Here are a few of the places our government has identified as terrorist targets: Old MacDonald’s Petting Zoo, the Amish Country Popcorn factory, the Mule Day Parade and the Sweetwater Flea Market.
The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security released a report this week showing that as of January, Indiana (with 8,591 potential terrorist targets) had 50 percent more listed sites than New York (5,687) and more than twice as many as California (3,212), ranking the state the most target-rich place in the nation, The New York Times reported.
I agree with the organizer of one of the events on the list — the Apple and Pork Festival in Clinton, Ill. (see photo) — who told the Times, “Seems like someone has gone overboard. Their time could be spent better doing other things, like providing security for the country.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., announced today that President Bush has committed to sign proposed legislation authorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to review the National Security Agency’s monitoring of international phone calls and e-mails, Associated Press reported. Such an independent review is needed to make sure the program is legal and the information gathered isn’t misused. But the agreement may not be as good as it sounds. It is conditional on the legislation not changing at all as it moves through Congress, and the bill’s language makes the FISA review optional rather than a requirement, according to an administration official. If so, Bush hasn’t really agreed to anything. Besides, as Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., noted, if Bush is OK with a court review, he can request one now, without any legislation. Leahy observed: “He’s saying, if you do every single thing I tell you to do, I’ll do what I should have done anyway.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Our editorial on today’s Opinion pages notes that Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a hawkish Bush supporter, sent the president a harsh letter recently after learning (from a leak) that his committee had not been briefed on what he called a “major” and “significant” secret intelligence program.
It’s legitimate to raise concerns about media leaks and whether they compromise national security. But here’s what complicates the issue: What if the Bush administration is keeping top lawmakers in the dark about major programs over which they’re supposed to have oversight?
Leaks become the oversight of last resort.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
He’s alienated all six of his colleagues on the Wichita City Council with off-agenda, grandstanding efforts to promote WSU football and other ill-considered ideas, as well as his divisive, bad-mouthing tendencies. But Mayor Carlos Mayans, facing a general revolt, backed off on WSU football Tuesday — even going along with a resolution saying that the council would never again get involved in trying to push WSU football.
Council member Paul Gray called it a good step toward reconciliation. “It appears that he wants to get along and get back to the business of the people,” Gray told The Eagle editorial board Wednesday. “Everyone wants to put this behind us and move forward.”
It’s too soon to tell whether the truce will last. But with the mayoral election coming up next spring, Mayans needs to show he can pull the council together and move the team down the field.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Illegal immigration is mostly a federal issue, but Colorado is showing — for good or bad — that states can take some matters into their own hands. Colorado lawmakers are agreeing on a law to restrict nonemergency benefits — such as food stamps and Medicaid — to legal residents of Colorado who are 18 years or older, The New York Times reported. The state also plans to have to two referendums on the ballot in November to allow the Colorado attorney general to sue the federal government if federal immigration laws are not enforced, and to require businesses to confirm the legal status of their employees to receive deductible business expenses.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It’s an idea too long in coming to Wichita’s cable Channel 7, particularly as it appears in local hotel rooms: “a half-hour to 45-minute tour of Wichita and all it has to offer,” as the proposal to the Wichita City Council put it. The council acted Tuesday to use $75,000 in hotel-motel bed-tax funds for the shows, a collaboration of the city, the Greater Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau and the firm First Generation Video. The TV tour, which will change monthly, will run at regular times on Channel 7, and continuously in some hotels. The shows should not only help make a good first impression on visitors to Wichita, but also better promote the city’s quality of life to denizens who still say there’s nothing to do in Wichita.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Ending months of speculation, columnist Bob Novak finally revealed at least some of what he told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald about how CIA agent Valerie Plame’s name was outed by the Bush White House. Novak said Bush adviser Karl Rove confirmed the identity of Valerie Plame but was not his primary source — and he still won’t name that off-the-record source, but said it was not a Bush “political operative.”
Still, considering President Bush’s pledge to “fire anybody” found to have leaked Plame’s identity, does Rove’s role in confirming that leak put him in danger of losing his job? Don’t count on it.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Had just a few citizens in Springdale, Ark., skipped Tuesday’s election on whether to approve a sales-tax extension to pay for a $33 million baseball stadium, Wichita might be breathing easier about keeping the Wranglers home at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. But the stadium passed — by 17 votes. In recent days, The Eagle also has confirmed with a Springdale City Council member that the possible move is more than a rumor: The Wranglers owners have been in contact with Springdale about moving the team as soon as the 2007 season.
The Wichita City Council and City Hall have just begun an aggressive campaign to fight for the Wranglers, with stadium improvements and the like. The Springdale vote makes that effort more necessary and urgent. If Wichita loses the Wranglers to Arkansas because of 17 votes, that will worsen the hurt.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
