State Senates thread

[Audrey2]

1 hour ago, clueliss said:

Be very afraid of anything that looks like what has gone on in Kansas in the last 5 - 10 years.  (aka the Brownback administration).  The state is on the verge of bankruptcy.  And I'm still trying to figure out how that man got elected to a second term.

It's as I've said before. For too many, voting choice begins and ends with an R after their name. In other words, Republican always good, Democrat always bad.

[GreyhoundFan]

2 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

It's as I've said before. For too many, voting choice begins and ends with an R after their name. In other words, Republican always good, Democrat always bad.

Bill Maher had a segment on "the magic R". It's quite good. He talks about how Republicans can get away with pretty much anything because of the "magic R".

[Childless]

If that's the case, I don't feel a bit sorry for Kansans.  They'll get what they deserve.  Next time, they should do some research and make a better decision.

[Cartmann99]

4 hours ago, clueliss said:

Be very afraid of anything that looks like what has gone on in Kansas in the last 5 - 10 years.  (aka the Brownback administration).  The state is on the verge of bankruptcy.  And I'm still trying to figure out how that man got elected to a second term.

Every time I read a news article about Kansas, I always check out the comments. Among the reasonable comments, there's always a gaggle of folks who are convinced that the next round of budget cuts will make the money start flooding in.

My heart goes out to the sane people of Kansas. 

[PsyD2013]

Iowa just keeps getting worse.  The next part of the Koch brother plan is school vouchers and credits for homeschoolers.  Homeschooling families would get an account with $$ deposited for expenses.  Of course, there would not be accountability to see if those dollars were really going to be used for educational expenses.   I could totally see some families homeschooling their kids and using the cash for other expenses.  What the hell has happened to by state?  Rhetorical question- the Koch brothers and their minions.

[PsyD2013]

Just when I think the  Iowa General Assembly can't do any worse.    HSB 138 introduced by Bobby Kaufman (R)  which would remove licensure requirements for mental health counselors, social workers, family therapists.  Instead of being licensed these mental health professionals would be registered.  Time to submit a bill to change our state motto from:   "Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain" to something more fitting of the current state of the union.  "Iowa where stupidly runs rampant and our leaders are for sale to the highest bidders."   

 

[clueliss]

And they've voted in Missouri to cut unemployment benefits.  

[sawasdee]

The US is swiftly becoming a third world country with regard to care of its citizens.

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, clueliss said:

And they've voted in Missouri to cut unemployment benefits.  

And that's going to benefit what exactly? I fail to see the logic in this decision. 

Oh, wait... repubs don't use logic. Pesky little thing. Same as long-term thinking. Or even thinking at all for that matter... 

[clueliss]

But but but Gov Grietens can say he cut spending... (um it is Missouri and due to the Hancock Amendment in this state you have a limit on over spending to begin with)

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

And that's going to benefit what exactly? I fail to see the logic in this decision. 

Oh, wait... repubs don't use logic. Pesky little thing. Same as long-term thinking. Or even thinking at all for that matter... 

You Europeans and your logic....

[PsyD2013]

The Iowa General Assembly is at it again

Senate File 253:  The two-page bills state; “Iowa recognizes that life is valued and protected from the moment of conception, and each life, from that moment, is accorded the same rights and protections guaranteed to all persons by the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and the laws of this state.”

Such fucking hypocrites.   By the time the Reublicicaln General Legislature is done, we won't have a decent education, health care, or a living wage but the General Assembly and their minions are pro-life so those minor details are irrelevant.  

[RoseWilder]

There's fantastic news out of Delaware tonight!  A special election was being held, and the winner's party would control the senate. And the Democrat won!!!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/delaware-special-senate-election_us_58b22659e4b060480e089560?3uk9zh353rq7zxgvi&&

Quote

This is what democracy looks like.

It’s been a chant that has animated marches and protests around the country since the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated president, but it’s been more aspirational than descriptive. On Saturday, in a state Senate district in Delaware that stretches from Middletown to Newark, the voices in the streets turned into votes in the ballot box. 

In the most expensive special election in Delaware history ― a contest to decide which party controls the state Senate ― Democrat Stephanie Hansen was on track to annihilate her Republican rival on the back of extraordinary turnout.

The last time her opponent, John Marino, ran in this district, in 2014, he lost by just 2 points. Hansen’s 58-42 percent victory over Marino on Saturday ensured that Democrats will maintain control of the state Senate. It also notched a big Donald Trump-era win for a new generation of Democratic activists shocked into action by the November election.

“We turned back that win from Washington and made sure it won’t hit Delaware,” Hansen said in her victory speech Saturday night.

 

[NachosFlandersStyle]

21 hours ago, PsyD2013 said:

The Iowa General Assembly is at it again

Senate File 253:  The two-page bills state; “Iowa recognizes that life is valued and protected from the moment of conception, and each life, from that moment, is accorded the same rights and protections guaranteed to all persons by the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and the laws of this state.”

Such fucking hypocrites.   By the time the Reublicicaln General Legislature is done, we won't have a decent education, health care, or a living wage but the General Assembly and their minions are pro-life so those minor details are irrelevant.  

Don't forget drinking water. HB 316 would dissolve Des Moines water authority and put it in the hands of a legislature-approved board. The city authority has been pressuring the state to stop polluting the water supply, and of course this is unacceptable and means they need to be reined in by people who don't give a shit about DSM's democrat-voting citizens.

[Audrey2]

23 hours ago, PsyD2013 said:

The Iowa General Assembly is at it again

Senate File 253:  The two-page bills state; “Iowa recognizes that life is valued and protected from the moment of conception, and each life, from that moment, is accorded the same rights and protections guaranteed to all persons by the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and the laws of this state.”

Such fucking hypocrites.   By the time the Reublicicaln General Legislature is done, we won't have a decent education, health care, or a living wage but the General Assembly and their minions are pro-life so those minor details are irrelevant.  

So, does this mean that if a baby is born and its mom dies (from preeclampsia or something else) that we can charge that baby with murder? It is accorded the same rights and protections in the Constitution from the moment of conception.

 

Probably not, since the baby hasn't reached its majority, but I just had that weird thought. 

[Childless]

1 hour ago, Audrey2 said:

So, does this mean that if a baby is born and its mom dies (from preeclampsia or something else) that we can charge that baby with murder? It is accorded the same rights and protections in the Constitution from the moment of conception.

 

Probably not, since the baby hasn't reached its majority, but I just had that weird thought. 

Hey, they're trying kids as adults at younger and younger ages, so you never know.  Give them a few years and it'll be a possibility.

[Cartmann99]

4 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

So, does this mean that if a baby is born and its mom dies (from preeclampsia or something else) that we can charge that baby with murder? It is accorded the same rights and protections in the Constitution from the moment of conception.

Probably not, since the baby hasn't reached its majority, but I just had that weird thought. 

On that note, who would they punish if a pregnant woman had a car accident because of winter weather, and then had a miscarriage? Is it her fault for driving, or would old man winter be the culprit? 

[AlwaysExcited]

4 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

 Is it her fault for driving, or would old man winter be the culprit? 

It's Obama and Clinton's fault. Duh. 

[clueliss]

There is a move in Missouri to raise the age of consent in marriage.  Bolding is mine.  

http://www.abc17news.com/news/top-stories/bill-raising-age-of-consent-for-marriage-moves-to-house-floor/368324631

 

Quote

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A bill that would raise the marriage age in Missouri from 15 to 17 years old if at least one parent has consented has passed out of committee and will head to the House floor. 

House Bill 270 is sponsored by Republican Rep. Jean Evans, from St. Louis. 

The bill would keep the age requirements at 18 years old for both men and women if there is no parental consent. Supporters of the bill say this will help cut down on potential sex trafficking. 

This bill comes more than one year after a father from Idaho drove his 14-year-old daughter and a then 24-year-old man, Aaron Seaton, who impregnated her, to Missouri to have them married. That marriage was ultimately annulled. Seaton is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for rape, and the father served 120 days in jail for felony injury to a child. 

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

One of the Iowa lawmakers who is trying to put quotas on college professors has been found to have something sketchy on his resume: "This lawmaker’s bio touted a business degree. It was actually a Sizzler training certificate."

Quote

The information that was posted on the Iowa Senate Republican’s website used to suggest that Mark Chelgren, a state lawmaker, held a business degree.

But that wasn’t exactly the case, according to NBC News and other media outlets, which this week reported that Chelgren instead held a certificate for a training program for the chain restaurant Sizzler.

Still, Chelgren — a Republican who represents the Iowa Senate’s 41st District in the southeastern part of the state — told the Associated Press that he didn’t mean to mislead people.

“I know they’ve changed that, because apparently a degree and a certificate are different,” Chelgren told AP. “And I’m okay with their change, but there was never any intent at all to mislead anyone.”

NBC News reported this week that Chelgren’s biography on the website had changed, removing the information about the degree. According to an image posted by the network, information on the site had previously indicated that Chelgren had a degree in business management from Forbco Management school.

The problem, NBC reported, was that Forbco Management isn’t included as an accredited institution on the National Center for Education Statistics’ list. The network reviewed records and reported that the only Forbco Management in the state of California “is a company that used to operate a Sizzler steakhouse in Torrance, California.”

“This was a management course he took when he worked for Sizzler, kind of like Hamburger University at McDonald’s,” Ed Failor Jr., chief of staff for the Iowa Senate majority leader, told NBC News. “He got a certificate.”

...

Chelgren did not immediately respond to an email from The Post on Thursday. He told the Associated Press that a clerk initially gave information to Senate Republicans, but said he also reviewed it.

“It was given to me to approve and I thought it was adequate,” he told the wire service.

Chelgren said Thursday he had not thought there was much difference between a degree and a certificate. He said he worked at a Southern California Sizzler in the 1980s, when he was about 19.

“I didn’t see a difference when I did the review, didn’t worry about,” he said.

Chelgren said he doesn’t mind that the information about him now has been changed.

Chelgren told the Des Moines Register that the school ran “ran Sizzler restaurants and a few other different restaurants.” He said he spent a few months in the training so that he could be promoted.

“I had to take their school and their classes and they gave me their degree — as they termed it — and I have used that terminology,” he told the newspaper. “I was told, ‘Well, it is probably better terminology to say ‘certificate,’ ” so regardless of however they want to do it, that is the semantics (NBC News is) arguing.”

Chelgren made headlines this month as the author of Senate File 288, proposed legislation that seeks to “require partisan balance” of faculty members who work at higher-ed institutions that are governed by the Iowa Board of Regents, according to its text.

Those schools include the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.

Under the proposed bill, a job candidate who is seeking a position as a professor or instructor would not be hired if his or her political party affiliation on their hire date would “cause the percentage of the faculty belonging to one political party to exceed by ten percent the percentage of the faculty belonging to the other political party,” the text states.

The state commissioner of elections would turn over voter registration records to the Board of Regents-governed universities each year, the bill states.

“The Board of Regents is opposed to the bill,” spokesman Josh Lehman said in an email to The Post. “We expect our universities to hire the most qualified faculty to teach our students, and we believe in diversity of thought.”

Good grief, no wonder he has no respect for education, he doesn't even know the difference between a college degree and workplace training. I have multiple college degrees AND professional certifications, each is listed on my resume with the proper title.

[onekidanddone]

On 2/27/2017 at 5:07 AM, AlwaysExcited said:

It's Obama and Clinton's fault. Duh. 

Maybe even Carter or FDR

[GreyhoundFan]

9 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Maybe even Carter or FDR

Don't forget the ebil librul media.

[Cartmann99]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Good grief, no wonder he has no respect for education, he doesn't even know the difference between a college degree and workplace training. I have multiple college degrees AND professional certifications, each is listed on my resume with the proper title.

The next time I'm job hunting, I'm going to put down the certificate I earned at  Miss Maureen's School of Tap Dancing, Ballet, Tumbling, and Charm, as a Master's in Public Relations. Same thing, right? 

[Penny]

10 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

The next time I'm job hunting, I'm going to put down the certificate I earned at  Miss Maureen's School of Tap Dancing, Ballet, Tumbling, and Charm, as a Master's in Public Relations. Same thing, right? 

Oh, I took ballet and tap, went to Charm school and took piano lessons, I will put them my resume.

[Childless]

11 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

The next time I'm job hunting, I'm going to put down the certificate I earned at  Miss Maureen's School of Tap Dancing, Ballet, Tumbling, and Charm, as a Master's in Public Relations. Same thing, right? 

I took a management course once.  Maybe I can be the next CEO of Amazon.