Under current state law, the penalty for those who commit nonviolent drug offenses is mandatory drug treatment rather than incarceration. It’s a smart approach that attacks the problem — drug addiction. And it’s cheaper, too — it costs about $22,000 annually to jail inmates, but about $4,600 for drug treatment.
But what about those who committed their drug crimes before this law went into effect on July 1, 2003? About 150 of them are still stuck in prison.
That could change if lawmakers support a bill by Rep. Bill McCreary, R-Wellington, to make the state’s drug-sentencing law retroactive. Not only would this change make sentencing more fair, it would also free up prison bed space needed for the really dangerous criminals.
But, alas, given that it is an election year, the majority of lawmakers likely will be more concerned about not appearing “soft on crime” than they are about actually being “smart on crime.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Most of the opining about the Danish cartoons has been about free speech and how the Muslim mobs shouldn’t have gone on a rampage. But as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted Wednesday, some Arab governments and Islamic leaders deserve blame for inciting the violence. “I don’t have any doubt. . . . Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiment and to use this to their own purposes, and the world ought to call them on it,” Rice told reporters.
Also, some of the images that were used to incite the mobs were phony, such as a photo taken from a pig-squealing contest that was purported to be mocking Islam. The New York Times also has an interesting article on how and why the protests slowly built up momentum.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is playing a key role in challenging the Bush administration’s eavesdropping program, Washington Post columnist David Broder notes on today’s opinion page. For example, Brownback helped poke a hole in the administration’s excuse that it takes too long to get approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court. Broder wrote: “When Brownback pointed out that after Sept. 11, Congress had extended the ‘grace period’ for the government coming back to the FISA court for retroactive authorization of a wiretap from 24 hours to 72 hours, and asked (Attorney General Alberto) Gonzales if he would like an even longer time, he replied, ‘It’s hard to say’ whether that would help.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
With 2008 looming, President Bush still hasn’t shown any signs of settling on a preferred successor. Maybe that’s because Vice President Dick Cheney is eyeing a run. The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward, now on his third book on the Bush administration and therefore privy to at least some of its secrets, reportedly has been telling people not to count out Cheney. “Republicans love old warhorses,” The Wall Street Journal’s Web site quoted Woodward as saying to audiences. It’s a thought. Yes, Cheney’s health is an issue. But his age shouldn’t necessarily be: Cheney just turned 65, and John McCain (still considered likely to run) turns 70 this year.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
There’s been surprisingly little notice of the passing of Betty Friedan, the 1960s feminist pioneer, and I wonder if that’s a disservice to history. Sure, it’s no longer politically correct to be a “feminist,” but Friedan, author of “The Feminine Mystique” and founder of the National Organization for Women, probably did as much to break down barriers and provide opportunities for women as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did for African-Americans.
Some will think that analogy is overstated, but look at the things Friedan championed — radical at the time — that now are mainstream and taken for granted even by many who reject feminism: the idea that women should be able to enter any field; political activism by women; maternity leaves; abortion and contraceptive rights; equal pay; child care for working families.
She helped spearhead a revolution in attitudes that has made women equal participants in public life and changed how we view culture and relationships, whether you’re a man or woman.
Sure, feminism had its blind spots and was due for a backlash. From what I’ve read, Friedan rejected the radical excesses of what she called the “bra-burning, anti-man, politics-of-orgasm school” that sabotaged the movement.
Just wonder if the obituaries and assessments gave Friedan her full due.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Kudos to the Senate Ways and Means Committee for understanding the need for state dollars to sustain and expand air service at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Wednesday it sent legislation onto the full Senate committing to $5 million in state support, so long as it’s paired with 25 percent matching funds from local governments and businesses. Most valuable was this endorsement from Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, who shares Wichita leaders’ impatience with seeing Kansans fly out of out-of-state airports: “I don’t want to see any more of our dollars going to Texas. I want them going to Kansas, to Wichita,” Morris said. He can be assured that if the measure clears the full Legislature, Wichita will take those dollars and use them to generate more.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
As a 23-year-old Nebraska man rightly got 18 to 30 months in prison Tuesday for raping a 14-year-old, our state lawmakers got a reminder of their responsibility to close the loophole that allowed the man to marry his victim in Kansas. Kansas Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, and others assured Kansans last fall that a bill setting a minimum marrying age would pass easily, early in the 2006 session. The bill has had some attention in a House committee, but the days are ticking down. Meanwhile, those who prey on young teen girls can continue to legitimize their acts after the fact with Kansas weddings.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
