kanesrealm

Just when you thought it was safe to come out of your corn hole, this happened. The Indiana Pastor's Alliance accused Pence and other Republican leaders of betraying Christians by fixing the R.F.R.A. They claim the fix discriminates against Christians and that it is now a "gay rights bill". This according to Alliance Executive Director Rob Johnson. House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President David Long have both dismissed the allegations that the legislature has damaged religious liberty. Philip's Temple pastor Carl Kelly said former Republican Senator Richard Lugar didn't serve the needs of conservatives , including the tea party and he paid the price. Kelly said if Indiana failed to enact a stronger RFRA law, the same thing might happen to Pence. Dick Lugar's conservative bona fides were never in question among those with any common sense. What certain people couldn't tolerate was the fact that he knew public policy is only accomplished through neg...

Good headline but it has nothing to do with the mysterious death of Freddy Gray while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department. The bystander video of part of this bizarre situation shows two police officers holding Mr. Gray on the ground. When the paddy wagon arrives they pick him up and he clearly cries out in pain and cannot walk on his own. In the wagon he goes, what happens next we don't know. We don't even know why the police arrested him. But seven days later he died as a result of a spine that was 80% crushed. The city should be outraged and should keep up a large peaceful demonstration to demand answers and changes in Baltimore long-term. The teenagers and outside forces that brought a violent reign of terror destroying buildings and vehicles have harmed the good fight and removed the focus from Freddy Gray. There is no excuse for the violence that occurred. Yes there are serious problems in that city, many cities in fact. Destroying your own habitat and har...

Peter Schweizer, the author of the upcoming book "Clinton Cash" has now admitted in several interviews that he has no evidence of wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State. But that's what the book is about. It's about insinuating corrupt acts in exchange for contributions to the Clinton Foundation. No proof is provided in the book. It is a narrative of intrigue and innuendo which in publishing terms is also known as a novel. The author claims he has no political agenda and it has been hinted that he may do a similar book about Jeb Bush. So, another novel? Bill Clinton has made a lot of money since leaving office. He is probably the most active former President in our history. That's because of a combination of age, energy, drive and talent. The Clinton Global Initiative and The Clinton Foundation do a lot of good. If someone has credible evidence of wrongdoing that's one thing, but writing a work of fiction and offering it up as truth i...

The Boston Marathon Bomber, I don't need to use his name, has entered the punishment phase of his conviction. To kill or not to kill that is the question. I don't believe in the death penalty. I will pause now to allow conservatives to condemn me and liberals to cheer me or is it that simple? Of course it isn't. My reason for opposition is because I don't consider the death penalty punishment. What? Yes indeed you read right. The Bomber would prefer to die and be immortalized for his cause, whatever the hell that was. It is better that this 21 year old should rot in solitary for the next sixty or more years and be forgotten. The death penalty is not punishment because it let's the offender off the hook. Consider for a moment the following. The majority of Americans say they believe in God. Under anyone's definition of religion if you sincerely ask for forgiveness you are welcomed into heaven. If you don't believe in the afterlife then the offender gets the...

In the grand scheme of things this snippet is so irrelevant one wonders why it's worth addressing, but since no one is reading this I'll fill the space. Ben Affleck participated in a P.B.S. series hosted by Professor Henry Gates. The show traces the genealogy of celebrities and takes them on a personal journey, cue violins. I'm pleased to announce I have never watched an entire episode of the show because other than the celebrity and their family, who cares? My ancestors came from Ireland with a potato and a dream. All they found were more potatoes, we've been shootin' for the curb ever since. During the research into Affleck's family it was discovered that one of his ancestors was a slave owner. He did not want this exposed and asked that it be removed from the program. We only know about this because of a butt load of Sony emails divulged by hackers via Wiki-Leaks. Should we know about this? No, but we do. Affleck is of course being skewered by conservatai...

You can't make this stuff up. The past week has brought a torrent of criticism of the current presidential contenders logos. I just saw a segment on Meet the Press covering this topic and offer their own panels criticisms including David Axelrod. All of the candidates have received jabs but the big one is Hillary Clinton. This is an absurd topic, people do not vote for logos. Axelrod not liking Hillary's logo is amusing. He had the good fortune of having a boss who's name began with O, putting the red,white and blue with the illusion of the rising sun made a great lapel pin. Not a single vote was given to Obama because of that logo. When I first saw the Clinton logo my interpretation was move forward with Hillary. There's nothing wrong with it or any other candidates logo. Come on American media, you can do better than this. Sorry, I've just been informed you can't. Carry on.

You can't escape death and taxes. That's not entirely true, the super wealthy do a pretty good job of beating the tax man. Nothing illegal mind you, I would never suggest such a thing. Our tax code is so bloated and complicated it's as though it were specifically written to aid powerful forces at the top, nah. The House of Representatives passed it's bill to eliminate the so called death tax. It's actually the estate tax but years ago it was dubbed death, it sounds much more sinister and who would support taxing a dead person, creepy. It's fascinating how Republicans despise modern Europe but they sure love old Europe. A place where vast wealth was passed from generation to generation guaranteeing a small ruling class. Here in the U.S. of today there is no estate tax for individuals with under 5.4 million dollars in assets and for couples it's around 10.9 million. Are you leaving behind anywhere near that? No, didn't think so. The elimination of the ...

I will not be a candidate for President of the United States in 2016. If nominated I will not run. If elected I will not serve. ( I'm not W.R. Kane and I did not authorize this message.)

This is not the normal kind of commentary I would offer but in light of multiple police issues that have come to light in the past year I'm compelled to. In Oklahoma a 73 year old Reserve Officer shot a suspect with a gun thinking he was tasing him. This suspect was already subdued by Deputies and their call for tasing him is questionable in itself. The video is clear. The comments of at least one of those Deputies dismissing the suspects complaint of losing his breath is unacceptable. The suspect later died. It should not have happened. One of the things that lead me to comment is how little the media is aware of these reserve programs, which exist across the country. I have been aware of them for many years, they exist where I live. I have known people who are in the programs and that's why I don't believe in them. If a department believes it should have a reserve then it should only consist of retired officers. Even then I see no need. A police department is to serve...

The junior Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, has entered the race to be the Republican Presidential nominee in 2016. The announcement was a pretty standard event complete with second generation makes good in America. He should be proud of his parents and he should be proud of himself but now he wants to be President. He spoke about his fears that his very young children wouldn't have the America they deserve if things don't change. Ah yes, that whole change thing. Here's the problem, that thing you worry about your children not having is already the reality. At 43 Senator Rubio already occupies an age group that in real economic terms has not done better than the previous generation. The Senator himself may be doing well but a large percentage of the population is not. Senator Rubio opposes equal pay for equal work, opposes raising the minimum wage and caved to his conservative colleagues on immigration reform. These are just a few of the things that make you wonder wha...

Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't seem to be well liked broadly. I am very proud to not really know all of the reasons why. Truth is I don't care and have zero interest in the lives and opinions of most celebrities. This latest challenge, my how challenges are all the rage, is to eat on $29.00 for one week. The amount of money the SNAP program provides those who qualify. I am not impressed by Gwyneth or any other privileged member of society taking these types of challenges, a game for them if you will, the hunger game is not funny and this type of trivial activity does nothing to address the problem. If you want to impress me then live on that for two years and move out of your swanky pad and give up your car. This reminds me of the ridiculous political stunt pulled by multi-millionaire John Block who served as Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Agriculture. He wanted to prove that his family could survive well on food stamps. We won't dwell on that event because most have forgotten...

Hillary Clinton announced she is a candidate for President of the United States. The secret is out. The brief video on social media focused not on Clinton herself but on regular folks. A smart way to announce and all that is necessary. Everyone knows who she is now she has to earn their vote. Although I am a political junkie I finally turned the so called news channels off because the incessant chattering of all  the  alleged in the know talking heads was giving me a headache. CNN's group of blowhards was particularly nauseating. How do you get that job cause I want me some money. Naturally the Republicans have been attacking Clinton nonstop since she left the State Department but now they and their surrogates are going into hyper drive. As soon as debate season begins they will have to turn their rhetoric on each other and there will be plenty of targets on the Republican stage. Speaking of stages, the Democratic one will not be Hillary alone. Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb, Jo...

All of the 2016 Presidential Election talk reminds me once again that our British friends have it right by restricting electioneering to a few weeks before the General. Let's face it the 2016 campaign began immediately after the 2012 election was over. We have been bombarded with it for over a year. To hear some talking heads Hillary Clinton should have announced her candidacy the day she stepped down as Secretary of State. We have created a system that requires candidates to raise huge sums of money. Where do you think that money comes from? A lot of small donations from the general public can add up to significant sums but  nothing compared to what gets dumped in by major special interests and extremely wealthy individuals. This has boomed since the Citizens United case was decided, not our Supreme Court's finest hour. We are subjected to ads financed by forces we know nothing about and they can easily smear a candidate with enough repetition. True election reform has three...

Starbucks has announced that it will provide a four year degree to any of it's employees that wish to pursue it. The degree will come from Arizona State University's online program. Employees will receive a scholarship from A.S.U. for 42% of the tuition and Starbucks will pay the other 58%. This is a great idea and quite progressive, at least on the surface. My question would be prior to this announcement would Starbucks have accepted an online degree from A.S.U. for senior management positions in their company? Yes we are in a new era of learning and there are some prestigious Universities offering a variety of online programs, but we are also in an era where a plethora of higher learning organizations which are in fact providing useless pieces of paper to their graduates. It is one of the most under reported scandals in our country. Students seeking four year degrees and other accreditations are going deep in debt only to discover afterwards that prospective employers are ...

The junior Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, announced his candidacy for President of the United States. That's two so far for the Republicans with a long list of others yet to come. Paul wants to take our country back. Isn't that what all politicians proclaim, especially Republicans. Take it back from whom? Themselves would seem to be the logical response. Isn't it funny how all of these people who fight so hard to be a part of the power structure want to dismantle it? Can you say disingenuous. While we're taking it back where is it we're taking it? Is it to the mythical time when America was a better place? At what point in our history is it that Paul would like to take us? He spoke today of how Washington is broken and it's both party's fault. According to him he is not of Washington and will go there to heal the nation. Sounds a lot like Barack Obama in 2008. Rand Paul has a father you may have heard of. The Ron Paul Revolution fired up some intensel...

I think we all can agree that the Iranian Government is not our friend. They routinely organize their domestic "death to America" rallies. They are a Theocracy and there in rests the problem. Whenever religion becomes the ruler of the State it results in an inflexible attitude toward other nations. We are now engaged in an attempt to place a diplomatic agreement in place which would stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. This has been of great concern for quite sometime, leading to international sanctions against them. The sanctions have hurt and motivated them to come to the bargaining table. The outline of the potential agreement is available for review and you should do that before jumping to conclusions. The actual agreement, which will be far more than four pages, will not be signed until the end of June, if we actually make it to that point. There is bipartisan doubt in our country about this deal. Most of that is sincere and Congress should absolutely do it's j...

The Indiana General Assembly, working faster than it ever has, added language to the Freedom of Religion Act stating it cannot be used as a defense for discriminating against anyone including the LGBT community. It's a few more words than I just noted but those are the essentials.  The law was sent to Governor Pence who signed it behind closed doors with no media allowed. He then left for Europe. It's no surprise that he didn't want to be seen signing the law because he didn't want to do it.  In his opinion millions of people, including corporate C.E.O.'s are too stupid to read and understand what we just read. We are not able to connect the dots. It's a given that most politicians consider their constituents less than bright and sometimes they're right. But it's not politically wise to show such contempt. Pence and his allies in the legislature truly don't get it. Society is moving forward with or without them. It is time for Indiana to take the n...