Sounding a presidential note, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., recently wrote a commentary for CNN effectively calling Iran’s leaders a pack of liars for claiming they want to enrich uranium only to pursue nuclear energy when they really “believe that with nuclear weapons the international community will not dare object to any threat they might make against their neighbors, let alone the regime’s repression of its own people.” Brownback underscored the importance of supporting democracy efforts within Iran and warned Iran’s leaders to “treat your people justly and behave responsibly in your relations with your neighbors and the rest of the world.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
“One of the biggest mistakes we made was underestimating the size of the task and the sacrifices that would be required,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said last week about the war in Iraq. “’Stuff happens,’ ‘mission accomplished,’ ‘last throes,’ ‘a few dead-enders’ — I’m just more familiar with those statements than anyone else because it grieves me so much that we had not told the American people how tough and difficult this task would be.”
Commentators such as David Broder of the Washington Post have said the same thing, only from Day One of the war. Broder, who remembers the shared sacrifice required during World War II, could not believe that nothing was being asked of the American public other than to keep shopping. And instead of expecting the public to pay a little more to finance the war, the administration cut taxes.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
An earlier blog item raised the question of whether the Democratic Party can have any success wooing evangelicals. Well, a new poll shows that evangelicals are growing dissatisfied with the GOP, the New York Times reported.
The number of Americans who say the GOP is friendly to religion fell 8 percentage points in the past year, to 47 percent from 55 percent, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The drop was even sharper among Catholics and white evangelical Protestants: down 14 percentage points.
But the Democratic Party isn’t viewed any better, so it is probably not going to pick up many converts. Only 26 percent said that the Democratic Party was friendly to religion, down from 29 percent last year.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
In 2003, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius expressed support for allowing undocumented residents the chance to get Kansas driver’s licenses. Then and now, that was a sensible public-safety position, because it would have meant fewer unlicensed, uninsured drivers on Kansas roads. But federal law has since effectively nixed allowing such licenses. Now the question is whether GOP gubernatorial nominee Jim Barnett can use the old issue to paint Sebelius as soft on illegal immigration. By the way, the former proponents of this measure include Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, who said in 2001, “We do have people from outside America who are working hard in America. We need to find a way they can have driver’s licenses and buy car insurance.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Ever wonder why tax-paid spokesmen for the governor or attorney general are quoted making partisan statements in campaign news stories? It’s because under Kansas law, certain public employees of officeholders can be designated as “personal staff” and assigned to campaign-related tasks yet still receive their state employee salaries.
According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has 11 such staffers, Attorney General Phill Kline has eight, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger has nine and Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh has about seven. One lawmaker and the state’s ethics czar suggested it’s been a nonissue, though Eric Carter complained during his GOP primary challenge of Praeger about her staffers’ campaign work. Both Sebelius and Kline have set rules for these staffers that are stricter than state law, but the propriety of any use of tax dollars for electioneering seems worthy of legislative debate. As Sebelius’ GOP challenger, Jim Barnett, told the Capital-Journal, “the law needs to be looked at so there’s no abuse.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The Washington Post reported a shift in President Bush’s rhetoric about the war in Iraq during his press conference this week. Rather than talk about the progress being made in Iraq, Bush used terms such as “havoc” and made no suggestion that the situation is improving. His main argument: “If you think it’s bad now, imagine what Iraq would look like if the United States leaves before this government can defend itself.”
Christopher F. Gelpi, a Duke University scholar who does research on public opinion in wartime, told the Post that Bush had little choice. “He looks foolish and not credible if he says, ‘We’re making progress in Iraq,’” Gelpi said. “I think he probably would like to make that argument, but because that’s not credible given the facts on the ground, this is the fallback. . . . If the only thing you can say is ‘Yes, it’s bad, but it could be worse,’ that really is a last-ditch argument.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The U.S. Department of Education says that removing evolutionary biology from the list of acceptable fields of study for federal education grants was a “clerical mistake.” But it’s understandable why some people are suspicious, given all the effort in recent years by some religious conservatives to undermine the evolution theory. Said Steven Rissing, an evolutionary biologist as Ohio State University: “It’s just awfully coincidental.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Even with so many local attractions facing financial and attendance problems, the Sedgwick County Zoo keeps going strong — and getting better every year. And this weekend it’s celebrating its 35th birthday with reduced admission prices and special activities.
The zoo does get more taxpayer funding than other attractions, which helps stabilize its operations. But it also offers a quality product that the public values, and it attracts private funding for new exhibits. It’s a model public-private partnership.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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
If Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s border tour with anti-immigration lawmakers this week is a sign that President Bush is ready to give up on comprehensive reform, that will be unfortunate. Then again, some sort of House-Senate compromise is better than none, especially if it includes a way for the 11 million illegal immigrants already working here to do so legally. A proposed compromise authored by Chertoff’s hosts, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Tex., and Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., would do that — after border security is tightened. But it would also require those here illegally to report to “Ellis Island” centers in Mexico to apply for work permits. Would people really do that? Or would they just remain in the shadows of the American economy? One good move this week: Homeland Security announced it will stop the “catch and release” of non-Mexican illegal immigrants, few of whom showed up for their deportation hearings.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
It’s great to see a groundswell of support building for Old Cowtown Museum — and gratifying that many of the offers of help are coming from outside the city. Cowboy singer Michael Martin Murphey of “Wildfire” fame has offered to perform a special Christmas benefit concert for Cowtown — a terrific idea.
But why stop there? Having an entertainer of Murphey’s stature as a regular at Cowtown would be a big draw. Another booster, True West magazine, is telling its 192,000 readers to send donations to the museum, which it calls a “national treasure.”
Wichita is on the national map as a major Western history hub. In fact, Murphey rightly says that Cowtown “could be and should be the ‘Williamsburg of the American West.’”
Now it’s up to locals to start seeing Cowtown’s huge potential. As our editorial today notes, Wichita can’t let Cowtown ride into the sunset.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
FYI: If you look at the right rail, you’ll see that we are starting an archive based on blog topic. It will take us a while to build this up, but I hope it will be a useful tool for those who are interested in particular subjects.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Bill Clinton seemed to be taking more pleasure in Monday’s 10th anniversary of welfare reform than he did his 60th birthday Saturday (though the latter will be celebrated by the Rolling Stones in late October). Writing in the New York Times this week, Clinton noted that three members of his administration resigned in protest of the reform and said, “The last 10 years have shown that we did in fact end welfare as we knew it, creating a new beginning for millions of Americans.” The key, he argued, was the bill’s bipartisanship. Now, he said, “We should address the inadequacies of the latest welfare reauthorization in a bipartisan manner, by giving states the flexibility to consider higher education as a category of ‘work,’ and by doing more to help people get the education they need and the jobs they deserve.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Democrats will have about as much luck attracting evangelical voters as Republicans have had wooing African-Americans, Peter Brown argued in an op-ed piece in Tuesday’s Opinion pages. This despite the fact that evangelicals may be more in line with Democrats on the environment and some other issues.
His reason: “Voters — regardless of race, ethnicity or religion — make their political choices based on their overall comfort level with the views and values of a candidate. And evangelical Christians favor traditional social values, tend to be skeptical of government and fond of the military. That is why they vote Republican.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Now that Kansas Supreme Court Justice Lawton Nuss has been admonished by the Commission on Judicial Qualifications, it’s hard to argue with the call by state Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita, for the House panel investigating the Nuss matter to give it up. “Now we have all the facts. At this point, what else can you do? Why would we spend money to continue to beat this dead horse?” Ward asked in the Topeka Capital-Journal. The judicial ethics panel also was able to hear from the senators involved in Nuss’ inappropriate conversation about the school finance case, something the House panel hasn’t been able to do because of senators’ resistance on constitutional grounds. Ward also said that despite several weeks of campaigning in his district, “I’ve not heard one comment about this outside the dome.” Enough.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Barnett had called for Justice Nuss to resign over his ethics lapse. So when the Commission on Judicial Qualifications admonished Nuss, Barnett cited it as further evidence that the state needs a new way of picking justices and told the Capital-Journal: “I’m not surprised that judges have decided another judge hadn’t done anything wrong.”
For the record, though, the 14-member commission, chosen by the Supreme Court, includes four laypeople as well as six retired or active judges and four lawyers. Its current lay members are Bruce Buchanan of Hutchinson, Mary Davidson Cohen of Leawood, Christina Pannbacker of Washington and Carolyn A. Tillotson of Leavenworth.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The Sedgwick County Voters’ Coalition, concerned that 65 percent of the county’s polling places are churches, has recommended to Election Commissioner Bill Gale that all sites be public facilities. As our editorial argues today, that view seems extreme, "because it assumes there is something about a place of worship that is incompatible with the practice of democracy." But churches increasingly are politically active, and "if a church’s pastor has been out front on a defining election issue, is it appropriate to require citizens, including many who disagree with him, to enter that church in order to cast their votes?" We conclude: "When it comes to making more voters want to vote, the more public and neutral the site, the better."
Another point to ponder: When Stanford University Graduate School of Business researchers recently analyzed polling locations and the outcome of several Arizona ballot initiatives, they found "that environmental cues present in different polling locations can influence voting outcomes." Those who vote at schools are more likely to support higher school spending, those who vote in churches are less likely to vote for stem cell initiatives, etc. "What our research suggests is that it might be useful to further investigate influences such as polling location to better understand how such factors affect different types of voting situations. From a policy perspective, the hope is that a voting location assignment could be less arbitrary and more determined in order to avoid undue biases in the future," said researcher S. Christian Wheeler.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
