Republicans in Jefferson City, At It Again

Image: Think Progress

Yessir, Republican legislators in Jefferson City are at it again. They're writing and trying to pass very self-serving legislation, all in the guise of "protecting our vote." Here it is.

Missouri voter photo ID measures pass 

House committee

Never mind that it's been proven, time and again, that there really is no significant problem with vote fraud of any kind.

How Voter ID Laws Are Being Used 

to Disenfranchise

Never mind that the costs of voter ID far exceeds any value obtained in keeping voting rolls any more clean and accurate than they already are.

How Republicans Rig the Game 

This is yet more un-American, Right Wing, Republican vote suppression and disenfranchisement of Americans. It helps them get and keep the poor, blacks, Hispanics, the elderly and physically-challenged, at minimum---read: possible Democratic Party voters---from voting.

It's not just wrong but deeply wrong and we need to fight this, we need to end it in America. They've been pushing these "voter ID" laws and gerrymandering for far too long. It all needs to end and we need to get started on it. We can and should tolerate this no longer.

Links:

Texas Voter ID Law Is Unconstitutional and Discriminates

Federal Court Rejects Texas' Voter ID Law As Unfair

Dartmouth Study: N.C. Voter ID Law Unfair to Black Voters

Kansas, in the news. Again. Some more.

And as usual of late, it ain't pretty:

Hobby Lobby decisions reactivates gay-hating Kansas conservatives

A bit from the article:

Here's more of that slippery slope analysts have been talking about in the wake of the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision. If you can now legally discriminate against women in the workplace, Kansas religious conservatives are thinking, you can legally discriminate against the gays.

The Associated Press reported this weekend that social conservatives believe they have an opening to bring the state's religious freedom bill back in 2015. The legislation failed this spring; it passed the House, but stalled in the Senate after significant backlash from business groups. It would have prevented businesses from being sued if they refused to serve LGBT people for religious reasons.

"We are not going to let it die. We are very committed," Rev. Terry Fox, a leading Southern Baptist minister, told the AP. "The Body of Christ is a powerful movement when it comes together."

There's a cheery thought, huh?

It begs the question, though.  I can see the bumper sticker now:  WWJH?

Who WOULD Jesus hate?

Business, banks, Wall Street and the people, all against a government shutdown

Other than the extreme Right Wing of the nation, it seems most have lined up solidly against any government shutdown--most of the people, the business community, the banks and Wall Street:

Stocks Fall on Concern About Economy, Budget Fight

Concerns about the strength of the economy and the potential for a budget fight in Washington pushed down the stock market Monday...

...The threat of a looming political showdown over the budget also weighed on investors.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to defund President Barack Obama's health care law on Friday, a gesture that reminded Wall Street that the Republican-led House and the Democratic-controlled Senate are poised for a showdown over spending.

 

The debt ceiling must be raised by Oct. 1 to avoid a government shutdown, and a potential default on payments, including debt, later in the month.

 

"There seems to be a higher probability there will be more of a battle over that," said Scott Wren a senior equity strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors. "That could inject some volatility into the market."

_______________________________________________________

No one, no one wants a government shutdown except, again, the extreme Right Wing and uber-Conservatives and the extremists of the Republican Party, including and likely especially the Tea Party members.

There's nothing good--and a lot of bad--that would come with such an extreme, unnecessary, utterly avoidable and irresponsible move.

We need a jobs bill from this Congress

From 2008 on, we have experienced the worst downturn in the American economy since the Great Depression, 80 years earlier.

No small fact.

Then, additionally, there is this report, breaking yesterday:

Many US bridges old, risky and rundown

A little from the article:

An Associated Press analysis of 607,380 bridges in the most recent federal National Bridge Inventory showed that 65,605 were classified as "structurally deficient" and 20,808 as "fracture critical." Of those, 7,795 were both—a combination of red flags that experts say indicate significant disrepair and similar risk of collapse.

And here's a kicker for us, in Missouri:

There are wide gaps between states in historical bridge construction and their ongoing maintenance. While the numbers at the state level are in flux, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Pennsylvania have all been listed recently in the national inventory as having more than 600 bridges both structurally deficient and fracture critical.   (Bolding added for emphasis).

When you take that into consideration along with the fact that 2 bridges in the nation collapsed last year, it seems extremely clear what needs to happen.

We need Congress to come up with a jobs/projects/infrastructure bill.

We need the work, as a nation, as a people and our highways and bridges and streets and sewers and all kinds of infrastructure need updating and improving and even saving.

Our own I-70, as I have written here so many times, needs widening and improving and being made safer, alone, from Illinois on the East, all the way to Kansas on the West.  It's a no-brainer yet here we sit.

Instead, they legislate on women's reproductive rights and on loosening gun laws and trying to have us default on our debt.

It's irresponsible, reckless and nearly insane.

Link:  Don't worry ... that bridge you're driving over won't collapse. Probably.

Very cool thing coming out of Cape Girardeau this weekend

An electric car convention? In Cape Girardeau, Missouri?

Believe it:

Convention on electric cars set in Cape Girardeau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — A convention designed to help people convert cars to run on electricity is scheduled this week in Cape Girardeau.

About 150 people are expected to attend the Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention, which runs Tuesday through Sunday. Organizers say educational sessions and hands-on work will be held at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. The Southeast Missourian reports (http://bit.ly/1en6Kwc ) nearly 45 electric vehicles will be on display for the public.

Co-organizer Jack Rickard says the convention is drawing people from across the country, as well as countries such as Canada and Australia. He says many attendees are coordinating electric car projects with people on other continents, and the convention gives them a chance to meet.

It gets even more unpredictable, too:

The convention also will offer electric-vehicle drag races and autocross Friday afternoon.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/05/4390759/convention-on-electric-cars-set.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/05/4390759/convention-on-electric-cars-set.html#storylink=cpy

Kansas City and our Supermoon, featured prominently

If you hadn't heard or seen, last Saturday evening we experienced what they call a "Supermoon" effect. The moon was 13 or 14% bigger in appearance, depending on the source you read, and brighter, all because it was 16,000 miles closer to Earth, in its orbit than usual.

With that, naturally, photographers from all around the world took to their cameras. As luck would have it, a local photographer, one Charlie Riedel, shot that beautiful orb over our own Kansas City downtown and NPR, National Public Radio, picked it up on their website as one of a dozen great shots of it:

Around The Earth, That Moon Was Pretty Super

And so, here's the pic (click on it for larger, easier, better viewing):

So kudos to the photographer, Mr. Riedel, and to you, Kansas City.

You look pretty darned good.

America's intrinsic racism. Still

Yet further proof today, in the news, of what is, in this case, not America's blunt, forthright, obvious racism, no. This is the far more subtle yet sinister side of racism and without being physically punishing or abusive, as it used to be, still some of the worst.  From the news today:

Wealth Gap Among Races Has Widened Since Recession

From the article:

WASHINGTON — Millions of Americans suffered a loss of wealth during the recession and the sluggish recovery that followed. But the last half-decade has proved far worse for black and Hispanic families than for white families, starkly widening the already large gulf in wealth between non-Hispanic white Americans and most minority groups, according to a new study from the Urban Institute.

“It was already dismal,” Darrick Hamilton, a professor at the New School in New York, said of the wealth gap between black and white households. “It got even worse.”

Given the dynamics of the housing recovery and the rebound in the stock market, the wealth gap might still be growing, experts said, further dimming the prospects for economic advancement for current and future generations of Americans from minority groups.

The Urban Institute study found that the racial wealth gap yawned during the recession, even as the income gap between white Americans and nonwhite Americans remained stable.

 

Two things need to be pointed out about this.

First, that anyone, then, who blames the minorities, once again, still, for being "lazy " or "unwilling to work" or who thinks that all our opportunities here in America are all on a level playing field is fooling themselves and doing a grave injustice not only to the victims, the minorities, but to reality itself.

Second, it's more, further, obvious proof, as if any were needed of the old maxim/cliche' that "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Put another way--I've always loved this one--that "them that has, gets", disgusting as that is.

It's why we need more fairness in this country.

It's why we need government. It's why we need laws. It's why we need regulations--yes, those awful things called government regulations.

It's why we absolutely do need--yes, I'm going to say it--some wealth distribution.

Sue me.

It's not just wrong. It's not just obscene.

For anyone, anyone who gives a damn, anyone who cares remotely about decency and fairness and what's right and for doing what's right, it's what we need some of in this country.

For anyone paying attention, and for anyone who is either in a church, a church group, a religion or even, of course, those without religion--probably especially them--it's immoral.  It's grossly immoral.

And it needs to be changed.  And as soon as possible.

Great advice today out of Columbia, MO for someone in the country

From the news today on what is likely, today, the biggest story in the office, coast to coast:

Big winners share lessons, risks of Powerball win

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/big-winners-share-lessons-risks-powerball-win-081059542.html

I heard this afternoon that the lottery says 133,000 tickets are being sold nationally every minute.

Here's hoping someone or some group wins this tonight so it doesn't get any bigger.

The bigger it gets, the more likely it is to screw someone up, big time.

Good luck to the buyers of tickets out there.

Go here, REALLY do something to help cancer victims and research

Instead of posting some inane note on Facebook or Twitter or some such, however heartfelt or well-intended, you can actually go to a British research organization's website and help do some research for them and for cancer victims across the world. I saw it in the Star today but, as usual, couldn't find it on their online website. (I swear, the Kansas City Star has the worst internal search engine quite possibly in the world):

Charity creates world's first citizen science project to speed up cancer research

Cancer Research UK Press Release

TeenagersCancer Research UK has launched the first ever interactive website - http://www.clicktocure.net - that will allow the public to delve into real-life cancer data from research archives and speed up lifesaving research, outside of the laboratory.

At the moment, cancer samples are given special stains that highlight certain molecules as part of research. These molecules could reveal how a patient will respond to treatment. But this process is slow and analysis is mostly done by trained pathologists, who are often also cancer researchers.

The new website – Cell SliderTM – is the first time real cancer data has been turned into a format that can be analysed by the public. By getting as many people as possible to take part, more samples will be analysed faster and more effectively, freeing up scientists to carry out other cancer research.



More from the article:

Cell SliderTM presents real images of tumour samples to the world for analysis in the form of a simple game of snap. Users will be guided through a tutorial that explains which cells to analyse and which ones to ignore.

Once cancer cells have been spotted by their irregular shape, users will be asked to record how many have been stained yellow and how bright that yellow is by simply clicking on another image that closely matches the sample they are viewing.

This information will be fed back to researchers who will look for trends between types of cells and a patient’s response to treatment.

So go to the website and help cancer research. Then, go again and again, as many times as you can, whenever you can to really help in the fight against cancer.

Link to full press release: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/news/archive/pressrelease/2012-10-23-worlds-first-citizen-science?view=rss

Jerry Sandusky, Lance Armstrong and our soccer park

First, this week, Tuesday, in fact, Jerry Sandusky was finally sentenced for sexually exploiting and abusing young men at Penn State:

Jerry Sandusky sentenced to at least 30 years

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Jerry Sandusky has been sentenced to at least 30 years in prison in the child sexual abuse scandal that brought shame to Penn State and led to coach Joe Paterno's downfall.

The sentence means the 68-year-old former Penn State assistant coach will be in prison at least until he's nearly 100 years old.

Judge John Cleland issued the sentence Tuesday, three months after a jury convicted Sandusky on 45 counts of child sexual abuse.

Here's the problem, here's the really odd thing, however, in spite of the testimony of the young men he sexually assaulted and betrayed:

Sandusky maintains his innocence and plans to appeal, a process his lawyer has said will probably begin in the coming weeks.

This is all followed rather closely this week--a mere two days later--with the release of the government's report on Lance Armstrong and his alleged doping to win his cycling races:

Armstrong led doping, agency says

Sophisticated program is detailed in 202-page report against the cycling great. Attorney calls it a hatchet job.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Wednesday released details of its investigation of Lance Armstrong, calling it the most sophisticated doping program in recent sports history.

It said Armstrong played a key role by doping, supplying doping products and demanding that his top teammates dope so he could be successful.

Here's the tough part, for Mr. Armstrong:

A 202-page account of the agency’s case against Armstrong included sworn testimony from 26 people, including nearly a dozen former teammates on Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel squads who said they saw Armstrong doping to help him win every one of his record seven Tour de France titles.

26 people say you did it?

That seems pretty conclusive.

If I'm Lance Armstrong, I'm thinking that's some lousy company to be in.

As for Kansas City, we were wise to have only named it the "Livestrong Sporting Park", weren't we, instead the Armstrong Soccer Stadium or some such?

Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/09/3858809/jerry-sandusky-sentenced-to-at.html#storylink=misearch

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/11/3861904/armstrong-led-doping-agency-says.html

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110/major-league-soccer/2012/10/11/3442618/sporting-kansas-city-will-not-change-name-of-livestrong-sporting-

From the "You Gotta' Be Kidding Me" File

A brief article in the Star this morning:

"Vandals scribbled on the outer walls of one of Jerusalem's best-known churches early Tuesday morning, Israeli police said. Extremist Jewish West Bank settlers are suspected in the defacement of a wall leading to the Church of the Dormition. The century-old structure is built on the site where tradition says the Virgin Mary died."

I mean, come on. Are you kidding me? Are we not adults?

I wonder what they wrote. "Mary cheated on Joseph"?

Sheesh.

Great Planned Parenthood news out of Kansas

Indeed, great news from NPR and the AP:

Charges Dropped Against Kansas Planned Parenthood

A Kansas prosecutor on Friday dropped all remaining criminal charges against a Kansas City-area Planned Parenthood clinic accused of performing illegal abortions, ending what was believed to be the first attempt in the U.S. to prosecute a facility affiliated with the group.

Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced that 32 misdemeanor charges against the clinic had been dismissed. Those charges were the last part of a criminal case filed in 2007 by Howe's predecessor. Howe said his decision to end the case came after consulting Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt. All three are Republicans.

"It is an unfortunate conclusion that I don't think is going to satisfy anybody, but that is the reality of what we have to deal with today," Howe said during a news conference at his office at the courthouse in Olathe. "But ultimately, the decision should be about the law and the evidence."

Yeah.

Tough thing, that.

The law, I mean.

All those rules.

Link: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/17/159037912/charges-dropped-against-kan-planned-parenthood

KS Biosciences Lab still supported by Feds

News out this morning says the Feds support--still support--the biosciences lab going in out at Manhattan, even if it is scaled down:

Fed. panel supports Kan. biosecurity lab project

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A government-backed committee of the National Research Council issued a report Friday saying the United States would have adequate biosecurity protections even if plans for a proposed $1.14 billion lab in Kansas are scaled back.

The study was prepared by a subcommittee formed this spring to look at three options for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility that is to be built in Manhattan near the Kansas State University campus. The report was in response to tighter federal revenues and budget controls that are forcing agencies to rethink spending priorities.

DHS asked the National Research Council to review the threats of foreign animal disease, the capabilities needed to address such threats and analyze options for building the lab as proposed or scaling back the size and scope. A third option included keeping the current research lab at Plum Island, N.Y.

While the committee found that the need for a lab hadn't changed since the project was first proposed in 2006, it did find that DHS had two options for completing the goal of developing the capabilities with a laboratory designed specifically to respond to a biosecurity threat. However, the report concluded that both options had drawbacks.

So rest assured, Kansas--apparently you're still going to get your lab and the money and jobs, even if it isn't as big as once promised and hoped.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-panel-supports-kan-biosecurity-lab-project-170920861.html

Breaking news: Kansas' Bramlage family killed in plane crash

From Yahoo! News and the Associated Press (AP) just now:

Kansas family killed in plane crash in Floride swamp

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas businessman, his wife and their four children were killed Thursday when their small plane crashed into a swampy area of central Florida, and word quickly spread to their hometown where the family was known for their charitable work and always having a house full of neighborhood kids.

The single-turboprop, fixed-wing plane was heading home to Junction City from the Bahamas when it broke apart and went down about 12:30 p.m. in the Tiger Creek Preserve, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office in Florida.

...the basketball arena is named for..." the father's "...grandfather."

Full story here: http://news.yahoo.com/kansas-family-killed-plane-crash-fla-swamp-015401997.html

Not being a "wise guy" or sarcastic here at all but, seriously, doesn't it seem, to an extent, as though the "good die young"? Read about this family to see to what I'm referring.

Additional link: http://www.kmbc.com/news/kansas-city/6-Members-of-Bramlage-family-killed-in-Florida-plane-crash/-/11664182/14738618/-/wep401z/-/index.html

A minimum tax for Americans and corporations makes sense

According to an article in The Star yesterday, from an article in Bloomberg News (ironically enough), 5 days earlier, more and more high-earning Americans are avoiding income tax altogether. (I say ironically enough because Bloomberg News is rather famously owned by the uber-wealthy billionaire Michael Bloomberg).

The article:

IRS Finds One In 189 High Earners Paid No 2009 U.S. Tax

The percentage of U.S. taxpayers reporting adjusted gross income exceeding $200,000 who paid no U.S. income taxes increased in 2009 to 0.53 percent from 0.51 percent, meaning that one in 189 high earners avoided taxation, an Internal Revenue Service study found.

My point in mentioning this today is not to rail against the wealthy who are, more and more, escaping and evading taxes altogether but to ask the rather salient and altogether appropriate question--doesn't it make sense that we have a national "minimum tax" for both individuals and corporations so that these wealthy people can and do pay their extremely fair share for a) being in America and b) having access to all the benefits therein like our schools, sewer systems, air traffic, all other infrastructure and--maybe most important of all, our markets?

Doesn't this make sense?

I'd propose that it kick in when people make over, say, $200,000 or $250,000 annually and when corporations do the same. (This might have to be tweaked for the corporations, I'm not a tax expert).

It's just logical.

First of all, they can afford it and second, it really is their duty to pay at least SOME taxes in order to enjoy--and maintain--all we have here. And by "some", I mean a 20% minimum. That's still a bargain.

No more skipping out totally on taxes. It's the right thing for them and for the nation. No matter how many deductions you pull out of your hat, there's a 20% minimum income tax.

Someone needs to propose such a thing.

And please, whatever you do, don't tell me it punishes success.

Don't even.

Link to original story: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-29/irs-finds-one-in-189-high-earners-paid-no-2009-u-s-tax.html

You think you're bored?

If you ever find yourself bored or complaining of boredom or, worse, someone around you is, remember, it could always be worse. From The Star today:

New rest room lures hundreds to Lucas, Kan.

And the story?

LUCAS, KAN. -- Hundreds of people gathered in the central Kansas town of Lucas to take part in the grand opening of the town's quirky new public rest room.

Organizers said the Bowl Plaza Grand Opening was the culmination of a four-year dream to build a downtown rest room in Lucas. But Bowl Plaza, built with the help of a grant from the state Department of Commerce, never was intended to be a typical rest room.

The rectangular men's and women's building is shaped like a toilet tank, and the oval-painted entrance resembles an upraised toilet seat lid.

The walkway to and from the rest rooms is shaped like an unfurling toilet paper roll.

The daylong event Saturday included a toilet seat toss and Tubular Olympics with empty toilet paper rolls.

So just don't tell me you're bored and there's nothing to do, mmm-kay?

Link to original story: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/03/3639984/new-restroom-lures-hundreds-to.html

Inaction from Jeff City

The latest from Jefferson City on I-70 and the much-needed and too-often-neglected and forgotten improvements that vital thoroughfare in the state needs:

Missouri Senate chooses I-70 highway study over toll roads

It's disgusting.

Instead of actually doing something about I-70 and the dangerous, far-too-small nightmare it is, our Jefferson City legislature has set something up to "study" it.

Yeehaw.

That'll help.

Not.

I say here again, surely there can be no bigger or more important issue for our State and even Federal legislatures than to widen and make more safe this freeway.

It would make all who use it safer, it could help facilitate more and better business in the state, it effects virtually every Missourian in the state--and many people in the nation each year--and finally, it could help create some jobs in the state, if even temporary.

Instead, we get inaction from Jefferson City and our legislatures.

Instead, we get a "study."

Thanks, Missouri Legislators.

For nothing.

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/03/3592312/missouri-senate-chooses-i-70-highway.html

Great idea: New museum on racism in Michigan

There is a new museum in Big Rapids, Michigan. It is the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia and it showcases exactly that--artifacts of racism in America. Truly, what a great idea. Phenomenal. Americans have, for far too long--and still do--pretend that either racism doesn't exist or was never that bad or just turn their heads from it, time and again. For hundreds of years, we pretend it doesn't exist. This should help dispel such notions: BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — "The objects displayed in Michigan's newest museum range from the ordinary, such as simple ashtrays and fishing lures, to the grotesque — a full-size replica of a lynching tree. But all are united by a common theme: They are steeped in racism so intense that it makes visitors cringe."

"That's the idea behind the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, which says it has amassed the nation's largest public collection of artifacts spanning the segregation era, from Reconstruction until the civil rights movement, and beyond...The displays are startling. The n-word is prevalent throughout, and many items portray black men as lazy, violent or inarticulate. Black women are shown as kerchief-wearing mammies, sexually-charged Jezebels or other stereotypes. The shocking images exact an emotional cost. 'There's parts in that room — the main room — where it's quite gut-wrenching,' said Nancy Mettlach, a student conduct specialist at Ferris. "And the thought that was going through my mind was: 'How can one human being do this to another human being?'" Great question. And it needs to be asked time and again. If we have museums on the Holocaust, shouldn't we also have one on racism? Link: http://news.yahoo.com/newest-michigan-museum-showcases-racist-artifacts-070835385.html

I have to ask again--how sick do you have to be?

News out today: Syrian forces fire on funeral in Damascus, kill 1 (Link to story at bottom). How sick do you have to be to open fire on a funeral procession? Yet it happens repeatedly in the Middle East? To go further, how sick do you have to be to strap bombs to yourself to kill a member of your own religion who believes slightly different than you? (Sunnis killing Shi'as and vice versa). Another step--how sick do you have to be to kill your own countrymen in this fashion? Yet another--how sick do you have to be to kill innocent civilians lined up for whatever reason in this same fashion? Finally, how really sick do you have to be to strap bombs to yourself and kill your fellow countrymen because they're lined up to become police officers or to join your country's military so you can make it safer and hopefully build a stronger, more functioning society? I don't think I'll ever understand. Link: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/18/syrian-forces-fire-funeral-damascus-kill-1/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

I think we can officially say the "auto bailout" officially worked now

Breaking news today: GM posts its highest profit ever: $7.6 billion GM earns its highest profit ever in 2011 with $7.6 billion; overseas losses cut 4Q profit So can we now, officially end the conversations and questions about the need, sense and logic of having "bailed out"--or invested in--GM, Detroit, Chrysler and the American auto workers? Please. Sure, we didn't want to do it and we didn't want to need to do it but the fact is, if we hadn't bailed them out, we would have lost that industry, for the most part, almost completely. Link to original story: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gQQyKL1zj8FAOWVfwO1Et4tc1VOA?docId=7878364211444f549d5c2356de1fdce9