Garza-Ruiz Takes On The Good Ole' Boys

Over the last week or two we have been hearing a lot about Theresa A. Garza-Ruiz.

Make no mistake about it, since taking office in 2007, the legislator representing Jackson County's 1st District-At-Large has become the quintessential pain in the backside for some of the good ole' boys who walk the county hallways--which has indubitably been a good thing.

But taking on some of the county's knavish sycophants sometimes comes with a cost. This year, Henry Rizzo smacked Jackson County residents in the face when he took Garza-Ruiz off of The Justice & Law Enforcement Committee, eventhough she chaired the committee for three years and holds two degrees in Criminal Justice, and to no surprise gave the post to convicted felon James D. Tindall --a move that leaves us all ill regardless of who you support.

This week, in her Independence Examiner Column, Garza-Ruiz not only finds herself having to defend a vote that most of the county supports during these tough times, but also calling out Legislator Henry Rizzo for cheating the system and allowing Garza's primary opponent to cut in line and land first on the ballot.

Take a look:


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Shenanigans continue in Jackson County

By Theresa Garza Ruiz
Special to The Examiner
Posted Feb 24, 2010 @ 12:39 AM

Blue Springs, MO — I was going to write about the MyArts program, but two items have occurred since my last article that I would like to address.

The first item deals with a recent vote regarding funding for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Due to our current budgetary constraints, I have indicated that I will continue voting against any non-county functions. We have laid employees off, cut department budgets, and made cuts to outside agencies that provide needed services and programs to our residents. It passed 5 to 3 with one absent. Yet, we continue funding events that do not even fall under county services.

Additionally, one of my colleagues indicated that the funding goes to Harvesters. There is nothing on the request for proposal that states the money does in fact go to Harvesters. Instead, the RFP states that the money goes to the Kansas City Police Department for security along the parade route. If that’s the case, then why doesn’t the county use our own law enforcement agency? I can’t imagine the Sheriff’s Department not wanting additional money due to the cuts they’ve already received.

The second item deals with candidates filing for office. On Tuesday, I officially filed for re-election. Over the past three years, folks have shared with me their frustration with the shenanigans of county government, especially with the candidate filing process.

In the past, candidates would camp out all night on the steps or in their cars; sneak into the building after hours and camp out in an office or their own office if they are the incumbent; or be escorted through security early in the morning before official filing hours started by county staff or politicos. On Monday at our legislative meeting an announcement was made that a new procedure would kick in at the close of business.

Starting at 5 p.m., a sheriff’s deputy would be located at the west entrance to take the names of candidates filing for office. The list would determine the order of filing for Tuesday morning. No 24-hour notice was given to the public. Plenty of time was not given for everyone to know how the process would work so questions could be asked or concerns raised.

A few years back, I filed a bill that would have changed this entire debacle. It would have moved us to a lottery system similar to what they use at the state level. A large percentage of states, counties, and municipalities utilize the lottery system for first-day filers in order to present a fair process and level playing field. It was defeated in a 7-2 vote. The shenanigans known as county government continue.

Colbert Again Takes On Sarah Palin And The Hypocrisy Called "Tea Party" Movement

Take a look at The Colbert Report takes on the circus that is Sarah Palin.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sarah Palin Uses a Hand-O-Prompter
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations

Seriously. It's amazing that an organization would pay $100,000 to hear anyone speak, let alone Sarah Palin. Where are those made for TV anti-wasteful spending Tea Party supporters now? But that's the whole point right?

Crazy Cynthia Davis Insults African-American Witness, Trashes Low-Income Families and Embarrasses State, GOP and MO House During Health Hearing

We're one month into the year and in prime time for Crazy Cynthia Davis to get back to her all too typical circus as Missouri's Craziest Republican ---believe us when it takes a special craziness to take that prize as there are lots of them in Jefferson City.

Fired Up! Missouri is reporting that Davis' comments during a hearing "left fellow representatives and the crowd aghast as she shared her thoughts with a witness -- who happened to be an African American -- about the nutrition habits of 'your people' and 'your community.'

Davis reportedly questioned the witness about her faith background, and then expressed concern about what she perceived to be poor choices made by food stamp recipients, making multiple references to white milk being preferable to chocolate milk."

One witness wrote to the blog saying "I was there for the hearing and can confirm that those statements were said and that there were jaws on the ground as she (Davis) was saying them. The Chair, Rep. Cooper was wholeheartedly embarrassed and was seen visibly laughing at the absurdity of one of his members. He was so nervous about what else she might say, when the next witness came to testify, he cut off questions at the time it was Davis' turn to open her mouth again.

The committee members with nearly no exception were embarrassed and uncomfortable as she backhandedly insulted a witness of the committee.

In all the years I've been doing this, it was one of the most appalling moments in a committee ever. Truly amazing."

Remember Cynthia Davis is the Republican elected official that spent most of 2009 touring the country trying to convince people that our President is not a U.S. Citizen---now that's crazy!

And for most Republicans and Democrats in Jefferson City, Cynthia Davis is seen as a complete joke. But for The KC Blue Blog we take her incompetence and all too frequent race, religious and social class prejudice seriously.

Each month, over 867,000 Missourians that receive food stamps and thousands of children in Missouri receive subsidized child care. While it may be a surprise to Rep. Davis, it's no suprise to the rest of the state that these men, women and children in need are not part of one or two demographics. In today's economic climate, these Missourians belong to every single demographic imaginable. So why was Rep. Davis in the meeting singling out members of the African-American community?

In a state with over 768,000 African-Americans this type of racism and prejudice has no place in our capital.

In a city where over 2,000 African Americans currently call home--and hundreds of thousands live in surrounding area--, where 39% of the population is under 24 years of age, where the fastest growing demographic are the Hispanic/Latino and Indo-European communities (source), and where over 1,200 families have a household income of less than $20,000 (source) we don't think that Davis' comments or representation of Missouri or O'Fallen are in any way American, professional or acceptable.

Because of this as well as the extensive list of previous racist and prejudice filled remarks, we are calling on Rep. Cynthia Davis to step down from office. Similarly, We are calling on both Cynthia Davis, David Cole and Lloyd Smith to not only give a formal apology to the witness she insulted before The Missouri House of Representatives, but to also give a public formal apology to the African-American communities around the state. Additionally, we are calling on Rep. Davis, David Cole and Lloyd Smith to formally send a letter to the 2,000 African-Americans living in O'Fallen as well as the 1,200 plus families currently earning less than $20,000 per year formally apologizing for her unprofessional--and disgusting at best--comments, behavior and overall lack of understanding and representation.

To Contact The Missouri GOP and demand the same, please call and e-mail the following:

204 E. Dunklin Avenue
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Phone: 573-636-3146
Fax: 573-636-3273
Email: info@mogop.org

To Contact Crazy, Racist and Prejudice Cynthia Davis, please call and e-mail:

Rep. Cynthia Davis
201 W. Capitol Ave., Room 112
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Cynthia.Davis@house.mo.gov
Phone: 573-751-9768
636- 240-6369

AIG Just Doesn't Get It

Everyone give a standing applause to AIG for continuously taking the award for one of America's most unethical corporations. As Americans, it seems like every year their actions just make us want to vomit and in 2010 our nausea won't be going away.

This year, in the middle of a financial crisis, AIG will be giving out over $100 million dollars in bonuses to members of its financial division. To understand why Americans are really upset over this, please allow us to walk you through part of AIG's recent financial history.

On September 16, 2008, AIG suffered a liquidity crisis following the downgrade of its credit rating. After a 52-week high of $70.13, AIG's share prices had fallen over 95% to just $1.25. The company reported over $13.2 billion in losses in the first six months of the year.

In what was the largest government bailout of a private company, that evening the Federal Reserve Bank's Board of Governors announced that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York had been authorized to create a 24-month credit-liquidity facility from which AIG could draw up to $85 billion. AIG drew down US$ 28 billion of the credit-liquidity facility on September 17, 2008. On September 22, 2008, AIG was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. An additional $37.8 billion credit facility was established in October. As of October 24, AIG had drawn a total of $90.3 billion from the emergency loan, of a total $122.8 billion.

The following week, AIG employees and distributors participated in a California retreat which cost $444,000 and featured spa treatments, banquets, and golf outings.

It was reported that the trip was a reward for top-performing life-insurance agents planned before the bailout. Less than 24 hours after the news of the party was first reported by the media, it was reported that the Federal Reserve had agreed to give AIG an additional loan of up to $37.8 billion.

AP reported on October 17 that AIG executives spent $86,000 on a previously scheduled English hunting trip. News of the lavish spending came just days after AIG received an additional $37.8 billion loan from the Federal Reserve, on top of a previous $85 billion emergency loan granted the month before. Regarding the hunting trip, the company responded, "We regret that this event was not canceled."

An October 30, 2008 article from CNBC reported that AIG had already drawn upon $90 billion of the $123 billion allocated for loans. On November 10, 2008, just a few days before renegotiating another bailout with the US Government for $40 billion, ABC News reported that AIG spent $343,000 on a trip to a lavish resort in Phoenix, Arizona.

By March of 2009 AIG had already received over 150 billion dollars in bailout money but yet the spending spree was just getting started.

In the exact same month, AIG announced that they were going to pay out $165 million in executive bonuses and that total bonuses for just the financial unit could reach $450 million while bonuses for the entire company could reach $1.2 billion. Let's not also forget that before getting fired Joe Casson, former President of AIG, was earning $280 million in cash with about another $40 million in bonuses.


Other points to watch out for is the end of AIG's sponsorship contract with the global soccer powerhouse Manchester United. While AON Corporation seems to be the principal sponsor of the team, AIG's could make a move to sponsor this club again costing the company another 100 million dollars.

And yet, today the company has again announced over $100 million dollars in bonuses--again allow us to remind you that this is just for the financial division of the company.

What was that George W. Bush quote "Fool me once. Fool me twice..rrrruh rurrughblah"?--err something like that.

While paraphrased instead of a direct quote, that one still doesn't apply to this situation. Why not you ask?

Simple. Because it's time someone from AIG goes to jail.