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Sen. Tim Huelskamp is once again setting his sights on the well connected abortion industry with plans to reintroduce legislation to defund Planned Parenthood in Kansas.
The bill is a copy of an amendment Sen. Huelskamp successfully passed last legislative session that would have taken federal funding marked for Planned Parenthood and instead given it to community clinics and hospitals. Contrary to the views expressed by the pro-abortion left, the amendment would not have taken funding away for women's health services but rather redistribute the funds to clinics and organizations that the public as a whole can accept and support.
Sen. Huelskamp continues to show his strong leadership for life in Kansas. It's certainly no wonder why pro-life organizations like Concerned Women for America and Kansans for Life endorsed Huelskamp so early in this race.
You can also view a very detailed interview with Sen. Huelskamp at race42008.com.
Mr. Conservative Rob Wasinger was missing in action in tonight's article in Kansas Liberty about the first district endorsement race. Kansas Liberty summarized the endorsement race in light of former Congressman Jim Ryun's endorsement of Sen. Tim Huelskamp today.
Liberty also interviewed Tracey Mann and the newest candidate, Monte Shadwick. Say what you will about the Salina guys, but at least they have the decency to speak to the press. Barnett, Bolrda and Wasinger apparently don't believe the public has a right to know what they think.
I expect this kind of stuff from Barnett and Boldra. After all, they are the farthest left of the six candidates. Barnett in particular now needs to focus on hiding his record from the public to have a better chance at election. But Wasinger's decision to avoid a reporter, especially one that is actually fair and factual, is down right inexcusable.
Even though Tim Huelskamp is the only well rounded conservative in the race with a stellar record to back it up, at least all of the other candidates recognize that they have to appear like a well rounded conservative to get elected. Everyone but Rob Wasinger it would appear.
While everyone else has been trying to convince the public they're the best candidate by treading to the right of where they naturally are, Rob Wasinger storms into town (sorry, storms into the state) and goes distinctly left, hiring Washington D.C. lawyers who do work for stem cell research initiatives in California and raise money for candidates like Rudy Giuliani.
And in light of not getting a single dime out of the first district in campaign contributions, he heads west to find someone, anyone to endorse him. And who does he decide would make a good endorsement? An independent who's only endorsements in the past have been for two Democrats and a liberal Republican.
And now Rob isn't even willing to speak to the press to pretend he's a conservative. It's downright shameful.
Planned Parenthood is once again in the headlines, this time because of help they gave a 14 year old girl who was being abused by a 23 year old man.
According to Kansas Liberty, Sen. Tim Huelskamp and Rep. Lance Kinzer released an audio tape of a girl speaking with Planned Parenthood of Kansas and MId-Missouri where the counselor advised the girl to seek pregnancy testing and contraceptives at the clinic for both her and her abuser. The clinic made no effort to counsel the girl on her sexual abuse or report to law enforcement officials about the abuse.
Planned Parenthood has received over $550,000 the past two years in state funding. Both lawmakers raise an excellent question as to why an organization that refuses to follow Kansas law, especially concerning sexual abuse, continues to receive state funding.
The audio is available on Huelskamp's website, www.huelskamp.org.
The beginning is rather disturbing. I guess I should have known that even abortion clinics make you press one for an abortion, two for birth control, etc, but in my mind I kept hearing, "Press one to kill your child, press two to..."
The caller made it clear that her boyfriend was 23 years old and the counselor didn't seem to care. In fact, the counselor didn't seem to care even a bit for the girl, putting her on hold without warning in the middle of a conversation. Certainly not against the law but its interesting to hear the "compassion" in Planned Parenthood's counselors none-the-less.
If a girl called you up and said she was 14 and then said her boyfriend was 23, wouldn't you at least want to find out more information? Not if you're Planned Parenthood. At the heart of the matter is whether or not the clinic thought the girl was being abused. The fact is Planned Parenthood has shown over and over and over again that they believe 12, 13 and 14 year old girls can make sexual decisions just fine on their own, even when it involves men in their 20's and 30's who could have complete control over them.
The fact is, Planned Parenthood doesn't report the abuse because they don't view it as abuse.
Yesterday I highlighted an investigative story from the Flint Hills Center on just how much money schools are sitting on at the same time they come to legislators and ask for more. The report was also discussed by Kansas Meadowlark, Wichita Liberty and Kansas Liberty. No other news outlet in the state has discussed where taxpayer money is being spent (or not spent) on education.
And it's not at all surprising. It's hard to say there isn't a bias in the media when they ignore well researched, thoughtful investigative journalism such as what the Flint Hills Center published yesterday. For all the talk of the death of investigative journalism, I'm beginning to believe more and more that "investigative journalism" has been dead a long time already. Newspapers like the Wichita Eagle and Kansas City Star are only interested in journalism if it involves shoving a camera in someone's face or embarrassing someone they don't like.
It's been speculated that with the financial trouble the newspaper industry finds itself in that someday soon they may be replaced with not-for-profit papers or independent investigative reporters. That's basically what was done at the Flint Hills Center. However if the newspaper industry will simply continue on the same path it's been on for the past who knows how many decades, there's little point in making our free press financially free as well. Quite honestly, unless these new founded "non-profit" papers are interested in doing hard hitting journalism, I'd rather see them just go bankrupt.
And the silence doesn't even make sense. As I read the report schools themselves are not a fault. It's a bad system set up by Topeka that has encourage financial behavior on the part of districts that's cause the rat-holing of such large sums of cash. Don't districts want to have access to that money? Don't districts want the flexibility to spend that money as they wish? Or are they so hungry for more tax dollars that they're willing to ignore $1.36 billion just sitting on the table?
Since when is the Kansas Board of Regents interested in students? Apparently when it looks like their budget is going to get cut, they get interested in a hurry.The Wichita Eagle has an article up today regarding the Regents promise to freeze tuition for a year if their budget isn't cut any further. Of course, that's a relative pipe dream because state revenue are continuing to fall beneath expectations.Here's what I want to know... why all of the sudden is the Board of Regents interested in freezing tuition? Where were these people during the decade of eight and ten percent yearly increases? Oh, but cut my budget and all the sudden we care about tuition costs!
Here's the other side of the story: Kansas universities will be getting $50 million in "stimulus" money this year. But rather than take the one time money and use it for, oh, I don't know, one time projects, instead they want to use it to freeze tuition, and then hold that over the Legislature's head to keep the rest of their budget.
This is exactly why Democrats wanted the stimulus. Use the money for something like a tuition freeze and all of the sudden it becomes a mandate that the state will have to keep funding in the future.
I'd love for just one reporter to ask the Regents why this year, of all years, they have suddenly become interested in student's pocketbooks.
Conservatives love to gripe about the "mainstream media." I'm one of them, I'll admit it. And yet sometimes the media gets it right. Conservatives would do themselves a huge favor if they would simply acknowledge it when it happens.
The problem is some are better than others. Which paper do you read? Which TV station do you watch? Well, all of them, of course! That is, if you're a news junkie like me!
For everybody else, who doesn't have the time or desire to watch news 24/7 but who want the unfiltered truth, I thought I'd put together my own list of MSM in Kansas: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Today, let's take a look at one of the good ones. I'll call the "good ones" green light sources...
Kansas Liberty - MSM? Liberty? Yes, I know, Kansas Liberty isn't exactly the first news source that would pop into your head when the phrase "mainstream media" is brought up. In fact I think of it as the anti-MSM. But there's several reasons why I'm going to lump them in here.
Liberty is a subscription news service with nothing but original reporting, and an ever expanding readership. I've seen many Liberty articles appear in my many Google Searches. And honestly, unless we begin to view sources like Kansas Liberty as mainstream, how can we expect anyone else to view them as mainstream?
So even though they don't have a print edition, I'm going to classify them as MSM.
Why the green light? Well, if you read anything there, it becomes apparent instantly. Original reporting. Stories no one else will tell. The whole truth, not the half truth Kansans are so used to getting. The list goes on.
Next up, a pair of papers, the Hutchinson News and the Manhattan Mercury. What's your prediction? Green, yellow or red light?
Kansas Liberty notes tonight that Sen. Huelskamp leads in the endorsement race. Even though opponent Rob Wasinger started off the firestorm of early endorsements with anonymous comments regarding some national pro-life leaders, it seems Huelskamp has more than shored up his national support and continues to surge in local first district support.
It's interesting to note that the article only mentions two of Wasinger's endorsements, Barton and Thompson. I can only assume that's because those are the only two he's mentioned publicly and officially on his website. This makes it even more curious why his supporters have insisted on anonymously creating endorsements through Facebook groups and in comments here and elsewhere.
Endorsements are nice, but in reality they usually don't translate into votes, no matter who they come from. People make their own decisions, and especially in the independent First District, I think folks will come to the decision to vote Huelskamp on their own without any help from outside influences.
When it comes to government transparency, Republican's continue to lead the state in innovative, practical ideas. I'm happy to say Sen. Huelskamp is among those leaders.A recent Kansas Liberty article outlined Senate bill 226 which would require all Kansas school districts to post their spending data online in a searchable database similar to KanView. According to Liberty:"KanView was an outgrowth of an amendment offered by Huelskamp during the 2007 legislative session. Formally called the Kansas Taxpayer Transparency Act, it required the state to develop a searchable, publicly accessible website reporting the financial activity of state government. It was the first effort of its kind in the nation."
With over half of our state budget going to K-12 education, it is certainly time for the taxpayers to know how their money is being spent.
In addition, Huelskamp’s proposal, Senate Bill 226, would require the Legislature to provide a concise, easily reviewable listing of legislative votes.
“In order to hold us accountable, our citizens need quick, easy access to our voting records,” Huelskamp said. “But with the current legislative website, it is nearly impossible to track legislative votes. Instead, this bill would provide for simple, daily Internet updates of our voting records to allow constituent review and criticism.”
This is certainly something I can't wait for. It's unacceptable that in 2009 a Kansas citizen can't find out how their Representative or Senator voted.
I'm looking forward to seeing more of Sen Huelskamp's practical, common sense proposals once elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sen. Tim Huelskamp is once again setting his sights on the well connected abortion industry with plans to reintroduce legislation to defund Planned Parenthood in Kansas.
