24thState

Missouri Education Watchdog And The Race To The Top

Lost among the media stories on the Tea Party are groups and individuals in Missouri seeking to hold government accountable who do the important part of monitoring government.

One task on my todo list is to showcase those people and their causes - all hard-working volunteers who deserve attention just as much as anything a Tea Party group does.  Not to disparage Tea Party groups - in fact, number two on that todo list is showcasing the various Tea Party groups that have sprung up around Missouri that are separate from the St Louis Tea Party.

So starting off, we're going to pitch Missouri Education Watchdog, a group that is focused on the Race To The Top and CORE standards for education that are a clear power grab by the Obama administration of local and state school standards.

Missouri Education Watchdog is the site, and here are some of the highlights on this important issue. 

• 1)  A conference call with Arne Duncan and Chris Nicastro (Commissioner of Education, MO) used to generate press supports for more federal education dollars. 
• 2) A decision to waive state sovereignty in order to qualify federal funds (at the cost of more unfunded mandates.

• The states have to agree to give control of their curriculum and staffing process. What do the states receive in return? They take on millions of dollars in unfunded mandates (about $150 Million in Missouri) and no local control. Does that seem like a sound business decision to you? The MO Department of Education is still pursuing these funds. It wants the taxpayers to take on a tremendous amount of debt even as the state has to cut one BILLION dollars from the budget next year

• Like the unemployment funds, the dollars from the federal government come with a pricetag.  We take their money now, and have to come up with it in the future, in addition to complying with any new standards they decide should be applied. It's the political version of blackmail - where they hook you in a time of need, then own you forever more.
• 3) The decision by Missouri, who already has some of the highest education standards in the country, to waive their state privileges and give them to the federal government. 

We're going to work with them to get names, dates, websites, and actions.  Control of our schools, along with control of the media, finance, and healthcare, has been the plan of the Obama administration since the beginning.

FiredUp Uses Holocaust Term To Embarrass Self On Climate, Again

Sean Nicholson is really trying to hold onto the global warming hoax.

There isn't a better cut the headlines and paste it and pretend he understands the scientific method third party paid by anonymous sources in Missouri blogger than Sean.

Too bad the truth keeps kicking him in the ass.

In a snarky post title, Back To You Global Warming Deniers, Sean points to a couple of whitewashed reports on Climategate that literally never looked at the science or allowed anyone who questioned the findings to reply. 

The Atlantic, which is a left leaning magazine, has a story out from Clive Crook, a senior editor and a believer in man-made climate change, tearing apart the ridiculous vindication touted by Nicholson.

I had hoped, not very confidently, that the various Climategate inquiries would be severe. This would have been a first step towards restoring confidence in the scientific consensus. But no, the reports make things worse. At best they are mealy-mouthed apologies; at worst they are patently incompetent and even willfully wrong. The climate-science establishment, of which these inquiries have chosen to make themselves a part, seems entirely incapable of understanding, let alone repairing, the harm it has done to its own cause.

Wow.  Clive really lays it out that the recent attempts to hide the decline are transparent whitewashes, otherwise known as political cleansing of scientific issues.

This would be like the National Review coming out and attacking the Heritage foundation for faking budget data.  It basically says anyone serious about science knows Climategate has posed real problems for the scientific community have not been answered.

Now I know Sean doesn't actually reads anything for comprehension. That isn't in the job description, but you would think that if you're going to use a word like Global Warming Denier, which is derived from Holocaust Denier (those who believe the murder of six millions Jews was faked), would at least understand the issue before attacking his political opponents (or at least the opponents pre-approved by the Carnahan family).

Get that?  If you expect scientists to actually show their data and results before demanding trillions in economy wrecking legislation, you're just like people who deny the Holocaust.

To find out more about the climate change, global warming, and the fraud of temperature data, check out Wattsupwiththat.com

Read about the Dutch report on the IPCC.

And for the kicker - remember that consensus of thousands of scientists?

It was dozens, says IPCC whistleblower. 

Back to you, poorly paid media hack.

Russ "Rezko" Carnahan Sends Sister's FiredUp Blog To Attack Ed Martin

I've told you time and again that FiredUp is a lazy, cut-and-paste operation whose sole original reporting comes straight from Robin Carnahan's Secretary of State office versus leaks.

Oops, they did it again.

This weekend, as Ed Martin unrolled new attacks on Yachtgate, pointing out that Russ Carnahan serves as honorary chair of a Maryland Yacht Club infested with BP lobbyists (oh cruel irony), and amid reports of a new, more serious scandal where Carnahan donors gave Russ property which he turned around and sold to another donor for a fat profit, FiredUp launches an attack from the files of the Secretary of State.

Of course, .Sean has to write they are "publicly available files" so that people don't assume this attack came from Robin Carnahan, but really, who buys that?

And the attacks suck.

The first is that Martin didn't disclose being an officer in the St Louis Tea Party, which filed papers in June 2009.  How lazy are these people?  The Tea Party is a volunteer organization, and the only reason we filed papers was because stupid government regulations required us to file something.  We spend very little money, primarily on insurance and venue, and there is no need for a formal structure.  Bill Hennessy takes care of that.  He's the only person listed.

But because Bill is a former navy man, he speaks in military jargon.  Thus, anyone volunteering is called an officer.  But it's a figure of speech.  We don't have any elected leaders or formal titles or even formal meetings.  No minutes, and no funding. It's a bank account and an LLC because 501 c whatevers are too complicated to mess with.

But that doesn't stop the crack investigative staff at the SoS office FiredUp from trying to be clever, and mixing the words founder and officer to try to claim Ed broke the law. 

The second issue is some other kind of group that clearly never went anywhere.  The evidence seems to be a Google cache of material.  Sean really needs some help on the rules of evidence.  Sometimes websites get left up - but they're not doing anything.

So how do we know this is all nonsense?  If they had something, Russ would have filed an ethics complaint.  He won't, because the complaint would be laughed away so fast the story would be Russ's whining.  So what does he do?  He goes to FiredUp, and has them post the attack, hoping the local press will pick it up. 

Keep this in mind.  FiredUp Missouri has without a doubt received leaked documents from the Secretary of State according to information provided by the Secretary of State.  Missouri voters in the third district ought to be asking themselves if they want to vote for a Carnahan who can't fight his own battles, but needs his sister to step in to fight them for him. 

A Note From The Editor

Something I've learned from 20 years online.

If you have to write that everyone in the known universe is against you, except those few elite fellow travelers who truly understand you and agree with everything you say, chances are you're a lunatic destined for a life of sadness and poverty.   If everyone you write about is an extremist of some kind, then chances are you're just not right in the head.  Very few people really are as horrible as you need them to be to justify your existence.

It helps to get outside the computer and meet people, show them you're a real flesh and blood human being with a family, interests outside of politics, and a conscience.  

If your blog is the only thing of importance in your life, that's a personal failure - not a failure of those who refuse to take you seriously.

Mindy Mazur's Link To FiredUp Author Profile

Last summer I ran a series of stories detailing a highly technical description of the authors behind FiredUpMissouri.  The long and short of it was the entire site is populated with fake authors who are carefully managed by the web admin, Sean Nicholson-Soendker.  In fact, you can't register with the site without special permission, as even Adam Shriver figured out when he first tried to get in.

As Eric Hoffpauir writes in the comments:

I know someone there 

I'll ask them to address your question.

To get registered, you had to know someone.  But if you work for Robin Carnahan's office in the Secretary of State, you do know someone.

This picture came from my original research into the use of the General Content profile.  I concluded it was run and established by Jeff Mazur.  The General Content profile for the original Missourians for Fair Elections astroturf (organized by Jeff Mazur and Laura Egerdal) was definitively linked to Mazur through a website of friends from College, and it was later linked directly to Jeff while he was working for Jay Nixon. 

I made this conclusion because the General Content profile on FiredUp had a series of sickeningly sweet articles that could only be described as propaganda for the Nixon administration.  

In July, the General Content profile started attacking Peter Kinder for the Tour of Missouri.   It's just speculation, but the attacks on Kinder ramped up right before the e. Coli scandal hit the news, and it's likely Mazur was attempting to create negative press to offset the coming, uh, storm from sewage in the lake.

My series on Jeff ran in July, and General Content immediately stopped running op-eds.  It was clear I had caught him.  Less than six hours after posting, the affiliated blogger profile was locked and the second site taken down.

I had all I needed from internet research, but my attempt to gather the information needed to definitively prove Mazur was using government resources has been stymied by a ridiculous request of over $1800 to look up an IP address and browser history.  No matter. The track is still there, and I'm going to get to it eventually.

I bring this up because after the series on America Votes and the coordination of campaign attacks by Mindy Mazur and Paula Hodges, I thought it worth our time to remind folks that Jeff and Mindy Mazur, who work for Jay Nixon and Robin Carnahan respectively, are in the middle of just about every dastardly doing.  It's not conspiracy - it's just how they operate.

And of course, it's our job as citizens to unmask them.

Say hello, Mindy.  This photograph was taken from the same site that linked Jeff Mazur to the General Content profile.  Looks like she is having a good time. 

 

I've often wondered if Mindy and Jeff get around the use of government resources by posting each other's information, using the different blog profiles. We saw this in both cases of coordination, where FiredUp and Missourians for Fair Elections would provide inside information through their anonymous logins.

Considering that Peter Kinder just got a bunch of bad press for having a staffer send out an email from the wrong address, it only makes sense to remind the state press corps that Democrats do much worse.  I post this for one reason only.  This is a warning to political hacks that when you work for the state of Missouri, you work under different rules than when you're out on the street.

Your attempts to create fake coalitions, work in tandem with third party groups, and generally get around campaign finance laws will not be tolerated by a free people.  For the first time in your lives, you're being watched by people who know more than you about now to use the web. 

Clean up your act. 

Jefferson County Conservative Added To Authors List

There are a number of people who have written on and been added to 24thstate.com in the past three years. The most recent addition is JeffCoConservative, who will be bringing their perspective from Jefferson County. 

This blog is a bit too heavy on St Louis and Jefferson City news, and I am looking for contributors from other parts of the state. If you want to publish news from your county, I can set you up on your own blog, as one Kirkwood mother as done to track her school board.  If you want to write for the main blog, send me some writing samples and if your work is solid, and you can cover an area of the state, I'd like to add you.

24thstate is one of the most popular political blogs in Missouri, averaging 200-300 unique visits a day, and read by a wide swath of politicians, media and politically active citizens.  It's primary goals are political awareness, good governance, corruption, and transparency in government.  While the main author is a Tea Party conservative, good reporting has no political bias. 

Authors have the right to post anonymously, but I have to know who they are.  I'll reserve the right to edit, delete, and otherwise monitor all blogposts at first, but once you're established, you have the run of the blog.  Contact me at editor at 24thstate.com if interested.

Some Thoughts On Starting A Political Blog

I've been writing online for the better part of 20 years, and in that time, writing about politics hasn't changed that much, even if the mechanisms for writing and publishing and broadcasting have been awe-inspiring.  As we go into election season, a lot of new blogs are popping up, and older ones are getting reinvigorated, so I figure I'll pass on some thoughts to those who are wondering if they should be out writing about politics in Missouri.

1) Have something to say.  First and foremost, you have to be interesting.  While it feels good to rant about something that happens on a national level, there are millions of blogs that already do that.  If you want to be relevant, and if you're writing, you want to be, you'll need to focus on something that you can make an impact on.  There is a dearth of local, city, regional, and state news, and plenty of spaces to fill.  Local reporting gives you the advantage of authenticity, and should you break a big story or be involved in a big story by virtue of geography, you'll have credibility in the area (which matters more than you think).  If you are going to write about national politics, pick a topic others aren't digging into.  Sunshine is good for all kinds of large organizations, and sometimes simply writing about them makes them act better.

2) Pick a good handle.  Branding is key because it makes it easy to talk about who you are.  Yes, this puts you in a box, but a good brand identifies your expertise before the reader clicks on your link, while fluffykittyeyes72 or BillsGrandma@yahoo.com tells them nothing about you.  So pick a name, buy the domain, and write about the topic.

3) If you really want to be good, write about something you don't have a passion for first.  If you've never blogged before, try picking a topic from your personal life, or local area, or local politics.  Write about architecture, or restaurants, or something that allows you to practice without getting all worked up.  Politics is unfortunately full of a lot of happiness, rage, despair, and references to Nazis (though some are more clever than others).  The best bloggers are the ones who know how to write dispassionately, but who use emotions as spice.  That takes some practice, and writing about non-political topics is a good start.

4) Research original content:  There is a lot of work that needs to be done, from campaign finance reports, to local school board expenditures, to building connections between politicians and their cronies.  The only way to be taken seriously (which means having bigger bloggers, newspapers, other media link you) is to be serious.  Yes, it feels good to rant about the media, or business, or other bloggers, but that kind of blogging rarely gets anywhere.  We've all heard rants.  What we want is scoop.

5) Not everyone you write about is evil:  It's hard to believe, but the majority of people in government, the media, and business aren't evil.  Even when they are, they're not 100% evil.  Yes, they probably are liars and hypocrites and self-serving, back-stabbing, and social climbers.  But so too are a lot of people you know who aren't in politics.  Keep in mind there are also good and generous people trying to work inside the system.  There are people with families and responsibilities that are trying to manuever, and not just manipulate.  Be aware of what you are writing, and the impact you have.  Don't be afraid to pursue the truth, mock people, or call out those who need it.  Just don't be nasty and pretend you don't know what you are doing. And try to save it for those who deserve it.

You also have to learn to decipher the structural mistakes from the personal failings and the illegal activities from the immoral ones. We might not like it when donations are shuffled through committees in Missouri, but it's not illegal.  It needs to be broadcast, but if you're ranting about it being illegal, you lose credibility.  And if you get on a treadmill of assuming that everyone acted in some conspiratorial fashion, you'll miss the opportunity to bust the people who actually do something wrong.  When you're doing actual reporting, it also helps to not accuse the people you're investigating of wrongdoing before you've gathered the facts.

At the same time, don't think it's that hard to find corruption.  There are a lot of arrogant people in politics, and that arrogance usually leads to carelessness. 

6) Not everything is the media's fault: Yes, we'd like to see more balance in politics, but there is a difference between what the media can write and what they know.  And there's a difference between opinion and news gathering.  Just because you know something is true, doesn't mean it can get published in a newspaper or heard on the radio.  Even when the reporter believes you. 

The general rule is that if you don't have documents or tape, it's not going to be published.  And even if you do, the documents have to be 100% conclusive.  And even then, you often need a politician, political figure, or official spokesman to vouch for you. 

It's not personal - it's just how the news runs.  It's kinda like the legal system.  The police have to present legally obtained evidence and convince a jury.  Even if they know the perp did it, if they can't prove it in the right way, he walks.

You can still publish on a blog, and it's not a bad thing to do, but you can't get mad that it isn't picked up.

7) Don't argue you with fools:  This is probably the hardest thing to do, but you should be careful who you argue with.  Many people, on their own blogs and comments, just want to make a point so they feel good.  Your life is wasted on them.  Block them from commenting, shunt them aside on Twitter, and no matter how wrong they are, don't respond.  This does not mean you get to hide from debate.  It doesn't mean get into your Holy Huddle and only talk to like-minded people.  There is a difference between those who you can argue with, and those who aren't honest and faithful actors.  We can disagree on whether universal health care is a good idea, but when people accuse you of being a paid shill, or wanting people to die, you have to wonder if you'll ever change their mind.

You know what I'm saying.  A good rule is to never bother to explain yourself.  Your friends do not need it, and your enemies won't believe you.

Now I know staying out of these fights is often impossible.  You're only human.  I will tell you that you will be happier if you do.

8) Remember, Politics Ain't Beanbag: Politics today is about money.  Government has it and doles it out.  Those serving are looking at their careers when they leave, and those who depend on government are afraid of losing what they have.

And so when you choose to be effective, you're going to get flak. Most of it is harmless, except to your psyche.  It's very rare to pay a price for political speech, but there are those who do pay - with their jobs, with their family, with their relationships. 

And no one can tell you that you're wrong to not get involved. But I will say this.  Our founders risked death to give us this country.  They risked everything they had.  We are nowhere near that.  If you are afraid to speak up, and you're not a wild-eyed crazy, then you are trading security for freedom.  For far too long, the general public has put their head down and tried to focus on their lives.  The rising of the Tea Parties, a large cohort of formerly non-political people ready to finally do something, is a good sign for the country, but you do threaten those with power and money.  Recording County Councils, using Open Record Requests on police officers, and snapping pictures of the politically minded makes them nervous.

Maybe it's time they got a little nervous.  Good luck, and welcome to the fight.

Carnahan's Pet Blog Attacks Congressman Using Racial Undertones

FiredUp's Sean Nicholson is at it again, displaying his predilection for racist thought to attack Republicans.  In this case, he called Blaine Luetkemeyer the "m-word."

It's right there in print.  Nicholson, the covertly paid staffer linked to the Secretary of State and the Missouri Democratic Party has always had a bit of a quick trigger when it comes to calling people racist, is now broadcasting his hate speech across the internetz.

In addition to dredging up an Alfred E Neumann picture (which is so 2000-2008), Nicholson used the m-word, which I'm ashamed to write, is maroon.

There.  I said it.  And in doing so, I've taken away its power.

But Nicholson used it as hate speech.  What's that?  You don't know what a maroon is?   To Wikipedia!

Maroons (from the word marronage or American/Spanish cimarrón: "fugitive, runaway", lit. "living on mountaintops"; from Spanish cima: "top, summit") were runaway slaves in the West Indies, Central America, South America, and North America, who formed independent settlements together.

Maroon is a heck of a lot better known in North America than Macaca (which people still don't know what it means).  And yet Sean feels it's okay to use it to describe a sitting congressman.

What a disgusting racist.  He better never run for Senate in Virginia.

Now some of you may be prepared to write this off.  Maybe you think it's a harmless Bugs Bunny reference.  But that makes it worse.  Bugs Bunny mispronounced moron to make it sound like maroon so he wouldn't get in trouble with the censors.  Sean must know this.  He could have stuck his hands over his ears and used the word moron, but he didn't - he called him a maroon.  And let's not forget that Sean is a paid employee of Jean Carnahan.  No, he knew what he was doing.  He was using third level racism to attempt to call a congressman a runaway slave.

Heaven knows why Sean thinks it's an insult to call someone a slave.  I don't know his intentions, but I don't care. By the new rules of the interwebs - Sean is now and forever branded a racist.

We Can Haz Inernetz? Robin Carnahan's Hitler Parody Video

Have you ever heard of the Hitler parodies?  They've been around since 2008.  You basically take a scene from a German movie showing Hitler in the bunker raving about the downfall of Berlin, and you dub over the scene with something else.

Examples are:

Hitler learns Cowboys lose first game in new stadium, Hitler banned from Xbox Live, Hitler has his car stolen, of course, the ultimate, Hitler finds out about Hitler parody videos.

Someone even made a Hitler finds out about Scott Brown video.  To know this, all you have to do is go to  YouTube and type in Hitler parody.  Some folks got angry, but after thousands of these videos, even the lamest started to realize you get to make fun of Hitler by trivializing him, and it's been used and abused on just about every corner of the internet.

Sadly, Sean over at FiredUp doesn't know any of this, so he tries to make a morality play about Bill Hennessy posting a video mocking Robin Carnahan over at StLouisTeaParty.com.  Here's the video.  I dare you not to laugh.

First - the video is funny.  When Hitler starts ranting about having to buy stock in a Belgian beer company, I choked on my coffee.  Second, the video was pushed out via Twitter to a bunch of sources via a Twitter account for a "Prison Jeff."  While I'd like to believe that Jeff Smith is working on Windows Movie Maker in the joint, the twitter account sent the video to Missouri political writers and conservative humor bloggers, which makes it doubtful that it was actually Jeff, or even one of his supporters.  I was on the list, so was FiredUp, and so was most of the Missouri political blogosphere.

Sean, whose attempts at humor include calling climate change skeptics Flat Earthers, Tea Party activists "Teabaggers," and who has been definitively linked to the Carnahan family, coordination of political ads, and leaked state documents from the Secretary of State's office, really stretches in seeking to feign outrage.  So does the "fake commenter" Sherman Potter, who I showed to be a "special account" set up by Sean.  Pretty weak tea for a paid internet employee of the Missouri Democratic Party, Carnahan family,  from unknown sources.

Tell you what. If a wealthy Texas billionaire buys $1 million worth of ads and plays them around the state, you can compare an internet joke to the illegal coordination of campaign ads and the use of images of the death of 19 sailors at the hands of terrorists as a political prop.  If Republican press secretaries coordinate with spokesman for conservative groups to get the Hitler video into every paper in the state, then you can complain.  

Until then - lighten up Sean.  I know you probably got a call from the Carnahan campaign ranting about this and demanding you write something, but you've really got to learn to hold your tongue when your mistress calls.  Some reporter might take your writing as a signal that it's okay to post the video, complete with faux outrage.  

 

   

FiredUp Missouri Posts Blunt Attack Links Before They Exist

Last week we showed you how the FiredUp Missouri blog manipulates the media.  Spokesman for the Carnahan campaign or the Missouri Democratic Party forward releases to the press, and when reporters write about the stories, FiredUp links to the reporter, pretending they are reading the news, rather than driving it. 

Every political reporter in Missouri knows how this works.  But let's not stop there. FiredUp also posts news from sources outside of Missouri - usually progressive blogs that write about Missouri news.  In two more examples of how FiredUp Missouri is actually a press organ for Robin Carnahan's Senate campaign, I want to show you how stories attributed to outside sources are posted on the FiredUp blog prior to the alleged source writing the story.

First we have the League of Conservation Voter's ads that ran in April of 2009.  The ads were uploaded to YouTube shortly after Mindy Mazur left America Votes to run Carnahan's campaign, and while Paula Hodges, formerly of the SecState was the political director for the Missouri chapter of America Votes.

FiredUpMissouri ran this post on April 20, 2009 at 8:39 a.m., announcing the LCV ad campaign.  In the post, they claim they got the story from TPM, which is talking points memo.

They link the story with a (h/t to TPM) just under the YouTube video.  H/T is a blog expression for hattip.  It means you got the story from someone else, and are giving them credit with a tip of the hat.

There's just one problem.

Talking Points Memo didn't run the story until 9:55 a.m., which even if you give them an hour for being on the East Coast, is still posting after FiredUp.  If FUM didn't get the story from TPMDC, who did they get it from? Heck, The LCV's own blog ActGreen didn't post the story until late in the day, 2:41 p.m., to be exact. How did FUM get early wind of the story?  Are we supposed to believe that FiredUp can now predict the future? 

While we're at it, let's take a look at which author was responsible.  It's General Content, who we reported last year was none other than Jeff Mazur, Nixon aide and husband to Mindy Mazur.  Did Jeff post information to the FiredUp blog because he had advance notice of the attack ads?  It certainly seems so.

That's not the only time this happened.