THE DEMOCRATIC STIMULUS: Roberts, Brownback both opposed. Sources say 'moderate' Republicans Snowe and Collins could side with Democrats on massive spending bill

Debate on stimulus package to begin Monday on floor of U.S. Senate

Congressional sources told Kansas Liberty today that debate on the nearly trillion-dollar “stimulus” package is expected to begin on the Senate floor early Monday evening and could extend through Thursday.

The House passed a similar package earlier this week without a single Republican in support. Rep. Jerry Moran summed up Republican sentiment in the House in a statement he distributed immediately following that vote.

“Congress spends and borrows too much money - money that we don’t have,” Moran said. [ Read more...]

'More government spending is not the right answer'

Sen. Brownback votes against spending portion of stimulus package in committee

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback today voted in committee against the proposed $825 billion stimulus package, saying more government spending isn’t the answer to the nation’s financial woes.

Brownback cast his vote during a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which reviewed the $365 billion in discretionary spending and $186 billion in mandatory spending that is part of the stimulus package developed by the Obama administration and Congressional leaders.

The Senate Finance Committee is reviewing the portion of the plan that deals with tax cuts. The spending and tax portions of the bill will be consolidated in a single bill that would go to the full Senate. [ Read more...]

ABORTION: But if Obama and the Democrats pass a 'Freedom of Choice Act,' all restrictions will be lifted on clinics and abortion providers

Kinzer introduces expansion of Women's Right to Know Act

Women contemplating an abortion would be offered a chance to see a sonogram of their baby as well as other information on fetal development and maternal health to help inform their choice, under a bill filed Monday by Rep. Lance Kinzer, an Olathe Republican.

Kinzer said the bill was a “natural extension” of Kansas’ current Woman’s Right to Know Act.

“Basically, it would ensure that before an abortion occurred, a woman would have access to the most up-to-date information to make sure she was truly and voluntarily informed,” Kinzer told Kansas Liberty. [ Read more...]

BUDGET: Given a choice between supporting 'moderate' Republicans or Dems, conservatives find it easy to cross the aisle

Budget bill gives Senate conservatives a chance to bash GOP leadership

In an unusual act of bipartisan politicking, the Senate's conservative Republicans joined together with Senate Democrats Wednesday night to support an amendment to a budget bill carried by Topeka Democrat Laura Kelly.

The amendment significantly altered a Senate leadership-supported version of Senate Bill 23. The amended bill ultimately passed the Senate Thursday with a vote of 25-14.

It also delivered a message to a liberal GOP Senate leadership, which had poured money into trying to defeat GOP conservatives during the primaries last August. The message: pay-backs are painful. [ Read more...]

How do they do it? Simple! Don't lock up all the law-breakers. So some parole-breakers remain free.

KDOC finds a way meet mandated budget cuts

The Kansas Department of Corrections will close down facilities in the Lansing Correctional Facility and the El Dorado Correctional Facility in February rather than April as originally planned.

The earlier closings were made possible due to staff openings and prisons not being filled to their full capacity, according to a Kansas Department of Corrections statement.

And there's one other strategy that makes a difference. [ Read more...]

AG-BIZ: Corn and soybeans steal some of the glory from Kansas' traditional crop.

Market resistance to biotech applications in wheat causing lower yields

Biotechnology advances in corn and soybean crops - and a resistance in the market to biotech applications for wheat - may be as responsible for Kansas' decline in wheat production as bad weather and lousy prices, according to a spokesman for the state's wheat producers.

“Wheat is a crop used more for human consumption, while corn and soybeans are used extensively for animal feed," Aaron Harries, marketing director for Kansas Wheat, told Kansas Liberty. "This leads to more opposition of biotech wheat from people who consume wheat foods.

“So what we are trying to do is educate our farmers about biotechnology and the future and the potential of it. We also work with our overseas customers to make sure they are up to date on the research and explain why we are moving towards biotechnology in wheat." [ Read more...]

TAXES: 'Proposition K' would end all appraisal-driven tax hikes. Backers say residential values growing faster than incomes.

House committee hears call for property tax overhaul

A bill advocating a new property tax system for Kansas was introduced in the House taxation committee Thursday that would abolish the current property tax system and replace it with a system backers say is more closely linked to ability to pay.

The legislation, which has not yet been assigned a bill number, is being sponsored by Rep. Steve Brunk, R-Bel Aire, and has more than 20 co-sponsors.

Proposition K would stop all appraisal-driven tax increases and would be implemented by first establishing a baseline for all current properties. This baseline value would replace the appraised valuations. If Proposition K is adopted during the 2009 legislative session the baseline for properties would be set at properties’ Jan 1, 2010 appraised valuations. [ Read more...]

GITMO IN KANSAS: After softened protests, Governor joins the state's GOP congressional delegation and says, 'No thanks' to proposal

Sebelius joins campaign to bar Gitmo terrorists from Leavenworth

Earlier this month, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius made some ambiguous noises in response to a plan by the administration of Barack Obama, for whom she campaigned heavily over the course of a year, to house suspected terrorists from Guantanamo Bay at Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas.

Wednesday night, she made her views more definitive.

Joining a campaign by US Reps. Lynn Jenkins, Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt to dissuade the adminsitration from using Ft. Leavenworth as a alternative prison, Sebelius wrote to US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to voice her protest at the plan. [ Read more...]

THE NEXT ELECTION: Are we seeing the advent of the perpetual campaign?

2010 contests off to an early start in Kansas

The seats of just-elected officials are barely warm and the 43rd president, still unfamiliar with his new abode, was pictured yesterday accidentally walking into a window at the White House.

But it appears even as new office-holders are just settling in, the next election season is already underway.

Congressman Jerry Moran today became an official candidate to succeed Sen. Sam Brownback and has been circulating internal poll results to media outlets. His likely primary opponent, fellow Congressman Todd Tiahrt, though he hasn’t officially declared his candidacy, also seems to be in campaign mode, having just this week announced members of his Senate Campaign Steering Committee. [ Read more...]

Political veteran will meet fellow GOP congressman in primary

Moran makes Senate candidacy official

U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran filed paperwork Thursday making him the first official candidate to seek the Senate seat that is being vacated by Sen. Sam Brownback.

His congressional colleague, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, is also seriously exploring a bid.

"In my travels across the state, Kansans have been encouraging me to run for this Senate seat and I have listened," Moran said in a press release issued Thursday afternoon. [ Read more...]

Two of Kansas' most popular GOP congressmen vow to play demolition derby with the party's chances in 2010.

Tiahrt announces Senate candidacy

Congressman Todd Tiahrt  announced he is a candidate for the United States Senate. The Goddard  Republican made his statement Saturday in Topeka.

Tiahrt said Kansans want "leadership they can trust to get things done on behalf of a small state with big challenges."

The announcement came just days after GOP Congreeman Jerry Moran announced his bid for the Senate seat being vacated by Sam Brownback in 2010. [Read more...]

But it's early, and so far the No. 2 choice is 'undecided.'

Moran campaign poll shows Moran in lead

A poll commissioned by the Moran for Senate campaign showed the congressman ahead of his likely primary opponent, fellow Congressman Todd Tiahrt, by a double-digit margin.

Not surprisingly, the poll also showed many voters are still undecided with the election more than 18 months away. And nobody knows for sure who's even running.

A spokesman for Kansans for Tiahrt, Robert Noland, offered a blistering retort to the Moran poll Wednesday evening. [ Read more...]

BIG TENT NEWS: Not in the mood for surrender, only 17 percent of Republicans say the GOP's too conservative.

Poll: Republicans think their party's too 'moderate' to win

This weekend, the GOP - at both the state and national level - is choosing leaders it hopes will take the party forward following the defeat of John McCain, seen as a "moderate" Republican, at the hands of Barack Obama, a liberal Democrat.

Where does that choice leave center-right Republicans? Either rooting for a conservative, such as Sarah Palin, or sitting at home, if the results of a new Rasmussen poll are accurate.

In a Rasmussen Reports poll released today, Republicans think their party's been drifting in the wrong direction. [ Read more...]

Only days to go before the election. 'I'm running as if I'm opposed,' says solo candidate.

Adkins remains the only announced candidate for GOP chair

The only announced candidate for chair of the Kansas Republican Party said, if elected, she would establish a GOP think tank to develop creative solutions to modern problems relative to every-day voters.

Amanda Adkins, already a political veteran at 34, will stand for election Saturday during the annual GOP Kansas Day celebration in Topeka.

Adkins told Kansas Liberty Monday that she had been actively campaigning for the job, currently held by Kris Kobach, who is not seeking a second term. [ Read more...]

STEM CELLS: MS attacks the brain, said one researcher. 'After the procedure, it doesn't do that any more.'

Bone marrow stem cells prove effective in treating MS

A Northwestern University of Chicago study using adult stem cells to treat patients suffering from early onset multiple sclerosis has lead to an improvement in the condition of 17 of the 21 patients, with 16 patients demonstrating no relapse in their condition three years after receiving the treatment.

Patients in the study were in what is commonly referred to as the first stage of the autoimmune disease, in which their symptoms periodically flare up and then subside.

According to Bloomberg, the patients' blood-forming stem cells were extracted, and then chemotherapy drugs were used to kill the patient’s immune cells within their bone marrow. [ Read more...]

COMMENT: What's the difference between a fireman, a cowboy, a mechanic and the federal government? Firemen, cowboys and mechanics all work. Main Street Moneyman Bill Wyckoff on vocational training.

Everybody's got questions

One of the joys of living in a small town is that you get to do and experience things that would never be available in a large city.

Now, I’m not thinking of the cultural and entertainment choices a city has to offer. If I want those, it’s just a short drive and I get to be thankful coming home that I don’t have that traffic to deal with every day.

Growing up, I dreamed of being a fireman, cowboy or a mechanic. The fireman gets to help people in bad situations, and it is an exciting dangerous job. The cowboy is able to work out on his own with nature as his desk and his trusty horse as his cubical. The mechanic is paid to fix things and gets dirty doing it. [ Read more...]

COMMENT: How can you tell a beer bash from the state Republican Party? Only one of them moves people to song. Bill Sutton explains why the GOP is so far out of tune.

Party hearty

In the wake of the Obama beatification, I find myself, more and more, surfing the Republican blogs. Maybe it’s an act of denial, a first step toward final acceptance of the event; maybe I’m just looking for the comfort of a security blanket. It doesn’t really matter which.

It seems that a number of folks are doing the same thing, if the number of comments posted is any indication. At first glance, some of these comments seem very well thought out and even optimistic about the rebuilding necessary for the Republican Party to return to it’s days in the sun. “We must rebuild.” “We need to make our Party the big ten that Lee Atwater envisioned.” “There can be no litmus test for who is, or is not, a real Republican.”

Wow! Those sound reasonable, optimistic, well-meaning, strategic and – what is the word I’m looking for here? – Oh yeah, vacuous. [ Read more...]

COMMENT: Speaker Mike O'Neal's common sense proposal to skim off the fat floating at the top of the educational bureaucracy is the kind of thinking that Kansas needs to survive financially. O'Neal's reasoning is so sound, even the Reason Foundation thinks it's smart, as John LaPlante explains.

When School Districts Join Forces, Taxpayers Win

Speaker Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson) has called for the Kansas Legislature to study whether it’s possible to consolidate the number of school district administrators. He cited the budget shortfall as a reason for looking at doing things “fundamentally differently.”

Four scholars with the Reason Foundation, a California-based think tank that focuses on making governments more efficient, suggest that school districts can save money by cooperating with each other in buying services and supplies.

School districts indeed might be able to share a large number of non-instructional services. [ Read more...]

COMMENT: It's a day to celebrate cranks and crazies and Carrie Nation. It's Kansas Day. Caleb Stegall welcomes you to the middle of the country, where, if you're sane, you're completely surrounded by people who aren't, and have no plans to be soon.

The 10th Muse

Be thou the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth

Than those old nine which rhymers invocate 

      - Shakespeare, Sonnet 38

The history of our fair state is replete with references to its near Biblical stature as a promised land and all that implies: a land of milk and honey, enormous crops and near Edenic fertility; a land swarming with prophets, zealots and gunslingers; crackpots and crooks; cranks and kooks.  Kansas held out the promise of riches and destitution, fresh starts and bad ends, boom or bust, plague and famine and pestilence, flood and drought, cyclones, blizzards, rolling prairie fire and the hand of God. [ Read more...]

SNIDE COMMENTS: Pachy punch-up | Kinzer takes aim at the crony-bench | Darwin, hard and fast

The Week on the Web

Pachy punch-up. The announcement by Rep. Todd Tiahrt that he'll contend for the US Senate seat that will be left vacant when Sam Brownback keeps a promise and leaves office after two terms has given everybody in the state some political grist for making instant analyses.

The general consensus at the moment is a pretty simple one: A bloody primary battle sets the stage for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to have something to do besides running KU after she leaves Topeka in 2010. If the Moran-Tiahrt clash leaves the primary winner wounded, she'll have a much easier way to the Senate. [Read more...]

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