Friday, July 31, 2009

Interview with Ed Martin Part 1



After I received the press release Wednesday announcing that Ed Martin had formed an exploratory committee for a Congressional bid, I emailed him to see if we could setup an interview. Ed invited me over Thursday, so I took my girls to his south city office in the afternoon and shot about 35 minutes of video. It surely seemed like a lot more since there was a mid-interview diaper change and bottle for my little one.

I'll be cutting several videos from this interview, so check back. In this first video, Ed talks about his motivation for running and talks to my question about waiving sovereign immunity for the government option in the proposed healthcare reform. I've blogged about that in a couple places. I don't think he really answers the question; but, I agree with his assessment that it's a pretty technical topic. Future video segments will include discussion of the Tea Party movement, government transparency, Ed's "Ask Ed" campaign, and term limits.

Related:

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Ed Martin Announces!

Here's the press release:
Ed Martin Considers Run for Congress to Serve
Missouri’s 3rd District

(St. Louis, Mo.) July 29, 2009 – Ed Martin, a resident and business owner in south St. Louis, today announced he is considering running for Congress to serve the people of Missouri's 3rd Congressional District. Martin has formed an exploratory committee to consider running for the District which encompasses Jefferson and Ste. Genevieve counties, south St. Louis, and parts of west and south St. Louis County. Martin formed the committee after receiving encouragement from friends, neighbors and people across the district to consider running against Congressman Russ Carnahan (D), whose is expected to seek a fourth term in November, 2010.

“The people of the 3rd District are a critical economic engine for America,” said Martin. “These workers and families want leaders who will stand up for them for jobs, lower taxes, less spending and a government that lives within its means. What has become clear is that Congressman Carnahan is not listening to – or speaking for – the people he promised to represent. Examples include his voting record for the so-called ‘stimulus’ bill, for a massive national energy tax, and his public advocacy - in lockstep with Speaker Nancy Pelosi - for a disastrous government takeover of health care which will lead to rationing and endanger Medicare. I have always stood up for what I believe in and I'm considering running for Congress to make a difference by standing up for our neighbors and fellow citizens in the district,” said Martin.

Dave McArthur, Vice President of McArthur’s Bakery in south St. Louis County, is among those asking Martin to run for Congress after Carnahan voted for the controversial “Cap-and-Trade” national energy tax, which McArthur has publicly stated would force him and other businesses to go out of business. “We need someone who will stand up for our interests and not simply parrot the lines offered by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the national Democrats,” said McArthur. “With SaveAB.com and his other work in service to our community, Ed has shown he will step up and lead. We need Ed in Congress and I’m doing everything I can to gather support – from fellow business owners, colleagues, friends and family – for Ed.”

Dave’s brother, Randy McArthur, will serve as treasurer for the committee. Randy, an active community leader and job creator who is CEO and President of McArthur’s Bakery, was recently appointed to serve on the Missouri Community Service Commission by Governor Jay Nixon. Mary Beth Wolf, managing supervisor at Fleischman-Hillard and 3rd Congressional District representative on the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education, will serve as deputy treasurer.

Martin has been meeting informally with 3rd District voters for several months. The sessions, called “Ask Ed Anything,” have given Martin a clear view of what voters want from their representative. “I’m talking to people, but more importantly, I’m listening,” said Martin. “Public service is about giving a voice to the people you represent.”

For more information about Ed’s background and his committee, “Ed Martin for Congress,” visit EdMartinforCongress.com.

Paid for by Ed Martin for Congress
Randy McArthur, Treasurer
I have video of Ed speaking with Randy about Russ Carnahan's vote in support of cap and tax. You'll also find video of Randy at the July 4th Tea Party and of David McArthur at that link. The sign video is in an earlier post. Here's video of Ed speaking at the Tax Day Tea Party:



And here's Ed speaking at the July 4th Tea Party:





I have an interview with Ed from the Conservative Heartland Leadership Conference that his American Issues Project hosted:

Remembering Dorothy

Please send your condolences and prayers to the family of the Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft. Jim's mom, Dorothy, passed away last night.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

State's Rights

One of the corner stones of the Saint Louis Tea Party is the 10th Amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
That amendment is the basis for a limited federal government. However, our federal government has morphed from one of enumerated powers to one of plenary powers. There are not many tools available to reduce federal influence, but there are actions that states can take to curb federal power.

I described one attack that states can mount on federal power in my very first post: Rush the Hill! In that post I argue that states should not allow any member of their congressional delegation to serve consecutive terms. They could do this by altering their certification and eligibility rules. State legislatures have an incentive to do this, not only because it would reign in the federal government, but also because it would create opportunities for state legislators to run for Congress.

A more pressing area where states can make their dissatisfaction known involves a possible financial bailout of California. I would like to see various states—as many as possible—adopt legislation aimed at thwarting a bailout of another state. This can be done with legislation to suspend the collection of all state taxes (sales, income, property, business, etc), iff another state is bailed out. This "tax holiday" would be lifted when the federal government also agreed to bailout ALL states originally opposed to the bailout.

It's time for the states to pickup the proverbial stick and beat the federal government like the rented ass it is!

McCaskill's Question Session *UPDATED*


More to follow...

Update:
I've been pretty busy. I've got lots of video that needs to be blogged:
  • the American Majority Activist Training from last Friday
  • video of the Alton Tea Party
  • report on McCaskill's Tea Party (that's what this is)
Today was a day away from the web. I took the girls to the St Louis Science Center. It's always a popular destination. Now, about Monday night...

Time for Dana to learn about the Saint Louis Way: you post a picture of me with a goofy look on my face, I post one of you (with ubber-blogger Jim Hoft on the right):

I at least have the decency to post a good picture of you too.... or, I'll pretend it's decency even if Smitty runs it in his tawdry Rule 5 Sunday post.

And here's Michelle of ATraditionalLifeLived.com setup to live stream the McCaskill Tea Party before the room change. Great work getting the video out first! And second ;-)

I've got a few more photos, but those are the best. I added another shot to my burgeoning collection of bad Jim Durbin (24thState.com) shots. If someone ever gets a hold of that collection, Durbin will have to move to the other side of a mountain range to find work. I've noticed this with other people as well—there are some people that I can never get a decent picture of.

Patch Adams of POedPatriot.blogspot.com was awesome. He's kind of an unsung hero. He loaned me his tripod for the event. When it was clear that Michelle Sherod (Claire McCaskill's Regional Director) was not going to make it through the remaining speakers—it wasn't really Michelle's fault, she had agreed to an hour and gone beyond that—Patch worked with Bill Hennessy of StLouisTeaParty.com and Carl Bearden of Americans for Prosperity to video the remaining questions.

SharpElbowsStL.blogspot.com got some great lefty-at-a-Tea Party interviews. Make sure you watch his interview with a defender of the disenfranchised arguing that "gas should be much more expensive." Yeah, poor people don't pay enough for milk and eggs either. Let's raise the tax on those! Oh, wait, that's exactly what will happen when someone decides to move the milk and eggs from the farm to the grocery store with a gas or diesel powered vehicle.

The GatewayPundit has graciously deigned to allow us all to bask in his linked glory.

If you still don't "get" the Tea Party movement... if you don't understand what it's about, go listen to We The People's interview with Paul Curtman. He was the marine who spoke so eloquently and directly at the McCaskill Tea Party (he's at 6:20 in video "04" of the playlist at the top of this post). He's a Tea Partier through-n-through.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Crowd shot 6:30 at #clairemc #stl #teaparty Meeting

Good crowd a half hour before kickoff!

Update: Cool! I blogged from my cell phone! I also sent the picture above to twitter which is why there are hashtags in the title of this post. I posted a picture of Dana Loesch and Jim Hoft hard at work (follow the link after that link).

Shortly after the picture above was taken, we moved from this cramped, inadequately air conditioned room to the cafeteria hall downstairs. The crowd was huge—you'll see that in the video when I pan. It was easily hundreds. I was told by one of the organizers that a police officer had estimated the crowd at a thousand.

McCaskill Meeting


Senator Claire McCaskill has generously agreed to meet with Americans for Prosperity/Tea Partiers over the incident a couple of Friday's ago. This means the hours of video I have to get online will remain off line for a while longer ;-( I did cut the video above from Bill Hennessy's remarks at the Alton, IL, Tea Party on Saturday, so you can think of this as a teaser.

The meeting is at Forest Park Community College which is located on Oakland. The campus is between Highlander and Macklind. You will probably get to Oakland by driving north on Hampton and turning right or taking Kingshighway and turning west on Oakland. Remember that 64/40 is out, so if you are coming from the west, plan ahead!

Related:

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Alton Tea Party

The Alton Tea Party began with a prayer from a local minister, Jamie Cagnie. The National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance followed. Elijah Condellone (pictured above), co-organizer of the Alton Tea Party, kicked off the speeches with a call for smaller government and more personal freedom.

Jonathan West, of GettingAmericaBack.org, spoke next. After remarking on the prevalence of the Gadsden flags and how they have become a symbol of the Tea Party movement, he spoke about cultural decline and the huge fiscal deficits facing the Federal Government.

Kathy from the Alton 912 Project followed Jonathan West. She encouraged the audience to take their activism to the next level and discussed the three priorities of the 912 project: education, unification, and election.

The Saint Louis Tea Party's very own Bill Hennessy was the next speaker. His message was that at its founding America marginalized the talents of women and minorities and we were ill served by this. While the elite of modern America are not universally male and white, they are consistently ivy league ivory tower dwellers. This elite retains its power by deriding middle America and traditional American values. More importantly, they marginalize even more people than their white male predecessors. Bill also invited the tea partiers to attend a meeting at Forest Park Community College Monday evening at 7PM with Senator McCaskill's regional director.

Rhonda Linders, co-organizer of the event, closed out the Tea Party by naming the Representatives from both Illinois and Missouri that supported and opposed the Cap and Tax bill. She called on attendees to call their Congressional delegations and get active. She closed by thanking the many people involved with the day's events.

Photos Around the Tea Party
There was a good size crowd at the event...

Gadsden flags were featured prominantly.

...as were flags commemorating 1776.

Before the Tea Party kicked off, I got this picture of Elijah and Bill.

There were other area bloggers there including SharpElbowsStL.blogspot.com (left) and Patch Adams of P/OedPatriot (right).

Rhonda with her son, Elijah, and daughter-in-law.

Event volunteers gathered email addresses for follow-up. I'm not sure of the name of the man in the hat, but he's standing with Bill Hennessy.


I shot this video before the event with my cell phone and emailed it to YouTube. For some reason it didn't go through and I didn't know that it had gotten lost in the ether until I got home.

More to follow--including better video...

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Carnahan Healthcare Forum Report #6: Sovereign Immunity


At the end of Russ Carnahan's (D-MO) Healthcare Forum, I asked the lawyer on the panel whether sovereign immunity would be waived for the government option (video above, about 3 mins long). We go back and forth in the video above. Perhaps the way I stated the question was confusing. I'm not sure, but she did not seem to think that a need to sue the new government healthcare administration would ever arise.

I have since tightened up my question: Will the healthcare bill waive sovereign immunity and allow people to sue the government if the new healthcare administration is complicit in the death or injury of a patient? And I found the following audio from Hugh Hewitt's excellent radio show on the topic to be very informative (3 mins long). Hugh does a lot of interviews and I'd love to see Saint Louis's Dana Loesch added to his regulars list.


Previously:

Friday, July 24, 2009

Four Months

AutoBlog.com (via Instapundit) is reporting on the end of government backed warranties for GM and Chrysler:
On March 30, President Obama announced that the federal government would back the warranties of General Motors and Chrysler in the event of bankruptcy. When the president says the word "backing," he means cold, hard cash, and in this case the total was $641 million. But with both companies out of bankruptcy court and flush with the government cash needed to run their businesses, it is apparently time to pay the money back.
There's no word on whether medical procedures sponsored by the new government healthcare administration will have warranties longer than four months.

Carnahan Healthcare Forum Report #5: Interview with Kevin Jackson


Kevin Jackson arrived at the forum around 8AM. We stepped out a few minutes after the program begin and I asked Kevin both about the healthcare forum and about his new book: The Big Black Lie. The video above contains the healthcare discussion. I'll be posting the rest of the interview in a "soon".

Previously:

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Carnahan Healthcare Forum Report #4: How We Did It

Interim President Forest Park Community College Zerrie Campbell and Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO)

Last Friday my vacation in Chicago was coming to an end when I saw a tweet from Michelle at ATraditionalLifeLived.com. She had sent a picture of the protest at Senator McCaskill's office. My immediate thought was: why didn't she live stream it? She's carved out a niche in the Tea Party movement by live streaming both the July 4th and Tax Day Tea Parties, so that seemed obvious to me. Turns out, it seemed obvious to her, too.

As I was driving back to Saint Louis, I began thinking about how you'd pull off a live video stream from a protest held in the median of a major road. You'd need other people to help. I was thinking it would be doable with two people—one to run the hardware and one to conduct interviews. I've changed my mind and now think three would be a better team size. I'll explain why in a minute.


Full Coverage of the Healthcare Forum

I saw a tweet very late Friday night about Russ Carnahan's Monday morning healthcare forum and direct messaged Michelle:
Need a reason to look forward to Monday morning? How 'bout a livecast of this: http://tinyurl.com/l5dkyd What do you think?
She was in. Nick, our high school "intern", was in. I outlined our on-air schedule in a post Sunday evening and contacted TheBlackSphere (Kevin—he asked The Question), StLUrbanSpice (Stephanie—she took the mic), and Carl Bearden to line up interviewees for 7:30 to 8:00AM. All interviewees were iffy, so I didn't mention that.

Our "intern" Nick

The reality of Monday morning changed the schedule. The venue, Forest Park Community College, is located near Rt 64/40 which is currently closed, so people traveling from the west were going to have trouble getting there. I spent a couple minutes on the phone trying to give Kevin directions. I asked the Carnahan staffers if we could interview them, but they weren't interested. And I didn't know Stephanie had made it until I saw her at the mic towards the end of the program.

We needed a third person, a producer, to handle the phone calls, round up people to interview, and swap out with the interviewer if need be. I don't think Nick is ready to tackle those tasks, but how would I know? This was only the second time I'd met him. He did help secure and reserve prime seating. And he helped with the camera work. The bottom line is that we had a late start for our live stream (about 7:55AM) and only one guest. (Thanks Lynne!) Michelle had trouble recording the stream, so I don't think we have video of that.

Carnahan's Staffer (Suzanne, I think)

There were three or four high school interns with Carnahan. They all wore name tags like: Margy Carnahan Staff. I asked if they were really all "Carnahans". None of them were. That's just how they did the name tags: [firstname] Carnahan Staff. My nightmare vision of a future rife with nepotism passed.

Crowd of 150. Those seats were filled.

There was a good size crowd. The event organizer said that they had planned for 100 to 150. It was standing room only by the time it got underway. Kevin told me that he thought the crowd was 60/40 against. From where I was sitting (the seat with the water bottle in the picture above), I'm not so sure. The people next to me didn't laugh at the punch lines and they clapped at all the wrong moments.

What I found fascinating about this experience, is that we were able to assemble a reporting crew on fairly short notice using Twitter.com, facebook.com, email, and a few phone calls. I really wish we had hit that 7:30 live stream. I regret the late start. We will get better. Michelle will figure out the record option on live streams. Nick will take on more and varied responsibilities. Hopefully, Lynne and her friends will buy a couple of video cameras for the next event. And I'll get become a better interviewer and videographer.

Speaking of which, I got an interview with Kevin Jackson of TheBlackSphere.net. Look for it Friday!

Previously:

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Counter Protest ACORN!!!


View Larger Map
The St Louis Tea Party is organizing a counter protest at Senator Claire McCaskills office Thursday. Bill Hennessy has more.

Carnahan Healthcare Forum Report #3: Stephanie Takes the Mic


Stephanie of St. Louis Urban Spice, has her turn at the mic and uses it to ask several questions. I first met Stephanie when she spoke at the Patients First/ShowUsTheBill.com rally about a week before. Glenn Reynolds has a great picture of her at that rally.

Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) was alternating between the front and back microphones in choosing who was next to speak. This two-and-a-half minute video begins with the audience correcting him about who's turn it is. Stephanie makes the most of her opportunity. She begins by asking the Congressman if he has read the bill. He answers at length: the bill is still being assembled and he has read committee summaries. She continues and some in the audience try to clap her off. Carnahan thanks her and she just plows on and closes with sustained applause. Stephanie, you're an inspiration to us all!

Previously:
Related:

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Serendipity

When I got home after the Saint Louis/Washington Tea Party on July 4th I had several emails waiting for me. One of them had the subject line: NPR.org - Redefining Citizenship In The Digital Age. I opened it and realized that it was sent to me by mistake.

This occassionally happens to the email address that received this wayward missive. The service provider is well known and my username is the sort that others frequently have. The email contained a link to an NPR story about how technological advances are changing the responsibilities of citizenship. I occasionally eavesdrop on the enemy radio broadcasts of NPR so I gave this one a listen. Here's the summary from that link:
What does it mean these days when when [ed: the mainstream media uses editors to catch errors before you notice them] the government makes something public? Just print it and put it on a shelf somewhere until somebody slips it to Bob Woodward? Host Scott Simon speaks to Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, about redefining citizenship in the digital age. Rasiej also talks about what social media and technology experts have learned in the aftermath of Iran's disputed elections.
Key quote from the audio: "I'm proposing the Public Means Online Act... information should not be considered public unless it is online..." I like that idea. I like it a lot. However, I don't think that government has to be the one that provides that online copy. There's a pretty strong argument that they shouldn't be since they may have an incentive to alter, destroy, or block access. Below you will find a YouTube playlist of Russ Carnahan's (D-MO) public healthcare forum. This is not exactly what Andrew Rasiej talks about on NPR, but it is The Transparent Society envisioned by David Brin. I'm still uploading video segments from the healthcare forum and adding them to the playlist, but I expect to be done late Wednesday evening.

Carnahan Healthcare Forum Report #2


Here's a one-and-a-half minute excerpt from Russ Carnahan's (D-MO) healthcare forum on Monday. There are a couple of humorous moments from the event, and then it concludes with TheBlackSphere.net--Kevin Jackson--asking: "If it's so good why doesn't Congress have to be on it?"

Update: Welcome all my fellow Gateway Punditteers! You may be interested in my coverage of
the Patients First/ShowUsTheBill.com Rally or perhaps my Gateway Pundit photo gallery (at the end of that post).

Update 2: Thanks so much for all the links! Thanks to RedState. Thanks to National Review. Thanks to Glenn Reynolds. Thanks to Michelle Malkin. Thanks to RealClearPolitics. And thanks to everyone else, too! Wow. Just wow.

A very special thanks to Michelle at ATraditionalLifeLived.com for live streaming yesterday's event and working together on this report. And thanks to our "intern" Nick and to Kevin Jackson of TheBlackSphere.com for suggesting the video above!

In other Russ Carnahan news, I strongly recommend my coverage of McArthur's protest of the Congressman's vote for Cap and Tax. If you're an owner/operator, make sure you watch the last/fourth video there. Gateway Pundit has some followup on that story from yesterday.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Carnahan Healthcare Forum Report


In the above, I follow Rep Russ Carnahan (D-MO) out of his healthcare forum, try to get his attention a couple of times, but then his staffer blocks me. Here's my unasked question: Will the healthcare bill waive sovereign immunity and allow people to sue the government if the new healthcare administration is complicit in the death or injury of a patient?

You can see my updates from the event on Twitter.com.

It's a busy day for me, so it will take time for me to get more updates posted. Stephanie Rubach got in a good question, but I wasn't able to interview her. I did get an interview with Kevin Jackson.

More to follow...

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Russ Carnahan Townhall *UPDATED*


Earlier this weekend, StLToday.com ran a story announcing that Russ Carnahan (D-MO) will host a townhall style forum:
Monday’s forum will be from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the Student Center Building at Forest Park Community College.
Forest Park Community College is conveniently close to the demolition site formerly known as Rt 40, so if you're traveling from the west, plan accordingly. The college is on Oakland, but you'll want to turn down either Macklind or Highlander to find parking. The Student Center Building is located towards the center of the small urban campus. The college website has a map in PDF format.

I will be working with ATraditionalLifeLived.com's Michelle to provide live streamed coverage. I think there will be a couple of others helping as well. Check her site later tonight or first thing Monday (7/20/9) for the link. Here it is! From a citizen journalist perspective, this represents an interesting evolution from one-off individual coverage to ad hoc teams assembled on short notice to report the news of the day.

This is our tentative agenda:
  • 7:30AM Central - Conduct interviews with meeting attendees
  • 8:00AM Central - Russ's two hour townhall
  • 10:00AM Central - Post event interviews
I think there will be several bloggers out with there video cameras. I'd recommend picking a question or two to interview attendees about and drilling down on those.

I've seen a couple of questions that contained an obvious bias. The problem with that approach is that the person you're asking may reject the premise and therefore the question. Here's an example: Have you read the Obamacare bill or are you treating this like the stimulus bill? Sure, I agree with the sentiment, but you've gotta tighten it up: Have you read the healthcare bill? Russ will blather on about nothing without actually answering the question, but average Americans you ask will tell you no. You can follow-up with Russ: Yes or no... Have you read the bill? And with your average American: Should congressmen read the bill before voting on it?

Here are some questions I have about the healthcare bill. I plan to focus on #3 at Monday's event.
  1. Will Medicare be reformed first?
  2. What service level agreement is specified in the bill? Does it guarantee wait times under, say, a month for a routine visit? What about specialists?
  3. Does it wave sovereign immunity so that the government may be sued?
  4. Does it extend the right, reserved to the states or the people, of a civil trial by jury or does it impose new administrative law with it's own judicial system?
  5. Does it prioritize healthcare services such that members of Congress and their families are served last?
Update:

Cross Coverage

Friday Protest at Sen. McCaskill's Office




All photos above were taken by Jim Trotter in front of Sen. Claire McCaskill's (D-MO) office last Friday. Be sure to checkout Jim's other work at TrotterArt.com!

Missourians showed up on McCaskill's steps last Friday to protest the healthcare bill. The bloggers below have much more. The protest was peaceful. Unfortunately, the Senator's office staff did not handle it very well. Apparently they flipped off the protesters before closing the blinds and barring the doors.

Cross Coverage:

Friday, July 17, 2009

Protest at McCaskill's St. Louis Office

GatewayPundit is reporting that there will be a protest against the Obama's healthcare bill at Senator McCaskill's office in Saint Louis. Americans For Prosperity and Tea Party Patriots are targeting district offices across Missouri on Friday, July 17th. The protests are scheduled for 11:00AM CST.

McCaskill's St. Louis Office
5850 A Delmar Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63112
Phone:314-367-1364
Fax: 314-361-8649


View Larger Map

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Cubs at Half-Mast

With the All-Star game barely behind us, I was surprised to see that despondency has already gripped some loyal Cubs fans. The picture above illustrates how one doubtful Cubbie has resorted to flying their team's colors at half-mast. Sure it's the Cubs, but they're only three games back and we've got half the season to go. Show a little team spirit!

Cardinal Nation thanks you for this little morale boost!

The picture above was taken on Lake Michigan between Chicago's Adler Planetarium and Navy Pier on Thursday, July 16th around 5PM Central. Click the picture to enlarge it.

Bristol Tea Party Float

Instapundit reports: "Tea Party accepts parade apology: Float won’t be ‘banned’ from future parades." That's out of Bristol, RI; however, there's no mention of why the folks of Bristol wanted to remind the country that their state's nickname is Rogue's Island.

Marginal Cost of Healthcare

Glenn Reynolds pointed me to a post by Dave at Classical Values on the marginal cost of life:
The notion we must limit health care in the long run because we can't afford it is somewhat flawed. Consider this: at 3% growth, GDP per capita will be around $175,000 by 2059 versus about $40,000 today (yes, even adjusted for inflation). There's no reason we couldn't spend up to 90% of that new $135,000 on health care, as opposed to other luxuries that only provide utility as long as you're healthy and alive; in fact, it would be entirely rational to do so.
I love the fact that he rejects the premise that the change in healthcare spending is unsustainable, that he's willing to say that healthcare costs are spiraling out of control and that's ok.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

When is 5% more like 10%?

When you're already paying 50% of your income to the government and the government decides to take another 10% of your remaining 50%—they raise your rate to 55%. That's an insight from Megan McArdle, though she puts it a little differently:
Our mental arithmetic is all wrong. We think of a 5% tax increase as a relatively small amount. But of course, once you're nearing a 50% average tax rate, a 5% tax increase is something like a 10% cut in the taxpayer's take-home pay.

Astroturf Marketing Scheme Fail

A company that used astroturfing (posting fake reviews of their services to various websites) to market its cosmetic surgery, has been fined $300,000.

Save the Date!

American Majority is offering a training session for conservative activists on July 24th at the Saint Charles Convention Center. The session runs from 10AM to 3PM. Registration is $20. 24thstate.com has more.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Unemployment Speculation

Keith Hennessy writes:
He’s right that [the stimulus] will help, eventually. If the July employment report due on August 7th returns us to the prior slow but steady recovery path, the President might only have to worry about 6-9 months of economic and political pain. But if the July report shows that the June report is a new downward trend, then policymakers will have a more serious problem to address.
I believe that companies have been accelerating their purchases of labor because of the minimum wage hike coming on July 24th. Therefore, I expect the July employment numbers to look (relatively) good and the administration and media to promote them. I also expect the August (or maybe September) numbers to be worse than projected.

So, to answer Jennifer Rubin's related question: When Do We Get That Job ‘Surge’? This is it!

Previously:

Final Cut of Saturday's Patients First/ShowUsTheBill.com Rally


Approximately 450 opponents of Obama's healthcare reform gathered in Clayton Missouri's Memorial Park to get to know one-another, sign petitions, and listen to healthcare experts outline the failings of Obamacare and praise free market economics. The event was sponsored by Patients First, Americans for Prosperity, and ShowUsTheBill.com. Several bloggers were in attendance including two presenters: Jim Hoft, the Gateway Pundit, and Stephanie Rubach of St. Louis Urban Spice. A picture of Stephanie was picked up by Instapundit.

If you'd rather watch in 720p, follow the links below. These will be slower than navigating through the playlist above, but the image quality will be a little better:
  • video 1: Carl Bearden kick's off the program and Lyda Loudon sings our National Anthem to dispels the rain showers
  • video 2 and 3: The Gateway Pundit rails against the failures of the Obama Administration and Obamacare
  • video 4: Carl Bearden introduces his daughter and granddaughter
  • video 5 and 6: Dr. Randy Tobler talks about the doctor's perspective
  • video 7: St Louis Urban Spice, Stephanie Rubach, provides the perspective of a Registered Nurse
  • video 8 and 9: Ed Martin rallies the crowd against more federal intervention
  • video 10: Fred Sauer gets into the details of healthcare reform
  • video 11: Carl Bearden closes with a call to action, literally
I interviewed Dr. Randy Tobler after the event. It's a good interview; however, I missed an important question. I wanted to hear someone at the rally talk about sovereign immunity, but no one did directly. Sovereign immunity is the legal concept that protects the government from being sued. It acts as a shield for bureaucratic mistakes and incompetence. Any Obamacare bill that does NOT wave sovereign immunity is a non-starter for me because it would guarantee that our new federal health insurance could never be held to account.

Local cap and tax hero David McArthur was at Saturday's event. I caught up with him after the rally. I've added two new videos in the update at the end of my McArthur's Bakery coverage. What I found really interesting about his comments in the last video at that link were how the story seems to have gone viral over CB radio among truckers. America's truckers face a huge tax increase if cap and tax goes through and many have decided to vote with their dollars at McArthur's Bakery. They make great donuts and pastries, so I'm sure I'll be trying their other baked goods soon!

Update: You can look around and zoom in on this panoramic photo of the rally. Thanks to Jim Trotter!

Previously:
Cross Coverage:

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Pictures of the Show Us The Bill Rally

Event organizer Carl Bearden

Carl's daughter and granddaughter

GatewayPundit Preping another International Scoop

Dr. Randy Tobler - Physician and Radio Personality

Stephanie Rubach - Critical Care Registered Nurse/StLUrbanSpice.com

Ed Martin - American Issues Project

Fred Sauer - Chairman, Show Us The Bill Committee

Shots of the crowd. Someone estimated 450. Sounds about right.


A couple of signs including one from a new blogger: SharpElbowsStL.blogspot.com


GatewayPundit Gallery:
GatewayPundit Takes Direction from RebootCongress ;-)

Event Chairman Fred Sauer (left) with GatewayPundit (right)

One for GatewayPundit's mom

Previously:
Cross Coverage:

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Interview with Dr. Randy Tobler


With a trip to Chicago coming up, it will be a little while before I get all the video from the ShowUsTheBill.com rally posted. The interview above with Randy Tobler hits many of the main points. Enjoy!

Cross Coverage:

More to follow...

Friday, July 10, 2009

McArthur's Bakery *UPDATED*


During my first visit to McArthur's Bakery, I got some pastries that the family—including the six month old—really enjoyed. Today, I stopped by McArthur's to pickup some donuts for the weekend. They're excellent, too.

Thursday night, I noticed that the McArthur's story had gone national. I stayed up late to cut a seven minute version and the result is above. This one includes the video of their sign and the one minute bit about profit margins I posted earlier. There are some rough numbers about headcount, cost of materials, and health insurance. Randy and Dave fault the rise in fuel prices for driving up commodities and eroding their margins over the past couple years. They attribute the increase in the price of oil in part to speculation in the commodities market. I don't like the speculation argument and a year ago I would've dismissed it; however, the financial meltdown has raised a few questions for me. Watch the video to find out why they took down the sign!

In the video above are David McArthur (yellow shirt), Ed Martin (suit), Randy McArthur (dark shirt), Dana Loesch (off camera), Tyler Holman (off camera), and myself (off camera). If you have not already seen it, I also recommend watching Randy McArthur speak at the Independence Day Tea Party below:


Previously:
Update:

I got to talk with David McArthur at the ShowUsTheBill.com rally. Here are the two videos I shot with him:

Population Control

The Cybercast News Service has a startling quote from Justice Ginsberg:
Frankly, I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.
The US Census Bureau implies that, in 2005, blacks comprised about 13.4% of the total population. The J. Kaiser Family Foundation tells me 35.5% of the abortions performed in 2005 were for blacks. Justice Ginsberg, two words: Never Again (WARNING: graphic).

Previously:

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Show Us the Healthcare Bill


There's a rally in Clayton's Memorial Park this Saturday, July 11th, at 10AM. Memorial Park is the stretch of Carondelet Av between Meremac and S. Central. Google maps might believe that it's a road, but Google street view shows that it's a park. GatewayPundit has some good questions. Here are the questions I'd like to have answered:
  1. Will Medicare be reformed first?
  2. What service level agreement is specified in the bill? Does it guarantee wait times under, say, a month for a routine visit? What about specialists?
  3. Does it wave sovereign immunity so that the government may be sued?
  4. Does it extend the right, reserved to the states or the people, of a civil trial by jury or does it impose new administrative law with it's own judicial system?
  5. Does it prioritize healthcare services such that members of Congress and their families are served last?
Cross Coverage: