Well, it is quite democratic.

Today, via Twitter:

Claire McCaskill ‏@clairecmc

Proud. My staff showing strong in Cherry Blossom run.Love the shirts,on back was “shutting that whole thing down.” [….] 9:30 AM – 7 Apr 13

Michael Bersin ‏@MBersin

@clairecmc Were they referring to legislation and confirmations under Mitch McConnell’s republican majority in the U.S. Senate? 10:34 AM – 7 Apr 13

The only problem is, it’s difficult to have a substantive conversation that matters in 140 characters or less.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Previously:

Lilly Ledbetter – Politics and Social Justice – April 3, 2013 (April 4, 2013)

Lilly Ledbetter.

Lilly Ledbetter was on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg on April 3, 2013 as a featured speaker for “Politics and Social Justice Week”. After the close of her afternoon press conference she continued to speak with media:

Voice: ….Sometimes people don’t think about the long range impact [crosstalk], about how it’s going to affect…

Lilly Ledbetter:  And my husband died. They didn’t take that into calculation when they stood, if they, and they, they still look at women, “Well, she’s got a husband.” And I still talk to young people, why are we still talking about men’s jobs and women’s jobs? Why don’t we say “a job”? This is a….if you got a job on this campus you’ve got a description. And you’ve got an education requirement, you’ve got an experience requirement, you’ve got all of those things printed out. And when you start looking at that you want to find the best qualified person. You shouldn’t care what color, what sex, what country, or anything, as long as they’re a citizen here.  And pick, select the best person. It’s still, it’s, that’s what my neighbor asked me. What was I doing in that man’s job? It wasn’t a man’s job.

Voices: It’s a job. It’s just a job.

Lilly Ledbetter:  It’s a job.

Question: Do you think part of that is, you know, it’s not polite to talk about money, it’s not polite to ask people what they make, I mean? [Lilly Ledbetter: “Sure”] Do those conversations need to be more prevalent between coworkers or?

Lilly Ledbetter:  Well, see Goodyear said if we discussed our pay, that’s the reason I didn’t know [voice: “Yeah.”], I honestly didn’t know. I mean, that’s one thing people do when your job is threatened, you will not do anything to get, to lose it. And, uh, I didn’t know. And, and guessing I knew, common sense told me, since they had had so few women and they still had so few women they would prefer not to have them. So I knew that I wasn’t getting exactly what the men were, but if I had been in reason. There were years that I made below the minimum. And the lady who testified on my behalf at trial and had left and so had twenty-two years seniority and service, she was making below the minimum as an area manager, the same job I had. Below the minimum. That’s not right.

Question: But, do you think that, you know, companies at that time encouraged sort of the idea that not talking about salaries, because this would basically cause people to say, “Wait a minute, I’m not,” you know?

Voice: Exactly.

Lilly Ledbetter: It is. They think it’s [crosstalk] internally.

Question: The culture, yeah, the, the culture is encouraged generally [crosstalk] and so it, it works in…

Lilly Ledbetter:  Yeah. See, Senator Tom Harkin has a bill that would require corporations, uh, to just post. See, when cost of living increases, you know, I may hire in on an area manager’s job or supervisor, and here was the job pay structure. This was what I knew I might get some day if I topped out. But, later on, when cost of living increased, the top, and the mid, and the bottom, I couldn’t find out because the company never posted it. It was a big secret. [voices: “Yeah.”] No one knew. And no one ever knew what the maximum was. In fact, every once in a while, I later found out, that some, one or two of the men had made, gotten so much money until they no longer  got qualified for the overtime. Because their salaries were so great, until, even if they did work over they still was over what the union people was getting. It’s, and it’s not, see, and I don’t understand, simply, and I know that I’m not up to think on that level, but, uh, it’s probably why I never had a higher job [laughter], but, the union people’s salaries, everybody knows what the union people make. And most of your state and federal, schools and jobs, they all know what everybody makes. [voice: “It’s a public record.”] Now sometimes they make it a little harder to find out, but you can find out. And, and it doesn’t seem to bother people. So, I, I don’t, I don’t know. And it just, you know, women, when we get our pay, we go out into the community, we’ll spend it. We’ll buy better food, we’ll buy better clothing, we may trade cars, we may buy big, and those kids will have a better education and better health care. And it benefits the community, the state, and the nation.

Voice: And, ultimately, a more secure retirement.

Lilly Ledbetter:  That’s right. That’s right. And then the government doesn’t have to kick in and keep everybody up.

Voices: Exactly. Exactly.

Voice: Thank you all for…

Lilly Ledbetter:  Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you very much, enjoyed it.

Sharing a passage from Lilly Ledbetter’s (right) “Grace and Grit” at a late evening reception.

Previously:

HB 46: they need to prevent the government from spying on us through our toasters, also, too

Send in the drones clowns. There are priorities and then there are priorities. A bill, third read and passed on Thursday:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

[PERFECTED]

HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 46

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

0371H.02P       D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To amend chapter 305, RSMo, by adding thereto four new sections relating to aerial surveillance, with an emergency clause.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

           Section A. Chapter 305, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto four new sections, to be known as sections 305.635, 305.637, 305.639, and 305.641, to read as follows:

           305.635. 1. Sections 305.635 to 305.641 shall be known and may be cited as the “Preserving Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act”.

           2. As used in sections 305.635 to 305.641, the following terms shall mean:

           (1) “Drone”, any powered, aerial vehicle that:

           (a) Does not carry a human operator;

           (b) Uses aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift;

           (c) Can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely;

           (d) Can be expendable or recoverable; and

           (e) Can carry a lethal or non-lethal payload.

           (2) “Unmanned aircraft”, an aircraft that is operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the aircraft.

           (3) “Manned Aircraft”, an aircraft that is operated by a human on board the aircraft.

           (4) “Model aircraft”, an unmanned aircraft that is:

           (a) Capable of sustained flight in the atmosphere;

           (b) Flown within visual line of sight of the person remotely operating the aircraft; and

           (c) Flown for hobby or recreational purposes.

           (5) “Law enforcement agency”, any state, county, or municipal law enforcement agency in the state. The term law enforcement agency shall not include the Missouri department of corrections, or any state, county, or municipal fire department.

           305.637. 1. No person, entity, or state agency shall use a manned aircraft, drone, or unmanned aircraft to gather evidence or other information pertaining to criminal conduct or conduct in violation of a statute or regulation except to the extent authorized in a warrant.

           2. No person, entity, or state agency shall use a manned aircraft, drone, or unmanned aircraft to conduct surveillance or observation under the doctrine of open fields of any individual, property owned by an individual, farm, or agricultural industry without the consent of that individual, property owner, farm or agricultural industry.

           3. No person, group of persons, entity, or organization, including, but not limited to, journalists, reporters, or news organizations, shall use a drone or other unmanned aircraft to conduct surveillance of any individual or property owned by an individual or business without the consent of that individual or property owner.

           305.639. 1. This act does not prohibit the use of a manned aircraft, drone, or unmanned aircraft by:

           (1) A law enforcement agency when exigent circumstances exist. For the purposes of this section, exigent circumstances exist if a law enforcement agency possesses reasonable suspicion that, under particular circumstances, swift action to prevent imminent danger to life is necessary; or

           (2) A Missouri-based higher education institution conducting educational, research, or training programs within the scope of its mission, grant requirements, curriculum or collaboration with the United States Department of Defense.

           2. This act does not prohibit the use of a model aircraft.

           305.641. 1. Any aggrieved party may in a civil action obtain all appropriate relief to prevent or remedy a violation of this act.

           2. No information obtained or collected in violation of this act may be admissible as evidence in a criminal proceeding in any court of law in the state or in an administrative hearing.

           3. Sovereign immunity for the state of Missouri is waived for any civil action resulting from a violation of sections 305.635 to 305.641.

           Section B. Because of the need to protect Missourians from invasions of privacy in the state, section A of this act is deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace and safety, and is hereby declared to be an emergency act within the meaning of the constitution, and section A of this act shall be in full force and effect July 1, 2013, or upon its passage and approval, whichever later occurs.

[emphasis in original]

Really. All the black helicopters need when they start identifying people for the big round up into FEMA reeducation camps are those Gadsden flag license plates.

Who voted for this paranoid fantasy?:

JOURNAL OF THE HOUSE [pdf]

First Regular Session, 97th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

FORTY-SIXTH DAY, THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2013

[….]

On motion of Representative Guernsey, HCS HB 46 was read the third time and passed by

the following vote:

AYES: 087

Allen Anderson Bahr Barnes Bernskoetter

Berry Brattin Burlison Cierpiot Conway 104

Cookson Cornejo Crawford Curtman Davis

Dohrman Dugger Ellington Elmer Entlicher

Fitzpatrick Fitzwater Flanigan Fraker Franklin

Frederick Funderburk Gatschenberger Gosen Guernsey

Haefner Hansen Hicks Hinson Hoskins

Hough Houghton Hurst Johnson Jones 50

Keeney Kelley 127 Koenig Kolkmeyer Korman

Lair Lant Leara Lichtenegger Love

Lynch McGaugh Messenger Morris Muntzel

Neth Parkinson Pfautsch Pike Pogue

Rehder Reiboldt Remole Rhoads Richardson

Riddle Ross Rowland Scharnhorst Schatz

Schieffer Shull Shumake Smith 85 Solon

Sommer Spencer Stream Swan Thomson

Torpey Walker Wieland Wilson Wood

Zerr Mr Speaker

NOES: 066

Anders Austin Black Burns Butler

Carpenter Colona Conway 10 Cox Cross

Curtis Dunn Ellinger Engler English

Englund Fowler Frame Gannon Gardner

Haahr Harris Higdon Hodges Hubbard

Hummel Justus Kelly 45 Kirkton Kratky

LaFaver Lauer Marshall May Mayfield

McCaherty McCann Beatty McDonald McManus McNeil

Meredith Miller Mims Mitten Montecillo

Morgan Neely Newman Nichols Norr

Otto Pace Phillips Pierson Rizzo

Roorda Rowden Runions Schieber Schupp

Swearingen Walton Gray Webb Webber White

Wright

Medicaid or jobs anyone?

Previously:

Campaign Finance: What’s next? (April 2, 2013)

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C011132 04/05/2013 SANDERS FOR JACKSON COUNTY Polsinelli Shughart 700 West 47th Street, Suite 1000 Kansas City MO 64112 4/4/2013 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

Still, just asking.

A bill, introduced this week:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 1040

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE COOKSON.

2250H.01I     D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To amend chapter 160, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to school age children of welfare recipients.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

           Section A. Chapter 160, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 160.058, to read as follows:

           160.058. School age children of welfare recipients must attend public school, unless physically disabled, at least ninety percent of the time in order to receive benefits.

[emphasis in original]

Does anyone really think it’s a good idea to single out children? Curiously, children of corporate CEOs aren’t required to attend public school at least ninety percent of the time. Then again, for right wingnut republicans there is no such thing as corporate welfare.

Previously:

Lilly Ledbetter – Politics and Social Justice – April 3, 2013 (April 4, 2013)

Senator Jolie Justus (D) on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg on April 4, 2013.

Yesterday evening Missouri Senator Jolie Justus (D) spoke on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg as part of Politics and Social Justice Week:

Additional video segments below the fold:

 If guns are the answer and not the problem, as the NRA set claims, Missouri ought to be a very safe state with low rates of gun violence. A quick and dirty review of current Missouri legislation shows a very gun-friendly environment:

— Guns can be carried openly except in a few specified locations (e.g., churches, airports, polling places, etc.) where they are prohibited.

— Individuals 21 and older are permitted to carry concealed handguns in the glove compartment of their cars.

— Local jurisdictions are forbidden to enact gun laws that are stricter than those enacted by the state.

— Missouri has a “castle law” that permits individuals to shoot first and think later if they believe themselves to be threatened within the confines of their home or their car.

— No categories of guns (e.g., assault weapons) are prohibited, there is no waiting period to purchase a gun, nor do guns need to be registered.

Since the state is already so permissive in regard to gun ownership, many state GOP politicians have had to go the extra mile into crazyland in order to show their contempt for those of us who believe in the rule of law rather than force and would like to see some regulation of deadly weapons. In 2013 alone lawmakers have proposed the following:

— GOP Mike Leara (Dist. 96) introduced legislation that would imprison fellow legislators for attempting to introduce gun safety legislation.

— GOP Rep. Casey Guernsey (Dist. 2) put forward a bill that would make it illegal for any elected official to carry out provisions of federal gun safety legislation, killing two birds with one stone – gun safety and promoting the spurious tenther nullification drivel promoted by sour grapes GOPers who want to be able to nullify democracy by evading laws they don’t like.

— GOP Rep. Wanda Brown (Dist. 116) has offered SB 639 which would prohibit doctors and other health care professionals from asking patients (even those suffering from gun-shot wounds) about firearm ownership or keeping such information in medical records. It also prohibits school employees from asking students about guns in their homes.

So what has all this guns are good, regulation bad, furor done for Missouri? Take a look at the map below that shows the states with the most gun violence:

Makes you think, doesn’t it? Looks like the states that have a no-holds barred approach to gun ownership have much higher rates of gun violence than other states. That includes Missouri which, you will note, ranks in the top ten states for gun violence. No wonder the NRA has to resort to the tin-foil hat, black-helicopter stuff to rally the faithful and keep the gun industry mollified. When the truth doesn’t work for you, the bigger the lie, the better.

Addendum:  What is it about the GOP that they think its a good thing to squelch information and keep folks in the dark? You will notice that the chart above is based on information from the Centers for Disease Control – presumably information similar to the statistics Rep. Brown seeks to suppress with SB639 described above.

*Paragraph before addendum slightly edited for clarity.  

Previously:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): maybe if corporations were women… (February 28, 2013)

Rep. Ann Wagner (r): maybe if corporations were women… (February 28, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): through the looking glass (March 2, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): Доверяй, но проверяй? (March 4, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): not too many people are buying it (March 5, 2013)

Piling on Vicky Hartzler (March 7, 2013)

Hartzler’s Deception (March 7, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): a VAWA letter to the editor (March 8, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): still another VAWA letter to the editor (March 8, 2013)

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) had a (sort of) defender in a letter to the editor [subscription required] in yesterday’s Warrensburg Daily Star-Journal. We’re not quite sure. It could just be performance art:

4/2/2013 10:18:00 PM

Editor not fair to Hartzler

Letter to the Editor

This letter is in response to your March 11, 2013 editorial, again taking U. S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler to task for her votes on the Violence Against Women Act because you made a mistake in “reading the message” in a press release. I thought Peggy Nuckles’ cogent March 7 letter to the editor, in which she advised, “You owe her an apology,” would have straightened you out. Not so.

[….]

Leave Harry Truman out of it. He was a principled president. He would disagree with your baseless attacks against Vicky Hartzler.

[….]

[emphasis added]

Now those republicans sure love them some Harry Truman (D), don’t they?

Harry Truman, on republicans:

Address at the State Capitol in Denver  

September 20, 1948

….When I talk to you here today about Republicans, I am talking about the party that gets most of its campaign funds from the special interests in Wall Street. I am talking to you about the party that gave us the phony boom of the 1920’s, and the Hoover depression which followed it. I am talking to you about the party that gave us that Republican 80th Congress.

The Republican Party today is controlled by silent and cunning men who have a dangerous lust for power and privilege. The Republican Party is fundamentally the party of privilege. These men are now reaching out for control of the country and its resources….

Heh.

The salient point in the March 7, 2013 letter to the editor from Peggy Nuckles (in part)?:

….Rep. Hartzler set her priorities and voted according to her beliefs. And you made it sound like she thought protecting women from violence was more important than her hatred of gays. You owe her an apology….

[emphasis added]

That there is a “cogent” letter.

Sarcasm can oftentimes escape the irony impaired.

Lilly Ledbetter spoke on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg last night as part of Politics and Social Justice Week:

…Ledbetter was a supervisor for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in Alabama from 1979 to 1998. Following her retirement, she sued the company for paying her less than her male counterparts during her employment with company.

The case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, where her claim was denied. However, her leadership and advocacy efforts helped to advance the passage of the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act by the U.S. Congress, an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the first piece of legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama…

Lilly Ledbetter on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg on April 3, 2013.

Early in the afternoon Lilly Ledbetter spoke with media:

Same difference.

An ad from the usual teabagger suspects showing up on our television sets every five minutes today:

Published on Apr 1, 2013

Timing is everything, even without a sense of irony.

Voice: When I make a state tax payment I expect for it to go to the amount that I owe and to provide essential state services. [speaker revealed to be really bad actor number one] Now I see that a subpoena has been issued against the Department of Revenue because they’re collecting personal information on gun owners and sending it to the Obama Administration.

Really bad actor number two: Sounds like Governor Nixon isn’t doing his job to protect us from Obama’s reach.

Really bad actor number one: When state agencies don’t do their jobs it’s [speaker revealed to be Carl Bearden (r), right wingnut lobbyist and former state legislator] all of our state taxpayer dollars that’s wasted.

Really bad actor number two: That’s outrageous. But what can I do?

Really bad actor number one/Carl Bearden (r): You can go to….and tell Governor Nixon to stop taking aim at Missouri taxpayers.

[Paid for by United For Missouri]

Carl Bearden (r)? Isn’t he a lobbyist?:

LOBID:L002591 Received Date:7/17/2007

Lobbyist’s Name Carl Bearden

[….]

Principal(s) listed by Lobbyist

Principal Name/Address/Phone Status Date Added Date Deleted

CARL BEARDEN

PO BOX 561

ST. CHARLES MO 63302

(314) 560-4597 A 7/19/2007

UNITED FOR MISSOURI

PO BOX 11466

SPRINGFIELD MO 65808

888-332-3811 A 7/30/2010

UNITED FOR MISSOURI’S FUTURE

PO BOX 11466

SPRINGFIELD MO 65808

888-332-3811 A 7/30/2010

[….]

Why, yes, he is.

“…When I make a state tax payment I expect for it to go to the amount that I owe…”

No, everyone else expects it to be for any random amount, Captain Obvious. Was this commercial written by a twelve year old? Just asking.

“…Sounds like Governor Nixon isn’t doing his job to protect us from Obama’s reach…”

Who knew that Barack Obama was the supreme leader of North Korea? I didn’t know that. Did you know that?

Taxes. Check.

Gun paranoia. Check.

Evil Obama. Check.

Incoherence. Check.