HB 168 (Paul Quinn)

Bars sitting senators and representatives from contracting with one another for fundraising and consulting for campaigns

Yeah. I don’t think the General Assembly Republicans will pass that one. They’re busy on other pressing needs.

HB 173 (Stan Cox)

Establishes the Andrew Jackson Vote Restoration Act which requires certain elections to be held even if the number of candidates filing for a position is equal to the number of positions available

Ooooookayyyy. So we’re going to hold more elections, despite those elections not being contested (Unless there’s some sort of write-in surge being repressed here). And we’ll name the bill after Andrew Jackson too! (That being said, Cox is also sponsoring HJRs for “constitutional” photo ID (HJR9) and he wants to change the judicial appointment system (HJR10) despite the next Governor being Jay Nixon)

More?

HB 184 (Chris Molendorp)

Authorizes a third elected circuit court judge in the seventeenth judicial circuit

Guess we’re due for more fun in Cass and Johnson counties.

HB 175 (Stanley Cox)

Prohibits persons from operating a motorcycle or motortricyle while carrying a passenger ten years of age or younger

The people who object to helmet laws must be steaming at the news that there may be more restrictions. Despite the fact that the overall concept for HB175 makes sense.

HB 158 (Bob Nance)

Increases the limit in small claims court from $3,000 to $5,000

And the limit for small claims court creeps towards the top bracket of Missouri’s income tax.

As for the Senate, they’re not slacking.

SB 122 (Griesheimer) – Allows members of an ambulance district board of directors to be subject to recall from office

I would hope there is an interesting story there.

Jolie Justus also has a variety of good bills that will likely lay dormant due to the fact that 23 of 34 Senators are Republicans.

So that’s another brief quick summary of the prefiled bills. The real fun starts in a week or so.

Might want to reconsider your gift-list for 2009:

State Rep. Ed Wildberger, a Democrat from St. Joseph and a former firefighter, has pre-filed a bill that would make it illegal to sell novelty lighters in Missouri. The proposed law would specifically prohibit lighters that look like cartoon characters, animals, vehicles or food products. Lighters that play music or have flashing lights also would be outlawed.

The bill is HB98. So let’s go to the bill to find the definition:

As used in this section, “novelty lighters” means a mechanical or electrical device typically used for lighting cigarettes, cigars, or pipes that has entertaining audio or visual effects[1], or that resembles in physical form or function articles commonly recognized as appealing to or intended for use by children less than eighteen years of age. This includes, but is not limited to, lighters that resemble cartoon characters[2], toys, guns, watches, musical instruments, vehicles, toy animals, food or beverages, or that play musical notes or have flashing lights or other entertaining features. Novelty lighters may operate on any fuel, including butane or liquid fuel.

1 – So a novelty lighter reciting the periodic table isn’t threatened by this bill?

2 – One would guess by this wording that Pamela Anderson lighters would be legal, while Jessica Rabbit lighters would be illegal.

Unsurprisingly, opinions vary on this bill.

Fire groups across the country support such a ban because the entertaining lighters pose a risk to children. “One of the things that concerns us about novelty lighters is they look like toys, and that causes children to treat them as toys, increasing the potential for accidental fires to start,” said Battalion Chief Gale Blomenkamp of the Boone County Fire Protection District. “When you see a lighter that looks like a football or a toy, kids are going to be more apt to play with them.”

(..)

Randy Trierwieler, manager of Midway Truck Plaza, where novelty lighters are a big seller, thinks it should be a parent’s responsibility – not a lawmaker’s – to keep lighters out of little hands. “If you have a Bugs Bunny lighter and a 3-year-old, don’t leave it out,” Trierwieler said. “I don’t think it’s something you need to pass a law for. There are a lot more serious problems in this country than passing legislation determining what can or can’t be on a lighter.”

So while it seems a bit over-elaborate to have some of these possible novelty lighters. There’s not an open and shut case on either side. But when you consider the current House leadership, i’m going to guess that your Santa Claus lighters will be safe in the 2009 session.

It was a wave of emotions that swept over me this weekend when I read the news that Mildred Litton passed away at the age of 98. She was the mother of the late Congressman Jerry Litton. Jerry, his wife Sharon and their children Linda & Scott died on August 3, 1976 taking off from the Chillicothe Airport after winning the Democratic Party nomination for U.S. Senator. The pilot, Paul Rupp, Jr. and his son, Paul Rupp III also died in the crash.

I had the honor of serving in Jerry Litton’ Washington DC office in 1976. The passion, dedication and ideals that were the hallmarks of Litton’s life were continued in the public/political arena and could be witnessed daily by the work of his loyal, dedicated staff. I could share stories, antidotes and experiences or we could discuss how much different the political landscape (state & national) would be in not for that tragic August night….but, this is not about Jerry Litton or his legacy but rather about a mother and grandmother, a wife and business partner.

Mildred attended school at Carlow and then Lock Springs, where she graduated with the class of 1928. During her high school years she met a young Davies County man named Charley Oscar Litton. They were married in Hiawatha, Kansas on March 30, 1929. After a short time in Kansas City they returned to their farming roots, until an accident left Charlie an invalid and unable to work. They moved to a small house on the farm owned by Mildred’s father, and for the next several years Mildred supported them by milking eleven cows and selling eggs from her chickens. During the winter months she trapped and sold furs.

Charley eventually recovered and resumed farming. In 1938 they purchased the ‘Litton Farm’ which consisted of 500 acres and a large house in desperate need of repair. Over the next four years they worked hard to farm the land and renovate the old farmhouse, only to watch it burn to the ground in 1942. Mildred worked hard during those farm years — milking cows, driving a tractor and lending a hand wherever needed.

In 1961, joined by their son and his new wife, they began the ‘Litton Charolais Ranch’ and Mildred’s new life began. The first years were filled with struggles to make a name for themselves and for their cattle. Mildred’s roles included cooking meals for prospective buyers, helping in the ranch office, caring for the two grandchildren and traveling with Charley on the show circuit, where the big white cattle made a national and international reputation for the Litton name.

In 1972 when her son ran for U.S. Congress, she was introduced to the art of campaigning, entertaining politicians and attending fundraisers and coffees for the candidates. She stuffed thousands of envelopes, delivered campaign material, posted information in card files, and copied hundreds of names and addresses. Then came that August night in 1976 when her only child and his entire family were killed in that crash.

Mildred’s life was shattered, and Charley became her lifeline, as he struggled to care for them both. Charley established the Jerry Litton Family Memorial Foundation and began a program of extending help to the community and particularly to the Chillicothe R-II School District. He also became interested in having a biography written about their son, and he was able to persuade Mildred to help. She drew on her inner strength and began the process of returning to a normal life.

In 1980 Charley Litton died from cancer, Mildred was left alone. Once again she faced a devastating loss, but she immediately assumed the reins of the Litton Foundation and completed the effort begun by Charley to build a lasting memorial for Jerry, which culminated in the Jerry Litton Visitors Center at Smithville Lake. She then enrolled the Litton Foundation in a project to build the Litton Agri Science Learning Center for the FFA program in Chillicothe. That was followed by continued building at the learning center, assisting with the Jenkins Expo Building project and improvements for the Livingston County Fair facilities. She was a generous donor to many other worthwhile projects as well.

On Christmas morning 2008…….Mildred Litton dies at the age of 98. As a parent and grandparent, I do not know how this lady managed to give so much, under such difficult, trying times. She persevered and thrived under circumstances I can never imagine. Thirty two years after losing her son & his family; twenty seven years after saying farewell to her husband of fifty one years….Mildred Litton can finally rest and be at peace. I know that Christmas 2008 was a time of glorious celebration and reunion; a gathering of politicians, farmers, neighbors, children, saints, angels and family. All are happy that Mildred is finally at ‘home’…and that she and Charley, Jerry, Sharon, Linda & Scott will, at last, be together again…forever.

May God Bless You.

(Some information for this entry was taken from the ‘Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune’)

Is anyone else fed up with outsiders fighting their battles on our soil?  Last election cycle it was Ward Connerly grinding his anti-affirmative action axe here.  Now business interests have selected Missouri as one of five battleground states to fight the Employee Fair Choice Act, which would allow unions to organize without elections – commonly known as ‘card check,’ the EFCA would allow a union to form if a majority of the employees simply sign up.  In my career I worked in Union hospitals and non-union hospitals, and I lived through several bruising elections that harmed morale and  relationships among personnel long after the election was over, and that isn’t good for patient care – so if you think it doesn’t affect you, think again.  Hell, yes, I support EFCA!  But even if I didn’t, I am sick of right-wing outsiders with a hyper conservative, pro-big business agenda thinking that Missouri’s state Constitution is a suitable place for them to launch their battles against progress, the common good and fair play.  

A four-fold increase in the incidence of any communicable disease is a clarion call to action  The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reports a significant increase in the incidence of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, with 424 cases confirmed in the state through December 6, compared with 102 cases in 2007.   Of the cases reported in Missouri this year, 41 (10 percent) have presented in infants 12 months of age or younger, the group most likely to suffer long term complications or death as a result of the disease.  Parents, especially mothers, have been identified as the most important and inadvertent source of spread of pertussis to their infants, even if the adult was vaccinated against pertussis in his or her childhood or had the disease as a child.  When any communicable disease has a four-fold increase, public health agencies step in and develop strategies to stop the spread.  The logical place to start battling the spread of pertussis in Missouri is to develop strategies with county health departments to make sure that the adults in households with infants get a booster shot and that other children in the home are up to date in their vaccinations.  

You know, as far as I’m concerned this guy didn’t do anything wrong  Joseph Roberts is in a hell of a lot of trouble, and his life got really complicated a couple of weeks ago when he got busted for growing his own weed.  What the hell?  He can’t go to the herb store and buy it loose or the smoke shop and buy a pack, and he isn’t consorting with drug dealers.  He was growing his own and paying the light bill, and apparently he was even consuming responsibly, doing his partaking out in the garage.   I know that the stuff isn’t evil and doesn’t start wrecking lives until the government steps in to assure that outcome.  As a medical researcher I have been privy to a lot of obscure studies that didn’t make the news.  I know that there is benefit to marijuana use for some people, but for that fact, I don’t have a problem with recreational use either.  I would rather live next door to a pot smoker than a drunk, and so would you, whether you have that conscious realization or not.  I know this from experience.   Before I was a scientist I was a first responder.  Let me tell you what I never had to deal with…a tragic car accident caused by marijuana consumption.  No stoner ever blasted down the eastbound lanes of I-70 headed west at 90 miles an hour and took out a minivan carrying a family of five to Chuck E. Cheese.  I can spot the guy driving stoned, tho.  He is creeping along about twenty miles an hour, scanning the landscape for a drive through.  Legalize it already and start collecting taxes on it, and get those offenders out of the system.  Free up those beds and P.O.s for the thieves from Wall Street.

A sign of the times  As the economy deteriorates, the incidence of employee theft is increasing dramatically.  The increase in thefts, frauds and embezzlements against employers is showing up in St. Louis County criminal warrants.  County police say embezzlement has been steadily rising over the last couple of months, and the economy is often cited by those arrested as their motivation.  “It’s always going on, but the amounts are picking up and the frequency is picking up,” said Sgt. Kevin Cavanaugh, of the county police computer and financial fraud unit. “And a lot of that has to do with the economy. … A lot of people are saying that, ‘I need the money to make ends meet.'”  St. Louis County police statistics reflect an increase in larcenise of nearly ten percent this year, totaling 246, up from 226 last year.  

Restoring our riverfront  The Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing a riverfront restoration on the south bank of the Missouri just below the bend that, when completed, will let those of us who patronize the River Market area see what it looked like when François Chouteau established Chouteau Landing nearly 200 years ago.  “You won’t recognize it,” said Vincent Gauthier, executive director of the Port Authority of Kansas City. “We’re reintroducing people to where the city started.”  The project will include a wetland surrounded by native trees and grasses, bisected by the heritage trail. A looping pathway off the trail will allow people to get deeper into the natural area, which will extend to and be visible from the Grand Boulevard viaduct.  

If you want an entertaining way to introduce your teenager to the issues surrounding the right to privacy and the excesses of the Patriot Act, maybe you should take a look at Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. As a matter of fact, it is not strictly necessary to be a teenager to get something of value from this book–in an environment where technology can be used to invade our privacy, Doctorow is adept at demonstrating how it can be used right back at the snoopers.  The overriding message of the book is that if we are to remain in control our destinies, we will have to be technologically literate as well as politically active.

Selected  by the New York Times as one of the Notable Children’s Books of 2008, the story is set in a near future in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The NYT review of the book neatly summarizes the plot:

In the opening chapters of “Little Brother,” a near-future terrorist attack hits San Francisco’s Bay Bridge and a teenager named Marcus Yallow is arbitrarily and brutally detained in the federal crackdown that follows. Marcus is a likable if undeniably cocky hero – he hacks cellphones, sasses clueless authority figures and quotes the Declaration of Independence from memory. That cockiness gets scuffed a little in the disaster, and both the story and Marcus himself acquire grit and interest as a result. The fear and humiliation he experiences in interrogation are vividly detailed, and after­ward Marcus takes a principled stand that leads him into an ingenious program of resistance and civil rights activism.

Doctorow, one of the co-editors of the Webblog Boing-Boing, clearly intended this novel to serve an instructive purpose–and it is fair to say that it is not one of those socially engaged works that are also works of high art, such as TV’s The Wire.  But what it does achieve is worthy in its own right. After all, it is not that easy to make Bayesian inference not only intellectually accessible to laymen, but essential to moving a fast-paced plot along.

To acknowledge the informative intent though is not to say that the story and the characters are not persuasive. Doctorow is a fine writer.  His teenagers seem like the real thing (as well as I can remember across the span of more years than I care to count).  He is also skillful at bringing his points home without being too obvious, as well as careful to make sure that all the arguments raised by the “other side” are fully considered.

For instance, much of the discussion that takes place in Marcus’ high school social studies class or in his interaction with his parents is used to examine arguments about the constitution and privacy as well as the history of dissent, while he and his friends explore technological solutions to the over-reaching of the Department of Homeland Security.  The ideas and technology that are examined, though, are all integral to the action, and that gives them an urgency that keeps interest alive.

The book includes two afterwords, one by  security technologist Bruce Schneier,  and a second by the “notorious hacker” Andrew Huang of Xbot fame, as well as a bibliography of books about hacking, sci-fi, counter-culture and other topics that reflect the issues raised in the book.  Bruce Schneier perhaps sums up the theme of the book most succinctly:

Trading privacy for security is stupid enough; not getting any actual security in the bargain is even more stupid

Little Brother may be propaganda, but it is intelligent propaganda, doesn’t tip the scales too grossly in the author’s preferred direction, and is a really good read into the bargain.

Update:  I forgot to note that you can download the text of Little Brother for free from Doctorow’s website here. He really does put his money where his mouth is–literally since this could really cut into his royalties.