Imposing a 10 percent excise tax on pornography, as a special panel of Kansas lawmakers recommended Wednesday, hardly seems worth it, given the constitutional concerns and the inevitable lawsuits. But it will be interesting to see how the no-new-taxes-never-ever crowd in the Kansas Legislature votes on this issue. Are they OK with new taxes as long as they apply to behaviors or products they don’t like?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
People are laughing at Kansas. One out-of-state e-mailer sent a letter to the editor regarding the State Board of Education’s decision to include junk science in our state standards.
It read: “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.”
A story reporting the board’s decision has been on the Washington Post’s most e-mailed list for days, and The New York Times even editorialized on the subject in Thursday’s edition, making the point that we have on this blog:
“The standards, which define the material to be covered in statewide science tests, won’t take effect until 2007 at the earliest. That leaves time for the electorate to once again dump the board members responsible for this lunacy.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Attorney Alan Dershowitz made what I thought was a cogent argument on CNN’s “The Situation Room” about when torture should be allowed (see the full transcript here).
As a rule, never. The only possible exception, he said, is with so-called “ticking time bomb” cases, which are admittedly hypothetical but could happen. In that extreme and rare case, says Dershowitz, “The president has to take personal responsibility . . . . I’m saying that torture should never be authorized by the CIA or by the civilian personnel, by anybody. Only in the most extreme emergency, akin to the shooting down of a plane with civilians on it, should arguably, the president be authorized to make the decision that in this particular case, we have to break the law . . . If we’re not prepared to have the president sign off on that, then we should never do it and let the chips fall where that may.”
I think Dershowitz’ argument makes sense — and ensures accountability. It’s far better approach than all the mixed messages, winking and buck-passing going on now in the Bush administration.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
A Houston Chronicle editorial contrasted the billions of dollars the Chinese government is spending to produce more scientists and engineers with the Kansas State Board of Education’s move to weaken our science standards. “At a time when the United States struggles to cultivate scientists who can compete with China’s, Kansas is disabling its students from competing with other Americans.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
We’ll have to wait a year to find out if Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial victories — in Virginia and New Jersey — are predictors of mid-term gains for Democrats. But the losses provided immediate bad news for the GOP, which has had plenty of bad news lately. But their effect could be overblown, Richard Norton Smith, former director of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence, told the Washington Post:
“It’s bragging rights for a couple days,” Smith said of the Virginia results. The far greater issue is Bush’s prospects of getting Judge Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court. “I suspect he would trade Virginia for Alito,” Smith said.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
The Sedgwick County Commission made a great choice Wednesday in voting to build the new downtown arena on the east site. The property acquisition and preparation costs for this location are estimated to be about $6 million less than the central site — savings that could go toward parking or design enhancements. The east location also offers the best redevelopment potential, with its link to Douglas Avenue, Old Town and the Commerce Street art district.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
