Run, Kinky, run

The Texas "Jewboy" would make a fine Kansas governor.

From F5:

by Joan Warren

Believe it or not, it's time to start looking for a new candidate and preparing ourselves to win the next Kansas Governor's election. I have found the perfect candidate, Kinky Friedman of the Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys. He ran for office several times in Texas and lost. What's wrong is he's running in the wrong state. Kansas needs and wants Kinky, not Texas.

I checked with the Secretary of State's office, and there are no qualification requirements for governor. Actually a 10 year old could run. Kinky wouldn't even have to change his Texas residency.

Kinky's first calling to serve was for Justice of the Peace, Kerrville, Texas as a Republican in 1986. He lost. The next time he ventured into politics was for the 2006 Texas gubernatorial election as a Democrat against the villainous Rick Perry. Friedman garnered 13% of the vote as an independent and out-fundraised the Democrats. One of his stated goals was the "dewussification" of Texas. He followed other celebrities like Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jessie Ventura, former WWE pro-wrestler and Minnesota Governor. In 2010 and 2014, Kinky ran for Texas Agriculture Commissioner as a Democrat but was beaten in the primaries.

Friedman is somewhat Lincolnesque. Abraham Lincoln lost eight elections, crashed in business twice and suffered from depression. As we know, he was one of our greatest presidents. Kinky endorses medical marijuana. There are many reasons to support medicinal marijuana especially for cancer patients. Friedman said, "Guess what for chemo? It's the big one; chemo kills more people than cancer. More than surgery or radiation….A lot of people like me who don't smoke pot are realizing this." It could help chemotherapy patients eat, sleep, and squelch the worry about dying. He also mentioned medical marijuana helping children with autism and Alzheimer patients. Think of it; University of Kansas Medical Center could outpace Texas' M.D. Anderson Hospital with cancer patient care.

For the rest click here.

Support Trust Women and South Wind Women’s Center

This is a notice to help Trust Women and South Wind Women’s Center. The organizations have stood up to the bullying of the far right and the religious right to keep abortion legal and available to women of the whole country.

We are glad to promote this event:

To Mike Pompeo—we call it imperialism, not liberty or freedom

by Otto

US Representative Mike Pompeo (R) is probably the most pro-imperialism representative I have ever lived under. He supports everything from NSA spying on US citizens to sending combat troops into Iraq and Syria.

 A few times a month I get a newsletter from Pompeo and about half of them are about his relationship with veterans. He is always bragging about the support he gives to vets. In the latest letter he brags about his support of an “appropriations bill”[1] that provides increased benefits for veterans. I don’t oppose spending money on veterans because they have been doing all the dirty work in foreign affairs and they are the ones who lose limbs are lost and they suffer physical and mental damage defending the property and investments of our conservatives.

“I understand the dedication and sacrifice it takes to defend our freedom,” Pompeo said in his recent newsletter.   But does he really know what it is like to serve in times of war? Pompeo has attended the U.S. Military Academy and he has served sometime in the military. But, he has not actually been in a battle. It is easier to support the military from behind the front lines supporting appropriation bills and military spending, but the vets are the people who actually get down in the trenches and do all the fighting. That means they take all the risks and politicians such as Pompeo like to chum around with them, without having to go into battle and risk getting hurt.

Again in his newsletter:

“That is why it is a special privilege for me to spend time with Kansas veterans.  Last week I met members of Kansas Honor Flight No. 24 at the Wichita Eisenhower airport as they departed on their trip and again when they visited the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.  Kansas Honor Flight arranges these experiences and sends our veterans to Washington to visit their own war memorial.  These memorials exist to proclaim that the liberties we enjoy today were earned through the bravery and sacrifice of many patriotic American soldiers.  It is always such a blessing to meet these heroes.  And great fun.”

While this may be great fun for the representative, he is not the one making all the “sacrifice” and “bravery” for the so called “liberties we enjoy today.” And just what “liberties” are they sent to defend?

One of the biggest lies perpetuated by our political establishment today is that “our military is fighting for our freedoms.” They “defend us while we sleep at night.” “They defend the liberties that we take for granted” But this is all BULL SHIT!

The real prize there is oil. With the US in control of Iraq, it also controls the oil shipping through that part of the world. Major oil fields are under US control now. There are other resources and advantages in the middle-east as well. In Iraq there are minerals and natural gas.

People in America do not have the freedom to decide what kinds of chemicals we can put in our bodies; as we can be arrested for possessing small amounts of drugs. Outspoken people risk being the victims of smear campaigns by organizations or “think tanks” owned by wealthy persons such as the Koch brothers.

Then there are those god-like powers a country hungers for. They produce such actions as regime change and nation building. This is all a part of the process called imperialism. We strive to build a massive empire where the nations under our control are like our back yard. The land may have people living in it, but we feel as if that land is really ours. We treat the people as if they are our children, who need our wise guidance.

Imperialism is the real aim of our military today. We aren’t fighting any wars here at home, with the exception of a few acts of terrorism.

There have been some risks of terrorist actions, but they can be traced to our involvement in the middle-east. Despite all the warnings that ISIS wants to attack us here at home, only one such attack has taken place since 9/11. In reality the fight is in areas in and around Iraq and Syria not the US. ISIS took over parts of Iraq months ago with an ambitious plan to annex most of that country. The US has invested heavily in a puppet government set up to imitate the “democracy” of the US.

Pompeo is nothing more than a stooge for the US military industrial complex. We need to let him know we are not fooled by his adoration of the military. This is about imperialism and not about liberty or freedom.

---

[1] In total, the legislation provides $76.6 billion in discretionary funding – $4.6 billion above the fiscal year 2015 level. This represents a 5.6 percent increase over the fiscal year 2015 level for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – including increases for health care, benefit claims processing, the Board of Veterans Appeals, medical and prosthetic research, and information technology. 

Climate change will be affecting wine

I consider this a very bad situation. I like a good wine and I like a cool environment. I also believe that the human race may eventually die out if we don't act on this issue in the next few years. We do have some time, but the longer we wait the harder it will be to change back the environment destruction human kind is perpetuating on this planet. Let's not kid our selves. If we don't fix this we WILL start to die out in a few decades. The Koch Brothers and other naysayers  believe they can ignore the problem and it will either go way or we will all die off before it gets bad. WE have to deal with this disaster. So here is an important article about wine (which I really like) and saving the environment.

-Otto

From F5:

by Vickie Kline

A friend recently shared an article with me that discussed the effects of climate change on growing grapes and winemaking. It explained how a shift in climate and temperature is changing balance and flavor in the grape growing regions of California. Winegrowers think of climate on three levels: macroclimate, mesoclimate and microclimate, and each is important in determining the look, feel and flavor of a wine.

The macroclimate is the overall region, influenced by geographical location and setting, the growing season, temperature and rainfall patterns. The temperature controls when the vines come out of winter dormancy and begin the ripening process. As global temperatures increase, certain regions are struggling with drought that causes uneven grape yields.

The mesoclimate is the local vineyard and is responsible for controlling the delicate balance of acid and sugar, which forms the foundation of taste. There exists a particular point during ripening, when the sugar increases and the acid decreases, which creates a balanced grape ready for harvest. In warmer temperatures when grapes ripen more quickly than expected, the sugar content is too low and/or the acid is too high. This is not the recipe for tried-and-true or traditional wines.

Finally, the microclimate is the actual cluster of grapes within a canopy of leaves. This cluster must have the correct amount of sun exposure to produce the characteristic color of a wine. With a shortened ripening period the color is unable to fully compose. This is a lot of technical talk, but all important to the look, feel and taste of the wines we're drinking these days.

For the rest click here.

Poor people are not getting a lot of "free stuff" from the government

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

Over the last few years I've written a lot about people on welfare and being on welfare. Others, such as Mike Marlett, for F5, Jan. 16, 2014, have also written on what it is REALLY like to be on welfare.

AND STILL—the stereo types persist. I keep hearing people talk about all the "free stuff" people get with the Democrats are in office. "When we finally get rid of President Barack Obama the Republicans will stop all that that free stuff he is giving away" (to his constituents), I hear over and over again. I get tired of hearing that and there is little I can do about it other than writing these stories to try and educate people.

It doesn't take long to see that many people think of black folks when they think of welfare. (Public assistance has not been called welfare in many years. Still it is the term most people still use as I am using it here.) I saw a comment in Yahoo News were a person blamed the Baltimore riots on liberals giving "those people" handouts rather than forcing them to work. Supposedly we let "those people" become lazy and that is why they are rioting.

Kansas Senator Michael O’Donnell wrote an editorial to The Wichita Eagle, April 25, defending the new rules for those on welfare:

"A recent study shows that most Kansans support the intent of this bill – to make sure resources are there for needy families and to encourage independence rather than dependence. The study, conducted by the Remington Research Group, shows that 64 percent of Kansans support the HOPE Act. A majority, 66 percent, also agreed that limiting benefits from 48 to 36 months encourages self-reliance."

I don't deny the results of the poll. Much of what I hear people say about those on assistance, and the comments I read on various news sites would indicate that many people are badly misinformed and much of what they seem to believe is just plain wrong. I would bet that O'Donnell knows they are wrong but uses those on assistance as scapegoats. The poor are helpless people and when the right-wing political establishment has problems with their own policies, blaming them is a way to divert people's attention somewhere else. It is possible that O'Donnell really believes his own blather and if he is that stupid he has no business in politics.

And what is the stereo type of a person on assistance? —They are lazy; they are on drugs/alcohol or both; they make no effort to work or find a job; they are uneducated and people with low moral standards.

We see a man or woman sitting on a couch watching TV and drinking all day. These people are believed to get everything they want or need free; including phones and housing. Apparently these people are scene as those who decided it is easier to declare they are poor and then everything they need is given to them for free. They are getting a free ride while the rest of society works hard and makes less money. People get angry because they believe they are giving much of their income to those who don't work. Of course the reality is quite different.

What poor people get is not that much and little of what they get is really free. When I was doing research on my book, War on Drugs, War on People, in the 1990s, I found that Black people make up less than half of the people on welfare. I doubt if that has changed much since then. Another way to look at it is that more whites than blacks are on welfare and most black people ARE NOT on welfare.

I was on assistance with my ex-wife back in the late 1970s. Back then the two of us got $240 a month in cash. A single person I knew was getting $116 per month cash. That was before Ronal Reagan. Since that time welfare across the country has been cut—not once, but several times. I have been told recently, by people who work with poor people, that people on welfare get less benefits today than I did when I was on welfare 30 years ago. Kansas has not increased benefits at all since that time and the federal government has not either. There is no truth to the mistaken belief that Obama has increased the money people get on welfare. More money has been spent on welfare but that is only because the need for such assistance has gone way up do to the increase in joblessness.  

I talked to Debbie Frank, from the Call Center for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF/ a branch of public assistance, AKA welfare) and she gave me some ideas of what people really get when they are on welfare.

"A single person can get $194 for food," Frank said. She added that a mother with two children can get $347. That isn't much different from the late 1970s. But getting cash is a different story.

Frank said that a single person can't get any cash assistance at all. Only people with children can get cash. She couldn't give me an exact figure, however she said they look a  person's income. Most people that come in for welfare have some income, most likely part-time jobs.

There are a lot of hurdles to get cash. The recipient has to take part in a jobs program, take classes, pass a drug screening and if the recipient is a sing mother, they have to cooperate with the states efforts to collect child support.  

When I was on assistance in the 1970s I considered public housing but there were lots of restrictions. We had a dog and cat. We would have had to get rid of them. There was a waiting list. When I lived in Junction City, Kansas, working for a newspaper there, I found out they had a public housing facility and there was a two year waiting period on average. So yes...free housing if you have a couple of years to wait around for it and you want someone telling you what you can and can't do with the house.

Over all nothing from the government is really free. There are restrictions, background checks and all kinds of hurdles to keep most people from ever getting on welfare. And that includes people with disabilities. The government makes these benefits as hard to get as possible and the recent new restrictions on how people can spend their money is a good example of that.

I'm growing tired of the ridiculous stereo types that seem to be a part of middle and upper class culture today. These stereo types are wrong and they are harmful. Many people in this country have not gained the benefits from this society that we all take for granted and many of these people have worked hard. Some are still working at minimum wage jobs. Some have gone through tragedies, others simply made honest mistakes. It is bad enough these people have a hard time getting health care and other necessities. They don't need to be falsely identified as being lazy moral-less people. I for one am tired of hearing all the insults and lies. All I can do for now is try to educate people as to what poverty in this country is REALLY like. People in poverty are the most powerless people in the US. That is why so many politicians use them as scapegoats. They can't really fight back.    

 Pix from www.newscorpse.com.

Four dead in Ohio

"Ohio" is a protest song written and composed by Neil Young in reaction to the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970, and performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. It was 45 years ago that National Guardsmen fired on unarmed students at Kent State.

S Otto

Triumph of the SCUM!

By S Otto

A few months ago Israel continued the trend, world-wide, of people turning ugly, mean and hell bent on destruction as they re-elected Benjamin Netanyahu, possibly one of the most racist and militaristic-war mongers of all time.

From The New York Times:

"TEL AVIV — After a bruising campaign focused on his failings, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel won a clear victory in Tuesday’s elections and seemed all but certain to form a new government and serve a fourth term, though he offended many voters and alienated allies in the process."

I wasn't at all surprised that Netanyahu won. Israel is a hardened country of people who seem to believe that waging war is the norm, not the exception. So it appears that the people of Israel want Netanyahu to continue to push the Palestinians up against a wall. They want continues attacks on their schools, market places and homes. Those people who must continue to rebuild their infrastructures—not once but over and over again. They must continue to burry their dead—not once, but over and over again.

Netanyahu plans a future of perpetual war. He and those who support him are not much different from the very Nazis that persecuted the Jewish people of Germany during World War II. It is ironic that he can't see the glaring similarities.

The majority of the country seem to be cut from societies where strength, power and brutality are important to their macho egos.

Israel is not alone. Across the world people are electing fascists and wealthy leaders who are determined to wage class warfare against those who have fallen through the cracks of society. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is another good example. Those who have not benefited from the modern-capitalist post-cold war society are learning that these societies demand absolute obedience and it seems the only role for the poor is either pull themselves magically out of poverty or die off living out the last of their lives in the streets.

Our local Republican Party of Kansas is doing this very thing. Without specifically calling for class war fare these scum bags attack the rights and what few benefits the state gives to the lower classes to the point where they seem to demand that people either get off public money or die in the streets. The most cruel actions of the Kansas Republican Party is to prevent poor people from getting ANY help for their medical needs. This party literally wants to kill off the poor through disease.

Of course there is no chance that the US will ever reign in on Israeli war-mongering. Israel is a sacred cow of US foreign policy and no politician will dare to confront Congress over it.

These are of the most difficult times I have ever lived in. In the past there seemed to be some level heads trying to provide a government that shows responsibility to its citizens. We are in the mist of class war against the lower classes—both at home in Kansas and around the world. The far-far-far right has taken control of both the government and the mainstream press.

It is easy to be a communist when your leaders are nothing but fascist warmongering

We are in a world run by scum.

May Day 2015—an annual event in Wichita

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

International solidarity with other countries was the theme of this year's May Day celebration. Progressive people in Wichita celebrated, May 1st, at the Peace and Social Justice Center, Friday evening.
"One thing Americans can do is to reach out to other countries in International solidarity," Said Janice Bradley, one of the speakers at Friday's event.
She spoke about her trip to Cuba while Bill Anderson spoke about his trip to Honduras and Guatemala.
Bradley pointed out that May Day is celebrated almost everywhere in the world except in the US and the irony is that it started here in this country in 1886.
Anderson said he went to Honduras as a part of a Witness for Peace trip. They want Americans to see how US policies affect people in these countries," he said. "Honduras is a mess."
He said the country has the usual problems with poverty, neo liberalist policies that have messed up almost all the countries in Latin America, there is corruption, and a heavy militarization of the country.
In 2009 there was a coup d'état and the elected president Manuel Zelaya was forced to leave. The coup was condemned by The United Nations, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the European Union.
"The US liked it," Anderson said.
He added that they had a sham election after that and the US supported it.
He said that 80 percent of the people in that country live in poverty. He said that 80 percent is also the number on how many women get rapped when they try to leave for the US. He said many use birth control when they leave because they know there is a good chance they will be raped.
Another issued he brought up was land seizures. He said that the people there defend the land because it is their lively hood.
"They don't work in Factories," Anderson said.
Land seizures include people who want lumber, mining and those who want to build dams. Anders told us about some people who blockaded a road to keep out land owners who wanted to build a big hydro-electric dam. 
Anderson also talked about the URNG (The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity / Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, or URNG-MAIZ) and a former guerrilla he knew of who was in that political party. The group used to be a guerrilla organization, but now they have signed an agreement with the government and they act as a political party.
"I support that party when I can," he added. He was wearing a shirt that had their logo on it.
Bradley spoke about her trip to Cuba.
"Cuba leads the world in health care," she told the crowd.
She explained that the small country had few resources after the revolution so they focused on health care.
"They came out with a campaign for education," she said.
She was wearing a Pastors for Peace shirt with Cuba on the back.
"I still don't wear it everywhere because it has Cuba on the back of it and some people still give you a hard time for Cuba," she added.
She admitted that the government there had a lot of problems and that not all their policies were up to date and working.
"The things they have for the tourists are better than what the common people get," she said. "But they do need the (tourist's) money."
Another policy she talked about were some restaurants that the government allowed local people to set up.
"They allow better facilities for those who get money from relatives in Miami," she said. "But they (government) are aware of these bad policies and are trying to do things about them."
She said they are also trying to fix all their policies on LGBT (gay rights). It has been known for a long time that the Fidel Castro Regime has treated gay people harshly.
"They are trying to fix that," Bradley said.
She also talked about the literacy campaign that government started after the revolution. She also said the government spends a lot of money to promote art.
"It was everywhere," she said.
That included both visual arts and music.
The crowd for this event was enthusiastic. They also had a pot luck dinner that went well. For Wichita Kansas, this was May Day 2015.

A need to listen to the public on marijuana

From The Wichita Eagle;

A Letter to the Editor by blog author Otto:

Now that Wichitans have voted to lower the criminal penalties for marijuana possession, it is time to let state politicians know they need to respect the vote of the people.

Most people realize marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol. A recent poll indicated that 63 percent of Kansans approve of the decriminalization of marijuana while 68 percent approve of medical marijuana (April 24 Eagle).

The real problem is that locking up users of marijuana has filled our jails, and that has put a heavy tax burden on our society. It should be clear to everyone by now that we are locking people up for petty reasons.

The group JENI (Jobs and Education-Not Incarceration) and the Peace and Social Justice Center worked for months to gather the needed signatures to put this issue on the ballot in Wichita. They are concerned about mass incarceration and are looking for ways to reduce it. Keeping marijuana users out of prisons is a good first step.

Right now there is a bill in the Legislature, House Bill 2049, that would reduce the severity level of the crime of marijuana possession. That would do much of what the new ordinance in Wichita does. Contact your state officials today and let them know that this is about democracy. The people of Wichita have spoken, and it is time our elected officials listened.

STEVE OTTO

Maize

May Day-workers holiday- still celebrated by some people in Wichita

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

Each year, members of the Peace and Social Justice Center, here in Wichita, Kansas, put on a May Day event. The Center has a lot of progressive members who are interested in labor issues. There are some who are democratic socialists, while others are interested in the history of May Day, the international workers holiday
The origins of the workers holiday come from a strike against the Cyrus McCormick Company, starting on May Day 1867. McCormick produced 1,500 reapers in 1849 and by 1884 he was producing 80,000. The reapers were made by members of the Molders Union Local 23. The union went on strike, starting the Eight Hour Movement. This started a movement across the country for the establishment of a standard eight hour work day. Strikes were the main weapon of the unions. Many of them turned violent as industrialist, such as McCormick, used the Pinkerton Detective Agency as well as federal troops to try and break the strikes.
Eventually the unions won and today we have a standard eight hour work day. The workers holiday was intended to celebrate that labour victory. As time went on the holiday spread worldwide and was celebrated all over Europe. After the Russian Revolution the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries adopted May Day as an official labour celebration—a workers holiday. Since that time the holiday has been celebrated by Marxists, anarchists and other left-wing groups of people.
In the US, Labour Day has been moved to the fall and its original meaning, the celebration of union victories has been replaced as a simple holiday to celebrate labour. May Day has since been designated as Law Day, by our political establishment.
Still, there are groups of people across the US who still celebrate May Day as a worker’s holiday. Many people and parties use the holiday to try to educate people on labour related issues, such as the union struggles of the last century.
This year the May Day celebration will start at 5:30pm with a pot-luck dinner. It will be held at the Peace and Social Justice Center, 1407 N. Topeka, in down town Wichita.
This year Peace Center activist Bill Anderson will speak on his part of a Witness for Peace delegation to Honduras in January. They focused on looking into the causes of migration, especially of women and children out of Honduras seeking refuge in the U.S.
Also speaking will be Janice Bradley; will discuss taking part in a delegation of 150 people joining CODEPINK co-founders in Cuba to mark the thawing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. The presentations will begin at 6:45.

Kansas- Brownback not worried about $ shortfalls

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

 

The “what—me worry?” kid, AKA Governor Sam Brownback, has probably heard that Kansas is about to have to deal with looming revenue shortfalls. During the elections he said “the sun is shining in Kansas” and most commentators are implying that he has foolishly created this mess and ignored it at the same time.
The revenue shorts have risen to about $700 million. If Brownback does what he usually does, as he has done now for most of his four years in office, he will cut education and social services to the poor, disabled and elderly. Hiss wealthy buddies, such as the Koch Brothers, can rest assured he will not raise their taxes.
Brownback only won the election by 50 percent, with the rest of the votes split between Democratic challenger Paul Davis and a libertarian candidate Keen A. Umbehr. So far he has shown no sign he will be more cautious of his right-wing revolution. He seems in no mood to worry about the 50 percent of voters who voted against him. His only concern is his Tea Party backers who poured campaign money into his re-election.
As someone who presently works in the Wichita School System as a Substitute Teacher, I have seen firsthand the damage he has done to our schools—larger classes, shortages of equipment and supplies, teachers being fired and classes being cut. This generation is getting ripped off of having the decent education their parents had.
I have a friend who had to quit working and go on government disabilities' and he is terrified that he will have his income cut and he will end up in a homeless shelter. I would say that his fears are justified.
He is destroying our schools and possibly pushing poor people into homeless shelters and the worst part is he just doesn't seem to care.

 

Bonita Gooch speaks at the Peace & Social Justice Center Annual Dinner

The Peace and Social Justice Center has been around for years. On Friday December 5, 6pm, at Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church,
655 S. Lorraine Ave, close living residence can come to the annual meeting. 
     This is our 22nd Annual Dinner with speaker, Bonita Gooch, editor and publisher of The Community Voice, the newspaper and heart of Wichita’s Northeast Community. Bonita will speak about police/community issues before and after the protests in Ferguson, MO, that followed the police shooting of Michael Brown in August, 2014.
      Tickets are $20 includes a delicious Mediterranean dinner. Please call 316-263-5886 or email admin@wichitapeace.org to RSVP. Seating is limited. You can reserve your place at www.wichitapeace.org, donate $20 for each and post a message.

 

Pompeo and Schuckman—an uncontested election contest

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

Since Kansas is a red state many of its races in the general elections are non events. That is to say that most of the Democratic challengers are unknown personalities without state-wide name recognition. The Democratic Party puts up these candidates as token efforts with no financial support. They are strictly providing a token alternative to the Republican incumbents.
In the 4th district for the US House of Representatives the Democrats put up Perry Schuckman to run against incumbent Mike Pompeo. To date I haven’t seen a single campaign commercial for Schuckman on TV or in the newspapers. I doubt if most people could name the Democratic candidate much less give an opinion of him. For that matter I haven’t seen a single commercial for Pompeo. In his arrogance Pompeo has decided he will automatically win the race so there is no need to spend money campaigning. He just assumes that he will win since he has the name recognition that comes from being an incumbent. At the same time he can bet that most of his constituents would not vote for a Democrat anyway. They are especially not likey to vote for one that has no name recognition at all. Pompeo saves money by not campaigning.
Pompeo does have his mailings that he sends out to constituents. I receive them myself. In his last two he wrote about national security, with absolutely no facts or actual debating points:
This week, I spent a fair amount of time working to ensure that Kansans are safe from radical Islamic terror--by voting to take action against radical Islamic terrorists and by participating in the first open hearing of the Benghazi Committee--but we've also made major headway in passing policies that improve Kansans' lives.
He then went right to a Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act. His taking part in the Benghazi Committee is purely political. That committee only looks for proof that President Barack Obama is somehow negligent in the attack on the Libyan Embassy on September 11, 2012. It has nothing to do with making Americans safer.
Pompeo doesn’t mention his election campaign anywhere in these mailings. He seems to act as if there really is no election or he has no real opponent.
This brings up the question of why the Democratic Party puts up candidates if they aren’t going to actively support them. I know from taking to other Democratic candidates that they like to have a candidate in all elections. But once signed up they only support the candidates who can develop name recognition and raise money. Their treatment of candidates as Schuckman are just plain unfair. Schuckman might have had a real chance if he had a good campaign with some money behind him. But his run for office is just a waste. Only a few hard core Democrats know anything about him. To allow a half assed campaign as this one only allows other Democrats to waist valuable time on this campaign when they could be working on a campaign that has a chance of winning.
This is a case of neither political party being fare to the voters of Kansas. The Republicans treat the race with arrogance that shows disrespect for the voters and the Democrats are cheating their constituents out of a real contested election.

Brownback gets endorsements ... from famous assholes

From F5 (Wichita)

by Don Winsor

After alarming polls drove home the fact that Governor Sam Brownback is in severe danger of losing his office to Rep. Paul Davis* in the coming election, the Brownback campaign picked up some big endorsements this week. Irrelevant political dancing monkeys, such as failed reality-show star Sarah Palin, traveled to Kansas and offered condescendingly faux-homespun folksiness in hopes of throwing a lifeline to the drowning incumbent. Inspired by Palin's endorsement, several other public figures who have nothing to do with Kansas have come forward in support of Governor Samhain Azmodeus Brownback.

Famous-for-some-reason domestic abuser Chris Brown took a break from his tour to stump for Brownback in Cheney, saying, "A vote for Sam is a vote for good, old fashioned common sense. I'm confident he can beat Davis, just as I have beaten so many."

O.J. Simpson also offered his opinion on the race, releasing a statement from his cell in Nevada's Lovelock Correctional Center. "Sam Brownback is a good man, a powerful leader who can take that budget deficit he created and strangle it, stab it, simply murder it until it is dead," inmate No. 1027820 wrote. "I wholeheartedly endorse his candidacy; a vote for him is surely a vote for my innocence, as well."

North Korean Glorious Leader Kim Jong Un stopped to speak with the press in Topeka on the lawn outside the governor's mansion after his weekly tea, stating that "Voting is a silly construct. It offers nothing but foolish hope to naive peasants. That said, if you are going to allow them to vote, they must vote for their glorious leader or be punished. No dissent can be tolerated."

Hollywood lent its voice as Mel Gibson and Joel Schumacher (director of Batman & Robin) held a press conference in Mullinville to rally for the governor and, apparently, against entrenched Zionist control of Hollywood.

For the rest click here.

Orman campaign shows support for independent candidates

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

Most independent candidates don’t have a snowballs chance of winning elections. But Greg Orman has money to spend on advertizing and that has made his campaign a game changer. The entire nation has noticed his campaign and if he wins it may stop or slow down the Republican’s push to take over the US Senate after this fall’s elections.
Republicans want to paint Orman as a Democrat hiding as an independent, but from his ads he may really be tired of the two parties. For many of us that make him a real attractive candidate. I am tired of the two-party shell game and tired of the ridiculous monopoly they have on the whole two-party system. In fact I strongly oppose the idea of a two party system. It is like declaring that a vehicle, no matter what kind, can only have four wheels.
A recent Gallup poll shows that 58 percent of the American people are tired of just having two choices and they want a third choice. They feel the two parties we have are doing a terrible job. I agree completely with them. Not only do I feel we have a right to some real choices I think the Democratic Party which I used to support, years ago, no longer represents the people it has claimed to for years. It has tried to move to the right as the Republicans have lunged to the right and there is no longer any American left in today’s political spectrum.
I have no illusions that Orman will reopen the US left. I’m sure he plans to try and stay in the political center as most independent candidates have done. But as with Jesse Ventura, former Governor of Minnesota, and US Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, this is one more opportunity to jettison the outdated, stale and just plain undemocratic two party system.
As for the established parties, Kansas Democrats are fighting the court system to not run a candidate in that senate race, for hopes that Orman will stop the Republicans from taking the senate. The Republicans, with their candidate Pat Roberts, have brought out the big guns, a parade of nationally known Republicans, such as Texas Governor Rick Perry, Sarah Palin and endorsements from former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Polls are showing that Orman might actually win, with the race being too close to call.