Christian radio psychologist and political activist James Dobson has been taking heat from some on the religious right for his support of a legislative bill in Colorado to create “reciprocal beneficiary agreements.” These agreements would enable people who aren’t allowed to marry to make decisions about medical care and end-of-life decisions. It would also give them hospital visitation rights, extend domestic violence protections and provide inheritance and property rights. Dobson argues this is an issue of fairness and that the measure is sexual-orientation neutral — noting that it could apply to two elderly sisters who live together. It’s an interesting legal and political debate.
There are some conservatives who argue that the agreements are strategically smart because they take away many of the arguments for allowing gay marriage or civil unions. But opponents contend that the agreements can also become evidence of a legislative intent to value gay couples, which could then be used in court to push for additional rights. There’s also some concern, as there has been by conservatives about civil unions, that the institution of marriage might be weakened if heterosexual couples can get most of the legal benefits of marriage without having to be legally married.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
John Dickerson of Slate says in this piece that the most troubling aspect of the Bush-Katrina briefing is that Bush did not ask one question. He argues that “the president’s question-free briefing is more than a momentary bad piece of public relations. It’s a blow to a key Bush myth. The Bush management philosophy relies on him as an interrogator. He delegates, but that’s OK because he knows how to question those he empowers to make sure they’re focused. Question-asking is also a central public tool in the ‘trust me’ presidency. We aren’t supposed to worry that the NSA wiretapping program goes too far because the president has asked all the questions. When the president was wrong about the level of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or the strength of the insurgency, it wasn’t because he didn’t ask enough questions, we have been told, it was because he was given the wrong answers.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
As I noted in my column Friday, while Sedgwick County commissioners have all but thrown in the towel on true communitywide curbside recycling, Newton, Bel Aire and other Kansas towns are proving just how doable recycling is — in Newton’s case, it is approaching 100 percent compliance and diverting one-quarter of its trash stream (a figure that, once upon a time, was the goal of Sedgwick County’s recycling program).
The difference? Leadership. Sedgwick County commissioners haven’t walked their talk on recycling, instead kicking the can down the road.
Funny how Wichita wants to promote itself as a modern, progressive city but can’t put together a credible recycling program, as thousands of communities across the nation have successfully done.
And we wonder why some newcomers see us as backward.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
On the legislative Web page of Rep. Dale Swenson, R-Wichita, his occupation is listed as “laid off from Boeing” — a description that surely resonates with many others who’ve seen their lives or those of loved ones tossed about in recent years by the turbulent aerospace manufacturing industry. Swenson’s situation doesn’t justify his alleged drinking and driving, of course, as he acknowledged in a story in Thursday’s Eagle about his Feb. 18 DUI arrest in Wichita. There is no excuse for such behavior. But it is to Swenson’s credit that unlike so many public officials in trouble, he was willing to admit both error and embarrassment.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
