WHAT DO YOU CALL IT? CHICKEN PHOBIA?

Could Overland Park be out of touch with the times when it votes unanimously to not allow a chicken coup in town even though the neighbors in the area are happy about it. Chickens, for example could be regulated with a special animal permit and while I think that would be burdensome it is curious that the bureaucrats at City Hall didn't apparently consider the possible revenue.

The whole idea is that this sort of chicken accommodation is neither far out nor unmanageable, unless you still think the internet bubble hasn't burst and still can't see that no matter how many times you mow the lawn your property does not appreciate because of it!

Same with chickens. They add and detract little from the value of a piece of property. Of course some may associate the keeping of a chicken as moving backward, downward mobility or even degrading. Does it go way back to the generation of Americans who thought that getting away from rural America was the best thing that ever happened to them. These people probably don't have romantic notions about what they consider farm animals. I imagine some of these refugees from agrarian utopias past are sometimes for keeping chickens and while some no doubt believe that chickens should remain out of the burbs.

Of course it is just round one and the chickens are advancing on all fronts! Oh yes, and that is the Overland Park City Council running down Metcalf in the other direction, you know towards that Justice Palace yay south of here! Perhaps if they barricade themselves up in that Justice Palace they will be safe, from the chickens!

Of course these conservative tough guys and gals may know something about chickens we don't. I wouldn't count on that being true but it is a kind thing to say. It seems like it is pretty much a moderate and arch conservative Republican thing, fear of chickens. Both wings of that diverse party, the Republicans united once again in fear, this time fear of chickens.

There must be a technical term for it, OH YEAH, NOW I REMEMBER, ALEKTOROPHOBIA OR "I'M A BIG REPUBLICAN HYSTERIC, JUST SCREAMING IN THE RAIN"!

If chickens can unite the Republicans on the Overland Park City Council
they may deserve not a animal license but a thank you from all who hate
Republican disunity! By providing a real or imagined threat that both extremes of the Republican Party could agree on, or at least two of the extremes, they did something that has not been done since George W. stole the soul of Johnson County with his occasional parsonlike soliloquoy and bloodthirsty optimism.

Chickens hit Overland Park. The saga has just begun.

SENATOR BROWNBACK SHIVERS AT THE THOUGHT OF IMPRISONING TERRORISTS IN KANSAS

Republicans have and probably will dominate the state of Kansas until I die, an isolated progressive in a coffin in a cemetery of conservative tough guys and tougher gals. But wait, now these very tough talking, football loving, wanna bomb everyone and everything Republicans are weeping hysterically. Is that Toto barking hysterically at the President? No it's Senator Brownback!

What was it that freaked out these heroic patriots? They don't want to imprison dangerous terrorists in Kansas. Why? Because they are afraid!


Yes Republicans are afraid and they are running to the pharmacies to fill up blood pressure and anti-anxiety prescriptions in unprecedented numbers. The prospect of a handful of dangerous terrorists possibly, just possibly, being housed at a maximum security prison in Kansas is way to scary they say.

Could it be that the anti-gay woman haters of the far right are really "girlie girls", you know the sort of superwimps that Arnold Schwarzenegger has mocked throughout his Republican career?

The short answer is, "Yes. Most Republicans are lazy slugs who hate change of any kind, especially if it forces them to learn something new or cope with real world problems, like imprisoning terrorists. Senator Brownback knows his supporters better than anyone and so he is out there portraying Kansas and the United States as entirely incapable of imprisoning prisoners of war. You can bet he will be reelected for his efforts.

Some might consider his wimping out on the war on terror a problem. Not the Kansas Republicans. They want illusions, delusions and no real responsibility. "Tell me the story of Jesus they sing." and they don't mean a Prince of Peace either. Kansans like to think of Jesus as a pilot bombing some distant land into oblivion. Or is that co-pilot? Yes Kansas Republicans are wetting themselves on their pews and asking each other,
"Whatever happened to just bombing foreign lands to oblivion? Doesn't that solve all of our problems any more?"

Rank and file Kansas Republicans seem to think that the war on terror is being conducted by some nation other than the United States and that perhaps it was another country that was attacked on 9-11. Many Kansans talk like New York isn't even part of the same nation as Kansas! Yes, Kansas Republicans are sort of like Texas Republicans, ie. they like to imagine that they are not really part of the United States of America.

Of course, the United States housed Nazi prisoners during WWII and I think it can be said that the Nazis were as dedicated and as dangerous as AQ operatives and a lot more numerous. We could learn a lot about how to deal with captured enemy soldiers/combatants by reviewing this largely successful effort to house German POW s during WWII but the Republicans just freak out and try to out bark Toto!

So my message to the tough Kansas Republicans who hate gays, women, Democrats and anyone who isn't a Republicanbot, "Stop acting like wimps! You are embarrassing all of us!"

It's time for the self declared superpatriots to "suck it up", and get with the war on terror. We can imprison anyone, it isn't rocket science!

And please, stop popping those anti-anxiety meds!