Did You See What Kansas and Missouri Congressional Members Did?

It's a beauty:

Backstabbing Republicans Publish Open Letter To Iran Undermining Negotiations

Kansas' Senator Pat Roberts and Representative Jerry Moran and Missouri's Senator Roy Blunt all signed this letter.

Bloomberg News reports on an open letter signed by 47 Republicans warning Iran that whatever they negotiate with President Obama can be undone in two years by the next President, who they presume will side with them.

Organized by freshman Senator Tom Cotton and signed by the chamber's entire party leadership as well as potential 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, the letter is meant not just to discourage the Iranian regime from signing a deal but also to pressure the White House into giving Congress some authority over the process.

“It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system … Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” the senators wrote. “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.”

There are a great deal of people on social media just now, suggesting, if not saying that these legislators who have signed the letter have committed treason by way of our own Logan Act, which states:

"Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

It's rather difficult to argue with them or with the idea, to me and a lot of us.

Naturally, the usual warmongers like Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham are in the group but so are possible 2016 presidential candidates like Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and even "Libertarian" Rand Paul.   Mr. "I Don't Do War Because I'm a Libertarian" Rand Paul.

I don't know what's worse here--the idiocy or the demagoguery.

Links:  Logan Act - Wikipedia

Logan Act legal definition of Logan Act

The Republican Plan for American Health Care

From The Strip at The New York Times by 
Brian McFadden (cartoonist)
(click on picture for easy reading)

Missouri, the Death Penalty and the Shame it Brings on the State

It seems Missouri hit the New York Times today. Unfortunately, as is so frequently and repeatedly happens lately for Missouri and Kansas, lots of "red", Republican, Right Wing states and even the nation, it's not for anything good. Quite the contrary, in fact.

Just now, Missouri is scheduling the death penalty for this March 17 for a citizen who is 74 years old, who had horrible brain damage and loss, years ago and who now has an IQ of 71, it's reported:

Lawyers Seek Reprieve for Killer Who Lost Part of His Brain Decades Earlier

If ever there were a case of "extenuating circumstances", surely it seems this would be the one. Some of the facts:

In January 1972, Cecil Clayton was cutting wood at his family’s sawmill in southeastern Missouri when a piece of lumber flew off the circular saw blade and struck him in the forehead. The impact caved in part of Mr. Clayton’s skull, driving bone fragments into his brain.

Doctors saved his life, but in doing so had to remove 20 percent of his frontal lobe, which psychiatrists say led Mr. Clayton to be tormented for years by violent impulses, schizophrenia and extreme paranoia. In 1996, his lawyers say, those impulses drove Mr. Clayton to kill a law enforcement officer.

Lawyers for Mr. Clayton, who has an I.Q. of 71, say he should be spared because his injury has made it impossible for him to grasp the significance of his death sentence, scheduled for March 17.

“There was a profound change in him that he doesn’t understand, and neither did his family,” said Elizabeth Unger Carlyle, one of Mr. Clayton’s lawyers.

But wait, it gets worse:

Mr. Clayton is missing about 7.7 percent of his brain.

“If you can prove mental retardation, you can get exempted, but mental illness alone is not an exemption to the death penalty,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

What anyone evaluating this situation needs to understand is what the frontal lobe is responsible for in we humans: "...the part of the brain involved in impulse control, problem solving and social behavior..."

With all this information, it might seem as though the courts and state might take all this into consideration and waive the death penalty for Mr. Clayton.

But you'd be mistaken.

The conviction and death sentence have been upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. His lawyers are now seeking a competency hearing for Mr. Clayton to determine whether he understands his circumstances.

And this is where we stand now with this case:

In a court filing last month, Missouri’s attorney general, Chris Koster, wrote that Dr. Reynolds had “found Clayton’s comments concerning the emotional stress that the threat of execution is causing him are evidence that on a visceral as well as cognitive level, Clayton understands his potential fate.”

And if that's not enough, there's still more,

In Mr. Clayton’s case, two years after the sawmill accident, he checked himself into a mental hospital for 15 months because he feared he could no longer control his temper. After his release, Mr. Clayton decided that he could no longer perform the work required at the sawmill, and instead took a job as a police officer in Purdy, Mo. He quit after nine months.

“He was so unsure of himself and worried about his judgment to the point that he felt he should not be in a position of responsibility,” according to a 2001 filing by his lawyers to the Missouri State Supreme Court.

In 1983, Dr. Douglas Stevens, a psychiatrist, wrote an evaluation about Mr. Clayton that proved prophetic.

“There is presently no way that this man could be expected to function in the world of work,” Dr. Stevens wrote. “Were he pushed to do so he would become a danger both to himself and to others. He has had both suicidal and homicidal impulses, so far controlled, though under pressure they would be expected to exacerbate.”

Surely we Missourians are better, smarter and more empathetic to another soul's situation than to allow this execution go forward.  Surely we're better Christians or Jews or Muslims or atheists or whatever. Surely we're better humans than to go through with this.

Surely.

When I woke up this morning..

...you were on my mind.

Entertainment Overnight -- The Beautiful City

Kansas City Lights from Dan Wood on Vimeo.

Right Wing, Republican "Trickle Down Economics"

What Right Wing, Republican, Ronald Reagan-esque, "trickle down economics" begets, in 4 quick, true, documentable examples. And one of them, as we know, is our own next door neighbor:

Meanwhile, California did the opposite and is doing much better, thanks very much.

Big taxes + big spending cuts = California budget surplus

The Case for Raising Top Tax Rates

How long until Kansans pay attention, learn and turn that big ship around?

Entertainment Overnight -- Kansas City

Paris of the Plains from Tim Lair on Vimeo.

Three Country Western Stars, on President Obama

First, Tim McGraw:

“It’s innate in me to be a blue-dog Democrat. I’m not saying I’m right or wrong, but that’s what I am,” he told People. “My wife and I and our family will do everything we can to support Obama. I like his ideas, I like his energy, and I like the statement he would make for our country to the world.”

Then there's Republican Garth Brooks:

"Yeah, I think what President Obama is finding out is all that we want to do, the system kind of doesn't allow the most powerful guy in the world to kind of do his job and I'm sure nobody's more frustrated than him to complete those promises that he did and I think he's trying his heart out. I love him to death and I fully support him and I just wish him well because it's got to be hell in that office."

And then, finally, for those "of a certain age" or who just know their country music, there's Merle "Okee from Muskogee" Haggard:

It’s really almost criminal what they do with our President. There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he’s doing certain things that he’s not. It’s just a big old political game that I don’t want to be part of. There are people spending their lives putting him down. I’m sure some of it’s true and some of it’s not. I was very surprised to find the man very humble and he had a nice handshake. His wife was very cordial to the guests and especially me. They made a special effort to make me feel welcome. It was not at all the way the media described him to be.

The Right Wing, Republican Stupidity in Two Neighboring Midwest, "Red" States

More and more, it gets additionally embarrassing seeing and reporting on what takes place in Missouri and Kansas state capitols. First, it was what was happening financially, fiscally, in Kansas, what with their Governor Sam Brownback and all the Republican legislators there giving tax breaks to the wealthy (think Koch brothers) and corporations and putting the tax burden on the backs of the middle-, lower- and working classes, instead.

And we've all seen how that played out:

Brownback’s Tax Cuts Prompt S&P to Reduce Kansas’s Rating

And this:

Kansas Moves to Close Budget Shortfall Following Tax Cuts

So the Right Wingers slashed tax revenues for the wealthy and corporations, ruined the budget, created budget shortfalls and where do we find they're going after budget cuts?

Education Is Newest Target of Kansas Budget Cuts

So there was all that stupid and then they went and did this, helping guns and gun owners recently:

Open carry now legal all across Kansas

There apparently weren't enough guns already in Kansas so their legislators thought it an excellent idea to make it legal to allow everyone--EVERYONE--to "open carry weapons, including those with no weapons training. From the article;

On Tuesday, the state's new open carry law allowed anyone who wants to carry a gun on their holster to do so.

People in the state of Kansas have always been allowed to openly carry weapons, but over time, cities like Prairie Village made it illegal.

On Tuesday, lawmakers made open carry laws equal with concealed carry laws: it is uniformly legal now in every city across the state.

Private businesses can still forbid it, but public spaces like parks and municipal buildings must allow it.

Cities have four years to prepare their city halls for open carry laws.

Isn't that just a little ball of brilliance? As though there weren't, as I said, already enough weapons in our society. This has the capability of making Kansas far more like the old stereotype of the "wild, wild West." Guns everywhere, guns on every hip. Yeehaw.

Not to be outdone, Missouri has just gone on their own gun tirade. From The Kansas City Star yesterday:

Reckless gun measures threaten public safety in Missouri and Kansas

A circuit court judge in St. Louis last week ruled that a convicted felon had the right to keep a loaded pistol in his vehicle, thanks to a constitutional amendment that Missouri lawmakers proposed and voters approved in 2014. If other courts reach the same interpretation, the state will lose a crucial law enforcement tool.

The amendment was drafted by lawmakers as yet another gesture to affirm to voters — and gun manufacturers — that they will tolerate no restrictions on the right of citizens to bear arms.

The amendment makes two exceptions: The state can limit the rights of convicted “violent” felons or those decreed by a court to be a danger because of a mental illness.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article12721739.html#storylink=cpy

So now, Missouri's legislators are deciding it's somehow a good to great idea to have felons still be able to own and carry--openly carry--weapons and hand guns. Because liberty, I guess. Liberty and 'Merica!, right?  

It's difficult to not satirize and lampoon ideas like these--and the people who create them and carry them out or try to.

To whom does this make sense?  To whom is this remotely a good idea?

The tax and financial ideas and legislation in Kansas was given warnings for how reckless, if not foolish it was and would be and what the consequences would be. We've seen, for the last 30 years, how "trickle down economics" not only doesn't work but ends up creating deficits and budget shortfalls and debt.

And now, with guns and weapons. 

If you do a Google search on "Harvard study on guns", you can and will find a long, long list of studies that show more guns equals more shootings and more killings, more death.

It only makes sense.

The studies document it across states, across the nation and across the planet, worldwide. It only stands to reason. Yet here, in Kansas and yes, in Missouri, too, there are legislative pushes for more and more weapons because darn it, we have our Second Amendment, all those rights and they shouldn't be encumbered in any way.

We should be smarter than this. 

We should be smarter than all of this, guns, budget and all.

Talk about a race to the bottom.  And it's an ugly race. And there are no winners.

Well, no winners except the already-wealthy and the gun nuts, anyway.

America. And War

Peace lovers?   Peace-loving nation?   Peace-loving people?   Really?

Who are we?  Who do we want to be?

Entertainment Overnight -- Old Song on an Old Instrument

James Taylor's "The Water is Wide" on a harp guitar from 1909, the artist says

Why Hasn't SNL Lampooned Joel Osteen?

Seriously, why hasn't SNL done a skit on this guy?

They need to do a series--one a week. Talk about a font of material. This guy is literally unbelievable.

The Best Burger in Missouri?

There's an article out today from Yahoo ranking the best burger in each of the 50 states:

Are These the Best Burgers in All 50 States?

And their pick for the number one burger in Missouri knocked me out:

Westport Flea Market Bar and Grill
Kansas City
The burger: Patty melt
The burger at Five Bistro in St. Louis was hard to beat. But Westport Flea Market, which is really less a flea market (check out the wacky cages in the front!) and more of a bar, just managed to take the top spot with their McGonigle’s Market beef burger. I like the patty melt here because it takes 5.5oz of that McGonigle beef and throws it on toasted rye with Swiss and grilled onions. But if you want a challenge, the Super Flea is five 10oz burgers topped with bacon, cheese, and 2lbs of fries. Eat it in 30 minutes and you’ll get a T-shirt, your picture on the wall, AND ALSO MAYBE DIE. Which is maybe why, as I said, we’re fans of the patty melt.

Pretty cool. Doubly great since McGonigle's Market also got a mention.
So now you know. Want the best burger in town? In the state? Here's your place. To Yahoo, anyway.

The Two Political Parties are NOT the Same

Sure, campaign contributions can and do buy government representatives in the US in all states on every issue, definitely. If anyone gets that, it's me. I've been writing for a few years on how we need to kill campaign contributions.

But the fact is, if anyone in the US looks coldly and honestly at our US Congress, the representatives there and what they've written and done and who they've represented and defended and fought for, it's clear the Republican Party and their operatives have fought for and still are fighting for the wealthy and corporations far more than that other party.

Far more.

The CATO Institute and the Heritage Foundation and the Koch brothers and Waltons and others aren't all aligned with the Republicans and the Right Wing of this nation because they're fighting for the working man or the average man and woman on the street or the middle- or lower-classes. Not a chance.

And for proof?

Look no further than this list of things for the people, for the nation that the Democrats wrote and created:

• Social Secuity
• Medicare
• Medicaid
• The GI Bill
• Endangered Species Act
• Environmental Laws
• The Space Program
• The Peace Corps
• Americorps
• The Civil Rights Movement
• Earned Income Tax Credit
• Family & Medical Leave Act
• Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Americans With Disabilities Act
• Freedom of Information Act
• Women's right to control their reproductive future
• Allowing citizens to view their own credit records
• The Internet
• Balancing the federal budget
• The Brady Bill (5-day wait on handgun purchases for background checks)
• Lobbying Disclosure Act
• "Motor-Voter" Act
• The Voting Rights Act
• Unemployment Insurance
• Medicare/Medicaid
• Food Stamps/WIC
• Social Security
• Peace between Israel and Egypt
• Peace between Israel and Jordan
• The Department of Education
• The Department of Energy
• The Department of Transportation
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Labor Laws
• The Marshall Plan
• Winning World War II
• Food Safety Laws
• Workplace Safety Laws
• The Tennessee Valley Project
• The Civilian Conservation Corps
• The Securites and Exchange Commission
• Women's Right to Vote
• Universal Public Education
• National Weather Service
• Product Labeling Laws
• Truth in Advertising Laws
• Morrill Land Grant Act
• Rural Electrification
• Public Universities
• Bank Deposit Insurance (FDIC)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Public Broadcasting
• Supporting the establishment of Israel
• The United Nations
• NATO

And the Republicans and Republican Party were against virtually, if not actually, each and every one.

 
Now? 

The Republicans are against the Voting Rights Act and are, instead, trying to disenfranchise Americans and keep them from being able to vote. IN Texas alone, in the last election this year, it's been estimated that the Republicans' Voter ID laws--very Jim Crow like--kept 600,000 Texans from being able to vote.

Very American, eh? Very "Representative government" right?

So don't say the two parties are the same. 

They're anything but.

More than 10 million Americans got health care insurance in the last couple of years, due to Democrats.

They're not the same. 

No way.

I'll grant you, the money spent in and on elections makes them too similar but the differences, the wide differences, are still very much there.

And just now, Republicans are working on destroying Social Security. And Medicare. And Medicaid.

Finally,we need to stop seeing fellow Americans as "us vs. them." We need to all be Americans, working together for the benefit of America and Americans, all of us, and decidedly not just the wealthy and corporations as too many things have been in the last few decades, at least.

Link: What Have Liberals and Democrats Ever Done For Us?

Republican Party Chutzpah Again--This Time in Arizona

Have you been following what came out of Arizona in the last year regarding voting and voting districts and gerrymandering?

Supreme court to hear case on voter-approved redistricting

The court hears argument Monday in an appeal by Republican lawmakers in Arizona against the state’s voter-approved independent redistricting commission for creating the districts of U.S. House members. A decision striking down the commission probably would doom a similar system in neighboring California, and could affect districting commissions in 11 other states.

It seems the voters of Arizona were sick of legislators creating very arbitrary voting districts of bizarre shapes just to protect legislators getting re-elected. The voters got together and created a vote to end it. The legislators, not liking it, have since taken this all to court in a lawsuit and it's now before the Supreme Court. They will decide.

Basically, the legislators want to overturn the people's will. Screw the people, the legislators are more important--to the legislators, anyway.

These same legislators are claiming the laws call for "the legislature" to create laws on this so they think it's against the law.

Mind you, these are, once again, "small government" Right Wing Republicans in Arizona trying to overcome the people's will.

This much, surely, is true--again, from the article:

Independent commissions such as Arizona’s “may be the only meaningful check” left to states that want to foster more competitive elections, reduce political polarization and bring fresh faces into the political process, the Obama administration said.

The thing is, every state, nationwide, needs to be able to overcome gerrymandering by legislators. We need government representatives--of the people--to create voting districts that are, once and for all, not supporting specific incumbent representatives and/or their political party. Arizona's state law here could be one step forward in a long trek to get and keep good legislation and laws that are for the people and not representing one candidate or one political party.

These kinds of efforts should come from no political party but especially not from one that insists it is for true, representative government, from  and for the people.

Links: Will The Supreme Court Kill Citizen Redistricting Commissions?

Supreme Court Seems Divided Over Independent Redistricting Commissions

The Supreme Court and the Freedom to Gerrymander

Quote of the day -- on the Middle East

Does not this seem wise, even simple, straightforward and simple? Maybe even obvious?

Cheapest gas in Missouri?

This, yesterday, in Southwest Missouri, along I-44.

Entertainment Overnight --

'Cause after all I see you sometime maybe
When you will recall how I drove you crazier
Forget about those starlit nights
Laying by the fireside, holding me tight
I can't remember when I felt so right, so just forget about it

Quote of the day -- Sunday Edition