New Kansas Education Commissioner Bob Corkins and State Board of Education member Connie Morris visited 12 western Kansas cities this week. It didn’t go well.
“The Bob Corkins-Connie Morris road show turned into roadkill in Hays on Tuesday night,” reported The Hays Daily News. One protest sign at the meeting read, “What’s the matter with Kansas? Morris + Corkins.”
Their reception wasn’t much better elsewhere. “It was not a warm and fuzzy meeting at all,” said Marvin Selby, superintendent of the Goodland school district. And Don Hineman, who attended the meeting in Dodge City, wrote in a letter to the editor in Friday’s Eagle that the purpose of the trip seemed to be to promote charter schools, to promote Corkins and to promote Morris.
Three strikes and they’re out?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
President Bush’s second inaugural address made it a priority to promote democracy around the world. But an increasing number of Americans want us to butt out, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Council on Foreign Relations. Just before the Sept. 11 attacks, 30 percent of those surveyed said the United States should “mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own.” Four years later, 42 percent are feeling isolationist. And get this: 35 percent wouldn’t mind seeing a second superpower emerge, presumably to take some of the burden off our shoulders. And to think people said Sept. 11 would give Americans a permanently global view.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Bill Clinton’s assertion to Arab students that the United States made a “big mistake” in invading Iraq was greeted with a standing ovation and cheers. That response doesn’t speak well of our reputation in the Arab world.
Clinton, at a forum at the American University of Dubai, said, “It was a big mistake. The American government made several errors . . . one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Conservative George Will argues in his latest column that social conservatives and fiscal big spenders are undermining the GOP. Here is his take on “zealots” on school boards:
‘ “It does me no injury,” said Thomas Jefferson, “for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ But it is injurious, and unneighborly, when zealots try to compel public education to infuse theism into scientific education. The conservative coalition, which is coming unglued for many reasons, will rapidly disintegrate if limited-government conservatives become convinced that social conservatives are unwilling to concentrate their character-building and soul-saving energies on the private institutions that mediate between individuals and government, and instead try to conscript government into sectarian crusades.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
NUTSCH FAMILY STRIKES OIL IN BACKYARD WHILE SHOOTIN’ AT SOME FOOD; Bubbling Crude Prompts More Grumbling From Locals
RETIRED CHESS CHAMPION KASPAROV DEFEATED BY MEDICARE DRUG PLAN; Genius Admits He Couldn’t Follow Online Instructions
STATE BOE ADDS TORTURE EXEMPTION TO SCIENCE STANDARDS; Allows Board to Inflict Cruel and Degrading Punishment on State’s Image
Posted by Randy Scholfield
It takes considerable nerve for DETAMC, the former job-training success story on East 21st Street, to sue City Hall for $11 million, after the company’s alleged misuse of government funds and mistreatment of employees led the feds to investigate. The lawsuit’s claim of racial motivation seems a particular stretch. But the city should be faulted for its lack of due diligence on this venture. After all, it continued to funnel federal money to DETAMC after the state had seen fit to cut it off. What we said in an editorial early last year still goes: “DETAMC’s story should serve as a pointed reminder of the need for clear-eyed decision making, good oversight and swift response to red flags when they arise.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Considering the uneasy feeling still pervading the local economy, it was sad but not surprising that the United Way of the Plains not only missed its campaign goal by nearly $2 million Thursday but fell $1.6 million short of last year’s total. All the job cuts, ownership changes, contract struggles and other uncertainties have hurt Wichitans’ ability to give as generously as they would like to. The results put pressure on the United Way to get the most out of every dollar of that $14 million and continue seeking more. As fewer feel free to contribute, more are slipping into need, too. But it’s encouraging that 300 companies saw double-digit percentage spikes in their employee pledges, suggesting that those who are able to give recognize how much is riding on their generosity.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
