Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., has long been a leading voice on Capitol Hill on the plight of the North Korean people under leader Kim Jong Il. In a commentary in The New York Sun, Brownback rightly suggested the global focus during this missile crisis should be on more than North Korean nukes. “We should not simply treat the North Korean regime as a permanent feature of the geopolitical landscape. Instead we should set a longer-term goal to spread democracy across the entire Korean peninsula.” Of course, that’s a sobering thought, given how spreading democracy is going in the Middle East and central Asia right now. More immediately, Brownback suggests we encourage China and other nations to help fleeing North Koreans find safe haven in United States, South Korea or elsewhere.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Kansas Board of Regents chairman Nelson Galle is trying to think outside the box — in this case, the borders of the state of Kansas. But his proposal to require all traditional four-year students at the state’s six public universities to spend some time abroad before they graduate seems like a stretch. “This is something that the university and the students need to work out together,” Galle told the Lawrence Journal-World, as he acknowledged that it would be expensive.
He added: “I think it’s absolutely necessary to have an international experience in high school or college or somewhere along the way so that when you see things and read things, they make sense.” But would this make sense for all students and disciplines?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Michael Kinsley points out that if opponents of stem cell research really believe that an “embryo and, say, Nelson Mandela are equal in the eyes of God,” then those opponents should be just as — if not more — outraged about fertility clinics, which purposely produce more embryos than they intend to use and discard the leftovers. He writes: “Proponents of stem cell research like to emphasize that it doesn’t cost the life of a single embryo. The embryos killed to extract their stem cells were doomed already. But this argument gives too much ground, and misses the point. If embryos are human beings, it’s not okay to kill them for their stem cells just because you were going to kill them, or knowingly let them die, anyway. The better point — the killer point, if you’ll pardon the expression — is that if embryos are human beings, the routine practices of fertility clinics are far worse — both in numbers and in criminal intent — than stem cell research. And yet, no one objects, or objects very loudly. President Bush actually praised the work of fertility clinics in his first speech announcing restrictions on stem cells.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
GOP gubernatorial hopeful Sen. Jim Barnett, R-Emporia, already is having to account for his change of heart on concealed carry, from opponent in 2004 to proponent this year. (He told The Eagle editorial board that his training as a physician had influenced his initial opposition, but that he’d restudied the issue and concluded that “law-abiding citizens are not the ones causing gun violence.”)
He also has some explaining to do on school finance. As a member of the Emporia school board in 1998, he made the motion for that district to support the lawsuit filed in federal court by midsize Kansas districts challenging the state’s school-finance formula. But now he harshly criticizes the Kansas Supreme Court for its ruling in the related school-finance case in state court. Barnett told the editorial board that he views the high court as exceeding its authority in directing the Legislature to appropriate an exact amount of money. As he understood the federal case, he said, “It was over the issue of federal mandates to educate immigrant children” without also receiving the federal money to do so. The state case came later, Barnett said, and “I had no expectation that our Supreme Court would appropriate a certain amount of money.” But will voters pick up the nuanced distinction between then and now?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Every day seems to bring more evidence that global warming is causing catastrophic damage to the planet’s ecosystems:
Last week, scientists warned that escalating carbon dioxide is increasing the acidity of the planet’s oceans and by century’s end could decimate coral reefs and the ocean life that depend on them.
Another study linked the growing number of Western forest wildfires in recent years to human-induced climate changes.
“We’re showing warming and earlier springs tying in with large forest fire frequencies,” said researcher Thomas Swetnam. “Lots of people think climate change and the ecological responses are 50 to 100 years away. But it’s not 50 to 100 years away — it’s happening now in forest ecosystems through fire.”
It makes you wonder: How much dire evidence will it take for global warming skeptics such as President Bush to be convinced of the need for action?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
