Rep. Lynn Jenkins failure to follow up with the assistance she promised to Elizabeth Smith, the single mother who asked why Rep. Lynn Jenkins wouldn't support a public option and got nothing but a laugh as a response.

Despite the misleading title of this amendment – the Health Care Freedom Amendment – would actually deny the citizens of Kansas the freedom to CHOOSE a public health insurance option. Through vague language that is meant to appease a small population of tea party activists within the Republican party, Kansas State-Senator Mary Pilcher-Cook is attempting to deny Kansans the very health care she herself receives. The non-specified intention of this legislation is to ensure that whatever reform the US Congress passes does not take effect in Kansas. This amendment is vaguely worded, designed to prevent the federal government from requiring an employer to provide health insurance benefits for their Kansas employees, and requiring an individual without insurance get it.

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We were at the Wichita press conference yesterday. When asked by a local reporter what the amendment would do insure people that are currently denied coverage due to preexisting conditions–one of the major complaints with the current health insurance system–State Rep. Landwehr pretty well summed up what the amendment would do to solve the problem in this video:

Ric Anderson very rarely tweets, so when he does I take notice. This morning, he tweeted about his column where he wrote about the Kansas Second District race between Laura Kelly and Lynn Jenkins, giving some substantial credibility to what we have known about Laura Kelly's potential for some time. * "Kelly could be better financed than some navies. She used to live next door to former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in Potwin, and Sebelius encouraged Kelly to get into politics. Now, Sebelius' legendary fundraising skills and connections to donors could come in handy for Kelly. In a state where Democrats face an uphill battle, the connection could help level the playing field.

"In the last few months people from all across the district have been urging me to run for Congress," Kelly said in a prepared statement. "They are tired of leaders tied to a do-or-die narrow partisan agenda that has failed our country for the last eight years. Saying NO is not enough in these challenging times. People deserve common sense answers and real solutions," she said."

Last week, Sarah Tidwell, BSN, MS, RN, the legislative chairperson for the Kansas State Nurses Association met with Rep. Jerry Moran and Rep. Lynn Jenkins while in Washington, DC to share with them what nurses in Kansas want to see contained in health care reform legislation. The following is a summary of what Mrs. Tidwell shared with them while she was in DC and is the body of written correspondence sent to Sen. Sam Brownback, Sen. Pat Roberts, Rep. Todd Tiahrt and Rep. Dennis Moore on behalf of Kansas nurses and the patients we care for:

In another move to prove the wealth of his pocketbook, State Senator Dick Kelsey this week upped the ante in his bid to purchase the 4th Kansas Congressional District seat. Posted on September 15, 2009, here is a new TV ad that Kelsey is peddling as being a party-line conservative: Kelsey reportedly raised $229,000 in the last FEC reporting period. Over $220,000 of that cash was his own. That's right, Kelsey raised only $7,500 (not of his own dollars, anyways) in the last period.

Rep. Lynn Jenkins is like the herpes of the KSGOP, just when you think it'll stop ... it flairs right back up again. This time for Labor Day

While Rep. Lynn Jenkins is clamoring to apologize for her comment about the "Great White Hope" as being a misstatement, it seems the boxer for which the comment was developed is actually from her own Congressional District... indeed 30 miles from where she grew up.

Jenkins, a Topeka Republican in her first term in Congress, shared thoughts about the GOP's political future during an Aug. 19 forum at Fisher Community Center in the northeast Kansas community of Hiawatha. "Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope," Jenkins said to the crowd. "I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington."

On Friday, the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club partnered with EarthJustice to file a request in the U.S. District Court demanding the federal Rural Utility Service take a closer look at the potential environmental effects of a planned coal plant set for construction in southwest Kansas.

On July 30, 2009, Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) introduced a bill aimed at increasing Congress' accountability regarding the handling of taxpayer dollars. She must have forgotten that as state treasurer of Kansas she misallocated $15 million in taxpayer money AND played hookie as a trustee of a public retirement fund as it lost over $1 billion for Kansas workers

This evening I had the chance to interview Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family about Kansas politicians connections to Congressman Todd Tiahrt, Senator Sam Brownack, and Rep. Jerry Moran. He had some tough words for Rep. Tiahrt whom he outed as a member of the religious cult on "The Rachel Maddow" show earlier this week.

Kansas Republican Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins just returned from a trip to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and, upon her return, said closing the facility would be "unnecessary" and "irresponsible." Instead she encourages Obama to "put politics" aside and keep the international embarrassment open.

The slaying Sunday of one of the nation's most prominent abortion providers has left a local colleague outraged but with a renewed resolve. Dr. LeRoy Carhart of Bellevue is preparing to temporarily take the helm at his slain friend's clinic in Wichita, Kan.

The man who assassinated Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas yesterday believe some homicides were justifiable and, if you read the #Tiller Twitter posts it seems there are at least some Americans who actually agree.

Authorities have found a post-it note with the phone number of Operation Rescue inside the car of the Dr. Tiller's assassin.

Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was shot to death at his church this morning by a right-wing extremist.

Kansas Republicans Senator Pat Roberts has become the first member of the Senator to announce intentions to vote against the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court.