Subject: Economic Stimulus

• Fear doesn’t always strike out — sometimes it’s a line drive at your head

  March 26, 2009

• Daily Briefs: Economic Defibrillation, Hillary Clinton Feels Your SUV's Pain

  April 29, 2008

• Daily Briefs: Mayday, Mayday; Aeronautic Tax Breaks; The Star rejects your precious narrative rules

  May 1, 2008

• Sebelius gives State of State address

  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius just delivered her seventh State of the State address. I don't blame you if you watched 24 instead. Lots of "we" talk. It wasn't a thriller, but if you want to read the whole thing, it's after the jump.

  January 12, 2009

• Family-planning concession may cost Kansas

  In an effort to blunt Republican objections to the federal stimulus bill, President Obama has asked Democrats to pull the provision that would help provide contraceptives to poor women.The decision may impact Kansas more than most places. Historically, the Sunflower State ranks near the bottom in public funding for contraceptive services. According to a 2005 analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, public expenditures for contraceptive services fell by 32 percent in Kansas from 1994 to 2001.The Gut

  January 28, 2009

• Bacon Explosion highlights slow news day at Star

  New York Times slideshowWe knew the New York Times' Bacon Explosion story was big -- that's why we blogged about it yesterday on Fat City.But two days after the Times' story, The Kansas City Star still thinks it's really, really, really big. In today's Star, the Bacon Explosion is an above-the-fold, A-1 story! Hey, I love bacon more than I love my arteries, but I still can't quite believe the sudden popularity of a couple of Kansas City barbecue bloggers is, I don't know, bigger news than the Ho

  January 29, 2009

• ¿Qué pasa Kraft?

  When you hear the words Mexican food, what images come to mind? Margaritas, fajitas, peppers. Probably not cheesecake. Yet Mexico now holds the record for largest cheesecake which was made using... Philadelphia cream cheese.Spanish news is reporting that Chef Miguel Angel Quezada of Mexico City has made a 2,000 pound strawberry cheesecake beating the record of, uh, um, well there is no record. According to the AP, "there wasn't much competition. Guinness had no previous record for cheesecakes."

  February 2, 2009

• "Mad Dog" McCaskill on Meet The Press

  Claire "Mad Dog" McCaskill's media tour continued on Sunday morning's Meet The Press. The fighting senator from Missouri defended the economic stimulus package and President Obama's nomination of Tom Daschle.

  February 9, 2009

• Post we love: "Growing up in a 'socialist' town in Kansas"

  Just read a beautiful piece of writing by Resistance is Fruitful, a new local blogger who is impressing us with his thoughtful (if not yet especially prolific) work.This February 6 post was an "Editor's Pick" on OpenSalon.com. In it, Resistance remembers his childhood in Colby, Kansas -- specifically, the parts of town built by the WPA during the Great Depression. His experience is a strong rebuke to the cranks who argue that a federal economic stimulus package is "socialist" and therefore bad.

  February 11, 2009

• Missouri congressman not-so-secretly likes economic stimulus bill he voted against

  U.S. Rep. Blaine LuetkemeyerYou know what Missouri U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer likes? The economic stimulus bill he voted against. Talking Points Memo points out the hypocrisy of Luetkemeyer and three of his fellow House Republicans, who have been taking credit for the plan, which every GOP member in their chamber voted against. KTVO says: Luetkemeyer said the project is considered 'shovel ready' and that's what the economy needs. [Truman State University] President Darrell Krueger and Luetkeme

  February 18, 2009

• Kit Bond named Wednesday's "Worst Person in the World"

  Don't show Keith Olbermann this video from KY3's political blog. Olbermann's head might explode if he hears Missouri U.S. Sen. Kit Bond spouting the myth of the train from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Uh, Kit. There's no such provision in the economic stimulus bill. There's money for high-speed rail, but no specific project. Last night, Olbermann hammered Bond on MSNBC's Countdown, naming Missouri's senior senator the "Worst Person in the World" for barnstorming the Show-Me State and touting the be

  February 19, 2009

• We have learned nothing

  Have you ever heard of the house wren? For birds, they're huge assholes. Any ornithologists reading this are welcome to correct our admittedly limited expertise, but they build nests everywhere just so the females will have multiple choices of where to lay their eggs, and if they come across a spot that already has eggs in it, they peck holes in the eggs and kick them out of the way of progress. Local company RED Development might just be the house wren of builders.Some

  February 25, 2009

• Daily Briefs: It's more of a Federal stimulus coupon, really.

  The Mid-America Regional Council stepped outside wearing its raincoat and galoshes, unfurled its money umbrella and waited for the torrent of federal stimulus money to come raining down all over it. Because when federal stimulus money comes raining down out of the sky, you're going to get fucking soaked with money. Then, realizing the sun was still shining and birds were chirping, the council lowered its umbrella, looked to the left and right, and then a tiny sprinkle of about $27 million fel

  February 25, 2009

• REO Speedwagon, Styx and friends promise cheap tickets on next tour

  Domo arigato, Mr. Obama.Fear not, classic rock obsessives: the global economic crisis will not waylay this year's round of washed-up, amusement-park-haunting ghosts of '70s arena rock. In fact, a couple such bands are using all this talk of stimuli to their PR advantage. Behold, VH1 Classic and the video game Rock Band® present REO Speedwagon and Styx on the Can't Stop Rockin' Tour. In addition to recording a song together next month that will be called "Can't Stop Rockin'" (listen for it on a

  February 26, 2009

• MoDOT stimulus funds = FAIL

  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (otherwise known as "the bailout," "the stimulus plan" or "Porkulus," depending on whom you ask) is very clear in its requirements regarding the funding of road and bridge projects. The Missouri Department of Transportation will receive $577 million of this stimulus cashola to distribute to projects, if: (1) the projects can get under way in 90 days or less, (2) they will take no more than three years to complete, (3) they create jobs and (4) they are

  March 19, 2009

• Daily Briefs: Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail, a shanty town

  What's the favorite breakfast cereal of Czechs? The other day -- oh, sorry, I'll be more specific, as this is "journalism" -- ON WEDNESDAY, the head of the European Economic Union, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek of the Czech Republic, known to coprolite-pooping old Sen. John McCain as "Czechoslovakia," slammed Pres. Barack Obama's plan to spend $2 trillion in stimulus for the U.S. economy, calling it "the road to hell." Pretty strong words by the austere old-world standards of European politi

  March 26, 2009

• Claire McCaskill wants to talk

  Stimulation update: Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill is in town on Wednesday to promise that help's on the way.This from her office: "As our nation faces its most serious economic crisis in decades, Congress and the President worked together in order to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This recovery package will energize and uplift our state's economy, and I want to talk to you about the many exciting opportunities for Missourians: thousands of jobs for our state, improvements to o

  April 6, 2009

• With stimulus money, the bus company gets new buses to go fewer places

  April 16, 2009

• Power Player

  March 26, 2009

• Broken Piggy Banks

  March 5, 2009

• Arguing about the stimulus, pork-producing hometown Republicans have made a ridiculous stand for austerity

  February 26, 2009

• In the new economy, even jackasses have to work a little harder

  February 26, 2009

• Presidential Review

  February 19, 2009

• Tantalized by economic-stimulus money, City Hall has trouble breaking bad habits

  January 29, 2009

• Teabaggers party at phallic WW I memorial

  You know what pisses me off about tea party protesters? These motherfuckers had no problem cashing the economic stimulus checks that President Bush handed out last year. No one was in the streets throwing a hissy fit and burning their stimulus checks then. But I'm never surprised by people who protest against their best interests.  Kansas City's tea party protest takes place at the Liberty Memorial at 4 p.m. Let's get this straight. There's going to be a bunch of people talking about teabag

  April 15, 2009

• Letters from the week of April 23

  April 23, 2009

• Online journal for Missouri conservatives debuts

  Conservatives in Missouri have a new place to congregate online. Missourians for Responsible Government, a nonprofit dedicated to free-market ideals, has unveiled The Missouri Record, an electronic source of news and opinion.Patrick Tuohey will edit the ostensibly nonpartisan Missouri Record. The last we heard from Tuohey, a Washington, D.C.-trained political operative, he was working to defeat Kansas City's most recent light-rail initiative.In a news release, Tuohey says Missourians interested

  May 4, 2009

• Kansas City not getting stimulated

  Missouri lawmakers aren't giving KC any economic stimulus loving. This morning's Kansas City Star says a bill last week handed out $381.3 million in stimulus money -- but a big, fat zero went to the City of Fountains. So let's point some fingers (or let the Star do it for us): We're looking at you, oversized novelty Mayor Mark Funkhouser. And here's a troubling quote:  "I just didn't hear any of Kansas City's interests articulated," said Rep. Chris Kelly, a Columbia Democrat. "If they need

  May 15, 2009

• Former Superintendent choking on karma

  It wasn't long ago that we gave you an update on the Kansas City School District's former super Anthony Amato. The short version: flaunt huge unearned ego, spend vast sums of money on tests with no proven value, leave for new job under black cloud of district resentment, repeat process at new school. It seems the cycle's winding down again, because the people at Amato's current school, Stockton United, are through taking his crap and started calling for his removal. You can read all

  May 26, 2009

• Yesterday's protest: Anti-violence camp out at City Hall

  From left: Shawn McVicker, Matthew Cunningham and Vincent WainrightThursday was day two of community activist Rachel Riley's three-day camp out in front of City Hall. About a dozen people held signs, grilled food and talked about the city's violent, crime-infested east side.

  May 29, 2009

• Vice President Joe Biden beholds majesty of future 6-lane highway

  Road builder Bill Clarkson Jr. and a ring of mulch overlooking 69 Highway awaited Vice President Joe Biden when he got out of his big Cadillac in Overland Park yesterday afternoon. The v.p. was accompanied by former and current Kansas governors Kathleen Sebelius and Mark Parkinson, as well as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The group surveyed the work being done on a section of U.S. 69 near 103rd Street. This $82 million project is receiving funds from the federal stimulus package.Biden was

  June 12, 2009

• Todd Tiahrt's heart pumps stars and stripes

  Todd TiahrtThe 2010 campaign can't come soon enough for some people -- like Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt and his perfectly quaffed hair. Tiahrt's already running TV commercials -- demanding a repeal of the federal stimulus plan. Maybe he'd like to balance Kansas' budget sans stimulus dollars. Speaking of now-tweet-free Tiahrt, Politico isn't impressed with Tiahrt's campaign logo: a "T" and a "heart" filled with America!Looks like a Valentine that not even Ralph Wiggum would choo, choo, choose.

  June 23, 2009

• Todd Tiahrt wants to unbalance Kansas' budget

  Kelly KultalaTodd TiahrtKansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt and his perfectly coiffed hair want to repeal the federal economic stimulus plan. Last week, Tiahrt started running TV commercials (did you know he's running for U.S. Senate?) saying so. We've mentioned that maybe Tiahrt would like to try to balance Kansas' budget without those funds, which got us thinking: How hard would it have been without the money? So we called Kansas state Sen. Kelly Kultala, who worked on the budget."There's no way th

  July 1, 2009

• Workers to protest more abundant paychecks

  Working Americans have a few opportunities to express confused outrage at the government this holiday weekend. Tomorrow at 1 p.m., a freedom rally/tea party will be held at the Center for God, Family and Country in Lee's Summit. On July 4 at 9 a.m., a rally for responsibility will take place along Highway 45 in Parkville.The tea parties staged across the U.S. on April 15 protested government spending, particularly the $789-billion stimulus package. Of course, the "taxed enough already" crowd mig

  July 2, 2009

• JoCo swigs martini, rakes in stimulus cash

  V.P. Biden, with current and former Kansas governors, in OP​After going for McCain-Palin in the 2008 election, Johnson County is reaping the benefits of an Obama administration. The nonprofit news organization Pro Publica has broken down stimulus spending by region, and Republican Johnson County is riding the gravy train.JoCo has received $199 in stimulus money per capita. The national average is $181. The Kansas average is $176.Wyandotte County, where unemployment sits at 9.8 percent, has rec

  August 11, 2009

• Bond's nudist colony gag stolen from self, others

  Kit Bond's official, not-so-recent photo​When Kit Bond learns a joke, he likes to milk it dry.Missouri's senior senator recently quipped: "There's so many bad ideas in Washington that when I try to decide what to fight I feel like a mosquito in a nudist colony."It's a laugh line Bond's used before. He made the joke earlier this year, during the debate over the stimulus package.In fact, for Bond, the bug-bite simile goes back at least two presidencies. A 1995 St. Louis Post-Dispatch story descr

  August 17, 2009