Besides being a godsend for late-night comics, Vice President Dick Cheney’s quail hunting accident in Texas over the weekend does raise a few real questions: If a local newspaper hadn’t gotten wind of it, would the White House have told anyone? Was Cheney (shown in photo hunting pheasant in South Dakota) following his hunting safety dos and don’ts? What is Cheney’s deluxe traveling medical detail, which treated the man Cheney shot, costing taxpayers? What will you bloggers make of all of this?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
After weeks of acting as if Katrina never happened — or at least as if victims should just get over it — leaders in Washington, D.C., are refocusing on what went wrong and on how to prevent it from happening again. In recent days, congressional testimony and audits have detailed the shocking incompetence at all levels of government before and after the hurricane hit, including fraud and waste far from the Gulf Coast ($438 hotel rooms in New York City? $375 beachfront condos in Florida?), and what the House audit called the federal government’s “fecklessness, flailing and organizational paralysis.”
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff (in photo) answered the criticism Monday with some proposed changes to make FEMA more flexible, effective and accountable, including new disaster conditions “reconnaissance teams.” Maybe some lessons will be learned in time to help the next part of the country targeted by terrorists or nature. But don’t count on it, because finger-pointing is much easier and cheaper than actually fixing any of this mess.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
CIA Director Porter Goss suggested in a New York Times commentary last week that someone who “breaks the law by willfully compromising classified information” is no whistleblower. He wrote: “Those who choose to bypass the law and go straight to the press are not noble, honorable or patriotic. Nor are they whistleblowers. Instead they are committing a criminal act that potentially places American lives at risk. It is unconscionable to compromise national security information and then seek protection as a whistleblower to forestall punishment.”
Obviously, leaks about spying can aid terrorists and risk lives. That is why so many were concerned about the willful leaking of former CIA agent Valerie Plame’s name. But it defies logic to suggest that a government employee’s leaking of classified information is never appropriate in a time of war — especially when the war is open-ended and the White House is prone to classify too much.
Meanwhile, an all-out criminal investigation is under way into who leaked information to The New York Times about the domestic eavesdropping program. Goss told a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Feb. 2: “It is my aim and it is my hope that we will witness a grand jury investigation with reporters present being asked to reveal who is leaking this information. I believe the safety of this nation and the people of this country deserve nothing less.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
A recent AP-AOL Learning Services poll looked at how parents and teachers view the education system. It found that less than half of parents say student discipline is a serious concern at school, but two in three teachers call children’s misbehavior a major problem. There are a lot of misperceptions about teaching, and outsiders may not realize how much more is involved in teaching than simply relaying information. That should be taken into consideration as Kansas Education Commissioner Bob Corkins’ plan to change the license requirements for teachers is considered. It would allow for more teachers who haven’t completed a teacher education program.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Here is David Cole’s take on why the Bush administration can’t come clean about its views on executive power:
“The reason (Attorney General Alberto) Gonzales spent so much time dodging and weaving is not that he was unable to answer, but that he knows that a candid answer would have been politically unacceptable to the senators and to the American people. His honest answer to all of the . . . questions would have been the same: Yes, the president could order warrantless searches of Americans’ homes, the opening of mail, domestic wiretaps and torture — because there are no limits on the president’s powers as commander in chief to engage the enemy.
“That answer is not hypothetical — it is found buried in the footnotes of a detailed 42-paged single-spaced legal memorandum provided to Congress in January. In that memo, which sought to defend the legality of the NSA surveillance program, the Justice Department argues that Congress may not in any way impede the president’s executive authority to choose the ‘means and methods of engaging the enemy.’”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Kansas libraries should have computer filters that block access to online porn sites for minors — after all, the purpose of a library is to inspire and educate, not titillate. And, no, children shouldn’t be able to check out R-rated DVDs and videos.
But most libraries, including those in Wichita, already have reasonable policies and protections in place. And there’s no evidence of serious problems. The bill, passed by the Kansas House last week, to require such library restrictions is well-intentioned but unnecessary, as well as needlessly intrusive in local control.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Kansas legislators got a valuable reminder from victims’ advocates at a press conference last week that there’s more to preventing sexual violence than throwing away the key to offenders’ jail cells. Most perpetrators of these crimes escape arrest, and many crimes go unreported. Programs are in place in Kansas to help the victims and prevent sexual violence, but they need more money. Heeding Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ request for $1.5 million more for domestic violence programs would show that legislators care about the whole of this issue, not just the part about making them look tough on crime at re-election time.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
