I’m not sure which has been worse about the trial of Sept. 11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui: How the government has botched the death-penalty sentencing trial, or how the FBI failed to act on repeated warnings about the terrorist plot. Several of the government’s key witnesses were barred last week from testifying in the trial because of improper coaching by a government attorney, a violation that nearly ended the trial. Then this week, an FBI agent based in Minneapolis told on cross-examination how he had made repeated requests for a complete investigation of Moussaoui, whom he described in a report submitted three weeks before Sept. 11 as a radical Islamic fundamentalist who hated the United States and was learning to fly jetliners, The New York Times reported. He said his FBI superiors in Washington, D.C., were guilty of “criminal negligence” for not acting on these warnings.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
With a 60 percent approval rating in statewide opinion polls, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius should have some political capital to spend. The unraveling school finance situation at the Statehouse is a perfect place to spend it. As our editorial today notes, the Democrat was elected four years ago on a commitment to public education but hasn’t offered a schools plan of her own in two years. Yes, that plan went down in partisan flames. But now, she shouldn’t just scold members of the GOP-led Legislature about the need to do what’s right — pass a multiyear schools proposal that directs new dollars where they are most needed, as per the legislative cost study. She should present them with the right plan to do so, then lobby to get it passed.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
We all know that Kansas is a red state. Still, it is striking how much redder it is than the rest of the nation, at least about Iraq. A KWCH-12 Eyewitness News-Wichita Eagle poll last week found that 59 percent of Kansans think the decision to invade Iraq was correct. Nationally, 57 percent of Americans think that the United States made a mistake invading Iraq. Kansans also don’t believe that President Bush purposefully misled Americans about the threat of WMDs in Iraq — 61 percent said he gave an honest account based on intelligence. About the only crack in Kansans’ support was in Bush’s handling of the war — 56 percent rated it fair or poor, up from 40 percent two years ago.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Harvard professor Harvey C. Mansfield advocates in his new book for more “manliness,” which he sums up as “confidence in the face of risk.” But Washington Post writer Ruth Marcus thinks manliness in government is overrated.
“There are, no doubt, comforting aspects to the manly presidency; think Bush with a bullhorn on top of the smoldering ruins of the twin towers. After a terrorist attack, no one’s looking for a sensitive New Age president. Even now, being a strong leader polls at the top of qualities that voters most admire in Bush.
“But the manliness of the Bush White House has a darker side that has proved more curse than advantage. The prime example is the war in Iraq: the administration’s assertion of the right to engage in preemptive and unilateral war; the resolute avoidance of debate about the ’slam-dunk’ intelligence on weapons of mass destruction; the determined lack of introspection or self-doubt about the course of the war; and the swaggering dismissal of dissenting views as the carping of those not on the team.”
Her conclusion: “What this country could use is a little less manliness — and a little more of what you would describe as womanly qualities: restraint, introspection, a desire for consensus, maybe even a touch of self-doubt.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
A wise word of caution that applies to Kansas as it joins the national rush toward DNA databanking: Harlan Levy, a former assistant district attorney in New York City, wrote in The New York Times that once states have taken DNA from people convicted and even just arrested in felony cases (as per a new Kansas bill now headed to the governor’s desk), collecting DNA from the entire population at birth may be next. That would help catch bad guys and prevent crime, he acknowledged. But lab techs make mistakes, people can be framed, and DNA’s presence at a crime scene can be innocent. And “there’s nothing cutting edge about technology that is likely to be outdated before it becomes useful, or vast databases maintained by government bureaucrats who will require you to explain the presence of your alleged DNA at a crime scene at peril of prison. Instead, it sounds like some misguided, dismal imagining of our future.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The one comfort in having Bob Corkins as our state education commissioner is that he has some capable staffers working for him at the Kansas State Department of Education. So even though Corkins doesn’t have any education training or significant management experience, at least he has good people helping oversee the state’s public schools. Well, a key member of that team is leaving. Alexa Posny, deputy education commissioner, is the new director of the Office for Special Education Programs with the federal education agency. Conservatives on the State Board of Education passed over Posny for the education commissioner job. Now, her departure is a real loss for the state.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
State legislators haven’t spent much time this session talking about how to deal with the public universities’ $584 million maintenance backlog, letting a loan proposal die without a vote. While they wait — and they can’t wait forever — the tab has gone up: The storm that hit the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence earlier this month left $6 million in damage to fix. Meanwhile, the state’s 19 community colleges and 11 technical colleges say they have deferred maintenance needs, too, perhaps $55 million or more. Maybe this is too big a chore for legislators in this election year. But like any maintenance problem, ignorance will only make the repair job grow bigger.
Posted by Rhonda Holman