Area417

Doug Burlison For Springfield City Council!

Doug Burlison now has his campaign site up. Residents of Springfield know (or should know) that Doug was instrumental in getting the city audited by the state.

From Doug’s site:

Today, Doug Burlison, the key leader responsible for the Springfield audit, has filed his petition to the Springfield City Clerk’s office to be placed on the ballot as a candidate for City Councilmember, General Seat C. Burlison, born in Springfield in 1964, has been active in the local community for many years. His latest accomplishment was initiating the audit of the City of Springfield by the State Auditor’s Office. With help from other citizens, over seven thousand signatures were collected to bring the audit into action. Auditing of the city is still in process, but over $1 million dollars has already been discovered missing from the Springfield Municipal Court. A former U.S. Army Sergeant, Burlison is working to maintain a city government which is accountable to the citizens of Springfield and keeping their interests the highest priority while preserving fiscal responsibility.

Check out Doug's platform, and while you're there, DONATE! Return fiscal sanity to our city!

The Reformer, Claire McCaskill

KC Buzz Blog has also noted Crusader Claire's little problems with donations to her campaign.

The Federal Election Commission says Sen. Claire McCaskill’s campaign may have accepted “excessive and/or prohibited” donations from 19 people in the final weeks of the 2006 election.

The commission sent a letter to McCaskill for Missouri this week, asking for further information about the donations, which were made between Oct. 19 and Nov. 27, then disclosed Dec. 7 of last year.

How is it that this former state auditor, who says she's going to use her auditing skills to closely monitor government spending, can't even keep tabs on her own campaign finances?

Claire McCaskill And Reform (Or Not)

Update: While McCaskill claims she wants to see more transparency regarding lobbyists, all of her fundraisers are closed to the press. (Stearns, Matt. Ethic reforms won't change D.C. overnight)

Continuing from the previous post, it should be noted that Crusader Claire recently hired a former lobbyist as her chief of staff.

Sean Kennedy’s appointment last week as McCaskill’s chief of staff follows his tenure since 2004 as a lobbyist for SBC Communications, now part of AT&T.

...McCaskill will serve on the Commerce Committee, which oversees telecommunications and reviewed the AT&T-SBC merger.

“If I were AT&T, I’d probably be pretty happy that my guy is now chief of staff to a member of the Commerce Committee, and I would have expectations,” said Massie Ritsch, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington watchdog group. “The challenge for Sen. McCaskill’s office is going to be not giving undue access to a former employer. It’s hard to say ‘no’ to people you used to work with and give other people the same access and treatment.” (Sterns, Matt. Senator hires ex-lobbyist Kansas City Star

Missouri blogger The Source sees problems with McCaskill too:

Unfortunately, Claire McCaskill’s finance committees have a history of discrepancies and inaccuracies. Now that she is attempting to skirt the law and raise money for them, the Source thought it would be a good idea to make sure she’s doing so legally this time around...

H Res. 78: Representation Without Taxation

That's right, this rule change allows non-members of the House of Representatives to vote in favor of raising your federal income tax, even though their constituents (excluding DC) don't pay it. (While  Puerto Ricans usually aren't subject to the federal income tax, they do pay payroll taxes.)

The non-members are Guam, American Samoa, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. 

What should really worry you is that, of the five, only Puerto Rico doesn't lean socialist Democrat.

Link: House Roll Call Votes

Claire McCaskill: Politics As Usual

Missouri's junior senator knows which side her bread is buttered on.

While on the stump, she knew voters were sick of the undue influence of lobbyists, so she styled herself as a crusader for change. The banner on McCaskill's campaign site still trumpets "Claire McCaskill, Bringing Real Change and Accountability to Washington" and features her "15 point plan to make sure Washington works for us."

But, like most politicians, once she arrived in Washington, it was a different story:

Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, won election last year with a populist campaign bashing special interests and corporate lobbyists. This week, she invited dozens of them to a fundraiser: $1,000 per political action committee, $500 per individual. Among the invitees were some of Washington's biggest interests: Big Ag, Big Pharmaceutical, Big Telecom, Big Tobacco.

Hosting the fundraiser: Blackwell Sanders, a law and lobbying firm that Richard Martin, McCaskill's campaign manager, just went to work for as a "government affairs" specialist. (Sterns, Matt. Culture of money, access enduring under Democratic control McClatchy Washington Bureau

Do you suppose the clients of Blackwell Sanders (listed here on Open Secrets) will have easy access to McCaskill's office?

McCaskill defended herself, noting that it takes mountains of money to get elected. "Each individual senator has to make sure that their moral compass stays sharp and that they don't blow the line." (Hananel, Sam. McCaskill raises money from "broken system" she wants to change Kansas City Star)

Iraqis Caught Trying Enter U.S. Illegally

Eleven Iraqis were arrested in Mexico for trying to enter the U.S. (through San Diego) with fake passports.

Investigators said they determined the fake passports had been issued in Turkey and Cyprus, the newspaper said. During interrogation, group members said they had each paid as much as $10,000 for the passports and new identities that said they were Christian refugees fleeing the war in Iraq.

Gee, President Bush, do you suppose these people were coming to clean toilets and work in your garden?

While this particular group may have been (or may not have been) "friendlies," it is clear that our wide-open borders continue to pose a danger.

Link to United Press International - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Presidential Hopefuls: Ron Paul

The field of those considering a run for the White House in 2008 just got a lot more interesting now that Ron Paul (R, TX) is forming a presidential exploratory committee.

Paul was the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate in 1988.

Below is a video of Ron Paul speaking before the U.S. House of Representatives on June 29, 2006. Warning--this is a long video.

Reactions from bloggers:

Wonkette says "Save America! Ron Paul For President!"
Daystar51 for real: Congressman Ron Paul
Outlaw News calls Paul America's Braveheart

While there are a lot of things to like about Ron Paul, Area 417 is reserving judgment at this time.

FairTax Blogburst For January 17, 2007

The following is a press release from Representative John Linder, and published at the FairTax.org web site. With each new Congress, the FairTax bill must be reintroduced. Please make sure you let your Senators and Representative know of your support for the FairTax.

Washington, D.C. - Today, Representative John Linder (R-GA) introduced H.R. 25, the “The FairTax Act of 2007.” This bill was first introduced by Congressman Linder in 1999, and has become increasingly popular since that time. At the close of the 109th Congress the FairTax Act was the most popular tax reform bill in Congress with 59 supporters in the House, which far exceeded any other piece of tax reform legislation.

“The progress we have made since first introducing the FairTax is simply amazing. The grassroots growth has been phenomenal and it is evident that Americans get it. They are way ahead of the politicians on this one. In the 109th Congress, we had 59 supporters on the bill, and we did not solicit a single one. They came to my office because their constituents demanded it. That is happening all over the country.”

This bi-partisan legislation, with Congressman Dan Boren (D-OK) as an original co-sponsor, will repeal all corporate and individual income taxes, payroll taxes, self-employment taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes and gift taxes and replace them with a revenue-neutral personal consumption tax. The revenue neutral number advocated in the bill is 23%, which is very near to the average 22% embedded cost of the current system in every good purchased today. This embedded cost will be driven out of the price of goods because the FairTax will also eliminate all business to business taxes.

“Americans realize that we can achieve a voluntary tax system by allowing everyone to pay taxes when they choose and how much they choose by how they choose to spend. We are giving Americans an option of paying 23 cents of every dollar they spend with the freedom of anonymity, or paying 33 cents of every dollar they earn and the fear that the IRS will come knocking because of some unintentional mistake. They get it, and they are coming in droves to support change.”

The FairTax achieves voluntary taxation by providing a prebate to all Americans that offsets the tax consequences of spending up to the poverty level. This aspect of the bill makes it the most progressive tax proposal today. In essence, if a family of four does not exceed the poverty level spending which is established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, then, with the prebate, they will pay no federal taxes for that year.

“Big ideas take a long time to achieve in Washington D.C., and I am excited with the progress we have made in such a short period of time. There are certain economic forces that are pushing us toward the FairTax. If we are going to continue to compete in a global economy, then we will have to move towards a system that removes the foot of the IRS from the throat of our economy.”

Congressman Linder added that he has a new grassroots oriented website, linderfairtax.house.gov that contains answers to any FairTax related questions.

Of course, you may also find the latest and most definitive information about the FairTax right here at FairTax.org.

Holly Ashcraft Pleads Not Guilty In The Death Of Her Newborn Son

Holly Ashcraft (background on case here), who is charged in the death of her infant son, pled not guilty yesterday.

Holly Ashcraft, 22, remains free on $200,000 bail pending her next appearance Feb. 2 at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse, when Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley is set to hear defense attorney Mark Geragos' motion to dismiss the case. 

In his motion, Ashcraft's attorney wrote that his client "unexpectedly gave birth to a stillborn baby while alone in her apartment" on Oct. 9, 2005. (USC Student Pleads Not Guilty To Newborn's Death NBC4.TV

Although Mark Geragos claims the child was stillborn, the autopsy report, which came out early in 2006, said otherwise:

The autopsy report in the Holly Ashcraft murder case concluded that the baby was born alive and ruled his death a homicide, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. 

The coroner attributed the cause of death to "prematurity and other undetermined factors," and could not rule out asphyxiation as a possibility. The coroner also found no evidence of external or internal traumatic injuries, the Times reported. (Infant's autopsy results released, L.A. Times reports Daily Trojan)

Ashcraft's baby was found by a homeless man in a dumpster near the University of Southern California, where she was a student at the time.

More links: Bond Left At $200,000 For USC Student Charged In Newborn's Death; Holly Ashcraft's Shame: Suspected in Double Infanticide; Holly Ashcraft Strikes Again?; USC Student Was Focus of '04 Baby Investigation

Bush Should Pardon Border Agents Ramos and Compean

Is there any limit to Bush's sucking up to the Mexican government?

Since he has been in the White House, President Bush has handed out 113 pardons--16 of those were in 2006.

A sampling of those pardoned, according to CNN:

• A man who conspired to defraud the U.S.
• Several for the distribution of cocaine
• Several more for bank fraud
• A Connecticut man, for accepting kickbacks

Absent from those year-end pardons were Border Agents Ramos and Compean. These agents were convicted of shooting Osvlado Aldrete-Davila, a drug smuggler from Mexico, and then trying to cover it up.

Aldrete was shot in the buttocks as he fled across the Rio Grande into Mexico after a confrontation with Ramos and Compean. The agents said they shot in self defense, but prosecutors charged that they had no reason to shoot at the fleeing man, who later claimed he was unarmed. (Ex-border agents sentenced for shooting smuggler--DallasNews)

Ramos said that he saw a shiny object in Aldrete-Davila's hand and thought that it was a gun; the prosecution said that he was unarmed. Who wouldn't take an admitted drug smuggler at his word?

Relatives of the smuggler had this to say:

Two of Aldrete-Davila's family members, interviewed by the Daily Bulletin in El Paso last week, said Aldrete-Davila has been smuggling drugs since he was 14 and "wouldn't move drugs unless he had a gun on him," said one. (Carter, Sara. Where is the proof? Those backing border agents want to see evidence of wrongdoing daily bulletin)

The prosecution asserted that the agents were just "out to shoot Mexicans" that day, which seems rather odd since both agents are of Hispanic background.

Because there was gunfire, the mandatory-minimum prison sentence the agents will serve is 10 years. The U.S. Probation Office in El Paso, Texas, has recommended 20 years -- 20 years away from their wives and their children, and among the type of people they've put behind bars.

As for Aldrete-Davila, he faces no charges for the 743 pounds of pot. That leaves him free to carry out his plan to sue the Border Patrol -- that is, U.S. taxpayers -- for $5 million because his civil rights were violated. What a country. (Saunders, Debra. The Border Patrol Inquisition Real Clear Politics)

Ramos, who was nominated for Border Patrol Agent of the Year in 2005, was sentenced to 11 years and a day; Compean got 12 years.

Video: Lou Dobbs Reports

More links: Father In-Law of Border Agent Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Ramos’ Speaks Out; Breaking the silence: Convicted border agent tells his story; Border agents plead for Christmas pardon; PHX: Border Supervisor David Stoddard On Agents Ramos & Compean & Immunity to a Drug Smuggler