Kansas Windbags Just Won’t Leave Oregon Alone

Right-Wing political frenzy in Kansas amounts to an orgy of discontent.

Brownback's name and game are as different as night and day Photo credits: religiousfreaks.com, getreligion.org, tim.kyle.cx, jewsonfirst.com, hanscomfamily.com, mindprod.com,

(SALEM) - There are plenty of places in the world where pseudo religious zealots like Sam Brownback and Fred Phelps could live. Even if we are forced to share a continental U.S. with them, the least they could do is stay in their own state.

Kansas... where the need for separation of church and state is best described as a need for separation of church and hate. If only we had one of those memory zappers from the movie Men in Black, a gadget that you wave in front of a person’s face and it entirely wipes out their personal data bank.

We wouldn't have to do that if we could reach those little Kansans when they’re young, before they’re poisoned with false religious hate that God never intended.

At least they would have half a chance of living a normal life. Maybe we could crown the whole event by handing each one a Red Hot Chili Peppers "Californication" CD, that might help.

An American tragedy

As the homosexual hate group run by Pastor Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka threatens to disrupt the funerals of Oregon soldiers killed in Iraq, we learn that Kansas Senator Sam Brownback is trying to put his greedy paws on your voter-endorsed rights in Oregon. We have a troubled but hopeful state, and nobody wants this midwest lawmaker pushing changes to a law that would have doctors in Oregon arrested for allowing a suffering person to die by their own wishes.

He is trying to do it by manipulating the federal Controlled Substances Act, the same archaic and less than brilliant piece of legislation that places the flower picked from the Marijuana plant in a category with Heroin and Meth. Only liars make these comparisons.

Brownback, I keep thinking about the irony behind this Republican senator’s name. Something tells me his back is as white as bones bleached by the sun, and those in Kansas who are brown of whom there are plenty of, probably know little about him.

Brownback

He says Oregon’s voter passed doctor-assisted suicide law amounts to “killing” and in a word, he attests to the ignorance of an entire culture. I visited his Website, just one of those things I have to do when I research people through their own point of view. Reading his words made my skin crawl.

Here is a great example of the fear these red state liars throw out, “I doubt Americans want the government to decide when life is worth preserving and when life can be destroyed.”

Come on dude, Oregon’s law is about people deciding when they are at the end of their life's journey. It has nothing to do with the government deciding anything, except where you come in, trying to bring up legislation that would criminalize this wish of Oregon voters.

Your street corner buddies, thugs like Limbaugh, O’Reilly and here in Oregon, Lars Larson, have run their stretch of the road and they’re now running out of gas. Hatemongering goes out of style like polyester pants, and it has run its course, stained and soiled.

Fred Phelps, Margie Phelps and his traveling circus of hate.

Then there is good old Fred Phelps, the pastor behind the Website godhatesfags.com, and his lovely wife Margie. Did I say lovely? I meant lonely, and I’m thinking about the apparent and overt darkness projected by her soul. These are the hate freaks that said they were going to stage a protest at fallen soldier Tommy Tucker’s funeral here in Oregon.

They were going to come to the Redmond/Madras area with their ugly signs that read “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” and harass the Tucker family.

Margie Phelps

Salem-News.com ran a story about it, and the county commissioners there had a chance to prepare the event for the Westboro Church’s appearance with a couple of extra fences. And the Kansas hate-group chickened out because they knew it was unsafe.

That’s right Margie Phelps, it was unsafe and you know it. They didn’t have what it took, because too many veterans and bikers showed up.

Here is an excerpt from a letter Margie sent to Salem-News.com, after our report on the Tucker funeral...

“All we have to do is consider the possibility of attending one of these worship-fests and you ladies gear up en masse, absolutely guaranteeing that the content of our signs is published all over the area! That enables us to select another location so we get maximum coverage. For a group of people who you're ignoring -- YOU SURE GIVE US A LOT OF CYBER-INK! :-)”

Here is another excerpt from Margie Phelp’s letter,

“We've been to Oregon many times, and will be back many more; the fits you threw about the possibility we'd be there caused our signs to be named dozens of times, more than any other trip to Oregon has ever accomplished. Thanks girls!”

Indeed, your plans to head this way will no doubt be posted to your website, and we will pass on the information of your impending unwelcome visit to our well-grounded, intelligent audience. They will be prepared for you, again.

This real wicked witch from Kansas doesn’t even respect what Americans have been through, as she sits on her auntie mae thinking of new and more creative ways to hate people. This statement proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that she doesn’t even have heart for Veterans who served in the Vietnam conflict.

Margie Phelps - “So you were mistreated after the ill-advised Viet Nam War. Wah! Get over it already!”

How does a person find that in their heart? Maybe the term heartless in the case of the Phelps clan is what you would call a conservative statement. The vast majority of the hundred or so churchgoers are literally related too, which might explain a couple of things, like their outward lack of ability to reason.

What they accomplished in Oregon was putting us all on one team, at least for a day. I know even Lars Larson condemned their actions, but then, that is like putting down your extended family Lars. You’re only slightly different but you know their politics would not fly here; there are just too many rational, educated, and intelligent people in Oregon for that.

Too many innocents from an early age believe the false and untrue propaganda spread by the Westboro Baptist Church and all other groups that dance their charade behind the notion of religion. I think it is time the people are exposed who hide behind the cross but apparently have no idea why the Christ they claim to celebrate came here in the first place.

Every media outlet has to track these hate mongers who harass the families of fallen Marines and soldiers and sailors at funerals. It is not a progressive or conservative argument. Their antics are the least tolerable aspect of our democracy and while they have a right to do what they want, they are simply wrong and we have every right to write about it.

Enter a female Democrat in the state’s office of Governor, a Republican that was, and hope for the state with too many tornadoes

A Democratic governor in the red state of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius says her agenda is straightforward, considering jobs, health care and education the three target areas. She said, "If we can handle those, we're doing pretty well." One person working in concert with her is Paul Morrison, Democratic candidate for Kansas Attorney General. He came over from the GOP side recently. Then there is her running mate, Democrat Mark Parkinson, who was the chairperson of the Kansas Republican party until 2003. He said "so long see ya' later" to the Republicans like Morrison and now he is running alongside Sebelius as she seeks another term.

Morrison

To give you an idea of the political climate there, she is the unopposed Democrat while seven Republicans, who all look and act the part, are contending for the GOP go ahead.

Sebelius says the need to improve education in Kansas beyond K-12 is imperative, so she is trying to move the state toward more early childhood and higher education. In a recent interview with the Johnson County Sun in Kansas, she talked about the importance of tying education to business, "There's a real opportunity to have a collaborative effort with the business community in terms of getting kids ready to hit schools ready to learn," Sebelius said.

Kansas also has a statewide effort underway to improve curriculum-based, early childhood education for all 3 and 4-year-olds. The effort should allow students to achieve at a higher level, Sebelius said. That's good news for every one.

She says more of a focus on higher education can help Kansans in the job market, and people there need it. The state’s economy is not the best to say the least. Oregon knows about that, we have a talk show host here that continues to preach the lessening of taxes, a confused and often embarrassing legislature, and lots of untreated people with mental illness walking around unattended. Those three things have a lot in common I admit, and the problems only seem to compound.

And now I have to admit the same thing I told my mom last night, that I know there really are wonderful people in Kansas. She was born there. So whether I like it or not, I’m half Kansan if you look at it that way.

My mom moved to sunny Los Angeles as a 12-year old during the Great Depression, and her life took a positive upward turn. Gone was the nightmare of living part of her life in a stark Kansas boarding house, and the memories of her parent’s bitter mid-west divorce faded with the Pacific salt air in the city of angels.

Good luck people of Kansas, we truly wish all well-intentioned people everywhere the best, and it is a darned good thing you’re there, if you know what I mean. Just keep your characters at home though, OK? Contact Sam Brownback and tell him to worry about what is going on in Kansas, not in Oregon.

And watch out for those Phelps people, they are probably the single most unhealthy cult yet in existence and I am sorry for all of the good Baptist people who have to be associated by name.

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This story was originally published on Salem-News.com August 17th, 2006 at 6:37 PM.