President Bush on Monday added to his administration’s criticism of The New York Times for reporting about the government’s surveillance of international banking records, calling the story “disgraceful.” “We’re at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it, does great harm to the United States of America,” Bush said.
Bill Keller, executive editor of the Times, countered the administration’s main arguments against printing the story. In response to the argument that exposing the program would cause international bankers to quit participating in it, Keller said: “We don’t know what the banking consortium will do, but we found this argument puzzling. First, the bankers provide this information under the authority of a subpoena, which imposes a legal obligation. Second, if, as the administration says, the program is legal, highly effective, and well protected against invasion of privacy, the bankers should have little trouble defending it.”
And in response to the administration’s argument that exposing the program would cause terrorists to change tactics, Keller said that the terror financiers already know that the United States is taking every measure to follow the money. “But,” he wrote, “they also continue to use the international banking system, because it is immeasurably more efficient than toting suitcases of cash.”
Treasury Secretary John Snow dismissed Keller’s defense as “incorrect and offensive,” but Keller was right to point out that the founders “rejected the idea that it is wise, or patriotic, to always take the president at his word, or to surrender to the government important decisions about what to publish.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans’ push to bring back Wichita State University football is the political equivalent of a Hail Mary pass: It generates some excitement and raises hopes but likely isn’t going to put points on the scoreboard.
WSU football could make sense under the right circumstances, but it’s also a risky venture — and WSU president Donald Beggs is right to be wary of it.
And talk about bad timing: It seems odd that the mayor is working so hard to convince WSU to add a program it doesn’t want at the same time Wichita is in danger of losing the Wranglers baseball team.
Where is the City Council leadership on that issue?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Democrats aren’t happy about having been portrayed as cut-and-run cowards during a Senate debate last week about troop levels in Iraq — especially when the U.S. commander in Iraq reportedly also supports a significant troop pullout. Gen. George W. Casey proposed last week that the number of American combat brigades in Iraq decrease to five or six from the current level of 14 by December 2007, The New York Times reported.
“That means the only people who have fought us and fought us against the timetable, the only ones still saying there shouldn’t be a timetable, really are the Republicans in the United States Senate and in the Congress,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
It also shows again, despite all the rhetoric, that there isn’t that much difference between the positions of most Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Investor Warren Buffett’s decision to give $30 billion of his estate to his friend Bill Gates’ charitable foundation — doubling its assets — creates the largest philanthropic fund in history.
The money will give even more clout to Gates’ efforts to fight global disease and poverty and, on the home front, improve U.S. high schools and libraries.
The staggering amount of money involved signals a new golden age of philanthropy. To put it in perspective: The $60 billion Gates fund is five times bigger than the Ford Foundation, the next largest private charity. The United Nations, by comparison, spends about $12 billion annually, according to The Wall Street Journal.
And the fund exceeds some of the most generous charitable giving of the past: Andrew Carnegie’s $380 million in giving, adjusted for inflation, is worth $7.6 billion today.
Let’s hope it is spent wisely, and that other rich Americans follow Buffett’s and Gates’ lead. Buffett told Fortune magazine that he agreed with Carnegie that “huge fortunes that flow in large part from society should in large part be returned to society.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The rising cost of tuition at Kansas’ public universities hasn’t drawn much criticism. But was the Kansas Board of Regents’ latest hike one too many? It means in-state undergrads will pay between 4.6 percent and 16.7 percent more this fall — 15 class hours at Wichita State University will cost $2,258, up from $1,204 a decade ago. As our editorial Monday noted, “state funding of universities is now at 29 percent of their budgets, compared with 48 percent in 1991. Without much accountability, lawmakers have slowly but surely shifted more of the burden of funding the operation of these crucial state assets to students and private donors. And how long will the ‘it’s a bargain’ approach work?”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
On this blog, we recently lamented the absence of a colorful, interesting third-party candidate for Kansas governor, like songster-turned-politico Kinky Friedman in Texas.
Bob Knight to the rescue. The former Wichita mayor announced last week that he will consider — he’s resisting the idea, mind you — an independent bid this year if enough supporters demand his candidacy.
That’s a big “if,” considering Knight’s lackluster showing in the 2002 race — he finished a distant third in the GOP primary, which was won by Tim Shallenburger. Back then, there was talk of a Knight petition drive and an independent bid — but nothing came of it.
It’s a long shot now, too, but Knight’s entry would boost Wichita’s profile and at least liven up the debate about Kansas’ future.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
