The Wichita State University men’s basketball team may have ended its magical season with Friday’s hard fall to George Mason University in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament. But the pride that coach Mark Turgeon and his boys reignited in the community and state is real and lasting, sure to keep hopes high and black and gold in style until it’s time to start rocking the Roundhouse again in November. Thanks, guys. Seeing WSU and Wichita get such positive attention in the nation and even the state was a sweet victory itself. Congratulations to all those on campus and off who helped bring Wichita and Kansas such a thrilling season.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The Bush administration lately seems to be suggesting there are two wars in Iraq — the one it sees and the one that Americans see through a biased, pessimistic media. On Monday in Ohio, President Bush said some Americans have had “their confidence shaken” by the “violence they see each night on their television screens, and they wonder how I can remain so optimistic about the prospects of success in Iraq. They wonder what I see that they don’t.” Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “There’s a constant sort of perception, if you will, that’s created because what’s newsworthy is the car bomb in Baghdad. It’s not all the work that went on that day in 15 other provinces in terms of making progress towards rebuilding Iraq.”
But what of former Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s statement Sunday that “if this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is”? (Bush disagreed with that assessment Tuesday, while calling Allawi “a good fellow.”)
In the process of blaming the messenger, of course, the administration badly underestimates the American public’s ability to assess what’s what in Iraq. The sectarian violence speaks for itself. It’s the Bush war strategy that continues to baffle.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Actor and registered liberal George Clooney was right to blast Democrats recently for failing to speak out against the disastrous war in Iraq, but others within the party who have more foreign policy credentials are saying the same thing:
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser during the Carter administration, said in a recent speech that “Democrats have been silent or evasive” on Iraq and had failed to offer a clear alternative. Their reluctance to aggressively challenge the administration’s Iraq strategy, he said, amounted to “political desertion.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Drunken driving is a serious problem that deserves serious action. But I’m not sure about Texas’ new approach. The state is now arresting people for being drunk — in bars. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is sending undercover agents into bars to catch violators of the state’s public intoxication laws. Its goal is to catch drunks before they go out and do something stupid like drive or “jump off of balconies.” It seems like the state is putting a lot of resources into arresting people who may or may not do something stupid. What do you think?
Posted by Melissa Cooley
We got a kick out of The Salina Journal’s editorial earlier this week on the legislation aimed at securing $5 million a year in state help to subsidize low fares and expand service at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Written as a fable headlined “When pigs try to fly,” the editorial cast Wichita as the selfish pig with a “flighty dream.” It was difficult to figure out which players were being portrayed as the hen, cow, duck, cat, dog, etc., and for a moment it seemed as if the pig seeking a bigger sty was actually meant to be Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans. It concluded, “The Wichita pigs went to Topeka and asked other animals to help. But they all said no. The pigs are on their own, they said, because they never helped anyone else.”
Fortunately, the bill has cleared both chambers of the Legislature as of Friday, because many lawmakers around the state fully recognize the airport’s economic value to Kansas. The end.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Have you seen the high-tech billboard blazing up the night sky above Starbucks at Central and Rock Road? It looks like a giant big-screen TV. Talk about eye-catching — or maybe it’s just distracting and annoying.
Is this the future of outdoor signage? Rock Road might look like Times Square pretty soon if this is a trend. Will drivers have to wear sunglasses, even at night?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
