Daily Archives: Jan. 14, 2006

Living in an age of ‘truthiness’

Jan. 14, 200612:05 a.m.

My column Friday touched on various evidence — including Judge Samuel Alito’s faulty memory and the controversy over a fictional nonfiction book — that we are living in an age of “truthiness,” the useful word coined by Comedy Central fake news host Stephen Colbert (in photo) to describe a state of wishing or believing something to be true, with little regard for fact or evidence.
One reader said I had missed a glaring example of misdirection from the Clintons: Hillary brazenly repeating “I just don’t remember” to congressional requests for information about her indicted husband.
He’s right — the Clintons had more than a few moments of truthiness. Democrats are hardly immune from its fuzzy charms. But I think President Bush has raised truthiness to an art form with his stubborn and well-documented disregard of facts.
I welcome your truths on this topic.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (60)

Deficit to top $400 billion

Jan. 14, 200612:03 a.m.

Surprise, surprise: The federal budget deficit is expected to climb back above $400 billion this year. The White House blamed the increase (up from a $309 billion deficit in 2005) mostly on the costs of Katrina, which likely is true. But the White House and Congress still aren’t doing enough to balance the budget — either by cutting more spending or by not cutting taxes. And President Bush’s pledge to cut the deficit in half by 2009 is sounding more and more like an empty political promise.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (20)

O’Connor plans to just say ‘no’

Jan. 14, 200612:01 a.m.

Here’s one of the great mysteries of Kansas politics: How state Sen. Kay O’Connor, R-Olathe, keeps winning re-election in a county that is almost rabid in its support for public education. O’Connor got national attention a few years ago for appearing to question the nation’s embrace of women’s suffrage, and she has announced a primary challenge to Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh. And while many conservative Republicans have shown a willingness to take seriously this week’s legislative audit calling for $400 million more for K-12 schools, not O’Connor. “I will not vote for more funding. They have plenty of money,” she told The Johnson County Sun. “They need to learn to live within their means.”
Sounds like O’Connor needs to learn to live within the state constitution.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (19)