Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- Freebird1971 on Open thread 11/7
- Freebird1971 on Open thread 11/7
- Freebird1971 on Open thread 11/7
- Monkeyhawk on Open thread 11/7
- BlueJay on Open thread 11/7
- BlueJay on Open thread 11/7
- BlueJay on Open thread 11/7
- Monkeyhawk on Open thread 11/7
- Monkeyhawk on Open thread 11/7
- Freebird1971 on Open thread 11/7
Daily Archives: April 14, 2006
The real deficit is unreal
April 14, 20061:17 p.m.
The federal deficit is even worse than we thought, columnist David Broder warned. Though the “official” deficit for fiscal year 2005 was reported as $319 billion, which is bad, the real deficit was actually $706 billion, according to The Financial Report of the United State Government, a document that few people know about or have seen. The higher number, Broder wrote, is the difference between the money the government received and the obligations it added that year. In other words, the government is running up bills, as we might do with a credit card, but isn’t counting it as an expense because it hasn’t had to pay for it yet. “Congress today is balking at even minimal actions needed to get a grip on the budget,” Broder wrote. “The long-term problem is far tougher, and will require more leadership and courage than can be found today.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Is it literature’s turn for the State BOE treatment?
April 14, 200612:07 a.m.
An Eagle editorial allows that there is plenty of room for debate about what literature our kids should read in schools. And parents’ concerns about profanity and “obscene” material in novels must be taken seriously.
But the Kansas State Board of Education’s crusading conservatives shouldn’t meddle in what is a local district decision.
It’s impossible to please everyone with reading lists. After all, language in novels that board member Connie Morris finds “horribly vulgar” has been found entirely appropriate by school districts such as Blue Valley that considered the passages in context, as intended.
The way to resolve these disputes is for schools to have a good, open selection process in place that involves parents and explains how certain books were chosen and why. And give parents who object to specific works some alternatives for their kids.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Radical librarians, 1; federal government, 0
April 14, 200612:05 a.m.
The U.S. government has dropped its gag order prohibiting a Connecticut library group from saying that it received a secret FBI order demanding that it turn over patron records and e-mail messages, The New York Times reported. The librarians had gone to court, claiming the order violated their free speech rights. The government apparently relented for two reasons: The new version of the USA Patriot Act allows some discretion in letting groups identify themselves as targets of investigation, and the public already knew that this particular library was investigated, because government accidentally disclosed it in court records, which was widely reported in the press.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Generals want Rumsfeld gone
April 14, 200612:03 a.m.
Another retired general wants Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign. “I think we need a fresh start” at the top of the Pentagon, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste (in photo), who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-05, told The Washington Post. “We need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them.”
Batiste joins retired Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, who directed operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2000-02; retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who oversaw the training of Iraqi army troops in 2003-04; and retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, who was the chief of the U.S. Central Command, in calling for Rumsfeld to step down.
Will President Bush listen?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Hispanics are not all illegals
April 14, 200612:01 a.m.
Much has been said about how pro-immigration demonstrators do themselves no favors by carrying Mexican flags. Those opposed to immigration reform also would do well to stop assuming that anybody who looks Hispanic is here illegally. Janet Murguia, a former University of Kansas executive vice chancellor who is now president of the National Counsel of La Raza, has been widely interviewed in recent days, most notably debating CNN’s anti-immigrant host Lou Dobbs. She told the Lawrence Journal-World: “I get e-mails and letters every day telling me — I’m an American, I was born in this country, I graduated from the great University of Kansas — to go back to where I came from, to go back to Mexico, to go home.” Immigration critics who treat all Hispanics like criminals just look like bigots.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
