A hidden treasure chest; of your tax dollars not at work

At a time when you are doing with far less, when your bank accounts and 401k accounts have been cleaned out of your retirement and at a time that Topeka and Washington DC are leaving no stone unturned in search of more of your taxes dollars, it was just reported by the Flinthills Center for Public Policy http://www.flinthills.org/ the the public schools in Kansas have amassed about 1.3 billion dollars in their saving accounts.

At the same time Kansas public schools are demanding more of your tax dollars at a time when every single individual in our state are struggling just to stay afloat. We know that all of that tax money being demanded by the schools is "for the kids" but at the same time Kansans are simply trying to keep their jobs and food on the table for their kids as well. So why when everybody else in the state is broke is the schools awash in your tax dollars that they are not spending, yet demanding more. I will leave it up the the Flinthills Center for Public policy http://www.flinthills.org/ to articulate to you what is going on. Please go to their link to get all the details and please bookmark this organizations website so that you can be better informed about your state government. I hope that you will also take the time to read through my blog and leave your thoughts behind. Get involved because I can assure you that at the rate our government is taking away other individual liberties, it will only be a matter of time before they get yours.

I want to give you a few other sites to visit that are working hard to provide you honest reporting on our state and our nation. Join the fight to protect the fundamental successes of our state and nation. Freedom, liberty and free market idea's.

http://wichitaliberty.org/

http://kansasmeadowlark.com/

http://www.americansforprosperity.org/kansas

http://www.americanmajority.org/

Department of Education couldn't care less. After all it's for the kids stupid

If you happened to read your local paper today you probably noticed the doom and gloom as it relates to the Kansas State budget. After all unemployment is up, tax collections are down and the sky is falling. I mean we have been hearing about it now for months and we all are worried about our personal situations. I have already witnessed neighbors in financial trouble. One neighbor lost his house and had to move. There were nearly a dozen bankruptcies in the Lawrence Journal World today and nearly a dozen in each week prior since the beginning of 2009. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/apr/26/bankruptcies/ The front page of the community section of the LJ World was a photo of the County Manager warning of cuts to services and asking county employee's to provide ideas on how to cut the budget. Seems a little late to be asking. You were not saving a dime during the good times and you were not asking for our opinions then.

Mysteriously not mentioned in any discussions about budget cuts is the Department of Education. In case you didn't know, with all of the taxes collected in the State of Kansas, somewhere in the neighborhood of 53% goes to our public schools. Trust me I have heard it time and time again. "It's for the kids." I simply want you to think about something. If you were paying 53% of your income to your mortgage alone you would find yourself out on the street. You got it, bankrupt. Why do you think so many homeowners are going broke. Why do you think the State of Kansas is broke and unable to properly budget for other government agencies? Why, because at least 6.7 billion dollars of our 13 billion state budget goes to just one agency. Common sense would be to cut into the Department of Educations budget and force them to make decisions that are "good for the kids of Kansas." If this doesn't happen than we are going to see other agencies cut jobs and services that are equally as important to our kids. If we don't take our state budget serious and cut spending immediately you can be assured that the state and your town are going to raise your taxes. Which one of you can afford paying another dime of taxes to the government. Oh I forgot, it's only those who make over $250,000.00 a year who pay taxes. If you keep believing this you too may be looking out your window pretty soon as the moving van appears at your own driveway.

If your interested in knowing your school districts budget please use the link I have provided here. http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3347

What to find the name and number for your senator and representative in Topeka? Just click here. http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-legisportal/index.do

Have you ever thought about getting involved or wanting info about what is happening in Topeka and Washington DC? Click here. http://americansforprosperity.org/kansas

Tax Protesters or Terrorists; Just ask King George

This was one of many messages on display at the Tea Party gathering at the Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. I like a few thousand other Kansas Faithful attended the Tea Party in Overland Park. What a great feeling to be around so many Kansans seeking and demanding common sense to taxation in Kansas and the rest of our nation. I was blown away by the number of young people there. I mean the 14 to 30 crowd. It seems clear that many at this rally were motivated by the lack of common sense coming from Washington DC since the beginning of our new presidents administration. I for one don't dump our lack of awareness and sudden awakening on President Obama. As a conservative I will be the first to tell you that common sense doesn't rest only in the red states and on just one side of the isle in the halls of congress. States and the federal governments are making decisions at the expense of the taxpayers. Because we are not paying attention the common sense is lacking. But when government stupidity rises to a level that you get smacked in the face with it, it can gets ones attention. The tea parties are simply the first acknowledgment by the middle class to our government that our representatives are out of touch with not only common sense but reality. Let just name a few items that simply defy common sense.
1. Unemployment is at a record high in most all states but congress has done nothing to stop the flow of illegal aliens from entering our country and competing for our jobs.

2. Your elected representatives and senators in Topeka continues to support in state tuition for illegal immigrants while high school students from Missouri and Oklahoma for example who wish to attend KU or KSU must pay out of state tuition.

3. The Obama administration wants to increase spending (your tax dollars) at a rate never seen in our nation and during a time when our economy is in shambles. But your suppose to believe that if you make less than $250.000.00 dollars a year you won't be taxed.

4. The Congress of the United States of America are taking over banks and businesses that have failed because of lousy business practices. The same congress is taxing the middle class for billions upon billions of dollars to keep these businesses afloat. Your congressman hasn't read 0ne page of their own legislation yet they want you to believe that our government can run a business better than the free market. Granted huge mistakes and complete fraud and greed has been a problem in big business but the real fraud is our own government. Has any congressman or senator lost their job for government stupidity, greed, or corruption? NO

5. The American middle class was cleaned out of nearly 1/2 of their wealth because of laws passed by our congress that allows banks to loan to people who have no ability to pay the loans back. No credit check needed, no down payment required, nothing. You have been robbed of 1/2 of your retirement after the banks and businesses your hard earned money was invested in collapsed because of these business practices mandated by our government and now you are required to pay billions more in taxes to bail out these businesses, state and local governments and individuals who cannot manage their own money. Where is the common sense?

If there is any doubt that your government has lost it's mind it came in an announcement this past week that the Department of Homeland Defense and the Obama Administrations determination that those who protest taxes, those who support pro life and the rights of the unborn, returning soldiers from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan are all a right wing threat to the security of the United States. Men and women, young adults remember why you you were at that tea party. Give honor and glory to those middle class colonists of 1773. http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/history.asp These brave colonists had all they could take of British taxes being imposed on them and they resisted. They confronted the much more powerful British Government and they said enough is enough. You know the rest of the story because WE won. Take up your signs, lift up your voice of liberty and lift up your darn cell phone and call your congressman and tell each of them that enough is enough. If those fools want to label you and me as a threat to this nation you let them know that the only thing they have to fear is their re-election. Remember your heritage.

Please click on and view these links for yourself. See what hollywood and Washington DC think of you now. Ask yourselves, where is the common sense?

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/04/16/garofalo-tea-partiers-are-all-racists-who-hate-black-president

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/19/axelrod-suggests-tea-party-movement-is-unhealthy/

http://www.pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2009/04/14/tea-party-derangement-syndrome-its-here/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/14/federal-agency-warns-of-radicals-on-right/

Is it to late for a Tea Party?

Are you over taxed? I happen to think so. I decided to to list as may taxes and and fees that I can think of. I hope if I miss any you an remind me. I am not going argue the point as to whether or not these taxes are appropriate or not. So here I go. Please comment to the blog if you thing of more taxes I missed.

1. Property tax, for property owners this is a big one paid out to several government agencies. My property tax is $2950.00 a year.
   
2. Sales tax in Lawrence Kansas is 7.30%. Taxpayer pays $7.30 for every $100.00 you spend.
3. State Income Tax. It's on your check stub. Collected by the state on every dollar you make. Some pay less and some pay more. But those making $33,000.00 or more in the state of Kansas paying pay about $1450.00 up front and then 6.45% on every dollar over $33,000.00 Remember how we were told that we wont be taxed as much as those making $250,000.00 or more. What they didn't tell you is that if you make 33,000.00 a year you are going to be in the same tax bracket as those make $250,000.00 and more in Kansas.
4. Federal Income Tax. Look for yourself and do the math
5. Social Security Tax
6. Medicare Tax
7. Utility Bill Taxes. Take a look and add them up. The government hopes you are not paying attention. You probably aren't.
8. Cable bill tax
9. Water bill tax
10. Tax on the gas to heat your house
11. Telephone or Cell phone tax
12. 911 Tax
13. Gasoline Tax
14. User fees, fishing license, hunting license, Deer permit, Turkey permit, Duck stamp, etc.
15. Camping fee's
16. Hospitality tax. Check it out the next time you stay in a hotel on top of sales tax
17. Annual taxes for the tags on your car
    

Okay this is what I came up with just from memory. Now ladies and gentlemen after all this is paid out of your $33,000.00 - $50,000.00 dollar a year job, start adding up the necessities with what is left after you paid the taxes.

1. Health Insurance
2. Rent
3. Gasoline
4. Food
5. Car payment
6. Diapers
7. Baby food
8. Birthday parties
9. Christmas Gifts
10. Vacation
11. Broken Air Conditioner
12. And on and on and on
13. Kids College Tuition
14. Retirement
    

I simply ask you to think about this with common sense. When you add up your taxes that you are going to pay (I assure you I didn't name them all) and then subtract necessities, what do you have left? Common sense should tell you that you should have a lot more income left than taxes paid.

How do you want it? The government can take only as much as you are willing to let them. But the bigger government gets the more powerful the government becomes over your life. Why you ask, because they have all of your money! How secure do you feel when your broke?

Do you really believe that all of your tax dollars are going to a good cause? Is this what your common sense is telling you?

I for one think we are at a crossroads. We are very close to the point where there is nothing left after our hard work. We have given so much of it to the government and the remainder to pay our necessities at which point we simply don't have anything left. This now puts us at the mercy of our government. We listed several areas of taxation. Does knowing the government took all of this money from you make you feel safer?

Are you willing to pay more taxes or have you paid enough? I for one cannot think of one more thing the government needs to pay for that in any way will benefit the middle class in the United States. If you agree than you better speak up. Have you ever called your congressman to tell him or her when you see a lack of common sense? Men and women, if you don't start getting involved in your government, that government is going to continue taxing you and therefore controlling more and more of your life. If you don't exercise your God given right to speak up and remind your elected government officials that you are seeing a serious lack of common sense in the size and growth of government we are going to be at a point where your government won't care what you have to say.

Politicians: Raising our taxes, cheat on theirs

I am sure at times my blogs seem to long for those who want the story in two sentences or less. I hope you stay with this. This past winter of 2008 my wife was notified that she was being audited by the Kansas Department of Revenue. When you get a letter such as this your first reaction is; what did I do wrong? Knowing that my wife is not a tax cheat she began the process of gathering the paperwork the state requested. The first request was for two years of supposed missing tax returns around 2003 and 2004. This information was provided to the "Revenue Agent" and all seemed well. I asked my wife to stay on top of this issue. I am not sure if we missed another letter from the state but about December we were served a warrant for back taxes of $12,500.00 dollars. Needless to say this got our attention. At the same time this seemed pretty amusing to us since my wife only made about $25,000.00 dollars during any one of the years of interest. We were not married then and she was single with two high school students living at home. Sometime in January 2009 I got a phone call from a very nice lady at Capital Federal Savings trying to track down my wife to let her know that the Kansas Revenue Agent just faxed them a letter to freeze our checking account. She warned us that if we had outstanding checks or payments they would bounce unless we quickly put additional cash into our checking account. We were effectively locked out of our bank account the moment the bank receives the fax. The bank is required to wire this money to Topeka at the end of the day that the actual certified notice reaches them by mail. In a panic my wife called the revenue agent again and he told her that he needed two more years of taxes that the state seemed to have misplaced. To make a long story short we complied and the revenue agent was nice enough to release our checking account before the funds were sent. He grabbed $250.00 for his trouble however. After reviewing 4 years of taxes on a single woman with two children still living at home making maybe $25,000.00 a year working for SRS, the revenue agent found an error my wife made on her KAPERS in one of the returns. Final back taxes owed with interest and penalty was $91.00. We were given no explanation for why the Department of Revenue seemed to have misplaced four years of tax returns. Now for our governor. Please read on. Put yourself in our shoes and think about where I am going with this. The media in Kansas and Washington DC want you to believe that the tax problems of our Governor and HHS nominee is just a simple mistake that we should overlook during her senate nomination hearings coming in the next week or so. My point of view is this. There was no innocent mistake at all.

Kansans may not be aware of the fact that Governor Kathleen Sebelius has been nominated by President Obama to be the next Health and Human Services Director. This is a cabinet post which means this is a political appointment and answers directly to the president. The Kansas Governor like all nominations had to turn over her tax returns for review. After all the president doesn't want a tax cheat working for him. It seems she made a few innocent mistakes on her tax return and her confirmation hearings in the United States Senate has been delayed. Governor Sebelius took $7,000.00 in deductions she wasn't entitled to. Sebelius and the Obama Adminstration wants us to believe that her mistakes were innocent. Sebelius took deductions that even a bad accountant would have know better. Unlike myself and thousands of others threatened by the Revenue Department of Kansas, Governor Sebelius errors would have never been reviewed had it not been for the fact that she, in her own words had to scrub her tax returns in order to get through the confirmation hearings. Governor Sebelius is one of many appointments by this president who has cheated on their taxes. It is amazing how these politicians who want to raise our taxes cheat on their own. But for them it was Turbo Tax that made the mistake and they had no idea. But for any other citizen of Kansas it means a tax warrant and a letter to your bank to cleaning out our checking and savings accounts.

The most amazing thing about events such as the Governors simple tax mistake is the number of Kansans who don't care. After all it was just $7,000 dollars and the governor is only human. I for one don't buy it. For those who don't care and see this as just a simple human mistake be clear about one thing. If you make that same simple error, I assure you that nobody in the Kansas Department of Revenue will consider you human.

Property Tax For Dummies: Part 2

Part two is hard to get started. Have you heard the news? The Governor of Kansas and candidate for Director of Health and Human Services is a tax cheat. (just go to any major news website and learn more about Governor Sebelius the tax cheat) We will get back to that later. The problem with property is there are far fewer home owners than renters. It is a simple process for the government to raise money via property tax. They simply raise the mill levy and or raise the value of your property on a annual basis; 112% in 10 years! Think about it, we are ready to lynch bankers for these types of profits. The tragic part, now many people who use to be able to afford purchasing a house cannot. The government for the most part doesn't have to go to the tax payer to ask for permission to raise property tax. Like all government they never give back what they take. As they raise property taxes they increase government spending. When the legislature or politician proposes cutting property taxes those in government who advocate spending your property tax, scream that your are cutting spending for the most needy. So here we are today in this bad economy where house prices are falling back to the levels than in many cases are more in line with their actual value. But the government is still sending out their appraisers with instructions to keep those values artificially inflated to keep those property taxes rolling in. They have increased government spending to the point that they know if values fall and taxes follow they will have to make extremely difficult decisions about cutting spending for those they have already made promises. They are not going to increase sales taxes. After all that hurts the poor and needy. So really to take care of the poor and needy, the schools, the fire departments, the police, the water treatment plants and on and on, it is the home owners paying the bill. Remember there are far more renters. Those who own property are footing this government spending. Yet it is the renters and those who don't own property who use most of these services. In closing, I have a friend who lives in a neighboring county here in Kansas. The taxes on his home doubled this past year. They went from $2,500.00 to nearly $5,000.00 in one year for goodness sake. That wasn't the mean old bank or a bad mortgage. That increase was simply due to an artificial increase in the mill levy and an annual appraisal of his property. That is a $208.00 monthly increase in his house payment. So much for the new car, braces for the kid or an increase to his 403B. Don't be a property tax dummy, go to propositionk.org and learn about a better property tax system for Kansas.

Where Property Tax Dollars are Typically Spent
2009 Budget

Property Taxes For Dummies!

I am amazed by the number of people who don't know what property taxes are. We hear about them all the time but even for some homeowners they don't have a clue. I have owned three houses in my life. It really wasn't until the 3rd that I paid really close attention. With the economy going bust and businesses closing it has become a real lesson in economics. But the most eye opening part of all is how the government manipulates the value of property to suite their needs. We need to pay very close attention to this issue. It cannot be more clear than during this economic crisis where you will witness what happens to state, county and city governments that artificially inflate property values when the bubble goes bust.

WHAT IS A PROPERTY TAX?

The property tax rate is often given as a percentage. It may also be expressed as a permille (amount of tax per thousand currency units of property value), which is also known as a millage rate or mill levy. (A mill is also one-thousandth of a currency unit.) To calculate the property tax, the authority will multiply the assessed value of the property by the mill rate and then divide by 1,000. For example, a property with an assessed value of US$ 500,000 located in a municipality with a mill rate of 20 mills would have a property tax bill of US$ 10,000.00 per year.

The government can manipulate this by two ways. They can keep the mill levy at a particular level and raise the property value of your home, based on an ANNUAL county appraisal. This is where government manipulation of the process became greedy. They can leave the mill levy constant and raise your appraised property value to increase revenue. Government can also increase the mill levy and increase the value and raise property tax a whole lot more.

Today city and county governments are strapped due to the bad economy and reduced taxes being collected. Yet they are still behaving as though the economic problems that affect you and I don't really affect them. After all, in the past when every government needed extra money they simply increased property values in Kansas. Not by a little but by a heck of a lot, 112% in the past ten years. Clearly, looking back at this pattern of raising values at such an unsistainable rate the stage was set for a collapse of the housing market. PLEASE COME BACK FOR PART 2. THE EFFECTS OF PROPERTY TAX GREED BY CITY AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS.

Snow on Easter!

Weather in Kansas is always a conversation. Report have it that a storm is brewing and we are in for one of those early spring time snow storms. We hear so much about bad weather global warming and other natural disasters. Everybody has an story. A few of my childhood memories go back to that Kansas spring time weather. I recall once when I was seven or so, snow on Easter. I recall going to my grandmothers house. It was after church in my home town of of Iola, Kansas. Interestingly I only lived there until I was 11 but to this day Iola brings back good memories of a town that didn't seem so small at age seven. Anyway we hunted Easter eggs in my grandmother yard, tiptoeing through a couple inches of snow. I don't recall there ever being snow on Easter again. I think Kansans need to be careful and not be easily swayed to believe that each time there is a particular weather event in Kansas it is caused by global warming and mans impact to planet earth. I have been in Kansas a good many years now. I have fished the ponds, walked in the fields played in the parks and breathed the air. With all of the pressure from population and economic demands the impact to the Kansas environment is a tribute to Kansans having the wisdom to manage our past, current and future needs and maintain our conservationist heritage.

Kansas City Speaks

The new administration is moving fast to get their priorities through congress. Some like myself have grave concerns about the Obama/Democrats spending. Yes I realize President Bush is just as guilty but he is gone and we need to have a discussion about where this nation is headed. Congress has already spend money to stimulate the economy. It is a figure that many just can't even grasp so they simply tune out any discussion about how this is going to effect the middle class in the United States. Please take the time to see what some of your neighbors are saying about government spending. They also are clear in the fact that this spending is coming from the taxes you and I, our kids and our grand kids will pay. For the most part is seems clear that we can never pay the debt that our government is saddling us with. You have been told that this spending will not effect you because you don't make $250,000.00 year. So my question to you is this; do you really believe it? Do you really believe that going into debt will get you out of debt? Please take a moment to see what others in the Kansas City area have to say about this. Simply click on this link and listen to people just like you and me finding the courage to speak up. Hear Kansas City speak! (If the link fails to open simply copy and past it into your browser) http://www.pjtv.com/video/PJTV_Daily/Braving_the_Elements%3A_Kansas_City_Tea_Party/1503/

Mexico meltdown

When do we defend our borders? Should we build a fence between Mexico and the United States? Seems as though we have talked about this for the past 10 years. My argument has always been that we fence our boarder with Mexico and militarize it if necessary to keep Mexicans from entering our country without going through the legal immigration process. The cost to the taxpayer is staggering. Seems nobody is listening to these common since suggestions. But how things are changing. The United Stated Military considers Mexico one of two nations most likely to collapse. The other being Pakistan. The drug war that is being waged in Mexico might be a real blessing to those who advocate sealing our southern border. With Mexicans dying literally just across the Rio Grande River by the thousands in the drug violence and the nation on the verge of collapse, finally the United States is going to be forced to act. But in the mean time the Mexican and American Governments are suggesting that the problem with the violence is due to Americans smuggling guns to Mexico. Such a sorry excuse considering the Mexican police and military are so corrupt that the criminals in Mexico don't need to look any further than their own police and military for all the weapons they need. Lets just pretend for a moment that those guns are coming from the United States. Seems clear that a secure border would help prevent that from happening. But in the mean time our border is still open with four or five thousand Mexicans crossing over each day. I am sure none of those are criminals but just your average every day Mexican wanting a better life in America. If you believe that you also believe that borrowing money to pay our national debt is a good idea!

I have two good friends. One from India and one from Iran who came to the United States legally. They are very proud of the hard work it took to get here. I am very proud to call them my friends and my fellow Americans. Kansans wake up and get on the phone and call your congressman and senator. Simply Google Kansas Senator or Kansas Congressman get the number and call about this topic. They are banking that you won't. You are competing with businesses who want all that cheap labor and a senator and congressman who is suppose to be representing you. Stay tuned and I will be posting all the phone numbers for the Kansas delegation in Washington.

Kansas Energy, wheres the common sense

I have heard so much about our need for energy in the United States. Our goal to get off of foreign oil. This seems like a excellent idea and I am sure that most with common sense would agree. However that is where the common since ends for many involved in this discussion. Common sense says that if we stop using foreign oil we need to have a good idea what our expectations are for affordable energy. Where we are going to get our alternative energy? We really don't have time to wait to develop alternative energy and at the same time dramatically reduce our need for electricity. Common sense says we should immediately begin extracting our own energy sources that we have available now. It must be able to, ounce for ounce, replace the energy needs lost for our reduction of foreign oil. We have the ability to be nearly self-sufficient in the area of electricity.

I want to say right up front I am in favor of wind energy. Lets get to our 20% goal. But lets have some common since and some intellectual honesty that wind is not going to provide any more than 20% of our electrical power. You cannot have it both ways when it come to our electrical needs. We can either give up expectation of power on demand for our toys such as the I pods, the video games, the computers, the flat panel TV, the microwave ovens, and on and on and live the way I did in the 1960's and 1970's. Common since says this isn't going to happen. But to move forward with our toys, games, TVs, computers and I pods we need to stop the games being played by the so called environmentalists and scientists driven by a religion with it's leader being mother earth. They are telling us the world is coming to and end in 10 years if we burn another pound of coal. Kansans are conservationists. We are the real environmentalists. We have been stewards of of our land and Kansans are proud of the conservation practices in agriculture. We see the beauty of our landscape and the air we breath and it clearly demonstrates that our heritage is based on conservation. We don't need the environmental movement who knows nothing of our heritage to pretend to instruct Kansans on how to be conservationists. When younger we learned by fishing it waters, and hunting the land. We witness the farmer plowing the fields, and providing the world with food and other products in ways that other nations can only dream of.

If we want to be free of oil we need to develop our own energy now. This means we continue to use coal, natural gas, nuclear power, and wind for the next 40 or 50 years while we develop other possibly cleaner energy resources. Common since clearly tells Kansans that we have all the coal and natural gas and wind right here in Kansas and in our neighboring states to provide us with all our electrical energy without firing one shot to claim it. Yes it will mean burning more coal and gas but our technology is reducing pollution dramatically as well. We are already burning 3 times as much coal in Kansas than in the mid 1970's but we have reduced the pollution caused by coal some 70% since the 1970's. Because we are not building new gas and coal electrical production plants we not going to be able to reduce the pollution further. Many of the coal and gas burning plants currently in use are a real problem with pollution. A perfect example of this is the coal power plant just outside of Lawrence. This is one of the dirtiest coal plants in the state or the nation but we will never be able to replace it without building new. But common since is lacking as Lawrence is original spokes city for not supporting coal development in Kansas yet they would never agree to closing the plant just outside of their own city limits.

There is a movement in this nation to convince Americans that if we don't stop producing energy we will be doomed by the melting glaciers, the rising tides and every other possible natural disaster. I completely agree that humans play a part in contaminating our environment. But common since also tells me that not having adequate electrical power over the next 30 years will be far more harmful to Kansas than the pollution generated by new power plants we need to build now. I am also certain that with some common sense and free market mentality, we will develop new cleaner energy that will help supplement our need for coal and gas. But if it isn't affordable for Kansans to use we again will be far from energy independent.