Posted on 11/06/2006 6:48:29 AM PST by .cnI redruM
St. Louis has been much in the spotlight of late with the World Series victory of the Cardinals turning attention to the Gateway City. Unfortunately the City has also gotten some less flattering attention; it has been declared the most dangerous place in America, and a massive voter registration fraud has been uncovered.
St. Louis has been controlled by Democrats for decades, and is a model of the success of liberal Democratic policies. They have worked well to keep the City under the control of the Democrats, and make it a rich source of “votes” for close statewide races in this important swing state.
With the elections being held tomorrow, perhaps we should examine this Democrat Promised Land more closely, to see exactly what we are bargaining for if we allow the Republicans to go down to defeat in the federal legislative branch.
I live and work in the City of St. Louis. There is no greater advocate for this community than I. St. Louis is a place blessed with a rich history and noble heritage, with beautiful buildings and vibrant communities, with art and science and a wonderful mix of small town charm and big city style.
However, the City of St. Louis itself is dying, thanks primarily to decades of liberal/Democrat control, which has done everything possible to drive out the upper and middle class citizens and ruined many blessings with which this once great city had been endowed. St. Louis is a classic example of what happens when Democrats and Liberals hold dominion unopposed over a community for a long period of time. It is a Democrat utopia.
So why is it so dysfunctional in most respects?
First look at the way the City is highly functional. Democrats have had complete control of the apparatus of voting here with the expected results. Vote fraud has been rampant for as long as I can remember, going back to the election of 1980 and before. Considering the fact that a Republican couldn’t get elected trash collector here, it is absolutely amazing the amount of fraud which occurs. Remember the election of 2000 when 247,135 of 258,532 adults registered to vote? This 95.6% voter registration is a ridiculous number, clearly illustrating a massive effort to defraud.
In fact, deceased Alderman Albert “Red” Villa was registered, as was a Springer Spaniel named Ritzy Mekler. A Judge friendly to the Clay dynasty in north St. Louis ordered that the polls be kept open late (allowing the busloads of voters to be shuttled from polling place to polling place) in a redux of then-Governor Kit Bond`s re-election campaign. A couple of days before the elections, future Congressman Lacy Clay was quoted as saying in 2000,
“If it requires keeping the polls open a little longer, we’re going to get a court order to do it….”
Strangely, the polling places were flooded with voters, many of whom looked suspiciously like people seen at other polling stations. Anyone having trouble with their registration was sent to the Board of Election Commissioners to vote (no questions asked), where they were given a ballot. Remember, the election board is dominated by city Democrats.
Now in 2006, of course, we have the flap over ACORN. This very partisan ``non partisan group`` turned in 1492 fraudulent voter registration cards in which at least three dead people were registering to vote here in our Democrat paradise. In fact, last year we were declared the 4th worst city for vote fraud. We`re just going to have to work harder if we want to be #1.
It disgusts me to have my franchise diluted with fraudulent votes, but that`s how we do things here in the `Lou. “If you don’t like it, leave!” So we are implicitly told.
Then, too, St. Louis is blessed with one of the highest crime rates in the country, recently receiving the honor of being the most dangerous city in America. Lenient sentencing of criminals, a strong market for crystal meth and other drugs, numerous abandoned buildings, weak truancy enforcement, and a plethora of social services create a climate conducive to crime. The large influx of people from New Orleans (another liberal Mecca) definitely helped spike the crime rate to elevate St. Louis to her exalted position as Queen of Crime.
Years ago, there were certain areas of the city which were heavily crime riddled, and the City Fathers and Mothers decided that too many people were packed together, which they believed increased the crime rate. So the City rewrote the building codes, reducing the number of occupants permissible in a building. They also tore down some of the worst areas-such as McKree Town. It never occurred to these Keystone Cops that this would simply spread the criminals over a wider area. Now, instead of several enclosed crime zones the entire city is the gangbanger`s playground.
St. Louis has been one of the fastest shrinking major cities in America for a long time (the population loss has subsided in the last couple of years, largely because anyone who could leave has left.) But during the last 50 years, St. Louis has been shrinking faster than a bottle of scotch at a Kennedy family gathering. According to Encarta MSN:
St. Louis is losing people at a rate faster than any other major American city except Hartford, Connecticut. The city lost more than one-half of its population in the second half of the 20th century. In 1950 it had a population of 857,000, in 2000 the population was 348,189. In 2004, the population of St. Louis was estimated at 343,279.
Why? Because liberal policies such as the City Earnings Tax make it expensive to live or work in the City. I remember when Francis Slay was running for Mayor and a reporter asked him if he would consider removing the Earnings Tax. He responded that the City could not afford the loss of revenue, and that the question of what the City can do for business should be replaced with what can businesses do for the City! Mayor Slay is completely ignorant (as are most good Democrats) of the fundamental principles of economics. He sees government as the first priority, with business serving at their pleasure. This illustrates the damage the earnings tax does to businesses, and why so many companies won’t locate inside the city limits.
Yet “we can’t afford the loss of tax dollars!” remains the battle cry of those who want to retuan the crippling earnings tax.
City building codes also are partly to blame for population loss. Mayor Slay, thinking he could imitate the model of Rudy Guilliani, began a more aggressive program of inspections and demands for work on properties. But St. Louis isn’t New York, and many of the rental buildings are owned by working and middle-class people with limited funds.
Property values being so much higher in New York, and the underlying demand for housing stronger, it was feasible to make such demands and have hopes of them being met. But not here; many property owners simply defaulted and left their buildings abandoned, or deeded them to the city. St. Louis had to pass a law prohibiting deeding property to the city because of all the abandoned structures coming under city ownership. As a result, many of the city’s poor found they could no longer find property to rent, and they either moved in with relatives or obtained some sort of rental assistance. With a large pool of poor seeking housing, many working class areas degenerated into slums, and many of the working class people simply left the city.
As would any other Democrats’ paradise, St. Louis passed a “living wage” ordinance which chased businesses and people out of town.
No Democrats’ paradise can afford to ignore education. For years the abysmal City schools in St. Louis have been in danger of total collapse. The State of Missouri has made contingency plans to take them over when they do. Why would any family want to relocate to St. Louis, where they would have to pay for private school out of pocket (while paying taxes to support the city’s failed system)?
The entire north side of the city resembles Sarajevo after the Bosnian War, with crumbling and abandoned buildings, or blocks upon blocks of vacant lots. The south side fared a bit better because of, well, Bosnians and Albanians who were relocated here as refugees, and who rebuiltsome of the neighborhoods. Unfortunately, many of them have tired of the crime and squalor and are moving out to the ‘burbs.
Downtown is dark at night and the homeless wander the streets, thanks to a liberal minister who operates a major homeless shelter near City Hall. Personally, I never feel safe when I go downtown, and the exorbitant price for parking acts as a powerful disincentive to go. (The City does quite well with parking meters and the taxes they charge commercial parking lots.) The City has built a light-rail system which extends to East St. Louis (America`s first third world city) and the east side criminals can now prey on a wealthier clientele. They’ve also opened the famous Eads Bridge to foot traffic, so more muggers and rapists can come to football games.
I love St. Louis, but this city has serious, almost unfixable problems. These problems are right now unfixable because the Democrats own this place, and they have turned it into their vision of Eden. They have run one of America`s best places into the ground, fostering crime, poverty, and decay. This is a model for anyone who wants to see what Democrat control can do.
Tomorrow, we will be heading for the polls to decide who will control Congress. We had better think carefully. Do we want to see America run by people who have made such a mess in the places where they reign? Do we want to turn the entire country into a New Orleans or St. Louis?
'Nuf Said.
Many of the same problems here it Rat-controlled Cleveland OH. Yet the same incompetents will be reelected tomorrow.
At least the Rats are consistent...
Add Detroit and Baltimore to the list of democrat dying cities.
Bring back Mayor Dennis!
This describes Buffalo perfectly.
I thought Trenton, NJ was the #1 most dangerous city.
How Voter Fraud in Philadelphia Affect Us All - The Philadelphia Inquirer refuses to print
By 2banana
According to CNN, Bush lost Pennsylvania to Kerry by 144,248 votes (out of more than 5.7 million cast - a razor thin margin that was even closer than the "too close to call" Ohio vote).
Also according to CNN, Kerry received about 542,000 votes and Bush received about 130,000 votes in Philadelphia (or a ratio of 4.16 for Kerry).
Now, for the really interesting numbers. According to the recent US Census, the Population of Philadelphia that is of voting age is 1,105,066. This number includes people who by law can not vote (non-American citizens, felons, out of state college students, etc.). In 2004, there were 1,035,395 registered voters in Philadelphia, up 34,000 from 2001.
So, what does this mean?
First, even as Philadelphia looses population, the number of registered voters continues to increase, year after year. Today, in Philadelphia, nearly 100% of every person of voting age must registered to vote (as compared to a national average of 60% by the Census Bureau). Consider, since 1995, Philadelphia's voter rolls have jumped 24 percent while at the same time that the city's population has declined by 13 percent.
Second, the total lopsidedness of the 4.16 ratio is an absolutely astounding number - even heavily democratic Broward Country, FL (one of the only places Gore wanted recounted in 2000) only went for Kerry 2:1 and Cook County, IL (Chicago - THE definition of the democrat voting machine) only went for Kerry 2.5:1.
Either Philadelphia has the most engaged and civic population in the history of the World, or there is massive voter fraud.
And the amount of fraud easily exceeds the margin of loss of President Bush. For instance, if the registration was slightly above average and if Philadelphia was just your "average-democrat-rustbelt-city-union-stronghold with a 50 year democrat political machine," the vote for Kerry in Philadelphia would have been just over 300,000. The voter fraud in Philadelphia is worth about 150,000 votes - a deficit that any Republican running for statewide office must overcome with real votes.
But is this "real" fraud or is it one of the easily predicted "unintended consequences" of the Clinton Motor-Voter Law? A few nights before the 2004 presidential election, Chris Matthews, Howard Fineman, Andrea Mitchell and the Mayor of Philadelphia (John Street) were on Hardball. They were all laughing away about how the election was great for the economy of Philadelphia, and suggesting that there would plenty of "street money" around to "get out the vote." And these are the same people who are going to stop or report any kind of voter fraud?
I find it ironic that a country like Afghanistan (where I had combat tour of duty), with no history of democracy, has a country wide and nearly fraud free election under the oversight of us - Americans. But we instituted a few rules like - you had to prove you are an Afghan, you had to get a voter ID, show the voter ID when you voted, your name had to match the voter roll, and you had to get your thumb stamped by permanent ink so you couldn't vote twice.
Maybe, one day, in Philadelphia, we will have free and fair elections with a minimum of fraud on the level of the recent vote in Afghanistan.
I'll bet he does, home of the corrupt judges who keep the polls open beyond their time, home of voter fraud! What not for a dem to love. They can't win honestly so they steal elections.
Democrats NEED misery to propogate thier ideology of Socialism...
This is especially hard to pull off in a steaming economy, but try they must...
so there ideas have never worked, but at least they keep "working" to solve the problem...and insuring lifelong employment sucking off the people that produce and work for a living.
From this morning's St. Louis Post Dispatch:
"Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's hottest campaign commodity, wowed a crowd of more than 1,000 St. Louisans on Sunday with an election eve pitch for change in the Senate."
I've had personal experience with the Post's crowd "estimates" when it comes to political rallies. I would bet there were no more than 500 people there.
To put that in context, President Bush had a rally in Springfield, Missouri on Friday with more than 11,000.
Last week, in St. Louis, 500,000 people attended a parade for the St. Louis Cardinals.
I think it's safe to say that although Mr. Obama may love St. Louis, St. Louis is pretty lukewarm on him.
Don't forget Memphis!!
AH, the memories of those names...Red,Francis...
So why does the US put up with this fraud? I really want an answer.
Because:
1. When dems are in power they greatly benefit from the fraud.
2. If reps try to stop it, they get labeled as racist.
While I cannot dispute any of what is in the article, I can say that my neighborhood is quite wonderful. As others have mentioned, other cities are having similar problems. So, our problems aren't unique.
By the way, I'm proud to say that our alderman, Fred Heitert, is the only Republican on the St Louis Board of Aldermen. So, yes, Republicans can win, but not city wide office!
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