Jeanette Mott Oxford

Here's a fun factoid for your Thursday afternoon: Republicans in the Missouri House of Representatives voted en masse this afternoon against educating our youth about the Bible. 

On the House floor, Rep. Lindell Shumake (R-Hannibal) sponsored an amendment to Sen. David Pearce's SB81 that would allow religious texts to be used in fine arts classes, so long as their use didn't violate the Establishment Clause.  Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford (D-St. Louis) then sponsored an amendment to Shumake's amendment that would simple clarify that the religious texts would include, but not be limited to, the Torah, Koran and Bible.

Guess what happened next!

Oxford's simple amendment was then defeated by a 48-101 vote, with Speaker Steve Tilley, Birther Leader Tim Jones and the rest of the House GOP leadership all opposed.

Why do these great leaders hate the Bible?  Or am I misunderstanding which part of Oxford's amendment gave all these freedom lovers heartburn? 

Rep. Mark Parkinson (R-St. Charles) thinks the working poor and their children should go hungry when they travel to other states looking for better deals, looking for work and visiting family. After all, nothing says freedom and limited government like mean-spirited proposals to limit movement and choice.  

Kudos to Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford for standing up to Parkinson's mean-spirited and half-baked proposal. 

Parkinson, pictured here being totally awesome, is giving up all that claptrap about the poor for Lent. "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."

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UPDATE: This great photo has inspired a fair amount of reader feedback this morning, along with alternate caption ideas. A few early submissions:

• Almost looks like a real beard, don't it?
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Rep. Jeannette Oxford received sad news last week that cancer survivor and activist Don Young will not be attending the American Cancer Society’s Missouri Lobby Day later this month because the Missouri capitol is, literally, toxic.

I’m all for freedom and, you know, doing what you need to do to get through the day. But the dangers of secondhand smoke are real, and too many Missouri legislators continue to have a shockingly cavalier attitude toward the harm and suffering it causes.

"As long as I'm blowing it out the window and it's not bothering anybody, what difference does it make?" Rep. Tim Meadows told the Post Dispatch last month.  Of course, this is the kind of statement nonsmokers hear from smokers all the time, usually while surrounded with the nauseating aroma of stale cigarettes.  But still. 

Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford (D-St. Louis) distributed a complaint filed this week by a Fenton woman named Rossie Judd alleging that the Missouri House's decision to allow smoking violated the Americans with Disabilites Act. 

In her complaint to the chamber's ADA coordinator, Judd alleged that the decision to allow smoking means she is unable to gain "meaningful access" to her elected leaders because of breathing disability.  

Oxford maintains that there was bipartisan support for a rule change prohibiting smoking in members' offices, but "Majority Floor Leader [Tim] Jones signaled that all GOP members were to vote no instead of allowing each member to vote his or her own conscience on this matter."  It's still unclear why Birther Tim insisted his colleagues vote against the best interests of the public, their staffs and themselves on this matter. 

Judd's complaint to the House can be read below the jump. 

Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford has accepted an appointment on the Children and Families Committee for the 2010 legislative session.

Last year, Mott Oxford was prohibited from serving on the committee by Speaker Ron Richard because, in the word's of Richard's Chief of Staff Jeff Brooks, some GOP House members found her "highly offensive." But  Richard and GOP leaders would never really explain what they found so "offensive" about her.  From a February 2009 story in the Star:

In the weeks since, Oxford says she has not received a convincing explanation for why she was left off the committee.

“The only reason cited to me so far as for why I am not on the committee is that ‘some members find me offensive,’” Oxford wrote in a letter last month to Richard. “I do not know if this is about my sexual orientation, my stance on Roe vs. Wade, or what.” [...]

Missouri ProVote hosted their annual awards dinner last night to celebrate key leaders and organizations in Missouri's progressive community. They included:

• Outstanding Progressive Legislator: Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford (D-St. Louis)
• Outstanding Community Organization: The Missouri Women’s
  Leadership Coalition
• Outstanding Labor Organization: The Missouri AFL-CIO
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Leila Medley of the Missouri NEA

Congratulations, and thank you for many years of service to Missouri's families!