Today the grassroots movement in St. Louis takes a leap forward with the launch of the Gateway Grassroots Initiative. This is the next wave of local activism in Saint Louis. The time for rallies has passed, it’s time to get on with the work of conservative activism.

We are looking for conservatives who want to stand up and get active in their communities.  The centerpiece of GGI is The Initiative Project.  It is an effort to get individuals to take personal responsibility for their lives and communities.   We want the grassroots to self-source the direction of their movement.  GGI is not an organization dedicated to telling grassroots activists what to do.  It exists to facilitate grassroots action. We have five levels of initiative: Individual, Local, Regional, State, and National, and we are looking for ideas at every level.  Initiatives will begin rolling out in the coming days, and weeks so keep your eyes out for how you can get involved.

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For the past few weeks, a small group of rag-tag occupiers have set up a shanty town in Keiner Plaza, the site of many St. Louis Tea Party rallies. They have done so without a permit and without insurance — things the city demanded of the St. Louis Tea Party before they were allowed use of the space. Demonstrators plug their laptops and space heaters into the park’s power outlets. Should an accident occur, the lack of insurance will place the city on the hook for liability. Yesterday in an interview with Mayor Slay’s spokesman Jeff Rainford, I learned that the city isn’t exactly keen to bring the group into compliance with the law.

The cost for renting out Keiner Plaza isn’t cheap, though not as expensive as permits for usage of federal park space. A letter to my STLTP Co-Founder Bill Hennessy detailed a list of actionable and monetary requirements before the city would allow an August 4th, 2011 Tea Party event to take place:

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Last night, President Obama visited St.Louis for a $25,000 plate fundraiser courtesy of Russ Carnahan and his family. Across the street from the fundraiser, on Lindell Drive near Forest Park, members of the St. Louis Tea Party stopped by to welcome him with jeers and boos, displaying signs showing their extreme dissatisfaction of his policies over the past two years. I had the opportunity to capture some images of the event of both the members of the St.Louis Tea Party as well as the handful of Obama supporters.

Adam Sharp of SharpElbows.net and Jim Hoft (Gateway Pundit) among others.

Predictably, a pro-Obama counter-protest assembled, but the show of support for President Obama during his last visit in 2010 was much larger — a far cry from the amount of supporters that turned out for him this time around, shown by my photos from the event in 2010. (more…)

It’s almost expected anymore when the media does it but our elected officials aren’t supposed to turn on the constituency with bullying tactics.

From the St. Louis Tea Party:

ST. LOUIS TEA PARTY CONDEMNS “TERRORIST” REMARKS FROM VICE-PRESIDENT BIDEN, LAWMAKERS

It was revealed Monday by Politico that Vice-President Joe Biden, U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, and other lawmakers referred to the tea party as “terrorists” during a heated discussion on the debt ceiling debate. From Politico:

Biden was agreeing with a line of argument made by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) at a two-hour,  closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting.

“We have negotiated with terrorists, ” an angry Doyle said,  according to sources in the room. “This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.”

Biden,  driven by his Democratic allies’ misgivings about the debt-limit deal,  responded: “They have acted like terrorists.”

The St. Louis Tea Party condemns the comparison of private citizens who desire fiscal restraint in Washington to murderous terrorists who have killed thousands of Americans world-wide.

“It’s reprehensible to me that our Vice-President and other elected leaders would make such a grotesque analogy when in just over a month we will mark the tenth anniversary of the worst attack on American soil,” remarks Dana Loesch, Co-Founder of the St. Louis Tea Party.

“It’s an insult to Americans and the Democratic process to refer to dissenting Americans in such a way,” says Bill Hennessy, St. Louis Tea Party Co-Founder. “Are our elected leaders so out of touch with what terrorism actually is that they are willing to defame, by way of analogy, a vast group of people? We have members who lost friends to terrorists in the 9/11 attacks. We do not have any members who have lost friends due to peaceful protest.”

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Just when I thought I’d seen it all, I find out I haven’t.  On an issue that should not even register at the national level, the bad got the better of the good, and things turned ugly.

The point of this narrative is to highlight what can happen when Republicans think the tea party is not watching, but first some background.

Missouri did well November last.  Robin Carnahan (D), Missouri’s Secretary of State that aided ACORN in raiding state coffers, lost to Roy Blunt (R) in the Senate race, despite the fact that she received a state record for votes in 2008 (1,743,819 in 2008 to 768,241 in 2010).  Republicans knocked off the incumbent in the only state office up for election, auditor.  Vicky Hartzler (R) knocked off US Rep. Ike Skelton (D) (of “Stick it up your @$$!” fame) in Missouri’s 4th District, a seat he held since 1976.  Ed Martin (R) came within 1% of unseating US Rep. Russ Carnahan (D) (the least capable Carnahan) in a D+7 heavy union district, and in spite of the fact that he was a known tea partier before he was a candidate.  Not to mention Republican gains in the state assembly that left the Senate veto-proof and the House nearly veto-proof.

All should be well in Missouri, except it ain’t.

The issue is local control of the police department in St. Louis, where a vestige of the Civil War left the state in control of the St. Louis and Kansas City police through boards composed of city residents and the respective mayors.  Where one might think this would be an easy issue for the tea party and conservatives, one would be horribly wrong.  Strange coalitions have formed in Missouri.  Some members of the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition find themselves siding with the St. Louis Police Officers Association and Governor Jay Nixon (D) against Lt. Governor Peter Kinder (R), House Speaker Steven Tilley (R) and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay (D).

To make a long story short, the tea party position revolves around whether granting Mayor Slay total control of the police would be an action of responsible governance.  St. Louis politics resemble Chicago politics, though on a smaller scale, and it appears many are concerned the dysfunctional nature of St. Louis government will infect the police in a city plagued by crime.  Those who support local control believe the police will be more accountable to the public through the mayor.  Obviously, the issue of local control is more complicated than the brief synopsis I have provided, but I do not have space to spell it all out.

Now that we have a basic understanding of the issue and the parties involved we can get down to the dirt. (more…)

In the 3rd Congressional District of Missouri, a race for the ages is taking place.  Ed Martin (R), one of the originals involved with the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition and endorsed by that organization, is fighting to replace Russ Carnahan (D), representative of everything the tea party movement has been fighting against.

This was not supposed to be a competitive race.  The district was designed as a safe seat for Democrats, carving out pieces of St. Louis and the union stronghold of Jefferson County.  If it had not been a safe seat, Carnahan’s campaign would have been over a year ago when SEIU goons beat Kenneth Gladney at one of his health care town halls or a few months ago when the state passed the Missouri Health Care Freedom Act with 71% of the vote.

The 3rd District likes politicians that like to politic.  Traditionally, the representatives of this district have been fairly public figures that engage the voters.  This is not Russ Carnahan.  He cannot speak without his constituents laughing at him. He knows nothing about guns in a gun-friendly district.  He sends video of himself to speaker forums instead of showing up.  He does what he is told to do by Nancy Pelosi, and he sends taxpayer dollars outside of his district to support his brother’s windmill farm. (more…)

The bizarre and unlikely rebellion known as the Tea Party began with only a few thousand people in a few dozen places on February 27, 2009. Those of us who were there in St. Louis or Atlanta, Chicago, or Los Angeles, feel a bit of trepidation as we approach the November 2 Mid-Term. Will we live up to our promise? Or will we live under the growing tyranny of debt, taxes, regulation, and corruption.

With so much at stake, let us pause one last time.  Like a football team before the championship game, we need a moment to reflect on what we’ve done, to lend strength to our companions, to reinvigorate our determination, and to ask God’s favor.  On September 12, the American conservative movement will clear its throat and prepare to sing to the world.

In Washington, DC, Sacramento, CA, and St. Louis, MO, tens of thousands of Americans will gather one final time before the most important election in a century. We will do what we always do at Tea Parties: pray, speak, listen, sing, and celebrate.  While we may be angry, we are also joyful that our words find so many welcoming ears, and that our voices blend with so many others.

We will gather together as a family, full of the drama and petty disagreements that seemed so important—so life or death—a few weeks ago. They weren’t important, of course. They were frivolous. But human nature makes mountains out of mole hills.  Until fate places a real mountain in the path to our destiny.

That mountain is debt, government, corruption, and depression.  Its malignant foliage is stolen power, plundered treasures, and trampled rights.  And while that mountain looks mighty and strong, we know that Jericho’s walls fell to trumpets and prayers.  We know that faith can move a mountain.

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Last Tuesday August 17, 2010, Rep. Russ Carnahan’s office was reportedly vandalized and “firebombed” at 2 AM in the morning. Hours later police arrested a suspect for the crime and held him for several hours.

Of course, when the “firebombing” was reported local leftists blamed the tea party activists.

Then things got really weird. The police released the suspect and the Carnahan camp went silent. Carnahan employees were seen dumping documents into a dumpster but refused to to talk to reporters. There was a complete blackout on information.

Photo of Carnahan’s office after the firebombing. (Via the Carnahan Office)

Now we know why.

The suspect was reportedly a disgruntled progressive activist employed by Russ Carnahan. An unnamed source familiar with the case released the information. Suspect Chris Powers reportedly was upset because he did not get paid so he firebombed the Carnahan finance offices at 2 in the morning.

What a complete shock.

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The NAACP has apparently decided  to call 20 million American patriots “racists” for advancing liberty and economic opportunity. Their evidence?  Attendance at a Tea Party–anywhere, anytime. Specifically, according to the Kansas City Star (via Jim Hoft):

The resolution, scheduled for a vote as early as Tuesday by delegates attending the annual NAACP convention in Kansas City, calls upon “all people of good will to repudiate the racism of the Tea Parties, and to stand in opposition to its drive to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era.”

At midnight, the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition sent a resolution condemning the NAACP’s false and defamatory statement to the organization’s Washington bureau. We took this action because we will not stand for their lies.

The Tea Party’s principles are simple and clear:

• Smaller federal government
• Lower taxes
• Fiscal responsibility
• National security
• Federalism

Those are precisely the tools to lift all Americans out of poverty. They’ve worked every time they’ve been tried.  In America, we just haven’t tried them in awhile, due in large part to the NAACP’s advancement of socialism.

Each of these First Principles protects the rights of every American—the rights inherent in our humanity, not phony “rights” invented by a bureaucrat.  We stand for rights given by God that no man, no government, can justifiably deny or diminish.  Our principles are the very same principles that the NAACP stood for in 1909 but has wandered away from since the 1970s.

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We Will Not Be Silenced

Last year the Pelosi-Obama regime passed the most irresponsible and damaging piece of legislation in American history – the Trillion Dollar Stimulus Bill. They dumped a trillion dollars into a government sink hole with the promise that they would create jobs. We knew better. We were afraid for our families and our country. We were outraged and took to the streets. We spoke out. We came out. We protested the elites.

We will not be silenced.

On April 15th of last year we met in cities across this great nation. We protested the reckless spending, the record deficit, the bailouts, the careless decisions being made by this radical Administration and Congress. We came out in force, hundreds of thousands of us. We stood as one.

We will not be silenced.

We shocked the elites. We shocked the radicals and extremists. They couldn’t believe that we were speaking out. This wasn’t their plan. They knew they had to react and they lashed out at us. They called us mobsters, Nazis, radicals, and racists. They beat us, and smashed us in the face and bit off fingers. They wanted us to pipe down; to be good little drones as they continued to wreak havoc across this great nation with their radical agenda. But, we gathered on street corners and met them at town halls.

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Leftist and racist infiltrators were forced to flee at tea party rallies in St. Louis, San Francisco, Oceanside and Greensboro.

Patriots -4 Alinsky Thugs -0

In St. Louis last night local patriots drove this racist infiltrator with Nazi symbols on his shirt from the rally:

The sign pointing down at the white supremist plant was from the Big Government tool kit. It came in handy. The infiltrator scurried off after he was confronted by several patriots including local blogger Adam Sharp who got up in his face. “Just know that you’re not going to come here and pretend that you’re with us.” Adam told the plant. Adam was fearless. The hater left shortly after the confrontation.

Adam’s parting words… “GO HOME NAZI.”

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The late Robert Brewster Loudon, my father, departed this World, just two years ago.  While I hated to lose and deeply miss him, I am so glad he has not had to see what is happening to his Country.  You see, his story is like so many from the Greatest Generation although rather unique.  He survived the Great Depression.  He was drafted into World War II, and spared combat when the Japanese surrendered.  His story is unlike many because in the history of this Country, few people loved the American automobile like my father.

My father did hands on, ground up restorations on more classic cars than I can count.  He personally founded many car clubs over the years and was a regular at national swap meets and the big annual gatherings.  His personal favorite was always the Kenosha, Wisconsin gathering of the defunct company, American Motors Corporation.  He was pretty widely published and also recognized as one of the best professional car appraisers.  He even raced semi-pro for the SCCA and once set a speed record at Daytona.  He wrote a book on cars that he never published.  I will never forget where the happy tale turns bittersweet.  The man, who ALWAYS believed in buying American, announced to his four boys that he had bought all of us something that will last forever, and always grow in value-General Motors common stock.

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Hundreds rallied today outside of Russ Carnahan’s office in St. Louis.

500 protesters met today at Carnahan’s Brentwood office. The rally was called late yesterday afternoon. Missouri protesters wanted to let “Rubber Stamp Russ” know that he will pay in November for being Pelosi’s puppet all year long.

Angry protesters chucked shoes at radical Russ Carnahan on a can:

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If you followed the news out of Nashville, you probably heard that some Tea Party folks are creating a Political Action Committee that will win 15 to 20 key Congressional races in 2010 and, perhaps, in years beyond. What you didn’t hear at the press conference was that several grassroots tea party organizers are so strongly in favor of this move that we have agreed to serve Ensuring Liberty PAC through its organizing parent, the Ensuring Liberty 501.c(4). Our local tea parties will continue unchanged.

Who Comprises the ELPAC

Very simply, ELPAC is led by six people from some of the most effective local Tea Party organizations in America:

• Mark Skoda of The Memphis Tea Party
• Steve McQueen of The Quincy Tea Party
• State Sen. John Loudon (MO-Ret.) of St. Louis Tea Party
• Rose Corona, a California farmer and Patriot
• Brad Ehmen of The Quincy Tea Party
• Bill Hennessy of St. Louis Tea Party

While you might not recognize all of these names, I do. These are the people who have been in the fox holes with us since day one. They are bold and resilient fighters for freedom. They are the men and women we turn to for counsel, support, advice, strength, and help across the Mid-West and across the the nation. We share mutual faith in each other. The men and women on this list have skills to win elections with grassroots activism. They embody what happened in NY-23 and Massachusetts.

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The symbol of our judicial system is the blind folded lady liberty holding the scales of justice in her hands.  In St. Louis County it appears she may be peeking.

On October 9th, 2000, Patricia Redington, a newly appointed St. Louis County Counselor showed such dedication to her job, that she opened the office on the Columbus Day holiday in order to file assault charges against Republican candidate Bill Federer.  This is in contrast to the way she handles the, typical case and the way she is handling the case of Democrat SEIU members pounding a businessman.   St. Louis area patriots smell a rat and show no signs of letting up until justice is served.

Realizing that workers can lose their initial zeal for their jobs, we can understand why Counselor Redington now says that despite what she did for Federer, her typical time to get charges written up and filed is six to eight weeks.  That is unfortunate for Federer who had an election in four weeks and might have appreciated a delay.  He lost his election as voters had to choose between throwing out Gephart and voting in a guy under a legal cloud and media scrutiny.   The respected author, historian and family man just might be mentally unstable considering he had in fact, been charged with a crime.  Redington, by the way, is a Democrat.

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Yesterday, Pastor Himes provided powerful, and courageous, witness to the union violence he and his wife saw in St. Louis on August 6th.  They provided strong testament to the union attack on Kenneth Gladney. But, his comments only dealt with the events of that day. Evidence is emerging that the events of that day went far beyond St. Louis and may have been part of a nationally orchestrated campaign to intimidate and silence dissent.

When Congress went into its summer recess at the end of July, an organic movement erupted to protest Congressional proposals to inject government deeper into our health care system. The ferocity of citizen’s reactions caught most congressmen off-guard. The citizen’s spontaneous protests against Congress dominated the news coverage. It was only a matter of time until the left struck back,.

On the morning of August 6th, Sam Stein reported at the Huffington Post that labor unions had released a comprehensive memo, detailing tactics to counter what were called “town hall protestors”. That same day, a White House official said to reporters, “If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard.”

Those both happened the morning of the assault on Kenneth Gladney. Is it any surprise that on the specific day that Big Labor and the White House signaled a commitment to ‘punch back’ at the town hall protests, an innocent bystander, Kenneth Gladney, was brutally beaten?

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