Sunday, May 31, 2009

Sunday Poetry: This is Just to Say, by William Carlos Williams

This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

- by William Carlos Williams

______________________________________

This poem is supposedly the text of a note that William Carlos Williams actually left for his wife. Even though it talks of an icebox - a word gone anachronistic - and plums are too soft to be effectively marketed through agri-industry and are fading from familiarity, the poem has a conversational immediacy to it that brings a mix of reaction.

As a husband a few weeks away from a 27th anniversary, I'm struck by the breezy cruelty in his demand for forgiveness (not to be confused with an apology). Not only did I take what you wanted, they were awesome! His cluelessness about how to handle such a transgression helps explain why he was able to juggle careers as both a poet and a physician; I suspect his wife would grant him a good deal of solitude after such episodes of self-indulgence.

In this audio, you can hear William Carlos Williams acknowledge the magnitude of his sin ("the rape of the icebox"), read his widely-anthologized gem, and read his wife's gentle response. For a great and humorous series of spoofs of the poem, go to the 49:40 mark on this episode of "This American Life".

A certain obnoxious charm flows through this poem - the inability to withstand the near occasion of venial sin is a trait we all share. Similarly, his inability to honestly apologize for something he enjoyed so much, coupled with a desire to be forgiven, is something that any parent will recognize from the half-hearted forced apologies sometimes exchanged between siblings.

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Saturday, May 30, 2009

80+% of Voters Refuse Recall! Funkhouser Riding Crest of Popularity!

News reports are claiming that recall petitioners were unsuccessful, after a month, plus a 10 day extension, to get 20% of the last Mayoral vote count to sign a petition triggering a recall election. After massive publicity and many boasts that they were well on their way to achieving their goal, recall organizers could not attain the required 20%.

Political observers recalled that Funkhouser only won his original election by the slimmest of margins, with nearly 50% of the voters opposing him at the time. Now, a little more than 2 years into his term, less than 20% of the voters oppose him.

With 80+% of the electorate supporting him, Funkhouser's political power is at a zenith few can remember ever seeing in Kansas City. "He's kind of like George Brett, Len Dawson and Harry Truman rolled into one, all without the support of the Kansas City Star," gushed one experienced politico. Steve Glorioso groused, "If only Kay had some of that Funkhouser mojo, she would be in Congress right now."

Plans for a ticker-tape parade through downtown are not yet finalized, as City Council members are bickering over who should get to sit next to him on the parade route.

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Silver Lining to Semler Mess

Right now, people all over the country are hearing about La Raza for the first time, because right wing liars are trying to make it sound like some sort of racist organization that Sonia Sotomayor belongs to. Tom Tancredo has dubbed it the Latino KKK.

Because of the whole Semler thing and La Raza's decision to move its convention to San Diego, Kansas Citians have all heard of La Raza and know that it is a respectable organization, and that her membership in it is praiseworthy, not a reason to condemn her.

For once, Kansas Citians have a more advanced awareness of racial issues than the rest of the country!

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Friday, May 29, 2009

Roy Blunt a Tax Cheat? Give Me a Break . . .

It turns out that Roy Blunt, one of my least favorite Missouri politicians, owes $6,820 in taxes on the house he owns in DC with his second wife, as a result of a mistake by the DC tax assessors.

Making hay while the sun shines, one of the big national progressive blogs has used the confusing little snafu as an opportunity to label him as follows: "Roy Blunt (R-MO): Congressman, GOP leader, Senate Candidate and Tax Cheat". He is also described as a "typical Republican" for "trying to cheat on his taxes."

There are plenty of good, solid, legitimate reasons to oppose Blunt's candidacy for Senate, just as there are plenty of good, solid, legitimate reasons to support Robin Carnahan's. Roy Blunt being a tax cheat because of a mistake on an exemption for DC real estate is not one of those reasons.

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Royals Trading Greinke to Cardinals

The Kansas City Royals announced a surprising deal with the St. Louis Cardinals today, swapping ace Zack Greinke to cross-state rivals in exchange for much-needed transportation funding.

Royals GM Dayton Moore explained, "We saw that the Missouri legislature gave St. Louis millions of dollars in emergency transportation funding while Kansas City got shut out. We went over there for a series last week, and saw that fans can ride light rail to Busch Stadium. Then, the Cards took two out of three games from us, and we saw the light. They get forty thousand plus out there consistently; we get about half that."

Angry fans reacted to the loss of Zack Greinke, who is considered to be THE bright spot on the Royals roster. "It's not the lack of public transportation that keeps the fans away - it's the fact that the K is not downtown," one disappointed fan claimed.

Moore countered, "Another loss in Jefferson City. St. Louis gets state support for two downtown stadiums, while we are stuck outside the 435 loop. Until Kansas City starts winning in Jefferson City, I don't see the point in trying to compete."

For his part, Greinke was philosophical. "Kansas City is a great town. The people here are nice, and the lack of fans at the games really helped me get over my social anxiety disorder. But now I'm much better, and ready to play in front of a big crowd."

St. Louis coach Tony La Russa was enthusiastic. "I've got Carpenter back pitching great, and now I get a hot talent like Greinke. We've got fans, and Jefferson City loves tossing money our way. We could be headed to the Series again."

Republican legislators seemed pleased with the turn of events. Speaking anonymously, one Republican State Representative put it all in perspective, "Look, we voted against providing health insurance for poor kids this past session because poor kids don't make campaign contributions. The people in the luxury suites at Busch Stadium make big donations, though. If screwing Kansas City means that we make our campaign contributors happier, then that's the way I'm going to vote."

A Republican Senator added, "It's been a tough year economically, and maybe Missouri can't really afford to support two baseball teams. Maybe one really good team is a better way to go."

While Kansas City civic leaders were pleased to hear that they will be receiving additional transportation funding as a result of the deal, the future remains cloudy. Battle lines were being drawn over whether it should be spent on light rail, additional bus service, or better roads.

"As soon as we can all agree on a set of priorities, we'll be in fine shape to spend the money wisely," once civic leader predicted. "Unfortunately, by the time we all agree on a set of priorities, we will all be traveling by jet packs or atomic transporters."

Beloved Kansas City sports legend Don Denkinger had the final word on the subject. "I've always been a huge supporter of the Royals, and I know they can win no matter what it takes. No matter how things appear, the Royals are never out."

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

There are real human beings involved

As a blogger, I'm a little aghast tonight. A fellow Kansas City blogger - not a fringe blogger, but someone with a significant readership - posted something vile today that gleefully attacked the appearance of a person's wife and celebrated a crime scene photo of the same person's murdered father.

Where is the humanity?

In what hate-filled, depraved world is that exercise of protected free speech the right thing to do?

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the demonization of public figures. It's easy to forget that the person in your bomb sights has emotions, and that, at the end of the day, making fun of a photo of a dead father is a pretty heartless and pointless thing to do.

I've written a few things I've regretted in hindsight, and I worry about the legitimacy of the criticism I've directed toward the people who have devoted themselves toward serving the public. The people I have met who have chosen to get involved in public policy, even those I disagree with, are generally very caring people, however misguided I may think they are.

Cruelty may be legal, but it's ugly, and disturbing to see.

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Pork Tenderloins, Ross' Grill, and Kitty's Cafe

My introduction to pork tenderloin sandwiches came at the long-gone Ross' Grill - a crowded little restaurant on the Baltimore side of the Muehlebach Hotel. They served platter-sized pork tenderloins there fried golden with a crisp grainy breading. The fried meat would overhang the sides of a typical hamburger bun by 2 or 3 inches on all sides, and was served with a paper cup of mayo flavored with a touch of horseradish.

I have no idea if Ross's served any sides; the sandwich itself was more than any reasonable person should have eaten. Anything more might have killed me. I don't know whether they had any other sandwiches on the menu, either; that would be like ordering something other than fried chicken at Stroud's, or not having chili at Dixon's. People probably did it, but I didn't.

The Ross' tenderloin has served as the Platonic form for tenderloins in my life. Greasy, huge, thick with breading, and not particularly spicy - a fried tenderloin in the Ross' tradition is an occasional craving, a masochistic challenge, or a masculine assertion that doctors aren't the boss of me. You can find similar (though inferior) versions in truck stops and greasy spoons throughout the Midwest.

But Kitty's Cafe, on East 31st Street, offers something different.


Rather than one massive tenderloin, Kitty's serves three smaller pieces, stacked on a bun. Rather than thick breading, Kitty's tenderloins are covered with a light batter reminiscent of tempura, and crispy as a potato chip. Rather than bland, Kitty's tenderloin sandwiches are bursting with chili sauce and raw onion (and we're not talking Vidalias here - Kitty's serves strong white onions in a coarse chop that make you and your office mates remember what onions were before they went acoustic).

While I didn't indulge yesterday, this is a sandwich with proportions that allow you to look at the side dishes. At Kitty's you have your choice of very good french fries or classical fried tater tots. Both come in generous portions, so splitting an order is the way to go. And, speaking of "to go", you should plan on eating your food elsewhere - a few stools offer waiting space for customers, not space for eating.

(Note/Confession: The photo is brazenly stolen from "The Making of a Foodie", who mentioned Kitty's in a nice write-up on “Sandwiches you need to get your hands on!” for Tastebud Magazine.)

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Recall on its Way? Show Me . . .

Yesterday, the Recall activists turned in 13,000 new signatures in support of their effort to force a recall vote on Mayor Funkhouser. While some proponents of recall are declaring victory, such a claim is premature. A large percentage of their initial batch of signatures were invalid; a similar percentage for this batch would result in the effort falling almost exactly at the cut-off point.

Even if enough signatures are gathered, legal questions about the sufficiency of the grounds stated will need to be considered by the courts, and, of course, nobody has emerged as a strong candidate to replace the Funk.

I'm not saying it won't happen, but I am saying I'm not convinced it will. The next few weeks are going to be interesting.

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Drinkers to Fund Health Care?

The Senate is searching for ways to fund health care reform, and one of the proposals is to massively increase the excise taxes on beer and wine sold in the United States. The proposal is disguised as an attempt to make the taxes more uniform for different beverages, but it would do so by raising them to a uniform rate far higher than is currently being charged.

Proponents of the tax increase make the argument that it would "promote wellness and healthy choices, and curb activities that increase overall health care costs". In other words, it's a "sin tax", though medical research is famously unclear about whether moderate alcohol consumption is good or bad for one's health. It seems a little ironic to tax one of the most enjoyable forms of heart medicine on the planet, in the name of promoting wellness.

More significantly, the tax would work out to be tremendously regressive. "Joe Six-Pack" spends a higher percentage of his weekly income on cheap beer than some bon vivant toasting polo season with fine champagne. According to the Beer Institute, "Approximately 50 percent of all beer purchased in the United States is by consumers with household incomes of $50,000 per year or less. That means the relative impact of beer excise taxes on households in the lowest income brackets is 6.5 times greater than those with the highest incomes." Ironically, because the focus is on amount of alcohol rather than retail price, I would pay less in excise taxes for a fancy six-pack of imported Belgian Wit beer than some poor guy picking up a six-pack of Mickey's.

I am supportive of health care reform, but I think the Senate is off on the wrong foot in seeking to raise funds. If the goal is universal health care, the burden should be borne by a wider segment of the population than poor people who enjoy a glass of beer. If you agree, here's a list of the Senators considering this proposal in the Senate Finance Committee:
DEMOCRATS
MAX BAUCUS, MT - http://baucus.senate.gov
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV - http://rockefeller.senate.gov
KENT CONRAD, ND - http://conrad.senate.gov
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM - http://bingaman.senate.gov
JOHN F. KERRY, MA - http://kerry.senate.gov
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR - http://lincoln.senate.gov
RON WYDEN, OR - http://wyden.senate.gov
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY - http://schumer.senate.gov
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI - http://stabenow.senate.gov
MARIA CANTWELL, WA - http://cantwell.senate.gov
BILL NELSON, FL - http://billnelson.senate.gov
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ - http://menendez.senate.gov
THOMAS CARPER, DE - http://carper.senate.gov

REPUBLICANS
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA - http://grassley.senate.gov
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT - http://hatch.senate.gov
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME - http://snowe.senate.gov
JON KYL, AZ - http://kyl.senate.gov
JIM BUNNING, KY - http://bunning.senate.gov
MIKE CRAPO, ID - http://crapo.senate.gov
PAT ROBERTS, KS - http://roberts.senate.gov
JOHN ENSIGN, NV - http://ensign.senate.gov
MIKE ENZI, WY - http://enzi.senate.gov/public/
JOHN CORNYN, TX - http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/
(For more analysis of the issue, read this article.)

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Monday, May 25, 2009

Stop Naming Public Assets After Living People

I'm writing about this now so that it won't appear that I'm going after some beloved public figure getting richly-deserved public recognition for his or her tireless work on behalf of yada yada yada.

Don't name a bridge after a living person. Don't rename a street. Don't attach a living person's name to the next airport, or community center, or park.

Regardless of their merit or lack thereof as people, I don't want to see a Kit Bond Bridge, a Mayor Funkhouser Community Center, or a James B. Nutter, Sr. Park. For that matter, I don't particularly like driving on Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard, and I won't refer to Longview Golf Course as the Fred Arbanas Golf Course.

It's simply inappropriate.

The US Postal Service has a rule that it will not issue a postage stamp commemorating a person until he or she has been dead for at least 5 years
. It's a good rule, saving us the embarrassment of honoring athletes who turn out to be creations of chemistry, and politicians who have accepted bribes.

It also prevents official endorsement and promotion of individuals. Why does our government maintain a highly-traveled road emblazoned with the name of one candidate for Congress, without doing the same for his opponent? Why should a person running for the County Legislature be disadvantaged by a parks department avidly promoting a lush golf course in the name of his opponent?

Naming rights have real monetary value. Why should our public entities give something of tremendous value to favored individuals? If we took Swope Memorial Golf Course and renamed it Cerner Golf Course, we would expect millions of dollars in payback from Cerner - why should it be any different for a living person? The naming rights for the Sprint Center cost $62.5 million - why did the County and City give away similar (though smaller) rights for free?

Personally, I think it's an ethical lapse for any politician to accept such a valuable gift from a public entity. What would we be saying if, instead of naming a golf course after him, the County Legislature had simply decided to cut Fred Arbanas a check for a few million dollars, just because they think he's a swell guy?

Finally, no human being is universally revered. If we renamed the ground around Liberty Memorial something like "Obama Plaza", since he drew such a huge crowd to it during the election, those people who disagree with our President would be justifiably disgruntled. Our public squares ought to be dedicated to unifying principles, not divisive politics.

It's time for local, state and federal governments to stop naming public assets after living people.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

Sunday Poetry: The Bee, By James Dickey

The Bee

To the football coaches of Clemson College, 1942


One dot
Grainily shifting we at roadside and
The smallest wings coming along the rail fence out
Of the woods one dot of all that green. It now
Becomes flesh-crawling then the quite still
Of stinging. I must live faster for my terrified
Small son it is on him. Has come. Clings.

Old wingback, come
To life. If your knee action is high
Enough, the fat may fall in time God damn
You, Dickey, dig this is your last time to cut
And run but you must give it everything you have
Left, for screaming near your screaming child is the sheer
Murder of California traffic: some bee hangs driving

Your child
Blindly onto the highway. Get there however
Is still possible. Long live what I badly did
At Clemson and all of my clumsiest drives
For the ball all of my trying to turn
The corner downfield and my spindling explosions
Through the five-hole over tackle. O backfield

Coach Shag Norton,
Tell me as you never yet have told me
To get the lead out scream whatever will get
The slow-motion of middle age off me I cannot
Make it this way I will have to leave
My feet they are gone I have him where
He lives and down we go singing with screams into

The dirt,
Son-screams of fathers screams of dead coaches turning
To approval and from between us the bee rises screaming
With flight grainily shifting riding the rail fence
Back into the woods traffic blasting past us
Unchanged, nothing heard through the air-
conditioning glass we lying at roadside full

Of the forearm prints
Of roadrocks strawberries on our elbows as from
Scrimmage with the varsity now we can get
Up stand turn away from the highway look straight
Into trees. See, there is nothing coming out no
Smallest wing no shift of a flight-grain nothing
Nothing. Let us go in, son, and listen

For some tobacco-
mumbling voice in the branches to say "That's
a little better," to our lives still hanging
By a hair. There is nothing to stop us we can go
Deep deeper into elms, and listen to traffic die
Roaring, like a football crowd from which we have
Vanished. Dead coaches live in the air, son live

In the ear
Like fathers, and urge and urge. They want you better
Than you are. When needed, they rise and curse you they scream
When something must be saved. Here, under this tree,
We can sit down. You can sleep, and I can try
To give back what I have earned by keeping us
Alive, and safe from bees: the smile of some kind

Of savior--
Of touchdowns, of fumbles, battles,
Lives. Let me sit here with you, son
As on the bench, while the first string takes back
Over, far away and say with my silentest tongue, with the man-
creating bruises of my arms with a live leaf a quick
Dead hand on my shoulder, "Coach Norton, I am your boy."

- by James Dickey
____________________________________________________

This poem can be read with so many meanings and on so many levels that it staggers my desire to write about it. Since this poem has not been widely anthologized and is not one you've likely read before, a large part of me simply wants to say "go back, read it again, and tell me what you think it's saying."

The poem is compelling because of the story it tells. A man sees his son running toward a highway to escape the sting of a bee, and runs as hard as he can to save him, while imagining his college football coach screaming at him, urging him on. In a world where many poems have less action than a tea party, this poem stands out as one that appeals to the action-oriented soul. Finding screaming football coaches in poetry is as unexpected as finding car chases in a Merchant/Ivory period piece.

If you want to see how far afield a scholar can go with a poem, here is an analysis from a professor at Prairie View A & M University. In it, he claims that Dickey is comparing himself to the bee itself when he writes "Old wingback, come/to life". No. Simply no. Hell no. A wingback is a football position in a formation that Clemson used when Dickey played there.

To misread Dickey's attempt to regain his younger self as a singularly ridiculous pun like that almost ruins the entire poem. And the claim that he is calling on the bee to "come to life" when it is stinging his child into traffic and that he would familiarly call the bee "old wingback" as if it were an old friend with a nickname is to ignore the logic of them poem entirely. If there were truly gods of poetry, I hope they would smite poetry professors like Robert Kirschten who publish such nonsense.

But there are depths to be plumbed in this poem. When he speaks of going "Deep deeper into elms", I cannot help but think of the "lovely, dark and deep" woods that Robert Frost stopped by on that snowy evening.

And notice the layering of father images in this poem.
Dead coaches live in the air, son live

In the ear
Like fathers, and urge and urge. They want you better
Than you are. When needed, they rise and curse you they scream
When something must be saved.
At the end, Dickey expresses his gratitude by claiming to be his coach's boy. All that screaming and the arm-bruises that made him a man he accepts as necessary and important.

Finally, while I was unable to find a recording of Dickey reading this poem, I did find something fascinating in my research. Here is a copy of a speech in which Kevin Dickey - the boy in this poem - speaks of the actual incident that sparked the poem.

(Note: Sorry for missing a couple weeks - I'm back on schedule, though, and determined to keep up the series of Sunday poems.)

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Friday, May 22, 2009

Are Bloggers the Same as Journalists in Court?

I tend to be cynical when bloggers claim to be journalists. Many of those who claim to be "citizen journalists" are not, in fact, doing the sort of thoughtful, detailed, original research that is the backbone of true journalism. Where I, as a blogger, may feel justified in posting a story based upon a rumor or an anonymous source with questionable reliability, a true journalist would insist on finding reliable, dependable sources for the information s/he prints. I've witnessed the difference between good journalism and good blogging.

My theoretical distinction is being destroyed, however, by a race to the middle. "Journalists" publish unsourced speculation, while some bloggers do actual, in-depth, factual investigation. What I consider to be journalism can appear in blogs, and what I consider to be blogging appears regularly in print. Midtown Miscreant's examination of blight had more journalistic integrity than the emotional drivel published by some people cashing McClatchy checks.

A court in New Jersey is now facing the challenge of deciding whether a blogger is entitled to protect her sources under a Journalist Shield Law. She published some criticism about a software company, and the company has sued her for libel. In the discovery phase of the case, the company has sought to find out who her sources were. She's refusing, claiming that she should be entitled to protection under the New Jersey shield law.

This is all interesting stuff. Do bloggers have the legal right to withhold identifying information about their anonymous tipsters? Should journalists be entitled to greater rights than bloggers when they are publishing material that does not meet the traditional standards of journalistic integrity?

More globally, in a world where good journalism is showing up on blogs and crappy bias is being published in newspapers, how do we decide what qualifies as real journalism? And if the courts find that to be a tough issue, how will the average citizen handle it? Does the medium matter more than the substance?

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

CCP - Late and Early?

Yesterday evening, the CCP gave Harry Wiggins Public Service Awards to Jim Nutter, Sr. and Dutch Newman, and then endorsed Robin Carnahan in her race for the US Senate seat in 2010. The Wiggins awards were well-chosen, and two such stalwart supporters of good government richly deserved their recognition. If anything, they should have received the awards years ago, but it is sometimes difficult to stop and recognize people who are constantly and consistently doing dedicated work, without seeking to draw attention to themselves.

As if to balance out the lateness of their recognition of Nutter and Newman, the CCP also became the first major local political organization to endorse Robin Carnahan for Senate. Personally, I was surprised to see them jump the gun and issue such an endorsement before I announced my own decision about whether to run. When I asked a couple members about that, they assured me that they could rescind the endorsement and jump on my bandwagon when it starts rolling . . .

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Neck of State

A friend forwarded this link to me - a website devoted to the analysis of Obama's neckwear. As a sartorially-challenged person, I have to admire the President for managing to wear a tie more than once without staining it . . .

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See for Yourself - Jason Kander Town Hall Meeting on Saturday

I was an enthusiastic early supporter of Jason Kander in his race for to represent me down in Jefferson City, and he continues to impress. It's tough for a new Representative to accomplish anything in Missouri - it's nearly impossible for a member of the minority party to do so. But it was Jason who found money for health care, and pushed the Republicans to do a few right things.

If you would like to hear Jason recount a few tales from Jefferson City, you're invited to a Town Hall meeting this coming Saturday:

What:
Town Hall Meeting

When:
This Saturday, May 23rd, from 10:30 to 11:30AM

Where:
Broadway United Methodist Church (406 W. 74th St. KCMO 64114)

Why:
I'd love to hear your thoughts and answer your questions about the recently completed legislative session.

RSVP Appreciated:
Jason.Kander@House.Mo.Gov or 573 751 2437

Hope to see you there!
Jason

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Who Cares About All This - The Big Easy, Funkhouser and Getting Away From it All

Sorry for the outburst of silence on this blog. First it was illness, then it was a trip to New Orleans for my daughter's graduation from Tulane. A massive interruption in my ordinary life, with relatively little internet time, cursory attention to national news, and no awareness of local politics whatsoever.

In short, I was kind of like a typical voter for a week and a half.

Except for my botched attempt at factual reporting, I've pretty much ignored the Funkhouser Recall attempt, but it seems that the activists there are experiencing a bit of the disconnect I have felt. When wrapped up in local politics, and communicating with a circle of others that care about the same things, it's easy to think what's on our own minds is on everyone's mind. It's easy to convince yourself that the city wants a recall, but the reality is that the average voter does not care ten percent as much as activists do, one way or the other.

Spend a few hours with a group of political insiders, and you'll quickly find out what "everyone's talking about". The political gossip is intriguing and enveloping. But, when push comes to shove, it's only a few people talking amongst themselves. "Everyone" is not talking about politics - local, state or national. Instead, they are talking about dinner, sports, family, neighbors, and work.

I received a couple text messages on my phone about political developments last week. I appreciated the kindness of those keeping me informed, but receiving them while disengaged was kind of like receiving cricket scores from Pakistan - it was separate from the world I was inhabiting.

New Orleans feels like a different country, so the disconnect may have been stronger than it would have been otherwise. Also, it was the first time my family had been together since Christmas, so the presence of loved ones may have heightened the distraction. When you can look ahead to fried oyster po' boys with four people you love, it's hard to devote mental energy to city council matters, or even the Jackson County Ethics Blackout.

90+ percent of people spend most of their lives in the politics-free world I visited last week. The Recall people have seen that the near-unanimous outrage they expected to tap into was not nearly as deep or as widespread as they anticipated. I won't argue that the Recall is headed toward failure because of a deep and widespread love of Funkhouser - the only thing truly deep and widespread is apathy.

I'm back in the real world now, and ready to jump back into the world of state, local and national politics. I do care about this stuff, and it really does matter who is our Mayor, whether our County Legislature accepts ethical Home Rule, and who will replace Souter. It just surprised me how easily I shed all those concerns for a week and a half, and how "normal" it felt to be apolitical.

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Monday, May 11, 2009

I'm a Part of American Craft Brew Week

I won't be able to make it to 75th Street on Wednesday night, but they're going to be serving the beer we co-brewed back more than half a year ago. It's now been almost 6 months since we first tapped the beer - and they've kept a little on reserve. I hope some adventurous beer taster will venture by and give us a report on how it's aging!

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Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Home Sick - My Daughter Tries to Kill Me

Feel like crap, fever, coughing, headache. And my daughter sends me this link: Greg Rutter's Definitive List of The 99 Things You Should Have Already Experienced On The Internet Unless You're a Loser or Old or Something.

It hurts to laugh, but I can see how the rest of my morning will be going . . .

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Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Is the End Near? - Day 149 of the Jackson County Ethics Blackout


Finally, after almost half a year in an ethical wasteland, the Jackson County legislature is reportedly prepared to accept Ethical Home Rule. Amusingly, Tarwater and Rizzo are pushing for the new deal. “We’re going to put ourselves under the ethics code,” Rizzo said in an interview. “But it will take a unanimous vote of the commission to eliminate one of us.”

The news of the yet-unwritten deal came (not coincidentally) on the same day that the Ethics Commission Selection Committee came forward with a panel of 5 new people to serve on the commission. Janet Blauvelt, Karen Graves, Fred Mills, Myron Sildon, Gwendolyn Washington will make up the new Ethics Commission, and it looks like the Selection Committee did a fantastic job of recruiting and choosing solid people. I know and admire two of the Commissioners.

It remains to be seen whether the entire Legislature will go along with the proposal. Early in the process, Scott Burnett drew a line in the sand over the false issue of "double jeopardy" by both the County Ethics Commission and the Missouri Ethics Commission. Most citizens accept the fact that they are subject to multiple levels of oversight, but Burnett somehow felt that he should be exempt. Fortunately, the rest of the Legislature disagrees with him on that point, and he apparently stands alone in his absurd claim that two levels of ethical oversight amount to "double jeopardy".

Ultimately, this is a good day for Jackson County, though it's a major loss for many of the members of the legislature. Rizzo and Tarwater will probably lose their seats over their efforts to eliminate Ethical Home Rule, and Scott Burnett's term as Chair of the Legislature has been forever tainted by the half-year-long ethical blackout. If it hadn't been for a few citizens who stood up to the good-old-boy network, they might have succeeded. In fact, they still could succeed - until the deal is passed by the legislature, only a fool would trust in their willingness or ability to do the right thing.

Thanks and congratulations should go to Pat McInerney for his quiet and determined leadership on this issue.

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Monday, May 04, 2009

Playing Games with "Cops on the Street"

After hacking $15 million dollars from the budget of the Kansas City police department, the Kansas City Council wants to act like it didn't do anything wrong. Incredibly, two City Councilwomen have sought to breeze in and wallpaper over their budgetary attack by encouraging the Police Department to eliminate support positions and change the working conditions for 200 cops - all so that they can claim that their budgetary attack didn't reduce "cops on the street".

These are the same people who voted to donate almost $2,000,000 to the stadiums, instead of using it to reduce the cuts to cops.

Frankly, avoiding a reduction in the number of "cops on the street" is political showmanship, not effective public safety. "Cops on the street" need support off the street, and $15 million in cuts to the back office is going to have an impact on the ability of the cops on the street to do their jobs. Those cops on the street need supplies, they need well-maintained vehicles, and they need supervision. Like any business, they need support services, and cutting those support services while artificially maintaining the number of cops on the street is likely to do more harm than good.

Sure enough, after the Police Board passed the budget without a single negative vote, one of the City Council members took the low road and preemptively slimed the Police Chief. "If officers are pulled off the street that will be Corwin's decision, not the council's." Folks, I've seen some pretty vile attempts at denying responsibility for one's own behavior before, but that one ranks way up there.

Of course, in the anti-Funk hysteria this town is currently suffering through, nobody wants to talk about the irresponsibility of the council. Instead, people are aiming their guns at the one person who has worked hardest to preserve the police force. The same Council member mentioned above had the unmitigated gall to complain that "Funkhouser hadn't helped the city officials dicker with the police staff during task force meetings about the budget."

I believe that the Council "dickered" the police department quite well without Mark's help.

Showing an amazing ability to focus on the irrelevant, Yael "Funk is a Big Poopyhead" Abouhalkah even took a cheap shot at Funkhouser for not attending the meeting at which the budget passed without a single negative vote. Again, showmanship gets valued over substance in Yael's mind. Instead of even mentioning the vote tally, Yael wrote two columns attacking Mark for the same missed meeting, and implied that pre-meeting participation in the budgetary process doesn't matter if none of the voters mentions it during the vote. Amateurish, petty hack job.

If we want to talk about failure in Kansas City, we ought to be talking about the attempts of certain City Council members to paper over the impact of their disastrous police cuts, and the Star's biased refusal to call them on it.

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Sunday, May 03, 2009

Sunday Poetry: The Tyger, by William Blake

The Tyger

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes!
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare sieze the fire!

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand! & what dread feet!

What the hammer! what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain
What the anvil, what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spear
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see
Did he who made the Lamb make thee!

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry!

- by William Blake

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It is a measure of Blake's creative spark that his work remains disturbing and immediate, after two centuries and scores of English professors have tried to dull it down.

First things first. What about that "symmetry"? Does it rhyme with "eye"? NO!

Now, having delivered that insight, what do we make of that fact? Scholars have argued whether there is meaning to be found in that jarring non-rhyme starting and ending a poem otherwise tightly rhymed. See what I mean about English professors? They are like law students pondering whether a crystal vase can be considered a "deadly weapon" to support an assault charge when it is used to kill someone. Of course it can, and if you weren't trying to be so smart, you wouldn't even have to ask the question. The burst expectation of a rhyme rings out like a cannon shot, and it uses the word "symmetry" to break up the symmetry. And yet some tweedy intellectuals insist that the lack of a rhyme is incidental, and that the real point is a focus on meter.

Which isn't to say that the meter of the poem isn't also deserving of attention. He employs trochaic rhythm, the left-handed twin of iambic rhythm. Instead of da-DAH, trochees go DAH-da. Trochees are more immediate and punchy than iambs, and Blake adds an extra jab by eschewing the final unstressed syllables at the end of each line.

All of which leads to the question of what this poem means. If you need a simple answer, I would go with "it presents the question of whether good and evil share a common source." That's an adequate answer.

But there's so much more going on in this poem! Like my favorite Blake poem, The Rose, there are continents of meaning to be found in this small poem. Notice the admiration the author expresses toward the tiger - clearly, he is drawn to this bright, fearful beast. And he mentions the lamb - an animal he had previously addressed with the same question of where it comes from, and a loaded metaphor for God and Christians. In the context of the poem, who would not find the tiger a little more thrilling and attractive than the lamb?

And how should we take the questions? Is it merely a rhetorical device to ask whether the maker of the lamb also made the tiger, or is it really a questioning of monotheism? "Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" We know that Blake was a Christian, so we assume that he was answering himself with an "of course", but in the final stanza, he asks "What immortal hand or eye/Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?" Dare?! Doesn't that imply that the immortal hand has something to fear?

It's strange that "The Tyger" is widely anthologized and often offered up as kind of a nursery rhyme for children. Read carefully, it's a troubling and confusing poem.

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Friday, May 01, 2009

How to Influence a Legislator (Free Version)

It's action time in Jefferson City, and the updates are flying, insisting that we exercise whatever influence we may have on behalf of worthy bills or to fend off wrong-headed ones. 90% of the "action alerts" I receive are a complete waste of time, so I thought I would share a few tips for exercising influence with legislators.

1. Make Sure You Stand a Chance: If you want to accomplish anything with a legislator (as opposed to simply voicing your opinion), make sure you're not far afield from the core constituencies and principles of the legislator you are hoping to influence. In other words, you don't stand a chance of convincing Jason Kander to abandon the Missouri Plan, and you're not going to get Jolie Justus to eliminate support for childcare. Go ahead and vent if you disagree, but don't think you're influencing change.

2. Visit Your Legislator: If there's an important issue pending, get in your car and visit Jefferson City, or find out where you can meet with the legislator during a break, and do it. Nothing is as influential as a face-to-face meeting. If you have written materials, bring a couple copies so the legislator can review them and give a copy to a staff person. Legislators listen to visitors, so, if you can find the time and the gas money, go visit our Capitol City, and treat yourself to some ice cream at Central Dairy on your way home.

3. Write a Real, Personalized Letter: If you can't visit Jefferson City, let the postal service do the work for you. Send a real, personalized letter expressing your thoughts and enclosing any supporting information. I'm not talking about signing your name to a pre-printed post card or a cut-and-paste from an action alert. Those are a waste of time, trees and postage. But a persuasive letter on real stationery signed by a constituent will make a legislator take notice.

4. Pick up the Phone and Call: At this point in the session, where action on bills is happening at a fast and furious pace, calling is probably more effective than writing. Even if you only get to talk to a legislative aide, your voice will be heard. A lot of legislators are pretty generous about sharing their cell phone numbers, and don't hesitate to use them. If you wind up in voice mail, be prepared to leave a clear and short message, including the fact (if true) that you reside in his/her district. Leave your number, and you may get a call back.

5. Send an Email: Email's easy, and that is the problem with it. With a few clicks of the mouse, you can contact every legislator in Jefferson City, and hundreds of others can do the same thing. The result is a deluge that simply drowns out even your well-crafted, reasonable missive. If you care enough to write, care enough to put it on real paper with a stamp, pick up the phone, or drive to Jefferson City. Email is a decent way to communicate with a legislator once a dialog is started through one of those means, but, especially at this time of the session, don't expect to accomplish anything by writing an email.

Those are the basics for free influence with a legislator. If you have money to spend, other rules apply that are way too complicated and controversial to get into here.

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Missouri Free Market Failure

Those of us who keep a close eye on free market extremists have been watching for the launch of "The Missouri Record", a lobbyist-run "independent" site promoting deregulation at the state and local levels. For a while now, the Missourians for Responsible Government have maintained a web address promising the launch of a "A Journal of Politics and Policy" in April.

Now that April has passed into history, those who purport to insist on responsibility for government have failed to live up to their self-imposed responsibility to launch a website on time. Now they claim they will launch it in May . . .

So far, the "Missouri Record" is simply yet another amusing example of those who like to talk about responsibility for others tending not to practice it themselves.

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