Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, doesn’t like being labeled as “indecisive.”
But his flip-flopping on whether to run for governor has made Hamlet
appear impulsive.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
State Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, and Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Boeing Wichita employee Kerry Baker had an excellent letter to the editor in last week’s Eagle about the stress he and his fellow workers felt before receiving employment letters from Onex Corp. In case you missed it, click here.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It’s good to see Gander Mountain construction proceeding so rapidly. We hope it’s doing a roaring business by the time the downtown arena opens. Send your snaps and comments to: rcrowson@wichitaeagle.com.
Posted by Lou Heldman
Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is on target — though may be overreaching at times — in wanting more ideological balance in the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. Doing so could expand viewership and might increase federal funding.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
As this commentary in The Baltimore Sun points out, 78 percent of Americans already believe that NPR is balanced, and its listeners are made up equally of conservatives, liberals and independents. I’m all for balanced coverage, but let’s see some evidence that NPR and PBS are biased first — and when I say evidence, I mean specifics, not the feeling you get after watching “Now.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
What do you think are the best public affairs blogs in Wichita? The best I’ve seen is wichitaliberty.org, put together by Bob Weeks. He describes it as: "A voice for individual liberty, limited government and free markets in the Wichita area." Recent postings include a press release against the Kansas Supreme school funding decision from Rep. Frank Miller, R-Independence, and an earlier Karl Peterjohn column on the same topic.
Posted by Lou Heldman
Mr.
Webster defines doggerel as "loosely styled and irregular in measure
for burlesque or comic effect; also: marked by triviality or
inferiority." Hey. Works for me. So I’ve decided to mark my part of our
new blog with this image of Al, my fox terrier cartoon mascot. Welcome
to Doggerel on behalf of both Al and me.
One
of the exciting things about being able to blog, for me, is having the
chance to periodically share some of the creative input I receive from
readers. Awhile back, this little note – complete with schnauzer,
speaking of dogs – came in the mail. Wish I could remember which
cartoon I drew that God might nail me for, but alas, memory fails. He’s
got it all on record though, I’m sure. Remember to double-click on the
image to see it larger.
More to my liking, for obvious reasons, is this caricature of yours
truly, sent to me by a student at a school where I spoke a couple of
years back. I’m planning on taking this one with me to the Pearly Gates
as "exhibit A" when I’m called to reckoning for that other cartoon I
drew that so offended the schnauzer lover.
I do a lot of speaking to school groups and am always impressed by
their enthusiasm for leaping into cartooning with both feet. Sometimes
with their hands as well. Tyler Lyon, here, was even moved to take a
whack at me.
And while I’m at it, I might as well get some use out of these cartoon
ideas that I rejected for one reason or another. On some days when I’m
doing the really hard part of my job – you know, the thinking part -
trying to coax a cartoon idea out of a brain that’s a little too full
of bluegrass music trivia and banjo notes, I draw "roughs" of cartoons
to try them out. The rejects usually get tossed, but thanks to this
blog, I can now inflict even the inferior toons (see definition of
"doggerel" above) on dear readers. Here’s one that, given the
Legislature’s budget dilemma, probably won’t ever be usable again.
Gambling just might have more than a June snowball’s chance in Topeka
these days.
If you’re worried about the future of newspapers (we publishers certainly are!), you can take heart from Paul Farhi’s hopeful essay in the June-July issue of AJR. Farhi, whose day job is as a reporter for The Washington Post, writes: “Considering the hurricane of change that is buffeting all segments of the news media these days, I’d argue that no part of the business is as firmly anchored as the average daily newspaper. Rather than accepting their own mortality, newspapers may have the best chance of any of the old media to survive in a new-media world.”
Posted by Lou Heldman
Imagine that — the three conservative Kansas State Board of Education members overseeing public hearings on evolution adopted almost every one of the changes suggested by evolution critics.
Who would have guessed?
If anyone had any doubts that the results of these rigged hearings were foreordained, they shouldn’t now. What a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
State lawmakers appeared to be working through the five stages of grief after the school finance court ruling: 1) denial (“The court can’t do that!”); 2) anger; 3) bargaining; 4) depression (especially if they have to raise taxes); 5) acceptance (we hope).
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
“Kansas politics can be as turbulent as the tornado that swept Dorothy and Toto to the land of Oz.” (From an otherwise worthy column by George F. Will in the June 6 Newsweek on what Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., would do if he became president.)
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The esteemed conservative didn’t offer much support for the intelligent design movement during the roundtable on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on June 5. Will noted that “thoughtful people” are alarmed by the mechanism of evolution, “the idea of randomness.” But illustrating again that this is one issue on which fiscal conservatives aren’t afraid to disagree with social conservatives, he added: “The problem with intelligent design theory is that it’s not, not that it’s false but that it’s not falsifiable. There’s no confuting evidence, you can imagine, and therefore, it’s not a scientific doctrine, and therefore, it has no place in a public school scientific classroom.” Ouch.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana was legally consistent but logically silly.
It doesn’t overturn the 12 state laws that guarantee access to medical marijuana, but it does give federal agents the right to harass these harmless and suffering tokers. Talk about mixed messages.
We have a meth epidemic in this country, among other serious drug problems. Doesn’t the Drug Enforcement Administration have better things to do?
This is your Supreme Court on drugs. Congress should intervene.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
How appropriate that conservative state lawmakers may have violated the state’s open meetings law when they met in Wichita last week to consider violating the Kansas Supreme Court’s school finance ruling. Rule of law, schmule of law.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
And the U.S. city with the safest drivers is . . . not Wichita. As if we didn’t already know. We drive here, after all. Analyzing crash and claim data for 196 cities, Allstate Insurance crowned motorists of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the nation’s safest for averaging one accident each every 15 years (the national average is every 10). Wichita came in a respectable 32nd place, averaging 11.1 years between crashes. What doesn’t compute, though, is how Topeka (seventh) and Kansas City, Mo. (25th), could best us. We drive there, too.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
