I’m feeling nostalgic about the solar system. Planets aren’t what they used to be — Pluto is no more.
Who says all scientists think alike and stifle dissent? This debate had all the drama and reversals of fortune of a WWE smackdown.
As I say in today’s column, as long as scientists were revising the solar system, why couldn’t they have renamed Uranus? I mean, how many more moon and probe jokes do we have to endure?
Meanwhile, Richard Crowson pondered in his editorial cartoon today (click on image to enlarge it) whether the demotion of Pluto, which was discovered by Kansan Clyde Tombaugh, was payback for our state science standards.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
“This decision has nothing to do with science or FDA rules but has everything to do with politics,” Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said about the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to allow the Plan B contraceptive to be sold without a prescription to those 18 or older. Oh, please. Politics were why it took so long to approve Plan B. The FDA’s own scientists and panel of outside experts determined that Plan B was medically safe and should be available without a prescription (and to women younger than 18). But because some social conservatives such as Coburn think Plan B is a chemical abortion, which the medical community says it isn’t, FDA ignored science and kept delaying approval. What has happened is that the FDA finally ran out of excuses.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
I’m glad that the Greater Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau had a full-page ad in USA Today last week, and that it contrasted our Wild West heritage with modern-day Wichita. But I wish it would have used a main photograph other than that of Carry Nation. Maybe it’s just me, but seeing Nation and her ax reminded me of evolution opponents, abortion protesters, Fred Phelps and other religious activists. That’s not a reminder of our state that is likely to draw many tourists.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
After the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s “family tree harbors six polygamous men with 41 wives,” the closest to him a great-grandfather who had five wives, Kate O’Beirne noted on a National Review Online blog that “should Mitt Romney join a 2008 race that included John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich and George Allen, the only guy in the GOP field with only one wife would be the Mormon.”
Indeed, Romney has been married for 37 years. But it would be tricky for Republicans to make an issue of divorce, considering that Ronald Reagan remains the only U.S. president to have had one.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
More food for thought on how deep a thinker President Bush is, courtesy of U.S. News & World Report, on the heels of reports that Bush read Albert Camus’ “The Stranger” at the ranch this month: “Bush has entered a book-reading competition with Karl Rove, his political adviser. White House aides say the president has read 60 books so far this year (while the brainy Rove, to Bush’s competitive delight, has racked up only 50).” An accompanying presidential reading list includes biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Babe Ruth, Russia’s Alexander II, Robert Oppenheimer and Roberto Clemente, and “Salt: A World History.”
Meanwhile, the article notes, Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg says 58 percent of Americans think Bush “seems in over his head.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
There was friction in the past year over what to call the city of Wichita’s annual air show, what kind of music it should book and how much city money it should get. By any name, though, the Wichita Flight Festival is now one of the area’s best events — the Air Capital’s official three-day celebration of flying, complete with displays of new and historic planes, seminars, kid stuff, music and food. Organized by Wichita Festivals, the show starts tonight with aerial performances and a Blues Traveler concert ($30). The main event happens 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday ($5 each day; kids 10 and under free). One question: Can festivalgoers really be expected to park nearly 4 miles away (Raytheon Aircraft Co.) from the event site, Jabara Airport, and take shuttle buses?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
