"Kansas military school received 339 abuse complaints" by ROXANA HEGEMAN | Associated Press, March 27, 2013
WICHITA — Nearly 340 current and former students made complaints to a Kansas military school claiming they were beaten, hazed, harassed, or abused during the past five years, including 21 who say they were branded, according to a court document.
The numbers surfaced last week in a federal lawsuit....
--more--"
What do you think caused that haze?
"Marijuana raid illegal, Kansas couple says" by Heather Hollingsworth | Associated Press, March 30, 2013
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two former CIA employees whose Kansas home was fruitlessly searched for marijuana during a two-state drug sweep claim they were illegally targeted, possibly because they had bought indoor growing supplies to raise vegetables.
There is no such thing as a "former" CIA employee (unless we are talking Valerie Plame).
Adlynn and Robert Harte sued this week to get more information about why sheriff’s deputies searched their home in the upscale Kansas City suburb of Leawood last April 20 as part of Operation Constant Gardener — a sweep conducted by agencies in Kansas and Missouri that netted marijuana plants, processed marijuana, guns, growing paraphernalia, and cash from several other locations.
Related: Obama Administration Goes to Pot
And not just because of the exhale in your face on the marijuana issue. He said he was going to take a hands-off approach and it's been anything but since he took office. Just proving he's nothing more than a figurehead.
The date of April 20 long has been used by marijuana enthusiasts to celebrate the illegal drug and more recently by law enforcement for raids and crackdowns.
But the Hartes’ attorney, Cheryl Pilate, said she suspects the couple’s 1,825-square-foot split level was targeted because they had bought hydroponic equipment to grow a small number of tomatoes and squash plants in their basement.
So that's what police have their eye on these days, huh?
--more--"
I can't see anything clearly in that story; however, I see clearly when you get out to the plains:
"Kansas district shuns compromise" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, April 04, 2013
JETMORE, Kan. — US Representative Tim Huelskamp is so unwilling to compromise that he embodies the new intransigence that has invaded Washington, making it almost impossible to cut deals, bringing the capital to a grinding halt. Polls show many Americans find all the gridlock, debt crises, and brinkmanship frustrating.
Related:
"The Senate voted 94-0, The overwhelming bipartisan vote
on an amendment to a sweeping, $631 billion defense bill reflected
fears about the Iranian threat and the United States’ unwavering support
for its closest Mideast ally Israel."
No partisanship there.
But in Western Kansas, it appears, this is exactly what his constituents want....
How dare he represent his constituents in the republic we call American democracy?
Huelskamp voted against the Violence Against Women Act.
Related: Senate Taking Care of Women
He voted against the fiscal cliff deal.
See: Fed Chief Coined Term Fiscal Cliff
Then I agree with the vote.
Btw, did you see what was in it?
Somebody got a $oft landing, huh?
He voted against raising the debt ceiling. He even refused to support relief money for victims of Hurricane Sandy, saying the bill was “loaded up with pork.”
See: Sweeping Up Sandy Coverage
When he didn’t think House Speaker John Boehner was being tough enough with Democrats, he nominated someone else more conservative in a failed attempt to unseat him.
The establishment in Washington views voters in places like Jetmore as part of the problem....
That IS the PROBLEM!
But in two dozen interviews last week during the congressional recess, the people of Jetmore and the district’s other rural communities said Washington and President Obama have it all backward. Although the fractured Tea Party groups that grew in 2010 have lost some of their national stature, the anger that gave rise to the movement is still out there....
More than ever because the bastards haven't changed. They haven't listened or done what we want.
It also is one of the reddest districts in one of the reddest states in the country, having elected only one Democrat – for a single two-year term — since the district was created in 1874. Kansas has not voted Democratic in a presidential election since 1964, when President Lyndon Baines Johnson was elected.
Although the residents rely heavily on federal agricultural subsidies, the efficient work of USDA meat inspectors, and extra government aid for rural hospitals, voters in conversations across the district expressed nearly universal disdain for Washington.
Yes, what we any of us do without lying, looting government?
“Everything is negative. It’s the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime, and I’m only 89 years old,” said Wayne Hawkins, owner of a gift shop in Dodge City, once among the wildest places in the West. “Our government is in bad shape.”
Yeah, the whole world knows we are a rotting, rank, and fetid corpse of a bankrupt empire in its death throes. The only ones who don't know it are the ones running it from Washington and their $lavish mouthpieces in the ma$$ media..
At the Larned Chamber of Commerce, the cookies topped with icing were displayed neatly on a table. Tea had been poured and coffee was ready. But anger percolated beneath the small-town hospitality.
Residents seethed over Obama’s use of“scare tactics” to win an increase in the debt limit.
Related: The Mendacious Obama Administration
I don't blame them for being angry about LIES! We have HAD ENOUGH of them, and EXPECTED BETTER!
They resent Michelle Obama for taking vacations.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Look Who I Had Lunch With
The truth is, she is also a disappointment. More Aunt Jemiah than Angela Davis.
They are upset with Boehner for negotiating with Obama and not winning bigger budget cuts. They think their own party has strayed from its principles and needs to make a “severe correction.”
Then why didn't they vote for Ron Paul?
“We hear criticisms that [Huelskamp] won’t get along, but that’s not what we elected him for. We elected him to vote for principle,” said Paula Carr, a 64-year-old who sells and repairs lawn and garden equipment. “Compromise is why we’re in the condition we’re in now — too much compromise over the last 30 years.’’
Related: The Two-Headed War Party
Yeah, I noticed there is never much disagreement on that.
Huelskamp was part of a conservative wave in the 2010 elections that helped Republicans win control of the House, depositing a new breed of politicians in the Capitol who came to be known as the “Hell No Caucus.”
Related: Tea Party Refuses to Take the Pledge
Turns out a lot of them were co-opted.
************************************
A backlash eliminated some of their numbers in 2012, but the survivors like Huelskamp have been heartened by their sustained influence. The GOP’s fractures are visible in the House leadership. Boehner’s deputies have at times undermined his negotiations with the president, and House majority leader Eric Cantor has emerged as a hero among the conservatives.
Still, some have suggested that intransigence from the Hell-No wing has backfired, pushing House Republican leadership further to the center in search of Democratic votes to pass important bills.
“As long as their districts are willing to elect them — and the country is going down the tubes because we can’t come to compromise — we’re not going to get anywhere,” said Charles Bass, a former Republican congressman from New Hampshire. Bass estimated there were about 80 conservatives and 80 liberals who are largely averse to cutting deals, but the liberals get less attention because they are in the House minority, and because they are less vocal....
Yeah, they just shut up and take it.
Huelskamp was unrepentant in an interview, expressing disillusionment with his own party.
“I think Republicans are frankly too lazy,” he said between sips of unsweetened iced tea. “Too many of my colleagues don’t get out and go to have a town hall and explain what we’re about. Most Republicans don’t go out and talk about freedom and opportunity, except for their donors, near that I see.”
********************************
Huelskamp had kinder words for House minority leader Nancy Pelosi – and her ability to get Democrats to take a tough vote on health care when she was speaker in 2010 – than for Boehner, a leader he says “doesn’t want to do much different” and favors “kind of status quoism.”
“We’ve got to have Republicans,’’ he said, “willing to stick to their principles rather than sticking to their office.”
Huelskamp said he thinks lawmakers’ unwillingness to stop automatic budget cuts during the sequester debate is a sign that the message from him and other Tea Party-backed politicians is sinking in.
And he expressed discontent with a blueprint released by the Republican National Committee last month, which said Republicans risked extinction unless they were able to moderate their image and broaden their appeal.
“It was 97 pages of ‘Let’s be more like the Democrats,’ ” Huelskamp said. His willingness to buck leadership prompted House leaders to remove him from the agriculture and budget committees.
His response? Fine.
“My people see that as a sign that I’m doing the right thing,” he said. “Washington has a 9 percent approval rating. Root canals are better rated than Congress.”
It might as well be zero then, and he doesn't seem like that bad a guy despite the slanted lead-in.
*****************************
Jetmore (pop. 867) is a neighborly community....
At his wife’s homey diner, Judy’s Cafe, Norman Bamberger, a lifelong Republican who is growing frustrated with his party, said, in a jarring attempt at dark humor that most would find offensive, he added: “Where’s Lee Harvey when you need him?”
Please, he didn't say that!
Concerned about seeming harsh with his reference to the man who assassinated President John F. Kennedy, he quickly added, “That wasn’t very nice.”
Was he?
The next morning, in the back corner of the local gas station, a group of about a dozen men sat near the stocks of Budweiser and Slim Jims and talked politics. The group included the mayor, a retired farmer, and the editor of the local newspaper, the Jetmore Republican....
They feel the moral underpinnings of the country are starting to fall apart. Mike Thornburg, the editor of the Jetmore Republican, was aghast when he realized the symbols he was seeing on his Facebook page were from people supporting gay marriage.
“We don’t have the gay problem,” he said with a chuckle. “We have goat and chicken [expletive] out here, but that’s OK. We can deal with that.”
Resentment toward Obama (whose mother grew up in rural Kansas) bubbled up again and again, including yet another jolting reference to assassination.
“Hell, we ought to impeach the little bastard,” Charles Leet, who runs a television and appliance repair shop, said between puffs on his electronic cigarette. “Asleep at the switch. I keep donating to the Bring Back Lee Harvey Committee. It hasn’t worked yet.”
Are these people even real, or does the agenda-pushing Globe make them up?
As for the impeachment, nothing wrong with that. Should have impeached the last war criminal before him, too.
Update: Breaking News: Attempted Assassination of Obama in Florida
I guess they got what they wanted, 'eh?
The group chuckled.
“We aren’t rabble-rousers. We don’t want to cause trouble,” Thornburg said a few minutes later. “But it’s been coming down the pike for a long time. So we sent you Huelskamp.”
Straight from hell, huh?
--more--"
Also see:
Sperm donor fights Kansas child support
Kan. abortion clinic opens in tribute to doctor
Related: Sunday Globe Special: The Mean Streets of Wichita
