Senate and House GOP leaders in Topeka have insisted that lawmakers pass a constitutional amendment stating that the Legislature has sole authority to determine how state money is spent. But the state’s constitution should be amended only when there are no other options. And that should be determined by careful, nonemotional review — not rushed through during a special session in a fit of frustration. And here’s another rule of thumb: If you have to force lawmakers against their will to vote for an amendment by holding school funding hostage, it’s not a good amendment.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Hollywood is in the midst of a months-long box office slump blamed on everything from the high price of popcorn to people wanting to stay home and watch movies on DVD.
Could it be that many people are simply tired of shelling out big bucks to see "major" movies based on rehashed TV shows such as "Bewitched" and "The Dukes of Hazzard," or unnecessary and forgettable updates such as "The Longest Yard"?
Where’s the creativity? Coming next to a multiplex near you: "Petticoat Junction," the movie?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
It’s all well and good for U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to downplay the new U.S. case of mad cow disease. Hungry Americans seem to be satisfied with this "trust us" approach. But nobody should be surprised if much of the world remains wary of the Bush administration’s reassurances on beef or anything else, in the wake of the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It matters.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
"I am guilty. I have been in the governor’s office. I have been visiting with Democrats. I have been visiting with senators."
— Rep. Ward Loyd, R-Garden City, outlining the bipartisan school spending proposal to the GOP caucus. Who does this guy think he is, trying to find a bipartisan solution?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
One hopeful coda to the tragedy of those New Jersey boys who were found dead in the trunk of an older-model Toyota: Such deaths are less common than they used to be. Starting in 2002, Congress required new cars to have release latches inside the trunk. Inexpensive, glow-in-dark latches can be installed on older cars, too. Consult the Web site www.kidsandcars.org.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Thank you, Russ Meyer and Barry Downing, for spearheading an effort to build a campus north of 21st Street near Grove that will include a new Boys & Girls Club and a high-quality preschool. Though the facilities’ programs will target the estimated 11,000 children who live within a mile of the campus, the benefits of giving these kids support, skills and hope will be felt throughout Wichita.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
President Bush Tuesday night gave some compelling reasons why the United States can’t afford to lose Iraq, including the danger of that country becoming a staging area for lethal terrorists such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
He indicated some progress, although vaguely, in the two approaches that offer the most hope for U.S. troops leaving Iraq: political settlement talks with Sunni leaders and military training of Iraqi troops.
Beyond that, the speech fell far short of the blunt talk I had hoped for: He gave no indication of what specific new strategies he would employ to make our military more effective against the daily bombings and ambushes Americans are seeing on their TV screens.
No additional troops. Nothing new with training or fielding Iraqi troops. No indication even in the most general terms of an exit strategy.
I doubt the speech will give much of a bump to Bush’s sliding poll numbers on Iraq. On the eve of his speech, a Gallup/CNN poll showed that 61 percent of Americans didn’t think the president had a clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq.
Bush offered nothing reassuring on that front. Americans are pragmatists who realize that you can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results.
The speech prepared them for more of the same.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
“American Idol” judge Paula Abdul is the latest celebrity to take up an important political cause. World hunger? Global warming? Nah.
Safe nail manicures.
Seems Abdul suffered a painful thumb infection due to unsanitized manicure tools. She testified recently for a California bill requiring nail salons to adopt hygiene standards for manicures.
Look for more important celebrity-inspired legislation soon: Oprah’s Law, for instance, requires shops to stay open late just for her.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The U.S. Supreme Court made the right calls Monday on the display of the Ten Commandments in public places. Such displays may be acceptable if they don’t go too far in promoting religion, such as when they honor the nation’s legal traditions, the court said. That’s a subjective standard that likely will result in more litigation. But it seeks a balance between barring all religious symbols and allowing a Christian majority to use government to advance its faith.
Still, do you ever wonder what God thinks about this debate? Somehow, I think he is more concerned about whether we honor Him in our hearts and deeds, not whether there is a display in some government building.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
What did you think of the commentary on today’s Eagle Opinion pages by psychiatrist Michael Welner? (It is available here.) He suggested that Rader might have killed even more people had he not been involved in a church. “Religion can reach morally empty psychopaths where psychiatry and incarceration cannot,” Welner wrote. “To someone who believes himself to be clever enough to fool all of the people all of the time — including his psychiatrist — a higher authority may be the only entity to whom he is capable of feeling accountable.”
Perhaps. But we certainly haven’t seen any remorse from Rader or other signs that he is concerned about what God thinks.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
They say the air is different under the dome. Maybe that’s why so many legislators think a constitutional amendment is urgently needed to prevent the Kansas Supreme Court from exercising a kind of nuclear option come fall — a shutdown of the state’s K-12 schools. But I’m with Senate Vice President John Vratil, R-Leawood, on this: “It makes absolutely no sense to me that the court would close schools when the major contention of the lawsuit is that children aren’t getting an adequate education.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston told the media Monday that “when a community is deprived of information about what happened, it never rests.” And she promised to provide some of that information at the Aug. 17 sentencing hearing. But why wait that long? How about asking for the release of the probable-cause affidavit regarding Dennis Rader’s arrest? Rader has already pleaded guilty, so what is the justification for keeping this information secret?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, blamed Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for the Legislature’s failure to pass a school finance bill. Please. It’s been Mays who has wasted time and taxpayer money trying to pressure House members to approve a constitutional amendment rather than voting on a plan that meets the Kansas Supreme Court’s order.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Obviously, Dennis Rader will never get out of prison. Still, it doesn’t seem right that his criminal record won’t account for the sexual offenses of which he’s guilty, or for his vicious attack on Kevin Bright, who survived. The statute of limitations had expired on all of his crimes save murder. To its credit, the Legislature recently extended the statute of limitations on most felonies and misdemeanors to five years, from what had been two years. But is that really long enough, given the high-tech tools that investigators now have?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
You have to hate the credit card industry. Its lax security allowed identity thieves to steal private information. It spent millions lobbying Congress to tighten bankruptcy laws when it hands out credit as if it was candy. And according to Blair Drazic, author of the new book “Forgive Us Our Debts,” the industry has a nickname for people who pay their bills on time: “deadbeats.” Well, we have our own choice names for the credit card industry, but this is family-friendly blog.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
President Bush’s credibility is on the line Tuesday night when he addresses the American people about the war in Iraq.
Administration officials have recently offered conflicting reports about military progress against the Iraqi insurgents, with Vice President Dick Cheney saying the insurgency is in its “last throes,” an assessment flatly contradicted by top Pentagon officials, including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who said Sunday that it could take up to 12 years to defeat the insurgency, and that Iraqi troops, not Americans, would have to finish the job.
In his speech, President Bush should avoid rosy rhetoric and give the American people an honest, blunt assessment about what U.S. troops are up against and what it will take to defeat the insurgency.
posted by Randy Scholfield
It’s good that the statues in the Great Hall of the U.S. Justice Department are once again living large. After two years of being covered up by drapes — which department officials insist were not ordered by prudish former Attorney General John Ashcroft — the Art Deco-era statues are once again fully exposed, so to speak.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Rev. Billy Graham may have delivered his last crusade sermon Sunday in New York. But don’t be surprised if it wasn’t. Despite his age and failing health, Graham remains faithful to his calling. He has shown that while you may retire from a work-a-day job, there should be no retiring from service to God and others.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Kansas House needs to give up its misguided attempt to amend the state’s constitution. It doesn’t have the two-thirds votes required, and besides, it’s a bad idea to rush through a constitutional change based on emotion. Stop wasting time and money. Approve the extra spending on schools. And if lawmakers really want to duke it out with the Supreme Court, do so next legislative session.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Here’s hoping that Saturday’s vote — in which Machinists union members overwhelmingly accepted a contract offer from Mid-Western Aircraft Systems — marks the beginning of a profitable partnership. This community needs the former Boeing Wichita plant to succeed and grow.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It was a relief to hear Dennis Rader admit in court today that he killed 10 people. Now the citizens of the Wichita area and the victims’ families know for certain that the monster who committed these crimes has been caught and will be punished.
But it was chilling to hear him describe without emotion how he "trolled and stalked" his victims. How he falsely comforted several of them before strangling them. How he assigned code names, such as "project green" and had a "hit kit" and "hit clothes." And how there apparently were many other Wichitans whom he considered as "potential hits."
We still don’t know why he committed these crimes, other than he said he had a "sexual fantasy." We also don’t know why he resurfaced. Did he want to get caught? Had he begun "trolling" for his next victim? More details will come out during the sentencing phase of the case, which begins Aug. 17.
But what we heard from his own mouth today was enough to decide that there is no punishment that the state can impose that will be too harsh.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Shame on Microsoft, Yahoo and Google for cooperating with Chinese authorities in stifling free expression on the Internet.
For instance, U.S. software giant Microsoft has agreed to block certain words such as “democracy,” “freedom” and “human rights” on its Chinese Internet portal. And Google’s news search engine doesn’t include sources that might give critical views, such as the Voice of America and the BBC.
How’s that for unleashing the power of the Internet as a democratizing force in repressive societies?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Getting a Web site that touts you for president is one thing. It’s quite another to get the millions of dollars necessary for a successful run. But anyone wondering how much longer it will be before the United States has a “Madam President” will want to take note of these Web sites: www.americanwomenpresidents.org, Americansforrice.com and www.hillarynow.com. That womanizing ex-Clinton adviser Dick Morris even has a book coming out titled “Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race.” And Geena Davis plays the prez in an ABC drama this fall.
Whatever it takes to prep Americans for this inevitable step is welcome. Just don’t take too long. Some of us are way past impatience.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Wichita — or at least a water tower saying “Wichita” — plays an early role in the new Hilary Duff/Heather Locklear movie “The Perfect Man.” That’s where Locklear (in a real acting role, for a change, as a single mom) gets dumped once again, prompting yet another family move, this time to Brooklyn. As Wichita movie references go, it’s pretty harmless, suggesting that at least Duff could buy a pretty dress here.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Kansas history buffs will want to check out a new magazine that brings our state’s fascinating past to life, the Kansas Journal of Military History — and don’t be put off by the dry-sounding name. The articles aren’t limited to military themes (topics include rattlesnakes on the frontier and the myth that Kansas is flat), and the magazine is well-written, attractively designed and chock-full of great photos. Go to the magazine’s Web site for sample articles and subscription information.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
