Should we demand end to long DMV waits or is that just “the future that awaits us?”

We don’t usually respond to The Wichita Eagle’s “Letters to the editor,” but Chuck Jones is probably typical of the people who wonder how we ended up with such long lines at the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Jones wrote;

“Every once in a while The Eagle publishes another story about some poor taxpayer who spent six hours or more renewing his driver’s license. What is mind-boggling to me is that the citizens of Kansas are putting up with this absurdity.”

Well Mr. Jones, the people of Kansas not only tolerate this abuse, they VOTED FOR IT. Governor Sam Brownback and his recently elected allies promised to make major cuts to the government budget and to provide this state with a SMALLER GOVERNMENT. They openly fired thousands of public employees and promised us we would never really miss them.

“The governor should call in those in charge of this mess and tell them they have three months to reduce the wait time to 30 minutes or less and that if they can’t do it, they will be replaced. Repeat as necessary until the problem is fixed.”

The problem here is that the governor IS responsible for this mess. Brownback created it with the help of his Tea Party Republican allies, who just got elected about a year ago. The drivers license bureau is not the only government entity that is being affected by all of this “SMALLER GOVERNMENT” we were promised. Anyone who needs to call and talk to a person about any government service will find long waits and anything that is sent to them, will take three times longer to get. For example, it now takes me six to eight weeks to receive my new teaching license, rather than the one to two weeks it took before Brownback. This is what happens when employees are just let go and no plan is in place to deal with the overload of customers. This is not California. This is Kansas and it is being promoted as the state of the future. This is the Tea Party utopia they want to promote in every state of the union, including California.

So Mr. Jones, warn your California friends that following the lead of Kansas will lead to this and other forms of frustration to anyone who needs to use government services. The only way to fix this is to GET RID of our governor and all his Tea Party friends. THEY CREATED THIS MESS. They lied and said those workers were not really needed and we would never notice them being fired.

If you have had to visit the DMV, just learn to get used to it, because this is the state of the future and this is just part of that future. Either vote the bums out or just get used to this. It will only get worse as this “cut to the core” philosophy continues. 

So remember Kansas—you voted for this! What did you think was going to happen?

Pix by http://www.clarisconsulting.net/blog/dont-wait/.

Rep. Pompea wants us to just “trust the government” when we get spied on

From 

Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;

While many Tea Party Republicans express a cold skepticism of the government’s spying on us, Wichita’s very own US Representative Mike Pompeo, has assured us that we can trust him and the federal government. In fact he has insisted we are much safer now that our internet privacy is disappearing.
There is no need to worry about our government taking advantage of its advanced spy technology on us. According to Pompeo we can trust the government to do the right thing. He also believes we need to give up our freedom in order to win the never-ending war on terrorism.
According to a statement released to his constituents:
“We cannot abandon effective tools in the War on Terror any more than we can abandon the battlefield—too many lives are at risk. These programs work. In fact, they have worked close to home stopping terrorist plotters in Kansas City. Over 50 terrorist schemes have ended and American lives have been saved—those of our soldiers and those at home—because our professional intelligence community uses these programs. We must support them. We must continue our effective oversight to ensure the privacy of American citizens. And we must win this War on Terror…..”
But does he actually provide details of all these thwarted terror attempts? Not in his news letter to his constituents. He does, however, find a way to point fingers at other government attempts at domestic spying on his conservative allies, while trying to justify his personal “war on terror.” In his newsletter;
“There are few whose distrust of government is greater than mine. The actions of the IRS and of this administration following the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi do not engender confidence and provide no reason to trust this administration. I will remain vigilant in holding this administration accountable for each of those scandals and for executing the government’s central mission of securing our nation…..”
And some of his arguments amount to:”don’ts spy on our conservative people—just spy on liberals or anti-government people:”
“Some have compared the NSA program to the IRS’s scandalous targeting of political opponents of the administration. That comparison is inappropriate. For starters, the military leaders and professional counterterrorism officials at the NSA were acting within the scope of existing law. The IRS officials targeting Tea Party groups were not. Furthermore, General Alexander and Deputy Director Joyce take seriously their mission to keep us safe and protect our civil liberties. You will not see them in a Star Trek spoof video or in a Conga line at a taxpayer-funded conference the way we have seen IRS officials (click here/ my own version). The NSA culture of respecting the rule of law, the mission-driven leaders, and congressional and judicial oversight provide enormous protections for the American people.”
So he’s all for protecting his right-wing allies, but everyone else can just suck it up when it comes to privacy. He has also demonized the man who blew the whistle on government’s violation of our rights:
“Notorious leaker Edward Snowden has recently, and falsely, claimed two programs have resulted in the National Security Agency’s listening to phone calls and reading emails of U.S. citizens unconnected to terrorist activity. Not surprisingly, many in the media have parroted these claims notwithstanding their untrustworthy source.
…Snowden swore an oath of allegiance to the U.S., then stole U.S. secrets, snuck off to Communist China and now pretends to be acting in the best interests of a country that he has both betrayed and fled. These are the actions of a felon and a coward, not a whistleblower or a hero. We have already seen al Qaeda shift its communication tactics as a result of these leaks. It will now be much harder for us to find them.”
Again there are no actual evidence given to back up his claims, so we are just supposed to take his word for it that Snowden is a coward and a traitor. The actual enemy he alerted to is our government’s spying activity on its own people who have every right to know what their government is doing to them.
Once again we see the biased evidence that Pompeo uses to justify his ridiculous accusations. For example:
“Yesterday, I had the chance to go on Fox News and speak about these programs:
…As a veteran, I want our soldiers in the field to have the intelligence they need to perform their missions effectively. As a conservative, and member of the House Intelligence Committee, I take the balance between privacy and protecting American lives very seriously. I believe these anti-terror programs are crucial.”
He also quoted the most conservative and most discredited congresswoman in the US Congress today; “Rep. Michelle Bachmann, who he claims also asked the right questions. The answers she received were clear and unequivocal. Click here.”
So Pompeo has tried to defend his attacks on people’s privacy to The Wichita Eagle. At the same time, Yahoo News has revealed that the FBI and other agencies have used drones to spy on US citizens:
“When it comes to domestic surveillance, sometimes Congress seems like it’s expressing shock and outrage about something it already knows—or should have known. Take the use of drones on U.S. soil.
FBI Director Robert Mueller admitted at a hearing this week that his agency uses unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance on U.S. soil. Mueller insisted the FBI used drones “in a very, very minimal way”—but his comments did nothing to quiet the raging debate over privacy rights in the aftermath of National Security Agency spying revelations.”
So for those of us who live in Wichita, under Pompeo’s district, we can kiss our privacy good-by. Pompeo clearly just doesn’t care.

Brownback trades child support contract for donations

Being an arrogant Tea Party governor means never having to apologize for being corrupted and taking bribes. That fact was made public by The Kansas City Star article “Brownback donor’s Mississippi company gets Kansas child support contract.”

According to the article;

“A Mississippi company run by one of Gov. Sam Brownback's donors has been awarded one of the four contracts to privatize Kansas child support enforcement.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that the Kansas Department for Children and Families announced Friday that Jackson, Miss.-based YoungWilliams Child Support Services was awarded one of the contracts. Company CEO Robert Wells and his wife, Pam, both gave maximum $2,000 donations to Brownback's campaign.”

Not only is Browback openly awarding contracts to those companies who have paid him off (bribery) but he is out to privatize government agencies that need to concentrate on the welfare of children and not on profiting off of people’s problems. The idea of privatizing these sensitive agencies that deal with child welfare is outright ridiculous. It is criminal to allow people to profit from other people’s tragedies. How do we know that a for-profit corporation is going to care about anything other than their bottom line of making money? Fairness will be a thing of the past since child support enforcement will now be about collecting money and fees only. Justice is now a commodity to buy and sell here in Kansas.

Kan. Secretary of State Kobach whimpers over protest

Poor big cry-baby Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach went blubbering, on Monday, to beg state officials to investigate an immigration reform rally that was staged outside his home, Wyandotte County, according to The Wichita Eagle.

It appears that Kobach has not heard of the abortion doctors and the constant protesting of their homes and other forms of harassment that has gone on nation-wide and in Kansas, for the last 20 plus years. They couldn’t do anything about it. Anti-abortionists have run some doctors out of business by protesting them at weddings, their churches, family events and at times, their homes around the clock.

Guess what Kobach—there ain’t shit you can do about it!!!

You can wine and cry all you want, but the constitution and the government won’t help you!

According to The Wichita Eagle;

Kobach told The Associated Press on Monday he asked the Kansas attorney general's office and the Wyandotte County district attorney to investigate the rally at his home, and described the crowd of protesters as threatening. The crowd has been estimated between 200 to 300 people.

Kobach has made a career of anti-immigrant laws and policies around the entire country. Where did he get the idea that such activity, which amounts to constant attacks on the rights of those who live in the country, would not have any consequences?

Mr. Kobach you are a public official. Protests and criticism come with the territory. GET OVER IT YOU BIG CRY BABY! And just get used to it. It’s not going away. If you can’t take the heat, get out of politics. You are already the most racist politician in Kansas, since the demise of the Ku Klux Klan. Most of us don’t feel any need for trash politicians as you anyway.

Kansas legislatures show contempt for Kansas State Courts

From 

Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

The same Kansas legislatures who have given generous tax cuts for their wealthy backers are now suggesting that they don’t feel any need to abide by the decisions of the Kansas Supreme Court.
After years of cuts made to education, with teachers being laid off, resources and classes cut, some music classes and driver’s education was eliminated, The Rev. Jeff Gannon had finally had enough. He took the irresponsible actions of the Kansas Government to court, the Kansas Supreme Court. If the Court rules in favor of Gannon, it may order the state to pay up to $450 million in finances back to the public schools.
The Wichita Eagle ran a large article on the struggle between Gannon and the Kansas legislature. In it such high profile legislators as Rep. Steve Brunk from Wichita and Senate President Susan Wagle have suggested they will just ignore the ruling of the Supreme Court and continue to do what they feel like.
Brunk told The Wichita Eagle that he believes there is enough votes in the Senate and House to just ignore what the Supreme Court rules and “we might just say to the court that deciding expenditures is not your responsibility, thank you, and we’ll take it from here,” He also suggested there’s a mood to give the courts the finger,
That’s a lot of contempt for people who are supposed to be in charge of running the state. They seem to think they have all the power they need, by getting elected, to do whatever they want.
Education spending per pupil has gone done three years in a row, according toKansasOpenGov.gov; 2009: 12.631; 2020:12,267; 2012:12,226; 2023:12,595. For two years, it went way down and even though it went up slightly the following year, it went up to lest that the three year before and expenses went up that last year.
It is clear that underfunding education is a major role played by the present Governor Sam Brownback his Tea Party Republican allies.
The Wichita Eagle quoted David Trabert president of the Kansas Policy Institute, another phony conservative think tank. He mention the promotion of charter schools, which are being used nation-wide to bypass, teacher’s unions, pay and benefits. It also allows for conservative standards that amount to just “teaching to the test.” The worst part of charter school system ishow much money will be sucked off of the public school system and in Kansas, the public school system is already in shambles.
The time has come for the citizens of this state to let their Kansas legislators need to be impeached for violating the Kansas constitution, its courts and the idea that they can just “give the courts the finger” And that finger is a product of the people of this state. Our legislators have shown the state’s people nothing but contempt and it is time to show them the door.

Kansas Sen. Wagle has lost touch with reality—says “Kansas is a model"

From   Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;

For those of us who now live in Kansas and have lived here most of our lives, the changes taking place in our state, initiated from the governor’s office to the house and senate, are noticeable and unmistakably bad.
So it was no surprise last Sunday when The Wichita Eagle ran an article written by Kansas Senator Susan Wagle trying to justify her party’s policies that have damaged our state’s infrastructure, raised taxes on the poorer workers and left other workers with no jobs at all.
But to hear Wagle tell it, Kansas is an economic miracle that the rest of the country will soon want to emulate;
“The 2013 legislative session marked a major step forward in reforming long-term fiscal policy and positioning Kansas as a model for other pro-growth states.”
There may be economic growth in this state, but it is not reaching the working class or the middle classes. There are very few new jobs being created here in Wichita and this is the biggest city in the state. Since the end of the school year, (I work in a local school) I have found few new or summer jobs. What few jobs I have found have had at least 10 applicants for each opening. I know of other people looking for work and many have just given up.
If this is a future model for pro-growth states—where are the jobs? Who wants to live in a state where the jobs are few and far between?
Then she is quick to say that Kansas now has “a FairTax model that targets the taxation of consumption (sales) rather than productivity (income).”
This state has moved the tax burden to sales taxes rather than income based taxes. We now have some of the highest sales taxes in the country. This puts the burden of taxes on the working poor and middle classes who are spending more of their hard earned income on sales taxes. As for “lower income taxes,” that is not the case for those in the lower income tax brackets. Most people I know are actually paying MORE not less income taxes than they have ever paid before. This “Fair Tax model” works for those who make a lot of income, but not for those who earn lower levels of income. The average working class citizens is paying higher taxes than many other states. 
Wagle also wants the readers to know; “We passed a balanced budget while funding core services and kept state spending within our means.”
Her governor, Sam Brownback, and her other cohorts have balanced the budget by wrecking essential services to the average citizen and waging a war against any services to the poor and disabled.
People are spending three hours on average to renew their driver’s license. Any calls made to a government agency now take at least 10 minutes are more to get a real person. Any government services are now taking way longer to get done. It now takes me six to eight weeks to get my teaching certificate back after I reapply. It used to take only one week. This is typical of anything that requires the services of a government employee.
Schools have been seriously hit hard, with teachers being fired, and discipline problems at an all time high. There are fewer services for the students, fewer class choices, overcrowding, and there are shortages of supplies.
The poor in this state have been especially hard hit. According to Otto’s War room;
“Roughly 384,000 Kansans, or 13.8 percent of the state's population, live at or below the poverty line, which is $23,050 a year for a family of four. That number has risen by nearly 80,000 people since before the recession began in 2008. Of those, 34,000 were children, whose poverty rate has increased from 14.5 percent to nearly 19 percent.”
Wagle bragged that “we doubled down on the success of last session and set Kansas on a path to prosperity for years to come.”
If Wagle’s idea of prosperity is a huge increase in poverty that is not the kind of prosperity most of us living here want. I’m sure her rich friends are doing well; the rest of the state is enduring one of the worst economic nightmares in recent history.
This next statement shows just how much Wagle takes the working classes for granted;
“We live in a mobile society. Jobs grow and people locate where they can keep in their own pocket the maximum amount of their hard-earned money.”
She just doesn’t get it. People who can leave this state are doing it and at some point her rich friends she has worked so hard to satisfy are going to need workers to do the work it takes to create wealth. Many of the state’s most talented workers are leaving for states where they can “keep in their own pocket” what they earn. If people’s needs are not met, no amount of sucking up to business will keep the work force here that is required to keep an economy afloat.
This article doesn’t have a lot of statistics because I live and work here. So do many of my friends. We see firsthand what this “model for other pro-growth states” has produced and we want no part of it. God help any state that tries to incorporate this mess into their own economy. They are going to need it.