Heycameraman

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Mayor Funkhouser continued a long tradition Sunday of delivering the Mayors unofficial “State of the City”  speech before a full house at All Souls Universalist Unitarian Church.

I was sent to shoot the event for Channel 9 and wasn’t intending to blog about this event, but as the Mayor was delivering his speech my initial thoughts were, this is by far the best speech the Mayor has delivered since deciding to run for Mayor. He called out his critics, he pointed out his mistakes, and he came armed with new plans that call for more citizen involvement. Of course the cynic in me immediately jumped to some conclusions. :)

• The Mayor is officially trying to save what he can from his only term in office
• The Mayor tailored his speech from a recent “Yes We Can” campaign
• The Mayor must be on meds, cause he is not coming across as a stubborn child
• This is a nice speech but there are lawsuits costing this city lots of money
• Someone is trying to get a do over

But in the end, and after a tumultuous year, this is the speech Mayor Funkhouser had to deliver and he and the city council had better deliver. Or he and a majority of council members just might have to find a new line of work come re-election time.

Here is the entire speech from Mayor Funkhouser 1/25/09 43mins.

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Slow news

Originally uploaded by Heycameraman.net

Only in the news biz does a small electrical fire (where there was only slight smoke) in a room at a business where people are told not to go to that area of the building, turn into "a major electrical fire with people having to be evacuated."

olathe fire was here for like 20 minutes and left.

I hate slow news days. Watch the boring video tonight at 5pm.

Jane the Plumber

Originally uploaded by Heycameraman.net

My brush with celebrity this election season culminated today with kansas city’s own Jane the Plumber voting at my location.

Now get back under the sink!

sent from Laz’s T-Mobile Dash with technology invented by John McCain.

So we find out that Joe Miller (funks PR guy) is still around. Famous for using funkhousers poodle to help the mayor win during the mayoral election, has now moved up to using a Steer and some “actors” to portray a group with cow town roots who oppose light rail, this Group C.O.W.S “Citizens Opposed to Workable Solutions” claims they “want to continue to buy gas”…they “love their cars”….and “why…criminals would try to rob downtown businesses and then just hop on the light rail to make their get-away.” and they came to protest the mayor’s light rail plan. And then the bad acting started and gave the whole stunt away. :-)

oh and while the acronym is C.O.W.S they brought a steer and kept referring to it as a cow.<shaking head>

While the staged event was kinda lame….it was kinda funny to see the local media get taken hook line and sinker at this press conference yours truly included, although i had wondered….who would actually be against workable solutions… and now i know. :-)

Well played sir :-)

Stay tuned to Channel 9 for the full story you will not be disappointed. :-)

L

a couple of weeks ago i received a copy of “I Love Ranch Dressing and Other Stuff White Midwesterners Like.” A book written by first time author/lawyer/blogger C.L Freie who writes her quips over at Just-Cara. I’ve followed Freie and her blog for sometime now and have always managed to leave her site with a smile. She is quick with the sarcasm and wit, she’s a woman after my own heart, although she is much better at translating her sarcasm and wit into her blog than a I am. :-)

I Love Ranch Dressing is a very funny look at all things Midwestern. From Ranch Dressing to Discernable luggage to novelty sweaters and with pictures for those “who don’t get it”. Freie leaves no Midwestern trait unturned. Although i would rank The Cracker Barrel much higher than 64th on the list. I’ve eaten at the Barrel and it’s damn fine midwestern food. :-)

Take the I Love Ranch Dressing Quiz and see if you live up to being a White Midwesterner.

This compendium of all things White and Midwestern is comprised of 100 hilarious entries extolling the tastes and characteristics of our favorite Bible Belt residents. Author and real-life Midwesterner C.L. Freie delivers a hilarious critique of her people and white Midwestern culture through photos and descriptions of the things that make the Midwest what it is.

So this holiday season why not pick up a copy of I Love Ranch Dressing and throw it with with that holiday print sweater you are getting your aunt frances and make her Midwestern Christmas wishes come true.

L

It’s the economy…again stupid.

Originally uploaded by Heycameraman.net

Stay tuned to channel 9 for yet another economy story. This time what are economic majors learning in school to help prevent future meltdowns

Can u prevent greed?

L

No light rail in KC?

Originally uploaded by Heycameraman.net

Stay tuned to channel 9 at 5 and 6 pm for the continuing saga….”As the light rail rolls”

Laz Abalos

sent from Laz’s T-Mobile Dash with technology invented by John McCain.

ACORN in trouble again.

Originally uploaded by Heycameraman.net

My story today is on ACORN a voter registration group with a shaky past when it comes to registering low income and minority folks.

ACORN registrations are again being called into question in several states, including here in missouri. Independence MO election officials say that they have over a thousand registrations with inaccuracies and very questionable information. Like the name of the same woman monica ray on over 10 registrations all with different information. After reaching ACORN attorney jeff owbauer(sp) in st louis this was his response….” it is obvious that the jackson county election board does not have a vested interest in making sure low income and minorities get a chance to vote.”

Ahhh the classic liberal stand by. Get questioned about doing something wrong in low income and minority neighborhoods? Then scream racism.

When asked about the latest ACORN scandal missouri democratic senator Claire McCaskill added…”perhaps ACORN should stop paying people and get well trained folks and maybe they wouldn’t have such a bad image.”
Ouch!!

Not only that, ACORN has a quota limit for the folks employed to do this registration work to stay employed by ACORN. Which is just as bad as when they paid on a per registration basis in past elections.

If ACORN wants to register people that is great, but when you screw it up so bad that people start to question whether they will be allowed to vote on election day you have done a disservice to low income and minority voters you have targeted.

Laz Abalos

sent from Laz’s T-Mobile Dash with technology invented by John McCain.

Interviewing GMA’s Robin Roberts.

Originally uploaded by Heycameraman.net