width=”100″ height=”78″ border=”0″ title=”Britishsoldier” alt=”Britishsoldier” src=”http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/files/images/britishsoldier.jpg” /> The head of Britain’s army, Gen. Richard Dannatt, said this week that British forces should withdraw "sometime soon" because their presence only "exacerbates" the situation. "Whatever consent we may have had in the first place" from the Iraqi populace, he said, "has largely turned to intolerance."
Indeed, a recent poll found that a solid 60 percent of Iraqis support attacks on U.S. and coalition troops.
Dannatt clarified his remarks Friday, saying that he meant a phased withdrawal over the next year or two or three. Still, when our closest ally is saying the presence of foreign troops isn’t helping things, it’s a sign the coalition of the willing is at the breaking point.
Do we accuse Britain of cutting and running?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
width=”100″ height=”126″ border=”0″ title=”Concealedcarrysign” alt=”Concealedcarrysign” src=”http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/files/images/concealedcarrysign.jpg” /> As a noted in my column today, Kansas’ new concealed-carry law has already drawn fire from businesses that didn’t like the initial design for "no guns" signs (see photo).
Expect more heat to come. State Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, the law’s sponsor, predicted to the Lawrence Journal-World that not many business owners will elect to put up "no guns" signs anyway — because they won’t want to be seen as infringing on Americans’ Second Amendment gun rights.
Didn’t you see this coming? The law was passed with the understanding that businesses would be free to make their own decisions about whether to welcome guns. But that’s not good enough for Journey, who warned that "people will trade with businesses that do not oppose their free exercise of their rights."
As the law is rolled out in coming months, expect the Kansas NRA crowd to pressure business owners with boycotts and lost business if they think about exercising their right to say "no" to firearms in the workplace.
I hope gun-free businesses stand their ground.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
An anonymous reader called me to say that he thought that today’s editorial cartoon was a bit out of line. His point was that editorial cartoons should provide at least some degree of insight and analysis of an issue. This one, he said, merely called the board a bunch of monkeys and Phelps pond scum, in other words, mere name-calling. I thought the cartoon was saying, granted in a somewhat juvenile fashion, that the board and Phelps were indeed harmful to Kansas’ image. It may not be the deepest thought ever expressed, but it was at least a tiny bit analytical. Or am I guilty of letting my inner 12-year-old take over my drawing board yesterday? He does that every now and then.
Posted by Richard Crowson
A firm in Houston took security equipment originally designed for Enron to track visitors and modified it for schools. So far, more than 2,020 schools in 212 districts across the country are using it to monitor students’ locations and tighten the access inside buildings against kidnappings and molestations, USA Today reported.
School officials can now track students from the moment they step on the bus to when they leave the building, via radio frequency tags. Adults, too, are tracked. Anyone entering the premises must have his driver’s license swiped to obtain an instant background check against a national database of sex offenders. A school in Houston has stopped an average of seven offenders a day since the start of the school year.
Is this overdoing it? Or a prudent response to a dangerous world?
Posted by Angie Holladay
Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (in photo), two of a conservative kind, were long considered the most likely contenders to be the religious right’s preferred presidential candidate in 2008. But columnist Robert Novak said that Santorum, who is likely to lose re-election to Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey, declined Brownback’s offer to campaign on his behalf. Brownback could help shore up Santorum’s conservative base, which “has been shaky since he vigorously supported moderate Sen. Arlen Specter in the 2004 Pennsylvania Republican primary,” Novak said. But Brownback’s aid also “could buttress Democratic attacks that Santorum is the candidate of the religious right.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Creating an industrial park dedicated to composite materials — as a new study by the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition recommends — could be an economic development boon for Wichita and the region. Such a park could help Wichita become a global Center of Excellence for advanced materials, which could strengthen our existing aircraft companies, attract new companies and help diversify our economy, as composite products could be used in other industries. As GWEDC president Patrick French said, “It’s a tremendous opportunity.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The following satirical headlines come from borowitzreport.com:
IN NEW POLL ON ETHICS, PUBLIC RANKS CONGRESS LOWER THAN PIRATES; Bloodthirsty Bandits of the High Seas ‘Twice as Trustworthy’ as Lawmakers, Survey Says
KIM JONG IL TESTS NEW SUNGLASSES; Security Council Alarmed By ‘Crazy-looking’ Shades
POLL: MAJORITY OF AMERICANS FEAR BEING INSTANT-MESSAGED BY A REPUBLICAN; Tops Terrorism, North Korean Nukes in New Survey
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
http://www.borowitzreport.com/
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