Category Archives: democrats

Damaged Goods

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I came across two articles this morning that linked a topic that had been wandering in my thoughts these last few days. One article was about the possible move of a fast-food company headquarters from a large metropolitan area. The other was about the potential ethical and criminal issues of a politician. The common link of the two was democrat politics.

https://cbsstlouis.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/img_0069.jpg?w=620&h=349&crop=1

Hardees Headquarters in downtown St. Louis. Photo by Dominic Genetti/KMOX

The first instance was from St. Louis. The corporate headquarters for Hardees is in downtown St. Louis. An article appeared in the St. Louis CBS News outlet that hinted Hardees would soon be moving to more…business friendly climes. A state without an income tax and with Right-to-Work.

All Signs Point to Hardee’s St. Louis Departure

Michael Calhoun (@michaelcalhoun) April 29, 2015 9:27 AM

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says after his conversations with Hardee’s CEO Andy Puzder, it looks like the fast-food chain is moving headquarters, and Slay says it’s over things the city has no control over.

“I know for sure he’s looking for states that don’t have an income tax,” Slay says, “and he’s looking at Right-to-Work states.”

The fast-food restaurant chain is currently headquartered at 100 N. Broadway, just a few blocks from the Gateway Arch in downtown.

The company announced last week that it was considering moving to Nashville.

Mrs. Crucis and I was in Nashville a couple of weeks ago. The city appears to be booming if all the road construction is any indication. Tennessee does meet the two criteria mentioned in the article above.

We drove through St. Louis on our way to Nashville. As does anyone who is about to leave on a long road-trip, I filled my Tahoe’s tank before I left. I paid $2.169 a gallon at my local gas station. I noted as we drove east that gas prices were about the same, varying a few pennies, west of Columbia. However, the further east we drove, the higher the gas prices. I wondered why. The state and federal gas tax is uniform across Missouri. That couldn’t be it.

We stopped not far from the St. Louis county line for a pit-stop and to check our route. The local gas price was $2.469 per gallon and higher. I discovered one of the reasons for higher gas was more and higher local sales taxes.

Sales taxes are a burden on everyone and sales taxes have a broad negative impact on commerce. Those who can, will buy elsewhere leading to cash flow out of the taxed area. A reason why internet sales are so popular.

The CBS article made Hardees’ motivation clear. They want to move to a location with lower taxes and a place with Right-to-Work. Nashville fits the bill. St. Louis, with its higher taxes and the city’s support and promotion of unions is not the place Hardees wants for its corporate headquarters.

The sense of oppression is not limited to the social ills of Ferguson and St. Louis. It extends to the business climate of the entire section of the state around St. Louis. Decades of democrat policies and democrat leadership of St. Louis have, “come home to roost!” Missouri, especially the eastern side of the state, has become ‘damaged goods’ as far as business is concerned.

The other instance hinted in today’s post title is about…Hillary Clinton. In a FOX report this morning, her political future appears to be imploding. Her cronies in the media are no longer providing cover against the growing revelation of scandal, fraud, and probable criminal activities of herself, her husband and the Clinton Family Foundation.

DAMAGED GOODS NO BARGAIN FOR DEMOCRATS
Another day, another revelation of ethical misconduct in Clintonland. This time it’s the Boston Globe’s discovery that the largest single non-profit group in the Clinton network utterly ignored the disclosure agreement that Hillary Clinton promised would be a bulwark against corruption during her tenure as secretary of state. Foreign donations exploded during Clinton’s tenure as America’s chief diplomat, but her organization said nothing about it. At the same time, we are learning more about the astronomical overhead in the Clinton family’s charitable network. So it is no wonder that Politico reports that the donors who have funded the multi-billion-dollar enterprise – the kind of folks who go on whirlwind Africa tours with Bill Clinton – are getting queasy about the new scrutiny and the serial improprieties. Their world is shrinking down to folks like billionaire Tom Steyer, who openly embrace the Washington cash-for-influence game.

So what’s a conscientious liberal to do? The GOP is out of the question. Republicans are tumbling over themselves to seek the favor of the super PAC donor whales who are preparing to fund potentially hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of red-on-red attack ads in the coming months. This isn’t a big problem for GOP voters, though, since the members of the party widely oppose restrictions on political spending. But for liberal Democrats, these are famine times. The wife of a former president is preparing to claim by regal right their party’s nomination. She is mired in a scandal that involves boatloads of cash from unseemly sources, the violation of basic transparency standards and the destruction of huge troves of documents. To go from “hope and change” back to “no controlling legal authority” is a far fall indeed. — FOXNewsletter, April 30, 2015.

Two democrat institutions, large metropolitan areas and Hillary Clinton; are two in a growing pile of democrat damaged goods. The liberal policies of the democrat party fail everywhere they are found from Detroit to Baltimore to St. Louis and Kansas City.

Kansas City’s Mayor Sly James proposed not long ago to raise Kansas City’s minimum wage to $15/hour. He filed to notice some of the unintended consequences to the city if that happened (or perhaps, like Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake, he just doesn’t care about business and private enterprise or property.)

I looked at the Kansas City School District’s pay scales recently for another post. The district is required to post the pay scales every year by individual from the Superintendent to the freshly hired teacher’s assistant. Over 1,000 district employees make less than $15//hour. If the district had to comply with Mayor James’ proposal, the decision would be who to lay off. The district can not longer depend on the state for funding. Those days are longer over.

Sly James proposal would break the KC school district’s budget. It would be one more woe for a failed district who lost its accreditation and is struggling to remain credible while hoping to control student flight to other accredited school districts.

Six decades of a failed political policies have killed the life of large cities. Wherever democrats are in control, the economies of those areas crumble and add one more city after another and their people to the pile of damaged goods.

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Yawwwwn, Part II

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Did it again today…overslept, that is. This time I think I’m caught up. I think.

The unfortunate part of oversleeping is that my To-Do list hasn’t shrunk. I’ve a number of tasks to do and with oversleeping, my allotted time for a post is gone.

So this will be quick.

News item: Our newly elected democrat Speaker of the US House is using the age-old tactic of his predecessor, Nancy Pelosi. He’s pushing a Continuing Resolution that will fully fund Obama’s illegal Alien Amnesty Executive Order and fully fund Obamacare. John Boehner (D-OH), is counting on Nancy Pelosi’s aid and her democrat House members to override the objections of the ‘Pub conservatives in the House.

Conservatives complain House GOP leaders ramming through spending bill

By Scott Wong – 12/06/14 06:00 AM EST

House conservatives are griping that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is putting the squeeze on them by rushing through a $1 trillion spending bill in Congress’s last week in session.

Appropriators are expected to roll out the legislation early next week, giving critics scant time to figure out what’s inside before they cast their votes by the end of the week. The government would shut down on Dec. 12 without a new funding bill.

“Here we are doing the appropriations bill the last couple days” before a government shutdown, conservative Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) said in an interview this week. “That’s not to squeeze Harry Reid. That’s to squeeze us.”

Boehner critics say there’s no reason the Speaker couldn’t have brought the spending package to the floor this past week, giving the House more time to consider it.

But doing so would also give more time for the right to build a case against it.

“They don’t want you to read it, that’s why! You think they want you to analyze all the mischievous items in there?” Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.)  told The Hill.

Asked if the timing of the plan was aimed at jamming the Senate or House conservatives, Jones replied: “I think its aimed at screwing over the American people. You can quote me on that.”

Pushing a government funding bill through Congress at the 11th hour is nothing new.

What’s striking this time, however, is that Boehner and outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are mostly in agreement on how to do it.

And the Speaker, fresh off a big midterm victory, seems in no mood to kowtow to conservatives who’ve been agitating for a lame-duck spending fight to stop President Obama’s executive action on immigration.

House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said the legislation will be unveiled on Monday, setting up a likely House vote on Wednesday — just one day before money runs out for the government.

Boehner and Rogers blame the Senate for the bill’s timing.

The House passed seven of the 12 appropriations bills this Congress, while eleven passed out of committee. The Senate passed zero.

“And as a result, it makes it that much more difficult to come to an agreement with the Senate on an omnibus appropriations package,” Boehner told reporters on Thursday.

Rogers also pointed the finger at the upper chamber and said House negotiators were doing “the best we can.”

“Look, we were given less than a month to put an omnibus bill together for the entire government for the entire year — it’s a trillion plus dollars with thousands of items,” Rogers said. “And since the Senate did not pass any of the appropriations bills, it forced us to put together an omnibus.”

While work on the package will continue this weekend, the general framework is known.

Most of the government will be funded in an 11-bill omnibus running through the end of the fiscal year in September. The Homeland Security Department would be kept on a shorter leash, funded with a short-term continuing resolution that would keep money flowing only until February. The combination is being called the “cromnibus.”

The short-term funding for Homeland Security is intended to push the fight over Obama’s immigration actions into next year, when Republicans will control both chambers of Congress.

Boehner signaled it’s unlikely he’ll make any significant changes to the package’s framework, ignoring demands by immigration hard-liners to include language to de-fund the implementation of Obama’s immigration actions, which could give legal status to up to five million undocumented workers.

GOP leaders appear to have much of their conference behind them, though many conservatives are expected to vote no.

“I think the fix is in,” Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) told The Hill.

He wanted GOP leaders to bring the spending package to the floor this past week with stronger immigration language. That way, the House would have had time to respond to any changes the Senate made to the legislation.

Boehner instead called a vote Thursday on a messaging bill that rebukes Obama’s immigration move, a measure the Senate will not take up.

“I’ve implored them. I’ve begged them. I’ve spoken in various meetings so that we wouldn’t be up against some crisis. … This is not the way it’s supposed to be done,” Salmon said.

Some conservatives acknowledge that they’ll have no chance of blocking the cromnibus if House Democrats decide to get on board. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned Republicans Friday not to bog down the package with “destructive” riders, including proposals to roll back environmental regulations or halt a new law that legalizes marijuana in D.C.

But sources in both parties said they expect a good number of Democrats to cross the aisle and vote for the spending plan in the end. Especially since it’s based on months of work from House and Senate appropriators from both parties.  

“I believe we need to fund the government through Sept. 30. If not, it will be very chaotic next year,” said retiring Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.), a House appropriator who is leaning toward voting for the plan. “An omnibus bill is a lot better than a CR or continuing resolution. So this is the best of two worlds.”

What are we seeing from Washington? Both the House and the Senate are still controlled by democrats.

Conservatives across the country are calling their US Representatives and Senators, asking, begging, pleading, demanding they vote against this rush to fund Obama’s unconstitutional acts. How will you vote, Representative Vicky Hartzler? Will you oppose this democrat tactic or will you, once again, act like an establishment rubber stamp?

Regardless how you vote, Vicky, it will be remembered come 2016.

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Infiltrators

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With the beginning of the political season come political tricks. Some would call it political fraud. What is it? Democrats are filing as ‘Pubs in the primary and RINO ‘Pubs conniving with dem political activists to run against ‘Pub incumbents. For democrats, it’s business as usual. For RINOs, it proves they have no core values nor party loyalty.

Here are a few examples. There is an Associate Circuit Judge who was appointed by democrat governor Jay Nixon to fill an unfinished term in the 17th Circuit. This judge had run for office before as a democrat. She’s now filed to run for the full judicial term—as a ‘Pub. Is she now a ‘Pub? No, and I know of no one who does believe she’s had a political change. She’s running because ‘Pubs, for the last decade, have come to power in Cass County. She knows if she runs as a dem she will likely lose—as she did before. If she runs as a ‘Pub, however…well then, it a new ball game.

How about another example? Jeff Cox is Cass County’s Presiding Commissioner. He was elected to fill the uncompleted term as Presiding Commissioner when the previous Commissioner was determined to be ineligible to hold office. Now, Jeff Cox is running for a full term. He’s opposed by a member of the county oligarchy. This week, he picked up another primary opponent.

Who is this opponent? He is another democrat filing as a ‘Pub. This candidate is an unknown. He  recently moved back to Cass County and now lives in one of the few democrat strongholds left in the county. How do we know he’s a democrat? He said so on his Facebook page. He’s has now changed his Facebook page. Here’s a before snapshot.

Keithg_Wunder_1Look in the lower right corner. “Political views: democrat. I looked at his page this morning. He’s created a new FB entry. This one has no political declaration. Yes, he’s a democrat infiltrator masquerading as a ‘Pub to disrupt the ‘Pub primary.

An informant has told me that seven union reps traveled to Jeff City to file for state representatives—as ‘Pubs. I’m not surprised the unions would do this. They are terrified of Right-to-Work. They continue to spew lies about it. The real reason is that Right-to-Work would turn off their money spigot. All that coerced money would dry up. The unions NEED that money. They’re the top funding sources for democrats.

It’s democrat dirty tricks and tactics—business as usual for the party of lies and deceit. What can we do? Out them at every opportunity. Expose their lies and show them for what they are.

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Montage

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It has become a liberal tactic to release potentially damaging information late on Friday or Saturday when the MSM’s attention is elsewhere…or purposely redirected. This last weekend was no different.

On today’s Drudge Report is the headline: The Hilliary Papers: Ruthless First Lady. Diane Blair, a political science professor whom Hillary Clinton once described as her “closest friend”, died in 2000. She and others collected documents during the Clinton’s campaign before Bill Clinton’s run for the Presidency in 1992. More documents were added until Blair’s death.

Jim Blair, a former chief counsel at Tyson Foods Inc. who was at the center of “Cattlegate,” a 1994 controversy involving the unusually large returns Hillary Clinton made while trading cattle futures contracts in the 1970s, donated his wife’s papers to the University of Arkansas Special Collections library in Fayetteville after her death. — The Washington Free Beacon.

A memo from those archives, under the title of, “Research on Hillary Clinton,” noted that Bill, according to pollsters, was viewed as ‘slick,’ while Hillary was viewed as ruthless. The picture the documents paint of Bill and Hillary Clinton is not complementary. Bill comes across as bungling and stupid while Hillary is portrayed as one who’d cut a throat to maintain political power.

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A bit of bad news for Obamacare came to light over the weekend. It is another ‘unintended consequence’ that the libs are now claiming to be a feature. (Systems Designers, development and project managers are very familiar with the tactic.)

Obamacare will induce people to drop out of the work force, a recent congressional study reported.

The Congressional Budget Office report, examining Obamacare’s effects on the economy, predicted that the U.S. workforce would shrink by 2.5 million people. The cause: Low-income people get subsidies when shopping on Obamacare’s health-insurance exchanges. This makes it easier for people to afford health care without a job or by working part-time. — The Washington Examiner.

The column may be a bit difficult to understand. The bottom line is the amount of subsidies granted to ‘qualified’ applicants may influence people to maintain low incomes or drop out of the work-force completely. An income difference of $1 can mean the loss of those subsidies and increased healthcare costs of thousands of dollars per year.  That—is a disincentive to work. Why work when more money means the loss of the subsidy and higher costs of the now-required healthcare coverage.

The ‘unintended consequence’ came to light in another venue, a discussion between the head of the Congressional Budget Office and Obama’s spokesman, Jay Carney. The gist? Americans now have a choice whether or not to work!

My, oh, my, how times have changed. America now has a government that views work as a trap and celebrates those who escape it.

That is the upshot of last week’s remarkable exchange over ObamaCare. It began when the head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the interplay of taxes and subsidies in the law “creates a disincentive for people to work.” The report predicted the mix would lead to fewer hours worked, costing the equivalent of nearly 2.5 million jobs.

In response, President Obama’s spokesman pleaded guilty — with pride and pleasure.

“Opportunity created by affordable, quality health insurance allows families in America to make a decision about how they will work, or if they will work,” Jay Carney said. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi applauded the law for freeing people from “job-lock.”

They never mentioned the implications of this distinctly Obamaish New Deal. The subsidies that enable some Americans to decide “if they will work” mean higher taxes from those who must or want to work. — The New York Post.

Job-lock. The democrats have created a new term. When I looked at the definition of the term in Wiki, I noticed the page was last updated February 9, 2014. Yes, the libs must keep ‘job-lock’ up to date.

***

When I was in the Air Force, one of the first things I read as it became available was the Air Force Times. Like the Air Force, each branch of the military had its paper, the Army Times, the Navy Times, and the Marine Corps Times. There may have been a Coast Guard Times, too, although I never saw one.

One reason why the ‘Times was so popular was that it was published by an independent, semi-private company. The current ‘Times are now owned by Gannet.

By semi-private, I mean the military branches tried, often, to control the content of the ‘Times. They failed each time. Many retired and active military members were contributors to the ‘Times. Military retirees often held paid and advisory positions to the various ‘Times editions. They knew where the bodies were buried and used that knowledge…frequently to the embarrassment of the particular branch.

The success of the ‘Times is its support of the lowest members of the military, not its highest. Those supporters insure truth and accuracy in the stories and reporting. The various ‘Times papers have credibility—more credibility than the military hierarchy and that difference in credibility is leading to conflict again.

Once again, the military hierarchy is attempting to control the content of the ‘Times…the Marine Corps Times in this particular case. I predict this effort will eventually fail, too. The last time a service branch tried to control the ‘Times, the paper was smuggled onto military bases around the world. Like Prohibition, banning the ‘Times will fail.

Marine Corps Times first casualty in headquarters’ war to ‘professionalize’

Independent newspaper does not conform to new Marine Corps message, brass says

Feb. 9, 2014 – 05:05PM, By Lance M. Bacon Staff writer

Marines leaf through a copy of Marine Corps Times during some downtime at a patrol base in Afghanistan's Helmand province. The newspaper, which throughout the last year has investigated allegations of wrongdoing involving the service's top general, has been targeted by Marine Corps headquarters as part of a new initiative to 'professionalize' areas where the publication is sold.

Marines leaf through a copy of Marine Corps Times during some downtime at a patrol base in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. The newspaper, which throughout the last year has investigated allegations of wrongdoing involving the service’s top general, has been targeted by Marine Corps headquarters as part of a new initiative to ‘professionalize’ areas where the publication is sold. (Brennan Linsley / The Associated Press)

Marine Corps leaders have ordered the independent Marine Corps Times newspaper removed from its prominent newsstand location at base exchange stores worldwide and placed instead in areas away from checkout lines, where it is harder to find and fewer copies are available.

The move raises troubling questions about motive and closely follows a directive prohibiting commanders from using budget funds to buy Marine Corps Times and a number of other publications.

Marine Corps Times is widely recognized for its comprehensive coverage of the Corps, focusing on everything from career tracks, to pay and benefits, family and spouse issues, and employment after leaving the military.

Throughout much of the past year, the paper has published dozens of articles as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations the service’s commandant, Gen. Jim Amos, abused his authority to ensure Marines were punished for an embarrassing war-zone scandal. Numerous reports have captured the attention of mainstream media outlets, including NPR, CNN and Time magazine, among several others.

Spokesmen for the commandant’s office would not answer questions about whether Amos or his staff were aware of or involved in the decision to relocate the newspaper, but a source with knowledge of the new directive said it was approved with the commandant’s knowledge.

“It is no secret [in the Pentagon] that the commandant does not like Marine Corps Times,” the source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The commandant’s office punted all questions, including whether Amos was involved in the decision to move Marine Corps Times from prominent display in the exchanges,to Manpower & Reserve Affairs, which has oversight of the exchange. A spokeswoman for Manpower & Reserve Affairs said the paper was moved as part of a plan to “professionalize” the front of the exchanges.

As every serviceman and veteran knows, weasels exist at all levels. In this case, it is the Commandant.

***

One last bit. The ‘conservative’ rankings of Congress was released this weekend. Claire McCaskill was ranked 50 out of the 100 Senators. It’s well known that McCaskill voted with the ‘Pubs on issues that had no chance to pass, hence her rating. Missouri’s other Senator, Roy Blunt, supposedly a ‘Pub, was ranked 42, not far above liberal McCaskill. The difference is that McCaskill manipulated her votes to appear more conservative. Blunt didn’t.

I understand that primary opponents to Blunt are forming all across Missouri. It couldn’t happen to be better Senator—and that’s a point. We don’t need two liberal voting Senators and that is exactly what we have had. Time for Blunt to go back to obscurity.

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Malfeasance in Missouri

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An article was published, surprisingly, in the Kansas City Star that damns Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Chris Koster. Koster for current and potential acts as Missouri’s Attorney General, and Nixon when he held the same post.

The case in question, is about a murder trial. A woman was murdered in her home in November 1990. The Sheriff was incompetent. Instead of investigating, as he was required, he allowed a private investigator, hired by the victim’s family, to be the investigator.

Major error #1. The PI concocted a scenario that fit—blame a neighbor who didn’t have an alibi because he was home asleep. The PI also ignored other avenues of investigation. The local prosecutor declined to file charges.

That’s where Jay Nixon stepped in. He needed a win. His reputation was in tatters and he wanted to run for Governor. He assigned an assistant AG to prosecute the case. That AG, Kenny Hulshof, withheld information from the Court and from the defense attorney. Those acts, hiding evidence, was illegal and prejudicial. The defendant, Mark Woodworth, was convicted.

During the trial review, some of the errors were noted and a new trial was ordered. Another assistant AG prosecuted and withheld still more evidence in the second trial. The Woodworth was convicted again.

But the friends and family of Woodworth didn’t give up. They fought and acquired another judicial review. In 2010, Boone County Judge Gary Oxenhandler was tasked with that review.

Oxenhandler said he was convinced that had the investigation and prosecutions been handled properly, “no jury would have convicted Woodworth of the crimes charged.” — KC Star.

The Supreme Court set aside Woodworth’s conviction.

At this point, Chris Koster enters the scene. He vowed to try Woodworth again. Never let it be said that Koster let an opportunity to allow an injustice pass him by.

On a change of venue, the Judge reviewed the case. In his order, returning the case to the Livingston County prosecutor, the judge said, “Given the history of this case, at this point in time there is absolutely no reason the office of attorney general should prosecute this case.” His other comments included the phrases, “a manifold injustice,” and, “the concept of ‘due process of law’ took flight.“

… in a stunning rebuke to some of Missouri’s most powerful politicians, Platte County Judge Owens Lee Hull Jr. has ordered the state attorney general’s office off the case. — KC Star.

Now, Koster has lost his opportunity to continue this example of governmental malfeasance. In all this, besides Nixon and Koster, is another well known name. The initial prosecutor against Woodworth, was Kenny Hulshof, who later was elected to the US House.

The final word in this travesty of justice comes from the article in the Kansas City Star.

As is usually the case, those who mismanage criminal justice meet with few consequences. Nixon spent 16 years as attorney general and moved up to governor. Hulshof served 12 years in the U.S. Congress. Courts have raised serious questions about his handling of several cases during Hulshof’s time as Nixon’s assistant in the attorney general’s office.

Now Koster, another attorney general with big political ambitions, has held a third trial over the head of a man who already has been subjected to two unjust prosecutions and years of lost freedom. — KC Star.

You can read the entire article, here, as reported by Barbara Shelly. Woodworth is currently out of prison, on bond, waiting for the Livingston County prosecutor’s decision whether a third trial is warranted.

When you have democrats in offices of authority, examples of malfeasance seems to be the norm. Democrat Cass County Prosecutor Teresa Hensley, mimics the policies of Koster. She has refused to investigate and prosecute clear cases of malfeasance in the Cass County Clerk’s and Collectors offices—violations of the State nepotism statues and possible fraudulent payments to close relatives.

Hensley went so far, in one case, to have the AG research for any excuse to not prosecute. They came up with one that insiders in Jeff City agree was not applicable. However, Hensley seized the excuse and ran with it.

In the case of the County Clerk, a democrat associate Circuit Judge, who has since left office, declared the Clerk could not be charged for violations that had occurred during a previous term. When proof was provided to Hensley that acts also occurred during the Clerk’s current term, Hensley refused to acknowledge the evidence and has refused to act.

Democrats protecting corrupt democrat office holders.

Wherever democrat politicians are involved, you can be assured, whatever is being done, will not be hindered by law. Lawlessness is the motto of the democrat party from the lowest level of local government, to the county, state and federal governments.

When government is lawless, why should anyone obey the law?

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/29/4785479/koster-furthered-injustice-against.html#storylink=cpy
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The Rime…

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Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
— The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part II, Stanza 14.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Obama must be feeling as if he were that Ancient Mariner, who killed the Albatross and was condemned to wear its dead body around his neck. The difference is that Obama’s Albatross is Obamacare.

Some statistics were published today that is another weight, another burden, around Obama’s political agenda. Statistics, such as:

OBAMACARE POLL: THEY’VE TRIED IT AND THEY DON’T LIKE IT
Fifty percent of voters disapprove of ObamaCare, 43 percent strongly so, according to a poll out from the budget hawk group Public Notice. The survey, conducted by Tarrance Group, found that while 40 percent of respondents approved of the health law, a majority of key groups disapprove including women ages 18 to 44 (51 percent), employees of small businesses (57 percent), adults in households with children (56 percent) and voters who’ve tried to shop on ObamaCare Web sites (52 percent). The poll also showed that Members of Congress who voted for the president’s law are getting a negative reaction from voters, with 43 percent saying they less likely to re-elect those who voted for the health law versus 38 percent who are more likely to vote for their member if he or she voted for ObamaCare. — FOX Newsletter, 12-10-2013.

The critical issue is the age groups in the poll above. These groups are the demographic segment that Obama was planning on soaking to pay for his monstrosity. Now, they are opting out, refusing to play Obama’s game, a game he is losing badly.

But that isn’t the only damaging news about Obamacare. As we move closer to the implementation date, more failings of Obamacare are emerging. This time for prescription drugs—the list of covered drugs has been slashed. Many of us, forced onto Medicare, take maintenance drugs. Some are to control cholesterol, some to control blood pressure, plus many others. Now, with the list of covered drugs slashed, Obamacare and Medicare participants must pay for those drugs out of their pockets. Plus, for Obamacare enrollees, those out-of-pocket costs cannot be charged to your deductible.

OBAMACARE PAIN PILL
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former senior policy adviser to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told Megyn Kelly that many prescriptions may not be covered under ObamaCare. “The list of drugs that the plans cover, in many cases, aren’t very long.  And if the drugs aren’t covered you’re on your own, you basically have to pay for it entirely out of pocket, and the money that you spend on those drugs doesn’t count against your out of pocket limit or against your deductible,” Gottlieb said. “This could cost patients who need special drugs a lot of money, literally tens of thousands of dollars a year.” — FOX Newsletter, 12-10-2013.

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What a disappointment Paul Ryan has turned out to be. He ran in the last election, as a conservative, a tax conservative and a spending conservative. His current budget plan, with democrat Senator Patty Murray, exposes the lies he spoke during that campaign.

The Big Spenders Return

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  December 10th, 2013 at 04:30 AM

If Paul Ryan were a Peanuts character, he’d be the guy who pulls the football out of the way just as he himself is about to kick it. Over the past number of years, Congressman Ryan has come up with a few reform proposals.

From his roadmap to this, he has made as his starting point for negotiations that which should be his ending point.

Now, with liberal Senator Patty Murray, Congressman Ryan wants to raise spending today on the promise that Congress will restrain itself ten years from now (or whenever the benchmark will be). It’s a return to pre-sequestration Washington — spending increases today in exchange for promises of spending cuts later.

I opposed sequestration at the time the GOP came up with it. I figured they’d do an end run around it. But they did not. Surprisingly, they stuck with it if only because they couldn’t figure out a way to undermine it without rocking the boat with their base.

Now it’s looking like they are prepared to rock that boat.

The Democrats have repeated painted doom and gloom scenarios about sequestration. They said it would undermine economic growth, but the latest economic figures dispute that. They said it would cause increased unemployment, but the latest employment numbers dispute that. They’ve said a great deal, all of which has been nonsensical hyperbole.

Based on what has been reported so far, the Ryan-Murray plan seems like outright capitulation to the big spending, big government agenda of both parties’ lobbyist class. In fact, the op-eds already coming out for it are being written by those who stand to profit from more spending.

Congress should start at sequestration spending levels and reduce spending from there — not raise revenue and not raise spending. After all, like Obamacare, sequestration is the law of the land too.

A sellout in any form, is still a sellout. Actions like this, Ryan’s betrayal of his Tea Party supporters, makes me wonder if there are ANY national politicians, Cruz, Lee and a handful of others excepted, who are not traitors to their constituents?

Here is a link to another report on the Paul Ryan-Patty Murray Tax and Spend bill. It’s very informative.

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If you watch the news coming out of the Middle-east, you may have come across this article, the possible creation of strange allies, Saudi Arabia and…Israel! Neither country wants a nuclear Iran on their borders.

Saudis to Obama: We Will Not Tolerate a Nuclear Iran

By Karin McQuillan, December 10, 2013

Individuals who have even visited Israel, or who observe Judaism, or who carry a Bible are banned from Saudi Arabia.  Yet Saudi Arabia’s Israel-hating King Abdullah just flew in an Israeli scientist to have dinner with him, to enjoy some royal hospitality, accept a medal and the $200,000 “Arab Nobel Prize.”  It’s a not-so-subtle message to President Obama: the unthinkable can happen, so don’t assume the Saudis won’t join with Israel to bomb Iran.

Obama’s new Iran policy moves the Mid-East closer to war over oil and religion — Sunni Saudis versus Shia Iranians.  There is no more strategic commodity than Gulf oil to the entire world economy.  American national security stakes could not be higher.   Iran’s end game, some say more than an attack on Israel, is to seize the Saudi oil fields.  There is a Shiite majority in the oil province that the Saudi Princes fear could be turned by Iran.  The Saudis no longer see the U.S. as an ally in stabilizing the Middle East.  We have become a force for chaos. The UK Telegraph:

Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review, said the great unknown is how Saudi Arabia will react to a move deemed treachery in Riyadh… The great question is whether they can live with this deal, or whether it is intolerable,” he said.

Mr Skrebowski said the Middle East is a tinder box, in the grip of a Sunni-Shia civil war comparable in ideological ferocity to the clash between Catholics and Protestants in early 17th Century Europe. Saudi Arabia has already shown how far it will go to protect its interests, helping to overthrow Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

The Saudis are signaling that they will unleash a pre-emptive war in the Middle East in response to Obama’s nuclear capitulation to Iran.  These signals are an effort to change Obama’s decision to prop up the mullahs and green light their nuclear program.  Can the Saudi threats become real?  It’s a wild card our President is willing to play.

The column continues, here, at the American Spectator website.

The Obama administration, acting as if by design, is alienating our friends and allies. If Obama’s plan is to isolate the United States from our friends around the world, he is being extremely successful. That’s is Obama’s only agenda item that is working.

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The day after…

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UPDATE: Tea Party wins big in Colorado.

Yesterday was Election Day in a number of states. A huge tax increase in neighboring Kansas City—$800M for supposed medical research with no oversight, lost in a 5 to 1 verdict or 84% against. The tax supporters spent over $2M dollars unsuccessfully for another case of corporate and union welfare.

(Update) In Colorado, liberals proposed a massive, $950 million tax hike that was earmarked specifically to increase education spending. It lost by a 66% to 34% margin only receiving half the votes in liberal Denver and Boulder.

Teacher unions spent $4 million promoting the measure, outspending opponents by at least ten-to-one. 

But the model crashed on takeoff tonight. Coloradans didn’t just defeat Amendment 66, they repudiated it by a vote of 66 percent to 34. With almost all the results in, the tax hike was only winning half the votes in liberal Denver and Boulder Counties.

The Centennial State may have tilted left in recent years, but tonight’s results suggest there’s a solid counterrevolution against the liberal direction state government has taken. Two Democratic state senators, including the senate president, were recalled in September after voting for gun restrictions. Now the state’s tax-and-spend constituencies have been given a huge black eye by voters who clearly rejected the idea that education could be improved by pouring more money into the existing system. — The National Review.

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Democrats won the governorships In Virginia and New Jersey,. What? Christie ran as a ‘Pub? So? I stand by my statement. Christie ran up a large margin in the election with the active assistance of the ‘Pub establishment and democrats. Therefore, if it quacks like a democrat, waddles like a democrat, it is a democrat.

In Virginia, McAuliffe won by a squeaker. For him to win, he had help from the GOP establishment in the state—‘Pubs who campaigned for McAuliffe, assistance from Karl Rove and the national ‘Pub establishment, and by democrat collusion with the Libertarian party who ran an Obama supporter and political bundler on the Libertarian ticket to siphon conservative votes away from Cuccinelli. McAuliffe’s double-digit poll margin shrank to less than 3% once the votes were counted.

Cuccinelli had to battle the democrats, democrats running as libertarians and his own party. With all that opposition, he lost by a slim margin. Some pundits declared that if Cuccinelli has a few more days, as the news about Obamacare reached more VA voters, he could have won. McAuliffe ran on his support for Obamacare. Cuccinelli ran against it.

The GOP Declares War On Obamacare Conservatives

By: streiff (Diary)  |  November 5th, 2013 at 10:30 AM

GOP-Tea-PartySince the this summer a low level civil war has been simmering within the GOP between conservatives who have grown tired of the lack of desire on the part of the Establishment to resist the radical statism that has epitomized the regime of Barack Obama and the Establishment that seems more than happy to go along with Obama so long as they are kept in champagne and caviar. Many solid conservatives have insisted that the division is overblown and that a big tent is necessary to win elections.

To anyone remaining that thinks a reasonable accommodation may be made with the GOP Establishment, today’s op-ed by Michael Gerson (The GOP’s new reality) should serve as a wake up call. In fact, it is apparent from Gerson’s op-ed that the Establishment views conservatives, not the Democrats, as the existential threat to their place at the trough.

Following the recent tea party Tet Offensive — tactically disastrous but symbolically important — the Republican establishment has commenced counterinsurgency operations. Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee — both facing primary challenges from the right — are responding more forcefully to their populist opponents. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has cut ties with a Republican advertising firm employed by tea party challengers. “We’re not going to do business,” says a spokesman, “with people who profit off of attacking Republicans. Purity for profit is a disease that threatens the Republican Party.”

This vivid turn of phrase — “purity for profit” — captures the main reason Republican leaders are edging away from a strategy of accommodation. The Obama era has unleashed a great deal of genuine populist and libertarian energy. But a good portion of it is being channeled into business and fundraising models that depend on stoking resentment against the GOP itself (at least as currently constituted).

The result is a paradox. Over the past few decades, Republican members of Congress have become more reliably conservative (as their Democratic colleagues, to a lesser extent, have become more liberal). Liberal Republicanism has essentially ceased to exist. This means that tea party conservatives are revolting against a more uniformly conservative party. The RINOs they hunt are actually an endangered species. So they have transformed tactical disagreements — over, say, a hopeless attempt to defund Obamacare — into defining ideological struggles.

I’m going to pause here to address some of the strawmen Gerson has immolated.

First, the disagreement over the government shutdown was only a disagreement over tactics in the shallowest sense. I wrote about that in The Budget Showdown Was About Ideology Not About Tactics.

The disagreement was between those of us who see really clearly that the objective of Obamacare is the implementation of a single payer healthcare system after trashing one-sixth of the US economy and those who agree with what Obama is trying to do but prefer to do it more efficiently and maintain the artifice of a market based economy. Remember, it was the Establishment making the rounds of Sunday shows deriding those who were fighting as “whacko birds” and doubting whether they were Republicans. They were too busy to fight Obama but they had plenty of time to fight conservatives. They had plenty of time to send out fundraising letters based on the three dozen or so staged Potemkin votes they’d made to repeal Obamacare, but when push came to shove, when it became, as we Southerners call it, nut cutting time, they were nowhere to be seen.

The column continues and you can read it here. The column ends with these last two paragraphs.

There is exactly zero evidence today that the GOP exists to win elections.

To the contrary all the evidence indicates that it exists to perpetuate the perks and power of the party leadership and to provide sinecures for a coterie of pathetic losers like former NRSC director Rob Jesmer. They aren’t trying to win elections, they are selecting their buddies to become members of their country club and if their buddy loses the primary they are more than willing to help the Democrats win the general election. As Erick posted in The Hungry and the Well Fed,  they play us for chumps asking for money and assuring us that they will fight like the very devil himself… after the next election… and provided the right guy wins.

That last paragraph says it all.

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