It took four years, but it was still satisfying that former Enron executives Ken Lay (in photo) and Jeffrey Skilling were finally been found guilty — and on all counts. Both plan to appeal Thursday’s verdicts, of course. But as The Washington Post reported: “Now the two men, who together invested close to $70 million in their defense, face the possibility of spending the rest of their lives in prison and living in history as the ringleaders of a fraud at a company whose name became synonymous with accounting tricks and rule-breaking.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Republican members of Congress have been awfully tolerant of the Bush administration’s generous self-empowerment regarding the holding of terrorist suspects, the withholding of documents and more. So it’s been fascinating to watch the congressional push-back against the Justice Department’s bribery investigation of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., particularly the unprecedented raid of his Capitol Hill office (see photo). House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., is right to be protective of the separation of powers. Meanwhile, President Bush ordered Thursday that the seized records be sealed for 45 days, to give federal prosecutors and Congress time to try to resolve the dispute.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Surely Americans want to believe President Bush when he optimistically characterizes Iraq, as he did Monday, as having reached a “turning point” by gaining a “free and constitutional government” over the weekend. But one measure of how things are going looks bad: The administration’s own Voice of America bureau in Baghdad remains closed six months after the car of its sole reporter, Alisha Ryu, was ambushed. Her security guard was later shot and killed. Ryu told The Washington Post this week, “For all journalists, it’s really become impossible to move around.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Most Mexicans are upset about the proposed border fences, but at least some are starting to look inward — which has long been needed. Here’s what The New York Times reported:
“The old blame game — in which Mexico attributed illegal migration to the voracious American demand for labor and accused lawmakers of xenophobia — has given way to a far more soul-searching discussion, at least in quarters where policies are made and influenced, about how little Mexico has done to try to keep its people home.
“’For too long, Mexico has boasted about immigrants leaving, calling them national heroes, instead of describing them as actors in a national tragedy,’ said Jorge Santibáñez, president of the College of the Northern Border. ‘And it has boasted about the growth in remittances’ — the money immigrants send home — ‘as an indicator of success, when it is really an indicator of failure.’”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Sedgwick County legislative deligation gets grief — often from this editorial board — for not having more clout in Topeka. “You need to be more like Johnson County,” is the common refrain. But Kenneth Daniel, publisher of the Topeka-based Web-site www.ksmallbiz.com, argues the opposite in a recent commentary:
“Even though Johnson County has about 18 percent of the senators and 18 percent of the representatives, their clout pales compared to Sedgwick County, which has virtually the same number in each house. My spin is that the Wichita area legislators are mostly looking out for Kansas, while many or even most Johnson County legislators are mostly looking out for their local interests, no matter how it hurts other areas.”
Perhaps. But it would be nice if Sedgwick County lawmakers would be a bit more parochial.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
COWTOWN BOARD MEETS IN BUNKER AT UNDISCLOSED LOCATION; Plan for Fixing Museum’s Budget Also Undisclosed
VICENTE FOX NABBED BY MINUTEMEN VIGILANTES DURING U.S. VISIT; Mexican Leader ‘Failed to Produce Green Card,’ Group Says
FIREWORKS, CANNONS INCORPORATED INTO ARENA DESIGN; Last-Ditch Attempt to Create ‘Wow’ Factor
Posted by Randy Scholfield
