At the White House petition site:

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Support declare war on France to be against the business of the god

for the france who did the business of god and human being,usa should declare the war on the france.it is this?

Created: Dec 22, 2013

Issues: Education, Natural Resources

Signatures needed by January 21, 2014 to reach goal of 100,000 99,849

Total signatures on this petition 151

[emphasis added]

One hundred fifty-one people signed this?

Today, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

Nationwide Enrollment for Health Care Coverage Surged in December

By Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Posted December 31, 2013

Since the beginning of open enrollment, millions of Americans are gaining access to health coverage-many for the very first time-thanks to the Affordable Care Act.  The most recent data indicate that more than 2.1 million people have enrolled in a private health insurance plan through the Federal and State-based Marketplaces since October 1.

Both states and the federal government have seen a surge in enrollment in December.  Our HealthCare.gov enrollment nearly doubled in days before the January 1 coverage deadline compared to the first weeks of the month.  Nationwide, including state and federal marketplaces, December enrollment so far is nearly 6 times that of October and November combined.

We expect these numbers to continue to grow through the end of March when open enrollment ends.

Additionally, 3.9 million Americans learned they’re eligible for coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in October and November.  These numbers include new eligibility determinations and some Medicaid and CHIP renewals.

We are encouraged that over 6 million people have been enrolled in Marketplace or Medicaid coverage since October 1, and will work to give millions more Americans the peace of mind that comes with health security in the months ahead.

[emphasis added]

In a few hours having a preexisting medical condition can no longer be used to deny someone medical insurance. Canceling your policy because you got sick or because you made a minor error on your insurance application will be a thing of the past. Lifetime coverage can no longer be set to a fixed dollar amount. Eighty cents of every premium dollar must go toward your health care.

It’ll be interesting watching right wingnut republicans continue to try to repeal Obamacare.

Today, via Twitter, from Governor Jay Nixon (D):

Governor Jay Nixon ‏@GovJayNixon

Tomorrow, billions of dollars will begin to flow to states to improve & reform health care, but Missouri won’t be one of them. #momedicaid 12:50 PM – 31 Dec 13

Wait until Missourians realize they’re paying for those other states to do so.

Update:

Governor Jay Nixon ‏@GovJayNixon

Tomorrow, MO taxpayers will start subsidizing health care in other states. That’s wrong and we should resolve to fix it in 2014 #momedicaid 2:23 PM – 31 Dec 13

Previously:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): if you’re wondering how many lost unemployment insurance on Dec. 28 (December 31, 2013)

The Republican jobs plan, or, How to build a third world economy (December 21, 2013)

In the 7th Congressional District (from the House Ways and Means Committee Democrats):

COUNTY NUMBER LOSING COVERAGE DEC. 28

BARRY 57

CHRISTIAN 175

GREENE 769

JASPER 326

LAWRENCE 105

MCDONALD 32

NEWTON 128

POLK 104

STONE 143

TANEY 227

WEBSTER 107

Total (7th Congressional District) 2173

From the House Ways and Means Committee Democrats:

Missouri County-By-County Breakdown Shows the Harm of Not Extending Unemployment Insurance

If Congress fails to extend the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, more than 21,000 people in Missouri are set to lose their insurance coverage immediately on Dec. 28, according to the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. An additional 35,400 people in Missouri will lose their coverage in the first six months of 2014 if Republicans continue to block an extension of the program, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Federal unemployment insurance took effect in 2008 and has been reauthorized several times since as Americans continue to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Despite the real progress the economy has made since its near collapse in 2008, there are still 1.3 million fewer jobs than there were before the recession began and long-term unemployment as a percentage of the unemployed is 37 percent, near historic highs.

Failure to extend federal unemployment insurance would also hurt job growth throughout the nation, costing the economy 240,000 jobs, according to the White House Council of Economic Advisers. The CEA estimates that in Missouri alone, failing to extend the program will cost 2,456 jobs.

In the 4th Congressional District:

COUNTY NUMBER LOSING COVERAGE DEC. 28

AUDRAIN 63

BARTON 19

BATES 33

BENTON 52

BOONE 276

CAMDEN 201

CASS 218

CEDAR 42

COOPER 48

DADE 17

DALLAS 49

HENRY 62

HICKORY 38

HOWARD 22

JOHNSON 97

LACLEDE 193

MONITEAU 55

MORGAN 76

PETTIS 113

PULASKI 119

RANDOLPH 93

ST. CLAIR 25

VERNON 39

WEBSTER 107

Total (4th Congressional District) 2057

Previously:

The Republican jobs plan, or, How to build a third world economy (December 21, 2013)

A birther petition at the White House petition site. Think about that for a minute.

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Petition To Retroactively Abrogate The Illegal Elections Of A Constitutionally Ineligible Individual To The Presidency.

Petition to retroactively abrogate the two illegal elections of Barack H. Obama to the presidency of the U.S.A. on the basis that the man fraudulently represented himself as constitutionally eligible to be president while knowingly not so.

Mr. Obama/Soetoro publicized himself as having been born in what is now called Kenya for over 16 years through his literary agent before being illegally elected to the presidency.

His illegal and illegitimate administration has published a fraudulent electronic file on the official White House website as purported authentication of his constitutional eligibility to be president.

The electronic file that he claims is a true representation of his original birth certificate is a proven manufactured forgery as is his Selective Service Registration card.

Created: Dec 11, 2013

Issues: Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, Defense, Government Reform

Signatures needed by January 10, 2014 to reach goal of 100,000 99,539

Total signatures on this petition 461

So there.

Eight hundred thirty posts (so far) this year. And it wasn’t a big election year. What follows is a list of our top traffic generating posts written in 2013. One such post generated the equivalent of two to three months of normal traffic in the period of two days. That one went viral. Posts from previous years still generate considerable traffic – that’s another beauty of the Internets. We didn’t include those posts on this list.

Here’s our list.

=================================

At Number 1:

At the Missouri State Fair last night (August 11, 2013)

Yes, the rodeo clown/Obama incident at the Missouri State Fair. The promoted post (and photo) by a registered user garnered around 35,000 unique hits over the course of two days. The thing is, if the poster had known how to attach a photo at the Great Orange Satan his post over there would have probably dropped like a rock in the queue. Instead…

=================================

At Number 2:

Of state fair rodeo announcers and clowns: res ipsa loquitur (August 12, 2013)

Our post on the rodeo clown incident on the day after.

Jason Rosenbaum ‏@jrosenbaum

This quip from ShowMeProgress’ @MBersin makes me chuckle: “Anyone interested in some posts on campaign finance?” [….] 5:33 PM – 12 Aug 13

=================================

At Number 3:

HB 170: so much for “originalism” (January 16, 2013)

A tenther gun nullification bill (what else is new?) in the Missouri House. Who knew that people were interested in lunatic fringe right wingnut legislation making its way through the General Assembly? The bill was sponsored by Representative Casey Guernsey (r).

=================================

At Number 4:

Why does Ann Wagner think she speaks for me? (September 26, 2013)

Representative Ann Wagner (r) and Obamacare. The gift that keeps on giving.

=================================

At Number 5:

License Bureau Blues (April 25, 2013)

A Penrose cartoon posted here and mentioned in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sent traffic our way.

=================================

At Number 6:

Vicky Hartzler: Wallowing in the pork trough while children do without (July 22, 2013)

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r), one of “…fourteen Republican representatives who voted – are you ready – to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from the farm bill while retaining massive agricultural subsidies they themselves receive…”

Representative Hartzler (r) consistently provides us with plenty of material to cover.

=================================

At Number 7:

Forward! On to the Stone Age!: The Editorial Life of Peter D. Kinder (January 2, 2013)

A sampling of Lieutenant Governor (and possible 8th Congressional District candidate) Peter Kinder’s (r) newspaper editorials written back in the days when they didn’t buy electrons by the terabyte.

=================================

At Number 8:

Missouri Women United – march and rally in Jefferson City (April 27, 2013)

Yes, we still live in a world where we have to protest this stuff.

=================================

At Number 9:

HB 291: keping misooree stoopit (January 4, 2013)

Representative Rick Brattin (r) strikes another severe blow against intelligent…

=================================

At Number 10 (tie):

The high cost of the Missouri GOP’s Obamacare tantrum (March 31, 2013)

We talked about republican intransigence on Medicaid in Missouri. We’ll continue to do so.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) at the NRLCA convention in St. Louis – August 13, 2013 (August 14, 2013)

The National Rural Letter Carriers Association held their convention in St. Louis. Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D) spoke:

“…And keep in mind that when I left Washington, uh, almost two weeks ago Congress had sent thirteen bills to the President’s desk. The smallest number in the history of the republic. And most of those were naming post offices. [laughter, applause] That’s hardly postal reform. [laughter]…”

=================================

Honorable mention:

Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on the real Kansas City – part 3 (September 7, 2013)

Our posted videos of Representative Emanuel Cleaver’s (D) town hall on Syria were cited by Digby (another a-list national political blog). They didn’t provide the post URL, but instead linked to the main Show Me Progress URL. It did generate a lot of traffic.

Previously:

The Political Year in Pictures – 2013 – part 1 (December 29, 2013)

The Political Year in Pictures – 2013 – part 2 (December 29, 2013)

The Political Year in Pictures – 2013 – part 3 (December 29, 2013)

Over the course of the last year we covered a number of government and political events in Missouri (and elsewhere), in the process taking thousands of photographs. Most of them didn’t make it into the blog. Some of the things we saw and heard made us smile, made us think, made us gasp, made us hope, and made us despair. We thought we’d provide a retrospective of some of the pictures and stories we consider to be memorable.

We took our annual road trip to the Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on September 15, 2013:

Vice President Joe Biden, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, and Senator Tom Harkin in Indianola, Iowa (September 15, 2013).

The Harkin Steak Fry 2013 – photos (September 15, 2013)

Yep, that’s about it (September 16, 2013)

‘Twas an epic roadtrip, that’s for sure (September 16, 2013)

Joe Biden at Harkin Steak Fry video by Jerry Schmidt (September 17, 2013)

And less than a week later, in Kansas City:

President Obama at the Ford Stamping Plant in Liberty, Missouri (September 20, 2013).

President Obama in Kansas City – September 20, 2013 (September 20, 2013)

President Obama in Kansas City – September 20, 2013 – photos (September 20, 2013)

President Obama in Kansas City – September 20, 2013 – photos – part 2 (September 21, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r) has a sad because President Obama visited Missouri (September 21, 2013)

President Obama in Kansas City – September 20, 2013 – republican hostage taking on the debt (September 22, 2013)

We took close to two thousand images at each event.

Previously:

The Political Year in Pictures – 2013 – part 1 (December 29, 2013)

The Political Year in Pictures – 2013 – part 2 (December 29, 2013)

Over the course of the last year we covered a number of government and political events in Missouri (and elsewhere), in the process taking thousands of photographs. Most of them didn’t make it into the blog. Some of the things we saw and heard made us smile, made us think, made us gasp, made us hope, and made us despair. We thought we’d provide a retrospective of some of the pictures and stories we consider to be memorable.

Ah yes, August:

It wasn’t our photo.

August. The Missouri State Fair Rodeo caused quite a stir. And we were close to the center of it. Yes, the rodeo clown incident:

….Most of the traffic spike has subsided. Near as we can tell, the main post, ancillary posts, and our site entry URL combined for a traffic spike of 35,000 unique hits. That’s the equivalent of three to five months (depending on the time of year) of normal traffic. We’ve had traffic spikes in the past, just nothing like this[.]…

At the Missouri State Fair last night (August 11, 2013)

Of state fair rodeo announcers and clowns: res ipsa loquitur (August 12, 2013)

You know you’ve struck a nerve… (August 12, 2013)

What happened in Sedalia didn’t stay in Sedalia (August 12, 2013)

We don’t get a lot of mail (August 13, 2013)

If heads rolling was a rodeo event… (August 13, 2013)

Seriously? (August 14, 2013)

The Rodeo, The Crowd, Their Clown & His Announcer (August 16, 2013)

Rodeo Quote of the Week (August 17, 2013)

Ye shall know them by their fruits (August 19, 2013)

“Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. “ (August 20, 2013)

We get clown mail (August 20, 2013)

In that period we also took a trip to St. Louis to cover the Rural Letter Carriers Association National Convention:

Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D) addressing the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association

convention in St. Louis, Missouri (August 13, 2013).

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) at the NRLCA convention in St. Louis – August 13, 2013 (August 13, 2013)

And a few days later:

The Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair – 2013 (August 15, 2013)

It just wasn’t as well attended this year.

Then there was Syria. Our coverage of Representative Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City town hall on Syria on September 5, 2013 was noted at another a-list national blog:

Suppose they gave a town hall before rushing off to war and everybody came (September 5, 2013)

Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on the real Kansas City (September 5, 2013)

Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on the real Kansas City – part 2 (September 6, 2013)

A short interview with Rep. Cleaver after last night’s town hall (September 6, 2013)

Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on the real Kansas City – part 3 (September 7, 2013)

Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on the real Kansas City – part 4 (September 7, 2013)

Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on the real Kansas City – part 5 (September 7, 2013)

Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on the real Kansas City – part 6 (September 7, 2013)

Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on the real Kansas City – part 7 (September 8, 2013)

Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on the real Kansas City – part 8 (September 8, 2013)

Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on the real Kansas City – part 9 (September 8, 2013)

September was definitely interesting.

Previously:

The Political Year in Pictures – 2013 – part 1 (December 29, 2013)

Over the course of the last year we covered a number of government and political events in Missouri (and elsewhere), in the process taking thousands of photographs. Most of them didn’t make it into the blog. Some of the things we saw and heard made us smile, made us think, made us gasp, made us hope, and made us despair. We thought we’d provide a retrospective of some of the pictures and stories we consider to be memorable.

In May we witnessed the end of the republican controlled General Assembly train wreck in Jefferson City:

Representative Chris Kelly (D) on the floor of the House in Jefferson City (May 14, 2013).

It’s the last week of the session (May 14, 2013)

May as well (May 15, 2013)

KC-Area Faith Leaders on SB29, Paycheck Deception (May 15, 2013)

Faith, Hope, Charity…and Persistence (May 15, 2013)

Point of Order – HSA 1 to HA 5 to SB 224 (May 16, 2013)

Curse the darkness (May 17, 2013)

Truman Days in Jackson County, Missouri:

Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva (D) was the keynote speaker at the Jackson County Democratic Committee’s

annual Truman Days dinner in Kansas City on May 18, 2013.

That’s Liza with a Z, not Lisa with an S… (May 18, 2013)

Truman Days in Jackson County – 2013 (May 18, 2013)

Truman Days 2013 – Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) – Breakfast Keynote – May 18, 2013 (May 19, 2013)

Truman Days 2013 – Attorney General Chris Koster – May 18, 2013 (May 20, 2013)

Truman Days 2013 – Rep. Raul Grijalva (D) – May 18, 2013 (May 20, 2013)

In June Missouri Boys State attracts a number of political speakers:

Bob Woodward, associate editor of the Washington Post, speaking in Warrensburg

at Missouri Boys State on the campus of the University of Central Missouri (June 18, 2013).

Missouri Boys State – 2013 (June 16, 2013)

Kansas City Mayor Sly James – Missouri Boys State – June 16, 2013 (June 17, 2013)

State Treasurer Clint Zweifel (D) – Missouri Boys State – June 17, 2013 – one word (June 17, 2013)

State Treasurer Clint Zweifel (D) – Missouri Boys State – June 17, 2013 (June 18, 2013)

State Treasurer Clint Zweifel (D) – Missouri Boys State – June 17, 2013 – Q and A (June 18, 2013)

Bob Woodward – Missouri Boys State – June 18, 2013 (June 19, 2013)

Bob Woodward – Missouri Boys State – June 18, 2013 – Q and A, parts 1, 2 & 3 (June 20, 2013)

Bob Woodward – Missouri Boys State – June 18, 2013 – Q and A, parts 4 & 5 (June 20, 2013)

Secretary of State Jason Kander (D) – Missouri Boys State – June 20, 2013 (June 20, 2013)

State Auditor Tom Schweich (r) – Missouri Boys State – June 20, 2013 (June 21, 2013)

Kansas City Mayor Sly James on gun violence and the Missouri General Assembly (June 28, 2013)

Our coverage of the posturing at a bill signing in July got us some notice and traffic from the Great Orange Satan:

Governor Jay Nixon (D), in Warrensburg on the campus of the University of Central Missouri to sign SB 381 into law (July 11, 2013).

New Missouri Rule: if the governor governs right of center you can’t call him a “liberal” (July 1, 2013)

Bill signing Kabuki (July 12, 2013)

Rep. Chris Kelly (D): HB 253 – “I’d like to know what your opinion is.” (July 19, 2013)

Rep. Denny Hoskins (r): probably not gonna sustain the Governor’s veto of HB 253 (August 19, 2013)

Sec. of State Jason Kander (D) to Texas Gov. Rick Perry (r): You forgot about that Medicaid thing? (August 23, 2013)

Rep. Denny Hoskins (r) to UCM on HB 253: I don’t care, I’d rather be the new Speaker Pro Tem (August 24, 2013)

Rep. Denny Hoskins (r): your constituents know what you’re doing to them (August 26, 2013)

HB 253: Because those dissolute leeches at the public trough should shut up, that’s why! (August 28, 2013)

Missouri Democratic Party on HB 253: Yes, yes, let’s talk about Texas Gov. Rick Perry (r)…. (August 28, 2013)

AG Chris Koster (D) to Speaker Jones (r) on HB 253: you all certainly made a mess of things… (August 29, 2013)

Speaker Tim Jones (r) and HB 253: hone your legal analytical skills litigating birth certificates (August 30, 2013)

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) gave us plenty to write about in the past year – just not too many opportunities for photos, though:

Zack Brown, of Representative Vicky Hartzler’s (r) district staff, at a constituent “listening post” in Warrensburg on August 7, 2013.

Epistemic closure, still here, alive, kicking, though not quite screaming (August 7, 2013)

August was going to get really interesting.