The New York Times recently asked several hundred leading editors, writers, professors, book critics and other literary experts to name the “single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years.”
The winner was “Beloved,” by Nobel prize-winning author Toni Morrison — the one novel cited last fall by Kansas State Board of Education chairman Steve Abrams as an example of the kind of smutty literature that shouldn’t be taught in Kansas classrooms.
Of course, Abrams hadn’t read the book, just seen a few raw excerpts. But don’t think that mainstream professional opinion will sway Abrams — it didn’t in the evolution controversy, either.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Americans want to support intelligence efforts to detect terrorism plots. But they also need assurances that intelligence-gathering methods are legal and don’t violate their constitutional rights. That’s what is missing with the National Security Agency programs to eavesdrop on international phone calls and e-mails and to collect phone records of millions of ordinary Americans. President Bush assures that these programs are focused only on links to terrorists, but how do we know that without any court review and without any meaningful oversight by Congress? What happens, for example, if these programs turn up incriminating information about political opponents? Will government officials really ignore it? And those who say we should just trust the government have forgotten past abuses.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
In case you missed this harmless gotcha from Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” the other night:
“He’s the right man to lead the CIA at this critical moment in our nation’s history,” said President Bush in introducing Michael Hayden Monday as his nominee to replace CIA Director Porter Goss.
“He’s the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation’s history,” Bush said in introducing Goss in August 2004.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The good news on this Mother’s Day is that many area moms deservedly will be treated like royalty, taken to brunch and presented with bouquets. The bad news is that in so many parts of the world, mothers see their newborns die because of unsafe drinking water, malnutrition and other chronic public health problems. According to Save the Children’s latest “State of the World’s Mothers” report, even the United States has an alarming death rate for newborns — nearly 5 per 1,000 babies, compared with Japan’s 1.8. State stats show Sedgwick County does even worse than the nation as a whole, charting 8.2 infant deaths per 1,000 in 2004, or a total 60. And the United States only ties with the United Kingdom for 10th place among countries for the status of mothers and children overall. Surely a nation of such wealth and pride can do better by its mothers.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The Legislature’s investment in affordable airfares at Mid-Continent Airport was a big win for Wichita. But beyond that, City Manager George Kolb (in photo) sounded decidedly unhappy last week about legislative action on two other key issues. And no wonder. Legislators were in such a rush to curb eminent domain abuse — hardly an epidemic in Kansas — that they passed a faulty bill that could, among other problems, hamper Wichita’s efforts to clean up blighted areas; even legislators expect to have to do a repair job on the bill next year. Lawmakers also repealed the property tax on business machinery and equipment — great for businesses, not so great for the cities and counties that get a total $632 million in revenue from the tax. Of the $269 million in state aid that locals statewide will get to offset the cuts in the first few years, Kolb said, “A spit in the ocean. Please.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
