From the GOP's Washington Times: "A handful of Republicans are running against first-term Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. in Pennsylvania, but there are no real standouts, Mr. Stuart Rothenberg said. The same can be said of Missouri, where a number of GOP candidates are vying for a chance to take out a weakened freshman Sen. Claire McCaskill."

via @PoliticMo 

What’s Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler been doing up in Washington?  Well, besides complaining about having to show up at work at her tax-payer funded job, her latest crusade is for us taxpayers to pay for her Christmas cards.  No, really.

For someone who has received hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in farm subsidies, you’d think Congressman Hartzler would be able to pop for a few of her own Christmas cards.

Bah humbug.

Okay boys and girls, we are in the home stretch. Just a few days left before the Iowa caucuses and a blessed winnowing of the panelette. Of course, if Cranky Dr. Paul wins, all bets are off and the group surges to New Hampshire intact.

As you meet with family and friends over the next week or so, try and stay civil with Uncle Otis and his railing against the war on Christmas. Tell Cousin Mabel that, yes, that Michele Bachmann sure is cute. The Obama haters in your family will be in full throat, but in the spirit of the holidays, smile and say yes, we do need change. No need to be specific. They’ll be talking about “activist” judges who need to be run out of town on a rail and how gays are ruining the military and the country. It won’t be easy. Miss Liberty’s brother thinks she is unpatriotic, which is pretty hard for someone named Liberty Belle to understand.

You might throw out a few questions of your own, politely, of course. Does Newt believe his own bombast? Has Governor Good Hair Perry really read the Constitution or just the Cliff notes? Flip Flooper Romney was on David Letterman with a list of revelations – is it really a hair piece? Suits Santorum is rising in the polls. Are Iowans catching fire as he hopes? Governor/Ambassador Huntsman is just a footnote, but is he really a republican? Have you heard of Gary Johnson? Do you want The Donald orJeb Bush to jump in and save the country? Try a multiple choice quiz on the candidates’ positions. It could be fun. Or it could spawn a brawl.

Perhaps GOP Senate wannabe John Brunner's feeling a little frozen out of the campaign for the nomination of his party to run against Sen. Claire McCaskill, or maybe he just wants to prove himself a man of the people by taking a good ol' family vacation, because according to the P-D, Brunner will be heading out to the warmer climes of the Cayman Islands for Christmas.

To his personal vacation home.

Because, you know, don't we all decide to pack up the entire family and head off to our own vacation homes on a tropical island 1500 miles from home?  I know I do!

If you, too, want to head to a tropical paradise for Christmas and New Year's, you can get a bargain basement round trip ticket from St. Louis to Grand Cayman for just over $1,000 leaving tomorrow and returning just after the New Year; and if you don't own your own home on the islands like Brunner, well, you can dole out an average of $250 a night for a hotel or guest cottage.

If that's still too much for your average Missouri household making $45,000, Brunner's campaign would like to let you know that you don't have to "be out in the cold." For $25 they're more than happy to send you pair of earmuffs.  No word on whether they're embroidered with palm trees or not.

PoliticMo: "The second pillar is called 'Missouri Jobs'...The caucus will support major parts of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce’s legislative agenda, including reform of workers compensation, a fix to the state’s second injury fund, changes to employment law, and tort reform."

As Christmas time approaches, it appears many in Congress may indeed receive that well-deserved lump of coal. Whether it’s protecting millionaires from having to pay taxes or cutting the unemployment lifeline for jobless workers, those like Rep. Todd Akin must truly be into the taking rather than the giving spirit of Christmas.

Unfortunately our dear friend Todd Akin has not given Missouri families an opportunity to sing this holiday season with his many questionable and regretful decisions this past year.

With no further delay, I present the “12 Days of Akin” holiday carol, sure to warm the hearts of the many without a payroll tax cut or at risk of losing their jobless benefits this year.

“The 12 Days of Akin” …

KCTV sums it up:

HOUSE DECISION WOULD RAISE YOUR TAXES

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -The U.S. House of Representatives failed to take action Tuesday to extend the payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits for millions.

The House rejected a two-month extension to 160 million Americans on their payroll taxes. This means if you made $50,000 annually then you'll pay about $1,000 more in taxes in 2012.

The Senate-approved bill would have allowed millions of unemployed Americans to continue receiving jobless benefits.

Earlier today, House republicans refused to extend the payroll tax cut for 160 million working Americans.  Included in the Senate version of the bill, which they rejected, was an extension of unemployment benefits, but with the failure of the House to pass the bill, these jobless workers - 33,400 in Missouri alone - will receive no extension come January 1.

With all the doom and gloom in the economy and the fact that the holiday season is upon us, you'd think our elected officials in Washington would take every opportunity to work to solve the economic crisis our nation is currently enduring.

But no.  Rep. Todd Akin prefers to see this as an opportunity to continue his baseless attacks on workers:

Akin also said he wants to sit down with the Senate to continue pressing for the House-drawn provision that would allow states to perform drug tests as a condition for receiving unemployment.

"We don't really want our unemployment benefits going for drugs because people on drugs aren't easily employed," he said.

"Why are we as Missourians allowing one billionaire to buy legislators and other elected officials across the state and try to reshape control of our Show Me way of life?"

Peggy Taylor of the Nixa Board of Education on Rex Sinquefield

Last week, Keith Robinette, a leader of the Ozark Chamber of Commerce, had this to say about billionaire Rex Sinqufield's Everything Tax proposal:

“The ballot (issue) that’s being circulated in southwest Missouri has a significant amount of exemptions in it, which brings into question how much revenue would be created by this,” he said. “Several areas of concern I have is one, impact on local school districts that are expanding, like in Christian County.”

He said districts depend on state funding, and eliminating the income tax would shrink state resources available to schools. He agrees with Moody that lower-income people “would be substantially impacted by this with a large percentage of seniors living on Social Security and small pensions” and pay no income tax. He said charity organizations depending on tax credits would also suffer.

This week, we're starting to hear from other leaders in Christian County. From the Springfield News-Leader:

Ozark Alderman Eddie Campbell asked how a fair tax would affect city sales taxes.[...]

"I'm definitely not for doing away with income tax... There's something wrong with the other things that go with it."

A Nixa education leader also expressed incredible scepticism of Sinqfield's Everything Tax:

This afternoon, in a purely political move, House republicans voted to hike taxes on 160 million working Americans effective January 1 by rejecting the Senate's extension of the payroll tax cut.

By a final vote of 229 - 113, including Rep. Akin, Rep. Emerson, Rep. Graves, Rep. Hartzler, Rep. Long, and Rep. Luetkemeyer, republicans violated their pledge of not raising taxes.

[UPDATE: We've received an explanation from Brunner himself on his "debate switcheroo." Click here to view.]

Is John Brunner trying to compete with Mittens on how many times one man can flip-flop on a single topic? This certainly seems to be the case when it comes to whether or not John Brunner will participate in a debate on the issues with his fellow candidates for the GOP nomination for Senate here in Missouri.  Unfortunately, just like pretty much everything else, Brunner can't commit.

Back in October, Sarah Steelman and Todd Akin were both in negotiations to participate in a debate pulled together by KCUR, but Brunner, clearly not ready for primetime, refused to engage.

via @roytemple

Here we are, in the middle of a horrible recession and enduring a debate about continuing the payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans, less than a week before Christmas and all Rep. Vicky Hartzler can do is complain about having to go to work.

Even after Peter Kinder couldn't even get a second for his attack on working families at last week's Missouri Housing Development Commission hearing, some radical legislators in the Missouri House have decided that they will try to outright eliminate Missouri's prevailing wage.

If these right-wing legislators have their way, Missouri will no longer have a prevailing wage - at all, an attack that goes even further than Kinder's original proposal.  Rep. Bill White (R-Joplin) has introduced legislation that is being cosponsored by none other than Secretary of State wannabe Rep. Shane Schoeller (R-Willard). Additionally, Rep. Mike Kelley (R-Lamar), Rep. Rodney Schad (R-Versailles) and Rep. Charlie Davis (R-Webb City) have agreed to cosponsor this egregious attack on working families and their own constituents. 

The prevailing wage protects communities and workers from unscrupulous contractors low-balling bids on taxpayer-funded construction projects by setting wage rates to the local or prevailing standard, but Rep. White, Rep. Schoeller, Rep. Kelley, Rep. Schad, and Rep. Davis would obviously rather use the Joplin tornado and it's tragic aftermath as a pawn in an effort to pad the pockets of rich developers at the expense of workers' paychecks.

Previously, Rep. White has focused on the profits that developers would lose if Missouri keeps the prevailing wage, completely deaf to the fact that by eliminating the prevailing wage, you slash workers' paychecks.  Workers who will spend their pay in Joplin, stimulating the local economy and helping their community recover.  White's own words:

"The wage increases will mean a lower profit or lower quality or both.”

It should be noted that Rep. White's and Rep. Davis' own districts encompass a large swath of Joplin which was destroyed in this past summer's F5 tornado, and a significant number of their constituents have no doubt been hit hard by an economy that has been doubly hit by the recession as well as a natural disaster.

I'll reiterate what has been written previously, that if these heartless lawmakers were truly concerned with putting Joplin back together again, they'd stand opposed to any effort against the prevailing wage.  Unfortunately, it's obvious these radical legislators are more focused on ensuring that the rich can continue to profit, even at the expense of working families trying to rebuild their devastated community.

Fortunately, these sorts of attacks on Missouri's prevailing wage have been defeated in previous legislative sessions.  One can hope that this will be the case in 2012 and these reprehensible attacks on workers, their families and their wages will again never make it to the governor's desk.

Missouri Jobs with Justice held their two "Scrooge of the Year" Elections in St. Louis and Kansas City recently.

In St. Louis, Hall-of-Famed Chessmaster Billionaire Lobbyist Rex Sinquefield got the most votes and was elected Scrooge of the year. This seems fitting that the guy who regularly buys politicians and laws wins an election where 1$ = 1 vote.