TKC and the Co-Mayors

Today, good people of Kansas City . . . I ran afoul of the Co-Mayors of Kansas City because I had the temerity to question their crappy record regarding crime in one of the most bloody months in Kansas City history.

See my adventures for yourself!!!

It was possibly the most hilarious morning I've had since college WITH video evidence.

Still, I can't help but think that two Co-Mayors of Kansas City getting so mad at a dude blogging from a basement might signal that the "Orange Revolution" is in trouble.

That's why, to close out this week worth of posting I'm proud to provide this wonderful photo of Denise Milani wearing orange on a beach in front of a sunset.



Thank you for reading. Have a safe and fun weekend.

Hooray!!! Meaningless press conference by Kansas City's Mayor Funkhouser highlighting his failure to fight crime!!!

Today, Mayor Funky is putting on a press conference (in lieu of any real leadership) regarding the local murder rate.

Coming into office crime didn't even rank in the Mayor's top five priorities.

At the beginning of last year there was gang war that went unmentioned by Mayor Funky.

The Mayor's anti-gun work went over like a lead balloon a couple of weeks ago.

This effort seems equally reactive and without much merit. A local reporter told TKC that the press conference was planned to avoid any tough questions from journalists who usually take off for the weekend.

Once again we have a Mayor that is more concerned about how he looks on TV than actually doing anything substantial to work with the community and fight violent crime.

Surf these Saturday Kansas City links

Here's what I'm reading this Saturday Morning:

At least one instance of suburban injustice is corrected, now if we could only get something done about racial profiling: A metro man wrongly accused of child molestation won a $14-million jury award Friday morning.

Things are getting worse in the Golden Ghetto: An Overland Park, Kan., energy company is considering layoffs after the closure of a bank where it had $2 million deposited.

Locked up for life: No Death Penalty In Precious Doe Killing

Celebrate a pittance: Missouri workers who make minimum wage may be getting two pay raises in the next year.

Germ-y Grade School: Turner Elementary was thoroughly cleaned this week after a school district employee was diagnosed with the staph infection commonly known as MRSA.

Don't be jealous: KC Woman Wins $2.45M In Missouri Lotto

SCARY LATE NIGHT STANDOFF: Kansas City Police are in a standoff with a Springfield homicide suspect who is considered armed and dangerous.

And because it's Saturday: Check out these bikini photos of Charlize Theron.

Tragic KCK Headshot

A 19-year-old girl is shot in the head and killed at a Kansas City, Kan., home.

Katrina survivors give back something more than increased crime to Kansas City!!!

Kathryn Shields stays winning!!! Her friends and associates: Not so much.

A man accused of conspiring to sell former Jackson County Executive Katheryn Shields' home at an inflated price will spend five years in federal prison. Apparently, not all of us can claim "Democrat Persecution" . . . Although, I'm pretty sure that being raped in prison in much worse . . . Luckily, a great many active Democrats can compare notes.

Thankfully, bomb threat at KCPD Headquarters was a dud

Shortly after 9 p.m. KCMO Police got a call from a man who said a bomb was in the police headquarters at 1125 Locust. Police searched the building for any type of explosive for two hours. There was no evacuation. Police found nothing.

Kansas City's Hip-hop Summit

Great Hollapalooza photos from Present Magazine.

You people (bloggers) and your Palin posts make me want to puke

Some white broad may be Vice President.

Probably not.

This isn't ground breaking. It happened when I was a kid.

Yet, because so many Kansas City bloggers don't know what's going on in their own backyard, the stuff that they see on cable news becomes a big deal.

I must have skimmed 20 posts that were mostly worthless regarding the possible lady VP. The ones I have linked on this blog were the few that had a unique take on the subject that readers won't find anywhere else.

And then there's all the spin from both sides . . . She's big oil, she's your new feminist hero (ugh) . . .

SADLY, FEW (IF ANY) OF KANSAS CITY'S MOST POPULAR INDEPENDENT BLOGGERS HAD ANYTHING TO WRITE ABOUT THE SPATE OF MURDERS IN KANSAS CITY!!!

Pathetic.

On the bright side, it proves my point that most people aren't interested in politics, they're simply reacting to TV programming.

Still, after seeing all of these insights that weren't much better that what TV talking heads come up with . . . I have to ask.

What difference will this broad make in your life?

Is she going to fix KC sewers?

Reduce crime?

Make you taller or whiten your teeth?

At this point the lady is nothing more than a face on TV (just like Obama) yet she has inspired so many local lemmings to share their insights that will soon be proven wrong.

Apparently, Democracy nothing more than a TV show . . . With ratings that are almost as good as LOST when election time comes around.

Blogging the same cup of soup = Best way to kill this new outlet for free expression.

Staying true to his section of town

RDM points out that Mayor Funky is only concerned with Infrastructure among his most loyal constituents.

The bars of backwater Missouri

It's nice to see this post from Scooter J with a lot of great pics of rural Missouri bars . . . It's the closest I'll ever get to these places given that I don't want to be deported.

Probably couldn't care less about Palin

But KC blogger eff bombs has a great take: "This is going to be awesomely hilarious." Actually, this post from General Blather is probably the best KC blogger reaction or at least the best title: "Vagina-in-Chief"

Emaw's Tina Fey Comparison was apt as well.

Kansas City Saturday Stroll

Today will be a leisurely day of posting . . . Sometimes it's hard to follow-up a week of Mayoral screw-ups, murder and the continued decline of this town into something resembling a much more violent Des Moines.

Like most other Mexicans, I have a few lawns to deal with today so I don't know how much I'll get to blog in the morning . . . Enjoy this photo gallery of Brit Model Katie Down in the meantime, d-bags.

THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER BRING DEATH TO KANSAS CITY!!!

When Mayor Funkhouser was running for Mayor, TKC accurately noted that he was weak on crime.

Currently, the Mayor's neglect, ineptitude and incompetence is costing people their lives.

Crime Scene KC provides the best, first and most accurate information on the deadly trend:

KCPD's homicide count is high and rising

As of Thursday, the city had logged 19 homicides in August, the first time that has happened since December 1998. And the month is not finished.

This month’s surge has inched the year’s total of 81 past the 79 recorded by the same date in 2005, which was the city’s most violent year for homicides this decade.

It only gets worse given that the recent spate of homicides makes August Kansas City's most deadly month in a decade.

At the beginning of the Summer, everyone knew this would happen. Sadly, the only action Mayor Funky was able to take was a silly press conference that accomplished nothing but an effort (still not signed) to hassle small gun shop owners in a controversial pact with New York Mayor Bloomberg. The Mayor claimed that his lack of progress was to assure that he wasn't acting in a unilateral fashion . . . Yet, he showed to his worthless PR effort with only one council person offering support.

The Mayor's poor reputation and record on crime would be laughable if it didn't result in so many dead bodies on Kansas City streets. This town needs a Mayor who makes fighting crime a real priority and the shameful record of the current administration speaks for itself. When Mayor Funky won the election by a razor this margin, this town lost any hope in making progress in the effort to make city streets safe. In all fairness, there probably wasn't much hope of fighting crime from a Mayor who can't even control his own wife.

TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! CHAOS AT CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL!!! CONTINUED KANSAS CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT FAILURE!!!

I'll make this quick and to the point because we all know that the Kansas City School District is a disgrace.

ALREADY 4 DAYS INTO THE SCHOOL YEAR AND CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL IN KANSAS CITY HAS YET TO ISSUE TEXTBOOKS!!!

There are tons of rumors floating around about the incompetence of Administrators. My favorite tale of woe claims that the district stored some books at Van Horn even though they knew it was soon to cede to Independence. Now teachers are without resources . . . Unlike lawyers who were quickly dispatched to fight people trying to escape KC Schools.

The chaos doesn't stop there and I'm also hearing the usual tales of wrongly assigned classes, a bit of violence in the opening of the school year and plenty more proof of conflict already floating around the Internets.

However, let's not forget that Mayor's Education Summit (which has taken more than a year of planning) is supposed to fix all of this (even if he only has one council person "thinking" about supporting him).

Meanwhile, Kansas City Schools continue to crumble and descend into chaos.

Out of the shadows: Lack of respect for media and constituents by the Funkhouser Administration becomes clear!!!

Tom Bogdon knows pretty much everyone in Kansas City. He's politically active, he's a reporter at times and his list of contacts in this city is one of the most coveted items among local journalists.

When I heard that he was ignored by Mayor Funky's people . . . I had to laugh at their arrogance or maybe just ignorance of a KC institution.

But it got worse.

Bogdon went public with his complaints and a jerky response from one of the Mayor's people (Crispin) just digs the hole deeper (heh) . . .

Mr. Bogdon:

I was surprised to see my name mentioned on your blog. Although you are frustrated, you are wrong in mentioning me as giving you the "run around." This last week I was out of the office tending to a personal matter and received one call from you. In that single call, you asked that I locate Kendrick Blackwood--you mentioned nothing about water bottles. You are incorrect in claiming that I ignored you regarding an issue you failed to ask me to address. I understand you are frustrated. However, I ask that next time you take your frustrations public, you do so in a fair and accurate manner.

Crispin Rea

Think about that for a second. The Mayor's office is sending some young dude in his early 20's, just out of college, off to do battle with a guy who can call just about any politico in the State and get a sit down. Really, that's the way the want handle this one?!?!?!

READ THE REST OF THE STORY AT THE KC TRIBUNE.COM

Now more than ever, I'm just convinced that the Mayor and his people don't know what they're doing and I almost feel bad for the young Latino dude . . . Ahem, that is I might have felt sorry for the guy IF there wasn't a persistent rumor floating around City Hall that he banged the Mayor's daughter. Lucky bastard . . So what he looks good in a suit? No homo!!!

But all that funny business aside, this is yet another example that the Mayor's Office doesn't know how to treat people . . . Influential or otherwise, the Mayor has created a disconnect with Kansas City and instead of recognizing this mistake they respond only with Funkhouser's characteristic stubborness and arrogance.

Fact: Kansas City Light Rail doesn't care about Black people

There was a lot of great commentary in the local blogopshere yesterday about Cordish concerns regarding light rail. I couldn't help but agree with most of the outrage.

Sadly, one blog stood out for it's stupidity regarding the subject.

Here's the money quote from a hopelessly clueless concern that is run by annony bloggers:

"Are you ready for a Cordish boycott?"

That statement kind of puts things in perspective doesn't it? Light Rail advocates don't really care about widespread discrimination at the place but they get their panties in a bunch over any objection to a multi-billion dollar project.

TKC doesn't want to boycott the P&L District . . . I'd just like it if they started letting minorities in . . .

Nevertheless, I just thought that I'd point to one of the many occasions when a "serious" Kansas City blog ends up looking foolish for filing a post that's overly emotional, destructive and not in the best interest of anyone in this town . . . Very much like anonymous political groups and influence peddlers using the Internets to feign support.

At the very least, TKC claims all of my stupid opinions and jokes.

An explanation of the Recording Industry's failure invokes Kansas City and why big name musicians can't stand playing here

This informative tidbit from Gawker not only reveals that the Internets is killing music but also explains why there isn't any decent act from this decade playing at The Sprint Center:

Irving Azoff, the manager of numerous high-profile acts including the Eagles, says that a few years ago he presented the band with a financial analysis showing that their royalties to date from iTunes sales were far lower than anyone expected.

Guitarist Glenn Frey did some back-of-the-envelope math of his own. "His comment was that it amounted to 39 minutes on stage in Kansas City," Mr. Azoff recalls with a chuckle.

Ha, and you know they don't pay much in Kansas City! Now there's a budding backlash, as some record labels look for ways to return to the days of selling entire albums, which are much more lucrative than those singles that iTunes mandates.

I've always known that big name bands in their prime hate playing Kansas City but it's interesting to learn why . . . MONEY or lack thereof is the reason the Sprint Center is worse than a collection of music from Time-Life!!!

(TKC NOTE: Jewel was only included in this post because of her boobs and not her musical stylings regarding breakfast.)

What does this small market sound like? Garth Brooks coming out of retirement on day 14 only able to register a whisper.

Here's what JoCo Ho business looks like!!!

A couple in JoCo was recently taken into custody on postitution charges . . . Here is the story of their arrest:

Undercover officers staked out a room on the second floor of the Settle Inn hotel at West 107th Street and Roe Avenue, police said.

Officers arrested two people, and they were booked into the Johnson County jail on Tuesday, according to the Johnson County Sheriff's Office booking log online.

Prosecutors later charged Jennifer T. Russell, 20, of Andover, Kan., with prostitution and Quincy D. Gholar, 33, of Overland Park, with promoting prostitution

Of course, these two are innocent until proven guilty but it got me thinking that I don't see very many interracial relationships in the media very often . . . In fact, this is the first one I can recall in quite awhile. I wonder if the disparity due to negative stereotypes or part of their cause. In any event, the non-racial aspect of this story is that (rumor has it) most JoCo hotels are crawling with hookers.

Wanna buy a crappy car dealership? Chad Franklin calls it quits!!!

Accused Car Dealer Puts Business Up For Sale

Ya know, the demise of the Dead Tree media starts with community news

Raytown Tribune Suspends Publication

Bodies Revealed in Kansas City confirmed as nothing more than grave robbing!!!

Recently, finally, The Star decided to report that an important form related to the cadavers for the Bodies Revealed exhibit was not signed by Chinese donors, according to Union Station.

Now that the exhibit is pretty much over AND it has proven to be an unprofitable flop that won't help to the financially strapped Union Station this year it's nice to see that this town's paper of record FINALLY followed up on information that was REVEALED IN THE KC BLOGOSPHERE EARLIER THIS MONTH!!!

The Catholic Key Blog pretty much broke this story and provided important proof that there was very little evidence of consent in this exhibit and the entire carnival act was suspect.

Thankfully, the residents of Kansas City made their disapproval of this exhibit known with their feet and stayed away from the creepshow en masse.

I understand the morbid curiosity of people who did attend but what needs to be addressed now is the complete repugnance of those who defended the shaky ethics of this exhibit. There were a few pundits who came out in favor of the exhibit who didn't really care much about the dead Chinese people displayed with no proof of consent or the families who might want to know the fate of their loved ones. Clearly, these dirtbags didn't have much influence and their lack of any sense of morality can be ignored.

However, there are people in this town who should shoulder some responsibility.

UNION STATION CEO ANDI UDRIS NEEDS TO BE FIRED FOR HIS GAMBLE ON UNSIGNED CHINESE RECORDS AND A CYNICAL HOPE THAT MORBID CURIOSITY WOULD BENEFIT A KANSAS CITY DINOSAUR!!!

In retrospect, his decision to bring Bodies Revealed to Kansas City was completely wrong and lost the place a lot of goodwill . . . The damage to the reputation of Union Station will persist until someone is held accountable . . . Nope, that's not a request for a human sacrifice like those put on display by the disgusting show but just hoping someone in this town at least apologizes for making a Kansas City landmark home to grave robbers.

SUPREMACY ON KANSAS CITY STREETS

A local lady writes to The Star and notes that sidewalks on Meyer Boulevard in Brookside were replaced this spring even though she thought they were in fine shape.

The answer the reporter finds was bunk but I liked his joke which downplayed the whole concern at the end of the short article, so it's still worth reading.

Oh, and good luck to those of you still waiting for infrastructure repair via the "Orange Revolution."

These morning links are for you Kansas City

That title doesn't really make any sense (again) but I just wanted an excuse to post a photo of Jessica Simpson looking dumb and busty.

There was more than enough Kool-Aid at this party: Local Obama Supporters React To Historic Speech

It's worth noting that authorities credited community involvement in this one: Arrest Made In Slaying Of KC Bank Guard

Rainy Night and Meaningless victory: Kansas City earned a 21-17 victory over the Rams on Thursday night.

This town gets even more famous for death and BBQ: Arthur Bryant's Makes Yahoo's 10 Places to Eat Before You Die

At least Kansas City kicks ass when it comes to Fantasy football

Now even more options for municipalities looking to waste money: HOK Sport Venue Event splits from parent

Show Me how money makes your vote virtually meaningless: Campaign contribution limits repealed in Missouri

KC Crooks: Kansas City, Mo., police arrest five men after an armed robbery.

Allegation: Kansas City Police beat down a developmentally challenged young man!!!

From MyFox KC: A former teacher says a 19-year-old who police said attacked officers and started a brawl at Kansas City Police Headquarters should never have been there. Willis Cole, Jr's former teacher says he suffers from a form of autism and it's sad what happened after Willis and his father came to KCPD headquarters.

A talk with the rube who was almost seriously beaten by a millionaire athlete

MyFox KC has an interview with the fan at Heart of Guillen Heckling Controversy . . . This guy must have so many mixed feelings. If Guillen would have got to him, it would have been like winning the lottery BUT he would have needed a wheelchair. Instead he gets only a bit of noteriety for being a jerk . . . Sounds like a typical Kansas City Compromise.

Cringe with jealousy Kansas City, there's one more blogger/author!!!

TKC would like to congratulate Filegirl on her recent contribution. Humble lady that she is, she downplays her efforts:

Now I’m a contributor in a book - Sarah’s book! Obviously I didn’t get paid for any of these, but it’s fun and exciting each time you see your name out there, right? Cringe: Teenage Diaries, Journals, Notes, Letters, Poems, And Abandoned Rock Operas is packed full of pictures, scans of old journals, little notes of explanation from contributors, and the talented writing and tying it all together of Sarah Brown.

It's great to see Kansas City bloggers making the transition to books and this effort looks pretty interesting. Check out Filegirl's post for more details.

A pittance for an employee who took a bullet

O'Reilly Auto Parts Offers an Increased Reward In Worker's Slaying, information in the shooting death of a Raytown father and former employee is now up to $3,500. Note: I've heard that in complicated cases like this one there's not a hope of getting a tip for anything less than 20k.

The Golden Ghetto stays winning because they scrutinize their silly public subsidies

Johnson County's 1 percent for art program continues for now

A NEW HIPSTER HANGOUT!!!

Hey, it's not all gloom and doom around here . . . Drunken Downtown Hipsters have something to celebrate recently because there's going to be another hipster bar pretending to be a neighborhood place for Downtown interlopers who don't yet want to return to their crappy home life. The KC Guy reports: "It looks like the space on Broadway previously occupied by Jilly's will re-open this fall as CODA." This is a grand occasion that hopefully should last for more than 14 months . . . But probably not.

One more Kansas City Sellout

So many of my fellow bloggers seemed to be concerned about Arrowhead selling the naming rights to a place that hasn't seen a playoff victory in a decade.

I don't really understand the shock. The perk was part of their sweetheart deal paid for by the broke-ass people of Jackson County.

However . . .

TKC IS PROUD TO EXCLUSIVELY REVEAL THE NEW NAME OF THE STADIUM!!!

Sadly, I don't think the move makes much financial sense because JoCo isn't paying a thing for it . . . Like all of the other "attractions" that are STILL sinking this town into financial ruin.

"Hey asshole, we're sorry"

Slattery campaign apologizes for profanity in e-mail

KC didn't care about this Double Murder

This headline was from yesterday, it went largely ignored because more people were interested in a memo some downtown KC company wrote about light rail: Pregnant Woman & Teenager Shot to Death

"Is that what's hot in the streets these days, tiptoeing around Whitey?"

Bol has the best blog post I've read in awhile regarding the state of hip-hop and the abundance of dumbass political rapping that started when hipsters we're way too impressed with Kanye West. Also, I'm surprised that I really enjoyed the "Kill Bill O'Reilly" video given how much I despise white rappers and death threats.

Emily Scott to start the Kansas City Morning

I don't know how many posts there will be this morning but I do have some good stuff in store . . . Not so sadly, there is some real world work to be done and I also need some coffee if TKC Tipsters and I are going to keep kicking the ass of the mainstream media and showing all of Kansas City that the citizenry should/must/will have a say in the coverage of their town through that awesomeness of the Internets.

Yes, yes that's a lofty goal but as long as we're accomplishing it with pilfered photos of Emily Scott in a bikini online . . . That should keep it real.

Stay tuned.

CampKC features Obama Underwear!!!

There's no need to watch all of the boring Democrat convention.

Go to your local news stand and pick up the latest copy of CampKC.

As always, there's a lot of great information about the local LGBT community . . . But as an added bonus, there's an interesting cover story on Andrew Christian, a celebrity underwear/active wear designer. His merchandise is sold locally at Zinfandel by Milo (formerly pecs n glutes) on Westport Road.

The feature provides a bunch of great information and even more pics . . . And I just thought the photo featured above was a good primer (heh) for yet another historic Obama speech, even though I'm probably not gonna watch it. Kidding, of course I'm gonna watch it but I want to vote for a Black person AND a woman AND a third party for even more "change" so I'm probably gonna be casting my ballot for Cynthia McKinney.

More KC School Failure Coming up

A kickass tipster recently sent some information my way about the KC Schools . . . It's way too important to post at night but I did want to provide a bit of a preview . . . Really, the details are something you're going to want to see and another sign that the new school year has changed NOTHING in KC Schools.

The embarrasing decline continues.

TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! ACLU PLANS WHITE T-SHIRT PROTEST AGAINST KANSAS CITY'S POWER & LIGHT DISTRICT!!!

Wear your white-T . . . No word on baggy jeans:

What: The WHITE T-SHIRT protest.
When: 5-7 pm Sat. Aug. 30, 2008
Plan: Meet at the ACLU office (3601 Main St. KC Mo 64111) at 4pm to pick up signs and instructions.

In response to the growing concerns about Racial Profiling in the Power and Light District, the ACLU will be marching and picketing from the Sprint Center to the Power and Light District. Participants are asked to wear a white T shirt to the march. Each marcher will be asked to write a message to Cordish and the City Council on their T shirts.

For example: "The City Council gave Cordish $300 million dollars in tax breaks and all I got was this lousy T shirt."

The march will serve several purposes.

1. Inform the public about the specifics of the dress code.

2. Remind Cordish and the city council/mayor about their responsibilities to all the citizens of Kansas City. Millions of dollars in tax breaks have been given to the Cordish Company. Discrimination and tax breaks are incompatible. A race neutral dress code is required.

3. Invite the city council and Cordish developers to attend a Town Hall meeting to discuss the issue.

Personally, I couldn't agree more with the protest and it's a great opportunity to stand up to the discriminatory policies of the Power & White District.

The fact is, that even the P&L District pretty much admits that the enforcement of the dress code is along racial lines.

And for every silly anecdote that white people have about not being let into the P&L District . . . There are dozens more people of color who were denied access, in my opinion, because their skin color didn't match the arbitrarily enforced dress code.

From what I've heard . . .

NO MATTER WHAT CLOTHES THEY'RE WEARING . . . THE P&L DISTRICT DOESN'T LET IN GROUPS OF MINORITIES WITH MORE THAN 5 PEOPLE!!!

The rumors circulating in the local Latino Community claim that one family after the next has been denied access with the undefined dress code used as nothing more than a pretext for discrimination.

And it's not like the people I know haven't faced discrimination before . . . Businesses aren't allowed to discriminate along racial lines anymore but they do. That's not the greatest sin of the P&L District.

THE UNACCEPTABLE PART OF DE FACTO P&L DRESS CODE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IS THAT IT USES TAXPAYER FUNDS TO TURN MINORITIES AWAY!!!

People of color in Kansas City are literally paying taxes in order to finance the bonds needed to build the place and then they're denied access to the District . . . So this isn't big business vs. activists . . . It's the beneficiaries of corporate welfare playing games with Kansas City's cash.

This protest is long overdue.

TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! An ugly fact: Mayor Funky lied to all of Kansas City about his Missouri Ethics Commission fine!!!

Recently, quite a few of awesome TKC readers and tipsters have asked about the Mayor's desperate spin on a fine he received from the Missouri Ethics Commission.

There are some clueless yet ardent supporters of Mayor Funky who are actually trying to spin this slap in the face as an exoneration or even a victory. Sadly, that's how far the Mayor Funky's tenure has sunk: Avoiding jail time is seen as a big win.

Just the other day, a clueless quote from a Mayoral press release provided even more proof that Kansas City's Mayor has lost his grip on reality:

“I'm pleased that their investigation confirmed no misuse of funds. As a result of a minor technical issue, I have agreed to pay the Commission a small fee to essentially cover its expenses” said Mayor Funkhouser. Mayor Funkhouser will pay the $1,000 reimbursement of fees personally.

But make no mistake . . .

KANSAS CITY'S MAYOR PAID A FINE FOR THE MISDEEDS OF HIS ADMINISTRATION, NOT A FEE!!!

While I think my writing as an observer of City Hall politics should be good enough . . . TKC also has support for my contention that the Mayor was fined from the mainstream media. The money that the Mayor must pay is noted by almost everyone but columnist Yael Abouhalkah as a fine and not a fee. Check it:

Topeka Capital-Journal: Ethics commission fines KC mayor $1,000

Fort Mill Times: Mo. ethics commission fines KC mayor $1,000

My Fox Kansas City: Funkhouser Fined Over Campaign Violation

KMBZ: Ethics Commission Fines Mayor Funkhouser

The Mayor's misrepresentation of the finding of The Missouri Ethics Commission proves that he's not only a crook but also a liar!!!

These phony attempts at spin by hacks who couldn't even cut it at an alt-weekly are an insult to the two dozen frequent voters in Kansas City Proper. For more than a year the Mayor bragged about his principles and the fact that he supposedly wasn't a politician. Now he has been caught and fined for funny business with his campaign finances AND THEN IMMEDIATELY CAUGHT IN ANOTHER LIE BY TKC!!!

I'm tempted to blame the Mayor's misleading comments on his now infamous arrogance and stubborness . . . After all, perception is reality and the Mayor has shown himself to be exceptionally myopic. However, Mayor Mark Funkhouser has continually demonstrated a lack of integrity whether it's in the form of broken promises to his constituents or more serious violations of ethical codes which apply to his office . . . Therefore this ugly lie that he tried to pass off on the residents of this town isn't just opinion of a shell shocked politician but instead represents a willful manipulation of facts that pertain to his record as Kansas City's Mayor.

2 Scoops of Kansas City Morning Links

The Last Remaining White Parent in the Kansas City School District are pissed off: Parents Grade KC School Board

HARSH TIMES IN THIS TOWN GETTING WORSE: KC unemployment up to 6.1 percent in July

OP Girl Stuck In Battle Zone Returns Home

Summer isn't over yet: 2 Killed In Shooting At 9th, Indiana

Even more Golden Ghetto Disparity: Thief stole $500K from a daycare, gets probation

PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KANSAS CRACKHEAD BRINGS A CHILD TO A DRUG BUY!!!

Upcoming on the air with Kraske . . . Mayor Funky and yet another defense of his wife

Small time crooks want the scraps of mortgage companies: Thieves Target Forclosed Home

Justice for young KC Dad who was killed: "Brother Wants Justice In Man's Slaying"

Actually, this article is pretty great: Kansas City Irish Festival’s popularity pushes it into new territory

The footage of the KC Police Headquarters brawl!!! Who you blame depends mostly on your race!!!

The Star takes Kansas City blogs seriously!!!

The local blogosphere has influenced elections, been first to report important stories, provided a free expression platform that is simply unparalleled since the days of the pamphleteers but today the local paper decided to give a bit of coverage to bloggers who objected to a frog cartoon and the new design of the ATA mascot.

It’s the bus stop illustration with the cracked sidewalk that’s been the buzz on the Internet, where bloggers have labeled the frog as lazy, homeless and drugged, among other things.

Put him at a bus stop with a busted sidewalk and it sends the wrong message about Kansas City transit, they say.

The city already has an image problem with transit, said David Johnson, who criticized the character on his blog kclightrail.com. “This picture didn’t really try to improve on that image.”

Other bloggers have been more blunt.

“What about a stoned frog waiting for a bus says you too should ride the Metro?” one blogger wrote at kcrag.com.

“The street is crumbling, the bus sign is bent. His only friend appears to be a pigeon, and the bus is nowhere to be seen.”

First of all, it's funny that the article got the address of the KC Rag Forum wrong. Secondly, this story is more than two weeks old. Finally, who cares?

Every day, Kansas City bloggers are contributing to this town's discourse in unique, amazing and unprecedented ways but The Star is highlighting only chatter related to a cartoon.

The failure of this floundering corporation to understand the digital revolution that is impacting media is part of the reason they keep having to fire people . . . Maybe, just maybe, if blogs weren't regarded as the enemy The Star could adapt to changes that are currently taking place in the media landscape rather than seemingly being content to have this town's daily paper go the way of the dodo.

Downtown Kansas City is now run by huge corporations who don't like people of color or Light Rail!!!

Today, The Star reports that Cordish and The Sprint Center oppose light rail on Grand Boulevard

Cordish, owner of the Power & Light District, is strongly opposed to a possible light-rail route through or near the entertainment district — either on Grand, Walnut, Main or Baltimore. Company officials in recent weeks have complained in private meetings with transit and city planners and in a letter to Mayor Mark Funkhouser . . .

While Sprint Center officials are not as upset as Cordish, they are concerned about light rail’s effect on its operations. Specifically, they are concerned about access to loading docks and the safety of arena patrons when lines for events spill onto Grand.

For the record . . . Here are a few more things these two groups oppose:

The Sprint Center opposes Kansas City's anti-billboard ordinance and doesn't abide by it.

Of course, it's a well documented fact that the P&L District doesn't like minorities, their culture or basically anybody who doesn't live in JoCo.

And through discrimi