Here are two interesting looks at various economic indicators during the last few presidencies - includingunemployment, job creation, stock market performance, and budget surpluses/deficits. The pattern is painfully obvious.

From Buzzflash:

From American Assembler:

Craigslist finally has a local web site. This community-driven forum is popular in other cities for all kinds of classifieds, want ads, etc. There isn’t much there yet, so be sure to keep an eye on it as people begin to discover it.

kansascity.craigslist.org

The scourge of abandoned pants continues! This time it’s two pairs of pants discarded at the Firefighters Fountain. Although, given the illicit reputation of Penn Valley Park, there may have been legitimate reasons for the owners to remove these particular pants….

Here is Lynn’s first studio album in 12 years, and it’s one of her best ever thanks to production from Jack White. Yeah, that Jack White, of The White Stripes. The combination of Loretta’s high lonesome voice and Jack’s musical composition is actually very good. Add White to the list of rockers such as Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, and Rick Rubin - people who are making better country music than much of Nashville. Thanks to him Loretta makes an amazing comeback despite the best efforts of country radio to keep her down. You catch the video for Miss Being Mrs. on CMT, and read some reviews of the CD at Rolling Stone and Pitchfork.

Great link from Riotgeek: A bag of money falls off of a truck and blocks traffic on I-70. It might almost make negotiating the Benton and Jackson Curves worthwhile, but not quite.

Here’s a Clinton biography covering his life from birth up through the first presidential campaign. It’s burdensomely thorough, but still very interesting with lots of juicy details on the various scandals, mistresses, and oral sex - but stops short of the cigars and DNA stains. It’s also a little bizarre the British author’s almost enographical analysis of Arkansas and it’s people. While the book goes way too far into psychoanalysis, it is still a good insight into what made Clinton one of the best (and worst) presidents of our time.

An architecture book advocating better, not bigger, houses. Susanka emphasizes the importance of building high-qualilty, well-designed homes - instead of giant, sterile McMansions. This book is a great resource for anyone looking at a construction or renovation project.

This was quite a surprise last night… Seeing my hometown of Concordia, MO on A&E’s Cold Case Files. It’s the case of a babysitter convicted of killing one kid and suspected in the death of second one. It was pretty eery seeing the town and hearing familiar names on TV.

Heidi’s recent post about the plague of abandoned pants here in river city got me to thinking about my days working Downtown and some of the freaks that were fixtures, especially since my bus stop at 12th and Main seemed to be freak central. Burb dwellers and Easterners, bring it!

ABCDE ABODE - Some sort of branding freak got a hold of a stencil and painted it all over Downtown, as well as on his own line of T-shirts. A couple of tags are under Bartle Hall near Broadway and I-70. A Bible verse is of course included (Can I have an Amen?) but it escapes me right now.

Flag bearer - This guy carries a big flag with Jesus on it, and runs around the streets in a shiny track uniform. He even pops into the food courts at City Center Square and Town Pavillion for a quick lap.

Preacher man - A little bit of Times Square in KC, this guy lugs his PA system to 12th and Main and sermonizes for all the passers by.

Toynbee - Even here in the flyover states we got game with the latest bizarro phenom, mystery tiles placed in streets around North and South America.

Last night was an execellent show at Davey’s Uptown with The Meat Purveyors. They are great, punkish bluegrass band from Austin, fronted by a foul-mouthed broad who threw back lots of drinks but managed to stay just vertical enough to finish out the set