President Bush sidestepped a question Monday about whether he authorized the release of classified information in an effort to discredit and punish Joseph Wilson, who challenged the administration’s contention that Saddam Hussein was attempting to acquire uranium. But special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald believes that was the White House’s clear intent. Fitzgerald’s legal filings last week describe “a plan to discredit, punish or seek revenge against Mr. Wilson,” The New York Times reported. And it concludes, “It is hard to conceive of what evidence there could be that would disprove the existence of White House efforts to ‘punish Wilson.’”
Fitzgerald’s filings also describe the strategy behind the leak: “Disclosing the belief that Mr. Wilson’s wife sent him on the Niger trip was one way for defendant to contradict the assertion that the vice president had done so, while at the same time undercutting Mr. Wilson’s credibility if Mr. Wilson were perceived to have received the assignment on account of nepotism.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
In a recent column, Clarence Page commented on a hot topic — the idea that more and more American boys are falling behind academically, graduating at lower rates and choosing not to go to college. But this Washington Post article asserts that this “boy crisis” is largely a manufactured one:
“The alarming statistics on which the notion of a crisis is based are rarely broken out by race or class. When they are, the whole picture changes. It becomes clear that if there is a crisis, it’s among inner-city and rural boys. White suburban boys aren’t significantly touched by it. On average, they are not dropping out of school, avoiding college or lacking in verbal skills. Although we have been hearing that boys are virtually disappearing from college classrooms, the truth is that among whites, the gender composition of colleges is pretty balanced: 51 percent female and 49 percent male, according to the National Education Association. In Ivy League colleges, men still outnumber women.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Critics argue that the media are missing the “good news” about Iraq and the situation is improving. But a confidential U.S. analysis of Iraq’s stability challenges that feel-good assumption.
The U.S. embassy and military command report says that one-third of Iraq’s provinces face “serious” challenges to stability, and one province is “critical,” The New York Times reported. It warns about increasing sectarian and ethnic violence and the growing influence of Iranian-back Shiite groups.
In addition, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Saturday that there is “effectively a civil war under way now” in Iraq. Although U.S. officials continue to deny it, events in Iraq seem to support that assessment.
Yes, there is some good news in Iraq. But the overwhelming trend is not encouraging and justifies the media focus on the ongoing insurgency and insecurity.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
You’ve heard the slogan about a woman’s place being in the house — the U.S. House. The reality isn’t quite as upbeat. As David Broder noted in a Washington Post column, the current 67 women among the House’s 435 members still are far, far off the nation’s gender blend. And when researchers looked at every House race from 1956 through 2004 searching for where women won and why, of the “10,866 House elections during this period, they found only 13 female Democrats and eight Republican women who defeated incumbents,” Broder said. The study’s Web site, including a trivia quiz, notes that of the 204 women total elected to the U.S. House, 40 (19.6 percent) succeeded their husbands. And not surprisingly at all, Kansas’ 4th Congressional District does not fit the researchers’ profile of a district likely to elect a woman, whether she’s a Republican or Democrat. A quote by former Rep. Florence Dwyer, R-N.J., spoke to the challenge for any Ms. Smith who’d like to go to Washington: “A congresswoman must look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, speak on any given subject with authority and, most of all, work like a dog.” And — it should be updated to say — raise money like a Hammer.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Only 38 percent of the public approve of the job George W. Bush is doing as president, down 3 percentage points in the past month, and 60 percent disapprove, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Even worse, 47 percent “strongly” disapprove — more than double the 20 percent who strongly approve, and 9 points more than Bush’s overall job approval rating. Not good.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Wichita City Council member Jim Skelton is right to criticize the council practice of putting important city business into workshop consent agendas where there are no cameras or public input.
Based on his concerns, the City Council last week directed city staff to draw up new rules for the workshops, including one that would allow a council member to pull an item out of a consent agenda for full council public debate — as Skelton demanded be done for the recent Eaton Place loan decision. Skelton also called for a top-to-bottom review of council rules, which he calls “out of date and a complete mess.” And while they are at it, how about televising the workshops?
This is an opportunity for City Council members to show their commitment to transparency and openness on city decisions.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
U.S. District Judge Monti Belot need not and probably should not have engaged in Legislature-bashing as part of a March 31 document related to a wrongful death lawsuit. That said, lawmakers should not write bad law, in this case asking plaintiffs to prove “gross negligence” without defining what that is. And, frankly, after lawmakers’ partisan bashing of “activist courts” and “out-of-control judges,” the surprise is that it took this long for a judge to bash back. That the one who did is a 15-year veteran of the bench who was appointed by a GOP president, George H.W. Bush, should give legislators pause.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
