Steve Abrams, the Arkansas City veterinarian who chairs the Kansas State Board of Education, is leading the fight to inject criticisms of evolution into state science standards so kids can weigh the supposedly competing evidence and make up their own minds. But Abrams’ mind sure sounded made up in a speech last week in Independence, as reported by the Lawrence Journal-World:
“At some point in time, if you compare evolution and the Bible, you have to decide which one you believe. That’s the bottom line,” Abrams said.
At the same event, board member Iris Van Meter asked the crowd to “pray for six of the conservative members that God will use us to see some life-changing things happen for the children of the state of Kansas.”
More evidence that what the state of Kansas really needs is some changing of the board.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has some explaining to do about how he came to sell stock in HCA Inc. a month before news of the hospital chain’s disappointing second-quarter earnings sent the stock price into a dive — and from a supposedly blind trust. Two federal inquiries rightly are seeking answers, as are Americans who just saw Martha Stewart do jail time for obstructing justice related to insider trading. This also presents the Republican-controlled Congress with another prime opportunity to show that its oversight of members’ ethics isn’t a joke. Either way, it’s not the sort of news Frist needed his name attached to if he’s serious about running for president.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Here are some of the better submissions that didn’t make it onto our printed page in last week’s cartoon caption contest. The winner was Bruce Cole again. Bruce easily holds the record for number of wins. This time he not only won, but even had an entry make the "Runners up" category. As a reminder, here’s the cartoon with his caption as it appears on today’s editorial page. Click on the image to enlarge it. Bernie Lantz of Bel Aire submitted: "Bad hairdo, no football team, I’m still in Wichita, Dorothy!" From Jennifer Meek of Wichita: "That chicken and fraidycat won’t even play with me during basketball season!" Michael Meinecke Had other things on his mind: "Maybe the Chiefs could use a politically correct mascot…" Reader Richard Julius, always a prolific entrant, sent in: "Baseball anyone???" Finally, from Doug Oxler: "And I’m stuck in here cheering for volleyball!"
His state party is defined by its conservative-moderate divide, but one of the contenders for next year’s GOP gubernatorial nomination plans to run as a label-less Republican. Robin Jennison, former Kansas House speaker from Healy, told The Hutchinson News: "I believe labeling yourself a conservative or moderate Republican does the party a lot of harm and it does the state a lot of harm. We have some issues that need to be addressed that aren’t conservative or liberal issues." No argument there, but those Kansas Republicans who try to run without labeling themselves invite others to do it for them.
Meanwhile, the list of maybe wannabes for the GOP nod has gained another name: Sen. James Barnett, who is an Emporia physician.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
A local union official sent an e-mail complaining about President Bush’s suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act in the states devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Suspending the act allows contractors to pay employees lower wages, which the administration hopes will help speed up reconstruction. But the labor official argued that substandard wages will create the need for more federal help for the working poor. And she asks: "Will the corporations — Haliburton and gang — take less profit? Will the CEOs suspend their own pay?"
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Blake West, a math teacher from the Blue Valley school district who is currently serving as vice president of the Kansas National Education Association, has a bold suggestion: The next state education commissioner should be someone who has worked in schools and has a thorough, up-close, personal knowledge of what goes on there, he told Eagle editorial board members last week. Ordinarily, that would be a given. But conservative members of the State Board of Education de-emphasized education experience in the evaluation criteria, and the main qualification of two of the five final candidates seems to be that they are political conservatives.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Much of Dan Glickman’s first year on the job as president of the Motion Picture Association of America has been devoted to fighting film piracy, which costs Hollywood $3.5 billion a year. And the former congressman from Wichita doesn’t always leave the crime fighting to the experts. The Hill newspaper reports that Glickman went along with New York’s finest this month on a raid and "came back with a couple of souvenirs — pirated copies of ‘Four Brothers’ and ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.’ His son was the producer of the latter, which means piracy has a direct impact on the Glickman family fortunes."
On Capitol Hill, the newspaper noted, Glickman stands out among lobbyists because of the power of one of the perks he can offer members of Congress: invitations to screenings of new movies at the MPAA’s theater.
And just think: Long, long ago in a galaxy that must feel far, far away, Glickman spent evenings on the Wichita school board.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
