My life sounds like a bad TV movie.
In this tragic biopic, the lead character, a distance runner, overcomes some predictable and trite obstacle, runs a marathon, but drops dead of a heart attack 100 yards from the finish line.
This has pretty much been my life lately, except for the dropping dead part. Though I’m currently non-deceased, I did literally come within inches of joining the ranks of the permanently vertically challenged.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
BILL GRIGSBY PASSES THIS 'VALE OF TEARS'
Bill Grigsby -- A Beautiful Life
1922-2011
Services are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Theresa Church in Parkville.
A visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at the church.
For the Record: Catherine Bleish (Part 3)
Is Speech Really Free? Part 3
by Catherine Bleish
As it turns out, during the course of working on this five-part series about freedom of speech, I have yet again been personally affected by violations of this most important constitutionally protected right. In part one, I told the story of my illegal arrest and detainment in Maplewood, Missouri for simply speaking. In part two, I described the growing issue of political profiling such as what happened here in Missouri when our highway patrol issued a report warning law enforcement officials that libertarians and conservatives might be violent radical militia members. This time, it was a U.S. congressman putting direct pressure on a media outlet to take down an episode in which I was interviewed about fusion centers and the growing police state.
Let me set the stage. During the epic fusion center battle of political profiling here in Missouri, a young man named John Bush was fighting a similar battle down in Austin, Texas. We met, joined forces and spawned a project called Operation Defuse. Our mission was to simply educate not only our fellow activists about fusion centers, but also law enforcement officials on the true nature of our fellow activists. We were working to defuse the growing police state and the notion that peaceful activists are potential violent threats.. Our effort produced educational YouTube videos, many of which can be found at http://www.operationdefuse.com. TruTV saw our videos, and contacted us about interviewing with their show “Conspiracy Theory” hosted by Jesse Ventura. We, of course, said “Yes!”
The episode was a huge success. The crowd at our watch party Brave New Books in Austin, Texas at was out the door, and our live stream of the event was seen by activists across the nation. Over a million viewers tuned into the first airing of the episode. Immediately my inbox caught fire, and I found myself deluged with emails, and phone calls. Never before had an interview resulted in so many inquiries. The episode aired almost one year to the date of the inception of Operation Defuse. We truly felt we accomplished a large portion of our mission. The issue of fusion centers just became mainstream.
by Catherine Bleish
As it turns out, during the course of working on this five-part series about freedom of speech, I have yet again been personally affected by violations of this most important constitutionally protected right. In part one, I told the story of my illegal arrest and detainment in Maplewood, Missouri for simply speaking. In part two, I described the growing issue of political profiling such as what happened here in Missouri when our highway patrol issued a report warning law enforcement officials that libertarians and conservatives might be violent radical militia members. This time, it was a U.S. congressman putting direct pressure on a media outlet to take down an episode in which I was interviewed about fusion centers and the growing police state.
Let me set the stage. During the epic fusion center battle of political profiling here in Missouri, a young man named John Bush was fighting a similar battle down in Austin, Texas. We met, joined forces and spawned a project called Operation Defuse. Our mission was to simply educate not only our fellow activists about fusion centers, but also law enforcement officials on the true nature of our fellow activists. We were working to defuse the growing police state and the notion that peaceful activists are potential violent threats.. Our effort produced educational YouTube videos, many of which can be found at http://www.operationdefuse.com. TruTV saw our videos, and contacted us about interviewing with their show “Conspiracy Theory” hosted by Jesse Ventura. We, of course, said “Yes!”
The episode was a huge success. The crowd at our watch party Brave New Books in Austin, Texas at was out the door, and our live stream of the event was seen by activists across the nation. Over a million viewers tuned into the first airing of the episode. Immediately my inbox caught fire, and I found myself deluged with emails, and phone calls. Never before had an interview resulted in so many inquiries. The episode aired almost one year to the date of the inception of Operation Defuse. We truly felt we accomplished a large portion of our mission. The issue of fusion centers just became mainstream.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Volume 9, Episode 26
Top Stories
Guilty Plea in Parkville Drive-by Shooting
Thousand Voice Choir Faces the Axe
Indictment in Parkville Swag Scandal
Main Street Welches on Director Offer
Commentary
Bill Grigsby is back!
Congressman Graves on Peace through Strength
Don Breckon gives thanks for Luminary award
Mark Vasto on getting a boost
Our man in Uganda
All that plus Wondermark, King's Super Crossword, Suduko, the Twitter Ticker and more...oh, so much more. In racks all over the greater Parkville area!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Steve Youngblood: Home from Arua; Election Updates
MASAKA, UGANDA—This being Africa, and this being election time, you’ll excuse me if I worry about my Ugandan friends.
I’m worried about Gloria, who lives just a few miles from the site of a tire-burning riot a few years ago. I’m concerned about Gloria’s two adorable girls, especially my god-daughter and namesake, 1 ½ year old Stephanie, who finally let me hold her a few weeks ago.
I’m worried about Tabu, who lives in an economically depressed neighborhood where violence might be more likely. I’m concerned that Tabu and his family could become targets if violence breaks out because Tabu is a grass roots organizer for a political party.
I’m worried about Gloria, who lives just a few miles from the site of a tire-burning riot a few years ago. I’m concerned about Gloria’s two adorable girls, especially my god-daughter and namesake, 1 ½ year old Stephanie, who finally let me hold her a few weeks ago.
I’m worried about Tabu, who lives in an economically depressed neighborhood where violence might be more likely. I’m concerned that Tabu and his family could become targets if violence breaks out because Tabu is a grass roots organizer for a political party.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
One Week After the Storm...
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Steve Youngblood: Nairobi, Kenya: Clean, Interesting
NAIROBI, KENYA—The Kenyan reporter sitting two chairs down from me was arrested, beaten, and eventually fled for his life. His crime: exposing government corruption. The young German media trainer sitting next to me is understandably concerned about her security in Afghanistan, but said she can’t afford mentally to obsess about safety issues every waking moment. The Zimbabwean newspaper editor across the room gets regular visits from government security thugs. These menacing goons are sent by Zimbabwe’s repressive government to intimidate the editor into ceasing his criticism of the country’s leaders. The grinning editor laughs off these incidents as though he were somehow bulletproof.
Soldiers get medals for their bravery. If they ever start giving bravery medals to journalists and those who train them, the courageous, dedicated professionals I just spent two and a half days with at a seminar in Nairobi, Kenya would surely be the first to be recognized for their fearless dedication.
These unflappable individuals gathered at a Conflict Sensitive Journalism (CSJ) Experts Forum sponsored by a Danish NGO, International Media Services. The 20 participants came from around the world, including Sweden, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Liberia, Uganda, U.S., Kenya, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and the Philippines. The seminar’s goal was to discuss conflict sensitive journalism projects around the world, and to leverage the participants’ experiences to improve resource materials for CSJ trainers. CSJ follows most of the same principles as its cousin peace journalism. Both aim, essentially, to help reporters avoid fueling conflicts and make choices that lay a foundation for peace.
Soldiers get medals for their bravery. If they ever start giving bravery medals to journalists and those who train them, the courageous, dedicated professionals I just spent two and a half days with at a seminar in Nairobi, Kenya would surely be the first to be recognized for their fearless dedication.
These unflappable individuals gathered at a Conflict Sensitive Journalism (CSJ) Experts Forum sponsored by a Danish NGO, International Media Services. The 20 participants came from around the world, including Sweden, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Liberia, Uganda, U.S., Kenya, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and the Philippines. The seminar’s goal was to discuss conflict sensitive journalism projects around the world, and to leverage the participants’ experiences to improve resource materials for CSJ trainers. CSJ follows most of the same principles as its cousin peace journalism. Both aim, essentially, to help reporters avoid fueling conflicts and make choices that lay a foundation for peace.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
SNOWPOCALYPSE 2011: "BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES"
Parkville, like the entire state and much of the Midwest and Northeast parts of the country, is hunkering down during the latest snowstorm. Park Hill cancelled school on Tuesday and Wednesday and both Parkville and Platte County government offices cancelled work days and regular meetings, too.
Parkville's city streets are barren -- the downtown businesses and restaurants have shut down operations and Parkville Commons stalwarts like Price Chopper are closing early. With the exception of a few trucks and 4x4s, the only vehicles on the road are the shiny red snow plowing trucks from the City of Parkville, Miller's Landscaping and the Parkville Special Road District.
Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser declared a state of emergency late Tuesday, a day after Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and called the National Guard into duty Monday afternoon as freezing rain fell in the state capital, the beginnings of the latest blizzard for Missouri.
In response, the Missouri National Guard dispatched 600 citizen-soldiers into three areas of the state, centering around Springfield, St. Louis and Kansas City. The guard members are to provide secondary assistance to local authorities and Highway Patrol as needed, doing anything from rescues, clearing the road for missions or going door-to-door giving assistance.
Salt supplies still look good for the cities where the National Guard will be dispatched. The Kansas City District reports about 65 percent of their salt remaining but that they will refrain from using the salt during the periods of heavy snowfall Tuesday. As of this writing, Parkville's salt reserves are unconfirmed but plowing did cease during the day, picking up at around 11:00 p.m. Tuesday evening.
"Very rarely do we get a blizzard warning, so we want to manage this crisis, not have it manage us," said Major General Stephen Danner of the Missouri National Guard.
The guard was activated Monday to give its citizen-soldiers enough time to safely reach their destinations before the brunt of the storm hits, Nixon said.
"I don't think Missouri drivers have seen a storm system quite like this until you've lived in the northern plains of the United States," Danner said. "Rarely do we have a blizzard warning ever issued in the state of Missouri, so I would encourage anybody that does not have to travel, please don't. I can't say that strongly enough."
Nixon said the snowstorm is not comparable to the ice storm that hit the southern part of the state a few years ago; it is worse. Although he does not expect as much ice coating trees and power lines in this storm, Nixon said the high winds make the storm more dangerous than before..
"Folks should batten down the hatches and hold on," Nixon warned.
The blizzard warning is in effect until Wednesday at 12 p.m. A wind chill advisory will be in effect until Thursday afternoon. Both days will feature intermittent precipitation and temperatures will remain frigid until te weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
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