I've been spending time listening online to the MO Senate this week
I'm following a bill, waiting for the vote and listening to them talk about several other bills. In case you didn't know, you can listen live here: http://www.senate.mo.gov/
I've learned a lot by listening.
1. The fake respect the senators show for each other is sickening. "Kind gentleman" and "gentle lady" mean nothing when they then turn around and promote legislation that harms the people of the state. All that fake decorum is just insulting.
2. During a debate on a teacher bashing bill (HB1526) one senator actually claimed MSTA supported the bill. This is false. Another senator said "Yes, and the more liberal teacher groups also support this bill." Also false. And to categorize the 3 teachers' unions in the state as more or less liberal is just silly. ***And yes, I'm positive they were lying about teachers groups supporting this bill. I'm on the email list of each of the three MO groups and they have lobbied hard against this bill.
3. Last night as they were discussing public employee pay, every single senator who spoke talked about their duty to the tax payers and their tax dollars. One said they "had to" provide benefits for the employees, as if that was an unpleasant thought. Another said the same thing about vacation time and sick pay. Over and over, their "responsibility" to spend tax dollars wisely was emphasized. Never once did any of them say one word about valuing the work of the state employees or wanting a well trained and well compensated employee doing the state's business. It was really sad and quite insulting.
4. Today they were discussing a law that would make driving while boating illegal. After a lengthy discussion of privately owned versus public waterways, they seemed to agree that if a boater wanted to operate a boat on his own water while drunk that would be perfectly okay. This discussion included a lengthy dialogue between several senators about jello shots, coolers and their own experiences on MO's rivers. It was extremely odd. But sounds like you can still drink and boat in MO if you're consuming jello shots in a privately owned cove. And if there is no motor on your boat, you're clear to drink all you want.
5. They also discussed funding to hire additional staff at the state's facilities for the criminally insane. There are only two of these facilities, so I can't imagine it was a large amount of money (I missed the exact dollar amount that was proposed) but from the length of the discussion and the passionate speeches, you would think they were talking about billions of dollars.
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