Must repost this:

Cartoon from this week's Missouri Record, as posted by KY3 Springfield's Dave Catanese. He's the reporter in that cartoon.

What should have been the lead story in the UK today

First of all, insert tributes to Farrah Fawcett and Jacko here. Here's what should have lead headlines in many of UK's papers (particularly pro-Labour) today:

After a month of strikes and demonstrations, unionised workers at a refinery in Lincolnshire (in Northern England) are slated to regain their jobs. Union members previously employed at the Lindsey Oil Refinery, owned by France's Total, will vote Monday on a package that will allow 51 staff members made redundant, as well as 641 workers who were sacked when they walked out (without a formal vote on the action) in support of the 51. The walkout occurred on account of Total hiring workers to build a new building at the facility despite canning 51. The unions expressed concern that they were being replaced by cheaper, foreign labour. Total asked the workers they sacked to re-apply for their jobs last week but many union members burned their applications in protest. The sacked workers received support from fellow workers at several power plants in the UK, as they also staged solidarity walkouts.

This is taking place in one of the two European Parliament districts where Labour's vote collapse earlier this month resulted in the election of an MEP from the ultra-right wing British National Party. At a time when the party named Labour is losing touch with, and thus its support from their core constituencies—blue-collar, working-class families—a victory of this nature should be built upon by the old guard if Labour if they seek to salvage the party's reputation and heritage, and further minimize the risk of voter disgust turning into support for parties with extreme platforms.

This is a subject I will likely produce a commentary on in the near future.

---

In spite of my "below the fold" tendency, this needs brought up before it sneaks up and tarnishes Kay Barnes' legacy to Kansas City: (Again from the Guardian)

Michael Jackson's "This Is It" tour was slated to start in two weeks at London's O2 Arena. The tour was initially suppose to have just 10 dates, but the operators of the arena convinced Jackson to expand the schedule five-fold at a cost of £300 million (almost one-half billion US dollars), including expenses. They now will have to eat those costs, as tickets sold to the 50 concert dates will need to be refunded, starting Monday.

The O2 Arena is operated by a subsidiary of AEG Entertainment, the company that also manages Kansas City's Sprint Center as well as Kemper Arena and the American Royal building.

MoDOT's trying to lure me home…

…by opening an interchange that has people driving on the left side of the road!?

On Monday, the Missouri Department of Transportation completed construction on a new traffic scheme at the junction of Interstate 44 and Highway 13 in Springfield, best known as the exit leading you to QuikTrip and Fantastic Caverns. The intersection design, called a divergent diamond, has only been done three times before in France. (Were I still on the wrong side of 36°30', or at least in Southwest Missouri, I would likely have driven through this intersection at least once in the next month on account of desiring to visit the grandparents near the Fourth of July holiday and a greater desire to gork out on QuikTrip's fountain quarts whilst driving, but I digress.)

In short, the intersection is structured to where traffic signals only handle traffic across the bridge, while traffic exiting the freeway need only yield to oncoming traffic and entering the freeway simply exit when they need do. This results, however, in Missourians using that intersection now driving on the left side of the road. (Next thing you know, Heartland Chevrolet will add Vauxhalls to their lineup.) Traffic flow across the bridge only one direction at a time, hopefully preventing backups and negating the need for turn lanes. However, there runs the risk of confusing the crap out of drivers, especially at night if the glare guards don't do the trick.

For MoDOT, this is the first implementation of this design coming to fruition (and the first in the U.S.). MoDOT initially proposed it for the semi-truck heavy intersection between I-435 and Front Street in Kansas City's East Bottoms. Along with Front Street, they also plan to introduce it at I-270 and Dorsett Road in the St. Louis suburb of Richmond Heights. And several other state DoTs are looking into it.

If they really wanted to give Missouri a taste of Britain, they could have done a roundabout interchange instead! That's practically the standard along Britain's motorways!

One good thing about home being well to the west…

…you get up well before the morning shows back home that you otherwise would have slept through.

In fact, this is the first time I've watched anything from CNBC before the opening bell in a long, long time, if ever. Go figure, though: I looked it up because of the appearance of "Mizzur-uh" Senator Kit Bond on this morning's Squawk Box.

CNBC has just uploaded four segments of Bond's appearance from this morning. On protectionism, Bond expounded on his opposition to provisions that mandated "Buy America" and prohibited the entry of Mexican trucks into America. He also discusses concerns about consumer protection becoming politically driven. On healthcare, Bond stressed concern about government intervention into this field and the ballooning deficit. And on cap-and-trade emission standards, Bond simply called it "cap-and-tax".

Meanmwhile, his one-time Senate colleague and successor in the governor's mansion, John Ashcroft, today will endorse Roy Blunt's bid to succeed Bond in the Senate. And here in Folkestone, TVs will be switching between the first day of Wimbledon and the selection of a new Speaker of the House of Commons, which could either be a significant swing toward reform or a complete and utter farce before the night is done. Speeches will begin in 20 minutes, but given that there will be 10 candidates and a new exhaustive and secret ballot system in place, this could easily reach sunset. Which this month is after 9pm.

Ma, where's the black ink?

It's a good thing I didn't pack my trusty All-In-One HP Printer like I wanted to. Granted, a new one here is going to run me at least US$100 from the looks of things, but I would find myself running after another black ink cartridge were I to print off the expense reports formally released Thursday by Parliament.

Instead, I think I found myself a new screen saver. Addresses of MPs' homes, their offices, signatures, descriptions of items purchased, even UPC numbers and addresses of vendors were blacked out from forms released. These were among the redactions I noticed when reviewing this particular set of claims from Folkestone MP Michael Howard. Some of it is understandable: you don't want hackers and other net-savvy miscreants picking up signatures and forging documents or gaining sensitive information. But really, could someone really scam their government and an office supply company just by looking up a UPC number?

Worse, who had the bright idea to block out the product code number for fax toner? (See page 28 of the previously linked report) Waste of time, considering that there was enough information to pull up the item on the Web site of the very company from which this must-have-product-number-classified Samsung SF5100 Fax Toner was acquired.

Of course, where am I suppose to find the well-manicured gardens that Howard reportedly charged the taxpayer £17,000 over four years without resorting to asking around or thumbing through the White Pages? (I'll link those claims, which also blacks out how local taxes are spent by the district council which is also conveniently blacked out—it's Shepway District, by the way.) The meat of the expenses controversy that has sent several MPs to the figurative gallows: swapping the second homes to jump through a tax loophole. With their addresses blocked out, the Average Joe and novice reporter wouldn't have concrete evidence to flat-out call them on it, but their innocence would certainly be in doubt. A sceptical American would assume guilt by their "pleading the Fifth" which is suppose to prevent self-incrimination.

When looking up information on MPs on Parliament's Web site, no addresses to be found. Checking out Michael Howard's profile, the only local contact information made available are a phone number for his office in Westminster and his constituency Web site.

Let's take a look at who isn't concealing their home address, at least as of the time of this post. (I state in advance that this is linked only for example; please don't exploit it as you'll only dis-service the constituents of the linked legislators.) How about the Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives? A quick review of several member biographies finds that at least three more representatives (I'm only linking the general search; happy hunting.) have indeed listed their home address and phone number. Several others have omitted the details, while many others list a district office. Typically, such addresses are included with candidate filings. For example: last year's candidates for governor, which has Jay Nixon listing Jefferson City instead of his hometown of DeSoto. Guess he did live on a dead-end street when he was Attorney General.

Now, this just might be a difference in culture. After all, Jefferson envisioned the typical elected representative, be it U.S. Congress or state assembly, as a humble and conveniently enlightened farmer elected by other humble and conveniently enlightened farmers. Or this may easily be one of the last gasps of a trough-addicted Parliament staving off pitchforks any which way they can, only to cause even more to get pointed in their general direction. (Fortunate for them, using a pitchfork to vote would spoil the ballot paper on account of there being more than one tong.)

Shameless Plug

Yes, there has been a lot occurring on both sides of the pond. Back home, rank-and-file GOP moderates lining up behind Roy Blunt's campaign for Senate next year to keep Kit Bond's seat red. Even amid reports that potential rival Sarah Steelman is looking toward Blunt's current seat in Congress (if this is the case, she'd likely cause a cannonball that washes out much of the current field), a state senator from outside Springfield is now exploring the idea of challenging the longtime Southwest Missouri congressman in the GOP primary. Either way, secretary of state Robin Carnahan will await the winner (barring a challenge in the Democratic primary, which along with the GOP primary are a solid 412 days away!) complete with plenty of political ammo and contributions from near and far.

Meanwhile, the campaign to replace Michael Martin as speaker of the House of Commons is well underway, with 10 candidates vying for the role. They are getting plenty of air time, even though it's up to the House itself to listen to, select, and then drag to the chair the MP they want as the new speaker.

Right now, however, I am helping my beloved Dawn update the Web site for a registered charity that gives disabled people the opportunity to experience SCUBA diving. The updates aren't up just yet, but they will be soon.

Snippets from Prater interview: Gurkhas' right to settle

In this final audio instalment of my interview with Folkestone West's newest county councillor, Tim Prater of the Liberal Democrats talks about his role in convincing the national government to grant all Gurkha troops the right to settle in the United Kingdom after they have finished at least four years of service in the British military. The prior policy only allowed Gurkhas who retired after 1997 with four-plus years service to settle.

Prater explaiins the importance of granting Gurkha troops the right to settle in the UK

The Royal Gurkha Rifles are headquartered in the Shorncliffe barracks in Folkestone, just outside Cheriton. In celebration of this ruling, Gurkha troops will march through Folkestone in a "Freedom of Town" parade Thursday. Among the spectators will be actress Joanna Lumley, one-time Bond girl and star of Absolutely Fabulous whose father served alongside Gurkhas in South Asia for 30 years. Lumley was one of the most prominent voices in the Gurkhas' efforts.

Snippets from Prater interview: European Parliament results

In the second audio instalment of my interview with Kent County Councillor Tim Prater, he discussed what could have fueled the increase in the voter turnout for two non-Westminster parties, UKIP and the BNP.

Prater discusses the basic premise behind two parties and how to best counter "Politics of Fear"

The third instalment will touch on his and fellow Liberal Democrats' successful efforts to convince the UK government to allow Gurkhas from Nepal who served in the British Army to settle legally in the UK, regardless of when their service was. I've opted to make this last as the Gurkhas will march through Folkestone in a "Freedom of Town" parade honouring them next Thursday.