The 18-page letter to President Bush from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — the highest-level communication from Iran in decades — deserves wider circulation, if only for the fascinating insight it gives into the thinking of one of Iran’s top leaders. Here’s a link.
The letter as presented is long, rambling and in poorly written English. The Iranian asserts, among other sweeping statements, that “liberalism and Western style democracy have not been able to realize the ideals of humanity.”
No, leave that to the mullahs, whose ideal for humanity was achieved in the 13th century.
The decidedly undiplomatic missive conveys the impression of a parochial, insulated leader and religious fanatic who wants to be a big-time player on the world stage. This isn’t someone you’d want in possession of a nuclear bomb.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
A large reduction in the number of polling places and voting machines in Sedgwick County could result in longer lines and reduced voting, our editorial today warns. The impetus for the reorganization was the need to make all polls fully accessible to voters with disabilities — which, of course, is important. But budgets were also a factor, particularly the decision to make-do with the number of voting machines normally needed for primary elections (545) even though general elections have required more. Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Bill Gale hopes that early voting options will help spread out voting and reduce lines. They might, somewhat. But Gale is taking a big risk. Reforms aimed at easing voting could end up deterring it.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Americans’ tolerance for the pain of war has certainly changed in 38 years. Bloomberg ran the numbers:
- In April 1968, three years into the Vietnam War, Gallup polls showed that 48 percent of Americans thought going into Vietnam was an error. That was at a time when the United States had lost 28,500 service members and the public was worried about the draft and the multiplying anti-war protests.
- Now, three years into the Iraq war, polling shows 57 percent of Americans think going into Iraq was a mistake. Yet, Bloomberg notes, “about 2,400 American soldiers have died, the U.S. military consists entirely of volunteers and public dissent is sporadic.”
The variables affecting the polls then and now, scholars note, include the Cold War, cable news, the Internet and President Bush’s role in starting this war. It’s also notable that by September 1968, nine months into the Viet Cong’s bloody Tet Offensive, disapproval of the Vietnam War was comparable to disapproval today of the Iraq war.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Mary Cheney has silently taken heat from gay activists for not speaking out on gay issues and from the religious right for, well, being gay. Now she is talking, with a new book, “Now It’s My Turn: A Daughter’s Chronicle of Political Life,” and the accompanying publicity interviews. But reviews report that “My Turn” is mostly a political insider book and doesn’t spend much time on what people are most interested in: What it’s like being the lesbian daughter of a vice president whose party and administration use homosexuality as a wedge issue to fire up their base. Cheney does complain (belatedly, gay activists will argue) about GOP efforts to “write discrimination into the Constitution,” calling a marriage amendment a “gross affront to gays and lesbians everywhere” (her father also publicly opposes a federal amendment). But, according to reviewers, Cheney remains a loyal daughter who is careful about what she says.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
From The Salt Lake Tribune’s new blog:
“People who noodle around the Internet a lot may find that the format of this particular Web page looks oddly familiar. People who read The Wichita Eagle online might see it as out-and-out plagiarism. Though I’ve warned Eagle Opinion Editor Phillip Brownlee what we were up to, and though the basic form of the Internet Web log, or blog, is pretty standard, I should formally acknowledge that we borrowed a lot of ideas from the Eagle’s WE Blog. And, of course, improved upon them.”
The “improved” part is debatable, but congratulations to the Tribune for taking the plunge into the blogosphere.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Has state Rep. Jason Watkins, R-Wichita, got a deal for Kansas drivers: a repeal of the state’s 24-cent-per-gallon fuel tax. Trouble is, the gas tax raises $426 million annually to fund highways. In explaining the bill he filed last week, Watkins said he’d cover that road building by taking $450 million from the general fund. Much as legislators might like to go along with Watkins in this election year, reality surely won’t let them, given that legislative auditors have said about that much more money is needed for K-12 schools.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
In response to the shocking Kaufman house case in Newton, the Legislature unanimously approved and sent to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius a bill that provides better oversight of group homes for the mentally ill and disabled and prompt investigations of abuse and neglect allegations.
The law sets up a new investigative unit within the Kansas attorney general’s office that would have authority to act on abuse reports filed with the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and other state agencies.
The final bill doesn’t go as far as previous versions that would have established a more formal partnership between the attorney general’s office and the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, but this bill at least gives the attorney general’s office the authority to follow up on confirmed cases of abuse and to employ outside private agencies such as the center, which was instrumental in investigating the Kaufmans and bringing them to justice after years of official delay.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
