Where is political and business leadership on evolution?

Time magazine ranked Kathleen Sebelius as a top five governor, but her tepid criticism of the Kansas State Board of Education sure doesn’t rank high. Sebelius called the board’s science standards vote a “step in the wrong direction.” You think? Even cautious former Gov. Bill Graves was more forceful in denouncing the state board’s 1999 evolution vote, saying that he supported abolishing the board.
Leadership from the business community has been even more lacking. If the state and local chambers of commerce are concerned about attracting new businesses and residents to Kansas, why were they AWOL while the state board was making Kansas and our education system a national laughingstock?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

7 Comments

  1. kansassam
    Posted November 16, 2005 at 5:05 am | Permalink

    Phillip..Maybe they aren’t as whipped up into a rabid frenzy as you and Rhonda are about the issue! Maybe they see it as Mr. Abrams described in his commentary. Maybe they want to let it die instead of creating a media circus as you seem driven to do. Whatever it takes to sell papers I guess.. even if it means calling yourself names and stirring up discontent. If you don’t want to be called a laughingstock, then don’t shout that you are a laughingstock from the rooftops!

  2. JUSTA GUY
    Posted November 16, 2005 at 5:52 am | Permalink

    Or maybe the companies just don’t want their employees to be too inquisitive about things or to think beyond their jobs.

  3. Joe Williams
    Posted November 16, 2005 at 8:35 am | Permalink

    That is my drawback against Sebelius. She good an all, but she has no spine and doesn’t really do anything.

    The Time article credit her for balancing the budget, not raising taxes, and providing more money to school.

    Let me see…She wanted to raise taxes, but the Legislature denied it, they made the cuts in the budget to balance it, and the courts forced the issue to provide more funding.

    She takes the credit for it? I guess!

  4. Dudley D
    Posted November 16, 2005 at 7:03 pm | Permalink

    Very insightful comments, kansassam. The Eagle editorial board seems to be almost irrational about this subject. They actually quoted something from a San Francisco publication, making fun of Kansas. As if most Kansans give a rip about what they think in San Francisco.

    It seems that it is just inconceivable to the Eagle board that business and civic leaders, presumably reasonably smart people, might not agree with them. Kind of like the Frank Rich book; “What’s the Matter with Kansas” (or something like that). The jist of that book was that Kansans were voting their moral principles rather than their economic interests. Liberals apparently just don’t get that sort of thing.

  5. Joe Blow
    Posted November 16, 2005 at 8:39 pm | Permalink

    This the same governor that hid under her desk during the whole school funding issue in the legislature last year? She’s a joke.

  6. Steven E.
    Posted November 16, 2005 at 11:38 pm | Permalink

    Dud,To correct your attempt at referencing your opinions, the book you were trying to reference was: Frank, Thomas (2004). _What’s the matter with Kansas?: How conservatives won the heart of America_.

  7. Dudley D
    Posted November 17, 2005 at 6:47 am | Permalink

    You’re right Steven E. I realized I had the wrong author after I had posted.