Area417

The Man Behind The Curtain

by Chuck Baldwin
January 25, 2008

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" is the famous quote from the wizard in the movie classic, The Wizard Of Oz. However, when it comes to national and international affairs, many, if not most, Americans seem to have taken the mythical wizard's advice. They seem oblivious to the man behind the curtain. And make no mistake about it: there is a man (or group of men) behind the curtain.

The American people seem mesmerized by the smoke and mirrors of the political and media elite. For the most part, the people of this country seem totally unaware that while the global elite who run this country passionately promote the "war on terrorism," those same elite are also violently attacking the liberties of the heartland. While they create a gargantuan Department of Homeland Security for our "protection," they are using that very same department to eviscerate the constitutional protections of our republic. While they insist that we are dependent upon oil from Saudi Arabia, they are ignoring giant oil and natural gas discoveries located under the frozen tundra of our 49th State (and other places).  The elite have brilliantly turned the drumbeats of war against Islamofascism into a giant smokescreen to hide their insidious plans to wage a different kind of war against the American people.

The war against the American people is waged on a hundred fronts and with a hundred agendas. But one word seems to best describe the heart of the strategy. And that word is FEAR. The problem is, the man behind the curtain has misdirected people's fears.

Worth a Look

 

"In Jewish law there is no notion of differentiating between two identical crimes on the basis of the person's socioeconomic background. There is no accounting of whether or not the person was able to receive appropriate therapy or a surrogate parent to wean them out of their quagmire."  V is for Victim. Yael Mermelstein

 

"Rep. John Campbell, a California Republican, notes that this year the House took many more votes (1,186) than ever but only 146 bills became laws, and most of those named buildings or other things, or extended existing laws. Congress, and especially the Democratic majority, should be congratulated for this because a decrease in the quantity of legislation generally means an increase in the quality of life."  Congress' Vanishing Act. George Will.

 

"Whether you are a social conservative bothered by Mike Huckabee's apparent hypocrisy, or a believer in governmental ethics who thinks that business and government need a greater firewall between them than to have governors sit on corporate boards, or if you're a fiscal conservative who is alarmed that the GOP is on the verge of nominating a presidential candidate who has a direct financial stake in forcing socialized medicine on the rest of us, there is more than enough in Mike Huckabee's record to merit denying him a higher office."  A reason for just about everybody to avoid Huckabee. Bob Krumm. (Hat Tip: Instapundit)

Christian Right Just Doesn't Get It

by Chuck Baldwin
December 7, 2007

These are people I have known most of my life. They are my friends. I have spoken at their gatherings and rallies, participated in their discussions, and prayed with them. Of course, I'm talking about the fine men and women who can be categorized as the Christian Right.

On the whole, we share the same values and principles. We are pro-life; we stand for marriage as God defined it; we believe in the right to keep and bear arms; we support capital punishment (albeit I will be the first to admit that there are many inequities in the application of capital punishment that desperately need to be rectified); we believe children should have the right to pray in school; we believe former Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore Jr. had every right to post the Ten Commandments in the Rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court building, and before that, a plaque of the Ten Commandments in his Circuit Court building in Gadsden; and we believe in limited government.

In 1980 and 1984, I joined my friends in the Christian Right in helping Ronald Reagan achieve two landslide victories. In fact, as the Executive Director for the Florida Moral Majority, I helped my friend, the late Jerry Falwell, register more than 50,000 evangelical voters during those years.

In 2000 and 2004, my wife and I could not in good conscience vote for G.W. Bush, so we cast an independent ballot those two elections. However, there is no question that, to a great extent, it was the Christian Right's almost universal support for George W. Bush that gave him two terms in the White House.

Unfortunately, it has been the Christian Right's blind support for President Bush in particular and the Republican Party in general that has precipitated a glaring and perhaps fatal defect: the Christian Right cannot, or will not, honestly face the real danger confronting these United States. The reason for this blindness is due, in part, to political partisanship or personal aggrandizement. Regardless, the Christian Right is currently devoid of genuine sagacity. On the whole, they fail to understand the issues that are critical to our nation's--and their own--survival.

Part 1, Those Damn Ron Paul Supporters

Everyone knows Ron Paul supporters are 911 conspiracy theorists, hate America, belong to Code Pink, or are Democrat operatives, right? We're all alike and we're all crazy.

News flash: We are not a homogenous group. Some of the things about this Paul supporter:

• 911 was not an inside job and I don't while away my hours at Prison Planet.
• I support our troops. My son was one of them. I've sent packages, letters, prayers, and donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. I was the impetus behind my employer's program to send packages to the troops. (Looking for something to send? Check out Brigade QM.) I have joined with others to welcome home our troops.
  
• While what happened at Abu Ghraib was wrong, wrong, WRONG, I don't have a problem with water-boarding, stress positions, nor sleep deprivation. Many of our troops go through ALL these things during training.
• Code Pink is, for the most part, an assemblage of useful idiots.
• I am not a pacifist.
• Democrat operative? Oh, please. Until a few years ago, I was a Republican, albeit an independent one. I voted for Bush twice. Reluctantly the second time around.
• Sorry, Hannity. I don't spend my time text messaging your stupid-ass Faux News Polls. No one over the age of 13 should text message.

So why am I supporting Ron Paul? I'll get to that.

Diebold, Still Stealing Votes After All These Years

Fresh off the press, a report from a team of computer scientists finds Diebold machines are riddled with security flaws.

A little of what they found:

• Data on the memory cards for the optical-scan machines is unauthenticated
• The memory card “signature” does not adequately detect malicious tampering
• The touch-screen machine automatically installs bootloader and operating system updates from the memory card without verifying the authenticity of the updates (Link to Threat Level - Wired Blogs)

This video shows how it can be done.

One has to wonder why the Iowa GOP has chosen to use this faulty machine during the upcoming Iowa Straw Poll. My understanding is that after the vote,  one person will retire to tabulate the votes;  no observers allowed. Now, why is that?

Several groups are joining together to conduct a verification EXIT POLL at the Ames Straw Poll, using paper ballots, in order to get a fair count.

More on the subject of voter fraud: A House Without Doors, Black Box Voting,
Democracy Imperiled, Inside a U.S. Election Vote Counting Program

Long-Shot Republican Physician Wins!

No, I'm not talking about presidential candidate Ron Paul, but another Dr. Paul.

...The frontrunner in the primary voting in north Georgia's 10th district, former state Sen. Jim Whitehead, was the consensus choice of the Republican establishment. Whitehead essentially promised to be a rubberstamp for the Bush White House and Republican leaders in Congress.

Hmmm. Sounds a lot like the 2008 GOP presidential "frontrunners."

His opponent, Paul Broun, was a quirky physician who claims to be "the only doctor in Georgia whose practice is almost exclusively house calls." A frequent candidate who was very much on the outs with party insiders, Broun barely squeaked into the run-off and most pundits stopped paying attention to a race it was assumed Whitehead would win with ease.

Whitehead seemed  to have everything going for him; support from assorted Republican pooh-bahs and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along wads of cash.

But Dr. Broun had a message, one that is very familiar to supporters of Ron Paul.

Broun emphasized a Ron Paul-like committed to "work to restore government according to the Constitution as our Founders intended." While the Georgia appears to be a more cautious constitutionalist than the maverick Texas congressman who is making a longshot bid for the party's presidential nomination in 2008, Broun borrowed one of the most popular of Paul's principles, promising that if elected he would assess any new legislation by first asking: "Is it constitutional and a proper function of government?" [sic] 

(Link: The Nation)  Hat Tip: disinter

Snarky Journalism: Washington Post's Dana Milbank

I'm not a Kucinich fan, but I'm annoyed by Dana Milbank's article, Kucinich's Battle Against Cheney Not So (Im)Peachy Keen, in today's Washington Post.

Rather than an intelligent discussion on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of Kucinich's drive to impeach Vice President Cheney, Milbank used the article as an occasion to make sly digs at a presidential candidate for whom he obviously has no respect.

There were the inevitable snarks about Kucinich's appearance:

[...] Standing perhaps 5 feet 6 inches tall in shoes, he wore a solemn face as he approached the microphones, which nearly reached his eye level. He beckoned to aides, who handed out thick binders detailing the case."

Kucinich read at length from his articles of impeachment,undeterred by rush-hour traffic noise on Independence Avenue ("I'll wait till the truck goes by here," he said at one point) and wind that ruffled his text and the few strands of his hair that were insufficiently weighted by Brylcreem.

Milbank made sure readers knew that other Democrats weren't taking this seriously:

[...] A reporter from the Cleveland Plain Dealer encouraged USS Kucinich to contact planet Earth. "But Nancy Pelosi says this is not going anywhere," she pointed out.

And this:

[...]

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic caucus, was equally dismissive -- "Dennis can do what he wants; I'm not going to support it" -- but used the occasion to try out some Cheney material: "This is the biggest setback for the vice president since oil went under 65 bucks a barrel."

While we can surmise this is a ploy by Kucinich to grab some attention, I'm wondering what tone Milbank (or Rahm Emanuel for that matter) would have taken if Clinton or Obama had been the one to call this news conference.

Not that that is likely to happen; it would ruin Clinton's new centrism, and Obama couldn't find a way to wax poetic on the subject.

Libertarian Doug Burlison Wins City Council Seat

POST ELECTION UPDATE: HE WINS! CONGRATULATIONS DOUG!

In addition, Cynthia Rushefsky Pounds Sheila Wright at the polls, winning the Zone 2 seat:

WRIGHT .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       468   19.58
RUSHEFSKY  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    1,922   80.42

Update: Burlison was recently interviewed by Vince Jericho on KSGF Newstalk Radio. You can listen to podcasts here.

***

Reposted by permission. Original article here.

By Keith Rodgers

 

Being an off-year election season, we turn our focus towards local issues and, since all politics is local in the end, what better place to start than a change at City Council?

That change starts with electing a candidate who believes in the ideals of limited government, being a good steward of the public treasury and public trust, and the importance of community involvement in solving issues.

Doug Burlison (upper left picture) garnered almost half the vote in his previous City Council bid in 2004, against an incumbent with more resources. Two of his Council platform issues have turned into reality -- an "Adopt-A-Stream" program, similar to the street cleanup model and, more importantly, his drive to have the city of Springfield audited by the State Auditors Office is currently underway, a task that has never been done in the entire history of the city.

As a candidate for the 7th Congressional seat, Doug challenged business-as-usual Republicans and Democrats by offering the public a no-nonsense, liberty-oriented choice. Now Doug brings with him, to this non-partisan, non-paid Council seat, the core beliefs of the Libertarian Party -- limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the accountability and responsiveness to the public that ALL public servants should have.

You can visit Doug's website at http://www.voteburlison.org/ for more information. Help put a true champion of liberty in local politics.

We Need More Doctors and Fewer Lawyers in Government

I love Senator Tom Coburn for the same reason I love Ron Paul--they have the guts to stand their ground,  stand for the taxpayer, and for the future of our children.

Check out this video of Doctor/Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. As an added bonus, watch Missouri's own pork-meister, Kit Bond, go ballistic.

(Better still is the Grand Pooh-Bah of Pork, Ted Stevens (R, AK) threatening to resign--a promise we all wish he'd kept).

Vote Different Video

Update: According to NewsMax, a Zogby poll measured the reactions of likely Democrat voters to the 1984 video. Surprisingly, the reaction wasn't positive. 

Two-thirds of likely Democratic primary voters who had viewed the "Hillary 1984" video now sweeping across the Internet and the American political landscape said it will not change their opinions of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, a new Zogby Interactive video survey shows.

But the remaining one-third of likely primary voters were three times more likely to favor Clinton over Obama after seeing the video, the survey shows. Of those polled, 21 percent said they were either "offended" or "bothered" by the video, and that it made them more likely to support Clinton as a result. Just 7 percent said they were either "entertained" or "excited" by the video and were, as a result, more likely to support Obama's run for the nomination.

***

Even though it would be a cold day in hell before I'd vote for Barak Obama, I have to admit that this video is sheer genius. No doubt this will be all it takes for those who let emotion override intellect. (Hat Tip to techPresident)

Video: Ron Paul On Fox

Dr. Paul was interviewed on the "Because You Asked" segment of Fox News on March 21st.

Here's the video.

Hat Tip: Daily Paul

Former Constitution V.P. Candidate Supports Ron Paul

The Constitution Party's 2004 V.P. candidate, Chuck Baldwin, is no fan of current Republican presidential hopefuls.

It appears that conservatives will be asked to choose between the chameleon Mitt Romney, the pro-amnesty-for-illegal-aliens John McCain, and philanderers Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani. A few conservatives seem slightly excited that former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson is mulling entrance into the presidential race. However, a closer inspection of his voting record finds him to be just another globalist neocon, who would do little to change things in Washington, D.C. For example, Americans for Better Immigration gives him a puny career grade of "C."

...It is past time for conservatives to admit that the national Republican Party has crossed the point of no return and has no intention of nominating a genuine conservative for president. The GOP has become nothing more than a big-government, no-borders, war party. If true conservatives are going to have a voice in Washington politics, it will have to come through an independent party.

That is not to say that there are not genuine conservatives in the GOP presidential race. Congressman Ron Paul of Texas embodies everything the CEP is looking for. Beyond that, if he should miraculously win the nomination, he would, no doubt, receive broad support in the general election. He would solidify the conservative base of the GOP and would be very popular among independents, libertarians, and even conservative Democrats.

He goes on to state the obvious, which is that Ron Paul can expect no support (excepting the Liberty Caucus) from the Grand Pooh-Bahs of the GOP.

Link to Food For Thought From the Chuck Wagon 

Hat Tip: Third Party Watch

Video: Ron Paul's CNN Appearance

Ron Paul announces that he is running for the Republican nomination; he discuses government spending, Iraq, etc.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Sunday Shorts

It's Sloth-in-a-Box!

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards vows to create more bureaucracy and spend $3 billion a year to educate children in OTHER COUNTRIES.

Government Bytes! notes that the new Democratic Senate won't cut spending even on programs that are rated "Ineffective."

Ron Paul Accepts Debate Invitation

Congressman Ron Paul has accepted Nancy Reagan's invitation to participate in a presidential debate to be held at the Reagan Presidential Library on May 3, 2007.  MSNBC will moderate and televise the 90-minute debate starting at 5:00 p.m. ET.  The debate will also be simulcast by politico.com to give citizens the opportunity to submit questions online. (Link)

Missouri Constitution Party

The MO Constitution Party will be having a meeting at the Brentwood Library Center (directions) on March 24^th, from 9:30 a.m. until noon.

Ron Paul, Exploring No More

Daily Paul reports that Ron Paul has gone from the exploratory stage to candidate:) He will make the announcement on C-Span's Washington Journal on Monday, March 11th, 6:00 a.m. CST.

Hat Tip: Friends of Ron Paul

Are You a Political Radical?

You Are 32% Politically Radical

You've got a few unusual political ideas, but overall you're a pretty mainstream person. Chances are that you're turned off by both the radical right and looney left.

Are You a Political Radical?

Who Will You Vote For?

Who will you vote for in 2008
Ron Paul
Steve Kubby
George Phillies
Ralph Nader
Mitt Romney
John McCain
Barack Obama
Hilary Clinton
Bill Richardson
Newt Gingrich
Rudi Giuliani
John Edwards
Joe Biden
Chris Dodd
Tommy Tompson
Tom Tancredo
George Pataki
Mike Gravel
Tom Vilsack
Duncan Hunter
See Results

Metro Republicans Host Candidate Forum

Hosts: Springfield Metro Republicans

What: Meet the candidates for City Council

When: Thursday, March 1^st at 7 p.m.

Where: The Library Center, 4653 South Campbell

Voters will be able to size up the following candidates:

Zone 1	Zone 2	General Council Seat
Dan Chiles	Cynthia Rushefsky	Doug Burlison
Jack Steck	Sheila Wright	Conrad Griggs

Personally, I've already made up my mind on Doug Burlison for the General Council Seat, and Rushefsky for Zone 2. 

This is an informational gathering for voters, not a strictly Republican affair. Thanks to the Spfd. Metro Republicans for hosting this forum.

Pajamas Media Presidential Straw Poll

Speaking of voting, isn't it interesting that week four of the Pajamas Media Poll no longer includes Ron Paul, who came in second the week of 2/11 and handily WON week three.

Their reason? "From this point on, our weekly poll will be updated to those national candidates of both parties that score at least one percent on the previous month’s Gallup Poll (via RealClearPolitics).

I think a commenter named Richard summed it up best:

What a farce. I have to choose between statist Republicrats and statist Demopublicans. On a real ballot I have more choices than that and several of the 3rd party choices will gather more votes than most of these dweebs. This is the same sort of rigged poll (by artificially constraining the choices) that makes most US "polls" and "debates" meaningless compared to the actual choices available to voters. I expected better from Pajamas Media than to continue this MSM tradition of shutting out alternative voices.

In a seeming reversal, Pajamas Media states in the comments  "Thompson, Paul and other viable candidates will be added for next week's poll. We will not add candidates while a poll is under way."

Ron Paul Link Round Up

*Ron Paul's site will be set up to take online donations on Tuesday, Feb. 20th.

NewsMax.com, Dave Eberhart: "...this independent thinking man is no slave to a strict libertarian agenda — voting against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (bigger government, he says), supporting border security, and opposing illegal immigration — all postures that would rattle the Libertarian core."

SmallGovTimes: "Unfortunately, the American people have grown comfortable with big federal government control, and Paul’s campaign knows it will be a tough battle positioning him for victory in 2008. “There is no question that it is an uphill battle,“ Kent Snyder, the chairman of Paul’s exploratory committee, said. "

George Will: "Paul, who really believes in limited government, will infiltrate that confabulation of sedate candidates in order, he says, to find out 'how many real Republicans are left.' This could be entertaining, meaning embarrassing." (Hat Tip: The Liberty Papers)

Politizine: "I don't agree with everything, but given the choice between him and some of the other Republicans, I would take him in a heartbeat. He knows in his core what freedom means."

Reason Hit & Run, Dave Weigel: "...maybe there's not a web conspiracy to promote Paul. Maybe (1) the other Republican candidates are gobsmackingly lame and (2)lots of libertarians use this fancy 'internet' contraption."

The New Liberty: "...maybe it is just tolerance for the usual BS from the other candidates who flip flop, waiver, and sell out on the issues has reached critical mass, and it’s being shown on the Internet, the place where the voices of the little people can be most loudly heard."

AgricultureOnline: "Representative Ron Paul (R-TX), is a chief sponsor of H.R. 1009, the "Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007.

'It is indefensible that the United States government prevents American farmers from growing this crop. The prohibition subsidizes farmers in countries from Canada to Romania by eliminating American competition and encourages jobs in industries such as food, auto parts and clothing that utilize industrial hemp to be located overseas instead of in the United States," said Dr. Paul. "By passing the Industrial Hemp Farming Act the House of Representatives can help American farmers and reduce the trade deficit- all without spending a single taxpayer dollar.'

...Farmers in Canada have reported that hemp is one of the most profitable crops that they can grow. "

Yannone: "When Ron Paul talks about reducing the size and scope of government, he is not talking about privatizing anything. He's simply talking about obeying the Constitution. That's the kind of scary talk that causes Ron Paul's 534 fellow congressmen--those in the House and Senate who line their pockets as they busy themselves redistributing your income--to hyperventilate, sweat, and swoon."

Jack Stevison: "Ron Paul Gets It"

News Blaze: "Ron Paul has been unafraid to criticize the neocon Bush Administration, and has been highly critical of their excessive spending."

Blogcritics: "He's earned a reputation as a pain in the ass to every fat cat and party hack on both sides of the aisle. Standing alone or with a few allies from the Republican Liberty Caucus he's always there to raise the uncomfortable truth or ask the question no one else will ask. He's voted against so many bills in his 18 years - including every budget and every expansion of government's size or power - that he's earned the title 'Dr. No'. He's one of very few representatives in Congress who can be counted on to always vote their conscience without making any political compromises."

Technocrat: "...For those who aren't aware of him, he is the major thorn in the Rs side on things (because he is traditional, not even close to being a neocon)"

ed: One thing's for sure, if Ron Paul starts polling too well, Sean Hannity's hair will catch on fire. Wouldn't that be something to see:)

So Much For The "Straight Talk Express"

Much like our own Claire McCaskill,  who cozied right up to the lobbyists she disparaged during her campaign, John McCain has his hand out to people he once eschewed.

Just about a year and a half ago, Sen. John McCain went to court to try to curtail the influence of a group to which A. Jerrold Perenchio gave $9 million, saying it was trying to "evade and violate" new campaign laws with voter ads ahead of the midterm elections.

As McCain launches his own presidential campaign, however, he is counting on Perenchio, the founder of the Univision Spanish-language media empire, to raise millions of dollars as co-chairman of the Arizona Republican's national finance committee. (Solomon, John. McCain Taps Cash He Sought To Limit, Washington Post)

For me, this puts another check in the plus column for Ron Paul, who had this to say about the now infamous McCain-Feingold bill:

The legislation will do nothing to curb special interest power or reduce corruption in Washington, but it will make it harder for average Americans to influence government. “Campaign finance reform” really means the bright-line standard of free speech has been replaced by a murky set of regulations and restrictions that will muzzle political dissent and protect incumbents. Justice Scalia correctly accuses the Court of supporting a law “That cuts to the heart of what the First Amendment is meant to protect: the right to criticize the government…This is a sad day for freedom of speech.”

What others are saying: NH INSIDER-McCain Taps Cash He Sought To Limit, Daily Kos-McCain flip-flops on campaign financing

Presidential Hopefuls: The Ron Paul Round Up

Update: Sadly, some have seen fit to spam the straw poll, therefore these figures are not accurate.

Support for Ron Paul on the PajamasMedia Presidential Straw Poll has jumped from 3.8% to 21.8% in one week. The Republican leader, Rudy Giuliani is at 25.9%. Ron Paul is the current leader at 27.3%, just edging out Mitt Romney. Guiliani has slipped to 3rd, with 23.1%.

Larry's Log posted a letter from Ron Paul concerning the Fair Tax, and tax reform in general. Paul elaborates on the subject in the article Taxes, Spending, and Debt are the Real Issues, up at Lew Rockwell's site.

Dr. Ron Paul on Lowering the Cost of Health Care.

Here's a video of Ron Paul speaking before Congress on internet gambling and regulation of the internet in general.

Springfield City Council Primaries

Zone 2 residents, it is time to retire Sheila Wright. After listening to her recent interview with Vince Jericho (linked to broadcast on KSGF Newstalk Radio), these items struck me:

• Ms. Wright says she wants to work with the police and fire departments to "upgrade" those departments (whatever that means). Ms. Wright was pretty calloused about stiffing those departments on their pension plan, which leads into...
• The missing money from city coffers. About 1.5 million. Funny thing, that's about equal to the shortfall in the police and firefighters' pension plan. Ms. Wright says that City Council didn't enable the thief through their lack of oversight. One must question why she feels that way. Two previous audits indicated a lack of checks and balances in the accounting system, and those problems were not addressed.

Somehow, I don't think the miles and miles of sidewalks that Ms. Wright is so proud of (except in my neighborhood) quite makes up for the rancor City Council has created with our first responders, nor the indifference to how the taxpayers' money is handled. Twelve years of Ms. Wright is enough. Time for new blood.

The second candidate, Steven Lloyd Reed (link to interview here, would like to see Amtrak service in this area. I would too if it weren't for the fact that Amtrak is a black, sucking hole that can't make a profit, in spite of continuous infusions of tax dollars. Mr. Reed is also in favor of funding a technology park (check it out on his website.) I don't want to spend my tax dollars on it, but decide for yourself.

My choice for the Zone 2 seat is Cynthia Rushefski. You can listen to her interview here.

Rushefski seems to understand some of the problems the city is facing, such as:

• Our understaffed police department.
• Lack of oversight in the accounting departments.
• The rising crime rate.

I'm confident that Ms. Rushefski can improve those major problems and still have time for sidewalks.

Also on the ballot is a 1/4 cent tax hike. Yes, I know that they tell you that it doesn't raise taxes, but it does. While I won't vote for it, I fully expect that it will pass.

The polls are open from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. You can check out what is on the ballots here.

Citizens Against Government Waste Name Claire McCaskill And Six Others As "Porkers Of The Month"

 

Citizens Against Government Waste honor Senator Claire McCaskill with a joint Porker Of The Month award.

...For failing to live up to campaign promises to reform earmarks or eliminate corruption and attempting to preserve a giant loophole in earmark reform legislation, CAGW names the seven freshmen senators who voted to kill the DeMint earmark amendment its Porkers of the Month for January 2007.

Link to Citizens Against Government Waste: porkerofthemonth

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)

McCaskill Warns Dems "No Mandate"

There's at least one newly-minted Democrat Senator who seems to get it. From today's Kansas City Star:

There is no mandate in our country right now. Our country is very divided. We need to be respectful of the other party and try to work together. If I’ve got to raise a ruckus about that (with fellow senators), I will.

Have no fear, Senator. We will be watching closely to see if you are truly the independent voice for Missouri that you said you would be.

...McCaskill was candid about her concerns that Democrats might start to “swagger” after their stunning victories Tuesday and that she might need “to knock some heads.

McCaskill went on to say that her office would actually read the audit reports put out by the General Accountability Office.

More On The Cloning Bill, Missouri's Amendment 2

Missouri Roundtable for Life notes that we can't even foresee all the problems this amendment will create:

The length and complexity of the proposed initiative ensures that it will change the Missouri Constitution in ways unrelated to cloning and unforeseen by the voters. The Secretary of State here lists at least 45 specific sections of the Constitution that may be altered by this proposed amendment. The true extent of these changes will not be known by Missouri citizens until they are litigated in the courts. For this reason alone, the proposed amendment should be rejected.

They properly note that it would be more appropriate to call this the "Human Embryo Cloning and Destruction Initiative."

Check out their site for an in-depth critic of the amendment. (Hat tip to Blonde Sagacity for the link.)

Tom Hanna, of Tom Rants fame, has this to say:

Some sections of this proposal might be desirable as statute law. The total package is some of the worst legislative sausage ever made. The language is so misleading that it is either purposefully misleading or written by idiots. Whether it’s the work of liars or the work of idiots, it shouldn’t be enshrined in the state Constitution.

Lorien Johnson For Greene County Clerk

It was great to see the News-Leader give some notice to Lorien Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for Greene County Clerk.

From the article:

Johnson is a senior at Missouri State University, majoring in political science and history. She also is minoring in Latin American studies. She is president of MSU's College Libertarians.

Johnson said she wanted to seize the "opportunity to contribute to our growing desire to achieve an efficient system and accountable leadership" by running for the office. In addition, she said running on the Libertarian ticket simply ensures voters an alternative.

I've had the chance to observe Ms. Johnson. She's sharp, very sharp. Greene County voters need to seriously consider replacing Struckhoff with Johnson.

REMEMBER--our current Greene County Clerk, Richard Struckoff, was in no hurry to finalize the approval of signatures on the Springfield audit petition.

John Kerry, October Surprise?

John Kerry, ever the elitist prick, degrades our troops in front of an audience of university students:

You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said, eliciting chuckles from the students.

Kerry makes no apologies for what he said, declaring that “I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy.”

Really? Telling students to "make an effort to be smart" is criticizing  President Bush? He goes on to offer a new translation:

...those who didn't study it properly, those who made the decisions, they got us into Iraq, very simple. And the fact is they know that. The administration knows that. And they're simply trying to distort this. They're trying to play a game, and again, I'm not going to stand for it. This is the kind of thing that makes Americans sick. People know. (Link: The New York Times)

So is Kerry admitting that he would've been a worse president, since his grades were worse (slightly)  than Bush's?

Message for John Kerry: my son's I.Q. is at least 30 points higher than yours--hell, mine's higher than yours. Having served in Iraq, he is now finishing college. I couldn't be prouder of him.

I think Kerry just managed to kick fence sitters and the Republican base into hyper-drive. 

Update: Troops respond to Kerry

FactCheck.org Finds Talent Ads Deceptive

*FactCheck examined several ads that Senator Jim Talent is running against Claire McCaskill:

In four separate TV spots Republican Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri falsely attributes several unflattering quotes about his opponent to the Kansas City Star. Our examination reveals that the quotes actually come from rival Claire McCaskill's political opponents and critics, not from the Star's reporters or editors.

In another case, where a Talent ad uses a phrase that actually did come from a
newspaper, it is out of context and misleading. The negative remark was
in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial that was endorsing McCaskill for election.

You can find their analysis here.

*FactCheck.org bills itself as "a nonpartisan, nonprofit, consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U. S. politics."

Wouldn't Wanna Be In Claire McCaskill's Shoes...

Update: KY3's blog notes that Dems are beginning to have doubts about McCaskill.

If there's a big, steaming pile to step in, McCaskill will find it.

First, McCaskill expressed surprise that us hillbilly types (meaning anyone who lives outside of St. Louis or Kansas City) thought about anything other than running coon hounds and eating pork rinds:

...Freesoiler cannot help but be amused at the fact that, even in what she means to be a moment of humility, McCaskill still exposes her ignorance and prejudice about rural voters. McCaskill admits that she was wrong to assume that rural voters don't care about "...College education tuition, health care, being able to afford a tank of gasoline. They care as much as we do" (Emphasis mine). The "we" McCaskill speaks of refers to the enlightened, megalopolitan denizens of St. Louis and Kansas City...
(Link:Chapter the Twelfth: In Which Claire McCaskill Shows Yet Again That She Just Doesn't Get It, The Radical Republican)

(If memory serves, didn't McCaskill emphasize (back in 2004) that she would be the "first urban governor" in who-knows-how-many-years?)

Then there's her idiotic statement about how Bush "let people die on rooftops in New Orleans because they were poor and because they were black." (See Outside the Beltway for more)

Claire even managed to step in it with her base when she did a blow-by at the local NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner. Not only did she leave within 10 minutes of her arrival, her political director was hot on her heels and was absent when he was called on to "convey greetings from McCaskill."

One attendee wrote:

So far you have been a huge disappointment to black people, but we are use to candidates from the Democratic party doing this and yet we still vote for them. That is probably why you don't care about us either, because you feel that black people will vote for you anyway. (Link: Pub Def Weekly)

And last, but not least, Pub Def Weekly reports that a McCaskill staffer barred a local Democrat from a meeting of elected St. Louis officials:

Jeff Smith, who recently won a tough primary election for State Senate and has no opposition in the general election, was stopped at the door and asked to leave by McCaskill's political director, Brandon Davis. He told Smith the meeting was only for "elected officials." (See article McCaskill Rallys Democrats,Aide Kicks Jeff Smith Out of Meeting)