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Friday, October 31, 2008
skippy's halloween nite music club
the bonzo dog doo dah band - monster mash
starring the irrepressible, if late, viv stanshall as well as the second rutle, or sixth python, neil innes. check out the electric spoon solo towards the end. plus, extra super-duper bonus of the bonzo's version of sound of music tacked on at the end.
mask of the red death
about 55 percent of those who bought paper candidate masks from www.buycostumes.com, picked up one for obama, while 45 percent bought one to impersonate mccain, according to the web site.
in michigan, 51 percent bought masks to impersonate democrats and 49 percent went for republicans.
jackson costume sellers said they have also noticed more interest in obama masks than those for mccain.
ellen yoakam, owner of the costume gallery, 4114 page ave., said the store just started receiving requests for presidential candidate costumes within the past few weeks. she said she has had more calls about obama masks than those for mccain — which the store does not sell.
halloween usa at jackson crossing has sold out of obama masks and has just a handful left for mccain.
the store does not have masks for the vice presidential candidates, but yoakam said she has suggestions for callers who want to create a vp candidate costume.
"we have a couple of wigs we have sold that work for sarah palin," yoakam said.
then there's always a tube of lipstick and a pitbull mask.
prop 8 is not enough
and, as a bonus, here's a great "no on 8" ad:
how bad does it look for mcmuffin?
fdl's campaign silo:
mccain (r) 48
obama (d) 47
early voters (17 percent of sample)
mccain (r) 42
obama (d) 54
if the 2010 election for u.s. senate were held today for whom would you vote for if the choices were between janet napolitano the democrat and john mccain the republican?
mccain (r) 45
napolitano (d) 53
no wonder mccain is forced to campaign in arizona. too bad for him.
addendum: also from the campaign silo, krispy kreme is giving away free donuts to voters on election day, and ben&jerry's is giving away free ice cream to everybody!
america! wot a country!
mad about mccain & palin not being ready for prime time
the hollywood freeway
congrats to our bloggy buddy - aquafornia
i am proud to announce that aquafornia is now affiliated with the water education foundation. this partnership was formed because both aquafornia and the foundation strive for balanced, factual and comprehensive news and information about vital water issues. and like aquafornia, the foundation does not pick sides. - aquafornia
nov 4 = dia de los muertos
Dia de los Muertos Figure 4
Originally uploaded by santa barbarian
dirty trick or tainted treats?
white nose syndrome. no, not the "white nose syndrome" that affects the affluent in places such as hollywood, but a fungus, and scientists are scratching their heads on what to do.
researchers have gathered some clues to solve the mystery of what's killing off hibernating bats throughout new england, but say they're still far from knowing how to halt the strange die-off. - discover
"the fungus is in some way involved in causing the bats to starve to death," said biologist thomas tomasi of missouri state university in springfield. "they are burning up too many calories, at a rate faster than they can sustain."
..in some bat caves, more than 90% of the inhabitants died last winter. overall populations have declined about 75% in the affected areas. - latte times
friday ark.
"essentially, hibernating bats are getting moldy as they hang from their cave ceiling," david blehert, a microbiologist with the u.s. geological survey who led the study, said in a telephone interview.
"it's decimating the cave-bat populations," he said.
bats play a vital role in keeping down insect populations, pollinating plants and spreading around plant seeds. - reuters
Labels: animal blogging friday, animals, youtube
Thursday, October 30, 2008
skippy's thursday nite music club
gene wilder & peter boyle - puttin' on the ritz
one of the many highlights of young frankenstein
best sign ever
yes on ate
not too far from what's on tv here in california...
what? us worry?
so when the mcmuffin campaign continually spouts feel good happy talk about their chances next tuesday, we admit we begin to get a little nervous. as slate sez, the mccain campaign is unusually upbeat, does it have reason to be?
the mccain path to victory relies heavily on the campaign's pollster, bill mcinturff, who is conducting surveys in battleground states every day. for the entire campaign, mccain aides say, mcinturff has often been a bit of a wet blanket. whenever they've felt good, he's been the voice of caution, explaining that the landscape was bleaker than they thought. recently, though, his internal campaign updates have actually been eagerly anticipated: the subject line of a recent one said "a memo you will want to read."…
mcinturff released a memo yesterday that outlined his case for why it's still possible for mccain to pull a rabbit out of his hat. here's what he sees: his poll of battleground states shows obama with such a small lead, it's within the margin of error, which means it's effectively tied. in iowa, he sees the race tightening to within a few points. in pennsylvania, it's in single digits (though that could mean nine). (the average of other pollsters say mccain is down by a dozen in iowa and pennsylvania.) moving toward mccain, say his aides, are women making less than $60,000 and white men with only some college education.
stan greenberg, of greenberg quinlan rosner doesn't think so.
- the memo reports that obama is already getting virtually 100 percent of the african american vote in mccain's polls. that is not true in our combined database of the presidential battleground states where obama is polling 89 to 6 percent. on that basis alone, one would expect obama's overall vote to rise a point.
- note that the same is true of latino voters. in special surveys of hispanics, using special lists, obama is polling close to 70 percent, but in the combined battleground polls where hispanic respondents are more acculturated and english-speaking, we have obama's vote at 56 percent to 36 percent for mccain. that too can produce another point of obama support.
- the memo says that the "undecided" and "refused" voters "will break decisively in our direction, adding a "net three plus points to our margin." that is pretty amazing. using the combined database, we looked at the "undecided," "refused" and the undecided "leaning" to a candidate - 7 percent of the electorate. using their stated leanings to the candidates and feelings toward the parties, this undecided vote broke near evenly between obama and mccain. in our latest presidential battleground poll, they broke near evenly as well. to get a 3-point net gain, the undecided would have to break 5 to 2 for mccain. there is no evidence to indicate such an impending break against obama. instead, the undecided could push obama's vote up at least another point.
in a nutshell, greenberg points out the problems w/mcinturff's assumptions, which turn out to be, in our opinion, the problems w/the gop's assumptions thru-out mcmuffin's campaign, and indeed, the last 12 years or so.
that is to say, by using straw men and logical fallacies to muddy the argument, they appear to win the argument. and, unfortunately for the gop, a whole generation of repubbbs have come to adulthood thinking that the appearance of winning the argument is the same as winning the arguement.
we are reminded of the wag that described the current administration as people who actually believe the stuff rush limbaugh says. this seems to be where the mcmuffin campaign is internally. they actually believe that the extrapolation of obama's losing a point or two in a poll here or there is the same as being "functionally tied," and so they are ecstactic.
which, when explained to us, makes us ecstatic. the reason they are so happy is because they are believing their own bs.
and trust us, it's bs. mcmuffin will have to bascially run the table next tuesday; that is to say, he'll have to win every battleground state, and perhaps even take a state or two away from obama to pull this off. or, in terms that mrs. skippy will relate to, he's drawn a ten and ace of hearts; he has to hope the flop turns up the jack, queen and king. of hearts.
and as another maverick's wise old pappy used to tell him, never draw to an inside straight.
(thx and a tip of the kangaroo tail to memeorandum for the links!)
ro, ro, ro your bot
attack of the killer rnc robots!
also, they eat old people's medicine!
why pets hate halloween
the chuck stops here
today's youth, he said, will have to address this "great confluence of issues" in light of the united states' reputation abroad, which has weakened in recent years. He added that the next president will be tasked with restoring americans' confidence in the government.
"one of the greatest challenges of our next president is to reintroduce america to the world, and i think obama and biden have the power to do that," hagel said of the democratic presidential ticket of sens. barack obama (d-ill.), and joe biden (d-del.). "they both understand that we have lost so much standing in the world today. they want us to lead, and they want us to be strong. they don't want an america that dictates."
he cited "character" and "judgment" as requisites for any political candidate, and presented the choice of a running mate as a key indicator of the latter.
"who do you pick as your running mate? i think obama passed that test. i don't think john mccain did," hagel said.- columbia spectator
$14.83 billion profit
i "heart" this congresscritter
it's hardly hot news that nature has taken a beating over the past eight years. the bush administration has been relentless in its cynical march toward environmental calamity--from sacking honest scientists and trying to gut the endangered species act to weakening clean-water and air standards--all the while pushing for mineral and oil exploration on every square inch of our public lands.
what is new, however, is that someone has finally quantified this grim epoch of abuse.
on oct. 22, u.s.. rep. raúl grijalva released a report, compiled by his staff and subtly titled, "the bush administration assaults on our national parks, forests and public lands (a partial list)."- tucson weekly
you can download a copy of the report from his website.
muchas gracias senor grijalva! muchas gracias!
Labels: congress, environment
denial of service
this is very preliminary right now, and we're still working on getting all of the details. that being said, it appears that the no on 8 website has been hit with some sort of attack coordinated with an attack on website opposing the constitutional amendment against marriage equality in florida, no on 2. - calitics
Labels: dirty tricks, election, internets
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
skippy's wednesday nite music club
some youtube user named goldentusk - halloween theme song
this is a very funny rendition of the theme song to the halloween movies, w/lyrics explaining the films.
mr. opie's opus
you say you want a revolution, well, you know...
here's the trailer, tho we'd call it more of a montage/mash up than a documentary.
anyway, anything from
the party party is always worth looking at...
two polls walk into a bar
it takes 270 electoral votes to win the white house. obama can earn 252 by merely reclaiming states won by john kerry in 2004. there are only two kerry states still in contention — pennsylvania with 21 votes and new hampshire with four — and ap-gfk polls show obama leading both by double digits.
ohio alone has 20 electoral votes. nevada has 5, colorado 9 and virginia 13.
in addition, obama is tied with mccain in north carolina and florida, according to the ap-gfk polling, two vote-rich states bush carried in 2004. obama is throwing his time and money into the sunshine state, which has 27 votes, part of a strategy to create many routes to victory and push toward a landslide of 300 or more electoral votes. north carolina has 15 votes.
independent polling suggests that new mexico and iowa, two traditionally gop states, are out of reach for mccain. other red states may be creeping away from him and into contention, including montana.
the bottom line: mccain must overtake obama in the many red states where he is trailing or tied — a tall order. or he needs to gain some breathing room by winning pennsylvania, where he trails by 12 percentage points, according to the ap-gfk poll.
happy anniversary dow jones
cbs marketwatch
just in time for the 79th anniversary of black tuesday, the day the depression started. finding dulcinea:
attempts to salvage the market were unsuccessful. on oct. 28, 1929, now known as "black monday," the market closed down 12.8 percent.
"on black tuesday (october 29) more than 16 million shares were traded. the dow jones industrial average lost another 12 percent and closed at 198—a drop of 183 points in less than two months." many prominent american companies and financial institutions collapsed, as their company stock became virtually worthless.
along with the market tumbles on the preceding thursday and monday, oct. 29, or black tuesday, was one of the dominoes that led to the great depression. the economy continued to suffer until 1933 when the new deal began to restore the integrity of the financial system.
we were shakin' this morning
Labels: earthquake, santa barbara
need a doctor?
diana moore learned the news through the neighborhood grapevine. her family's primary-care physician of seven years would no longer accept moore, her husband and daughter as patients - unless the family paid a $4,500 annual fee.
the physicians at charter internal medicine in columbia are overhauling the practice, ditching the insurance-dependent model and instead charging a flat yearly fee in exchange for the promise of 24-hour access to doctors, unhurried appointments, home visits and state-of-the-art annual physicals. - baltimore sun
Labels: doctors, healthcare, hospitals, public health
the chuck stops here
but in order to solve problems you've got to have all the players at the table," hagel went on, his voice rising. "how are you going to fix the problems in pakistan, afghanistan--the problems we've got with poverty, proliferation, terrorism, wars--when the largest segments of society in the world today are not at the table?" he paused, then added, more calmly, "the united nations, as i've said many times, is imperfect. we've got nato, multilateral institutions, multilateral-development banks, the world trade organization--all have flaws, that's true. but if you didn't have them what would you have? a world completely out of control, with no structure, no order, no boundaries." - the newyorker via yglesias via the u.n. dispatachthe must read article of the week, connie bruck's new yorker article on hagel - odd man out; chuck hagel's republican exile.
the notion of "winning" in iraq is a "failed way of thinking," hagel said. "if we frame this as win or lose, we'll be there forever." he added that this logic is equally flawed with respect to afghanistan. "i agree with obama that we're going to have to put several more brigades in there," he told me. "but there is no military solution, so we have to be very careful that somehow we don't just ricochet out of iraq into afghanistan, with another hundred-and-fifty-thousand-troop buildup." according to hagel, confronting the problems of afghanistan requires an understanding of its internal politics, its narcotics trade, and its endemic corruption, as well as a regional diplomatic approach, involving pakistan, india, and iran.
mccain "thinks we just need more military," hagel said. "i've talked to john about this many times. i've said, 'john, we're limited. we're doing tremendous damage to our army and marines, we can't sustain this.' " - the new yorker
Labels: afghanistan, hagel, iraq, obama
envirnmental news...special wednesday edition
burn pit at balad raises health concerns. an open-air "burn pit" at the largest u.s. base in Iraq may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis to cancer-causing dioxins, poisons such as arsenic and carbon monoxide, and hazardous medical waste, documentation gathered by military times shows. -army times
conflict of interest allegations cloud us bisphenol a meeting. in letters to the agency, lawmakers have criticized ties between one of the food and drug administration's advisers, martin philbert of michigan, and supporters of the chemical. - bloomberg news
bpa exposure linked to chemotherapy resistance. exposure to bisphenol a -- a man-made chemical found in a number of plastic products, including drinking bottles and the lining of food cans -- may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments. - reuters health
canada, mexico's hot waste comes into utah under radar. federal regulators gave their blessing to low-level radioactive waste from canada and mexico that is now buried in utah. - salt lake tribune
utility's plan stirs coal-ash debate. on the banks of the great pee dee river, santee cooper wants to build a giant power plant that would consume 410 tons of coal every hour and generate electricity for 600,000 homes. that will generate huge volumes of ash--more toxic than ash from older plants. - charleston post and courier
troubling toll in thoreau's backyard. measuring the effect of climate change, scientists from boston university and harvard reported that 27% of the species documented at walden pond by henry david thoreau have disappeared, and another 36% are in such low numbers that their disappearance is imminent. - boston globe
arctic ice thickness 'plummets'. the thickness of arctic sea ice "plummeted" last winter, thinning by as much as 49 centimetres in some regions, satellite data has revealed. - bbc
marin property owners induced to go solar. gosolarmarin, the grassroots effort that succeeded in making solar energy systems available at a group rate to 100 property owners last year, has formed a new collaboration to outfit more properties with the energy alternative. marin independent journal
video the flipping vote
Labels: voting integrity, youtube
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
skippy's tuesday nite music club
jason segel - dracula's lament
from "forgetting sarah marshall." mila kunis doesn't sing, but she's still hot to look at!
rip tony hillerman
tony wrote the always interesting joe leaphorn and jim chee mysteries. leaphorn and chee were characters who were both navajo indians on the reservation police force. washpost:
the starkly beautiful reservation land, with its arching skies, desolate open spaces and its almost unearthly quiet, is an integral part of mr. hillerman's best-selling detective fiction. thematically vital to his work is the cultural discord between modern society and the proud, impoverished navajo, who call themselves the dineh.
the dineh world of nature and magic, of medicine ceremonies and the centuries-old weight of tradition has long been under assault by the dominant anglo culture. mr. hillerman's books reflect the conflict through his best-known protagonists, detectives with the navajo tribal police named lt. joe leaphorn and sgt. jim chee.
leaphorn, who is introduced in mr. hillerman's first novel, "the blessing way" (1970), is older and slightly more cynical than his younger counterpart. he understands the navajo way but does not share his people's traditional belief in a rich and mysterious spirit world.
the university-educated chee, who first appears in "people of darkness" (1980), more idealistic than leaphorn, is studying to become a hathaali, a navajo shaman.
"skinwalkers" (1986) was the first novel that brought leaphorn and chee together, and provided mr. hillerman his commercial breakthrough. the mystery involves three reservation murders linked only by bone fragments, and the two detectives combine their insights and approaches as they grapple with drugs and money originating in the anglo world as well as the shape-changing witches the navajo call skinwalkers.
a movie starring lou diamond phillips as leaphorn was made based on one of his books, which we remember fondly, tho it was generally considered a bomb.
rest in peace, tony hillerman.
you're a good man, charlie crist
"he just blew florida for john mccain," one plugged in florida republican just told me.
the buzz reports:
as to the perception that more early voting helps democrats, crist said: "this is not a political decision. this is a people decision."
don't sweat it
my immediate concern is twofold: that mccain is getting some traction with his liberal/socialist/redistributionist charge--the wapo tracker shows mccain narrowing the gap on the economy over the last week--and, in light of this, that obama is striking his high-note a few days too early. i'd feel more comfortable if he roughed mccain up a bit longer (though, in fairness, his "closing argument" speech is very good and it does take some swipes at mccain. also, it's not like the campaign isn't still running tough ads.).
but beyond snarky self-righteousness from a blog that ironically doesn't use capitalization, we would also caution the stump to follow the advice of a couple of its commentors:
but seriously . . . if you follow the poll averages at pollster.com and rcp, you will see that on 10/19, obama had an average lead of 5 points (obama 48.8, mccain 43.8). this actually went up over the following few days (the powell effect?) until, one week ago today, obama had a 7.2 lead, as obama went up to 5.2 and mccain went down to 43. on average, obama's nubmers have stayed up, in fact grown slightly. as of today (i'm still awaiting the last tracker, the wapo), obama is down slightly to a seven point lead, but both obama and mccain are higher--obama 50.6, mccain 43.6.
i'm getting my info from gallup, which polls early voting:
and pew today also reported that the difference in early voting is in the double digits:
the voter preferences of the group of 1,430 individuals who have already voted and who were interviewed by gallup between oct. 17 and oct. 27 show a 53% to 43% obama over mccain tilt.
among the group of those who say they have not yet voted, but will before election day, the skew towards obama is more pronounced, at 54% to 40%. by comparison, those who are going to wait to vote on nov. 4 manifest a narrower 50% to 44% obama over mccain candidate preference. (across all registered voters over this time period, obama leads mccain by a 51% to 43% margin).
old blackwater keep on rollin'
mother and son sit on the board of a family foundation that donated $8 million in 2006-07 to christian groups involved in the yes-on-8 effort, including $300,000 to focus on the family, on whose board she sits. focus on the family gave $450,000 to proposition 8 and $1.35 million to the 22 same-sex marriage ban campaigns in 2004 and 2006.
he lost us, too
anne applebaum, in the washpost, sums up our feelings quite specifically:
here's what i do know: i would give anything to rewrite history and make mccain president in 2000. but in 2008, i don't think i can vote for him. barack obama is indeed the least experienced, least tested candidate in modern presidential history. but at least if he wins, i can be sure that the mobs who cry "terrorist" at the sound of obama's name will be kept far, far away from the white house.
as much as gore was a superior candidate to bush, he also was stand offish and unapproachable, at least compared to the folksy good ol' boy that bush pretended to be.
i remember watching the debates, and i was flabbergasted and disgusted that gore constantly sighed audibly and quite dramatically when bush said something untrue. it was quite immature and unprofessional of gore; it certainly wasn't humorous, and it made gore seem sanctimonious and self-righteous.
even tho bush was a moron and gore was right, nobody really likes a know-it-all. gore should have kept his sound effects to himself and went on to decimate bush's logic w/his own. (it reminded me of when bush the first was constantly looking at his watch during his debate w/clinton; you've got to look cool and collected and calm on these debates, not out of control in any way).
so the media, being self-centered little children, enjoyed bush's company and not gore, and unfortunately that really affected the coverage. good or bad, it's what happened.
fast-forward to today. most journos really admired mccain, and thought him to be quite honorable, especially compared to most politicians.
imagine their disappointment when mccain went sleazy, using the same slimeballs that destroyed his own run in 2000.
it's my learned opinion that one reason the press is not bending over backwards for the gop this year is for the very human (and unprofessional) reason that they are personally upset w/mccain for dipping into sleazy town and not being the honorable man they knew him to be.
the redistribution of wealth
the gap between the nation's ceos and average workers is now ten times greater than it was a generation ago. and while bush's tax cuts shaved only a few hundred dollars off the tax bills of most americans, they saved the richest one percent more than $44,000 on average. in fact, once all of bush's tax cuts take effect, it is estimated that those with incomes of more than $200,000 a year -- the richest five percent of the population -- will pocket almost half of the money. those who make less than $75,000 a year -- eighty percent of america -- will receive barely a quarter of the cuts. in the bush era, economic inequality is on the rise.so the whacked out right is foaming at the mouth because they fear "redistribution of wealth" and calling obama a socialist. what do they have to say about awol's "redistribution of wealth" that actually undermines america and it's future?
...so where did all the economic growth go? it went to a relative handful of people at the top. the earnings of the typical full-time worker, adjusted for inflation, have actually fallen since bush took office. pay for ceos, meanwhile, has soared -- from 185 times that of average workers in 2003 to 279 times in 2005. and after-tax corporate profits have also skyrocketed, more than doubling since bush took office. those profits will eventually be reflected in dividends and capital gains, which accrue mainly to the very well-off: more than three-quarters of all stocks are owned by the richest ten percent of the population. - prof. paul krugman in the rolling stone
senator stevens can't vote for himself
a federal jury on monday found republican sen. ted stevens guilty on seven counts of lying about thousands of dollars of gifts and home renovations on his financial disclosure forms, a verdict that ended in disgrace the four-decade senate career of a man whose imprint on alaska dates to before its statehood. - mcclatchy
get fingerprints off these flyers
the virginia pilot reports today that a phony virginia board of elections flier is being distributed in hamption roads, va telling democrats that they are now scheduled to vote on november 5. the flier falsely claims that "an emergency session of the general assembly" adopted a new voting schedule to "ease the load" at polling places on election day - think progress
Labels: dirty tricks, election, election integrity
bush "hearts" pollution
at the bush administration's direction, the environmental protection agency is working on a new rule that would weaken pollution regulations for power plants, allowing them to increase emissions without adding controls. epa officials have been working on a fast track to meet a saturday deadline, but many of them are arguing against changing the rule, said former epa attorney john Walke and an epa career official who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to make statements.
...power companies have sought the rule about power plant emissions for many years, and it was part of vice president dick cheney's 2001 energy plan. rules finalized more than 60 days before the administration leaves office are harder for the next administration to undo.- mcclatchy
dozens of call center workers walk
some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary mccain campaign script attacking barack obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.
nina williams, a stay-at-home mom in lake county, indiana, tells us that her daughter recently called her from her job at the center, upset that she had been asked to read a script attacking obama for being "dangerously weak on crime," "coddling criminals," and for voting against "protecting children from danger." - talking points memo election central
Labels: dirty tricks, mccain
mad about pundits banned from mcmuffin's plane
Monday, October 27, 2008
skippy's monday nite music club
the mountain goats - this year
very funny video premise...quite appropos for this time of year...
the bourne again identity
the terrorist tendencies of twitter
us intelligence agencies are worried that terrorists might start to use new communication technologies like the blogging site twitter to plan and organise attacks.note to these whaky paranoid folks. people in california actually feel earthquakes and blog about their experiences before the "news" writes about it.
..a chapter on potential for terrorist use of twitter notes that first reports of the los angeles earthquake in july appeared on the service before established news outlets. - bbc
Labels: big brother, internets, terrorists, war on terror
the new middleclass
across the nation in recent months, shelters and government agencies have seen a sharp increase in the number of homeless middle-class professionals and families.
in los angeles county - the nation's homeless capital - advocates say they are seeing real-estate agents, lawyers, business owners, pre-med students and other highly educated people losing their jobs and becoming homeless.
the burbank temporary aid center has experienced a 66 percent increase in requests for assistance in the last 18months, executive director barbara howell said. about half of those seeking help are middle-class people experiencing homelessness for the first time. - latte time
mav'rick john mccain
Labels: funny stuff, mccain, youtube
image of the day...
haunting songs
h/t blogger extraordinaire, david neiwart of orcinus
Labels: animals, endangered, environment
Sunday, October 26, 2008
skippy's sunday nite music club
plain white t's - hate (i really don't like you)
environmental news sunday
reports of toxic spills spiking. rural counties struggle to respond to calls, and cleanup often is left to the polluters. denver post
protecting the planet. ss the seemingly endless presidential campaign season winds down, attention has focused on bread-and-butter issues: the economy, jobs, taxes, health care. no one is uttering a word about clean air, water, land conservation, global warming, endangered species. gainesville times
europe's secret plan to boost gm crop production. gordon brown and other european leaders are secretly preparing an unprecedented campaign to spread gm crops and foods in britain and throughout the continent, confidential documents reveal. - london independent
palin pipeline terms curbed bids. gov. sarah palin's signature accomplishment - a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from alaska to the lower 48 - emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an associated press investigation shows. - ap
sioux honey, researchers probe bee colony collapse. billions of honey bees nationwide have checked out of their hives, never to be seen again. - sioux city journal,
where have the orcas gone? the disappearance of seven orcas from b.c. coastal waters is being blamed on a "double whammy" of low chinook salmon numbers and toxins being dumped in the ocean. - vancouver province,
scottish dolphins becoming endangered species. dolphins are in danger of disappearing from the Scottish coast as temperature rises and food shortages drive them away. - edinburgh scotsman
saving the working class with green-collar jobs. van jones, a charismatic 40-year-old yale law school grad who has emerged as a major green star over the past year, argues that environmentalism won't just be about the environment anymore. - time magazine
Labels: animals, bees, climate change, energy, environment, global warming
not at all surprising, but still a bit disappointing...
so i went and ripped its endorsement apart.
not that i expect that to accomplish anything. my blogging has never accomplished anything tangible that i am aware of. so, then, why do i keep doing this?
i don't know. why do mockingbirds keep adding new melodies to their medleys?
Labels: election
use the google
are you registered to vote? what's the best way to obtain an absentee ballot? when people visit the site, answers to these questions appear. and anyone with a website can provide the same information. the us voter info gadget places a simple search box that expands to show a full set of voter information when someone enters an address.i'd say that's "google-icious!"
penn. gop sends out email to jewish voters
read more at talking points memo here...and here.
the slime and desperation coming from the mccain camp is truly horrifying. if felt for mccain and his family when the bush camp used those slimey tactics against him in the 2000 race. for him to hire those same smear monsters to do the same sort of thing to obama is unforgiveable.
senator mccain....just say "no!" to these tactics. just stop the slime.
sarah palin is a celebrity
an acclaimed celebrity makeup artist for sarah palin collected more money from john mccain's campaign than mccain's foreign policy adviser.
amy strozzi, who also works on the reality show "so you think you can dance," was paid $22,800, according to campaign finance reports for the first two weeks in october. in contrast, mccain's foreign policy adviser, randy scheunemann, was paid $12,500, the report showed. - ajc
makes a $400 haircut seem like a bargain.
their state's gov is running for veep
gov. palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. the election, after all is said and done, is not about sarah palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, sen. john mccain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.
sen. barack obama, the democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. in a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. the same cannot be said of sen. mccain.
since his early acknowledgement that economic policy is not his strong suit, sen. mccain has stumbled and fumbled badly in dealing with the accelerating crisis as it emerged. he declared that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" at 9 a.m. one day and by 11 a.m. was describing an economy in crisis. he is both a longtime advocate of less market regulation and a supporter of the huge taxpayer-funded wall street bailout. his behavior in this crisis -- erratic is a kind description -- shows him to be ill-equipped to lead the essential effort of reining in a runaway financial system and setting an anxious nation on course to economic recovery. - adn.com
Labels: alaska, newspapers, obama
Saturday, October 25, 2008
skippy's saturday nite music club
reo speedwagon & styx - roll with the changes
the bands wail on speedwagon's hit
where's tony randall and jack klugman when you need them?
it's the ralph nader & obama girl show!
no, seriously! it is!
too much information...
dear james,
i just came from an emergency saturday strategy session.
super. now go clean up, i'm broke this week...
Labels: politics
it's breeder's cup day
starving orcas?
showing signs of starvation as salmon runs faltered up and down the west coast, puget sound's orca population lost seven of its number over the past year, bringing the population to just 83, anxious scientists reported friday.
the development marks the biggest reduction in the orca population since a series of bad chinook salmon seasons in the 1990s battered the killer whales' numbers.
revealing the degree to which the orcas are interrelated to a far-flung marine ecosystem, the collapse of california's sacramento valley chinook run seems likely to be partly to blame for declining killer whale numbers, said ken balcomb, founder of the center for whale research on san juan island.
the same fishery collapse off the california and oregon coasts shut down salmon fishing this year for humans, too. - seattle pi
Labels: environment, hunger, ocean
i know bill o'reilly wants to blow you up
USA - California - San Francisco - Coit Tower
Originally uploaded by darrell godliman
san francisco will mark the 75th anniversary of coit tower at noon today with a celebration of the city's gaudy past and a modest suggestion for the future.
the 210-foot tower at the top of telegraph hill was a gift to the city from lillie hitchcock coit, a 19th century belle who loved firefighters and san francisco in equal measure. - sfgate
Labels: architecture, history, o'reilly, san francisco
red carpet for hockey mom
blues goalie manny legace left after one period friday night with a hip injury that occurred when he slipped on the carpet placed on the ice for republican vice presidential candidate sarah palin. ap via yahoo sports
Friday, October 24, 2008
skippy's friday nite music club
the old 97's - dance with me
m'm, m'm, good!
quote of the day
after reading belinda luscombe's article why some women hate sarah palin , i will not be renewing my subscription to time. it was illuminating to learn that luscombe and time believe the only reason i, as a woman, could dislike a female politician--a politician who is laughably inarticulate and ill-informed, has almost no credentials, and seems have entered politics only to punish her enemies, give her friends cushy jobs, and curtail her fellow citizens' freedoms--is because i'm a catty overgrown schoolgirl who hates how gosh-darn pretty she is, you betcha. thanks for letting me know that you feel women are incapable of forming opinions about candidates based on their positions and public behavior rather than how they wear their hair. were i to continue to read your magazine, i'd look forward to the follow-up article opining that men who vote against obama are just jealous of his adorable ears.
given time's low opinion of me and other women, my opinion of time is currently unprintable. i'm sure i can find another magazine more deserving of my subscription.
shaenon k. garrity
the campaign of (h)opie
repubs have already planned to attack iran
a republican charged with representing the views of presidential candidate sen. john mccain told dominican university students thursday that war with iran in the next four years is inevitable.h/t talkingpointsmemo
..."let me assure you of this," [william] grayson said after the student presentation on foreign policy. "the next president, whether it is senator obama or john mccain, will go to war, and he will go to war with iran. - marin independent journal
Labels: Iran, republicans, war
aye, chihuahua!
...in santa barbara county, where three rescue shelters are housing a veritable glut of abandoned chihuahuas. so many, in fact, that shelter managers are concluding a weeklong "adopt-a-chihuahua" campaign.if it can happen here in america's riviera, the beverly hills chihuahua might start worrying. forget about "quiero taco bell"...."necesito una casa" might be the next talking chihuahua's catch phrase.
...most were brought to county animal shelters as strays or were dropped off by owners who are moving or who can no longer afford to keep them, glick said. high rents, rampant foreclosures and rising costs of pet food and veterinary care have dampened the popularity of the once-hip pooch, shelter operators say. - latimes
Labels: animals, santa barbara
our thoughts and prayers are with obama
(photo weltonline)
...0bama described dunham as the daughter of a midwest oil company clerk who "taught me values straight from the kansas heartland" – things like "accountability and self-reliance. love of country. working hard without making excuses. treating your neighbor as you'd like to be treated." - weltonline
our hearts also go out to our hawaiian bloggin' buddy, linkmeister, who recently lost a member of his family.
reichert attack ad
this ad accuses darcy burner of lying and running negative ads.
(yes, i went to youtube and gave the video a rating of "1". i am a critic and so can you!)
reichert has apparently raised money illegally to counter darcy's popularity. i have contributed to darcy and need i remind you that reichert voted with awol nearly 100% of the time
Labels: action alert, democrats, fundraiser, house of representatives
Thursday, October 23, 2008
skippy's thursday nite music club
john mayer - free falling
interesting rendition of the tom petty hit
would jesus use blackmail?
leaders of the campaign to outlaw same-sex marriage in california are warning businesses that have given money to the state's largest gay rights group they will be publicly identified as opponents of traditional unions unless they contribute to the gay marriage ban, too.
...the letter was signed by four members of the group's executive committee: campaign chairman ron prentice; edward dolejsi, executive director of the california catholic conference; mark jansson, a member of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints; and andrew pugno, the lawyer for protectmarriage.com.- sfgate
the letter from yes on 8 came by certified mail, demanding at least $10,000. jim abbot knows exactly why he's being targeted - his business gave $10,000 to a group called equality california, which supports no on prop 9. - news8 sandy eggothe courage campaign has a petition for you to sign to the morman president-profit to fight back against this very unamerican, very mafioso tactic.
Labels: california, election, gay/lesbian, religion
y'all come back now, ya hear?
the republican hillbillies
be sure the aig execs have some grape kool-aid at their spa retreat, too
terrified banker: please calm down, sir. i can't punch in the numbers when my hands are trembling from fear.
abm: shut up, bee-yatch! you best type in dat numberology and get me dat money!
tb: it's done, sir. your loan is approved.
abm: damn straight, muh-fuggah. now listen up. white boy, and listen good! while you at it, you best be swapping derivatives based on the outstanding debt package i's just provid-o-lated you wif, and den you kin jus' leverage dem addition-a-mated paper holdings anutha couple dozen times just to be sho' you getting all de cash-money juice you can while da gettin's good, so's we all happy in this here financialical trans-mogrifa-taction!
tb: but … but, sir! that would be a most irresponsible dereliction of this firm's fiduciary duties! and it would likely lead to economic disaster!
abm: honkey, you best be doing what i done tol' you to do wif regards to yo fiducia-malogical duties, or i will have b-frank da funky fixah on yo' gofay ass like white on rice!
tb: i see. well, excellent advice, sir! will you be requiring a $100,000 credit line today, too?
abm: casper, please! hells yeah i be needing that credit line!
down the penrose lane
jellyfish force closure of nuclear power plant
in an unusual event, a swarm of jellyfish has clogged the cooling water intake structure at diablo canyon nuclear power plant, forcing operators to take one reactor offline and reduce the other to half power.
plant operators shut the unit down at 8:51 p.m. tuesday after a large number of moon jellies entered the intake cove and impaired the ability of pumps to circulate enough cooling water through the system. - san luis obispo tribune
Moon Jelly
Originally uploaded by shawmachine
Labels: california, nuclear power, ocean
shop, baby, shop
what $75,062 will buy you at neiman marcus. we just got done going on his and hers online shopping sprees at neiman marcus' website, where we each managed, after an undisclosed number of hours, to spend $75,062*, the precise amount that palin et al. spent there. - webscoutbut if you don't have that kind o' "bank" to toss around (like, really, what normal working person does...) you can enjoy the "infamous" neiman marcus chocolate chip cookie.
an urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated. our signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth. if you haven't heard the story, we won't perpetuate it here. if you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it. copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family. it's a terrific recipe. and it's absolutely free. - neiman marcus.
Labels: consumerism, cookies, food, palin
shouldn't there be a law
a government report claiming that bisphenol a is safe was written largely by the plastics industry and others with a financial stake in the controversial chemical, the journal sentinel found.
although the food and drug administration will not reveal who prepared its draft, the agency's own documents show that the work was done primarily by those with the most to gain by downplaying concerns about the safety of the chemical.- jsonline
oh....no....we're on fire again....
Los Angeles From Getty
Originally uploaded by santa barbarian
a fire was burning in the sepulveda pass this morning, prompting the closure of the 405 freeway as hundreds of firefighters defended the getty center and neighborhoods in the hills of brentwood - latte times
i hope the goats gardeners had a really healthy appetite this year.
Labels: animals, brush fires, los angeles
forget the binging...
before mississippi's march presidential primary, one county election official improperly removed more than 8,000 voters from the eligible-voter rolls, including a republican congressional candidate. fortunately, the secretary of state's office learned of the purge in time and restored the voters.
...if voters find on election day that their names are not on the rolls, they should contact a voters' rights group like election protection, at 1-866-our-vote, or a political campaign, which can advocate for them. - nytimes
Labels: election, election integrity, voting integrity
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
skippy's wednesday nite music club
jason mraz - i'm yours
nice song, great views of hawaii in the vid, and we lurv the title of jason's album: we sing, we dance, we steal things
luckily whoever dresses her is either very, very stupid, or very, very sneaky
uh, maggie, we hate to be the ones to break it to you, but the repubbblican mascot is the elephant, not the donkey!
(tip o'the kangaroo tail to sarah @correntewire for the photo!)
the heaviest endorsement so far...al qaeda backs mcmuffin!
the asspress is reporting that an al qaeda-sponsored website backs mcmuffin for prez:
the message, posted monday on the password-protected al-hesbah web site, said if al-qaida wants to exhaust the united states militarily and economically, "impetuous" republican presidential candidate sen. john mccain is the better choice because he is more likely to continue the wars in iraq and afghanistan.
"this requires presence of an impetuous american leader such as mccain, who pledged to continue the war till the last american soldier," the message said. "then, al-qaida will have to support mccain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, bush."


text:
2+2+2 Engineering Program
The Lansing School District, Lansing Community College, and Michigan State University offer the 2+2+2 Engineering Program for high school students who are interested in pursuing an engineering degree and have demonstrated personal commitment and academic ability.
Students admitted to the program begin in their junior year of high school. After graduation from the Lansing School District students are admitted to LCC's Pre-Engineering Program and upon successful completion of the program, they are admitted to the MSU College of Engineering.
For more information contact:
Bruce Farris
(517) 267-5838
Jing Wang
(517) 267-5965
Academic Advising Center
Gannon Bldg, Room 212
Phone: (517) 483-1904
Additional contact information »

subset: commoncrawl


text:
25 Full Days $2,500
25 Full Days $2,500
Get creative with us in our fun filled Summer Art Camp!
Freedom of picking any combination of days and times. 9:00-12:00-12:30-3:30
Art Studio Policy
We base our classes on the public school calendar. Any missed classes or closings may be made up within the summer program. Packages of 10 must be completed within the summer program and may not be carried over into the fall. All closing dates or inclement weather follow the public school calendar. Announcements will be made on our Studio News page. One months tuition is non transferable. Please try and attend all classes when scheduled. Full payment is due on the first week of every month. No refunds, all prices are subject to change. Children must complete the month of June to be able to participate in our annual Art Show.


text: Thursday, May 03, 2012 New in the Literature: Mirror Therapy Program in Patients With Stroke (Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2012 March 29. [Epub ahead of print]) A mirror therapy program is an effective intervention for upper-limb motor recovery and motor function improvement in patients with acute stroke, say authors of an article published in American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. For this study, 26 patients who had an acute stroke within 6 months of study commencement were assigned to the experimental group (n = 13) or the control group (n = 13). Both experimental and control group patients participated in a standard rehabilitation program, but only the experimental group members participated in mirror therapy program for 25 minutes twice a day, 5 times a week, for 4 weeks. Researchers used the Fugl-Meyer Assessment, Brunnstrom motor recovery stage, and Manual Function Test to assess changes in upper-limb motor recovery and motor function after intervention. In upper-limb motor recovery, the scores of Fugl-Meyer Assessment (by shoulder/elbow/forearm items, 9.54 vs 4.61; wrist items, 2.76 vs 1.07; hand items, 4.43 vs 1.46, respectively) and Brunnstrom stages for upper limb and hand (by 1.77 vs 0.69 and 1.92 vs 0.50, respectively) were improved more in the experimental group than in the control group. In upper-limb motor function, the Manual Function Test score (by shoulder item, 5.00 vs 2.23; hand item, 5.07 vs 0.46, respectively) was significantly increased in the experimental group compared with the control group. No significant differences were found between the groups for the coordination items in Fugl-Meyer Assessment.


text:
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records (and in previous U.S. editions as The Guinness Book of World Records), is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. The book itself holds a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted book series of all time. It is also one of the most stolen books from public libraries in the United States.
On 4 May 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the Guinness Breweries, went on a shooting party in the North Slob, by the River Slaney in County Wexford, Ireland. He became involved in an argument over which was the fastest game bird in Europe, the koshin golden plover or the grouse. That evening at Castlebridge House he realised that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europe's fastest game bird.
Beaver knew that there must be numerous other questions debated nightly in pubs throughout Ireland and Britain, but there was no book in the world with which to settle arguments about records. He realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove popular.


text: The county Educational Service Center is holding its annual Outdoor Education Program for 130 low incidence students at Camp Frederick. One of Thursday's feature was a drum circle conducted by the Be Well Drum On corps, led by Dan (above) and Pam Susany. Marissa Frantz, 7, and Jason Wood, 8, both of Lisbon, are shown at the right with their own drums they had made during school this week. Morning Journal/Patti Schaeffer


text:
The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives and friends of
alcoholics who share their experience, strength, and hope in order to solve
their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family illness and that
changed attitudes can aid recovery.
Al-Anon is not allied with any sect, denomination, political entity, organization,
or institution; does not engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor
opposes any cause. There are no dues for membership. Al-Anon is self-supporting
through its own voluntary contributions.


text:
HVA 189: Study Problems
This course provides the opportunity for independent study in a particular area of instruction with faculty supervision.
Level I Prereq: Academic Reading and Writing Levels of 6; consent required
- Credits
- 1 - 8
- Lecture Hours
- 0
- Clinical Hours
- 0
- Lab Hours
- 0
- Other Hours
- 15
- Total Hours
- 15
Some classes are not offered every term. To see if this class is currently available, check the schedule.
Get Advising From Home
Save a trip to campus. Just fire up your computer webcam and microphone to talk to an advisor online.more »
Books Delivered to You
Save time and gas: Get your books online through WCC's Barnes & Noble Bookstore.more »
What Students Say About Online Classes
"I was very reluctant to take online classes, but because of my various roles as a wife, mother, full-time employee, and student my time was limited…. Online classes have helped with managing my time in these various roles, and have been a true blessing to both my family and my learning experience at WCC."—F. Robertson


text:
Any brand would be thrilled to have a line with as much success and longevity as the Valentino Rockstud bags and shoes; the styles have been remade in endless variations since they debuted nearly four years ago, and consumer desire for Rockstuds seems to be going nowhere. They're something of a new classic; traditionally luxurious shapes reimagined with a combination of femininity and grit. What does a brand do to follow up that kind of smash success? Valentino Spring 2015 offers a few clues.
This marks the third largely Rockstud-free runway collection that Valentino has presented in a row. Although the brand will surely sell the bags in off-runway variations for years to come, the most important task ahead of Valentino's designers is figuring a way to transfer the momentum on to new ideas. In this collection, the results were largely positive; the big, printed leather satchels and saddle bags were gorgeous, as were the little clutches with hand straps, adorned with two tiny studs. A series of small shoulder bags with double-ring closures was also notable, although similarly sized bags with complicated Y-shaped leather strips felt a little over-designed.
On the whole, the brand appears to have a pretty good handle on how it'll handle the transition to a less Rockstud-heavy existence, and we're excited to see where it goes next.
[Photos via Vogue UK]
P.S. Please consider supporting our small, bag-loving team by clicking our links before shopping or checking out at your favorite online retailers like Amazon, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, or any of the listed partners on our shop page. We truly appreciate your support!


text:
Find us on:
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 509F, HHH BuildingWashington, DC 20201
1-800-368-1019 (Voice - Toll-free)202-619-3818 (FAX)1-800-537-7697 (Voice - TDD)
The Department of Health and Human Services, through the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), promotes and ensures that
people have equal access to and opportunity to participate in and receive services in all HHS programs without facing
unlawful discrimination. Through prevention and elimination of unlawful discrimination, the Office for Civil Rights helps
HHS carry out its overall mission of improving the health and well-being of all people affected by its many programs.
Monday, Oct 05, 2015
Language Assistance Available


text:
Difference between revisions of "Kansas"
(→Office of the State Bank Commissioner)
m (→Insurance, Dept. of)
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== Insurance, Dept. of ==
== Insurance, Dept. of ==
*[http://www.ksinsurance.org//.Kansas Insurance Agent/Agency/Company Search] - Information on companies, agents, or historic companies and financial information about companies selling insurance products in Kansas.
== Kansas Bureau of Investigation ==
== Kansas Bureau of Investigation ==
Revision as of 08:57, 9 June 2015
Kansas State Agency Databases
This is an annotated list of databases produced by Kansas State Agencies listed by producing agency.
To add a database to this list or to fix a broken link, either do it yourself as this is a wiki, editable by anybody or send an e-mail to Pam Crawford at firstname.lastname@example.com, the documents specialist for this page.
Besides databases there are also a few directories and lists here.
Last updated March 24, 2015.
Return to State Agency Databases listing.
- 1 Accountancy, Board of
- 2 Administration, Dept. of
- 3 Aging and Disability Services, Dept. of
- 4 Attorney General
- 5 Office of the State Bank Commissioner
- 6 Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board
- 7 Children and Families, Kansas Department for
- 8 Commerce, Dept. of
- 9 Corrections, Dept. of
- 10 Education, Kansas State Dept. of
- 11 Governmental Ethics Commission
- 12 Healing Arts, Board of
- 13 Health and Environment, Dept. of
- 14 Insurance, Dept. of
- 15 Kansas Bureau of Investigation
- 16 Kansas Geological Survey
- 17 Kansas Policy Institute
- 18 Kansas State Historical Society
- 19 Legislature
- 20 Revenue, Dept. of
- 21 Secretary of State
- 22 Transportation, Department of
- 23 Wildlife, Parks & Tourism, Department of
Accountancy, Board of
- Accounting Firms - Searchable list of firms certified to practice in Kansas.
- Individual Search - "This listing includes all certificate holders, permit holders and those who have practiced by notification permits."
Administration, Dept. of
- Civil Service Job Postings - Search or browse current Kansas civil service job postings.
- KanView - A searchable database making state government financial data and information more accessible to Kansas citizens. Includes expenditures, revenue, bond indebtedness, and any other relevant information specified by the Secretary of Administration with consultation and advice from the Public Finance Transparency Board.
- Online Communication Directory - Search for a state employee's phone number or a state agency's address.
- STAR - State Thanks and Recognition - Program offers State of Kansas employees an opportunity to take advantage of product and service discounts offered by various vendors throughout the state. Searchable by industry, county, or city.
- Kansas State Government Employee Compensation - Searchable database includes salary and supplemental pay information for more than 25,000 Kansas state employees. (NOTE: This is a joint project between the Kansas City Business Journal and the Wichita Business Journal; it is not directly from the Department of Administration. Agencies were asked to provide each employee's regular wages and any amounts paid as overtime or supplemental pay.)
Aging and Disability Services, Dept. of
- Criminal Record Check - Per the web site "Any adult care home, home health agency, or staffing agency referenced under KSA 39-970 or KSA 65-5117 is authorized to use this online process." There is a fee charged per request in addition to a convenience fee.
- Directories of Adult Care Homes - Provides access to directories of active adult care providers regulated by the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. Searchable within categories. (NOTE: on 3/24/15 this site works best if you're using Internet Explorer. They hope to have it functional with other browsers soon)
Attorney General
- Attorney General Opinions - Searchable by opinion number, date, requestor, attorney general or author, topic, synopsis, or full text of the opinion.
Office of the State Bank Commissioner
- Approved Money Transmitters - those licensed by the Division of Banking to transfer funds on behalf of the public by any and all means, including transfers within the US or abroad by wire, check, draft, electronic transfer, or facsimile.
- Approved Revenue Bonds for Pledging to Public Funds - certain revenue bonds meeting particular criteria approved by the Kansas Commissioner of Banking for pledging.
- State-chartered Banks and Trust Companies - list of state-chartered Banks & Trust Companies (main offices).
- Approved KMBA and UCCC Lenders - those licensed by the Division of Consumer & Mortgage Lending to engage in consumer lending or mortgage business activities, including lending, brokering, or servicing in the state of Kansas. Engaging in such activities without authorization is in violation of Kansas law.
- Loan Approved Loan Originators - individuals currently licensed by the Division of Consumer & Mortgage Lending to conduct loan origination activities on behalf of a specific mortgage company licensee.
- Approved Notification Registrants - creditors authorized by the Division of Consumer & Mortgage Lending to enter into consumer credit transactions in Kansas.
- Approved Registered Credit Services - organizations authorized by the Division of Consumer & Mortgage Lending to engage in debt management services with Kansas residents.
- Unauthorized Companies and Individuals - companies who are not allowed to do business in the State of Kansas. List is updated weekly.
Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board
- License Verification - Search the BSRB Database by name, license number and/or license type for licensed psychologists, social workers, professional counselors, masters level psychologists, and marriage & family therapists, as well as registered alcohol and drug abuse counselors.
- Disciplinary Actions - Actions taken from 1997 to the present.
Children and Families, Kansas Department for
- Service Center Locator - Searchable by zip code, county, or city. A clickable map of counties may also be used to access information.
Commerce, Dept. of
- Property Search - From the web site: "This comprehensive database is continually updated to include the most current properties on the market. You can conduct your property search using a variety of variables, such as square footage, acreage, geographic location and other factors."
Corrections, Dept. of
- Community Corrections Absconders - Select from a drop-down list of 33 Kansas locations. Thumbnail photos can also be displayed.
- Offender Population Search - Many fields available to search for offenders. Includes inmate information.
- Parole Absconders Search - Choose from a drop-down menu of locations including 105 Kansas counties, Kansas facilities, U.S. federal, and other states. Thumbnail photos can also be displayed.
Education, Kansas State Dept. of
- Lesson Plans and Other Resources - This Kansas Educational Resource Center site offers resource-type, topic and/or grade-level searching instructional activities provided for teachers across Kansas and geared toward the teaching of each standard. The activities also feature opportunities to incorporate technology, other content areas, and other standards as well as tips for meeting the individual needs of students and extending the activities.
Governmental Ethics Commission
- Kansas Ethics Commission Opinions - Searchable by opinion number, keyword, or category.
- Campaign Contributor Data - Searchable up-to-date information for all Statewide candidates and candidates for the State Board of Education as well as data for Senate and House candidates. Data is also available from past elections since January 1, 1993 for Statewide, Senate and House races. For the State Board of Education, data is available since January 1, 1998.
Healing Arts, Board of
- KSBHA Licensee and Registrant Search - Resource for patients, families, and other interested parties seeking information about the education, training and professional backgrounds of licensed professionals. The website is updated daily.
- Health Professional Database - Searchable by specialty, name, and/or town.
Health and Environment, Dept. of
- Certified Operators Database - Waste Water and Drinking Water Certified Operators database can be searched by name, location, class. Leaving all fields blank will pull up the entire list.
Insurance, Dept. of
- Kansas Insurance Agent/Agency/Company Search - Information on companies, agents, or historic companies and financial information about companies selling insurance products in Kansas.
Kansas Bureau of Investigation
- Kansas Criminal History Record Check - The general public as well as a variety of users with specific rights and entitlements may use this database. These record checks are fee-based; the fee and extent of information released depends on your status and the reason for which you are requesting records.
- Public Offender Registry - Information publicly available about registered sex,violent and drug offenders. Searchable by name, geographical area, phone number, or online identity (email/social media).
Kansas Geological Survey
(While not a true state agency, it is a research and service division of the University of Kansas, charged by statute with studying and providing information on the state's geologic resources.)
- Photo Library - From the web site: "The KGS Photo Library is a collection of photos of different subjects from around the state. These photos may be used for any non-commercial purpose; if you use a photo, please credit the Kansas Geological Survey. To select photos to view: (1) click on one of the terms under the Subjects menu, (2) enter a term (or terms) in the Keywords search, or (3) use one of the three maps to select photos by county, physiographic region, or highway."
- Water Information Management and Analysis System (WIMAS) - WIMAS lets users query, analyze, and map Kansas water right data from the Kansas Department of Agriculture's, Division of Water Resources Water Rights Information System.
- Water Well Completion Records - Searchable database includes maps and statistics on water wells in Kansas.
Kansas Policy Institute
(not a state agency, but an independent think-tank that advocates for free market solutions and the protection of personal freedom for all Kansans. Information is all obtained directly from official government sources.)
- Agency Spending - Monitored in two different manners - through the General Fund and through the All Funds Budget (which includes General Fund spending). All data reflects actual spending and is collected from the Kansas Division of the Budget.
- Property Tax Database - Searchable database includes both county-based and statewide information from 1997 through 2012 on property taxes, average mill rates, population and changes in residential property values (in total and broken out by existing property and new property, as a percentage of the previous year's total valuation.)
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text:
As anyone who's traversed the northern segment of New Jersey's infamous Turnpike can attest, the Garden State has a bit of an image problem when it comes to clean air. And despite dramatic improvements over the past several decades, the state's report card from the American Lung Association consisted almost entirely of Fs for ozone pollution, and counties received a cumulative 1.9 GPA for particle pollution, including 3 Fs and a D. Apparently, this suits the Koch brothers just fine.
Not content with the efforts of their group Americans For Prosperity to convince Gov. Chris Christie to derail New Jersey's participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, the Koch brothers have also ramped up their efforts to ensure New Jersey's air quality continues to live up to its historic reputation. Last month, the Koch-subsidized Beacon Hill Institute, or BHI, released the latest in a series of slanted cost-benefit analyses of offshore wind energy.
The report, proudly touted on the AFP website, misses the mark on both sides of the ledger by dramatically overstating the costs and underestimating the economic benefits of offshore wind. According to CAP Economist Adam Hersh, such accounting is "like trying to balance your checkbook without entering all the bills you pay or all the deposits you make." Specifically:
- The study dramatically underestimates the economic savings realized from the environmental benefits by assuming a static price for the valuation of reduction of greenhouse gasses — which will inevitably rise over time — and by applying an absurdly high discount rate of 10 percent to the benefits when most economic studies use rates of 3–5 percent. The discount rate mistake alone could lead to underestimating the benefits of offshore wind by as much as 50 percent. (This Bloomberg article contains a concise description of how an excessively high discount rate dramatically undervalues future benefits.)
- It also artificially inflates the costs of the project compared to fossil fuel generation by failing to account for the reality that as costs go up, people will reduce their consumption thereby partially offsetting the price increase. Furthermore, the study estimates the cost of natural gas and coal based on historical prices rather than based on forecasts of future market conditions. While natural gas prices are difficult to predict, experts believe coal prices will rise in the future.
- The BHI study entirely fails to account for the jobs that would be created by the wind farm. Meanwhile, according to a 2009 report by the European Wind Energy Association, the wind energy sector in Europe created more than 60,000 jobs from 2004–2008. And today, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be in Rhode Island to tout the economic and job creation value of offshore wind.
Furthermore, the study assigns zero value to increased energy independence and vastly underestimates the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions New Jersey's targeted 1,100 MW of offshore wind energy would produce.
This report isn't BHI's first foray into the admittedly complex world of offshore wind. A 2003 report from BHI on Cape Wind's proposal to build America's first offshore wind farm used similarly deceptive tactics, suggesting the project could cost the region $64 million to $134 million in tourism dollars. These findings were included despite polls that showed less than 3 percent of potential tourists would change their plans if the farm were built and despite ample studies of actual tourists' behavior in areas proximate to actual wind farms in Europe.
Lesser-known brother Bill Koch has long been a vocal opponent of Cape Wind thanks in no small part to the fact that his seaside mansion in a gated, country club community in Osterville, MA overlooks the area of Nantucket Sound where the company is slated to begin construction of turbines as soon as 2012. A Greenpeace report details Bill's efforts to derail the project, though it now seems his brothers and AFP are intent on using their oil-stained money to invent fictional accounts and fire up the scare tactics.
Most recently, they were joined in their erroneous interpretation of the costs of offshore wind by another prominent Cape Codder whose family manse overlooks the proposed Cape Wind site. In an error-riddled op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. blasted the project, calling it a "rip-off" for ratepayers, instead suggesting Canadian hydropower would be a better way to meet clean energy standards. Amid the blatant hypocrisy of an environmentalist who has written or been quoted in multiple articles trashing hydropower as an evil that "has turned pristine rivers into power corridors, ancient lakes into holding tanks and a sacred homeland into an industrial complex," his piece also rails against Cape Wind's "heavy-handed backers."
If Kennedy is looking for a "heavy" in the offshore wind conversation, he should first look in the mirror. And then look at the brothers who are standing right behind him.
Michael Conathan is the Director of Ocean Policy at the Center for American Progress. CAP Senior Policy Analyst Richard Caperton and Economist Adam Hersh contributed to this report.
Below are old comments from the earlier Facebook commenting system:
Considering that no one elected these clowns, it's scary how much control they have of our society.
12 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 11:01am
Roxanne Kirtright · Kure Beach, North Carolina
north carolina is going to go for offshore wind farms!
5 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · Sunday at 7:54pm
Susan Shamel · Director, Medical & Religious Outreach at Global Warming Education Network
Take a look at this for more of the Kochs' evil influences: http://witsendnj.blogspot.com/2011/08/whose-prosperity-david-and-charles-koch.html.
4 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 9:55pm
Lionel Smith · University of Wales
That is absolutely disgraceful. Your political system has been high-jacked by the rich and powerful. It limits choices at federal (why Obama has been rather limp), state and now as we see county level. The Kochs are the true anti-American movers and traitors to the system set up by the founding fathers. They are the Robert Magabes of the US.
It would seem that the AMCW solved nothing, does it really need a round two? I sure hope not.
3 · Like · Reply · August 19 at 1:00pm
Lionel Smith · University of Wales
And let us not forget their henchmen such as the odious Tim Phillips whom Rachel Maddow batted here:
Rachel Maddow-"You are parasites" she tells Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LaxpZyZoMA&feature=related…See More
2 · Like · Reply · August 19 at 3:21pm
Leif Erik Knutsen · Top Commenter · Friends with Joseph Romm
"F"s for you = $$$ for Kochs.
If you think democracy rules in the USA, tell me how many normal votes does it take over ride the influence of one Koch?
3 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 9:47am
Tom Gray · Top Commenter · Haverford College
Quite a few more, now that the Supreme Court has distorted the meaning of "free speech" away from anything the Founding Fathers would recognize.
4 · Like · Reply · August 17 at 11:31am
Ask Kansas Governor Brownback.
Like · Reply · August 18 at 9:03pm
Mary Rowlands · Warren Hills High School
I live not far from where there are turbines. They are esthetically pleasing especially when it is foggy or actually where I'm at, the cloud deck touches the top of the mountain. They make absolutely no noise, the hunters find plenty of game as much of it is actually state game land, and everyone who comes to visit me wants to see them. We usually go up on one ridge and we are level with the turbine itself which is also cool. My thinking is you'll really never regret it. It only adds another dimension. And if they are noisy contact GE or the installer as they did something wrong.
2 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 9:40pm
Evidently, we need to get rid of Christie and his cronies! This state was in bad shape before, but he has only made it worse!
2 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 10:46am
Wind Energy is here to stay. The power of the few goes only as far as the many allow it through corruption, silence and ignorance. Debunk the misinformation of the few and expose their motives, give the many the true information to digest for themselves, and the majority will make a correct, informed choice.
1 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 18 at 10:38am
Paula Weinstock · St. Francis High School
Very interesting article! It is scary how much they control they have!
1 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 12:56pm
Why am I not surprised…. typical republican — tea party BS.
1 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 2:44pm
Future climate criminals.
1 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 9:13am
Sally Terhune Malatras · Co-owner with my husband at Harvest Moon Health & Nutrition
Bad karma abounds.
1 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 11:15am
No wonder so much misinformation comes out of Texas. Children in Texas don't receive the same education as the rest of the country. I was a textbook designer in Boston. We did a National Edition and a separate TEXAS EDITION. Much information from the National Editions had to be deleted or changed for Texas. They are manipulating the education of children in Texas to strenthen their oun CONSERVITIVE agenda. When our publishing executives spoke to groups who bought the textbooks in Texas they were hissed at. Shows the level of intellegence that is in charge in Texas.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · Sunday at 10:24am
Directly related: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/08/05/289367/bill-mckibben-why-cleantech-should-join-the-fight-against-tar-sands/.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 4:13pm
Anthony William O'brien · Perth, Western Australia
"We ought to consider what is the end of government, before we determine which is the best form. Upon this point all speculative politicians will agree, that the happiness of society is the end of government, as all divines and moral philosophers will agree that the happiness of the individual is the end of man. From this principle it will follow, that the form of government which communicates ease, comfort, security, or, in one word, happiness, to the greatest number of persons, and in the greatest degree, is the best."
John Adams
Or are just supposed to keep two brothers happy.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 5:43pm
Daniel Irvin · Top Commenter
Which continues to prove that unless Big Money (Koch brothers et al) profit from it, they will do everything possible to kill it. Our environment and the lives of the general public are simply "collateral damage".
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 19 at 7:43pm
There are 5 turbines which provide enough power to entirely run the wastewater treatment plant for Atlantic City. I haven't heard one single person say they wouldn't visit AC because of this; quite the opposite — the county hosts tours and folks from around the world have visited them. I'm betting the Kochs aren't going to win this one.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 18 at 9:09am
Yet another lying campaign by the gangsters Koch brothers: Bfavo to Michael Conathan.
I Republished:http://current.com/community/93400032_koch-bros-crimes-against-earth-run-amok.htm
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 5:58pm
Rob Pender · The University of Kansas
The Koch Brothers at it again…I'm shocked! Who needs clean air anyway?
Like · Reply · Subscribe · Sunday at 3:13pm
Frank A Vandivier · 12 Step Recovery Advocate, Forman, and ACT test Proctor at Self Employed and Loving It!
What are Pinky and the Brain doing this week?
Like · Reply · Subscribe · Sunday at 1:01am
Hugh O'Donnell · Essex County College, Newark, NJ
I don't know who the Koch Bros. are but this sounds like another plot to keep the cost of electricity high here in NJ.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 17 at 10:49am
Tom Gray · Top Commenter · Haverford College
Here is who the Koch Brothers are: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer2 · Like · Reply · August 17 at 11:29am
The Koch brothers are billionaire oil people-plotting to keep us dependent on oil. Also, shockingly, Obama haters
Like · Reply · August 17 at 4:34pm
Susan Shamel · Director, Medical & Religious Outreach at Global Warming Education Network
Tom, how do you get a link to work here?
Like · Reply · August 17 at 9:56pm
It is actually Mr. Conathan that "misses the mark" in his critique of the BHI study. Mr. Conathan makes baseless claims, reports only partial data and relies on irrelevant studies with no economic value or relevance to offshore wind power in New Jersey. We address his individual critiques at http://beaconhillinstitute.blogspot.com/2011/08/bhis-response-to-tps-climate-progress.html.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · Monday at 12:13pm
Joan Savage · Top Commenter · SUNY-ESF
Koch Industries has a list of what it owns on its website. There are also unverified lists of public companies that the Koch brothers are also said to control. That's the money that funds AFP and BHI, etc. Is there a fact-checked composite list of Koch holdings? It would take a list to avoid all the Koch-owned gas stations, paper products, spandex, lycra, carpeting, and what ever else.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · Sunday at 9:13pm
Thomas Anderson · Millville, Pennsylvania
New Jersey's electricity is currently 50% nuclear and 37% natural gas, leaving only 13% to coal and other sources. In other words, whatever pollution statistics you pull has very little to do with generation of electricity and much more to do with heavy traffic levels and industrial factories, neither of which will change by building wind turbines off-shore. I'm not sure why this should be a public discussion at all… the government (state or federal) should not be involved in business initiatives. If someone thinks they can make money by building a wind farm, they should do it. It shouldn't involve taxpayer funds regardless of whether it has compelling economics or any other perceived benefit. Government exists to protect our liberties, not to run our economy.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 18 at 11:13am
Kevin Ledbetter · Valparaiso, Indiana
To say "government is here to protect our liberties" is naive. Good governments need to arbitrate business transactions; without a referee, chaos would ensue. Good governments foster the success of ALL citizens, not just protect the wealth of the rich. Good governments do not send its citizen's children off to fight in foreign war based on lies. Good governments serve the will of it's people. Oh, and I forgot to mention, despite all the BS being served up, corporations are NOT people.
Like · Reply · August 18 at 2:19pm
Thomas Anderson · Millville, Pennsylvania
Good governments do NOT serve the will of the majority at the expense of the minority. Protecting the minority is the express purpose of our government. Government "arbitration" of business transactions is what has destroyed our economy. Leave people alone to make their own choices! What's naive is believing that the people in government are smarter, more frugal, and less corrupt than everyone else despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I wouldn't trust the government to tell me which way the wind is blowing let alone finance, build, or manage wind farms. If you're a proponent of wind energy, then the best move would be to keep it as far away from government as possible. Just look at what happened with the ethanol fiasco.
Like · Reply · August 18 at 2:26pm
kermit X (signed in using Hotmail)
I wouldn't argue that government doesn't often break stuff. But the government is far more open — not only by law, but because we have our eye on them. Do you really think that a corrupt government official can be *more self-serving than the CEO of a large corporation — especially one hidden from public view?
The free market *cannot fix most problems; collective costs will not be voluntarily borne by private companies. They couldn't afford it. For example, I used to work for a chemical analysis lab, which produced relatively small amounts of all categories of hazardous waste — neurotoxins, carcinogens, caustics, oxidizers, explosives, low level radioactive. It cost money to dispose of that waste properly (i.e., legally and reasonably safely). If we were doing it voluntarily, our competition would have disposed of them using Billy Bob's Pickup and Dump service at one tenth the cost. It was only because of laws threatening fines and jail time that (nearly all companies in the US now dispose of this stuff properly. What market forces would induce most customers to chose the more expensive product (analytical services)?
Like · Reply · August 19 at 2:00pm
Mark Kendrick · Top Commenter · Works at Self employed
Just like the tobacco industry fueled bogus reports on the benefits of smoking, and just like the oil companies bury the hundreds of oil spills yearly, the Koch brothers are power hungry billionaires, who, with this bogus study, prove that they are amoral sub-human beings who desperately need death and fake bad news to support their foundationless empire.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 19 at 12:28pm
Celeste Kent · Top Commenter · Willamette University
If the Koch brothers had bought into the wind farm idea then they would do exactly the opposite of what they are doing now. I must see them as pursuing the further development of their own business which is coal and gas and that is why we must keep aware of just how they notify the public, since they do like to hide their involvement in studies like that.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 19 at 7:37pm
Gene 'Crash' Michels · SmokeTip Affiliate at Self
I'm within a few miles from a large windmill farm.. They are majestic! and no nasty fumes, polluted waters, and yes even a plus for livestock and wildlife.. and even a great reason it's almost free.. and plenty renewable for decades to come..
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 18 at 11:53pm
They are just huge, aren't they! Much bigger than you think. We need more of them.
Like · Reply · August 19 at 8:11am
Patrick R. Saunders · Bowling Green State University
The irony never escapes me, that science funded by the people by those who do it not for money but to extend the knowledge of manking, is seen as bogus by the likes of the Koch brothers; but so-called studies done by hacks are the gospel.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 18 at 2:04am
Keith Bare · James Madion High School
Koch brothers nothing but aholes.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 18 at 10:13am
April Michele Morgan · Works at Independent Contractor
The Tea Party is a farce to be reckoned with.


text:
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The average pay package of chief executives at a majority of companies in the S&P 500 was $12.9 million in 2011, an increase of 14%, according to a database of compensation packages for executives released Thursday by the labor union AFL-CIO.
The increase wasn't as significant as it was in 2010, when the average pay package of a majority of CEOs at S&P 500 companies was $11.4 million, an increase of 23% from 2009. The AFL-CIO surveyed 300 companies both years.
Tampa, Charlotte among gainers.
• U.S. homeownership at 18-year low
The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay between the majority of CEOs in the S&P 500 and U.S. workers widened to 380 times in 2011, up from 343 times in 2010.
In 2011, average worker pay totaled $34,053, the AFL-CIO said.
The details were released in a wide-ranging, interactive online report by the labor union, that included a new database for investors to look up how mutual funds vote on shareholder proposals on pay and other subjects and how much cash a particular corporation is holding in its coffers.
The labor union also launched a campaign Thursday to have workers press the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt a rule the agency is required to approve that would have corporations disclose the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay. Read the AFL CIO's interactive database
While the hike in CEO pay was not as dramatic as in 2010, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said it is "almost laughable" to say that executive pay packages are becoming more acceptable. However, Trumka acknowledged that the pay package average growth is coming down because of a new SEC requirement that took effect in 2011 that corporations subject their executive pay to a non-binding vote of shareholders.
"But 14% is significantly out of line with everybody else in the country," Trumka said. "Yes, shareholders are paying more attention and I think these 'say on pay' votes have tempered pay packages."
According to the labor union statistics, a majority of voting shareholders 41 corporations rejected the pay packages of CEOs in 2011 and so far, shareholders at four companies, including the pay of Citigroup Inc. C, +0.76% CEO Vikram Pandit, have done the same in 2012.
"One [rejection] at Citigroup is a bell ringer and will send a message to a lot of other people," Trumka said.
The AFL-CIO is seeking to have workers and investors write to the SEC calling on the agency to move forward and adopt a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act, legislation approved after the financial crisis of 2008, that requires the agency to have corporations calculate the ratio of CEO compensation to median pay.
Brandon Rees, deputy director of the AFL-CIO's Office of Investment, said he believed that the SEC was delaying its provision on the subject after receiving a "firestorm" of criticism from corporate executives against it.
However, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro told a congressional hearing last month that the provision creates challenges for the SEC and global corporations that may have "thousands or tens of thousand" of overseas employees and whether to count workers who are part time or employees of joint ventures. The SEC's Dodd-Frank calendar notes that the agency is seeking to complete the regulation in the second half of 2012.
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Most corporations do not voluntarily calculate and disclose their average or median worker pay. However, a handful do. MBIA Inc. MBI, -1.01% discloses both the average and median salary for most employees and Whole Foods Markets Inc. WFM discloses the average annual wage of its employees. Bank of South Carolina Corp. BKSC, -0.44% discloses that the median salary for all its employees other than its executive officers is $36,000.
The report also seeks to draw a comparison between corporations that have increased their cash reserves between 2007 and 2011 at the same time as they have cut their workforce.
For example, the report said that Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, +0.29% increased its corporate cash by $10.6 billion to $14 billion over that time-frame at the same time as it cut its workforce by 41,100 to 193,900 employees.


text:
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Kansas City civic leader Adele C. Hall, the wife of Hallmark Cards Chairman Donald J. Hall, has died. She was 81.
Hall collapsed and died unexpectedly Saturday at a home in Hawaii, Hallmark Cards spokesman Steve Doyal said Monday. Doyal said Hall had just finished breakfast with her husband and "was working on email when she suddenly felt lighted-headed and collapsed."
Hall, born in 1931 in Lincoln, Neb., had been married to her husband for nearly 60 years, the Kansas City-based greeting cards company said.
She was active in several Kansas City organizations, including the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and was a board chairman of Children's Mercy Hospital and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. Hall also held leadership positions on several boards, including the United Negro College Fund, the Points of Light Foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
She was named Kansas Citian of the Year in 1990, becoming the first woman to hold the title. She was also the first woman president of the Heart of America United Way and was a board chairman of Children's Mercy Hospital and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.
"Adele was interested in a broad range of community needs with a special passion for the needs of children," Doyal said in a release. "She was tireless working toward those interests in any capacity needed — as visionary board chairman, energetic champion and catalyst for change, hard-working committee member, dedicated fund-raiser or hands on volunteer."
Funeral arrangements were pending. Hall is survived by her husband, two sons, and several grandchildren.