24thState

Legislator: America's Greatest Moments Occurred in the Legislature

Senator Claire McCaskill said:

"You look back at history, and America's brightest moments usually happened around a table of compromise."

Really, Senator?  When I look back at history, I think of America's brightest moments as things like the following:

St. Louis Magazine Profiles Ed Martin

In case you missed it, or in case you're like me and have fallen some months behind on reading the local glitterati slicks to see which goofballs in tuxedos get their pictures taken for high society columns holding bottle of Budweiser like a SIUE frat boy, let me point you to the April 2011 issue of St. Louis magazine's profile of Ed Martin, "The Ed Martin Show".

It does try to portray him as someone greedy for the spotlight, but it presents him as very human, too.  His affectionate love for his wife, for example, does not come through in stories about his events in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

 

Senator McCaskill Toes Democratic Party Line on Debt Limit

Apparently, all 53 Democratic Party senators have signed a letter opposing the Boehner Plan to raise the debt limit.

Dear Speaker Boehner,

With five days until our nation faces an unprecedented financial crisis, we need to work together to ensure that our nation does not default on our obligations for the first time in our history. We heard that in your caucus you said the Senate will support your bill. We are writing to tell you that we will not support it, and give you the reasons why.

A short-term extension like the one in your bill would put America at risk, along with every family and business in it. Your approach would force us once again to face the threat of default in five or six short months. Every day, another expert warns us that your short-term approach could be nearly as disastrous as a default and would lead to a downgrade in our credit rating. If our credit is downgraded, it would cost us billions of dollars more in interest payments on our existing debt and drive up our deficit. Even more worrisome, a downgrade would spike interest rates, making everything from mortgages, car loans and credit cards more expensive for families and businesses nationwide.

In addition to risking a downgrade and catastrophic default, we are concerned that in five or six months, the House will once again hold the economy captive and refuse to avoid another default unless we accept unbalanced, deep cuts to programs like Medicare and Social Security, without asking anything of the wealthiest Americans.

If you want to contact Senator McCaskill to tell her how you feel about the United States debt, you can contact one of her offices:

Cape Girardeau
555 Independence St., Room 1600
Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63703
Phone 573-651-0964
Fax 573-334-4278

Columbia
915 E. Ash St.
Columbia, Missouri 65201
Phone 573-442-7130
Fax 573-442-7140

Kansas City
4141 Pennsylvania Ave., Ste. 101
Kansas City, Missouri 64111
Phone 816-421-1639
Fax 816-421-2562

Springfield
324 Park Central West, Ste. 101
Springfield, Missouri 65806
Phone 417-868-8745
Fax 417-831-1349

St. Louis
5850 Delmar Blvd, Ste. A
St. Louis, Missouri 63112
Phone 314-367-1364
Fax 314-361-8649

Washington D.C. Office

Office of U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill
United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building, Ste. 506
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone 202-224-6154
Fax 202-228-6326

(Link seen on Hot Air.)

Hazelwood, State Find Another Business To Receive Free Money

A British-based electric vehicle manufacturer that has no actual product yet will build this forthcoming vehicle in Hazelwood, Missouri (just outside of St. Louis) if the city and state come across with some scratch:    

Boosting hopes for the St. Louis region's beleaguered auto industry, a British company is planning to launch a line of hybrid electric vans that would be made in Hazelwood.

A two-year-old startup called Emerald Automotive tonight will unveil plans for a factory that could employ nearly 600 people here. The company says it will make lightweight delivery vans for European commercial fleets, and eventually for sale in the U.S. and potentially Asia.

To get things rolling, Emerald still needs to nail down state and local incentives to help with development costs and, crucially, line up financing for its plant. But after a year of talking with local officials, the company is taking the wraps off its plan.

How much scratch?  At least $5,000,000:    

The City of Hazelwood is planning to loan the company $3 million, to be paid back with interest in 10 years or less. Another $2 million is coming from the state. The search for a site has been in the works for more than a year. Representatives from the City of Hazelwood took a secret trip to the United Kingdom earlier this year to explore the deal.    

That's a lot to "loan" to a company that does not yet have a product, that does not have a manufacturing process or plan, and that does not have a proven market.

Given the way automakers continuously hold the local and state governments up for more money every couple of years, the $5,000,000 is at worst only a down payment.

Is there, in the 21st century, any company that builds a manufacturing plant or does any development in an urban area without getting some cut of your tax dollars?  It doesn't seem so.  In fact, they put governments in competition to see who will expend the most to woo business:

How did Hazelwood come out on top in Emerald Automotive's nationwide search? The city won out over locations in 24 other states.

Three main factors played into the decision to come here: a skilled auto workforce that once worked for the Ford plant that shut down in Hazelwood and from the Chrysler facility that closed in Fenton, St. Louis' centralized location, and financial incentives.

Uh huh.  That's a skilled workforce that has been idle for years after building internal combustion engine vehicles whose skills won't transfer directly to the new, advanced, still developing technology.  That's a central location in the United States for a company who will, they promise!, build automobiles to ship to Europe (which means a long train trip to the boats, instead of just getting on a boat from some East Coast location).  No, this is all about the Wilsons.

Dick Fleming with the Regional Chamber and Growth Association considers this a big get for the region because of the potential for growth.

"We think it's also the forerunner of what we're going to see more of, which is advanced technology that also involves the green economy," said Fleming. "This is a very unique combination.  This is a product that is going to be an industry leader we believe at some point."

Federal, state, and local tax giveaways: that's the real green economy.

St. Louis County Might Not Be Able To Afford More Democrat Spoils

Today's story: U.S. debt default could hit St. Louis federal employees, contractors:

St. Louis County might have trouble making its payroll and have to lay off workers. Boeing and other government contractors in St. Louis might well have their payments cut, with unpredictable consequences for workers.

President Barack Obama has said he can't guarantee Social Security payments will arrive next week.

Those are a few of the delights in store for St. Louisans if Republicans and Democrats in Washington can't agree to raise the federal debt limit by next Tuesday, some experts believe.

Holy moly, however will St. Louis County afford to hire more Democratic campaign staffers in spite of a County hiring freeze?

Ha!  Just kidding!  As always, basic government services that impact citizens directly will be cut first so taxpayers will see and feel the cuts.  Phony baloney jobs are always safe.

Local School Board Makes Decision; Right-Thinking People Disagree, Condescend

The Republic School Board has decided to remove a couple books from the school library and curriculum:

Two of the three Republic High books singled out in a public complaint last year will now be removed from the school curriculum and library.

Shortly before 9 p.m. Monday, the school board voted 4-0 -- three members were absent -- to keep Laurie Halse Anderson's "Speak," an award-winning book about date rape, and remove Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" and Sarah Ockler's "Twenty Boy Summer."

How does the AP story mischaracterize it?  Oh, yeah, it's a ban:

Two books have been banned from the libraries and curriculum at Republic High School after a parent complained that their content taught principles contrary to the Bible.

A proper-thinking fellow from Kansas City picks up the torch and fills in a template with the appropriate tut-tutting.  In his column, he compares the Republic School Board's action to book burning:

Republic isn’t alone. While some Kansas City-area districts have the book in their curriculum, “Slaughterhouse-Five” is a fixture on the most-banned books list of the American Library Association.

One of the first to ban it was a North Dakota school district that, in 1973, gathered up its 32 copies and fed them to the coal furnace.

And he suggests that the ignorant hicks haven't read the books:

I can’t speak for the other book banned in Republic on Monday night, “Twenty Boy Summer” by Sarah Ockler, because I go by a higher standard than most book banners.

I read them before pronouncing judgment, rather than rely on a group like Parents Against Bad Books in School to guide me to “the dirty parts.”

Mr. Hendricks shows his own ignorance of the year-long process the Republic School District went through, including:

In making a recommendation to remove the two, [Republic School Superintendent Vernon] Minor explained that "numerous individuals have read the three novels and provided their feedback." He conceded there wasn't always consensus about what step to take.

"We had some differences of opinion, I'll be honest with you," he said.

Minor said the process took a while because the 4,500-student district didn't want to look at the three books "in isolation." Instead, a task force was convened to develop book standards for elementary, middle and high schools.

The panel reviewed existing board policy and the public rating systems that already exist for music, TV and video games.

"We very clearly stayed out of discussion about moral issues. Our discussions from the get-go were age-appropriateness," he said.

"The discussion we've been having was not are these good books or bad books ... It is is this consistent with what we've said is appropriate for kids."

The board adopted the standards -- which cover language, violence, sexuality and illegal substances -- in April and those standards have since been applied to the three books.

Never mind, there wasn't room for that in the standard book burning/banning template that people from outside Republic are applying to this situation.

For starters, Republic School District is not banning the books.  Students can still get them from Amazon.com and read them and whatnot.  The school will not deploy Vonnegut-sniffing dogs or conduct random locker checks to enforce a ban.  Instead, it will remove the two books from the school library and will not use the books in English class lesson plans.  When a library does not make a book available, the library is not banning the book.  Otherwise, I'm going to get into a real tizzy about how the Springfield-Greene County library bans John Locke (actually, I am planning to get into a tizzy about that sometime).  They probably didn't even read the Second Treatise of Government!

The community encompassed by the Republic School District has decided that the lessons and language in these books is not appropriate for its students.  It created a set of standards and applied them.  A school board accountable to the voters in the district approved it by a majority vote--a unanimous vote of those school board members who bothered to show up.  The Republic School District is making its own determinations and, what's that word?  Self-governing.

Too many proper-thinking people, though, stand ready to condescend about how the Republic School District is conducting its own business and would, if they could, rule the citizens of Republic according to what they think is right and appropriate for Republic. 

I have a question for those properly worldly people: Are there any books that are age-inappropriate and should not be included in school libraries?  How about the Kama Sutra?  No, I'm serious here: If it is appropriate for school districts to "ban" some books, what books should they omit from their collections and curricula?  They must choose according to some standard, and school districts should have the ability to make those determinations according to the standards and expectations of the citizens whose children attend those schools.  Not according to big city newspaper columnists nor according to the people that media can find sipping coffee at Starbucks on a workday for an appropriate quote.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I live in the Republic School District, but like Mayor Emanuel and President Obama, I choose to send my children to a tony private school instead.

Wagner, D.C.

Ann Wagner had an event yesterday and one today in the fêted swamp of Washington, D.C.:

Monday, July 25th
12:00 p.m. lunch
Ann Wagner, Candidate for U.S. Congress MO-02

Location:  Express Scripts Offices (300 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Suite 600)

Honorary Hosts Senator Roy Blunt, Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, Congressman Sam Graves, Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, Congressman Billy Long, Congressman John Shimkus

Hosted by:  Express Scripts PAC and ArchPAC, Commerce Bancs PAC, Emerson Responsible Government Fund, Grow MO PAC, HEAL PAC, Peabody PAC, RockTenn PAC, ROYB Fund, SHOW- ME PAC

Tuesday, July 26th
5:30 p.m. Meet and Greet Reception

Ann Wagner, Candidate for U.S. Congress MO-02

Location:  Capitol Hill Club (300 First Street, SE)

Honorary Hosts Senator Roy Blunt, Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, Congressman Sam Graves, Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, Congressman Billy Long, Congressman John Shimkus

Hosted by:  ArchPAC, Commerce Bancs PAC, Express Scripts PAC, Emerson Responsible Government Fund, Grow MO PAC,  HEAL PAC, Peabody PAC, RockTenn PAC, ROYB Fund, SHOW- ME PAC

Say what you will, those are not the trappings of an outsider candidate.  Not that Ms. Wagner has presented her as such.  I just prefer outsider candidates.

UPDATE:  I contacted the Ed Martin campaign to see if he has any Washington, D.C., events scheduled.  They say he does not.  Look, ma, I'm like a real journalist, asking questions and stuff.

Shades of Proposition B

Indiana farmer Frank W. James muses today on Animal Agriculture's "PR" Problem, and some of the lessons apply to the ongoing imbroglio about dog breeding in Missouri:

I guess I've been thinking about Animal Agriculture lately and it's PR problem.  Basically it stems from the fact that most of our national population resides in population centers of 100,000 or more.  (I think the figure from the last census was 51%.)  Additionally, according to most studies of demographics, the average urban resident is more than 4 or 5 generations removed from the farm.  That means you have to go back to their great-great-grandfather or later to find any direct linkage between their family and a farm heritage.

...

The biggest direct threat to Animal Agriculture in America presently is the Ballot Initiative. I think its either 25 or 26 states allow ballot initiatives if the organizers can gather 200,000 or more signatures.  This process has lead to cage-less chickens and the outlawing of swine farrowing crates in California, but California is not alone in this insanity.  These 'feel-good' animal agriculture production laws have been copied in a number of states and the consumer is the one who is ultimately stuck with the bill because the affected producer in an effort to stay in business must pass along all the added costs associated with some of this nitwit stuff.

If your food costs are going up, don't blame ethanol, blame the process that forces egg producers to put their chickens in an environment mandated by 'feel-good' ordinances which raise the cost of production through death loss, disease and other factors that ignore the realities of working with poultry or farrowing baby pigs.

He has nailed how Proposition B passed and how urban dwellers want to remake the world to suit their sensitivities without the knowledge of what that really means and ultimately how it will impact them.

In Introduction to Ed Martin

For those of you up in the Missouri 2nd, Bill Hennessey offers an introduction to Ed Martin.

If I still lived in the 2nd, Ed would be my guy.  As full disclosure, I did send him some money for his campaign in the 3rd district (where I also used to live) in 2010, ensuring I get his mangled mail merge comeons addressing them to "Theresa" instead of "Brian."  I sent him some this time around, too.

Should Journalists Read Legislation They Report On Or Just Stick It To Those Wingnuts?

The Editors' Desk at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch asks: Should journalists read pieces of legislation before writing about them?    

The editor does not bother to actually answer the rhetorical question, but he does take some time to tut-tut opponents of the incandescent ban and tie it to that wingnut Michelle Bachman.  Let's run through it quickly:

It's all George W. Bush's fault:

Ever since the Jan. 1, 2012, phase-out was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007, it has been the fodder of conservative bloggers as an example of the overreach of the federal government.

Except that law was passed by a Democratic Congress (Remember Nancy Pelosi's gauche muscle-posing when she took the Speaker's gavel in January 2007?  We Wingnuts do.  Remember how infrequently compassionate conservative Bush vetoed anything?  We Conservative Bloggers do.)

Now the wingnuts are all on the incandescent ban:

But proponents of the phase-out say the representatives and conservative bloggers are wrong about the phase out and haven't been telling the whole story in the debate. But the proponents have been accused of hiding the truth, as well. So who is telling the truth?

As with most political debates, both sides only present the facts that support their arguments, and in some cases bend the truth. The media in turn picks up these arguments, often without challenging either side's statements.

So about those two sides?  The post attempts to link (but suffers from catastrophic target failure) to this Poynter post and quotes an argument that says the wingnuts, in fact, are nuts on the wing:

Many partisans overstated the effects of the new standards, falsely claiming it will be illegal even to possess older bulbs after the law takes effect. (In reality, while the law bans manufacturers from making less efficient bulbs, it allows you to keep using old bulbs until they burn out.) Some writers even suggested that police will show up at people's homes and take away their bulbs.

It's just a quote from a linked post, but the choice of quotes is telling.  Now, personally, I know the truth about the phaseout and have sort of argued that it might be better to send in jackbooted thugs to forcibly remove the bulbs from subjects' homes so they'd know exactly who was doing it (see "The Incandescent Rapture").

Further, the editor quotes this from the post:

Some blogs and newspaper stories also tried to set the record straight, including a PolitiFact analysis that gave a "Pants on Fire" rating to some of the opponents' claims about the light bulb regulations.

Get it?  The opponents are liars.

The logical arguments made by the opponents of the ban as depicted by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's editor are noted here:

At the end, the editor offers a bit of a mea culpa in the form of a call to action by a veteran journalist now working for Midwest Energy News:

"The language that's been used by the politicians finds its way into the coverage, because people don't go back and actually look at what the law does. "

"There's no language in there that says you can't buy an incandescent bulb. A narrative emerged that simply wasn't true."

The Midwest Energy News ("Midwest Energy News is a daily collection of the top energy stories of importance to the region. Our objective is to keep stakeholders, policymakers, and citizens informed of the important changes taking place as the Midwest shifts from fossil fuels to a clean energy system."), you might want to know, is funded by Fresh Energy ("Fresh Energy works to enhance our economy, protect human health and communities, restore our environment, and establish energy independence. In our sustained and coordinated effort to promote a modern, innovative energy system for the 21st century, we provide research, advocacy and innovative policy models while engaging citizens to take action on the energy issues that affect us all.  Fresh Energy's efforts focus on clean energy, transportation connections, global warming solutions, and energy justice.") and RE-AMP ("RE-AMP is an engaged and active network of nonprofits and foundations working on climate change and energy policy in an eight-state region of the upper Midwest. This ambitious project is aimed at transforming the upper Midwest energy sector into a model of clean, efficient and safe energy use, while reducing global warming pollution economy-wide 80% by 2050.")

So while he's making the arguments of the proponents of the incandescents ban, assuring readers that the opponents are Bachmann and liars, and repeating calls to action for an advocate of "energy justice," the editor never answers his own question.  Here, let me help out with a link to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 law's full text.  Happy reading.  I hope you're not going to try to meet a deadline.

Once you're in that text, note how much of the legislation delegates making actual regulations to the agencies and departments. So when the wingnuts say we'll have to pass the bill to see what's in it, (sorry, that's not a rightwingnut), even when you read the text, you don't know what's in it unless you're also thumbing through the complete Federal Register at the same time and you're accurately predicting how a Federal judge will decide a case based on a regulation made by an obscure commission twelve years from now.

It's impossible for any citizen, legislator, or graduate of journalism school to make it through modern bills.  That's a fault of our bills, their legislators, and the journalists who love them anyway.

I don't expect journalists to read them in their entirety. I would be thankful, though, if journalists would take the arguments of both sides seriously and try to understand them instead of regurgitating the pro-Democrat, pro-progressive interpretation of those wingnut arguments and presenting that hyperbole as fact or logic.