He should cut taxes, especially for the rich.

He can always install a TRUE negative income tax, one that subsidizes the rich based on their level of personal income. Like, if you make $10 billion, you get a 10% subsidy, or 1 billion. If you only have a million, you get only a subsidy of 1%, or $10,000. Below that, you have to start paying in. Somebody who makes $100,000 has to send 1%, or $1,000 in. If you make only $50,000, you have to send in half, or $25,000. Anyone who makes below $20,000 has to send it all in.

This is the perfect system, when you think about it. It's a powerful disincentive for poverty, and ought to turn around the economy of the state practically overnight.

Perhaps public flogging of the willful poor. Make it part of state celebrations of some holiday, say the 4th of July or Christmas.

the score stands Lions 17, Homeless 0.

Moved inside....lions

They can do it in the Name of Jee-sus

Why not? The best-known corporate criminals in Kansas are the Koch brothers.

Puts means testing in a whole new light.

It's true either way. They really think like that.

Sounds great, to proponents of Romnomnomics - drive the poor away, they're a burden anyway. But what if they're the ones payin' the bills?
Shantytowns called "Brownsvilles" spring up accross the Midwest. Shabby caravans wander to depopulated cities like Detroit, Gary, East St. Louis, and N'awlins, in search of urban homesteads, chasing rumors of abandoned houses,surplus FEMA trailers, old RV's, and shipping containers. "Where are you from, friend? Witichta, brother! I've been Brownbacked!"

be too far off?

souls? Nah.

between conception and birth.

These bastards will cut services to make up the other half.

Less money coming in, less services going out.

Don't complain when you have to wait 8 hrs. at motor vehicles,
or when you need medicaid, and you no longer qualify,
or teachers that voted for Brownback, get laid off,
or ... this is what you voted for!

But the Koch brothers will sit fat & pretty in Wichita counting their
billions, NOT hiring anyone.

what lazy bastards those state employees are. I bet if you fire a few more of them they won't have time to be lolligagging around like that.

HOW did Brownnose get reelected, with his record?? When Dole was their senator, he combed through the voting records to weed out dem voters for revenge. He kept one man in prison for longer than he should have by "losing" the paperwork. Read "Senator For Sale" about the entire story. Dole was a vindictive bastard. Strange that so many dems. were ahead in the polls, yet lost to sub par "leaders" like this clown.

Lawrence man suggests 'crowdfunding' to fill Kansas budget gap http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/capitol-report/2014/nov/11/lawrence-man-suggests-crowdfunding-to-fi/

Laffer's own work claims that if you keep lowering taxes past the optimal point on the curve lost revenues can never keep up with increased economic activity.

Kansas has lower revenues AND lagging growth so clearly they are chasing the wrong side of the curve yet cutting taxes is always the right answer with these guys. Why does Kansas keep subjecting itself to this kind of cult thinking?

and, privatize all the roads, so you need to pay tolls to private companies to travel on them.

But, tax credits for vouchers for private schools and also for people with cars valued over $50,000

You are going to reap what you have sewn.

I am a Kansan and thousands of us worked tirelessly to get this idiot defeated. We had a wonderful candidate in Paul Davis, who was so admired and respected that hundreds of prominent Kansas Republicans openly endorsed him. We are crushed, stunned, and still hurting from the devastating defeat.

Please know that many innocent Democratic and Independent Kansans are "reaping" what we did not sew. We are victims of a corrupt and malicious Republican machine that is run by the Koch Brothers and fueled by out of state money to pull off this disastrous "win".

It's crazy.

We thought Davis had it. All of the major papers endorsed Davis and he had huge approval ratings. Brownback was such a dismal failure that even prominent Republicans in the state spoke out against him. One thing that the Republicans hit Davis with was a decades old story about a raid on a strip club where Davis was in attendance. He was a young attorney at the time and was there with his employer to meet with the club's owner about a legal matter. Naturally, the Republicans went nuts with it, accusing him of getting a lap dance and all manner of illicit activity. The officers who led the raid even came out publicly and said Davis was innocent of any wrong doing and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The "family values" people went full-out with a trumped out smoke screen.

Davis led a clean, positive campaign and took the moral high ground. He thought the voters would see through the negative ads and distortions.

Along with that, massive amounts of money flowed into the state along with "troops on the ground" - especially in Western Kansas, the reddest part of the state.

It was a nightmare. A lot of us are still in shock. Brownback won 50% to 46% - hardly a landslide.

I don't know how accurate this is, but I was just on the Kansas City Star facebook page, and one poster said the results are out of whack with the exit polls. Do you know if that's true?

In all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised. The Koch brothers are incredibly powerful and have deep pockets. The polling showed that Brownback was clearly going down - even prominent, big name Kansas Republicans who had decades of service in the state Republican Party made commercials for Davis. Nothing adds up. I wonder if we'll ever know for sure.

Nationwide, too many things just don't make sense.

"Ya know, with all the eggs we lay, you'd think there would be a lot more of us."

Sad, infuriating, and brilliant.

How do Kansan's vote? Paper ballots, machines, what?

and some are machines, depending on the locale. I am really suspicious of the results... A friend of mine owns a liquor store in a somewhat rural town of about 15,000 - an area that is highly Republican, and he said people were coming in all day saying they could not believe the results. It does make you wonder.

I'd be curious to see if the places with paper ballots were closer to expectations (and exit polls) than the places with machines. Or vice versa, for that matter.

Last edited Wed Nov 12, 2014, 11:05 AM - Edit history (2)

Electric power cut to voting locations in Florida, 40,000 new voter registrations
being lost in Georgia, N.C. reports of machines flipping votes, TN's weird results
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025795373 , 32 Republican Sec. of States
using a software that "spots" voters who might be "double voting" from one
state to another, Walker's win in Wisconsin, and all the people in Kansas voting
for the person and a policy that is crushing their state.

Something stinks

Remove the comma at the end.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025795373

And Brownback just made my skin crawl. I was glad to see that he was getting his ass handed to him in the polls and shocked that he won.

On the daily show it showed republicans opposing Brownback. Something fishy had to have happened.

...I'm pretty sure the election was completely rigged.

KS Sec. of State Kobach managed to push through his "proof of citizenship" measure, so that suppressed a lot of votes. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I doubt any Republicans had difficulty "proving" citizenship.

A lot of people here also feel the election was rigged. Republicans certainly outspent Democrats with a lot of the money coming in from out of state. Bought and paid for...

Why would anyone prefer him over someone else? Especially when he has done so much damage to the economy. The Republican voter base is just crazy I guess. I wish your economy the best of luck.

You'll help us get the message across that this is not a solution, if it's any comfort.

The day after the election, I saw a bumper-sticker in a grocery store parking lot here in KS. It said:

"My child is an honor student. My governor is an idiot."

Upset as I was, it gave me hope.

I'm sorry. I was so hoping that Davis would tip the scales, even by a half of a %age point. Of course I was speaking of a majority of Kansans, and meant no disrespect to the devoted Democrats who worked so hard to elect Davis.

as Dem in Texas we do get lumped in with repuke assholes

I realize and appreciate that you and so many others worked your collective asses off to try to get Davis elected and it didn't work out. Honestly it pisses me off even though I'm not from (nor have I ever been to) Kansas. It makes me want to write a letter to the editor of the paper pointing out just how stupid the people who voted for Brownback are and that everyone loses because of this asshole. I don't know the specifics of the race without looking at it, but somehow I don't think any amount of money or a better circumstance would have helped change the outcome. Those who voted for Brownback are punishing every single people in the state for allowing him to continue to serve as governor and run up deficits. I hope the D's in your state have a majority in the State House or Senate to help keep him in check.

for the worst. Kansas has a Republican majority in the State House and Senate. There are a few moderate Republicans who survived the Brownback purge a few years ago, but it will probably be open season on them now. I can't help but feel that Brownback will be emboldened now that he doesn't have to face re-election.

It's only been a week since the election and already the news is that the state is facing additional reductions in school funding as a result of massive budget shortfalls.

... but was Dem turnout like in Kansas? I can't believe that in the face of such criminal incompetence that people are sitting on their hands and not voting!

I'm not sure, but I do know Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach spearheaded an effort to require proof or citizenship in order for people to register and vote. Twenty percent of voter registrations were reportedly suppressed or rejected. According to Right Wing Watch, a large percentage of the potential voters were Independent with about 18% being Democrats. That certainly would give Republicans a distinct advantage.

By the way, Kobach won re-election. Not surprising when they stack the deck.

At some point, aren't the streets going to crumble and the entire infrastructure collapse?

And for all those Holy and Pious type farmers, that are going to need something...finding that there is no more of that "something", going to be mad?

Nawwww...it's O-bama's fault.

Some people just have to things the hard way. When those red-neck RWers lose their jobs, their pensions, their schools, the fire depts, police stations, and bridges and overpasses start crumbling even worse than now, do you think a little light bulb will go off in their brains?

it is the ones that DID NOT vote for this clown that I feel for.

The bad guys will find a way to blame it on the President or on us or both. And the Dumbfuckistanis will swallow that, whole.

So the question remains - WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT??????

I know! Let's all wait for DEBBIE to come up with an answer.

No matter how much the GOP fucks up the voters will blame Obama and vote the morons back in. These people are fanatical freaks-jobs.

... I don't know if there's such a thing as "social psychiatry," and if not, maybe that's a field of mental health that needs to be developed.

What I would like to see are paper ballots for the entire country for one general election and one midterm.

given the choice between computer and paper ballot

I sow, I sowed, I have sown (seeds).

I sew, I sewed, I have sewn (clothes).

... Thanks for taking me back to my conjugation. I hope this doesn't mean I am a "Moran."

the outcome.

In the RED again!

By reducing revenue, revenue will increase of its own accord, rather than because we tried to get more revenue.

Indeed, the more you drastically reduce revenue, the more revenue you will raise.

This is what the people of Kansas voted for. Brownback has a clear mandate to further reduce the state's intake of revenue, in order to raise revenue.

(Laughing to keep from crying)

would believe so stringently in the VooDoo economics of Laffer.

You have a pond that is full. You release some of that water so that new water has a place to go. Sure you could just let it rain but then the water goes all over the place and you don't have any control over it. By releasing the money er I mean water yourself you control who it goes to. And of course more water will replace it, that has already been established.

Identity trumps policy.

As stated above, it wouldn't have mattered.

when this still hasn't worked and the state has the credit rating of Somalia, who will Brownback blame?

The media, Obama and the Democrats?

Of course, what was I thinking?

but that evil Obama and any breathing democrat screwed it up so we the positive results were stymied.

*sarcasm*

The voting idiots don't even know what they have done to themselves.

and it has been all over the news in Kansas. And we are not all idiots. Please see my post above.

Isn't that the percentage that you said voted for the Republicans? What other word would be more fitting?

Perhaps more, depending on whether you believe the election results. Many don't.

which is why none of this makes sense. Before the election, people were incensed about Brownback's war on education, tax breaks for the rich, running up a deficit, and privatizing Medicaid. S&P has downgraded Kansas' bond rating and is set to do so again in July if the state continues on the same course.

No one I have talked to has said they are glad Brownback, Roberts, and Kobach won. Apparently there are such people, but fortunately I haven't met any - yet.

You did it to yourselves.

It was heavily reported in the newspaper and by Brownback's opponents.

Yet, they still voted for the Kochs. Numbskulls.

You deserve this pain because you voted for the person who caused it.

At least in this case, the person who caused this will take the blame.

Not really, but I didn't vote for the son-of-a-bitch but I'm still saddled with him.

Ditto with Kansas, which will be without a functioning education system within a decade.

Kansas has no future. It is a dead state walking.

were blessed with hurricane Sandy, and the reps from Kansas voted against aid to those affected by Sandy.

http://gawker.com/5973255/here-are-the-republicans-who-voted-no-on-hurricane-sandy-relief-funds

Sorry, but Kansas can fucking twist in the wind for all I care..

I am not responsible for the actions of 7 republican idiots and I made no comment about NJ ( which has its own republican asshole(s) to be proud of). The vitriol directed at Kansans on this board astounds me! You made it personal; now you can twist in the next big wind, too..

They could reduce prison population. Fat chance. You watch, crime will go up big time in KS

Republican policies have been devastating to the economy, both in Kansas and most of the rest of the US. Yet they keep getting elected. Since last week, when I point out how incredibly stupid their economic ideas are (see, for example, Ted Cruz's position on net neutrality), I really don't know who I'm talking to anymore. We just had an election where these dopes took control of nearly the entire country, at every level, state and federal. I'm really finding it hard to care anymore.

With a voter turnout in the 30% range, the M$M still declared "Americans soundly reject Obama and democratic policies"

Brownback will be celebrating another re-election
Identity first, policy somewhere near the bottom

and probably has everything he needs. The people of Kansas are the ones getting hit.

Kansans had an opportunity to remove the problem and chose to stick with their political abuser.

They'll just have to deal with the consequences.

Learn to use those bootstraps, Kansans.

If it's good enough for Detroit.....It's just as good for Kansas

For every dollar Kansas pays in, it receives about $1.04 back. I'm guessing that that ratio is about to increase. Either because Kansans will not make enough to pay in at its present rate, or because the House and Senate will find a way to supplement Kansas. Probably both.

but there's not enough water in that river to drown in. I heard Johnson County had a 10% voter turnout rate. Is that right? I should look that up. If so that's pitiful.

I am sick of dems having to pick up the mess left from rethugs. Usually what happens is this and our current President experienced it big time. Rethugs gut the budget and wreck everything while the reality of the mess never fully sinks in until they leave office and the dem is stuck with the blame and the big mess to try to fix. That ain't happening this time. Brownback will have to own his own policies and their horrible results. No blaming it on dems on this one, but I am sure he will some how find a way to try and blame Obama.

When the poop hits the fan it won't be when dems are in control and they weren't the ones that made all the mistakes that caused the mess. It will spray firmly in the face of the rethugs that caused it.

Btw as a dem in fl I feel the pain Kansas is in cause its gonna suck here too for the next two years at least.

When the budget goes completely south, they can not blame the residing Dem in office, because dear old brownie will be sitting there. I need a little bit of sympathy here, putting up with these guys is very difficult. Protesting in any way puts you on their shit list.

Republicans of all walks are fed a steady, never ending daily dose of 'who to hate, who to blame, who to be afraid of and who to point the finger at' by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Michele Bachmann and all those creepy, secret so-called grassroots organizations founded and funded by the Koch Brothers.

It seems to me that there is no other country or entity that could overpower or even destroy the United States. But, the United States is being destroyed... from within. This has been a ploy of conservatives from day one. Always demonize some new bogeyman coupled with some new fear factor to scare the gullible populace into voting for them for protection because liberals are weak and so on and so forth. And gullible we are!

Government programs for the working poor, indigent, the disabled and elderly pump billions into the economy. They don't hoard money or send it offshore like millionaires and billionaires do. You know, the ones that get ever greater tax benefits because they have been labeled 'job creators.' Which in and of itself is utter bullshit! Consumers are the job creators and the more buying power they have the more jobs will be created. Rich people just want more and more for themselves and actually take money out of the economy by using offshore tax havens like the Caymans and Bahamas.

Kansans and the rest of America are in for a rude awakening because of the efforts of two spoiled rotten rich kids, Charles and David Koch. They have enough money to enjoy ten lifetimes of bliss with their families but, all they can think of are more ways to deny the simple American Dream to millions of people just so they can have more and more control for themselves. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year to influence every aspect of local, state and federal government. And they are getting away with it in broad daylight. They are sick and demented, twisted and warped. And we stand by and let them take and take some more. For what?

Two people responsible for so much suffering through their pollution, contamination and outright poisoning of our environment with absolute impunity. They are destroying everything in their path. They corrupt every republican and some democratic politicians and judges, public officials. Everything our founding fathers created. Everything every soldier ever fought for. It's all being destroyed and handed over to two spoiled rotten rich kids that just cannot stand not getting their way.

Sorry for the long comment. I'm just sad in general and pissed off that Kansans refused to see it even though they have front row seats to the onslaught.

Given the results of the last election, I wouldn't be surprised if more states started sliding into the same situation in the coming years.

I feel sorry for all the people who mobilized against Brownback. You are going to be punished for the idiocy of the people who voted for him because he had an "R" next to his name.

and least this is what they *think* they want.

They simply do not understand the true role and the socialist, the infrastructure maintenance and safety-net, nature of Goverment. All they know is reduction in spending. As far as I can tell not a one of them thinks that reduction in spending will affect them personally so they are perfectly fine with the nebulous "cut backs". After all, for now it's just all on paper, nothing in real life results. Until, there is a personal stake, the Rep constituency, feels all is on the "right" track.

The blow back won't start happening until 2016. A child starving to death, a bridge collapsing, a level 5 tornado....then they can blame the outgoing POTUS for not being prepared or addressing the needs of the people.

I would say that the voting machines were rigged. No matter how Kansans voted, they would have gotten Gov. Brokeback again. Well, now Kansas will get what it deserves. The Kochsucker brothers have bought an paid for this. Deal with it. Next time polls are going so strongly against the conservanazis and they still win, maybe Kansans can go and throw the rotten bastard physically out of the government offices.

Until, wait and see what happens in the conservanazi heaven of Kansas.

My new yard art:


[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

Diebold machines?

I was prepared for the Senate, sort of.... but the governors in Kansas, Florida and Maine stunned and shocked me.

You might think people feel more directly connected to their governor...... and make sane choices.

And they still vote him in.

For us to holler that the tea fascists will be sorry...... Ain't gonna happen. These folks are going to cry VICTORY!. In their minds, there is no greater sin than taxing for the common good. While they sit in their Medicare scooters, and collect THEIR Social Security, they make no bones about how THEY deserve it (because they are rural, Christian, and white), and the OTHERS (urban, non-religeous, non-white) are sucking at the teat of the poor taxpayer victim.

They frankly don't care if the public institutions fail. They see schools, aid to the poor and disabled (working or otherwise), public safety, and other community needs as theft by taxation.

Brownback's statue will end up next to Jesus Christ's and Ronald Reagan's on the courthouse lawn (open on Tuesdays between 1:00 and 3:00 due to budget cuts).

Shocking. And what the hell was Kansas thinking re-electing that jackass?

it's so maddening. i just do not believe that the people want this desperate situation. they're sleeping and being led by the nose, by the right wing spin machine and big money.

It can't keep on like this in any state that cuts taxes and social programs and everything else they can think of before people have had enough and begin talking about dragging their worthless Republican governors through the streets. Can it?

what other state re elects a Senator who doesn't actually live in the state. I'm not even sure that's legal!!

...before people wake up. For that to happen on the right, it may be:

Churches closing doors due to the lack of donations...due to people not having much money.

Their kids not getting into college due to sub-standard education.

More roads fall into deterioration....

Ghost Towns...due to no economic base (even companies need a public infrastructure and if they don't have it....relocate).

while college students will have their tuition doubled.

But heaven forbid he levy those taxes back on the sainted rich. The Koch boys would object to that.

the reality is that Kansas will have a trickle down effect on majority of states run by GOPs which will cause a breakdown across the country with states (blue) barely carrying the country.

55% voter participation?? Pathetic just like everywhere else in the country. Part of being stupid is believing one can't make a difference. Well congratulations Kansas, you got exactly what you asked for.

I'm so tired trying to convince people of the benefits of liberal/progressivism while they spew Fox Noise quotes driving their 1993 Corolla's.

Let the rich have all the money. Let's see what that gets them.