Include Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., in the bipartisan chorus of lawmakers calling on the Bush administration to declassify the latest National Intelligence Estimate. Doing so would enable the American people to “see the material for themselves and come to their own conclusions,” the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman told the Washington Post, adding: “There is a false impression that the NIE focuses solely on Iraq and terrorism. That is not true. This NIE examines global terrorism in its totality.” Meanwhile, Democrats want the estimate declassified because they believe it shows that the war on Iraq has hurt the war on terror, as leaked reports have indicated.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Good for a federal judge for ruling that a jury should decide if tens of millions of smokers should be awarded up to $200 billion in damages related to the unethical marketing scheme of pitching “light” cigarettes as a more healthful alternative to regular brands. For more than 30 years, Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds and other tobacco companies duped smokers into thinking they were inhaling a more health-conscious alternative. In reality, the tobacco giants’ own internal documents revealed the truth — a “light” cigarette is no more healthy an option than the original Camels handed out for free during World War II.
Smoking is a personal decision, and most smokers are aware of the risks. But the “personal choice” argument may not fly as a credible defense when the “light” cigarette market was created out of demand for a healthier product.
Posted by Angie Holladay
Coverage was hard to come by of Sunday’s fifth debate of Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline and Democratic challenger Paul Morrison in Overland Park. (Are we already tired of these guys?) But as described by the Lawrence Journal-World, the subject matter sounded familiar, including Kline’s pursuit of abortion clinic records and Morrison’s hand in drafting a 6-year-old sentencing reform. One new twist, though: Kline defended his 2003 hiring of Bryan Brown to head his office’s consumer affairs division, despite Brown’s anti-abortion activities and failure to pay a $61,000 court judgment in Indiana, by saying Brown “expressed his faith and his opposition to abortion,” just as Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks had used civil disobedience to protest laws they opposed. That drew groans and laughter from Morrison supporters.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
By publicly naming President Bush as “the devil,” maybe Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has started a fad. Now the Rev. Jerry Falwell is likening Hillary Clinton to the prince of darkness.
Falwell told a gathering of pastors and activists Friday that the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency would galvanize evangelical Christian voters like no one else — not even the devil.
“I hope she’s the candidate. Because nothing will energize my (constituency) like Hillary Clinton,” said the founder of the once-powerful Moral Majority. “If Lucifer ran, he wouldn’t.”
For the record, Satan has not formally announced his candidacy.
Posted by Dave Knadler
Ric Anderson of the Topeka Capital-Journal was inspired by State Board of Education member Connie Morris’ pre-Christmas junket to Washington, D.C., to rewrite some Christmas carols. Here’s his version of “Winter Wonderland”:
Cash drawers ring, can you hear them?
Connie Morris is near them
At Macy’s and Zale’s
and at Bloomingdale’s
Shopping in a winter wonderland
Morris claims she’ll be working
Skeptics say she’ll be jerking
The taxpayers’ chains
For eight carefree days
Shopping in a winter wonderland
Will this trip be good for education?
That’s what Kansans really want to know
Or is it a camouflaged vacation?
A final chance to spend some of our dough?
Kansans say why’ll we get stuck
With the bill from this lame duck?
Can’t somebody get
This madness in check?
Shopping in a winter wonderland
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The FBI remains optimistic that it will find those behind the anthrax attacks following Sept. 11, the Washington Post reported. But law enforcement officials are admitting that much of the conventional wisdom about the attacks was wrong, which makes finding the attackers even more difficult.
The Post writes: “Specifically, law enforcement authorities have refuted the widely reported claim that the anthrax spores had been ‘weaponized’ — specially treated or processed to allow them to disperse more easily. They also have rejected reports that the powder was milled, or ground, to create finer particles that can penetrate deeply into the lungs.”
That means the anthrax didn’t have to be produced by scientists with access to specialized equipment and classified recipes for biological weapons. As a result, the Post reported, “investigators face the daunting prospect of an almost endless list of possible suspects in scores of countries around the globe.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
