I know there has been posting elsewhere (possibly Talk of the Day) of pros and cons of the stimulas payments from the Fed. That’s not what has me curious/thinking. The Missouri Legislature is considering bills that would make this stimulus payment exempt from Missouri Tax. I think that sounds like a good idea. Are there any valid reasons to tax the stimulus payment? What are the other side of this debate?

In this week’s update on the Jeff Smith fake id case … as we pass the 7th month since Senator Smith’s fateful night at the Isle of Capri casino, Smith continues to stand fast in his defiance of Missouri law. So far as I understand from the news accounts, Smith does not dispute the events of the evening, but rather, has based his plea of not guilty on the premise that Missouri law does not require what every casino, and the gaming commission, believe it requires, and even if it does, it’s all just a marketing scheme anyway, so the judge should simply rule that Smith isn’t guilty because there is no controlling legal authority blah blah blah …

Next docketed event is a motion hearing on April 22, and a discovery deadline of June 10. Kudos to the Cooper County prosecutor for having the guts to hold a senator accountable to the same laws the rest of us have to follow.

One more thing….It’s been crazy this semester and I’ve lost track of the “hardship hearings” taking place behind closed doors with the Missouri Ethics Commission. What is the status?

When you review the MEC website, specifically commission meetings, the agenda and minutes seem a bit cryptic.

And on another, not entirely unrelated subject … why didn’t THIS story make the front page?

http://www.missourinet.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=6966B7C8-A55C-EB15-BF42402CB544D0E8

The standard treatment under Missouri law, should you refuse to take a breathalyzer, is a one year suspension. Yet the Senator’s suspension was “set aside.” I realize there are attorneys who can get a blind-drunk driver off the hook (see some great stories at the link below) but is that the sort of thing a senator should be pursuing? Shame, shame, shame!

http://www.sansonelaw.com/lawyer-attorney-1139784.html

Hey Nick, I hope I never have to go to court on your watch. Why dont we just let people defend themselves who we think should? I dont agree with his strategy either, but neither you nor I know all the facts nor his reasons. If you’re right, he’ll lose; wont that be satisfaction enough? And if he wins, you’ll still think he shouldnt have gone to court? best, me

Bill - If he wins, it will only prove that if you shovel enough money at your lawyer, the law doesn’t matter. Of course, we already knew that. But as I’ve said before, it’s a heck of an example for a senator to set.

Still waiting on that coffee, Bill … actually I have forgotten why you owe me one to begin with, but I’m sure it was something really good …

it was something good; write me at the website and we’ll make arrangements for someplace nice in district; write, we’ll talk; I think you’re just a tease.

Atomic Cowboy owner Chip Schloss and I square off about Senator Bray’s proposed smoking ban in the latest issue of the Vital Voice, though Chip seems to be advocating smoke-free bars rather than smoking bans. Though I am pretty happy with my thumbnail defense of the freedom of Missouri bars, somehow the word “less” in my original statement that “the strongest finding of the 1998 World Health Organization’s secondhand smoke study was that children exposed had 22 percent less chance of developing lung cancer later in life” got changed to “greater”. Oh well, that alters the meaning a bit! But I am grateful that this St. Louis paper has allowed a voice on the science of secondhand smoke other than that of the American Cancer Society.
http://www.thevitalvoice.com/commentary.shtml

I hear St. John the Waterboarder is going to be at the Plaza Frontenac Hilton Monday at 5:30. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/9/161347/8163/564/472343

Nick, you really do need to get a life