Introduced yesterday:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 383

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES BAHR (Sponsor) AND CURTMAN (Co-sponsor).

0918L.01I    D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

Relating to motor vehicle mileage taxes.

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

           Section 1. No global positioning system or other technology that identifies and records a person’s location at all times shall be used to monitor mileage traveled by any motor vehicle on any road, highway, or street in this state for the purpose of imposing any tax on the mileage traveled by such motor vehicle.

[emphasis in original]

The next thing you know all licensed drivers are gonna have to wear tinfoil helmets on the road.

Previously:

We’re from Missouri (July 6, 2012)

HB 1141: the ultimate in teabagger automotive accessories (January 6, 2012)

Wedge issue politics on billboards along a U.S. highway in eastern New Mexico.

Because no republican plutocrat ever paid for an abortion.

Obviously part of the 27 percent.

That was then:

John Adams to Abigail Adams, [post 12 May 1780]

Adams Family Correspondence, 3:342

“I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.”

This is now:

October 12, 2011 03:38 PM

Scapegoating the Liberal Arts

by Daniel Luzer

Too many students are getting useless degrees, complains the governor of Florida, Rick Scott, who argues that what Florida needs is more students with “practical” majors. This advice seems realistic, but it’s actually based on nothing but a myth stemming from some weird assumptions about the evils of the liberal arts….

….This is a very odd way to look at economics. Encouraging people to study science and engineering is commendable, but when you’re talking about this only in terms of helping people get jobs, this is all just ridiculous. People don’t go to college to get jobs; they go to college to get an education. No one has ever demonstrated that students can’t get jobs because they studied the wrong things. That’s because this isn’t true….

….Most employers say they just want applicants who can work hard and think critically. And that’s exactly what the liberal arts help students do very well.

So that their descendants can dwell in corporate cubicles or work for minimum wage with no benefits at an anti-union national chain store.

Yesterday, via Twitter:

@RepHartzler Rep. Vicky Hartzler

View my weekly newsletter […] 19 hours ago

Okay, we’ll bite:

View From the Capitol – Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler’s Newsletter for the Week of September 5-9, 2011

….There is a jobs proposal that can work and is being advanced by House Republicans. Our pro-jobs plan addresses our economic challenges, encourages investment, and supports job creators without raising taxes on working families and small business owners. Our plan reduces many of the regulatory government burdens on small businesses, simplifies the tax code which has become too complicated and cumbersome, and includes passage of the pending free trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea – agreements that will create 250,000 jobs and that are being withheld by the President.

In addition, the House Republican plan empowers families, small businesses and entrepreneurs by maximizing domestic energy production to ensure an energy policy for the 21st century. This includes promotion of lower energy prices through increased domestic production and by encouraging all forms of energy production.

Finally, we are working toward significant spending cuts to pay down America’s unsustainable debt burden and force Washington to start living within its means as American families must do each and every day. Advancing these ideas will create jobs and move us toward a balanced budget. We will continue to promote these proposals in the weeks to come, while looking for areas of agreement with the White House. The American people deserve action – but smart action that will advance the cause of job creation without spending our way further into economic insolvency….

[emphasis added]

Yep, it’s more of the same republican corporatist drivel.

Do you think someone actually asked small businesses anything?:

“Fog Of Uncertainty”: Speaker Boehner Ignores Business Owners’ Actual Concerns

September 02, 2011 11:20 am ET – Matt Finkelstein

….As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, “The main reason U.S. companies are reluctant to step up hiring is scant demand, rather than uncertainty over government policies, according to a majority of economists in a new Wall Street Journal survey….”

Posted on Thursday, September 1, 2011

Regulations, taxes aren’t killing small business, owners say

By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Politicians and business groups often blame excessive regulation and fear of higher taxes for tepid hiring in the economy. However, little evidence of that emerged when McClatchy canvassed a random sample of small business owners across the nation.

“Government regulations are not ‘choking’ our business, the hospitality business,” Bernard Wolfson, the president of Hospitality Operations in Miami, told The Miami Herald. “In order to do business in today’s environment, government regulations are necessary and we must deal with them. The health and safety of our guests depend on regulations. It is the government regulations that help keep things in order….”

….None of the business owners complained about regulation in their particular industries, and most seemed to welcome it. Some pointed to the lack of regulation in mortgage lending as a principal cause of the financial crisis that brought about the Great Recession of 2007-09 and its grim aftermath…..

Regulation, who needs regulation?:

DECEMBER 24, 2001

ECONOMIC VIEWPOINT

By Robert Kuttner

The Lesson of Enron: Regulation Isn’t a Dirty Word

In the wake of the Enron…collapse, defenders of deregulation are mounting a heroic effort to insist that the debacle was merely a business model gone bad, not an impeachment of freer markets. But the claim won’t wash. In fact, Enron suggests the need for tougher regulation in three distinct areas.

The first is financial standards. Enron could bilk investors because, despite the razzle-dazzle, nobody outside the company could figure out Enron’s game. Demands for greater financial transparency were resisted at every turn. The more we rely on markets to achieve efficiencies, the more we need transparent reporting. Otherwise, a deregulated environment becomes too tempting an arena for scams. Only regulators (and their proxies, such as the Financial Accounting Standards Board) can force corporations to disgorge potentially embarrassing information. They didn’t with Enron. In this respect, the Enron collapse is reminiscent of Long-Term Capital Management: financial geniuses with a formula that couldn’t fail (but did), operating beyond the purview of regulators and taking investors and banks down with them….

And then there’s Wall Street. Anyone into putting the totality of their retirement into Wall Street? Just checking.

And you might ask the tourism industry on the Gulf Coast what they think of environmental regulations.

Let’s see, what do you think the effect of cutting government jobs would be on the unemployment situation? “…Finally, we are working toward significant spending cuts…” Wrong again, Representative Hartzler (r). Let’s take a look at what happened as state and local governments have cut their budgets:

From Media Matters Political Correction.

For those right wingnuts who have a chart reading impairment this shows that private sector employment (blue) has gone up and public sector employment (red) has gone down. Uh, the net effect is static job growth. Now, tell us again who’s been insisting on those budget cuts at the expense of employment?

Shall we look at the impact of President Obama’s jobs plan on Missouri?:

THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT: IMPACT FOR MISSOURI [pdf]

…Of the investments for highway and transit modernization projects, the President’s plan will make immediate investments of at least $716,900,000 in Missouri that could support a minimum of approximately 9,300 local jobs….

…These funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, and will provide $565,200,000 in funds to Missouri to support up to 9,100 educator and first responder jobs…

…investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs. Missouri will receive $422,200,000 in funding to support as many as 5,500 jobs….

[emphasis added]

It’s the jobs.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) complained via a retext of a republican talking point about legislative agenda productivity:

@gopconference GOP Conference by RepHartzler

Your budget was rejected by Senate 97-0 & Dems haven’t produced budget in 700+ days. Where is your economic plan? #AskObama 21 hours ago

Another in a slew of reasons why right wingnuts have zero credibility.

112th Congress is one of the least productive in years

Fervent partisanship and the standoff over the debt limit are partly to blame for lack of action in the Senate and House.

…the House isn’t exactly breaking records.

The 50 bills it has passed in the first five months of 2011 represent the lowest such number in more than 15 years. Republicans’ anti-Washington rhetoric translated into a schedule intended to keep lawmakers out of Washington. The result has been fewer days in session and fewer votes…

Remind us, which political party controls the House of Representatives? And obstructionism on the part of republicans in the Senate would have nothing to do with that, right?

That’s some serious chutzpah.

Update:

Oh, this gets even better. Representative Hartzler (r) retweeted right wing astroturf.

How Republicans and Tea Partiers Alike Used the Heritage Foundation’s #AskObama Script

By Abe Sauer | July 7, 2011

…A day before the event, The Heritage Foundation, a tax exempt, 501c(3) nonpartisan “educational institution” whose goal is “to formulate and promote conservative public policies,” published five Twitter questions to “put President Obama on the spot.”

These five questions, gift-wrapped by Ericka Anderson, Heritage Foundation’s senior digital communications associate and former communications director for Congressman Todd Rokita, were fascinating. And boy, did they get asked

Your budget was rejected by Senate 97-0 & Dems haven’t produced budget in 700+ days. Where is your economic plan? #AskObama….

[emphasis added]

Gee, that looks familiar.

Nonpartsan? Really?

A necessary prelude, especially for members of Congress who apparently don’t bother to read or pay attention to, you know, our actual past:

United States Constitution

Article VI

…but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

The Pledge of Allegiance

Why we’re not one nation “under God.”

By David Greenberg

Updated Friday, June 28, 2002, at 4:39 PM ET

…the original Pledge of Allegiance – meant as an expression of patriotism, not religious faith – also made no mention of God. The pledge was written in 1892 by the socialist Francis Bellamy, a cousin of the famous radical writer Edward Bellamy. He devised it for the popular magazine Youth’s Companion on the occasion of the nation’s first celebration of Columbus Day. Its wording omitted reference not only to God but also, interestingly, to the United States:

“I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Today, via People for the American Way:

Akin: “At The Heart Of Liberalism Really Is A Hatred For God”

Submitted by Brian on June 24, 2011 – 11:14am

Missouri congressman and Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin joined Family Research Council president Tony Perkins to discuss their shared outrage at NBC for omitting the phrase “under God” from a clip of the Pledge of Allegiance in its coverage of the US Open this week…

….Representative Todd Akin (r): This was something that was done systematically, it was done intentionally, and is tremendously corrosive, uh, in terms of all of the values and everything that’s made America such a unique and special nation.

Tony Perkins: Why would NBC do this?

Rep. Akin: Well, I think NBC has a long record of being very liberal and at the heart of liberalism it really is a hatred for God and a belief that government should replace God. And, um, so they’ve had a long history of, uh, not being at all, uh, favorable toward, uh, many of things that have been such a blessing to our country.

Rep. Akin: This is a systematic effort to try to separate, uh, our faith and God, which is a source of our belief in individual liberties, uh, from our country. And when you do that you tear the heart out of our country….

Oh, brother:

Those who ignore history are, well….stupid (October 27, 2007)

WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION ET AL. v. BARNETTE ET AL., 319 U.S. 624

Justice Jackson wrote:

…The Board of Education on January 9, 1942, adopted a resolution containing recitals taken largely from the Court’s Gobitis opinion and ordering that the salute to the flag become ‘a regular part of the program of activities in the public schools,’ that all teachers and pupils ‘shall be required to participate in the salute honoring the Nation represented by the Flag; provided, however, that refusal to salute the Flag be regarded as an Act of insubordination, and shall be dealt with accordingly.’ 2 [319 U.S. 624, 627] The resolution originally required the ‘commonly accepted salute to the Flag’ which it defined. Objections to the salute as ‘being too much like Hitler’s’ were raised by the Parent and Teachers Association, the Boy and Girl [319 U.S. 624, 628]  Scouts, the Red Cross, and the Federation of Women’s Clubs. Some modification appears to have been made in deference to these objections, but no concession was made to Jehovah’s Witnesses. What is now required is the ‘stiff-arm’ salute, the saluter to keep the right hand raised with palm turned up while the following is repeated: ‘I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of [319 U.S. 624, 629] America and to the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’…

The approved gesture was alarmingly similar to fascist salutes. In 1943. Note the “approved” text of the pledge.

…Symbols of State often convey political ideas just as religious symbols come to convey theological ones. Associated with many of these symbols are appropriate gestures of acceptance or respect: a salute, a bowed or bared head, a bended knee. A person gets from a [319 U.S. 624, 633] symbol the meaning he puts into it, and what is one man’s comfort and inspiration is another’s jest and scorn….

…Whether the First Amendment to the Constitution will permit officials to order observance of ritual of this nature does not depend upon whether as a voluntary exercise we would think it to be good, bad or merely innocuous. Any credo of nationalism is likely to include what some disapprove or to omit what others think essential, and to give off different overtones as it takes on different accents or interpretations. If official power exists to coerce acceptance of any patriotic creed, what it shall contain cannot be decided by courts, but must be largely discretionary with the ordaining authority, whose power to prescribe would no doubt include power to amend. Hence validity of the asserted power to force an American citizen publicly to profess any statement of belief or to engage in any ceremony of assent to one presents questions of power that must be considered independently of any idea we may have as to the utility of the ceremony in question….

….National unity as an end which officials may foster by persuasion and example is not in question. The problem is whether under our Constitution compulsion as here employed is a permissible means for its achievement.

Struggles to coerce uniformity of sentiment in support of some end thought essential to their time and country have been waged by many good as well as by evil men. Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon but at other times and places the ends have been racial or territorial security, support of a dynasty or regime, and particular plans for saving souls. As first and moderate methods to attain unity have failed, those bent on its accomplishment must resort to an ever-increasing severity. [319 U.S. 624, 641]  As governmental pressure toward unity becomes greater, so strife becomes more bitter as to whose unity it shall be. Probably no deeper division of our people could proceed from any provocation than from finding it necessary to choose what doctrine and whose program public educational officials shall compel youth to unite in embracing. Ultimate futility of such attempts to compel coherence is the lesson of every such effort from the Roman drive to stamp out Christianity as a disturber of its pagan unity, the Inquisition, as a means to religious and dynastic unity, the Siberian exiles as a means to Russian unity, down to the fast failing efforts of our present totalitarian enemies. Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.

It seems trite but necessary to say that the Fir
st Amendment to our Constitution was designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings. There is no mysticism in the American concept of the State or of the nature or origin of its authority. We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent. Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority.

Justice Jackson reminds us of what the Constitution means, even in a time of war:

…If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us….

“…If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us….” In a time of war, no less. In 1943.

“…no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion…” Powerful words. To believe otherwise would be, well….un-American.

Some of that text Representative Akin (r) is so concerned about wasn’t there in 1892 nor in 1943. And it was written by a socialist? Apparently, the heart was not in our nation until it was put there back in 1954.  

The Constitution is on who’s side?

This bears repeating:

“‘…no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion…’ Powerful words. To believe otherwise would be, well….un-American.”

Via Twitter:

@RepHartzler About to be interviewed on Hannity by Frank Luntz as part of a freshman focus group. about 2 hours ago via Ping.fm

Talk about an endless feedback loop.

Seriously?:

The mission of the American Legislative Exchange Council is…

…to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty, through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators , members of the private sector, the federal government, and general public….

[emphasis added]

Really?

The Private Enterprise board of ALEC:

Private Enterprise Board Chairman

Mr. W. Preston Baldwin, Centerpoint360 (2011 Chairman)

Private Enterprise Board Members (as of December 1, 2010)

Ms. Sano Blocker, Energy Future Holdings

Mr. Don Bohn, Johnson & Johnson

Mr. Jeff Bond, PhRMA

Mr. Bill Carmichael, American Bail Coalition

Mr. Derek Crawford, Kraft Foods, Inc.

Mr. John Del Giorno, GlaxoSmithKline

Mr. Matt Echols, Coca-Cola Company

Mr. Jim Epperson, Jr., AT&T Services, Inc.

Mr. Michael Hubert, Pfizer Inc

Ms. Teresa Jennings, Reed Elsevier, Inc.

Mr. Ken Lane, DIAGEO

Mr. Kelly Mader, Peabody Energy

Mr. Bernie McKay, Intuit, Inc.

Mr. Mike Morgan, Koch Industries, Inc.

Mr. Kevin Murphy, ExxonMobil Corp.

Mrs. Sandra Oliver, Bayer Corporation

Mr. David Powers, Reynolds American Inc.

Ms. Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Mr. Russell Smoldon, Salt River Project

Mr. Toby Spangler, Altria Client Services, Inc.

Mr. Roland Spies, State Farm Insurance Co.

Mr. Pat Thomas, United Parcel Service

Mr. Jerry Watson, Chairman Emeritus

[Emphasis added]

Like any of these folks would ever hang with DFHs?

It gets even better. On their Board of Scholars:

….Arthur B. Laffer is the founder and chairman of Laffer Associates, an economic research and consulting firm. As a result of Dr. Laffer’s economic insight and influence in starting a worldwide tax cutting movement during the 1980s, many publications have named him The Father of Supply Side Economics….

Reagonomics, eh?

Their Board of Directors:

National Chairman

Rep. Noble Ellington, Louisiana

Rep. Dave Frizzell, Indiana

Rep. John Piscopo, Connecticut  

Rep. Linda Upmeyer, Iowa

Rep. Liston Barfield, South Carolina

Immediate Past Chairman

Rep. Tom Craddick, Texas

Board Members

Sen. Curt Bramble, Utah

Rep. Steve McDaniel, Tennessee

Rep. Harold Brubaker, North Carolina

Sen. Ray Merrick, Kansas

Sen. Jim Buck, Indiana

Sen. Bill Raggio, Nevada

Sen. Kent Cravens, New Mexico

Sen. Dean Rhoads, Nevada

Rep. Jim Ellington, Mississippi

Sen. Chip Rogers, Georgia

Sen. Billy Hewes III, Mississippi

Sen. William Seitz, Ohio

Spkr. Bill Howell, Virginia

Rep. Curry Todd, Tennessee

Sen. Owen Johnson, New York

Sen. Susan Wagle, Kansas

Sen. Michael Lamoureux, Arkansas

Noble Ellington, republican

Dave Frizzell, republican

John Piscopo, republican

Linda Upmeyer, republican

Liston Barfield, republican

Tom Craddick, republican

Curt Bramble, republican

Steve McDaniel, republican

Harold Brubaker, republican

Ray Merrick, republican

Jim Buck, republican

Bill Raggio, republican

Kent Cravens, republican

Dean Rhoads, republican

Jim Ellington, republican

Chip Rogers, republican

Billy Hewes, republican

William Seitz, republican

Bill Howell, republican

Curry Todd, republican

Owen Johnson, republican

Susan Wagle, republican

Michael Lamoureux, republican

“…through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators…”

Really? They don’t even try for an appearance, do they?

Why should we care?:

One of the most important resources ALEC provides to its members is model legislation. Through the combined effort and unique partnership of public and private sector members, model legislation is drafted, deliberated and approved by one of ALEC’s eight Task Forces. These bills provide a valuable framework for developing effective policy ideas aimed at protecting and expanding our free society.

While ALEC provides the resources, our members, long known for their legislative activism, introduced hundreds of bills based on ALEC model legislation. During the latest legislative cycle, dozens of ALEC model bills were enacted into law.

Model legislation, like:

Federal Affairs Resolutions

Constitutional Convention Amendment

States’ Initiative Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Resolution Reaffirming Tenth Amendment Rights

Government of the People Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Madison Amendment

Accountability in Government Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Resolution Requesting Congress of the United States to Enact Legislation that Requires Congress to Specify the Constitutional Authority for the Enactment of Laws

Article V/Repeal Amendment: Resolution Calling for the Congress of the United States to Call an Amendment Convention Pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution to Propose a Constitutional Amendment

Tenthers!

Follow any of those resolution links and you get:

The page you have attempted to access is restricted to our members.

If you are an existing member, please log in to gain access to the protected areas of our site.

You are not currently logged in, please click here to do so.

[emphasis in original]

Though the list could explain the majority party’s legislative agenda in Missouri:

HCR 9 Barnes, Jay

Submits an official application by the State of Missouri for the calling of a federal amendment convention (LR# 0420L.02I)

HCR 12 Rowland, Lyle

Claims sovereignty for the State of Missouri under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government(LR# 0682L.01I)

HCR 19 Gatschenberger, Chuck

Submits an official application by the State of Missouri for the calling of a convention for proposing amendments to the United States Constitution(LR# 0497L.02I)

HCR 44 Barnes, Jay

Urges the United States Congress to propose a constitutional amendment under Article V of the United States Constition for ratification by the states regarding state sovereignty(LR# 1983L.02I)

There’s even stuff at ALEC on restricting environmental regulation:

Air Quality

….State Sovereignty for Air Quality and Visibility Act

Resolution in Opposition to EPA”s Regulation of Greenhouse Gases from Mobile Sources

Resolution In Opposition To EPA”s Plan To Regulate Greenhouse Gases Under The Clean Air Act…

And, in Missouri:

HCR 42 Funderburk, Doug

Urges the United States Congress to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions or to take action on climate change(LR# 1644L.01I)

There’s a lot more.

Coincidence? Just asking.

In today’s Warrensburg Daily Star-Journal:

3/24/2011 2:13:00 PM

Hartzler wants military gays to get back into their closets

Warrensburg – House Armed Services Committee member Vicky Hartzler said she and other Republicans have in their sights the newborn military policy that lets gays serve openly….

“….I can tell you people on the committee, who are my side of the aisle, think it’s very ill-advised and do not support that,” Hartzler said, and are “pushing back….”

Because obsessing over the orientation of people who serve in the military will shave at least two percentage points from the national unemployment rate, right?

State Representative Cynthia Davis (r-let them eat McDonald’s) is still in office through early January until the new Missouri General Assembly is sworn in. Our good friends at Fired Up! caught her latest newsletter, pointing out her inimitable views on cosmology.

We note her (lack of) constitutional scholarship in the same newsletter:

…Missouri is Also Special

Our Missouri constitution has some parts that are better than our US Constitution.  For example, Missouri’s Bill of Rights states:

  1. “Missouri is a free and independent state…all proposed amendments…affecting the individual liberties of the people or which in any wise may impair the right of local self-government belonging to the people of this state, should be submitted to the conventions of the people.” (Section 4).

  2. “All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; that no human authority can control or interfere with the rights of conscience;” (Section 5).

  3. “No law shall be passed impairing the freedom of speech, no matter by what means communication; that every person shall be free to say, write or publish, or otherwise communicate whatever he will on any subject, being responsible for all abuses of that liberty;”  (Section 8)

  4. “…The court shall excuse any woman who requests exemption there-from before being sworn as a juror.”  Section 22 (b)

  5. “Private property shall not be taken for private use …except for private ways of necessity, and except for drains and ditches across the lands of others for agricultural and sanitary purposes…” (Section 28)

  6. “To be valid and recognized in this state, a marriage shall exist only between a man and a woman.  (Section 33)….

“…Our Missouri constitution has some parts that are better than our US Constitution…”

Uh, there’s a small matter of the supremacy clause in the United States Constitution:

Article VI

….This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the Contrary notwithstanding….

[emphasis added]

“…and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the Contrary notwithstanding…”

Cynthia Davis is an idiot.

The Bill of Rights?

While we’re at it, the Missouri Constitution, has an establishment clause in, count ’em, two places:

Missouri Constitution

Article I

BILL OF RIGHTS

Section 7

Public aid for religious purposes–preferences and discriminations on religious grounds.

Section 7. That no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect or denomination of religion, or in aid of any priest, preacher, minister or teacher thereof, as such; and that no preference shall be given to nor any discrimination made against any church, sect or creed of religion, or any form of religious faith or worship.

Article IX

EDUCATION

Section 8

Prohibition of public aid for religious purposes and institutions.

Section 8. Neither the general assembly, nor any county, city, town, township, school district or other municipal corporation, shall ever make an appropriation or pay from any public fund whatever, anything in aid of any religious creed, church or sectarian purpose, or to help to support or sustain any private or public school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other institution of learning controlled by any religious creed, church or sectarian denomination whatever; nor shall any grant or donation of personal property or real estate ever be made by the state, or any county, city, town, or other municipal corporation, for any religious creed, church, or sectarian purpose whatever.

The concept is so important that it’s in two places in the Missouri Constitution. Cynthia Davis (r) ignores that? How convenient.