University of Kansas professor Paul Mirecki apologized Monday for writing in an e-mail that a KU course on "intelligent design, creationism and other mythologies" would be a nice slap in the "big fat face" of fundamentalists who want intelligent design taught as science. But KU officials — though not state lawmakers — still need to get tough on Mirecki. A chairman of a religion department shouldn’t be hostile to conservative Christianity. How about making Mirecki go through a paddling line at one of KU’s fraternities?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
If city leaders and Wichita WaterWalk developers thought no one would notice if they bulldozed the Wichita Boathouse, they know better now. Reader comments in The Eagle and the launch of a “Save the Boathouse” petition drive indicate a strong desire among some to keep the 11-year-old riverfront building as a featured part of WaterWalk, rather than raze it to make way for an office building. It’s good to see citizens weighing in on this pending City Council decision. That said, it’s also frustrating that it’s taking a threat of a wrecking ball to get the community to show support for the place, which has never lived up to its promise as an attraction.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
President Bush is scheduled to give a speech Wednesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on the fight against terrorism. Rather than rely again on platitudes and vague vows about staying the course, Bush might want to use this suggested speech written by James Q. Wilson and published in The Wall Street Journal. Here is how it begins: "My fellow Americans: We are winning, and winning decisively, in Iraq and the Middle East." It then lists the successes in Iraq (yes, there have been quite a few)and why the future is hopeful.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Statehouse political observer Martin Hawver recently reported that Kansas Republicans are quietly crafting legislation that would ban "obscenity" from being used by teachers in K-12 public schools. The obvious question: Who decides what constitutes "obscenity" in curricular materials? The Legislature? The conservatives on the Kansas State Board of Education?
A recent statement by state board chairman Steve Abrams that Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison’s "Beloved" is "pornography" doesn’t bode well for such an effort.
In light of the crude crusade in 2003 by state Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, against a University of Kansas human sexuality class, do Kansans really trust social conservatives to micromanage school district curricula?
Many Kansans would see legislative meddling in this area as another heavy-handed and ill-informed attempt to censor schools and trample local control. Doesn’t sound like a political slam dunk.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Vice President Dick Cheney’s personal approval ratings are low, but his message seems to be resonating. A new poll by RT Strategies found that 70 percent of Americans said criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale, and a majority believe that the motive of the criticism is to "gain a partisan political advantage."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It’s no surprise that the Arab network Al-Jazeera drives the Bush administration nuts, because its influence is so broad and its perspective often so anti-American. But a British tabloid has reported the existence of a memo indicating that last year Prime Minister Tony Blair had to talk President Bush out of bombing Al-Jazeera’s headquarters in Western-leaning Qatar. This memo likely is as credible as the phony CBS documents about Bush’s military service, but the story is causing more problems for Bush overseas.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Kansans are justifiably proud of native son Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Abilene youth who grew up to command Allied forces in World War II and become a popular two-term Republican president.
So it’s good to hear about plans for a new Washington, D.C., memorial to Eisenhower near the National Mall that would focus on Ike’s presidential accomplishments, including the interstate highway system and civil rights enforcement.
Historians continue to debate whether Ike was a good or great president. But there’s no doubt, looking at the sum of his career as soldier and president, that he was one of the most significant American public servants of the past century.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
