Thursday, September 30, 2010

Post-Dispatch Column Shows Ed Martin Is Lying About the Wind Farm

Ed Martin continues to try to make hay out of the stimulus money awarded to Russ Carnahan's brother Tom. Martin has claimed, falsely, on multiple occasions, that Carnahan "funneled" the money to his brother. On September 22, Martin said:
We have families struggling to make ends meet and a representative who instead of helping them is funneling money to his family,
And, on September 23, in a post based on another blatent verifiable falsehood, Martin said this:
This news comes on the heels of the discovery that Congressman Carnahan’s brother was recently funneled more than $107 Million in stimulus funding for a wind farm.
However, a recent column by Post-Dispatch reporter Bill Lambrecht completely disproved these claims by Martin.

In order for Ed Martin's claims to be true, Russ Carnahan would have had to have some influence over the process of awarding the funds. However, as is clearly reported in the article, neither Russ Carnahan nor Robin Carnahan had any roll in deciding how the funds were used:
Russ Carnahan was among 244 House Democrats who voted for the legislation. But officials from the Energy and Treasury departments, who jointly administer the program, said that neither Russ nor Robin Carnahan played a role in the awards.
But hold on because it actually gets better. Not only did Russ Carnahan not play a role in the awarding of the funds, he couldn't possibly have played a role, because the funding was awarded automatically to projects that met the basic criteria:
The upfront payments to Lost Creek, a $300-million-plus project, and various other projects aren't awarded competitively but on the basis of meeting various criteria. For instance, companies were required to submit accredited designs and start building by the end of this year. Energy Department officials described the process as automatic; the Treasury Department is required to issue the payments to those who qualify within 60 days of application.

"Treasury has no discretionary authority in this," said Treasury spokeswoman Sandra Salstrom.
In other words, any projects that met certain criteria were funded, including another $85 million dollar project in Missouri last year and a $170 million dollar project in Illinois.

So not only was there no influence from Russ or Robin, there was no possible role influence could play! Martin's claims of "funneling" were completely fabricated. Tom Carnahan says as much in the article:
In an interview, Carnahan, 41, the youngest son of former Gov. Mel Carnahan and former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, said he is untroubled by criticism of the payment. He said that neither his family's political clout nor any lobbying could have played a role in the process.

"Not only was there not any contact or anything like that, it was not necessary," he said, referring to the eligibility requirements.
Tom Carnahan also said that his company has invested a lot of money in rural Missouri:
Carnahan asserted that his 5-year-old company has been responsible for $600 million investments in Missouri "that have made gigantic contributions to the economy in rural Missouri. I'm very proud of that. We need to be doing more to support renewable energy, not less."
And lest you think that this tax credit was the result of some sneaky language put in by Russ to help out his brother, the article reports that the payments were actually composed of two tax credits: one that has been around since the 70s and one that was first approved in 1992. Prior to the stimulus, the credits were reauthorized in 2008, and even Roy Blunt voted for them:
In fact, Robin Carnahan's opponent in the Senate race, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, was a key backer of the financial bailout bill in 2008, one of several measures that reauthorized the tax credit.
Finally, Martin and tea partiers have been complaining that the award was in the form of cash rather than tax credits, and this was also explained in the article:
Critics of the Lost Creek funding have seized on the design of the payment. Rather than giving the credits after companies file tax returns, the stimulus legislation provides for upfront payments equivalent to 30 percent of the cost of the project. It was done that way, the Treasury Department has said, so "the near term goal of creating and retaining jobs is achieved, as well as the long-term benefit of expanding the use of clean and renewable energy."
So given that Ed Martin has been repeatedly making accusations about undue influence in a process that Carnahan could not possibly have influenced, what exactly is Martin's explanation for his repeated acusations of corruption?
"I'm not saying there's anything illegal; it may not be corruption with a capital 'C' with people taking bribes. But it doesn't smell right," said Martin, who raised the issue while debating Russ Carnahan over the weekend.
It doesn't smell right. That's Ed Martin's pathetic explanation for months of smears about a process that Carnahan couldn't influence. You know what really doesn't smell right? When an arrogant GOP insider who was fired from Chief of Staff for smearing an idealistic conservative whistleblower continuously fabricates lies and distortions against someone who is actually an honest politician.

Climate Solutions Forum Schedule

Hello everyone.

As you may have heard already, the Climate Solutions Forum will be occurring from October 1st to 4th on the campus of Washington University. The event is about coming up with real solutions together in order to build sustainable and just communities here and nationwide. Everyone is welcome to come and share and collaborate and build amazing things together.

The schedule for the whole event is available right here! Check it out! Tell your friends. And get ready to work together to build a better future for the planet.

http://www.stopignoring.org/27-2/

Exciting times are ahead!

Climate Action STL
Green Action

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Tea Party's John Burns Involved In James O'Keefe's Plot to "Seduce" CNN Correspondent


John Burns of American Majority and the St. Louis tea party was implicated in a story about disgraced conservative hitman James O'Keefe's ploy to "embarrass a CNN correspondent by recording a meeting on hidden cameras aboard a floating palace of pleasure' and making sexually suggestive comments, e-mails and a planning document show," according to CNN. Burns is best known in St. Louis for leading the tea party's failed efforts to block funding for public transportation, for ridiculously accusing Washington University of "fraud" in the aftermath of a hoax conducted by him and O'Keefe, and, worst of all, for writing "free abortions" on the back of a sign in an attempt to sabotage pro-gay marriage rally.

The CNN article claims:
James O'Keefe, best known for hitting the community organizing group ACORN with an undercover video sting, hoped to get CNN Investigative Correspondent Abbie Boudreau onto a boat filled with sexually explicit props and then record the session, those documents show.
O'Keefe was reportedly going to introduce the segment as follows, according to documents obtained by CNN:
My name is James. I work in video activism and journalism. I've been approached by CNN for an interview where I know what their angle is: they want to portray me and my friends as crazies, as non-journalists, as unprofessional and likely as homophobes, racists or bigots of some sort....

Instead, I've decided to have a little fun. Instead of giving her a serious interview, I'm going to punk CNN. Abbie has been trying to seduce me to use me, in order to spin a lie about me. So, I'm going to seduce her, on camera, to use her for a video. This bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who comes on at five will get a taste of her own medicine, she'll get seduced on camera and you'll get to see the awkwardness and the aftermath.

Please sit back and enjoy the show.
It's not entirely clear what John Burns' role was in the plot. The article cites him as being included in O'Keefe's email correspondane about the plan:
CNN was forwarded an e-mail, sent from O'Keefe's e-mail address, to the executive director of Project Veritas, Izzy Santa; and two conservative activists, Ben Wetmore of New Orleans and Jonathon Burns of St. Louis, Missouri, dated after the call with Boudreau.
Burns would not respond to CNN. Hopefully, some local reporters can get to the bottom of this.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Another Frivolous Ed Martin Lawsuit Dismissed

OK, so maybe it wasn't a lawsuit filed by Ed Martin. But it was a lawsuit filed by a group he used to lead and a continuation of a strategy of being a "nusiance" that Martin openly embraced. And it serves as an important reminder that after Ed Martin was fired for illegally punishing a whistleblower as Chief of Staff for Matt Blunt, but before he started running an amazingly unethical campaign for Congress as a "tea party candidate", he was busy being a Republican hack operative who frittered away taxpayer money in an attempt to annoy his political enemies and garner media coverage. In other words, the "lost" years of Ed Martin are just as full of slimy behavior as his recent behavior and his disgraceful history in the Blunt administration.

FiredUp Missouri has all the details of the dismissed lawsuit by Missouri Rountable for Life and the relevant background. I'm just going to highlight a few parts of Sean's research that speak to the kind of "character" Ed Martn displayed:

  • First, Missouri Roundtable for Life is an extreme organization that claimed that a 2006 ballot initiative about stem cell research that explicitly said "No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being," was actually a secret conspiracy to clone humans.
  • In 20 months, Martin's Roundtable for Life filed 30 different ballot proposals, blatantly abusing the system.
  • In an amazing audio clip, Ed Martin admitted that he was engaging in legal actions to be a "nuisance," and called Robin Carnahan "the devil." Here's the full, odious quote from Martin:
    If you don't know this, you need to know this one thing: The Secretary of State in Missouri is the most anti-life, most obstructionist, most unpleasant, and one of the smartest people in public life in America right now.

    She is very, very devious. She does -- with a, with a clever hand -- she does the devil's work [inaudible]. It is easy when you see someone who is a terribly unpleasant, you know, nasty, hateful person, you say, "Well the devil's got a hold of that person."

    This woman, the devil, she's figured out how to really damage our efforts to do amendments to the Constitution, to do initiatives for other conservative, good government things. I mean, she will, she does everything for one thing in mind: politics of the left, and her own advancement.

    And Robin Carnahan, you haven't heard the last of her, I assure you. She's going to be running for the United States Senate. And, you know, it's an amazing thing. But, we have sued her. And have put her on the spot. We've litigated against her. Some of it, to be candid, is nuisance. We're sort of tussled with her to try to keep her honest. To be candid, it doesn't work on her. Because she doesn't need to be honest, doesn't want to be honest. But we've done it.
  • A different lawsuit, filed when Martin was still at the head of Roundtable for Life, was dismissed as frivolous:
    Plaintiffs' arguments of conspiracy and constitutional violations fail as a matter of law, are without merit, and rise to the level of being frivolous.
  • And now the latest lawsuit by Roundtable for Life (apparently filed after Martin had left, but in the same spirit), was dismissed yesterday, summarized by FiredUp as follows:
    "There is no indication whatsoever that Plaintiffs were denied adequate process," the decision reads, and "claims alleging...constitutional violations must be dismissed."
    Ed Martin has nothing but contempt for the government. And I don't mean that in the "he's in favor of small government" sense. I mean: he is willing to abuse the state and federal government in any way possible in order to further his own political ends and gain political power. He demonstrated this both when he was working as 2nd in Command for the state government and as a private citizen. There is no way we should allow this guy to be elected to a congressional seat to represent Missouri's Third District!
  • Roundup of the Russ Carnahan/Ed Martin Debate

    Some of the interesting stuff that came out of the debates:

  • The St. Louis tea party was bragging about how rude they were at the first debate.

  • Ed Martin tried to act like there was something wrong with Carnahan pointing out that his wife owns over $100,000 in oil stock, even though Martin has personally attacked Carnahan's wife and late father in the past.

  • Hotflash at Show Me Progress had a great post about the obnoxious behavior of Martin and his tea party crowd at the 2nd debate.

  • FiredUp Missouri caught Martin in a lie about the new health care reform bill, with Martin claiming that 16,000 IRS agents are comintagetcha!

  • Martin also repeated for the 10 billionth time his lie about the health care reforms funding abortion.

  • Carnahan, meanwhile, gave a great answer on abortion.

  • Ed Martin came out against laws that protect dogs from cruelty, while Carnahan came out for the laws.

  • Martin defended tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 % of Americans, and Carnahan pointed out that that dumb idea would add $700 billion dollars to our deficit over 10 years.

  • And last but not least, Ed Martin claimed that ending discrimination in the military was "social engineering."
  • Ed Martin Calls Repealing DADT "Social Engineering" (VIDEO)

    Ed Martin selectively quotes the generals who agree with him and claims that repealing the discriminatory Don't Ask Don't Tell policy would be "social engineering:"



    Update: Show Me No Hate has some video of Ed Martin being just ridiculously obnoxious in the 2nd debate in Arnold in response to the same question:

    Ed Martin Argues for Tax Cuts for Richest Two Percent (VIDEO)

    At the debate last Friday, Ed Martin argued for cutting taxes for the richest two percent of Americans, which would increase our 10-year budget deficit by $700 billion dollars (in other words, it's a terrible idea):



    Also, here's Congressman Carnahan's answer to the question:

    Carnahan Chooses Puppies: Martin Chooses Profits (VIDEO)

    Congressman Russ Carnahan and Ed Martin were asked about Proposition B, the ballot initiative to ban puppy mill cruelty, at both of the debates this past weekend.

    Ed Martin came out against passing a law to make sure that the dogs are treated more humanely, claiming that Big Scary Outside Interests Will Control Your Life if you vote yes:



    Just a reminder, here is what dogs will be provided with if the bill passes:
    Sufficient food and clean water;
    Necessary veterinary care;
    Sufficient housing, including protection from the elements;
    Sufficient space to turn and stretch freely, lie down, and fully extend his or her limbs;
    Regular exercise; and
    Adequate rest between breeding cycles

    Carnahan, on the other hand, gave a rather confusing answer at the first debate, where he appeared to agree with Ed Martin (however, it should be noted, he never said that he opposed Prop B, and he did clearly state he was against puppy mills). Thankfully, he clarified at the second debate that he is definitely in favor of Proposition B and opposed to puppy mills.

    Carnahan's Debate Answer on Abortion (VIDEO)

    Speaking of the debate, I though Congressman Carnahan gave a pretty solid answer on the question about abortion. Unfortunately, it looks like I missed the first part, but people were clapping for the fact that he said he supports a woman's right to choose. Here's the rest of his thoughtful answer:

    Ed Martin Continues to Lie About Health Care Reform and Abortion (VIDEO)

    At the debate last Friday, Ed Martin repeated his lie that the health care reform bill sent federal taxpayer money to pay for abortions:



    We all heard about the Nelson compromise that made sure that the government wouldn't fund abortions, but Martin came up with a new reason to make the claim. Of course, as documented by FiredUp Missouri, that claim is also false. Despite being called out on his lie, Martin continues to repeat it.

    Unwavering Support for Paraguay

    If I ever run for Senate, maybe I will include this as one of my seven “Common Sense Ideas and Solutions for Keeping America Safe and Strong”:

    Unwavering support for Paraguay.

    That's right.

    Unwavering support for the small, landlocked South American country of Paraguay.

    What’s that you say? That maybe there is something treasonous about declaring unconditional loyalty to a foreign nation thousands of miles from our borders? That I’ve taken an insane idea and relabeled it as common sense?

    What I am describing is exactly what Robin Carnahan is doing, word for word. Except that instead of Paraguay, the nation to which she pledges her unwavering support is Israel. You can see for yourself at her campaign website.

    I wonder what it would take for Carnahan’s unwavering support to start to waver. How about a massive Israeli spy operation against the American government and American citizens? What if the state of Israel discriminated on the basis of race against Americans who travel to the country? Or if the state of Israel killed and maimed American youth? Perhaps if the Israeli government embarrassed the president and vice president of the United States for having the audacity to ask Israel to temporarily slow down the pace at which it illegally colonizes the West Bank with Jewish settlers?

    No, no, no and no. These things are all happening, yet they don’t deter Carnahan’s unwavering support for Israel. Facts will not stand in the way of her claim that “The U.S. and Israel share a special relationship that is based upon their shared commitment to the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights.” In reality, Israel is a militarily aggressive, Apartheid state. Its blockade of Gaza and continued colonization of East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank infuriate the vast majority of this planet’s 1.5 billion Muslims. America’s special relationship with Israel does not help maintain world peace nor does it make us many friends.

    Unfortunately, although Carnahan’s unwavering support of Israel is insane by rational standards, it really does represent what passes for common sense in the United States Senate. A look at Roy Blunt’s website offers pretty much the exact same policy (without the over the top wording). Carnahan or Blunt - on this issue it doesn't really matter which you choose. There just isn’t a lot of debate in the Senate or on the campaign trail over America’s policy towards Israel.

    There should be.

    Monday, September 27, 2010

    Dana Loesch Claims Liberal Feminists Care Too Much About Looks...And Have Small Breasts

    Dana Loesch, who claims to be a champion of "conservative feminism," took all of ten minutes to undermine any inkling of moral authority she might have on the subject during a Twitter argument with actual feminists.

    The dust-up started, from what I can tell, when Megan Carpentier was doing a live tweet review of a movie, "Fire In The Heartland," which features Dana Loesch along with several other far right-wing women. Carpentier noted a particularly ridiculous statement from Loesch:
    megancarpentier: Haha, Dina Loesch says Palin "split the community" between liberal feminists and conservative women, because Palin is unafraid to be pretty.
    After some internet sparring, Loesch reiterated the idea yesterday in a tweet:
    dloesch: Why no, I don't think that there is a damn thing wrong with discussing how it's not a bad thing for a conservative woman to be hot.
    So, first of all, Loesch's claim that "liberal feminists" have an issue with "being pretty" is laughable. The vast majority of feminists I've met don't think there's something wrong with "being pretty:" rather, they simply think that women shouldn't be defined by their looks. It's a critique of the all-too-obvious fact that society often overemphasizes the standards for attractiveness in women, and often underemphasizes other abilities.

    But Loesch doesn't just get her story wrong, she reveals herself as supporting exactly what most of the feminist movement (both liberal and conservative) has been working to combat for a long time: she appears to think that womens' looks should be used against them in political discourse, and she repeatedly attacks other women based on their looks while implying that this says something about their moral worth. As I've documented, Loesch has a history of this: she previously said that women at Emily's List had "hair lips" and were jealous of Palin, and she suggested that those criticizing her were like "chicks who pad their bras."

    And today, while in the middle of ridiculously arguing that liberal feminists place restrictions on women based on their looks, here's what Loesch had to say:



    IBTC, as google informed me, stands for "Itty Bitty Titty Committe."

    Got that? While bragging about how much more enlightened "conservative feminsts" are compared to "liberal feminists," Loesch claims that the people arguing with her have IBTs (which, according to some societal standards, is less cool than GBTs?). So even as she is arguing that liberal feminists place restrictions on women based on their looks, Loesch attacks the women trying to have a discussion with her based on their looks! Or at least, what she imagines about their looks. Could she be more ridiculous?

    Campaign 2010 Volunteer Opportunities

    Here's the volunteer information for some worthy candidates and causes for the November 2nd elections:

    Volunteer with Robin Carnahan.

    Volunteer for Congressman Russ Carnahan.
  • Request a yard sign or bumper sticker.

  • Volunteer with Arthur Lieber for Congress, running against Todd Akin.

    Note: I didn't see a form for volunteers from Congressman Clay, and I don't think he has a very challenging race, but send me info if you disagree.

    Volunteer with Charlie Dooley for County Executive.

    "Come out and support Barbara Fraser by knocking doors in the 24th District. We need her to be the next strong and effective legislator in the Missouri State Senate. We have 2,000 doors to knock every single week, be the difference this week! Contact Katie at (314)863-2956 or by e-mailing Katie@BarbaraFraser.com ."

    Volunteer for Debra Lavender for State Representative.

    Volunteer for Vote Yes On Prop B to end puppy mill cruelty.

    Volunteer to Vote No on Prop A, a bill that would gut the budgets of Kansas City and St. Louis.

    Suggestions? Send me the info and I'll make sure to update.

    St. Louis Activist Events for Sept. 27 - Oct 3

    This week's event:

    Monday, Sept. 27, Pride St. Louis is having a Community Meet-Up at 7 PM at the Atomic Cowboy (4140 Manchester).

    Also Monday, the Schlafly Bottleworks will host a screening of the movie Grown in Detroit from 7:30 to 9 PM.

    Tuesday, Sept. 28, there will be a hearing to discuss the terrible idea of building a casino on pristine non-commercially navigable land along the Mississippi River from 9 AM to 2 PM at the Renaissance Airport Hotel (9801 Natural Bridge Rd.).

    Also Tuesday, the Southern Illinois University Women's Studies Department is hosting Narratives of Survival and Resistance from 9:30 to 11 AM at Peck Hall 0309.

    Also Tuesday, NARAL will be canvassing for Barbara Fraser from 5 to 8 PM, starting at 8420 Delmar.

    Also Tuesday, a group is launching the Campaign for a Mass Party of Labor from 6 to 8 PM at the Carpenter Library (3301 South Grand Avenue).

    Also Tuesday, 30 Mosques 30 States, shown at the Sunnen Lounge at Webster at 7 PM, chronicles the journey of Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq as they travel to different mosques across the U.S.

    Wednesday, Sept. 29, There will be a fundraiser for Donna Baringer for 16th Ward alderwoman from 5:30 to 7 PM at Johnny Gitmos (6997 Chippewa).

    Also Wednesday, Young Friends of Kids with Cancer are having a Happy Hour at McGurk's Irish Pub in Soulard from 6 to 8 PM.

    Also Wednesday, the documentary No Tomorrow about the death penalty will be showing at the Missouri History Museum at 6:30 PM.

    Also Wednesday, Students United for Africa will be showing the film Invisible Children at the Kelly Auditorium at SLU from 6:30 to 8 PM.

    Also Wednesday, Active Citizen 360 is hosting an evening with Pulitzer Journalists Sean Gallagher and Peter Sawyer at Nerince Hall High School (530 E. Lockwood) from 7 to 8:30 PM.

    Also Wednesday, Pulitzer and Tony Award winning Proof will be at the Heagney Theatre (530 East Lockwood) at 7:30 PM.

    Thursday, Sept. 30, there will be a farmer's market at Washington University from 11:30 AM to 1 PM.

    Also Thursday, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts is hosting a Banned Books reading from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

    Friday through Saturday, check out the Stop Ignoring 2010 Weekend of Action to fight the corporate culture that threatens the earth and all of our people.

    Also Friday, a pretty intense fundraiser for the special Olympics: people will be repelling down the side of the Lumiere starting at 9 AM to raise money for the event. More details here.

    Friday, Oct 1, there's a Rally for Real Climate Solutions from 5:30 to 6:30 PM at Bowles Plaza at Washington University. This is part of the Real Climate Solutions weekend of action. Following the event, there will be a March for a Just Future.

    Also Friday, the Catholic Action Network will host Theology on Cask at the Schlafly Tap Room (1901 Withnell) from 6 to 7:30 PM.

    Also Friday is the Third Annual Metrolink Prom. The event will start at 7:30 Pm at the Convention Center Station Westbound Platform.

    Also Friday, Glitterbomb is hosting a fundraiser for Project Safe Harbor from 10 PM to 3 AM at the Complex (3315 Chouteau).

    Saturday, Oct. 2, join peace, labor, environmental and other groups traveling to Washington D.C. to call for a progressive future at the One Nation Rally.

    Also Saturday, Robyn Montague will be prowling in support of Trans Youth from 10 AM to 11 PM.

    Also Saturday, the St. Louis Walk for Farm Animals to Benefit Farm Sanctuary will be from 10 AM to 1 PM at Tower Grove Park.

    Also Saturday, there will be a counter-protest to the Fred Phelps crazy family at Busch Stadium at 11 PM.

    Also Saturday, the amazing Beehive Design Collective will be presenting The Treu Cost of Coal at January Hall room 110 from 1 to 3 PM as part of the Climate Solutions weekend of action.

    Also Saturday, check out the closing reception for Seeing Green: An Exhibition about Sustainability at the ArtD Gallery from 2 to 4 PM.

    Also Saturday, Jeff Hardin is hosting a Fundraiser Concert for Citizens for Community Improvement from 7 to 10 PM at 531 North Taylor (at Washington).

    Also Saturday, the much acclaimed movie Gasland will be screened at Wilson 214 on the Washington University campus from 8 to 10 PM as part of the Real Climate Solutions Forum.

    Sunday, Oct. 3, Naral is putting boots on the ground for Jeanne Kirkton from 9 AM to 10 AM.

    Also Sunday, have brunch with progressive rock star candidate Barbara Frasier from 10 to 11:30 AM at 8420 Delmar.

    Also Sunday, there's will be ongoing St. Francis Day Pet Blessings at St. John's Episcopal Church (3664 Arsenal) from 5 PM to 11:30.

    Sunday, September 26, 2010

    St. Louis Tea Party: MO3 Constitution Party Candidate is "Doing the Devil's Work"

    Gee, and I thought it was only people who had questions about the Tea Party PAC who were secretly working for Satan. But apparently, anyone who runs for a third party also fits that description. From the tea party live blog of the 3rd Congressional District Debate:


    Also interesting, Bill Hennessy refused to mention the name of the Constitution Party Candidate, Nick Ivanovich, whom he believed was doing the devil's bidding. I gotta say that at the first debate Ivanovich sounded like a pretty hardcore Christian to me. Maybe Hennessy's worried because Ed Martin was only able to get 63% of the Republican vote in the primary, indicating that even Republicans are turned off by his history of ethical problems.

    St. Louis Tea Party Endorsements

    The St. Louis Tea Party announced yesterday that they endorse Ed Martin in the race for the Missouri's 3rd District Congressional seat in light of Martin's "amazing display of character and integrity."

    Some examples of Martin's "character and integrity:"

  • Attacking Russ Carnahan's wife and late father.

  • Blatently lying about donations to Russ Carnahan.

  • Continuing to smear a whistleblower who had the audacity to suggest that the Blunt administration should follow the law when Martin was Chief of Staff.

  • Shamelessly exploiting 9-11 for politcal gain.

  • Asking the Carnahan campaign to hand over the personal information of 3rd district constituents.

  • Paying Chris Loesch's business $5,000 while wife Dana Loesch attacked Martin's Republican primary opponent.

  • Knowingly trying to get reporters to print false information about fake debates.

  • Lying over and over about the claim that the new health care bill is using taxpayer dollars for abortions.

  • Idiotically claiming that BP should be allowed to drill, "anywhere, anytime, anyhow," even after the oil spill, and then pretending that his wife's $100,000+ in Oil Stock and his fundraisers from "Drill Here, Drill Now" boosters have no influence on his positions.

  • Hypocritically hiding from debates with John Wayne Tucker

  • Filing his financial disclosure forms required by federal law 300 days late.

  • Collaborating with Adam Sharp to have Sharp run around screaming at Congressman Carnahan.

  • Misrepresenting quotes from Post Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan.

  • Claiming that 80% of Americans are "out of touch" for wanting to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell.

  • Spreading fake stories after they've already been discredited.

  • Cheering on his supporters and campaigners booting and torching a photo of Russ Carnahan.

  • Misusing the SaveAB email list after explicitly promising that he wouldn't.

  • Calling climate change science "garbage."

  • Claiming that Obama and Carnahan will take away Freedom to Find the Lord.


  • In other news, the tea party also endorsed Roy Blunt for his amazing courage and Todd Akin for his amazing ability to engage in nuanced and thoughtful political discussion.

    Seriously, though, does the tea party have some rule that they have to lie at least once in every public statement? I mean, I could understand if they said they endorse Martin because he wants to repeal health care reform. But "character and integrity'? Come on!

    Activist Hub Radio 9/26/10

    This week Adam and I were joined by Mark Kasen, Rob Good, and Genevieve Erker in a discussion on the 6th Annual Educating for Change Curriculum Fair. The Fair was held on Saturday, October 9th at Roosevelt High School and was centered on "Educating for Community Empowerment".




    Links
    The Literacy for Social Justice Teacher Research Group

    Saturday, September 25, 2010

    Reminder: Ed Martin Attacked Carnahan's Wife and Late Father

    At the debate yesterday, after Ed Martin repeatedly tried to smear him, Russ Carnahan brought up the fact that Ed Martin's family owns over $100,000 in Big Oil stock. Ed Martin acted outraged, and said ""Shame on you, Congressman Carnahan," Martin claimed to be outraged because the stock was not owned by him, but rather by his wife.

    Martin had a similar reaction Wednesday on the Charlie Brennan show (click here to listen to the mp3). . When Brennan mentioned the stock, Martin said:
    This is a disgusting display by Russ Carnahan...he knows that this is my wife's stock, it's listed as her stock, and we told him it was a gift.
    Fascinating that Martin now somehow thinks that mentioning his wife's stock options in a fossil fuel industry that has been polluting the planet, pushing our government around, and getting us entangled in ridiculous foreign policy for years should be off limits, especially considering that he was all-too-happy to attack Russ Carnahan's wife and deceased father earlier in the year.

    In a June press release about "Protecting the Unborn," here's what Martin had to say:
    Congressman Russ Carnahan on the other hand proudly supports abortion of every type and believes taxpayer dollars should fund it. Carnahan voted to funnel federal dollars to Planned Parenthood. It’s not surprising that these votes benefitted his family; Carnahan’s wife,Debra, presided for many years as a director of the national board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
    And later:
    Missouri’s 3rd district has, for too long now, gone unprotected. The Carnahan family has a long history of not protecting the most vulnerable in our society. Mel Carnahan, when serving as Missouri’s Governor, three times vetoed partial birth abortion bans passed by Republican and Democrat legislators. These vetoes marked a low point in our state and national history.

    So apparently it's perfectly fine for Ed Martin to attack Russ Carnahan's wife and deceased father whenever he pleases, and even suggest that the family "has a long history of not protecting the most vulnerable," but if someone mentions his wife's stock options in one of the most destructive industries in the world, hey man, that's not cool.

    Just another day in Republican hypocrisy.

    St. Louis Tea Party Proves Me Correct!

    They just can't help themselves.

    I wrote a couple days ago that the tea party plan for the debate was "Loud Zombie Laughter." Surprisingly, they were actually pretty mild-mannered during the debate, perhaps because they aren't able to turn out crowds like they used to (remember, the 9/12 event was one of three national events, and not representative of the St. Louis area). But even though they actually followed the decorum more at this debate than in those past, they couldn't help choosing, as their official highlight of the event, a moment when they were acting obnoxiously. That is, the moment in which they engaged in Loud Zombie Laughter.

    Here's the tea party bragging about the moment:


    And here's the video:



    The tea party claimed that the crowd laughed at Carnahan for the statement that social security is efficient. They (and Jason Rosenbaum, for that matter) were wrong. Actually, only half of the crowd laughed, the same half that gets their news from Glenn Beck and thinks that health care reform will produce "death panels."

    So first of all, Social Security is efficient and can be made completely solvent with only minor adjustments. It's also one of the few remaining safety nets for many people as other forms of retirement security have collapsed.

    Second, the tea party also complained that there was something wrong with Carnahan pointing out that it would have been disastrous if social security had been privatized (as George Bush attempted) before the stock market tanked a few years ago. Of course it would have been a disaster if people had their retirement savings invested in the private stock market! We'd be in much more serious trouble than we are now. I don't see how anyone would complain about that perfectly reasonable point.

    Finally, it was really funny to hear Ed Martin whine about Carnahan pointing out that he's in favor of privatizing social security. Martin claimed that Carnahan was "making that up" in the video. However, as has been well-documented by the Carnahan campaign, Martin has repeatedly expressed his support for the Ryan Plan, which calls for, you guessed it, the privatization of social security.

    This was just one of a whole boatload of falsehoods from Martin during the debate. Hopefully, I'll have time to address some more of them in the near future.

    But in the meantime, if the tea party would prefer to be known as people who jeer, interrupt, and laugh loudly during debates, that's just fine with me.

    Friday, September 24, 2010

    Press Release: Top 5 Falsehoods You'll Likely Hear From Ed Martin At Debate

    Press Release from Congressman Carnahan's office:

    Top 5 Falsehoods You’ll Likely Hear From Ed Martin At First Debate

    St. Louis – As voters of Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District prepare for the first debate tonight at Forest Park Community College, they might want to have some facts in hand to help them see through the haze of misinformation and lies coming from Ed Martin.

    NOTE: All press inquiries regarding logistics will be handled by League of Women Voters. Press should contact Anna Mennerick, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters at 314-961-6869 for details.


    #1: CLAIM: Ed Martin on Memogate - “I did nothing wrong!”

    Although Ed Martin would like taxpayers to forget about the personal bailout they provided him for his Memogate Scandal, the record shows as Chief of Staff to Governor Matt Blunt he destroyed public documents, fired a whistle blower and cost taxpayers $2.4 million dollars of their hard earned money. For his involvement in the scandal, Ed Martin has been named as one of the eleven most crooked candidates in the entire country by the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.


    Learn more about Ed Martin working as a Hackman to Governor Matt Blunt for his own benefit at the expense of Missouri taxpayers here: Ed Martin Is Hackman.


    #2: CLAIM Ed Martin launched "Save AB" to oppose the sale of Anheuser-Bush

    Was that the real reason? Or did he create the group in order to exploit it for his own political ambitions?

    Despite promising not to use the names and personal information of petition signers for anything other than non-profit purposes, Ed Martin illegally used the group as a springboard for his upcoming campaign for Congress. He republished the Save AB website after it was removed and directed the 40,000 members on the email list to his campaign website, which is illegal according to Missouri and Federal law.


    #3: ATTACK: Russ Carnahan “Funneled” Recovery Act Dollars to Wind Capital Group

    Carnahan voted for The American Recovery Act, whose incentives for renewable energy are helping more than 1,100 alternative energy companies across the country reduce America ’s dependence on foreign oil. Russ Carnahan had nothing to do with how the funding was distributed to any specific company.

    Ed Martin, on the other hand, admitted that he has a direct financial interest in Big Oil when he reported hundreds of thousands of dollars of oil stock in his personal financial disclosure (which he filed 300 days late, a clear and serious violation of Federal Election laws).

    Perhaps that is why Ed signed a pledge promising to protect the massive taxpayer subsidies Big Oil receives every year , or why news reports revealed that Martin “believes the oil rig disaster was the product of too much -- and not too little -- government regulation.”


    #4: ATTACK: Russ Carnahan sent Fenton Jobs to Mexico

    Before, during and after the Fenton Plant was scheduled to close , Russ Carnahan led a bipartisan group to fight to try to save the plant , find new jobs for the workers and identify new economic opportunities for the facility.

    And Russ Carnahan has repeatedly pushed to close tax loopholes that reward corporations that ship jobs overseas.

    Ed Martin, on the other hand, signed a pledge promising to protect big tax breaks for corporations that send American jobs overseas. And he celebrated this past Labor Day by cashing big campaign checks from Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner, who has repeatedly pushed to sign flawed agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was responsible for sending at least 18,000 Missouri jobs overseas .


    #5: CLAIM: “I am a political outsider.”

    Ed Martin is the consummate political hackman, a “lighning rod for partisanship” who is willing to say and do anything in order to advance his own personal and political ambitions. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nov. 21, 2007)

    As Chief of Staff to former Governor Matt Blunt, Ed Martin used his official state e-mail account to try to get his political allies – and even the state highway patrol -- to attack opponents.

     He defended his political advocacy in the governor's office - where he used a state computer on taxpayer time - as "appropriate." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nov. 16, 2008)
     He destroyed public documents in an attempt to cover up his inappropriate activity.

     And when a whistleblower tried to stop him, Martin fired him and smeared his reputation with vicious attacks that Governor Blunt later apologized for.

     Martin’s record as Blunt’s chief of staff was so abysmal he was named one of the eleven most crooked candidates in the entire country.

    As the Republican Director of the St. Louis Board of Elections, Martin fired election workers because they were “not Republican enough.”

     In Jul. 2006, the former Republican assistant director of elections in St. Louis sued Ed Martin and the rest of the St. Louis Election board for firing her and others. The lawsuit was settled out of court in Nov. 2007. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jul. 11, 2006)

    As a candidate for Congress, Martin even claimed that Russ Carnahan and President Obama want to take away the right to find religious salvation .

     Martin’s willingness to exploit faith for political gain isn’t new. As President of the “American Issues Project” – a secretive political organization that used legal loopholes to avoid disclosing its donors – Martin ran TV ads using Jesus to attack the stimulus bill, an ad which even conservative Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly criticized .

    Even With Sympathetic Host, Puppy Mill Supporters Look Ridiculous

    Mark Reardon, usually an advocate of less government regulation and someone who has no love for the Humane Society of the U.S., had on guests from both sides to discuss Propsotion B, a ballot initiative to prevent Puppy Mill Cruelty. First up was Barb Schmitz, who spoke about the facts about puppy mills in Missouri (the "puppy mill capital of the U.S.") and explained why compassionate people should vote yes on Prop B:


    While Schmitz spoke about the current horrible conditions of puppy mills, the oppositions is basically spending all their time focusing on conspiracy theories about the Humane Society of the United States (which Reardon, unfortunately, is susceptible to). It's pretty amazing to hear how Mindy Patterson, the leader of the Prop B opposition, does not even seem to have basic facts or statistics about puppy mills in Missouri. One can only imagine how badly she would have performed if Reardon had pushed her a little harder:


    Reardon did point out an interesting contradiction in Patterson's testimony. On the one hand, she's claiming there are already strong welfare laws on the books. But on the other hand, she's claiming that the extremely minimal regulations suggested by Prop B will put all of the breeders out of business. But if the breeders are already treating the dogs well, why would such minimal restrictions cause them such distress? Just a reminder, here are the conditions proposed in Proposition B. If the law passes, breeders will be required to provide dogs with:
    Sufficient food and clean water;
    Necessary veterinary care;
    Sufficient housing, including protection from the elements;
    Sufficient space to turn and stretch freely, lie down, and fully extend his or her limbs;
    Regular exercise; and
    Adequate rest between breeding cycles
    If providing these basic necessities puts some breeders out of business, then they shouldn't have been in business in the first place. The breeders who take good care of their animals will have no trouble complying with the new law.

    Vote YES on Prop B.

    Another Day, Another Ed Martin Lie

    Ed Martin issued a press release yesterday titled, "Carnahan Donor to Plead Guilty." Here's how the release opened:
    One of Congressman Carnahan’s donors and a top Democratic lobbyist is expected to enter a guilty plea in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia tomorrow. Paul Maglioccheti was indicted in August for making hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign donations. Records report he donated $36,500 to Congressman Carnahan.
    This claim is a blatant lie. Carnahan did not take any money from Maglioccheti (info via the Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org)). In fact, Carnahan did not receive any money from Maglioccheti's PMA Group PAC or it's employees (though, worth noting, Roy Blunt received $2,000).

    So how would Martin say something so idiotic? He links to a spreadsheet that provides a list of donations from "PMA and it's Clients." In other words, the clients of PMA, but not PMA itself, and definitely not Paul Magloccheti, donated to Russ Carnahan. A brief perusal of this link shows that the vast majority of the client donations are coming from Boeing. Martin's claim that Maglioccheti "donated 36,500 to Congressman Carnahan," is blatantly, unambiguously false. Is it true neither in letter nor in spirit, since donations from Boeing have nothing whatsoever to do with Magloccheti's illegal activity.

    It's hard to understand how Ed Martin can consistently send out such garbage. Does he have incompetent researchers? Does he knowingly send out false information and hope that some news outlet regurgitates it without fact checking? Did he outsource his opposition research to Jim Durbin? Is it some combination of the above?

    Whatever the explanation, it's getting pretty old.

    Arnold-Imperial Leader Mocks Out of Town Tea Party Council Crashers

    Patrick Martin, editor of the the Arnold-Imperial Leader, had a column this week laughing at tea partiers from across Missouri coming to the Arnold City Council meeting and trying to tell them how to run their city. The St. Louis Tea Party was angry that the Arnold City Council was voting on hiring Bob Sweeney, whom they believe is part of the secret ACORN/NEWBLACKPANTHERPARTY/CUBA plot to turn the U.S. into a Communist Dictatorship Under Sharia Law. So naturally they travelled to Arnold to scream at other people's council members for two hours. Here's the St. Louis Tea Party putting out the call to go to Arnold:



    Patrick Matrin wrote up a funny response to the tea partiers, which also included this nice cartoon:



    Here are some choice excerpts:
    Sometimes we have problems with geography. Yes, the Arnold Rifle Range and Pistol Club is in Barnhart. Festus Ford is in Herculaneum, just like Twin City Toyta is in Herculaneum.
    But this Arnold thing I don't get at all. Not a bit.

    Last Thursday, a group of villagers stormed the Arnold City Council to yell about all kinds of things, though they primarily were there to loudly protest the rehiring of former and now again current city attorney Bob Sweeney.

    The thing was, the villagers weren't from the village.
    Ken Horton, president of the Jefferson County Tea Party, told the council, "You just made it my mission to get every one of you cowards out of office.

    Horton will have to get others to pull that one of. He lives in Imperial.

    Another woman, who is an Arnold resident, yelled her disapproval at city clerk Diane Waller, "I voted to appoint you!"

    Waller, who does not vote on anything or have a say in the decision to hire an attorney, is appointed by the mayor, not voted on by city residents, though she did run in 2001 when city clerk was still an elective office. Maybe the woman has a long memory.
    The tea party people, while exhibiting a raw anger that reflects the economic uncertainty in this country, get even madder if they are described as angry. It's all part of a conspiracy of the mainstream media, they say.

    I'm not sure what the media is conspiring to do. Make the tea parters look less credible by making them look like crazy people, maybe?

    If so, exhibitions like the one in Arnold last week make it pretty obvious that the mainstream media-whoever that is-isn't going to need a lot of help.
    There are focused, angry people with legitimate gripes and there are unfocused, crazed, angry people who just like to be angry. The later are like thugs who look for a bar fight that doesn't concern them. then jump in just because they like to mix it up.
    Anyway, pretty funny stuff. The St. Louis Tea Party, meanwhile, isn't backing down. They're still chest-thumping and bragging about how they're totally going to stick it to that Arnold City Council. We'll see how that goes.

    And, given that the debate between Ed Martin and Russ Carnahan is tonight, I wonder how many of the tea party people attendance will even be from a 50-mile radius of Missouri's 3rd District. I know in the past people from all over the state and even from other states have come to yell at scream at Carnahan's townhalls.

    h/t The Bone Blog for the pointer.

    You can read the whole article by Martin here:

    Arnold-Imperial Leader Ribs the Tea Party

    Thursday, September 23, 2010

    Washington University Alums Get Award From Sierra Club

    Pretty cool:
    SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Three current Green Corps organizers - Kady McFadden, Todd Zimmer, and Jennifer Marienau - are among a group of students from Washington University in St. Louis selected to receive a 2010 national award from the Sierra Club.

    Prior to joining Green Corps this August, the three were leaders of the Washington University Climate Justice Alliance. They have been selected to receive the club’s Joseph Barbosa Award, which honors club members under the age of 30 who have a demonstrated record of service to the environment.

    The group is being recognized for their efforts to make their fellow students – and the general public – aware of the hidden costs of “clean coal.” In April 2010, the students organized a nationally recognized “Great Coal Debate” that featured Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, and Fred Palmer, vice president of public relations for Peabody Energy. The debate was moderated by Bryan Walsh, environmental correspondent for TIME magazine.

    Six members of the group shared their organizing efforts at a June 2010 conference sponsored by the Sierra Student Coalition.

    “I have worked with hundreds of students in the U.S. youth climate movement, and these students are some of the strongest, most strategic young people that this movement has ever seen,” said Lindsey Berger, Midwest regional organizer for the Sierra Student Coalition. “They have shown more dedication, more leadership and more results in the short period I have known them than some grassroots organizers do in years of work.”

    The award will be presented Sept. 25 during the Sierra Club’s Annual Dinner in San Francisco. It comes with a $500 prize that the students will use to help fund a four-day symposium they are organizing titled “Global Energy Future” that will be held at Washington University in October.
    The Great Coal Debate, put on last year, was probably the best organized student activist event I've ever seen. I don't know how they possibly could have done a better job making a powerful case against the continued use of coal to a huge audience. Todd and Jennifer were friends of mine, and it's bittersweet to hear about them kicking butt in other parts of the country rather than in St. Louis, but the good news is that there's still an amazing group of environmental activists at Washington University who have great things planned for this year.

    Astroturf Hennessy Pretends to Be Anti-Castle

    At a time when tea parties were defeating Republican candidates around the country who only talked the talk on fiscal responsibility, Bill Hennessy convinced the St. Louis Tea Party to support Roy Blunt over conservative challenger Chuck Purgason. That's Roy Blunt, the guy who voted for a $700 billion dollar bank bailout, supported Cash for Clunkers, and ran up huge deficits while in the leadership of the GOP.

    In this same time period, Hennessy also supported former Matt Blunt Chief of Staff Ed Martin, who represents the exact opposite of transparency in government (allegedly part of the tea party's platform). Martin was fired from his job and cost the state of Missouri over $2 million dollars for illegally firing and smearing a fresh-out-of-law-school conservative who had the audacity to ask the Blunt administration to follow the law. Even though Blunt sent the man, Scott Eckersley, an apology for the false smears, Ed Martin continues to smear Eckersley to this day.

    In fact, Bill Hennessy is so astroturf, he asked Ed Martin and another political insider, Gina Loudon (wife of a former Republican State Senator and owner of a Republican PR firm), to be on the original tea party steering committee.

    So, with all this baggage, it sure looks like Hennessy might be first in line for the title of Most Astroturf of All Local Tea Party Leaders (I mention local because the lobbyists like Carl Bearden and Dick Armey who head national tea party groups and Americans for Prosperity Chapters are as astroturf as one can get). But hold on! Cause Bill Hennessy's going to show you how much of a rebel conservative he is by attacking Mike Castle, the mainstream Republican who recently lost to Palin-endorsed Christine O'Donnell. Here's what Hennessy tweeted:



    And here's the full message:



    See that? Bill Hennessy is a total right-wing renegade who doesn't take no guff from G.O.P. insiders. Except, that is, for the minor fact that Hennessy actually supported Mike Castle before the primary, and warned about the dangers of supporting O'Donnell because of "ideological purity:"



    Hennessy actually linked to a video of Charles Krauthammer saying that Palin's endorsement of O'Donnell was "destructive and capricious" as well as "self-indulgence." Since it's good fun, I'll post the video here:



    So Hennessy supported Castle before the vote. Then, after Castle loses, he talks trash about him. Pretty impressive.

    On Daily Kos yesterday, Jed Lewison wrote "teahadists are just embarrassed Republicans." I don't think that's necessarily true for everyone, but it's certainly true about the St. Louis tea party leaders.

    Gateway Pundit Shocked and Offended Anyone Would Hold Him Responsible For The Crap He Puts On His Blog

    Chad Garrison at the RFT did a follow-up to my post documenting Jim Gateway Pundit Hoft's pattern of promoting racist, white supremacist web sites on his blog. He emailed Hoft to ask him why he used a video clip from the racist website DiversityisCrap.com when plenty of other clips of the same event were available, and here's the response:
    But here's the deal: A simple Google search reveals that there are several other videos of the incident available for embedding that aren't from DiversityIsCrap.com. Why then, did Hoft choose the one from the racist website?

    "Are you serious? Really?," replies Hoft to an email from Daily RFT. " I posted the video because it was the only one I found."
    Hoft is shocked, shocked, that anyone could be serious about asking him why he posts videos that promote blatently racist websites! Maybe this is because Hoft has a history of doing so, and no mainstream journalists have called him out on it before.

    And just to point out why this is so vile and offensive, check out this comment (#46) on Hoft's web site:
    I teach my children to stay as far clear of non-Whites as is practically possible. Our girls are being groomed by the Media to be their whores, or if unwilling, their rape victims, and our boys are being taught that to speak without a ghetto patois is to be eternally, fatally uncool. Both are factors in the destruction of our society.

    White children have been raised to see every black man as Dr. Huxtable or the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and therefore they exist in a state of unknowing that imperils their very lives. The truth is uncomfortable, but far too dangerous to ignore.

    Christian and Newsom were not exceptional. I’m sure this is quite common, but on the whole our media chooses to ignore it. If you can get fired for asking Obama a truthful question about his campaign contributions from BP, what do you think happens if you decide to run a story about black on white rape/violence statistics?
    This comment is not isolated: reading through his comments section will yield an ample supply of similar hateful material. Hoft knows he will get blatantly racist comments like this, because he gets them every time he does his "white victimization" schtick, which is quite often. Yet he leaves these racist comments up on his blog while deleting those that call him out for his behavior.

    By the way, Hoft has repeatedly called the NAACP "racist", and it was also his idea for the St. Louis Tea Party to preemptively attack the NAACP during their convention.

    Tea Party Plan For The Debate: Loud Zombie Laughter

    The St. Louis Tea Party has tipped their hand as to what they're planning on doing for Friday's debate between Congressman Carnahan and the shameless Ed Martin (7 PM at the Forest Park Theater, 5600 Oakland Ave. in St. Louis). They posted today a video of clueless tea party members loudly laughing and yelling whenever Russ Carnahan made true statements about the health care reform plan:


    Now, the tea party blog post claimed that they were laughing because Carnahan said that it would be deficit neutral and save money, but that something couldn't both be neutral and save money.

    However, this is not really why they were laughing. Here's the actual quote from Carnahan:
    The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the current plan and said that it was not only deficit neutral...but also that over 10 years it would create a $6 billion dollar surplus.
    Now, it's true that if "deficit neutral" just meant a deficit that was neutral, then it wouldn't correctly refer to a deficit that had a surplus. However, the term "deficit neutral" is a actually a term of art that refers to policies or plans that do not add to the deficit. It is used as a criterion for certian policies under the assumption that creating a deficit, all things being equal, should be avoided. However, since creating a surplus is a good thing (all things being equal), nobody thinks it is a mark against a policy if it is not "deficit neutral" because it creates a surplus. Thus, the term "deficit neutral," as it is used in policy, denotes policies that don't create new deficits, and this is clearly how Carnahan was using the term.

    But anyway, none of this is why the tea party members were shouting and laughing. They were shouting and laughing because they were following the mob rule. In fact, this was back in 2009, and they had been given instructions to shout and interrupt, and they were all-too-happy to oblige. And since they are releasing this video the day before the Carnahan/Ed Martin debate, we can assume that they're planning on creating a similar atmosphere for that event. They will laugh and shout at what Carnahan has to say, even if they have no idea if it is true or not, because following the leader in an angry mob is so much easier than engaging in thoughtful reflection.

    How a Conservative Responds to Ed Martin's Record

    An honest conservative, that is. Which, of course, rules out the entire leadership team of the St. Louis Tea Party. Well, this is how an honest conservative responds to Martin's record of obfuscation, abuse of power, and shameless slandering of a whistleblower while he was Chief of Staff to Matt Blunt:
    Ed Martin may have served in the St. Louis Catholic Catholic Archdiocese, but I have been told by a former Republican Congressional candidate he is no choir boy. Apparently some language in an e-mail sent to the former candidate for not towing party lines wasn't pleasant. One of Martin's targets over the past few years was Scott Eckersley who consulted with the former Missouri Governor that his e-mails were public record under the Sunshine Law much to the distaste of the information.

    In a form of retribution led by Martin and other goons, they claim Eckersley surfed for porn on state computers on the public's time. Eckersley has convincingly denied any charges, and they came up again today on the legendary KMOX.

    Martin claims sticks to the claim, almost sounding frantic on the air, knowing Jeff Roe was called in to handle this little situation when the e-mails became controversial. Imagine that, Jeff Roe! Today, Eckersley addressed the charges on 1120 AM.
    Read the whole post here.

    The title of Bungalow Bill's post is also revealing: "Scott Eckersley Addresses Ed Martin's Slanderous Accusations on Pornography Use on State Computers."

    It's not just that Ed Martin made some mistakes while he was chief of staff but now has moved on and changed into a different, more honorable person. No, Martin is STILL SLANDERING an innocent person who tried to get the Missouri executive branch to follow the law. Even after Matt Blunt sent a letter to Eckersley apologizing for saying that Eckersley was using drugs and looking at pornography on government computers and admitting that those were not accurate statements, Ed Martin is still claiming that all of the smear attacks on Eckersley are true! He is still, even to this day, engaged in shameless attacks on a fresh-out-of-college conservative who was simply trying to get the government to follow the law. And yet the tea party, which claims that
    one of it's core principles is "transparency in government," hilariously buries their heads in the sand and pretends that Ed Martin is a paragon of "good government."

    Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

    Wednesday, September 22, 2010

    St. Louis Tea Party Leader AGAIN Promotes Racist Websites

    Warning: disturbing content follows.

    St. Louis Tea Party leader and right-wing blogger Jim Hoft (aka Gateway Pundit) has once again promoted a racist website on his blog. Today he posted a link to a racist youtube channel promoting a blog that repeatedly uses the n-word and portrays black people as criminals and drug addicts while complaining about the victimization of white people. I'll have more on this disgusting incident below, but first I provide some background explaining how this is not the first time Hoft has promoted white supremacist websites.

    In 2009, Hoft linked to a video that claimed, without any evidence, that a white child had been beaten up by black kids on a school bus. Though it was true that the boy had been beaten, the race of the attackers was never mentioned in any of the news reports (this is not to be confused with a different incident in which there was video of a bus assault). Hoft had gotten his account from the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist organization based in St. Louis, and he originally linked directly to them in his post. This was not the first time Hoft had linked to white supremacist organization Council of Conservative Citizens.

    After being criticized in the comments by fellow conservatives, Hoft moved the link to the Council of Conservative Citizens blog to a new location but still kept it on the blog (see update #2; note that this is from the blog of a conservative blogger). He finally removed even that link but kept up his link to the misleading video from the youtube page of KillTheCensors. Here's the screen shot of Hoft posting the video (note that this is before he moved from blogspot):



    And here's a screenshot of the video on KillTheCensors' page:



    KillTheCensors youtube channel was a white supremacist propaganda outlet, posting items like, "Liberal chimpout after White Pride stickers appear at high school:"



    KillTheCensors is also blatently anti-semitic, complaining about "JewTube:"



    Hoft was repeatedly warned about the racist content of his links and video, as can be seen below, but he kept the videos up and deleted the comments:



    Hoft never removed the video from KillTheCensors, despite these warnings, though youtube eventually suspended the account for violating their site policty.

    Flash forward to today. Hoft covers a story about a kid who was beaten up in May, and he writes, "White Boy Beaten Because of Slavery." Of course, it is terrible that the guy was beaten so badly, and even more abhorrent if the charges about racism are true. However, the youtube video Hoft posts is from a user called DiversityIsOurStremf:



    A brief perusal of the user's recent activity reveals him/her to be a unapologetic racist:



    That comment, by the way, came after a video of a 2 year old smoking pot.

    Hoft's video also prominently promotes the website DiversityIsCrap.com:


    This website is even more offensive than the name suggests, repeatedly calling black people names like the "niggers" and "chimps":





    In another post titled "So glad to be born white," the author writes, about an abused 14-year-old: "Like the little negros breath didn’t smell bad enough this gives new definition to shit breath."



    In a different post, they refer to a two-year-old child as a "niglet:"



    It is absolutely despicable that Jim Hoft, even after being warned repeatedly by others (including conservative bloggers) continues to promote racist, anti-semitic, and white supremacist websites from his blog. Maybe one incident like this could be seen as a simple mistake, but this is a clear pattern of behavior on Hoft's part that demonstrates that he is either doing this intentionally or simply does not care. Hoft needs to remove his links to racist sites and videos immediately, and apologize for promoting such filth.

    And in the meantime, the St. Louis Tea Party, if it really wants to claim to be diverse and open-minded, should kick Hoft out of their leadership and repudiate his abominable behavior.

    Update: Based on some feedback, I'm providing a little extra information. First of all, it looks like the site "DiversityIsCrap.com" has now been taken down, which is pretty fascinating considering that it was up before I wrote my post. Anyway, it's still easy to track down the content. If you google, "Diversity is Crap" you'll see a link to the old website and it's racist content.



    Or, alternatively, you can click on the google cache content to see the page with the links I mentioned.

    Also, since people were wondering if Hoft had taken the original video down, the answer is no. In fact, it's still up on his site, although it doesn't work because youtube disabled the racist account KillTheCensors:


    I have a lot more documentation then I've provided here, so feel free to ask if you have further questions.