Kansas Governor Brownback Wants To "Mike Pence" Kansas

Is it me, or does anyone else think that the Republicans, especially Republican governors, will never learn?

In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling saying The Gays can get married, and be recognized as married couples, anywhere in the US of A, Kansas’ GOP Governor Sam Brownback said he is considering a new religious objections law for the state.

Three words Brownback: Mike. Pence. Indiana. Any of that ring a bell?

Probably not because, although same-sex couples can obtain marriage licenses in all 105 Kansas counties, the state will not allow The Newlywed Gays to change their names on driver’s licenses, nor has Brownback said that these couples can file joint state tax returns next year; in addition, Kansas has not extended coverage to gay spouses under its health insurance plan for government workers.

Wake up, Brownback, it’s over; you lost. We all know that you foot-stomped and knuckle-dragged and head-snapped for over ten years about same-sex marriage—in 2005 the state Constitution was amended to allow discrimination—but the time has come to move on from that.

Yet still he is being dragged kicking and screaming into adapting to the law:

“You have to understand and get the mechanisms in place. We’ve had meetings with the attorney general, with the relevant Cabinet agencies. We want to make sure to do this right.”

Here’s how you do it: the law changed, here’s the new law, congratulations to the happy gay couples.

But Brownback will continue to fight, and continue to work against the LGBT community in Kansas, and try to get his own Religious Freedom Restoration Act up and running, and then he’ll be the scourge of his state, of businesses in his state, and the laughingstock of the entire country until he changes his mind and learns to accept that the times have changed.

Again, Governor Brownback: Mike. Pence. Indiana.

The Kansas City Star

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback Wants To Be Dictator Of Kansas

We all know that those folks on the right — not that they are right, they’re just called the ‘right’ — have told stories for years about the illegal tactics President Obama has pulled to get through his Socialist-Fascist-dictator-like agenda.

But he ain’t got nuthin’ on Kansas Governor, and Republican, of course, Sam Brownback who has just signed a law declaring that the state judiciary branch will lose all of its funding if the Kansas Supreme Court strikes down a law that he likes; it’s a case of classic bullying dictatorship. In Kansas!

Brownback’s threat to take away the money comes just as the court is considering the constitutionality of a 2014 law he signed in an effort to stack courts with conservative judges who agree with his Teabagging agenda.

But the fact is that the 2014 law is unconstitutional because Kansas’ constitution says the Supreme Court “shall have general administrative authority over all courts in this state.” Brownback’s law strips the court of that authority and gives it to him, so he can appoint judges who will cater to his every whim.

Dictatorship.

And so if the court decides that 2014 law is unconstitutional, then Brownback will take away the money because, well, he’s a bully, a dictator, a Republican, and a Teabagging ass kisser.

This all started when a court ordered Sam Brownback, as governor of all of the people of Kansas, and the GOP-controlled legislature, to fix the growing spending gap between rich and poor school districts. Brownback didn’t like the idea of poor folks and their schools getting more money and the rich folks and their schools getting less, so he passed a law that gave him the authority to appoint judges, and a law that deprived the Kansas Supreme Court the right to set district court budgets.

In other words, Sammy had a hissy fit because he might not get his way.

And if he gets his way, there would no longer be a separation of powers in Kansas, because Sam Brownback, and the GOP, would control the courts, which would simply become the tools of his dictatorship. He would be the only one in control; no checks, no balances.

And the Teabaggers say Obama is the criminal.

Addicting Info

Photo Source

Kansas Goosesteps Backwards

Just this week, Kansas Governor, and apparent goose-stepping Neanderthal, Sam Brownback revoked an executive that have been in place for eight years which gave LGBT state employees protection from being discriminated against because of their LGBT-ness.

That’s right, after eight years of equality for state employees, Governor Asshat, er, Brownback, took it all away, and in doing so, is basically saying, “Let the discrimination games begin.” But, to be clear, the homophobic, anti-LGBT governor, did issue a new order that, according to him, “reaffirms the commitment of the State of Kansas to employment practices which do not discriminate based on race, color, gender, religion, national origin, ancestry or age.”

But not sexual orientation or gender identity, never sexual orientation or gender identity.

Brownback’s press secretary, Eileen Hawley, said that when former Kansas governor, and Democrat, of course, Kathleen Sebelius signed the original order in 2007, she “unilaterally” established two additional classes of protected citizens — state employees and all others — and that Brownback’s New Kansas Order means state employees will only have the same protections that all other Kansas residents have.

See, to the average worker in Kansas who falls into the LGBT category, you can be fired simply for being LGBT, so Brownback decided to just make it plain that anyone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, in any job, anywhere in Kansas, state-employed and otherwise, can be fired for being gay.

Well, Governor, if you felt there was an inequality there, that sate workers were a more ‘protected’ group, then why not advocate for LGBT protections statewide in all fields of employment? Oh yeah, ‘cuz those folks are gay, and cuz you’re a Republican, and, well, that means bigot.

Marty Rouse, national field director for the Human Rights Campaign [HRC} is naturally disgusted by Brownback’s order:

“This is a dramatic reversal for Kansas. For eight years, LGBT state employees have been guaranteed nondiscrimination protections and in one foul, reckless and shameful decision, Governor Brownback has taken the state backward. His deplorable behavior is a direct assault on fairness and equality in the state.”

On the upside, kind of, within a couple of hours of Brownback turning back the clock on workplace discrimination of the LGBT community, Kansas Representative John Carmichael, a Democrat, of course, asked to introduce a bill in the House Judiciary Committee that would put employment protection for LGBT state workers into statute.

He was countered by Kansas Representative, and, naturally, a Republican, Jan Pauls, who opposes extending that protection because she doesn’t think rescinding the employment protection order puts LGBT state workers at risk. She says she’d be surprised that any LGBT person gets fired with the protections now gone.

Well, Jan, you delusional tool then remove employment discrimination laws protections for everyone because it isn’t a matter of if an LGBT state worker gets fired for that reason, it’s the fact that they can be fired, without cause, just for being LGBT.

And, lest anyone not get this queer: Republicans hate The Gays. If you read these stories of anti-LGBT rulings, whether on marriage equality, adoption rights, employment protections, the side that is always against the LGBT community is Republican.

Get that queer, y’all. And remember that just because we are winning the fight for marriage equality doesn’t mean we are winning; in places like Kansas we are once again being pushed to the back of the bus, and perhaps getting fired for it, too.

via Lawrence Journal-World

Methinks He Doth Protest Too Much.....And So He Apologized

Emma Sullivan [l] and Governor Sam Brownback [r]

They say you gotta have a thick skin if you wanna be in politics, but apparently Kansas governor, Sam Brownback didn't get the memo.

See last week Shawnee Mission East High School senior, Emma Sullivan, was among a group of students at the Statehouse for a Youth in Government program. And as Brownback, a Republican, was addressing the group, Sullivan, who says she is a Democrat and who recently registered to vote, tweeted from her cellphone, “Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.”

Kinda funny. Didn't happen. Oh, not the Tweet, that's real, but Emma Sullivan never told Brownback he sucked, though she could have, and had she, well, then all this brouhaha might have seemed sort of appropriate.

Brownback’s staff, which monitors social media like Facebook and Twitter, saw Sullivan's Tweet and complained about it, and complained about it, and complained about it. In fact, Brownback’s spokeswoman, Sherriene Jones-Sontag, said: “It was important for the organization to be aware of the comments their students were making. It’s also important for students to recognize the power of social media, how lasting it is. It is on the Internet.”

All that complaining, foot-stomping, neck-snapping, whining and kvetching led to a trip to the principal’s office for Sullivan, who was scolded and told to write letters of apology. For her opinion. Sullivan was told by the school principal, Karl Krawitz, that she had embarrassed her school and district, and needed to write the letter of apology. 

At first, Sullivan said she would apologize but said she wasn't sorry. Then she refused to apologize, at which point the principal foot-stomped, neck-snapped, whined and kvetched, until the Shawnee Mission school district issued a statement saying Emma Sullivan didn’t have to apologize: “The district acknowledges a student’s right to freedom of speech and expression is constitutionally protected. The issue has resulted in many teachable moments concerning the use of social media.”

But, to quote one of my favorite films, this was "all far from over."

What followed was a national fire storm, most of it critical of Sam Brownback and Principal Krawitz, with folks saying Brownback was trying to intimidate a teenager, abridge freedom of speech, waste taxpayer dollars by monitoring what was written about him and being paranoid.

So, on Monday, Sam Brownback was the one who apologized, saying his staff had overreacted to the Tweet.

Ya think?

The “overreaction” certainly added to Sullivan’s popularity. Before the incident, she had about 65 Twitter followers. By mid-afternoon Monday, she had more 10,000, or more than three times as many as Brownback.

Suh-nap!

source

Let Us Pray

Well, so much for separation of church and state.

Republican repugnant Senators Jim DeMint, of the great state :::tee hee::: of South Carolina, Sam Brownback, from one of those square states in the middle...Kansas, I think, and Queen of the Wingnuts, Michele Bachmann, of Minnesota, where it's cold and I figured she'd keep her mouth shut, held a prayer service, of all things, to pray for the failure of health care reform.

Yes, good people of South Carolina, Kansas and Minnesota, rather than working to pass a health care bill, even one of their own, these three asshats, the trifecta of asshattery, if you will, are praying for the failure of health care. These three wingnuts that, sadly, work for you, and me, would rather pray for failure than work toward a solution for health care for their constituents.

Is this why you elected them,? To pray? Or did you elect them to work for you? Did you elect them to legislate or sermonize?

Well, I'm praying, too. I'm praying that the good people of Minnesota wake up and tell Michele Bachmann to kiss their frigid asses. I'm praying that the good people of Kansas send Sam Brownback back to whatever crypt he crawled out of; and I'm praying, and working, towards seeing that Jim DeMint never holds political office in this state again.

Shall we pray?