Obama, The Funk and Other Things

* I didn't learn until afterwards that President-Elect Obama's first press conference last week was staged- to the degree of requiring pre-screened questions from the press.

That's VERY bothersome here and I only hope it's not a sign of things to come from the Obama Administration...


* Mayor Funkhouser is under siege from the local press- blogosphere- and now the citizens. The Mayor's son even wrote a letter to the KC STAR defending his Dad.

And it's all- in the final analysis and in earth-tone- bullshit.

Until Mayor Mark Funkhouser shows fiscal irresponsibility or is not pro-active in the delivery of city services and this city itself- the man I voted for Mayor of Kansas City- Missouri has my full support.

And offer to provide public relation services...

* Gasoline prices continue to fall- as illustrated in the photo (prices have actually rose a tad since this Sunday photo). As I post this- the price of a barrel of oil on the market was $55.91.

Doesn't matter- that $4-per-gallon greed-trip has cost the American- and World economies dearly.

* Light rail enthusiasts PLEASE refer to the CSW poll. What people want and what we need (when the economy improves) is commuter rail.

Since we're dumping more than a quarter-billion bucks in the Truman Sports Complex stadiums- why not build a starter commuter rail line from there to Union Station?

Park & ride since there are acres of asphalt empty except game days. Blue Ridge bus lines provide major feed to ridership.

Put that in THEN tear up and re-build I-70 from Downtown eastward.

* The Weath-a. Looks like the cold has settled in for awhile- at least next 7-10 days- with only isolated sparks of warmth (tomorrow's one).

Don't see any organized wintry precipitation events yet- but it's getting to be that time of the year for snow and worse- ice.

For the record- the busiest night I've had on the news desk was New Year's night 1992. With temperatures near 30-degrees- a heavy drizzle fell for a few hours.

Though the drizzle hardly registered in any area rain gages- it produced a thin coat of ice- black ice- on exposed surfaces.

There were hundreds of wrecks that night including fire trucks- ambulances- police cars and a Channel 4 photographer I had sent out to videotape it all.

Till later...Peace.

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