Sunday Poll: Should Missouri follow Nebraska and abolish the death penalty?

Last week the conservative legislature in neighboring Nebraska voted to override their governor’s veto of a bill to repeal their death penalty:

Lawmakers in Nebraska overrode Gov. Pete Ricketts’ veto of their vote to repeal the death penalty, making it the first Republican-controlled state in the U.S. to repeal the death penalty since North Dakota in 1973. The vote was 30-19.

As we reported Tuesday, Ricketts, a Republican, vetoed the legislation flanked by law enforcement personnel, murder victims’ family members and state lawmakers who support capital punishment. Opposition to the death penalty in the conservative state came from Republicans who were against it for religious or fiscal reasons, as well as from Democrats and independents. (NPR)

Of course, just because a neighboring state does something it doesn’t mean we should follow them. Still, this is a good public policy subject for a Sunday Poll.  The poll is at the top of the right sidebar of the desktop layout, it’ll close at 8pm tonight.

— Steve Patterson

Working on Legal Holidays

Many of you likely enjoyed Memorial Day off work, we enjoyed a 3-day weekend in Chicago. I’m disabled so I’m off everyday — not as great as it sounds. My husband is an hourly worker, he took the day off without pay. He gets no paid holidays.

Unfortunately, those with paid holidays don’t always think about those who work on holidays, or have unpaid days off. Monday we encountered many people working as we returned to St. Louis:

• The doorman at the building where we stay in Chicago
• Retail & restaurant workers
• Taxicab drivers
• Transit workers — the bus driver that took us to Union Station
• The many drivers for Megabus — two on most.
• Workers at the Dixie Truck Stop in McLean IL where our Megabus stopped for a break and to switch drivers.
• Ballpark workers at Busch Stadium that we passed as we were almost back.

Imagine if you went out on your day off but couldn’t get gas in your car because all gas stations were closed due to no employees. You couldn’t fly anywhere because airlines were grounded — no TSA to screen you, no flight crew to operate the plane, no air traffic controllers to guide the plane. You walk to the market but it’s closed, as are all restaurants.

First responders & healthcare workers are there for us too — even on legal holidays.

Unfortunately the number of responses to the Sunday Poll were half the usual number, but here are the results anyway:

Q: Tomorrow is Memorial Day, have the day off work?

1. Yes — paid holiday 6 [37.5%]
2. Yes — retired/disabled/unemployed 4 [25%]
3. TIE 3 [18.75%]
   1. Yes — unpaid
   2. No — will be at work
4. TIE 0 [0%]
   1. Yes — used a vacation day
   2. Yes — off on Mondays

In this small sample the number of people off without pay plus those working equalled the number who were off with pay.

Around 9pm Monday we passed Soldiers’ Memorial (WWI) and the WWII memorial as we made our way home.

— Steve Patterson

“Do You Have A Home?”

Living at 16th & Locust is very convenient to the downtown central business district (CBD), central library, city hall, numerous MetroBus lines, Washington Ave nightlife, etc.  It’s also very close to where many of the region’s homeless hang out — not a problem for me. In fact, when I’m out in my wheelchair I’m often mistaken as homeless. My white middle-class neighbors ignore me on the sidewalk, church groups passing out food from car trunks/vans offer me a meal, the homeless ask me if I have a cigarette or light.

Part of it is that I rarely dress to impress, shorts/faded jeans  & t-shirt are common. Another is the wheelchair. My power chair is now seven years old, it’s showing its age. Still, few disabled homeless have power chairs, most use manual wheelchairs. Still, I think many assume a person in a wheelchair passing the library is a homeless person.

As is often the case I was returning home from Culinaria as grade school students were returning from recess in Lucas Park. The Locust sidewalk is narrow next to the building so I waited as they passed by, many of the kids said hello as they walked single-file past me. But one girl asked, “Do You Have A Home?” Caught off guard, I quickly replied, “Yes, a few blocks away — a nice loft.”

I didn’t expect such a question, earlier that morning I attended the ULI presentation on the Railway Exchange Building (see What To Do With 1.2 Million Square Feet In The Railway Exchange Building) — I was dressed my best that day: new jeans, white dress shirt, custom-made sport coat. Weeks later is still bothers me this little girl thought I was homeless.

I do think kids raised seeing all facets of society will be better prepared for life when they go out on their own, those raised strictly within their economic class will need to adjust more as adults. I’ll likely email the staff at Lafayette Prep to inquire about their conversations with students about homelessness.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Tomorrow is Memorial Day, have the day off work?

Tomorrow is a national holiday — Memorial Day. This holiday has a long history, but not everyone gets the day off.

Today’s poll seeks to see if readers have to work tomorrow or have the day off. All options should be covered, but if not, you can add your answer to the poll (upper right sidebar). The poll closes at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: 12+ months prior to the convention, who do you THINK will be the five (5) final candidates for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination?

The 2016 election cycle is heating up, on the GOP side many have declared their candidacy and others are still considering running.  It’s too early to know who the GOP will nominate at their July 2016 convention in Cleveland — that’s the point — to later be able to compare 2015 perceptions with 2016 reality.

For today’s poll I combined declared & potential candidates from these two sites:

• https://www.gop.com/presidential-straw-poll/
• http://2016.republican-candidates.org

There was a lot of overlap, but each had some not listed on the other. Here is the combined list of 47, listed alphabetical:

1. Skip Andrews
2. Kelly Ayotte
3. Haley Barbour
4. John Bolton
5. Kerry Bowers
6. Jeb Bush
7. Herman Cain
8. Dr. Ben Carson
9. Dale Christensen
10. Chris Christie
11. Ted Cruz
12. Mitch Daniels
13. John Dummett, Jr.
14. Bob Ehrlich
15. Mark Everson
16. Carly Fiorina
17. Newt Gingrich
18. Lindsey Graham
19. Nikki Haley
20. Chris Hill
21. Mike Huckabee
22. Bobby Jindal
23. John Kasich
24. Peter King
25. Michael Kinlaw
26. Dennis Michael Lynch
27. Susana Martinez
28. Sarah Palin
29. George Pataki
30. Rand Paul
31. Ron Paul
32. Tim Pawlenty
33. Mike Pence
34. Rick Perry
35. Michael Petyo
36. Condoleezza Rice
37. Mitt Romney
38. Marco Rubio
39. Brian Russell
40. Mitch Sandoval
41. Rick Santorum
42. Tim Scott
43. Rick Snyder
44. John Thune
45. Donald Trump
46. Scott Walker
47. Allen West

I usually randomize the answers in the poll (right sidebar), but because of the sheer number of names they’re displayed in alphabetical order. The poll question isn’t who you want to see make it to the final 5, but rather who you think will be the 5 who survive the next 9-12 months.

Please be sure to pick 5 answers, the poll closes at 8pm tonight. UPDATE: Because of a software problem this morning I’m going to leave this open until 10pm.

— Steve Patterson