To the editor:
“What’s galling him is he can’t get his fingers on it!”
The “old Bailey Building & Loan” that is. If you watch Frank Capra’s “It’s A Wonderful Life” every Christmas, like we do, you’ll know the reference. Potter doesn’t just want most of it; he wants all of it. He even tries hiring George Bailey, though George turns him down.
But Sam Brownback is smarter than George Bailey; Sam took the job, he’s working for Potter. Potter doesn’t want an income tax, so Sam does away with it; he doesn’t need a home mortgage deduction, so Sam says get rid of it. Potter has no use for public schools; neither does Sam. Potter won’t make a profit off universal health care, so he doesn’t want it; Sam sides with Potter. An independent judiciary? Not for Potter or his man, Sam.
Potter already owns the big banks, and the insurance companies, big oil, the Chamber of Commerce, and all that, but something keeps slipping through his fingers; he can’t get his hands on Kansas’ farmland. The law protects family farming, and it’s galling Potter. He’s told his man Sam he wants that changed, and Sam’s happy to oblige.
What’s the good for Kansas? From reading the newspaper, it even seems a few of Sam’s men in the Legislature have sniffed it, and are asking the same question. Here’s hoping Kansans figure out who Sam takes his orders from before it’s too late.
Comments
Paul R. Getto 3 months, 1 week ago
On a brighter note. The R's kicked the press out last night so they would not see the long knives.
http://cjonline.com/news/2013-03-12/senate-gop-closes-caucus-after-brownback-address#comment-982364
btsflk 3 months, 1 week ago
Good analogy.
Many know who's in control.
Some are going to follow the the party regardless.
Others are apathetic.
I hesitate opening the paper every AM.
consumer1 3 months, 1 week ago
"Some are going to follow the the party regardless". By this statement are you referring to the People who vote the Democrat ic ticket without even looking at the names of those running?
jonas_opines 3 months, 1 week ago
He's just the chamber pot at this point.
caughtinthemiddle 3 months, 1 week ago
You know damned well what btsflk is talking about and your twisting the truth around is not going to change the facts: Brownback is following outside orders, is working tirelessly to dumb down Kansas, all the while accepting the massive farm subsidies his family gets from the Feds, the same group he antagonizes at every possible turn.
If you want to help, why not question both sides? Why not see the forest through the trees?
Why not become honest with yourself rather than blindly, mindlessly following your "fearless leader"?
jayhawklawrence 3 months, 1 week ago
Great letter and very entertaining!
A+++
msezdsit 3 months, 1 week ago
I think your at least a little bit confused there, got(farm?)land
Alyosha 3 months, 1 week ago
You are operating with incorrect information. Your assertion that "the left" (try to define that phrase with specificity; can you?) "hates" rich white conservatives is laughably overly general, so much that it means absolutely nothing.
In terms of this specific policy change, I, for one, object to removing the ability of local representatives to have a say in what kind of corporate farming operations will be permitted in their localities.
I thought that representative government — where the people govern themselves — was an American tradition, not of one particular faction only.
Scaevola 3 months, 1 week ago
Your stereotypes are clouding your judgment..
You assume that because this author attacks Brownback, he must be a Democrat. Last time I checked, Brownback's favorability rating was in the 30% range, if that's true, then its far more than Democrats and Liberals that have a problem with him.
jkilgore 3 months, 1 week ago
Gotland, you really are blind to the truth. You see, some people don't look at every single issue with one lens as you do.
Stain 3 months, 1 week ago
If corporate farms destroy family farms, everyone will lose.
I hope the farmers who lose everything because of Brownback will figure out what happened, and that they asked for this when they voted for him.
Renaissance 3 months, 1 week ago
Read Joel Salatin's "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal" and you'll understand what is going on. The corporate farming movement that is killing the family farming culture is not right versus left; it grows largely out of the ignorance of our own USDA. Read it, you won't regret it.
btsflk 3 months, 1 week ago
party schmarty
The Ogallala reservoir is an overiding concern. It is being emptied faster than has been predicted. Would corporate entities tax it more?
Without the Ogallala most of Ks becomes desert.
Would the runoff from farming operations pollute ground water, as has already happened in some western ks communities where a feedlot has located near by.
This impacts more than farmers.
LesBlevins 3 months, 1 week ago
Just to be clear; the Democratic minded among us tend to support the family farmer while the Republicans generally support a takeover of family farming by the big ag corporations as they promote intensive industrial scale farming more than family farmers do. I recall when birds were plentiful in Kansas and bird hunting was very popular but industrial farming has sprayed so much insecticides that insects like grasshoppers are almost nonexistent today and pheasants and quail have nothing to eat and industrial farming from road to road leaves no cover on the land during winter to shelter wildlife.
Joe Hyde 3 months, 1 week ago
+1,000
FlintlockRifle 3 months, 1 week ago
William, very to the point letter, You Mr. Gotland saying ""farmers are RICH"" where did you come up with that info?? How many RICH farmers do you know?, most are rich in work ethics, and very long days in the fields alone doing a job not meny people want to do anymore. Can most people do this type of work day in and day out, never knowing what might hsppen to you almost ready corn or wheat crop, answer is no
jonas_opines 3 months, 1 week ago
"Mr. Gotland saying ""farmers are RICH"" where did you come up with that info??"
Straight from the posterior. But if you have faith, then anything can be true.
"How many RICH farmers do you know?"
I'm sure he's friends with all manner of self-proscribed rich, white family farmers on the vast network of the right wing blogosphere. And why would you ever doubt them on their veracity?
merrill 3 months, 1 week ago
From ALEC Brownback's planning guide.
In ALEC Brownback's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state. DO YOU have a voice or vote?
The Planning Guide.
United States of ALEC – Bill Moyers http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/27/the_united_states_of_alec_bill
ALEC – The Voice of Corporate Special Interests in State Legislatures http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/alec-the-voice-of-corporate-special-interests-state-legislatures
ALEX EXPOSED – The Koch Connection http://www.thenation.com/article/161973/alec-exposed-koch-connection
ALEC Private Schools - Corporate Education Reformers Plot Next Steps at Secretive Meeting
mikekt 3 months, 1 week ago
Had a neighbor in OP who inherited 7 Million $, when his poor, humble, no doubt abused farm folks parents passed away . Good for him .
Not all businesses are successful...... nor are all farmers,..... but that doesn't necessarily mean that if you are a farmer or a business person, that you will die poor !
Nor does it mean that there are not welfare kings & queens, with dirt beneath their rural farming nails, who don't get fat government payments, to sleep late, drive an expensive vehicle and do nothing
Maybe the Kochs are jealous and want to dive into the feed trough ?!
riverdrifter 3 months, 1 week ago
A friend farms 14,400 acres in NW Kansas and he's 100% opposed to this bill.
Liberty275 3 months, 1 week ago
Why should a farm be different than an automobile plant, a coal mine or DisneyWorld? I can understand wanting to keep as much as possible for the small guy but I can't think of a fair reason to view them as different.
jkilgore 3 months, 1 week ago
Here's why: the sacredness of land as an entity beyond a commodity should be something that every Kansan, every human being should value. If we destroy nature with the harsh erosion, chemicals, and poor practices that Big Ag uses to squeeze money, then we've lost something we may never be able to get back.
parrothead8 3 months, 1 week ago
I can get by without coal, Disneyworld, or a car. I can't get by without food.
Paul R. Getto 3 months, 1 week ago
Because there is not much good crop land left and we are raping it for profit. Our Mother will sicken and die and then we will follow. Farming is a unique business in which we are all involved. Eaten anything lately? We can live without most businesses. Farming is special. From the grandson of a dairy farmer.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 3 months, 1 week ago
Actually, there is very little that's rational about giving the artificial constructs called "corporations" free rein over any aspect of the economy or society.
Stain 3 months, 1 week ago
This is a fabulous letter.
I hope Potter's loyal boy Sam will read it.
Sam has sold his soul and us Kansas for a few pieces of silver.
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