Republicans across the country are bearing down, hoping that voting against any Democratic proposal will get them back in power this fall to complete their destruction of our country next year. They are running on a platform of hatred for the federal government and while they preach "jobs" they care nothing about saving or creating them if Democrats get credit. They hope to break any power of the federal government and leave all the responsibility on cash-strapped states. Yes, even when the benefits of federal funding come home to their states they still vote no.
One thing that may be getting lost in the shuffle of having a tea-party zealot running for Senate in Kentucky is the fine slate of Democratic candidates we have running for Congress this year here. Candidates that are Washington outsiders and understand the problems that face real Kentuckians and Americans because they themselves are there facing those problems with us everyday. A good example of that is Ed Marksberry in Kentucky's Second Congressional district. Far from being a Washington elitist who is out of touch with working Kentucky and America, Ed is a Carpenter who wants to bring working values back to Washington and fight for them.
The wars in the middle-east have dragged on for far too long. As someone opposed to the Iraq War from the beginning, and who realizes we long ago under incompetent leadership lost the window of opportunity to capture Osama bin Laden and do any real good in Afghanistan, it is frustrating to see our party carrying on the disgraceful legacy of men like Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. Why carry on a legacy created upon a lie?? What is really frustrating is how many politicians are more than willing to cower in fear rather than speak out about the fact that we have wasted too many young lives and too much national treasure, and quite frankly our troops deserve better from all of us than to have been sent into the wrong war in the wrong places at the wrong time with the wrong equipment and continue to be sent there over and over again.
I wrote this diary, "John Waltz Continues to Show Strength" yesterday when I realized that the Waltz campaign had put up a very strong showing in fundraising for the last quarter. However, now it appears as if I put it up before I realized just how strong this showing really was. You see, as a political newcomer and a Progressive in a red area John Waltz did the unthinkable. He actually OUT-RAISED the sitting Republican Geoff Davis. Even more remarkable is that Waltz smoked Davis in donations from individuals.
Over in Kentucky's Fourth Congressional District a Democrat is emerging that could very well take that seat back. While not on many radar screens, the good folks at the Waltz campaign have really worked hard and it is really showing. Now, they have posted a really great fund raising quarter and stand poised to challenge Geoff Davis for that seat. The race in Kentucky's Fourth Congressional District just got really interesting....
After the recent mining disasters and the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon lawmakers continued to debate legislation to toughen workplace safety rules and increase penalties on employers that ignore them. Luckily for all the nation's workers, the new rules will not only apply to coal miners but to all of America's workers. For only the second time in forty years, employers will face new regulations on workplace safety. The new legislation would also prohibit the firing of workers who report unsafe conditions.
In Kentucky we have some great candidates bidding to pull upsets in the Congressional races. In the Fourth we have John Waltz and in the Fifth we have Jim Holbert. In the Second Congressional District we have Ed Marksberry, no stranger to us here at Hillbilly Report, and definately a fine candidate in his own right. He is ready to go to Washington and fight to once again expand the American middle-class. Today in a press release, he Unloaded on Kentucky Republicans for their "cozy industry relationships".
I was thinking it was just a matter of time. A matter of time until everyone else started to realize what I already knew. John Waltz in Kentucky's Fourth Congressional District has quietly turned into a very viable contender. Waltz has been working hard and one need only look at the money he has raised on ActBlue to be impressed. Now, Democracy for America is noticing the hard work and vision the Waltz campaign is offering and has nominated them as one of the top grassroots campaigns in the country.
We all remember the tragic mining incidents in West Virginia and here in Kentucky earlier this year. One theme that rang true in both instances is that in both cases lax regulation and a tendency to put profits over people seemed to play a major role in the lives lost. While nothing good can come out of the senseless deaths of hardworking Americans, hopefully these instances showed our country that not only in mining, but in every industry in this country it is once again time to get serious about making those who employ workers do all that is possible to protect them. After all, with no workers there can be no profit.
With the Mad Doctor Rand Paul running in the Senate race that race will be getting plenty of attention nationwide and on this site because not only is the Rand Paul vision for our state and country dangerous, but Jack Conway happens to be a pretty good candidate in his own right. However, with all the press that race will bring the fact of the matter is we have some fine Democrats running in other races too. One of them is John Waltz. His campaign has already shown surprising strength and as a veteran himself he wanted to speak on Memorial Day.
When the reckless policies of the previous administration and several before them finally allowed the "robber barons" within our financial institutions to crash the economy once again, they were bailed out nicely and it was profit as usual along the way. For the average American worker though, it has been a different story. Millions are still out of work due to the economic collapse and millions more of a new "lost generation" are living in their parents basements because the jobs meant for them were lost or outsourced.
Last month much was made among the right-wing foghorns on the radio and elsewhere about the Republicans taking the lead in the generic Congressional ballot among the American people. Despite all the self-righteous celebrating one thing was lost on them that evidently has set in on the American electorate. Republicans have absolutely no vision, or solutions to fix the huge problems that still confront our country. They offer only the same failed ideas that have been disgraced and have failed time and again. The party of no, no ideas and nothing good may be finding out that it takes something besides a lot of hot air to win elections. It takes ideas.
Nowadays it seems as if Republicans are already taking a victory lap in the fight to control the House of Representatives. On radio and in print and on the television airwaves we hear how America is going to entrust itself to Republican leadership in Congress once more. Now, if our memories are actually that short and we cannot remember what party in leadership of all three branches of government recently almost completely crashed our country off a cliff and now complain incessantly at the folks trying to clean up there mess, I just have one question to ask. Hey America, Speaker Boehner??
We heard all during the financial meltdown in 2008 how so many firms were simply "too big to fail" and must have hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money given to them for crashing our economy. Well now 62 members of the House of Representatives are sending another message to our Attorney General. If these firms were "too big to fail" then the crooks within them are certainly not "to big for jail".
Campaign Finance Reform received a huge setback in January when the Supreme Court ruled that the government could not ban Corporations from spending on political campaigns. With so much Corporate money ready to use this to flood money into the campaigns this fall this was a disturbing ruling. However now Democrats are close to proposing legislation to make it harder for these groups to silently manipulate elections. This legislation would force private companies and groups to disclose their involvement in political campaigns and advertising.
As many of you know that are regular readers Kentucky's Fourth Congressional District has a Democratic candidate. They have a real citizen, veteran, and Progressive alternative to corrupt Geoff Davis for representation in Congress. While he has shown some great success on ActBlue in that district he needs and deserves the support of national and statewide Democrats. Today, he is fighting back against the threats of Geoff Davis, who is playing both sides of the tea-bag movement.
Although he is officially running for United States Senate, looney tune Rand Paul took time out of his day to lead a miniscule protest against Kentucky's Congressman Awesome, John Yarmuth yesterday. Far from being damaging to Yarmuth this small but spirited band of zealots should successfully show what Kentucky will have in store for representation if any of these candidates defeat Yarmuth, or if Rand Paul is actually elected Senator or Kentucky. Yes, as the old saying goes "sometimes truth is stanger than fiction".
One of the things we are constantly trying to get across to the American worker on this site is the simple fact that war has been waged on them for the last few decades by corporations and their paid for politicians in both parties. Now besides stagnate wages, outsourcing of the middle-class, and the breakdown of our unions workers at the jobs that are left in America have a new worry to add to the list. Emerging technology in the last few decades have given employers a whole new way to steal worker's rights. By stealing their privacy.
It is no huge secret that in the last few decades American workers are falling further behind. They are losing rights, and have seen their wages stagnate even in periods of economic growth and record profits. Even worse is that with more and more women leading households in our country, their wages are still sagging far behind men who do the same or similar work. Unfortunately, although the issue was addressed in the Senate this past Friday, little note of it was made in the media who are still determined to stay transfixed on the shiny object of any particular day.
I wrote a few diaries several months ago about a Democratic newcomer in Kentucky politics when John Waltz announced his run here, here, and here. While I very much liked what Waltz was saying, I wondered about his ability to mount a race as a newcomer and in Kentucky's Fourth Congressional District. However, as this race is progressing John Waltz is proving to be an extremely viable candidate as well as being a real fighting Democrat. Now, Waltz's campaign is picking up steam and with our help could mount a real challenge to put Republicans on defense this fall in at least one previously secure district.
