Tired of murderous psychopaths invading schools? Me, too. But I wonder if arming teachers is the best way to prevent such incidents.
Reacting to the most recent spate of school shootings, a state lawmaker in Madison, Wis., says he’ll introduce legislation allowing school personnel to carry concealed weapons.
The measure isn’t likely to go anywhere — there’s a federal law that bans guns on school grounds — but such ideas illustrate the tendency in this country to think complex problems can be solved simply: Just add firepower.
Yes, it’s satisfying to imagine a steely-eyed English teacher pumping lead into a madman — but then, madmen tend to shoot first. We ask quite a bit of teachers already without expecting them to be good with a handgun as well.
Posted by Dave Knadler
Fox News turned 10 this week, and Bryan C. Anderson, who wrote the book “South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias,” has a commentary in Friday’s Eagle applauding Fox News’ success. He doesn’t deny that the network is conservative, but he argues that much of the impressions of bias are based on opinion talk shows such as “The O’Reilly Factor,” not the news programs. He cites one study that concluded Brit Hume’s “Special Report” is more centrist than any of the three major networks’ evening newscasts.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Wal-Mart has discovered the power of targeting state and local officials. The retailer has already given $644,000 this year to state and local candidates, according to the Institute on Money in State Politics.
Meanwhile, despite evidence showing otherwise, Wal-Mart denies it is moving its work force of 1.3 million to be 40 percent part-timers, up from 20 percent last year. Last year, an executive issued a memo to board members encouraging a larger part-time work force and questioning the value of long-term higher-paid employees when new employees were as productive.
Wal-Mart has been under fire from several states for the low pay and limited benefits it gives employees, spurring several “Wal-Mart bills” aimed at improving benefits for employees. These actions could force candidates to make some tough decisions during an election year.
Posted by Angie Holladay
It seemed a great thing for Wichita four years ago when John Moore, former senior vice president at Cessna Aircraft Co., became Kathleen Sebelius’ lieutenant governor and secretary of commerce. So what does it mean for Wichita should the Democrat win re-election, given that her running mate this time is Olathe attorney Mark Parkinson? Sebelius counters such concerns by saying that Parkinson grew up in Wichita and earned a degree from Wichita State University. And she acknowledged that she “made a kind of strategic mistake” with Moore initially in letting him be the point person for Wichita as she spent most of her time elsewhere. The resulting feedback from Wichita, she recently told The Eagle editorial board, was that “there really is no substitute for having the governor spend time here on a regular basis, meet with business leaders personally, pay attention. So it may be ironically a bit of an advantage to not have John be back here every weekend, because he became my spokesperson.”
Visit our Opinion Web page to watch a video clip of Sebelius talking about Moore.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
In a Washington Post column, George Will expanded on a point he made Sunday on ABC: The Bush administration, as portrayed by Bob Woodward’s new book, seems about like other administrations in its disorder and rivalries: “Some will regard ‘State of Denial’ as Katrina between hard covers, a snapshot of dysfunctional government,” Will wrote. “But it is largely just a glimpse of government, disheartening as that fact may be to those who regard government as a glistening scalpel for administering social transformation.” Which is why Will and so many others think that when it comes to government, less is more.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
It looks like partisan differences will prevail to the end of a special Kansas House panel’s investigation of the “Nuss fuss,” which is now expected to conclude later this month with release of both a majority report and a minority report. In one corner we have Republicans, still suspicious that contact between Kansas Supreme Court Justice Lawton Nuss and two state senators influenced legislative voting on school finance. In the other corner are Democrats such as Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita, who said this week: “There has been no evidence any legislator was influenced.” If this whole process has a point, it had better show up in the dueling final reports.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
