Attorney Kenneth Feinberg — the special master of the Sept. 11 compensation fund and author of the resulting memoir, “What Is Life Worth?” — notes that a startling 80 percent of the victims of Sept. 11 did not have wills. That complicated his job of distributing more than $7 billion to 5,560 survivors and relatives. His message is well-taken: If you don’t have a will, get one. If you have an old one, update it. Wills aren’t just for the old or the rich.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Next time you’re in Topeka, try to stop at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site and Museum. It’s housed in a restored Monroe Elementary School, one of the four Topeka elementary schools that were reserved for African-American children under segregation. It gives a good overview of not only the Brown case but also the early struggles of African-Americans, the civil rights movement of the 1960s and some concerns of today. I visited it recently and was glad I did.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Looks like that tense TV exchange between Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (bald from chemo) was a warm-up. The Senate reportedly will debate embryonic stem-cell research next month, when a bipartisan group will push for allowing federal funds to support research of stem cells gleaned from embryos left over from in vitro fertilization. The president hasn’t budged, and Brownback is still talking filibuster. “This is the central moral issue of our day,” he recently told The Washington Times. It also may be the issue on which moderate and conservative Republicans most differ today.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
I know some people think we editorial cartoonists have pretty cushy jobs. Heck, just read the news. Don’t these things practically draw themselves? Would that it were so. Recently I had a run-in with that notorious nemesis of cartoonists everywhere. You know what I’m talking about — facial hair. People, we are living in an age when facial hair can come and go with the slightest whim. Soul patches erupt. Sideburns unroll. Goatees butt from chins. Full beards luxuriate and then vanish without a word of warning. Something must be done. My day was ruined by a front-page picture of state Sen. Phil Journey in Thursday’s paper. He was brandishing a full beard again! Unless I am hallucinating (hey, no comments from you who daily think it so), Journey had shaved his longtime chin friend awhile back. I saw him with my own eyes, his face so smooth and naked I wanted to avert my eyes.
So I drew him that way in the cartoon that ran INSIDE THE VERY SAME PAPER ON WHICH A FRONT-PAGE PHOTO MADE ME INTO A CHUMP. His beard was back and thumbing its nose at me. That’s his smoothly cheeked self to the left. Naturally, when I worked up the toon for the next day’s paper, also about the Legislature, I sneaked him in again in hopes of redeeming myself in the eyes of the cartoon gods. But the damage was done, and I knew it was a hollow attempt. You see, drawing a caricature of someone and then finding out he has facial hair is like ordering chicken fingers and then finding out you could have had a Kansas City strip for the same price.
Here’s my feeble attempt to get him right, from Friday’s cartoon. I know what you’re thinking: "Why, in the name of all that’s righteous, didn’t you at least put his glasses on the first caricature?" It was, and I hope my boss isn’t reading this, another grievous error on my part. I went by his official photo as posted on his legislative Web site, in which he wears no glasses. Aaaigh. Plus, I had a "rough" of him that I had drawn months ago and stuffed in a desk drawer and completely forgot about. It would have saved my bacon.
Here’s what I should have drawn. My bad. But I have a solution. I am seeking sponsors for a Kansas constitutional amendment that reads: "No Kansas public figures of such stature that may give a cartoonist cause to need to caricature said figures, shall ever alter their appearance so that their likeness differs in any aspect from their official photo. They must provide a suitable image of themselves for cartooning purposes with accurate representation of any and all facial hair, glasses and tattoos, and shall not vary one iota from that image. Ever. And this even includes Kansas Supreme Court justices, who are forbidden from interpreting this amendment in any way that might be contrary to the wants and needs of the vital cartooning industry in this noble state. And it goes double for Kansas Board of Education members."
So, come on, you amendment-crazy legislators. Help me out here. Introduce this baby, and let’s make this state great again!
Posted by Richard Crowson
The prison for “enemy combatants” may not be a Soviet gulag, as Amnesty International overstated it, but it’s a poorly conceived place that through a series of blunders and abuses has become a recruiting tool for jihadists everywhere.
Why not find a less controversial place to hold these “bad people,” as Vice President Dick Cheney recently referred to them, and also determine just how bad they are — some minors are being held at the camp, and many detainees have been characterized as lowly “foot soldiers” in the Taliban. Are they really worth the bother?
Gitmo already has been “branded,” fairly or not, in a way that makes it an ongoing public relations disaster for the United States. Nothing we can do will change that. Shut it down.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Randy: Closing Gitmo might provide a public relations boost, but it likely would be short-lived — so I’m not sure it is worth it. The reality is that we need a place to hold enemies who are a threat to our country’s security and who have intelligence value. Many of the loudest critics can’t accept that, so they likely would continue to complain if we moved the facility somewhere else.
What everyone should agree on is that we shouldn’t abuse our prisoners, wherever they are held.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
You may be able to blame disagreements on school prayer and property taxes on genetics. A new study suggests that your gut-level reaction to political issues such as abortion and taxes may be strongly influenced by your genes.
But your party affiliation, the study says, is more influenced by your upbringing. This could explain why people like Zell Miller and Arianna Huffington defect from their party. Miller may have been a genetic Republican trapped in the Democratic Party he was brought up in — and just the opposite for Huffington.
For more on the study, check out this New York Times article.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
By nearly everyone’s observation, the state got its butt kicked in the school finance case, with the Kansas Supreme Court siding with the plaintiffs on nearly every issue. But as the Lawrence Journal-World noted, that didn’t stop the private law firm that handled the case for the state, Lathrop & Gage, from declaring victory. Its Web site lists the case as a win.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It’s not firing people up the way evolution is, but the question of how the Kansas State Board of Education will replace Andy Tompkins as education commissioner stands to matter far more long term to schools and schoolchildren. As the board settles on one of two finalists, perhaps this week, it should keep in mind a point that member Bill Wagnon makes in this Topeka Capital-Journal story: Like Tompkins, the next commissioner needs to be “able to tell board members when they are going off half-cocked.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Derek McLuckey, general manager of Boeing Wichita’s military plant — officially renamed Friday as Integrated Defense Systems Wichita — told Eagle editorial board members last week that he and his employees are going to get much more involved in the community. In the past, they let Boeing’s commercial plant take the lead on charitable giving and serving on local boards. “We’re going to have to rise to the occasion,” he said.
How about putting Boeing’s name on the new downtown arena? “Carlos (Mayans) keeps asking me that,” McLuckey said.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
By now, most of us have heard from the intelligent design advocates. We’ve heard from creationists and from evolutionists. But what of the Flying Spaghetti Monster-ists? Why have they been so silent throughout this debate? Well, finally, one has come forth with "An Open Letter to the Kansas School Board." It’s at this address, and it’s a doozy. Complete with graphics like the one here, which you can click on to enlarge, this site sheds much-needed light on an overlooked theory of the origin of life on Earth. Not to mention pirates. Plus, you can order T-shirts that refer to "noodly appendages." Why not have one sent to your favorite school board member?
Posted by Richard Crowson
Sometimes we need science to confirm the obvious: Talking on a cell phone while driving is dangerous. A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that cell phones — even hands-free units — distract drivers because the brain can’t handle both auditory and visual input at the same time.
Then again, wouldn’t this also be an argument against car radios?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
It only takes one brain cell to recognize a celebrity, according to a study released Thursday in the journal Nature. So you’d think it would take half a brain cell — or less — to realize that you shouldn’t turn down Oprah Winfrey’s business.
But according to this article, that’s exactly what the Paris luxury store Hermes did earlier this month. Apparently, there are stupid Europeans, too.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Kansas is not the first state that comes to mind when it comes to the despicable practice of lynching. But neither has Kansas escaped a role in the nation’s legacy of this form of mob injustice, which was overdue the formal apology offered last week by the U.S. Senate. According to the Tuskegee Institute, which has used newspaper accounts to chart 4,700 lynchings in 44 states between 1882 and 1968, Kansas has been the scene of 54 lynchings, 19 with black victims and 35 with white victims. That puts the state a long way from Mississippi, which led the nation with 581, but it’s hardly a point of pride for our state, which otherwise has such a proud civil rights history.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Before there was a Harvey Music Festival, classical music lovers in south-central Kansas had only recordings or the radio to rely on during the summer. Happy 10th anniversary to the festival, which offers a “Victorian Summer Music” concert of operetta selections and other period music at 7:30 p.m. Saturday(6/25) at the Trinity Heights United Methodist Church, 1200 Boyd Ave., Newton.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
You may disagree with his counsel, but at least we got to hear what Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline told Senate Republicans on Thursday about responding to the state Supreme Court’s school funding order. That wouldn’t have happened if lawmakers had had their way; they wanted a closed meeting. But to his credit — and perhaps showing that he learned from his mistake of meeting privately with State Board of Education members in February and with conservative lawmakers in Wichita earlier this month — Kline told lawmakers that they should let reporters attend. Government meetings need to be open, especially when devoted to debating whether to defy the high court or amend the constitution.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Clifford the Big Red Dog’s entrance into politics paid off. The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to rescind proposed cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This came two days after Clifford and some of his furry friends joined lawmakers on Capitol Hill to rally against the cuts. Perhaps lobbying groups have ignored the persuasive power of puppets for too long.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
It can’t be easy for the Kansas Senate to function during the special session without access to its chamber, which is under renovation. But its alternate site is deliciously appropriate: the Statehouse chamber where the Kansas Supreme Court heard arguments until 1978. As senators weigh whether to limit the court’s power and how to heed the court’s school finance ruling, they must do so with the portraits of past Supreme Court justices looking on. That’s rich.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
What do you think about the proposal that caregivers — such as people who push wheelchairs or provide other assistance to those who are disabled — get in free when they take the person in their care to area taxpayer-funded attractions? It’s a kind gesture, but should the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County make it official policy? Could this open the door to requests from other groups?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
A group of businessmen and the Wichita tribe of Oklahoma are interested in developing a casino near 21st and Broadway as part of revitalization efforts for that area. A casino “would bring money and prosperity to the area,” said Ken Thomas, who owns a pet supply business in the neighborhood.
The proposal and support seem sketchy at this point, but with downtown space limited, perhaps the City Council should at least consider this redevelopment area as a potential site.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
It sounds like something out of Jules Verne. But the idea of “solar sailing” holds out the promise of intergalactic travel and could be the future of space propulsion, as this article explains. Fascinating stuff.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
With about 3,300 employees, Boeing Wichita’s military plant is important to this community. And today, it will unveil its new name. But let’s hope it is something cooler sounding than Mid-Western Aircraft Systems or its current name, the Wichita Development and Modification Center. Who came up with those names? Aircraft engineers?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Congratulations to Sedgwick County Manager Bill Buchanan for being tapped by his peers to be president-elect of the 8,000-member International City/County Management Association, meaning he’ll be president in 2006-07. Besides reflecting very well on Buchanan, such recognition makes the county look good, too.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
America faces some big challenges: Record trade and budget deficits. Soaring health care costs. Homelessness. Illegal immigration. Insurgent attacks in Iraq. Reports of prisoner abuse. So what does the U.S. House do? It passes a constitutional amendment banning flag burning.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Cities have the constitutional right to seize your home for use in private development, such as a shopping mall, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday. But that doesn’t make it right. And as the court pointed out, state legislatures can — and should, in my view — set restrictions on the use of eminent domain.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
