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" (Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post) Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what&amp;#039;s goin&amp;#039; down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin&amp;#039; gets done, and where Shakespeare&amp;#039;s in the alley, with his pointed shoes and his bells. We begin this week in the great state of Maine, where Human Bowling Jacket Paul LePage is not bothering himself with things he doesn&amp;#039;t care about. Gov. Paul LePage, who joined Morris at a news conference Tuesday in Augusta, said the statewide drops in crime could have been greater. He repeated his criticism of the Democratic-controlled Legislature for not passing his $3.2 million proposal to hire more drug enforcement agents, assistant district attorneys and judges to combat opioid use that has swept Maine in the last decade. &amp;quot;We have good news, but quite frankly, it&amp;#039;s not good enough,&amp;quot; LePage said. &amp;quot;We need those judges, we need those DAs and we need those agents on the street. I&amp;#039;m not so concerned right now with those that are addicted.&amp;quot; He&amp;#039;ll get around to them later, as soon as he stops feeling tough again. On Tuesday, the governors of the other five New England states met for a &amp;quot;drug summit&amp;quot; at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. LePage was invited, but did not attend because of a scheduling conflict, said Adrienne Bennett, the governor&amp;#039;s spokeswoman. Some of the other kids said it was his turn to play G-Man. We move along to Texas, where some county commissioners in Dallas learned an important lesson about not falling asleep in class. The agenda for Tuesday&amp;#039;s meeting gave no sign that reparations would be a topic. The &amp;quot;Juneteenth Resolution,&amp;quot; commemorating the day slaves in Texas learned of their freedom, seemed from its description to be just another routine proclamation. Others approved on Tuesday expressed support for Men&amp;#039;s Health Month - it&amp;#039;s June - the American Kidney Fund, and an employee in the tax office who&amp;#039;s been on the job for 25 years. But Price&amp;#039;s resolution went beyond taking note of Juneteenth; it included a long list of injustices endured by blacks, from slavery to Jim Crow to predatory lending practices. Then, in its final paragraph, it declared that the suffering of African-Americans should be &amp;quot;satisfied with monetary and substantial reparations.&amp;quot; Price read the entire document aloud at the meeting. But that happens with every resolution, and the commissioners didn&amp;#039;t seem to be listening with a critical ear. With no discussion, Price&amp;#039;s resolution was approved by voice vote. John Wiley Price is my new hero. The other commissioners didn&amp;#039;t delve into the substance of the reparations debate. They simply expressed frustration at not seeing the resolution before the meeting. &amp;quot;I am leaving my vote the way it is,&amp;quot; County Judge Clay Jenkins said. &amp;quot;This is the body&amp;#039;s expression of support for unity towards people, a recognition of Juneteenth.&amp;quot; But, he added: &amp;quot;I want to encourage staff to make sure that all of the commissioners have the opportunity to actually read what they are voting on before that vote in the future.&amp;quot; Commissioner Elba Garcia added, &amp;quot;Amen.&amp;quot; The point, she is sadly missed. Price read the resolution. The rest of them simply were not paying attention. He could have attached a passage welcoming our friends from the Planet Zontar on the occasion of the Fourth Of July and that likely would have passed, too. Please set an alarm next time, gang. Let&amp;#039;s skip down to Mississippi, where embattled incumbent Senator Thad Cochran has responded to the cockfighters, elder stalkers, and courthouse moles associated with his opponent, Chris McDaniel, with a heavyweight endorsement of his own. Favre&amp;#039;s ad seems to be an attempt to remind voters of the benefits of that style of congressman: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve learned through football that strong leadership makes the difference between winning and losing,&amp;quot; the former Green Bay quarterback says, adding, &amp;quot;and when it comes to our state&amp;#039;s future, trust me: Mississippi can win and win big with Thad Cochran.&amp;quot;  If it were a few days closer to the primary, Favre probably would have accidentally endorsed McDaniel. Slowly sailing up the Big River, we land in Missouri, where we discover that the National Rifle Association has decided to shoot the moon, and anything else that happens to pass by in the sky, too. If this amendment passes, it will make several changes to the state constitution. The actual amendment does not simply restate existing rights. It expands gun rights in Missouri to apply to &amp;quot;ammunition, and accessories typical to the normal function of such arms.&amp;quot; It deletes language from the state constitution providing that the right to bear arms &amp;quot;shall not justify the wearing of concealed weapons.&amp;quot; And, perhaps most significantly of all, it provides that any law that touches upon the right to bear arms in Missouri must survive &amp;quot;strict scrutiny,&amp;quot; the most difficult test that exists under American constitutional law in order to avoid being struck down by the courts. God, I hope there&amp;#039;s not another Teachable Moment any time soon. Missouri might mandate the private possession of tactical nukes. And we conclude, as always, in Oklahoma, where Blog Special Caller-Of-The-Wind-Maria Friedman Of The Plains brings us the tale of a Republican senatorial candidate who apparently has some solid internal polling to the effect that modesty is not an effective strategy. &amp;quot;I would say Paul, for me,&amp;quot; Lankford responded. &amp;quot;I have great, great love for the writings of Paul. For me, this is a journey issue. Paul set out on a journey and did not expect where he was going. God completely interrupted his life...In 2008 and 2009, my wife and I both clearly heard God call us and say this is what I want you to do. We spent seven months struggling and praying through that. Finally, it came to the point and time where we had to say, I&amp;#039;m going to be an old man one day telling my grandchildren about the time I didn&amp;#039;t follow God if I don&amp;#039;t do this.&amp;quot; Hokey smoke, who&amp;#039;s the reporter who asked this question anyway? If one of the candidates had answered &amp;quot;Onan,&amp;quot; I would have moved to Oklahoma and voted for him several dozen times. Second, if Mr. Lankford wakes up the morning after the primary and finds his ass in Damascus, he shouldn&amp;#039;t come crying to me. This is your democracy, America. Cherish it. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a21012/the-labs-grab-the-maine-chance/>