24thState

Why The Riot Gear Matters

I was in Quincy yesterday, as a group of 200 protestors waved flags and sang patriotic songs outside the convention where Barack Obama was to speak. The crowd was polite, mild-mannered, and quickly obeyed the orders of any if the police who were there. 

Here are three separate videos collected by Gateway Pundit showing our compliance with any and all police officers. 

Security for a President is a big deal, and both for our safety and that of the President, we policed our own, with Quincy Tea Party organizers standing with the police, getting instructions, and directing the crowd. And then the Riot Squad showed up.

14 officers from the Metro East marched in cadence and in formation down an empty street and assembled in front of the convention center. The crowd wasn't angry. They felt pity for the officers. Once assembled, two men in dark suits were seen directing the officers. They clearly stated "move them back...into the parking lot...out of sight."

The Quincy police knew most of the folks assembled. They were embarrassed to be seen there with the guys in Riot Gear, and they were not the instigators. There was nothing tense about it. No one was warned to do more than "cross the street quickly," or "make sure you stay behind the light post." The riot squad was called out for theatrics, not safety. If the Quincy police had sensed any concern, they would have told Steve McQueen to move us back, and we would have complied.

I'll say it again. The security of the President is the paramount concern. A set of standard protocols needs to be in place, and applied with security in mind. That's not what happened. Someone inside the building called out to send a political message to the protesters. Too bad for the Obama team, the message was they're heavy handed children who think officers in riot gear are needed to defend the president against Granny Smith and the 2 year old girl in the Deluxe model Radio Flyer War Wagon.

What Is It About Freedom That Scares Them So?

"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"

- George Orwell, Animal Farm

I've been going back through some of my older videos, and checking out some of the pictures of the Tea Party protests over the last 14 months or so, and something struck me.

The messaging that is used by the majority of the Tea Party is about pro-American values.

You see words like Liberty, Freedom, and the Constitution. You see Flags and colonial gear meant to evoke the glorious nature of our founding.

You hear words like "deficit spending," "accountability," "vote them out," and complaints about a Congress out of touch with the common man, rewarding the connected with the work of those who are not connected.

And yet - something in those words - something in those concepts is so frightening to the Left they feel they must destroy us personally instead of engaging in the issues or lifting up the politicians of their own side.  The vitriol spewed against citizens with very little political clout is instructive. They don't attack the politicians - they attack the Tea Parties.

What are they afraid of?  The use of the word freedom?  Cutting spending so as not to ruin the nation with a financial crash?  Demanding our representatives read the bills they legislate on and not pass multi-trillion dollar debacles with bribes?

Freedom. That's what it comes down to. The simplistic and childish nature of the progressive rants is based on their terror of freedom.  If they cannot take our money, they cannot control their voters. If they cannot convince us, they must attack us and force us to leave the debate out of fear for our families, or our personal safety.

Ask yourself something - what kind of people are afraid of freedom?  We need to take control of the messaging and start forcing the Left to answer.  They don't care what we do or say - they just want control.  Of you, your work, your sweat, your business, your healthcare, your company, and even your thoughts.

A free mind is the most terrifying thing they can think of.  Those who think for and take care of themselves, have no need for self-important bureaucrats unable to make it without the power of the government behind them. 

Carnahan Makes Last Second Decision To Vist Obama In Macon

Obama is coming, Obama is coming!  Well, he's going, as in going to be in Macon, MO during a three state trip this week. 

There was some speculation, both here and on RedState whether the presumed Democratic nominee for Senate, Robin Carnahan, would go to the event, seeing as she snubbed/was snubbed when Obama came to town for a McCaskill fundraiser not long ago.

As you remember, I broke the news Obama was going to be in town - and that the event was for McCaskill.  And now I'm going to break some more news.

Remember - if you are a reporter and you didn't ask the Robin Carnahan campaign if she was going to Macon, you have to put, "as first reported by 24thstate."

Here you go. 

From: Martin Cargas
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 10:37 AM
Subject: Carnahan for Senate Dinner April 28th - POSTPONED

Dear Friends:

Robin will be with President Obama this week when he visits Missouri
so the April 28th dinner at the home of ------ and -------- ----------
has been postponed.

Please stay tuned for details on the rescheduled event.

Marty

Now this is pretty last minute notice.  But I guess after missing the last event with "pre-scheduled" events, Carnahan couldn't afford to have more stories come her way.

The bigger question is where the Missouri media was. Did no one think to ask her campaign if she was going to Macon once it was announced?  I know she wants to run a Rose Garden campaign, but shouldn't someone, somewhere be checking her calendar?

But never fear.  24thstate is on the case.

Will The Real "Kathleen Rhymer" Please Stand Up?

We wrote a story earlier this week about the lack of continuity of the signatures on Citizens for a Better Arnold's Missouri Ethics Commission filing reports.  Particularly, the former treasurer Joan Elders (or J. Elders), and the way she (or someone) signed those forms.  Apparently this phenomenon is not unique to Ms. Elders' handwriting.

CFABA filed an Amended Statement of Committee Organization on March 12, 2010 switching the treasurer from Joan Elders to Kathleen Rhymer.  CFABA then filed an Electronic Filing Waiver Agreement with the MEC on March 19, 2010.  When examining these documents, the same glaring irregularity once again became apparent.  The signatures didn't match.

3/12/2010:  Signature Block on MEC Amended Statement of Committee Organization

3/19/2010:  Signature Block on MEC Electronic Filing Waiver Form.

 

So which one is Mrs. Rhymer's real signature.  I obtained a copy of the deedthat Mr. & Mrs. Rhymer signed to convey their property on 2142 Kehrt (located in the area now known as Arnold Commons) to the City of Arnold during the whole Arnold Commons/THF/Eminent Domain debacle.   Here is the signature Block from that deed:

Signature Block from Doc. No. 2006R-001639 of the Jefferson County Public Records.

 

Uh-Oh

It's very clear to me that whomever signed that Electronic Filing Waiver on 3/19 was not Mrs. Rhymer.  So who could it have been?  Maybe the header on the top of the scanned Electronic Waiver Report could give us a clue:

The Report was sent via fax from the home of Robert K Sweeney.  So lets compare Mr. Sweeney's signature to that of the Electronic Waiver Form:

Signature Block of MEC Electronic Waiver Form.

Signature Block from Robert Sweeney's property.   General Warranty Deed recorded in Book 15637 Page 1938 of the St. Louis County Public Records.

 

You can be the judge of who you think really signed that Electronic Waiver.  But the fact is that it's unclear who is controlling the funds in the CFABA bank account.  And with over $17,000 spent by CFABA to elect 4 new City Councilpersons in Arnold, that is a very important question that needs to be answered.  As 24thState.com has reported, we've already seen this type of planning and execution of the progressive playbook before.  And, we've already seen Mr. Sweeney's propensity to funnel money from one organization to another to benefit himself.  Time will tell as to what is really going on in Arnold.

What’s Next for the Tea Party? “EVANGELISM!”

Column by Doug Edelman
 
So,  the Tea Party Movement is well over a year old, and we’ve had the 2009 and 2010 Tax Day Tea Parties.  Millions of conservatives and patriots have stopped privately growling at their TV news, and have started publicly expressing their views.  The “silent majority” is silent no more, and the grassroots have become a force to recon with.
 
So what’s next?  Rallies, signs and flag waving (whether Old Glory or the Gadsden flag) are great for what they are – a show of force of numbers… a motivation to the likeminded… a chance to share information… even a therapeutic catharsis!  But a protest rally in and of itself doesn’t change minds or pressure our elected officials.  So what are Tea Partiers and Patriots to do next?
 
“Conservative Evangelism”!
 
We have much to learn from the early church.  In the first years, 11 apostles and under 100 disciples utilizing personal contacts and small gatherings were able to spread the word to millions!
 
Now, while we recognize that the Gospel was also guided and empowered by divine providence - and claiming no such ordination by God for the Tea Party movement... we can still be extremely effective in sharing the "good news" of common sense conservatism if we first equip ourselves as good soldiers of the message.  We must become informed enough to hold our own when making the conservative case.
 
Next, we must ENCOURAGE the "brethren" by motivating the likeminded to also become involved.  Not merely to vote in the general elections, but to vote in the primaries... to campaign for candidates that represent their views... to be informed voters... and to themselves become activist evangelists!  This is the "IN-Reach" aspect of evangelism!
 
We must also faithfully perform the commission as OUT-Reach "evangelists" to make the case to the uninformed, the mis-informed, the unmotivated, the undecided and the unengaged.  In other words, everyone who is NOT a committed leftist!
 
One-on-one "evangelism" has always been the most effective tool in the church, and it will be the most effective tool in the conservative arsenal as well.  TALK to your neighbors, friends, co-workers and families!
 
Distribute conservative literature!  A pocket constitution is a WONDERFUL start!  How can we expect people to understand the assaults on our constitution if they aren't familiar with the document!  In addition, perhaps we should begin to produce "tracts" which present the conservative message on single issues in a concise bifold pocket sized pamphlet.
 
EXPRESS your opinions.  WRITE letters to the editor.  Maybe post on social media or create a blog of your own.  And of course, WRITE YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS - OFTEN!  Make them recognize your name!
 
Evangelism in the church is sharing the good news of salvation - and if you believe that you're offering salvation from destruction that's a true motivation.
Similarly, evangelism in conservatism is sharing the message of freedom, liberty, and opportunity.  If you believe you're offering freedom from oppression and tyranny - you should be strongly motivated.
 
 Copyright © 2010 by Doug Edelman
 
Doug Edelman is a conservative political analyst and commentator, and has been a contributing editor for The Conservative Voice.  His work is also seen on Western Front American, Small Government Times, Western Journalism, News By Us, The American Daily, The Post Chronicle, New Media Journal, Capitol Hill Coffee House and more. Mr. Edelman is also an IT Consultant/Contractor and owner of a Computer Services Business.  He has taught PC Maintenance & Repair and Networking at his local Community College, and maintains a blog at http://starboard.blogtownhall.com.

What Exactly Happened In Arnold?

Another writer has been following the work down in Arnold, where a large amount of money flowed into the city council race and swept several conservative members off the council.

It's of great interest because the Arnold City Council recently switched attorneys, replacing Bob Sweeney with another firm.

The finance reports are out and folks are going through them, but Republicans need to be aware of what happened in Jefferson County.  Using a mix of public money and progressive GOTV, the left just purchased the Arnold City Council.

This same program was used to do a dry run in St Louis county during Prop A, which worked with progressive community organizers to work on their databases for the November 2010 elections.

And now Glenn Burleigh, the admitted communist and former ACORN organizer for St Louis is out in St. Charles working to add petition blockers against the earnings initiative.  Can you imagine the disruption if St Charles ever went 50/50?  No Republican could win state wide. 

There's an obvious pattern here.  Progressive organizations pick an issue, use funds from public and private ventures, then set up voting databases designed to Get Out The Vote during elections.  The $187,000 funneled to Forefront Organizing by Jefferson County 911 Dispatch was in tandem to the work Missouri ProVote and others did to elect Jefferson County representatives.

Republicans need to wake up.  There is no silent wave of voters who magically appear at the polls during an election.  They are motivated and contacted in advance, and the left has this down to a science.  What is being done on the Republican side?  Nothing.  There are no plans - no organizations - just a flawed belief that everything will work out fine.  Wishing and Hoping?  That's not an effective electoral strategy.  

Arnold needs to be a lesson and a warning.  I'm about to start a series on how ACORN in Oklahoma laid the groundwork for what St Louis progressives are accomplishing.  The fight doesn't start in October. It starts now.  

Gladney Attackers Laughably Plead "Not Guilty"

Elston McCowan and Perry Molens, the two SEIU Local 2000 staff members who attacked Kenneth Gladney outside a Russ Carnahan Townhall last August pleaded "not guilty" to charges of assault from the St Louis County prosecutor's office.  It's not a surprising plea, as defense attorney Paul D'Agrosa has stated in public he wants a jury trial.

The goal here is pretty simple.  The trial will be scheduled out as far as possible, to help D'Agrosa in claiming the memories of the witnesses are faulty.  This trial will come down to two things.  The testimony of Kenneth Gladney, and that of the witnesses.  It's very likely that McCowan won't testify, and it's almost impossbile to think Molens will testify.  This is a real challenge for D'Agrosa.  McCowan and Molens are both over six feet and two hundred pounds.  Kenneth Gladney is a 130 pounds.  In court, the size difference will be very apparent.  They put either on the stand, and how will a jury believe they were beaten up?

Other things to keep in mind.

1) McCowan never pressed charges against Gladney, despite his claims that Gladney attacked him and broke his shoulder.

2) McCowan and Molens both have their attorney fees paid by SEIU, and the attorney is one of the top criminal defense lawyers in St Louis.

3) McCowan's worker compensation claims were originally denied, but then were approved.  Note that SEIU could not pay his legal fees if he wasn't on the clock.  In what capacity was McCowan serving that his employee presence was required, despite official statements from SEIU that no one was sent to the Russ Carnahan townhall on aging?  McCowan and Molens were attendees inside, but not volunteers.  How exactly would this qualify him for worker's compensation?

4) SEIU Local 2000, once one of the largest and most powerful unions in Missouri, has since been dissolved and absorbed into SEIU Healthcare Illinois, and reports have surfaced that the few staff members remaining were all paid generous severance packages.  Among those receiving those cash settlements were Elston McCowan and Perry Molens. 

5) One of the three people arrested for assault that night have already pleaded guilty to assault, the incident involving the punching of Kelly Owens. 

6) The video and pictures you have seen online are not the whole story.  There were dozens of cameras and videos inside and outside the gym that night.  What I chose to publish was information that would show the seriousness of what occurred.  While no direct video shows the initial assault on Gladney, any attempts to provide fake witnesses will be futile, as there is plenty of photographic records to show who was and wasn't there.  In other words, there is a fixed limit on the number of witnesses, and 8 minutes of audio after the assault occurs that will make it very hard for D'Agrosa to find anyone who will say Gladney attacked McCowan.

Somehow, D'Agrosa is going to have to show that Gladney attacked McCowan while Molens looked meekly on.  This is the official story given by McCowan separately to Don Fitz and to Mark Reardon of KMOX.    D'Agrosa went on the radio and let his client claim he was attacked.  Will a jury believe it?  No one believes it, but D'Agrosa might be able to keep this evidence out of court.  KMOX has it archived, and I have a copy.

Now, there is one socialist patsy at Washington University who is acting as a shill for McCowan.  He posted some x-rays (I didn't post Gladney's medical records, but the prosecutor has them) , and claims this was all a giant conspiracy by Gladney, David Brown, the three witnesses, and of course, the St Louis Tea Party leaders who not only faked the whole incident, but then somehow scared County Prosecutor Pat Redington into making false charges.   Yes - we're talking about Adam Shriver, who still hasn't come up with a single person willing to speak on record, despite the presence of four, count them, four alternate people who were union or OFA members that were present.

No witnesses have stepped forward to back up Molens and McCowan, but Shriver wants you to believe some grand conspiracy brought in three witnesses to lie about an assault to police officers and commit perjury during a criminal trial.  And the person we decided to have attack two hulking union members was a childhood leukemia survivor and a diabetic who first spent hours selling merchandise before turning into a Mixed Martial Arts champion. 

Yeah.  That's the story he's peddling.

Gladney will have his day in court.  Finally. 

 

Is The Robin Carnahan Campaign Turning Tenther?

Robin Carnahan has what I can only assume is her idea of a hard-hitting campaign video up on her site.

In it, she says Roy Blunt voted against a "jobs" bill.  First off, you should know that simply because a politician names a bill the "Jobs and a Free Pony Act of 2010" doesn't mean it actually does anything.  That $3000 credit does nothing for small business other than reward people who are already hiring at the expense of running up our debt.

But in another strange bit, this video has Carnahan speaking at a podium where the flags are placed in the wrong position.  It's been a long time since I was in the Scouts, but I'm pretty sure the American Flag goes on the right.

Here is the screen shot of her video.

Now, far be it from me to tell the Secretary of State of Missouri that it's disrespectful to put the state flag of Missouri to the right and put the United States Flag to the left, but maybe she's trying to tell us something?  Is she one of those dreaded Tenthers?  She's run away and to the right of Barack Obama on every issue since he came to town - maybe she's joining Peter Kinder in asserting Missouri's constitutional rights?

No, that's crazy.  Her staff is probably too busy snapping pictures of her jogging on Easter.

You know I hear Obama is coming to Missouri next week.  Iowa, Missouri, and Quincy, Illinois, which tells me it's got to be Kirksville or Hannibal.  So tell me - does Robin have anything scheduled, or will she conveniently find herself out of pocket again?

Block Captains And Liberty Evangelists In St Louis

Hey you.  Yes you.  The one sitting there reading this and nodding your head about the need to clean up Congress before they spend us into oblivion.

No one is going to do it for you.  If Prop A taught us anything, it's that a silent mass of voters who agree with Tea Party principles and who vote in presidential elections isn't magically going to turn up on election day and vote. 

Which means you have to get busy.  In fact, no more rallies for you until you've had at least two bites of political activism.

Here's your start.  Block Captains and Liberty Evangelists.  Door-to-door salesmen for freedom.  It's time we put together a ground force to activate and mobilize citizens who don't want to go to rallies, but do want to get involved.

We've got plenty for you to do.

Bill Hennessy has the details.  We're going to create a volunteer army that will harness the mainstream American view that fiscal sanity is the key to prosperity.  There will be many ways to contribute.  If you don't want to knock on doors, you can stuff envelopers, or set up call trees, or enter data, or contribute money to the infrastructure of those who do have that time.

We'll still be a volunteer effort, but we're going to get smart about how we approach local politics.  The Left is organizing in St Louis County, in Jefferson County, and now even out in St Charles County, where former ACORN leader Glenn Burleigh is trying to organize issue workers in preparation for the November GOTV.

Time to get started.  You are the leaders of the Tea Party.  Time to lead.

Will The Real "J. Elders" Please Stand Up?

We've already established that Citizens for a Better Arnold (CFABA) will spend vast amounts of money and publish expensive propaganda in order to get their agenda across to the masses.  We've even exposed the antics of city councilmen who will violate ordinances and break laws to get their agenda across as well.  But would CFABA forge documents to the Missouri Ethics Commission in order to get their agenda across as well?

CFABA filed an Amended Statement of Committee Organization on March 22nd, 2010.  It states that the former treasurer, Joan Elders, was retiring and Kathleen Rhymer was replacing her.  The only thing ironic about this would be that Rhymer is the mother of former city attorney Bob Sweeney.  But upon further review, I noticed that the signature was signed "Joan Elders" and not "J.Elders" as all the previous reports had before.  Then when I looked back over 2009 and early 2010 reports, I found something even more alarming.  Here is the signature blocks from every report filed by "J. Elders" as treasurer of CFABA:

3-20-09:   Amended Statement of Committee Organization, naming "J. Elders" as treasurer.  Apparently replacing William Danham, although nothing is stated on this report.

3-27-09:  Another Amended Statement of Committee Organization, correcting the phone number of the treasurer.  The phone number is a landline in House Springs, which does not recieve calls.

3-31-09:  "8-day Before Election" Report to MEC.

 

4-15-09:  April Quarterly report.

 

5-5-09:  "30 days after General Election" report.

 

7-17-09:  July Quarterly Report.

 

10-21-09:  October Quarterly Report.

1-19-10:  January Quarterly Report.

3-22-10:  Amended Statement of Committee Organization, stating Joan Elders "retiring" and Katleen Rhymer as new treasurer.

 

Can anybody guess what I see wrong with these reports?  If you guessed "the signatures look different on each report", then you win the grand prize.

Look at the "J", "E" and "s" on each of the signatures.  They vary between big looping letters to sharp "chicken scratch" type strokes.  The original paper filed in March 2009 has a large, looping signature.  It then regresses into sharp chicken scratch style lettering.  Then, on the Amended Statement of Committee Organization in 2010, it reverts back to the large, looping signature from the first report. 

Honestly, a person's signature is truly unique to them.  The simplest things cannot be easily replicated.  The signatures above have looping J's to sharp, two-stroke J's.  Big cursive E's to tighly scribed E's.  And "s" at the end with loops at the top to sharp points at the top.  All different elements that jumps out to me that these signatures were not penned by the same person.

Now, why is this important?  The main goal of a continuing committee is to make sure that one person is handling all the financial details of the committee and that no candidates or special interest groups can be in charge of "the book", so to speak.  As a matter of fact, State Law RSMo. 130.011 defines a continuing committee as ...(10) "Continuing committee", a committee of continuing existence which is not formed, controlled or directed by a candidate and is a committee other than a candidate committee or campaign committee, whose primary or incidental purpose is to receive contributions or make expenditures to influence or attempt to influence the action of voters whether or not a particular candidate or candidates or a particular ballot measure or measures to be supported or opposed has been determined at the time the committee is required to file any statement or report pursuant to the provisions of this chapter”

So it's not clear by the reports filed by the MEC who truly is in charge of the CFABA checkbook.  Maybe this next fact will give us a hint.

On February 1st and 4th, 2010, the Administrator of Rock Township Ambulance District, Margie Sammons, recieved two "Sunshine Law" requests from Randy Crisler for various documents.  He paid for these requests with checks from...Citizens for a Better Arnold.  You can view the checks and the Sunshine Request letters here.  Pay VERY close attention to the look of Crisler's signature on the request, and the signature of "J. Elders" on the checks.  Both have that "chicken-scratch" style to them.

My concern here is that nobody is in charge of the financial status of Citizens for a Better Arnold.  The checkbook is seemingly "passed around".  And without one source to control, who can be held responsible?  Who authorized Crisler to use CFABA monies to pay for sunshine requests pertinent to his Ambulance Board race?   Elders was not reported to have been with Crisler when picking the information up.  Who filled out the checks at the time of payment?  Why, after an ethics complaint was filed against CFABA, did they change treasurers and go to electronic filing?

All of these are important questions that need to be answered.  CFABA has spent a vast amount of money on the April elections, in an attempt to influence the vote.  It is very important to know who has their hands on the purse strings, and to make sure it is not one of the candidates who would benefit from it.