We happened to notice the approach of an interesting anniversary: It was on Jan. 23, 1996, that the Rev. Joe Wright, senior pastor of Wichita’s Central Christian Church, delivered the prayer to the Kansas House that has been e-mailed and debated around the world. With lines such as “we have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle,” “we have rewarded laziness and called it welfare,” and “we have killed our unborn and called it choice,” the prayer has become a battle cry for many in the culture wars. It also raised questions about the appropriateness of giving such a prayer in a government forum. Two other local pastors reflect on the prayer in today’s Opinion pages. Ten years later, these issues still generate a lot of heat.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
L. Paul Bremer, the former presidential envoy to Iraq, reportedly says in his new book, “My Year in Iraq,” that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld so “terrifies his civilian subordinates” that Bremer could “rarely get any decisions out of anyone but him.” Wouldn’t that be something, if history shows that the United States mismanaged postwar Iraq because of Rumsfeld’s abusive management style?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The Kansas Turnpike Authority already can seem as if it’s more private than public in its independent-minded operation of the state’s premier 236-mile tollway. But leasing or selling the turnpike seems a questionable idea, especially if privatization would demand higher tolls. And that was the conclusion of the unsolicited proposal received last week from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. It deserves consideration, as would any idea with the potential to deliver the state an estimated $300 million to $3.1 billion. But if the state is ever to take this drastic step, it should expect the wrath of all those old enough to remember being promised the turnpike one day would be toll-free.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The only thing good about the emerging crisis over Iran’s nuclear program is the way it’s rallying the international community against Iran and giving the United Nations another chance to prove it has a point. Nobody trusts Iran’s assurances about its reasons for restarting its program to reprocess nuclear fuel — or doubts Iran’s willingness to use nuclear weapons against Israel. So the goal must be to stop Iran now, preferably via the U.N. Security Council and possible economic and political sanctions. China and Russia remain question marks, but every outrageous statement by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (in photo) should make it easier to reach consensus on one point: The world must do all it can to avoid a nuclear Iran.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Kudos to Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville (in photo), for filing a bill Thursday to include probable-cause affidavits among public records. These documents, which list the police’s basic reasons for arresting someone, are open in most states, including Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma. Those states have had no problem releasing this information. Yet in Kansas, those who are arrested — including Roger Valadez, who had police bust down his door and point guns at him in an erroneous BTK arrest — can’t find out why they were targeted.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Rural Kansans know all about the value of mineral rights and water rights. Well — “your wind rights may be worth more than your mineral rights, or your water rights, or both those combined,” Larry Mitchell of the American Corn Growers Association, told attendees at the Kansas Farmers Union annual convention last weekend in McPherson. Mitchell and other speakers urged Kansas farmers not to be too quick to sign leases for wind turbines on their property, for fear they may be steamrolled for the long term. Such caution surely is in the landowners’ best interests. Sadly, it’s also sure to slow down Kansas’ entry into this new energy frontier.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
