Five People Do The Right Thing!

GREAT JOY AND A HUGE SENSE OF RELIEF!  Yes, these were my initial feelings as I anxiously waited for and listened to the Supreme Court rulings on DOMA and Prop 8.   Such unbridled joy for 5 people doing "the right thing."  I always get stuck on that point.  I cheer and weep with joy and then say, "Hey, wait a moment." This time I'm going to try to resist the feeling of resentment that others have the power to judge who my dear ones marry. ONWARD! EVER ONWARD! WE FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!    (And, as I've so often said, vote as if your life depends on it.  It so truly does.)

Yet, this is a blog that rises from the great Kansas prairies so you should know what an  article by Dave Helling from the KCStar says. "Push for same-sex marriage is seen as unlikely here.  Supreme Court rulings Wednesday will have little impact in Kansas and Missouri. Supreme Court decisions extending some protections to same-sex married couples change little in Missouri or Kansas, experts said Wednesday."  So you can see that there are always those who are not familiar with the concept of "doing what is right - just because it is right." They are not restrained by that particular ethic.

There is plenty of wide open spaces to nurture our hateful little Rep. Timmy Huelskamp.  We talked about him before.  A real winner this one.  He is already to file a constitutional amendment to restore DOMA.  Take a bow Timmy.  Your bigoted filled credentials are in full bloom.

Fred Phelps, you too can rest easy.  Your lovely Westboro Baptist Church can still thrive.  Think of  the states that are opening their hearts to equal rights. States that you can travel to, and then return home to your sanctuary in Kansas.  As Dorothy and I like to say, "There's No Place Like Home."

Heartbreaking!

The Voting Rights Act is struck down.  Heartbreaking!  To rub salt in the wound, Justice Alito acts like a six year old -- making faces and disrespectful remarks under his breath while Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg reads her opinions.  Perhaps that kind of behavior makes the point ----- a juvenile decision poorly thought out.  As it has been stated by others today, if a medicine works do you stop taking it - especially when you have been presented with numerous facts that while the patient has improved in some instances, he has relapsed in many others?

Back to Justice "Not True" Alito and his fellow like minded justices.  How did such petty minds progress so far?  So many lives depend upon their thought processes.  Again, this is what is truly heartbreaking.

We wait now for Alito's and  the others to render to us their understanding of empathy, humanity, and once again, civil rights.  Keep a good thought for tomorrow.

Resurfacing After The Heart Of Twister Season!

Why not start with one of our state's true stars?  You remember him ---- Kris Kobach.  He is our not so very much revered Sec. Of State.  He is also known for being the author of Arizona's "Papers Please Laws." I guess you should also know that he is the counsel for The Immigration Law Reform Institute.  ( I think he formed that little group so fellow bigots can have a place to gather.  Aww, maybe not, who knows?  I'm just a tad cynical.)  Anyway, dear Kris likes to go around the country creating bigotry laws for like minded states, so Kansas got us one of them laws too.  Yup, Kansas has a law just like Arizona's, but if you have seen the news, Arizona's law was just recently struck down by The Supreme Court!!!!!  Not to worry, not worry, not to worry Kansas.  Kris tells us that our little law to arrest and/or deport undocumented folks is more finely tuned than the one that went down in flames in Arizona. Kris personally did his very finest work to tweak that puppy so it would withstand any scrutiny. Go get em, Kris!!!!! Your heartfelt family - destroying - bigotry will even withstand your claims of being a man of faith.

Second part of the story is that a group of people known as Sunflower Community Action wanted to let Kris know that not all people from Kansas agree with him.  This incredibly non-violent group went to Kris' beautiful suburban home.  They had a speaker who wanted to make the point as to how Kris' laws crushed and devastated families.  They thought they had a sympathetic story to tell.  Their speaker used a bull horn so that his voice could be heard past the closed door.  Of course, there was no response, mainly because Kris and family were not home.  But, this was a symbolic mission, and as such, the group left  a number of empty shoes on the door step signifying a deported family member who would be greatly missed, loved, and treasured.

Kris Kobach returns to find this horrifying thing has happen to HIM!  WHAT IF HIS FAMILY HAD BEEN HOME?  Don't you see the horror?  Don't you see the trauma to his wife and children?  It is not right for HIS family to experience trauma.  It is for him to make life hell for others, but DO NOT BRING DISCOMFORT TO HIS DOOR STEP.  My god!  What were they thinking?  Well, Glenn Beck wanted to know exactly that.  Beck likened it to being attacked by the KKK!  Kris Koback, said he was going to seek legal recourse against the group by filing chargers under the Klan laws!  It all has to do with being on one's property and threatening violence, (which was not the case.)  The group tried to make contact with the Sec. Of State, at his office  but were consistently turned away, or ignored.

Our dear Kris worries that he might not be able to shelter his children from all of this much longer.  He will not, however, have to worry about someone like - say Kris Kobach sending his children's supportive, loving, parents away from them.  That sort of terror will not be known to his children.  The most extreme fear Kris might face is that his children might want to know what all those empty shoes mean.

GUNS! GUNS! GUNS! Made In Kansas!

Oh, the hoops that poor dear Gov. Brownback is forced to jump through just to get mentioned in the nightly news.  His biggest problem is that he just can't get the people in Kansas to rise up in anger at all of his hurtful and ill conceived programs.   We all know that since he owns the legislature, and is presently working on packing the courts, with the exception of a few letters to the editors of the KCStar, no one speaks out  against "the crazy." This is no way to get national attention.  Yes, Brownback and the Koch brothers are outrageous, but in Kansas, no one dares to speak up.  The Guv. needs national attention!  He needs the spotlight!  Won't someone PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!!!!!

Got it!  I know!  As of this week Sam finally got a mention by going against the federal government regarding ----- wait for it ------ gun laws!!!!  What could be better?  Sam is picking a fight with U.S. Att. Gen. Eric Holder.  Sam says that any gun, or bullets, made in Kansas would not be subject to federal law.  WE, the state of Kansas, are going to the mat on this one, by god!!!!!  WE have already asked our slightly biased legislature for "225,000 dollars" to get a start on defending this new law.  Money well spent - for sure!  (That must be just pocket change to get the petitions printed!)

Well let the interpretations begin.  Kansas against "the dad gum feds." ...... We WILL prevail, because, prevailing in this case means getting Brownback's name to the top of that "crazy list."  Just hang what is best for the citizens of the state of Kansas .... never a concern.  All aboard the Sam Brownback Express.  Let's push that Brownback name ever upward, and don't forget how to spell Brownback -----K 0 C H!

(Photo: The "adorable" Crickett Brand "My First Rifle Collection", marketed to and designed for children, which resulted in the shooting death of a 2 year old by her 5 year old brother this week.)

Let's Keep A Good Thought!

At first glance this story wouldn't seem to fit into my Kansas chronicles, but you may recall how we went over this ground regarding the KC Metro area.  Yes?  Soooo, a news item about Research Medical Center on the Missouri side of the state line will be fair play.  What happened?  Most of you might know, but in a nutshell, a gay man was refused the right to stay with his sick partner as he was not recognized by the hospital as family.  He wound up getting arrested, and slapped with a restraining order.  He also had to face the wrath of his partner's family --- charming!

The event brings to mind, in a round about way, a brief moment I shared with a very kind and helpful Apple employee.  I had called the "help line" for general assistance.  We got to chatting --- not at all unusual for me.  I tend to ask where the technicians are located and warn them I am a little old lady from Kansas --- "their worst nightmare!"  I think it only fair that they know what they have on their hands.  Well, nothing stopped this kiddo from full Apple enthusiasm.  Eventually, he told me that he and his partner were about to move to Kansas and he was so excited!!!  Really?!  Yes!  He actually said he was so excited to be moving to Kansas! By this point, we were best friends. I knew he knew he had sailed into safe harbor talking to me, but I also believed that talking to me was the sum total of his knowledge of what lay ahead. Yikes!  Should I tell him about Fred Phelps?   Should I tell him about Gov. Brownback and the legislature?  Should I tell him not to confuse "The Yellow Brick Road" with "The Rainbow Pride" flag?  I just listened to those beautiful plans of his, wished him and his partner all the very best, and never stopped thinking about him.  Please, let's keep a good thought that both he and his partner made a good transition, and more importantly, have remained healthy -- without the need for hospitalization.

Rise Up Kansas - Rise Up! No Fight Is Too Mean Spirited!

Look out North Dakota we are just a mere signature away.  Any second now, and it will all be ours ---heh, heh, heh!  Our state legislature passed a bill Fri. night that hopes to be the most ridiculous anti-abortion law known to mankind.  We start with life begins at fertilization and go on to cover blocking tax breaks for abortion providers, and ------- well, you can fill in the blanks.  It ain't hard.  Senate count - - 28 to 10, and House count 90 to 30.  Now it is off  for the signature of "Sam the Man," otherwise known as the not so "secret Koch brother!" We will be up and running with this priceless conservative "small government" piece of irony by July.  Keep on plugging Kansas.  We might not always be first, but we have the will to claw our way to the front once again  in a clearly idiotic and hurtful fight.   Life can be harsh on the prairie.

RIP, Kansas

I am reprinting, in its entirety, the obituary that ran in the Hutchinson newspaper (and online) this week for the death of Kansas:

KANSAS 1861-2013

TOPEKA - The Great State of Kansas passed away on March 31, 2013, after a long and difficult battle with extremism that became markedly more aggressive in 2010. The struggle left the state so weakened it could no longer fight against the relentless attacks by the fatal disease.

Kansas was born on Jan. 29, 1861.

The state is preceded in death by fair taxation, good highways, strong education, family farms, a good public parks and wildlife system, open government, neighborliness and belief in helping each other out, freely elected public servants, and political moderation.

Kansas is survived by widespread poverty, low-wage jobs, high property taxes, pollution, poorly educated children, outmigration and rural depopulation, foreign land and farm ownership, lobbyist-funded legislators, chronic mistreatment of the disabled, a maniacal hatred of government and children who dream of living anywhere else.

During its early years, Kansas played a pivotal role in the Civil War by staking out a strong progressive stand against slavery. Despite repeated raids from border ruffians, Kansas held firm to the belief of free men and free soil.

Throughout its life, Kansas often aligned with leading progressive causes. William Allen White, one of the state's most notable residents, once wrote that "if it's going to happen, it happens first in Kansas." That once was true. Kansas was the first state to ban the Ku Klux Klan, and the first to elect women to public office - one as mayor and another as sheriff.

It was the birthplace of the populist movement, rising as farmers and ordinary people grew weary of the Gilded Age politics of the late 1800s and early 1900s that favored investment interests over those of landowners and laborers.

Kansas was a leader in public education, with one-room school houses dotting the plains. A full 12 years before it was a national concern, Kansas established child labor laws that restricted employment of children in potentially dangerous industries.

In the 1950s, Kansas laid the path to civil rights for African-Americans with the historic Brown vs. Board of Education case - the first in the country to rule against a policy of segregation in public schools.

Despite its compassionate nature, Kansas proved to be a state teeming with inventiveness, ingenuity, determination and a savvy sense of business.

Cessna, Beech and Stearman helped establish Kansas as a center of the aviation industry. Coleman launched an international company from Wichita that became a household name. Pizza Hut and White Castle - two iconic eateries - both got their start in Kansas, and the man who helped establish the American automobile industry called Kansas home.

Kansas' history is filled with vibrant, dynamic people. Settlers who claimed land once described as a desert and turned it into the world's garden; immigrants who came by the train-load and brought with them the hard winter wheat that germinated the state's prosperity. Throughout the years, Kansans endured drought, grasshopper plagues, depression and fierce weather, yet its people worked to hold tight to their land and the belief that there was goodness in Kansas. In spite of those hardships, the state produced world-renowned artists, writers, inventors, business leaders, astronauts, even a president.

Kansas was a strong-willed state whose hands were calloused enough to turn up the hardest sod and tender enough to calm a crying child.

Despite its strength and vitality, Kansas couldn't survive the influences of outside political machines that sought to use this fertile ground and its people as a test plot for an ambitious political experiment.

The elections of 2010 and 2012 brought the poisoned pill that would bring about Kansas' untimely end. The first election seated a governor who tossed aside Kansas' storied history and replaced it with a vision of his own design. In 2012, record setting campaign contributions from out-of-state donors financed the defeat of those moderate Republicans who had spent the last of their political careers keeping Kansas alive.

One by one, the things Kansas had spent a lifetime building were dismantled, until the state was rendered as empty and uninviting as it had been in those early days when the first settlers eyed its endless expanse.

Along the way, the state's defenders - the farmer, the laborer, the property owner and the shop keeper - stood mute and passive, hoping for a day when the state would spark back to life, as it had always done before.

They remained silent too long.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Policy Institute, or Americans for Prosperity all in care of Gov. Sam Brownback, Office of the Governor, Capital 300 SW 10th Ave. Ste 241S, Topeka, KS 66612-1590. 

Jason Probst is news editor at The Hutchinson News. Email: jprobst@hutchnews.com.