This Again?

Not wanting to beat a dead horse but let's talk abortion. People should have the right to choose. It's very simple. There is obviously a division in the nation over this, one often exploited by political operatives. As long as such a large percentage of the population feels that this is right that should be protected it should be. Democracy, remember? Jason Crowell disagrees, apparently in all cases except those where health is an issue. Rape victims, though, should have to carry their little bundles of joy to term.

So, JC is trying to introduce legislation specifically designed to wind up in front of the Federal Supreme Court. I thought that the Republicans were opposed to legislating through the courts. I guess that only applies when their positions are being threatened.

Never Assume

I always thought that our journalists had the right to protect their sources. Well, apparently not so in Missouri. Jason Crowell, of Cape Girardeau, and Chuck Graham, of Columbia recently tried and failed to put such protections in place. That's a shame. Reporters should be able to talk to whomever they need without their informants fearing exposure and reprisal.

Some critics of this protection say that it will lead to employees and insiders with grudges being given carte blanche to say what they want and it would. But it doesn't require the reporter to print their lies. The responsible reporter will investigate and, if the claims are supported, then print it. And what about the irresponsible reporter? Well, if their editors print the story based on shoddy investigations, which I would hope they wouldn't, the lies will be exposed and the publication discredited. It's not a perfect system but it's better than the alternative - zero access for reporters and therefore no public oversight of government and big corporations. But the reporters that really bother me are those that simply do nothing. They read the headlines, regurgitate them, and call it news. Or worse, parrot the talking points in the memo from upstairs. That's the irresponsible reporting that's really hurting the citizenry's' right to be informed these days.

But I digress. Kudos to Crowell for supporting this important protection. Better luck next time!

Send in the bean counters!

It's going to take the annoying tenacity stereotypically assigned to accountant types to untangle all of the misdeads in Washington of the last six years. I'm glad to read that Claire McCaskill, former Missouri auditor, will be leading the charge.

She says she's making wasteful spending and governemt corruption personal crusades and she'll have the power to back up her investigations. Not only will she hit the ground running with a request for 20 audits performed over the last two years by the GAO, but she has also landed some pretty sweet committe assignments - Senate Armed Services, Commerce and Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

I hope that when we look back six years from now we see that she was the junior Senator that could.

Piping hot cup of giddy optimism anyone?

Attempting To Give This Blog a Point

I'm going to try something different from the aimless meandering that has defined this blog until now. It's hard to know whether I will stick to it or not but I'm going to give it a shot anyway. I'm going to focus on my legislators. I'm going to watch the news and comment on any of their goings on that strike me worth mentioning.

Here is who a majority of my fellow southeast Missourians have chosen to represent me:

US Senate

• Christopher S. "Kit" Bond (R)


• Claire McCaskill (D)

US House of Representatives

• Jo Ann Emerson (R)

Missouri Senate

• Jason G. Crowell (R)

- by the way, here's his CV.

Missouri House of Representatives

• Nathan D. Cooper (R)