Republican lawmakers aren’t amused by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ new TV campaign commercial, which depicts them as unruly, misbehaving students. But like it or not, that’s how many Kansans see them. Lawmakers, particularly many of those from Sedgwick County, made little effort over the years to adequately fund urban school districts — even ignoring their own audits. And when the courts finally intervened, they threw a fit about judicial activism.
The bigger exaggeration in the ad is the claim that Sebelius “broke through years of legislative gridlock to pass a plan that strengthens our schools.” Sebelius did play a behind-the-scenes role, but the reason the Legislature finally acted was because the Kansas Supreme Court made it, not because of Sebelius’ leadership.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
“The cracking of Republican solidarity in support of Bush on Iraq has short-term implications for November’s elections and long-term implications for whether the administration can sustain its policies,” Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote, noting how many GOP candidates who are in competitive elections, such as Rep. Chris Shays (in photo), R-Conn., are calling for a timetable for withdrawal or objecting to President Bush’s handling of the war. “With a growing number of Republicans now echoing Democratic criticisms of the war, Republican strategists will have a harder time making the election a referendum on whether the United States should ‘cut and run’ from Iraq, the administration’s typical characterization of the Democrats’ view.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Washington Post noted a strange omission on Osama bin Laden’s “wanted” poster on the FBI’s Web site: any specific mention of Sept. 11. The notice says air industry groups have added $2 million to the offered reward of up to $25 million for information leading to his capture or conviction, but neglects to say why. Instead, it says bin Laden is wanted for the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in 1998 and “is a suspect in other terrorist attacks throughout the world.” No kidding.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Mark Parkinson, former GOP state lawmaker and the current Democratic lieutenant governor candidate, had some explaining to do when he spoke to the Kansas AFL-CIO last week. “As a Republican, I had a pretty good voting record on labor issues, but I didn’t have a great one, and I certainly didn’t have one that would merit your support, and I didn’t have one that would match the governor’s record,” he told union members. “Had I known what I know now about business and labor in 1990 and 1992, some of those votes would have been different.” The votes certainly would have been different had he known he would switch political parties.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
A meeting on Old Cowtown Museum’s future drew a crowd of supporters Monday evening. But if Cowtown depends on the largesse of the Sedgwick County Commission, it’s in trouble.
Commissioner Dave Unruh told The Eagle editorial board that he doesn’t see many options for the struggling museum: Either “shut it down, or the city or county one ought to step up with a lot of support.”
And he made clear he doesn’t think it should be the county. Cowtown’s buildings and collections, he noted, legally belong to the city of Wichita. Cowtown “should be their project,” he said. “The city should take full responsibility for it.”
Unruh said the county has taken the lead on several major projects, including building the downtown arena and supporting Exploration Place. Cowtown is just one too many.
But the city, for its part, has shown little inclination to embrace Cowtown financially. Without significant support from local government, saving Cowtown looks like a long shot.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The following satirical headlines come from borowitzreport.com:
BOULDER DISTRICT ATTORNEY PLEADS INSANITY; ‘Out of My Mind’ to Arrest John Mark Karr, Lacy Explains
VIDEO PIRACY RING DROPS TOM CRUISE FILMS; Chinese Bootleggers Call Star’s Behavior ‘Unacceptable’
PLUTO DEMOTED, BUT NOT RUMSFELD; Scientists Baffled by Defense Secretary’s Staying Power
SADDAM: I KILLED JONBENET; Stunning Confession Rocks Former Dictator’s Trial
FAA BANS PEOPLE FROM FLIGHTS; ‘Zero Tolerance for People,’ Chertoff Says
U.N. TO SEND PEACEKEEPERS; HEZBOLLAH TO SEND WARKEEPERS; ‘Roadmap to Chaos’ Still Intact, Says Hezbollah Leader
BUSH SEEKS EXIT STRATEGY AT MAPQUEST; Vows to Find Most Direct Route From Iraq to U.S.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Rather than deal with the issue at hand — his staggeringly poor performance — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld chose to suggest Tuesday that critics of the Iraq war and Bush administration are ignorant of history and morally confused. "Any kind of moral and intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong can severely weaken the ability of free societies to persevere," Rumsfeld said at the American Legion’s national convention in Salt Lake City. In truth, many Americans can see clearly now that Iraq was not the "epicenter" of the war on terrorism, to use Rumsfeld’s word, until the United States invaded and occupied it. That makes Rumsfeld the confused one.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Why have so many centrist Democrats abandoned their free-market, free-trade principles to bash Wal-Mart? "The truth is that none of these Democrats can resist dumb economic populism," Washington Post columnist Sebastian Mallaby wrote. But he argued that Democrats needs the votes of Wal-Mart’s customers, who, according to one study, save nearly $200 billion a year by shopping at Wal-Mart. "Democrats are harming the poor Americans they claim to speak for," Mallaby said.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The fire is still burning over the combustible commentary Forbes magazine executive editor Michael Noer wrote last week advising men not to marry career women. “Recent studies have found professional women are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat and less likely to have children,” he wrote. “And, if they do have kids, they are more likely to be unhappy about it.”
Bowing to public pressure, Forbes reposted the commentary with an accompanying rebuttal. Elizabeth Corcoran of Forbes pointed out that “rather than rush to blame the woman, let’s not overlook the other key variable: What is the guy doing?” And she notes that in a good marriage, both partners have to learn to change and keep on adapting.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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As our editorial Tuesday noted, along with the horror of Hurricane Katrina, there was also hope: “That the governments that so failed the victims would get the rebuilding right and be ready for the next disaster. That the singular city of New Orleans would strut again, if within a smaller footprint. That the storm’s appalling toll on the poor would rally the nation to confront urban poverty at last.” But this week’s one-year anniversary finds too little progress on all fronts, from the removal of the debris to the planning for a new New Orleans to the fortification of the levees.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
For decades, Iran has been a leading U.S. nemesis, including, in recent years, charter membership in the “axis of evil.” So why don’t U.S. intelligence services know more about what’s going on inside the country?
That’s the timely question asked last week by a House Intelligence Committee report that noted “significant gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the various areas of concern about Iran,” especially its nuclear program and leadership intentions.
Iraq is a textbook case of what happens when policy is based on bad and selective intelligence. Are we going down a similar blind alley in the present standoff with Iran?
It’s more evidence the United States is failing to develop old-fashioned human intelligence assets abroad. Spies on the ground, more than high-tech snooping, likely will be key to understanding emerging threats against this country.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Speaking of Iran: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during a press conference Tuesday that he wants to "debate world and international issues with George Bush in a televised debate." The White House dismissed the proposal as a diversion from international concerns over Iran’s nuclear program. But what was interesting about the press conference was how combative some of the Iranian reporters were. Some jumped from their seats and demanded that their questions be taken. Maybe the White House press corps could learn something about holding a president accountable.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
So Boulder, Colo., prosecutors have finally concluded what most of us suspected the minute we saw the robotic John Mark Karr doing the perp walk in those high-waisted pants of his: this guy had nothing to do with the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.
Which isn’t to say a crime hasn’t been committed. Mr. Karr still has a week and a half of fervid "Nancy Grace" shows on CNN to answer for. One hopes he might also be billed for the champagne and prawns he consumed on that first-class flight from Thailand, but somehow I doubt that’ll happen. We may have to settle for the child porn charges he still faces in California.
For TV news, the rabid coverage of this debacle is further proof that a 24/7 parade of experts and analysts and endlessly looping videotape leaves no one the wiser. For Boulder authorities, hoping for redemption in an investigation that was bungled from the beginning, it’s just one more failure in a bizarre case that again seems unlikely ever to be solved.
Posted by Dave Knadler
Given the anger surrounding her polarizing role in the Florida recount fiasco of 2000, you’d think U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris might now want to project an image of comity.
Evidently not.
Separation of church and state is “a lie we have been told,” Harris said in an interview with a religious journal last week.
Lest her remarks be misconstrued, she added: “If you’re not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin.”
Harris is running for a Florida Senate seat now held by a Democrat. Many Republicans in that state — including Gov. Jeb Bush — don’t think she can win. With pronouncements like that, neither do I.
Posted by Dave Knadler
In a heated campaign one can easily imagine happening in Kansas, South Dakota is weighing whether to outlaw abortion at the Nov. 7 election. A month ago, the proposed ban on all abortions (except to save a mother’s life) led by 8 percentage points in an opinion poll. A newer poll shows voters disliking it as too severe. At the very least, such a ballot initiative ought to get out the vote in the state. But what a painful debate to be having. And as Sioux Falls obstetrician-gynecologist Maria Bell told the Washington Post, “To think passing a law will stop abortion is incredibly naive.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Talk of a housing bust has been going on almost as long as the housing boom, but that loud hiss you hear is the bubble finally deflating: The Washington Post notes that sales of previously owned homes plummeted in July to the lowest level in 2½ years. In the Midwest — never a favored region for home-flippers anyway — sales are down 5.9 percent.
But look on the bright side. Wichita never really benefited from the boom in other parts of the country, so any slowdown will have far less impact here than in places like Florida and California. Also, slowing home sales may convince the Fed to hold off, for now, on more interest-rate increases.
Finally, all those folks who tapped their swollen home equities to buy RVs, luxury cars and second homes? For them, the party may be over.
Posted by Dave Knadler
Stephen Singular, author of “Unholy Messenger: The Life and Crimes of the BTK Serial Killer,” thinks that Dennis Rader might have had other Wichita victims he never talked about. Check out the author’s post at the Crime Rant blog for some lurid speculation about BTK’s alleged gay past.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
“A T. Rex Named Sue” should draw crowds to Exploration Place. The traveling exhibit opens Saturday and features a cast of the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skelton ever discovered, as well as interactive displays. It is the first of several successful exhibits planned at Exploration Place in coming years. It also reflects a growing confidence by museum officials that Exploration Place deserves big name exhibits and that if you host them, people will come.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Water is the lifeblood of the Kansas economy — and it’s by no means secure. This summer, Kansas streams had “less volume of water than at any time since records have been kept,” including the Dust Bowl years, said Steve Adams, natural resource coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
Yes, the recent rains have helped, but the long-term picture is the same: Kansas continues to face drought conditions and must plan for its water resources with both conservation and farsighted development of resources, as our two-part editorial, Sunday and Monday, argued.
“Water is the big issue coming down the pike,” says Rex Buchanan, associate director of the Kansas Geological Survey. And it has “huge implications for this state that we’re not facing right now.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
On what NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert aptly called “the story that will not go away,” conservative pundit Robert Novak made a bit of news Sunday. He wouldn’t take Russert’s bait — a Newsweek story suggesting that Novak’s primary source on the Valerie Plame leak was then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage — telling Russert, “I do not identify my sources on any subject if they’re on a confidential basis until they identify themselves.” But Novak made a new plea: “I believe that the time has way passed for my source to identify himself.” It would be great to get this mystery solved.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Who among us has not run up a $700 hotel bill in the mistaken assumption that we were browsing, not buying, the entire selection of tawdry movies on the in-room porn channel?
You haven’t? Neither have I, of course. And a coalition of conservative groups wants to make sure we’re spared that misfortune in the future. The group took out full-page ads in some editions of USA Today earlier this month, urging the Justice Department and FBI to investigate whether some of the pay-per-view movies in hotels violate federal and state obscenity laws.
What do you think? Menace to America, or First Amendment battleground? We might not be having this discussion, except the hotel chains say it’s a pretty good revenue stream.
Posted by Dave Knadler
Hazleton, Pa., has become the unlikely ground zero for the illegal immigration issue with the passage of an ordinance last month making landlords who rent to undocumented immigrants subject to a $1,000-per-day fine and revoking for five years the business license of an employer who hires illegals. As Hazleton Mayor Louis J. Barletta, puts it, “I will get rid of the illegal people. It’s this simple: They must leave.” In the process, though, he has drawn litigation from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. The tough approach will appeal to many Americans, but illegal immigration is a federal problem that calls for a federal response.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
During last week’s press conference, President Bush said, “I may be the only person, the only presidential candidate who never carried the state in which he was born” — Connecticut, which Bush lost twice, meaning he’s not well-positioned to campaign there for Joe Lieberman. But Bush is part of a fraternity of candidates who also failed to carry the states of their birth, said the New York Times, most notably Bush’s father (Massachusetts, also twice). The list includes John Kerry (born in Colorado), George McGovern, Hubert Humphrey, Adlai Stevenson, Alfred E. Smith and presidents James Polk (in photo) and Abraham Lincoln.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
