Todd Akin was arrested at least three times during '80s abortion protests : Stltoday

Todd Akin was arrested at least three times during '80s abortion protests : Stltoday

click link

snip

 arrested at an anti-abortion demonstration years earlier. A long-time anti-abortion activist, he referenced the event as one he was proud of, but his campaign didn't provide additional details.

The additional arrests came to light during a new search of the newspaper's archives. The arrests were missed in previous searches because the news stories had listed Akin by his given first name, William.

Akin subsequently started going by his middle name, Todd, when he began his political career in the state legislature in the late 1980s, and has been listed as Todd Akin in media coverage since then.

In an emailed response, Akin spokesman Rick Tyler dismissed the issue as “something that happened a quarter century ago.”

The liberal group People for the American Way, which has been hammering at Akin's past in the anti-abortion movement, said that past should disqualify him from office.

“These were not non-violent protests," Michael Keegan, president of the group, said in a written statement. "These were aggressive, physical efforts to shut down clinics . . . What’s remarkable is how long Todd Akin has been able to hide these incidents.”

In a speech to supporters in September, Akin casually mentioned that he'd been arrested years ago at an anti-abortion demonstration. “Don't tell anybody I'm a jail bird," he joked. He described how “a bunch of us sat in front of these doors and the police gave us a ride to the free hotel for a while, and you know how it goes.”

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odd the st louis post would miss something like this prior to election  or should I say traditional missing of news story

Editorial: The Post-Dispatch editorial endorsements: : Stltoday

Editorial: The Post-Dispatch editorial endorsements: : Stltoday

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note:  soar 11-3 does not endorse all the post's positions

Editorial: Missouri deserves Claire McCaskill : Stltoday

Editorial: Missouri deserves Claire McCaskill : Stltoday

click link

snip


On Planet Todd, women who are raped have a natural defense against pregnancy. Man-made global warming is “highly suspect.” Every tax takes away a measure of freedom; presumably even the taxes that pay the soldiers who protect our freedoms.

On Planet Todd, the Pilgrims came to America to escape socialism, never mind “the general good of the colony” clause in the Mayflower Compact. Federal support for scientific research should be limited to “pure research,” such as why stars don't cast more light than they do. The school-lunch program fosters a culture of dependency.

Mr. Akin has difficulty discussing the fine points of public policy — he knows what he knows and that's all there is to it. He is pleasant enough when some of the differences between his beliefs and ... well ... facts are pointed out. “That's not the way I see it,” he will say, or, “I have a different view.”

He appears to have only the vaguest idea of what's contained in some of the bills he's voted for. He sat on Rep. Paul Ryan's, R-Wis., budget committee and twice voted for the same $700 billion in changes to Medicare spending that Mr. Akin now criticizes President Barack Obama for proposing.

You ask him about the so-called “fiscal cliff” that looms at year's end, when a perfect storm of economic catastrophe awaits, and he says he's not up to speed on the details of economic policy.

Ms. McCaskill, who has served in the Senate since 2007, has a firm grasp of policy detail. She can, and will at the drop of a hat, go into specific detail about cost overruns on Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction contracts. Her hearings on those contracts have saved the nation millions, if not billions, of dollars.

Mitt Romney criticizes Obama at NRA convention

Mitt Romney criticizes Obama at NRA convention

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from article
ST. LOUIS • Facing the prospect of a less than enthusiastic crowd at Friday's National Rifle Association convention, Mitt Romney, who has a mixed record on gun issues, brought in his own secret weapon.
"My sweetheart," Romney told the audience, "Ann Romney."
Mitt Romney — who once vowed not to erode tough state gun laws in his home state — may never win the hearts and minds of gun owners in this campaign.
But, given their disdain for the Democratic incumbent, he will likely win their votes, one reason Friday's speech was a pivot toward the general election.
The former Massachusetts governor in effect clinched the nomination on Tuesday, when Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, suspended his campaign.
Appearing in front of the nation's largest gun rights group, Romney sought out a larger audience, homing in on economic issues and continuing his campaign's pitch to middle-class women that began this week when a Democratic commentator brought Ann Romney into a d

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/mitt-romney-criticizes-obama-at-nra-convention/article_cb7285c4-7529-5067-91c6-e92cfc56d230.html#ixzz1s1Kb9DL7

Paul Krugman: Pink slime economics

Paul Krugman: Pink slime economics

click link for full


snip


The big bad event of last week was, of course, the Supreme Court hearing on health reform. In the course of that hearing it became clear that several of the justices, and possibly a majority, are political creatures pure and simple, willing to embrace any argument, no matter how absurd, that serves the interests of Team Republican.

But we should not allow events in the court to completely overshadow another, almost equally disturbing spectacle. For on Thursday Republicans in the House of Representatives passed what was surely the most fraudulent budget in American history.

And when I say fraudulent, I mean just that. The trouble with the budget devised by Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, isn't just its almost inconceivably cruel priorities, the way it slashes taxes for corporations and the rich while drastically cutting food and medical aid to the needy.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/paul-krugman/paul-krugman-pink-slime-economics/article_e07baea1-f8f3-54a4-842f-14348fe4cdb8.html#ixzz1qz7phBpN

Editorial: Caucus mishap makes it clear: Time to stop the shouting

Editorial: Caucus mishap makes it clear: Time to stop the shouting

click link above

snip


By the Editorial Board | Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 12:05 am
The Missouri Republican Party had its John McCain moment on Saturday.
In October 2008, Mr. McCain, the U.S. senator from Arizona and the Republican nominee for president, famously grabbed the microphone from an elderly woman at a town hall in Lakeville, Minn., and gently chided her for calling then-Sen. Barack Obama an Arab.
Mr. McCain was courageous and decent that day, but it's worth noting that his campaign quietly had helped stoke the "Obama is a Muslim" lies during that presidential contest. He was reaping what he sowed.
The Missouri GOP did some reaping itself on Saturday when angry, screaming partisans shut down the caucus in St. Charles County, sending the process of choosing Republican presidential delegates into further disarray.
While the biggest problems appeared to be in the caucus in St. Peters, the largest among those held Saturday, there were plenty of problems elsewhere, as rabid supporters of Republican candidates Ron Paul and Rick Santorum clashed, and folks who profess to belong to the same party couldn't even agree on the rules, let alone their candidate.
The caucus system always has been messy. It's one reason Missouri abandoned it after supporters of extremist Pat Buchanan took over the 1996 voting process in the Show-Me State.

Dana Milbank: Celebrating lowered expectations

Dana Milbank: Celebrating lowered expectations

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snip from article

House freshmen have been on the job for almost exactly a year, and until now they've done little more than talk about cutting the national debt.

But on Wednesday morning, eight lawmakers finally decided to take action. They scheduled a "major announcement," invited the media and declared that they had a plan to reduce the deficit by — are you sitting down? — $1.435 million.

That amounts to a whopping less than 0.00001 percent of what the nation owes. Among budget analysts, the technical phrase for this is "chump change."

The lawmakers announced that they were returning unused portions of their office budgets in the hope that the money could help pay down the debt. And they were feeling mighty pleased with themselves.

"Now, I can hear the pundits saying, 'Oh, these freshmen, they're just grandstanding,'" said Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C.. Now, why might a pundit say that? Well, maybe because Duncan delivered these words while posing before TV cameras and holding an 11-by-17 mock-up of a check with "taxpayer protection" written in the memo field. Upon completion of the grandstanding, they marched into the Capitol to deliver their "checks" to Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/dana-milbank/dana-milbank-celebrating-lowered-expectations/article_9089474e-7cf4-5b77-824b-d3eb19f976f2.html#ixzz1lhePcKsn

Paul Krugman: The austerity debacle

Paul Krugman: The austerity debacle

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snip of article

Last week the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a British think tank, released a startling chart comparing the current slump with past recessions and recoveries. It turns out that by one important measure — changes in real GDP since the recession began — Britain is doing worse this time than it did during the Great Depression. Four years into the Depression, British GDP had regained its previous peak; four years after the Great Recession began, Britain is nowhere close to regaining its lost ground.

Nor is Britain unique. Italy also is doing worse than it did in the 1930s — and with Spain clearly headed for a double-dip recession, that makes three of Europe's big five economies members of the worse-than club. Yes, there are some caveats and complications. But this nonetheless represents a stunning failure of policy.

And it's a failure, in particular, of the austerity doctrine that has dominated elite policy discussion both in Europe and, to a large extent, in the United States for the past two years.

OK, about those caveats: On one side, British unemployment was much higher in the 1930s than it is now, because the British economy was depressed — mainly thanks to an ill-advised return to the gold standard — even before the Depression struck. On the other side, Britain had a notably mild Depression compared with the United States.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/paul-krugman/paul-krugman-the-austerity-debacle/article_db34aa0a-effc-5ecb-86e1-8e9ac21ca9d5.html#ixzz1l3aoQqow

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/fourteen-arrested-as-unions-occupy-st-louis-protestors-unite/article_8f3fe2b4-e7be-5234-8729-7817b3bf65f3.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/fourteen-arrested-as-unions-occupy-st-louis-protestors-unite/article_8f3fe2b4-e7be-5234-8729-7817b3bf65f3.html

click link above


from article

ST. LOUIS • A coalition of Occupy St. Louis protesters, including a handful of area labor leaders, were arrested Thursday after blocking the eastbound entrance to the Martin Luther King Bridge.

St. Louis police said 14 people were taken into custody.

The local acts of civil disobedience were part of a day of protests across the nation stemming from the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The arrests here were peaceful, with several protesters engaging authorities in playful banter as the protesters were escorted in plastic handcuffs to nearby police vans.

The action at the bridge ended a march that began with a 3 p.m. rally at Kiener Plaza.

About 800 people, bolstered by representatives of the Teamsters, United Auto Workers, Service Employees International and other unions, participated in the rally and the subsequent march north through downtown.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/fourteen-arrested-as-unions-occupy-st-louis-protestors-unite/article_8f3fe2b4-e7be-5234-8729-7817b3bf65f3.html#ixzz1e3otwVvJ

Letters to the editor, October 22 What democracy looks like

Letters to the editor, October 22

from listings at Post:

What democracy looks like

Like many Americans, I am fascinated by the scale and scope of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Earlier this month, I had an opportunity to spend time at Zuccotti Park in New York, the very catalyst for the 99 percent movement now sweeping the world.

Occupy Wall Street is an unaffiliated group of concerned citizens who united around the principle that they would not remain passive as the elite (1 percent monopoly capitalists) continue to run amok, tampering with money and lives. The group consists of individuals, organized labor, student groups, social justice organizations and organizations from a wide political spectrum. In their Principles of Solidarity, they explain that they came from all across the country to protest the blatant injustices of our times perpetuated by the economic and political elites.

These 1 percent elites brought the entire country to the brink of bankruptcy and plunged us all into a recession from which we may not recover for many years. Yet, instead of jail, these lords of finance were bailed out with taxpayer's dollars. Major corporations have outsourced and off-shored jobs while receiving tax incentives, leaving millions of Americans without jobs, wages and benefits. Millions have been forced into poverty.

The 99 percent of the people want what everybody wants: the ability to have a home, to make a livelihood, to have a family, to live free. They are protesting for the most basic rights as citizens: to convene, to express themselves and to be heard. They want jobs. They want retirement security. All working Americans want the $2.6 trillion Social Security surplus fund to be used as intended. Seniors and the disabled want no cuts to Medicare or Medicaid.

Organized labor, always in the forefront of the struggle for jobs and economic justice, has endorsed the occupation of Wall Street and promise continued support and backing of the movement of the 99 percent. Seniors and retirees across the country are playing key roles as well. To those brave men and women at Zuccotti Park and around the world, you are what democracy looks like!

Earline Jones • Bridgeton

Retired CWA, Missouri Alliance for Retired Americans, Education Fund

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_5ed00588-b594-5ece-805f-a85440c9a94f.html#ixzz1bc7jhICB

Occupy St. Louis marches through downtown

Occupy St. Louis marches through downtown

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from article:

ST. LOUIS • Students, laborers, retirees and the unemployed were among those participating in the Occupy St. Louis movement Friday, marching to Bank Of America's downtown headquarters as a show of solidarity against the bank's policies, organizers said.

The more than 500 in attendance joined with Occupy St. Louis to help spread the group's message: that politicians are only working for the betterment of billionaires who make up less than 1 percent of the population. That needs to change, organizers said.

"I think people are tired of their houses falling into foreclosure while the rich are getting richer," said Steve Johnson, an organizer at Teamsters Local 688.

The movement is a spinoff of Occupy Wall Street, which has spawned other similar movements with groups taking up space at venues in larger cities across the country. Members of Occupy St. Louis have camped out in Kiener Plaza since Oct. 1 in tents and sleeping bags in and around the plaza to gain support for their cause.
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I was at this rally. will report next soar meeting.

note: many unions and organizations represented from area including USW from Granite city

Paul Krugman: Panic on Wall Street

Paul Krugman: Panic on Wall Street

click link above

from article:

It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America's direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent.

And this reaction tells you something important — namely, that the extremists threatening American values are what FDR called "economic royalists," not the people camping in Zuccotti Park.

Consider first how Republican politicians have portrayed the modest-sized if growing demonstrations, which have involved some confrontations with the police — confrontations that seem to have involved a lot of police overreaction — but nothing one could call a riot. And there has in fact been nothing so far to match the behavior of Tea Party crowds in summer 2009.

Nonetheless, Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, has denounced "mobs" and "the pitting of Americans against Americans." The GOP presidential candidates have weighed in, with Mitt Romney accusing the protesters of waging "class warfare," while Herman Cain calls them "anti-American." My favorite, however, is Sen. Rand Paul, who for some reason worries that the protesters will start seizing iPads, because they believe rich people don't deserve to have them.

Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor and a financial-industry titan in his own right, was a bit more moderate, but still accused the protesters of trying to "take the jobs away from people working in this city," a statement that bears no resemblance to the movement's actual goals.

And if you were listening to talking heads on CNBC, you learned that the protesters "let their freak flags fly," and are "aligned with Lenin."

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/paul-krugman/article_b416e6b0-f90b-5ea1-9f64-7e978c694af0.html#ixzz1aTUYSagc

Editorial: Eight myths to chill an old-school Republican soul

Editorial: Eight myths to chill an old-school Republican soul

click link above for full article

from article: "Consider the mythology that makes up GOP orthodoxy today. Imagine the contortions that cramp the brains and souls of men and women of intelligence and compassion who seek state and national office under the Republican banner.
• They must believe, despite the evidence of the 2008 financial collapse, that unregulated — or at most, lightly regulated — financial markets are good for America and the world.
• They must believe in the brilliantly cast conceit known as the "pro-growth agenda," in which economic growth can be attained only by reducing corporate and individual tax rates, especially among the investor class, and by freeing business from environmental rules that have cleaned up America's air and water and labor regulations that helped create America's middle class.
• Though rising health care costs are pillaging the economy, and even though health care in America is now a matter of what you can afford, Republican candidates for office must deny that health care is a basic right and resist a real attempt to change and improve the system.
• GOP candidates must scoff at scientific consensus about global warming. Blame it on human activity? Bad. Cite Noah's Ark as evidence? Good. They must express at least some doubt about the science of evolution.
• They must insist, statistics and evidence to the contrary, that most of the nation's energy needs can be met safely with more domestic oil drilling, "clean-coal" technology and greater reliance on perfectly safe nuclear power plants.


Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/article_b477e0fb-aab4-5d8e-90fe-c42826da31dd.html#ixzz1QiVggyrq

Unions frame bargaining as civil rights issue

Unions frame bargaining as civil rights issue

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Unions frame bargaining as civil rights issue
By SAM HANANEL | Posted: Friday, March 11, 2011 3:23 am

Labor unions at the heart of a burning national disagreement over the cost of public employees want to frame the debate as a civil rights issue, an effort that may draw more sympathy to public workers being blamed for busting state budgets with generous pensions.

As part of that strategy, unions are planning rallies across the country on April 4 _ the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Union officials want the observances in dozens of cities to remind Americans that King was supporting striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., the night he was shot.

By portraying collective bargaining as a human rights issue, union officials hope the rallies can help fuel a backlash against Republicans in Wisconsin and other states trying to curb collective bargaining rights for public employees.

"This is a fight for workers, this is a fight for the middle class, this is a fight to try to stave off the shift in power and wealth that is starting to become gross," said Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

The planned rallies on the 43rd anniversary of King's death are part of a coordinated strategy by labor leaders to ride the momentum of pro-union demonstrations and national polls showing most Americans support collective bargaining rights as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and other GOP leaders in states fight to reduce or strip those benefits.

Walker has argued that collective bargaining is a budget issue. He says the bill the state Legislature passed Thursday stripping most collective bargaining benefits will give local governments flexibility in making budget cuts needed to close the state's $3.6 billion deficit. He is expected to sign it soon.

"That's something people forget about Dr. King," said Liz Shuler, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation. "We all know about his work in the civil rights movement, but he was also a workers' rights advocate."

It's also another signal that labor leaders are trying to broaden the coalition of groups speaking out against efforts to limit collective bargaining rights for public employee unions. Unions are coordinating the rallies with the NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and other civil rights, religious and progressive groups.

"Dr. King lost his life struggling to help sanitation workers _ public sector employees _ achieve their goals for a dignified existence as workers," said Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference. "We think that's an extraordinary backdrop in which to frame the debate over what's taking place in the country today."

When King traveled to Memphis in 1968, he was lending support to more than 1,100 black sanitation workers who were on strike seeking better working conditions, higher wages and benefits, and union recognition.

Daniel Walkowitz, a labor historian at New York University, said the gesture was typical of King's later years, in which the targets of his activism were less often the legal barriers to civil rights for blacks. More often, King was focused on lack of employment and educational opportunities for African-Americans.

"Tying the rallies to King is an interesting strategy because it does draw upon King's understanding that the problems of labor were problems of civil rights," Walkowitz said.

Walker argues that the sweeping step against collective bargaining is necessary to balance the budget not only over the next two years but into the future. He said he wouldn't compromise on the issue or on anything that saves the state money.

But union leaders see it as a fight for middle class rights. Wisconsin unions had agreed to cuts in pension and health benefits as long as they could keep collective bargaining rights. Labor leaders say Walker's refusal to compromise shows he wants to leave unions toothless and cripple their political clout.

While unions are on the verge of losing power in Wisconsin, Ohio and other states, union leaders believe they are winning the war of public opinion and pulling in broader support.

"The movement is bigger than just the labor movement," United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said. "What we're seeing is an awakening about the importance of collective bargaining."

Labor leaders already have pledged to pour more than $30 million into a push to stop legislation in dozens of states that seeks to limit bargaining rights of public worker unions or otherwise curb union power. Union officials are also helping mobilize demonstrations in state capitols and spending money on recall campaigns against GOP officials who support efforts to curb union rights.

For Congress: Round up the usual suspects

For Congress: Round up the usual suspects

click link for story from St Louis post

more tea-bagger news

Tea bagging disruptions spreading and becoming a little more heated.

This is from Rachel Maddow's show yesterday:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

-----------------------------------------

From St. Louis Post Dispatch:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/5420430FDF2036F08625760B00136BBC?OpenDocument

Dueling protesters disrupt Carnahan forum on aging
FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Friday, Aug. 07 2009
In St. Louis and across the country, the debate over health care reform is
growing louder.

On Thursday evening, a forum on aging called by Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St.
Louis, drew an overflow crowd of several hundred to Bernard Middle School gym
in south St. Louis County. Dozens of people, many carrying signs about the
health care debate, were kept out because of the turnout. The back and forth
between factions within the crowd created a carnival-like atmosphere inside and
out between members of the movement opposing President Barack Obama's policies
and groups who came to show support for the president's proposals.

Six people, including a Post-Dispatch reporter, were arrested after
confrontations outside the school, said county police spokesman Rick Eckhard.
Two were arrested on suspicion of assault, one of resisting arrest and three on
suspicion of committing peace disturbances. Carnahan was gone when the ruckus
started, Eckhard said.

Kenneth Gladney, 38, a conservative activist from St. Louis, said he was
attacked by some of those arrested as he handed out yellow flags with "Don't
tread on me" printed on them. He spoke to the Post-Dispatch from the emergency
room at St. John's Mercy Medical Center, where he said he was awaiting
treatment for injuries to his knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face. Gladney,
who is black, said one of his attackers, also a black man, used a racial slur
against him before the attack.

"It just seems there's no freedom of speech without being attacked," he said.

It was unclear why Post-Dispatch reporter Jake Wagman, who was covering the
event and shooting video for stltoday.com, was arrested. As she photographed
the arrests, Post-Dispatch photographer Dawn Majors said she heard Wagman yell
her name and say that he was being taken into custody. The officer said Wagman
had been interfering, Majors said.

Members of the local Tea Party Coalition, a movement that has emerged to
counter Obama's policies, had urged their members to attend Carnahan's forum,
which in turn spurred Democrats to establish a strong presence.

Inside the gathering, while speakers stuck to aging issues, they were often
interrupted by yells from audience members who wanted to shift the focus to
health care.

"This isn't even close to civil," said Steve Belosi, 52, of Lake Saint Louis,
commenting on the crowd. "The rudeness was beyond compare."

Added Joyce Flecke, 70, of south St. Louis County: "A complete waste of time."

Other recent Carnahan appearances, including one earlier this week on the Cash
for Clunkers program, have drawn similar protests. And last week, hundreds
turned out to voice their opinions on reforms to the staff of Sen. Claire
McCaskill, D-Mo.

Carnahan issued a statement after the Thursday night's forum, saying: "Sadly
we've seen stories about disrupters around the country, and we have a handful
of them here in Missouri. Instead of participating in a civil debate, they have
mobilized with special interests in Washington who have lined their pockets by
overcharging Americans for a broken health care system."

The St. Louis protests are part of the increasingly vocal debate across the
country.

In the week since the House began its break, several town hall-style meetings
have been disrupted by demonstrators. These episodes have drawn widespread
media attention, and Republicans have seized on them as well as polls showing a
decline in support for Obama and his agenda as evidence that public support is
lacking for his signature legislation.

Energized conservative activists have vowed to fight Obama's policies.

The president wants to use the government's clout to subsidize coverage for
millions now uninsured, regulate insurance companies more closely and attempt
to slow the rise of medical costs.

The protesters insist they're part of a ground-level movement that represents
real frustration with government spending and growth.

In Denver on Thursday, about 250 people on all sides of the health care debate
waved signs and shouted slogans in front of the Stout Street Clinic as House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi toured the medical clinic for the homeless.

"Just say no!" yelled those demonstrating against health care reform.

"Yes we can!" shouted back those who support Obama's plan.

The Republican Party says it's not behind the protests, but Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid of Nevada scoffed at the notion that the protesters reflect
grass-roots sentiment. He held up a piece of artificial turf during a session
with reporters.

"These are nothing more than destructive efforts to interrupt a debate that we
should have, and are having," Reid said. "They are doing this because they
don't have any better ideas. They have no interest in letting the negotiators,
even though few in number, negotiate. It's really simple: They're taking their
cues from talk show hosts, Internet rumor-mongerers ... and insurance rackets."

Republicans answered.

"All the polls show there is serious concern, if not outright opposition, to
the president's health care plan," said Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman for House
Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio. "Democrats are ginning up this cynical
shell game."

Cynthia L Davis, Missouri princess

Cynthia Davis made Countdown's worst person in the world yesterday. She earned that by her remarks. Perhaps some of the voters need to contact this "princess". Even Marie-Antoinette had better sense than this. Below are bio, Countdown snip and Post Dispatch article. Most is copyrighted material and I shall withdraw if objections made.
------------- from her Wikipedia bio: Cynthia L. Davis (born November 23, 1959) is a Republican currently serving in the Missouri House of Representatives. She lives in O'Fallon, Missouri, and is married to Bernie Davis, with whom she has seven children: John, Benjamin, Cathryn, Matthew, Amanda, Susanna, and Philip.

She was born in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated from Needham High School in Needham, Massachusetts. She majored in music at Nyack College of Nyack, New York before marrying Bernie in 1980. After moving to Missouri Christmas Eve of 1984, she with her husband opened the Back to Basics Christian Bookstore in O'Fallon in 1989. In 1992 she was appointed to chair the legislative committee for the O'Fallon Business Association. She was first elected to the O'Fallon Board of Aldermen in 1994, served as its president in 1995, and was thereafter elected to five consecutive terms.

She was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2002, 2004 and 2006. Davis suggested in one of her district newsletters that she opposed summer feeding programs for poor children because child hunger could be a "positive motivator."[1] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch blasted her in an editorial, saying that she didn't know the needs of the state's children.[2] Other elected offices: Republican Committeewoman for Dardenne Township Secretary of Women Legislators of Missouri Vice-President of the First Capitol Federation of Republican Women She currently serves on the following committees: Vice-Chair Family Services Committee, Vice-Chair Healthcare Policy Committee, and the Elections Committee

---------------------------- Post Dispatch article: http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-platform/published-editorials/2009/06/oblivious-to-the-needs-of-missouris-hungry-children/

06.15.2009 9:00 pm Oblivious to the needs of Missouri’s hungry children
By: Editorial Board State Rep. Cynthia Davis offers a tip to hungry families.

State Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O’Fallon, is staking out a strong position on child hunger: She’s for it. “Hunger can be a positive motivator,” she notes in the latest edition of her newsletter. More precisely, Ms. Davis is against summer feeding programs for poor kids.

They are an excuse “to create an expansion of a government program,” she says. Ms. Davis chairs the House Special Standing Committee on Children and Families. In that position, she might be expected to have insight into child hunger in our state. She might know, for instance, that about one in five Missouri children lives with hunger. That ties us with Louisiana for the nation’s seventh-highest rate, according to a report released last month by the hunger-relief charity Feeding America. Or that the recession has pushed the number of poor Missouri kids who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches by 8.3 percent this year, well above the national average. Apparently not. ”While I have not seen this as a problem in my district, it is entirely possible that the (summer feeding) program is designed to address problems that exist in other parts of Missouri,” Ms. Davis says in her newsletter. “The right way to solve this is with more education. If parents … don’t know how to serve nutritious meals, let’s help them learn to do that.” In that spirit, she offers some helpful hints: •


“Families may economize by choosing not to waste hard earned dollars on potato chips, ice cream or Twinkies.” • “Laid-off parents could adapt by preparing more home cooked meals rather than going out to eat.” • “Tip: If you work for McDonald’s, they will feed you for free during your break.” About 100,000 more people are unemployed in Missouri today than were jobless in 2007. Food pantries across the state are struggling to meet increased demand. The United Way of St. Louis and more than 100 area companies are participating in a food drive this week. And the plain, tragic fact is some children have parents who aren’t particularly interested in caring for them. Ward Cleaver and Cliff Huxtable are off the television airways. But Ms. Davis is skeptical about the need to feed poor children during the summer when schools are closed. If — if — there really is one, she says, “churches and non-profits can do this at no cost to the taxpayer.” Or maybe not. “Most of our 18 (summer feeding program) sites are churches,” explains Rosemary Terranova, who oversees the program for St. Louis County. “We’re trying to support churches that want to offer some kind of summer recreation program for kids,” she says. “They supply the staff, we supply the food.” The program “has been a real blessing to us,” says Caroline Crenshaw of Bethesda Temple in Normandy, where 40 children attended day care last week while their parents worked. The summer feeding program’s cost is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which pays about $1.81 for each breakfast served and $3.18 for each lunch. Last year, 3.7 million meals were served by the summer feeding program at a total cost of less than $9.5 million. That’s a pretty good use of federal money. In the same generous spirit as Ms. Davis, we’d like to offer a suggestion. • Tip: When you chair a state special committee on children and families, you probably ought to learn something about the needs of children and families.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article printed from The Platform: http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-platform URL to article: http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-platform/published-editorials

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Missouri end of session

Morning folks.

This is from St. Louis Post and recounts the deeds of the Missouri leglislature.

How major bills fared in Missouri Legislature
Saturday, May. 16 2009

PASSED

STIMULUS PROJECTS Allocates $381 million in federal stimulus funds for capital projects and other expenses, including $12 million for Metro and $12 million for China freight hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
(HB22)BUSINESS INCENTIVES Boosts Quality Jobs subsidies for businesses that provide health insurance. Doubles annual tax credits available for developer Paul McKee’s project in St. Louis. Caps historic tax credits.
(HB191)HELMETS Removes the requirement that motorcycle riders wear a helmet, provided they are over the age of 21 and not on an interstate highway.
(SB202)SEWER FEE Bars Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District from charging homeowners a stormwater fee if they don’t use district’s sanitary sewers and their runoff doesn’t flow to district storm sewers.
(SB242)EDUCATION Allows merit pay for St. Louis teachers and makes a variety of changes to elementary and secondary education. (SB291)ASSESSOR Seeks voter approval of constitutional amendment requiring the St. Louis County assessor to be elected.
(SJR5)FEE OFFICES Requires competitive bidding for fee offices that issue drivers licenses and delays mandatory vehicle inspections for new cars.
(HB683, HB381)FUNERALS Strengthens state oversight of prepaid funeral industry.

(SB1)VETERANS TAX CUT Exempts 15 percent of a veteran’s military pension from state income taxes in 2010, with the exemption growing each year until it reaches 100 percent in 2016.
(HB82)UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION Expands unemployment benefits by 13 weeks this year and increases the amount of unemployment benefits paid to jobless workers using $133 million in federal stimulus funds.
(HB1075)BINGO Allows more frequent bingo games and lowers bingo taxes.
(HB620)PATERNITY Allows men to contest paternity up to two years after the accusation. (SB141)TEXTING WHILE DRIVING Prohibits drivers 21 and younger from sending, reading or writing text messages while driving.
(HB62)CRIME Stiffens penalties for some sex crimes, removes a provision of law that allows defendants in domestic violence or rape cases to have their names removed from public records, bans beer bongs on certain Missouri rivers and changes other crime-related provisions.
(HB62)ONLINE GOVERNMENT DATA Requires the state to maintain the Missouri Accountability Portal and provides each legislator a key to Capitol Dome.
(HB544)COURTS Makes changes to judicial system, most of them technical. Provisions that would have changed the makeup of judges in St. Louis area did not make the final bill. (HB481)

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Did Not Pass

AMEREN Would have allowed utility to charge consumers for new nuclear plant while it is under construction and changed other Public Service Commission regulations.
(SB228)ACCESS MISSOURI Would have equalized scholarships for students at public and private four-year institutions instead of giving private college students larger grants.
(HB792)MISSOURI PROMISE Would have allowed all public high school students to participate in A-plus scholarship program and expanded program to cover third and fourth years of college for eligible students.
(SB558)TAX CUT Would have reduced state individual income tax rate to 5.5 percent from 6 percent on earnings over $9,000.
(SB71)ADVANCE VOTING Would have allowed voters to cast ballots for two-week period starting three weeks before the election.
(HB59)VOTER ID Would have changed constitution to require state voters to present photo IDs to vote. (HJR9)PAYDAY LOANS Would have capped the interest on payday loans.
(HB150)AUTISM Would have required insurance companies to cover autism treatment for those under 18.
(SB167)ZOO FEE Would have allowed St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri History Museum and St. Louis Science Center to charge admission for people from outside the district. (SB508)ETHICS Would have outlawed the practice of lawmakers working as political consultants; instituted a one-year freeze on lawmakers from lobbying; and made various changes to campaign finance law.
(HB648)INCOME TAX Would have proposed constitutional amendment replacing individual and corporate income tax with a sales tax on goods and services.
(HJR36)CHILD CARE Would have imposed stricter regulation on child care facilities.
(HB383)RED LIGHT Would have regulated red light camera use.
(HB241)MINIMUM WAGE Would have frozen minimum wage for tipped workers.
(HB258)HEALTH CARE Would have expanded subsidized health care to low-income adults and used $146 million in hospital taxes and federal funds to pay for it.
(SB306, HB156)ABORTION Would have created crime of coercing an abortion and strengthened waiting period law
. (HB46)JUDGES Would have sought voter approval of constitutional amendment changing how the state’s top judges are selected by giving more power to the governor and Legislature. (HJR10)OPEN MEETINGS Would have strengthened training and penalty elements of Sunshine Law and also exempted police internal affairs reports.
(HB316)CONSTRUCTION BONDS Would have sought voter approval of constitutional amendment to issue $800 million in bonds for higher education and other state buildings. (HJR32)SECRET BALLOT Would have proposed constitutional amendment requiring secret ballot for union formation in response to bill in Congress that might give employees choice on issue.
(HJR37)GUNS Would have included university campuses in the list of places concealed weapons are allowed and expanded the “castle doctrine” to include apartments.
(HB668)SUDAFED Would have required a prescription to obtain common cold and allergy medicine by declaring pseudoephedrine a controlled substance.
(HB496)VACANCIES Would have required special elections to fill midterm vacancies in the offices of lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and U.S. senator. (HB681)
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/18FBAB0AE2767ECC862575B8000B25B3?OpenDocument

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bill number at the end and not beginning . Mixed bag with more not getting done than getting passed. Some not passed are victory by the way for folks in the state.

For all the celebration, dems did not get commanding lead to reform Missouri. Nor are all the dems on the same page as the voters on some of the issues.

Some bills never saw the light of day like the ones supporting universal health care

A good day to troublemake

This is an article from the St. Louis Post Dispatch and some of us thought it outragous. Below is the article and a couple replies from folks.

It is sad in a union town like St. Louis that its major newspaper is a spokesperson for the GOP.


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/FB9B0E99CEEAECE18625750700685EE1?OpenDocument
Protecting pensions is good for G.M. and the country
11/20/2008
Once, what was good for General Motors was good for the United States. This week, the chief executive of General Motors — along with his counterparts at Ford and Chrysler — tried to convince Congress that the saying still holds true. Their pleas for a financial bailout seemed as difficult of a sale as their large-size, low-mileage vehicles. Members of Congress and others pilloried automakers for their failure to innovate and the inability to respond to changing market conditions quickly enough. Automotive executives certainly are guilty of many failures. But one issue cited by critics deserves closer examination. It is the charge that a contributing factor to American automakers' financial distress is excessively generous pension benefits for retirees.Writer Malcolm Gladwell has pointed out in The New Yorker that retirement, health care, disability and unemployment benefits provided to U.S. autoworkers actually are about average for the industrialized nations.
The real issue for U.S. automakers — and steel makers and aircraft manufacturers and other industries — isn't that benefits are too generous. It's that there are too many retired people getting them, compared with the number of working men and women left at the companies that provide them.For all of Detroit's mistakes and misjudgments, its pension problem is mostly a function of excessive success. America's automakers have prospered for so many decades that now there are hundreds of thousands of retired autoworkers. But thanks to steady improvements in production efficiency, the industry has far fewer workers now than it did in early 1960s.When American car companies and the unions representing their workers agreed in 1950 to create retirement pensions for employees, some of the people eligible to receive the new benefit were workers on the brink of retirement. Because the pension system had just been devised, they had paid nothing into it. When these long-time workers retired soon after, it put the companies instantly in the hole in funding their pension obligations.Each time pensions were renegotiated in a new contract, the hole got deeper. The hope — based on actuarial tables of life expectancy — was that companies would catch up in time and that retirement plans eventually would have the funds they needed to fulfill the promises made to workers. Until then, the difference would have to come from profits earned by those who still were working.In 1962, G.M employed 460,000 American workers, and it was providing retirement benefits to about 40,000 former employees. By 2005, G.M. had about 140,000 employees in this country, but it was paying benefits to 450,000 retirees. Those numbers simply cannot be sustained.Almost six decades ago, management theorist Peter Drucker wrote that pension benefits offered by individual companies amount to long-term bets on the financial security of each single business. "Is there any one company or any industry whose future can be predicted with certainty for even 10 years ahead?" he asked.As former workers at G.M., Bethlehem Steel, American Airlines and numerous others can attest, the answer is no.In most other developed countries, governments provide pension benefits directly to retired workers, using money collected from private businesses. So instead of betting their future security on the fate of one company or even one industry, workers are betting on their own country's economies as a whole. The approach creates the largest possible pool and, therefore, the smallest possible risk. In the long term, that's a more sensible solution to the pension crisis that's still roiling American corporations.Companies shouldn't be penalized because they've been successful enough to stay in business for a long time. A national pension system would allow them to remain competitive. It also would protect the interests of the retired workers whose skill and dedication helped make that success a reality.




(4) Comments

nyc-stl November 20, 2008 1:49PM CST
Our country cannot afford for rank and file workers to retire at 55 years of age be on a pension for 20 or 30 years; whether a pension fund or the government is holding the money is irrelevant.And before we commit yet more retirement dollars to government "stewardship" (spent and replaced with IOUs), let's pause for a moment and think about the social security trust fund.Workers should draw a valuable lesson from the collapse of these defined benefit plans. The unions took promises in lieu of cold hard cash in their paychecks. Next time fight for the cash.
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gary roller November 21, 2008 11:06AM CST
I am one of those "retired workers" refered to in the article and the response by Ny-Stl.

I made a decision many decades ago based on the "word" of a major container company, the union and believe it or not, the government.I was a senior at a major university at the time and had job skills in a variety of industries.

I factored in the pay, benefits and the "word" on retirement benefits to make an informed decision to my "career". Series of "mergers, buy-outs and the rest" and early retirementGood deal or so I thought.I find out some moons later that the company had no intention of honoring agreement and that the union was not able of defending contract based on court decision of Bush political appointees.

Money? Partly, but it is my belief that those corporations and the government will most certainly honor agreements or there will be some political unhappiness of the first order.

As far as I am concerned, politicans whom side with companies not to honor agreements should be replaced. As long as corporations can pay tens of millions to top executives, they can afford pension/medical benefits.
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acret99 November 22, 2008 10:49AM CST
As a retired steelworker in the container industry, I am appalled by this article. I worked 40 years in various operation with the promise of benifits after retirement. In those years, a portion of our hourly wage was designated to fund our retirement. Not realizing the company had no intention of honoring their agreement at the time, we upheld our end and worked to make the company very profitable. It is only just that the company is required to uphold their agreements.The wasteful spending of manufacturing, excessive CEO salaries/perks, and the outsourcing of jobs to other countries have contributed to the demise of manufacturing in this country. Retirees spend their money on appliances, cars, and necessary needs, which help to support our economy.Note: Retirees have paid their dues and we shall demand justice from the government and the companies. R. Merkel, Pres. SOAR Chapter 11-3
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d.abernathy November 22, 2008 7:14PM CST
I retired after thirty four years. Retirees deserve what they were promised in retirement benefits. They have worked very hard for what they were guaranteed. People who say they get to much retirement benefits,should get a job on the line and under the same circumstances. Do you feel you could last the 90 day probation period? Then see if you feel the same way. We purchase homes, appliances, pay doctor bills. If the retirees didn't purchase these items, you would see a big negative change in the economy. Millions of dollars the CEO'S make, plus perks, should demand that a reasonable amount in parity with the working class like the foreign companies. I can say because of my experience with my fellow employees, during our working tenure we all have major health problems. We didn't have OSHA to stop the the problems in those days. Even now, OSHA does not have the ablility or will to correct workplace problems.D. Abernathy, UAW Local 325 Retiree Chairman