Today, in west central Missouri:

President Obama figure found hanging from Interstate 70 overpass

Bomb squad called to check out dummy, highway temporarily closed

OAK GROVE, Mo. -A dummy constructed to look like President Obama was found hanging from an overpass on Interstate 70 near Oak Grove, Mo., early Monday morning.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said someone put a President Obama mask on the dummy and left it hanging over the westbound side of Interstate 70 from the Leftholz Road overpass.

The discovery was made at about 5:30 a.m.

Police had to temporarily shut down the highway as they took the figure down….

Evidently it’s too much trouble to write an erudite letter to the editor of the local paper outlining one’s political and policy differences with the President.

Previously:

Wecome to post-racial America (August 10, 2010)

Wecome to post-racial America, part 2 (August 21, 2010)

Welcome to post racial America, part 3 (November 5, 2010)

Rodeo Quote of the Week (August 17, 2013)

You think they know anyone in the Missouri General Assembly?

At the White House petition site:

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Impeachment of Barack Obama

Person who supports radicalism and neo-Nazism, cannot hold the office of President of the United States of America.

Created: Mar 30, 2014

Issues: Civil Rights and Liberties, Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement

Signatures needed by April 29, 2014 to reach goal of 100,000 99,703

Total signatures on this petition 297

[emphasis added]

Think about that sentence for a minute.

SMP is meant to provide a place to deal with Missouri’s politics, but every once and awhile I just can’t resist writing a little something about stuff that isn’t specific to Missouri, to wit, Sarah Palin’s comments on President’s Obama sartorial style. Palin wants to paint the President as weak on foreign policy – in particular, the Ukrainian situation – and she seeks to emphasize this opinion by describing his jeans as “mom jeans.” Although I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the President in what I’d call mom jeans, Palin probably should know. After all, she’s not only a mom but such an astute fashionista that she managed to turn her disastrous vice-presidential run into an extended shopping spree, updating her and her family’s wardrobes with pricey designer duds paid for out of campaign funds.

Palin also thinks that Putin is a superior leader, evidently because he wrestles bears. In this opinion she echoes – admittedly in her own inimitably cartoonishly macho way – others of her conservative brethren who think that a pugnacious, shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later, strongman ruler like Putin is just what the doctor ordered. Bear in mind that these folks also gushed over President Dick Cheney … er, George Bush, while he (they?) led us into an expensive and unnecessary war. I think this might be why we also call conservatives reactionary. In Europe I believe that people who swoon in the presence of strongmen leaders are often called fascists, but the term has been so abused by American Tea Partiers that it has lost all currency in the U.S. As Duane Graham of The Erstwhile Conservative observes about conservative Putin worship, ” the fact that a Russian thug is praised by a prominent Republican for acting like a thug, even a decisive one, is enough to turn one’s stomach.”

Personally, I would prefer a leader who outsmarts bears instead of wrestling them, and so far, I think that President Obama might be about to outsmart the Russian bear, Putin, whose bellicose actions may ultimately retain a Crimean sea port for Rusia, but who has imperiled Russia’s already fragile economy in the process, alienated Russians at home and Russian allies, while ensuring that the rest of the Ukraine will remain a stubbornly Westward leaning country on the Russian border. So who cares what kind of jeans President Obama wears as long as he and  his foreign policy team are able to make a palatable hash out of the dog’s breakfast Putin seeks to serve up in the Ukraine?

 

Today, via Twitter, from Representative Jason Smith (r):

Jason Smith ‏@JasonSmithMO

In Dexter last night for Stoddard Co Lincoln Day. Spoke about my work fighting against Obama war on rural America#MO8 [….] 10:44 AM – 2 Mar 2014

Yeah, we know. If this situation was imposed on us by another nation it would be a casus belli:

Editorial: Poverty is not a punch line in Missouri’s 8th District

February 16, 2013 6:15 am  •  By the Editorial Board

….That makes the 8th District the perfect place to look at how America’s commitment to its neighbors has been neglected by those who are in service to the rich.

In terms of median income, children living in poverty, and various health outcomes such as infant mortality that are often directly tied to poverty conditions, Missouri’s 8th District is very much in need of a Robin Hood.

It is the poorest congressional district in Missouri. The pain is spread throughout the southeastern quadrant of the state that makes up the 8th.

Of the 10 counties with the lowest median income in the Show-Me State, all but one are in the 8th.

Shannon County brings up the rear at $26,600 per household, far below the statewide average of $45,000 – which is about $5,000 below the national average.

What does the 8th District get for all that poverty?

Malnourished babies. Abused children. Dead kids.

Texas County, home of the new mean center of the U.S., comes in at 108th out of 115 Missouri counties in terms of child deaths. Mr. Smith’s Dent County ranks just one better.

Infant mortality? Teen deaths? Dropouts?

For as much as Missouri’s rural lawmakers like to talk about poverty as an urban issue, the statistics in their counties, particularly the 8th, are as bad or worse….

….This is the paradox of the modern-day Republican Party in Missouri.

It campaigns against the needs of the very people it represents. Too many of the party’s voters encourage such behavior by demonizing the federal government that they don’t realize is helping to keep them and their children alive….

Oh, wait, it’s not Obama’s war…

From the U.S. Census Bureau (2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates):

Congressional District 8, Missouri

Income and Benefits

(In 2012 inflation-adjusted dollars) Estimate

Total households 289,287

[Income]

Less than $10,000 30,619

$10,000 to $14,999 26,265

$15,000 to 24,999 42,920

$25,000 to $34,999 39,278

$35,000 to $49,999 46,272

$50,000 to $74,999 53,412

$75,000 to $99,999 22,929

$100,000 to $149,999 20,040

$150,000 to $199,999 4,499

$200,000 or more 3,053

Access to health insurance in the 8th Congressional District, from the U.S. Census Bureau (2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates):

Health Insurance Coverage Estimate

Civilian non-institutionalized population 729,868

With health insurance coverage 625,689

With private health insurance 435,651

With public coverage 290,108

No health insurance coverage 104,179

Civilian non-institutionalized population under 18 years 172,506

No health insurance coverage 10,231

[emphasis added]

The poverty level in the 8th Congressional District, from the U.S. Census Bureau (2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates):

Percentage of Families and People whose Income in the Past 12 Months is Below the Poverty Level Estimate

All families 14.4%

With related children under 18 years 23.2%

With related children under 5 years only 23.9%

Married couple families 7.9%

With related children under 18 years 10.6%

With related children under 5 years only 11.3%

Families with female householder, no husband present 40.7%

With related children under 18 years 51.7%

With related children under 5 years only 49.4%

All people 19.7%

Under 18 years 26.8%

Related children under 18 years 26.2%

Related children under 5 years 29.6%

Related children 5 to 17 years 25.1%

18 years and older 17.5%

65 years and older 12.6%

People in families 16.0%

Unrelated individuals 15 years and over 35.7%

Oh, there’s a war all right, just not from Obama.

Today, from Digby:

The progressive partisan strategy can work after all

….The administration has often cited the fact that they are unable to accomplish more progressive priorities due to certain Senate Democrats who fail to cooperate. You cannot help but wonder if they might have more success if they’d deployed this strategy before. Certainly, the outside groups wanted nothing more than to organize with the White House to put pressure on recalcitrant centrist and conservative Democrats. They just weren’t given much of an opportunity. If it could be effective against the most powerful bipartisan lobby in the country, just think what it might have done on other issues….

Yeah, we knew that in 2009.

Go. Read the whole thing.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) took to Twitter last night to comment on President Obama’s State of the Union address. Hilarity ensued:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

Getting ready for the President’s State of the Union address. Hope he extends hand to Congress rather than threatening more executive action 5:08 PM – 28 Jan 2014

One of the responses:

Matt Hendon ‏@MMHen22

@RepHartzler it might be time for the House to start doing something besides obstruction 5:36 PM – 28 Jan 2014

And then:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

Will the President inspire Americans to be all they can be or engage in ‘shame and blame’ pitting one group against another? Hope the first.5:24 PM – 28 Jan 2014

That one gathered the usual Benghazi truther spam. Some of the other responses:

Scott Charton ‏@ScottCharton

@RepHartzler Nice negative frame before The President utters a word. Shameful. 5:35 PM – 28 Jan 2014

Fake Ed Emery ‏@Ed_Emrey

@RepHartzler thankfully you have never pitted on side against this other. That’s why you are dabes. 6:16 PM – 28 Jan 2014

And then:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

Agreed with the Pres. that we believe in opportunity for all & you can get ahead if work hard & take responsibility. Govn.’s not the answer. 8:11 PM – 28 Jan 2014

Two responses:

Nurse Ratched ‏@veggie64_leslie

@RepHartzler Then why do you accept farm subsidies from the Government? 9:21 PM – 28 Jan 2014

Bob Yates ‏@OldDrum

@RepHartzler So, if government is not the answer will you propose defunding PUBLIC education and no more farm subsidies? 4:59 AM – 29 Jan 2014

Maybe the first, probably not the second.

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.

Today, from Representative Vicky Hartzler (r), via Twitter:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler @RepHartzler

You’ve got to be kidding! I just received a letter rejecting my ObamaCare sign up even tho’ by law I have to sign up in the DC Exchange! 11:25 AM – 27 Dec 13

Some of the responses:

Matt Tharp ‏@matt_tharp

Musta been her forged birth certificate MT “@RepHartzler: You’ve got to be kidding! I just received a letter rejecting my ObamaCare sign up” 11:37 AM – 27 Dec 13

Ouch.

Snarkcasm ‏@Ontheotherhand

@RepHartzler Ppl w pre-existing conditions (fill in ur own GOP ailment) can’t be denied benefits. Maybe pay ur fine out of farm subsidy $$ 11:45 AM – 27 Dec 13

Jeff Reed ‏@JeffReedMO

Forget to check Are you a Birther box? “@RepHartzler: You’ve got to be kidding! I just received a letter rejecting my ObamaCare sign up…” 11:53 AM – 27 Dec 13

You’ve just got to love social media.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) with Representative Joe “You lie!” Wilson (r)

in Warrensburg, Missouri on September 18, 2012. [file photo]

Maybe those were happier times.

Today, in Columbia, Missouri:

Tribune Politics ‏@cdtpolitics

@RepHartzler moves flag for press conference to avoid image with Obama [….] 3:20 PM – 17 Dec 13

Sean Nicholson ‏@ssnich

FIXED MT @cdtpolitics: @RepHartzler moves flag for presser to avoid image w/ Kenyan [….] 3:23 PM – 17 Dec 13

Jason Hancock ‏@J_Hancock

RT @cdtpolitics: @RepHartzler moves flag for press conference to avoid image with Obama [….] 3:23 PM – 17 Dec 13

Between Party Lines

Hartzler moves flag for press conference to avoid image with Obama

By Rudi Keller

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 at 3:01 pm

….When Hartzler was finished with her tour, she found it difficult to locate a spot for talking with reporters. She suggested going in front of a large window but the television reporters on hand said that would send streaming light into their cameras. When I suggested standing by an American flag near the entrance, she halted because of another problem – it was immediately to the right of a picture of Obama….

….She asked press aide Steve Walsh to move the flag away from Obama’s picture and when he was finished, she was ready to speak to reporters.

Asked why she would not stand by the flag where it stood, she said nothing. Asked if it was a problem with the president, she sought to make light of it. “So there’s going to be an article about that, eh?,” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m curious about that,” I replied. “What’s the problem?”….

….Hartzler had one more thing to say before we got to the regular business of the press conference.

“Oh dear, I’ll never live that one down.”

It’s a consistent message.

Tony Messenger ‏@tonymess

No, @RepHartzler, you will not live this down, because it’s a vain, silly move [….] 3:28 PM – 17 Dec 13

Alexandra ‏@aliemalie

My congresswoman, @RepHartzler, is an embarrassment. [….] #MO4 3:38 PM – 17 Dec 13

That’s a consistent message, too.

An infamous rodeo clown is the prohibitive favorite in a Sedalia radio station’s online poll for “Sedalia Person of the Year”:

The results of an online poll for KIX 105.7 radio in Sedalia, Missouri at around 12:30 p.m. today.

Vote for the 2013 Sedalia Person of the Year [POLL]

By Rob Edwards December 10, 2013 5:30 AM

This is the final vote for the 2013 Sedalia Person of the Year award. Based off of TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year issue, this award should go to the person or group that has had the most influence on the Sedalia area in the year 2013, for better or for worse. We took your nominations, and here are the finalists.

   Clean Air Sedalia – The driving force behind the controversial Smoking Ban in Sedalia.

   Dale Malone – Owner/operator of local business Dukes & Boots. Was very involved with the Pettis County Community Santa bicycle drive for underprivileged children, and fundraisers for the family of Chad Stover.

   Harry Hoffert – Host of Huntin’ and Fishin’ with Harry. Local business owner and hunting enthusiast who is heavily involved in the Wounded Warriors and MO Kids Outdoors organizations.

   Kevin Walker. Photographer/community activist. Covers almost every event in the area and shares his photos, stories, and opinions with the community online.

   Larry Stevenson. City Councilman known for his unique actions at City Council meetings.

   Sedalia STING Unit. Local police task force responsible for several large drug busts this year.

   Tuffy Gessling. The rodeo clown in the middle of the Obama mask incident at the Missouri State Fair.

So who gets your vote for the Sedalia Person of the Year? Remember, it’s not necessarily the “Nice Guy Award”, it’s who you think had the biggest impact on the year for Sedalia…..

[emphasis added]

The sales director is probably going to get a really big end of year bonus.

Previously:

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)