Here is a sampling of The Eagle editorial board’s 2005 Weeper Awards, which are meant to recognize uncommon achievement in ill-considered, foolish and downright dubious public statements and events.
The full list is here. Did we miss any?
The “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” award
To Paul Mirecki, professor of religion at the University of Kansas, who lost his job as department head after sending an e-mail saying that his proposed course on intelligent design would be a “slap in the big fat face” of “fundies.”
Mirecki later claimed to have been stopped and beaten up by two thugs who mentioned the controversy. Police are still investigating.
Meantime, Mirecki will continue as Larry, Moe and Curly Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric at KU.
The “Houston, we have a problem” award
To Max Ary, former Kansas Cosmosphere director, who was found guilty of stealing from the museum various space program artifacts and auctioning them for his personal benefit.
Buyers, check the expiration date on those space food sticks.
The “What color is my parachute?” award
To Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, who first declared himself out of the running for the 2006 Kansas governor’s race, then said he had been persuaded to reconsider it, then announced that he had decided not to run after all, saying, decisively, “This is over.”
Are you sure? Don’t rush into anything.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
In Friday’s Eagle, the editorial board published its top 10 list of political/public policy issues of 2005 (see blog post below). The Lawrence Journal-World took a different approach to the same idea: Top 10 Kansans. Here is its list:
Kansas Education Commissioner Bob Corkins; the Rev. Terry Fox of Wichita (for leading charge on gay amendment); author Thomas Frank (who wrote the best-seller “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”); attorney Pedro Irigonegaray (who defended mainstream science during the State Board of Education evolution hearings); the Kansas Supreme Court; Attorney General Phill Kline; Wichita-based Koch Industries (for becoming the largest private company in the United States and for funding political activities); Marci Penner (who promotes rural life through the Kansas Sampler Foundation); Westar Energy (for the trial of its former executives and its tie to a Tom DeLay scandal); Kevin Willmott (a KU professor who is helping to lead the rise of filmmaking in Kansas).
What do you think? The criteria for the Journal-World list was people “who caught our attention,” which could qualify anybody, apparently including businesses. It’s interesting that Kline was the only elected official to make the list, and that the neither State Board of Education nor any of its members made the top 10. For that matter, how about BTK?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The South Korean stem cell scandal keeps getting worse. It now appears that star researcher Hwang Woo Suk (in photo) faked the findings on all 11 of the stem cell colonies that he claimed to create, rather than nine of them, as was first reported. What’s more, there are allegations that South Korean government officials attempted to bribe other scientists not to blow the whistle on the sham research, The Washington Post reported. As I noted on this blog a couple of weeks ago, when one researcher is that far ahead of all others, it should raise red flags — particularly when so much money and prestige are on the line.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Eagle editorial board took a stab at naming the 10 biggest local and state public policy/political issues of the year on today’s Opinion Pages. Note: These are political stories, not just news stories, so the capture and conviction of BTK doesn’t qualify. We also gave strong preference to issues that generated the most attention and public passion. As a result, the local war on porn made our list, even though it produced more heat than light, and Medicaid reform did not, though it is the biggest budget challenge facing the state. Here is our list:
1. Evolution. Scopes II hearings; State Board of Education vote; damage to state’s image; KU professor Paul Mirecki.
2. School funding. Showdown with Kansas Supreme Court; special legislative session; large funding increase; new cost study.
3. Iraq. Local deaths and deployments; Phelps protests at funerals.
4. Gay marriage. Constitutional amendment passes in landslide.
5. Economy. Local and state tax collections increased and aircraft orders are up, but demand for help from charities also increased; United Way fundraising and local attractions faltered.
6. Downtown redevelopment. Arena site chosen; new projects planned; WaterWalk off to rocky start; Boathouse controversy.
7. Expanded gambling. Talk of riverfront casino and a specific plan for a tribal casino in Park City. Sedgwick County decides not to hold nonbinding vote, but three area counties do.
8. GOP infighting. Rep. Jerry Moran flip-flops on governor’s race; state party chief Tim Shallenburger under fire; new moderate Republican group forms; Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts on national stage.
9. Abortion. Attorney General Phill Kline subpoenas clinic records, case before Kansas Supreme Court; legislative effort to regulate clinics; protesters at local high schools; death of patient at Wichita abortion clinic.
10. Pornography. Grand jury convened; Wichita City Council changes zoning; lawmakers considering skin tax.
Other top issues: Kansas mostly spared from military base closings; Wichita school district reviewing forced busing; Kline defends state’s death penalty law before U.S. Supreme Court.
What do you think of the list? Did we miss some big issues or get our ranking wrong?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Bill Koch is thinking about buying the Wichita Boathouse, said a Koch spokesman Thursday, but it remains an informal idea and he has no plans to make a proposal to the Wichita City Council.
It’s unclear how Koch’s nonproposal fits in with six other ideas already submitted to the Wichita City Council. Of course, if Koch does decide to make a proposal, his history with the Boathouse, to which he donated more than $1 million for renovation, carries some weight.
But Koch doesn’t own the Boathouse, and the City Council shouldn’t feel pressured to give his ideas favored status. Members should choose the Boathouse plan that makes the most sense for the community.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The following satirical headlines come from borowitzreport.com:
SADDAM CALLS HIS TORTURERS ‘RANK AMATEURS’; Fears for the Future of Torture in Post-Saddam Iraq
ANGRY SANTA DECLARES WAR ON ARBOR DAY; Seeks Revenge for War on Christmas, Experts Believe
BUSH URGES AMERICANS TO SPY ON EACH OTHER THIS HOLIDAY SEASON; Calls Invasion of Privacy ‘the Gift That Keeps on Giving’
TERROR SUSPECTS TO RECEIVE FREQUENT FLIER MILES; New Program Makes Rendering Rewarding, Condi Says
WITH SADDAM A NO-SHOW, SADDAM LOOK-ALIKES GO ON TRIAL; Doppelgangers Will Return Credibility to Proceedings, Rumsfeld Says
WHITE HOUSE ACCIDENTALLY SCREENS ‘BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN’; Cheney, Rove Injured in Stampede for Exit
WAR COST TOPS ONE ZILLION; Pentagon Renames Iraq Conflict ‘Operation Infinite Expense’
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Clarence Page’s column in Thursday’s Eagle has an amazing quote from President Bush from a speech he gave in Buffalo, N.Y., in April 2004 (two years after he had authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without a warrant). Bush said: “Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so. It’s important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think ‘Patriot Act,’ constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.”
As Page wrote, “knowing what we know now, that sounds like the biggest presidential whopper since Bill Clinton assured us that he did not have ’sexual relations with that woman.’”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
We tried to round up some of the better quotes — serious and not — from state and local public figures during the past year in a feature on Thursday’s Opinion pages. Some of the ones that made our list:
“Excuse my tardiness. I was busy subpoenaing all your medical records.” — Attorney General Phill Kline, joking about his battle with abortion clinics.
“I don’t understand why we need to be the capital of porn here.” — Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans, complaining that Wichita has too many sexually oriented businesses.
“This is a great day for Kansas schools.” –State Board of Education chairman Steve Abrams, as the board approved science standards critical of evolution.
And brace yourself: Friday we are publishing our “Best of Opinion Line” — which we admit may be an oxymoron. A few comments from that list:
“I love Wichita, but I hate most of the people in it.”
“About gay marriage: Let them marry. Why should straight people be the only ones miserable?”
“I’ve been married for more than 20 years, and my husband is more than welcome to go to nude bars. Just because he knows what he is having for dinner doesn’t mean he can’t look at the menu.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The responses to a Tuesday editorial about casino gambling have been interesting, including one on this blog characterizing it as a “shameless plug for casinos.” Gambling opponent Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, e-mailed to, among other things, inquire why we “think the state should own and operate gambling casinos” and “increase the potential for political corruption in this state.” Another reader suggested that voters who have approved nonbinding referendums welcoming a casino would vote differently if they knew the facts.
Landwehr’s point about the unseemliness of state-owned and -operated casinos is relevant to the Statehouse debate so far, but there are other possible paths to expanded gambling in Kansas, including off-reservation casinos such as the one proposed for Park City and a constitutional amendment to allow privately owned casinos.
It’s not that Kansas can’t live without more casinos. Obviously, it can. And the concerns about social costs and political corruption are real. But many Kansans already enjoy gambling and would like to be free to gamble closer to home, where the revenues these places generate could help fund government services and even provide tax relief. Especially as more counties speak up and say “we want one,” it seems like the Legislature’s job to find the path that’s right for Kansas.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Three moonshiners, three drug dealers, a bank robber and two men who lied on loan applications were among the 11 people granted pardons last week by President Bush, whose 69 clemency orders recently exceeded Bill Clinton’s total 56. It’s difficult to see the logic that goes into any president’s pardons — Bush’s latest included a man convicted in 1948. And there may be something to columnist Debra Saunders’ contention that “it’s as if the administration doesn’t want to be criticized for meting out too little mercy — so it throws mercy where it is least needed.”
In this round, you have to wonder about Bush’s pardon of Wendy St. Charles, a lawyer for a Denver homebuilder, MDC Holdings, whose chairman and his wife are responsible for more than half a million dollars in contributions to Republican campaigns. What, other than political connections, sets St. Charles apart from the others convicted of similar drug crimes?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
There was a timely article in USA Today this week about the decline of the custom of sending formal “thank you” notes for wedding gifts, birthdays and other occasions. The article cited a newlywed couple who sent out a mass e-mail expressing generic thanks. The etiquette experts shudder. But as the article noted, many Americans simply don’t send any kind of “thank you.”
The trend is blamed on the hectic pace of modern life, an increasingly informal culture and even the mechanized nature of gift-giving registries, etc. — none of which, of course, is sufficient excuse for bad manners.
If you can read this article without a sharp pang of guilt, good for you. I couldn’t.
Have you noticed this trend? Are we becoming a rude, ungrateful people? What do you think?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., offered an unusual take last week on the problem with President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping. Without criticizing the program, Brownback said the White House should not have pointed to the war on terrorism as justification. Better to say it comes with presidential powers, Brownback said, than to blame it on the war, which might deter future Congresses from approving military action.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Nobody likes to pay more for power, which is what Westar Energy’s northern Kansas customers soon will do. And all of the state will face the uncertainty brought on by Westar’s new ability of pass fuel and environmental costs directly onto consumers. But it’s to the Kansas Corporation Commission’s credit that Westar’s newly approved 4.7 percent rate hike in the north is accompanied by a 4.2 percent cut in the southern region that includes Wichita. That disparity is fair because former KGE customers in the south have long paid much higher rates for the same power as the former KPL customers in the north, owing to an outdated plan to pay off the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant. Westar was denied its desired $84 million rate hike Wednesday, but the KCC’s action also rightly endorsed the tremendous strides made by Westar’s new leadership to reduce debt and right the company’s course after its disastrous David Wittig era.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Did you read last week about an Italian judge issuing European arrest warrants for 22 CIA operatives wanted for the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric? Prosecutors want the suspects’ extradited for the abduction of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr from a Milan street in February 2003, The New York Times reported. The CIA reportedly tried to cover up the abduction by telling their intelligence “partners” in Italy that Nasr had fled the country. Instead, the CIA reportedly took Nasr to Cairo, Egypt, where he said he was tortured.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
What to make of the news that U.S. solicitor general Paul Clement, the Bush administration’s top lawyer, has filed arguments on behalf of Anna Nicole Smith and wants a role when her case has a U.S. Supreme Court hearing Feb. 28? Ten years after the death of her late husband, oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, the topless dancer-turned-punch line is still fighting with his estate over whether she’s entitled to millions of dollars.
Why the White House interest in the case? Most likely, it’s the legal point in question — when federal courts may hear claims that involve state probate proceedings. We can only hope it isn’t because the president has been spending his time watching Smith’s wretched reality show.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The courts and Congress likely will decide whether President Bush has the authority to approve eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without a warrant. But it’s still puzzling why Bush didn’t just get court permission and avoid this constitutional showdown. As former Secretary of State Colin Powell noted this past weekend, it likely wouldn’t have been difficult to obtain such warrants. And, Powell said, “even in the case of an emergency, you can do it. The law provides for that.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Some of the state’s most vulnerable residents recently learned they were getting a 4.1 percent cost-of-living increase in their federal Supplemental Security Income from Social Security. Then they heard from the state that — surprise! — their food stamps would be cut, in some cases by exactly the same amount. This is the sort of eligibility rigor that makes perfect sense in policy debates but can seem like a cruel joke upon delivery to the people who rely on public assistance to survive — especially when you consider the slipshod (or worse) administration of huge government contracts going to rebuild Iraq and the Gulf Coast.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Hospitals should help heal people, not make them sick. Yet about one in every 20 patients contracts hospital-borne infections, according to a new study by the National Center for Policy Analysis. And more people die from those infections each year — about 103,000 — than die from AIDS, breast cancer and automobile crashes combined.
To their credit, Wesley Medical Center and Via Christi Regional Medical Center reportedly have infection rates lower than the national average, according to an Eagle news article. And they have infection officers who monitor problems and work to reduce infections.
Still, as the study indicated, hospitals can and should do more to keep their patients safe.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Liberal activist groups are abuzz about a 1985 memo that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito wrote arguing that the government “should make clear that we disagree with Roe v. Wade.” But did anybody in America not already think this was Alito’s view? Isn’t that why President Bush picked him? Besides, even as important as abortion is, the Senate should not block a highly qualified and competent nominee based on this one issue.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
“It is hard to believe, but more than four years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress has still not acted to make chemical plants, one of the nation’s greatest terrorist vulnerabilities, safer,” The New York Times wrote in an editorial Tuesday. It is hard to believe.
Instead, we’ve spent billions invading and rebuilding a country that had no link to Sept. 11, and we squandered limited homeland security dollars on low priorities — such as spending them on, say, biohazard suits for North Dakota rather than on safeguarding ports and chemical plants.
Meanwhile, as the Times editorial warned: “If terrorists attacked a chemical plant, the death toll could be enormous. A single breached chlorine tank could, according to the Department of Homeland Security, lead to 17,500 deaths, 10,000 severe injuries and 100,000 hospitalizations.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The U.S. abortion rate could be cut in half if emergency contraception was available without a prescription, Sarah Johnston, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, wrote last week in a commentary on our Opinion pages. But as she noted, the FDA went against the recommendations of its advisory committees and national medical associations, and put the decision on hold.
Johnston argued that Kansans who care about abortion should be outraged. But many pro-lifers oppose the contraception because they think it will encourage promiscuity and because they think it is a chemical abortion — even though a study by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm showed that Plan B prevents ovulation and doesn’t cause a fertilized egg to be expelled.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The state’s science standards writing committee — which had its work debased by the State Board of Education — is planning to keep meeting on its own, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Committee chairman Steve Case said he had been contacted by school districts that didn’t want to base their curricula on the state board’s flawed standards. So the committee plans to start meeting again next month to finalize and clarify its recommended standards — which, you can bet, won’t include a redefinition of science.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Much of the recent discussion related to state legislators’ travel expenses has been about the denial of a request by Rep. Valdenia Winn, D-Kansas City, Kan., for $1,000 to attend an educational conference in Oxford, England, next March. (The nonpartisan reason offered by GOP legislative leaders makes sense — it would have meant she’d miss a week of the 2006 legislative session.)
Of greater concern to Kansans, though, is the steep tab for all lawmakers’ recent travel to state government conventions: $198,483 during fiscal year 2005, up from $114,000 for fiscal year 2004. For 2005, legislative leaders removed a $700-per-trip cap for reimbursement they’d imposed during the budget crunch. But shouldn’t lawmakers travel rarely and spend frugally in all fiscal years?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
New highway data shows Kansas still lagging much of the nation in seat-belt use. Kansans’ use rate of 69 percent was the sixth-lowest rate in the nation, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
There’s a simple solution: Pass a primary seat-belt law.
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have passed “primary” belt laws, which allow a law enforcement officer to pull over a driver solely for not wearing a seat belt. Primary laws have a demonstrated track record of boosting seat-belt use by an average of 11 percent.
This is about saving lives. In 2004, 390 people died in Kansas while riding in cars and trucks, and 62 percent were not wearing their seat belts.
An added fiscal incentive: Kansas has a one-time chance to get additional federal transportation dollars — more than $11 million — if it passes a primary seat-belt law.
The Kansas Legislature should get this done next session.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
University of Kansas geography professor Johannes Feddema recently published a paper in the journal Science that lends more credence to the theory of human-caused global climate change. As he told the Lawrence Journal-World, perhaps we shouldn’t wait until all the evidence is in: “We’ll probably never come up with 100 percent proof before it’s way too late to do something about it. So the question is, ‘Do you want to take the chance?’. . . The problem is we only have one planet.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
