Having grown up in Ohio, a state seemingly filled with deer in every nook and cranny, I always took for granted that deer and deer hunting seasons had always existed. I have since learned that is not the case, but in fact modern deer hunting seasons in many states are relatively young and are tributes to wise and careful wildlife management and habitat renewal.

Whitetail deer and wild turkeys were both declared extinct in my home state of Ohio by 1909, and the first deer hunting season in modern history was in 1943, which only encompassed 3 counties and 164 bucks were harvested. In contrast, during the 2013-2014 deer seasons in Ohio, a harvest of over 191,000 deer was recorded.

I say all this to tell you that this year, 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of modern deer hunting here in Kansas. In the 1800’s bison and elk were plentiful on the Kansas prairies but deer were mostly confined to the eastern third of the state. The late 1800’s saw vast areas of forests and woodland along streams and rivers in eastern KS being cleared for agricultural use, and the number of deer there began a steady decline. By 1890 there were very few deer left in Kansas, and by 1904 they were declared totally gone from our state.

After the dust bowl days of the “dirty thirties,” better conservation methods like the early “Soil Bank” program and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) were put into effect, creating better habitat for deer statewide. Deer numbers were also steadily rising in neighboring states, and transient deer from those states plus more and better habitat fostered a steady rise in Kansas deer numbers.

In 1965, the first legal Kansas deer hunting season in modern history took place. That first season was 5 days long, 3,975 firearm permits were issued and 1,153 deer were harvested. Ten years later 4,300 deer were taken, and the 1999-2000 season saw the deer harvest in Kansas top 100,000 for the first time ever. During the 2013-2014 season, 123,000 hunters killed 93, 939 deer.

Sadly, large healthy deer populations and a sour economy also bring about more poaching. Poaching can be taking game out-of-season, taking game with illegal equipment and after dark, taking game with no licenses or permits and taking game on land without permission.

There is no way to be certain how much game and how many fish are taken illegally each year in Kansas, but one source estimates those numbers could be nearly equal to the game and fish taken legally by hunters and fishermen. One way all Kansans can help curb poaching is by calling a toll free hotline called Operation Game Thief (1-877-426-3843) set up to report suspected poaching and hunting & fishing law violations. Callers may remain anonymous and the complaint will be relayed to the game warden nearest the violation.

It’s interesting to think that it was 1965 before deer hunting seasons came about here in Kansas, and that there are probably numerous hunters alive still today who hunted in that first season. Our healthy deer population today is a true testament to the resilience of the white tailed deer, and to the wise management of that species by both fish and game officials and by hunters. So go buy a hunting license and deer permit and take a kid deer hunting this year, and while you’re at it, continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].

This week, former President Clinton spoke at KU’s Dole Institute of Politics, praising its namesake despite their sometimes rocky history. Dole frustrated Clinton’s ambitious health-care reform agenda, and they ran against each other for President in 1996. Yet at times they worked together. For example, they teamed up with then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich on a plan to stabilize the Mexican peso in 1995.

To accomplish this, they had to listen to each other.

This got me to thinking about today’s no-listening politics.

The week’s most egregious, local example of no-listening politics is Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick’s decision to remove three Republican state representatives from the House Health and Human Services Committee. Rep. Barbara Bollier (R-Mission Hills), Susan Concannon (R-Beloit), and Don Hill (R-Emporia) buck Republican leadership by favoring the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

These three troublemakers lack the votes to pass this by themselves, but possibly, just possibly, someone might listen to them. If there is listening, there might be negotiations, compromise, perhaps even–if the stars align just right–policy. That is a risk the Speaker cannot take. Off the committee they go.
Welcome to the age of no-listening politics.

Over at Cedar Crest, Governor Brownback has long been practicing no-listening politics regarding the state’s budgetary free fall. A steady stream of monthly reports calls for action. Otherwise, Kansas risks downgraded bond ratings, year-end shortfalls, or even insolvency.

Not to worry — the Governor has a plan: just ignore it. Recently, when asked if he planned to close the gap with spending cuts or tax increases, the Governor told reporters that his plan was to just do nothing. No listening means no problem, therefore no need for a solution. If only bond-rating agencies saw it the same way!

No-listening politics is also riding high on the national stage. Presidential candidate Donald Trump vocally shouts down repeated corrections of his incendiary and utterly false attacks on Muslims. Instead of standing up to this hateful political climate, Brownback and his fellow Republican governors caved, telling refugees of the horrific Syrian civil war that they are no longer welcome here, in case one of them might be a terrorist. Just in time for Christmas, Governor!

Evangelical, Catholic, and Jewish leaders have pleaded with Brownback and other Republican governors to change course, but to do this, the governors would first have to listen. Probably better not to get one’s hopes up—and send the refugees to states with Democratic governors.

Clinton and Dole’s relationship was often rough. There were repeated budget stalemates, though they did seem to get resolved more quickly than today. Still, many compromises were off the table. Yet there seemed to be some sense that certain issues transcended these divisions; that there was an overriding national interest, at least from time to time.

If only today’s leaders could heed that lesson. Unfortunately, the only way for them to learn this, is to start listening. So far, the signs in Topeka and elsewhere are not good.

Michael A. Smith is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

FRESNO, Calif. — A California cattle ranch is preparing for a livestock sale, complete with taking pictures of the animals to be sold. Who do you suppose was taking these high quality photos? Would you believe, a professional photographer from half a continent away in Kansas?

Heidi and Charles Anderson are the owners of Legacy Livestock Imaging, the company which took those California photos. Heidi was a city girl and self-described Air Force brat. Her father served all over the nation, and she had visited 48 of the 50 states before she got out of high school. While her dad was serving at the Air Force base in Topeka, Heidi started at Washburn University.

“I thought I’d be gone in six months,” Heidi said. “Now it’s been 22 years.”

As a kid, Heidi came to appreciate photography. “We moved around so much that we valued capturing images of where we’d been,” she said. “It was how we learned to communicate.”

She earned degrees in finance and accounting, but she followed her interest into becoming a professional portrait photographer. For example, she photographed ballet companies as far away as Seattle and Atlanta.

One day at church in Topeka, she met a guy named Charles Anderson. Their interests could not seem to have been farther apart: City girl versus farm boy. She was a dancer and art photographer. His background? Cattle. But something clicked between them.

Charles had grown up on a farm near the rural community of Randolph, population 168 people. Now, that’s rural. He was active in 4-H and FFA and judged livestock at Dodge City Community College before coming to K-State. When he met and married Heidi, their professional interests began to merge.

“I wanted to really know where he came from, and his folks had a beautiful place,” Heidi said. She enjoyed photographing the rural scenery. As she learned more about the cattle business, she came to realize that there was an opportunity for photographers who specialized in livestock. They might take pictures in the show ring or do photos for cattle sale catalogs.

Heidi and Charles created a business of their own called Legacy Livestock Imaging in Topeka. “If you would have told me 10 years ago that I would be taking pictures of cows, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Heidi said. “But I love the peaceful feeling of being outside and in a pasture.” She continues to take wedding photos and senior pictures as well, but now many of those involve farm families with whom she has connected through the cattle business.

Legacy Livestock Imaging specializes in show catalog content, farm and ranch images, and other photography to share agriculture’s story. The company serves cattle operations as far away as Kentucky, south Texas, and California.

“Since May 2015, I’ve put 45,000 miles on my car,” Heidi said.

The company also produces fine art photography with rural themes. For example, one face shot of an Angus bull has become one of the iconic images of the breed.

The company has a huge social media presence. As one might guess, the company’s photos make compelling visual images to post on Facebook.

“We have 20,000 fans on Facebook and we reach some 500,000 to 600,000 people through our social media altogether,” Heidi said.

At one show, she was displaying a black-and-white photo of an Angus calf in the snow, covered by a ranch jacket. This meant that the rancher gave up his own coat to warm the calf. An older gentleman walked by the display and looked at this photo for a long time. He came back again and again. Heidi said, “His eyes were welling up, and he said to me, `You don’t know how many times I’ve done that myself.’ That’s when we know our art is speaking to them.”

For more information, go to www.legacylivestockimaging.com.

It’s time to leave Fresno, Califo., where Heidi and Charles Anderson are making a difference by using their talents and skills to photograph and promote these family-owned beef cattle businesses. I’m glad to see such a rural business come into focus.

Caring for the environment used to be tough duty. During the last couple decades however, it’s become a marketing opportunity.

Manufacturers are churning out more and more green products and retailers are finding in many cases they can be sold at a premium. But beware – not everything sold in the green garden is all roses. Over the long haul, selling green may be a lot more difficult than selling soap flakes.

Phosphate-free detergent, lead-free gas, aerosol sprays minus the chlorofluorocarbons and other green garden goodies have been available in some form or another since the early ‘80s. Today, they are nearly as common, or in some cases, more so than farm-fresh eggs, free-range chickens, hogs and cattle, fresh vegetables – you name it.

During this nearly 30-year growing period, consumers embraced the notion of buying green with a zeal that was almost patriotic. As they became more environmentally tuned in day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year, greenies bought beyond what was even required by law.

Some companies have launched their own label green brands. Needless to say, many of these companies have grown their green products by the hundreds.

Many of these items are simply repackaged old ideas; what’s old becomes new when introduced to a new generation of consumers especially those who choose to paint themselves green. One such item is baking soda, which has been marketed as a more environmentally friendly way to scour pots and pans.

Can you believe it?

My mother and her mother before her understood that baking soda was the only real way to keep their kitchens clean or green nearly a century ago.

Another green product that has rocketed off the supermarket shelves are biodegradable garbage bags made from corn extract.

One item that’s become green is dishwasher detergent. It’s worthless. The only way to clean your dishes, knives and forks and pots and pans with today’s detergent is to run your machine half full or a couple times. I know this is the truth, because I’ve had to do so.

I’ve even visited with appliance dealers who have told me today’s dishwasher detergents no longer have phosphates (banned as unsafe for our environment) which cleaned our tableware and did it right. Today’s dishwasher detergents are not formulated to remove hard water minerals during the main wash cycle. Lemi Shine solves this problem.

Combined with your auto dish detergent, Lemi Shine removes tough hard water spots, stains and film during the main wash cycle, so says the product commercial. You will be pleased to know that Lemi Shine is comprised of 100 percent all natural fruit acids and oils. That’s right, Lemi Shine contains no phosphates or fillers.

Now don’t you feel better? I know I do.

I could go on, but I know I may be losing some of you, dear readers and that is not my intent.

One last thing, even that revered group that I now belong to, the aging Baby Boomers, is boarding the green train.

Just the other day I read that U.S. residents older than 55 are opting for unbleached bathroom paper. Not only is it the correct way to help Mother Earth, it’s also softer and easier on the ole’ bottom. I swear to God I didn’t make this up, although I kinda’ wish I had.

When will the pendulum swing the other way – toward a common-sense compromise?

Maybe it already is. Some companies who have wrapped themselves in green are finding doing so has not seemed to raise their credibility with consumers. Some in the public who walk among us are skeptical of any large organization that board the green bandwagon, particularly those that have little direct contact with the environment.

Although consumers, myself included, may want to accept social responsibility, few want to forgo quality in the products they buy.

To green or not to green?

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

There are some holiday traditions that could stand a change, according to experts at Kansas State University Research and Extension.

Turkey dinner? Stays.

Football games? Yes.

Mom’s pumpkin pie? Sacred.

Eat ‘til you drop? Hmmm…

“This is the time of the year that we tend to overeat,” said Sandy Procter, a registered dietitian with K-State Research and Extension. “Holiday foods themselves are not the issue. It’s the amounts we eat and a lack of exercise during the holiday season that can be a problem.”

When holiday guests ask what they can bring for dinner, Procter has a suggested answer for hosts.

Tell them to bring their walking shoes!

When making holiday plans, include getting some exercise. Don’t just think of it as a feast of food and football games. There’s a lot of family time and family activity that can be included.

Some after-meal family activities might include going for a walk or playing outdoor games. Focus on the ‘family together’ part of the holidays, rather than the feeding frenzy and couch potato part.

Overeating has been linked to weight gain and obesity, which can contribute to such health issues as joint problems, cardiovascular concerns, Type 2 diabetes and more.
Recent studies suggest that Americans gain an average of one pound during the winter holiday season– but the bad news is that this extra weight is generally not lost each year. Instead, the pounds accumulate over the years and may be a major contributor to the overweight epidemic and the diseases associated with it.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides a guideline for healthy eating, called MyPlate, that includes daily recommended servings for the major food groups. Check it out at www.choosemyplate.gov.

What people need to know to eat healthfully is that recommended serving sizes are smaller than most think. For example, 10 french fries is considered one standard serving. A typical ‘value’ portion of french fries from a fast-food restaurant may be large enough for a family of four to share.

For small children, the size of one serving of fruits and vegetables is one tablespoon per year of age. We’re not talking about a large amount of food to count up to the recommended number of daily servings.

When faced with an overloaded holiday buffet, try these guidelines for estimating proper serving sizes:
* A lightbulb is similar in size to one serving of mashed potatoes, broccoli or other cooked vegetables;
* A deck of cards is similar in size to a 3-ounce serving of cooked meat (restaurant steaks may equal 3 or 4 servings!);
* A cupcake paper liner (about one-half cup) is similar in size to one standard serving of cooked grain foods such as rice, pasta, oatmeal or others;
* A nine-volt battery is similar in size to one standard serving of cheese (1 1/2 ounces);
* A ping-pong ball is similar in size to one standard serving of peanut butter (2 tablespoons);
* A compact disc is similar to a standard size serving for one pancake.

So, as you gather with family and friends for the Thanksgiving feast, choose sensible portions and get additional exercise to balance the abundant holiday food.

For more information on healthy serving sizes, contact the Ellis County Extension Office at 601 Main Street, 785-628-9430, to request our group program or materials on “Preventing Portion Distortion.”

Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.

Nothing quite like getting the turkey ready for Thanksgiving—or maybe for Birkenstock sandal wearers figuring out how to massage kale leaves into something that looks like a bird—and thinking about those campaigns coming up for the Kansas House and Senate.

Yes, while you’re checking the cranberries, some of us Statehouse folk are wondering just how much—and whose—money will be spent to elect members of the Kansas House and Kansas Senate next fall.

While filings for the Legislature are trickling in—a lot of legislators wait until the session to file for re-election, when their mileage to Topeka is paid for by the Legislature—we’re figuring that someone will run for everything.

And, last year, 248 candidates for the House spent $3.6 million, on their campaigns and the winning 125 spent $2.76 million. That pencils out to $22,080 per head of winner. But, political action committees and out-of-state organizations spent another $1.9 million that didn’t show up on the candidates’ filings, for a total $5.4 million in campaign spending, not all of which was controlled by the actual candidates.

Senators? They were halfway through their four-year terms, and spent most of that election cycle raising money for their upcoming campaigns next year. While there was a mad scramble for campaign money for folks actually on a ballot in 2014, senators still managed to pry away from House and statewide office races $500,000, which means that they had a total of $1.78 million and an election still two years away.

And, clear back in 2012, the last time senators were elected, it cost an average of about $94,000 to win a Senate campaign, again, just the candidate campaign costs, not those out-of-state and political action committee campaigning expenditures.

So, what are we thinking about while wondering whether to go butter-or-margarine in the holiday mashed potatoes? The likely source of the money for those upcoming campaigns.

In 2014, out-of-state organizations spent $1.15 million to elect House members in Kansas where they don’t even live. Those political action committees? They spent $1.7 million in the House races. Out-of-state organizations wound up spending 21% of the money in those races; PACs spent 32% of that election cycle spending. The candidates themselves? Five percent. And, individual contributors gave $1.3 million or about 24% of the money spent on those campaigns.

Seems a little strange that the link between the candidates and the organizations which spent more than half the money for their elections is a little, well…let’s call it obtuse.

It isn’t really “I give to my neighbor” or to that House member I’ve seen at the fair or walking in the 4th of July parade tossing candy to the kids anymore. Nope, most of the money for the last House election came from political action committees which have specific legislation they are interested in and don’t much care whether the candidate is likeable to the folks he/she will theoretically represent. Those out-of-state organizations generally use the same criteria.

Is this a big deal? Well, maybe, maybe not. It will probably make it worthwhile for us Kansans to figure that individual contributors to campaigns either have the right candidate or the wrong one. But that’s for Kansans who are writing personal checks.

Those PACs and out-of-state contributors? They generally aren’t going to care whether a candidate promises to fight for a new highway turnoff in his/her district or protect Lesser Prairie Chickens.

Might be worthwhile digging into what those PACs and out-of-state organizations want in Kansas.

But it’s probably best to get into that after Thanksgiving dinner. That isn’t anything you’ll want to distract you from pumpkin pie…or its kale alternative.

Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com.

Originally published Nov. 24, 2013

I’m giving my age away a little, but I remember an old Johnny Carson monologue about Thanksgiving. (Hint for people under age 40: He was the guy who hosted “The Tonight Show” before Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon.)

It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and Johnny asked the audience if they had placed their frozen turkey in the refrigerator to thaw. He then concluded that, if they hadn’t, they might as well cancel Thanksgiving.

It really isn’t that drastic an issue; there are other options for thawing that bird. However, frozen turkey seems to be an annual problem, and I’ve heard many creative ideas over the years for getting it thawed in time.
Let me set the record straight. It is NOT safe to thaw a turkey in the trunk of your car, in a closed cold barbecue grill on the patio, in a cooler on the porch, in the garage, basement, bathtub or clothes drier. Even though the turkey may stay frozen on the inside as it thaws, the outside is exposed to the temperature danger zone in these methods and this might result in a food borne illness.

The very best way to thaw a turkey is in the refrigerator. But, Johnny was right– if you don’t get it in the refrigerator soon enough it won’t completely thaw using this method. It takes 24 hours of thawing time in the refrigerator for each 5 pounds of frozen turkey, so a 25-pound bird needs to start thawing on Saturday for roasting on Thursday.

You can also defrost in cold water. This method can be used to finish thawing the turkey that was only in the refrigerator for a day or so. But this also takes time, attention and a lot of water. Place the turkey in a leak-proof bag in a large pot (or cleaned and sanitized sink) and submerge in cold water. The water needs to be changed every 30-60 minutes; don’t just leave the turkey in the same water for hours. The reason for this is the water needs to be kept under 70 degrees the whole time to keep the outside of the bird cold. Thawing this way takes about 30 minutes for each pound, so your 25-pound turkey would have you changing water for 12.5 hours.

If you have a smaller turkey, it could be thawed in the microwave. But because some portions of the turkey may start to get warm in this process, it needs to go straight into the oven immediately after microwave thawing.
You could even cook the turkey directly from the freezer. It will take about 50% more time. So your 25-pound bird would take about 7 to 7.5 hours to roast, and it won’t be stuffed. If you do this method, you could carefully remove the frozen pack of giblets during roasting when the bird becomes thawed enough. (Then throw them away, or remove them from the packaging and finish cooking another way.) Do not try to deep-fry a frozen turkey.

If you really are having trouble finding space to allow a frozen turkey to defrost in the refrigerator for several days, you may consider purchasing a fresh turkey and picking it up just before the holiday. But you’re still going to need to find room for it in the refrigerator unless you start to roast it as soon as you get it home from the store.

Whatever your method of thawing, you’ll need to use a food thermometer to determine when the turkey is done. Be sure the meat has reached at least 165 degrees, measured in several places, before serving.

Johnny Carson was right on the money with many of his clever quips. But a frozen turkey on Thanksgiving morning is not a reason to cancel the whole dinner. You just might have to eat later.

For more information on food safety for holiday meals, see the K-State Research and Extension food safety webpage. You’ll find a lot of helpful hints for making holiday meals delicious– and safe– for everyone at your table.

Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.

Want to know how to terrorize a terrorist? Read the 45 words of the First Amendment — preferably aloud.

Airstrikes and drone strikes? Threats and condemnations from the leaders of the most powerful nations in the history of the planet? Targeted assassinations at home or abroad?

To some degree, those tactics may well put fear in the shadowy collections of would-be dictators and pseudo-religious fanatics now operating around the world. And certainly the quick French response — including the raid in which the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 13 attacks died — should serve as a graphic demonstration of speedy justice.

But simply go out to a cafe in Paris for a relaxed evening of conversation, free of government or despotic controls on your opinions, your music or your ideas. ISIS can’t handle that. Worship a bit differently than others in Baghdad or Aleppo, or a dozen other places — and extremists strike. Or just visit a market in Yola or Lagos, Nigeria, where Boko Haram and others are trying to strangle a developing and diverse society. And that’s just in the last few weeks.

Freedom of expression and religious liberty, it would seem, really do terrorize terrorists.

These ragtag collections of misguided zealots are so frightened by such simple daily declarations of freedom that they have been driven to shoot, stab, bomb and execute — most recently, 132 people in Paris; more than 50 people in Nigeria; and 43 people in Beirut.

For the nations and societies that have been targeted, the stepped-up pace of the mass killings brought a new, if fragile, sense of cooperation. The result: Nightly news reports of military action.

But what about the rest of us? Well, there’s a simple, two-step tactic — an approach rooted in the fright felt by these terrorists.

Step One: Live freely. Step Two: Repeat step one. Daily.

Those core freedoms — in the U.S., the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition — are under challenge and attack in so many places, from the cowardly killing of innocents in heartless attacks, to gore-filled cyberspace campaigns spewing hatred, to the intentional misuse of legal structures to impede, imprison and imperil those who would think, write, speak and worship freely.

Terrorists and hijacked governments try each day to silence those in opposition. But those who fear freedom so greatly will be terrorized every single day by the mere sight of freedom and the empowerment it brings to individuals.

Doubt that freedom has the power to frighten? Just go online and catch the verve, nerve and sense of solidarity shown in recent days by children and adults, concert-goers and sports fans around the world, all singing the “Marseillaise,” the French national anthem.

There also are some things we don’t want to do. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) wants the federal government to block Internet sites used by the Islamic State. Barton conceded that such sites still will “pop up like weeds,” and in fact said he supports the concept of free speech, but he still has asked the Federal Communications Commission to battle ISIS through control of content.

But restraints on the marketplace of ideas advanced by the terror groups will only fuel misunderstandings, prevent the rest of us from seeing savagery and hatred close-up, and give censors a new, “well, you do it too” excuse. Better the real devils we do know, than to encourage new ones.

And journalists worldwide must acknowledge a tragic equality in attacks around the world, so that the opponents of freedom can’t divide its supporters with claims that media attention or national sympathy only happens with attacks in the West — a claim already being made regarding news coverage of the Paris attacks versus the world attention paid to the two Beirut bombings, and now Nigeria. In fact, there are real differences in the nature of the tragedies, from their scope to ready access by news media to the shock of an attack in a “safe” city.

Satire, as it so often has in history, draws out the truth in things even as it makes us laugh. John Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” opened his latest show with a short commentary on the Paris tragedy, just 48 hours after it occurred. He mocked the killers in what he accurately described as “a moment of premium-cable profanity.”

“Nothing about what these (attackers) are trying to do is going to work,” Oliver said, after declaring the killers followed a “bankrupt” ideology. “France is going to endure, and I’ll tell you why: If you’re in a war of culture and lifestyle with France, good … luck.”

Now that bit of free speech ought to terrorize any terrorist who hears it.

Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute and senior vice president of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. [email protected]

Trust me when I say the issue of today’s government in America is huge versus how our Founders envisioned it. Today’s government is different than in past history. It is not the same and we all should be worried to death unless it changes big time with a new president in 2017.

Obama was not kidding about transforming America. Past presidents may have over reached as to their constitutional and executive authority, but nothing like Barack Obama!

Growing up, we were schooled about “checks and balances” and “separation of powers” regarding our three branches of government. Our Founders are turning over in their graves as these safeguards no longer exist. One branch, namely the executive one, is calling all the shots. The three branches appear to be one and the same in that Obama does what he wants.

What does that mean? It means we are no longer a democratic republic. The ultimate authority and power of “we the people” in a democratic republic has gone to a lawless president, an incompetent and complicit Congress, and even a complicit Supreme Court.

Polls show that on almost all major issues our entire government is ignoring the wishes of a majority of voters.

For example, most Americans did not want the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. It was shoved down our throat by the Obama administration in spite of major public opposition to it. To save it as a constitutional piece of legislation, the Supreme Court, out of thin air, called it a tax even though it was passed by a Democrat Congress as not being a tax.

Speaking of Congress, those elected to this body as Democrats give Obama whatever he wants regardless of constituent wishes. And, wouldn’t you know it, the current Republican controlled Congress is doing the same. The House is supposed to control the purse strings, but it turns out that Obama does. Voters in the last election went to the polls to stop Obama’s many destructive agendas, but it is not happening, and further proof we are no longer a democratic republic.

Speaking of the Supreme Court, there are four liberal justices (maybe five out of the nine) that will give Obama whatever he wants. Our president is just a phone call away. So much for an independent branch of government.

Speaking of Obama, he has gone hog wild with executive authority that far too often violates constitutional authority. Many orders should go through Congress, but don’t. Worse yet, are the 18,000 regulations per year on the average coming from his office that affect everybody’s life. Those too, in many instances, should go through Congress, but don’t. One of the latest regs prevents employers from doing a criminal background check on new hires.

How much do you think a president can get to carry out his agendas if there is rampant fraud and corruption in government agencies; probably pretty much anything he wants! It is worse now then ever before in our history! If there was anything our Founders wanted to guard against, it was an all-powerful federal government, that now exists in this country as we speak.

Along with issues mentioned above, the majority of Americans do not want more national debt, more welfare and fewer jobs, more taxes, nukes for Iran, a downsized military, open borders, thousands of Muslim refugees not being vetted by the Obama administration, etcetera.

And, it’s insanity to think most Americans, even before the Paris attacks, prefer Obama’s climate change agenda over fighting radical Islamic terrorists!

Not in a million years can our Commander in Chief prove climate change or global warming is a greater threat to our security than ISIS.

So what, as our government will continue to thumb its nose at us!

Les Knoll lives in Victoria and Gilbert, Ariz.

Take stock of what has happened to Kansas tax policy, and then ask the question, “Who benefitted?” Here’s a hint: It wasn’t middle class or low income Kansans.

Big changes in Kansas tax policy began in 2012 when Governor Brownback signed sweeping tax cuts into law. Income tax rates were lowered across the board and individuals who receive their income through “business” sources were exempted entirely from paying state income taxes.

Yes, in that action, income tax rates went down for everyone, but at the same time, lawmakers also raised the sales tax and took away credits that helped low income Kansans. Even with the offsetting sales tax increase, the income tax cuts proved so costly that they triggered a severe budget crisis.

In the first year, general fund revenue dropped $701 million, more than 11 percent, jerking the state budget badly out of balance. Lawmakers covered the ballooning gap between expenses and rapidly falling income by using up all of the state’s financial reserves.

With the bank account emptied, lawmakers tried to close the gap by cutting programs, including school funding. And they transferred unimaginably large sums of money from the highway fund and from virtually every other fund in the state treasury that had cash. Despite these irresponsible actions, they fell far short. At that point, even the most conservative lawmakers decided to raise taxes.

Sales tax rates rose again. Lawmakers hiked cigarette taxes sharply, and eliminated most income tax deductions. Property taxes continued to go up, largely because school districts tried to survive reductions in state aid.

What’s the net result of all those tax changes? For the 20 percent of Kansans who earn the least, below $23,000 a year, average taxes actually went up by $197 a year. For the next 20 percent, net taxes also jumped higher. Middle income Kansans essentially broke even. But the top 20 percent of Kansas earners came out far ahead, and the top 1 percent, those who earn more than $500,000 a year, picked up an average tax break of about $25,000. All these figures come from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, a group that has developed probably the best model for measuring these types of changes in any state.

But it doesn’t take a study to tell us what has happened. Any Kansan can see it. A sales tax hike takes a far bigger bite out of a small income than a large one. Lower income Kansans spend a much higher proportion of their resources on food and other items subject to sales tax than wealthy Kansans do.

Kansas now has the second highest state sales tax rate on food in the nation. The shift to sales tax has contributed to making our state’s tax system one of the ten most regressive. The poor pay a far higher percentage of their income in taxes than the wealthy, not a statistic of which Kansans can be proud.

Yet even after shifting the burden of state taxes onto middle class and low income Kansans, the budget is still not working. The tax breaks for the wealthiest of Kansans produced such a huge revenue loss that the state budget remains in the red. Just this month, state officials announced yet another downward revision of the future revenue forecast. So more “fixes” are ahead.

If the real goal was to shift more resources to the wealthiest Kansans, this policy has worked like gangbusters. But if the goal was to adequately fund state programs with a fair taxation system, it’s a wreck. The state budget is in shambles. Unless we change course, the lowest income Kansans and the Kansas middle class will bear even more of the burden of fixing it.

Duane Goossen is a Senior Fellow at the Kansas Center for Economic Growth and formerly served 12 years as Kansas Budget Director.