Raytown Progressive Action

Some sweet Fall Election numbers

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Well, we have some great numbers from Raytown after this November's election. All the raw precinct numbers are from the Jackson County Election Board. President-elect Obama won in every Brookings precinct except one, and in that single precinct (BR19) McCain only won by 5 votes. The total ended up Obama-Biden 6,996 to McCain-Palin 4,971, which makes it Obama over McCain by 2,025 votes. That sure looks like a mandate from the Raytown electorate.

In the state races, Nixon and Carnahan cleaned up in our town. Nixon handed Hulshof his walking papers 7,932 to 3,782. Carnahan walked away with her race, winning by over 4,400. Sam Page took Raytown by 2,430 votes, even though he lost the overall race.

Democratic candidates took Raytown in every race but the one for the 48th House, where the odious Will Kraus kept his seat away from Joe Volpe by 623 Raytown votes. Make no mistake, as much as we dislike the man, Kraus campaigns hard to get re-elected. He came very close to unemployment in 2006 (losing Raytown and KC to Chris Moreno but making it up in Lee's Summit for a 3% victory) but even in a Democratic year, 2008 was pretty much a cake-walk for him.

Kraus is an anomaly who has figured out how to get Democrats to vote for a right-wing Republican, but don't let anyone tell you that Raytown is not a Democratic town. Barack Obama beat John McCain here by more almost 17%. Every other Democrat but Volpe simply wiped out their opposition in the Brookings precincts.

We'll leave you with a final stat. If you add up all the votes (in contested races only--it's even worse for the GOP if you add in races like Victor Callahan's) Democrats received in Raytown (61,950) and all those for Republican candidates (37,454) that means the people of Raytown cast 24,496 more Democratic votes than Republican votes. In percentage terms, 62% of votes in contested races were cast for Democrats.

Wow. Just wow.

Push Poll From Will Kraus

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:05:00 +0000

Willy Boy is at it again. Got a push poll call the other day, and when I asked who paid for it, the caller said it was paid for by the Kraus campaign. The poll asked the usual right-wing GOP questions, pushing the social issues buttons like gun-control and abortion. Yada yada yada. Go for it, Will. Voters are getting sick and tired of your GOP nonsense, when they have no health care and their mortgages are bigger that the worth of their homes.

Will Kraus, campaigning like it's 2004.

Mike Sharp seems to be doing the work

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:51:00 +0000

As you know, we here at RPA were and still are fans of John Bullard, and had high hopes that he would be the new Jackson County Sheriff. But that was not to be. The wind against John set up by Sharp's money and the support from county Dem leaders, plus the usual behaviour of Freedom Inc. was too much to take down.

So now we have Mike Sharp as the Democratic candidate. While not totally sure about how he will perfom as Sheriff, we have been pleased to see that Sharp is working with Democratic candidates in Eastern Jack. We saw him at a Joe Volpe event in Lee's Summit, along with Minority Leader Paul LaVota and several other Democratic House candidates. We also saw him at a Raytown Democratic Association breakfast fundraiser.

It is hopeful to see someone who did not seem to us too be an active Democrat now out there using his obvious popularity in the Lee's Summit area to help Democratic candidates get elected.

Bob Gough steps in it

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:46:00 +0000

For those of you who don't know him, Bob Gough is a Rush Limbaugh wanna-be who spends his pitiful little life poring over campaign finance reports and filing nuisance suits against Democrats with the Ethics Commission. So when the Democratic 47th and 48th Legislative Committees goofed and sent Jason Norbury and Joe Volpe a few extra beans, ol' Bob sends up a flare and screams and stamps his wittle footsie.

Well, it seems that Joe Volpe, running to take Will Kraus' seat away and do some serious work in Jeff City, is not going to take things lying down. He let's it be known that Bob Gough has been banned from the Lee's Summit paper for racist editorials. Here's the statement from the Volpe camp:

REPUBLICAN KRAUS CAMPAIGN AFFILIATED WITH RACIST AND EXTREMIST REMARKS

A recent review of published opinion pieces reveal that Bob Gough, the Deputy Treasurer to Republican State Rep. Will Kraus, is on the record using racial remarks that had him banned from a local newspaper.

Joe Volpe, Democratic candidate in the 48th district, released the following statement:

"In the 21st century it is a shame people like Bob Gough get published. Knowing how racially diverse our district is, Republican Will Kraus should be ashamed to have a campaign affiliated with such remarks.

"Either Republican Will Kraus removes Bob Gough from his campaign and apologizes to the voters of his district for being affiliated with Bob Gough, or he fully agrees with such racist and extremist statements? It's that simple.

Bob Gough writes op-ed piece in the Lee's Summit Post-Tribune titled "Darwin and Intelligent Design" in which he claims predominantly African-American schools are incapable of distinguishing between God and Snoop Dog saying "In the Kansas City School District; they are incapable of teaching the three R's. Or anything else. Don't expect them to teach Intelligent Design. If they did, the material would be patterned after the teachings of Louis "Calypso Louie" Farrakhan with a little Reverend Al Sharpton thrown in. Add Gangsta Rap hymns from the Snoop Dog songbook to round out the religious program"

Bob Gough writes op-ed piece in the Lee's Summit Post-Tribune using the tragedy of a family who's home was invaded, without their permission, to lead into an extremist claim that Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II was a "marxist" and the "reason high violence in Kansas City exists". He also claimed that the home invaders were from Kansas City, when a police investigation hadn't concluded those findings.

Known extremist Bob Gough is the Deputy Treasurer of "Citizens for Will Kraus".

Known extremist Bob Gough is a key funder of Citizens for Will Kraus:

January 2006 quarterly report, 48th Legislative Committee-Republican, Bob Gough, Treasurer gives Kraus $800.

March 2006, 48th Legislative Committee-Republican, gives Kraus $200

November 2006, 48th Legislative Committee-Republican, Bob Gough Treasurer gives Kraus $1,325

January 2008 quarterly report, 48th Legislative Committee-Republican, Bob Gough, Treasurer gives Kraus $1,600

Kato again: It's good to see a local Dem ready to step up and smack a putz like Gough across the chops. Folks like Gough and Kraus are part of the Rove wing of the GOP--which now only has the Rove wing--and their leadership has taken our country in the wrong direction for far too long.

So good going, Joe! And keep it up.

Mike Sharp admits to porn emails. UPDATED

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:04:00 +0000

We have no problem with adults viewing legal erotic materials in the privacy of their home, but to be sending them around law enforcement offices like a snickering teen-age boy shows a striking lack of maturity. Mike Sharp has admitted to this kind of juvenile behavior. (Update: registration with the Star might now be required to see the article.)

Perhaps we should look to a person with better judgment to revive our struggling county Sheriff's department. Besides, as we noted below, Sharp is most likely a Republican anyway.

UPDATE: Saturday, the Kansas City Star, which endorsed Sharp last week, withdrew its endorsement and instead recommends John Bullard for Sheriff. We agree. Too bad the Star had to base their initial choice on their usual 'what-big-wigs-support-him' method, and not the obvious skills and experience Bullard has that Sharp does not. Might have saved the paper some embarrassment...

The only good Republican...

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:39:00 +0000

...is an indicted Republican. Senator Ted Stevens, (R-Alaska,) is now a good Republican. As Crooks and Liars says, so dirty, even the Bush Administration had to indict him. Here's the poop...

Sharp is a Republican

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:07:00 +0000

Have you noticed that Mike Sharp, candidate for Sheriff, almost never puts the word "Democrat" or the party graphic on his signs or billboards? You would think that would be a plus in a Democratic county, in a Democratic year.

Well, I think he got wise, because the new billboard at 75th and Wornall does mention the party. But mostly, in Eastern Jack, we see sights like this:

So it looks like Sharp is asking all his GOP buddies out in Lee's Summit to pull a Democratic ballot just to elect him Sheriff. It will be interesting to see how that works out for him with a nasty GOP gubenatorial primary...

Kraus will lie to you.

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:16:00 +0000

Will Kraus will do whatever it takes to escape the GOP brand this year. He will pull out labor endorsements, put fake Democrats on his mail pieces, and just flat-out lie about his "independence." It did not work in Raytown in '06, as the Moreno campaign convinced Raytowners of Kraus's deep Republican connections. Kraus lost the Raytown vote, and the Kansas City vote. Only the right-wing folks who came out in Lee's Summit to vote against the Stem Cell initiative kept Willy Boy in office.

Remember, KRAUS IS A REPUBLICAN, and HE WILL LIE TO YOU about it. Count on it.

Dobson is a hypocrite

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:47:00 +0000

Today right-wing mulluh James Dobson, who a year ago said he could not vote for John McCain because of the flagrant infidelity he inflicted on his first wife (you know, the woman McCain dumped because she lost her hottness after a car wreck) has now changed his tune. In a half-hour screed against Barrak Obama, Dobson dropped the bomb that he could support McCain. This proves that Dobson and the folks at Focus on the Family are nothing more than a tax-exempt arm of the GOP political smear-machine.

Being a hyper-partisan Republican, Dobson has decided that who sits on the Supreme Court is more important than his own conviction or integrity. I guess McSame's screwing around does not have the importance to Dobson that it once did, so long as he gives the uber-Christians the judges they want.

Dobson is part of the old guard of evangelicalism that is thankfully being more and more marginalized by younger evangelicals. The day when no one in the Christian world cares what James Dobson says or thinks will be a great day for our nation, and for the faith.

This has a really nice ring to it

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:49:00 +0000

There's a ballot measure to rename the San Fran waste water treatment plant after Dear Leader W. A little spiteful perhaps, but far more than the schmuck deserves. We think this measure will pass. Deservedly so.

The folks who put this together have a great sense of humor, AND they despise Republicants. We applaud.

Alabama AG has a hobby, it seems...

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:39:00 +0000

Alabama's anti-gay and anti-sex-toys Attorney General, Troy King, is about to resign, it seems. No official reason given, but everyone in Alabama knows its because his wife had sad occasion to stumble upon him with another man in their marital bed.

We feel sad for his wife, but is not the hypocrisy beautiful? This bozo made a career of suckering the religious right, pandering to their every puritan desire, and here he is doing some other guy in his own bedroom.

And oh, yeah, I imagine he is going to lose his job as the chairman of John McCain's Alabama Leadership Team.

Yup, Global Warming not happening, it's all just in Gore's imagination, because liberals hate biddness...

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:30:00 +0000

Tell that too the Russians up at the North Pole who have to get the hell out of dodge because the ice is getting too thin. AT THE NORTH POLE!!!!!!!

But no, Hannity and Limbaugh and all the other right-wing nozzles say that it's all a hoax by folks how hate your freedom, or something. I wonder how much loot those right wing mouth-breathers get from Big Oil to spout the corporate line...

Republicans, on their knees for corporate America and making you and your kids pay for it. Join me in despising them and voting them out of power.

Keep Listening to Rush , Hannity, and Big Oil....

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:58:00 +0000

While the North Pole melts away. Check it out.

According to the scientists--we mean real scientists who do SCIENCE, not right-wing shills for Big Oil, for the first time in human history the North Pole might have no ice this summer. But I thought Fux News said that there's no such thing as global warming!

Our only hope is to spread the news that EVERYTHING Republicans touch turns to crap, and that they must be voted out of every office in the land. They are a party that lives on twisted fantasies of a right-wing utopia, and they are taking all of us down with them.

VOTE THEM OUT!

So here's why you should vote Republican

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:39:00 +0000

Another Republican Pervert

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 03:02:00 +0000

You know, when it comes to Obama, GOPers are so concerned about the people he associated with over the years. How about all the GOP big wheels in Missouri who associated themselves with Eric Feltner, Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder's chief of staff? Is that not light years worse than a shoot from the lip preacher? Oh, how could I forget, anything a Republican does is alright, because they are patriotic and we're not, or some idiotic GOP mantra. Well, this doofus has obviously never watched any of those "bust-a-pervert" shows on cable.

You can read the entire disgusting document here. Feltner, a pudgy, middle-aged suit judging by his photo, seemed to think himself the perfect candidate to show what he thought was a 13-year-old girl the ways of love, although love had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Your modern, family-friendly GOP. Bathroom stalls, little girls, and who knows what else. But gay folks marrying, no, THAT would be bad.

Please remember to join me in despising Republicans today. We have even more reason, thanks to this Feltner creep.

Game on, people

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:51:00 +0000

Well, this seems to be the weekend when the top of the ticket gets sown up for Obama. As a great samurai warlaord once said, "After a battle, tighten your helmet cords." The Democratic Party has been through one great battle, and it has been good for us. This primary has enabled the Obama team to hone skills necessary like crisis control and media hit-back. We are reasonably certain that the Rove-style personal destruction and Swift Boat stuff will be responded to immediately this time around.

Candidates at every level should take a lesson: hit the GOPer running against you INSTANTLY with everything you've got at the first hint of Rovian slime. Call a press conference immediately and make the bastard pay for his lies. People do not vote for wimps. Always have a punch-back ready instantly for the lame "scary-liberal-will-raise-your-taxes-and-hand-your-
kids-to-the-terrorists-without-a-flag-pin" bullshit that Republicans inevitably trot out.

We like "corporate-whore-Republican-will-turn-all-of-rural-Missouri-into-a-
covered-hog-farm-and-pass-laws-allowing-the-
big-guys-to-fill-your-streams-with-pig shit" or "(GOPer's name)-voted-with-Blunt-every-day-of-the-week-and-took-a gazzillion-bucks-from-xyz-corporate-whore-lobbyists."

There are many others. Have fun creating your own. You just need to read the paper for the last few years to find material.

It's go time.

This is helpful how?

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:44:00 +0000

Some Evangelical Marines seem to be taking it upon themselves to evangelize Iraqis with this coin bearing a Christian scripture verse. So imagine yourself as a regular Iraqi, at a US checkpoint. You go up to a burly, heavily armed Marine who checks your papers and does whatever he needs to make sure you're not a walking bomb, and after all this necessary inconvenience, he puts a funny-looking coin in front of your face. Well, you really need to get through the checkpoint to buy food or work at a job or something else important for your survival, so you don't want to get stuck. You take the coin. Oh, did I mention you are a devout Muslim?

We'd ike to ask the Evangelicals out there if they agree with this coercive form of proselytizing? Is this something Jesus would do? And politically it's really unhelpful, as it's pissing off the very people we need on our side to make Iraq a place we can leave someday.

As some of the comments show, this says to the typical Iraqi male: "You're weak, you can't even keep them from desecrating your religion." Just another thoughtless blunder brought to you by the theocrats that abound in the Bush junta.

What is it with right-wing whackos and assasination talk?

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:27:00 +0000

One of the crazy ladies at Fox Noise, Liz Trotta, thought it was funny to suggest that someone "knock off" Osama bin Laden AND Barrak Obama. Watch the clip here. Despicable. She retracted it a day later, but probably only because it gave Keith Olberman a HUGE club to smack Fixed News with. You know that no matter WHAT she said in her retraction, this evil neo-con really means it in her heart. Maybe Bill O'Reilly can ask his "body-language" expert about this intellectual bimbo's comment. (Holding breath....Turning blue.....forget it.)

FOX News, the people who want to "knock off" anyone who disagrees with them.

We haven't said it lately, but it always bears repeating: Have we told you lately how much we despise Republicans?

It's been how long????

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Sat, 17 May 2008 02:23:00 +0000

Since February? It's not like we've dropped out of politics. There have been meetings with candidates, phone-banking, organizing, and caucusing. Just not blogging. The guys at the KC Blue Blog are doing a great job researching the illegalities and idiocies of the GOP. The folks at the CCP are on the case. The Hip Suburban White Guy kicks the wingnuts in the teeth with awesome regularity, and every knocked out tooth is well deserved.

So we slacked a little. To be honest, primaries don't trip our trigger. They are only tangentially related to beating Republicans. But primary season, at least in the presidential race, is coming to a close, and our candidate can get down to some serious beating of the old man, who, as Keith Olberman alludes, "screams at clouds." (We love that, Keith!)

So here's the latest in a long line of despicable crap Repubs get away with. Hillbilly Huck was talking to the NRA and joked about a gun being pointed at Barak Obama. Here's the poop, and we do mean poop, from CNN:

During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain — joked that an unexpected offstage noise was Democrat Barack Obama looking to avoid a gunman.

“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor."

As Hillbilly Huck took pains to remind us all during his doomed campaign, this guy claims to be a Christian minister. We can only quote scripture here: Jesus wept.

PS: This one's for Mike, who got us off our ass.

GOP'ers. What a bunch of petty losers.

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:34:00 +0000

At the RNC headquarters, they fine you $10 for using "Barak" or "Hillary" when referring to the Democratic candidates. Not that I care what sort of sweat-shop conditions the evil orcs at the RNC slave away under in pursuit of their corporatist purposes, but this just shows how small, mean, and utterly useless to democracy the Republican party truly is.

How the Dems will beat John McCain

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:04:00 +0000

It looks like, regardless of Limbaugh, Hannity, and the other riech-wing blowhards want, John McCain is going to be the Grand Oil Party's nomminee. Running against him will be Hill or Barak. I really don't care who wins, so long as it's not McCain.

Here's my advice for the Democratic nominee: Run McCain ragged. Set a pace that no 72-year old man can match. Make him spend more time in the air than on the stump. Think of anything that will force him to take long, exhausting road trips. McCain is a cranky old cuss at the best of times. A bleary, tired, ragged McCain is bound to give us some exploitable Macacca moments.

My preference for this strategy is Barak, because he's younger than Hillary. But I think Hillary still has the horsepower to get it done.

So there's some free campaign advice from RPA. We have the fresher legs. Let's use 'em.

Blunt Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:51:00 +0000

Young Master Blunt has decided to bow out of the Governor's race. It looks like Nixon beat him just by fighting early, by never giving up, by being ready to to stand up to GOP slime. Like most bullies, GOPers don't have the stomach for a real fight. They just slink away and look for easier pickings.

But this fight is not over. After the GOP primary, some other silk-suited Republican mobster will be propped up by the fat-cat lobbyists, and Jay will have a fight on his hands. So we have to keep working, talking, calling, knocking. We can never let up if we want to rid this state and country of Republican misgovernment.

Long Time No Post

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:44:00 +0000

Well, we've taken a little breather from politics for a few weeks. With finals and Christmas and New Year's, it just did not seem the time for railing about Republican evil. To everything there is a season, and the season for beating the GOP into oblivion is definitely here. This blog now shifts into organization mode. We will be talking about ways YOU can work to put people into office who are not corporate robots or right-wing fundamentalists. We will not take sides in Democratic primary races, because ANY Dem is a better choice than ANY Republican. We just thank anyone on the Democratic side for stepping up. Every candidate we field is someone they have to put resources up against. (We do reserve the right to be skeptical about late-minute party switchers. The Paul Morrison debacle in Kansas is a good lesson about that.)

So as the season gets really rolling, look here for information about how you can get involved in the Raytown area for canvasses and other types of volunteering.

It's go time, folks.

Dick Cheney's Company (Haliburton) in action...

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:58:00 +0000

A Houston woman has charged her employers, that is Haliburton, with gang raping her in the Green Zone in Iraq. According to an ABC news report here, the woman called her dad FROM THE SHIPPING CONTAINER THE COMPANY MEN HAD LOCKED HER IN after the brutal gang rape. Her dad called his congressman, Ted Poe (R), who got some embassy folks to rescue the woman from a shipping container. (Finally, a Republican who did something to actually help a person in need.)

The corporate goons will fight this with all they have. They will destroy this woman and her family for seeking justice. And Dick Cheney will probably help them.

This is going to air soon. I hope it hits big. I hope it's another slap in the face for the war-profiteering slime at Haliburton.

Blackwater has snipers.

noreply@blogger.com (Kato) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 15:58:00 +0000

Silly me. I thought all Blackwater mercenaries did was protest our diplomats in the streets of Iraq. So why would they need snipers? And why did they kill some Iraqi's guarding a media outfit? And why is the State Department defending them yet again? You watch, pretty soon we'll have mercenaries fighting Iraqi soldiers, you know, the ones that "when they stand up , we'll stand down." Another Hearts and Minds triumph brought to you by the right-wing Christian mercenary army that is Blackwater.