Category Archives: Conservatives not Wanted

Can we hope?

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Rumors of a political coup against Speaker of the House John Boehner (D-OH) arose when his partner-in-crime, Mitch McConnell caved on the DHS funding bill. Those rumors haven’t gone away. In fact, they’ve increased after Boehner pushed a DHS funding bill that included funding for Obama’s illegal alien amnesty. Boehner was able to do so by relying on his democrat partners who voted en masse for the bill. Only 75 ‘Pubs followed Boehner. All the remaining ‘Pubs, 167 of them, did not.

House Republicans weigh coup against Boehner after series of political defeats

Retreat in Homeland Security shutdown showdown latest embarrassment for GOP leaders

By S.A. Miller – The Washington Times – Thursday, March 5, 2015

Rank-and-file Republicans are openly contemplating a coup against House Speaker John A. Boehner and his top lieutenants after a series of self-inflicted legislative fumbles and political defeats in the first weeks of the congressional session.

This week’s retreat from the standoff over Homeland Security Department funding and President Obama’s deportation amnesty was only the latest embarrassment for Republican leaders, who also have had to yank bills on abortion, border security and education after rebellions within their own party.

Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland Republican, conceded that running the conference was like “herding cats” but said that is not an excuse for failure.

“I’m still optimistic that leadership can herd the cats. But if they can’t, then I think there will be consideration about whether a new leadership team needs to be put in place,” Mr. Harris said.

The leaders have acknowledged stumbles at the opening of the congressional session, when Republicans took control of the Senate as well as the House and members had high expectations for advancing a conservative agenda. But leaders have insisted that they don’t need dramatic changes in how they run the conference, a Republican aide said.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, prides himself on having an open-door policy and listening to members, but conservative lawmakers say the leadership team hasn’t been listening to them or their constituents.

“I don’t think they are listening to all the members,” said Rep. John Fleming, a member of a small band of lawmakers who formed the conservative Freedom Caucus and have been at the center of rebellions against the leadership.

He said the party leaders haven’t kept up with an increasingly conservative Republican base that is electing lawmakers who are more conservative.

“The problem is we are used to being in this moderate lane and the people, our constituents who are sending us here, are trying to move us over into the more conservative lane,” said the Louisiana Republican. “I think the struggle is that leadership has not yet picked up the trim line that they need to put out more conservative legislation to get better results.”

Supporters of the leadership team blame the dysfunction on conservatives such as Mr. Fleming, who they say sabotage good legislation by demanding perfect bills and ideological purity.

“Our problem isn’t leadership around here; it’s followership,” said Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican who is a close ally of Mr. Boehner.

“We have a group of people who, frankly, think they are always right and their leaders and the conference collectively are usually wrong,” he said. “It’s actually a fairly small group.”

Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican, put it more bluntly: “I don’t consider them conservatives. I consider them anarchists.

“The whole party is going to suffer, not just the leadership, all of us are going to suffer if we can’t get more organized. But I don’t know if that group of about 35 wants to be organized. It’s almost as if they sit by themselves in the floor there — like a separate party, like in France or Italy where you have the rump parties out there,” Mr. King said.

Apparently Representatives Cole, Fleming and King think the conservatives should shut-up and be quiet. They believe those rebelling congressmen should say and do nothing because, “Big Brother knows best!” No other contrary opinions will be allowed.

The column continues on a second page with a list of bills that were pulled after objections from conservatives. Those bills have yet to be refiled.

As an aside, there is a reason why Peter King has been elected from a heavily liberal district. He’s more progressive than any of the democrat candidates who ran against him. He has been and still is a subversive vote among the ‘Pub ranks.

The column continues.

Not all of the leadership’s dust-ups have been with conservatives.

The first blunder occurred with a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with an exception for cases of reported rape, incest or danger to the mother’s life. The leaders pulled the bill Jan. 21 to head off a revolt by some of the conference’s female and moderate members.

“We’re continuing to listen to everybody,” Mr. McCarthy said at the time. “We’re still planning on moving forward with the bill.”

The bill has yet to return.

A week later, a border security bill was pulled amid complaints from conservatives that it was too weak. The legislation is expected to return combined with other bills that beef up interior enforcement of immigration laws.

The third bill pulled off the floor would have rolled back parts of the No Child Left Behind Act, but conservatives balked that it didn’t do enough to get the federal government out of education.

Mr. Fleming said the education bill underscored the disconnect between Republican congressional leaders and voters.

“That’s the reason why there is frustration out there,” he said. “Time and time again, our constituents are telling us, ‘No, we don’t want federal mandating on school education. We want that left to the states.’ And yet somehow there are people who are making decisions up here who think that, ‘No, we just need to have just a little less federal control but not hand it over to the states.’”

Still, Mr. Cole said the Republican conference isn’t going to oust its leadership team.

“People really recognize that the problem is in the culture of the conference; it’s not with the leadership of the conference. So we have to work through this as a family and get to a point where we all — or at least 218 of us — are willing to work together,” he said. “If you can’t do that, you’re going to have a hard time accomplishing the things you said you wanted to do when you came here.”

The two Representatives quoted in the Washington Times, Tom Cole and John Fleming, think the differences between the House conservatives and the ‘leadership’ is just a family squabble. They are wrong! It is the difference between saving the nation as it should and must be, or allowing the country to continue its slide into tyranny and civil war. The House leadership are no friends of ours. They’re on the same side as the democrats and liberals that infest the nation’s capital.

 

 

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A whiff of rebellion

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I started the day off thinking it was Saturday. On occasion, retirees like myself have difficulty remembering what day it is. Why? Because more often than not, one day seems more like another. That is one reason why I’ve tried to maintain the same habits I had when I was working. I’m usually successful. Today, I was not.

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John Boehner - D-OH

John Boehner – D-OH

Next week on January 6, 2015, the House will vote for the Speaker of the House publicly on the House floor. John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi are running. Conventional thought says Boehner is a shoo-in.

Perhaps, not.

The rushed passage of the CRomnibus funding bill upset…no, that is too mild a word, enraged GOP voters from one end of the country to another. It was viewed as a betrayal by Boehner and the GOP establishment leadership by preventing the GOP from using the power of the purse to control Obama, amnesty, et. a., and it was!

Next week, the House will choose a new Speaker. The winner will have to acquire a majority, not a plurality,  of the votes. There are 435 members in the US House of Representatives. That means, if all vote, the winner for Speaker must have 218 votes to be Speaker. If any Representative refuses to vote or votes, “present!”, the number of votes needed to win decreases.

Remember, it is not the candidate who gets the most votes that wins the Speakership, it is the one who receives the majority of the votes cast. There is a difference, a big difference in those two words: majority vs. plurality.

Eric Erickson is the guest host for Rush Limbaugh today. He reminded us that all it takes to remove Boehner as Speaker is for 29 ‘Pubs to vote for someone else—not Pelosi, not to not vote, just vote for ANY other ‘Pub and Boehner loses. They don’t even have to vote for the same ‘Pub, each could vote for a different Representative and if Boehner doesn’t get the majority of the votes cast, he’s out.

By various counts, the rebels need only four to six ‘Pub votes to block Boehner next week. Many other think they have a real chance of doing just that.

The Last Resort: Replace John Boehner

By Lester Jackson, January 2, 2015

Crominbus was the last straw. Conservatives are now absolutely livid at the RINO Establishment. Rarely, if ever, has such an unmistakable voter mandate been so brazenly nullified before the newly elected could even take office. Calls escalate to “end” the Republican Party because conservatives cannot change it. By contrast, Rush Limbaugh, while lamenting that “the losers in the last election [got] pretty much everything they want[ed],” nevertheless rejects the third party call: “taking over the Republican Party is better.”

Sarah Palin protests that what House Speaker John Boehner and 162 Republican “yahoos” did “stinks to high heaven,” for which Rep. Gohmert expects Boehner to be rewarded with Democrat votes for speaker. Palin declares open season on RINOs, including replacing Boehner. Conservatives find it especially galling — and intolerable — to have a Speaker who (a) shows utter contempt for the representatives whose election resulted in his ascension to power; and (b) does everything he can to subvert the wishes, interests and values of these representatives and their constituents.

It could take years replace or seize control of the Republican Party, by which time everything this country has stood for could be destroyed. However, there is a clearly viable short term strategy. Oust Boehner from the speakership — now!

If the 2014 and 2010 elections are to have any meaning at all, if all the work and promises made to elect Republican majorities in both houses of Congress are not to be completely nullified, replacing Boehner must be considered the top priority. (Although Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell deserves recognition for his zealous defense of freedom of speech, he too should be replaced because he is a RINO stooge, as Andrew McCarthy makes plain. However, due to different House and Senate procedures, what follows is confined to Boehner.)

The article is long, the meat of it is too long to quote here. Go to the website and finish reading it. It’s worth your time. There are other articles on this same subject, here, here, and here.
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Retaliation

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If you thought the GOP establishment would accept the flood of new conservatives in Congress, you were wrong. McConnell, et. al., is already planning to remove leading conservative Senators. Ted Cruz is too strong in Texas, but Mike Lee of Utah is perceived to be weaker.

They’re Coming for Mike Lee

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  December 22nd, 2014 at 12:50 PM

It is extremely notable that Manu Raju of the Politico has written that the establishment intends to destroy Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)See Full Scorecard97%. Raju serves as the court stenographer for the Senate GOP leadership. His pieces are routinely littered with the conventional wisdom and talking points of the Senate GOP leadership. He has more than once anticipated Senate GOP leadership strategy based on their conversations with him.

So when Manu Raju says the establishment intends to go on offense against the tea party by beating Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)97% in the Utah Republican Primary, we can be sure Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)67%, the NRSC, etc. will be stepping aside and failing to give Lee the support they gave Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)51%, etc.

Of note, the story focuses on Jon Huntsman, Sr., who remains well respected in Utah. Huntsman, you will recall, is the man who spread the rumors about Herman Cain in 2012, in an effort to help his son, Jon Huntsman the lesser, run for President. All he managed to accomplish was taking out Herman Cain and getting his granddaughter an MSNBC show.
But Huntsman is clearly planning on destroying Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)97% to gain a tea party scalp and the GOP establishment in D.C. clearly plans on standing aside to let it happen.

You can read the entire article by following this link.

One interesting portion of the article is the involvement of the Huntsman family. John Huntsman was a candidate for President in 2012. As the campaign progressed, his views aligned him more with Obama and the democrats that with any of the remaining GOP candidates. In the end, it became clear that Huntsman’s purpose in the campaign was the disruption of the other GOP candidates instead of a true run for the Presidency. With the Huntsman family deep pockets, Mike Lee will be the underdog in funding his re-election to the Senate.

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Bill de Blasio and Al Sharpton have been accused with fomenting the tension that led to the murders of two New York police officers. When New York Mayor de Blasio attended a memorial service for the two officers, many of the officers attending turned their backs to the Mayor.

Former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said, “They [de Blasio and Sharpton] have blood on their hands.”  The statement appeared in an article appearing in The American Thinker. De Blasio’s relations with the NYPD continue to deteriorate. With growing pro-police pressure, de Blasio attempted to step back and issued a statement pleading for a cessation of the anti-police protests. Al Sharpton, one of the protest leaders, refused.

The growing disruption is a creation of the media and of charlatans like Sharpton. They claim Eric Garner was choked to death while being arrested. He was not. Eric Garner died of natural causes, a heart attack, an hour after being arrested due to his own health issues. You won’t learn that in the media. No, you have to review the coroner’s reports because the media ignored that vital piece of information. The Coroner blamed the cops before the Grand Jury, but when the report was examined, it said otherwise.

The misinformation by the media and their liberal accomplices are slowly coming to light. Generations of Americans have been mislead by the liberal controlled media. Some members of the black community are beginning to realize they’ve been lied to for decades. Follow the link. It is an interesting read.

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Yawwwwn, Part II

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Did it again today…overslept, that is. This time I think I’m caught up. I think.

The unfortunate part of oversleeping is that my To-Do list hasn’t shrunk. I’ve a number of tasks to do and with oversleeping, my allotted time for a post is gone.

So this will be quick.

News item: Our newly elected democrat Speaker of the US House is using the age-old tactic of his predecessor, Nancy Pelosi. He’s pushing a Continuing Resolution that will fully fund Obama’s illegal Alien Amnesty Executive Order and fully fund Obamacare. John Boehner (D-OH), is counting on Nancy Pelosi’s aid and her democrat House members to override the objections of the ‘Pub conservatives in the House.

Conservatives complain House GOP leaders ramming through spending bill

By Scott Wong – 12/06/14 06:00 AM EST

House conservatives are griping that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is putting the squeeze on them by rushing through a $1 trillion spending bill in Congress’s last week in session.

Appropriators are expected to roll out the legislation early next week, giving critics scant time to figure out what’s inside before they cast their votes by the end of the week. The government would shut down on Dec. 12 without a new funding bill.

“Here we are doing the appropriations bill the last couple days” before a government shutdown, conservative Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) said in an interview this week. “That’s not to squeeze Harry Reid. That’s to squeeze us.”

Boehner critics say there’s no reason the Speaker couldn’t have brought the spending package to the floor this past week, giving the House more time to consider it.

But doing so would also give more time for the right to build a case against it.

“They don’t want you to read it, that’s why! You think they want you to analyze all the mischievous items in there?” Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.)  told The Hill.

Asked if the timing of the plan was aimed at jamming the Senate or House conservatives, Jones replied: “I think its aimed at screwing over the American people. You can quote me on that.”

Pushing a government funding bill through Congress at the 11th hour is nothing new.

What’s striking this time, however, is that Boehner and outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are mostly in agreement on how to do it.

And the Speaker, fresh off a big midterm victory, seems in no mood to kowtow to conservatives who’ve been agitating for a lame-duck spending fight to stop President Obama’s executive action on immigration.

House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said the legislation will be unveiled on Monday, setting up a likely House vote on Wednesday — just one day before money runs out for the government.

Boehner and Rogers blame the Senate for the bill’s timing.

The House passed seven of the 12 appropriations bills this Congress, while eleven passed out of committee. The Senate passed zero.

“And as a result, it makes it that much more difficult to come to an agreement with the Senate on an omnibus appropriations package,” Boehner told reporters on Thursday.

Rogers also pointed the finger at the upper chamber and said House negotiators were doing “the best we can.”

“Look, we were given less than a month to put an omnibus bill together for the entire government for the entire year — it’s a trillion plus dollars with thousands of items,” Rogers said. “And since the Senate did not pass any of the appropriations bills, it forced us to put together an omnibus.”

While work on the package will continue this weekend, the general framework is known.

Most of the government will be funded in an 11-bill omnibus running through the end of the fiscal year in September. The Homeland Security Department would be kept on a shorter leash, funded with a short-term continuing resolution that would keep money flowing only until February. The combination is being called the “cromnibus.”

The short-term funding for Homeland Security is intended to push the fight over Obama’s immigration actions into next year, when Republicans will control both chambers of Congress.

Boehner signaled it’s unlikely he’ll make any significant changes to the package’s framework, ignoring demands by immigration hard-liners to include language to de-fund the implementation of Obama’s immigration actions, which could give legal status to up to five million undocumented workers.

GOP leaders appear to have much of their conference behind them, though many conservatives are expected to vote no.

“I think the fix is in,” Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) told The Hill.

He wanted GOP leaders to bring the spending package to the floor this past week with stronger immigration language. That way, the House would have had time to respond to any changes the Senate made to the legislation.

Boehner instead called a vote Thursday on a messaging bill that rebukes Obama’s immigration move, a measure the Senate will not take up.

“I’ve implored them. I’ve begged them. I’ve spoken in various meetings so that we wouldn’t be up against some crisis. … This is not the way it’s supposed to be done,” Salmon said.

Some conservatives acknowledge that they’ll have no chance of blocking the cromnibus if House Democrats decide to get on board. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned Republicans Friday not to bog down the package with “destructive” riders, including proposals to roll back environmental regulations or halt a new law that legalizes marijuana in D.C.

But sources in both parties said they expect a good number of Democrats to cross the aisle and vote for the spending plan in the end. Especially since it’s based on months of work from House and Senate appropriators from both parties.  

“I believe we need to fund the government through Sept. 30. If not, it will be very chaotic next year,” said retiring Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.), a House appropriator who is leaning toward voting for the plan. “An omnibus bill is a lot better than a CR or continuing resolution. So this is the best of two worlds.”

What are we seeing from Washington? Both the House and the Senate are still controlled by democrats.

Conservatives across the country are calling their US Representatives and Senators, asking, begging, pleading, demanding they vote against this rush to fund Obama’s unconstitutional acts. How will you vote, Representative Vicky Hartzler? Will you oppose this democrat tactic or will you, once again, act like an establishment rubber stamp?

Regardless how you vote, Vicky, it will be remembered come 2016.

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Candidate Forum: 2014 GOP Cass County Primary

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The Cass County Candidate Forum met last night at the Harrisonville Community Center. The democrats weren’t present. Their party strictly controls their primary—there isn’t one. They don’t allow contested races.

The only ones at the forum were ‘Pubs for three contested races between the county GOP conservatives and members of the Oligarchy who created the mess that plunged the county deeply in debt. The current office holders are working and making progress against that debt by returning the county to its principle areas of responsibilities.

The races covered was the Presiding Commissioner, Associate Circuit Judge, County Auditor and Circuit Clerk. Amy Bell, Kim York’s opponent for Cass County Circuit Clerk, withdrew a week or so ago as part of an agreement with the judicial system ending her service as Circuit Clerk. Kim York is now unopposed and will take office at the beginning of the new term. Regardless, she appeared alone and answered question as did the rest of the candidates.

The forum began at 6:30pm with introductions by each candidate. I noted a couple of…interesting items. All the candidates had two minutes for their responses and answers to questions with a one minute closing statement.

Dave Morris, who ran for state senator against Scot Largent and Ed Emery in the last general election, learned a few things since then. I took him to task then when he appeared at a GOP ‘meet the candidates’ meeting wearing shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops when Messrs Emery and Largent wore suits. I said at that time, Dave Morris wasn’t ready for prime time, i.e., his lack of experience in public office and the professionalism needed for state office. I’m sorry to say, he still isn’t ready for prime time.

In a subsequent question, Dave Morris was first to be asked, “What is the most positive act by the County Commission in the last ten years?” After a minute or so of stammering, he admitted he couldn’t think of anything. Jeff Cox, when asked the same question, immediately answered with killing the TriGen and Broadband projects that were pushing the county into bankruptcy.

The comparisons between Judges Meryl Lange and Stacey Lett were distinctive as well. Ms Lange has been practicing law for well over twenty years. Ms Lett for eleven years if I heard her correctly. Stacey Lett said that she has managed her own law office, and had experience with the local US Attorney’s office and other similar offices. It was unclear if Meryl Lange had ever done so, although she said she was once a lawclerk for a Supreme Court Judge. I didn’t recognize which judge that was so it must have been a state supreme court justice.

The important difference between the two was that Stacey Lett, younger and with only ten years practicing law, had twice the experience as a judge. Ms Lett has been the Raymore Municipal Judge for the last three or four years and has personally handled over 9,000 cases. Ms Lange was appointed to fill a vacancy as an Associate Circuit Judge a little over a year ago.

I did notice that Ms Lett answered the questions given her while Ms Lange did not, using the excuse of maintaining her impartiality prohibited her response to some general answers. I suppose that is one method of not making a statement on her views of being a judge. One statement that struck me, when Ms Lange actually answered a question, was her claim to have “handled 100 cases in less than an hour.” That means each case had only 36 seconds of her attention. It does make one wonder how she could do so and give each decision the necessary scrutiny any judicial case deserves.

The questions to Ron Johnson and Ryan Wescoat was fiery as expected. To call this race for Cass County Auditor a grudge match would be a great understatement. Ron Johnson was elected in 2010 ending decades of auditorial neglect by a string of democrat office holders who did not perform a single audit since the 1970s. During that time, the county auditor, “was an accounts payable office,” said Ron Johnson. Ryan Wescoat was an employee in Johnson’s auditor office when that office uncovered the fiasco of the TriGen and Broadband projects. I’ve written about his discovery in a post some years ago.

Mr. Wescoat wasn’t an employee for long. He was fired for insubordination and, without authorization, releasing documents and approving payments to UAM, the company being sued by the county for non-performance on the TriGen and Broadband projects. Since Wescoat’s political backers are the same former commissioners under investigation, Brian Baker and Bill Cook, one may suspect Wescoat’s motives running against his former boss.

Mr. Wescoat, during the initial introduction, went into great detail about his education and teaching experience. It brought to mind the saying, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” I made mention of that phrase in a Facebook posting last night. My wife, a professor in a local bible college, was not amused by the allegory.

When questions about the future of the county, both Dave Morris and Ryan Wescoat spoke at length about the need for economic development and taking advantage of the conversion of US 71 highway to Interstate Highway 49. At one point I had to wonder if Ryan Wescoat was running for Auditor or for the office of Director for Economic Development. I forget who responded, Jeff Cox or Ron Johnson, that unrestrained spending by the prior commission to push two economic development projects, nearly bankrupted the county.

Returning to the County Auditor’s race, one question clearly displayed the difference between Ron Johnson and Ryan Wescoat. The question, “What would you do if you found an office holder who was not complying with procedures demanded by law?”

Johnson used his discovery of apparent nepotism by the Cass County Clerk, Janet Burlingame as an example. He reported the discovery to the County Clerk and asked her to change her practice to be compliant with the state’s nepotism law. When, after six months, she had done nothing, he reported the case to the county prosecutor. The case was referred to the circuit court where a judge dismissed the charge because it had occurred during a previous term of the county clerk.

Ryan Wescoat’s answer was similar except for one step. After working with the office holder and not getting compliance, he would go to the County Commission, then the prosecutor. The problem with Wescoat’s process is that elected county officeholders are NOT subservient to the County Commission. The commissioners and officeholders are elected peers. One office is not subordinate to the other. The only point of contact is their budget. The Commission, working with the officeholders, creates a budget for the county and the offices. The Commission, after review with the officeholders, approves the budget. I suppose the power of the budget could be a device to use to insure compliance by an officeholder, but it would be a messy and long drawn-out affair, with, I suspect, lawyers involved in the end. Apparently, Mr. Wescoat’s view of the office of Auditor is more inline with the auditors before Mr. Johnson, an accounts payable office who rubber-stamps the decisions of the Commission without question. The concept of the Auditor being the ‘Check and Balance’ of the Commission and the elected officeholders appears to be foreign to Mr. Wescoat’s thinking.

Overall, the distinction between the two political groups, the GOP conservatives and the Oligarchy seeking return of the old, corrupt methods of governance, was readily apparent last night. I make no apology for wishing the conservatives a win next week. Else…we can greet a return to unrestrained spending, debt, and the return of the county to the path of bankruptcy.

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And so it goes…

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The title of today’s post is taken from one of my favorite songs by Billy Joel. I don’t agree with his politics, but I do like his music.  The title also applies to the machinations of the GOP elite from Washington attacking home-state conservatives.

We had the Mississippi fiasco with a number of looong service ‘Pub senators like McConnell, Cornyn, and Missouri’s Roy Blunt, feeding Thad Cochran’s camhttp://www.americanthinker.com/images/bucket/2014-07/192774_5_.jpgpaign. Next, we had ‘pub Senators feeding Pat Roberts money against Milton Wolf. Now, we find more RINOs siding with democrats against other ‘Pub conservatives. This time it is local Kansas RINOs against ‘Pub Kansas Governor Sam Brownback.

RINO stampede in Kansas

By Thomas Lifson, July 16m, 2014

The headline from AP certainly is alarming: “100 Kansas GOP endorse Democrat for governor.” And the lead paragraph continues the theme:

Democratic challenger Paul Davis sought Tuesday to give his campaign for Kansas governor a bipartisan boost by announcing endorsements from more than 100 moderate Republicans who’ve split with conservative GOP Gov. Sam Brownback over education and tax policy.

You might be wondering, to borrow Thomas Frank’s infamous book title, “What’s the matter with Kansas”? I can’t claim to be an expert on the Jayhawker State, but it does appear that this is a matter of sour grapes:

Six state senators on the list lost their seats in 2012 primaries to Brownback-favored candidates, including former Senate President Steve Morris, of Hugoton.

Brownback, after winning the governor’s office in 2010 with 63% of the vote, has moved aggressively to implement a conservative agenda, cutting income taxes. This has rankled the government industry and its many rent-seekers. The good old days when everyone gouged the taxpayers and shared their wealth among the ruling class are missed.

Speaking of old:

Many of the former lawmakers have been out of office for at least a decade.

“When was the last time any of them took a day and walked a precinct to talk with today’s voters about the voters’ concerns?” state GOP Executive Director Clay Barker said.

State Rep. J.R. Claeys, a conservative Republican, was even more dismissive, tweeting, “and they really raided the nursing home for some of them.”

So how’s the Brownback program working out for Kansas?

Brownback campaign spokesman John Milburn responded to the new group’s criticism by noting that since Brownback took office in January 2011, Kansas has gained more than 50,000 private-sector jobs. He also pointed to enactment this year of an education funding plan boosting aid to poor school districts.

“Governor Brownback is focused on leading Kansas by growing the economy, investing in education for future generations, and preserving the bedrock values of hard work, faith and family,” Milburn said.

But the new group backing Davis said Brownback’s “experiment” with tax cuts has impeded the economy, with U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that private-sector job growth has been slower in Kansas than in the U.S. as a whole. The new group also contends spending on public schools remains inadequate.

Put Kansas on the list of states to watch for November.

Kansas has always had a problem with “moderate” republicans. Many of them were democrats claiming the title of republican when they realized they couldn’t be elected as democrats. Johnson County and Wyandotte County, in particular, were infested with these so-called moderates.

Most of them, although there are still a few hold-outs, have been booted out of office by real conservatives. Now those RINOs have shown their true colors. They are supporting liberal democrats against Kansas’ conservatives.

Do they have the strength to affect the election? That is the real question. At this point, no one knows.

 

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The Good and the Bad (Updated: 6-25-14 @ 3:00pm)

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I like to start out with the good. The Supremes released some decisions this morning, The Supreme Court banned warrantless cell phone searches. It was a win for 4th Amendment and privacy advocates.

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police cannot go snooping through people’s cell phones without a warrant, in a unanimous decision that amounts to a major statement in favor of privacy rights.

Police agencies had argued that searching through the data on cell phones was no different than asking someone to turn out his pockets, but the justices rejected that, saying a cell phone is more fundamental. — The Washington Times.

The decision was unanimous. That alone is striking. The article says the decision is a clear 21st century update of privacy rights. In answer to LEO questions about searching cellphones, Chief Justice Roberts response was simple, “Get a warrant.” This decision now places cellphones—and the information contained within, in the same category as a person’s home.

“The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the unanimous court.

“Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple— get a warrant.”

Justices even said police cannot check a cellphone’s call log, saying even those contain more information that just phone numbers, and so perusing them is a violation of privacy that can only be justified with a warrant.

The chief justice said cellphones are different not only because people can carry around so much more data — the equivalent of millions of pages of documents — that police would have access to, but that the data itself is qualitatively different than what someone might otherwise carry.

He said it could lay bare someone’s entire personal history, from their medical records to their “specific movements down to the minute.” — The Washington Times.

There is another similar case winding its way to the Supreme Court. In this case, the device is a laptop instead of a cell phone. A similar case that upheld a ‘legal exception,” known as ‘the border search,’ placed restrictions on searching personal tablets and laptops within 100 miles of the US border.

The decision released today is a win for all of us, regardless.

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On the other hand, the bad occurred yesterday in Mississippi. Thad Cochran won the run-off election for the GOP Senatorial candidacy. He did so by asking democrats to illegally cross party lines to vote for him. An estimated 35,000 did so.

Congratulations To The GOP Establishment On Their Pyrrhic Victory In Mississippi Yesterday

Written By : John Hawkins, June 25, 2014

Last night, Thad Cochran beat Chris McDaniel in a primary run-off and became the GOP’s Senate candidate in Mississippi.

It wasn’t an honorable victory.

Cochran won by getting Democrats to vote in a Republican primary. This was done by touting his support of food stamps. It was done by paying “walking around money” to buy votes. It was done by smearing Tea Partiers as racists.

That’s what it took to re-elect a senile 76 year old man that few people even believe is mentally capable of serving out another term in the Senate.

The cost of that victory was the integrity, personal honor and reputations of prominent Cochran supporters like Haley Barbour, Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell, John McCain and the NRSC, who were all undoubtedly congratulating each other on their sleazy victory last night, while today they’ll begin to try to distance themselves from the dishonorable conduct they winked at during the campaign. We may never know which of them was ultimately responsible for smearing Tea Partiers as racists or centering the run-off campaign around getting Democrats to vote in a GOP campaign. But what we do know is that if Haley Barbour, Karl Rove, John McCain or the NRSC found it unacceptable, they could have put their foot down and demanded the campaign put a stop to it. None of them did because they were just fine with using those sort of tactics to defeat grassroots conservatives.

In return, they will probably get their doddering moderate senator elected instead of adding another grassroots conservative in D.C. But, the cost will be millions of turned-off conservatives, fund raising hits for the already failing NRSC, and even more animosity and venom between Tea Partiers and the establishment.

What was it King Pyrrhus said after his “victory” over the Romans that cost him many of his best officers and troops?

“One more such victory and we are lost.”

How many more “victories” like the one Thad Cochran won yesterday can the GOP stand without shattering to pieces?

I call myself a conservative. At the moment, my allegiance is to the GOP…at the moment.

The Cochran-McDaniel primary isn’t over yet. McDaniel has not conceded.

MCDANIEL MAY CONTEST RESULTS
After Cochran sealed the GOP nomination Tuesday night, McDaniel spoke to supporters, but did not concede. Instead he spoke of “dozens of irregularities” in Tuesday’s voting. Supporters told Fox News today that McDaniel’s team was up all night looking into whether his campaign should challenge last night’s results. McDaniel backers accuse Cochran of pandering to black Democrats, an incendiary charge in the state with a freighted recent history on race relations. But Cochran’s outreach to black voters is nothing new. In a piece from 1984, NYT reports, “Mr. Cochran assiduously courted the black vote, flooding black radio stations with advertisements featuring ‘The Harrises, Mississippi’s Favorite Family,’ a fictional black family. To the strains of soap opera music, they debated the campaign and concluded that ‘Thad’s all right’ and ‘the other side is lying about him.’”
 
“There is nothing strange at all about standing as people of faith for our country that we built, that we believe in. But there is something a bit strange, there is something a bit unusual about a Republican primary that is decided by liberal democrats.” –Challenger Chris McDaniel’s election night speech. — FOX News First, By Chris Stirewalt, June 25, 2014.

 

Update: McDaniel will contest the election.

More and more conservatives, Shawn Hannity among them, are calling for a third party. I’m not in that party controlled socialism to corporate socialism, I’ll have to look for an alternative. At times like this, that decision point seems to be getting closer every day.

 

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