Kansas Progressivite

• Forward Kansas

  
  So as fun as this blog was to create, for the time being I have decided to begin blogging over at a new site that is much more exciting. The site is called Forward Kansas and it was put together by a group of extremely intelligent [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 3:24pm EDT
  

• Robert Reich on the Public Option

  [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 3:49pm EDT
  

• Lynn Jenkins - Continues to Be a Joke

  
  So we all know about Kansas District 2 Representative Lynn Jenkins freudian slip about a "great white hope" last week right?
  
  Well of course when someone close to her told her that even though she probably believed it, it was a stupid thing [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 9:32am EDT
  

• Indefinite Vacation

  So as you may have noticed I haven't posted much in the past couple of months. I am finding it very difficult to gather the motivation to post new blogs on a continuous basis at the moment. Also, with the addition of an infant to our family, I have to' [...]
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  Posted: July 28, 2009, 11:03am EDT
  

• Why Being a Christian DOES NOT Mean You Have to be Republican

  
  There are many reasons why I consider myself a progressive. That typically means that I vote with the Democratic Party in this country. However, I am also a Christian, and I know that puts me at odds with lots of other fellow Christians out there. The [...]
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  Posted: July 02, 2009, 1:44pm EDT
  

• Betraying the Planet

  
  Excellent article by Paul Krugman in today's New York Times.
  
  So the House passed the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill. In political terms, it was a remarkable achievement.
  
  But 212 representatives voted no. A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered' [...]
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  Posted: June 30, 2009, 11:01am EDT
  

• R.I.P. Michael

  
  Michael Jackson
  August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009
  R.I.P. [...]
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  Posted: June 26, 2009, 4:27pm EDT
  

• Governor Mark Sanford Admits Affair

  
  First Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina disappeared for five days without telling anyone where he was going. Not his staff, not even his wife even though he was gone over Father's Day weekend. His staff reported that he was hiking in the Appalachian mountains.' [...]
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  Posted: June 24, 2009, 3:52pm EDT
  

• Is Obama Like Hitler?

  
  Several GOP groups have compared President Obama to Hitler ever since Obama ran for the presidency. The newest group is Republican Women of Anne Arundel County, a women's group in Maryland. The President of the women's group, Joyce E. Thoman, posted the following letter:Obama [...]
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  Posted: June 24, 2009, 9:36am EDT
  

• At What Point is it Too Much?

  
  I have always been one for universal health care. I personally believe it is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that every American has access to quality health care and that it shouldn't cost people anything except what they contribute via taxes. I' [...]
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  Posted: June 22, 2009, 9:46am EDT
  

• Another Old, White Guy Makes a Racist Comment

  
  Rusty DePass, a GOP activist from South Carolina proves that he is racist. The guy is your stereotypical Republican, older, white, probably rich (the article did not specify) and scared of other races. There was a escaped gorilla from the Riverbanks Zoo so what is [...]
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  Posted: June 15, 2009, 10:14am EDT
  

• Rupert Murdoch Is Evil

  
  I'll be honest, I am basing this entire post on a headline from the Huffington Post that said Rupert Murdoch thinks President Obama is "dangerous." This coming from a guy that owns Fox News, which in itself is truly "dangerous," but he also owns' [...]
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  Posted: June 08, 2009, 9:30pm EDT
  

• Hiatus This Week

  I am finding it difficult to get motivated to blog when I am working from home. Especially since I have a newborn, and he likes to take up a lot of my time :) He has also taken my focus away from what's going on in the world. I am' [...]
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  Posted: June 06, 2009, 6:39pm EDT
  

• Rant About The Murder of George Tiller

  I am a Christian.
  
  That being said, I can get along quite well with most people of any faith or those who do not believe in a God of any type. As part of this great country, we all have the ability to believe, or not, in whatever we [...]
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  Posted: June 01, 2009, 3:05pm EDT
  

• George Tiller Murdered

  
  Dr. George Tiller was murdered today as he attended church service. Some sleezeball coward shot him as he performed ushering duties and then sped off and was caught in Gardner on I-35.
  
  A moment of silence will be held at Tiller's Wichita clinic' [...]
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  Posted: May 31, 2009, 6:56pm EDT
  

• The Bush is Back

  
  Former President George W. Bush weighed in for the first real time about his presidency at a speech to the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan. During that speech, which was actually a back and forth with the audience, Bush said that the harsh interrogations performed [...]
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  Posted: May 29, 2009, 8:33am EDT
  

• Mancow: Waterboarding is "Absolutely Torture."

  Conservative radio host Mancow underwent waterboarding to prove that it was not that big of a deal. He came out believing that it is what it is: torture. Check out Keith Olbermann's interview with Mancow on last night's Countdown.
  
  

  Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and [...]

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  Posted: May 27, 2009, 8:59am EDT
  

• Kris Kobach Running for Secretary of State...Sigh

  
  After a failed attempt to win Dennis Moore's congressional seat and a couple of years as the head of the Kansas GOP, Kris Kobach has thrown his name into the ring for a run at Kansas Secretary of State to replace Ron Thornburgh in 2010.' [...]
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  Posted: May 26, 2009, 4:37pm EDT
  

• Brave New Films Does it Again

  Check out Brave New Films newest video on why torture did not save American lives, but instead cost them. It seems that what they point out is just blatantly obvious, but some people still hide behind their aggression to see what actually helps or hurts us as a nation.
  [...]
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  Posted: May 26, 2009, 3:46pm EDT
  

• Justice Sotomayor

  
  President Obama today announced his nominee for replacement of Justice Souter on the Supreme Court of the United States, Sonia Sotomayor. If confirmed, she will become the 3rd woman and first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history. She is well qualified and should be [...]
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  Posted: May 26, 2009, 10:50am EDT
  

• Dave Matthews Band - Funny The Way It Is

  This is not political, but the Dave Matthews Band released the first single off their new CD (Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King) last month. I really like the song, and if you actually listen to the lyrics, it is a pretty meaningful song.
  
  Check it out:
  [...]
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  Posted: May 22, 2009, 2:41pm EDT
  

• Governor Parkinson Restores Planned Parenthood Funding

  
  After the state legislature voted to take state dollars that would have gone to Planned Parenthood to provide family planning and safe sex education services away, the only hope was for Governor Parkinson to line-item veto the "Huelskamp" amendment.
  
  And today he did just [...]
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  Posted: May 22, 2009, 11:26am EDT
  

• Finney County, Kansas

  
  CNN, you know the "Communist News Network" (ooh scary), did a piece on Finney County in Kansas and how whites are no longer the majority there. It was a pretty interesting piece, it is posted below. I just had to point out that I know [...]
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  Posted: May 22, 2009, 8:31am EDT
  

• Gitmo Detainees, Again

  John Stewart on the closing of Guantanamo Bay and what to do with the detainees (via Kansas Jackass). Watch the video and see how Sen. Pat Roberts looks like an idiot...again...like everyone else who is opposing this.
  The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10cGuantanamo [...]
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  Posted: May 21, 2009, 4:26pm EDT
  

• Cheney is a Dick

  
  Former Vice President Dick Cheney has taken it upon himself to attempt to make the last eight years not seem like a disaster. And in typical Bush/Cheney fashion, he is doing a horrible job at it. Cheney has been on almost every major channel pleading [...]
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  Posted: May 21, 2009, 2:22pm EDT
  

• Lt. Dan Choi

  I encourage everyone to read the following petition and sign it. It is a petition to President Obama not to fire Army Lt. Dan Choi because he is gay. Tell the President that he needs to do away with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and let people be who they are. [...]
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  Posted: May 18, 2009, 4:41pm EDT
  

• Hiding Photos Hurts America

  
  President Obama switched his position on releasing more torture photographs this past week. This is another point at which I disagree with the President. In his justification he also spoke of those who should have been punished for these photos have been, so it wouldn't' [...]
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  Posted: May 18, 2009, 1:44pm EDT
  

• AWOL

  I know I haven't posted in awhile, sorry about that. I have had a little occupier of my time this past week (and probably for the rest of my life!) Just so everyone knows, everything is going well, mom and dad are pretty tired and we are running on pretty' [...]
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  Posted: May 16, 2009, 4:50pm EDT
  

• Senate Fails to Override SB 218

  
  The Kansas Senate yesterday attempted to override former Governor Sebelius' veto of SB 218, a bill that attempted to make it harder for a woman in Kansas to get an abortion. It tried to redefine where the line was for a "viable" fetus. They' [...]
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  Posted: May 08, 2009, 8:39am EDT
  

• A Budget There May Be

  
  The Kansas House voted to concur with the Kansas Senate bill for the state budget. The bill makes a 2.75% cut across the board for all state funded agencies. However, the budget is not actually balanced, there is still a $35 to $70 million deficit. [...]
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  Posted: May 07, 2009, 1:43pm EDT
  

• What to Do With Guantanamo Bay Detainees

  
  A tweet from Congressman Todd Tiahrt this morning got me thinking. He said that he was "At House Approps Comm today i will try to strike all $'s for sending GTMO terrorists to the US." I just don't understand the argument here. Why are we safer [...]
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  Posted: May 07, 2009, 9:10am EDT
  

• New Hampshire Legislature Votes to Allow Same-Sex Marriage

  
  Not to be outdone by Maine passing laws to approve gay marriage, the New Hampshire legislature approved its own version this afternoon. Governor John Lynch, similar to Maine's Gov. Baldacci has been mum about what he would do if the bill reached his desk. [...]
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  Posted: May 06, 2009, 4:09pm EDT
  

• Maine Legislature Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

  
  On April 30th the Maine Senate passed a bill, barely, to legalize gay marriage in their state. Yesterday, the state House passed their own version of the bill with a vote of 89-57. And now this morning, the Maine Senate passed the House bill [...]
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  Posted: May 06, 2009, 10:30am EDT
  

• Help Get The Young Turks on MSNBC

  
  The Young Turks is a quality progessive web show that has been petitioning to become the 10pm slot on MSNBC. Currently the network airs Countdown with Keith Olbermann repeats at that time.
  
  Check out their website, theyoungturks.com, and their youtube channel at [...]
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  Posted: May 05, 2009, 4:58pm EDT
  

• UPDATE: Coal Plant Compromise

  
  The Lawrence Journal-World has reported that the two oil-fired plants that are going to be shutdown as part of the give and take for the new coal plant haven't been used in over 20 years. Did you not think this would come up Gov. Parkinson? Or' [...]
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  Posted: May 05, 2009, 2:56pm EDT
  

• The Day After

  
  So now that we all have had a day to think about what transpired yesterday from the Governor's announcement about a deal struck with Sunflower Electric, let's take another look at it. It will allow for one coal plant to be built rather than [...]
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  Posted: May 05, 2009, 10:29am EDT
  

• Another Joe the Plumber Post

  
  First off, I do not like the fact that I am writing another post about the doofus Samuel Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber. The man is an embarrassment to this country and, although apparently the Republican Party doesn't realize it, and embarrassment to them as' [...]
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  Posted: May 05, 2009, 8:18am EDT
  

• How About a Side of CO2 With Your Dinner?

  
  In a press conference this afternoon, Governor Mark Parkinson announced that the state of Kansas has reached a deal with Sunflower Electric to build one 895 megawatt coal plant in Holcomb, Kansas. Originally the bill that former Governor Sebelius vetoed called for two 700 megawatt plants. [...]
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  Posted: May 04, 2009, 3:56pm EDT
  

• The National Council for a New America

  
  Eric Cantor, Republican Congressman from Virginia's 7th District, has put together a new group of Republicans called the National Council for a New America. It's formation comes on the heels of the Project for a New American Century's (a group formed by Neocons to' [...]
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  Posted: May 04, 2009, 8:15am EDT
  

• My First Attempt at iMovie..

  I was really itching to try out iMovie so I decided that I would make a short video about each of the state of Kansas' members of Congress. I started with Lynn Jenkins, from the 2nd district, because she gave the Republican radio address on Saturday. This is my VERY' [...]
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  Posted: May 03, 2009, 4:16pm EDT
  

• The Kansas House Stands Up for the Kansas Worker

  
  The Kansas House rejected the proposed budget yesterday that was supposed to reconcile the $328 million shortfall the state is currently facing. The proposal would have cut state employees pay by 5%, $113 million from public schools, $29 million from higher education and 5% from [...]
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  Posted: May 02, 2009, 10:32am EDT
  

• Swine Flu - A Terrorist Plot?

  Did you know that the H1N1 virus or "Swine Flu" is just a secret bio-terrorist plot to bring down America? That a terrorist organization released the virus in Mexico because they knew all the illegal immigrants will sneak over the border and infect all of us?
  
  Well, a [...]
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  Posted: May 01, 2009, 2:31pm EDT
  

• Cutting Pay for State Employees by 5%

  
  The Kansas House Budget Committee approved a measure to cut state employees payroll by 5%. It still needs to be approved by the House and Senate, then signed by the Governor before it comes to be. It is supposed to save $40 million of [...]
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  Posted: May 01, 2009, 1:58pm EDT
  

• Governor Mark Parkinson on Issues

  
  As all of us Kansans know by now that we have a new Governor. Mark Parkinson ran as Lieutenant Governor with Kathleen Sebelius in 2006 and since Governor Sebelius is now Secretary Sebelius, Parkinson is the new leader of our state.
  
  But where [...]
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  Posted: April 30, 2009, 12:05pm EDT
  

• New England Moving Quickly Towards Marriage Equality

  
  From my post yesterday, I mentioned that the New Hampshire Senate passed a bill allowing same-sex marriage. The NH House passed a similiar measure March 26th of this year but the state Senate passed an amendment that "prohibits polygamy and marriage of family members, among" [...]
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  Posted: April 30, 2009, 11:49am EDT
  

• New Hampshire Senate Votes to Allow Gay Marriage

  
  The New Hampshire State Senate passed a bill today that would allow same-sex marriage in their state. This coming on the heels of its opposite shaped cousin state Vermont passing their own law on April 7th.
  
  The measure barely passed the Senate 13-11. Governor John [...]
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  Posted: April 29, 2009, 4:27pm EDT
  

• Not Enough Votes to Override Vetoes...Yet

  It was speculated that the Kansas House and Senate would attempt to override former Governor Sebelius' vetoes on the HS SB 218 (the bill that, again, tries to limit abortion availability to women) & HB 2014 (the bill that, again, tries to allow for two large coal plants to be' [...]
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  Posted: April 29, 2009, 3:28pm EDT
  

• The Future for Kansas Democrats

  
  With the swearing in of our new Governor Mark Parkinson yesterday evening, I started to think about what this state will look like come November 2010. And it started to make me a little nervous, almost fearful even.
  
  Governor Parkinson has stated publicly that he [...]
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  Posted: April 29, 2009, 8:38am EDT
  

• Governor Mark Parkinson

  
  Mark Parkinson was sworn in as Governor for the state of Kansas this evening after Former Governor Sebelius resigned the position to be sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services. I am hoping he will continue Sebelius' great record on the coal plant' [...]
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  Posted: April 28, 2009, 7:46pm EDT
  

• Secretary of Health & Human Services

  
  Congratulations to Governor, ahem, Secretary Sebelius. You are well qualified for the position and am proud to say that you came from my state. However, I will miss you and your leadership here in Kansas.
  
  Sebelius confirmed as Secretary of HHS 65-31. [...]
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  Posted: April 28, 2009, 5:03pm EDT