Dana Loesch at CPAC

From 2011 CPAC People

Dana Loesch, talk show host, contributor to CNN, and co-founder of the St. Louis Tea Party, spoke at the 2011 CPAC meeting in Washington, DC about the state of journalism. She emphasized new media and the role of the new minuteman in gathering, reporting, and distributing emerging news stories. While she credits by name Patch at P/OedPatriot, Rob Brenner, and myself, the three of us are only examples. Her highest praise is for the countless contributors laboring behind the scenes. I've met many these new minutemen through As a Mom as well as Tea Party events: Gretchen, Molly, and Angie over at MissouriEducationWatchdog, Jacque who discovered a neighbor in need and a breaking story, Arlene who emails me news tips... These and many, many others are the new minutemen.

Related articles

• Big Journalism's Dana Loesch Joins CNN (bigjournalism.com)
• CPAC Thursday Morning- Faces in the Crowd (gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com)

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) at CPAC

From 2011 CPAC People

I took the picture above during Rep. Allen West's (R-FL) keynote speech at this year's CPAC gathering in Washington, DC. The video below is of the first ten minutes of that speech. His complete speech is available at video.cpac.org (free registration required).

Andrew Breitbart on Pigford at #CPAC

Andrew Breitbart was taking questions about the Pigford case at CPAC. Above is the video I got of him answering those questions.

Related articles

• Surreal... The Jimmy McMillan - Andrew Breitbart Interview at CPAC 2011 (Video) (gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com)
• Pigford Press Conference Resources: BFAA President Advises Non-Farmers on How to Collect Pigford Money (biggovernment.com)
• CPAC11: Pigford Press Conference (bigjournalism.com)

Mitt Romney Flirts with Presidential Run in #CPAC Speech

Mitt Romney speaking at CPAC 2011

Mitt Romney alluded to a possible 2012 presidential run in his Friday morning speech at CPAC. The speech also included several good one-liners; however, he oddly omitted the crowning achievement of his tenure as governor of the Bay State. There was no mention of Massachusetts state paid healthcare system.

Dana Loesch Speaks about New Media at #CPAC

Co-founder of the St. Louis Tea Party Dana Loesch speaks at CPAC

Dana Loesch joined a panel at the 2011 CPAC conference to expound on the role of new media in journalism. Earlier in the day, CNN announced that Loesch would be joining them as a political contributor.

Related articles

• CPAC Thursday Morning- Faces in the Crowd (gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com)

My latest coverage of Dana Loesch.

The St. Louis Police Pension Fund: A Model for the Nation

There's a battle brewing in Jefferson City over "local control" of the St. Louis Police Department. It's a local issue that is always played out at the state level because of the history of St. Louis. In 1861, the state government seized control of the police forces in both St. Louis and Kansas City out of fear that those police would be used by the union against confederate interests.

The fear today comes from St. Louis policemen that worry that their pension will be looted by city hall. Those fears are justified given that city government has tried desperately to cut corners on the firefighters pension and, as the video above illustrates, at least one Alderman has designs on the police pension fund. The city is trying to strong-arm local control through in Jefferson City.

While that battle is being fought, the news story that isn't getting any play is the strength of the St. Louis Police Pension Fund. Day after day we hear about the problems of public employee pensions, but here's an example of a fund that has been run well. The fact that city government is walled off from the pension by the state is a strong argument for leaving the current oversight structure in place.

Soup Line at Claire McCaskill's Office

JD sent in some pictures he took at today's Soup Line protest in front of Claire McCaskill's office in St. Louis. In the picture above, Bill Hennessy is carrying the colors for the group. The Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft, was the point person on this protest. Over at his blog, you can see a picture of him ladling soup for the protesters. The message of today's protest was that Senator Claire McCaskill's efforts to discourage the DNC from choosing St. Louis to host their 2012 convention has cost the city both jobs and tax revenue. Patch Adams and Michelle Moore provided video coverage of today's festivities. Patch's video coverage is on his blog P/Oed Patriot. As always, Michelle covered the event live on both Twitter and UStream.

Related articles

• McCaskill's convention lobbying (politico.com)
• Claire McCaskill: I wanted the Democratic convention in St. Louis (stltoday.com)

Federalism in Education

Kudos to Gretchen and Kasey for leading the fight for education reform. They're featured in the video above that was produced by the Heritage Foundation. Gretchen blogs at Missouri Education Watchdog.

Socialist Underpinnings of Egyptian Revolution

Over at The Graph, Brooks Bayne has written about The Socialist Roots Of The Egyptian Protests:

These Egyptian grassroots political activists, most of them socialist/Marxist/unionist, used the momentum of the recent “revolution” in Tunisia to kick-off their January 25th protests. But who was behind the protests in Tunisia? Were the same people responsible there? If you look at the people who were appointed to the new Tunisian government, that should be obvious. Socialists.

Interesting stuff. I'd like to see what P/Oed Patriot has to say on this. He's unearthed socialist and communist roots here in the US.

Related articles

• Why Were U.S. Socialists Rallying in Support of Egypt This Weekend? (theblaze.com)
• "Revolution in Egypt - Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire" and related posts (newzeal.blogspot.com)

Gary Fuhr on Local Control

This past Saturday I caught up with State Rep. Gary Fuhr (R). Fuhr is a former St. Louis city police officer, so I was interested in his perspective on the local control legislation pending in Jefferson City. If you are unfamiliar with this issue, I recommend that you watch the first video below and then the second one. The first video reviews the history, politics, and current events that play into the issue of local control. The second video presents Gary's arguments against local control.