Wish we could say the first two brief sessions of Saddam Hussein’s trial inspired confidence that the dethroned dictator will get a swift, smooth and fair trial. They don’t. Saddam clearly intends to use the trial to gripe about his victimization. Worse, though, is the toll the case is taking on his co-defendants’ legal team — two lawyers were killed, and one has fled the country in fear. TV coverage does not include images of the faces of any defense lawyers or of all but one judge. Maybe the situation will improve when the trial resumes Dec. 5, but this test of the new Iraq is off to a rough start.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
It’s good for the University of Kansas football program that this year’s team is bowl eligible. But haven’t bowls become a joke when a 6-5 record and eighth place conference finish qualify a team? Meanwhile, the Wichita State University women’s volleyball team has a 28-3 record and has been ranked in the top 25 since Oct. 17, yet it didn’t receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It’s been several weeks since we ran one of our cartoon caption contests. Must have been just the right amount of time off to get readers’ creative juices bubbling, as the entries seemed better than usual.Click on the cartoon to see the winners and the runners up, then have a look at some of these other close contenders. Pauline Martins of El Dorado wasn’t optimistic for the chances of a new Kansas casino. Her caption: "Sorry, guys, but if Kansas gets a new casino, looks like it’ll have to come from us!" Bruce Cole, almost a perpetual contest winner from Wichita, had a couple of good ones: "When did you guys start working on this thing? 1995?" and "Keep making it smaller. We need to hide it downstairs in the Boathouse." Then came another good caption from Bruce’s wife, Patty: "It’s on Bob Knight’s wish list again this year. Someday we’ll actually deliver it." Another previous winner, Roger Neugent of Haysville, sent "And get on those requests for state school board monkey dolls!" Personally, I like any caption with "monkey" in it, especially applied to our simian school board! Maxwell John of Wichita was in a similar frame of mind with his caption: "No rush, fellas. They have to vote on the design first, so we have several years to get that toy ready. Let’s get the Abrams Genesis Science books packages for all the good little boys and girls." Recent winner Kathy Deane touched on an issue which I thought many readers would bring up, but which few did. Her entry: "Does it come with a Gamblers Anonymous handbook?" Really liked that one. Another good one from Kathy: "Does it come with the official ‘I-love- to-gamble Barbie and Ken’"? Another former winner, Karen Wallace, turned to The King: "To quote Elvis: Return to sender, address unknown, no such number, no such zone." The wisdom of Elvis is truly timeless. Ben Sanders of Wichita thought geographically: "Nice work guys. Make sure you put it with the other gifts going to northeast Kansas." Poetry emerged from the pen of Wichita’s Ed Baylie: "T’was the night before Christmas and all through the house, everybody was gambling and drunk as a louse." Who knew that lice overindulged? Lastly, our former mayor reemerged with Jim Schlegel’s caption: "T’was the Knight before Christmas and not a vote to be found." Oh, and also from former winner Jim Holler: "What did I tell you boys about moonlighting for Bob Knight?"
Abercrombie & Fitch has proved again the adage that all publicity is good publicity, a Los Angeles Times editorial noted. After a group of teenagers from Pittsburgh, Pa., launched a “girl-cott” protest, the clothing retailer pulled from its shelves a line of girls T-shirts featuring the slogan “Who needs brains when you have these?” printed across the chest. But the company’s October revenue was up 41 percent compared with October 2004. “So though the girls who protested A&F won the battle, A&F is winning the war,” the Times wrote.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The goal of spending 65 percent of every education dollar “in the classroom” sounds worthy. That’s what prompted Kansas legislators to set such a target during last summer’s special session on school finance. But in practice, according to a new national analysis of 10 states’ data by Standard & Poor’s, there is “no significant positive correlation between the percentage of funds that districts spend on instruction, and the percentage of students who score proficient or higher on state reading and math tests.” Whether this will halt the faddish legislation around the country in support of the “65 percent solution” — promoted by Overstock.com president Patrick Byrne — is an open question.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Maybe Republican politicians just don’t get Bruce Springsteen. It was obvious that Ronald Reagan didn’t in 1984 when he tried to use Springsteen’s hit “Born in the USA” as a campaign theme song. Apparently nobody on Reagan’s campaign listened to the lyrics to find out that the song is not a patriotic message of hope.
And recently, Republicans in Congress shot down a resolution congratulating Springsteen on the 30th anniversary of his album “Born to Run.”
Harlen Coben wrote in The New York Times: “Does anybody on either side of the political aisle really believe that the Springsteen resolution was turned down for any reason other than political payback for backing John Kerry?
“We are so shameless now, so openly hostile to one another, that we don’t even pretend otherwise. Here is how the Senate power structure works: the resolution sponsored by Senator Gordon Smith, Republican of Oregon, honoring that golfer from New Zealand passed unanimously — but commending one of the seminal albums and musicians of the past 30 years gets nixed right away? Come on.”
Other the other hand, doesn’t Congress have better things to do than honor golfers and rock musicians?
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Michael Scanlon’s guilty plea last week on conspiring to bribe a member of Congress could build momentum for changing lobbying rules, especially as details come to light about the extravagant gifts that he and his partner, Jack Abramoff, showered on lawmakers. “I think most Americans play by the rules and expect their leaders in government to do the same,” Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., told The New York Times. “It is time for Congress to clean up its act.” Actually, it’s past time.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Here’s a Kansas joke that isn’t: A fake headline at the online site The Onion last week declaring, “Topeka Mayor Now Highest-Ranking Non-Indicted Republican Official.” And actually, given the recent history of trouble at Topeka’s City Hall, another city might have been a better choice for the gag.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
