The Baer Facts

Celebrating Diversity in Ladue, and Everywhere Else

Nearly everyone in America came from somewhere else.

President Obama referred more than a few times to the definition of diversity in the State of the Union address recently. That got me to thinking about what he was talking about. In my lifetime, I’ve seen diversity not just talked about, but become a reality. We all migrated from somewhere else This all remind me, we all came from somewhere else. If either we, or our forefathers were on the reception committee when the Mayflower landed, then we all came from somewhere else. Only American Indians can lay claim to the statement, they are the real native Americans, and we know how that story has played out. Everybody has a different life story to tell. Our community is diverse in nature, settled by the French, the Germans, Irish, Italians, …

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Obama's 'Fix it First' Program Would Mend 'Deficient' Ladue, Frontenac Bridges

In his 2013 State of the Union Address Tuesday, President Barack Obama touched on immigration policy, gun control and the economy, among other national issues. In terms of infrastructure, he proposed a "Fix it First" plan that may affect Ladue and Fronten

President Barack Obama proposed Tuesday night what he called a "Fix It First" program to address the nation's crumbling infrastructure—like roads and bridges—in an effort to improve citizens' quality of life and bring jobs to the United States. "I propose a 'Fix-It-First' program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs, like the nearly 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country," he said during the State of the Union Address. "And to make sure taxpayers don’t shoulder the whole burden, I’m also proposing a Partnership to Rebuild America that attracts private capital to upgrade what our businesses need most—modern ports to move goods; modern pipelines to withstand a storm; modern schools worthy of …

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State of the Union: The White House Wants Us to Tune In Online

The State of the Union is going interactive, with an online-only "enhanced broadcast" of President Obama's remarks.

Do you watch the State of the Union? Millions of Americans do, although ratings for President Obama's 2011 address were down over the previous year. I confess that I mostly do not watch the SOTU, and it makes no difference whether the commander-in-chief is one for whom I voted. The SOTU is usually longer than it needs to be, and the constant ovations--with concurrent non-ovations by those who don't support the president--drive me to distraction. Still, I know it's important to hear what the President has to say about how he and the country are doing, so I don't avoid the SOTU altogether. How I usually "watch" Please don't judge me too harshly, but my approach is as follows: How I might try watching  Even as I write this, I am not …

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