Craziness coming out of Kansas, part II

The second bit of craziness coming out of Kansas comes from one US State Representative Mike Pompeo thanks to the Star today:

Kansas congressman tries to limit consumer watchdog

By David Goldstein

WASHINGTON | Uncle Sam’s consumer watchdog will make it easier for shoppers to investigate product safety, despite a Kansas congressman’s effort to muzzle it.

U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Republican freshman from Wichita, had hoped to block the Consumer Product Safety Commission from launching a new online database next Friday that will allow the public to view product safety complaints.

“The federal government is going to get involved in running a database, which I am conceptually not opposed to, but want to ensure that the material it puts on it is helpful,” Pompeo said.

His amendment, which the House passed last month as part of its budget bill, would put the project on hold through September, the end of the current fiscal year, to give Congress a chance to make changes that both he and the business community would prefer.

Yeah, because protecting those corporations is far more important than protecting the American public, right Congressman Pompeo?

Okay, so here you have this representative out of Wichita and, keeping in mind that the Koch brothers hail from there and what have you got?

Pompeo’s top donor to his campaign for Congress last year was Koch Industries of Wichita. It contributed $79,500 from individuals and the company’s political action committee, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Koch spent $220,000 in 2008 in lobbying fees related to Consumer Product Safety Commission legislation and the consumer database, among other issues, federal lobbying disclosure records show.

Nice, huh?


Say, Kansans---want your government back?


Link to original story:  http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/05/2702023/kansas-congressman-tries-to-limit.html  

What 8 years of "W" has given us, so far

'cuz someone needs to keep track:

1) The largest debt in the history of the republic

2) The highest petroleum prices in the history of the republic (we should have KNOWN to buy oil stocks in 2000!)

3) The lowest value of the dollar in the history of our union

4) The largest profits for any corporation in the history of the nation, and that by an oil company, 2 years successively--Exxon-Mobil (I'll be kicking myself for years for not buying oil stocks!)

5) An arbitrary war that is costing us American lives

6) The same arbitrary war that was AGAINST INTERNATIONAL LAW, since we attacked another sovereign nation (why isn't this emphasized?)

7) No end in sight for this same costly war--and costly in terms of lives, first, and money and materiel second

8) A horribly divided nation because he--W--and his ilk pits "us" vs. "them" in all aspects of his career (with such little imagination, it's always "us vs. them", black vs. white, good vs. evil, Republicans vs. Democrats, Conservatives vs. Liberals, "believers" vs. non-believers, America vs. everyone not "with" us, etc.)

9) A government that is, clearly, pitted against the little guy--against the "man on the street" and solidly, four-square for the corporations and the moneyed. I didn't think I'd ever see that. Not this blatant.

10) Tax relief that has been shown to be for the wealthy amidst all this war and debt (really, there is just no shame).

11) An Environmental Protection Agency that doesn't protect the environment--or the nation's citizens--but corporations, instead

12) A Consumer Product Safety Commission that also doesn't protect consumers but--again--protects corporations and their possible profits, instead.

There's more he's done to us--done to our country--but these are the most egregious. We'll be paying for this clown for decades to come.

I can hardly wait until January 19 of next year. In these last months, we have to be aware of what he'll try to get passed in Congress, to further benefit large corporations and, consequently, hurting "the little guy".

Heaven help us.