The Kansas Legislature is Broken

What you don't and won't hear from more mainstream media in the area like the Kansas City Star, KCUR, KCPT or certainly not from the local TV news stations. This is from Davis Hammet @Davis_Hammet of the organization Loud Light today including the headline above:

--Legislators are hiding who actually wrote bills. --Public hearings are being scheduled with less than 24 hrs notice or entirely skipped. --The day waiting period between debate and the final vote is constantly being suspended. #ksleg

Quote of the Day -- On Government, Religion and Capital

"'Capital' ... in the political field is analogous to 'government'. ... The economic idea of capitalism, the politics of government or of authority, and the theological idea of the Church are three identical ideas, linked in various ways. To attack one of them is equivalent to attacking all of them. ... What capital does to labour, and the State to liberty, the Church does to the spirit. This trinity of absolutism is as baneful in practice as it is in philosophy. The most effective means for oppressing the people would be simultaneously to enslave its body, its will and its reason."

--Pierre-Joseph Proudhon on mutualism

To which I would add:  

“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”   --Napoleon Bonaparte.

Yoder and Kansas GOP Set For a Fall?

There is a terrific, even hopeful article out this week at The Hill and it has potentially good to great information on Kansas’ House seat.

Check it out:

Top 10 GOP House Seats Most Likely to Flip

Sharice Davids, Kevin Yoder

Kevin Yoder (KS-03)

Yoder is the only member of Kansas's all-Republican congressional delegation seeking reelection in a district won by Clinton in 2016.

What's more, the state's 3rd District includes Kansas City and its surrounding suburbs, making it a prime target for Democrats this year.

Yoder faces a challenge from Democrat Sharice Davids, who, if elected, would be one of the first Native-American women in Congress.

Recent public polls show Davids with a solid lead in the race. A survey released late last month by Emerson College put her ahead of Yoder by 12 points, and The Cook Political Report has for over a month kept the race in the "Lean Democratic" column.

At the same time, the NRCC has drastically scaled back its financial support for Yoder - a sign that the GOP House campaign arm may be losing confidence in his prospects.

I love it, of course.

Take nothing for granted, folks. Get out there this Tuesday and VOTE.

And VOTE BLUE!!

Libertarianism: The Only Thing Worse Than Being a Republican

Wouldn't it be great to be a billionaire and then fund Libertarians and the Libertarian cause---so you could destroy government, lower your own taxes and so, make and keep yet more money?


Wouldn't that be great?

Missouri Teen Hits the Political Big Time

There is a pretty terrific article about what seems to be a very bright, hard-working teenager in St. Louis today in the New York Times.

Homework? First I Need to Get to the Bottom of This Comey Story

It seems this 15 year old from St. Louis has been writing away about national politics now for years. From his website:

Gabe Fleisher is an eighth grader from University City, Missouri, with a passion for politics and history, as well as for informing and engaging people in the news.

What he does, according to that same site:

"At Wake Up to Politics, the daily goal for the past five years has been the same - to inform readers with the most non-partisan and comprehensive yet understandable version of the news that really matters."

"That goal is put into a daily political newsletter, sent out around 8:00 AM every weekday morning. Every day, Wake Up To Politics strives to give you a look at the day's news that matters - and a glimpse into what our leaders are doing. That includes news on the President, Congress, the courts, elections, history, a daily trivia question, and more."

He's been writing since he was 8 years old and has some huge names in the nation and media, following him and his output. People like:

Gene B. Sperling, contributing editor at The Atlantic; the MSNBC anchor Steve Kornacki; Major Garrett, chief White House correspondent for CBS News; the “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr. (who on Twitter called Wake Up “one of the best political newsletters to hit my inbox”); the author Mark Halperin; and Jim VandeHei, the founder of Axios and a founder of Politico — as well as reporters for The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today, many of whom are among Gabe’s nearly 5,000 Twitter followers. (Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, is also a follower.)
Incredible kid, it seems.

Could be a great link to have and keep up with for you, on politics.

Links:

Wake Up To Politics

Wake Up To Politics - Home | Facebook

U. City's Gabe Fleisher Continues To 'Wake Up To Politics

Missouri 6th-grader builds following

University City fourth-grader is political junkie

Local teen informing thousands with political newsletter

We Have To Let Republicans Know This Is Unacceptable

So we're on the verge of electing the first female president and already, it seems some Republicans have learned nothing. I just saw this article.

House Republicans are already preparing 

for 'years' of investigations

They just don't get it.

They did this with Bill Clinton, the entire time he was in office. It got them nothing.  Worse, it wasted time, energy and millions of our American tax dollars. They've been obstructing President Obama these full 8 years and that got them and the nation nothing.

Check out these headlines.

GOP Congressman Already Floating 

Impeachment For Hillary Clinton

Conservative Media Are Already Calling For Clinton's Impeachment

Coulter: Impeach Hillary on Day One 

of Her Presidency

They just don't get it.

They themselves got nothing, nothing whatever, out of their 7--count them, 7 Benghazi investigations. Nothing. There was no crime, no guilt. 

Meanwhile, not only did America and Americans get nothing from all these investigations, we blew through millions of dollars, again, and wasted time, energy and effort that could and should have otherwise been spent on America's issues.

They just seem intent on not learning.

It's also rumored that these Republicans intend to block any and all candidates for the Supreme Court Mrs. Clinton will propose, also.

This Could Be The Beginning Of The End Of The Supreme Court As We Know It

They seem clearly intent on putting their political party first, to hell with the American people and our national issues and problems and possible solutions.

This has to stop.  And we must demand it. We have to get on to the solutions to the nation's and people's issues.

Write your government representatives. Tell them the time and day for gridlock and obstruction and their "party first" is over.

Contact Your Elected Officials - USA.gov

People Predicted the Likes of Mr. Trump

Way back in 1957, when this movie came out, people predicted that, with advertising and slogans and sound bites, someone very like Donald Trump would come along.





And now, here he is.

Link:   A Face in the Crowd (1957) - IMDb

The Right Wing Learns The Donald Is Waffling On Immigration

I love this meme.

This Very Wasteful Republican Congress

Check this out.

According to PBS NewsHour this evening, there have been 22 individual hearings on Benghazi.

For a sharp comparison, there were 21 hearings on the 9/11 tragedy.

They also held more than 50 attempts to overturn Obamacare.

I'm glad this Republican Congress has its priorities straight and that they're not wasting time and tax money.

How long are we going to put up with this hugely wasteful, very political nonsense, America?

Links:  Where the Benghazi Committee Went Wrong

Republicans still trying and failing to break Hillary Clinton on Benghazi

More Reports From Brownbackistan Today

Once again, Kansas and Republican Governor Sam Brownback are in the news--never in good ways, dependably, unfortunately, even tragically. And once again, it's from and in The New York Times‎. Seems the good Guv wants to get his hands on the state courts:



Courts Budget Intensifies Kansas Dispute Over Powers

The fight between Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas and the state’s judicial branch has escalated, with the governor last week signing into law a bill that could strip state courts of their funding.

 

The measure, at the end of a lengthy bill that allocated money for the judiciary this year, stipulates that if a state court strikes down a 2014 law that removed some powers from the State Supreme Court, the judiciary will lose its funding.

 

The 2014 law took the authority to appoint district court judges from the Supreme Court and gave it to the district courts themselves. It also deprived the state’s highest court of the right to set district court budgets. Critics said the law was an attempt by Mr. Brownback, a Republican, to stack the district courts with judges who may be more favorable to his policies.

 

The budget bill that Mr. Brownback signed on Thursday was related only to the judiciary. He said he wanted to ensure that the courts would remain open while lawmakers sparred over the larger budget issues. Lawmakers have been debating how to fill a $400 million shortfall, which will most likely require tax increases that Mr. Brownback and many in the conservative-dominated Legislature oppose. If a budget is not passed by Sunday, state workers may be furloughed.

 

But in passing a separate budget bill to keep the third branch of government from shutting down, Republican lawmakers took the opportunity to insert language that would shield the 2014 law.

 

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Matthew Menendez, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, which is helping to represent a Kansas judge who is challenging the constitutionality of the 2014 law. “It seems pretty clear that these mechanisms have been an effort by the governor and the Legislature to try and get a court system that is more in line with their philosophy.”

 

Richard E. Levy, a constitutional law professor at the University of Kansas, likened the measure in the judiciary budget bill to Congress’s passing a law outlawing abortion and then telling the judicial branch that it will lose its funding if it finds the law unconstitutional.

 

“That kind of threat to the independence of the judiciary strikes me as invalid under the separation of powers principle,” Mr. Levy said in an interview on Friday.

Can you imagine what the Republicans would be saying and, in fact, how loudly they'd be screaming if a governor in Kansas tried to pull such governmental stunts while they were in office?

What part of "small government" is this, exactly?

How "conservative" is this?

Let's be clear here, Governor Sam Brownback is a power-hungry, governmental abuser. There's nothing he doesn't want to get his hands on and control and/or change and to his and his political party's and their supporter's own benefit.

The fact is, if a governor from the Democratic Party tried to do or did all the things he's either done or tried to accomplish, he and his entire Republican Party would be screaming that they're "big government" kooks. There is nothing remotely small government or Conservative about this guy, what he's done, what he's doing or what he is trying to achieve. And it's all for himself, his own temporary power, his political party and the wealthy and corporations in Kansas it can benefit.

Kansans need, desperately, to vote all these Right Wing extremists out of office, post haste. The damage they and the Republican Party have put on that state has been bad enough already, as we keep seeing.

The Common, Repeated, Everyday Use of Fear in America

It's gotten old.

Really old.

We should be smarter than to let anyone do this to us.

Politics, elections and government in America today

Our government legislators and representatives have become prostitutes. Prostitutes in the truest sense of the word, to and for money, to and from businesses, corporations and the wealthy for money so they can afford their election campaigns and they can continue to remain in their political positions. It's constant. It is in no way even subtle. They're not sexual prostitutes, of course, but people exchanging money with a quid pro quo, certainly.

This is not healthy. This is not good for our nation.

Not good for the people or the nation in any way.

It only serves the wealthy and the corporations.


We must fight for change.

Romney picks his VP candidate

Click on picture for larger, better viewing.

"Mr. Politics" and "Mr. Politician"--Mr. Lifelong Politician, who also hates government--but who has full healthcare benefits and a big, fat, juicy government pension for himself but wants to slash your government and spending, to boot.

He wants to cut social spending but doesn't want to touch the biggest share of spending in the Federal government--that is, defense spending where all the big money as well as waste, is.

Paul Ryan has never done anything outside his government job, folks. It's great for him but no one else.

The bloody hypocrite.

Once again, thank you, Mitt Romney.

You just keep doing our work for us.

What doesn't make me laugh about this appointment, nearly makes me wretch.

Side note to Mr. Romney: We still want to see your tax returns. sir.

Great insight on guns

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Quote of the day

"In the Romney candidacy, the Republican party has found the apotheosis of the fact that it now represents solely the super-rich." --Robin Wells, writer for the Guardian, UK (England)

Even the British can see, from far across "the pond", that the Republican candidate for our presidency is by the rich, of the rich and for the rich, nearly solely.

Pathetic.

That he has a chance at winning is downright scary.


Keep cool, y'all and have a great weekend. Think good thoughts, in spite of everything else.

Link to original article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/12/mitt-romney-offer-government-billionaires

Song dedication: To Mitt Romney

The headline:

Mitt Romney stayed at Bain 3 years longer than he stated

The link: http://articles.boston.com/2012-07-12/politics/32633322_1_bain-capital-mitt-romney-financial-disclosure

That said, we "won't be sorry when we let you go" as the song might otherwise suggest.

Quote of the day

"Only a crisis—actual or perceived––produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. . . . Our basic function is to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable." --Milton Friedman, 1962

The Right Wing, Republicans and this President

On separation of church and state

‎"Politics, like science, depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. Moreover, politics, unlike science, involves compromise, the art of the possible. Religion does not allow for compromise. It insists on the impossible. To base one's life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime; to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing." --Barack Obama, "The Audacity of Hope," 2006

Politics and prostitution---what we've come down to

‎"Politics and prostitution have to be the only jobs where inexperience is considered a virtue. In what other profession would you brag about not knowing stuff? 'I'm not one of those fancy Harvard heart surgeons. I'm just an unlicensed plumber with a dream and I'd like to cut your chest open.' The crowd cheers." —Tina Fey, in her book "Bossypants"