We are interested in doing a feature on our printed editorial pages this weekend in which readers weigh in on which of the four proposed downtown arena sites they prefer. These submissions would be treated like letters to the editor (and must include your name, town and contact information, and be fewer than 200 words). If you are interested in participating, e-mail your thoughts by Thursday morning to letters@wichitaeagle.com. Thanks.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The fashion industry has been forced to feign outrage at Kate Moss’ cocaine use. It has been hard for fashion executives to turn their usual blind eye to this drug use, considering pictures of the act were plastered on the cover of London’s Daily Mirror.
Rebecca Traister of Slate wrote:
“What this drama has done is lay bare the ugly skeleton that holds up a fashion industry that for some time has prized hollow cheeks and vacant eyes, stunted, prepubescent frames, and jutting collar bones from which fabric drapes beautifully. In other words, the body that is appealing to designers — and thus to consumers — is a body that looks like it has been ravaged by drugs. In order to stay employed, models must maintain this shape; to maintain the shape they must do something besides eat right and exercise regularly. Whether it’s cocaine or speed or heroin or caffeine or cigarettes or anorexia or bulimia or some combination of the above, most adult women cannot get bodies that look like Moss’ healthily, because hers is not a healthy body.”
It’s laughable to think that the fashion industry suddenly cares that young people are impressionable.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
A landmark federal trial that began Monday in Pennsylvania could help resolve a central question in the Kansas evolution wars — is intelligent design “theory” primarily scientific or religious in intent?
Eight families have filed suit against the Dover, Pa., school board for violating separation of church and state by requiring biology teachers to mention ID. Here’s one bit of evidence: At a meeting last year to discuss the changes, the Dover board chairman reportedly said, “Two thousand years ago, someone died on a cross. Can’t someone take a stand for him?”
Does that sound like a scientific or religious intent?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Reject the notion that Katrina was God’s way of lashing out at New Orleans revelers, Gulf Coast gamblers or American sinners in general? There is growing interest in the conspiracy theory that the Japanese mafia engineered the hurricane using a Russian-made electromagnetic generator, as belated payback for the Hiroshima bombing. Scott Stevens, an ex-weatherman in Idaho, has discussed this and other otherworldly weather phenomena he’s observed on the late-night “Coast to Coast” radio show. Sounds like an excellent plot for a thriller. Does this mean we can blame neo-Nazis for our next ice storm?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Louisiana politicians better be careful, or they may trigger a taxpayer backlash against exorbitant rebuilding costs. Take Sens. David Vitter and Mary Landrieu’s request for $40 billion in Army Corps of Engineer projects. Please. That’s 10 times the corps’ annual budget and would fund projects that have nothing to do with flood protection.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Let’s hope the monthlong Boeing Machinists union strike is close to resolution. Both sides this week tentatively agreed to a contract that, if approved Thursday by union rank and file, will get the planemaker back to work at a crucial time for the local economy and the aviation industry.
A work resumption would also be good news for the 7,500 local workers at Spirit AeroSystems who depend for their livelihoods on Boeing orders.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
It’s good to hear that the Tallgrass Film Festival will be held after all this year, in late October, albeit in a shortened format playfully dubbed “Shortgrass” by organizers.
Local filmmaker Tim Gruver started the festival in 2003 despite predictable local nay-saying, but his sudden death this summer left the future of the event in doubt.
Tallgrass has too much promise to let it wither away. With aggressive new leadership, the festival could still develop into a strong cultural offering for the city. Gruver had the right vision; now it is up to others to bring it to fruition.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
