It’s good that President Bush finally decided to back Sen. John McCain’s legislation banning torture — though Bush didn’t really have much choice. Was he really going to make the first veto of his presidency on a bill outlawing cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners? And even if he did, there were more than enough votes to override it. As McCain said Thursday at a White House press conference with Bush: “We’ve sent a message to the world that the United States is not like the terrorists. What we are is a nation that upholds values and standards of behavior and treatment of all people no matter how evil or bad they are.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
State Board of Education member John Bacon is billing taxpayers an estimated $500 for a conservative Christian conference he attended last month in McPherson, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. The conference was about how the Bible was integral in the founding of the United States, according to David Case, administrator of Elyria Christian School, which sponsored the event. Bacon said he went to the Christian conference because he wanted to hear information about creationism and evolution. That’s revealing, given that Bacon and other conservative board members claimed that changing the state science standards wasn’t about religion. This is the second suspect travel expense by a state school board member. Earlier this year Connie Morris got caught billing taxpayers $3,900 for a magnet school conference she attended at a posh Miami resort.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Nobody can say Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is trying to do her difficult job without leaving home — which some did say of her predecessor, Colin Powell. Within an otherwise silly story about the lousy food on Air Force Two, The Washington Post’s Robin Wright described one November week during which Rice visited Europe, the Middle East and the Far East: “Three or four hours sleep can be a good night. Rice’s staff and the press corps were in the same clothes for three days. America’s chief diplomat decided to continue negotiating in Jerusalem all night and not leave for another day — after the baggage had been loaded on her plane. When she finally left, she flew two more long flights to Korea and arrived in time for meetings on the third day.” That kind of pace speaks well of Rice’s commitment to improving the United States’ relationship with the rest of the world. And after this, a campaign for the White House would seem like a picnic.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
