Have they no shame? (Hint) The answer is no

Every once in awhile something appears in the Kansas City Star that is worthy of praise. Truly, it happens.

Today is not that day. 

Today is the day the paper's Johnson County news magazine published a blazing, non-factual, personal attack on Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Shame on the Kansas City Star.

The Steve Rose screed is titled "Kris Kobach: So smart and so very, very dumb." By the title alone, it's obvious that the following 600-plus words will be filled with redemption and truth. Oh wait...

The column starts by calling Kobach dumb and a few paragraphs later, "incredibly stupid." (Will the wonders of the Thesaurus never cease?!!)

Kobach, the piece intones, has a bloated ego, pomposity that gets in the way of judgment, is opposed to illegal immigration, is blinded by his own prejudices, is unbelievably ambitious and is willing to step on anyone or stoop to low levels to raise his own profile.

To wit, Kobach "hides behind his Ivy-league background... his constitutional-law credits... his Hollywood good looks."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/22/4306439/kris-kobach-so-smart-and-so-very.html#storylink=Finally, Kansas' Secretary of State is a simmering pot of hostility.

What facts are used to justify the hate-filled scribblings of Steve Rose, the legacy-has-been?

None. That's correct. None. There are no facts, no stories of such behavior to underscore Rose's suppositions. 

(I'll note that mentions of his Ivy-league background and his Hollywood good looks are the closest this rage-induced diatribe comes to factual.)

Granted, this is an opinion piece. (To the Star's detriment, that fact isn't mentioned anywhere on the internet page where the column appears.) Political pundits should be given some latitude. There's a difference between opinion and fact. That said, in a newspaper with a storied history like the Star, I expect a little better than bitter tirades with absolutely zilch to back it up.

I can't believe they ran that.

 
 

 

Gut punch from the Kansas Chamber

Well this is disappointing.

The Kansas Chamber of Commerce is lobbying Kansas' Congressional delegation to support the vile "immigration reform" bill.

Today, the group issued a press release supporting the measure. (I guess this little press release gives some of us a clue as to why Sen. Jerry Moran is on the fence on the immigration bill.)

In it, Brian Hemann, a dairyman from Hugoton says: 

"The Kansas economy needs people to grow. The majority of the population growth in Kansas is attributable to immigrants. We are a nation of immigrants."

I have had just about enough of Kansas farmers. Yes, they feed the world. It's back-breaking work. But today's Kansas farmer ain't my grandfather's farm. That's for sure.

Instead of hitching up their bootstraps, the Kansas farmer, today, more and more stands on the backs of hard working Americans. They demand subsidies and handouts, and woe, to the Kansas Congressman who opposes such a thing. 

See the recent farm bill as an example. While the farmers lobbied hard for the monstrosity, the majority of the funding in the porkulus bill funds food stamps.

Meanwhile, there are few industries in Kansas who abuse illegal immigrants as the farming industry does. They rely on the ability to pay subpar wages to illegals. Illegals, who by the way, drive down wages for the rest of us  -- you know, we hardworking taxpayers who fund their little farm subsidies.

Eric Stafford, Kansas Chamber member says:

"We need to make the system more efficient, accessible and open to immigration through increased visas and efficient verification. We support securing the border to prevent future illegal immigration, but the broken system led to illegal immigration. Do not discourage people from pursuing the American Dream."

There was a time when the "American Dream" meant standing in line and coming to America through the front door. Today, the "American Dream" is one in which liars and cheaters get ahead. Yeah, I'm talking to you members of the Chamber who rely on illegal workers at substandard pay to pad your bottomline. Yes, I'm talking to you, Kansas farmers, who typically redden with anger at the idea of government picking winners and losers, and then balk at eliminating farm subsidies.

You both talk out of both sides of your mouth. It's disgusting and I'm embarrassed for you.


 

For crying out loud...Patricia Stoneking

I received this screen shot via an anonymous email several months ago. The email said: "This makes me think members of the Kansas NRA want to use their guns to shoot brown people."

The screenshot features a photo of Kansas NRA president Patricia Stoneking "liking" a Facebook page called "American White History Month." That in itself is not a big deal. I am not a fan of Black History Month or Women's History Month or whatever. I personally believe all Americans share equally in the wonderful and unique heritage of this country. 

At first glance, the American White History Month page could just be a tongue-in-cheek humorous approach to saying Black History Month is unnecessary. And hey, I agree!

But when I first visited the page several months ago, that's not what I found. In the picture above, the page status update, which would've shown up in Stoneking's Facebook feed, says:  

"After thinking about what I wrote yesterday about how the races should stand together I know I was wrong, because the other races only stand for themselves. When the SHTF it will 93% of them voted for this potus, and the mexicans voted for him and the muzzrats did to. That makes it very clear to me that we can only trust 7% of blacks, 1% of mexicans and 0% of the muzzrats. This tells me I can only trust 75% of my brothers and sisters that are white. The time is coming faster and faster to pull ourselves together and in large numbers. So what do all my white brothers and sisters think?"

In Stoneking's defense, shortly after I received the anonymous tip about her inclusion in that vitriolic Facebook group, Stoneking "unliked" the page. And, if you visit the page today, it has been somewhat cleaned-up, and now reads almost like a support the troops kind of page.

That's not how the page looked when Stoneking was a member. It was post after post of words like "muzzrat." It was disgusting. I don't have enough words to describe the knot I had in my stomach reading it -- even regurgitating a tiny bit of it makes bile rise in my throat.

When I received the anonymous email about Stoneking's "membership," I decided against posting anything about it here. One, I received the email shortly after the Newtown, Conn., shootings, and gun rights were under attack. I deem gun rights much more important than one racist old bat. (Although at the time, I thought if the information about her ever became widely known, it could damage gun rights. As quickly as our personal liberties are being sacrificed daily, the Second Amendment is becoming ever more critical.)

Two, I get sick and tired of the Republican Party being branded as racist. It's simply not true. Are there bad apples? Of course. The Democrats have (probably more) bad apples too. They're just not called out as often.

I have met Stoneking a number of times, and she strikes me as, well, a character. I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she simply skipped over that racist vitriol in her Facebook feed?? I don't know, and I've never asked. But shortly after I received an anonymous email, she was no longer a member of the group and I let it go.

I'm bringing it up today, because if a press release issued by  the Moderate Party of Kansas is to be believed, Stoneking has once again stepped over the line in the realm of social media. (I've written before about this group here and here. Don't be fooled. They're liberals wrapping themselves in the cloak of moderates.)

The Moderate Party of Kansas is asking that Stoneking step down from her post as president of the Kansas NRA. According to the press release:

Participating in a forum of "Kansas Frontiersmen" describing themselves as "a network of survival-based defense units" that "mixes survivalists, prepping, and the defense aspects of the militia into a completely new approach" Patricia Stoneking, President of the Kansas-NRA, posted the personal home address of Manhattan School Board Member Aaron Estabrook.

In a screed against "Moderate" political leadership Kansas Frontiersman group founder,  James R. Miller Jr posted a comment that read: "I am at the point of now when some raises there [sic] fists to me in a threatening manner, I am going to respond by punching them in the throat and kicking there [sic] balls in until they can taste them", Stoneking responded by providing the home address of Aaron Estabrook, his wife Kim, and their two daughters.

I'm a big believer in the GOP self-policing, and well, now may be the time for Stoneking's friends and supporters to quietly encourage her to move on down the road. It appears she may be a bad apple, and well, the Kansas GOP has an awfully big barrel. And I think it's worth saving. 

There's a budget

63 House members, the bare minimum, passed a budget. It's a pretty awful one.

Edit: It could have been way worse, I guess.