mpvan's Blog

First rule:  Don't show up on a private plane.  Not that it really matters, but you will be embarrassed.   Seems like the key question was:  "Ok, lets see a show of hands who took a commercial flight to the hearings.   Let the record show no hands were raised."

How stupid is that.   It immediately implies that if you took a commercial flight.......bingo you get the money, and if not.........no soup for you.   Or, was it just to embarrass the beggars.  May as well go down to the Plaza and ask Jerry Mazur why he's wearing shoes.  BTW Jerry is the famous beggar that won the suit vs the city of KCMO.    

Second Rule:    The people in charge haven't a clue as to what they're going to do with the $700-850billion dollars.  But there was a big sigh of relief when the thing was passed.   Holding companies of banks are eligible for the cashola.   American Express,  and today, 11/20, GMAC--the finance arm of GM have applied for status as bank holding companies.  Since the administrators of all this money clearly haven't a clue,  they will surely get the money to go join AIG at their house party.

Third Rule:  They still don't have a clue with what to do with the money or who to give away to.  It was originally voted to buy bad bank loans.  But, Paulson, the Fed chief, changed his mind.  Why don't they revoke it then if it isn't going where it was intended to go? 

Fourth Rule:  This is a first for them and they just don't know how to give out that much money.    Set aside  a billion and randomly pay off mortgages and give tax free GM cars away.  That way the money will actually go to a few people in need. 

 

Picked the Chiefs to win one because they lost three in a row in the last three weeks, but they were close games so it almost counts as a win.  I almost got caught up in the hype Herm was trying to sell us.  It worked on everyone else, another sellout was announced.  Great job King Carl. 
Back to the game at hand and the reason for the turnaround.  New Orleans 1st in offense putting up almost 400yds/game.  Chiefs last in offense giving up 407/yds/game.  And.......a lot of defensive starters missing. 

The Auto Industry.  GM, the benefit company which just happens to build cars, will be out of cash  in about 4 months and can't borrow any.  They're going through 2 billion bucks a month as a cost of doing business.  Ford is right behind them.  Katie Couric on the news tonight, 11/11, says that in addition to the direct job losses of the auto workers, total job loss would be around 2.5 million people.  These includes supply companies whose sole existence is supplying a specific part for a model, the local diner, and the list goes on and on till the 2.5 million mark, nationwide, is reached.  The retirees, whose health benefits were once a promise of 30+ years of service would be no more.  Good paying jobs with mortgages attached. 
The Cato Institute guy had a dissenting voice.  Why bail out a car company whose products Americans don't want to buy.  Why reward mismanagement and an inability to gauge market awareness. 
That same government bailed out the same mismanagement the mortgage bankers and that entire chain started, to the tune of 850 billion.
The U.S. is funding their own debt!

Ok, so we have the drawing at work for free Chiefs tickets, and I lose again......that means I get 4 free tickets.   The winner got 2.   

I can't get the wife or kids to go because the Chiefs lose all the time, so I ask a buddy, and he inquires, "Free tickets I hope" and I concur, so we go.

Now I've got 2 extra's to sell to offset the $22.00 parking.  So I'm standing at the corner between Arrowhead and the K with everyone else selling extras and this guy comes up and tells me I can't sell tickets because it's in direct competition with the Chiefs.

This "guy" isn't a cop, and I'm unclear if he's an official from the Chiefs organization.  Not wanting to cause an argument with this guy for which I can get booted, we move and and sell them anyway.  For $15 ea.

So now it has me wondering.  The Chiefs rent the Stadium, can they prohibit secondary ticket sales, the game was deemed a sellout for local broadcast,  and the ticket scalping law has been overturned with the Royals and Chiefs major proponents of that law.

Was this guy correct in trying to prohibit people from secondary ticket sales?

 

A business in Raytown gets vandalized a few times.  So the owner (dumb) and his friend/employee (dumber) decide to do their own stake-out for the culprits.  Guess the police are real busy.  Dumber shoots in the leg what he thinks is a vandal, but turns out to be dumb, the owner. 

Workmen's comp claim?

Does dumber still have a job there?  Will he get promoted in the owner's absence?

Will it get vandalized now that they know for sure there's no surveillance?

Toplikar, the guy caught stealing his opponents signs in south Jo Co.  How cool is that?  Is there a better political ad/news story running? 

I mean, hey no bones about it, you're voting for a thief.  Everyone else has their opponent telling the audience what a dirt bag they are and Toplikar sends his own message.  Talk about honesty in telling everyone what a thief you are,  this is tops.  If I was in his district, he would be my man.  He need not stop at county commissioner or whatever he's running for, there are much higher  positions, all the way to President, that need his services.  Skip the AIG people....they're all claiming innocence too.

I even like his response on tape when he got caught.  "Well he (Hayden, his opponent) is messing with my signs."   No proof, but seemingly bad enough behavior to warrant it himself!  Again, a true politician.  Bet he wins hands (sticky) down! 

And the police,  the best they can do is petty theft and maybe tresspassing.  A small price for the free campaign ad.

 

 

Any chance the Chiefs can just call in the loss and save all the injuries and embarassment?   They've still got an hour and 15 minutes to do so!

Looks like the KCSTAR has the Chiefs on the short end of all the pregame categories, the biggest spread is the rushing yards allowed, everything else is withing 20-50yds.  NYJ 83yds/game given up, KC almost 150.  Plus no LJ again.  He'll be watching from the Blondes on the Plaza.  Women will be banned from 11am -5pm btw!

But.....last time they had the Chiefs on all  the short sticks was Denver.

 

The NY area has got to be laughing at our Chiefs and their former coach. 

In his third year, they have gone from backing into the playoffs to what national announcers call the worst team in football.  And there are two other teams yet to win a game.

Jared Allen, gone, Willie Roaf  retired, Trent Green traded, Brittle Brodie broken and gone, LJ held them up for $49 million and beats up women in bars, Huard--totally beaten up by their offensive line, and Thigpen sporting a 44 QB rating--last in the league, and the defense--the coach's trademark, in a solid last place, the offense has scored 22 less points than the winless teams, Detroit and the Bungles.  And given up more points than almost all of them.

Is there any way they can just call in the loss and save time, travel, injuries, and embarrassment? 

It wasn't this bad on and off the field in the Jack Steadman heyday's of the '70s.

I predict blackouts in December.

King Carl.....how do you do it....still sell out Arrowhead with a 1-7 team?  Fantabulous!

He's probably got another blown ACL.  This would make three.  Apparently he went through two in college.

This will do it for him.  In H.S. soccer the mercy rule is 10-0 and they call the game.

What it the Mercy rule for this QB before he's injured permanently. 

The OL isn't getting better btw.

Carl.  How do you do it, continue to sell the place out?  The free tics were great, thanks.

The parking pass was an added bonus.  Beer up to $7.25, a draw, I'm getting a six of Heineken for the same.   That's ok gas is only $2.32 at the fast stop on Blue Ridge.

There's quite a different fan sentiment at the game from 4 years ago......I think they're on to you!

Great, I get 4 free tickets and a parking pass and the number one tough guy (who beats up on women occasionally) won't be playing.  And TG, who wishes he wasn't playing, gets to play.   Guess he was hoping for a NYG blue uniform this week.

Actually, the Chiefs are a stronger, quicker team with the other two scat backs in there.  They know how to block and are quick enough to jump on Brittle Brodie fumbles as he gets sacked and thrown around.

Seriously, though, the case against LJ is so weak, he will be acquitted like the other two against him.  Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty.  Filing a report long after the incident happened won't help the plaintiff one bit.  And the KCMO police has the most pathetic response of all.  They were busy with more serious stuff like murders, rapes, armed robberis, and the like.  So, this means all the murders have been solved, including the three last night, along with all the other "serious" crimes and the LJ case floated to the top of the paperwork heap. 

Really, really, pathetic on the KCMO  police and criminal justice system.  Other than going to the games, how stupid do they think people are?

So Palin finds out by reading in the newspaper that the McCain/Palin campaign is conceding Michigan and its 17 delegates to Obama.  They're scaling back the campaign, cutting back funds, advertising, and staff in the state.

Palin says- per pg 2 on the Kansas City Star 10/4, that "she and Todd (hubby) would be glad to go to Michigan"  to stump for the campaign, and that when she found out about it by reading in the paper, "fired off a bunch of emails."

So McCain:   1)Obviously never tells Palin---and I've seen her name on half of all the campaign signs, that the show is exiting from Michigan.  2) Doesn't  pay much attention to details of the value of an entire state.  3) Has his mind made up on the direction of the campaign without consulting the other "name" on all the blue signs.

One can tell how a person is by where they've been and how they've acted in the past.  Not a good omen for the very few keeping track of things.

 

 

I don't vote, never have,but know what's going on.  The election to me is largely a sporting event, and up till now, hard to predict a winner. But:

John McCain is toast. 

Down 7 points in the polls, and it's late.

Giving up on Michigan--quite a few electoral votes there!

Not doing well at all in the swing states.

He's too old and his VP is too young.

This bailout has hurt him, mostly with his wishy-washy I'll suspend my campaign and won't debate untill it's cleared up mentality.   Well, the House hasn't passed anything yet but probably will.

Obama in the eyes of America is probably the lesser of two evils.....but won't be able to produce on very many of his campaign tv commercials.

If only the next candidate 4 years from now would save them and re-run them to really show the American people how little one person can do to change anything.

President Bush has done well on my taxes. 

Obama......show me the money!

Mr. Osborne is killed riding his bike because two KCMO citizens are bored with life and want to see what it   "feels" like to kill someone.  So they shoot and kill Mr. Osborne riding his bike. 

The other person charged in the crime pleads and gets life in prison.   Brown the other guy charged is now facing a jury trial.  So he pleads out to 2nd degree murder and gets 20 years in prison.  Which really means he'll serve a lot less than that.  Historically, and past practice would realistically get out in 10-12 years.  For murder no less. 

The explanation given by the prosecutors was his accomplice was going to have to testify against him and he might be an unreliable witness.   What he's really saying could be two things:  1) the prosecutors office is so screwed up, inept, overrun with cases, and understaffed that they might not even get a conviction, or 2) we'll get a sure conviction if he pleas to 2nd degree and he'll be out in 10 years to kill again.   

Hopefully the judge doesn't let him out on $4500.00 bond like the other guy up for murder.

A fine message for the murderers of KCMO, and there seems to be a lot of them.   Go jury trial, you'll get a better deal. 

The KCMO justice system is  horribly broken for the citizens.  Hope they remember this at the next crime vigil for the next 10 future murder victims.  There seems to be a lot of  candlelight vigils and praying going on lately.  Not much action by the people in charge to make a real difference, and what action is occurring favors the criminal.

Mr Lee who is accused of murdering a young woman in March, is charged with murder and bond is set at $250,000 cash only.

A judge, clearly seeing the jail is full, sees the need to reduce the bail to $45,000 so more dangerous people can be taken off the streets and put in jail.

Mr Lee gets out for 10% or 4500.00.  Now he doesn't have any money left so he and 3 closest friends go out and rob Cash America Pawn, for $15,000 in display case jewlry alone.   He had a really nice machine gun displayed during the robbery.

A fine recruiting tool for future KCMO  officers.  The KC catch and release program, compliments of the judicial system.  You catch 'em, we let 'em go.  Plenty of job security for the robbery, homicide, and car chase division.

And they're complaining about the 21 murders in August and general homicide rate.  Hope they're not complaining about the lack of clearance of these cases.  Because if they can't even keep 'em in the jail, they have no business trying to catch the murderers in order to solve  them. 

With Funky leading the pack, what a comedy show.

101 homicides, 9/25, (KCMO) and counting.   The clerks are shooting back.  This is a good thing for the clerks at the time, but it will create a mindset of the criminals to just shoot first and then rob. 

Same thing for the mindset of the random robber.  Shoot, get scared, and run away.   Leave behind death and destroyed lives.  Case in point the recent Westport shooting, the downtown leave the bar for a pack of cigarettes shooting--both women by the way, and a recent drive by shooting of the woman on her porch. 

Add to the mix, the KCMO police department seems to have a hard time tallying up the statistics.  They got the murder rate correct, but an audit showed an increase from 29,000 to about 41,000 violent crimes for last year. 

Conceal and carry and gun control----hitting your target, combined with the one story theory is  a citizens best protection.  Add a little awareness to the equation as well.