St. Louis News Blog

You have a weekend, then a short week, and before you know it, you'll be in line outside the electronics store at 4 a.m. waiting to get flat-screen TV at deep, deeeep discount.

So please, enjoy this final weekend before holiday madness descends on all of us. Here are ten options for weekend fun for $10 or less, which is about the only thing these events have in common, besides their St. Louis location.

Looking for local music? Peep our weekend concert calendar.

Credit: Dale Chihuly

​Dale Chihuly at the Duane Reed Gallery (Opens Friday)
While nature is settling in for a long winter's nap, Dale Chihuly's glass pieces -- best known in St. Louis for being on display at the Missouri Botanical Garden are as lively as ever -- and they're within the warm confines of the Duane Reed Gallery (4729 McPherson Avenue; www.duanereedgallery.com or 314-361-4100) beginning Friday, November 20. Opening with a free public reception from 5 to 8 p.m., this exhibition of Chihuly's latest work features the stunning winter-whiteness of Palazzo Ducale Tower, a writhing, elegant form that will tower over gallerygoers, shimmering and shining all throughout the winter -- well, almost. The show remains on view Tuesday through Saturday until Saturday, January 30. Alison Sieloff has more details for your right here.

​In an interview with the St. Louis Beacon, conducted via text message (oh, brave new world!), disgraced former state senator Jeff Smith shares his perspective on the revelations of last summer which led to his sentencing earlier this week to a year in federal prison for obstruction of justice. Among other revelations:

As Smith recalls, he listened to [State Rep. Steve] Brown's tapes in mid-July, roughly the week before his annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament and community fair in his district....
Smith said his only concern at that time "was I wanted assurances" from the U.S. attorney's office "that they would not indict before the 3-on-3 tournament which we'd spent months preparing for."

What a guy.

anytimecostumes.com

Taxed enough already, kid?

​You know how it is each April. You'd think your kids would be happy. Summer is just around the corner. Little League season is starting up. In short, there's a lot to look forward to.

But no. All your kids can think of is the @$%&in' government. 'Cause April is tax time, and nothing pisses off the kiddies more than filing that annual 1040 form.

Well, good news! Now your tykes have an outlet.

A 22-year-old student in Alton, Illinois, has formed an organization specifically tailored for angry, small-government-minded juveniles. It's called the Alton Youth TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party Organization and it's having a rally this very month!

"I am very conservative. The youths don't know what is going on, and we don't have anything that focuses on getting news to kids," Eric Maxon, founder of the group told the Alton Telegraph this week. "Our generation will be the outcome of legislation being passed now. We will pay for it in the end."

Word up! The rally takes place Nov. 28 at Alton's Gordon Moore Community Park.

Viva la revolucion!

Trash collection was making some downtown residents grouchy.

​St. Louis alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett this morning introduced legislation regulating the hours that trash trucks can haul waste from businesses located near residential property.

On her blog today, the downtown alderwoman (Ward 6) writes:

While trash collection may appear as a routine issue, it has become an increasingly major concern for many city residents. They are being awakened at midnight, or very early in the morning to the sound of trash trucks barreling through their alley.

Triplett's "Stop the Racket Legislation" a.k.a. Board Bill 220 would bar trash trucks from picking up waste from businesses located within 200 feet of a residential building between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

City codes already prohibit trash collection in residential neighborhoods during those same hours. Triplett says her legislation is needed because many downtown lofts and condos are in areas zoned commercial where trash trucks can operate at all hours.

Steve Brown was sentenced to two years' probation and a $40,000 fine. Jeff Smith got a year in prison and must pay a $50,000 fine.

​In a letter to U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson, former state rep. Steve Brown's wife, Rebecca Brown, stated she is "deeply disappointed" by her husband's illegal act but proud about how he handled the debacle.

"His decision to accept responsibility and assist with the investigation came without hesitation," Brown wrote.

Steve Brown wore a wire for the government earlier this year and captured his then-good friend Jeff Smith trying to blame a cover-up of an FEC violation on a dead campaign worker.

In a political column that appeared a day after their sentencings, Smith seemed to take Brown to task for turning against him.

Rebecca Brown's letter (after the jump) helps to explain her husband's loyalty to Smith and his "palpable envy of Jeff's success."

"Perhaps most telling was a comment [Steve] made to me shortly after his [guilty] plea when support began pouring in from his friends," Brown writes of her husband. "He told me that all he had really ever wanted in this life was to have friends and now he finally knew that he did. How deeply regrettable it is that it took such a disgrace for him to make this discovery."
 

​Contractors for the city of Town & Country began baiting deer this month, setting up food stands throughout the west county suburb.

Town & Country is believed to have a deer herd numbering between 600 and 800. Earlier this year, city officials approved a measure to cull the herd.

The city is spending approximately $50,000 for sharpshooters to kill up to 200 deer. Another $75,000 has been set aside for sterilizing between 75 to 100 female deer with tubal-ligation surgery performed in the field.

The food stands have been up for several weeks now. Slaying and spaying begins in earnest December 1.

Fair warning, Rudolph: You and your reindeer friends may want to steer clear of T&C this year!
 

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay used last week's critical audit of the St. Louis Police Department as one more reason why the law enforcement agency should be under local control.

The St. Louis police department has operated under state control since the Civil War when out-state legislators feared that city cops might assist the Union Army.

www.mohistory.org

Union sympathizers? Turn-of-the-century St. Louis cops.

​

At a meeting yesterday of the St. Louis Police Board of Commissioners, Slay told his former members that local oversight would do a better job of checking the powers and procedures of the law agency.

The mayor made a similar plea in a blog post last week:  

At yesterday's federal sentencing of Jeff Smith, U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson noted her receipt of numerous letters asking for leniency for the former state senator. Jackson said she never counted the missives, but estimated that they well could have totaled 100.

Jackson also referenced a lone dissenter. Daily RFT has learned it was a man named Richard Luthmann.

Luthmann was a friend of Artie Harris, a 2004 campaign worker for Smith who, according to court documents and testimony, lied to the Federal Elections Commission on Smith's behalf in early 2007, and then committed suicide two months later.

http://dperera.com/friends_of_artie

Artie Harris left St. Louis after the Smith for Congress 2004 campaign. He was working for New York's Attorney General when he took his own life. Smith apparently attended his funeral.

​
According to wiretaps, Smith tried to blame his campaign's misdeed on Harris.

His friend, Luthmann, was none too pleased when those revelations surfaced this past summer. "I write this to the St. Louis paper and to the people of St. Louis to make it known what a despicable piece of slime Jeff Smith is," Luthmann subsequently wrote in a letter to the St. Louis American.   

​Regarding my post yesterday on how Sarah Palin's book tour is avoiding major cities and Democratic strongholds in favor of discount retailers in podunkville...

Yesterday the Springfield News-Leader reported a tidbit that supports my premise. Palin is in fact stopping in Missouri to promote her book Going Rogue.

So where will Palin land? St. Louis? Kansas City? Springfield? Columbia?

Nope. She's visiting Branson.

But even that's not quite right. Palin is visiting a suburb of Branson.

​ ​During a flight leg in April, [campaign press secretary Robert] Gibbs tried to have a heart-to-heart with Obama. "Are you having any fun at all?" he asked him.

"None," Obama flatly replied.

"Do you see any way we can make it more fun?" Gibbs replied.

"No."

So writes President Obama's former campaign manager, David Plouffe, of the joyless dog days that often infuse an arduous campaign, as was the 21-month ordeal that commenced long before the first snowflakes fell in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"It was unrelenting and hard. It was in the months of April and May. That's when the drudgery kicks in," Plouffe tells the Daily RFT. "Obama was missing his family and still trying to get acclimated to this hectic pace."

Is it just Daily RFT, or does it sound like Jeff Smith is flipping the ol' bird to the people who put him behind bars?

​St. Louis Post-Dispatch political columnist Tony Messenger has a nice scene-scetter of the Jeff Smith sentencing in this morning's paper. 

​If you haven't heard, former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is out today with her new book Going Rogue.

The 432-page tome is already getting some critical reviews from those who say Palin doesn't always get her facts straight in the book.

Honestly, though, who cares?! Palin was never about authenticity. She was about spontaneity!

Like that time in St. Louis during the VP debate when she casually asked Joe Biden, "Hey, can I call you Joe?" and then used the informality to belittle him. "Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again."

Or that time that time that she -- or her handlers -- came to St. Louis and dropped tens of thousands of dollars on clothes and accoutrements at the Saks Fifth Avenue.

Given Palin's ties to St. Louis and her affinity for our stores, we here at Daily RFT figured Palin would give our fair city a visit during her book tour.

Think again.

Jeff Smith remains free on bond -- until he gets the letter from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons telling him where and when to report.

​Susan Uchitelle wanted Jeff Smith to do more community service at Confluence Academy.

Vince Estrada wanted the former poli-sci instructor for Washington University to tutor students in the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District and help coach the St. Louis Eagles basketball team.

Martin Matthews asked that the former state senator be allowed to continue helping out at the Matthews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club.

All in exchange for prison time.

But U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson decided that no length of community service -- something Smith was previously known for -- would serve as punishment for the two obstruction of justice charges that he pled guilty to this past summer.

Smith's attorney, Richard Greenberg, had asked for house arrest and community service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said it would be foolish to let Smith "live off of his substantial net worth" and requested a prison sentence of fifteen to 21 months.

Judge Jackson didn't quite meet them halfway: She went with twelve months and a day, plus a $50,000 fine and two years' supervised release.

(The twelve months and a day is a technicality that can result in a defendant with good behavior being released before the end of the term.)

Jackson honored Greenberg's request to ask the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for a bed at the Marion, Illinois, penitentiary so Smith can be close to his family and friends -- some of whom were in court this morning.

campaignforliberty.com

Bierfeldt

​Remember the case of Steve Bierfeldt?

If you answered no, you're not reading enough Libertarian blogs. Let us quickly recap...

Bierfeldt is the development director for presidential candidate Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty. He was in the St. Louis airport back in April when Transportation and Safety Administration officials found $4,700 in cash in his luggage and detained him for questioning.

When Bierfeldt refused to answer their inquiries, TSA officials responded: "Are you from this planet?" and "You want to play smartass, and I'm not going to play your fucking game."

Bierfeldt recorded the conversation on his iPhone and used the threats to sue the TSA on charges of violating his civil liberties. Bierfeldt (who was being represented by the ACLU) has now dropped his lawsuit after the TSA agreed to change its policies.

We here at Daily RFT love it that Claire McCaskill is so social-media savvy. At times, though, the Missouri senator can really go overboard.

Today is one of those times.

McCaskill is tweeting a personal thank you to each and every Missouri veteran suggested by her 34,000 Twitter friends. As anyone who follows McCaskill on Twitter is realizing, the number of veterans adds up to a very long list.

​

Umm, no disrespect to the vets, but is this the best use of our senator's time?

'Cause you can't keep MetroLink down.

​That's the news from the Washington University Student Life newspaper.

In an article today the paper reports that Wash. U. has already forked over $25,000 to support a tax measure that could go before voters as soon as this April. Philanthropist Sam Fox has given another $10,000, according to the Student Life.

In November 2008 voters in St. Louis County narrowly defeated Proposition M that would have boosted the sales tax by half a percent to pay for future MetroLink expansion and other costs. Months after the initiative failed, Metro was forced to severely cut back its service owing to budget shortfalls.

Student Life reports today that Metro boosters want the tax hike on this coming April's ballot because some of the temporary funds that have restored transit services expire in May.

Longtime Missouri Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond, a stalwart Republican, has said more than a few things in his lengthy political career to draw the comedic wrath of Daily Show host Jon Stewart. In April, for instance, he claimed that punishing those responsible for Bush-era torture policies was something a "banana republic" would do.

With material like that, Stewart's job is easy.

But when Bond, who has announced he will not seek re-election next year, appeared on The Daily Show on Monday to pimp his new book, it was he who delivered most of the one-liners--not that tiny, hilarious Jewish guy who is now perhaps the most trusted source in TV news because he always calls b.s. on other cable news outlets and asks legitimate, tough questions.

Drawing genuine laughter from the host on several occasions, an obviously well-coached Bond zinged everything from Obama's Afghanistan policy to the House of Representatives' recent vote on healthcare reform. Take a look for yourself, and listen for Stewart introducing Bond as "the senator from the great state of Mizzurrah":

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Kit Bond
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Despite his political leanings, Stewart clearly has a lot of respect for...

Akin

​We kid, of course. But Todd Akin, the U.S. Representative from Missouri's 2nd Congressional District (Town and Country), forgot the word "indivisible" from the Pledge of Allegiance today while reciting the oath along with anti-health care reform advocates in Washington.

Perhaps Akin made such a political issue of the fact that "God" is invoked in the pledge that he forgot the all-important next word -- indivisible. As in, united.

Akin said the "Under God" portion of the Pledge -- added in 1954 -- "drives liberals crazy." A twist to the pledge story and perhaps why Akin was, uhh, achin' to recite it today: He's promised to "Protect the Pledge of Allegiance" through legislation. So one figures he knows it well enough to not forget words. But then again, that's a large crowd and nerves have gotten to the best of us.

One of Akin's aides likened the gaffe to a Supreme Court Justice John Roberts' swearing-in of President Barack Obama on January 20, writes Jo Mannies over at the St. Louis Beacon.

It's also worth noting that at least one person in the audience could be heard saying "nice job" after verbal fumble, but Akin, judging from the pregnant pause after he omitted the word, seems to have realized it immediately.

Politics is not a perfect science:



And if you've forgotten the words since grade school, here are the words to the Pledge of Allegiance.

www.stevestenger.com

​By now you've probably heard how St. Louis County Councilman Steve Stenger was flabbergasted Tuesday when a casino executive "muscled" him prior to a council meeting.

As Stenger told the Post-Dispatch yesterday, the chairman and chief executive of Pinnacle Entertainment, Daniel Lee, and his entourage cornered Stenger (D-Affton) on Tuesday night just before the council was set to vote on a controversial casino proposal for north county.

The Las Vegas-based Pinnacle is finishing up a $357-million casino in Stenger's south county district and the casino boss didn't want Stenger to vote in favor of yet another casino in the St. Louis area.

Trouble is, Stenger just can't say no to casinos -- any casinos.

Image Via

​While thousands of St. Louis county voters took to the polls yesterday to decide important issues like a smoking ban and increased 911 funding, the fate of the largest stretch of undeveloped Mississippi River waterfront in the St. Louis region was left in the hands of six members of the St. Louis County Council.

They voted 4-2 in favor of re-zoning 376 acres of wetlands south of the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area for commercial development, specifically a massive casino and resort that includes 8,000 parking spots, a golf course, and a wind farm.

Hazel Erby, Kathleen Burkett, Michael O'Mara, and Steven Stegner voted in favor of the re-zoning.

Greg Quinn and Barbara Fraser were the nay votes. Colleen Wasinger, a Republican expected to vote no, was absent.

The decision was, by all accounts, controversial. The meeting was picketed by environmental groups and a Spanish Lake neighborhood association. One attendee estimated that more than 50 people spoke up at the meeting, offering a myriad of reasons why the development should not go forward.

The  casino development still faces several hurdles, including obtaining a gaming license, before construction can begin.

​Any good cop TV show has the same line. Just as the criminal is being placed in shackles, the police officer states: "You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, the state will provide you one."

Did you know, though, that that line isn't necessarily true? At least not in Missouri where the state's overburdened public defenders have adopted rules allowing them to deny counsel to two types of criminals:

1. Those who first hire a private attorney and then drop that initial lawyer for a public defender
2. Those accused of violating the terms of their probation.

But shouldn't public defenders be compelled to provide legal counsel to any and all accused criminals?

That's the question being weighed in Jefferson City as the Missouri Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments on both sides of the debate.

It's election day in communities across America. Here in Missouri, St. Louis County voters -- only 10 percent them, actually -- are expected to to go to the polls to vote on a smoking ban for bars and restaurants.

​Stereotypically, it's been the younger generations who are least likely to vote, and over the years a whole band of celebrities have shot PSA's encouraging these young slackers to head to the polls. (Remember the "Vote or Die" campaign?)

Some of the messages have lasting power. Others, like this Madonna video from 1990, are such outdated relics that their only purpose today is entertainment.

Does Madonna really sing, "Freedom of speech is as good as sex"? Of course she does. She's Madonna. In 1990. Back when she was as sexy as, say, men in white tees and tight jorts.



Here are the exact lyrics:

Cynthia Davis

​A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought on by some 40 "birther" conspiracy-theorist (including two Missouri state representatives) who believe Barack Obama was born overseas and therefore should be ineligible to serve as president of the U.S.

The Missouri reps are Cynthia Davis (R-O'Fallon), who made headlines back in July for suggesting that hunger can be a "powerful motivator" and that the poor should get jobs at McDonald's where they could get free or reduced-price meals, and Tim Jones (R-Eureka).

Timothy Jones

​Today Judge David O. Carter in the Central District of California (where the case was filed) dismissed the claims against the defendants, including Obama, vice-president Joe Biden and other federal officials.

Stated the judge:

Interpreting the Constitution is a serious and crucial task with which the federal courts of this nation have been entrusted under Article III. However, that very same Constitution puts limits on the reach of the federal courts. One of those limits is that the Constitution defines processes through which the President can be removed from office.

geeks4ever.me/post/108421980/ifatreefalls

​Or, a better question: do the results count?

There are some important issues at stake in the off-year election coming up on November 3: Proposition N, the smoking ban initiative on which the fate of the city's recently passed ban hinges, and E-911, a sales tax hike that would boost funding for all county police, fire and ambulance districts.

Problem is, some people are predicting a voter turnout as low as 10 percent. To put that in perspective, parts of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan had a higher voter turnout than that.

​We know what you're thinking: 1) Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. Joe the Plumber, has a book? 2) Can the dude even write a sentence?

Answers:

1. Yes, he does. You can purchase it (and view all the entertaining "reviews") here.
2. Who knows. That's why you hire yourself a ghostwriter!

Lucky for us, that  ghostwriter -- Thomas Tabback -- is in town tonight and willing to share all the insight and wisdom he gleamed from Joe the Plumber. For free! Without us having to read the book! Indoors.

According to a St. Louis Tea Party "Action Alert", Tabback will be speaking tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Pillar In The Valley (Chesterfield Valley).

As you can see from the following YouTube clip, it's clear that Tabback and Wurzelbacher share at least one trait in common. They can stir an audience by saying nothing at all -- or, at least nothing that makes an iota of sense.  

Add Missouri Congressman William Lacy Clay to the number of folks outraged that a bar in Chicago refused to allow entry to six African-American students from Washington University.

Sounds like a job for Bagg'ns.

​Today the the congressman asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the alleged act of racial discrimination. Washington University students are preparing a another ress conference today to discuss the matter further.

For those of you who've somehow managed to avoid the barrage of news stories (national and international) about the incident, here's the deal: A group of Wash U. students were in Chicago on October 17 and had arranged an all-you-can-drink deal with the tavern, "The Original Mothers." The club has a strict dress policy -- including a no-baggy-pants policy.

The students claim that when they arrived six black members of their group were denied entry for their clothing even though many white members of the group had baggy jeans on as well. When a skinnier white student switched pants with one of the heavier black students, the white student was then allowed into the club.

The pub says it is reviewing its dress-code policy.

The Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac spent some QT in Town & Country earlier this fall, hanging with the Whole Foods buycotters/teapartyers. Bill Hennessy and Gina Loudon, among others, get featured in the final cut:

 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Whole Foods Boycott
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

A lawsuit brought on by Missouri state representatives Cynthia Davis (R-O'Fallon), Tim Jones (R-Eureka) and other "birthers" who believe President Barrack Obama was born overseas, hinges on an obscure Kenyan news report from 2004.

As Fired Up! Missouri recounts today, the article appeared online in Kenya's Sunday Standard back in 2004 and said Obama (then a candidate for U.S. Senate) was born in Africa.

Click here to see entire article.

​

That article is now being used by Davis, Jones et. al, as evidence as to why a federal judge should not dismiss their lawsuit.

Thing is, the article (based on an Associated Press dispatch) is the only such version of the story out there.

Today's meeting was a lesson in how sausage -- and cigarettes -- are made.

​As mentioned on this here blog earlier today, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen approved by a 20-7 vote a bill that would prohibit smoking in most bars and restaurants should voters in St. Louis County also approve a smoking ban on November 3.

The nearly-four-hour debate inside the board chambers was one of the longest in memory with aldermen attempting to attach no less than five separate amendments to the bill.

Doing their best to hold up passage of the bill was a block of south city aldermen -- Ken Ortmann (Ward 9), Stephen Gregali (Ward 14) and Stephen Conway (Ward 8) -- who did everything but read out of the telephone book in their attempt to delay a vote.

In the end, though, the bill passed with the addition of one amendment designed to aide small taverns defined as those establishments whose customer space (all areas besides kitchens, bathrooms and storage rooms) measures less than 2,000 square feet. Taverns under that size would have five years to adhere to the ban once it goes into effect.

As it stands now, the city ordinance would become law on January 1, 2011, but only if voters in St. Louis County approve a smoking ban at the ballots on November 3.

The board debate was sparked by much grandstanding and hyperbole, but none more entertaining than a speech by Freeman Bosley Sr. (Ward 3) who explained to his colleagues how tobacco is processed. According to the alderman, tobacco is left to dry in barns where it attracts all types of vermin including "oppossums, rats, waterbugs and cockroaches."

"Then they come up and scoop up all that tobacco and grind it up with the insects and animals in there and then they spray it with formaldehyde," said Bosley. "When you smoke and you hear something pop and crackle in the cigarette, that's rat's eyeballs burning up!"

Other highlights of the morning included:

​I subscribe to an email list-serve for immigration issues. The email thread can -- at times -- be helpful for discovering news bits on legislative concerns, law enforcement initiatives and social matters important to the foreign-born community. 

An offensive "illegal alien" costume is being sold at Toys R Us and Amazon.com as well as other stores.
According to these websites, for just $39.99, you can now dress up as an "illegal alien" for Halloween. These stores are selling the costume made up of an orange jumpsuit with the words "illegal alien" written across the chest. The costume even comes with a mask of a space invader with big eyes, and a green card.