The facts about what Karl Rove said about CIA agent Valerie Plame and when he said it seem to get fuzzier by the day. But President Bush sounded an unequivocal tone Monday in restating that if anyone on his staff committed a crime in the Plame case, that person will “no longer work in my administration.” Some think the key word was “crime,” meaning Bush is sure Rove didn’t commit one. Then again, given White House-speak, maybe it depends on your definition of “work,” “in,” “my” or “administration.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
A zinger in The Eagle’s Opinion Line today (“I wish people would take an honest look at their feet before they put on flip-flops. Sandals were not made for everybody”) reminded me of this story in the Chicago Tribune last week, about some Northwestern University women’s lacrosse team members who caused a minor flap by wearing flip-flops to meet President Bush at the White House. The reactions revealed a deep generational divide, with older folks expressing horror and the young offenders noting these were not the dime-store variety but, in one case, rhinestone-studded. In any case, it does seem as if we hear that distinctive flapping sound a long way from the pool and the beach, including work and church.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
It’s sad but hardly surprising that the Kansas State Board of Education is having trouble finding someone to succeed Andy Tompkins as the state’s education commissioner. After neither of two finalists could secure the needed six board votes, officials last week decided to accept more applications and signaled it could be another year before someone is on the job. Fact is, anyone with the right skills and experience will be wary about working with the state’s famously fractious board. And getting board members to agree on a new education czar will be as easy as getting them to agree on anything these days.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
U.S. teenagers didn’t give their high schools a high user-satisfaction rating in a recent nationwide survey.
A large majority of high school students said their classwork was not very difficult, and almost two-thirds said they would work harder if courses were more demanding or interesting, according to this New York Times story about the online survey, which was conducted by the National Governors Association.
And experts say that the students’ opinions are backed up by studies that show gaps between what students learn in high school and what they need to learn to succeed.
Some are saying that a fundamental change in the way high schools operate is needed. What do you think? Are high schools preparing students for the future?
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Americans’ perceptions of the original Scopes trial in Dayton, Tenn., don’t necessarily reflect reality, this MSNBC article points out. But those perceptions survived in the public arena for 80 years. The historical details didn’t.
Members of the Kansas State Board of Education majority should have taken that into account before launching their own version of the Scopes trial this spring.
After all, the publicity from the original trial — which unfairly portrayed the local residents as backward hicks — “ended up besmirching the name of Dayton, Tenn., and making it a synonym for bigotry and ignorance for the rest of the century,” said Jeffrey P. Moran, an associate professor of history at the University of Kansas and author of the 2002 book “The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents.”
The caricatures of Kansans that are showing up around the nation could, unfortunately, have the same effect here.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
The July 7 London suicide bombings that shocked the West have killed at least 56 and wounded many more. The attacks, while horrific, were just one incident; similar bombings occur daily in Iraq, with a far higher ongoing death and casualty count. The devastating bombings, day in and day out, must be inflicting a heavy psychological toll on the Iraqi people. They, too, deserve Americans’ admiration and support for their courage in the midst of so much fear and carnage.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Maybe Eric Rudolph will grow a conscience in prison. But don’t count on it, judging from the former fugitive’s defiance in a Birmingham, Ala., courtroom Monday. In any case, Rudolph will have lots of time — the two life terms he was given Monday, with more to come — to ponder how his claim to be a devout Christian fits with his murderous bombings of two abortion clinics, a gay bar and the 1996 Olympics.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
