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So, just what exactly did your children and grandchildren pay for?

Feb 14th, 2009
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maddy

The Johnson County bloggers at Red County have a nice list posted of what our children and grandchildren will be paying for in the years to come.

I’ll share some of my favorites:

  • $1 billion for NASA
  • $2 billion to develop advanced batteries for hybrid cars
  • $650 million for the digital TV converter box coupon program (because reality TV spurs the economy)
  • $3.7 billion to conduct “green” renovations on military bases (I thought they already wore camo?)
  • $1 billion for the 2010 Census (to count just over 305 million people)
  • $3.4 billion for fossil energy research (Remember folks, it’s the green Democrats that voted for that…)
  • $98 million earmarked for a polar icebreaker (this one just puzzles me, couldn’t we just wait for ‘em to melt?)
  • $500 million for forest health and wildfire prevention
  • $25 million for the Smithsonian Institution
  • $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts

Finally, my ultimate favorite two:

  • $10 million for urban canals
  • $290 million for flood prevention

If I have to explain why that’s funny, we’re in real trouble.

tiaraNostimulus.com surpassed half a million signatures in the waning hours of the spendulus debate, but it made no difference to the Democrats or three “moderate” Republican Senators. The site is still up if you just feel a need to sign it. I’m sure AFP will keep ownership of the domain name. I have a feeling this won’t be the last “stimulus.”

During the House and Senate debate I had a nightmarish flashback to the last time a legislative body voted on a massive piece of legislation without reading it.

Of course, everyone by now knows what a cash cow state-owned casinos turned out to be for Kansas. And not allowing legislative oversight in the bill, that was an excellent idea. I can only imagine what American citizens will learn about this spending bill over the next year or two.

U.S. House rules state that all conference committee reports must be made available for 3 calendar days before a vote to allow Representatives to read the bill. The Democrat controlled House passed a special resolution to waive that rule so a vote on the 1100 page bill could be taken not even 24 hours after it’s final draft was made available.

Democrat Reps and Senators must be very fast readers.

I can think of a few high points though. Every Representative and all but three Republican Senators voted against the bill. What a dramatic return to conservative principles. It’s certainly refreshing to see that most of our Republican officials intimately understand what lost them the election and what they need to do to begin to win again.

Imagine if Republicans had acted like Republicans several years ago.

Other Kansas spendulus blog posts:

Kansas Meadowlark – “‘Yes We Can’ Pass $787 Billion ‘Stimulus’ Without Anyone in Congress Reading the Bill”
Red County JoCo – The short list of your grandchildren’s debt
Wichita Liberty – NoStimulus.com Effort Crosses 200,000 Petitions
Wichita Liberty – Tim Phillips of AFP explains NoStimulus.com
StimulusWatch.org – Lists all Kansas Stimulus projects

Democrat Garcia backtracks on Gardasil

Feb 14th, 2009
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State Rep. Delia Garcia of Wichita wanted Gardasil given to all high school girls in 2007.

State Rep. Delia Garcia of Wichita wanted Gardasil given to all high school girls in 2007.

Like many, I didn’t understand why politicians thought they should mandate use of a recently approved vaccine for HPV (Human Papillomavirus.) Gardasil is a vaccine for HPV, which has been linked to cervical cancer. Soon after FDA approval however, recipients of the vaccine began to see some very serious side effects, including some deaths.

Even if the adverse effects were unrelated to the vaccine, opponents questioned why it was an “opt-out” requirement rather than “opt-in.” The Wichita Eagle editorial board thought opposition was solely based on the nature of the vaccine.

The proposed legislation to mandate that Kansas sixth-grade girls be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus has hit a wall in the Legislature in the form of House Health and Human Services Chairwoman Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, who chose not to advance the bill. Her inaction is no surprise. In truth, the bill’s chief advocate, Rep. Delia Garcia, D-Wichita, probably lost most of her cautious colleagues at the phrase “sexually transmitted.”

- Wichita Eagle Editorial Board, March 2, 2007

Women without a family history of the disease and who remain abstinent until marriage have a significant risk reduction in contracting HPV. Why expose these women to unnecessary vaccines? As we’ve been told many times, don’t tell women what to do with their bodies.

After taking a class on vaccines where the evidence of possible problems with Gardasil was discussed, I too began to wonder why there was such a push to get the drug into schools as quickly as possible. At the time, over 20 deaths had been linked to the vaccine.

The unsuccessful push to get the vaccine into schools in Kansas was lead by State Rep. Delia Garcia of Wichita. Garcia received $200 from Merck in October of 2007. Merck is the manufacturer of Gardasil.

Yesterday KAKE 10 in Wichita did a short story about a family who’s daughter is possibly dying because of the vaccine. In the story, Garcia now says she wants answers about the safety of the vaccine.

The HPV vaccine controversy has highlighted the importance of careful thought before acting. Just because an issue involves a sexually transmitted disease doesn’t mean that legislators will oppose it because of an ‘icky’ factor. Sometimes more information and a little bit of time simply makes for better public policy.

Thank you Rep. Landwehr for having a level head and making good policy decisions. Kansans are fortunate that you were able to stop a bad, rushed Democrat proposal.

Either get out or get to work

Feb 7th, 2009
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Gov. Sebelius caring for Greensburg tornado victims

Gov. Sebelius caring for Greensburg tornado victims

I’m going to make a simple request of Gov. Sebelius: Either get out or get to work.

Over the past six years your administration has created far too many problems for the taxpayers of this state to put on hold while you prance around Washington trying to sell yourself for a job you already told everyone you didn’t want.

Leadership doesn’t mean you propose a budget that neither takes into account the full extent of the crisis facing our state nor realistic solutions to the problem. Honest and truthful leaders don’t tell the voters they are staying to solve a budget crisis, criticize legislative leaders trying to find solutions to our money problems and then jump ship when you see greener pastures.

Those actions are not the actions of an honest, trustworthy leader. They are the actions of a self-seeking, egotistical politician. So if you are unwilling or unable to do the work of the citizens of Kansas, move on so true Republican leaders can find solutions to problems you helped create.

Kansas’ problems simply can’t be trumped by your sales pitch to the Obama administration. Either get out or get to work.

2009 KRA Gala Banquet a success

Jan 31st, 2009
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kra_bannerAnother year, another banquet! The 2009 KRA Gala Banquet was quite a success this year. Special guest Jason Lewis was a phenominal speaker and entertained the sold out crowd with his vision of the future of the conservative movement. He then entertained questions from the audience, which ranged from his take on U.S. Senate recount in Minnesota (his home state) to his take on the Obama bailout to the future of the pro-life movement.

Earlier in the evening Rep. Jerry Moran, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, Sen. Sam Brownback and State Sen. Tim Huelskamp spoke to the audience about their plans to run for higher office in 2010. It was so refreshing to see so many quality Republican candidates. 2010 is certainly going to be a tough year for Democrats in Kansas!

Everyone left refreshed and renewed, ready for the battles that lay ahead of us!

If you missed hearing KRA President Don Small on the Jim Cates show yesterday, you can listen to the recorded program by clicking here.

No original thoughts or just pushing an agenda?

Jan 26th, 2009
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A Wichita Eagle blog post has me wondering if the staff there has just run out of original thoughts or if they’re pushing an agenda…or maybe they’re just taking their talking points from various Democrat blogs now.

Last Thursday a socialist Kansas blog put up a post titled, “Weirdest Post Ever: Kelley, Parkinson Hottest Kansas Politicos.” And I have to agree somewhat, that was a weird post, although I’m not sure about ever.

I guess the Eagle isn’t to be outdone. Phillip Brownlee put up a post this morning titled, “Is Parkinson ‘hottest’ politician in Kansas?”

Of course, it’s not unusual for the Eagle to piggy back off of other blogs. The Kansas City Star’s PrimeBuzz is often copied by the Eagle, although they usually put more time between the Star’s post and the Eagle’s post than this little duo today. However, posting directly from a Kansas liberal-socialist blog is a first to my knowledge.

I’m confused, do you guys just have nothing better to discuss or are you really that hard up for blog topics?

Finally, I’ll leave you with this. The anonymous Democrat included State Rep. Kasha Kelley in their photographs and list of ‘hottest’ Kansas politicians. The Wichita Eagle posted photos of Mark Parkinson and Joshua Svaty, both Democrats and only discussed the two in their post.

First, it’s weird Phillip Brownlee wouldn’t include a woman in his post. Second, how funny is it (and I don’t mean haha funny but how sad funny) that Republicans get more coverage from anonymous Democrat blogs than the ‘fair and balanced’ mainstream media of the Wichita Eagle?

The Eagle editorial staff isn’t even willing to say a Republican looks good!

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