Category: Political

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Critters Legal, Laws, and Regs Voting

This fight is not over

I see that Missouri Farmers Care has moved on from fighting for the puppy mills and is now fighting for genetically modified foods. I expect next we’ll see an article about the healthful benefits of CAFO manure lagoons.

Governor Nixon signed SB 161. That’s all that’s happened. He signed a bill that gutted Proposition B. Oh, a few token provisions have been left, but you and I know that the breeders will find their way around these new provisions. I do not expect to see much change in the large scale commercial dog breeding operations in this state.

I remember, either from an article or during the House or Senate debates, someone asking one of the SB 113/SB 161 folks, “Were the breeders asked about the new SB 161 provisions, and if so, were they happy with them? Did they agree with them?” How very nice for agribusiness in Missouri that they have the final say on regulations impacting on them. Most businesses just have to accept what comes their way, but not agribusiness. Not in Missouri.

Regardless of the hypocrisy, and the total disregard for the voters—not to mention Nixon’s patronizing attitude about what we voters “meant” and how SB 161 is “good enough”—this fight is not over.

I imagine there might be legal challenges to the new law, especially the emergency provision. We also know there’s at least one ballot item being put forward for 2012 that will prevent such arrogant brushing aside of the voters wishes in the future. In the meantime, though, I am following my plan on exposing large scale commercial breeders to the world.

The breeders will never know if that person who contacts them about the puppies they’re selling online is a genuine buyer, or someone checking to see what excuse they give for not allowing the potential buyer to visit.

The FTC and the Missouri Attorney General work to protect consumers from deliberate misrepresentation and fraud. That cute little web site that states the breeder is a small family breeder with only a few dogs, better have exactly that, or they will find themselves at the end of an FTC and/or Missouri Attorney General complaint.

Starting the day after Proposition B would have gone into effect, every bad breeder that should be closed down, and would have been closed down under Proposition B’s more stringent guidelines will be exposed to the world—along with the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s laxity in enforcing true standards. With each publication, the names of the representatives, and Governor Nixon’s, will be included in the coverage—as a reminder of what they have enabled.

I also plan on spending a lot of time among the boxes of inspection records at the Department of Agriculture in Jefferson City. We’ll see exactly what that 1.1 million of extra money designated by Nixon buys us. It better buy us a lot, and not just fluff pieces on web sites.

I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to say, “Oh, well, we tried. Buck up, poochies”. This isn’t the end of the fight, it is only the beginning.

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Places Political

Poor, Black, and Ugly

Missouri’s Governor Nixon asked the Missouri Attorney General to file suit in court to block the Army Corps of Engineers from blowing up the Birds Point Levee.

Blowing the levee will flood farmland and about 100 homes in Missouri, but not blowing the levee could very well endanger the entire town of Cairo, Illinois. A few years back, I wrote about Cairo, Illinois the town that pulls you in, as it pushes you away.

When Time covered Cairo, Illinois last year it described the town as poor, black, and ugly. It is, indeed, very poor and predominately black, but I cannot find it ugly. Or if I do, it’s an ugliness that reflects the south and our history and the civil rights fight and all that is both good and bad about this part of the country.

I guess the best description I have of Cairo is that it is a very real town.

Of course, none of this matters to the Missouri governor who wants to protect the farmland of Missourians. Missourians who happened to know they were building farms on lands designated as spillway, and that there was a potential for the Corps to breach the levee if flood proportions matched that of the 1937 floods. Well, we’re about to pass the levels of the 1937 floods.

But then again, who wants to save a town that’s poor, black, and ugly?

Categories
Legal, Laws, and Regs Political

Politics

The bill we fought so hard for, Proposition B, was killed today. It was killed by the state legislature, and it was killed by Governor Nixon. It had the honor of dying in a bi-partisan fashion, killed by Democrat and Republican alike.

I have found there is one thing that can bring both parties together: the vote of the people. All we have to do is enact direct democracy at the national level, and politicos from both parties will bond tightly, in a mutual shared horror of “we the people”.

Governor Nixon manufactured a “compromise” that was supposed to be an improvement of the bill the legislature began, but as I’m writing over at Puppies at Burningbird, it was a simple matter to discover the gaps and loopholes the breeders can easily find in this new “improved” law. Not only was Proposition B ripped to shreds today, but it was done so with compliance by a couple of major players in the animal welfare movement in Missouri: the Humane Society of Missouri and the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation. Some would say they meant well; I will be charitable and just call them foolish.

Betrayed. I feel betrayed. But I don’t matter. What does matter is that the dogs were betrayed. In the end, even the most progressive of people on Twitter were implying that, after all, they’re just dogs.

Categories
Legal, Laws, and Regs Political

I can only imagine

Susan Redden in the Joplin Globe on Governor Nixon’s “solution”:

I can only imagine how the lawmakers must feel after passing legislation and then seeing the governor turn around and propose his own plan. They must feel like the voters who passed Proposition B.

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Political

Outsiders

Rumor has it that Governor Nixon will sign SB 113 based on a demand by the Tilley, Loehner, and Parson that they won’t consider his “compromise” bill unless he does so.

Leaving aside this being a politically stupid move, the demand for a signature on SB 113 is nothing more than a way for the SB 113 supporters to gloat about their control—over the state, over the state leadership, and over the will of the people of Missouri.

If Governor Nixon vetoes SB 113, these same leaders would hustle their butts in order to ensure the “compromise” is passed. So the question is: is Nixon as politically astute as some people claim him to be? Not if Department of Agriculture’s Jon Hagler’s appearance at the pro-SB 113 rally is any indication.

In his speech to the SB 113 supporters, Hagler stated that “Missourians, not outside state interests, control our state’s future”. I have to wonder who Hagler think voted for Proposition B last November. Last I heard, you had to be a resident of this state in order to vote in Missouri.

By his statement, does Dr. Hagler consider St. Louis, Kansas City, and all the urban centers that voted for Proposition B to be “outside state interests”? How about the people in his wife, Representative Linda Black’s, district? They voted for Proposition B—does that mean the people in Representative Black’s district are somehow “outside state interests”, too?

We assume that Dr. Hagler meant HSUS with his little quip. I guess a national organization is an “outside interest”. Does this mean, then, that lobbyists from the NRA will also be shown the door in Jefferson City? After all, it was lobbyists from NRA, another national organization, and hence an “outside interest”, who helped overturn the voter-approved measure on conceal carry.

Let’s be blunt, gentlemen: what you’re saying with your actions and your speeches is that you’re not interested in representing the people of the state— not if it means going against powerful agribusiness interests. The bottom line is that the people of Missouri voted for Proposition B. To not support the people of this state is nothing more than pandering to special interests for the purposes of political expediency.

By the way, I joined the HSUS today. Since I also live in St. Louis, I guess that makes me a double-outsider to the folks in Jefferson City.

Psst, Gov. Nixon: Best to hold off on the bow

Future of Nixon Prop B compromise uncertain

Going to the Dogs: Nixon’s compromise on Prop B fraying

Republican Legislators will compromise Only After Governor Signs Bill to Kill Puppy Mill Act

Nixon might sign Prop B rollback as step toward compromise