Health care important in an early election debate

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

Health care was among the issues discussed at a debate held by the League of Women Voters, St Andrews Lutheran Church in Wichita, Wednesday Evening. As with so many races around the country, Republicans have made an issue of Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. Most Republicans have ridiculed the act or treated it as a disaster.
The debate was between Democrat John Carmichael and Republican Jeremy Alessi for Kansas State Representative in the 92nd district. 
“We’ve paid for Obamacare,” Carmichael said. “Yet (Sam) Brownback sent all the money for it back. We paid for it, but we didn’t get any benefits for it.”

Carmichael was talking about a $ 31 million Early Innovator Grant made available to the State of Kansas under the new federal health care law. Brownback sent the money back complaining that he didn’t want any federal “strings attached” to federal dollars for the Affordable health Care act which he had no intentions of using or implementing.
Alessi said he had his own plan for dealing with the uninsured here in Kansas.

“Once I’m in office, I will see what is there,” he said. “I won’t leave people out in the rain.”
Carmichael also criticized Brownback for not expanding Medicaid as President Barack Obama has encouraged state governors or legislators to do. He said that Brownback’s KanCare program was a failure with payments being late and some people not getting the health services they need.
“Now he wants to control of Medicare,” Carmichael said. “He’s proven he can’t take care of Medicaid.”
In other health care related topics Alessi made it clear he was pro-life. Carmichael said he favored safe and legal abortions, especially in the case of rape and incest. Carmichael criticized Alessi for getting support from Troy Newman and Operation Rescue.
“They employ Cheryl Sullenger, a convicted clinic bomber,” Carmichael said.
“I do not support using violence,” Alessi said.
When discussing the environment, Alessi said he wanted to use dredging in lake reservoirs, while Carmichael said he didn’t think dredging the reservoirs would work. He also opposed the idea of dredging in streams.
Alessi had the disadvantage of having a mostly liberal audience and at times he seemed as if he was evading answers for some of the questions. For the most part the two candidates spoke along party lines on the issues, including Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s new voting laws which Carmichael compared to “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

Paul Davis is not Sam Brownback

From F5:

by Don Winsor

August 7, 2014

As the Kansas gubernatorial race heats up in advance of the unelection of Gov. Sam Brownback, Sen. Paul Davis' popularity has risen dramatically since his campaign adopted the slogan, "Hey! I'm not Sam Brownback," which leads voters to believe that Davis is not, in fact, Gov. Sam Brownback.

"We made a strong effort to build support based on our stance on important social and economic issues," said Clayton Endicott III, a Davis representative. "In modern media it's important to have a platform that can be stated in 140 characters or less. 'Hey! I'm not Sam Brownback' has very few characters and leaves a lot of room per tweet for all of this hashtag this hashtag that hullabaloo so enjoyed by youth today."

Davis has spent years garnering grassroots support, building his campaign war chest through thousands of small, individual donations from actual voters. Brownback's campaign, on the other hand, owes its financial condition to a small number of large donations from wealthy individual and corporate donors. Now, through a series of targeted ads and emails, Davis' PR has taken a huge leap forward with the release of a number of simple statements which seem to clarify the only message people need to hear.

"People hear that he is not Sam Brownback, and they really respond to that idea. We're also trying to communicate our, 'The Economy Should Be Better,' and 'The Opposite Of What He Said,' agendas, with the 'he' meaning the current governor, Sam Brownback."

Brownback recently made history by having a historic number of high-profile members of his own party express support for his opponent, so the message seems to be getting through. While many other potential candidates are also not Brownback, Davis' team of political spin doctors were first to capitalize on the fact and assert that Davis is at least 2.5% less Brownback than anyone else who has considered running.

A recent poll by F5 and The National Association of Responsible Zookeepers puts Davis ahead of Brownback by at least 73% amongst eligible voters who are aware that Davis is not Brownback and by a comfortable margin amongst other voters.

Mr. Endicott, III, confidently explained the new approach in a historical perspective. "Davis' candidacy would likely be strong in any given election year. During most elections, however, there would be far less significance to his not being Sam Brownback. Were he running against a Mike Hayden or a Richard Simmons, not being Sam Brownback would be beneficial but of limited significance. We are fortunate to be running at this moment in history, when not being Sam Brownback is probably the single most important issue in getting elected."

"I just assumed Paul Davis was, in some form, Sam Brownback," explained Dr. Biff Tannen, a Derby pediatrician. "Knowing that he is a different person certainly makes the choice a great deal easier."

Some reports have appeared online that call into question the veracity of Davis' non-Brownbackism, with some pundits claiming that Davis is, in fact, simply a sophisticated android being operated remotely by the governor. These reports were widely dismissed, due to the fact that, if Kansas had access to that sort of advanced technology, the state's economy would less resemble a Mad Max film.

For the rest click here.

Suburbs may die out –like a ponzi scheme

I have had lots of problems with overdevelopment in the town of Maize where I live. The area is being overdeveloped, gentrified and any kind of nature, plant or animal, is being wiped of the map. The quality of life in this town has gone down since I moved here almost 20 years ago.  Here is a story that agrees that suburbs need to go. Most leaders in Kansas are slow to learn from these kind of mistakes, but I will post this anyway.

- សតិវ​ អតុ

From Time: 

By Leigh Gallagher

If you looked up “Minnesota nice” in the dictionary you might see a picture of Charles Marohn. Affable and mild-mannered, Marohn, who goes by Chuck, grew up the eldest of three sons of two elementary school teachers on a small farm near Brainerd, the central Minnesota city best known as the backdrop for the movie Fargo. Marohn (pronounced “mer-OWN”) graduated from Brainerd High School, entered the National Guard on his seventeenth birthday, and went on to study civil engineering at the University of Minnesota. He now lives with his wife, two daughters, and two Samoyeds in East Gull Lake, a small city north of Brainerd. Marohn, forty, likes the Minnesota Twins, reads voraciously, and is a proud Republican. He’s the friendliest guy you’re likely to meet. He’s also a revolutionary who’s trying to upend the suburbs as we know them.

After graduating from college, Marohn went to work as a municipal engineer in his hometown and spent several years working with the small towns around the greater Brainerd area, putting projects together that would build roads, pipes, storm drains, and all kinds of infrastructure. It was the mid-1990s, the area was booming, and Marohn was laying down the systems that helped the area grow. “I built sprawl,” he now says.

Often his work required him to knock on the doors of residents, many of whom he knew from growing up, and tell them about changes that might impact their property. In order to make the town’s roads safer, he would explain, engineers were going to have to widen the road in front of their house or cut down a tree in their yard. When his neighbors would get upset and ask why or try to protest—the roads were hardly trafficked at all, and sparse enough to almost be rural, they would point out—he’d explain that the town was required to make these changes in order to comply with the book of engineering standards to which it had to adhere. The code, put in place by the town but derived from state and national standards, dictated that roads must have an ample “recovery zone,” or a wide berth to accommodate cars that veer off the road, and that drivers have improved “sight distance,” the distance a driver needs to be able to see in order to have enough room to be able to react before colliding with some- thing in the roadway. When residents pointed out that the recovery zone was also their yard, and that their kids played kick ball and hopscotch there, Marohn recommended they put up a fence, so long as it was outside the right-of-way. He was sorry, he told them, but the standards required it. The trees were removed, the roads widened, the asphalt paved and repaved. “I never stepped back from my own assumptions to consider that I wasn’t making anything safer,” Marohn says. “In reality, I was making their street more dangerous, and in the process, I was not only taking out their trees, I was pretending I knew more than them.”

For the rest click here.

Petition to stop the Tea Party

For those who are tired to the stupidity of the Republican Party—this article is for those who want to sign a petition:

-Otto

Speaker Boehner is taking his partisan games to the next level and suing the president over health care reform!!

That's insane –Boehner can clearly no longer lead Congress and instead is going to resort to political stunts and attacking the president –we've got to fight back.

Click here and add your name to stand with the President

The Tea Party (formerly the Grand Old Party) is putting commonsense aside to do everything in their power to attack the president these next two years and trying stop all the progress we've made. Even the laughable Sarah Palin has gotten in the mix, and she's called for the president to be impeached!!

Stop the Tea Party

Wichita protesters respond to the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court ruling

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;

In Wichita, as well as across the country, protesters have taken on Hobby Lobby since their victory handed down from the U.S. Supreme Court this week. The court ruled that Hobby Lobby does not have to pay for their employee’s birth control, because of their religious beliefs. People marched in front of the Hobby Lobby at Ridge and Central, here in Wichita.
“They (Supreme Court) really did overreach,” said Jessica Nellis, one of about 20 protesters present at 1:30 in the afternoon. She said she was surprised when the ruling was announced. The protest was scheduled from 9:00am to 8:00pm, this Saturday.
“The Supreme Court left it opened to interpretation,” Nellis continued. “What if these people were Muslims and they didn’t want to hire non-Muslims?” 

Hobby Lobby will no longer have to pay for coverage of the two contraceptives (IUDs and Plan B) that they consider abortifacients, (reported by National Catholic Reporter).
The 5-4 ruling only applies to the federal mandate. State-mandated contraceptive coverage was not changed by the decision.
The court majority ruled that "persons" with religious beliefs protected by the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) include "closely-held" corporations -- those defined by the Internal Revenue Service as having 50 percent of their stock owned by five or fewer individuals. This means that if the federal government wants to force such corporations to do something contrary to their religious beliefs, then it has a series of legal hurdles to overcome.

Nellis, as with many people concerned about this action, plans to boycott Hobby Lobby.
“I used to shop here and now I don’t,” Nellis added. “It’s a shame. They have it wrong on IUDs (intrauterine device). If anything it gets rid of the need for an abortion to happen.”
This protest was organized by a few individuals using a Facebook page they created. Charli James was one of the protesters on hand who help organize the event. She said the turnout had been pretty good so far.
“We had one group of guys who showed up and got in our faces,” James said. “They didn’t think we were right. There were a few antagonists.”
She added that many other people who passed them had a positive attitude towards the protest.
“One guy showed up with a gun,” she added.
Someone took a picture of him and posted it on the Facebook page. James said he was vague as to where he stood on the issue.
“He said he was there to protect us,” she added.
That person wrote into Facebook and said his name was Sam McCrory. His presents at the rally and on Facebook sparked heated discussion. Otherwise the protest went peaceful the rest of the day.

Fireworks mark our 4th of July celebration

Despite all this country’s negative sides we spent the day celebrating our independence day, July 4, 2014. We had the all American meal, including hot dogs, potato chips and other fine food. We went to my brother’s house in Douglas, KS.

We celebrated the birth of our country—the beginning of the end of the feudalist era and our independence from Britain. We celebrated the end of British imperialism.

Not celebrated where nearly a century of slavery, genocide of Native American Indians, countless invasions and meddling in Latin America , the many US capital punishment executions and imperialism on a world wide scale, as of these later years.

Most of all we just shot off a lot of fireworks. And we had lots of them. There were three different families there and each brought a large box filled with fireworks.

- សតិវ​ អតុ

John Otto lights a smoke grenade to celebrate this holiday.

Happy 1/4 - Now we need a 1/5 (revised)

The most important thing about the US revolution was that it served as a turning point from Feudalism to capitalism, one of the shifts that Karl Marx believed was important in his stages of human economic and political development: From Feudalism to Capitalism, from Capitalism to Socialism, from Socialism to Communism.

The Republicans (anti-aristocrats at that time) included both Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. They differed from Hamilton and his Federalists who wanted to create some kind of aristocracy.  In his later writings, Paine condemned the Federalists for trying to reverse the US revolution and what it stood for.

Paine went to France to take part in the French Revolution, for which he wrote “The Rights of Man.” He fell out of favor of France’s first non-aristocratic leader, Maximilien Robespierre.
Paine remained in France until 1802, when he returned to America on an invitation from Thomas Jefferson, who had been elected president.
He condemned Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d'état, overthrowing the Directory, calling him "the completest charlatan that ever existed."

Now fast forward almost 230 years and there is only a skeleton of the original revolution. The now, not-so-young country, United States of America has, condemned the Sandinista revolution against a dictator, supported Saudi Arabia, one of the most complete feudal societies on earth, and the US is now attempting to be the next Roman-like empire, controlling all of the Middle-East.
Today our country has a skeleton left of what was really never overly democracy. We have president, barely elected by people who have instituted torture and concentration camps.

It’s time for the next move—from capitalism to Socialism.
- សតិវ​ អតុ

The Beatles - Revolution

Jefferson Airplane - Revolution (Live, Woodstock 1969)

New Koch ads defend their political record—but don’t fool opponents

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

Lately I’ve been watching the new ad the Koch Brothers, Charles and David, have produced to make them-selves look better. That is no doubt an effort to counter all the bad publicity and vilification they get from environmentalists groups and those opposed to their efforts to control the political system for their own benefits. All this is not really surprising. Anyone who wants to take over our country and trash our environment needs to have enough money to buy ads and do “good works” to make them look good. A lot of people have seen through the smoke and mirrors of the Koch Brother’s efforts and now they need to look better
On top of all the money they spend it is highly a likely-hood that the Kochs have shills that write all those letters to the editor of the Wichita Eagle, extolling the virtues of having the Koch Brothers in this community. Recently they contributed $25 million to the United Negro College fund. It is easy to tell they are here in Wichita. Their name is one a good number of buildings all across Wichita, including Koch Arena that used to be Henry Levitt Arena.
Representative Scott Schwab, Republican-Olathe, did not receive an endorsement for the Aug. 5 primary election from the Kansas Chamber PAC last week despite consistently voting with the chamber on almost all major issues. It didn’t take him long to realize he was getting the cold shoulder from the Koch Brothers, who influence the PAC. He did not stack up to their standards despite him bragging about the times he voted their way.
An e-mail sent from Schwab’s campaign address with his name on it asserted the snub has to do with his breaking with the chamber by voting against a bill to repeal the state’s renewable energy standards and questioning the policy’s rationale.
So it is with this e-mail that we see the overwhelming power of the Koch Brothers. Unlike the rest of us, who can barely get access to ANY of our state representatives, the Kochs get immediate attention due to their $ billionaire status and their positions as major political pawn brokers.
Just last month, activist from Kansas and Oklahoma came to address a crowd of about 75 people in Wichita, all denouncing the Koch Brothers as the most dangerous men in the US today.
Besides all the $ billions they pay to promote their “no real climate change” message, which many Americans don’t buy and consider dangerous, theKochs also have to deal with the back lash against their meddling in US and Kansas politics. Many people see them as a threat to democracy and attempts so set themselves up as virtual dictators. They have the ability to make or break an election campaign while the rest of us have no control over them at all. It makes a mockery of our votes.
So the Kochs have to spend money to convince the gullible that they are a great innovative company that our communities really need. But they aren’t fooling a lot of people. Those who are painfully aware of what they have done to our politics will not be satisfied with a few phony service messages. We want them OUT of our politics all together.

It’s election time and we can vote for Senator Sleazy Slime

By Red Bob Blogger…

Oh good...It's election time and the folks on PBS can tell me all about the scum bags who want me to go out and vote for them. If I do I will have to wash my hands extra good to get off the slime of these nasty people. Pat Robinson already brags he is the 5th most conservative. Why doesn't he just show a picture of his asshole and brag about his ability to make life really hard for poor people, elderly and handicapped? Why doesn't he brag that he supports keeping all them Mexican illegals from voting. His slogan should be "I'm the biggest ass hole in Kansas."How do I keep the slime off my TV?

I sell heroin, have sex with children,

take bribes, hate immigrants and poor people,

kill children, smoke dope, cost you your job and

YOU WILL STILL VOTE FOR ME!

Mike Pompeo

Nugent-Kobach—haters of a feather work together

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;

It was a team matched down in Hell—Right-wing rockerTed Nugent has endorsed Kris Kobach for re-election as Kansas secretary of state. Nugent is the most right-wing idiot on the rock and roll scene. Kobach may be one of the worst Kansas politicians to come along in years. He is the most bigoted and racist Kansan in office since the 1950s.
Nugent champions the rights of people’s gun rights. Nugent is famous for "Cat Scratch Fever” and “Wango Tango.” Recently he posted a Facebook message Wednesday, urging his fans and other carpetbaggers to donate to Kobach’s campaign.
According to the Seattle Pi, Nugent called the 44th president a “subhuman mongrel” and went on the say that ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has “spare scrotums.” He also called Obama a communist.
Most people know Kobach from his attempts at stopping immigrants from registering to vote. I personally heard Kobach tell a crowd of people that he had a record of 20—yes that's 20—whole cases of voter fraud. And how many people could not vote in the last election due to these new laws—18,000. Is that a good deal or what? And we know that poor people and minorities are the people most likely to have trouble coming up with the documents to meet these new requirements. Those just happen to be the very people Kansas Republicans don't want to vote because they might vote against them.
Kobach has traveled all around the country helping other states disenfranchise their minorities and immigrants. Some people in Kansas are wondering if he spends enough time to actually do his job that he was elected for.
Kobach has championed a bill to ignore the federal government and protect the rights of landowners to kill of the lesser prairie Chicken. Those of us who want to preserve our Kansas heritage must sit back and watch while the greediest citizens drive our wild life to extinction. We have Koback to thank for that.
More than likely Nugent champions Kobach for gun rights. In the last year and 1/2 we have had nearly 70 shootings by mentally ill people, or people who are temporarily insane, who legally bought guns. We can easily thank Nugent and the NRA he works with and almost all Kansas politicians for making it easy for insane people to get guns.
Kobach represents the worst that Kansas has to offer. Nugent is the best reason not to become a member of the NRA.

Kansas representative race—Pompeo and Tiahrt are about the same

From
Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

The race between Mike Pompeo and Todd Tiahrt for the 4th Congressional District seat is expected to be heated, but not so much over politics as over personalities. Both candidates are conservative Republicans, who will compete for the 4th district congressional seat on the August 5 primary.
The Wichita Eagle reported they have been monitoring social media sites and drew the conclusion that the race will be heated. Yet this will not be about issues, since both men have similar stands on most of them. Two major differences are Pompeo’s support of NSA surveillance of American citizens, which Tiahrt said he is concerned about, according to KAKE TV and Tiahrt’s opposition for military strikes in Syria. But there has been no specific criticism of that overall policy. It seems doubtful that his criticism will amount to anything more that the type of and level of aid to pro-west Syrian Rebels (including support for the Free Syrian Army). Pompeo has pushed for a very aggressive military position with action against Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad, including military strikes.
Some of the claims of Tiahrt’s supporters are absurd, such as saying Pompeo is the best friend of the Obamas. Both candidates have ties the Tea Party. Both are very conservative. Tiahrt has relied in the past on support from fundamentalist churches for support.
Whichever candidate wins in August is almost assured of winning the general election in November. The only Democrat running is Perry Schuckman, a former director of Wichita’s Nonprofit Chamber of Commerce. He lacks name recognition and it is unlikely he can raise the kind of money Tiahrt or Pompeo can. Republican voters have also increased in Sedgwick County and even a good campaign has to overcome the majority of hard core Republicans who will not vote for a Democrat. Since the defeat of Dan Glickman, 1995, the Democrats have not been able to win that seat back, despite a spirited campaign by Democrat Raj Goyle.
So for progressives and leftists this campaign is a complete waste. Neither candidate deserves support of the voters. Tiahrt supports our privacy over the NSA and opposes military strikes in Syria, but those positive positions are in contrast to a steady history of anti-abortion, anti-worker and anti-peace votes. Neither candidate has anything else positive to offer. As to the Democrat, Schuckman, no one takes him seriously, including the Democratic Party. The Democrats have steadily declined over the last 20 years and there is no sign of that changing anytime soon. Voting in this race is a complete waste of time.

Memorial Day 2014—are you tired of worshiping “heroes” yet?

By Otto

I’ve grown really sick of all those ads and special events honoring those who fight for our right to steal people’s sovereignty and take their resources. We don’t fight for “our freedom” as many people want us to believe…our military fights for resources, such as cheap gas. The people of Afghanistan will never get to enjoy all the gasoline that lies under their land. It will all go to people here in the US. By honoring our troops in foreign lands, we encourage others to fight that same dirty war.

On Monday, most TV stations will run movies about the “good” wars our troops fought in, mostly World War II. They won’t show movies about Abu Ghraib (although none have actually been made yet). We may see plenty of movies with John “the Duke” Wayne. They might even use graphic tools and computer tricks to put the Duke in movies he wasn’t in. For example they might take the movie The Sons of Katie Elder and remake it to The Sons of Katie Somoza. In the remake, in which they resurrect John Wayne, Dean Martin and Dennis Hopper from the grave, Katie is the fictional wife of Anastasia Somoza, who lost Nicaragua to the Sandinista Rebels. The Duke and his friends help Somoza reclaim his rightful dynasty and kill off all those nasty terrorists (originally dubbed as freedom fighters).

The Duke always wins and we always knew who the bad guys were in one of his movies. The Duke and his Hollywood buddies were good at revising history. On the other hand we can thank a lot of Hollywood progressives for anti-imperialist themes for such movies as M*A*S*H (1970), Missing (1983), Apocalypse Now (1979) and Under Fire (1983).  There are some good people in Hollywood. 

Theee Duke!

Dead Kennedys - Rambozo the Clown

Marijuana debate to take place in Wichita

By Otto

Pro-marijuana legalization-activists will get a chance to question candidates for governor, Saturday, July 5 at the Sedgwick County Park, Shelter #4. The day’s events will include a debate and cookout. The meet will run from 12 pm - 5:00 pm and the debate will start at 2 pm. Four governor candidates have been invited to debate the issue and present their stands on marijuana.

Back in my high school days, 30 years ago, my friends and I really thought that marijuana would be legal by the time we turned 30. The prevailing ideology was liberalism and society seemed to be moving in a more progressive and sane direction. We imagined that we would be living under a more enlightened and advanced society where throwing people in jail for something as petty as marijuana possession would be a thing of the past. We were dead wrong.

Thirty years ago, most marijuana use was among younger people and hippie types who had a certain look to them. Today the users have become more mainstream. Now many older people use it and most of its users look like anyone else.

Then came the election of 1980—and the most backward and reactionary forces in the country came together to back Ronald Reagan for president. Once elected he pushed back abortion rights, labor union rights, and he put this country on a cold war/imperialist direction. Reagan came down hard on all drugs including marijuana.

Reagan, with the help of his wife Nancy, convinced many parents that smoking or possessing small amounts of marijuana contribute to big-time-drug dealers and the murderous activities they used to conduct their business. In the 1980s this country had a crack cocaine epidemic and it was used to scare a lot of people away from legalizing marijuana.

In the last few years there have been plenty of efforts to finally legalize marijuana in some places and decriminalize it in others.

As a young high school student I really liked to smoke marijuana. Today I don’t like it as well as I used to. For most of my life I have felt that punishing drug users with jail time made no sense. It becomes a matter of personal freedom. Why do government officials get to decide what I can put in my own body? I can see the government having the right to regulate products that are sold to us, but if a person has something they want to use, it should be a matter of personal choice. Our government and many of our leaders struggle to keep poor people from getting badly needed medical care. Why should these same leaders stop those of us who want to use some type of self medication? 

The history of marijuana prohibition has been fraught with racism and hypocrisy.  La Cucaracha, is a song about a pot smoking cockroach. It is evidence that marijuana smoking was prevalent among Mexican workers before the drug was banned here in the US.

Marijuana has become a part of US culture. There are songs about it. Many of our nations’ artists and writers have been influenced by it. From Cheech & Chong to David Peel and The Lower East Side marijuana is everywhere. Some celebrities, such as Louis Armstrong, used to smoked marijuana discretely.

It is my hope that marijuana will be legalized nation-wide and eventually the war on drugs will die out and get buried.

Pix by www.colourbox.com.

Koch brothers and fracking blasted during Wichita Kansas rally

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

The Keystone XL Pipeline, fracking and the Koch brothers came under fire at a rally held in Wichita, Saturday afternoon. Activist from Kansas and Oklahoma came to address a crowd of about 75 people although that number changed from hour to hour.
“The Koch brothers are the two most dangerous people on the planet,” said Earl Hatley, Clean Energy Oklahoma, Native American Indian activist and Sierra Club member, who was one of the speakers Saturday. “Those two are cooking the planet. They’re getting filthy rich and that won’t help you when you’re dead.”
He added they can’t take it with them.
“We have to get on the Koch brothers,” Hatley said. “This isn’t politics. We have to take to the streets.”
He indicated he had little faith in the present political system for making change.
“Who cares who gets elected,” Hatley said. He added that people don’t have time to wait for politicians to get ready to care about the environment. The problem called for immediate action.
As Hatley spoke on, he mentioned the Greenland ice sheet and how fast it is presently melting.
“Some of these people (the Kochs and other conservatives) want to go there after the ice melts and look for minerals,” Hatley explained.
Other speakers followed raising a lot of points about the XL Pipeline and the tar sands that politicians are trying to allow to be piped from Canada to ports on the U.S. coasts of such states as Texas. The tar sands need to go through an extensive process before it can be used as fuel. Most of it will be turned into diesel and all of it will be sold in other countries. That is because it will be too expensive for the US markets.
“So far there have been no jobs created for the workers of Oklahoma,” said Yvonne Cather, chair of the Oklahoma, Sierra Club. “The Keystone XL Pipeline will create very few jobs.”
Other speakers also talked about fracking. According to the Ohio Environmental Council:
Relatively new drilling technology - high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) - now makes it possible to reach natural gas reserves…
Hydraulic fracturing is the use of sand, water, and chemicals injected at high pressures to blast open shale rock and release the trapped gas inside. Horizontal drilling (also called "directional drilling") is just like it sounds: after the well drill reaches a certain vertical depth in the ground, the well is then drilled horizontally.
“They are disturbing the land,” said Sue Morningstar, a Native American Indian, a warrior for mother earth. “I want a future for my children, their children, their children’s children and their children’s children.”
Although the crowd was smaller than expected, there was a lot of enthusiasm for those who poke. The environment is one of the most important issues of this time period.

NASA photos show how the Greenland ice sheet is melting.

Pompeo to get blood money for tankers for McConnell

From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;

US Rep. Mike Pompeo is very excited that he is bringing Boeing KC-46A tankers to McConnell Air Force Base. He seems to be taking the angle that this will bring jobs to his district, but it wouldn’t bring near as many jobs as it would have if he had gotten Boeing to build those planes in Wichita. They build them in Seattle. Most of the new jobs will be for military personnel. So maybe Pompeo figures those planes will help the economy as military people spend their money here in the Wichita area.
Pompeo really likes the military and military secrecy as he has blasted those as Edward Snowden and others who have provided information to the public as to what our military actually does in other countries. Pompeo has said that is treason.
I’m sure he doesn’t care that these planes will be used for foreign adventurism and not for defense.
In his e-mail he said:
”And, of course, a special thank you to the hardworking men and women of McConnell Air Force Base for continuing to demonstrate the kind of excellence that keeps America safe.”
Keep us safe? Hardly. These planes are designed to help in long distance attacks on other countries. They carry fuel on long distance flights so planes won’t need to land. They also carry personnel and equipment.
According to Boeing the planes have:
Enhanced Survivability -- New robust defensive systems and cockpit armor protection enhances KC-46 crew survivability.
Superior Situational Awareness – Large Boeing 787 15” displays allow KC-46 pilots to quickly optimize flight parameters for critical decision making and mission success.
Clearly they are not hiding the fact that this plane is designed for military mission far from our shores.
Today our military is involved in conflicts all over the Middle-east. We still have troops in Afghanistan, some in Iraq, some involved in the civil war in Syria, and some involved in Colombia. This is not about our “safety” as Pompeo said. It is about building up an empire in accordance with the “New American Century,” a bi-partisan policy of forcing other countries to accept US style government, culture and lifestyles. It is a clear attempt to set up the US as the major imperialist country in the world. This will be an empire carved in blood and we have already lost human lives to this idea.
It’s time to tell Pompeo we don’t need to trade blood for jobs.