Congressman Mike Pompeo and his GMO lobby sponsors

Wichita, KS Congressman Mike Pompeo
has received more contributions from the GMO lobby
than all but 1 member of Congress.

If you believe you have the right to know what's in the food you buy, Congressman Mike Pompeo is not your friend.  Neither are the GMO lobby corporations and industry associations who have given more to him than almost anyone else in Congress.

In a new report, the Environmental Working Group has done their homework and followed the money to show us who in Congress the GMO lobby is bolstering, and by how much.

Here is a graphic detailing Pompeo's top GMO lobby contributors and how much they've given him.  Click the image to see EWG's information in full detail, or click here to see the full size image.

Just a thought: Maybe you should stop buying their products and vote for someone else.

Bayer makes Aleve, Alka-Seltzer, Bactine, Flintstones and One A Day vitamins, Midol, Rid, Yaz.

General Mills makes Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fiber One, Gardetto's, Gold Medal, Green Giant, Haagen-Dazs, Hamburger Helper family, Kix, Lucky Charms, Macaroni Grill, Nature Valley, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Progresso, Total cereal, Totino's & Jeno's, Trix (NOT for my kids!), Wheaties & Yoplait.

PepsiCo makes Lays, Fritos, Doritos, Mtn Dew, Gatorade, 7Up, Cheetos, Lipton teas, Quaker oatmeals, Ruffles, Tropicana juices, Tostitos, Aquafina, Sierra Mist, Brisk teas, and Starbucks ready-to-drink beverages.

Mike Pompeo's primary opposition is Todd Tiahrt, who formerly held Pompeo's congressional seat for many years.  In truth, he's not a whole lot different from Pompeo on the issues and is really just another establishment Republican, but he's found a political expediency in attacking Pompeo on GMO labeling and is therefor a preferable candidate.  I would urge liberty-loving Wichita area Republicans to vote for Todd Tiahrt over Mike Pompeo in the upcoming Republican primary.

Kansas Senator Jerry Moran chooses corporations over constituents

Last week I discovered my disgusting asshat of a congressional representative Mike Pompeo was sponsoring a bill at the federal level designed to squash the efforts in 24 individual states to force food companies to label foods with GMOs.  Of course, I immediately wrote my Kansas senators encouraging them to stand against this bill.

Below is the response I received from Senator Jerry Moran, who I've viewed until recently as the "good guy" in the Kansas congressional delegation.  It would seem that Senator Moran is more interested in representing the interests of the giant corporations over my natural right to know what's in the food they're creating for me to buy.  Not such a good guy, after all.  But what did I expect?  I already knew no candidate actually wins an election for a federal office without being in the pocket of banks and corporations.  I guess I need to release my grip on the last shred of hope I held that there are still secretly some decent people in Washington, D.C.

Ol' Jerry, in the tried and true style of political subterfuge, assured me that the United States has the safest food supply in the world (so, like, why try to make it safer?) and that the FDA makes sure nothing harmful ever touches the market.  Maybe he should tell that to the victims of all the dangerous drugs that made Big Pharma millions before being pulled.  Never mind that GMOs haven't been in the food supply long enough to determine the long term effects.  Never mind that no system is in place to link the possible (nay, probable) harmful effects of GMOs in the food supply to the food themselves - exactly BECAUSE there's no tracking of what foods do and do not contain GMOs!

I think I'll write Senator Moran back to let him know where his reasoning fails and explain to him that I'm not one of these American sheeple who will accept a politicians pat answer and just move along.

So, moral of the story is that Jerry Moran, like Pat Roberts, Mike Pompeo and the rest of the good ol' boys from Kansas on Capitol Hill, is not a good guy.

As promised, here's the response he sent:

The United States has the safest food supply in the world.  It is in our country's best interest to continue to protect the integrity of food production.   I appreciate knowing your views on labeling genetically engineered food . Under federal law, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must determine whether genetically engineered plants and animals are safe for human consumption before the products  can be marketed.  The FDA, in conjunction with the United States Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency , review the science and safety of all  genetically modified organisms (GMO's) intended for human consumption.   There is currently no scientific consensus or evidence indicating that GMO's are harmful for human consumption.  By the year 2050, the planet's population is expected to reach well over 9 billion.  We must develop technologies and prepare for  population growth if we are to avoid world hunger.  I will continue to monitor the science behind GMO's.  I am grateful for the opportunity Kansans have given me to serve them in the United States Senate.    If you are interested in learning more about my efforts on your behalf, I encourage you to visit moran.senate.gov.    Please let me know if I can be of service to you or your family in the future.

Very truly yours, Jerry Moran

An open letter to all elected officials

Dear officials elected to represent the American people (your station is much more important than your name),

I would like to make my personal feelings clear so that you can better represent me. I pray it is indeed your intention to do so.

I would like to see all military aggression by the United States in all areas of planet Earth cease immediately. I do not wish to have my hard-earned taxes used to take even a single life, regardless of whose life it may be. Furthermore, I would like all monies spent on aggression to be pulled immediately. No more assault rifles. No more tanks. No more fighter jets. No more bombers, and indeed no more bombs.

All life on this planet is connected. We cannot harm another without harming all, including ourselves. The time for these misguided actions has long since ended. It is time for you as our elected representative to behave accordingly and do what is right for all, not what is expedient to get you re-elected or what makes "defense" contrators happy.

Very sincerely,

Tim Bravo

Good News for Raj Goyle

9/14/10: Since this post keeps getting traffic, I think it's best to post the obvious update: Last week Wink Hartman ended up deciding to NOT enter the race as a Libertarian.

Local news is reporting oil tycoon Wink Hartman, having taken 3rd place in the Republican primary, is considering a run as a Libertarian against the GOP winner Mike Pompeo.

This is AWESOME!  Hartman spent literally millions of his own money on the primary and took 3rd!  He didn't even just barely lose - he lost his ass.  Now he's considering spending more of his money to run against Pompeo in the general election?  Goosebumps.

Raj Goyle was already looking like a contender.  I mean, it's already actually possible that someone other than a Republican could replace Todd TeaHeart, er Tiarht, as the congressman for Kansas' 4th district.  Now we have a situation where Wink Hartman will be spending Libertarian dollars as well as his own to compete for Republican votes.  I guarantee he'll position himself as more batshit, er conservative than Pompeo.  He'll pander once again to the Tea Partiers and Birthers who are dictating the direction of the GOP.  You'll have the ugly Republican primary mudslinging all over again!  Pompeo will focus on the fact Hartman isn't really from Kansas...because that's about all he has on him.  Raj will continue to hammer Pompeo on sending jobs out of Kansas, because it's the ugly truth.  Ugly for Pompeo, anyway.  And of course there's that whole thing where Pompeo promoted through Twitter a racist blog against Goyle.

And when it's all said and done, neither Pompeo nor Hartman will have more votes than Raj.  Absolutely wonderful! 

Today is a good day. 

Now all we have to do is hope Hartman throws his hat in the Libertarian ring before Friday. 

I would like to reiterate that I am NOT a Democrat!  However, in this race I strongly support Raj Goyle as the best candidate to represent my own personal ideals in Congress. 

Mike Pompeo: Irresponsible Liar at Best, Hateful Bigoted Racist at Face Value.

If you live in south central Kansas, you know the name Mike Pompeo.  He's a Republican running for the 4th District congressional seat Todd Tiahrt just abandoned in his thankfully-failed bid to snag Sam Brownback's spot in the U.S. Senate.  


Yesterday, Mike Pompeo's Twitter account promoted as a "good read" a linked blog post that derided Pompeo's opponent Raj Goyle - not based on his record or his politics, but based on his race, his assumed religion, and asserted communist leanings.  Of course, the blog made the same offensive and ridiculous claims about our president - but that's nothing new.  That's just part of being Republican these days.

The Tweet
Below is a screen cap from Mike Pompeo's Twitter timeline.  Someone was smart enough to grab it before the backlash started and Pompeo deleted the tweet. 

The linked blog post at that URL has also since been removed.  According to Raj Goyle's campaign manager, it contained the excerpt below.

"Just like his evil muslim communist USURPER comrad, barrack hussein obama, This goyle character is just another 'turban topper' we don't need in congress or any political office that deals with the U.S. Constitution, Christianity and the United States of America!!!" 

The assertion is that Barack Obama is a muslim.  He's not.  That's been refuted.  But then, whoever wrote what Mike Pompeo considers a "good read" probably hasn't heard.  The blogger can't even spell the president's name correctly!  Must have dropped out of school to spend the day listening to talk radio.  Now, whether Raj Goyle is a muslim or not is unknown to myself.  I can't find anything online or on Goyle's campaign site that points to a particular religion.  Quite frankly, I don't care unless he's using his religion to argue for policies restricting American freedoms.  Wait, that's a Republican thing to do.  


And while I don't care what Raj Goyle's religion is - or even if he subscribes to no religion - I have to say that I had a very dear muslim friend growing up and I loved him and his family very much.  Being muslim is not some evil thing.  Being an evangelical "Christian" spouting hateful diatribes against muslims IS an evil thing.


The blogger asserts that Barack Obama is a communist.  He's not.  He's a Democrat.  Likewise, Raj Goyle is a Democrat.  Not a communist.  Another stupid lie.  


But then the post goes from ignorant to repulsive by calling upon Raj Goyle's ethnicity as a reason to refuse him a chance at serving the people of Kansas.  Goyle is presumably of Indian heritage.  This racist blogger is lumping Indians in with Arabs, obviously.  Anyone from that part of the world is a "turban topper" - nevermind that there are many very distinct cultures in that region that have little in common aside from the fact the men wear some sort of cloth head piece.  That's like saying North Dakotans are just like Mexicans because they wear pants.  


But I don't care if Raj Goyle is an Indian.  Or an Arab.  I don't care if he's white, hispanic, or an Australian aborigine.  I. Don't. Care.  The fact that Republicans do is just another reason to vote for anyone else.  If this blog post was such a good read, as Mike Pompeo posted on Twitter, it's only because it exposes the true mindset of the Republicans in 2010.   


The Retraction
At some point, Mike Pompeo's tweet was deleted.  Nearly 24 hours after the tweet, Pompeo issued an apology on the campaign's Facebook page.  The linked blog post was removed from Newsvine, so who knows what else Pompeo thought was such a good read.   I'm guessing the blowback came harder and faster than they thought it would.  They might even have thought it would go under the radar and only Pompeo supporters would read the post.  You know, the kind of people who subscribe to the backwards bigoted views of the blogger.  But this is 2010, and you have to be a complete moron if you think progressives are so dumb they're not going to keep an eye on your noise machine.  

The Lie
I wasn't born yesterday.  I don't believe Pompeo's contention that some staffer posted the wrong link.  I'm not buying the whole "honest mistake" crap.  Don't you believe it, either!  This tweet was no accident, and the link posted was the link intended.  Pompeo's Facebook retractions claims it's easy to post the wrong link.  No it's not, and anyone who spends any amount of time with social media is smart enough to know that's bullshit.  God knows I've done my fair share of "posting", and not once have I posted the wrong link.  Furthermore, to post the wrong link, you have to HAVE the wrong link selected, copied, and pasted.  It's way more than a stretch to think some staffer did all that unintentionally.  


What this means is Mike Pompeo is LYING!  He's lying to your face.  Right to your face.  How's that taste?  And do you want someone who will stoop low enough to tweet that tweet then LIE about it representing YOU in Congress?  Really?  That's the name you're gonna put a checkmark by?  Seriously? 

Irresponsible
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that somehow it were a mistake.  That would make the tweet highly irresponsible at BEST!  Mike Pompeo is running a multimillion dollar campaign.  It is incumbent on a serious political candidate to vet any link they promote on their Twitter timeline, or on their Facebook page, or on their official campaign website.  Social media didn't start yesterday.  It's not something new.  And because Mike Pompeo is such a serious candidate, I'm justified in assuming he's serious about his campaign's social media policy.  If they don't cover making sure staffers know what they're posting BEFORE hitting the send button, that's irresponsible!  And indefensible.  So is calling it an "honest mistake".  See the section above on LYING.


The Bottom Line
The bottom line is Mike Pompeo is at best an irresponsible liar.  I think you have to take this tweet and linked blog post at face value, though.  Taken at face value, one can't help but see a hateful, bigoted racist - on top of being an irresponsible liar.  In other words, he's a 2010 Republican.  Mike Pompeo thinks he can run a dirty campaign and call it an accident. 


I Am Surprised That I'm Surprised. 
I more or less grew up in Kansas.  For more than 30 years, I've been surrounded by the small-mindedness of racism.  That I'm surprised at the depravity of this tweet is in itself surprising.


But I've got kids now.  I want them to see elected leaders who share the values I hope they'll decide are right for themselves.  I want them to see elected leaders who are actually LEADERS.  Not racists.  Not liars.


But this is Kansas.  My brand of leader might get elected when pigs fly.  The Kansans my kids see go to D.C. get there when pigs lie.

What I'm Going To Do
I'm not a Democrat.  I've been an independent voter my whole life, and I can't see that changing any time soon.  But after this redneck fiasco from Team Pompeo, I won't just be voting for his opponent Raj Goyle - I'll be campaigning for him!


There's a certain wisdom that teaches it's better to be for something than against something.  Instead of being vehemently against Pompeo, I intend to be vocally in favor of electing Raj Goyle.  Unless you'd like your kids to share Mike Pompeo's values of racism, bigotry, dishonesty and gutter politics, I'd recommend you do the same.