Mumblings - 2/19/06
February 19, 2006
Have you read the sardonic piece from one of our regular op ed contributors which was titled, "Beward of Duck! Cheney's deadly aim"? You know how Google makes suggestions for searches? I got the giggles over somebody doing a search on the Vice President and Google asking, "Do you mean 'Duck'?"

Late afternoon on Valentine's Day roses were moving out of Wal-Mart by the dozens in the hands of all sorts of guys: fat ones and short ones, lean and tall ones, guys walking fast or guys walking faster. Each year I just so happen to be a Valentine's gift-buying voyeur and am tickled by the parade. Then I discovered that someone anonymously had left a single rose on my doorstep. That, of course, tickled me more.....

The Springfield Leader published a story Feb. 17 in which they reported that firefighters from the Monett Rural Fire Department stood by on property about 40 miles southwest of Springfield and watched a fire destroy a vehicle and garage because the property owner had not paid them membership dues, and that they could not accept his check on the spot. State law apparently protects the pocketbooks of these non-tax-supported fire districts by saying that these firefighters may perform services for a nonmember only if they choose. However, it also suggests that they might charge the nonmember for services rendered based on a set amount outlined in the statute. I hope that the decision not to do that wasn't based on anything more than economics. The victim's name was Bilbaldo Rueda.....

How unrealistic for the spokesperson from Black and Veatch Engineering to suggest that Missouri could alleviate a water supply shortfall by tapping into Grand Lake. Yetch, when was the last time he went boating on that lake? U-m-m, was that toilet paper floating by and what was that bobbing in the water next to it? And that, besides the algae blooms, is what is visible. He needs to read the report mandated by Oklahoma SB 408 that tries to address the lake's serious water quality threats that were discovered as early as the 1980s--nutrient-loading, sedimentation, low dissolved oxygen and an abundance of lead, zinc and cadmium--that has put the lake and its tributaries on the impaired 303(d) lists of three states.

And with the environmental degradation that we know about, how unbelieveable it is that certain legislators keep attempting to pass a Dirty Secrets Bill. It's old Walt Bivins again (R-St. Louis) influenced by powerful lobbyists and oblivious to the ramifications his bill, HB11471 has on rural areas fighting environmental problems and other health issues mainly caused by giant CAFOs that have sprung up in their neighborhoods. He wants companies to be able to discover non-conpliance through self-monitoring. He assumes these companies voluntarily will admit to being bad neighbors and tell government agencies like the MDNR that they'll never do it again, and for this they would get the assurance that nobody would be able to use the information against them in a criminal action. Don't confuse the public with facts must be Bivins' motto. They don't need to know.....

I got over exclaiming, "What another bank!" referencing the number of banks being constructed in Joplin like the plague of O'Reilly Automotive stores of the past. This week I've screeched, "What another bank error!" Check your statements carefully. At least one of these banks acts like it needs a bigger cash flow to support its expansion.

And for you birders out there, you might be interested in participating in the "Personality Profiles" experiment run by the Birdhouse Network, a citizen-science project of the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. Across North America thousands of participants are being asked to monitor the activities of cavity-nesting birds, including nest-building and raising young. For more information about this engaging experiment that tests bird behavior, click here.

The Joplin Independent received its first negative comment, only first---hard to believe, huh? A person named "jeff" whose mail server is charter.net accused us of being a "terrible website--one of the worst for a town paper your size in the entire state!" Whew. Had he confused us with the Joplin Globe?...Anyway, we asked him for specifics so that we could post them in our general forum. We haven't heard back from him yet...Everyone should know we encourage controversy. Afterall, everyone's opinion is a piece of the puzzle.....

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A real piece of work!mambo161102006-02-24 23:21:28