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The following was taken from Senator Tim Huelskamp's newsletter. Poppers and Hayden: Extremism Finds a Home in Kansas? Speaking from their ivory tower on the east coast, they argued that state and federal governments should create a people-free zone throughout the Great Plains, encompassing 130,000 square miles. Instead of the environment-destroying, “unnatural” species of homo sapiens involved in agriculture, the Poppers would take away private land and “restore” millions of free-roaming buffalo to their “natural state.” We all laughed, jeered, and returned, after pausing for only a second, to the real world. Fast forward to 2004. What was outrageous and exceedingly foolish in 1987 has apparently today found a proponent in the Kansas Secretary of Wildlife & Parks, Mike Hayden. Once an opponent to the Poppers’ ideas, Hayden now believes the Poppers’ message was misunderstood. And incredulously Hayden has now all-but-embraced their crazy notion – with a few updated twists. He would “allow” room for some limited communities (of people) in some parts of the buffalo commons. And instead of a radical, quick government take-over, Hayden is willing to slowly create the buffalo commons over a 30-year period. In the mean time, Hayden believes that only rural communities with a big government institution are the ones who can survive. It isn’t a coincidence that Secretary Hayden’s biggest proposal to the Legislature this session – is the use of federal and state dollars to convert farmland into a wildlife preserve. Hayden has proposed to buy the Circle K Ranch in the Kinsley area with your tax money, take it out of agriculture production, and return it to its “natural” state. Last week the Poppers and Mr. Hayden had a joint appearance at Kansas State University to promote their vision of rural Kansas. Again, the Secretary promoted the Poppers and indicated his agreement with their proposals. Rest assured, I will not stand aside and let the Popper/Hayden extremist plan become law without a fight. I know that we can revitalize rural America and agriculture – without government ownership, control and millions of buffalo. Let’s hope we can convince Topeka of the same. Kansas Chamber Opposes Sebelius Tax Increases In testimony Feb. 5, before the Kansas Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee, Chamber President Lew Ebert said, “As many of you know, The Kansas Chamber has for a years strongly supported Kansas education. The Kansas Chamber has gone on the record in the past backing tax increases to fund educational enhancements. “However, the economy of Kansas is not yet recovering sufficiently to afford this approach. Year to year there are still more than 65,000 Kansans who can’t find a job to support themselves and their families – some 14,000 in Wichita and more than 21,000 in the Kansas City areas.” Ebert added, “Now is surely not the right time to further burden the citizens of Kansas with more taxes. Now surely is not the right time to further burden our Kansas businesses with higher taxes. Business is already working hard to survive in challenging times that have gone on for far too long.” The Kansas Chamber president urged lawmakers to do whatever they can to lower the costs of doing business in Kansas and to improve the state’s competitive position for new and expanding businesses. Raising income taxes, raising property taxes, and raising sales taxes, The Chamber president said, hurt citizens in general and small businesses in particular. “Instead of raising taxes, Kansas should be taking the initiative to become a competitive leader among states in the fight for jobs,” Ebert said. “We can improve our competitive position. We must improve our competitive position. We are in a fight for new jobs and to keep the jobs we still have in Kansas.” Supporting Public Education. Not. Kansas Families United for Public Education (KFUPE) is one such “new” group in Kansas. By their name you would assume they support public education. They had the yard signs this past election cycle that said “Support Candidates who Support Public Education”, and their ‘leaders’ often wear t-shirts with the same message. Their web site is very clear: “It is our intention to hold ALL elected Kansas State officials accountable for their actions, or lack of actions, regarding the adequate funding of public schools in Kansas.” One of their founders and their current PAC treasurer, a certain Kathy Cook of Johnson County, was quoted in the Topeka Capitol Journal as saying, “We want to send a message to the legislators and the leaders of the House and the Senate to let them know that there is support for increasing revenues.” What isn’t clear is something that the media has neglected to print. This Kathy Cook, a principal KFUPE founder, is continually delinquent on paying her own taxes. Apparently Cook owed over $3,000.00 in real estate taxes and interest, and had been given notice multiple times. She reminds me of the little ditty, “Don’t tax him, don’t tax me, tax that guy behind the tree.” One reporter apparently did confront Cook with this information. Instead of paying her delinquent tax bill, she instead threatened to sue the reporter personally if the information was published. Her intimidation and threatening behavior worked. The story was never published. Ms. Cook, in addition to her active role in KFUPE, is also a member of the Governor Sebelius Education Policy Team. I’d suggest it may be reasonable policy that members of advisory boards who demand higher taxes from you should begin by paying their own tax bills first. A Little Kansas Common Sense Last year, a certain Christopher I. Sorrels, an inmate in a Kansas prison, filed a lawsuit against the State of Kansas. Describing himself as a transsexual, Mr. Sorrels claimed that he had been dressing as a woman since he was 13 and had undergone hormone therapy for 10 years to prepare himself. Prepare for what you ask? Gay marriage. No. Mental therapy to deal with delusions to womanhood. No. Mr. Sorrels was after a real solution to his problem – a sex-change surgery. A legislative panel wisely rejected his $500,000 claim to continue his “hormone therapy” and surgery. Another inmate with too much free time on his hand and too much access to the prison’s law library recently filed a lawsuit against the state. His claim was nothing as important as the “right” to a sex change. No, it was the right not to eat a cold sack lunch. That’s right. Vernon J. Amos, an inmate at the El Dorado Correctional Facility, alleged that the cold lunch he was served there violated his constitutional rights. The Kansas Court of Appeals also wisely rejected this absurd claim. One must ask, however, how did such an outlandish claim ever make it past District Court? Some judge somewhere must have thought there was some merit to the case. Valentine’s Day Prayer Heavenly Father, Seldom does Valentine’s Day follow Friday the 13th. These two days are a study in contrast. The 13th is concerned with luck. The 14th is concerned with love. Luck involves superstition. Love should involve the Supernatural. Superstition deals with black cats. The Supernatural deals with golden moments. Black cats deal with fear. Golden moments deal with cheer. Fear produces nightmares. Cheer produces sweet dreams. Nightmares produce more fear. Sweet dreams produce peace. People who live by luck usually live in fear. People in love with You, O God, live in peace. And for that we are most thankful. I pray in Jesus’ Name, AMEN. Top 10 Reasons to Love Small Business 9. Small businesses create more than 50 percent of the nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP). 8. Small patenting firms produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms. 7. The 22.9 million small businesses in the United States are located in virtually every neighborhood. 6. Small businesses employ about 50 percent of all private sector workers. 5. Home-based businesses account for 53 percent of all small businesses. 4. Small businesses make up 97 percent of exporters and produce 29 percent of all export value. 3. Small businesses with employees start-up at a rate of over 500,000 per year. 2. Four years after start-up, half of all small businesses with employees remain open. 1. The latest figures show that small businesses create 75 percent of the net new jobs in our economy. Courtesy: Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration
(SBA).
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