The Pew Survey on Religious Knowledge

The poor showing of Americans on general religious knowledge has gotten a lot of attention over the past few days when the results of the work of the folks at the Pew Forum. were made public. Basically, most Americans know little about their own faith and even less about other faiths. Here's a summary of the research from The New York Times. The most knowledgeable Americans were those who identified themselves as atheist or agnostic. Even though I found the results dismaying, particularly the results for those who identified themselves as evangelical Christians, I was not especially surprised. Here's why:

1. For Christianity in particular, the days of "Christendom" are over in America. Before the Bible permeated much of daily life in commerce and education. Those days are past. No more is there "accidental" exposure to the Bible such as in reading stories, reading resources and other material. The Christian "smell" has been removed, slowly, from the public sphere. There are hold out spots, but generally, the commons have been secularized.

2. Experience has triumphed over knowledge. Having had a "spiritual experience" is more important than having the theology to explain spirituality. Furthermore, experience is more valued now, in general, than theology. The Heart has won over the Head.

3. The Political Correctness of this day discourages knowing facts and having strong opinions about controversial issues--and there is nothing more contentious than religion. It is not PC to hold definite knowledge and opinions about anything concerning such topics. So why develop opinions or work to obtain knowledge?

4. The philosophy of Relativism and the philosophical atmosphere that it created, post modernism. Nothing is objectively true. What's true for you may or may not be true for me. If that is so, why bother being versed in the thinking side of faith, whether your own or other faiths?

5. Just plain ol'laziness. It takes time, and it's work to understand most sacred writings. Even though the Bible (and I would assume other holy books) are available in very accessible English translations and paraphrases these days, you actually have to pay attention and read carefully to understand what has been written. Easier to leave that explaining to the leader of your faith congregation--or just not bother at all and bask in the emotionalism of the moment.

This has implications for faith communities of all kinds. I'm Christian, so I think of it from my Christian point of view. The biggest implication is that when you talk with someone of spiritual things and the talk turns to the Christian faith is that you must not assume that the person you are talking to has any foundation for faith talk. Many words and terms used commonly in the past will have no meaning to many people, especially the younger set. Assume nothing. Even faith talk in general, not just "Christian lingo" may be a foreign tongue. Also, now the Christian faith is just one of many faiths in the arena of ideas vying for a person's interest. The playing field is a lot more level. There is no more built-in cultural knowledge and acceptance for Christianity.

This is just one angle to look at this from--some see the lack of knowledge as either a precursor or a result of the decay of American society. I might think about that in a future post, but let me just say this: There have been so many changes and influences on American society over the past 50 years, it would be hard to pin down one particular issue as a possible cause, including this one.
And I would wager you would even get a few people who might argue that we have improved as a society, not decayed.

How'd They Pick Which Dealers to Close?

A photo of Crawford's of Raytown by The Observer. MISSED!

It's bad enough that Chrysler selected three dealers to close that I had done business with and had been satisfied. Two out of those three dealers, Bud Brown and Crawford's of Raytown, had other satisfied customers who I recall protested in comment sections of news stories about the dealers closing. (Weinberg Dodge, while never doing me wrong, had a less--shall we say--positive press then the other two.) Now we Chrysler owners have a much more limited group of dealers to pick from, and for some areas of the metro, not terribly convenient locations. Now it comes out that evidently the dealer in Olathe has been ripping people off. Alonzo Washington broke the story, Mass Appeal News has picked it up and I'm continuing the thread with this additional question: really, how did they pick the ones to close? And now, to add insult to injury, Ray Adams is getting a Chrysler franchise!

It's just really really irritating to me that good people lost their businesses and bad people are allowed to continue in business. Let's put a stop to any rip off by the Olathe Chrysler franchise. Don't let them get away with it, report problems.

Here's a link to the Mass Appeal News article, which links to Alonzo. If you've been wronged, let someone know either Mr. Washington or the Johnson County prosecutor's office or the Kansas AG.

Redistricting Committee Completes Work, Has Two Maps for Council

After sometimes contentious hearings and meetings over the past few months, the citizen redistricting committee completed its work and had two plans ready for the city council.

The creators of this plan, 15-REV, withdrew the plan from consideration.

This plan, a brain child of Steve Glorioso, was presented to and accepted by the committee Thursday.

This plan also advanced, so 17-REV and 13-REV-2 will be the plans the council gets to work with.

There are three factions tugging on the redistricting--the increased population north of the Missouri River, the concerns of the Black population, and the concerns of the Hispanic population. None wants their population divided so that their influence is lessened. The problem is that the population has shifted both north and to a lesser extent south. The 3rd council district and the 5th council district have lost population, while the 1st and 2nd have gained population. The City Charter asks that each council district have roughly the same number of people in it, so the amount of ethnic gerrymandering that can be done is limited. So now the ball is in the City Council's court. One of the committee's goals is that the redistricting will not have to be done again after the 2010 census figures are finalized in the spring of 2011. There is also the overall issue of when these redistricting efforts should be done, and getting the city charter more in line with the availability of fresh census date, while keeping the rules about how many general city elections occur between redistricting. That still is something that may be evaluated in the future.

Photos of the plans and the committee at work by the Observer. Click on photos to make bigger.

Author's note: This entry was written Friday and was going to be posted Saturday but your writer was felled by a virus, only now able to poke the head up above ground. In the meantime, Blog KC posted this fabulous up close look at these districts, illustrating exactly how small the differences are in places and how political this got. Please check out the post--linked here. Of course, all this committee's fine work can be derailed by the City Clowncil. Like I said, stay tuned.

Well, Why Didn't You Think of That Before?

How many times did I think to my self, "You should have thought of that before you did it!" during Thursday afternoon's City Council business meeting. It didn't even take the MAST pension fiasco to get me thinking it. It just took a report from the Water Department.

If you are a customer of KCMO's Water Dept., you know that the billing just changed over from bimonthly to monthly. Well, in this meeting, the water people admitted out loud that they did not realize that the cost to do billing would double as now there were twice as many mailings, twice as many bill prints (they pay someone per bill to print them), and twice as many bank transactions. I am just like, OMG, if you bill more frequently, and the billing cost comes per item to you, then, hey wow, it will actually cost more to bill more frequently. Ya shouda thought of that before ya did it!

Something tells me the gang at the Water Department are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, as there was actually a few words of debate about the merits of replacing meters at houses that have been empty or abandoned for a long time. The Water Department wants to be changing out these meters; in one of the most sane moments I have ever seen, councilwoman Brooks commented that it would just be better to do it on demand.

Well then, it was on to the MAST pension issue. This is such a mess, because it is clear that for former MAST folks who opt to move to the city pension plan, they are to be taken care of with their anniversary date being their date of hire by MAST, not the date of merger. Much was made of the people--the council said 17 but other sources dispute that--who will be ready to take retirement in 18 months.
The debate points hadn't changed much in two weeks, but it was obvious that outside influences had come to bear over that time. It was clear from the outset of discussion that the vote in City Council meeting was going to be postponed and the issue would go back to committee.

Again I kept thinking, and wrote down in my notes, you should have studied it before the take over. Now they want time to study it, after it's a done deal, and try and put lipstick on a pig. Ya shoulda thought of that before ya did it!

The debate caused a small amount of sniping on the council, with Funk fretting to Riley and Ford that they were listening to false and misleading information. Riley challenged Funk to list the "false and misleading" stuff but the Funk dodged the question. Deb Hermann reminded everyone to quit "pulling on each other's hair."

After this, the council meeting was an anticlimax, as the MAST pension went back to committee as did Ford's proposal for a 45 day study and public comment period before changes to pension funding.

Photos by the Observer of the council and the audience for the MAST issue. The redheaded guy, the white guy with the 'stash and the black guy in that last photo are KCFD, with the redhead the union rep for the battalion chiefs and the black guy (the infamous Sherwood!) the rep for Local 42. Click on photos to embiggen.

Strutt With Your Mutt This Saturday!

Don't have plans for the weekend? Hey, I can fix that for you!

Wayside Waifs will have the 20th edition of Strutt with Your Mutt this Saturday, September 25th. Come on out and bring your dog to walk, or do a run/walk or just hang out and check out all the fun. More information at www.waysidewaifs.org. This is a major fund raiser for the shelter but it's also an excuse to get together with lots of people who care about animals and have a lot of fun.

Prop A: The Earning Tax Measure

After the court decision yesterday defeating Kansas City's effort to keep Mo. Proposition A from being on ballots across the Show Me State, the campaigning has already started. Legally, the cities of Kansas City and St. Louis cannot campaign, but union organizations and other political groups have already come out against the proposition. There's a healthy pro camp too, looking to remove this tax that many feel is a minus point when people consider doing business in Kansas City, MO.

Just so you know what all the flap doodle is about, here is the text of the proposition (source: http://www.letvotersdecide.com/)

Proposition A

[Proposed by Initiative Petition]

Shall Missouri law be amended to:

• repeal the authority of certain cities to use earnings taxes to fund their budgets;

• require voters in cities that currently have an earnings tax to approve continuation of such tax at the next general municipal election and at an election held every 5 years thereafter;

• require any current earnings tax that is not approved by the voters to be phased out over a period of 10 years; and

• prohibit any city from adding a new earnings tax to fund their budget?

Fair Ballot Language:

A “yes” vote will amend Missouri law to repeal the authority of certain cities to use earnings taxes to fund their budgets. The amendment further requires voters in cities that currently have an earnings tax, St. Louis and Kansas City, to approve continuation of such tax at the next general municipal election and at an election held every five years or to phase out the tax over a period of ten years.

A “no” vote will not change the current Missouri law regarding earnings taxes.

If passed, this measure will impact taxes by removing the ability of cities to fund their budgets through earnings taxes. The only exception is that voters in cities that currently have an earnings tax may vote to continue such taxes.

Basically, a victory for the "yes" vote will bring about a Spring time referendum in St. Louis and Kansas City on the respective cities' earning taxes. If voted down, it would take a vote to restore the tax. If voters consent to have the tax continued, there would be a vote on it again in five years, and every five years after as long as the tax is in force.

It is said that the earnings tax brings in about $200 million dollars to the general budget of Kansas City, MO and helps pay for all manner of city services. I have seen numbers from 10% to 40% of Kansas City's budget is made up of money from the earnings tax. If the earnings tax is discontinued, it will be phased out over 10 years.

Those are the bare facts. Now, let the campaigning--and spinning--begin.

This City

One of the reasons I haven't been eager to blog in these past few days is that I have felt somewhat discouraged about our future. It is hard sometimes in the face of blowhard selfish politicians to keep up one's hope and belief that things can get better.

We have a lot of conflicting messages floating around in this country right now, and one of them is that we are not exceptional. The problem is when we start believing that we cannot problem solve--we cannot innovate--we cannot work out--our difficulties and dilemmas; that we start thinking as victims of circumstances that will beat us, well, that is the day that we become unable to do the things we need to do to deal with the difficulties of this day and age--to be bold and convinced and committed.

I think it is healthy to think of oneself as able to make good decisions and make good changes. I do believe that the world and America's place in it are going to change over the next years. But we need to preserve the things that make us special--that we are a land of opportunity for all, that one's birth situation does not dictate one's life situation, our freedom of speech and religion are the truest and freest in the world and at any time, that we have more than just serfs and barons...

Our place may be different in some ways over these next few years, but I don't think we are *finished* yet.

This song came over the radio when I was trying to figure out why my blogging had hit a bit of a boggy spot. It was a timely reminder for this Christian about the role that God and his people have to play in this situation too...

Facebook Report

Well, I've had Facebook for about two weeks now, and I have enjoyed the service. It has put me in touch with some folks I had fallen out of touch with on the personal side, and gained a few followers on the bloggy side. In addition, I use it for quick updates and thoughts. Sometimes I think I should have set up a Twitter account instead. So get used to these quick updates and opinion bites from my mobile phone on Facebook, they probably will continue.

One thing: Even without game playing, it sucks up time like crazy! So I am learning to use my time better and have proper "Facebook discipline" with regard to time. So in general, a success and happy I did it, finally.

WiFi Time Goes By Sooo Fast!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Didn't I just get here? Oh, well. There's always tomorrow. Yup, a total slacker.

Pensions for Former MAST Folks

Terry Riley asks for more time and information with regard to action on the MAST/KCFD pension funding.

Yes, this took place last week. However, if you think the issue of pensions for former MAST people--in fact, the issues of pensions in general--is going to go away, you are sadly mistaken. Remember: Information is Power.

It looks innocent enough on the docket: Ordinance 100607. A previous ordinance to do with pensions--100606--had been advanced without difficulty. 100607 reads: Amending Article IX, Division 2, entitled "Retirement System" of Chapter 2, Code of Ordinances, by repealing Sections 2-1171, 2-1172, 2-1176, 2-1186, 2-1189, and 2-1193, and enacting in lieu thereof, new sections of like number and subject matter; enacting a new Section 2-1201, "Same-City funding"; and reaffirmation of supplemental pension benefit and enhanced contributions therefor. The City Council meeting had been going along rather smoothly, with several items advanced, omitting the second reading. When it was proposed by a council member (I think John Sharp--I really need to learn to take clearer notes!) that this item be passed now, omitting a reading, the debate was on.

The gobbledygook refers to the city pensions and the actions would cause the city to finance $40 million over 10 years for former MAST employees to have their now Fire Department pensions funded. When MAST was MAST, it had 401 (k) plans and other retirement options of that nature--not a classic pension. Part of the deal with the merger was that MAST employees would be in the pension plan, with their pension status reflective of all their years of service at MAST, not starting at April 2010, the merge date. Now, this is complicated financial stuff. However, the entire Kansas City pension system for its employees has been described as "upside down" and MAST only brings about $4 million to fund the pensions.

As the debate raged, here were some of the debate points:

1. It was feared that there would be "a wholesale attack on" the retirement pension funds by retiring former MAST employees who could retire with full pension starting in late 2011, and there would be no money.

2. There were fears that the plan was illegal under the laws of the state of Missouri. Terry Riley in particular felt that more information was needed about this point.

3. Former MAST employees, including paramedics, emergency medical technicians, dispatchers, and vehicle technicians (these folks prepare, clean and stock the ambulances) serve the city well and deserve a pension.

4. Questions as to whether or not the KCFD can maintain the same revenue level as MAST (patient charges, medicare/medicaid, collections, membership, nonemergent transports, etc.) came up.

5. Some felt that MAST board spent $6 million ineffectively and in fact the phrase "golden parachute" was used in reference to people leaving the EMS service as the merger/take over process started and continued in 2009. Actually, I could use the term accused, as in "MAST board was accused of spending $6 million on golden parachutes."

6. Funkhouser several times felt that approving the financing of the $40 million over 10 years had to be done as soon as possible, terming it "a good deal for the city."

7. City Manager Troy Shulte felt that money would come over the 10 year term from reducing EMS administration costs, "Overtime issues" that would reduce costs, and the changes in Federal health care financing ("Obamacare" effects, if you will). Ed Ford thought the money would end up being pulled from general city revenue funds and the health levy.

So after all this complicated and frequently contentious debate, a vote was taken to push ahead and omit the second reading of this ordinance. If you were watching on Ch. 2, this vote got fouled up rather badly, but when all was clear as mud, the item fell short of the 9 required to pass. So we will hear from this issue again, not this week as the Council is not meeting, but sometime in the future. In fact, the entire pension issue, of funding these usually very nice pensions for many of these government jobs, is going to have to be dealt with.

Again, one of the critical points that those of us who stood opposed to the folding of MAST was this pension issue. It is only illuminated even more by the general state of pension funding in Kansas City--and in the nation.

Understatement of the year: "This takeover has had some challenges."--John Sharp

Wayside Waifs Opens New Cat House; Has Successful Adoptathon

175 animals were placed in new homes over the Friday-Sunday adoptathon that just finished up at Wayside Waifs. This included pairs of animals that had bonded together and needed to be adopted together. Very exciting and awesome! In addition, the shelter debuted its newly remodeled quarters for cats. The area now includes several rooms where cats can roam outside of cages, a sun room, and all new cages that have plexiglass instead of bars. It's hard to show the area in still photos, but here are a few:

There are still cages--at times they are needed--but now grouped in 4s and all brand new.

Mini poses in one of the cat rooms. Now there's plenty of room for play.

Kittens too, can enjoy being outside of cages in the hug rooms.

Now, instead of one big room with a bunch of cages, the cat area is almost like a maze, with small hug rooms and cages in small groups here and there.

The sunroom provides space for cat play and for potential adopters to meet their possible pets. It also has two sky lights. A wonderful area!

Come check it out for yourself! 3901 Martha Truman Road in South Kansas City, phone 816-761-8151. On the web at www.waysidewaifs.org.

Never Forget II

Remember what our newspaper looked like? Remember seeing an afternoon edition for the first time in who knows how long for many papers including our Kansas City Star?

Remember the next day? Remember wanting to know and not wanting to know, at the same time? Remember your love/hate relationship with your television during those first few days after the attack?

Never forget.

Never Forget

Never forget. Never forget where you were, or how you felt.

I wish I had one of these. I would personalize it with my current tag numbers. You see, I took delivery of my 2002 Chrysler September 8th. I put my first gas in it September 11th, 2001.

Where were you and what do you think of on this anniversary day when it rolls around?

This post is timed, and it will post at 0745 CDT--the time the first plane hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.

Ambulance Response Times

Well, the Special Committee on Emergency Services turned out to be quite the little show on Thursday. It was going along pretty quietly--councilpersons Sharp, Curls, Ford and Riley in attendance along with Fire Chief Smokey Dyer and others--until Ed Ford had some things to add.

Ford represents the area of KC north of the Missouri River, where there have been some concerns about response times for ambulances. It seems that only 72% of the time is an ambulance making it onto the scene of an emergency call within 9 minutes. Mr. Ford had some issues for Chief Dyer.

The two of them went at it pretty strongly for a good period of time. Mr. Ford pressing the issue, and Chief Dyer denying that it was a real problem.

It was pretty plain by the end of the morning that the chief does not see this as a problem to solve. The chief goes back to three points: 1. He wants to concentrate on "patient outcomes" and not just response time as a measure of EMS effectiveness. 2. He does not see the problem being solved by using more personnel or going back to posting at non-FD sites. 3. He does see it as strictly a political issue, and feels "caught in the middle." 4. He thinks it is not worth spending more money except maybe to move a northland firehouse.

I understand where the chief is coming from in some ways, but appearing to shrug off the concerns of the Northland councilman was a very bad move for public relations. In addition, the only reason he is not hearing it about Southland response times is that John Sharp of District 6 is a champion of this dumb idea of merging MAST into the FD. And finally, response times have to be part of evaluation of performance, because in the true emergency (yes, there aren't that many of them, but each one counts for the patient!), time really does count.

Now, with regard to the numbers, I managed to obtain the figures from an assistant chief, who said, oh they are available on the website. I says, I looked and couldn't find. He took my email address and said he'd send the url. Any bets on whether or not I'll actually get an email with the web url?

Here, after the jump are photos of the actual documents. You should be able to read them after clicking on them to make them bigger.

photos of (top) Chief Smokey Dyer and (bottom) Councilman Ed Ford by The Observer

Very Interesting Day at City Hall

I'll be posting more my take on the situation with the ambulance response times and the pension for former MAST/now KCFD employees tomorrow. I'll leave you all tonight with this photo taken during the city council meeting when Ed Ford and others objected to pushing forward with the ordinance that would have had the city financing $40 million of pension obligation over 10 years. Note the mayor's charming body language!

Oh, this is amazing and juicy stuff...

Killa City September Week

Five homicides in seven days in Kansas City.

Just about every kind of not relating well to others. Family and friend fights. Disturbances at stores. Unknown stories--just finding victims lying in the street.

Not to mention metro mayhem in Independence, Belton, and KCK.

Two homicides here in the southland, both in stores. One involved a store clerk and a man with a history of panhandling and hanging around the area of the store. The second involved a man in a convo with people in a car. The car leaves and he's dead.

You know, if you have a conflict with someone, you do not need to hurt them. You could actually walk away, or talk it out, or take it to a mediator.

Just saying.

Logo pinched from The Pitch

Cathy Jolly: Some Thoughts

I had some thoughts on Cathy Jolly's decision not to run for reelection for the Kansas City City Council seat she has held since 2007. But first a correction: I incorrectly stated that Ms. Jolly had not garnered any opposition for reelection in the post last night. I would be incorrect--Tracy Ward has been doing a Facebook drive for "Likes" and seriously considering running for the seat before Ms. Jolly decided not to run again. I had my incumbents mixed up; I thought it was John Sharp who had some opposition. My apologies, and do visit the Facebook page, linked right here.

A second commenter noted that Ms. Jolly and Mr. Sharp have, on occasion, clashed, and in general have not worked well together during the city council term. This brought to mind the community meeting in April, where Ms. Jolly and Mr. Sharp openly disagreed on two issues before the council at that time.

The issues were on servers' licenses for felons, and doing business selling home grown produce in the neighborhoods. On both issues, Mr. Sharp was more libertarian and Ms. Jolly more oriented to regulation. It did stun the room that the two council people so openly disagreed, and even seemed ready to debate on the spot about the two issues. So yes, a poor relationship with John Sharp may well have played into Ms. Jolly's decision not to run again.

To take a bit of a longer view: Is it so bad that an incumbent chooses not to run again? Really, you do remember those pictures of Robert Bryd over the years? Consider that the founding fathers did not have a career legislature in mind when they wrote the US Constitution, a document whose basic philosophy trickles down to the local level. For Cathy Jolly to not run for office, to seek a career in law, or take family time, and then return to political office, if she desires is right in line with the plans of the founders of this country. If politicians don't make it a career, we might find people who do indeed see it as community service, not a stepping stone to personal power and prosperity. Perhaps then, we can find some better people to take part in our government.

(Then we have to learn not to tear them to shreds with rumor and innuendo...but that's a post for another day.)

Photos by The Observer from that community meeting in April 2010.

Breaking News! Cathy Jolly Not Seeking Reelection to 6th At Large Council Seat

Cathy Jolly told the Kansas City Star in an interview Monday that she is not seeking reelection to the Kansas City city council seat she has held since 2007. Per the Star's article, she is looking to spend some time pursuing concerns other than politics. She is a lawyer and may work in that field. Ms. Jolly will serve out the remainder of her term, 8 months or so.

A few people have made noises about aiming at John (not so) Sharp and his council seat, but Ms. Jolly had not attracted any opposition as yet. Now, the 6th district at large seat is up for grabs, and this should make for some very interesting election times.

The article in the star: Cathy Jolly will not seek reelection to the City Council in March

Hoarded Cats

All these cats pictured in this post were in a hoarding situation, in a home crowded with other cats. Despite that they are beautiful friendly cats, although not without quirks. Many of them have modified wedge heads and oriental type coats, suggesting Siamese or Oriental Shorthair heritage.

This orange and white tabby is playful and very active.

This cat is missing one of her back feet--she arrived at the shelter that way. However, she gets around fine, and loves pets and head butts.

Check out this athletic move while playing with a toy mouse!

This beautiful girl has a bobbed tail. She looks like a Burmese with her big yellow eyes and gorgeous soft black coat.

All the cats from this hoarding situation have "bear" in their name somewhere. Check them out on line at www.waysidewaifs.org or go to the shelter at 3901 Martha Truman Road in south Kansas City. The phone number is 816-761-8151.

Checking in at Wayside Waifs

Wayside Waifs is undergoing some renovations right now. The work includes a new gift shop, already open in the reception/adoption center area, as seen below.

The work in the cat zone continues. What is going on is that the cat area will become a collection of rooms in which cats will be able to live out side of cages in groups or "colonies." It is hard to see the work, especially since the floor was refinished and could not be walked on, but you can see how the floor plan has changed. In addition, a glass door is at the end of the hallway...

...which will open into a sun room for the cats! Pretty cool--I've always wanted a sun room for my house!
Here's another look (below), this time from an outside corridor into one of the rooms for cats, and you can see another just behind it. This will be a place where those walking by can see the cats lounging around.
All this is expected to be finished by next Friday, September 10th, in time for an adoptathon. It's quite a change for the cat area, it will be really neat to see. Of course, Wayside Waifs is still finding good homes for dogs and cats, to check out the animals in person, visit them at 3901 Martha Truman Road in south Kansas City, or visit on the web at www.waysidewaifs.org.

O Happy Day!

Gary Lezak and crew are blogging for real now. They've got a Wordpress blog going that has a feed so it can be on the blog roll, and it can be accessed via mobile. Here's a link so you can take a look from here. O happy day! The best weather blog in Kansas City is back!

Weatherwise, we've got a severe thunderstorm watch going on for the counties south of the river until 2200 as a pretty potent cold front makes its way through the metro. Not much rain so far here in south KC, but we did have a gust or wind front move through and it looks very ominous outside.

I am just thrilled to have Gary and the gang back "for real"!