As far as scandals go, the report this week about a mistake in the financial disclosure forms of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. (in photo), doesn’t appear to be much of one. Reid transferred ownership of some land he owned near Las Vegas to a holding company in which he was a partner. But his disclosure forms still indicated that he was the owner of the property. That mistake matters because it didn’t disclose his association with the partnership. But Reid did disclose that he had a financial interest in the property.
But a real scandal is the federal grand jury indictment this week of one of the top advisers and fundraisers of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. His aide is accused of running a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme involving state pension funds. There is no report that Blagojevich knew about this scheme, but part of the shakedown involved pressuring investment firms to make a $1.5 million political contribution to "a certain public official." Blagojevich ran for office vowing to clean up the corruption of Republican Gov. George Ryan, who was sentenced to 6¬? years in prison.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
"The Amish have buried their little girls, forgiven the man for his actions, and befriended his family. What a wonderful witness to their faith, and what a contrast for others," an Opinion Line contributor noted. It’s a reaction many Americans shared after being shocked by the Amish school shooting, then amazed by the response of that community.
One Amish man from Lancaster County, Pa., explained: "In forgiveness there is healing." And in their actions, there is a lesson for others.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Two bits of news this week may hit a nerve for those who still care about the federal spending: Monday’s story about why Wichita has so many streets torn up for construction, and Tuesday’s editorial about why Kansas State Department of Education seemingly has been handing out charter school-related grants to anyone who asks. In both cases, the motivation has to do with officials needing to use federal funding before it goes away. That’s why the city of Wichita already has spent more than $40 million on street projects this year, compared with its usual $50 million annually. And why the state hurriedly gave out $1,995 questionable grants to at least 16 entities to beat a Sept. 30 deadline. True, the inconvenience of the road construction soon will pay off in nice streets. But it makes you wonder what would happen to the federal budget if just once — for fun, if not fiscal responsibility — everybody with use-it-or-lose-it funds opted not to use them.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Over the years, in this profession, one gets used to the occasional outraged letter from someone who disagrees with what we publish. Especially if one is a cartoonist. Even more especially if one is a cartoonist of moderate-to-liberal bent. I have received lots of my cartoons, torn out of the Eagle, my captions whited out and replaced with new ones. One modest fellow, I assume modesty was the motivation for his refusal to sign his own name, used to routinely mail me one of those widely circulated cartoons of the contortionist with his head buried in his own posterior, usually taped to one of my cartoons.
But Jon Robert Gillilan of Wichita has left those others in the dust. Check out Robert’s depictions of my colleague, Randy Scholfield, and myself. Randy acknowledged that the likeness of himself was uncanny, but had the good grace to refrain from commenting on my own caricature. We scratched our heads over the "wheat pasture" reference, though. Can someone help us out?
Posted by Richard Crowson
The generation of peace, love and marijuana may have a strong new argument to keep its beloved weed. Marijuana has long been medically determined to relieve glaucoma and side effects of cancer treatment; it may also lead to preventing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Scripps Research Institute in California.
Alzheimer’s disease is the No. 1 cause of dementia among the elderly, and is characterized by memory loss, impaired decision-making and diminished language movement skills. Ironically, the same symptoms of the disease appear to be the side effects of the treatment.
Meanwhile, a new goverment study released this week found that the prescription drugs most commonly used to soothe agitation and aggression in Alzheimer’s patients are no more effective than placebos and can have serious side effects, the New York Times reported.
Posted by Angie Holladay
It was good to hear that all four Sedgwick County Commission candidates who appeared at a recent issues forum — Gwen Welshimer, Dr. James Donnell, Michael Kinard and Kelly Parks — said they’d support franchising trash pickup. Two candidates who didn’t attend — incumbents Ben Sciortino and Dave Unruh — also favor franchising.
As we argued in an editorial, trash franchising is the best way to ensure that Wichita residents get the best deal on trash prices as well as the benefits of additional services such as curbside recycling and yard waste composting.
Wichita needs to take control of its trash policy. At present, corporate trash companies are in the driver’s seat.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
You’ve probably heard about Barbra Streisand’s outburst during a concert this week. Trying to create something akin to a “Saturday Night Live” skit, she did an extended spoof on George W. Bush that was reportedly only mildly amusing. When one restless heckler complained, the legendary liberal screamed, “Shut the **** up! Shut up if you can’t take a joke!”
That prompted David Letterman Wednesday night to do a "Top 10 signs that Barbra Streisand has gone nuts." Two of the signs: "At the conclusion of ‘The Way We Were,’ bites off head of a bat;" and "Recently invited Mel Gibson to come over to watch ‘Yentl.’"
Posted by Angie Holladay
