Right Wing, Republican Party Extremism Coming Out of Jefferson City Lately

Have you seen some of the headlines lately, coming out of our very Republican, Right Wing, wackjob state capitol and government? Here are just a few and from the past few days.

Missouri lawmakers approve Bible class in public schools

"A bill passed by the Missouri House would allow school districts to offer the Bible as an elective class."

Clearly not familiar with church and state being "separate", for starters. They'd be the first to criticize some Middle Eastern, Muslim country for having religion in government but boy howdy, do they want theirs in ours.

And this is just the beginning of their Right Wing insanity.

Missouri Senate Votes to Nullify Federal Gun Control 

They need to Google the Supremacy Clause. (Link below).

All the "good old boys" got together for this one. Every Goober for 200 miles. And it shows. But wait...

Missouri Lawmaker Files Bills Requiring Some Residents To Own AR-15s, Handguns

A law.

Requiring--REQUIRING--Missourians to own a gun. Required to BUY a gun. Required to buy an AR-15, a semi-automatic weapon.

Insane.

Keep in mind, of course, this is all from the political party that says it's for "small government." God forbid they had any restraint.

And God help us.

Better yet, folks. Vote. Vote and never miss a vote. And vote these people out.

Link:

Supremacy Clause

Those Republican Party Tax Cuts?

Check out what none other than Goldman Sachs has to say today about the outlook for the nation given the new, much larger national debt due to the Republicans' tax cuts for the already-wealthy and corporations.

Goldman Sachs: 

The fiscal outlook for the US 'is not good' 

A little from the article:

"The fiscal outlook for the United States 'is not good,' according to Goldman Sachs, and could pose a threat to the country's economic security during the next recession.

According to forecasts from the bank's chief economist, the federal deficit will increase from $825 billion (or 4.1 percent of gross domestic product) to $1.25 trillion (5.5 percent of GDP) by 2021. And by 2028, the bank expects the number to balloon to $2.05 trillion (7 percent of GDP)."

This on top of what was already reported about the effects of these, again, Republican Party tax cuts:

Government set to borrow nearly $1 trillion 

this year, an 84 percent increase over last year

Not done there, there's also this:

Under Trump's watch, 

national debt tops $21 trillion 

for first time ever

All so they could pour more of the nation's wealth on the people who already have a great deal of it all.

Thanks, Republicans! Y'all are terrific!

Quote of the Day -- On Donald Trump and the Republican Party and How Scary and Unhinged They Are

From David Clow, from Facebook today:

"What Trump made unmistakable is that the GOP needs to live in fear of its base. Policy and numbers are unimportant, as Trump (keeps) showing them. He commands the mob. The mob runs the party. None of them cares about the budget or the details. None of the Trump voters care about intellectual consistency or actual policy measures; Trump can contradict himself in the same sentence and all they hear is tone, not substance. Trump is there to manifest malice and hostility, period. If the GOP isn't with him they're against him and he'll turn that on them....

The point is that there is no philosophical underpinning left in the GOP. Their stated "policies" are generalities about "smaller government" and "less regulation" and "freedom"--but situationally those and all the rest of the platitudes are defined any way that power wants them to be defined. So in places like Kentucky they've been smartly getting people to sacrifice their own real interests for the sake of slogans. 

Trump called their bluff. 

He dispensed entirely with the very idea of policy, and made it 100% about pure tone--all he needed (was) to be malicious, nasty, vindictive, and proudly stupid. While Bush and Romney were talking about policy, Trump was wagging his wood and laughing at them. The GOP had been hinting for decades at what Trump said openly--they hate for fun, they won't govern, and they're ready to cash out, so why not just make it clear? Now they must make the all-in final bet on these bluff and lies, shovel as much money offshore as they can carry, and then get the hell out of politics while their heads are still on."

________________

If you don't recognize all this, all the above, you are very likely a Trump supporter.

If all this doesn't frighten you, nothing can.

Eric Greitens' and the Republicans' Missouri

With our new, "pretty boy" Governor Eric Greitens and his Republican pals in Jefferson City having had a special session so they could rule further on womens' and couples' reproductive rights---them with their "small government" and all---I thought of them with this video, rather naturally. How perfect.



They'll deny any of it if they recognize themselves in any way.

Pitiful.

Pathetic.

Painful.

Sexist.

Pretty fascist, too, really.

The Tragedy and the Irony

The state of Kansas, it is thought, never inspected this amusement park ride. This, from the Kansas City Star, today.

State hasn't inspected Schlitterbahn water slide where 10-year-old died since it opened in 2014

In the meantime, the young boy tragically killed in the horrific incident was the son of a Republican, "small government" state representative who is likely against government oversight and regulation.

Let that sink in.

Republicans? "Small Government"?

Kansas Republicans in general but Kansas Republican Governor Sam Brownback, too, more specifically, keep proving, time and again, that Republicans in Kansas and really, across the nation, are no more into "small government" than birds are into concrete. We got further proof just this week:

Kansas conservatives advance bill 

on impeachment of judges

It seems "conservative" Republicans in that state don't like that the judges in their area are independently selected and placed. Enough of that none political nonsense, they think it should be done by political parties and partisan government representatives, instead. This in spite the fact that the current system has served Kansans very well the last several decades, at least.

To top it off, those same Kansas, conservative (and I use the term loosely, very loosely), "small government" Republicans also tried last week to have the governor, of all people, take over the distribution of the education budget. Check this little beauty out:

Kansas senator cancels hearing on control-of-school-finance bill

It's not enough Governor Brownback and all the Republicans in Topeka slashed taxes for the already-wealthy and for corporations, thereby putting the state in a downward spiral of tax revenue so they're in the red and had to slash their education budget:

Gov. Sam Brownback cuts higher education as Kansas tax receipts fall $53 million short

Now they want to hand over the reins of the state education budget to the Guv and make the court judge's appointments political ones, instead. Independent judiciary, be damned.

It seems there's nothing those people in the Kansas statehouse don't want to get their hands on.

Small government, my *ss.

Kansas Republicans in Topeka Have Their Priorities Set

Indeed, those Kansas Republicans over in Topeka, from the Governor all through the state capitol, surely have their priorities set. In stone.

Years ago now, they cut taxes for the already-wealthy and corporations, raised them on the middle- and lower- and so, working-classes and set about just the chain of events they wanted. They were sure it would produce grand, paying results for the state. So the economists said they'd be wrong! So what?

Turns out, as we've found, as the same economists predicted, the economists were, in fact, correct and those same Right Wing legislators were dead wrong. Colossally, fiscally wrong:

Kansas faces nearly $120 million shortfall 

for fiscal year

Gov. Sam Brownback will pull money from the state’s highway fund and other sources after state economists projected a $118 million budget shortfall Friday.

Even after those adjustments, the state is projected to have a cash balance of $5.6 million at the end of June and to face a shortfall of $175.6 million for 2017, the economists said.

Asked whether the state is in the red, Budget Director Shawn Sullivan replied: “Depends on what you look at. We’re basically at zero right now, so yes.”

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, said the Legislature would start the 2016 session “basically where we were at the beginning of the 2015 session,” facing the question of how to right the state’s finances.

Lawmakers ended a record-long session in June by increasing sales taxes to cover a budget deficit caused in large part by income tax cuts...

...The latest shortfall comes after sales tax revenue fell short of projections. The state’s economists lowered the estimate for sales tax revenue by $91 million for the year while lowering the estimate for overall revenue by $159 million.

As for just a glimmer of what this means for Kansas, the article goes on:

Brownback will make a combination of budget cuts and funding sweeps to balance the budget.

He will take $50 million from the Kansas Department of Transportation. Sullivan said this would not affect previously announced highway projects.

He also will take $9 million from the Children’s Initiative Fund, which goes to support early childhood programs such as Early Head Start.

Sullivan said this would not affect the programs’ funding for this year. But the advocacy group Kansas Action for Children said that this would affect long-term funding for children’s programs, which have been cut in recent years...

...Brownback will also sweep $5 million from the Kansas Bioscience Authority, a quasi-governmental agency meant to spur investment in the biotech sector. The Eagle reported in July that the KBA was already on the brink of collapse and halting new investment in the face of reduced state funding.

As for Kansas schools, you might ask?

The governor made no cuts to education, but Scott Rothschild, spokesman for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said that the budget news was still a cause for concern for schools.

“The future doesn’t look good. We’re going to have to keep our eye on this,” he said. “Obviously, we have tax cuts that were implemented that have put us in a perpetual budget crisis.”

Then there's this budget cut:

Budget Shift Will Cut Childhood Program Funds

An advocacy group says a budget adjustment that took $9 million from Kansas’ Children’s Initiatives Fund will mean a cut in money promised to 20 children’s programs.

The Kansas City Star reports a review by Kansas Action for Children says the budget adjustment will cost early childhood grant programs about 6.5 percent in funding for fiscal year 2016 and about 3 percent in fiscal year 2017.

Stealing from children. And the poor. Nice, huh? Real Christians, those, eh?

But did they take care of themselves? Did the Republican legislators over there in Topeka make sure they, themselves were taken care of? Why don't be silly! OF COURSE they did!

Kansas legislators get 8.5 percent raise 

in allowance

Check out this wonderful stuff:

Kansas lawmakers quietly and automatically got an 8.5 percent raise in their allowance last month.

The raise is because of an escalator clause in state law that has increased lawmakers’ daily “subsistence payments” by more than 28 percent through the past seven years of fiscal woes, employee pay freezes and cuts in other government departments.

The payments, also known as per diem, are the set amount lawmakers get to pay their living expenses each day they work in Topeka.

As of Oct. 1, it’s $140 a day, up from $129.

The per diem payments are actually about 45 percent more than legislators earn in salary, and the money is theirs to keep and spend however they want.

For the legislators, those automatic raises in per diem essentially represent an increase in their compensation, without them having to make the politically difficult floor vote to raise their salaries.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article44382441.html#storylink=cpy

So first, they got a pay raise. 

Second, it's automatic. They don't have to have a messy---and possibly reported on---vote about it.

Third and finally, whatever they don't spend, they get to keep. Not like in the business sector, which these people say they like to emulate. If they don't spend it, they get to stash it.

Can you imagine getting $140 per day from your boss for "expenses", on top of your pay? Wouldn't that be a sweet deal? You think you wouldn't "brown bag" it to work or eat on the cheap so you could keep that for yourself?

Don'tcha just love government representatives like these?

Don'tcha just love "small government", Right Wing, Republican legislators who always harp how they're "for the people" and low spending?

Don'tcha just love Kansans who vote for these people?

Doesn't it make you want to move and live there?

Additional links:

Yael T. Abouhalkah: Kansas lawmakers' allowance increases faster than teachers' pay and, well, almost everything else

Where Republicans Went Wrong in Kansas

More "Big Government" from the "Small Government" Republicans

Republicans and so many in the Right Wing swear they're for "small government", almost at any cost yet here is an example from only this week from a declared and very "Red state", full of Republicans, right next door:

Law Proposed To Force Employees To Friend Their Boss On Facebook

You'd think it was coming from some satirical website online like "The Onion" or something but no, it's real:

An Arkansas Senate committee met this week to consider a bill that said employees should be essentially forced to “friend” their bosses on Facebook or other social media websites.

The bill targeted online privacy protections for workers that passed as part of a social media rights law two years ago.

The bill passed in a 91-1 Arkansas House vote in February. It holds that employers could require workers to “friend” them on social media, and that firing for a refusal to add them would be seen as just grounds for termination.

Some employers could be granted even more access to their employees’ accounts, by requiring them to turn over their passwords so that employers could read their private emails.

What's amazing about this is that it's being considered formally and that it's, again, coming from the political party that insists it's all about "small", unobtrusive government.

Keep in mind, however, that it was these same "small government" Republicans who brought us the huge cash boondoggle that is the Homeland Security Department and the Patriot Acts, I and II.

They are also the people that say it's the other political party that is the "big government" group.

Republicans, Right Wingers, Corporations, the Wealthy and "Small Government"

Regarding Ferguson: What's with all the silence from the Right Wing?

Yes, it would be nice if all the Right Wingers---the Republicans, the Tea Party, the Libertarians, etc.--would all have already long since spoken up on this.  Not a peep, standing up for the unarmed man, gunned down by the police. In effect, by "government."

Huh.

Go figure.

"Small Government" Republicans in Missouri Statehouse Strike Again

Yes, those pesky "small government" Republicans, the "free market" Capitalist ones down in Jeff City are striking again, for their millionaire overlords. Did you hear about this beauty yet?

Missouri Could Block Tesla Sales In Legislative 'Sneak Attack'

Nearly unbelievable.

It seems the state's car dealers don't want any additional competition so they're no doubt going to their representatives--ahem, OUR representatives--giving them "campaign contributions" and voila! out comes this legislation that would keep Tesla cars from being sold in the state. It's already taken place in Texas and a few other states.

And from Republican legislatures.

As I said, from people who are supposed to be for less meddlesome, "small government" and more truly free market Capitalism.

Seems they only want "free markets" that help themselves.

And it's only "big government" if they don't like it.

Or it doesn't put yet more money in their pockets.

We have to speak up, people. We have to stop this nonsense. We have to force change. We have to get our government, our laws and our legislators and their legislation back for us, for the people.

The way to do it is to fight to end campaign contributions. We have to get the big, ugly, corrupting influence of their money out of our elections and so, our government.

It has to come from us. It's the only way it will change.

"Small government" Republicans?

Oh, sure they are.    Well, until it comes to bringing home the bacon for their own district.

I got this email last evening from none other than Kansas Senator Jerry Moran:

NBAF Funded in Omnibus Bill
Today, we received good news — the Omnibus appropriations bill includes $404 million for construction of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan. For those who have questioned whether NBAF will be built in Kansas, the passage of this funding bill will provide a clear answer: yes. This investment means Kansas will become a research epicenter, and the construction of this modern, world-class facility will ultimately create jobs for Kansans in the fields of engineering, science and technology. The talented young men and women who grow up here will have the opportunities they need to stay in Kansas.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have worked to make certain NBAF remains a top priority for the Department of Homeland Security, the Administration and among Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle. I am grateful to Governor Brownback, the Kansas legislature and Kansas State University President Kirk Schulz for their leadership and support as this process continues.

A January 2012 economic impact report found the NBAF will employ approximately 326 permanent employees and support some 757 construction jobs. The facility is expected to have a $3.5 billion economic impact on Kansas in the first 20 years alone. In addition to creating an economic boom for Kansas, NBAF will protect our national economy by researching foreign animal disease threats, which are very real with devastating impacts. The cost of an outbreak far outweighs the NBAF construction cost, not only in the loss of human life but also its damage to the animal and agricultural industry.

The state-of-the-art biosecurity lab is to be built adjacent to Kansas State University. The main laboratory will boast safety and security features recommended by the National Academies of Sciences. The state of Kansas showed its commitment to this project by contributing $202 million. A funding commitment was also made to provide infrastructure repairs at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center to guarantee a smooth transition of research from Plum Island, N.Y., to Manhattan, Kan.

And of course, that wasn't enough pork, oh, no. He's not done yet:

Basing Tanker at McConnell AFB Funded in Omnibus Bill
The Omnibus appropriations bill also includes $219 million in military construction funding for upgrades to McConnell Air Force Base (AFB) to accommodate the new KC-46A tankers. The KC-46A tanker fleet will begin arriving at McConnell in 2016, bringing more than 200 airmen to the base. The economic impact in Wichita and around the state will be felt before their arrival, as military construction of the infrastructure necessary to safeguard and house the new, larger tankers begins. 

The various McConnell facility projects include: installation of the weapon system trainers to be ready for the aircraft arrival in 2016; construction of fuel cell and corrosion control hangars; construction of a parking space and hydrant fuel system; and, construction of a squadron operations and aircraft maintenance unit building. This investment is great news for our state and the city of Wichita, which is and will remain the air capital of the world. The Omnibus appropriations bill is expected to be voted on in the U.S. House and Senate this week.

Oh, yeah, they're "small government" all right.   As long as it's the other government representative that isn't getting money in HIS or her district, sure, they are.

In the meantime, this is the political party that wants to cut your, our Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, folks.

Small spending, my eye.

He goes on to say, in his email about "Discussing the Best Ways to Create Jobs and Opportunity."

Never once in the following information did he say anything of, say, a jobs/infrastructure bill he or his fellow Republicans might propose.

So much for growth in our economy, eh?

Congratulations, West Virginia!

We've all heard the news the last few days, out of West Virginia:

West Virginia chemical spill frustrates residents for fourth day

And what else can you say to the people of that state except a hearty congratulations?

Congratulations for voting against your own, best, self interests. Congratulations for voting Republican. Congratulations for voting for "small government" that doesn't regulate---oh, I don't know---chemical companies?

Now, could lessons be learned?  Would you join us over here on the side of sanity and reason and good sense?

Please?

For your sake and ours, both?

The Oh-So Hypocritical Political Party

The political party that says it wants to "shrink government" wants to DOUBLE the number of border patrol agents to our South from 21,000 to 42,000--after it was already doubled once, earlier.

Right.

Got it.

It was that same political party that created the bloated, totally unnecessary and extremely wasteful Department of "Homeland Security."

Yeah.

Small government.

Uh-huh.

On the Keystone XL pipeline, eminent domain and a foreign corporation

Red'Arc Farm in Direct, Texas Photo courtesy of Julia Trigg Crawford

A farmer, a Texan, an American doesn't want to sell her land to a foreign, Canadian corporation for an oil pipeline. The corporation says if she, and lots of others, in several states, don't sell to them, they will take it by eminent domain. Not only is that not right, but their governments--their State and Federal governments should support her. This is reprehensible. It is unconscionable. "Small government," indeed. Not one government legislator in this entire nation should allow this. I would think it would fly directly in the face of anything and everything the Republican political party and all its adherents stand for. From what I understand, the Tea Party and environmentalists in Texas are on the same side of this issue, fortunately. As famously said in a movie, paraphrased, this should not stand. Link to original story: http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/02/texas-farmer-takes-transcanada

We surely hate government, don't we?

Big news last eveing

Big news last evening: First, according to the Star, "Voters in two urban Kansas City areas chose candidates Tuesday to fill vacancies in the Missouri House of Representatives, and Democrats were elected for both." Yeehaw. That's great news. Second, Locally, no surprise, the city voted for the zoo tax initiative. At least, the ones who showed to vote did, for better or worse. Here's hoping that turns out well. Third, Ohio voted down the curbs on union power. Third and finally, Mississippi defeated that whole "person begins at conception" idea, thank goodness. All in all, with the reports nationwide on different votes and elections, it was a night that went very much against Republicans, big business and the Right Wing. Yeehaw. Now, on to 2012. Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/08/3255360/kcs-ellington-morgan-elected-to.html; http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/08/3255333/clay-county-passes-zoo-tax-jackson.html; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-09/ohio-repeals-union-law-to-set-stage-for-2012.html; http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-voters-reject-republican-backed-union-limits-021951331.html; http://news.yahoo.com/miss-defeats-life-fertilization-ballot-prop-041831234.html

Here we go again: Money for big business but not the "little guy"

Yessir, here we go again. "Conservative", big business folks who likely want "small government" and for people to "stand on their own two feet", so to speak, are now declared as coming down on the side of tax breaks for businesses to bring sporting events to Missouri. From the Star's website: Missouri lawmakers to consider incentives for sports events JEFFERSON CITY--Although Missouri has hosted amateur sports events such as NCAA Final Four basketball games and U.S. Olympic trials, some public officials say if the state wants to continue to draw such events — and the dollars of fans who watch them — it must be willing to put some cash on the line. State lawmakers are proposing new tax breaks for groups that organize amateur sporting events and for donors that help provide financial backing. Supporters say it's necessary to keep pace with Texas and a growing number of other states that are offering sports incentives. The sports proposal is part of an expansive overhaul of Missouri's tax credits to be considered during a special legislative session that starts Tuesday. These are the same people who, just a short time ago, didn't want to extend unemployment benefits to the "working stiff" of the state but just have some companies come along and ask for tax breaks and you get them running at you like nobody's business. And here I thought we had budget problems. Silly me. Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/05/3122199/missouri-lawmakers-to-consider.html

A refresher course on the Republican Party

Lest you or anyone think the Republican Party of today only recently got this way, please read the following recounting of that grand old now-deceased leader of the Conservatives in general but Republicans, specifically as one writer to the editor did in the May 10, 2009 issue of The New York Times Magazine: "William F. Buckley began his career vehemently defending the worst excesses of McCarthyism; throughout the civil rights movement, opposed integration and black suffrage; during the Vietnam War, advocated using nuclear weapons against the North Vietnamese; supported unconditionally the racist apartheid government of South Africa; cheerled for the genocidal CIA-backed coup against Allende in Chile; and, in the early years of the AIDS pandemic, recommended that HIV-diagnosed patients be forcibly tattooed on their buttocks. Despite the virtues of his intellect and charisma, William F Buckley's only legacy to us is that mixture of homophobia, greed, racism, hypocrisy and military recklessness that is 21st-century conservatism." --David A. Murphy, Providence, RI. I hope that clears things up.

Todd Tiahrt and the Republicans: having it both ways

So Todd Tiahrt and his band of Republicans are supposed to be for "small government" and nearly no government at all, to hear them say it. Heck, the way they talk, you'd think they were all "slash the government" Libertarians. But right now, ol' Todd is running like a banshee for office, so what does he come up with? Check it out: Todd Tiahrt, who is running for U.S. Senate in Kansas, said he will press for a federal law to require cell phone companies to help find missing persons... The issue involving cell phone companies arose in the case of the late Kelsey Smith. She was abducted and killed in 2007... The proposal would require cell phone companies to release records to investigators working on missing persons cases. So, sure, the Republicans are for "small government." Unless they're running for office. Or trying to help their big, corporate friends... Or... Apparently, Republican George W. Bush's intrusive and far-reaching "Patritot Act" just isn't enough for these people. Link to original post: http://www.kmbc.com/news/24408955/detail.html