Further Tragedies From Missouri and Kansas Republicans

This is why Missouri needs Republicans out of office in Jefferson City.

Senate Leader Ron Richard on Campaign Contribution Limits: "It’s Just Not Going to Happen."

Recipient of large campaign donation checks unmoved by calls for ethics reform

We, Missouri, are the only state in the Union that doesn't have limits on campaign contributions.

It's shameful. 

It's stupid. 

It's irresponsible. 

It's certainly not for the people.

It's legalized bribery and it needs to end and soon as possible.

And here's a quick, terrific example of why Kansans need Republicans out of office in Topeka:

Kansas won't join effort to tighten domestic abuse gun laws

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Kansas apparently won't join several other states that have passed recent laws aimed at making it more difficult for domestic abusers to have weapons.

That's brilliant, huh? A man might abuse his wife or partner but can still  get weapons due to the Republicans actions.

Republicans clearly, clearly need to be voted out of both state houses.

Let's get busy.

Links:  Jeff City Gift Takers, Ranked  

The Jeff City Gift Culture, by the Numbers

If you aren’t worried about the future of Kansas, here are some reasons to start

This is a city ethics code?

City ethics code?

Are you freaking kidding me?

Reportedly, this week, our own city hall adopted what they're calling an ethics code:

New ethics code, approved Thursday, says Kansas City employees can't accept gifts worth more than $1,000.

Are you kidding me?

They can accept gifts up to $1000?

Who doesn't think our city government representatives can't be bought for $1000 or less?

Especially if, say, this month they get $1000 and then next month and the month after that, ad inifinitum?

Or $1000 this week from me and $1000 next week from my wife and another $1000 the week after that from my kid, 'cuz, you know, it's all perfectly legal, right?  Right?

I ask again--who here thinks their representative can't be bought?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Come on, guys, try a bit harder.

We know there are absolutely no limits down in Jefferson City for gifts or "campaign contributions" (don't make me laugh) but it's City Hall. You have to have more and better--read: lower--gift limits than this.

Get real.

No laws about throwing away or trashing government computers?

I keep remembering that ol' Mittens Romney had computers erased and destroyed on his way out of office back in Massachusetts, when he was governor. Did you read or hear about it?

Mitt Romney administration deleted emails before leaving office

"It doesn't appear to have been illegal, but this, from the Boston Globe, doesn't make Mitt Romney's administration look particularly open and transparent:

Just before Mitt Romney left the Massachusetts governor’s office and first ran for president, 11 of his top aides purchased their state-issued computer hard drives, and the Romney administration’s e-mails were all wiped from a server, according to interviews and records obtained by the Globe.

Romney administration officials had the remaining computers in the governor’s office replaced just before Governor Deval Patrick’s staff showed up to take power in January 2007 … Beth E. Myers, who was Romney’s chief of staff, bought her hard drive on Aug. 18, 2006, the same month that she left state employment.

Peter G. Flaherty, who was Romney’s deputy chief of staff, bought the hard drive from his computer on Nov. 3, 2006 ... Flaherty later became the Romney campaign’s chief liaison to social conservatives."

I don't mind telling you folks here and I think most, if not all, would agree, first, I think this is wrong since these were government computers, reputedly doing government--the people's--work.

Second, I think this could, of course, likely cover up things that otherwise shouldn't have happened.

Third, and most importantly, I think it needs to be said and acted on that this is made illegal--very strictly and clearly illegal--in each and every of the 50 states, all our cities and counties and then in our Federal Government, too.

Every government employee--every one of them--needs to be held accountable for their actions and official words and deeds. These are OUR computers, people, again, supposedly doing our work. It shouldn't be possible to be able to either sell these computers or trash the information on them.

Making this illegal would make our representatives at least somewhat more accountable for their words and actions in office, if not a great deal more.

What troubles me is that there doesn't seem to be an existing outcry for anything like this to happen.

Left as it is, legal to give or throw away this information, will lead to not good things.

If it hasn't already.

Link: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68583.html#ixzz24P4EfJ6I

A Missouri Travesty

Thanks to Representative Jason Kander for this video and to Tony at Tony's KC Blog (from whom I saw and appropriated it). This is too important not to put up.

It is stunning that these are the conditions for our state.

This all needs to change.

And as soon as possible.

CEO's? and ethics?

"That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!"

Only one full day into the new Obama administration and already it seems like such good things--things we wanted and even expected--are coming to fruition.

Besides speaking to several of the leaders in the Middle East by phone (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah), the new President Obama then had a meeting with his economic advisers about our fiscal situation and that mess we're in.

He talked of accelerating the country's departure from Iraq with his top military staff.

"As part of Wednesday's burst of activity, Obama's aides circulated an unsigned draft executive order that would require the closing within a year of the Guantanamo prison..."

And this is all extremely refreshing, intelligent and wonderful stuff, all in one day, sure.

Check out all that was done:

--President "Obama announced he was freezing the pay for senior White House staff and tightening up rules for former lobbyists who work in government -- an effort to make good on campaign promises for ethics reform."

--He froze the pay of all administration officials who make more than $100,000.00 per year or more;

--He signed rules making it easier for Americans to get government documents;

--"As part of the transition, Obama last night ordered federal agencies to hold off on pending regulations made in the last days of the Bush administration. The order blocks proposals including those to ease emission requirements for factories and require some foods to be labeled by country of origin";

--"The administration also sought a 120-day pause in military war-crimes tribunals of suspected terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Obama has vowed to close the facility and revamp the system for holding and trying enemy combatants";

--"Obama also decreed that only he would have the power to assert executive privilege, so as to 'limit its potential for abuse.' That may be a reference to former Vice President Dick Cheney’s assertion of executive privilege in keeping documents from Congress.";

Of all the good things done and changed today, however, this one impressed me most and gave me the most hope:

---"'A lobbyist who joins the Obama administration...is forbidden from working on issues they previously were involved with,' he said. Any person who leaves the administration will be barred from lobbying the government for two years. Government hiring, he said, will henceforth be based on qualifications, competence and experience, 'not political connections.'";

(Link to complete articles here--and they're good:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090122/pl_bloomberg/aysq9ot7ervu_1;
http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN2042189320090122?pageNumber=1)

It truly is a new day.

A great, new day.



_____________________________
Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

It was just reported that the now former Vice President Dick "The Dick" Cheney was welcomed back to Wyoming with a standing ovation.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

and Rush Limbaugh?

He's concerned that our new President's rules for honesty and openness in government is just a ruse, created so we can go after George Bush.

Hmmm.

Not a bad idea.

It WAS our government, wasn't it, Rush?