I don’t like government mandates on health insurance, such as requiring that businesses only offer plans that include coverage of this or that medical condition. So I’m certainly no fan of Maryland’s new law requiring that all large employers (i.e., Wal-Mart) spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on employee health benefits or make a contribution to the state’s insurance program for the poor. That said, I appreciate the frustration of Maryland lawmakers. Some companies are “socializing” their costs by either not offering health insurance or paying such low wages that it is difficult for their employees to afford to buy insurance. The result is that the state (i.e., taxpayers) ends up paying for this health care.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Having made its regrettable mark on science, the Kansas State Board of Education may be ready to tamper with literature. Chairman Steve Abrams last week asked board attorney Dan Biles to advise the board, perhaps as early as next month, about statutes governing obscenity in Kansas schools. Abrams is on the same kick as last fall, when he claimed that “superintendents and local school boards in some districts continue to promulgate pornography as ‘literature’” — apparently referring to a controversy in Johnson County’s Blue Valley school district over books including Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” (what — no “Fahrenheit 451”?). If this is a real problem, it should be the concern of local school boards, not the state board.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
There was a feeling of deja vu to the Legislature’s initial discussions of expanded gambling last week. A bill emerged that would limit new casinos to Kansas City, Kan., and southeast Kansas and allow only slot machines at Wichita Greyhound Park and two other sites, but competing special interests still could cancel one another out entirely. And Wichita, the most natural casino market in the state, again risks being shut out, thanks to the lack of consensus among local government leaders and active opposition by local legislators. On the likelihood of any gambling expansion, House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, was even quoted by Associated Press as saying, “Simple is better, although Wichita is still a problem. If you take Wichita out of the picture, you pick up a lot of votes.” Many Wichitans already gamble and would like to do so in their hometown, according to opinion polls. Will local leaders ever get together on this issue?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
I’m interested in seeing Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” movie, and would like to see the special effects of “King Kong” on the big screen. But why do these and other movies have to be so dang long? (“Munich” is two hours and 44 minutes, and “Kong” is three hours and seven minutes.) Haven’t filmmakers heard the adage “less is more”? Caryn James complained in a New York Times article that one way directors waste too much time is setting up the story. “If the audience knows that the English settlers will land (’New World’) and the cowboys will turn out to be gay (’Brokeback Mountain’), the movies shouldn’t waste 15 minutes getting there.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Kansas Supreme Court likely would accept a good-faith, multiyear school funding plan, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius told The Eagle editorial board last week. If so, that would certainly help the state’s budget. But would the court really agree to phase in the constitutional requirement to suitably finance education, when the reason for the phase-in is to help keep lawmakers from having to raise taxes in an election year?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
