Rep. Bryan Spencer posted this on Facebook:
Thats where Rep. Mike Lair sits. Lair appropriated $8 to buy tin foil hats for Missourians who oppose Common Core. He did this a day after hundreds of people flooded the Missouri state capitol in protest of the program.
I guess someone was unimpressed with Lairs sense of humor.
Another view, courtesy of Chris Grahn-Howard:
I was just doing a search on Twitter for tweets related to yesterdays anti-Common Core rally at the Missouri state capitol when I saw this tweet from Collin Reischman:
Lair appropriated $8 to purchase tin foil hats, taking a jab at opponents to Common Core. #YesThisIsTrue #moleg
— Collin Reischman (@Collin_MOTimes) February 19, 2014
At first I was like:
2878645-you-can-t-be-serious-1coy
Then I saw this one from Ely Yokley:
#NotTheOnion: Missouri lawmakers line item $8 for tinfoil hats to combat Common Core http://t.co/A5rGvzi4p6 #MOLeg
— Eli Yokley (@eyokley) February 19, 2014
And right after that, a story from the Columbia Daily Tribune:
The House Appropriations – Education Committee cut deeply today into Gov. Jay Nixon’s proposals for public schools and higher education, slashing his planned increases by more than $200 million.
But committee Chairman Mike Lair, R-Chillicothe, found $8 to address a pressing problem. The money is to be used “for two rolls of high density aluminum to create headgear designed to deflect drone and/or black helicopter mind reading and control technology.”
On the summary sheet handed out to lawmakers, the money is slated for “tin foil hats” and was tied to an amendment removing language barring the state from accepting federal grants to implement Common Core standards for public schools.
It gets worse:
“Basically, when you deal with conspiracy theorists, you do logic first,” Lair told the committee, noting that he has filed bills to limit how student data is shared and blocking the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from mandating curriculum or textbooks to local schools.
“If you can’t deal with folks with logic, you use humor,” he said. “This is to stop all the problems from the black helicopters and drones. This is high density foil.”
Oh, if we could only all be a wise as Rep. Mike Lair.
Speaking of Rep. Mike Lair, heres his contact info:
MemberPhoto (9)
Address: MO House of Representatives
201 West Capitol Avenue
Room 400
Jefferson City MO 65101
Legislative Assistant: Gregg Pfister
Phone: 573-751-2917
E-Mail: Mike.Lair@house.mo.gov
And heres his Facebook page.
Let him know what you think about his sense of humor.
Update:
I asked Sen. John Lamping, sponsor of SB 514, which prohibits the implementation of Common Core, what he thought of Rep. Mike Lairs actions.
He responded:
@Bodhi1 Disappointed to see an “R” revert to typical Liberal name calling tact. Wonder if he thinks 600k NY union teachers need tin hats?
— John Lamping (@JohnLamping) February 20, 2014
@Bodhi1 You know youre starting to win the debate when your opponent starts ignoring the facts and starts calling you names.
— John Lamping (@JohnLamping) February 20, 2014
There is this thing called the SNAP Challenge.
Whats the SNAP Challenge?
The SNAP Challenge encourages participants to get a sense of what life is like for millions of low-income Americans facing hunger. By accepting the SNAP Challenge, you’ll commit to eating all of your meals from a limited food budget comparable to that of a SNAP participant $1.50 per meal.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) provides monthly benefits to supplement the food budgets of families in need, but in many cases these households still struggle to put food on the table. While it is impossible to fully comprehend the difficult decisions low-income families face, sharing your experience with the SNAP Challenge will help raise awareness about the issue of hunger in America.
$1.50 a meal seems like very little, doesnt it? Most think so.
I decided one day to see what I could get from the state in the way of food stamps. Missouri has a website that estimates what a person would qualify for.
Just so you know, when I went through the interface, I put in the number of children I have (six), the amount I pay for my mortgage and what my utilities are and assumed I had nothing coming in for income.
Heres what it told me:
GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY!
Wow. That is a lot of loot.
And heres something more: thats only $1.42 a person.
So, continuing on with the SNAP Challenge, I know that I just renewed our membership at Sams Club, so I can shop there for another year. And bonus:
I had my wife sit down at the computer and do some virtual shopping. Her limit was $1,137.
Heres what we could get if we took the SNAP Challenge:
Get rid of the shipping and tax and youre looking at right around what wed be given on food stamps.
Take a close look at that list.
Thirty dozen eggs.
28 gallons of milk.
AND 25 POUNDS OF BACON!
Im told we could live on that for more than one month.
Democrats take the SNAP Challenge and fail. This isnt an indictment of the program, but an example of either their inability to manage money or pure propaganda:
Key statement: It barely provides enough to keep the hunger pangs away for half the day.
Does my list look like it would keep the hunger pangs away for half a day?
I think if I were going to be on the road all day, Id maybe start the day with a six egg sausage and cheese omelet and pack a pound of bacon and a couple hamburgers for the road.
Im pretty sure Id make it through the day on that.
The question I keep asking myself is, Why shouldnt I sign up?
I qualify. Maybe not for $1,137, but Id get quite a bit of loot.
Other than my own set of beliefs, theres nothing stopping me.
Its an incredible temptation. I can see how easy it would be to let the government pay for all my food.
I mean, if I were getting $1,200 a month for groceries, why would I get a job? What job could I get where I could afford to live like that?
See the danger?
UPDATE:
Lachlan Markay of the Washington Free Beacon Markay clan pointed out these great quotes from Democrats worried about living on the SNAP Challenge:
“It’s tricky. You know, I just got done having lunch and I’m hungry again,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D., Wis.) told Politico.
Rep. Robin Kelly (D., Ill.) said she is “really relying on the peanut butter.”
New York City’s Democratic comptroller John Liu, who is running for mayor and participating in the challenge, tweeted pictures of himself eating Campbell’s soup directly from the can, and a loaf of sliced white bread.
Heres a great quote from Anthony Weiner:
Weiner will live on $1.48 per meal for one week — the average benefit for city residents enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“I doubt I’ll be able to do that at any restaurant in the city,” said Weiner.
Yeah, no kidding. Its SUPPLEMENTAL. Its not supposed to pay for a night out, you clown.
Last night, a comment was left that targeted Daisy Coleman. I dont know what it said, as its been deleted. But according to Melinda Coleman, it was enough to cause Daisy to attempt suicide:
Melinda then called out the person who left the offending comment, saying she had killed Daisy:
Meggin then left this comment on her Facebook page:
Then, Melinda repeated that Daisy was dead:
Contrary to Melindas repeated statments, friends of hers say Daisy is physically alive:
Ill update when I have more.
A pre-filed bill in the Missouri Senate would require parents of a public school student to report to the school if they own a gun.
Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal filed SB 549, which reads:
This act requires a parent or guardian to notify a school district, or the governing body of a private or charter school, that he or she owns a weapon within 30 days of enrolling the child in school or becoming the owner of a weapon. The written notification only needs to include the names of the parent and any child attending the school and the fact that the parent owns a weapon.
The good news is, if you have several children attending the same school, you only have to notify the school once. So theres that.
This isnt the first time Sen. Chappell-Nadal showed complete disregard for the privacy of Missourians. The bill is exactly like SB 124 from the 2013 General Assembly.
It went no where.
Just received this via email from the office of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder:
Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder today released the following statement urging Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and the Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice revisit a controversial alleged rape case in Nodaway County.
“Since Sunday I have read with growing dismay the media accounts of the Daisy Coleman case in Nodaway County. I make no claim to knowledge of all the facts. Still, facts revealed in exhaustive media reports, including the 4,000-word piece in the Kansas City Star, raise all kinds of questions that it is now clear won’t be put to rest. These questions will fester and taint the reputation of our state for delivering impartial justice to all.
“I am disappointed that the Attorney General would wash his hands of the matter through a brief statement by a spokesman. The appalling facts in the public record shock the conscience and cry out that responsible authorities must take another look. I call on Attorney General Koster and Prosecutor Rice to join me in asking that the Circuit Court convene a grand jury to review all the evidence, hear all witnesses, and issue a decision as to whether charges should ensue.
“I hope that responsible officials will join me in this call for a grand jury to make the final call on whether criminal charges should or should not be filed.”
Just received this via email from the office of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder:
“Since Sunday I have read with growing dismay the media accounts of the Daisy Coleman case in Nodaway County. I make no claim to knowledge of all the facts. Still, facts revealed in exhaustive media reports, including the 4,000-word piece in the Kansas City Star, raise all kinds of questions that it is now clear won’t be put to rest. These questions will fester and taint the reputation of our state for delivering impartial justice to all.
“I am disappointed that the Attorney General would wash his hands of the matter through a brief statement by a spokesman. The appalling facts in the public record shock the conscience and cry out that responsible authorities must take another look. I call on Attorney General Koster and Prosecutor Rice to join me in asking that the Circuit Court convene a grand jury to review all the evidence, hear all witnesses, and issue a decision as to whether charges should ensue.
“I hope that responsible officials will join me in this call for a grand jury to make the final call on whether criminal charges should or should not be filed.”
St. Louis and Kansas City school kids are being robbed of the opportunity to learn.
Some are being socially promoted, others, lost through the cracks.
So how does one go about fixing this?
Accept the government school system is overrun with bureaucracy, fat from union influence over the years?
Promote charter schools, where students generally perform better due to smaller class size and other benefits associated with charter schools?
Increase school choice via vouchers, allowing low income families to enroll their children in private schools?
Hardly.
To the editors of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the solution lies in simply surrendering your child to the system as early as possible:
Welcome to pre-Head Start.
While there may be no silver bullet, education and business leaders know one surefire strategy that would help schoolchildren in poverty-stricken neighborhoods, if only state lawmakers had the will to implement it.
That solution is free early childhood education.
Free?
Nevermind. Thats a whole other argument.
Just this month, yet another study — this one a comprehensive analysis of all the available research — was published that shows what most experts already know to be true: Quality early childhood education works.
All the available research?
Wow. Thats expansive. And, bonus for the reader, the were able to take all the research in the entire world and condense the findings into 24 pages, with four pages of end notes.
Thats impressive.
However, theres a problem.
The comprehensive analysis didnt include this:
“Institutionalized messages surrounding ECE claim that it has the potential to promote children’s life-long success, especially among low-income children. I examine the legitimacy of these claims by reviewing empirical evidence that bears on them and find that most are based on results of a small set of impressive but outdated studies. More recent literature reveals positive, short-term effects of ECE programs on children’s development that weaken over time.” – Lowenstein, Journal of Educational Policy, January 2011 – Emphasis added
Or this:
In 1996, the state began to provide preschool for four-year-olds in low-income school districts. Following the New Jersey Supreme Court decision 1998 Abbott v. Burke, the state has funded full-time, year round pre-kindergarten programs for all three- and four-year-olds in the state’s 31 lowest income school districts. The state funds other public education programs in the Abbott districts as well. Through public schools, private preschools and Head Start centers, the pre-kindergarten program served more than 40,500 children in the 2005-2006 school year. Yet, according to researcher Lisa Snell, “more New Jersey children score below basic (which means they cannot read) on the NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress] fourth-grade reading test in 2005 than in 2003 or 1992…In the case of disadvantaged students who qualify for the free lunch program, 52 percent scored below basic in 1992, 54 percent scored below basic in 2003, and 55 percent scored below basic in 2005 in fourth-grade reading.” (Lisa Snell “Preschool reality check in New Jersey,” The Record, Monday, July 30, 2007, emphasis added)
Or this:
A 2007 study funded by the NICHD tracked 1,364 children who had participated in early childhood education. Preschool participants were more likely to score higher on factors of aggression and disobedience as reported by their teachers. This finding was true even for children who attended high quality center-based care. The more time a child spent in center-based care the more likely he or she was to be described by sixth grade teachers as one who “gets in many fights,” is “disobedient at school,” and “argues a lot.”
Which is strange, considering they are all featured in the same article here.
Strange that the Post-Dispatch editors couldnt find this either.
I was just on Tuffy Gesslings Facebook page. Its being reported that Tuffy was the rodeo clown wearing the Obama mask at the Missouri State Fair.
On the About page, you can see hes liked the Facebook page Support Tuffy Gessling, Professional Rodeo Entertainer.
So have over 16,000 people:
Lets go ahead and make that 16,241.
Too late. Its already 16,262.
Theres a call for solidarity across the rodeo clown world and have thousands of Obama masks in the rodeo arena Labor Day weekend.
That would be an incredible show of support and resistance.
Update:
Fifteen minutes later, its up another 200+ Likes.
After reading the page, they had 4,000 Likes in five hours, 6,000 in six. They keep adding a link to the Missouri State Fair Facebook page, but the Fair keeps deleting it.
Update:
Linked at Gateway Pundit! Thanks, Jim.
By the way, the Facebook page is over 30,000 Likes now. Wow!
I was just on Tuffy Gesslings Facebook page. Its being reported that Tuffy was the rodeo clown wearing the Obama mask at the Missouri State Fair.
On the About page, you can see hes liked the Facebook page Support Tuffy Gessling, Professional Rodeo Entertainer.
So have over 16,000 people:
Lets go ahead and make that 16,241.
Too late. Its already 16,262.
Theres a call for solidarity across the rodeo clown world and have thousands of Obama masks in the rodeo arena Labor Day weekend.
That would be an incredible show of support and resistance.
Update:
Fifteen minutes later, its up another 200+ Likes.
After reading the page, they had 4,000 Likes in five hours, 6,000 in six. They keep adding a link to the Missouri State Fair Facebook page, but the Fair keeps deleting it.
Update:
Linked at Gateway Pundit! Thanks, Jim.
By the way, the Facebook page is over 30,000 Likes now. Wow!
The White Rivers Blueway designation was brought to my attention when my wife forwarded me an email she received from a friend. My initial reaction was one of confusion.
What is this? Whats a Blueway? And will it impact people as badly as Im being told?
So thats what I set out to learn.
Heres what I found.
On April 16th, 2010, President Barack Obama issued a memo establishing the Americas Great Outdoors Initiative. This program was to be led by the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, the Administrator of the EPA and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and implemented with these agencies:
(i) the Department of Defense;
(ii) the Department of Commerce;
(iii) the Department of Housing and Urban Development;
(iv) the Department of Health and Human Services;
(v) the Department of Labor;
(vi) the Department of Transportation;
(vii) the Department of Education; and
(viii) the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
The National Blueways was created by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on May 24, 2012. Salazar created the program essentially with the stroke of a pen when he issued Secretarial Order #3321:
3321 Establishment of a National Blueways System 2 by Charlene Cleo Eiben
Section 4 of the order designated the Connecticut River and Watershed as the first National Blueway.
According to the press release issued from the Department of the Interior, the Blueways System is a part of the Americas Great Outdoors Initiative:
The new National Blueways System is part of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to establish a community-driven conservation and recreation agenda for the 21st century. The Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture both identified the Connecticut River as an important priority under America’s Great Outdoors.
“USDA’s Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service are proud to partner with the Department of the Interior, the Army Corps of Engineers and others in developing a National Blueways System as called for in the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “Outdoor recreation is a powerful economic engine for rural America. By working to protect our rivers and streams on National Forests and on our private working lands, USDA is committed to promoting land stewardship and outdoor recreation.”
So what does this mean?
Heres what Order #3321 says regarding what constitutes a Blueways System:
River systems designated as a National Blueway shall collectively constitute a National Blueways System. The National Blueways System will provide a new national emphasis on the unique value and significance of a “headwaters to mouth” approach to river management and create a mechanism to encourage stakeholders to integrate their land and water stewardship efforts by adopting a watershed approach. This Order also establishes an intra-agency National Blueways Committee to provide leadership, direction, and coordination to the National Blueways System. It further directs the bureaus of the Department of the Interior (Interior) to collaborate in supporting the National Blueways System, to the extent permitted by law and consistent with their missions and resources.
Translation?
It means the federal government created a committee chaired by the Secretary of the Interior or a designee and made up of a representative designated by the Directors of the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs; the Commissioner of Reclamation; and a representative designated by the Assistant Secretary – Policy, Management and Budget.
This committee will:
(i) Oversee the process of National Blueways criteria development, assessment, and designation;
(ii) Make recommendations to the Secretary for the designation of National Blueways;
(iii) Oversee support provided by Interior to designated National Blueways; and
(iv) Report to the Secretary on the progress, accomplishments, opportunities, and challenges of the National Blueways System.
The way this works is, a bunch of federal, state and local groups working together on river conservation and ask the committee to designate a river as a Blueways System. The committee gets together in Washington, DC somewhere, look over the recommendation and tell the Secretary Yea or Nay. The Secretary then announces the designation of the river as a Blueways System.
On January 8, 2013, Sec. Salazar added the White River Watershed to the Blueways System. Who wanted this?
These folks:
Organizations Supporting the Designation of the White RIver as a Blueways System
Notice anything about those folks? Not one of them represents or actually are land owners in the area they want to designate a National Blueway.
None.
In fact, there werent many, if any, elected officials on the county level who were consulted or even knew about this.
The people writing the nomination are completely divorced from the area.
And speaking of their nomination packet, here it is:
Nomination for White RIver Watershed Designation as a National Blueway
Produced by people outside the area, without consulting with the people in the area, and approved by people in Washington, DC.
Now thats a recipe for disaster.
Despite that, the White River Watershed, from headwaters to mouth, is today a part of the National Blueways System.
On page 18 of the nomination packet, we find the goals of the people requesting the White River Watershed to be a Blueway System.
Heres what they envision:
The rivers are the lifeblood of the Watershed; their health is the single most important determinant in whether the suite of ecological services and quality of life and economicbenefits they have historically provided can be sustained for the long term. They should be protected from the surrounding cropland by forest, and adjacent cropland should have well-developed and implemented conservation plans to maximize water use efficiency and reduceoff-farm losses of sediments and agrichemicals. Non-productive and/or frequently flooded farmland should be returned to wetland or forest, as appropriate. At their headwaters, the White and its tributaries should each be protected to establish increasingly effective corridors for wildlife population migration and expansion. As each river boundary should be protected, so should the river’s natural hydrogeomorphology. Each river’s ability and nature to move and stabilize should be restored or protected as much as possible for its value to the stream bank, sediment abatement, flood control and biological diversity.
Now maybe its me, but it seems like they want to dictate how farmers use their land around these rivers and streams. In some cases, they propose to tell farmers to turn non-productive cropland into wetlands if they deem it floods too often.
And theres a lot of other goals that would require regulations, laws and mandates from the government, which is interesting considering Section 7 of Secretarial Order #3321, which reads:
Nothing in this Order is intended to authorize or affect the use of private property.
Well, this is a quandary. How do you propose to mandate streams and rivers in the White River National Blueway be protected from the surrounding cropland by forest if you cant affect the use of private property?
How can these folks implement conservation plans to maximize water use efficiency and reduceoff-farm losses of sediments and agrichemicals without affecting the use of private property?
And is this what the Secretary of Agriculture meant when he said, By working to protect our rivers and streams on National Forests and on our private working lands, USDA is committed to promoting land stewardship and outdoor recreation.”
Unanswered questions like this are exactly why the citizens of Arkansas and Missouri are pushing back so hard against this.
We know from experience that federal programs tend to grow well beyond what they were originally sold as. And considering what Sec. Vilsack said, its possible it was always part of the plan.
How hard is it to imagine Secretarial Order #3321 being written with the express intent of being expanded upon later? Or worse, knowing it would remain the same but the laws and mandates coming from state, county and local governments?
Oh, the federal government isnt telling you you have to install a forest long that stream. The state is. Were powerless here.
Its this kind of incrementalism that could lead to farmers being told where to install fences and how to fertilize their crops, which is why even the Lt. Governor of Missouri opposes the designation:
White River Waterway Letter to Interior
It starts out sounding very innocent, but its not a very big jump before force is being used in the name of conservation.
Some have referred to this as a land grab.
Thats entirely possible. While the federal government wont initially do it, its not unrealistic to foresee state governments doing something similar.
Well, its unrealistic now, because so many have spoken out about it.
But if it remained under the radar, the use of eminent domain would have allowed governments to snatch up land right and left.
Thats not going to happen now.
As you could see from the post-script on Lt. Gov. Kinders letter, groups are bailing on the whole thing like rats leaving a sinking ship.
The Agriculture Council of Arkansas says at least three groups are going to request DC reverse their decision:
The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas Waterways Commission, along with the Nature Conservancy and Ozark Water Watch, announced at the meeting that their support of the designation could impede work on conservation matters because landowners are wary of new federal regulations.
“We like the recognition and the prestigiousness, but it’s not worth the sacrificing our ability and capacity to work with private landowners,” Game and Fish Com- mission Deputy Director Mike Armstrong said. “We didn’t foresee the backlash, I’ll be honest with you.”
Natural Resources Commission Executive Director Randy Young said that within the next two weeks the organizations will either ask the federal Department of the Interior to remove the designation permanently or temporarily until they can soothe fears and answer landowners’ questions.
Elsewhere, people across Missouri and Arkansas organized on the county level, getting more than half of the counties to pass resolutions against the designation. And they continue to meet.
They continue to fight.
And we should join them.
It will take the federal government, specifically the Secretary of the Interior, reversing the designation before this ends.
Write a letter. Call. Send emails.
Tell your legislators to do the same.
Take action. Even if its just sharing this blog post.
Do something, because if we allow this to continue, its a matter of time before its abused.
