The Minister explained that as a lead-up to the funeral, there would be the lying-in-state and the provision of condolence books for signing at a number of locations. Starting on Thursday, October 28, the body will lie-in-state upstairs in the East Wing of Parliament where, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., there will be private viewing by dignitaries in the order of the Table of Precedence, from the Governor General to current and former Members of Parliament.

From 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. that same day, as well as on Tuesday, November 2, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., members of the public may view the body upstairs the East Wing of Parliament.

The public will also have an opportunity to see Mr. Thompson on Friday, October 29, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at his alma mater, Combermere; the following day, Saturday, October 30, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the George Street Auditorium; and at the St. John Parish Church on November 1, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Persons will be able to sign condolence books at the following locations: downstairs the East and West Wings of Parliament on October 28 from 1100 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on October 29 and 30, and November 1 and 2.

Condolence books will also be placed at Government Headquarters for public officers on October 29 and 30, and November 1 and 2 from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day; at the George Street Auditorium, on October 29 and 30, and November 1 and 2 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day; at Combermere School on October 30 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; and at the Gall Hill Community Centre, St. John, on October 29 and 30, and November 1 and 2 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day.

And today she released that:

"With respect to the conduct of the service, a number of religious denominations will be represented. Dr. the Hon. John Holder will be the main celebrant. It is estimated that the duration of the service will be for one and a half hours and the service will be preceded by musical tributes beginning at 8:50 a.m. and this will be followed by the interment at the St. John’s Parish Church.”

Senator McClean indicated that many Barbadians were desirous of attending the funeral service, but stressed that admission to Kensington Oval would be by ticket only and persons would have to be seated by 8:30 a.m.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade mentioned that to facilitate persons attending the service the Transport Board would have a ‘Park and Ride’ system in operation. She indicated the sites would be the traditional locations: the National Cultural Foundation car park, the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc.’s Car park on Bay Street, the Wildey Gymnasium, Weymouth B and Queen’s College. The shuttle service begins at 6:00 a.m.

Next Wednesday is going to be a painful ordeal...

A Nation Mourns

Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable David Thompson, has passed away.

According to reports, the Prime Minister died at his private residence in St. Philip at 2:10 a.m.

He was diagnosed in September with pancreatic cancer after undergoing medical tests since May.

At the moment, Cabinet is in session and we await word on who will be sworn in as the next Prime Minister of Barbados, more than likely DPM Freundel Stuart.

On behalf of Cheese-on-Bread, I wish to extend deepest condolences to the PM's family, friends, colleagues and to my fellow Barbadians at this difficult time.

Sometimes, I Bore Myself

It started with a comment thread over at my friend Christian's Facebook page.

It inspired me to spend several hours last night crafting a post for this blog on the hypocritical shenanigans in this election cycle.

But after finishing the post, I decided not to publish right away. I wanted to sleep on it, let it stew in it's own juices, see how it looked in the morning.

GOOD FUCKING CALL!

The gist of the post was, all of these Tea Bagging/Birther/Tenther/fucktards who scream about wanting smaller government only want small government when it comes to "MY MONEY!" They don't want this "Socialist/Obama/Pelosi/Job Killing/Blahblahblah" Big Gummint using "MY MONEY!" to help their fellow Americans. Fuck 'em!

But they are ALL ABOUT Big Gummint when it comes to sending our military off to kill people and break things; keeping Mexicans out of the country; preventing women from controlling their own bodies and reproduction; controlling who can fall in love and get married; criminalizing what consenting adults can do in the privacy of their own bedrooms; arresting, prosecuting, convicting and jailing weed monkey stoners; taking away your anonymity and privacy by allowing Big Gummint to spy on you without a warrant in case you just might be a terrorist.

So that's it. Two paragraphs sums it all up and, quite frankly, it's all shit I've said before. But for some reason, I felt compelled to ramble on and on and on about it. I read it this morning and I found it boring, not that funny, pretty pedantic, so I chose not to post it.

I know you're all disappointed. Let me make it up to you.

Instead of a (intended) biting, witty, insightful, educating, satirical and enlightening essay on the hypocrisy of the current election cycle, I give you a YouTube video of a turtle fucking a shoe. Which, surprisingly, I found by going to YouTube and doing a search for "turtle fucking a shoe".



You're welcome.

Going with Owen....again

Wuhlossssss. A day is a long time in politics in Bimshire. It's official, y'all. Mr. Owen Seymour Arthur is the new Leader of the Opposition Barbados Labour Party.

Here's the story in Nation News.com:

The vote to return Owen Arthur as leader of the Barbados Labour Party was a unanimous one.

George Payne told the Press today that Mia Mottley, the former leader, no longer commands the confidence of the majority of members in the parliamentary group. "Owen Seymour Arthur is the person we support...the necessary letter has gone to the Governor General and we await his decision with respect to that".

Arthur in accepting his selection by the group says no one had done more than him to facilitate Mottley, pointing out it was he who had first appointed her to his Cabinet serving as Minister of Education and Culture, Attorney General and Minister of Economic Affairs and later elevating to Leader of Government Business and Deputy Prime Minister.

Arthur says “ I really wished Mia Mottley would have led the people of Barbados to so cause them to forget about me”.

He promises to give his full attention to the leadership of the BLP. “I will give this my undivided attention. I will not be going to Antigua, I will not be doing any more consultancies. I will give this my undivided attention”.

The meeting to decide on the leadership of the BLP was held just after 10 a.m. Mia Mottley, the MP for St Michael North East, MP for St Thomas Cynthia Forde and MP for St James North Rawle Eastmond did not attend the meeting.

Along with Arthur, present were former Prime Minister Owen Arthur, George Payne, Ronald Toppin, Gline Clarke, William Duguid and Dale Marshall.

And again I say, wuhloss. They do my girl Mia real bad, though. I know people feel more confident with economist Arthur at the helm of the party because of the current environment, but I don't think she was given enough of a chance to show her worth.

It remains to be seen how Ms. Mottley will respond to this backraising (especially by her Deputy Dale Marshall). The way things are going, she may be back in the chair again by the time elections are next called, so who knows...

Carl Sagan's Final Legacy, 1996

This man perfectly embodied and represented my view of reality. This is the legacy I hope to pass on to my daughter.

IT'S A MIRACLE!!!

No.

It's not.

It's science and technology, even some Rocket Science, and some brass-balled, Harry Stamper, Armegeddon, drilling motherfuckers that saved those 33 miners.

Don't get me wrong.

I have no doubt whatsoever that the religous faith of the miners and their families sustained them, gave them comfort and helped them survive this ordeal.

But all of the prayers in the world didn't penetrate a single centimeter of rock. It didn't supply them with air to breath. It didn't feed them. It didn't give them water. It didn't allow them to communicate with the outside world.

It was good, old fashioned, American high-tech drilling teams that got those miners out of that death trap.

There was nothing supernatural or miraculous about this.

It was GPS, drilling, air, water, food, cameras, psychology, technology and sheer human will power and determination that snatched 33 men from a cavity more than 2 Empire State Buildings deep in some of the hardest rock in the world after being trapped for over 2 months.


Humans, science and technology saved those men.

Their faith may have comforted and sustained them, but it was actual science and technology that saved their lives.

Left to the "The Will Of God", they would all have been dead a long time ago.

This Is Why Republicans Won't Take Control In November

In a nutshell, it's because they are running batshit crazy candidates that no swing voter is going to cast a ballot for.

Christine O'Donnel, Republican, Delaware: The Lying, Anti-Masturbation, Anti-Evolution, Palin-Endorsed Witch



Sharron Angle, Republican, Nevada: The Neo-Prohibitionist, Anti-U.N, Anti-Social Security, Anti-Education, Tea Party Republican who won the Primary against the Chicken Barterer



Carl Paladino, Republican, New York: The Sexist Fag Hater!



And last but not least...

Rich Iott, Republican, Illinois: The Nazi SS Jew Killing Renactor


"Republican congressional candidate Rich Iott, under fire for dressing as a Nazi in World War II reenactments, attacked House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Monday for repudiating his participation “before he had all the facts.”

In an interview on CNN, Iott defended his role in the reenactments and offered harsh criticism of Cantor, one of the highest profile Jewish lawmakers in Washington.

“Rep. Cantor did what so many career politicians do…he reacted before he had all the facts,” Iott said. “He didn't know the whole story. He didn't understand what historical reenacting is all about, or the education side of it. And he just made a decision without all the facts.”



Jesus Fucking Christ in a chicken basket!

These are the best candidates that the Republicans can field? Because every other Republican candidate was too moderate?

I'm betting on the American people to vote for the SANE candidates.

The Cosby Hotel - b. 1881 - d. ????

[click on any of the pics to embiggen and explore the luscious detail]

The 139 year old Cosby Hotel at 9th and Baltimore is one of the oldest buildings in Kansas City and deserves to be preserved.

But it seems that the current owner may be more interested in selling a vacant lot at a prime downtown location than preserving history.


Apparently the only options are finding a buyer or putting it under the wrecking ball.


This is so puzzling because the property isn't in the middle of a blighted neighborhood where all of the other buildings are falling apart.


Far from it. The 9th St. corridor west of Main is thriving. The historic facade could be preserved and incorporated into a new building.




The owner of The Cosby recently had all of the windows removed from the building. Whether that was to remove a potential flying glass hazard during demolition or merely to hasten the natural deterioration of the building is unknown.


But it did offer an unprecedented and never to be repeated ghostly view into 139 years of Kansas City history.










The other day I made swing by The Cosby and found that all of the windows were now boarded up.


Does this mean that possible preservation has trumped greed and neglect?

Let's hope so.

ACKNOWLEGMENTS: David Remley at Hyperblogal challenged me to conduct this photo essay and his encouragement and advice have been invaluable. To the extent that this essay doesn't suck, thank you Dave! To the extent that it does suck, that's all on me.