John Stone, one of the first Springfield bloggers I met in person,

wrote a blog he called "The Curbstone Critic" which is still out there in cyberspace.

I have good memories of sitting in the Patton Alley Pub sharing simple thoughts with John, the Snarling Marmot, Fat Jack, Rhetorica, Desdinova and The Complex Mind.

My brother John, in addition to his blog, "By The Numbers" (linked on my link list on the sidebar) and "Hooniverse", has starting posting on "Curbstone Classics". His first post is about this wonderful1972 Oldsmobile 98 Hardtop Coupe. Yeah!

Anyhow, I lost the link to John's post about the big black 98 (I'm partial to those early 70s big GMs-- Dad had a Buick Electra Duece and a Quarter (225) that was bigger than most living rooms I've been in) and, in searching for it, I came across John's blog again. Yeah, it's still out there.

He was a jet fighter pilot, he had strong opinions about dang near everything, took great photographs and died in the downtown bus transfer station taking photographs-- like this picture of Jesus in a tree. The tree didn't make it through the 2007 ice storm... John writes, "Sadly -- now Jesus lies on the ground cut by a chain saw into about ten pieces.... Even more gruesome than the cross.... SGF fundamentalists must have watched the Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

So, on a whim, I did a search of John's blog for any mention of Billy Long. Remember, John died of a heart attack in 2007, so anything he wrote about Billy Long pre-dates Long's foray into politics.

What did The Curbstone Critic have to say about Billy Long? Lots!

October 5, 2004: "Billy Long, a local businessman, who is willing to put his livlihood on the line to be a whore for any freep idea that comes down the line on his radio program on radio KWTO."

February 22, 2005: "Billy Long, a local used car salesman, and peddler of anything and everything, and a good Repug, said something that makes my IQ of 64 look like Einstein."

April 8, 2005: "But we can hold Billy personally responsible for what HE does, can't we? It's the old crazy right-wing idea of taking personal responsibility."

August 2, 2005: "Billy Long fitting in 18 commercials in a 30 minute period and Bonnie Bell doing some sort of Valley Girl talk imitation. So incessantly in-your-face right wing that Bill O'Reilly got an amplifier for his butt plug to drown out the noise."

September 14, 2005: "Billy Long got up early this morning to memorize the latest "talking points" memo for right-wing radio. Unfortunately, he actually believed it, since he didn't bother doing any checking of his own."








John thought Billy Long "half the time (he) doesn't have any idea of what he is talking about. And his only real interest in life is to sell me something."

Yep, I can just imagine what fun The Curbstone Critic would have with Billy Long.

Among the posts mentioning Long was this one, written on the occasion of comments made by Billy Long on his KWTO Morning Line Show on the occasion of the funeral of Coretta Scott King that John titled The Vile State of Local Radio:

Thursday, February 09, 2006
The Vile State of Local Radio
I kinda' like local radio salesman Billy Long. I understand that half the time he doesn't have any idea of what he is talking about. And his only real interest in life is to sell me something. But that doesn't bother me since I can always laugh at him, note I said AT HIM, not WITH HIM.

But he has a bad habit of collecting talking points from KKKarl Rove every morning and then mindlessly repeating them, as he did this morning. By slimeing the funeral of Coretta Scott King. He didn't like it -- said it was too political -- I choked on my oatmeal. That's the same way they threw slime all over Paul Wellstone after practically his entire family was wiped out. And by the way, Billy, who the hell asked for your opinion on this woman's funeral anyway. Who in the world gives a flying fuck at a rolling donut hole what the hell you think about it? When you are dead and gone ... no one will care. Her name will be remembered for hundreds of years.

When you think about it what is the difference between Billy slimeing the funeral of Coretta Scott King, who he didn't know, and the Rev. Fred Phelps, of the Westboro Baptist Church slimeing the funerals of soldiers that he didn't know either?

Billy Long is a vile racist ... but he would deny it ... which only shows how badly out of touch he really is ... perhaps if he had black neighbors, or lived in New Orleans, or was poor, or had the man on his back all day, he would be a little more gracious to those who are less fortunate than he is. But I doubt it. Coming from an area that ran the blacks out years ago.

So I dedicate this song, sung by the Pigman on Billy's radio station, hisself as an inspiration to Billy Long.

But I don't expect him to get the message.

posted by John Stone at 2:29 AM 0 comments links to this post

From Bob McCarty Writes, "Was Poker-Playing Congressman Bluffing?" 03.31.2011:http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Almost five months after Billy Long won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in Missouri’s 7th Congressional District, some people are wondering whether the words used on the campaign trail by the auctioneer and real estate industry mogul-turned-politician were serious or just a World Poker Tour-style bluff for votes.

First, some background.

On Nov. 9, 2009, then-candidate Long sat down for a short interview (see video below) with Josh Marsh, Morning News Watch host on KZRG radio in Joplin, Mo.

During the interview, he spoke about the hardships and sacrifices he was willing to make if voters in southwest Missouri elected him to Congress:

“You have to sell your business. If you have a fiduciary business, you have to sell that, so I’ve gotta walk away from a business I built up for 30 years. Who’s gonna buy it without me there? Answer: Nobody. Whoever I sell it to has to take my name off of it. Now, what’s it worth? Absolutely nothing.

“I own a third interest in the largest real estate company in Springfield; I have to sell that. Do you want to buy a real estate company today? You know, they’re not worth anything, and I have to give up my real estate broker’s license.”

One of those people interested in comparing Long’s rhetoric to reality is Clay Bowler, the conservative Missouri blogger who became the victim of a witch hunt after a complaint by the recently-elected congressman prompted FBI agents to visit him at his Ozark, Mo., home. Five days ago, he reported there was no record yet of Billy Long selling auction house to meet House rules and campaign promise.

The other person is yours truly.

After reading Bowler’s aforementioned post Wednesday, I decided to ask Congressman Long whether or not he had, indeed, sold his auction and real estate businesses.

In a fax sent to his office early Wednesday afternoon, I asked him the following questions:

1. Please name and briefly describe the “fiduciary businesses” in which you hold a sole or part ownership interest.

2. Have you put any of your fiduciary businesses up for sale? If yes, which ones? If not, why not?

3. Have any of your fiduciary businesses been sold? If so, which ones? If not, why not?

Note: I should have asked him if he gave up his real estate license as well, but, alas, I overlooked that.

More than 24 hours after submitting my questions to the congressman’s Washington, D.C., office, I have received NOTHING — not even an acknowledgment of receiving my inquiry — in the way of a response; therefore, I suspect I will have to wait until mid-June to find out. That’s when federal lawmakers’ annual personal financial disclosure reports become public.

UPDATE 4/14/11 at 11:49 a.m. Central: Two weeks have passed since I asked Billy Long to answer questions about his business enterprises, but the freshman congressman has chosen not to reply to my question. Even this morning, his media flak, Bret Funk, blew me off, saying, “Apologies Bob, we are initially focusing on our district press for media requests. Please keep us in mind in the future.” As the video below shows, he is too busy to take questions.

Stay tuned!

This morning, from The Hill.com, comes this story about our Congressman Billy Long and his auctioneering debut on C-SPAN yesterday: Rep. Billy Long shows off his skills:

How long would it take to auction off the nation’s $15 trillion debt? Presuming you had a buyer, the answer is about 20 seconds.

This news comes by way of former professional auctioneer and freshman Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.), who took to the House floor on Wednesday and rolled his tongue at lightning speed, leading an imaginary bidding war up from $3 trillion to the actual debt of $14 trillion.

“The way our debt is, [Rep.] Jeff Duncan [R-S.C.] and I are some of the few people who can actually keep up with the numbers,” Long said.

Long still owns Billy Long Auctions LLC, which auctions a variety of items. Long’s fellow freshman Duncan specialized in real estate auctions.

But no matter, because when Long began “auctioning” the national debt, it was all a blur.

“Do I see 7, 7, 7 trillion? Eight! Eight trillion, 8 trillion. Wamana wamana 9!” he warbled at warp speed.

This went on all the way up to 14 trillion, and when there were no “takers” for the “15,” Long pronounced “Fifteen? Fifteen? No? Sold! At 14 trillion.”

Red in the face from his performance, Long then explained that the good news is that all those numbers could also be said backwards, and he volunteered for the challenge.

“When we get the spending under control here, I’ll be back.”

ITK is very much looking forward to hearing Long do the auction in reverse.

rm2804

My father was in the publishing and newspaper business all his life.

He knew that what he wrote and what news he decided would go in the newspaper had the potential to influence people's thoughts and attitudes.

He believed he had a moral duty to his subscribers and readers to explore every aspect of a story, especially a controversial story. He was a strong believer in fact checking.

I used to help him out with the fact checking. In those pre-internets days it was a lot harder to do it than it is now.

A story in today's SN-L demonstrates the need for fact-checking and a red pen.

The story, Billy Long outraises Scott Eckersley six- , attributed to SN-L staff, appeared in today's SN-L. Excerpted below, it appears the reporters made a rookie mistake and the editors didn't catch it:

In the race for 7th District, Republican Billy Long raised six times as much money as Democrat Scott Eckersely, according to reports filed in mid-October.

According to Open Secrets.org Long reported raising $1.3 million. Eckersley reported $201,897. Long has been campaigning about a year and a half, while the Eckersley campaign kicked off in March 2010.

The largest individual expenses listed by the Long campaign in September were to Axiom Strategies for $19,919; followed by $18,000 to Public Opinion Strategies for polling. Axiom got eight payments totalling $51,308. The J. Harris Company, LLC, a consulting firm received $12,494 for consulting and travel.

The largest individual expenses listed by the Eckersley campaign were a $15,005 and a $6,500 media buy, followed by $5,000 for Campaign Strategy Research Services, an Arlington, Va., firm.

OpenSecrets.org said the organization making the largest contribution to Long was Med-Pay, $17,000.

The largest organizational contributor to Eckersley was ActBlue, $10,650.00

Did you catch it?

Federal election campaign limits the amount an individual can donate per election cycle, usually $2400 to a candidate. The chart below is from the FEC website:
The article's reporters said, "OpenSecrets.org said the organization making the largest contribution to Long was Med-Pay, $17,000."

Read the chart above. Medpay's $17,000 contribution exceeds the contribution limit in any category.

Something ain't right here. Let's take the bus over to opensecrets.org and look up Long's top donor list. The chart below is a screen shot of the top half of the page which lists Long's top donors and the amounts given:
Just to be fair and balanced, here is a screen capture of the bottom half of the page which lists Eckersley's top donors (I could not get the entire page in one screen capture but you can see the entire page onOpensecrets.org.

Oh my.

Oh my, my, my.

Look at that disclaimer that is at the bottom of the screen capture of Eckersley's top donors.

Why, parts of it are even highlighted in bold print:

This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2009 - 2010 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

Open Secrets even explains the statement:Writing on the SN-L boards as 'Busplunge', I left the following comments on this story:

"OpenSecrets.org said the organization making the largest contribution to Long was Med-Pay, $17,000."

Are there any fact checkers at the SN-L?

Contribution limit per election cycle is $2400.00 per election cycle.

How can Med-Pay legally contribute more than $17,000 then?

From the Opensecrets web page: "The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families."

ah, jeez

Jim Lee
10/30/2010 8:28:59 AM

and a short time later, this comment:

When a donation is made to a political candidate, there is usually a form to fill out listing the donors employer. A lot of employees at MedPay or lots of Gordon Kinney (sp) family members donated to Long.

www.opensecrets.org/races/contrib.php?cycle=2010&id=MO07

Also, Long told Steve Grant this about farm subsidies (Long wants to end them): "They're bringing milk in from out of the area. Our farmers here have to pay to have milk trucked in from other states. So there's a lot of things in the farm subsidies that have to be looked at."

The California Dairies Federal PAC gave Long a substantial donation.

Why is Long accepting money from the California Dairies PAC when he told Grant that "Our farmers here have to pay to have milk trucked in from other states"?

Haliburton, Arch Coal, Exxon, General Motors, Koch Bros, Beer Wholesalers, Great Southern Employees all donated to Long's campaign.

The FEC site: www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/HSProcessContributorList.do

Jim Lee
10/30/2010 8:46:03 AM

The "our farmers here are having to pay to have milk trucked in from out of state" can be found here: "There's been many a slip between the cup and the lips"-- Billy Long KY3 News.

The documentation for the contribution from the California Dairies Federal PAC can be found here: "The two sides of Billy Long: "They're bringing milk in from out of the area. Our farmers here have to pay to have milk truckedin from other states." Billy Long accepts California Dairies Federal PAC donation to Long campaign."

Other areas of this story that need explanation to the readers:

Who the Axiom Strategies principals are and their history and why did Long pay them so much money: "Decision awaited on libel suit against Billy Long advisor".

James Harris' connection to the fake Scott Eckersley 'withdrawing from the race' email: "Billy Long consultant James Harris pushes false rumor about Scott Eckersley"