Nobody’s seen it yet, but the reviews are in: “The Path to 9/11″ — which airs beginning tonight on ABC and purports to chronicle actions by the Clinton administration in the months before the attacks — really, really stinks.
Just ask former members of the Clinton administration. Nearly all of them have weighed in demanding that ABC either correct factual errors in the film, or pull it entirely.
While they’re probably overstating the significance of a made-for-TV movie — by the same network that gave us “Charlie’s Angels” — I feel their pain. There’s something fundamentally wrong with the whole concept of “docudrama,” where real events are exaggerated, condensed or omitted for dramatic effect, and fake events can take on the stature of historical fact. It also kind of bothers me when living, well-known people are played by other people who are a lot better looking.
Regardless of how you remember the Clinton years, a cheesy TV movie is probably not the best path to understanding history.
Posted by Dave Knadler
“‘Trust us, you’re guilty, we’re going to execute you, but we can’t tell you why.’ That’s not going to pass muster,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said, objecting to President Bush’s proposal for trying terrorism suspects. Several military attorneys have the same objection. Brig. Gen. James C. Walker, the top uniformed lawyer for the Marines, said no civilized country denies a defendant the right to see the evidence against him, and that the United States “should not be the first.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
A new study by John Wong, a professor at the Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs at Wichita State University, determined that low-income Kansans pay a higher percentage of their income for taxes than middle- and upper-income residents, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. Property taxes were particularly regressive, as the lowest-income group in Kansas paid 23.6 percent of its income on property taxes, while the highest-income households paid 0.6 percent of their income. One policy change recommended by advocacy groups for the poor is to reduce the number of exemptions and property tax abatements, so that the tax burden can be more fairly distributed.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
As GOP leaders of Congress try to focus on national security issues until adjournment for the fall campaign, another nation’s appalling conditions risk more congressional neglect. According to the Hill newspaper, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has been delaying consideration of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act for months. Among the bipartisan critics of Lugar’s inaction is Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., a negotiator of the bill and prominent advocate of action on the genocide in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Brownback said, “The overall situation in Darfur is not improving; in many cases the lack of security has caused increased violence and sexual assaults. My colleagues must act before Congress adjourns.” There is disagreement on the specifics of aid and security assistance in the legislation, but surely the deteriorating situation in the region calls for more urgency, not less.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Maybe you have to be an urban planner to comprehend how the best railroad overpass for 21st Street could be one that veers nearly to 23rd Street, leaving 21st as is for local traffic. It’s hard to figure why such a complex solution would be less expensive, too — $28 million, compared with $40 million for a traditional overpass at 21st. When the Wichita City Council gets a look at the proposal later this month, the best reason to proceed may be what sounds like positive feedback from affected neighbors and businesses. But city leaders also must seek the solution that best serves the broader community goal of turning 21st Street into an inviting corridor for commerce.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
