Daily Archives: Aug. 19, 2006

Open thread

Aug. 19, 200612:03 a.m.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Open thread | Comments (52)

It’s U.S. against the ‘Islamic fascists’

Aug. 19, 200612:02 a.m.

Much attention has been paid to President Bush’s emphatic use of the term “Islamic fascists” after the airliner bomb plot was foiled. Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg writes in the Los Angeles Times that the label, actually about 15 years old, oversimplifies the threat but sounds good to conservatives because it “links the current conflict to images from the last ‘just war’: Nazi tanks rolling into Poland and France, spineless collaborators sapping the national will, Winston Churchill glaring defiantly over his cigar, the black ink spreading across the maps of Europe and Asia in Frank Capra’s ‘Why We Fight’ newsreels.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under President Bush | Comments (289)

Schools group needs transparency

Aug. 19, 200612:01 a.m.

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline’s reading of state open-records law squares with common sense: Because the nonprofit Schools for Fair Funding that has sued the state on behalf of school districts is fueled by tax dollars, the public should be able to know more information about the 8-year-old group’s expenditures. Kline added his voice Friday to those of some lawmakers and The Topeka Capital-Journal in calling for Schools for Fair Funding to be subject to the same transparency as its sponsoring school districts. Those districts now have the benefit of the increased funding the lawsuit brought; they should see the public benefit of complying with Kline’s demand that the group release expenditure documents since at least July 1, 2005.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Education, Kansas government | Comments (16)

Mission accomplished in Lebanon?

Aug. 19, 200612:00 a.m.

President George Bush, in a statement that carried echoes of his famous “mission accomplished” speech, declared this week that Hezbollah “suffered a defeat” in the recent weeks of fighting with Israel in Lebanon.
But that’s not how many military analysts, the Israeli public, Hezbollah or much of the Arab world saw it; Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah boasted that his militia had stood its ground with Israel’s powerful army and inflicted painful casualties.
And Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is reeling from domestic criticisms that he didn’t achieve the stated objective to decimate Hezbollah.
Now the United Nations is going to finish the job of disarming the militant group? Don’t hold your breath. Expect an emboldened Hezbollah to live to fight another day — and that’s bad news for Lebanon, for Israel and for peace in the region.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Middle East, President Bush | Comments (56)