Are small government conservatives concerned yet about the secret government snooping? They — and everyone else — should be.
The latest disclosure is that the Bush administration has secretly been tapping into a global database of confidential financial transactions for nearly five years. The program is based on a broad new interpretation of Treasury Department powers, The Washington Post reported, and involves collecting information on international money transfers, including many made by U.S. citizens and residents.
The goal, which everyone can support, is to locate and track suspected terrorists. But the database’s wide net mostly catches the private transactions of Americans and others who have nothing to do with terrorism.
Many conservatives have shrugged off reports of government eavesdropping on international phone calls and snooping on e-mails, and of a massive government database of American’s phone records. And they likely will point to Friday’s indictment of seven terrorist wannabes in Miami as justification for the spying.
But they shouldn’t be so complacent about a loss of civil liberties. At the least, shouldn’t we demand that these programs have some congressional and judicial oversight, as Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan, has argued? Or how about putting it this way: Would conservatives still not care if it were President Hillary Clinton who was collecting all this private data and doing all this spying?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Former vice presidential nominee John Edwards, who connected with voters in 2004 with his “two Americas” stump speech, is again focusing on poverty in preparation for a possible run for the presidency. Hurricane Katrina, he says, made the issue more urgent.
The Washington Post detailed his plan, which he would pay for by rolling back President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans: “His policy proposals include raising the minimum wage to $7.50 an hour, which he said would lift a million people out of poverty. He also proposed creating a million temporary government-subsidized jobs over five years, tax credits for first-time home buyers, a radical overhaul of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, tax credits to help low-income workers establish savings accounts, and expanded opportunities to attend college.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
There is no confirmation that the Wichita Wranglers will move to Springdale, Ark., should voters there approve a 6,000-seat, $33 million stadium next month. But there’s also no question that the Wranglers are the least-supported team in the Texas League, with an average turnout of 2,700. Can this franchise be saved? Should it be? Maybe Lawrence-Dumont Stadium could use a makeover. But as we argued in an editorial last week, it “isn’t just any old place to play baseball. It’s a community treasure in a picture-perfect spot.”
Meanwhile, a letter writer suggested that the Wranglers play at WSU’s Eck Stadium instead of Lawrence-Dumont. He said that the University of Nebraska baseball team shares a stadium with the minor-league team in Lincoln.
Got any creative ideas to boost attendance and keep the team in town?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Kansas Republicans have sworn to use out-of-control immigration against Gov. Kathleen Sebelius — a stretch, given that it’s primarily a federal issue and the GOP-controlled Legislature passed the in-state tuition bill before she signed it. But maybe they think they can blame her for what she isn’t doing about it. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, for example, wants an agreement with the feds to allow his state troopers to arrest illegal aliens just for being in the state, something troopers in Florida and Alabama already can do. The other side says: Don’t troopers have enough to do? And when these people are picked up, won’t federal authorities just let them go?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Writer-musician-character Kinky Friedman last week got on the November ballot as an independent candidate for Texas governor. If elected, he would be Texas’ first independent governor since Sam Houston won in 1859. Another independent candidate wants to use the nickname “Grandma” on the November ballot. Kind of makes you wonder why Kansas’ gubernatorial elections don’t attract colorful candidates. Then again, gay-bashing Topeka pastor Fred Phelps competed for the Democratic nomination in 1998. Worse, he drew 10,881 votes.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
