Interview Series: Andy Schmookler
Andy Schmookler is running uphill, perhaps, but he’s running just the same.
The Mount Jackson Democrat is challenging likely Republican nominee Bob Goodlatte, a 20-year incumbent, in the Sixth District congressional race. It’s not easy to be a Democrat in the heavily Republican Sixth, which stretches from Shenandoah County in the north to Roanoke to the south, but Schmookler, an accomplished author, social commentator and college professor, is undaunted by the task that lies ahead. Continue reading “Interview Series: Andy Schmookler” »
Karen Kwiatkowski: No whining, Mr. Goodlatte!
Good people across the country and in the Sixth Congressional District recently handed Bob Goodlatte a major defeat.
Goodlatte had drafted, introduced, and co-sponsored the now infamous SOPA “Internet blacklist” bill. This lousy legislation contained assaults on the First, Fourth and 14th amendments – and Bob, who read the Constitution as recently as last January on the floor of the House, should have known that.
Instead, members of Congress (mostly Democrats, and Bob), who had accepted millions from Hollywood, the pharmaceutical industry, and the auto parts industry, did what they were paid to do. Continue reading “Karen Kwiatkowski: No whining, Mr. Goodlatte!” »
Karen Kwiatkowski: Blackout? Internet blacklist? Blame Bob Goodlatte
SOPA is extremely bad legislation, and it was written and introduced by Bob Goodlatte, in his role as Chairman of the Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet Subcommittee, late last year. SOPA sponsor Lamar Smith, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has taken much of the criticism. But the bill is Bob’s baby.
Bob’s bad bill creates blacklisting, increases bureaucratic power over Internet providers and users, and is technologically misaligned with – and even destructive of – the architecture of the Internet. Continue reading “Karen Kwiatkowski: Blackout? Internet blacklist? Blame Bob Goodlatte” »
Karen Kwiatkowski: Agenda 21 is not conservative – will Rep. Goodlatte take note?
On Jan. 14, 2012, the Republican National Committee unanimously voted to expose and condemn the United Nations Agenda 21. This may be a shock to many GOP incumbents in Congress who receive campaign donations, pre-drafted legislation, and “expert” advice from Agenda 21-inspired advocates of centralized and global human management.
The RNC resolution explains Agenda 21 as “a comprehensive plan of extreme environmentalism, social engineering and global political control, that was initiated at the [1992] United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED);….” The plan was signed by President George H.W. Bush, and has been supported actively by the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. Agenda 21 has never been endorsed by the U.S. Senate, and is not U.S. law. Continue reading “Karen Kwiatkowski: Agenda 21 is not conservative – will Rep. Goodlatte take note?” »
Andy Schmookler: People Power
One of my campaign slogans is “Let’s show how People Power can defeat the Money Power.” The issue of money in politics was the topic of the first piece I wrote that appeared in national media. This was back in the 1970s.
There is hardly a policy issue more central to defining what America will be.
Will we be true to the democratic vision, in which every citizen is entitled to an equal say in determining our destiny as a nation? Or will the inequalities of wealth our economy produces be allowed to corrode that democratic sense of justice, and effectively put our government up for auction? Continue reading “Andy Schmookler: People Power” »
Karen Kwiatkowski: What does Bob Goodlatte have against the Internet?
While we don’t believe 10-term congressman Goodlatte speaks Mandarin, he has a lot in common with the Communists in Beijing, at least when it comes to regulating and controlling the Internet.
Goodlatte is the author of the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, a costly regulatory attack on the Internet. It is supposed to reduce copyright infringement – a problem already on the wane due to new software business models, encryption and other technological breakthroughs that America used to be known for.
In reality, SOPA will cause rapid and unnecessary government shutdowns of websites, and drive rights-holders and Internet service providers to do the same, all without due process. If Sixth District voters want a law that violates the First and Fourth Amendments, crushes free speech and small businesses, we should support Bob’s SOPA. Continue reading “Karen Kwiatkowski: What does Bob Goodlatte have against the Internet?” »
Karen Kwiatkowski: America First? Not for Mr. Goodlatte!
On Dec. 31st, the U.S. federal debt reached an all time record of $15,222,940,045,451.09. The U.S. debt is now at a Greece-busting 100.3 percent of GDP. $15.2 trillion is more than the annual value of the entire U.S. economy.
Sixth District Virginians can thank Bob Goodlatte for this situation, created by the idiotically titled Budget Control Act of 2011. He voted for it, even as the majority of Americans were adamantly opposed to more unnecessary borrowing. We can also thank Mr. Goodlatte for his lack of interest in serious spending cuts since then.
Bob’s vote to borrow $2.4 trillion more in July created a surprising new process for future debt ceiling increases. Here’s how it works.
The federal debt ceiling may now be raised if one of three things happens: (1) Congress votes but doesn’t adopt a resolution of disapproval, (2) Congress fails to override a veto of a resolution of disapproval, or (3) Congress doesn’t consider a resolution of disapproval within the 15-day window provided in the Budget Control Act. Continue reading “Karen Kwiatkowski: America First? Not for Mr. Goodlatte!” »
Andy Schmookler: American Values and the Christmas Season
Holidays offer us a chance to put our usual pursuits aside. But often, also, holidays provide a light to illuminate the meaning of our usual pursuits. So it is with this Christmas season and with our efforts to meet the challenge of the present crisis in America.
Over the generations, the holiday of Christmas has become deeply woven into American culture, expressing both the nature of our country and its ideals. Aside from the commercialization of the holiday, which of course reflects an important part of what America is about, there are also the deep moral values that gain expression in America during the Christmas season. Continue reading “Andy Schmookler: American Values and the Christmas Season” »
Karen Kwiatkowski: Goodlatte finds his inner conservative
Sixth District Congressman Bob Goodlatte has not faced a primary challenger since he was first elected in 1992. Now that a conservative military veteran and farmer has entered the GOP primary race for the Sixth District seat, we are seeing a new and improved kind of Bob Goodlatte.
Goodlatte still defends his pending Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and E-Parasite legislation, which as written will bring Communist Chinese methods to America’s Internet and promote government-backed website blacklisting.
However, on a brighter note, Goodlatte behaved in a constitutional and responsible manner in two recent House votes. Continue reading “Karen Kwiatkowski: Goodlatte finds his inner conservative” »
Challenger takes debate request to Goodlatte public
Sixth District Republican congressional-nomination candidate Karen Kwiatkowski has repeatedly asked GOP incumbent Bob Goodlatte to agree to a debate in advance of the June 2012 party nomination.
Not having heard from Goodlatte yet, Kwiatkowski has gone public with her request to try to put pressure on the congressman.
“Now that George Allen has finally agreed to debate his Republican primary challengers, I believe that it is time for you (or your office) to answer the mail,” Kwiatkowski wrote Goodlatte in a letter dated Nov. 16.
“When I personally spoke to you about this on Oct. 18, you were aware of my formal requests, but told me that you thought it was ‘too soon’ for you to commit. After three months and multiple requests, it is certainly not too soon for you to respond to a fellow Republican and Sixth District constituent. I encourage you emulate former Sen. Allen, and engage in a public debate with your political critics on the right,” Kwiatkowski wrote in the letter.
Kwiatkowski: Goodlatte’s days are ‘numbered’
Karen Kwiatkowski voted – twice – to re-elect Sixth District Congressman Bob Goodlatte. She did so for the same reason that she thinks a lot of fellow Republicans in the heavily GOP Sixth support Goodlatte election cycle after election cycle.
“They’ve known him for years, and because they’ve known him for years, they think he’s safe,” said Kwiatkowski, a retired Air Force officer and Shenandoah County farmer who is challenging Goodlatte for the Republican nomination.
The problem with Goodlatte to Kwiatkowski is that it seems to her that the congressman takes the same “I’m safe” approach with voters.
“When you’re in office as long as he’s been, 20 years, it’s as much about survival as it is about getting anything done. That’s the problem with the system across the board,” said Kwiatkowski, whose disaffection with Goodlatte dates to her communications with his office over an issue involving a controversial animal-identification program that the libertarian-leaning Kwiatkowski views as a clear intrusion on the private-property rights of farmers.
“Here’s one more way for me to give away my property rights,” Kwiatkowski said of the program, and she raised the issue with Goodlatte, the former chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, only to get what she felt were “form letters” from staffers who clearly didn’t understand her objections to how the program was to impact the ag community.
“My assessment was that Goodlatte didn’t understand the problem, and didn’t take the time to educate himself,” said Kwiatkowski, who would “forgive him” for his lack of knowledge on agricultural issues, “but I can’t forgive him for not wanting to understand something affecting so many of his constituents.”
Kwiatkowski, to those who know her, is not one to shy away from a fight – be it an animal-identification program or the drumbeat to war. She says she had a “happy” military career until her final year in the Air Force, when what she saw being done from her job at the Pentagon in the Near East and South Asia directorate made her come to the conclusion that the Bush administration was cherry-picking intelligence to provide a false pretext for going to war in Iraq.
Kwiatkowski, a publisher author who wrote books on U.S. foreign policy during her time in the Air Force, and has written extensively since on topics ranging from the military to neoconservatism, became an outspoken public critic of the war – and as such was a frequent target of prowar supporters. She felt somewhat “vindicated” by the way things turned out in Iraq, but at the same time left the Pentagon disillusioned about what she had seen happen in front of her eyes.
“I got to see a different side of how decisions are made in Washington, D.C., and that has informed my thinking. I can speak to anyone about that. I saw a segment of how we do business, and I can share that with anyone,” said Kwiatkowski, whose thoughts and writing have turned in retirement to include critiques of other areas of government life.
“I don’t think we can afford any of this social-welfare state that we have created for ourselves. We can either just say no, to borrow from Nancy Reagan, or we can go on being fat, dumb and happy and spending ourselves into oblivion. And I think that’s where we’re heading. I believe that we’re headed toward a disaster, but I’m hoping there’s something I can do to get us back on a constitutional path,” Kwiatkowski said.
She admits to not being entirely comfortable with politics. “I’m not a politician,” Kwiatkowski said, and she harbors no illusions about her chances to unseat a 10-term congressman in a party primary.
“He cannot be beaten in the two-party system. He can only be beaten if we articulate real conservatism. And the only way to do that is to have a nomination race. And that’s what we’re doing,” said Kwiatkowski, who takes the long view in thinking that Goodlatte’s days “are numbered.”
“If it’s not this cycle, it’s the next cycle, and if it’s not that one, it’s the one after that,” said Kwiatkowski, who sees Goodlatte’s consistent votes in favor of deficit budgets and increases in the federal debt ceiling as his Achilles heel.
“This last (debt-ceiling vote) was a tradeoff to get a vote on his balanced-budget amendment, which is nothing but kicking the can down the road with the end goal being to make the excuse that, Well, you guys didn’t modify the Constitution, so sorry, but we couldn’t stop ourselves from spending. Sorry, but we don’t get that option in our own households,” Kwiatkowski said.
It doesn’t bother Kwiatkowski at all that she is getting nothing in terms of support from GOP leaders in the Sixth.
“My message is resonating with true conservatives who are upset with the party. That’s more important to me,” Kwiatkowski said.
More on the Kwiatkowski campaign online at www.KarenKForCongress.com.
Karen Kwiatkowski: Does Bob Goodlatte regret voting to fund Obamacare?
Posted by afp on February 8, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Dahlkemper is Roman Catholic, and she says she didn’t realize that Obamacare would force “all private insurers, including Catholic charities and hospitals, to provide free coverage of contraception, sterilization procedures, and the “week-after” pill.”
Sixth District Congressman Bob Goodlatte, seeking his 11th term, voted several times to fund Obamacare, most recently last spring. Perhaps, like Democratic Congresswoman Dahlkemper, he didn’t read the bill he was voting to fund. Continue reading “Karen Kwiatkowski: Does Bob Goodlatte regret voting to fund Obamacare?” »
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