24thState

Roll Call Of Missouri Congress Reps On Bailout

Akin - No
Blunt - Aye
Carnahan - Aye
Clay - No
Cleaver - No
Emerson - Aye
Graves - No
Hulshof - No
Skelton - Aye

5-4 No to Aye, Split evenly among Repubs and Dems.  And the bailout failed by a 

And the house.gov site is offine.

Obama Truth Squads, Now With More Cheese!

If you follow politics at all, you've heard about Barack Obama's Truth Squads, a group of Missouri prosecutors, politicians, and sheriffs who've taken it upon themselves to determine what Missouri citizens should be allowed to listen to. 

In what most people would surely agree is a massive ethical challenge, these Missouri Democrats actually took to the airwaves on KMOV and informed the citizenry that they would be policing the McCain campaign and conservative 501(c) groups to make sure they are telling the truth.

Note that nowhere in their statements, or in their defense of the Truth Squad once the story got out, have any of these bright lights thought to say they would also be policing Obama campaign ads or liberal 501(c) groups.

Can someone explain to me exactly how a country prosecutor like Bob McCulloch has it within his jurisdiction to police political ads and determine what the truth is? 

Jennifer Joyce tries to defend herself in Jo Mannies Political Fix, but the question remains whether it is appropriate for a high-powered city attorney to be involved in blatant political attacks of any kind prior to them happening?  This isn't a case of ads that have been run that were brought to the attention of a functioning prosecutor. This is a warning to conservative groups not to even try to run ads.

For comparison, imagine if a Republican prosecuting attorney went on television and said that the country staff would be at the election polls making sure know vote fraud was occurring.  Can you imagine the outcry over voter suppression?

And it's not the first time this has happened in the campaign.  Back During the Primaries:

KANSAS CITY, Mo.- A group of Democratic leaders in Missouri on Monday said they were forming a “truth squad” to protect Sen. Barack Obama from attacks they anticipate coming from rival Hillary Clinton’s

The move is similar to one Obama backers made in South Carolina ahead of that state’s primary on Saturday, which Obama won handily.

Missouri state auditor Susan Montee and former Missouri Democratic Party Chair Joe Carmichael told reporters in a conference call that they and other state Democrats were issuing a challenge to the “false and negative campaigning” seen lately from the Clinton campaign.   

Apparently the only people who lie in politics are those who run against Obama in Missouri.  He's the only one who tells the truth, or as it will be if these folks get their way, he'll be the only one allowed to speak, as everyone else is a liar.

Remember Accountable America?  This group of jokers decided it was a good idea to send out a warning letter to 10,000 conservative donors telling them they could be prosecuted or brought under IRS scrunity for their donations.  The purpose was to "dry up donations" to conservative groups.

Now we have actual elected officials coming out and saying the same thing, and it's shameful that they come from Missouri.

All I can say is that this election is coming down to more than whether or not you believe that Obama or McCain is going to be a better president.  It's clear that liberals believe that no conservative opinions should be allowed to be aired.  Biden threatens prosecutions of Bush administration officials, Pelosi and Reid suggest that the Fairness Doctrine be used to silence talk radio hosts, and progressive activists have been targeted conservative speakers at universities for years.

Is this the famed tolerance of the left?  For those of you who are still on the fence, ask yourself if you want to side with people who think it is okay to silence their critics, and only their critics.  I've warned by liberal friends that they've getting in bed with some very nasty people.  Democratic voters in general, especially those from Missouri, aren't crazed wackos actively looking to silence their opposition with threats of prosecution for airing your views.

It's something to remember the next time the members of the Obama "Truth Squad" are up for election.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill
State Auditor Susan Montee
former U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch
Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Sokoloff
Audrain County Prosecuting Attorney Jason Lamb
Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer

More on this from Gateway Pundit, Stop the ACLU, Learfied, and Talking Points Memo (the warning letter from Accountable America).

Following The Debate On Twitter

Live RSS feed of my comments on the debate.

To search specific topics  Monitter.com

Twitter hash tags - #debate08, #current, #tweetdebate.

More to come, after we digest it.  Remember that the post-debate spin is often more important than the actual debate, that watching with the sound off is just as accurate as watching with the sound on in determining who won, and also keep in mind that the election is decided by people who start paying attention 3 days before they vote.

So good night all. 

Bill Haas, Democratic Candidate For Missouri's Second District

The first Challenger to step up to the plate and interview is Bill Haas, running against Todd Akin for Missouri's 2nd Congressional District US House Seat. The following answers are unedited text. 

Questions:
1. Why are you running?  What experience do you bring to the table that would help improve Washington?
a) I care, have contribution to make; would make me feel good to do so;

b) 40 years public and civic service, 8 years St. Louis School board, 20 years corporate law practice from Yale and Harvard Law (not law review, alas).

2. Name two current politicians you admire, one for their effectiveness, and one for their character.
latter, me; former, Teddy Kennedy, Barney Frank; probably some others, too; wouldn't mind seeing Alan Alda and Phil Donahue running for office.

3. Is Washington broken?  What can you do specifically to fix it?
not exactly; issues and ideas and the ability to espouse and advocate and build consensus for them.

4. How familiar are you with the rules of the US House?  Could you step right in and make a difference?
No; wont take long.

5. What’s the biggest hurdle to you getting elected?
$500,000

6. Rate yourself on a scale of VeryConservative/ModerateConservative / Center/ModerateLiberal/VeryLiberal.

moderately liberal

Short Answers: (below the fold)

Post Dispatch Declines To Distribute Movie On Militant Islam

Tim Townsend, the religion reporter for the Post Dispatch (and no fan of conservative bloggers), has a story on the decision of the Post-Dispatch not to distribute Obsession, a documentary on Militant Islam.  I watched the movie last night, and I can see why Townsend doesn't want it shown.

It's disturbing to watch children trained to be suicide bombers.  It's obscene to see little girls screaming prayers for martyrdom. It's not easy to listen to Islamic clerics claim they are coming to destroy the West, and kill the Jews, and wipe Israel off the map.  The movie doesn't just say this is happening, it shows you the video of militant Islamists in their own words.

Townsend says the Post Dispatch declined because it's offensive to Muslims, and uses the reaction of the Miami Herald to help justify the decision.  Let's take a look at part of that statement of the Herald.

In one part of the DVD, clips of Muslim children being recruited as suicide bombers are interspersed with images of Nazis.

Tim, this is what I don't understand.  You're getting exercised about the use of the images of the Nazis.  That's a valid point. So what images should we use to put into context "CLIPS OF MUSLIM CHILDREN BEING RECRUITED AS SUICIDE BOMBERS!"

Forgive me for shouting, but I fail to see how calling someone a Nazi is worse than using children to murder large groups of people indiscriminately.  The average person doesn't watch Palestinian television, which has Sesame Street-like shows and cartoons where suicide bombers and martyrs are glorified.  Most Americans would be shocked to hear such things.

The Post Dispatch doesn't seem interested in discussing those stories.  And you do have a point that writing about the issue should be an exercise in caution, as we don't want to create a backlash against Muslims who don't train their children to kill others with suicide bombs.

Perhaps if you spent less time reading CAIR press releases and more time covering the issue in an objective manner, organizations like Clarion Fund wouldn't feel the need to provide a second side of the story.  Townsend continues:

Jen Wood, the Post-Dispatch’s vice president of advertising, said her department received the request to include the DVD as an insert at the beginning of the summer. She said the advertiser provided the newspaper only with a trailer, and refused when Wood asked to see a copy of the entire film - something she described as “not an unusual request.”"I didn’t have enough information to make a decision, so I said ‘no thank you,’” said Wood. “It wasn’t clear what exact message they were trying to send.”

Dear Ms. Woods.  I have a copy of the DVD if you'd like to see it.  I'd be happy to screen it for you and anyone else in the Post Dispatch who wants to see it.

By all means congratulate yourself on the ethical stand.  But consider that the failure of the newspaper industry to simply report the exact words of militant Islamists suggests a level of moral relativism unacceptable to Missouri readers.  You'd have a lot more standing to make accusations if your reporting of the news included well, reporting of the news.

To watch Obsession, or buy the DVD, head to their site.  More beneath the fold.

Are We Really In A Financial Crisis?

The big question in the air right now is whether or not the Congress should vote for Paulson's bailout plan. Rumors abound that Pelosi will add it to the spending bill, or the oil exploration, and lots of politicians are trying to figure out how much they can put in this bill and get away with it. In other words, the global catastrophic oh my god the world is ending financial meltdown but we can't tell you how bad it is because it would cause a panic is so important, so earth-shattering, that the Democrats want to play politics with it. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has a good take on crises. He applies it to global warming, but it works here, too. I'll believe it's a crisis when the people who tell me it's a crisis start acting like it's a crisis. They're talking about adding at least $700 billion dollars to the national debt and adding on new regulations. This is a tremendous burden to the US taxpayer, and small businesses in particular. So how about this? If this is really necessary to prevent the end of world, how about you authorize the bailout, but then create an across the board 10% cut in government spending and entitlements? Government salaries, programs, entitlements, social security checks, pension funds, transportation, Medicare, college education, and even defense. We're being told that the time to sacrifice is now, so let's see some sacrifice. If it's as bad as they say, then all the people who would be hit by a 10% cut would be hit with a far worse problem if the system melted down. Rather than 10% cuts in Social Security, we'd have 100% cuts. Rather than 45 million without insurance, we'd have 100 million without insurance. Rather than 6% unemployment, we'd have 20% unemployment. This is a crisis, right? This is the end of the world? Emergency time? Crazy bailout time? If it is, then President Bush needs to step up and ask the country to sacrifice. All of us. Not just those of us who pay our bills and live in houses we can afford. If the end of capitalism is upon us, shouldn't we be assuming that government is too big, and needs to be cut? Raise my taxes. Fine. But cut your own bloated programs and take your own paycuts. Don't tell me it's a crisis, and then dole out raises and bonuses to people living off the government. We either all tighten our belts, or we all ride the crisis out together. But no more bailouts without consequences. If John McCain wants to show leadership, how about creating a stark difference between the Democrats and the free spending Bush Administration and his own? Give voters a clear message, right now, that mistakes were made, but we're all going to pay for them. Let the American people decide if they want a socialist government, or a smaller government. That's what this election is about. Make it a stark choice, and let's find out just what this country is made of. Or maybe we cut 5% from the actual budget every year for the next four years

Astroturfing VoiceOver Artist Identified?

This is fascinating. The work down by Rusty and Ace is backed up by Riehl World View, and we get this voiceover artist, Anne Gartlan as the possible voice of the Palin smear ad.

Try this  Start playing the video, and open up the audio demo in a new window.  Play the two separately, and then together, and see if the voice sounds the same to you. 

http://www.annegartlan.com/audio/annegartlanpoliticals06.mp3

Anne Gartlan is a Democratic supporter who gave money in 2004 and 2006. Is she the voice of the Palin Smear?  Judge for yourself. Riehl World view believes it's someone else, a DB Cooper.   What's clear?  It was a professional.

It's time someone asks the Obama camp just what they got for money they paid to David Axelrod's AKP Message and Media.

David Axelrod's AKP Message & Media was paid at least $1.4 million from the Obama campaign in 2008 thru August 31

 

(let me know if her download doesn't work. I have a copy saved).

Update:  Ethan Winner admits the video was his, claims it was all his idea and he payed for it. 

Speaking Of Astroturfing, What's The Obama Campaign Up To These Days?

Rusty Shackleford and Ace have been all over this story of how the Obama campaign has ties to a PR firm launching smears of Sarah Palin from YouTube accounts, and then spreading the stories through sites like Daily Kos.

It's very comprehensive in terms of digging up the relationships between David Axelrod (The King of Astroturfing), Obama's campaign manager, and major firms like the Publicis Groupe.

It's pretty clear that Obama has given up the hopey/changey thesis of governing, and has moved into the "lie about his record/smear your opponent/count on the media to report the stories verbatim phase of the Democratic campaign.  From the Jawa Report (who in their spare time go after Al-Qaeda websites)

"Our research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false. These rumors were spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure.

It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to run the smear campaign. While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign. Namely:

• Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.

• The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.

• Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own. Yet this effort took place on company time.

• Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with the family running the company.

• The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.

• This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David Axelrod's firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots efforts, otherwise known as "astroturfing."

• David Axelrod is Barack Obama's chief media strategist.

• The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.'

This in itself is no reason to vote against Obama, and it's certainly not a reason to vote for McCain, but this is clearly what Obama meant when he unleashed his 527's and said the gloves are coming off. 

Partisans will argue that both parties use dirty tricks.  That's undoubtedly true, but in this case, the Obama campaign has been caught.  Time for commenters like Seth to start taking the Obama campaign to task.  i won't hold my breath waiting for so-called progressive sites to complain about astroturfing.

Sure makes the Missouri astroturfers look like pikers. Can't we do anything as well as Chicago? 

Laura Egerdal Rewarded For Astroturf Campaign

Earlier this year, I uncovered some unhealthy relationships between progressive organizations like ProVote, the Missouri Secretary of State's office, and a astroturfing internet coalition called Missourians for Fair Elections.  Shortly after posting that information, the blog site was taken down and replaced with a press release.

The names associated with the coalition, including Julie Terbrock (the legislative director for ACORN) and Laura Egerdal (a former ACT employee, who apparently worked for the SEIU), were scrubbed from the site, and although internet readers from the Carnahan campaign and Jeff and Mindy Mazur's personal mail accounts came to 24thstate, no news organizations picked the story up.  My complaint at the time was the the Missouri Secretary of State was using partisan political operatives and presenting them as ordinary citizens.

An account of the project is online at the StlAmerican, and also alternet, which conveniently adds Jeff Mazur from AFSCME as a driving force (Jeff is the husband of the former chief of staff for Robin Carnahan).

This evidence of astroturfing fake grassroots campaigns simply wasn't of much interest to Missouri reporters.

So what is Laura Egerdal doing these days?  She's the communication director for Robin Carnahan.

Is there no division between far left progressive organizations and the Secretary of State's office?  How exactly is it proper for a partisan operative who ran Missourians for Fair Elections to be rewarded with a job in the Secretary of State's office?  Was this a reward for a job well done?

Robin Carnahan has fought common sense Voter ID legislation tooth and nail, while staffing her office with people whose job it was to manipulate the public and press for progressive causes.  This unholy alliance get s worse with every hire, but don't expect to read about it in any newspapers. Does that give Missourians faith in fair and accurate elections?  It's another example of how the Left uses government jobs to reward left wing activists.  So let's recap, shall we?

Laura Egerdal - progressive activist, worked with ACT and SEIU, ran a web campaign under false pretenses used to pressure Republican lawmakers - currently Communications Director for Robin Carnahan.

Julie Terbrock, formerly of ProVote, now legislative director for ACORN, helped run web campaign under false pretenses used to pressure Republican lawmakers.

Jeff Mazur - Democratic political operative and husband of chief of staff for Robin Carnahan, given credit for helping run campaign to pressure Republican lawmakers.

Richard von Glahn, CWA organizing coordinator used in Carnahan Press Conference as an example of an ordinary citizen affected by Voter Id law.

Ron Berry - formerly of ProVote, Director of Policy and Governmental Affairs for Robin Carnahan

Bonus Fact: Missourians for Fair Elections has two authors in their profile - Laura Egerdal and someone named General Content, (just like the General Content at FiredUpMissouri?)

Remember this as more fraud convictions are brought against ACORN and other groups who traffic in voter registration.  And keep in mind that at none of the time are the backgrounds of these people properly disclosed.  Reading Missourians for Fair Elections (before it was scrubbed), or SOS press releases, or the chatter in the progressive blogs, one might come to the conclusion that the above people are all just average citizens, when in fact they are partisan political activists who move with ease between the Secretary of State's office and shady left wing voter registration groups masquerading as non-partisan organizations. 

Seeing as FiredUpMissouri officially has a press exemption, it's instructive how they are tied into this whole affair.  Google, can you remember this post in case there's a question of illegal collusion or campaign finance violations that pop up?  Thanks, Big G!

Financial Meltdown: Is The Cure Worse Than The Disease?

We've been living an inflated existence in the country for some time.  With the Internet bubble followed by the Real Estate bubble, common sense and smart money management is apparently only for suckers.

Living in a house that has depreciated since I purchased it, but one that I can afford through pretty much anything, and a car that's paid off, I have little sympathy for those who are in danger of losing their houses, their investments, or their fortunes.

Investments have to have risk in them, and the bailout, though it may be necessary to prevent a financial meltdown, is teaching the wrong lessons. 

The lesson is that government is capable of helping.  That's not the case.  "Government" is a system that has no money and no capital.  The "government" is in severe debt, and the sole manner it has of making money is printing it or taxing it.  Printing money devalues the currency, and taxing is simply taking from some people and giving to others  The government isn't helping  - it's taking from those who can weather a crisis and rewarding those who put off tough decisions or trusted the wrong people to make their investments.

Government is necessary for some things - defense, infrastructure, food safety, education, even a safety net.... but in this case, the government is being forced to act to save far more than house-flippers and people who bought too much house.  Banks took our money and used it to invest in these securities, which puts our deposits at risk.  Pension funds, which are already bankrupting cities across the country, invested their funds in these funds and they're going to go bust (earlier rather than later). 

Companies have invested in these securities to make more money than basic investments, and they are at risk. And that doesn't even count the financial world, that controls your mutual funds and 401Ks.  This is a serious problem, and I imagine Paulson's plan will go through, as Congress is scared enough to act, and they're willing to do anything.

 

The bailout is a last second Hail Mary, and even Paulson can't say it will work.  In fact, all he said on the morning shows was that they had to do this to prevent something bad from happening.  It's apparently so horrible, that speaking it aloud would cause global catastrophe. He's got Boehner and Dodd singing the same tune.

The problem?  These jokers are the ones who got us into the mess.  And to make it worse, they're not dealing with the underlying problem, which is that the government is too big, and no one wants to shrink it.  The Democrats under Dodd and Reid are already lining up to pass their pet causes on home mortgages and CEO pay, while the Republicans are dutifully allowing the free-spending Bush Administration to jack the debt to even higher levels.

This bailout, and the aftermath of all the poorly thought out regulation (Sarbannes-Oxley didn't stop anything) is going to cost a lot of money.  As a result of greedy Wall Street types, homeowners who lied on their income, pension fund managers who refuse to face reality, and all the others who rode the wave up and pretended they were going to be fine - all these people will escape consequences. 

No one is going to lose their job.  After 9/11 - the CIA folks lost nothing.  After the mortgage mess, very few people are taking a fall.  And if that's what it takes to avert a global meltdown - fine.  It sucks, but what can you do.  I can handle all of that.

Here's what really offends me.

Next year, and for the next several years, I'll have to cut my budget.  I'll have to buy less, spend less, and be more frugal. Higher taxes mean I'm going to have to make do with less.

But "government."  That amorphous, always growing mass, won't have to cut its spending.  State employees will get their raises, their bonuses, and their vacations.  Governors will get their mansions, and their security staff, and their salaries.  College administrators will go on paying for six figure salaries for administrative positions that do nothing to educate.  Mayors will ask for more money for buildings, and schools will beg for more money for books and raise sales taxes just a little here and there, and the county will raise property taxes just a little more, or make it that much harder to fight.

A few more taxes or phones, cell phones will be added on, and they'll eventually get to the Internet.

And none of these bloated parasites will have to stop until the whole pyramid scheme collapses. 

I have to tighten my belt, but government never does.