Put the Adults back in charge of Kansas

It is time to restore adult supervision to Kansas politics.

I find it remarkable that Kansas has become so radical that lifelong traditional Kansas Republicans have no choice but to ally with Democrats just to get a moderate and reasonable voice heard again. Kansas has a proud history of moderate Republicans - from Dwight Eisenhower to Alf Landon to Nancy Kassebaum to Bill Graves. But the current failed cabal has pushed traditional lifer Republicans like Jean Schodorf to run on the other side just to have a chance. Democrat Paul Davis is supported by over 100 traditional Kansas Republicans, including several on his senior staff.
The Brownback "experiment" is a very measurable, and absolutely complete abject failure, and there is no way to put lipstick on this pig. There isn't any extremist who even tries to defend it, other than to say, "Trust us, it looks bad now, but it will get better!" Really? Sorry, you've worn out your trustworthiness, not just with Democrats and independents, but even with reasonable Republicans.
And Kansan Kris Kobach is the poster child for wasting taxpayer money - failing to do his elected job while soaking the depleted Kansas coffers to fund his personal quixotic quest, sending him to Arizona and other states to pimp his bizarre voter suppression strategies that have been ruled unconstitutional by nearly every court that has reviewed them.

Kansas has, since its introduction into the union, been a voice of moderate reason. The Kansas of today would appall all those leaders who preceded the current dismally failed regime. Kansas is not as radically red as the world thinks. I know. I have lived here for 21 years. This is a state that was once a beacon of progressive leadership. It is now a pitiful butt of national jokes.

To fix this my slate:
Davis/Docking - Governor/Lt Governor
Kutala - US Representative
Schodorf - Secretary of State
Orman - US Senate.

KY-102 - the tainted soundtrack of my misspent youth

Former KY-102 Jock, Randy Raley had his friend Ben Crain put together this really cool video montage for the 40th anniversary reunion party on Friday. Ben just posted it. 

For any one "of a certain age" raised in Kansas City, this will bring back a flood of great memories. Click it to view... 

Click Here for KY 102 video montage

It was my honor to provide food for the KY-102 40th anniversary party.

I wish I could share all the memories, all the fun, all the love, all the stories. But I can't. Watch the video. If you don't get it, there's nothing I can say. If you do get it, there's nothing else I need to say about the most important cultural phenomenon of my youth.

Except, Thank you to my friend Randy Raley for making this happen, and inviting me to be a part of it. Check out his online radio project, Planet Radio. You won't be disappointed.

The truth about the 1985 World Series - aka quit whining, Cardinal fan.

Time for Dr. Doggity's History lesson. This has come up for 29 years, and now that both the Royals and Cardinals are one series away from a reprise of 1985, it's bound to go crazy again. It has already started. 
Game 6, 1985 World Series. Don Denkinger was the first base umpire. Dana DeMuth was second base umpire (anyone remember him?)
The blown call no one remembers...In the fourth inning of the scoreless game, the Royals' Frank White appeared to have stolen second base, but was ruled out in a questionable call, confirmed as the wrong call by later review of the tape. The batter, Pat Sheridan, hit a single to right field two pitches later. This would have likely given the Royals a 1–0 lead had White been called safe. Instead, Leibrandt and Cox traded scoreless innings until the eighth, when Brian Harper singled home Terry Pendleton to give the Cardinals the 1–0 lead. By all rights, it should have been 1-1. Might have changed KC's strategy in the 9th, right? So shut up.

Then there was another call - the first out of the top of the 9th. The next at bat, Jack Clark dropped a routine pop-up. Darrell Porter -the Cardinal's catcher then allowed a passed ball and failed to make a tag on Jim Sundberg. Denkinger didn't do any of that. Jorge Orta - the guy Denkinger called safe was later forced out at 3rd, and never even scored. So he was a non-factor in the inning. And so, thanks almost exclusively to Cardinal errors, not Denkenger’s call, we were tied up 3 games to 3. 
The Cards still had a chance to win it in game 7. What did they do? Lost 11-0 and had their pitcher and manager ejected. Bottom line - the Denkinger call may have been the wrong call, but it didn't cost the Cards the game, let alone the series. Any more than the DeMuth call changed the game. Period. 
You can be mad about a call. I get mad about calls all the time. Sometimes they impact games. But one call almost never actually costs a game, if a team has the toughness and heart to shake it off and make plays, as the Royals did after the horrible call against Frank White in the fourth inning. 

And certainly one call never costs a team TWO games. The Royals won, and Don Denkinger did not “give” them one game, let alone the series. Period. 
History. 
It matters. 

Cards fans - be happy with your 19 pennants and 11 World Series wins, and recognize our ONE championship - won fair and square. Hope to see you in a couple of weeks.