Category Archives: Local Affairs.

Passed…

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As you can see, I have a blog today. That means I was not picked for the jury yesterday. Jury selection took ALL day. We didn’t get finished until nearly 5PM.

The trial promises to be a particularly nasty one. I’m glad, in a way, I wasn’t picked. I think I was excluded due to my answer to the first question yesterday morning.

The court officials were introduced, the Judge, the prosecuting and defending attorneys, and the court recorder. The first question was, “Do any of you [the potential jurors] know any of these officials?” I raised my hand. “Who do you know?” I was asked. “Judge Collins. We are acquaintances.”  I noticed later that everyone who knew Judge Collins was not picked for the Jury. Oh, well.

***

It appears the Nixon impeachment is stalled in committee.

IMPEACHMENT EFFORT NIXED — ‘Missouri House committee will not vote on attempt to impeach Governor Nixon,’ MissouriNet: “Efforts to impeach Governor Jay Nixon (D) will not be brought up for a vote in the House Judiciary Committee, its chairman told Missourinet Monday afternoon. Representative Stanley Cox’s (R-Sedalia) committee held two hearings in the last two weeks on three resolutions seeking to impeach Nixon on three different lines of reasoning. After a hearing last week he went to the members of that committee and asked them whether they wanted to vote on the resolutions. … Cox says he agrees with the decision of the committee members. … Cox says he believes there is strong circumstantial evidence that Nixon violated the laws of the state, but says he and the other Judiciary Committee members did not think the evidence and arguments met the standard for impeachment. … The articles of impeachment filed against Nixon accused him of violating the state’s Constitution in three areas.” — PolitcMO Newsletter, May 6, 2014.

Other bills, such as the Paper ballot initiative, are also hung in committee. On the other hand, Nixon’s veto of the Tax Cut bill could be overridden before this legislative term is over.

TAX CUT OVERRIDE IN SIGHT — Republicans believe they have the votes to override Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of Senate Bill 509: ‘Mo. House plans Tuesday vote to override Nixon’s veto of tax cut,’ PoliticMo: “The Missouri House of Representatives is expected to vote on Tuesday to override Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a $620 million tax cut. By a party line vote on Monday, the Missouri Senate sent the tax cut bill back to the House on Monday afternoon, but Republicans opted to wait until Tuesday when all their members would be present to take a vote, House Majority Floor Leader John Diehl said after the House adjourned. Republicans need the support of all 108 House Republicans and at least one Democrat to override Nixon’s veto. The bill would reduce the maximum tax rate on personal income from 6 to 5.5 percent beginning in 2017 and allow a 25 percent deduction of business income on personal tax returns. Both provisions would be contingent on state revenues being $150 million higher than the highest of the three previous years.

“Democratic Reps. Keith English, D-Florissant, and Jeff Roorda, D-Barnhart, (the lone Democrat to support the bill initially) are considering siding with the Republican majority to override Nixon’s veto. “Do you believe you have the votes,” a reporter asked Diehl. “I believe I do.” Nixon has opposed the bill citing the potential negative impact of reduced revenue on education funding, as well as a potential “fatal flaw” that he had said could eliminate the entire income tax code above $9,000.”

— The bill has been the subject of a compressed campaign-like effort from both sides of the issue. Nixon has made more than a dozens of trips to cities and towns across Missouri urging residents to call their lawmakers and tell them to oppose the bill. Nixon, speaking in Springfield on Monday, pointed to the recent downgrade of the credit rating for the state of Kansas, which recently cut taxes on a similar scale. Nixon’s tour schedule since April 16: Jefferson City, Mo., Ozark, Mo., St. Louis County, Mo., Kansas City, Mo., Springfield, Mo., Jefferson City, Mo., Columbia, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., Savannah, Mo., Springfield, Mo., De Soto, Mo., St. Louis, Mo., Jefferson City, Mo., Kansas City, Mo., and Springfield, Mo.

— Agriculture and business groups have lined up in favor of SB 509 in a way many tried to avoid during the HB 253 fight last year. The groups include the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Associated Industries of Missouri, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri Association of CPAs, Missouri Retailers Association, Missouri Realtors Association, Missouri Poultry Association, Missouri Pork Association, Missouri Grocers Association, Missouri Dairy Association, and the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association.

HOW THEY SEE US — A12 of the New York edition of the New York Times today, Julie Bosman from Jefferson City, ‘In Missouri, Republicans Prevail on Tax Bill’:  “In a showdown over tax policy, the Republican-controlled State Senate on Monday overrode Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a major tax-cut bill, setting the stage for sharp reductions in state personal income taxes. The Senate debated the bill for less than 30 minutes before overriding the veto on a 23-to-8 vote. The Republican-controlled House is expected to vote on the override on Tuesday. Myron Neth, a Republican member of the House, delivered an impassioned speech on the floor in favor of the bill Monday night, arguing that the state needed to give businesses tax breaks in order to stay competitive.  …

“The vote was a rebuke of Mr. Nixon, who last September lobbied so vigorously against a different tax-cut bill championed by Republican legislators that the lawmakers failed to override his veto of that measure. The governor, who had described the new tax-cut bill as ‘ill-conceived,’ said in an interview Monday night that he was prepared for it to now become law. … Democratic senators who spoke against the bill said they worried it would threaten Missouri’s excellent credit rating and reduce state funds for education. … After the legislature failed to override the governor’s veto last year, the Republicans came back this spring with a shorter bill, only five pages long. They rallied more support in the business community and argued that the tax cut would boost small businesses. In the halls of the Capitol, they posted black-and-white placards outside their offices, displaying the number of businesses in their districts that they said would benefit. And perhaps most crucially, after the governor vetoed the most recent bill last Thursday, they moved quickly to schedule an override session, hastily gathering members on Monday.” — PoliticMO Newsletter, May 6, 2014.

***

And for a parting shot, here’s an editorial how Tea Partiers are terrorizing the GOP Establishment.

PRUDEN: Tea Party challengers terrorizing the Republican establishment again

By Wesley Pruden, The Washington Times, Monday, May 5, 2014

This might be the year of the state senator. That’s not necessarily a good thing. It’s how Barack Obama got his start. Several ambitious state senators are challenging incumbent Republican senators, and the prospect of surprises from the heartland terrifies the Republican establishment.

Some incumbents apparently no longer actually live in the states they represent, having outgrown their bucolic origins and aspire to the undisturbed life in Hollywood on the Potomac, bathed in the twinkle and tinsel of an ersatz Hollywood.

The patricians of the Republican establishment — party moguls from yesteryear, aspiring kingmakers, PAC artists and corporate patriots — are trying to kill the Tea Party graveyard dead, so the patricians can retreat to the gentle Capitol Hill life of going along to get along. Tea Party zealots, who think passion and zealotry in the cause of reform is what the market is waiting for, are out to teach the party establishment to treat them with a little respect. No more Rodney Dangerfield.

Establishment Republicans, with their green-eyeshade DNA, are always afraid of controversy, and learn to deal with it reluctantly, and usually not very well. This puts them at disadvantage, often fatal, with Democrats, who love hubbub, chaos and brawling. “Democrats are like alley cats,” a wise old party elder in the South once observed. “Democrats fight, and alley cats fight, and the result is more Democrats and more cats.”

Tea Party Republicans usually come equipped with more fire and zeal than smarts and moxie, but they’re learning. In the recent past they had to learn the hard way with little help from the experienced party establishment. The Republicans might have taken the Senate four years ago if several of the party regulars who could have helped inept nominees had not jeered from the sidelines after their candidates lost in the primary.

Several Democratic senators were begging to be picked off, but incompetent nominees, including two who said dumb things about rape and abortion, saved the Democratic majority. They were left twisting slowly, slowly in the wind. Two years ago, the establishment got the candidates it wanted in North Dakota, Ohio and Montana, and lost just like the Tea Party upstarts.

The Tea Party, says Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who managed the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2010 and 2012, says the Tea Party movement “was the wind at our backs in 2010,” but when fissures opened the party produced “candidates who could get nominated but who couldn’t get elected, and that’s obviously not the goal.”

Two upstarts this year are state senators, Joni Ernst in Iowa and Chris McDaniel in Mississippi. Mrs. Ernst looks like a fashionable Junior League matron, rides a Harley hog, commands the largest battalion in the Iowa National Guard as an Army lieutenant colonel (her husband is a retired sergeant major), and talks like an earthy Democrat. She boasts that as an Iowa farm girl she learned to castrate hogs and that will make her effective in cutting pork in Washington. Some Iowans thought this was in bad taste, but her polls number jumped at once. She emerged from also-ran to contender almost overnight.

Mr. McDaniel has mounted the most brazen challenge of all, as Republicans define brazen. He’s challenging Sen. Thad Cochran, who is running for his seventh term, and he has the endorsement of every Republican who ever sat on a veranda at the country club, sipping pink gin or a Pimm’s No. 1 cup.

Mr. McDaniel, like any well -brought-up Southerner, shows the senator, 76, respect and due deference, but argues that he’s not conservative enough and that six terms is enough for anyone. The Republican establishment, led in Mississippi by Haley Barbour, the former governor, likes the senator for the reason that Mr. McDaniel doesn’t. He’s the king of pork and the emperor of earmarks, just the sort Joni Ernst wants to confront with her pig shears.

The senator has a shrinking lead in the polls, but has little organization — until this year he never needed one — and he lent credence to the charge that he’s out of touch with Mississippi when it was discovered that he lists a rented Capitol Hill basement apartment as his “primary residence.” This is only a little more persuasive than the “rented room with bath” in Dodge City that Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas lists as his Kansas residence. Mr. Roberts is hotly pursued by Milton Wolf, locally infamous as the second cousin, once removed, of Barack Obama. Suddenly, the Republicans are getting to be fun.

Y’all have a great day!

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Lies and Politics

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Casa Crucis is only a few miles from the Missouri-Kansas border. It’s not unusual to hear Kansan political ads on the radio. The big battle in Kansas is that between incumbent US Senator Pat Roberts and Tea Partier Milton Wolfe. Both are running to be the ‘Pub Senatorial candidate in the upcoming Primary

The campaign turned nasty from the beginning—from the Robert’s people. Milton Wolfe correctly, and truthfully, pointed out that Roberts has no permanent residence in Kansas. In Roberts’ own words, he leases a recliner in a friend’s home. Roberts has had no residence in Kansas for decades, but he still claims to be a Kansan.

I expected Roberts to refute Wolfe’s claims. He did not. Instead, he went directly to smear mode. He produced supposed Facebook posts from Wolfe that supposedly disrespected clients and making disrespectful comments about some X-Rays.

I have to admit that I’m biased towards Milton Wolfe. I’ve heard him speak and was impressed with his comments and goals. When Roberts released that ad, my immediately thought was how did Roberts get those Facebook comments? Did he hack Wolfe’s account? Did he hire some hackers to do so. Were those comments real? Nothing I’ve been able to find supports Roberts claims.

To the best that I’ve been able to determine, the ad against Milton Wolfe is a complete fabrication. It the comments were accurate, then Roberts broke the law by hacking Wolfe’s Facebook account or having it hacked. I suspect Roberts’ motivation is a poll that shows Wolfe has a strong following in Kansas.

In the end, the question is more whom can you trust? Wolfe who has the facts readily available to support his claims about Roberts non-Kansas residency, or Roberts smear tactics? Personally, I will not support any candidate who chooses to use smear tactics as his primary campaign plan.

Roberts is a long time establishment ‘Pub, a buddy of Mitch McConnell. It’s time for both of them to go.

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Local Missouri politics aren’t much, if any, better. Here in Cass County, the battle is between the current conservative ‘Pub candidates against the old county Oligarchy. Jeff Cox, whom I support both in time and money, is running for Presiding Commissioner. He was elected to fill a partial, two-year term to complete the term of the previous Commissioner who was removed from office, not for malfeasance, but because of an out-of-state felony conviction. I’ll not go into the background on that, it’s not pertinent in this election.

In the previous county government, two ‘Pubs quit. One, when some questionable contracts were exposed, quit in mid-term. The other, also reportedly involved in questionable contracts and possible fraud, chose to not run for re-election. That last former commission now plans on being the county puppet-master with a personal string of proxy office holders. He already has one in office, the northern county commissioner.

The county Auditor, Ron Johnson, has a primary opponent, too. That opponent is a former employee who was fired for cause and is now one of the Oligarchy’s puppets. It was Ron Johnson who exposed all the fraud and deceit in the former county administration. The Kansas City Star printed an expose about the machinations of the Cass County Oligarchy.

Government Watch | For years, Cass County could be paying for failed broadband and energy projects

April 22, 2014, By DONALD BRADLEY, The Kansas City Star

A recent day in an upstairs office in the Cass County courthouse, Presiding Commissioner Jeff Cox used the acronym “BMT.

 

BETHANY BASHIOUM | Special to The Star Tri-Gen, a generator built to provide electrical power to the Cass County Justice Center, was a failure. It was meant to use renewable energy from sweet sorghum silage to produce methane gas. County officials agreed in 2008 to build the generator at a cost of $15 million. The idea was to provide energy to the Justice Center and then sell leftover power on the open grid. But it turned out the county was prohibited by regulation from selling surplus power, a fact they were unaware of until threatened with litigation.

County Auditor Ron Johnson smiled.

“Before my time,” Johnson explained.

These days, the two talk a lot about things before their time in office and they want to make sure people, particularly voters, know they were nowhere around when two of those things came to be.

Why?

Because the county’s broadband fiber network and Tri-Gen, a generator built to provide electrical power to the Justice Center, both were colossal failures that the county will be paying on for years with nothing in return.

Tri-Gen alone is costing the county $175,000 this budget year, not counting legal expenses.

Both projects were approved by officials no longer in office.

“Mistakes were made in recent years that will take years to recover from,” Cox said.

Today, broadband is dead in the ditch and Tri-Gen is shut down and the subject of lawsuits.

Gary Mallory, who was presiding commissioner when both projects began, declined to comment.

Cox and Johnson hope voters this year don’t hold either of them responsible. They wonder, too, if ending the two projects has anything to do with them facing primary opposition in August.

Killing broadband was difficult, Johnson said, but it was a decision that may have kept the county from filing for bankruptcy.

“We had to take the least bad option,” Johnson said.

To be sure, the county did go through a time of turmoil. The very day a newly elected presiding commissioner was sworn into office, the county prosecutor filed suit to remove him because of a felony conviction.

Another commissioner resigned. The other chose not to seek re-election.

All the while, the broadband and Tri-Gen projects — which began with high hopes and multimillion-dollar price tags — were struggling.

Broadband kicked off in 2011 with the goal of providing high-speed Internet access to 12,000 households and hundreds of businesses in rural areas. The $26 million cost would come from government grants and low-interest loans.

But the federal government withheld grants because of a delay in a county audit. Some contractors did not get paid. One filed suit against the county. The project suffered, too, from not having enough inspectors.

Cox studied the viability of the project after taking office last year. He decided to kill it.

It’s unknown how much money the county will eventually pay for the project. That will depend on the outcome of litigation and whether federal money ever comes through.

Tri-Gen, which would use renewable energy from sweet sorghum silage to produce methane gas, came on board in 2008 when county officials agreed to build the generator at a cost of $15 million. The idea was to provide energy to the Justice Center and then sell leftover power on the open grid.

But it turned out, they were prohibited by regulation from selling surplus power — a fact they were unaware of until threatened with litigation. But it didn’t matter much anyway because, according to Cox, the science behind the project wasn’t viable.

Cox said a pilot project at the University of Central Missouri never worked.

“You don’t build a multimillion-dollar generator without making sure the science works first,” Cox said. “It was a mistake. The county had no business getting involved in that.

“That said, the county was sold a bill of goods.”

Last June, the county sued Universal Asset Management, the contractor for Tri-Gen, and the head of the company, Gary Lee. The suit alleges breach of contract, professional negligence, fraud and misrepresentation.

Universal Asset Management was also the company behind the broadband project. The phone number listed on the company’s webpage is no longer in use.

About a year earlier, Lee and UAM had sued Johnson and Cass County alleging breach of contract.

Lee and his attorney could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, the county is stuck with bills for both. This year’s budget shows $175,000 went to debt service for Tri-Gen, an outlay that may continue for decades.

“When I think of all the things we could have used that money for — sheriff deputies, road repairs,” Cox said. “It’s hard not to be a little angry.

“And we’re going to be paying a long time.”

What about that fired employee who is now running against Ron Johnson? He was fired for releasing documents, without authority, to UAM. His mentor in his campaign against Ron Johnson is an employee of UAM, the former county commissioner who was deeply involved in issuing those fraudulent contracts to UAM. Millions of dollars in those contracts are still unaccounted for and the basis for a number of lawsuits.

What is the motivation of this clandestine oligarchy? Perhaps it is an attempt to hide their actions being investigated by federal authorities. Perhaps it is an attempt to gain control of those offices whose current holders exposed their actions. Control of those offices would allow them to hinder further investigation. Or, perhaps, it is just plain, old, lust for power by any means.

Whatever the motivation, their tactics should be familiar to anyone observant to county politics. They use the same tactics as do democrats.

But there are honest, ethical commissioners in the county, Jeff Cox and one other commissioner. Who is Cox’s best ally in regaining fiscal health to the county? It is the southern county commission—a democrat. The other commissioner, a supposed ‘Pub who hasn’t met a TIF he didn’t like, is a member of the Oligarchy. Many of the county executive decisions are made with a two-vote majority (of the three possible votes.) That majority is Jeff Cox, the presiding commissioner, and the democrat southern commissioner.

It’s significant when the democrat southern commissioner is more interested and involved in keeping the county’s finances in the black while the so-called ‘pub, northern commissioner wants to spend, spend, spend.

 

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/04/22/4976141/government-watch-for-years-cass.html#storylink=cpy

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Milestones

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Missouri House Bill 1439, The Second Amendment Protection Act, passed in the Missouri Senate last night, April 30, 2014, on a vote of 23 to 8. It had passed the House earlier, on April 12, 2014, on a vote of 119 to 41.

According to an email issued by Ron Calzone, the Senate made some language changes that will require another vote in the House. He expects that vote to occur today. The changes are minor language clarifications that do not affect the purpose of the Bill.

April 30, 2014

HB 1439 “passed” in the House 110 to 41 on April 12th, now it has passed the Senate by a vote of 23 to 8. Both votes are enough to override a veto by the Governor.

A few minutes before 7:00 on Wednesday, the Missouri Senate voted 23 to 8 to “third read and pass” HB 1439, the Second Amendment Preservation Act.

Since the Senate made changes to the House version of the bill, the House has to vote on it one more time to accept those changes. If they don’t accept the changes, both the Senate and House will have to vote again.

The Senate made the changes we desired — we put teeth back in the bill and removed the troublesome controlled substances language.

Some other friendly amendments were added prior to taking the bill to the floor, and a couple of technical fixes were added on the floor. Although the changes were not part of the underlying Second Amendment Preservation Act, they are all germane to the bill title and good for gun rights.

The final language of HB 1439, as passed the Senate, will be available here: http://www.house.mo.gov/billsummary.aspx?bill=HB1439&year=2014&code=R in a day or two. Be sure to click on the link that says “Senate Sub”, not “Senate Comm Sub” to get the latest round of amendments.

The SAPA portion of the bill can also be viewed here: http://www.mofirst.org/?page=issues/nullification/SAPA/HB1439-Detailed.php

Hopefully, the House will take up HB 1439 as early as tomorrow and pass it without further amendments – then it can be sent to the Governor

We’ll have more new as it develops.

For liberty,

– Ron

One more milestone passed on the road to full passage in Missouri. The vote totals are important. They show enough support in the Legislature to override Jay Nixon’s expected veto.

***

I’m glad a local State Representative won’t be running for office again. Why? Here’s why: He allowed a vote on, and voted for, Medicaid Expansion in Missouri, a requirement for the full implementation of Obamacare.

MEDICAID EXPANSION — ‘Medicaid bill wins symbolic vote, inches forward in Mo. House,’ Virginia Young: “In what Missouri House Insurance Committee Chairman Chris Molendorp acknowledged was a symbolic move, a Medicaid expansion measure gained its first committee endorsement of the year today. Molendorp, R-Belton, and the four Democrats on his committee combined to recommend a wide-ranging bill that would expand the public health insurance system to about 300,000 low-income adults. The vote was 5-2, with five Republicans absent. … The 121-page proposal adopted by the committee is modeled on a plan developed by Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City. It attempts to address GOP opposition to Medicaid expansion by requiring a host of changes, such as photo IDs for food stamp recipients and more transparent billing practices for hospitals. But with only 11 days left in the legislative session and GOP leaders opposed to the bill, it’s unlikely to go any further. Molendorp acknowledged as much after the committee vote. — PoliticMo Email, May 1, 2014.

Molendorp says the passage was symbolic. The truth of the matter is that the proposal should have never reached this point. Missouri can’t afford Medicaid Expansion. The Feds will provide funds for three years. After that, the ENTIRE cost burden would fall on the state. We can’t afford such gross unfunded mandates.

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Impeachment efforts against Governor Jay Nixon reached another milestone yesterday with the completion of public comments in the Missouri House Judiciary Committee. The Committee Chairman, Representative Stanley Cox (R-Sedalia), said he would poll committee members to see if they wanted to vote and move forward.

IMPEACH NIXON? — ‘Mo. House committee considering vote on impeaching Nixon,’ PoliticMo: “The Missouri House Judiciary Committee heard final testimony on Wednesday in favor of resolutions moving to impeach Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon. Rep. Stanley Cox, a Sedalia Republican who chairs the committee, said he will now begin meeting with committee members to consider whether to send the resolutions on to the full House. “I’m going to see if there is a majority of the committee that wants to vote,” Cox said. “I haven’t decided how I’m going to vote. I’m going to talk to the other committee and see how they’re going to be.

“The two days of hearings, which began last week, were to hear three Republican-backed resolutions against Nixon. One, sponsored by Rep. Nick Marshall, alleges Nixon violated the Missouri Constitution’s provision banning same-sex marriage in issuing an executive order allowing the Missouri Department of Revenue to accept tax returns from same-sex couples filing jointly with the federal government. It was heard last week. The second, filed by Rep. Mike Moon, was critical of delayed calls for special elections in three vacant House seats. The third, by Rep. Rick Brattin, accused the Nixon administration of releasing private conceal-carry weapons permit source documents to federal authorities. They were heard by the committee on Wednesday. As they did last week, several committee members, including a handful of Republicans, expressed concerns that any legal issue with action from the governor might be better handled in the judicial system. Moon said impeachment hearings are by definition political and should be seen as a constitutional check on the executive branch. … 

“Brattin faced perhaps the most critical reception from the committee. He alleges Nixon’s administration violated privacy concerns in releasing data to the federal government in response to subpoenas, but did not state any specific crime Nixon had committed himself. Instead, Brattin accused Nixon of turning his attention away from the issue and allowing his administration to break the state law banning implementation of REAL ID. But Nixon did act, and let his director of the Department of Revenue go (he resigned at the height of the controversy last year). Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, noted that the court and the state auditor had sided with Nixon on the controversy in noting that he did not break any laws. In other words, two branches of government have sided with Nixon.” http://bit.ly/1fzoDP3 — PoliticMO Newsletter, May 1, 2014

***

While this might not be a milestone, it is revealing about the character of John Boehner. The writer of the article below agrees with my statements that I have written over the last few years.

Is John Boehner Stupid, Bought, or Playing for Other Side?

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Something is wrong with the most powerful Republican in the United States Congress. He is either stupid, bought and paid for by crony corporate interests, or he’s on the other side (a Democrat posing as a Republican). Because nothing else explains the news that the GOP intends to pass immigration reform (i.e. amnesty) this year.

Nothing.

You might be wondering how I know it’s “amnesty?” Because to pass it through Harry Reid’s Senate and to avoid a veto from President Barack Obama, it must include some form of amnesty for illegal immigrants (i.e. future Democratic voters). Nothing could ever pass Harry Reid’s Senate that doesn’t include some form of amnesty, allowing Democrats to wear the crown of conquering heroes to the Latino community and therefore garner more votes for Team Obama in November.

Democrats are about to be crushed. They are drowning. They are desperate to shuffle the deck. Why would any sane GOP leader throw them a life preserver?

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer – the ultimate liberal – is winking and nodding on Sunday morning TV shows like it’s a done deal.

Do you think he’s winking because he’s just agreed in the backroom to a deal that hurts Democratic voters? Do you think the president that has, for all intents and purposes halted deportations, would agree to any bill that sells illegal immigrants down the river? If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you in…Mexico.

Now let’s examine why even discussing (let alone passing) any immigration bill is self-destructive, stupid and political suicide for Republicans.

First, Democrats are on the run. They are about to be destroyed in November. Every poll shows it. Every bit of common sense tells the same story. Every conversation with average middle class Americans proves it. Obamacare has ruined Obama and the Democratic Party. The latest poll shows Obama at 41 percent approval.

There are literally no voters left to support Obama who aren’t being bribed with a government check. Just as I reported earlier this year, Obama’s support among the actual taxpayers, business owners and homeowners of America is darn close to zero.

Knowing this, why would the leader of Congressional Republicans want to change the conversation? Why would he want to let Obama off the hook? Why would he discuss anything but Obamacare for the next six months? Doesn’t Boehner want to win? When you’ve got the opposition on the run, why would you lift your boot off their neck? Makes me wonder which team he’s playing for. What about you?

Why wouldn’t any sane GOP leader keep talking Obamacare 24/7 for six months in a row, until the clock runs out? Millions have lost their coverage; millions more have had premiums raised; millions have lost their doctors; everyone that can think is steaming mad.

The vast majority of people who got free insurance from Obamacare are virtually 100 percent government-addicted, welfare-loving, food stamp-loving, dependent Democratic voters. Obama hasn’t picked up one vote. But he’s gotten millions of independents mad as a hornet’s nest.

AP

AP 

To change the conversation now would be dereliction of duty. If this were the military, Gen. Boehner would be relieved of his command and brought up on criminal charges. He is harming his own troops. He is purposely losing the war. He is pulling defeat from the jaws of victory. Who does that?

Secondly, my grandfather taught me about how to treat your loyal customers. He was a successful small business owner. He always said the key to success was “the customer is always right.”

Why would Boehner poke a stick in the eyes of his best customers? Why would he mock conservatives? Why would he turnoff his loyal conservative base now, on the precipice of a landslide in November? It defies logic.

Third and most importantly, if everyone “in the know” believes the GOP is on the verge of a massive landslide victory (and they are), why would you even think of negotiating an immigration reform bill now?

Think about it. Now it’s a lose/lose. Obama and Reid hold all the cards. But starting in January 2015, with a GOP Senate and House, with Obama an embarrassed, emasculated lame duck, the GOP would hold all the cards.

What Republican leader would be dumb enough to pass the bill now? Wait until 2015 and instead of begging for crumbs, the GOP is dictating the terms of Obama’s surrender. What sane leader would trade a win/win for a lose/lose scenario?

Into this situation steps Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), leader of the party that practices shooting itself in the foot. Boehner is theoretically on our side, yet he wants to let Democrats off the hook for Obamacare, change the conversation to something divisive and controversial, demoralize and anger his own best customers, hand a moral victory to Obama, inspire the Democrats’ core voters, and negotiate from the worst possible position, instead of waiting just a few months to negotiate from the best possible position.

Does any of this make sense to you? So I ask you…

Is John Boehner stupid, bought and paid for, or on the other side? He’s either not thinking clearly, or he’s not on our side. No matter your answer, it’s now clear Boehner has to go.

Normally, I take anything from The Blaze with a large dose of salt. All too often, Beck and his crew have their tin-foil hats on too tight. But…this time they agree with me and say the same, paraphrased, as have I. As the adage goes, the quality of an article is directly proportional to the degree it agrees with you.

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Friday’s Review

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Tens of millions of people across the country celebrated today with the news that Kathleen Sebelius is resigning as Secretary of Health and Human Services. As she read her resignation speech, she reached one point and said, “Oh! There’s a page missing!”  That is indicative why those millions are celebrating.

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Catherine Hanaway spoke at the Cass County Lincoln Day dinner last night; she is running for Governor. Her opponent will likely be Chris Koster, Missouri’s current Attorney General. Hanaway is an eloquent speaker and has an impressive resume including positions as US Attorney for Western Missouri and Missouri Speaker of the House. The paragraph below arrived in my email box this morning.

Catherine Hanaway’s campaign touted support from a couple dozen sitting lawmakers, including: Senate President Pro-Tem Tom Dempsey, St. Charles; Senate Majority Floor Leader Ron Richard, Joplin; Senator Brian Munzlinger, Monitcello; Senator Mike Kehoe, Jefferson City; Senator Will Kraus, Lee’s Summit; Rep. Susan Allen, Chesterfield; House Asst. Majority Floor Leader Mike Cierpiot, Lee’s Summit; Rep. Marsha Haefner, St. Louis; Rep. Tom Flanigan, Carthage; Rep. Bill Lant, Pineville; Rep. Bill Reiboldt, Neosho; Rep. Sheila Solon, Blue Springs and Rep. Ann Zerr, St. Charles. — PoliticMO Rundown, April 11, 2014.

I noticed two infamous RINOs in her list of supporters, Ron Richard and Tom Dempsey, the two state Senators that killed the 2013 2nd Amendment Protection bill last September when they refused, after a junket out of the country with Jay Nixon a month earlier, to override Nixon’s veto.

Seeing these two in Hanaway’s list of supporters gives me pause. If elected, will she support our 2nd Amendment freedom, gun owners and gun rights, or, will she stab us in the back like Dempsey and Richard?

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A Rasmussen report today says the 59% of the GOP think their representatives in both Houses of Congress are out of touch with their party’s base. I’m surprised the percentage was so low.

***

Red State has a ‘breaking’ news report this morning. The White House admits the democrats will lose the Senate come the Fall election.

BREAKING: White House Admits Democrats Will Lose the Senate

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  April 10th, 2014 at 05:48 PM

Put another way, Kathleen Sebelius has resigned and “Senior Administration Officials” are telling the media it is because of healthcare.gov.

You do not have a celebration event last week to celebrate 7 million sign ups and have Sebelius there to get credit then this week throw her under the bus because of a screw up that happened last October.

They have been standing with her since last October. They stood with her when the President’s polling was nosediving and throwing her under the bus could have stopped the bleeding.

They are doing so now. Sebelius actually resigned last week and the President already has a nominee ready to roll out tomorrow.

Why?

Their internal polling must be terrible and they want her gone and the issue treated as “old news” before the GOP takes the Senate in November.

Sebelius leaving now is a pretty direct admission against interest that the Democrats expect to lose the Senate and do not see any events on the horizon to change that momentum. Now, they’re just trying to slow the momentum down.

That is good news. I don’t think there will be enough seats up for election to gain a veto-proof majority, however. My fear is that those elected will be as weak-willed and spineless as Mitch McConnell and his establishment sycophants instead of strong conservatives like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.

Having a majority in the Senate is useless if the new GOP Majority Leader won’t confront Harry Reid and Obama. We don’t need RINOs leading the Senate and I fear that is exactly what will happen.

“But—but—but, the GOP will stand up for us conservatives, won’t they?” says the GOP rank and file.

“Will they?” says I. That is the question and conservatives have no assurances the establishment will do so.

***

And for a parting shot, here is this story. A GOP official fails to appear on Laura Ingraham’s show after he bad-mouths conservatives who don’t support amnesty.

Virginia GOP official that dissed anti-amnesty Republicans skips Laura Ingraham radio show

 

11:44 PM 04/10/2014

Virginia Republican Party executive director Shaun Kenney was a “no show” to conservative host Laura Ingraham’s radio program Thursday.

Ingraham was prepared to question Kenney about his statements that conservatives who oppose amnesty are afraid of “The Other” and that “nativists” should be driven out of the Republican party. Kenney made the statements in an office meeting that included former SEIU secretary-treasurer Eliseo Medina, according to video footage published Tuesday by The Daily Caller, and on his personal blog.

“And I think that we understand too that there’s a lot of people that are afraid, of you. Not for any reason that they ought to be but because you’re just not somebody, you’re just not people that they’ve ever had an opportunity to sit down and encounter, to talk to… A lot of people concern themselves with the Other, and it’s not a comfortable thing to have dialogue, and it’s not a comfortable thing to have that encounter with the Other,” Kenney said on the issue of immigration reform, according to the video.

Kenney also added that neither party should support immigration reform simply for “vote-harvesting” purposes, though SEIU official Eliseo Medina, present at the meeting with Kenney, previously pitched immigration reform in a speech by stating that it would help Democratic chances.

“The nativists have no home in the modern Republican Party,” Kenney wrote in a February blog post on his website BearingDrift.com. ”They have no place in the history of a Free America… They deserve nothing more than a footnote to the ignorance that liberty rightly stamps out… Conservatives are smarter than this, and America deserve better than nativist hate. Drive ‘em out, ladies and gentlemen. Generations are watching.”

If there is anyone or any group who should be run out of the GOP, it is Kenney and those like him.

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Followup to an election

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Our local elections were held yesterday. All-in-all, three of the four candidates that I voted for won and two of the  three city issues that I voted for passed. The third issue passed, too, but I didn’t vote for it. It was too vaguely worded to understand what it was changing, consequently, I voted against it.

In our local school board election, two ‘conservatives’ won plus one flaming lib. In all, I don’t think the slant of the school board has changed. It seems that all the board members roll over to the union and suck up for more state and federal money. I hope the two that I voted for hinder, as much as they can, the slide towards social education indoctrination that masquerades as education.

http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/graphic/C4197855127.JPGIn Jefferson City, Right To Work (RTW) is coming to a vote in the House. Twelve ‘Pubs have said they would vote against RTW. Many of them are dependent on campaign funds from unions and won’t vote against their paymasters.

Burlison seeks outside help in lead-up to ‘right-to-work’ vote

by  • 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – When a number of Republicans quietly raised objections to taking a vote on ‘right-to-work’ in private caucus meetings, some Republicans decided to increase the pressure from the outside.

More than a dozen Republican members – including Wanda Brown, Paul Curtman, Chuck Gatchenberger, Casey Guernsey, Ron Hicks, Jim Neely, Donna Pfautsch, Craig Redmon, Jeannie Riddle, Noel Shull, Brian Spencer, T.J. Berry Noel Torpey, and Kathy Swan – apparently raised objections to taking a vote on the issue to Rep. Eric Burlison, the bill’s House sponsor, in private meetings.

Burlison slipped much of the whip count to Republicans involved with assisting outside conservative groups. The list was sent in a March 24 email to the lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, for example, and other outside groups have relied on the same list. With the information, national interests have increased their pressure as a potential vote in the House seems imminent. .

Groups like FreedomWorks, in the lead up to a potential vote, began targeting lawmakers like Reps. T.J. Berry, R-Independence and Chuck Gatchenberger, R-St. Charles.

They are not the only ones to watch if the bill comes up in the Missouri House. Twenty Republicans voted against ‘paycheck protection’ when it arose in the House last week, a less strict restriction on union activity. The bill passed with just one vote to spare.

It’s going to be a rough legislative session in Jeff City. We’re in a weaker position this year than last year and many (most? all?), of the bills will be vetoed by Jay Nixon. That will drive another veto session next September. It is possible we would have more success this coming September. September leads into the November elections. Perhaps some RINOs, mindful of the coming election will vote to override Nixon’s veto. Or…maybe not.

In any case, we must keep the pressure on even if it means allowing a RINO to lose to a dem. With a dem, we know where we stand. With a RINO, we must be always watchful for the knife in the back. Why bother voting for a RINO when the end result is the same?

I did not vote for a city councilman this election. One was running unopposed. He was a member of the county oligarchy. By that I mean he was a member of a group who wants control of the county regardless of party. This group was responsible for the disastrous Broadband project that wasted millions of county money, a large segment, millions, disappeared and cannot be accounted for. This councilman candidate had no opponent. I still didn’t vote for him. He did receive a couple of hundred votes, I believe.

That’s local politics and, someone said, all politics are local. I agree. Local politics is where the battles begin.

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Election Day: the Start of the Political Season

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http://cmsimg.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Avis=U0&Dato=99999999&Kategori=FON&Lopenr=140326041&Ref=AR&MaxW=280&Election-2014Today is Election Day in Cass County. The elections are for some city council seats, a few mayoral races and for school and other boards across the county.

Locally, there are three amendments to our city charter—no tax deadbeats nor felons can run for mayor or city council and language to modify citizen-led petitions. Mrs. Crucis and I will go vote later this morning.

These elections are non-partisan. That means there is no party identification which makes it more difficult to choose which ones are wolves in sheep clothing. You had to really dig this time around to determine their positions because the libs and progressives know that if their real agenda was known, they would likely not be elected.

Here’s my rule-of-thumb deciding for whom to vote. First for city council: does the candidate promote section 8 housing (at least one here does,) wasteful spending (we don’t need a community center when there is one just three miles down the road,) and/or ‘sustainability.’ If the candidate has a record of supporting any of these issues, or has supported these issues outside of office, I’ll not vote for them.

Likewise for school board: if the candidate supports the teacher’s unions, more spending but less accountability, or Common Core, they will not get my vote. There is one school board candidate who has been soft on spending and unions that I’ve not yet decided whether that candidate will get my vote. I probably won’t decided until I’m about to mark my ballot. That happens sometimes. There is nothing that says I have to vote for every open position.

This Election Day is for local positions and issues. County, state and federal elections will come later, a primary this summer and national mid-term elections in the Fall.

The political season is upon us. This election will likely be small if it follows the trend of previous years. Some folks just can’t get worked up over local issues and elections. The worst of it all is that these local elections can be more important in people’s daily lives than many of the broader issues and elections decided later this year. What can be more important that the qualify and effectiveness of your children’s education? Many, myself included, believe public schools have stopped educating students and instead are indoctrinating them to be unquestioning young progressives.

I hope you all are registered and will go vote today!

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Things that make me…

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Laugh.

I really shouldn’t chuckle at this news item. The article doesn’t mention the victim’s political views, just his profession in an institution known for being a liberal haven. It really isn’t something to applaud, being an assault on someone in the pursuit of his profession.

On the other hand, I also have a strong sense of, “What goes around, comes around,” and fair turnabout, or just retribution. It’s root issue probably isn’t any of those but…it’s still funny to me.

GMU law professor pepper sprayed during lecture

By Tom Roussey, March 26, 2014 – 05:54 pm

(WJLA) – Several charges are pending against a man who walked into a classroom on George Mason University’s Arlington campus and pepper sprayed a law professor.

The school says that on Wednesday afternoon during a law and literature class in this fourth floor classroom, intruder entered. He jumped up on the desk, announced that he was making a citizen’s arrest, and then pepper sprayed Professor Tyler Cowen in the face.

Cowen ran into the hall, and the intruder chased him until an off-duty officer who happened to be a student in class caught him at one of the building’s exits and held him until police arrived.

ABC7 was the only station there as police took the suspect into custody.

Ironically, the school says Cowen was teaching a unit on vigilantes — so some students may have initially thought that the situation was fake.

Some of my closest friends are lawyers; I hope they don’t take offense. :mrgreen:

***

Applaud.

I don’t subscribe to his politics nor his party. I can, however, applaud his determination and stamina—something all too many ‘Pub candidates lack.

Grossman passes kidney stone during gubernatorial debate

By Akilah Johnson | Globe Staff   March 26, 2014

There were more than a few pained expressions worn by gubernatorial candidates during Tuesday night’s forum dedicated to issues affecting Massachusetts’s LGBTQ community, mostly after Scott Lively, an anti-gay candidate running to “advance a biblical world view,” responded to questions.

But state Treasurer Steve Grossman, who is a Democrat from Newton, was actually in physical pain, said campaign spokesman Chandra Allard. Grossman was in the throes of passing a kidney stone, something often compared to the pain of childbirth, during the 90-minute debate, she said.

The forum was held by MassEquality and WGBH at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square and included eight gubernatorial candidates — the five Democrats and three independents, all of whom showed their support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community except for Lively.

Grossman’s pain-level was a 10 on a scale of 1-to-10, Allard said, and yet he fervently answered questions on everything from transgender rights and mandatory sex education to issues facing youth and aging members of the LGBTQ community.

Grossman has suffered chronic kidney stones, getting them on and off for the last 30 years, said Allard. He woke up in pain at 3:45 a.m. Tuesday morning, but she said he insisted on continuing with the day, which included attending GetKonnected’s Diversity Game Changer Awards ceremony after the forum ended.

Word of Grossman’s stone — which has inspired a parody Twitter account — spread via the micro-blogging website, as did the news that he finally passed the stone, sometime during the awards ceremony.

“I’m grateful that I made it out, but I know some of my fellow stones remain confined. We must #FreeTheStones! #mapoli,”@grossmansstone tweeted Wednesday morning.

***

Feel justified.

Those of us on our side of the political fence, the conservatives opposing the democrats, liberals and RINOs, are having a sense of justice when they read the article below. This politician was a Brandy poster-boy for gun control, registration and the restriction of private firearm ownership.

He’s been busted for gun-running. Not selling just illegal firearms. No, he was selling, among other things, missiles and shoulder-fired rockets. In the indictment, documenting a meeting between Lee and an undercover FBI agent, the indicate contained, “Pg. 98-99: The undercover agent asked about the availability of shoulder fired missiles or rockets. Senator Yee responded ‘I told him about rocket launchers and things like that.’ Senator Yee asked (the agent) to provide an inventory list of desired weapons and he would see what they can do.”

***

Angry.

This section is about the continuing falseness of liberals—at all levels of political activity. On the local level, I filed for ‘Pub Precinct Committeeman and was unopposed. However, other ‘Pubs are being opposed—by dems and libs running for those same ‘Pub Committee positions. I wrote an article recently about Infiltration. This is another example.

But Infiltration is not the only, nor the leading tactic of dems and libs. No, they advocate the use of the oldest deception of all: Lies.

Matthew Yglesias is Juice Vox Media’s Village Idiot and Liar-in-Chief

Well, now we know why the Washington Post did not want to invest in Ezra Klein’s “explanatory journalism” nonsense. Turns out it is just a left-wing propaganda tool trying to spin instead of explain.

Let us turn our attention to Matthew Yglesias, the Executive Editor of Ezra Klein’s new site. As my friend Pejman Yousefzadeh has well documented, Yglesias is just not that bright. He thinks Joe Lieberman is a dumb Jewish politician; was shocked to discover Senators represent the states as opposed to populations; was unaware of a black conservative tradition; couldn’t understand why Miami didn’t expand westward (hint: a giant swamp); had no idea an incumbent President had been defeated in primaries (Jimmy Carter lost 13 primaries in 1980 to Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown); thought Bobby Jindal’s reputation for intelligence was just ethnic stereotyping; argued it was okay to lie about having kids; wanted to know why Egypt didn’t have a Parliamentary system as if it’d matter and, by the way, it already does have one; thinks there are too many banks; thinks no banks have been chartered in 2013 even though banks were chartered in 2013; and the list goes on.

More importantly, Matthew Yglesias believes it is okay for liberals to lie in debates. He claimed “Fighting dishonesty with dishonesty is sometimes the right thing for advocates to do”. After all, according to Yglesias, Republicans are bad people; there are few if any conservatives he respects; and liberals aren’t condescending enough to conservatives who make stupid arguments no matter how smart they are.

So it’s okay to lie.

Which brings us to his video at the JuiceVox Media website. He tries to explain the National Debt and out of the gate beings with a lie. He claims the national debt is $5 trillion less than the U.S. Treasury says it is.

Then he uses deficit and debt interchangeably.

Then he claims the U.S. Government can never run out of money.

He goes through all of this to conclude that the national debt, which he understated, is just not anything to worry about.

This isn’t education. It is not explaining. It is left-wing propaganda. It is also sponsored by General Electric. Why is General Electric sponsoring left-wing propaganda?

Perhaps they don’t know. After all, Yglesias himself says it is okay for the left to lie in order to win an argument.

Never forget whom we oppose—and why we do so. It’s truth versus deceit, as much as it is Liberty versus Tyranny. You must know for whom and for what you stand for, and for what you do not. It’s an easy choice for me. How will you choose?

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