POWER POLITICS

Next Tuesday, Springfield voters will take their second crack at a plan to build a coal-fired energy plant. City Utilities failed to pass a similar plan in August 2004.

Ozarks bloggers (would the local comunity be called the Blozarks?) are starting to take sides in the debate. Andy @ Rhetorica says he's voting "no" because:

... efficiency and cost are certainly not the only (or the most important) considerations, although that's the way this issue has been played ...

We in the Ozarks have far too much invested in our streams and lakes to allow them to be fouled by coal.

Michael Soetaert at Holy Grail Press is another naysayer:

The reason I will vote no is precisely because there is no long term plan.

Whereas there is talk about solar and wind farms, along with other futuristic energy sources, they are not practical yet, and may never be. However, they will never exist as long as there is a cheap alternative. And that's what it's all about. Coal is cheap.

Vote NO. Not for cheap energy, but for City Utilities' having no real plan for the future. Vote NO for a bandaid that only masks the real problem: The need for clean, safe, renewable energy. The need for a real plan for the future.

Holy nonsense, Holy Grail! The ones without a plan are the people who say CU is gaming the entire issue, coal is dirty, conservation will solve the problem, let's do anything but build a coal-fired energy plant.

Michael Soetaert, Andy Cline, Donna Bergen -- and others who wave the environmental banner -- need to answer a few questions. Starting with this one: How many of you are putting your money where your mouth is, and signing up for wind-generated electricity offered by City Utilities?

Yes, it costs more. But that seems to be what Soetaert advocates -- clean energy that gets us off the cheap coal teat. Funny that only a couple hundred CU customers (out of 110,000) take advantage of the program.

We're voting "yes" on Tuesday. Not because we want more pollution, but because we believe in the art of the possible, and we like CU's rates. And, frankly, we're voting "yes" because we're sick of the hypocrisy of so-called "progressives" on the energy issue.

They complain about pollution from coal while driving to the corner grocery. They dismiss nuclear power as too dangerous to consider. They say they want wind power, but they don't buy it when it's available, and they'd probably bitch about aesthetic blight if someone proposed erecting a local wind farm.

NEW DIRECTOR FOR GREENE COUNTY DEMS?

Now that Nora Walcott has stepped down as executive director of the Greene County Democrats, talk of her replacement is making rounds with party insiders.

Walcott managed the 2004 campaign of Sara Lampe, now running for reelection in the Missouri House of Representatives. Two years ago, Lampe whipped up on a Democratic challenger named Matthew Patterson.

So who's the rumored front-runner for Walcott's old job? None other than Matthew Patterson. He's far from a consensus candidate, and several people say party leaders haven't decided how to structure the executive director's job. But his name's the strongest one in the pipeline.

Speaking of politics: David Catanese has a couple new posts up at the KY-3 political blog about the failure of Democrats to field a strong challenger against Rep. Roy Blunt, and the need for Democrats to challenge Republicans in all races. Worth your reading time.

EIGHT TROOPS TO FACE MURDER CHARGES

Breaking this Thursday evening on MSNBC. The latest:

Military prosecutors plan to file murder, kidnapping and conspiracy charges against seven Marines and a Navy corpsman in the shooting death of an Iraqi civilian in April, a defense lawyer said Thursday.

The eight men are being held in the brig at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base north of San Diego, said Jeremiah Sullivan III, who represents one of the men.

The men served in Iraq with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, and are members of the battalion's Kilo Company. The highest-ranking serviceman is a staff sergeant.

Not about Haditha.

ROLLING STONE: WAS 2004 ELECTION STOLEN?

The article is by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Using impressive sourcing, Kennedy trots out significant evidence of voting irregularities in Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and several other states. Especially Ohio. Check out this quote from the story:

"Ohio was as dirty an election as America has ever seen," Lou Harris, the father of modern political polling, told me. "You look at the turnout and votes in individual precincts, compared to the historic patterns in those counties, and you can tell where the discrepancies are. They stand out like a sore thumb."

GOP partisans will likely claim none of this matters. They're wrong.

LOCALS FAIL TO GRAB U.S. ATTY SLOT

The Source, a right-leaning political blog, reports Thursday that a cousin of Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) will become the next U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

According to The Source:

The process of nomination to the position of U.S. Attorney is not very complicated. Typically the state’s senior Senator submits a nomination to the White House for approval. If there is no Republican senior Senator then that state’s Congressional delegation meets and submits a nomination. The nomination of the senior Senator/Congressional delegation is typically, after background checks and thorough legal review, submitted by the White House to the U.S. Senate for confirmation. This process of nomination is tradition and for the first time since Kit Bond has been a Senator, the path has deviated.

For the first time the senior Senator submitted a slate of nominees. On that slate were State Representative Bryan Stevenson (R-Webb City), attorney John Applequist, and Judge Jay Dougherty. Missing from that slate was John Wood. For the first time in Bond’s time as the senior Senator, the Department of Justice submitted a "special" nomination. Who was that nominee? You guessed right, it was none other than the senior Senator’s cousin, John Wood.

Wood is also chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Security.

Applequist has been a good soldier for the GOP. Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore -- another loyal Republican -- wanted the job, too. But what's loyalty when blood is involved?

HARPOOL TO BLUNT: VETO CAMPAIGN-FINANCE BILL

Doug Harpool, the candidate for state senate, called on Gov. Matt Blunt to veto a bill that lifts the limit on campaign contributions in Missouri.

In a Wednesday letter to Blunt, Harpool called the bill an "unparalleled retreat in the battle for government integrity" and added:

"The stench of improper relationships between lobbyists, elected officials and campaign consultants will be made even more sickening if limits on campaign contributions are lifted."

Blunt is expected to sign the bill into law, setting up a guaranteed court challenge from those who believe politics shouldn't be a free-for-all money grab.

CHAMPION AND THE CHIEF

All About Norma, the blog devoted to the political doings of state Sen. Norma Champion examines the startling chasm between Champion's salary and how much she pays one member of her staff.

Here's what makes it so delicious. Champion receives an annual salary of $31,351 as state senator. You won't believe how much she doles out to her chief of staff. With your tax dollars.

GET YOUR VODKA SNO-CONES HERE

The news gods -- the quirky ones -- are smiling on Goshen, Ind., where cops say the driver of an ice-cream truck had an empty bottle of vodka between the seats and a snoot full of the stuff in his system. The Associated Press says:

Goshen Police Patrolman Jared Baer spotted the yellow-and-white van in a subdivision, after several motorists called Saturday to report the swerving vehicle in the city about 25 miles southeast of South Bend, police said.

The van was stopped, and the driver was selling ice cream to children, so Baer waited until Dennis D. Cogburn, 51, of Bowie, Texas, started up again.

Baer said he followed the van and pulled it over after Cogburn failed to signal turns and swerved into the wrong lane.

Cogburn failed field sobriety tests and was arrested on a preliminary charge of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Cogburn reported having chest pains, so he was taken to a hospital, where a test showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.24 percent, three times the state's legal level to drive a car.

Baer impounded the ice cream van and found the nearly empty bottle of vodka, he reported.

Cogburn told police he's staying in a South Bend motel, working for the ice cream company, but planned to move back to Texas soon.

If only he had gone the Cheech & Chong route.

TIME CAPSULE GOES MISSING

Chatsworth High School, 1976: It sounded like a really cool idea to deep-six a time capsule with cornball stuff from the bicentennial year.

But after an hour in the sun this week, watching a gardener dig holes in the school lawn, the question among alums is: Now, where did we put that time capsule? The Associated Press reports:

The capsule -- a three-foot length of plastic pipe -- was said to contain sheet music, American bicentennial commemorative tassel, mood ring and Pet Rock.

None of the alumni were present for its burial three decades ago and relied on rumors about its location.

They intend to keep looking.

"We'll do some more research and get to the bottom of this," Renee Serkin-Leshner, 47, said.

John Deary, 18, a member of the Class of 2006, had a possible explanation.

"Maybe it wasn't as good of a secret as they thought," he said. "Maybe someone else came and dug it up."

Or maybe they were high when they buried it.

TALENT'S BALLROOMS

Sen. Jim Talent finally gets around to his reelection campaign this week. The Republican politician makes his first announcement at 8:30 a.m. Friday -- not in St. Louis, but in Springfield, land of the governor's crib. The obvious suck-up escapes no one.

KYTV's political blog has the sked:

Friday June 2
8:30 am Springfield
11:00 am Joplin
1:30 pm Kansas City
4:30 pm Columbia

Saturday June 3
9:00 am St. Louis
11:15 am Cape Girardeau
2:30 pm St. Joseph
6:00 pm Hannibal

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in its political blog, notes that "Talent’s events are primarily slated to be held in hotel ballrooms." Talent keeps out the riff-raff (and probable protestors) while tossing a bone to his business-loving base. Smart politics, stupid strategy.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY

Last day of May, all that. It's supposed to rain in southwest Missouri, but that's what they said on Tuesday.

But hey, whee, it's a good day -- rich in history, bright in promise. They hanged Eichmann on this day in 1962, and then they burned his body in a specially built oven and tossed the ashes in international waters. Quite fitting.

Also on this day, it's happy 10th anniversary, dead Timothy Leary. Outside, yes, but looking in? No no no no.

And Tulsa, the city in the land that's allegedly grand, marks the 85th anniversary of a pesky little race riot that left several hundred dead. Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!

GOING OUT WITH A BANG

The explosion cracked the air around Carlisle's crematorium, in north Cumbria, England.

The reason? Probably a pacemaker left inside a body. The News & Star explains:

No-one was hurt in the incident and there was no disruption to funeral services or cremations.

The crematorium, in Dalston Road, is operated by the city council’s bereavement services department. A council spokesperson said: "There was a minor explosion within the crematorium’s cremator yesterday afternoon.

"The machinery continued to operate normally and there was no lasting damage.

"Staff members overseeing the machinery were unharmed and are investigating the possible cause.

"Cremations continued as planned and there were no disruptions to services."

It is understood that prior to cremations, it is the responsibility of the family and funeral director to ensure that nothing is within a coffin which may cause an explosion.

In this instance, it is believed the go-ahead for the cremation had been given by two doctors.

Pacemakers should be removed before cremation.

Clearly.

FOR REPORTERS, IRAQ WAR DEADLIEST IN HISTORY

Editor & Publisher has the story:

The deaths of two CBS journalists on Monday means the Iraq conflict is now the deadliest war for reporters in this century.

Since 2003, 71 journalists have been killed in Iraq, more than the 63 killed in Vietnam, 17 killed in Korea -- and now the 69 killed in World War II, according to Freedom Forum.

The Iraq numbers do not include the 26 members of media support staff who have also died, as counted by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Nor do they include the 42 journailsts kidnapped since the war began.

Damned media. Why can't they report the good news in Iraq?

SCOTUS: NO ABSOLUTE RIGHT FOR WHISTLEBLOWERS

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that government employees do not have pure First Amendment protection when it comes to blowing the whistle against alleged misconduct.

The Associated Press reports:

By a 5-4 vote, justices said the nation's 20 million public employees do not have carte blanche free speech rights to disclose government's inner-workings. New Justice Samuel Alito cast the tie-breaking vote.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the court's majority, said the First Amendment does not protect "every statement a public employee makes in the course of doing his or her job."

The decision came after the case was argued twice this term, once before Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired in January, and again after her successor, Alito, joined the bench.

The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by a Los Angeles prosecutor, who said he was demoted for exposing a deputy's lie on a search warrant application.

SNOW OUT

Not Tony -- not yet -- but John Snow, the treasury secretary. His resignation was announced early Tuesday. His replacement, according to The Associated Press, is Goldman Sachs Chairman Henry M. Paulson Jr.

Other Tuesday news:

•A three-armed baby in Shanghai may have surgery, depriving the world of a helluva juggling act. The boy, Jie-Jie, also has but one kidney.

•If it's a dog's life, it must suck. In New York, a five-month-old cockapoo died after its owner left it in the car while she went to catch a movie. Laurie Balcerak, 49, of Hemlock, N.Y., is the selfish suspect. Cops say a truck driver heard the dog barking and called 911. But the temperature was 92 degrees on Monday. We can only hope that Balcerak isn't a mom.

GET INVOLVED. CLICK IT.

To the right you'll find a link from Click&Pledge, a company that gives candidates the opportunity to raise money online.

CHATTER's candidate of choice this season is Doug Harpool, the former state representative running for senate. He's one of those guys who genuinely believes public service is a good thing to do. He also vows to restore solid ethics to Jefferson City, and if anyone can do it, it's Harpool; when he was a state rep in the 1980s and early '90s, his legislation created the Missouri Ethics Commission.

So click the link to the right, or this text link, and flip some bucks into the campaign. As an individual you can donate up to $650 to Harpool's campaign. Any amount will be appreciated.

If you're a blogger and you want to spread the word, dash us an e-mail and we'll share the code with you, so you can add a Donate to Harpool link to your site.

PROOF THAT GOD LOVES BASEBALL

Barry Bonds hit his 715th home run over the weekend. The Associated Press reports on how the moment played on radio:

The broadcast went dead at the worst of all moments, and thousands of Bay Area fans listening on radio missed Barry Bonds' 715th homer.

They could not hear the radio account Sunday because the microphone of play-by-play announcer Dave Flemming stopped working at precisely the wrong time.

Flemming had begun the call at the beginning of Bonds' fourth-inning at-bat before his hand-held mike quit during the broadcast on the Giants' flagship station, KNBR.

"Three-and-two. Finley runs. The payoff pitch, a swing and a drive to deep cen ..." -- that's all Northern California listeners got when Bonds passed Babe Ruth to move into second place on the career homers list.

Flemming, the broadcaster, was able to crack wise about the glitch: "If you only heard the rest of the call. It was an unbelievable call. Too bad we don't have the proof."

BIZ JOURNAL TOUTS HARPOOL-CHAMPION RACE

The St. Louis Business Journal is the latest Missouri publication to pick up on the fact that the state senate race between Norma Champion and Doug Harpool will be a corker.

From the Journal:

Across the state, Democrats are penciling in Wes Shoemyer to win the 18th district, the northeast corner of Missouri. A former state representative who's being term-limited out, he's in a heavy fund-raising battle with Republican Bob Behnen. Finally, Doug Harpool in the 30th district, running against Norma Champion in Springfield, [Matt] Blunt's back yard, is considered a possible pick-up.

The story goes on to note the difficulties facing Democrats -- the state senate is ruled 23-9 by the GOP -- but notes the erosion of Republican support across Missouri.

The 30th District seat was the most competitive state senate race in Missouri in 2002. There is every reason to believe it will be just as tight this year.

PAUL GLEASON, 67

Who?

The principal in "The Breakfast Club." This guy.

The Associated Press reports:

Gleason died at a local hospital Saturday of mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer linked to asbestos, said his wife, Susan Gleason.

"Whenever you were with Paul, there was never a dull moment," his wife said. "He was awesome."

A native of Miami, Gleason was an avid athlete. Before becoming an actor, he played Triple-A minor league baseball for a handful of clubs in the late 1950s.

Gleason honed his acting skills with his mentor Lee Strasberg, whom he studied with at the Actors Studio beginning in the mid-1960s, family members said.

Through his career, Gleason appeared in over 60 movies that included "Die Hard," "Johnny Be Good," and "National Lampoon's Van Wilder." Most recently, Gleason made a handful of television appearances in hit shows such as "Friends" and "Seinfeld."

Gleason's passions went beyond acting. He had recently published a book of poetry.

Don't you forget about him.

THE POLITICAL PLACE TO BE

In this local corner of Blogworld, at least. KYTV reporter David Catanese has launched a blog, just in time for the horse races to begin. Click here to get there; we've also included it in our CHATTERWORTHY blogroll, at right.

RAFTING THE WAL-MART WAY

Three men, a case of beer and a raft bought at Wal-Mart.

Versus Class III rapids on the upper Colorado River between Radium and Rancho Del Rio.

Dudes win. Barely. The Associated Press reports:

One man, Thomas Williams, nearly drowned when the raft overturned last Sunday. He was rescued by a nearby rafting guide.

"I was under for so long I just blacked out," Williams told the Vail Daily. "I didn't realize I was being dragged along by the river."

Class III rapids, on a scale of 1 to 6, include a large continuous set of waves with small drops, ledges or waterfalls. Scouting is suggested for all but the most experienced rafter.

Williams described the trio's attempt without proper equipment or lifejackets as simple "stupidity."

His two friends managed to swim to shore, but not before they suffered scrapes from the knees down and were stripped of most of their clothes.

Williams suffered a hairline fracture on his ankle.

The adventure is nothing new to Williams, who said he also seeks thrills skateboarding, snowboarding and bungee jumping. "If I didn't do that stuff I'd be a lazy couch potato," he said.

One day these guys will win Darwin Awards.

PRUDES ON PARADE

Ben Kessler graduated from St. Thomas University in Minnesota. The 21-year-old man was the student speaker, and he used the occasion to say that women who use birth control are "selfish." He didn't condemn condoms.

Kessler intends to be a priest, and St. Thomas is a Catholic school. Still, his remarks triggered an uproar, and Kessler has since apologized "to all offended by my words."

Dude had a right to speak. Pity that he was roundly condemned, because now he's a hero to the morality police.

The web site No Room for Contraception may sound like something published in the first half of the last century, but it's for real, and it wants Kessler's words to become a mandate for our world:

Society has a lust affair with birth control to the point of not being able to think outside of the box. We live in a contraception "matrix" where it's impossible to believe that there are any harmful effects on marriage, society, and the health of women.

This "contraception deception" is the primary force behind the attacks against the contra-contraception message.

For the most part, society doesn't want to hear the message. This message is that, in our culture, contraception leads to increases in abortion, teenage sex, affairs (and subsequent divorce), health problems, and statutory rape. These facts are apparent by simply comparing statistics.

Why are people willfully preserving their ignorance? For the past century, people have lived in a society that endorses the practice of a contraceptive lifestyle of easy, commitment free, and on-demand sex without challenging them to question possible adverse effects. ...

The contraception debate is long overdue, and it is people like Mr. Kessler who are breaking down the walls of ignorance, selfishness, and deception. Society may be resistant to this message, but over time the truth will prevail.

How long before they decide to make sex (the non-procreation kind) illegal?

DON'T BOGART THE GUM

Life is Insane, Part 43, courtesy of WPXI in Pittsburgh:

A Lower Burrell, Pa., school student is facing a three-day suspension for sharing gum with a classmate.

Jolt chewing gum has caffeine and ginseng.

The Lower Burrell school superintendent said consuming and passing out the gum violates the school's drug awareness policy. That's because caffeine is considered a stimulant.

Parents told Channel 11 they did not understand the suspension.

Resident Elizabeth Grombacher said, "I think it's stupid. Everything's getting too politically correct it's so wrong."

"It's probably just like Mountain Dew or something like that. If it's got a lot of caffeine in it and they probably sell the pop at school," parent Nita Serene said.

Jolt chewing gum is sold over the counter at drug stores and vitamin distributors.

Two pieces of Jolt gum have the same amount of caffeine as one cup of coffee.

FINDING THE FIFTH DIMENSION

Wow. The General Theory of Relativity might get the one-up. Read all about Braneworld at Science Daily:

Scientists at Duke and Rutgers universities have developed a mathematical framework they say will enable astronomers to test a new five-dimensional theory of gravity that competes with Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.

Charles R. Keeton of Rutgers and Arlie O. Petters of Duke base their work on a recent theory called the type II Randall-Sundrum braneworld gravity model. The theory holds that the visible universe is a membrane (hence "braneworld") embedded within a larger universe, much like a strand of filmy seaweed floating in the ocean. The "braneworld universe" has five dimensions -- four spatial dimensions plus time -- compared with the four dimensions -- three spatial, plus time -- laid out in the General Theory of Relativity.

The framework Keeton and Petters developed predicts certain cosmological effects that, if observed, should help scientists validate the braneworld theory. The observations, they said, should be possible with satellites scheduled to launch in the next few years.

If the braneworld theory proves to be true, "this would upset the applecart," Petters said. "It would confirm that there is a fourth dimension to space, which would create a philosophical shift in our understanding of the natural world."

So, there is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. You know -- vast as space, timeless as infinity. The middle ground between light and shadow, science and superstition. Between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. A dimension of imagination. What was it called?

IAN COPELAND, 57

Without him you might never have heard of REM or The Police. the Average White Band or Squeeze. Copeland was a music promoter. The BBC reports:

Copeland, whose brother Stewart was a founding member and drummer in The Police, was a booking agent for many of the "new wave" rock acts of the 1980s.

His strategy of making bands tour small venues and nightclubs around the US helped to break acts like Squeeze and The B-52's into the mainstream.

He died of melanoma at his home in Los Angeles, his publicist announced.

Born in Syria, Copeland was the son of Miles Copeland Junior, a jazz musician turned US intelligence officer.