Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C051162 05/23/2012 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Ellen Brandom 115 Greenbriar Drive Sikeston MO 63801 Missouri State Representative 5/23/2012 $25,000.00

[emphasis added]

Oh, wait…

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) told us that her mom was going to be doing a few commercials.

Betty Anne McCaskill (D): Claire came home and says, mother you’re not goin’ believe this, they’ve been burying soldiers who fought in the war in the wrong graves in Arlington. I said, what.

I said, there’s no excuse for it. And she says, I know and we’re gonna get that corrected.

Claire’s father was in Word War Two so she was particularly aware of veteran’s causes. We didn’t know ’til he died and in his discharge papers I found that he had a Bronze Star. And he hadn’t even told us about it.

She respected her dad a great deal and so when she saw what had happened in Arlington she was just furious. So she started in and the next thing I knew they were upending all those people in charge at Arlington and getting the right people in there so they could get that straightened out and people could know where there loved ones were buried. That made me very proud.

[Claire McCaskill. Senate.

clairemccaskill.com

Paid For By McCaskill For Missouri 2012]

Yesterday Governor Jay Nixon (D) delivered an address to the 2012 graduates of Joplin High School at their commencement held on the campus of Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.

….[applause, cheers] Governor Jay Nixon (D): Thank you and good evening. Over the past year the Joplin Schools have faced and overcome mandy, many daunting challenges. That was possible because of the vision, leadership and dedication of your superintendent. With unwavering courage and unshakable resolve, C.J. Huff has led the Joplin Schools forward. [cheers, applause] He has been an inspiration to us all. I’m proud to have worked closely in partnership with him, I’m even more proud to call him my friend. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in thanking one of Missouri’s, one of America’s, finest leaders and educators, C.J. Huff. [applause, cheers]…

…Exactly one year ago to the day I stood on this same stage to address the college graduates of Missouri Southern State University. It was a time of optimism, a time to mark a major milestone, atime to look ahead toward the bright horizon, and with full hearts and soaring hopes. The next day changed everything. The next day changed us all. But what a difference a year makes.

And tonight, we gather together, as we have so many times in the past year, to celebrate another Joplin milestone. Joplin High School, class of two thousand and twelve, congratulations. We are so proud of you. [applause, cheers] All that you have achieved reflects your strength of character, hard work, and high aspirations. It also reflects the character of this community. This is a community of optimists, this is a community of believers, this is a community of fighters. This is a community that never gave up, never gave in, and with hope in its heart and steel in its spine has come back stronger and better than ever. [cheer, applause] From day one your faith and your fight have shown the world that the spirit of Joplin is unbreakable.

Joplin lost many things in the storm but never lost its heart or soul. Because the schools are the heart and soul of Joplin, as they are across our great state and great nation. Our schools are a unifying force, a source of identity and pride. They are citadels of shared values, cherished hopes, and common dreams. Public education is a bond not only between students and teachers, it is a bond between generations, between a community’s leaders and to children who will one day carry on their unfinished work. Joplin schools became the rallying point for this community.

With classes set to resume on August seventeenth there wasn’t much time, but with each passing day, as the storms of spring gave way to the heat of summer Joplin’s army gained ground. And Joplin became a rallying point for a much larger community, a community of people so inspired by your remarkable story that they needed to be part of it. They came by the thousands, from all faiths and all walks of life, from Alaska to Florida, from Sweden to Japan.

Brick by brick and board by board Joplin rose from the rubble. In Joplin the sun rises every morning on a different place and sets every evening on a better place. And so, just eighty-seven days after the most devastating tornado in our history Joplin schools opened, just as Dr. Huff promised on August seventeenth. [applause]

That is the spirit of Joplin and each one of you is part of it. This class, this school, and this community will forever stand as a symbol of the best in our nation and the best in us. Tonight we look towards the bright horizon stretched before the class of two thousand and twelve. With full hearts and soaring hopes we celebrate the parents and grandparents, the aunts and uncles, the brothers and sisters, the friends and neighbors who have loved and supported the class of two thousand and twelve since they were in kindergarten. The faith and values you have instilled in these young adults are the bedrock they will build their lives on. That foundation cannot be moved.

We celebrate the faculty, staff and administration of Joplin High School. In a year like no other you put your personal needs aside and always put your students first. For your abiding compassion and devotion, we will be forever in your debt. We celebrate each and every member of the Joplin community who gave so selflessly, worked so tirelessly to ensure a bright future for your children. And you know, they will carry on your unfinished work. Most of all we celebrate you, the Joplin High School Class of two thousand and twelve. The world will never forget what you achieved here. You have been tried and tested, and are stronger for it, smarter, too. You are now ready to take all that you’ve learned at Joplin High, and use it to pursue your dreams, to become a doctor or a dancer, a soldier or a scientist, an engineer or an entrepreneur. You have learned, perhaps too soon, that life is a fragile thread that binds us all together. Never take a single moment for granted.

You know because you lived it, that from great adversity great blessings flow. And with teamwork, tenacity, and the grace of God all things are possible. Class of two thousand and twelve…[applause][cheers]

Previously:

President Obama in Joplin – May 21, 2012 – commencement speech (May 22, 2012)

Joplin One Year Later (May 22, 2012)

Yesterday President Obama delivered an address to the 2012 graduates of Joplin High School at their commencement held on the campus of Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.

….[applause, cheers] President Obama (D): Thank you. [applause] Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you everybody, please have a seat. A few people I want to acknowledge, first of all, you have an outstanding governor in Jay Nixon [applause], and we are proud of all the work that he’s done.  I want to acknowledge Senator Claire McCaskill who is here. [applause] Representative Billy Long.  [applause] Your mayor, Melodee Colbert Kean. [applause, cheers] Somebody who doesn’t get a lot of attention but does amazing work all across the country, including here in Joplin, the head of FEMA, the administrator, Craig Fugate, who spent an awful lot of time here helping to rebuild. [applause] Superintendent Huff. [applause, cheers] Principal Sachetta. [applause] To the faculty, the parents, the family, friends, the people of Joplin, and most of all the class of two thousand and twelve. [applause, cheers] Congratulations on your graduation and thank you for allowing me the honor of playing a small part in this special day…

…Now, the job of a commencement speaker primarily is to keep it short. [laughter] Chloe, they’ve given me more than two minutes. [laughter] But the other job is to inspire. But as I look out at this class and across this city what’s clear is that you’re the source of inspiration today, to me, to this state, to this country, and to people all over the world.  Last year, the road that led you here took a turn that no one could’ve imagined. Just hours after the class of two thousand eleven walked across this stage the most powerful tornado in six decades tore a path of devastation through Joplin that was nearly a mile wide and thirteen long. In just thirty-two minutes it took thousands of homes and hundreds of businesses and a hundred and sixty-one of your neighbors, friends and family. It took a classmate Will Norton who had just left this auditorium with a diploma in his hand. It took Lantz Hare who should’ve received his diploma next year.

By now I expect that most of you have probably relived those thirty-two minutes again and again. Where you were, what you saw, when you knew for sure that it was over. The first contact, the first phone call you had with somebody you loved, the first day that you woke up in a world that would never be the same.  And yet, the story of Joplin isn’t just what happened that day. It’s the story of what happened the next day, and the day after that, and all the days and weeks and months that followed. As your city manager, Mark Rohr, has said, the people here chose to define the tragedy not by what happened to us, but by how we responded.

Class of two thousand twelve that story is yours. It’s part of you now. As others have mentioned you’ve had to grow up quickly over the last year. You’ve learned at a younger age than most of us that we can’t always predict what life has in store. No matter how we might try to avoid it life surely can bring some heartache, and life involves struggles. And at some point life will bring loss.

But here in Joplin you’ve also learned that we have the power to grow from these experiences. We can define our lives not by what happens to us, but by how we respond. We can choose to carry on. We can choose to make a difference in the world. And in doing so, we can make true what’s written in scripture that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance and character, and character, hope. Of all that’s come from this tragedy let this be the central lesson that guides us, let it be the lesson that sustains you through whatever challenges lie ahead.  As you begin the next stage in your journey, wherever you’re going, whatever you’re doing, it’s safe to say you will encounter greed and selfishness, and ignorance and cruelty, and sometimes just bad luck. You’ll meet people who try to build themselves up by tearing others down. You’ll meet people who believe that looking after others is only for suckers. But you’re from Joplin so you will remember, you will know just how many people there are who see life differently, those who are guided by kindness and generosity and quiet service. You’ll remember that in a town of fifty thousand people, nearly fifty thousand more came in to help the weeks after the tornado, perfect strangers who’ve never met you and didn’t ask for anything in return.

One of them was Mark Carr, who drove six hundred miles from Rocky Ford, Colorado with a couple of chainsaws and his three little children. One man traveled all the way from Japan and he, because he remembered that Americans were there for his country after last year’s tsunami and he wanted the chance, he said, t, to pay it forward. There were AmeriCorps volunteers who have chosen to leave their homes and stay here in Joplin till the work is done. And then there was the day Mizzou’s football team rolled into town with an eighteen wheeler full of donated supplies, and of all the places, they were assigned to help out on Kansas Avenue. [laughter, applause] I don’t, I, I don’t know who set that up. [laughter] And while they hauled away washing machines and refrigerators from the debris they met a woman named Carol Mann who had just lost the house she lived in for eighteen years. And Carol didn’t have a lot. She works part time at McDonald’s, she struggles with seizures, and she told the players that she had even lost the change purse that held her lunch money. So one of them, one of the players, went back to the house, dug through the rubble, and returned with the purse with five dollars inside. And Carol’s sister said, so much of the news that you hear is so negative, but these boys renewed my faith that there are so many good people in the world.

That’s what you’ll remember because you’re from Joplin. You will remember the half million dollar donation that came from Angelina Jolie and some up and coming, uh, actor named Brad Pitt. [laughter] But you’ll also remember the three hundred and sixty dollars that was delivered by a nine year old boy who organized his own car wash. You’ll remember the school supplies donated by your neighboring towns, but maybe you’ll also remember the brand new laptops that were sent from the United Arab Emirates, a tiny country on the other side of the world. When it came time for your prom makeup artist Melissa Blayton organized an effort that collected over a thouand donated prom dresses, FedEx kicked in for the corsages, and Joplin’s own Liz Easton, who had lost her home and her bakery in the tornado, made a hundred, uh, fifteen hundred cupcakes for the occasion. That, they were good cupcakes. [laughter]

There are so many good people in the world there’s such a decency, a bigness of spirit, in this country of ours. And so, class of two thousand twelve, you’ve got to remember that. Remember what people did here. And like that man who came all the way from Japan to Joplin make sure in your own life that you pay it forward. Now, just as you’ve learned the goodness of people, you’ve also learned the power of community. And you’ve heard from some of the other speakers how powerful that is. And as you take on the roles of coworker and business owner, neighbor, citizen, you’ll encounter all kinds of divisions between groups, divisions of race and religion, ideology. You’ll meet people who like to disagree just for the sake of being disagreeable. [laughter, scattered applause] You’ll meet people who prefer to play up their differences instead of focusing on what they have in common, where they can cooperate. But you’re from Joplin. So you’ll always know that it’s always possible for a community to come together when it matters most. After all a lot of you could’ve spent your senior year scattered throughout different schools, far from home. But Dr. Huff asked everybody to pitch in so that school started on time right here in Joplin. He understood the power
of this community, and he understood the power of place. So these teachers worked extra hours, coaches put in extra time, that mall was turned into a classroom, the food court became a cafeteria, which maybe some of you thought was an improvement. [laughter] And yeah, the arrangements might have been a little noisy and a little improvised, but you hunkered down and you made it work together. You made it work together.

That’s the power of community. Together, you decided that this city wasn’t about to spend the next year arguing over every detail of the recovery effort. At the very first meeting, the first town meeting, every citizen was handed a post it note and asked to write down their goals and their hopes for Joplin’s future. And more than a thousand notes covered an entire wall and became the blueprint that architects are following to this day. I’m thinking about trying this with Congress [laughter], give them some post it notes. [laughter, applause, cheers] Together the businesses that were destroyed in the tornado decided that they weren’t about to walk away from the community that made their success possible, even if it would’ve been easier, even if it would’ve been more profitable to go someplace else. And so today more than half the stores that were damaged on the Range Line are up and running again. Eleven more are planning to join them. And every time a company reopens its doors people cheer the cutting of a ribbon that bears the town’s new slogan, remember, rejoice, and rebuild. That’s community.

I’ve been told, class of two thousand twelve, that before the tornado many of you couldn’t wait to leave here once high school was finally over. So Student Council President, uh, Julia Lewis, where’s Julia? She’s out here somewhere. [laughter] She, she’s too embarrassed to raise her hand. [applause] I’m quoting you, Julia. She said, we never thought Joplin was anything special. Now that’s typical with teenagers, they don’t think their parents are all that special either [laughter], but seeing how we responded to something that tore our community apart has brought us together. Everyone has a lot more pride in our town. So it’s no surprise then that many of you have decided to stick around and go to Missouri Southern or go to colleges, community colleges that aren’t too far away from home. That’s the power of community, that’s the power of shared effort and shared memory. Some of life’s strongest bonds are the ones we forge when everything around us seems broken. And even though I expect that some of you will ultimately end up leaving Joplin I’m pretty confident that Joplin will never leave you. The people who went through this with you, the people who you once thought of as simply neighbors or acquaintances, classmates, the people in this auditorium tonight, you’re family now. They’re your family.

And so my deepest hope for all of you is that as you begin this new chapter in your life you’ll bring that spirit of Joplin to every place you travel, to everything you do. You can serve as a reminder that we’re not meant to walk this road alone, we’re not expected to face down adversity by ourselves. We need God, we need each other, we are important to each other and we’re stronger together than we are on our own. And that’s the spirit that has allowed all of you to rebuild this city, and that’s the same spirit we need right now to help rebuild America. And you, class of two thousand twelve, you’re gonna help lead this effort. You’re the ones who will help build an economy where every child can count on a good education. [applause, cheers] You’re the one that’s going to make sure this country is a place where everybody who is willing to put in the effort can find a job that supports a family. [cheer, applause] You’re the ones that will make sure we’re a country that controls our own energy future [applause], where we lead the world in science and technology and innovation. [scattered applause] America only succeeds when we all pitch in and pull together [voice: inaudible], and I’m counting on you to be leaders in that effort because you’re from Joplin and you’ve already defied the odds.

There are a lot of stories here in Joplin of unthinkable courage and resilience over the last year, but still there are some that stand out, especially on this day. And by now most of you know Joplin High’s senior, uh, Quinton Anderson, I, you know, he, look, he’s already looking embarrassed. [laughter] Somebody’s talking about him again. But Quinton, I’m gonna talk about you anyway, because in a lot of ways Quinton’s journey has been Joplin’s journey. When the tornado struck Quinton was thrown across the street from his house. The young man who found Quinton couldn’t imagine that Quinton would survive his injuries. Quinton woke up in a hospital bed three days later and it was then that his sister Grace told him that both their parents had been lost in the storm. So Quinton went on to face over five weeks of treatment including emergency surgery. But he left that hospital determined to carry on, to live his life, and to be there for his sister. Over the past year he’s been a football captain who cheered from the sidelines when he couldn’t play. He worked that much harder so he could be ready for baseball in the spring. He won a national scholarship as a finalist for the High School Football Rudy Awards. [applause] He plans to study molecular biology at Harding University this fall. [applause, cheers] Quinton has said that his motto in life is always take that extra step. And today after a long and improbable journey for Quinton, and for Joplin and for the entire class of two thousand twelve, that extra step is about to take you towards whatever future you hope for and whatever dreams you hold in your hearts.

Yes, you will encounter obstacles along the way. I guarantee you will face setbacks and you will face disappointments. But you’re from Joplin and you’re from America. And no matter how tough times get you’ll always be tougher. And no matter what life throws at you, you will be ready. You will not be defined by the difficulties you face, but by how you respond, with grace and strength and a commitment to others.

Langston Hughes, poet, civil rights activist who knew some tough times, he was born here in Joplin. In a poem called Youth, he wrote: We have tomorrow, bright before us, like a flame. Yesterday, a night gone thing, a sun down name. And dawn ’til day, broad arc above the road we came, we march.

To the people of Joplin and the class of two thousand twelve the road has been hard and the day has been long. But we have tomorrow, so we march. We march together and you’re leading the way because you’re from Joplin. Congratulations. May God bless you. [applause, cheers] May God bless the class of two thousand twelve. May God bless the United States of America. [applause, cheers]

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C121010 05/21/2012 GIVE MISSOURIANS A RAISE Service Employees International Union 1800 Massachusetts Ave Nw Washington DC 20036 5/21/2012 $15,000.00

C111126 05/21/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR RESPONSIBLE LENDING Service Employees International Union 1800 Massachusetts Ave NW Washington DC 20036 5/21/2012 $15,000.00

[emphasis added]

For raising the minimum wage and capping the interest on payday loans.

Would you expect anything else?

After a four and a half hour drive we’ve arrived on the campus of Missouri Southern State University for President Obama’s commencement address for the students of Joplin High School. There’s a signficant media presence.

A temporary city of broadcast satellite trucks has been set up in a parking lot near the venue.

A forest of tripods.

We’ll be adding more as we can.

Yep, we’re getting an idea about what the 2012 campaign will be all about (from the Obama campaign]:

“I never thought of what I do for a living as job creation….The primary goal of private equity is to create wealth for your investors.”

-Marc B. Wolpow, former managing partner at Bain Capital, the firm where Mitt Romney was CEO, who worked closely with Romney for nine years Los Angeles Times, 12/3/11

The Obama campaign has released a new video about a paper products company in Marion, Indiana:

I really feel in my heart people need to know what Mitt Romney did to Marion, Indiana in nineteen ninety-four.

The average person in the Marion area would say that they were middle income to lower income. But we had good jobs that you could raise a family on.

The plant that I worked at was right over here.

SCM produced office supply products. We made tablets, file folders, index cards, calendars, anything that you could use in an office or around the household. It was a lot of work, but you felt like you’d really accomplished something.    

I really can’t explain it, my hands can explain it for all these calluses, but when you make a product and you know it’s the best that you can do it felt good.

Good paying job with good benefits, I loved working with the people I worked with. I thought I was settled in for life.

[1994] Until early July workers were employed by SCM, an office products supplier, but then the company was sold to Ampad.

One day we had a job, the next day we didn’t.

We’d been bought and sold in the past. We never had a problem. We were always a business that had value.

Then when Bain Capital bought us and Ampad come in that, that was a whole different story. They put armed guards up at the doors, did not look at anyone, did not speak to anybody, then told us we were all fired.

I understand if you gotta cut back, lay off someone, that’s part of the business. We’ve accepted that over the years when we were there, but you don’t come in and just take everything everybody’s got and destroy a business. And that’s what they did. we were a nice, strong, healthy company. We were making money and for them to just come out from nowhere and shut the place down, it was devastating.

When Ampad bought the former SCM plant it abruptly fired all three hundred and fifty workers. the union says it reduced wages and benefits.

First thing they did was knock the pay down.

We got people in here, uh, that went back wages that they made fourteen years ago.

Took our benefits, we didn’t have anymore retirement. And Bain, Mitt Romney, they did not care about us as workers. They were looking at the mighty dollar.

When I look at that clipping that I have in the paper of the closing, that’s where it all started for me. This was the worst day of my life. At the time all this happened I was pregnant, had two kids at home and I just lost my job.

From week to week I didn’t know what I was gonna do, I was barely getting by, groceries were thin.

When SCM shut the doors that was the first time I ever been in the system with the food stamps. Then I had to get on Medicaid. It was just, it was rough. But I did it.

You did it, but you had to.

I had no choice ’cause I had my babies, my babies depended on me. That was the most degrading thing, I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s there for a reason, but I never in my whole life ever think I would have to resort to that because I wasn’t raised like that. My parents instilled in me you give it a hundred and ten percent of whatever you do in life. So when you’re not raised with getting public assistance that was very devastating to me.

As a leader, ’cause that was my job, too, when you have to sit there and watch people’s faces and they’re looking to you for the answers and they just break down. And it, it’ll choke you up. It’s real.

I had my electricity turned off and my heat turned off and they were threatening to take my car. I was scared. I mean, it, it affects every aspect of your life.

As for Ampad’s side of this story: No interviews, no response, no reaction, no comments, nothing at all.

That’s what I was just told, I’m just doing what I’m told.

To me Mitt Romney takes from the poor and the middle class and gives to the rich. He’s just the opposite of Robin Hood.

And just think, we’re talking about just the companies, but how many businesses associated with those companies, how many mom and pop shops, how many restaurants, how many little bars and things like that around these plants, how many small communities were devastated? It didn’t just stop, you know, with the worker.

It makes me sick to my stomach when I sit there and watch Mitt Romney tell the American people about how he creates all these jobs.

They’re not jobs for a middle class person. I mean, you would have to work his job and two other jobs just to maintain.

You can tell by the way he acts, the way he talks, he doesn’t care anything about the middle class or the lower class people.

Mitt Romney’s philosophy for doing business is to take over companies just to get some money, then dump the business no matter what. And if that’s his approach to American economy I can’t imagine it being very pretty for the workers. Every person that’s on the lower scale right now wants to work to the middle income, and they’ll work their tail off in this country to do it. And if Mitt Romney’s in charge I don’t know whether they’re going to get the opportunity at all.

Think about that sequence. Buy a company, take $100 million in profit from that company, then dump it, watch the social safety net kick in as the company fails, and then complain about the the burden of that social safety net on everyone. There’s a parasite here all right, it’s just not the workers.  

Via Twitter:

Sarah Steelman ‏@sarah_steelman

Patriot Field of Dreams Tea Party Rally for Common Sense was inspirational!Lots of people w/ heartfelt concern for our country. #mosen#tcot 5:07 PM – 19 May 12

Welcome to the party late:

….Hartzler does stumble occasionally. At a town hall meeting last month, she initially expressed doubts about President Obama’s birth certificate.

“You know, I have a lot of doubts about all that,” she said.

She also said something curious about China embedding microchips with detection or tracking capabilities in products sold in the United States.

“We need to have a new 007 James Bond movie with China as the bad guys,” she said, according to The Sedalia Democrat….

Yep, really late to the party.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): the black helicopters will be dropping microchip infested toasters on us (April 8, 2012)

The stenographer continues:

….But Hensley will have to demonstrate that she stands with gun owners….

Done.

So much for stenographers doing their homework.

….or has major problems with Obama’s health plan….

And that worked so well for Ike Skelton (D) in 2010?

Never take political advice from a stenographer.

….Hartzler is a hustler. Something tells me she won’t be caught off guard.

Did a republican operative spin that to you? Just asking.