Hoping All Kansans Watch This Video

There is a young man, one Davis Hammet, who moved to, of all places, Kansas, from Florida. He's a bit of an activist and by "a bit", I mean a full-on, nearly fire breathing activist, at that.

He started a group on Facebook called "Loud Light." He's doing fantastic work, following the Kansas State legislators and what, exactly they do and what they work on.

He's pretty incredible. I've written about him out here before.

And the thing is, all he's doing is educating Kansans.

He's not doing threatening protests or, God forbid, threatening anyone, nothing like that. He's simply trying to make his now fellow Kansans aware of what's going on in Topeka at the Capitol.

He makes videos detailing the week by week work at the Capitol then puts it on YouTube and again, Facebook. I've personally followed him to learn what's going on there and then, this week, he released a really excellent piece on the overall Kansas State budget, what's been going on with it at least through the Brownback years and what's taking place now. It's excellent. You'll find it here.



I've said before, Missouri and each and every state, really, needs someone doing this very work. Heck, I live in Missouri and I'm following this guy. It's very simple, complete, excellent, informative work about what state legislators are doing in their state capitol. The local evening news isn't this informative, helpful or downright important. He puts local news reporters to shame, honestly and literally. (Hear that, Fox4? WDAF? KCTV5? KCPT? KCUR? Kansas City Star?).

It is, as I wrote in the title, my hope that all or at least nearly all adult, voting age Kansans watch this video. They all need to know what has taken place, what's happening now and where that puts them and their state's budget.

Link:

Loud Light

Jeff City, Republican Plagiarizing, Complete with Mistakes

It seems they don't even read or edit their own plagiarizing down in Jeff City now:

ALEC Politicians Caught Plagiarizing ALEC Bill, Drafting Error And All

What happened:

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has vetoed a bill that included a drafting error copied-and-pasted from American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model legislation, and criticized ALEC members for having "simply parroted ... the ALEC model act without alteration."

"While some may believe that such an error is 'close enough' for a model act, it cannot be allowed to become the law of this State," Nixon, a Democrat, wrote in his veto message. "Particularly in an area of the law that is the subject of ongoing litigation, a glaring defect such as this cannot be ignored."

Missouri Senate Bill 508, sponsored by ALEC member Sen. Mike Parsons, was modeled after the ALEC Navigator Background Check Act, and aimed to create new hurdles for health care “navigators” who enroll Missourians in healthcare plans under the Affordable Care Act. The bill was voted on by ALEC's corporate and politician members at ALEC's December 2013 meeting, and became official ALEC policy in January 2014.

The original ALEC model legislation would have required a navigator to submit fingerprints to the state highway patrol for a background check, and referenced the federal Public Law 92-554 -- but the correct reference is to Public Law 92-544, which deals with federal criminal records. The error in the ALEC model bill was copied-and-pasted verbatim into the Missouri legislation.

"Some state legislatures that have considered similar navigator-related legislation derived from ALEC model legislation have taken the opportunity to fix the incorrect reference from the ALEC model before enacting it," such as Arizona, Nixon wrote in his veto message. "However, like the Missouri General Assembly, other state legislatures considering such legislation have simply parroted the incorrect reference from the ALEC model act without alteration..."

And check this out, Governor Nixon went on "...noting that politicians in neighboring Kansas made the same mistake."

I love that.  Both states merely copied and pasted. 

Not only that, the Missouri Republican legislators didn't even learn from Kansas Republicans' mistake.

But wait. There's more. There's much more:

This isn’t the first time that ALEC politicians have pushed ALEC legislation without paying much attention. Two years ago in Florida, Florida state Rep. Rachel Burgin (R) forgot to remove ALEC’s mission statement from a bill she introduced.

Apparently learning from past mistakes just isn't in their plan.

Unfortunately, it isn't just all cutesy fun and games, however:

The Navigator Background Check Act was one of several ALEC model bills introduced in the Missouri legislature in 2014, according to a list compiled by Progress Missouri. Between 47 and 57 Missouri politicians are ALEC members, according to a report from Progress Missouri, Center for Media and Democracy, Common Cause, and Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action.

These people--ALEC--are a force, a big, ugly, powerful, well-financed force to be reckoned with.

I'm certainly glad we're getting our money's worth out of our respective state capitols, aren't you?

When you think about it, not even the people buying off the legislators, in this case, ALEC, are getting their money's worth.

Ain't 'dat just a low down, dirty shame?

Kansas makes it into the news again

Yet another person, this time a person with a limerick/political blog, rightly mocks Kansas legislators:

Kansas Gun Law Backfires (Multi-Verse Limerick)

The Kansas legislature, in its great wisdom, recently passed a law allowing gun owners to carry weapons in public buildings. And surprise, surprise, insurance companies think this is dangerous.

The EMC Insurance Cos. insures 85 percent to 90 percent of all Kansas school districts and has refused to renew coverage for schools that permit teachers and custodians to carry concealed firearms on their campuses under the new law, which took effect July 1. It’s not a political decision, but a financial one based on the riskier climate it estimates would be created, the insurer said.

Kansas Gun Law Backfires (Multi-Verse Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane
In municipal spots, like a school,
Concealed weapons in Kansas are cool.

But the pols that decreed this
May soon have to heed this:
They’ve entered a sky-high risk pool.

“You are too great a risk,” said the co
That insured Kansas schools. What a blow!
“We do NOT mean to screw you,
But just can’t renew you.
It’s financial — a matter of dough.”

Forrest Knox, who’s an NRA shill
And the fellow who sponsored the bill
That started this mess,
Says insurers should bless
Teachers toting their weapons at will.

“This will make us all safer,” he swears.
“What do carriers know about scares,
And dangers and risk
And hazards. Tsk-Tsk!
I know better than they!” he declares.
What’s next? It remains to be seen.

At the least, it will take far more green
To insure any school
Where an NRA tool
Hides a gun in her purse or his jean.

Link:  MAD KANE’S HUMOR BLOG

The Kansas, Republican debacle is finally over

From the Kansas Democratic Party Facebook page, yesterday:

"In the middle of the night, the Kansas Legislature voted to raise Kansans taxes $777 million. They also voted to slash $56.1 million from higher ed, cuts corrections funding making our state less safe, and refused to carve out the developmentally disabled from KanCare. Raising taxes on middle-class Kansans and cratering education - just another night's work for Gov. Brownback and the Kansas GOP."

What's also stunning about the end of this entire debacle, besides the fact that this should never have happened and that it was extremely, additionally and unnecessarily expensive for Kansans and that the Republicans are reputedly the political party of lower government spending (don't make me laugh), is that these people, these politicians, these political representatives of Kansas not only raised taxes on the middle- and lower-class people their supposed to represent while also, cruelly, let's face it, lowering the taxes of corporations and the already-wealthy but that they did it in the middle of the night and were so really cowardly about the whole thing.

The total cost to Kansans for the inability to do their work in a timely, responsible fashion?

Nine extra days x $45,000 per day = $405,000.

Perilously close to one half million dollars.

Congratulations, you Kansas State representatives. You spent nearly one half million additional dollars Kansas and Kansans didn't have. You must be so proud.

If there's one thing good about all this is that, one, it's that it's finally over and, two, it won't cost Kansans any more than it already has.

Link:  Republicans advancing tax, budget bills in push to end legislative session

Lucky you, Kansas

 

Republicans in the Kansas Legislature have flushed $330,000 down the drain fighting about how best to raise taxes on working Kansans. It should be obvious that $330,000 would have been better spent hiring ten new Kansas teachers and not paying Kansas legislatures for failing to do their job.

 

Ironic, isn't it, if not also hypocritical? The political party that insists it's for small government spending is blowing a big hole in the state's budget.

 

We have Governor Sam Brownback and his very Republican legislature to thank.

 

And it ain't over yet.

 

With thanks to the Kansas Democratic Party and their Facebook page for the pic, above, and for much of the wording, above, that inspired the post.

 

Additional links: 

 

Legislative overtime costs KS taxpayers more every minute

 

Top 10 bizarre bills of the 2013 Kansas legislative session - Watchdog

 

Rep. Paul Davis Facebook

 

Kansas Watchdog 

Republican examples for how to legislate--for Kansas

I saw the other day how very Right Wing and Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer--you remember her, the one who had the nerve to publicly scold President Obama on a tarmac in her state? Anyway, she has made it publicly clear to her also-very-Republican state legislature that unless the people of her state get federal government Medicaid expansion, she's going to hold up every bit of legislation they create:

Jan Brewer Ain’t Bluffing: AZ Governor Vetoing All Bills Until Medicaid Expansion Passes

Quite the stunner. It's her own political party's legislature and naturally they're opposed to anything even remotely proposed by our current (black, Kenyan, Socialist, Communist, whatever) president yet she's pushing them for this expansion of Medicaid through "Obamacare."

Yeehaw.  How rare. How refreshing.

Now, not to be done there, Texas legislators seem to have caught on, too:

Texas Lawmakers Put Down Their Swords

It seems Texas Republican legislators are--GASP--COMPROMISING with Democrats and others and GETTING THINGS ACCOMPLISHED FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE:

If Texas’ less-than-theatrical 83rd legislative session is remembered at all, it will be known for accords, not discord.

Lawmakers put down their partisan swords to expand financing for water infrastructure, women’s health, public education and the mentally ill, steering almost entirely clear of bitter ideological battles over immigration enforcement and abortion.

The state’s Republican majority pulled its weight in a few major areas: passing legislation requiring drug screening for unemployment benefits and blocking measures opening the door for an expansion of Medicaid, the joint state and federal health care program for children, the disabled and the very poor, under the federal health care overhaul.

But Republicans themselves warded off some of the session’s most anticipated battles, like Senator Dan Patrick’s “school choice” effort to finance scholarships so public school students could attend private schools.

And House Speaker Joe Straus’s reluctance to tackle redistricting — though Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Attorney General Greg Abbott wanted to — was an effort to keep Democrats in the fold. That effort seems unlikely to last if the governor calls legislators into a special session on the issue.

Indeed, many of the lawmakers’ hardest-fought initiatives this session — preventing wrongful convictions and prosecutorial misconduct, overhauling high school diploma requirements and high-stakes testing, and curbing the authority of regents of the state’s public university systems — did not fall along party lines.

And maybe, just maybe they're doing this because they see things working in California, with a Democratic majority:

California Faces a New Quandary, Too Much Money

Those darn Democrats.

Doing the right, responsible things for their state and people.

Damn them to hell.

(You don't suppose anyone in Kansas government is paying any attention to all this, do you?)

On the train wreck that is the Kansas State Legislature right now

Now Kansas Governor Brownback's own Secretary of Corrections is offering up proof of the insanity of the state's budget cuts:

Proposed cuts to corrections system could endanger Kansans

From the article:

TOPEKA — The head of the state prison system said Friday that proposed budget cuts being considered by the Legislature could jeopardize the safety of Kansans.

In a memo distributed to legislators, Kansas Secretary of Corrections Ray Roberts says the cuts would force the closing of a prison in northwest Kansas and leave without supervision some low- and medium-risk offenders, including sex offenders, who are on parole.

There also could be cuts in programs for mental illness and substance abuse, he said.

"The end result is that we will be spending far more than we save with the potential for increased victimization of Kansans due to an increased rate of untreated, unsupervised offenders in our communities," Roberts said.

Republican House and Senate budget negotiators agreed earlier this week to a proposed state budget that would cut $12.5 million from public safety operations in the fiscal year that starts July 1, Roberts said.

As the Kansas Democratic Party so rightly said today on their Facebook page:

It's come to this: Gov. Brownback's own Sec. of Corrections is warning that budget cuts will endanger Kansans by leaving dangerous sex offenders unsupervised and forcing the closure of prison facilities. You can add the safety of Kansans to the list of things less important to Gov. Brownback and the Kansas GOP than tax breaks for billionaires.

The thing Kansans have to ask themselves at this point is, how bad does it have to get until we somehow get a change for the better and some relative responsibility--if not sanity--out of Topeka, especially as regards the State budget and spending?

Kansas, a national laughingstock

Yes, Kansas is getting laughed at yet more in the media today and sadly but rightly so:

Jeff Melcher Really Worried That Grocery-Tax Cut Means People Will Never Buy Anything But Groceries

From the article:

The Kansas Senate has passed a measure that would cut the state sales tax on groceries from 6.3 percent to 4.95 percent, setting up what the Kansas City Star calls a "showdown with the [State] House," where "approval" of the plan "is questionable."

There are probably some compelling reasons to cut the sales tax on groceries. For instance, unemployed and impoverished Kansans might starve to death at a slightly lower rate. At the same time, there are probably some compelling reasons to maintain the sales tax on groceries at the current rate -- the revenues collected could provide state residents with services, like police, roads, bridges that don't collapse and the like.But as Raw Story's David Edwards reports, at least one Kansas lawmaker has come up with his own, bespoke concern about this measure:

A Republican state lawmaker in Kansas says that he opposes cutting the taxes on groceries because it would be a form of "social engineering" that encourages people to buy food over other items.

The Kansas Senate on Thursday voted to cut the state sales tax on food from 6.3 percent to 4.95 percent, but Sen. Jeff Melcher (R) led opposition against the measure, arguing that it would lead to people eating more.

"It seems to me we are encouraging the behavior of purchasing food and discouraging the behavior of purchasing anything else," Melcher reportedly told his colleagues.

Here are just two of the comments I saw this morning, in response to Senator Melcher's comments:

DUMB. ASS.

They have their own special kind of crazy going on in Kansas.

Kansans, you voted 'em in. It's up to you to vote them out.

Next time, vote in some smarter ones.

Maybe some that care more about the entire state and the middle- and lower-classes instead of the wealthy, the corporations and, oh yeah, the Koch brothers.

Kansas poor and their schools take another beating

Not just Kansas schools take a financial blow but the poorest of Kansas schools, at that:

Federal cuts announced for poorest Kansas schools

From the article:

School districts across the state received word Thursday of significant cuts to federal funding reserved for the highest-poverty schools.

What stuns me, besides the cuts in funding, is how this is even legal.

Forget that it's immoral and nearly unconscionable, how is this legal given that "separate but equal" was ruled patently unconstitutional, so many years ago?

In this case I'm not talking about schools for blacks vs. schools for whites, as the original Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education court ruling came out, I'm talking about schools for wealthy vs. schools for the poor.  That's what this seems to be also, further setting up, just as the school vouchers would, if we implement them.

You can't have one set of schools well-funded and the others stripped of that same equal level of funding. That's not just immoral, it's obscene and it should absolutely be illegal.

It just keeps getting worse over there in Kansas. First the governor gives tax breaks to the corporations and wealthy, then he and too many Republicans in Topeka propose raising the sales tax to make up for lost revenue which would nothing but hurt the poor and middle class, now this.

No one's going to WANT to be in Kansas, Dorothy.

And in the meantime, Representatives are trying to add in money for golf tournaments for themselves but no new, additional money for schools, yes they are:

Bring home the bacon: Budget funds staff hikes, golf events

I'm trying to decide if it's ignorance, stupidity or greed that's the source here. Regardless, chutzpah is definitely involved.

Another Republican Governor Goes for "Obamacare"

Yes, sir, yet another Republican governor--this one from next door Iowa, no less--buckled in his opposition to "Obamacare" for the citizens of his state and is now supporting it:

Iowa Medicaid Expansion Gets Boost As GOP Governor DropsOpposition: Report

Great stuff.

From the article:

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is poised to become the ninth Republican governor to support expanding Medicaid under President Barack Obama's health care reform law, the Dubuque Telegraph Herald reported Wednesday.

Now if only Missouri and Kansas can follow these leads.

Here's hoping.

What Sam Brownback wants for Kansas--and Kansans

Most Kansans do not pay much in income tax, because most Kansans have a low to middle range income to begin with. Most Kansans pay their share of taxes through the sales tax. 

By eliminating the state income tax and continuing the sales tax hike, Brownback is forcing the lower and middle classes to pay more, while the richest Kansans end up paying less. 

Regressive taxation is not just immoral, it is bad economic policy.

Taken totally, utterly, completely from this Facebook page yesterday:

The Brownback Tax Scam

Link: http://www.kansas.com/2013/05/17/2806920/kansas-budget-negotiations-break.html

Well, knock me over with a feather--Kansas does something for the poor

I read it in the Kansas City Star today and could hardly believe it:

New Kansas law helps poor people caught in traffic-fine trap

What the what?

The Kansas, famously (infamously?) Republican-led Statehouse over there in Topeka did just that--did something to help the less financially-fortunate of the state:

TOPEKA — Lawmakers and the governor have corrected a legislative oversight that was making life difficult for poor people who have traffic tickets they can’t afford to pay all at once.

What really got me is that 2nd part--the part that said even Governor Brownback got in on this, too.

Some details:

House Bill 2009 restores a system to allow motorists with suspended licenses to get a restricted license to drive to work, school or other important destinations, while paying off traffic fines over time.

Gov. Sam Brownback signed the bill Thursday.

Here's yet one more wonderful, surprising, rare thing about the whole thing:

The bill was originally the handiwork of two Wichita-area legislators, Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Democrat, and former Sen. Phil Journey, a Republican.

Can you imagine that?  

Two government representatives, from different political parties, no less, WORKING TOGETHER, and for the betterment of the people.  

Wow.  

With all the partisanship across the states, singularly, but across the larger nation, as a whole, it's a wonderful, welcome turn.  

Talk about a double-take.

And it's not even Christmas.

There may be hope for those people and that state yet.

Just don't count on it.

New, far higher levels of stupidity out of Missouri yesterday

Holy cow, Missouri.  What in the world are you doing? Trying to "out-dumb" Kansas.

Check out the latest, y'all:

Missouri Lawmakers Pass 'Hard- Core' Gun Bill In Late-Night Session - Huffington Post

The rocket scientists down there in Jefferson City passed a bill yesterday to "nullify all federal gun laws", if you can believe that.

Then, to make it worse, they didn't stop there:

The Republican-controlled Missouri Legislature passed the nation's most extreme gun protection bill, along with bans on Islamic law and the United Nations sustainability agenda, during a late-night session Wednesday.

Someone needs to tell the Republican clowns at the state capitol there's something called the Supremacy Clause and that it is--hello?--in the national US Constitution.

And naturally, it gets worse, they didn't stop there:

Under the gun measure, lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to nullify all federal gun laws in the state, while allowing some teachers to carry guns in schools. The bill also says some teachers who do not carry guns can be fired, while providing them with limited arrest powers.

The gun bill's passage followed passage of the sustainability and Sharia, or Islamic law, bans.

But wait!  There's more! There's much, much more!

Under the terms of the gun bill, all federal gun laws would be banned in Missouri; enforcing such laws would be a misdemeanor, a change from a previous provision that made enforcement a felony. The bill would allow for the open carry of all guns 16 inches or smaller in the state.

The legislation also has provisions to allow school districts to designate teachers and administrators as "school protection officers," with rights to carry guns and provide security services during the school day. Under the terms of the law, a teacher who is designated to carry a gun, but does not bring one, could be fired. School protection officers also could detain for up to four hours anyone they believe is violating the law, before turning the individual over to law enforcement.
 
Doctors are prohibited, under the bill, from asking about gun ownership during exams. (The American Academy of Pediatrics urges the question to promote child safety.)

Fortunately, there are some silver linings to these rather stupid clouds.  First, this:

Rep. Stacey Newman (D-St. Louis) told her colleagues they had turned Missouri into a "laughing stock."

And then this:

The gun bill passed with enough votes to override a veto by Nixon, but it could bring legal challenges. United States Attorney General Eric Holder last week warned Kansas officials that their new state law that says federal gun laws do not apply to guns within the state made in Kansas was unconstitutional, a charge Kansas officials deny.

State legislature? Work on, say, getting I-70 expanded, repaved and improved, made safer for millions of Missourians and Americans?   Nah.  Legislate on guns, guns and more guns and the bogeyman that is Sharia Law, instead.

So okay, Kansas, now it's your turn. Return the "stupid volley."  Hit it back to us. How ignorant can you get and be now, with this challenge?

Keeping in mind it's National Teacher Appreciation Day and Week

Kansas State Representative Paul Davis makes an excellent point today, on his Facebook page:

"Kansas Teachers rank 47th out of 50 for...wages, making just $804 a week.

That's before any more is taken out of their check and puts Kansas teachers just ahead of...Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma."

So, Kansans, I ask you, is this REALLY what you want for your children?

Is this really what you want for your state?

The Governor and Statehouse not the only bad things going on in Kansas

Besides being ravaged in the last few years by their Governor and very Republican Statehouse in Topeka, it seems Kansas also has another rather large, threatening problem. The state is on the list of "7 States in America Running Out of Water."  Not only that but of the 7, they're in the number 2 worst position, to boot:

7 States Running Out Of Water: 24/7 Wall St.

2. Kansas

--Pct. of state in severe drought: 96.4%
--Pct. of state in extreme drought: 64.6% (3rd highest)
--Pct. of state in exceptional drought: 21.4% (2nd highest)

Severe drought conditions persist in more than 96% of Kansas. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of the state is experiencing extreme drought, while more than one-fifth is experiencing exceptional drought. The good news for Kansas is that rain in March has eased the drought, although National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Kleinsasser told the Associated Press earlier this week that the state is still experiencing “precipitation deficits” of as much as 20 inches in many parts of the state. Kansas produces about 20% of the nation’s wheat, more than any other state. Wheat production was up 38% in 2012 compared to 2011, although the drought affecting the state probably will make this level of production unsustainable for 2013.

So you'd think the Governor and that legislature at the Statehouse would be doing something about it, wouldn't you, in some way? Try to do anything they can to ease conditions? Something? Anything?

But then you'd be wrong. It's far more important for those people to give tax cuts to the Koch brothers and wealthy and corporations and legislating against women and their rights, rather than do things for the people, for the entire state.

Side note: In number one position is Nebraska while neighbor to the South Oklahoma is in last place at number 7.

Again, if the Legislators in Kansas had any sense, they'd see maybe what they could do with their fellow legislators from those states, too, to see what could be done for their states on this issue.

But then, that would be sensible and logical and helpful to the entire state and not just the wealthy.

While Kansas cuts higher education funds

This, from NBC News last evening at the same time the Kansas Legislature is cutting $29 million dollars more from the higher education budget:

Broke and ashamed: Many won't take handouts despite need

On college campuses, many students striving to make the grade don’t have enough food to eat. Trying to tackle this challenge, colleges are now bringing food pantries onto campuses, hoping to help students through these tough times.

Across the U.S., safety-net programs aimed at reaching the nearly 1 in 7 Americans living in poverty struggle to reach those in need. Food stamp enrollment climbed to record levels following the recent recession, with nearly 48 million participants in December 2012.

Other states are trying to help their students in college.

Not Kansas:

House Speaker Merrick OK with 4 percent cut to higher

education

The Kansas Higher Education Budget Slash

From Representative Paul Davis, yesterday, from his Facebook page:

"Republican House leaders said yesterday that higher education can handle a $29 million cut. They said the concerns of hardworking middle class taxpayers are just 'rhetoric' and 'have no merit.' 

Fact: Higher education has been cut 40% per pupil since 1999, and for the first time in Kansas history, tuition comprises more in college funding than state aid."

Are not our children the best reason for wanting them to get a great education?

Is this not one of the best and smartest things we can do for them, let alone our state and nation?

Since when does wanting a good education not benefit everyone involved? 

If you haven't had a chance to sign this petition yet, please go here and do so:  http://bit.ly/Y8N0EQ.

Links: House Speaker Merrick OK with 4 percent cut to higher education LJWorld.com

Paul Davis | Facebook

Kansas' own Koch brothers at top of "10 Worst Billionaires" List

Just out this week at Alternet:

10 Worst People on Forbes 2013 Billionaires List

              Oligarchs and monopolists and thugs, oh my!

1. The Koch brothers: Charles Koch ($34 bn), David Koch ($34 bn), William Koch ($4 bn)

Where to begin? David and Charles, the brothers still with Koch industries, are among the world’s biggest polluters, for starters. Bill Koch, who split off from the family company, is a world-class weirdo who devotes himself to things like building a faux Western town solely for his amusement and buying a $2 million photo of Billy the Kid. Though not as active in bankrolling GOP pols as his brothers, Bill was a big supporter of fellow 1 percent jerk Mitt Romney and has found time to fight against America’s first offshore wind farm in Massachusetts. As for David and Charles, they have won a permanent spot in the Public Menace Hall of Fame, kicking their fellow human beings in the face with everything from funding climate change denial to strangling democracy. They have striven mightily to reshape America into a Tea Party nightmare, and have plenty of money to continue their mission.

It's really quite a distinction, if even in infamy, when you outrank people like Rupert "I Own Evertything" Murdock, Sheldon "So What If My Money Comes From Casinos?" Adelson and even Silvio "I Didn't Know She Was That Young" Berlusconi.

Oh, and they don't mention it, Kansans, but they're also buying your state government through both the Governor's mansion and the statehouse.

Try to have a nice weekend anyway.

Kansas: a stark, gray, dreary wasteland?

Yet more monumental stupid coming out of Topeka

Here's another case of not hardly being able to believe what some Right Wing, Republican wacko thought up:

Kansas Bill Would Ban Abortion Clinic Employees From ‘Bringing Cupcakes’ To Their Child’s School

Link here: Kansas Bill Would Ban Abortion Clinic Employees ... - Addicting Info

Yes sir, folks, you can believe it:

Kansas Republicans are once again resuming their war against a woman’s right to choose and this time they are targeting abortion clinic employees in a very personal way.

A Kansas House committee passed HB 2253 on Wednesday along party lines, with Republicans pushing the bill through while Democrats opposed it. The bill is a broad spectrum of anti-abortion laws sponsored by GOP state Rep. Lance Kinzer, who is the poster boy for many of the outrageous abortion bills introduced and passed in Kansas these days. Included in the bill are measures declaring that life begins at conception, measures that keep women from deducting the cost of abortion procedures on their tax forms, and measures that affect “information the Kansas Department of Health and Environment distributes on abortion and fetal development,” according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
But these measures weren’t the ones that Democrats objected to the most. Republicans apparently included a section in the bill that would affect employees of abortion providers in a most personal way. The Capital-Journal reports:

“Much of the debate centered on a portion of the bill that bars anyone associated with an abortion provider from working in a public school. It is meant to prevent districts from contracting with groups like Planned Parenthood to provide sexual education materials.”

Democratic Rep. Emily Perry opposes HB 2253, and pointed out another egregious section in the bill designed “to prohibit parents from going in and volunteering at their child’s school if they work at a place that provides abortion services.” Perry’s claim was later confirmed by Republican Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, who stated that the bill would “prohibit an abortion clinic secretary from ‘bringing cupcakes to’ school for his or her child’s birthday party.”

Forget that abortions are legal in this country and have been since 1972. Forget that.

Ignore that this is a form of discrimination.

Totally block out of your mind that they should be working for the state, for the people and for the people's good--tangible, intelligent good things and good work and legislation.

No, no, try to come up with yet more insane ways to focus on only one issue in the state of Kansas.

Looney.  Truly crazy.