Claire McCaskill and Robin Carnahan over their heads in ACORNs

From the Missouri Republican Party:

Jefferson City - This morning, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan released an analysis of the 2008 elections that ignores the threat posed by voter registration fraud in Missouri. This comes despite an organized effort by groups such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to submit thousands of fraudulent voter registrations to county election boards across this state. Carnahan’s report, which does not mention ACORN, also comes a week after a former organizer for ACORN pleaded guilty to federal charges for submitting fraudulent voter registrations in the St. Louis area—the latest in a long line of serious voter fraud allegations for the left-wing group

For more information see MRP article

FACT SHEET: Robin Carnahan turns blind eye to ACORN voter registration fraud

2006

• St Louis City election officials discover almost 1,500 fraudulent voter registration cards turned in by ACORN workers (AP, October 11, 2006)
• St Louis County election officials find hundreds of fraudulent address changes, most of which were submitted by ACORN (Post-Dispatch, October 25, 2006)
• Secretary of State Robin Carnahan orders St. Louis Elections Board to approve more than 5,000 of fraudulent voter registration cards submitted by ACORN. (http://www.mogop.org/media/sos-stlletter.pdf)
• FBI launches investigation into ACORN voter registration fraud (KC Star, October 24, 2006)
• ACORN workers caught on tape admitting they were urged to solicit votes for Claire McCaskill’s campaign for U.S. Senate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ6SrZODbHg)
• Four ACORN workers indicted for submitting as many as 1,000 fraudulent voter registration cards in the Kansas City area Each later pleads guilty (KC Star, November 2, 2006)

2007

• Kansas City ACORN worker indicted for election fraud and identity theft (AP, January 6, 2007)

2008

• Eight employees of ACORN plead guilty to election fraud in federal court. Their activities included submitting registration cards with forged signatures and false names. (Post-Dispatch, April, 2, 2008)
• Jackson County reports 100s of fraudulent registrations from ACORN (AP, October 9, 2008)
• FBI launches national investigation into ACORN voter registration fraud, seeks evidence from Kansas City elections board (KC Star, October 17, 2008)

2009

• ACORN worker pleads guilty to federal charges for submitting fraudulent voter registrations. (AP, March 24, 2009)

Are we in crisis?

The chart above shows the stock market (S&P 500) from about 1945 to today. Note that it is mostly flat until 1983. This is about the time Regan drastically reduced taxes. Then it steadily increases until 1995. At that time it takes an unusual upward spike until the last year of the Clinton administration. At that time it takes an unusually fast drop (helped along by 9-11). Then another spike and another even faster drop. The time of erratic peaks and valleys is a time of excessive growth of the money supply and external pressures on the market.

All being said, is additional market manipulation by the Fed and the government even necessary. It does not look like that is the case.




Money supply from the Fed (hot off the presses).

Claire McCaskill supports ACORN

Knowing of ACORNs criminal activity, Claire McCaskill voted down a bill (HR 1388) in the Senate that would restrict stimulus funds from being funneled to the organization. In addition to fraudulent voter activity, ACORN hired out to protest specific targets. While ACORN denies that they take any type of tax money, DISCOVERTHENETWORKS.ORG tells the story.

See ACORNs involvement with bank collapse

U City Bond Issue Stirs Debate

From STLToday:

UNIVERSITY CITY — A proposal to demolish Pershing and Barbara C. Jordan elementary schools and replace them with new schools has sharply divided the community and is under attack by historic preservation groups.

The plans are part of a $53.6 million bond issue proposal on the ballot April 7.

The money also would be used to renovate four other schools: Jackson Park and Flynn Park elementary schools, Brittany Woods Middle School and University City High School. School officials say some of the buildings are becoming decrepit and students need more up-to-date facilities.

Read more from STLToday

Obama fires GM CEO

Automotive genius and economic expert, Barack Obama, has fired GM CEO, Rick Wagoner.

From Fox News:

GM CEO Rick Wagoner is stepping down immediately, sources told FOX Business on Sunday, and is being succeeded by the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Fritz Henderson.

GM declined to comment on the reports about Wagoner’s resignation.

A White House official told FOX Business that Wagoner was asked by the Administration to step down as a precondition for the company to continue to get help with its restructuring.

Go to Fox News Article

Well Said!

Is he talking about Barack Obama?

Help! Save us!

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

Hurry, send this video grade schools so the children can save the earth! No, wait a minute, we have been teaching kids this for decades.

Thanks to Green Hell Blog for showing us this site.

Lt. Gov. Kinder calls for DPS director to be placed on leave

Peter Kinder steps up to defend Missouri Citizens against profiling.

For more information, see Kinder's web site.

Delmar Loop has a nice new web site

Shocked!

Saw this on Fox News tonight:

University City passes on opportunity to reduce taxes

With a University City School bond about to be paid off, the school board has chosen to completely tear down two school buildings and rebuild them. Instead of passing this savings on to the citizens, the board proposes this new construction and the related capital expense.

The school board states that disrepair of the buildings is the reason for this action. However, the question is, why have these buildings not been properly maintained?

Considering the state of the economy, a tax savings to the citizens would be very helpful.

Last night the City Council voted to support the issue.

See: U. City backs school improvement plan

Obama budget would generate unsustainably large deficits

AP

March 21, 2009

Washington -- President Barack Obama's budget would generate unsustainably large deficits averaging almost $1-trillion a year over the next decade, according to the latest congressional estimates. The Congressional Budget Office figures predict Mr. Obama's budget will produce $9.3-trillion worth of red ink over 2010-2019. That's $2.3-trillion worse than the White House predicted in its budget. Worst of all, the CBO says the deficit under Mr. Obama's policies would never go below 4 per cent of the size of the economy, figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5 per cent of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level. The figures could imperil efforts to enact Mr. Obama's budget.

Obama goon squads take to street

Obama's initiates loyalty oaths in order to continue his far reaching objectives. Organizing efforts can be see at my.barackobama.com!

Lets not forget who did this

Get Involved

Are you worried about the economy or the direction our federal or Missouri government is taking us?

The Republican Party is represented by a group of dedicated individuals that will help you get involved. They can show you how to help with elections, write letters and get you involved with upcoming elections. They can even help you run for office.

Contact them at:
http://www.stlcountygop.org

Revolution is on the way

Are you a terrorist?

Fly this flag, participate in a "Tea Party", make it known publicly that you are Pro-Life and state officials will consider you a terrorist. See their "report".

Republican Central Committee Supports Quinn on property taxes

During their last meeting, the St. Louis County Republican Central Committee members voted to support County Councilman Greg Quinn’s call for lower property assessments than currently offered.

While property values have been increasing 10% annually in some areas, County Executive Charlie Dooley proposed and passed a onetime 9% reduction in property assessments. Since it is apparent that property values have fallen from 25 to 30 percent, a 9 percent reduction seems manipulative at best.

State Senator Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, thinks that if property values went up 22 percent in 2007, they should drop by that or more this year. However, the county is resisting such a drop. In a recent development, not only are county property assessments dropping very slowly, commercial property values are, according to the county, on the rise.

The Republican Central Committee will support Quinn in addressing these manipulative moves.

For more information:

Visit the county’s web site: www.stlouisco.com.

See Post-Dispatch Article

County Chief Operating Officer defends Phoney Assesment

Gibbons Gets the Job Done

Property Taxes

Can I Take my Taxes as a Chritable Deduction? <---My favorite

5000 show up for Cincinnati Tea Party

Thousands showed up on Fountain Square in support Sunday afternoon to express their frustration with the government's new stimulus bill. The tea parties are spreading across the country showing a revival of conservative sentiment. The crowds are also growing larger and angrier.

St. Louis will be holding their second rally on April 15. Change is taking place and it is not in Obama's favor.

The Obama Disaster

Gateway Pundit: The Obama Disaster-- 50 Days That Changed the World

Stimulus Watch

StimulusWatch.org was built to help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend.

Go to StimulusWatch.org

RNC Celebrates 153rd Anniversary

From our friend, Michael Zak:


Grand Old Partisan salutes the Republican National Committee, established on this day in 1856 to coordinate nationwide opposition to the pro-slavery policies of the Democrats.

Republicans from many state parties held their first national organizational meeting in Pittsburgh on February 22, 1856. Presiding over this preliminary session was former U.S. Senator Lawrence Brainerd (VT), a resolute anti-slavery activist.

The next day, delegates chose the first Republican National Committee. New York's Republican state Chairman, Edwin Morgan, was then elected the first Chairman of the RNC. He had the immense responsibility of organizing the first Republican National Convention, to be held just four months later in Philadelphia. Morgan would be elected Governor of New York and U.S. Senator.

So, today is the 153rd anniversary of the RNC. We honor - or should honor - the patriots, the heroes, the visionaries who gave us our Grand Old Party.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. He is the author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party. Each day, his Grand Old Partisan blog celebrates 155 years of Republican heroes and heroics. See www.RepublicanBasics.com for more information.

University Township Meeting

The next meeting of
University Town Hall

will be held:
March 7 at 10:00 am

Centennial Commons
University City

for more information join us at our Meetup website

Sign up to be a poll worker!

"Crisis is the friend of the state"

Bob Wagner runs for Mayor

Robert (Bob) Wagner announced his candidacy for University City Mayor. Bob is a 40 year home owner in University City and has served 6 terms on the City Council. The election will be in 2010.

For more information see Bob's web site. (http://alltogethernow.me)

Every Sunday at 1:30 our Zoo lets the Penguins loose

Michael Steele elected Friday as the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Steele biography from Fox News:

Michael S. Steele served as Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 2003 through 2007.

Steele is chairman of GOPAC.

When Steele was elected Lieutenant Governor of Maryland in 2003, he became the first African American elected to state-wide office in that state.

He is currently a partner in the international law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf in Washington, D.C.

From 1991-1997, Steele was a corporate securities attorney at the international law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in Washington, D.C., specializing in sophisticated financial transactions on behalf of Wall Street underwriters.

He also was a corporate finance counsel for the Mills Corporation and founded his own company, The Steele Group, a business and legal consulting firm.

His writings on law, business and politics have appeared in The Washington Times, Politico.com, Townhall.com, and The Journal of International Security Affairs, among others.

Named a 2005 Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership and awarded the 2005 Bethune-DuBois Institute Award for his ongoing work in the development of quality education in Maryland, Steele has served on a variety of boards and commissions, including the Export-Import Bank Advisory Board, the U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors, and the Republican National Committee.

Born in 1958 at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince Georges County, Maryland, Steele was raised in Washington, D.C.

He spent three years as a seminarian in the Order of St. Augustine in preparation for the priesthood, but ultimately chose a career in law instead.

He earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1991.

Steele serves on the Administrative Board of the Maryland Catholic Conference and is a member of St. Marys Catholic Church in Landover Hills, MD, where he attends mass regularly with his wife Andrea and their two sons.

Obama appoints more tax cheats

The savior of our health care system, Tom Daschle, mired in ethical questions:

Daschle fails to report income related to use of a car and driver - ABC News
Daschle fails to report income from consulting fees - ABC News
Daschle take money from groups with vested interested in the outcome of health care reform - Fox News

Who would of thought?

Democrats, don't do anything to our economy you may regret!

ACORN Could Get Billions from Democrats' Trillion Dollar Spending Plan

"Job Creation" Bill Offers Taxpayer-Funded Bonanza for Organization Reportedly Under Federal Investigation

Washington, Jan 23 -

The House Democrats’ trillion dollar spending bill, approved on January 21 by the Appropriations Committee and headed to the House floor next week for a vote, could open billions of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). ACORN has been accused of perpetrating voter registration fraud numerous times in the last several elections; is reportedly under federal investigation; and played a key role in the irresponsible schemes that caused a financial meltdown that has cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars since last fall.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and other Republicans are asking a simple question: what does this have to do with job creation? Are Congressional Democrats really going to borrow money from our children and grandchildren to give handouts to ACORN in the name of economic “stimulus?”

Incredibly, the Democrats’ bill makes groups like ACORN eligible for a $4.19 billion pot of money for “neighborhood stabilization activities.” Funds for this purpose were authorized in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, signed into law in 2008. However, these funds were limited to state and local governments. Now House Democrats are taking the unprecedented step of making ACORN and other groups eligible for these funds:

Dooley Seeks to Ouster County Police Chief

County Executive, Charlie Dooley, may be seeking to remove Jerry Lee, County Police Chief. According to the Post-Dispatch, "The disagreement over police pay became public in a Post-Dispatch story published last month. In it, Lee said that $1.3 million that Dooley wanted to add to the police budget to hire 14 officers as part of a Youth Violence Initiative would be better spent on raises for his officers."

With the County's current serious budget problems, perhaps this would be a discussion that should be put on the shelf for a while.

Voter Fraud in Missouri

Jefferson City - Voter fraud is, sadly, not a new thing in Missouri. Here, the dead have voted, a canine has registered, and the credibility of the process has been undermined. For the third election cycle, in Missouri, an ACORN employee has been indicted on federal voter fraud charges. According to the indictment, between June and August 2008, an ACORN employee submitted voter registration cards that were either false or forged.

“ACORN and its Democrat supporters have a great deal of explaining to do to Missouri voters. While ACORN continues to submit hundreds of fraudulent voter registrations in our state so that people can cheat on Election Day, high profile Democrats in Missouri like Claire McCaskill and Robin Carnahan downplay the seriousness of this illegal activity. It’s time for the Democrats to express some outrage over the continued and systematic election fraud that taxpayer funded ACORN perpetrates in our state every two years,” said Tina Hervey, communications director, Missouri Republican Party.

“This indictment should once again be a wake-up call. The pattern of fraudulent activity by ACORN cannot be ignored any longer – Robin Carnahan’s number one priority should be to protect the integrity of Missouri elections from future assaults by cleaning up the voter registrations rolls and joining the call for voter IDs,” said Hervey.

Edwards Receives Award

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – State Rep. Rachel Storch, D-St. Louis City, honored Joe Edwards, the owner of Blueberry Hill and “citizen extraordinaire,” with an Outstanding Missourian award in Jefferson City. “Joe Edwards’s vision has helped to re-shape the Delmar Loop,” said Storch. “His involvement with urban revitalization has made him an integral part of the identity of St. Louis and the entire region. Our community has benefited deeply from his civic leadership, and I am honored to present
him with the ‘Outstanding Missourian’ aware to recognize his numerous contributions to our state,” said Storch. Edwards founded Blueberry Hill, the St. Louis landmark restaurant and music club. He also founded and chairs the non-profit St. Louis Walk of Fame, which honors famous St. Louisans. He restored and re-opened the historic Tivoli Theatre, built the Pageant Building, opened the Pin-Up Bowl and the Flamingo Bowl, and is currently constructing the Moonrise Hotel, which is scheduled to have a
grand opening in April 2009 in the Delmar Loop. He has also facilitated the historic renovation of numerous buildings in the St. Louis area. In addition, Edwards is leading efforts through the Loop Trolley Company to implement a fixed-track, vintage trolley system in St. Louis. “Joe’s accomplishments exemplify the power of a single individual to drive positive change,” said Storch. “He has brought great joy to families in Missouri, as well as countless tourists, by providing unique venues for dining, music, and entertainment. Joe is a visionary, and we are fortunate to have him
among us,” said Storch.

Nixon appoints Director of Economic Development for Missouri who will not support our laws

Missourians Against Illegal Immigration opposes the appointment of Linda Martinez as Director for Missouri’s Economic Development Department. Missourians Against Illegal Immigration (MAII), representing Missourians from approximately 100 cities across Missouri, opposes the appointment of Linda Martinez as Director for Missouri’s Economic Development Department.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 2009, if appointed, Martinez “will be charged with advancing Nixon’s Show-Me Jobs plan, which includes proposals for low-interest small business loans, incentives for expanded employee training and an automobile manufacturing task force.”

Linda Martinez, working pro bono for the Bryan Cave Law Firm, led the fight on behalf of business people and landlords in Valley Park against the ordinances passed by former Mayor Jeffery Whittaker and the Board of Aldermen to prohibit renting to and hiring illegal aliens in their city. Additionally, she organized as many as 20 area attorneys who sued Valley Park over these ordinances at a high cost to the Valley Park taxpayers. In doing so, Martinez “earned the Hispanic Civic Award from the Louis’ Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.” (www.bryancave.com)

Through her actions in fighting against Valley Park for approximately two years, MAII believes Linda Martinez demonstrated her beliefs and her commitment to supporting illegal immigration at the expense of the rule of law of the United States. We see this as a serious conflict of interest in the job of Economic Development Director, especially under our present Missouri immigration law, passed overwhelmingly by the legislative body in 2008, which prohibits employers from hiring illegal aliens in the state. We do not believe that she can perform her duties adequately and fairly. We feel her appointment will dampen Missourians’ excitement and confidence in the Show-Me Jobs program resulting in less commerce and less jobs for Missourians.

Paraphrasing Governor Matt Blunt at a Press Conference in St. Louis in 2008, “While we all acknowledge the great contributions made by immigrants who came to America in times past and while we are all descendents of immigrants, we cannot condone illegal immigration at the expense of the rule of law.”

We feel strongly that Missouri will attract businesses from all over the world because of its strong commitment to family, community, sound fiscal management, and a level playing field for all businesses on which to compete based on our immigration law. Further, businesses will have the sound foundation of the rule of law, the integrity of our civil servants and citizens, and access to the hard-working, law abiding, and innovative workforce of Missouri, comprised of American citizens and naturalized American citizens. Businesses, coming to Missouri, who refuse to hire illegal aliens, should never have to wonder if they are getting a fair shake when it comes to small business loans and other incentives for business handled by the Director of our Economic Development Department.

Based on the above, Missourians Against Illegal Immigration asks our State Senators to reject the confirmation of Linda Martinez as Director of Missouri’s Economic Development Department. We further ask Governor Nixon to appoint another candidate for this vitally important job - a person all Missourians and all business people can have confidence in.

Obama Scandal

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama's choice to run the Treasury Department and lead the nation's economic rescue disclosed publicly Tuesday that he failed to pay $34,000 in taxes from 2001 to 2004.

Terrorist Support Group Rallies in The Loop

The St. Louis Instead of War Coalition will be holding a rally at University City city hall and march though The Loop. The rally will be held January 10th from noon to 2:00 to support the terrorist group Hamas. Since 2001, Hamas has fired over 10,000 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel. Last week, to protect its citizens from these indiscriminate attacks, the Israeli launched extensive military operations to root out the Hamas launching sites and military stores. While fireing these rockets Hamas hides in schools and hospitals in effort to highlight collateral damage.

There will be a counter demonstration by a pro-Israel group at the same time.

Fact about the election

INTERESTING FACTS --- NOTICE MAP AT TOP
Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning the 2008 Presidential election:
Number of States won by: Democrats: 20; Republicans: 30

Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000; Republicans: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million; Republicans: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2; Republicans: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was
mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in rented or government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..."
Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.
*******************************

Banker points to Government as source of current financial crisis

In an editorial published in this weeks St. Louis Business Journal, Andrew Baur, of Southwest Bank, pointed to the U.S. Government as the source of our current financial crisis. According to Baur "The problem has its roots in 1977 with the passage of the Community Reinvestment Act." He went on to say:

Bank examiners were originally leery of CRA. Their emphasis had been on safety and soundness. Bank lenders were equally suspicious of bending policies. As time passed, legislative bodies began to enact programs working with banks to improve communities and satisfy terms of the act. At the same time an entire division of CRA examiners became part of the regulatory force. Zealous enforcement of the act was their agenda. If banks did not meet an outstanding or satisfactory rating on CRA, approval for acquisitions became difficult and organizations like ACORN protested.

As chairman of the bank, Baur should know what he is talking about. He goes on to outline how other intrusion into the private sector compounded the problems. See: Financial crisis traces roots to 1977 Community Reinvestment Act

St. Louis city and county plan to extract 4.3 billion from an already ailing economy

According to the St. Louis Business Journal, St. Louis City and County are planning to ask the Obama administration for 4.3 billion from his stimulus package. The county wants $1.8 billion for 95 projects and the city wants $2.5 billion for 150 projects. The bulk will go to Metro and Metro Link.

This just goes to show you that mismanagement will not go unrewarded. Let's see....... hey buddy, do you got an extra $4.3 billion to spare?

U City Buget Available

U City Budget

Board to Decide on Destination UCity Schools Recommendations

After five months of soliciting community input on the future of its schools and students, the School District of University City Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, December 16 to vote on recommendations developed from its Destination U. City Schools Community Engagement program. Since July, several hundred University City parents, residents and other stakeholders have attended . . . read more

Highway 40 Open!

Click here for more pictures

County plans to throw good money after bad

St. Louis County is eligible to receive federal funds from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to purchase foreclosed or abandoned homes and to rehabilitate, resell, or redevelop these homes in order to stabilize neighborhoods and stem the decline of house values of neighboring homes. The County's plan for using these funds is posted at http://www.stlouisco.com/plan/nsp.

Joan Bray proposes to remove 400 million from ailing economy

Missouri State Senator, Joan Bray, has proposed a sales tax on e-commerce transactions. She points out that this tax would increase Missouri Tax Revenue by 400 million dollars. She fails to note that every dollar taken out of our economy is a dollar less spent in our businesses (who are currently laying people off).

Give our economy a stimulus, tell Joan to take a hike!

For more information see: Taxing e-commerce could fill state coffers in 2009

Missouri Roundtable For Life special presentation

Since the passage of constitutional Amendment 2 in 2006, restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortions and human-cloning research have been swept away. Missouri Roundtable For Life will explain exactly what has happened and how you can help put things right. The Townhall Meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 16, 2008, at the St. Charles County Government Center, 201 North Second Street, Room 115, St. Charles, MO 63301. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the event will end at 8:00 p.m. Special Guest speakers include State Senator John Loudon and Missouri Roundtable For Life President Ed Martin. For more information call Nancy Holth at 636-373-2481 or visit us at www.moroundtable.org.

County Budget Available

The 2009 County budget is now available on-line. I suggest you a least look at the Executive Summary to see how your money is being spent!

How Obama got Elected

John Zogby was recently commissioned to do a poll of Obama supporters. For more information see http://www.howobamagotelected.com/. Above you can see how people answered the questions. Below, you can see the results of the

Zogby Poll:

512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points
97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates
Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions
57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)
71.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)
82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)
88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)
56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).
And yet.....
Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes
Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter
And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!
Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.
Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we "gave" one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)

Letter to Russ Carnahan

Dear Mr. Carnahan,

By ordering the release of Lakhdar Boumediene, U.S. District Judge, Richard J. Leon, has comitted treason (I looked it up). Regardless of any previous court rulings, giving aid and comfort to the enemy is treason. Could you please see that the law is enforced?

Next year is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth

From Michael Zak:

In his first speech after the election, Barack Obama compared himself (quite favorably) to Abraham Lincoln, the greatest Republican of them all. Soon, we can expect Obama to claim that Ronald Reagan would have voted for him.

Democrats can steal our Republican heritage only if we let them.
As Lincoln never forgot, the Republican Party was established to oppose the pro-slavery policies of the Democrats: "The Republican Party, on the contrary [to the Democrats], holds that this government was instituted to secure the blessings of freedom, and that slavery is an unqualified evil. [Republicans] will oppose, in all its length and breadth, the modem Democratic idea that slavery is as good as freedom."

"Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. US HAVE FAITH THAT RIGHT MAKES MIGHT, AND IN THAT FAITH, LET US, TO THE END, DARE TO DO OUR DUTY, AS WE UNDERSTAND IT."

Lincoln made sure to conclude the Republicans' Emancipation Proclamation: "I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God."
And, it was President Abraham Lincoln (R-IL) who proclaimed the last Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving Day.

By honoring Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and other Republican heroes at events throughout 2009, you can help the Republican Party get Back to Basics.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. He is the author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision. See http://www.republicanbasics.com/ for more information.

James Ashley, Republican anti-slavery congresssman

Grand Old Partisan salutes Rep. James Ashley (R-OH), born this day in 1824. After entering politics as a Democrat, he helped establish the Ohio Republican Party because of his firm opposition to slavery. He chaired the state convention in 1858.
In 1858, Ashley was elected to the first of five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was the first Member of Congress to introduce a constitutional amendment to ban slavery, though his was not the version that eventually passed. Rep. Ashley introduced the resolution to impeach President Andrew Johnson (D-TN).
President Ulysses Grant later appointed him Territorial Governor of Montana.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. He is the author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision. Each day, the Grand Old Partisan blog celebrates 154 years of Republican heroes and heroics. See www.RepublicanBasics.com for more information.

Myths About the Great Depression

With the recent financial meltdown and the election of Barack Obama, there is a lot of discussion of Franklin Roosevelt and bringing back "New Deal" type programs. Let's not forget that what should have been a two to three year recession turned into a ten year depression. A recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece "Five Myths About the Great Depression" gives some insight into the cause of the "depression" and reasons for its extension.

Also read "The Forgotten Man" by Amity Shales. This book gets to the truth about the Great Depression and explains why people were forced into misery by the Roosevelt administration. If we do not learn our lesson of history, we will be doomed to relive it.

County Chief Operating Officer Defends Phoney Tax Assesments

According to the St. Louis Business Journal, County chief operation officer, Garry Earls, is spending a lot of time defending inflated tax bills. He stated, "we're going to get lots of complaints, but there is no validity to those compaints."

Do you think somebody at the county should have done something about the 9% annual tax increases? Apparently nobody in the County thought so. The County and other taxing authorities kept taking the money and spending it. Now Earls says, "the real issue is if there's been a drop in property value. That will impact (collections) in 2009." You think?

Perhaps someone should have thought twice about taking wind falls due to inflated home prices. They did not. Now the County, our schools and our parks will have problems paying bills based in income they really did not have. Who will lose their jobs for this miscalculation..... no one. But you will pay.

Liberal Fascism

In light of our current economic situation and the election of Barack Obama, I highly recommend reading "Liberal Fascism" by Jonah Goldberg. This is a great historical look back at politics of the last hundred years and can give insight into the future.

In an interview, Goldberg states about his definition of fascism: "I’ve got a long definition in the book, but a short one would be an instinctual religious impulse - usually gussied-up as a secular or modern ideology - that seeks to impose uniformity in thought and action throughout the entire society. All oars in a fascistic society must pull together. The personal is political because everything goes together. Political correctness is one name we give to such efforts in civil society. "

Do We Need Another Economic Stimulus Package?

Rising unemployment, failing banks and falling home values are all signs of a failing economy. Time for another economic stimulus package, right? Wrong!

For all of the bad news there is some very good news. Falling oil prices and related gas prices means all of us already have more money in our pockets. The cost of doing business is dropping like a rock, both from direct expenses from vehicle operation and from the cost of shipping products to the business. Oil is the basis for other products such as plastic. More savings.

A dropping exchange rate (strong dollar) is also more good news. This reinforces lower oil prices and means lower food prices and lower cost of goods imported. More money in our pockets!

The lower cost of a home means a great opportunity for many people. This along with low interest rates means opportunity for first time home buyers.

This might all be good news but the runaway price of commodities should never of happened in the first place. Our politicians need to make sure we open up more oil fields. They should encourage but not subsidise alternative fuels such as wind and solar. The cost of this energy is free except for the infrastructure. They should be able to compete with low oil and natural gas prices. Use of coal and nuclear energy will also put downward pressure on energy prices.

The new term for the new administration should be fiscal responsibility.

-Ted Engler

Thank You to Station 97.1 for Supporting Our Candidates

University Township thanks radio station 97.1 for supporting our candidates during the 2008 Presidential Election.

We highly recommend that you tune to "Allman in the Morning" Monday through Friday from 6:00am to 9:00am. and Randy Tobler's show on Saturday from 6:00am to 11:00am. It is always a good way to start the day!

How did it happen?

McCain Palin Rally in O'Fallon

Obama Thugs in St. Louis

Last week St. Louis City and County Prosecuting Attorney's offices threatened to "step up" and set the record straight if anyone misrepresents Barak Obama's positions. Does this mean that they will use their offices to prosecute the offender? Will this apply to misrepresentation of John McCain's views? Who will determine what is true or not?

In fact this is criminalizing political speach and a clear turn towards Fascism by Missouri's Democrat Party.

See KMOV's interview of Joyce and McCulloch.

See Gateway Pundit's remarkson this issue

Gibbons gets the job done!

From Mike Gibbons' website http://www.michaelgibbons.com:
Protecting taxpayers from back door tax increases under the veil of reassessment was my top legislative priority this year. All senators and nearly all representatives joined me to pass a property tax reform package (Senate Bill 711) that protects taxpayers by mandating rollbacks, closing tax increase loopholes, requiring early and more information, and expanding tax relief for low-income seniors and the disabled.
Mandating Tax Rate Rollbacks
For too long, home and business owners have been hit by higher taxes caused by reassessment. The bill mandates that all taxing jurisdictions, regardless of whether they are operating at or below their tax rate ceiling, must roll back their tax rate to counter reassessment increases. Currently, only taxing jurisdictions operating at their tax rate ceiling are required by Missouri's Constitution to roll back to protect taxpayers, leaving taxing jurisdictions operating below their ceiling to approve back door tax increases with no legal recourse. By refusing to roll back, in 2007 in St. Louis County alone, taxing jurisdictions raised residents' property taxes by more than $46.6 million.
Closing Tax Increase Loopholes
We also ended the practice of applying voter approved increases to new reassessments, stopping double whammies on taxpayers. The bill closes a loophole that allows taxing districts to apply new voter approved levies to future and unknown assessments. The Attorney General's office issued an opinion in 2003(107-2003) stating that taxing jurisdictions can take a tax increase approved by the voters, for example in 2006, and then apply that new tax rate to the higher reassessed value in 2007.
Early Notice of Projected Taxes
I believe it’s wrong that taxpayers only learn of their tax bill about one month before it's due. Taxpayers have a right to know what their tax bill will be as early as possible so they can better plan for reassessment challenges and budget for the taxes they owe. SB711 requires that taxpayers receive a projected tax liability along with their reassessment notices by June 15.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the next President of the United States

Issue ---> Property Taxes

You purchase a new house. Its taxes are 2,000 per year. OK, you decide that, although you can barely afford the mortgage, you will also sacrifice to pay those taxes. The problem? County taxes are going up 10% and after 10 years you are now paying $4,000 annually.

Not to worry. Our elected officials come to the rescue. Their solution is to try to make you feel better. They say: "why, your property value is skyrocketing, you are the winner", "the kids need a good education", "expenses keep going up." REALLY!

I attended a citizens meeting where people testified as to the hardships they were suffering due to these taxes. One citizen was forced to sell her house. The meeting was attended by both County and state officials. So what happened: NOTHING!

For more information see: SAINT LOUIS COUNTY RESIDENTS FOR PROPERTY TAX RELIEF NOW

The End of Highway 40

Issue ---> Red Light Cameras

In a County with a horrible reputation for tiny municiplities whose main source of income is traffic tickets, now we have Red Light Cameras. These cameras are automated systems for finding people who run red lights and sending them tickets. Sitting on the side of the road with radar was not efficient enough, these new systems can send out hundreds of tickets a month with no effort by the municipality.

There are always compelling reasons that our municipalities do things. In this case, they proport to stop accidents. How else could they justify automated law and order? However, studies show this may not be the case. In fact, these systems may increase accidents. The truth is, if there are problems in a specific intersection, there are ways to fix it. These include better warning signs, retiming traffic lights, better attention to traffic flow. With Red Light Cameras, there are incentives to keep the intersection difficult to negotiate.

Regarding Municipalities and their police, the is little or no trust between these entities and the citizens. We have the Municipalites and their officials watching the citizens with video cameras and the citizens watching the police with video cameras. Lets face it, when the cameras were turned onto the community of Georgetown, the place went into virtual collapse.

This is a miserable way for our communites to serve the citizens. The County should put a stop these cameras right away.

Republican Central Committee Trashes Trash Code

On Wednesday evening, during their regularly scheduled monthly meeting, the St. Louis County Republican Central Committee voiced its opposition to St. Louis County’s recently enacted Waste Management Code. This code, approved last year, provides for the recently written “Trash Districts Plan.”

This plan establishes a minimum level of service that must include once-a-week trash pick up, a once-a–week recycling pick up and twice-a-year bulk waste pick up. This plan will apply to unincorporated areas and municipalities, with some exceptions. The county will contract for and manage these services.

The opposition was through a resolution passed by a large majority of the Central Committee members and it stated in part, “we disagree with the legislation passed by the St. Louis County Council late in 2006 that would restrict county residents from selecting their own trash haulers and deny individuals and subdivisions the ability to negotiate and contract with whatever trash haulers they want. Citizens of St. Louis County have had this right of ‘trash hauler choice’ for over 60 years and we do not believe it is in the best interest of taxpaying citizens for the county to create another level of bureaucracy by becoming ‘the trash hauler of St. Louis County’.”

Opposition to this ordinance came from John Campisi for the County Council’s 6th District who has amassed meetings of up to 400 people against the code. Campisi stated that the meetings were a response to an overwhelming number of phone calls and e-mails protesting the county’s intention to create trash districts. Kurt Witzel, Committeeman for Oakville Township, introduced the resolution objecting to the Trash Code. While the stated purpose of the code is to provide uniform service at a reduced price, Kurt stated that he did not believe that the “big government” approach would work. He stated further “as Republicans, we believe that the least government is the best government” and that “the role of government should be to only do for the citizens collectively what they can not easily do for themselves individually.” The citizens of St. Louis County have been providing this service for themselves for over 60 years.

When asked to comment, John Winston, Committeeman for the Gravois Township and Chairman of the St. Louis County Republican Central Committee stated, “this sounds like a good idea on paper but when a large governmental body tries a ‘one size fits all’ approach more harm than good is usually done.” For example, some people may take their recyclable materials in person and do not want to pay for something they did themselves. Or, some people may only want once a week pick up service, no recycling or bulk pick-up and do not want to pay for extra services they do not need. Either way, citizens are paying for services not needed.

The Central Committee hopes that the County Council will revisit this issue and asks concerned citizens to contact their respective Councilman and the County Executive. For more information visit the county’s web site: www.stlouisco.com.

The St. Louis County Central Republican Committee is comprised of elected Committeewomen and Committeemen elected in their respective Townships. For more information visit: www.stlcountygop.org , e-mail: terjonlaur@aol.com

The beauty of an argument

Here is an Article I read several years ago. Written by John Leo and printed in U.S. News & World Report, it laments how the art of debate has been lost. It reminds me of a friend who invites my wife and I to dinner on a regular basis. However, she forbids political conversation at dinner (or any other time for that matter). This is unfortunate because I enjoy other peoples' points of view and the opportunity to find out why they think the way that they do.

John Leo stated:

Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan fought sharply during the day but enjoyed having the occasional drink or two together after work. In the old days, William F. Buckley Jr. would hold public debates with all comers (I recall Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Steve Allen), then go out to a pleasant dinner with his opponent. Nowadays, Buckley or his adversary would probably be required to take umbrage, hurl some insult, then stomp out in a snit. I caught the tail end of the civil-argument culture when Garry Wills and I started out many years ago as the original columnists in the National Catholic Reporter. We would frequently attack each other's ideas, but it never affected our friendship. Why should it?

For the complete article got to: The beauty of argument

Post-Dispatch Distorts Poll

I don't feel comfortable. Do you feel comfortable?

According to the Post-Dispatch:
WASHINGTON — Unlike Muslim minorities in many European countries, U.S. Muslims are highly assimilated, close to parity with other Americans in income and overwhelmingly opposed to Islamic extremism, according to the first major, nationwide random survey of Muslims.

The survey by the Pew Research Center reported that 78 percent of U.S. Muslims polled said the use of suicide bombings against civilian targets to defend Islam is never justified. But 5 percent said it is justified "rarely," 7 percent said "sometimes," and 1 percent said "often"; the remaining 9 percent said they did not know or declined to answer.

Their headline reads: U.S. Muslims oppose extremism, poll says

Chappelle-Nadel Sponsors Earth Day Event

Maria Chappelle-Nadal sponsored a public forum on energy and environment issues at the U City Library. Discussion topics included how to increase energy efficiency at the state, city and residential levels. Representatives from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and AmerenUE were among those participating in the discussion.

About 25 people attended. Her panel discussed ways not waste energy and therefore reduce costs. However, there was no discussion of how to increase energy production in Missouri therefore reducing cost. Further, there was no discussion of how Ethonol production was driving up food costs. U City Council member, Lynn Ricci, did mention how she wanted the U City Police to write more traffic tickets to slow people down (perhaps to save fuel?).

It was a lot of fun for those that attended.

New Missouri Jobs Nearing 100,000 Mark

SPRINGFIELD– Gov. Matt Blunt today announced new employment numbers that show Missourians are adding new jobs in record numbers as 93,300 new Missouri jobs have been created since January 2005. The new mark represents enough new jobs to employ more than half of all the people living in Springfield where the governor made the announcement.
"I am proud of Missouri’s hard-working employees and job creators for their success in fueling our strong state economy," Blunt said. "As Governor, I will continue to promote and enact pro-job, pro-growth initiatives to assist their efforts in moving Missouri forward and creating quality, family supporting jobs."
Missouri’s renewed entrepreneurial spirit and improved business climate led to the creation of 10,800 news jobs in March. In the same month, construction employment increased by 3,500 jobs. Employment in professional and business services industries was up by 2,400 jobs, with most of the gain occurring in administrative and support services. Retail trade employment was up by 1,200, while wholesale trade added 800 jobs. The financial activities sector experienced a gain of 1,000 jobs in March, while leisure and hospitality employment went up by 800.
Blunt is moving Missouri forward by making Missouri a better place to live, work and raise a family. Since taking office in 2005 the governor has worked to improve the state's economic outlook by passing aggressive litigation reform, workers’ compensation reform and proactive recruiting tools like the Missouri Quality Jobs Act. There are thousands of new business opportunities in Missouri, and every day more are being created or moving here.

Time table would undercut troops

From Senator Bond's web site: – U.S. Senator Kit Bond, the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today applauded his Senate colleagues for defeating a Democratic proposal that would have set a deadline for withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
“Today the majority of my colleagues voted to support our troops. I am pleased that the Democrats voted down their own non-sensical, non-binding resolution,” said Bond. “A political timetable would have signaled to this enemy that the United States Senate doesn't think the terrorists will have to wait too long and would have undercut the very leaders the Senate confirmed as fit to lead our troops.”
Bond also praised the overwhelming bipartisan approval of two resolutions affirming the support of funding for troops in Iraq. S. Con. Res 20 passed by a vote of 82 – 16 and S. Res. 107 passed with a vote of 96 - 2. Bond stressed that it is critical that the Senate now moves to vote on the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, which will provide funds for our servicemen and women and their families.
“I hope that the Democratic leadership will now allow us to take up the Supplemental War bill that will provide much needed funds for our troops in the field,” said Bond.
Bond pointed out that today’s vote signals the majority in the United States Senate is prepared to give General Patraeus’ plan for a new direction in Iraq a chance for success. Early signs are positive, said Bond. News reports a decrease in violence, including significant decreases in bomb deaths and execution-style slayings since Patraeus changed course in Iraq.
As Vice-Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Bond also emphasized that the overwhelming consensus of the intelligence community is that a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq would be disastrous and would empower al Qaeda. Providing American troops to help the Iraqi’s take control of their government is the best option for a lasting political solution.

What ever happened to ACORN?

Speaking of Federal Attorneys not doing their jobs. What ever happened to the prosecutions of ACORN? The National Legal and Policy Center stated:

"The new 110th Congress convened earlier this month with something it hadn’t had in a dozen years: a Democratic-controlled House and Senate. But amid the party’s hoopla over Nancy Pelosi’s ascent to House Speaker is the reality that its Senate majority is a thin 51-49. That edge is partly the result of a close 2006 race in Missouri, where Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill defeated incumbent Republican Senator Jim Talent. By more than one account her margin of victory in some measure owed to voter fraud. And the likely culprit is an operator long familiar to the American political landscape: the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. Investigative reporting by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Wall Street Journal and other news sources reveals that the nationwide network of Leftist nonprofit groups aggressively played fast and loose with the voter registration process in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. And Missouri isn’t the only state where ACORN has worked its strange magic. " Click here for more

According to sound evidence ACORN has eroded our citizens right to vote and
nothing is being done about it. It is time for more Federal Prosecutors to be fired.

Wall Street Journal Chastises ‘Rookie’ McCaskill

The national media is keeping a close eye on Claire McCaskill even if the Missouri media will not. The Wall Street Journal took McCaskill to task yesterday for putting Big Labor ahead of national security. Not surprisingly, McCaskill received more than $350,000 from Big Labor political action committees, according to PoliticalMoneyLine. At issue is Democrat attempts to try and impose collective bargaining rights for all 43,000 screeners at the Transportation Security Administration. As The Journal correctly points out in an editorial, Congress expressly denied such organizing ability when it created TSA in 2001 “on the sensible grounds that union work rules would compromise security.” With Republicans stepping up to oppose the measure, McCaskill offered an alternative in which airport screeners would still be forced into collective bargaining, though the TSA head would have the right to put union rules aside in case of "emergency" or "imminent threat." That’s when Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina called McCaskill on the carpet: “Mr. DeMint asked on the Senate floor last week if Ms. McCaskill considered the global war on terror to be such an ‘emergency,’ and she said no--but that a hurricane might qualify. We didn't know TSA screened for bad weather,” opined The Journal. “Mr. DeMint also asked if al Qaeda constituted an imminent threat. Ms. McCaskill largely dodged the question, noting instead that denying union rights because of ‘world-wide terror’ was ‘specious reasoning.’ We realize that rookie Senators feel obliged to repay their supporters, but someone more senior should protect Ms. McCaskill from embarrassing herself so publicly.” To read the editorial, go to: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009751

University City Police & Fire Personnel to Receive Culture Training

Police officers are scheduled to attend a three part series on Bosnian, Asian, and Jewish cultures as it impacts law enforcement agencies. The series began March 6 with lessons on Bosnian culture presented by Eldar Causevic, an adjunct professor from Washington University.
Seeing the value of lessons on cultural diversity, Police Chief Charles Adams invited Fire Chief Olshwanger and his staff to attend future sessions.

University City Census Profile

See a copy of the U City Census profile:

U City Census

Red Flags Hit the Field on Meet the Press

This Sunday, Tim Russert hosted a debate between Clair McCaskill and Jim Talent on his "Meet the Press." When discusing who was a great president, Clair McCaskill stated that while President Bill Clinton was a great president she "would not let her daughter near him."

At that moment the red flags hit the field. Instead of stopping the game and questioning McCaskill about her statement, Russert moved on.

It a shame that programs like Meeth the Press (nobody "met the press" on the show) no longer have any credablity.