Kansas year end round up

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;

New Year’s Eve is now over and it is a good time to reflect on events of 2013. A lot of news articles were written on our Governor Sam Brownback and his conservative revolution that he likes to brag about. Thankfully there were other events in Kansas this year. How did Kansas do last year? Let’s look:
In December- The Wichita Eagle reported that Kansas infant death rates went up 2.8% that is 254 children in Kansas died before their first birthday. For some groups—African-Americans—rural residents, the rate of infant deaths is even higher. In 2013 the rate went up to 5.8%.
On November 1- The national hackers group Anonymous came to Wichita City Hall for a protest. They came to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. It always good to have more progressive organizations coming to conservative Kansas.
In October- Kansas House Representative Jim Ward wrote to The Wichita Eagle, on the new KanCare program set up by Gov. Brownback. The new program privatized the formerly state run government program Medicaid, into three private companies which now handle medical care for the poor and handicap.
He cited problems on four major areas: slow payments to providers for legitimate medical services; increased paperwork and cost for providers seeking reimbursements; confusing, inconsistent; and inaccurate payments causing reduced level of care for patients.
In September- Meagan May posted a comment criticizing the military and she was fired from her job at Carmike Cinemas. May said fighting a war is not “heroic.” The firing was legal but many people supported her right to free speech and questioned the wisdom of Carmike Cinemas for firing her for a Facebook comment.
In August- Kansas State Senator Susan Wagle defended the special interest group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and her participation in it. Wagle often votes with Gov. Brownback and is considered one of his allies. Wagle was accused of using state funds for registration to ALEC policy conferences, alleging a partisan agenda at taxpayer expense. She has been accused of influence buying through ALEC. ALEC uses closed door tactics to push for pro-business politics.
In July- KanVote tried to bring attention of about 13,000 voters who have been knocked off the voting roles because of Secretary of State of Kansas Secretary of State of Kris Kobach’s New Voter ID Law. KanVote has charged that the new voter laws discriminate against poor and minorities. Kobach has admitted that there were only about 20 cases of voter fraud confirmed in the years before the new law.
In June- Senator Susan Wagle tried to claim that the changes brought to Kansas by her and Gov. Brownback was a model for the rest of the country.
What her and other Kansas Republicans did was too weaken the state’s infrastructure, by cutting all aid programs to poor people at a time when there were (and still are) people looking for work, cutting funding to education and giving lavish tax breaks to businesses at the expense of the other tax payers. She bragged about the Republican “FairTax” model that targets the taxation of consumption (sales) rather than productivity (income).” Many of us do not suggest adopting this “model.”
In May- Several organizations in Wichita took part in a march against Monsanto and their Genetically Modified Organisms (seeds) or GMOs. They joined people in more than 250 cities across the U.S., Activists were concerned that the seeds Monsanto sells to farmers are unsafe and their practices unfair.
In April- South Wind Women’s Center opened in Wichita, offering early term abortions as a part of overall health care for women. Since the murder of Dr. George Tiller, anti-abortion zealots had prevented other people from opening a clinic. The clinic is still opened today.
In March- Gov. Brownback started to attack the teachers unions much as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did. Brownback and his allies pushed for a law that barred unions from using voluntary paycheck deductions for politics. This was clearly a move to keep unions out of politics and deny them the same rights that corporations have.
In February- Gov. Brownback outlined his tax plan. It calls for cuts in the income tax for higher wage earners, extension of a temporary sales tax hike and the elimination of popular mortgage interest and real estate property tax deductions. Critics noticed Brownback is shifting his tax burden from lower income wage earners to higher incomes.
In January- I wrote an article to bring to light that other states were trying to loosen marijuana laws while the laws in Kansas stayed ridiculous and outdated. Over the last few decades, lawmakers got more conservative and, marijuana laws got stricter. It was no surprise that Kansas Republican conservatives killed an attempt to introduce a bill to allow permission for qualified patients to consume marijuana with a physician's order.
We can only hope for changes in our political system and we have a governors races coming up soon. We have an opportunity to dump the destructive regime of Sam Brownback.

Workin’ for the Democratic Man!

Excerpts from The Journals Of A 21st Century Schizoid Man:

Jim Browning was a short stocky man about as tall as I was and that wasn’t very tall. I don’t often work for members of the Democratic Party, but this guy was local. I knew him and I knew his politics. Although he wore a suite, he also had a slight beard, his hair had just a touch of gray and he had a laid back look about him.  

His desk was a meager looking plain wooden table with drawers. His office was small and rather plain except for all the election posters he had on the wall. I was sitting at a table full of information pamphlets that I would soon be giving away door to door.  Browning was running for the Representative to my district and he was running as a Democrat.

He was running against a far-right-wing Republican. His name is Mike O’Connally, a true Tea-Party Yahoo. This young twerp looked as yuppie as it was possible to get. Always in the three-piece suit and tie, with his boyish looks, he couldn’t have been much over 25. He had short crew-cut style hair and he was clean shaven. He looked like a Jehovah’s Witness traveling around on the bicycle. But he would have none of that. The chamber of commerce and had just backed him, along with the Koch brother’s fake think tank Americans for Prosperity backed O’Connally against a moderate Republican who had served the business community well over the last 20 years. But now, The Chamber and the Koch brother stooges decided they could get a better deal. In fact, they owned this guy, lock, stock and barrel. O’Connally was also tied in with ALEC so he could get free speeches he didn’t have to write.

Sitting next to me was a friend of mine, a free-lance writer named Hector Helium. He was about my age, dressed rather business casual and he started laughing when he told us he had heard O’Connally giving a speech at an economic forum put on by our local Chamber of Commerce. He recorded the speech and to his surprise, it was word-for-word identical to a speech he had taped by a politician who spoke at a similar event in St. Louis.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Hector said as he stroked his sort goatee. “I didn’t realize you can get elected knowing nothing at all. Both O’Connell and this other guy, Gibbs, had pulled up ready-made speeches from ALEC. All you have to do is parrot what these ass holes tell you to say. Talk about an easy job!”

One thing we all noticed was that O’Connally won the primary election where only 19% of people voted. Surely when we explain that O’Connally had used the low primary turnout as a “dirty trick” to try and flush out a moderate Republican, it wouldn’t be that hard to convince people to vote for Browning as a reasonable alternative—or would it?

I started walking door to door in Browning’s district and already I knew we had problems. I went up to this normal looking middle class house, with blue wooden framing on the outside and the guy inside literally gave me the creeps.

Out walks this old fart wearing overalls, a john Deer hat, with white hair and crooked teeth. He told me; “Them thar libaruls want to take all our guns away and make ever-boduh gay. I never vote fer nun them thar Dem’crats. I’m a Kanzen. I always vote Republukin.”

The next guy I came across called himself Ray. He also described himself as a Republican. He’s a 40 something, not that old with dark hair, wearing blue jeans and a clean shave and he looked like a good ol’ boy as far as a nice open minded guy. But he wasn’t.

“People vote Democrat because they want a welfare check rather than working for a living,” he said. Apparently he believed only Republicans hold jobs.

“Do you seriously believe no one who votes Democrat holds an actual job?” I asked rather astounded that anyone would actually say that, much less believe it.

“Some uh them thar people work at government jobs in one form or another,” he said. “Those are just another form uh welfare. Dem’crats get ‘dem a job where they only work a few hours a day and get what amounts to a government handout.”

A few minutes later this same jackass was bitching because there is only one place to renew a person’s driver’s license.

“It took me three hours of waiting and there is only one office left in town!” he said.

I thought to myself; “You dumb-ass! Did you really think all these people working in government offices didn’t really do any work?” Then there is that annoying belief that poor people are just lazy and chose to live that way.

“Those people could get jobs if they really wanted them,” Ray said.

“Do you have a job?” I asked him.

“Of course ay do. I always had a job. You think Ay’m one them thar lazy poor Dem’crats?”

“So you never had to look for work?”

“Nah!”

“So you haven’t actually had to look for work in a long time?”

“I keep my job. That’s cuz ay’m not lazy. I work hard and don’t lose my job. People who aren’t working’ choose to live that way. They make a choice. That is why I never vote for those lazy people who vote Democrat.”

I decided that I would attach my Republican opponent at his weak spot, his corrupt relationship with the Koch Brothers and the Chamber.

“Did you know that Mike O’Connally is finance largely by the Koch Brothers and their PAC Americans for Prosperity?” I asked Ray. “So the Koch Brothers are actually trying to buy this election. They used dirty tricks to get O’Connally to beat a moderate Republican in the primary so he could win the general by just beating a Democrat. The Chamber of Commerce was behind him also.”

“What do you have against the Koch Brut has? They are producers. The Democrats err supported by parasites who just want to get free money from our movement, while people like the Koch Brothels are producing the wealth in this contra.”

Well, I finally decided that talking to Ray was a lot like talking to a wall. Surely I would have better luck with one of the other working class voters in this largely working class neighborhood. Surely there was someone in this neighborhood who was bothered by the idea of a corrupt politician running for the benefit of a few moneyed interests over the interests of the workers.

So I walked a few blocks to a large pale red house and knocked on the door. This balding guy with glasses came out to talk to me. He looked smarter than the last two. Would that turn out to be true?

“I’m Mark; I’m canvassing on behalf of Jim Browning, who is running for this district’s House of Representatives.”

“I’m Phil,” the man quickly answered. “Is he a Republican?”

“No,” I answered.

“I can’t vote for a Democrat.”

“Why?”

“He might be pro-union. “

“Unions aren’t supporting Democrats anymore.”

“I can’t take a chance. It isn’t fair that they make all that money and the rest of us just make a little over minimum wage. Do you know how much more those Boeing Union guys make than I do?”

“But there unions earn them that money. They pay dues, go to meetings give up their incomes when it comes time to strike. It takes a lot of work being in the union.”

“I think they are all just lazy and want an easy paycheck. They don’t want to work too hard so they join a union.”

“You mean they’re lazy like the poor people on welfare and the people who work for the government?”

“That’s right!”

“But if they are so lazy, how do they get those benefits?”

“They buy off our elections through the Democrats. It’s all about corruption.”

“What about the Koch Brothers and their PACs, the Americans for Prosperity and their use of ALEC. They give way more than unions to buy elections. Did you know that O’Connally is solidly in the pockets of the Chamber of Commerce and the Koch Brothers? He’s in debt to those people for a lot. Whatever they ask for he will have to give it to them. He won’t have to pay any attention to your needs or those who work as you do. He can put all the tax burden on you, while giving his rich friends all the tax breaks.”

“But they are rich and this is America where you earn all that wealth and power. If I ever get rich, and I hope someday I do, I want to be able to count on the political system to protect my rights. People who don’t like the Koch Brothers are just jealous that they don’t have all that money.”

“But Browning would defend you and your rights right now. Don’t you want a politician who cares what happens to you now, before you ‘get rich?”

“If I’m not rich it’s my own fault. I’m not going to blame the Koch Brothers or any other rich people because I don’t live the way I want to. The answer is to get rich.”

By now I realized I was just talking to another wall. Throughout the neighborhood, I was running into weird ass yahoos who didn’t seem to have a lick of sense between their ears. It was nearly the end of the day and it was at a rather large house and maybe this guy made a little more money. Of course I didn’t know if they would make any difference.

“Hi! I’m Bob,” the enthusiastic tall thin man said.     

I thought maybe this guy might be a little different. So I decided to go straight at the environmental argument.

“People here don’t like them tree-huggin’ enviermenalists,” Bob said. “And there ain’t no global warmin.’ That’s just a scam by them libaruls who just want to control us with all their socialism and communism.”

“Why would they want to do that?” I asked in amazement. After all, I was a socialist and I couldn’t see any clear cut link between socialists and liberals—accept on some social issues. Most socialists and Marxists I knew hated liberals almost more then they hated conservatives. I have to admit that I was one of the acceptations to the rule.

“It’s all about control,” Bob explained. “That’s what the Democrats is all about. They just want to control us and tell us how to live. I’m an individualist. I don’t depend on anyone for anything. I’m completely self sufficient.”

“An individualist?  Do you make your own clothes, build your own car, and grow your own food?”

“Well that doesn’t matter. Modern man uses the paycheck rather than the bow and arrow for his food. I just don’t believe in taking hand-outs.”

“Most people who have taken government handouts have paid into the system at one time or another.  Even the few people who haven’t ever held a job pay taxes and spend their money on the economy. So everyone is interdependent in one way or another—unless you live as a hermit in a cave.”

“Oh! That’s ridiculous. People on welfare are bums and I’m not one of those. Those people are ignorant. The reason Republicans win in this state is because people in Kansas are better educated. Ignorant people vote for Democrats.”

“Since I’m working for a Democrat, you must think I’m very ignorant.’

 “You don’t understand simple economics that much I can say for sure. If you understood how economics work you would never vote for a Democrat.”

“I guess I just need more education,” I said sarcastically.

“You need a job that is for sure.”

“I have a job.”

His jaw dropped and he gave me a look of surprise as if he had never heard of a working Democrat before.

Finally—done with canvassing for the day. And if I had seriously given it any thought, I would never do it again. After a hard day on the campaign trail, it was time to kick back and relax in my black leather chair with a cold Magnum Malt liquor can. The TV was on and one of our esteemed City Councilmen Cal Brewhaa was on TV talking about a new airline coming to Wichita, known throughout the city as the “Air Capital.” Brewhaa talked about all of the great jobs it would bring here.

“We hope to have the AA-Hole Airline moving to Wichita next month,” said Brewhaa. “This will provide lots of aircraft jobs.”

Yes it would, I thought to myself. But what kind of jobs? Will there be minimum or near minimum wages! Or will there be any union jobs that pay an actual living wage. This town was good at finding low income jobs for the little people who lived here. Many, just like those I had talked to while canvassing were likely to work at such low paying jobs and then bitch because they can barely get by—then vote Republican!

Make no mistake about it. This is a one-horse town. It’s the air capital of the Mid-west.

Of course those who don’t want to build air craft can blow it out their asses, as far as our city leaders were concerned. Most people with significant talents, which did not go well with building aircraft, left this town—if they were smart.

Finally the day had come to reap the rewards of our hard fought campaign labor. It was campaign night. It’s a great time to mingle with political folks and swill cheap boos while watching to see if any of our candidates actually win. On those rare occasions when a Democrat does win in the Wichita, it is a big celebration. I was wearing my business casual duds and sitting at one of the many folding chairs around the folding tables covered with all kinds of nifty snacks, cheese, crackers, finger meets, etc. Then there was a bar that served all kinds of soft drinks, coffee, a few types of beer and wine. This was a large building which used to be an old theater and had lots of meeting areas. It had lots of homey decorations and real furniture.

What I liked best about these events were all the cute Democrat women. Some were quite sexy looking. That is one thing the Republicans did not have was really sexy women. And there women were as dull as they come.

I stood with Browning by the TV all night as the local news reported one district’s results after another.  By now I figured that losing this election was a foregone conclusion. But what I didn’t expect was the percentage of votes Browning did get. By about midnight, with more than 90% of the votes in, Browning got 43% of the popular vote. Was that possible?!

Could some of the voters actually grown tired of Brownback’s personal punk boy? Were there some voters who actually took the time to look at issues and the blatant corruption of the Republican Party in this coup they used to gain control for their corporate greed? Apparently I got to a few voters. I don’t know who they were, but not every voter in this state is an ignoramus. Some can actually think for themselves and that was a great revelation for me that night.

Kansas Gov. Brownback takes on the Supreme Court over education cuts

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has decided to take on the Kansas Supreme Court and the entire system of checks and balances, in his continuing defunding of public education. Last week an attorney represented the state government and argued that the Kansas Supreme Court had no right to demand that lawmakers spend hundreds of $millions that have been cut by the Brownback administration. He has refused to spend adequate money on the state’s public schools.
According to CJ Online;
“Justices of the state's highest court peppered counsel with questions during a three-hour hearing on the appeal of a Shawnee County District Court ruling that the Kansas Constitution was violated after appropriations were slashed during the recession and money plowed into income tax cuts when the economy rebounded.
The lawsuit brought by students and districts in Hutchinson, Dodge City, Wichita and Kansas City, Kan., produced the lower court finding in January that state aid ought to be increased by more than $440 million annually.”
As Brownback has taken on the Supreme Court, he has argued in the past that he represents the will of the people and the courts have no right to interfere.
"Through today's ruling, the courts are drastically increasing the property tax burden on every Kansan," Brownback said in a statement reported in NewsMax. "The legislative process is the appropriate venue for debating and resolving issues of taxation and spending."
Some of his allies in the legislature have shown outright contempt for the courts interference. 
“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,” according to The Idiot Factor.”Brunk said there’s a mood in the legislature to give the courts the finger,”
The Kansas City Star reported that the courts have pushed for adequate school spending, but the present legislators may now just ignore the court’s ruling;
“Eight years ago, after much wrangling, the Legislature complied with a Supreme Court order and pumped an additional $750 million-plus into schools.
This time, the Legislature might not be as willing to agree to more court-ordered spending, moving Kansas into unknown territory about what happens when one branch of state government defies another.
“I don’t see the Legislature right now, with this makeup, going along with what the courts say,” said House Speaker Ray Merrick, a Republican from Johnson County. “But I could be surprised.”
So the battle continues with Brownback and his supporters fighting over cuts supporting tax cuts for businesses and some individuals at the expense of the state’s commitments to public education. It is a sad day when favors to business people are more important than the education of our future generations.

Sen. Wagle lies about ALEC

From  Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;

August 27, 2013

Senator Susan Wagle, in another article in The Wichita Eagle, berated a letter by H. Edward Flentje’s commenting politicians who have used taxpayer’s money to attendALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) gatherings. (Aug. 18 Opinion)
She not only defended her taxpayers support of ALEC but she also lied about its purpose and insulted Flentje’s point of view.
For example:
“First, Flentje decried the use of state funds for registration to American Legislative Exchange Council policy conferences, alleging a partisan agenda at taxpayer expense. Then he complained that companies sponsor a variety of discussions and events at the conference, and accused corporations of buying influence. Flentje then attacked ALEC’s principles of free markets, limited government and individual liberty as ideological rhetoric.”
Lie number one: nowhere does claim he is against the free market. As for smaller government, anyone who needs any kind of license renewed, or has spent three or more hours in line at the Wichita Department of Motor Vehicles, or has called a government agency on the phone and waited at least 10 minutes, knows what all this smaller government really means. As for being “against free markets and individual liberty,” he only complained about giving businesses too many tax cuts.
Another false statement by Wagle;
“The truth is Kansas lawmakers attend a variety of policy and legislative conferences throughout the year. Similar to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Council of State Governments, the National League of Cities and the National Governors Association, ALEC is an educational nonprofit organization, does not lobby and is not a voting institution. In essence, the conference is a table at which lawmakers, policy analysts and business leaders meet to exchange ideas and inform one another on effective solutions to state and local matters.”
This is the biggest lie of all. ALEC acts as a super PAC that works mostly through Republicans and very conservative Democrats gives financial aid, policy papers and speeches to its favorite candidates. Many of our Kansas politicians have gotten substantial aid by ALEC. ALEC is a PAC and that can’t be denied. They operate with politicians in secret and they try to run US affairs without voter approval.
According to the group Exposing ALEC;
“Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations.
In ALEC's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE."
As the site says, all this is done behind the backs of the voters so corporations can re-write laws to suit them and the common worker pays for this through their taxes supporting these junkets by politicians such as Wagle.
We need to keep espousing these lies and these secret anti-voter organizations such as ALEC as politicians, such as Wagle, continue to spread these lies.

Anti-abortion fanatics try zoning laws to try and shut down Wichita’s only abortion clinic

Anti-abortion groups, almost entirely made up of right-wing religious cult members that want to control the city, have used every dirty trick they can to try and shut down the South Wind Women’s Center, which is presently one of the few abortion providing clinics here in Wichita, KS. Their latest tactic is to use zoning laws to shut the clinic down. These groups have tried both legal and illegal tactics to shut down SWWC.  Recently a minister was threatening to have Julie Burkhart, head of SWWC, shot in her church as Dr. George Tiller, the former abortion provider was.

-Otto

Here is a report from Burkhart:

On Tuesday, the Wichita City Council heard, for the 2nd time this year, from members of four anti-choice groups from Kansas. Their goal was to re-zone the area where South Wind Women’s Center is located. The land has been zoned for medical uses since 1937. Anti-choice bullies want the area rezoned as a residential area. 

The antis spoke about:

The dangers of school children in a residential area seeing graphic images displayed in front of the clinic
--The signs are the very ones that their anti-choice groups insist on displaying daily in front of SWWC.

The antagonizing of anti-choice protesters by clinic escorts and staff, although they could provide no evidence of these allegations.
--SWWC does not have clinic escorts. SWWC employees and patients both report regular intimidation by the antis. SWWC employees do not interact with the antis presence outside the clinic.

Near gun violence and antagonism has increased since SWWC opened.
--All the incidents of "near gun violence" were from 2004-2009. None reported since SWWC opened in 2013.

--Mark Gietzen (anti-choice extremist) made threats of violence before the City Council and to the press.           -To the Council members, he said "This is a warning that if you don't do this [rezone the clinic], there is likely going to be a problem."          

 -To MSNBC, he said “Even a well-meaning dog will bite at some point in time if you keep antagonizing it.”

--Gietzen's veiled threats are the real cause of disruption and violence in this community.

--Disruptions to the residential area surrounding the clinic --None of the people who spoke to the Council live near the clinic.

Odd how the very things they complained about are the same problems that they create. You and I both know their desperate tactics to close SWWC will end in defeat. Thanks to your commitment to women's access to health care, we have already helped hundreds of women. These complaints are nothing more than a grasping at straws attempt to end access for women in Kansas.

Read more about the City Council meeting:

Huffington Post- Kansas Anti-Abortion Activist Says George Tiller's Former Clinic Is 'Trying To Provoke' Gun Violence

MSNBC- Kansas Clinic Under Fire From Anti-Abortion Activists 

Think Progress- Kansas’ Anti-Abortion Activists are Citing Their Own Disruptive Protests to Justify Closing a Clinic 

Wichita Eagle- Anti-Abortion Groups to Again Ask Wichita City Council to Rezone Area Near Women’s Clinic

Solidify your support for Trust Women Foundation by making a donation of $7, one dollar for every member of the Wichita City Council. Your donation will send a symbolic message to the City Council members that we have the support of the community locally and nationally.  

Wichita has not been kind to its artists

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;

 

Last weekend business consultant Jill D. Miller wrote in The Wichita Eagle that Wichita is a city ripe for artists to succeed. That’s not surprising considering that she is a business consultant, since Wichita is big on commercial art. Ads and promotions for businesses saturate the landscape in this city.
She said a person needs to be creative, but how true is that for the non-commercial or non-conformist artist in this area?
The truth is that this city has never been very supportive of artists and most that do succeed at it move away. An example of that is Tom Otterness, whose art can be seen at both Wichita State University and at the Wichita Art Museum. He has been very successful, but he also moved to New York City where he can make real money. Many fine artists have been raised here in Wichita, but most move away if they want real success.
His sculpture series Dreamers Awake is on display the Wichita Art Museum and it is satirical of present day society. Some people have even complained about it. One of the most ridiculous complaints came from people who objected to a large statue of a woman carrying a sickle. They accused it of resembling communism. 
Miller said it is possible to make a living as an artist in Wichita, but the artist may not become a millionaire doing it. It also may not turn out what people expect to be doing.
Actually I’ve known few artists, musicians and especially free lance writers (of which I am one) who make more than supplemental income here in this city.
She also said that an artist needs to be creative. For the local Wichita market that is not good advice. At most art fairs and shows in this town, there are a few creative artists, but mostly people sell pictures of wheat fields, old barns and animals in the woods. The creative art is harder to sell.
The Wichita Eagle mentioned that Miller helped develop the business plans for the successful Donut Whole and the Bluebird Arthouse in Delano. But the Donut is mainly just a coffee shop and not a major hub for artists. The Bluebird is mostly an art supply store.
Miller described an artist who was successful at as a business person. As she pointed out in
The Wichita Eagle:
“Ian Walker Stewart, 35, a graphic designer whose found-art collages have garnered him several shows in recent years, says the key is having a craft that can be monetized. That craft, he said, should become part of your art.”
He added that the artist should include the concept of capitalism and it has to be part of the art.
What does this say for the Andy Warhols or the Dadaists style of artist who try to knock down the old stereo types and open up the door here in Wichita? Well—that’s obviously not going to happen here. This is not a town for non-conventional artists and those who do have such talent move away.

Stopping voter suppression was the main agenda for KanVote, this last Saturday

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;

Stopping voter suppression was the main agenda for KanVote, this last Saturday.
“About 13,000 voters have been knocked off the voting roles because of Kobach’s New Law.” said Louis Goseland, of Sunflower Community Action, who chaired the event. He was referring to Secretary of State of Kansas Kris Kobach’s voter picture ID laws which he got passed in the Kansas legislature.
“He could site less than 100 cases of voter fraud when he passed the bill,” Goseland added.
Goseland also said that voter fraud was never the key reason for that. He pointed out this was a bill that has been promoted by the conservative activist PAC the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). They want voter restriction laws that go state by state. He played a clip from Youtube where Paul Weyrich, an ALEC member said "I don't want everybody to vote." Weyrich admitted that ALEC and the conservatives leverage goes up as the voting numbers go down.
Groseland said that people are getting notes telling them they need to come in and prove they are citizens and they have to show a birth certificate. Many of the 13,000 who could not cast their votes in the last election are in a type of voter limbo.
Another fact that was brought up was the US Supreme Court has struck down a voter ID in Arizona that is similar to the one here in Kansas. People at that meeting were wondering if there is a possibility of doing that here.
There were two sessions on what can be done to fight against the voter suppression laws here in Kansas. There was a session on what kind of pressure can be brought to our elected leaders to change our laws, and the other session was to look at changes in the laws to add to the voter rolls rather than cut down on them.

As for putting pressure on elected officials, some of the ideas included writing letters to the editor, filing lawsuits against Kobach and other similar Kansas politicians, protesting at the Kansas State House offices and flooding their offices with phone calls and faxes. Also suggested was asking the opinion of Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
A group of people came up with some Ideas for changing the laws, such as letting felons vote, letting children of emigrants vote, and using social media to promote the write to vote.

Economic Freedom—lies and distortions from Charles Koch

As usual with Charles Koch, this add running on TV in the Kansas area and elsewhere, is very misleading. It starts off telling you that if you earn $34,000 a year you are in the top 1 % of the world’s earners. What he is not telling us is that about 1/3 of the world has people who earn $2.50 an hour or less. No one living in the US could afford to live on a salary that low. But some countries are poor, their people live in huts or shanties and about all they have to buy with that money is a small amount of food. Many people in such countries have no electricity, running water, flush toilets or few if any health services.

Notice the graph on world earnings below:

Notice that North America and Europe together make up about 2/3rd’s of the world’s wealth. The US makes up most of North America.

The reality is that most of the countries in this graph have a relatively similar economic system. “Economic freedom” as Koch tells us, is really not that different from country to country.

For example India makes up only 2%. But how much economic freedom does that country have?

According to Wikipedia:

“Until 1991, all Indian governments followed protectionist policies that were influenced by socialist economics. Widespread state intervention and regulation largely walled the economy off from the outside world. An acute balance of payments crisis in 1991forced the nation to liberalise its economy; since then it has slowly moved towards a free-market system by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows. India's recent economic model is largely capitalist. India has been a member of WTO since 1 January 1995.”

But does all the economic freedom result in well paid happy workers? Again Wikipedia:

 “However, the country ranks 140th in the world in nominal GDP per capita and 129th in GDP per capita at PPP

……. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption,malnutrition, inadequate public healthcare, and terrorism[1].

So people in the US are economically better off than the people in India. According to Wikipedia here are some differences between India and the US including population, India has 1.27 billion people, the US has 315 million people, The US has more land and more resources, so that has a great deal to do with the differences in their place in the world economy.

The United States is a developed country and has the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2012 GDP of $15.6 trillion – 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity, as of 2011.

Then there is Europe that has 32% of the world’s share of wealth. About 30% of Europe’s workers belong to unions, compared to12% of workers in The US. That means that Europeans get better wages and benefits than their US counterparts.

One country that is very poor, vet has many economic freedoms and lacks government regulations is Bangladesh. The Rana Plaza Garment fire disaster in Bangladesh, caused the deaths of at least 1,127 workers, due to ignoring safety regulations. The minimum wage for Bangladesh's garment workers is $37 a month.. That’s one country where economic freedom and lack of government over-reach has not benefited workers.

So don’t be fooled by the phony statistics of any ad put out by Charles Koch. His ad is mostly just lies and that is what he and his brother do best.

White racists in Wichita attempt to incite a riot at a peaceful protest

There was a march supporting Trayvon Martin, this morning at 11am. As this video shows we still have our share of racist provocateurs in our community.