Air security was drastically tightened today after reports that British authorities thwarted a terrorist plot to take down multiple airliners flying from London to the United States. The sophistication of the planning and alleged weaponry — liquid explosives and detonators disguised as personal electronics items — is a sobering reminder that five years after Sept. 11, the threat to the homeland continues to be very real and far bigger than the occasional wannabe shoe bomber.
No doubt some cynical Americans will suspect the alert is a GOP ploy to scare people into voting Republican in the midterm congressional elections. But that’s far-fetched, especially because British officials have gone so far as to ban carry-on bags on all transatlantic flights.
That said, the real questions this episode raises are: When will the terrorism threat finally end? And what more can the U.S. government do to end it?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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There have been contrasting views on our Opinion pages this week about Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Former Kansas congressman Bill Roy argued Sunday that Rumsfeld has been "a total disaster." Roy’s reasons are mostly related to the war in Iraq, and he quoted from Thomas E. Ricks’ book "Fiasco" how "Rumsfeld began the war without enough troops and with no idea what would happen after Baghdad and Saddam fell." On the other side, Cal Thomas had a column Wednesday saying Rumsfeld is right about the war on terrorism. Anything less than winning this war, Thomas said, "will mean defeat for the United States and for freedom everywhere."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It’s sad that teachers have to go begging for help to get classroom supplies or put their rooms up for adoption on national Internet sites, as reported in an Eagle article Sunday. What other professionals have to plead for office supplies — basic stuff like pencils and markers and colored paper — or hold frozen food and bake sales to get the resources they need?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Fifty-three percent of Americans call themselves "anti-incumbent," while 29 percent say they are inclined to re-elect members of Congress, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. These are almost the same poll numbers as 12 years ago, when Republicans gained control of the House and Senate.
Meanwhile, David Broder says on today’s Opinion pages that he was struck by his conversations with governors of both parties at a conference last weekend in South Carolina. "The common theme in interviews and informal comments was one of utter disdain for Congress," Broder said.
So does this mean that many more incumbents than Sen. Joe Leiberman, D-Conn., will lose, and that Democrats will regain control of Congress? Some think so. But I doubt it, given that most members of Congress are from safe, gerrymandered districts.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The future of Kansas agriculture may be E-85 biofuel, as GOP gubernatorial hopeful Robin Jennison recently told The Eagle editorial board. But E-85 proponents got ahead of themselves in trying to demonstrate that an adapted E-85-fueled Ford Taurus could make it from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles without stopping at a gas station. Sponsored by the liberal Center for American Progress and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the project recently stalled in Wyoming when the car’s tank and reserve gas cans in the trunk ran dry. And, as The Washington Post noted, so far only 600 of the country’s 176,000 gasoline stations carry E-85.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Last week’s 16 percent local primary turnout showed again how few registered voters can be bothered to vote. But in every election, there are sobering close calls that potently demonstrate the power of a few voters — both those who show up and those who stay away. This time, Garth McGinn had only 34 more votes than Ron Voth in the Democratic Party’s 4th Congressional District race. In the primaries for Sedgwick County Commmission’s District 4 seat, Kelly Parks won the GOP nod by 83 votes over sitting Commissioner Lucy Burtnett, and Michael Kinard took the Democratic spot on the November ballot over Dee Stuart by only 110 votes. In the statewide Democratic primary for secretary of state, David Haley bested Robert Beattie by only 226 votes. Everybody should have learned in school that voting is a right of citizenship in a free society, one to be practiced as well as cherished.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
