TOON: The Kansas "Experiment"

[gregcrawford]

"Kansas Experiment." Editorial cartoon by Gregory Crawford. © 2015 World News Trust

"Kansas Experiment" by Gregory Crawford is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on a work at http://worldnewstrust.com/toon-kansas-experiment-gregory-crawford

Crawford's WNT profile page: http://worldnewstrust.com/Gregory-Crawford/

Gregory Crawford's WNT blog page: http://worldnewstrust.com/all-items/?layout=author&authorid=380

Gregory Crawford's website: http://crawford.airlight.us/

[NCjack]

1. But, there is no revolt in Kansas to stop the madness.

[jwirr]

2. Kansas has been R for so long you wonder if they've got it in them to disobey?

[No Vested Interest]

9. Kathleen Sebelius was the Democratic governor of Kansas

from 2003-2009.

Although her husband was from a Republican family, I've never understood how quickly Kansas went from electing her, a Democrat, twice, to the ultra-conservative state it is now.

[jwirr]

15. The Kansas that I remember years ago was very republican and I had forgotten her. She was good

so I to wonder what happened.

[gregcrawford]

39. The Religious Right happened

Slimy charlatans that are the total antithesis of everything they purport to represent. When they got psychotic "pastors" to spew Right-wing corporatist rhetoric from the pulpit every Sunday, the tapped into the inchoate resentment of millions of people already conditioned to follow blindly without critical thought.

Pathological selfishness combined with the exclusionary and judgmental certainty of the born-again fanatic makes for a potent enemy of democracy.

[pstokely]

41. Red states occasionally elect Dem govs, Blue states occasionally elect Repub govs

the Red state Dem govs are often DINOs

[MuseRider]

26. Bullshit.

Do you live here? If not then stop with the bullshit. There is a ton of revolt going on here. Just because you (and everyone else) only pays attention to this state when something completely horrible or stupid happens does not mean you know shit about what is going on.

I am so sick and tired of this. Why don't you study what has been said about this before you come in here and make an asshole statement like that?

[NCjack]

28. No, I live in NC. I would like to send some bucks to a bonafide "Recall Brownback" petition. Not a pseudo

internet petition which has no legal force, but one sweated out by going door-to-door to collect signatures. Please give us the link to a group making a serious effort and has made progress.

[MuseRider]

31. We cannot recall him.

He appoints who gets to be Governor if we did. **I do need to check this out, how it actually works so if it is different than just that I will correct it** There is an effort here that is taking up all the money and time that could be better spent getting candidates to run against all the Baggers but nope, they only want to make a point. Making a point is fine but if it steps in the way of actual progress then no, it is not fine.

DO not send them money, we have a whole lot of other things that need to be done.

I assume you are in North Carolina? I believe you are all being pounded by ALEC? Just remember, we have been the ground zero for the Koch brothers efforts. 30 years they have been working on this state (I can't prove that number but I first heard of them during Reagan). There corporate offices are here and for years they were the home state good guys because they did actually used to bring in money to the state. They were up to no good.

Tell you what. When you have Charles Koch sitting in the office of the Senate president in your state having a "conversation" with the legislators before important RW voting or just look up from your seat in the gallery and see that MF's face down the aisle from you then you can complain to me about how stupid we are.

Ya know, the first time Brownback ran most people to the West of Manhattan, Kansas did not know he had a Democrat running against him. He ran on his own money, there was no other money.

The last election had some really funny numbers and a ton of lost votes. We can't even contest that. If you go to the courts and they vote against Brownback he has threatened to defund our court system.

OK, now you. I have spent the last 15 years of my life doing things to make it better here including helping to lobby these people. A lot of DUers from Kansas have done the same. Wanna tell me how a post like yours helps when you have been beating your head against the Koch wall for as long as you can remember?

I have to run so I won't be responding until later. Please consider this before you make comments like you did.

[NCjack]

32. Sympathies. NC has the same deal KS has.

[MuseRider]

34. Here is the link from my organization.

It isn't that he gets to pick, I was wrong about that. I had read that somewhere but this is the actual proceedure.

http://eqks.org/recall-brownback-a-wonderful-sentiment-but-a-futile-exercise/

[NCjack]

35. OK, I concede that a recall will not work. If NC could remove the governor, the Lt. Gov.

would be made governor -- he's even more right wing. So, I'm not going to suggest again that folks in KS are too shy to standup to the Tea Party.

[MuseRider]

36. Thanks

Not shy at all but only a minority still to stand up. We do stand up, in many ways. It is just easier for people to say we are stupid and cow-like rather than to actually pay attention to the reality here and that makes their comments bullshit.

Previously, before Brownback, I would have said that the people here would have voted R while standing in line for their poverty rations. I think that may be changing. We will see.

Thank you for taking the abuse of my first post to you and not just sending it back to me. I apologize for that post.

We have to stop calling each other stupid when we don't agree. We need to search it out and help each other. Nothing is ever gained by climbing a ladder on someone else's back. This is not directed to you but to everyone who does this over and over.

Being better than others and expressing it in terms like we see here is about the least helpful thing anyone can do. It certainly makes it harder on us here to make progress and it certainly does allow an enemy to continue to exist for those that feel the need to be better than someone else. What a culture.

[Gothmog]

3. Great cartoon

[gregcrawford]

23. Thanks, Gothmog!

[Moostache]

4. There is no revolt because there is no informed majority populace.

Our democratic republic can only function with a well informed citizenry. Kansas is ground zero for the fundie right's experimentation because their citizens are a majority of idiots and zealots mixed with the uninformed and incurious.

I feel bad for the minority of Kansans, but living here in East Kansas (formerly known as "Missouri&quot , I find myself more fearful of their experimentation spreading than I am worrying about how to help them. In all honesty, I hope they keep digging their hole and make themselves an even bigger example of abject failure of right wing policy as a warning to the rest of the states.

[StarzGuy]

11. Nice thought but Arizona is following the Kansas "mircle" right to hell

[Moostache]

17. Then we have to hope to contain the disease.

Metastatic Teapartioma would be fatal to the country. Kansas and Arizona, while tragic on the local level, are still the equivalent to losing a spleen on the national level...I'm very worried about Texas too.

[DhhD]

37. Texas has the Rainy Day fund to smooth things over as Texas is decaying.

If we had no black gold to cover the wholes and fill in, then Texas would be digging deeper, than Kansas, by now.

http://www.texastribune.org/tribpedia/rainy-day-fund/

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Ex-comptroller-Strayhorn-finds-vindication-in-1690514.php

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/eat-your-meat-and-vegetables-hegar-tells-lawmakers-eyeing-dessert-that-is-tax-cuts.html/

http://www.scribd.com/doc/264640570/Hegar-warns-lawmakers-to-weigh-tax-cuts-vs-long-term-challenges-facing-Texas

[DhhD]

38. Adding the Texas Ex-Comptroller's 2005 letter to Texas Ex-Governor Rick Perry.

2005 letter of Warning:

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ourvaluesourtexas/pages/2/attachments/original/1341781120/Strayhorn_Letter_to_Perry_060515.pdf?1341781120

Strayhorn ran against Perry in the 2006 R-Primary and lost. Perry, under a 2 count indictment for corruption, is a secessionist running to preside over the, union, of 50 states. Texas is comical sadness and full of austeric and hysteric assholes.

[yurbud]

20. MSM only repeats talking points from leaders of the two major parties.

If top Dem politicians don't make a stink about it and drag MSM nose to it, they will ignore it.

[gregcrawford]

47. The ruthless repression...

... with which the Brownback regime threatens dissenters, even the states own judiciary, makes people think twice about speaking out. When righteous indignation can cost you your job, your home, and maybe even your freedom, I suspect you weigh your options carefully.

[AuntPatsy]

5. Huge Kick

[gregcrawford]

42. Thanks, Patsy!

[SoapBox]

6. Pukes and Baggers...THE worst at managing money.

[gregcrawford]

43. But they're masters at blaming others for their fuck-ups. nt

[lupine25]

7. Love the toon but....

...shouldn't they be shoveling manure instead of dirt?

[gregcrawford]

16. Yeah, but...

... manure is not stable enough to dig a Kansas-shaped hole in it; it might cave in on 'em! Not that such misfortune would be a BAD thing! The schadenfreude would be exquisite!

[Solly Mack]

8. K&R

[Matariki]

10. In spite of all that, there must be one or twe people who are benefiting from that 'experiment'

[gregcrawford]

40. These two evil bastards...

... would impose a Randian hellscape on all us "parasites," as the bitch-goddess of pathological selfishness (Ayn Rand) used to refer to working people, while the "billionaire class" would be exempted from ANY responsibility for their depredations.

SAVE US, BERNIE!

[valerief]

12. Wait a minute! The cartoon left out the most important thing. RICH PEOPLE ARE RICHER! nt

[gregcrawford]

18. That the rich get richer...

... is one of the immutable laws of the universe. Everybody knows that! At least, the billionaires think they should.

[valerief]

19. No, it's the ONLY law. Their lawns trump our thirst. nt

[Enthusiast]

13. Republicans have three answers: More war, deregulation and tax cuts.

[jayschool]

14. Analysis: Kansas workers with low to moderate incomes will feel the greatest pain from tax increases

Every Kansan will feel the sting of the budget and accompanying tax hikes passed at the end of the state Legislature’s marathon 2015 session. Homeowners, workers, businesses, smokers — all will pay more.

But no group, experts believe, gets hurt more than the state’s low- and moderate-income workers, those earning between $30,000 and $50,000 a year.

They now face higher taxes on essential purchases without most of the subsidies that protect poorer Kansans from government’s bite.

Low-income workers, unlike those with significantly higher earnings, must watch their pennies carefully to pay for other essentials such as transportation and housing. Soon, more of those pennies — which quickly grow to dollars — will be on their way to Topeka.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article24020830.html#storylink=cpy

[yurbud]

21. Brownback is become the Pol Pot of Kansasbodia

[gregcrawford]

22. Yeah...

... threatening to strip the entire court system of funding if any judges have the temerity to disagree with him pretty much brands him as a psychopath. Maybe when he starts killing anyone wearing eyeglasses, as Pol Pot did, Kansans will wake the hell up and get rid of him, but I doubt it; they've guzzled too much of his Kool-Aid. And they'd have to admit that they made a mistake. Ever known a Republican to do THAT?

[yurbud]

24. Back in the 70's, when Republicans could still engage in rational discourse

The William F. Buckley era.

[gregcrawford]

25. I enjoyed his spy novels...

... but when he had difficulty justifying his position on a given issue, he'd resort to polysyllabic obfuscation to show off his erudition, and by the time you looked up from your dictionary of obscure terms, he'd be gone.

[yurbud]

29. today's conservative equivalent: say something so blatantly stupid and untrue...

you want to fact-check it to authoritatively PROVE it's wrong. By the time you've got a good source, they've got their own show on Fox News.

[gregcrawford]

30. Good one!

[MuseRider]

27. We can't

recall means he gets to choose who takes over.

He was voted out, he really was. The numbers stink and Kobach and Brownback will not let us look at them. I mean wacky stuff with the voting. I seriously do not believe he won and we can't recall him.

[gregcrawford]

33. Sounds like Herr Brownback is severely limiting your options

Can you petition the feds to monitor elections because Shitback has cooked the books? Even if only the attempt is publicized, it could make life miserable for him. The Federal Elections Commission might be interested, unless, of course, they've been infiltrated, too, which is a very strong possibility.

[gregcrawford]

45. By the way...

... I like your clarinet! Or is that a soprano sax?

[MuseRider]

46. It is a clarinet :-)

[Judi Lynn]

44. Thank you, so much. So fitting. n/t