Attorney General Phill Kline is trying to make his political troubles into a story of Christian martyrdom. He declares in a recent campaign letter: “My openness about my Christianity seems to be something that my opponent and his sympathizers simply cannot stand.”
Oh, please. As we point out in today’s editorial, Kline’s troubles have nothing to do with hostility to Christianity and everything to do with his poor judgment and cynical misuse of religion.
And former Republican Attorney General Bob Stephan said Kline’s attempt to portray his opponents as anti-Christian was “baloney.” He said people are turning against Kline “because of the way he’s conducted himself.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
We’ve steered clear of the allegations about evangelical leader Ted Haggard because the initial source looked shaky and the timing seemed suspect.
Now that Haggard has left his pulpit, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and a church leader has confirmed “some admission of guilt” — well, let’s just say the blood is in the water.
The allegations first aired Tuesday on a Denver radio station: A guy claiming to be a male prostitute said he had a three-year sexual relationship with Haggard. If that wasn’t enough to make fundamentalist heads start exploding, he also said the preacher used meth during their encounters.
Given that Haggard has been a leader of a Colorado effort to ban same-sex marriages, it’s an understatement to say this is going to have some political fallout, no matter how it ends.
For the record, Haggard denies both the gay sex and the drug use. And James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, denounced the story as a politically motivated attack — just before Haggard put himself on administrative leave.
Posted by Dave Knadler
Some troops, apparently members of the Minnesota National Guard serving in Iraq, had the last laugh over Sen. John Kerry’s attempt at a bad joke in this photo from the Drudge Report:
Posted by Rhonda Holman
By 2030, the largest demographic group in Kansas will be people older than 75, Laszlo Kulcsar, a Kansas State University sociology professor, noted at the annual Kansas Economic Policy Conference last week in Lawrence. “For every 10 people that Kansas gains between now and 2030, nine of them will be over 65 years old,” Kulcsar said.
The reason for this shift is not that senior citizens are coming to Kansas to retire. Rather, it’s that so many younger Kansans are leaving the state. This exodus will create huge social demands for meeting the needs of an older population.
Posted by Angie Holladay
So when does waving at the president become a firing offense? When you’re only waving with the middle finger.
A school bus driver from Issaquah, Wash., was stopped for the president’s motorcade while returning from a field trip in Seattle. As the passing president waved, the 43-year-old driver flipped him the bird.
Bush apparently noticed and mentioned it to the Washington congressman riding in the same limousine. That was in June. The driver was fired in September.
Posted by Dave Knadler
They say Tehran is lovely this time of year.
Or maybe they don’t. But even as nuclear tensions grow between Iran and the United States, Tehran has decided to reach out to American tourists.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency reports that Iran is offering travel agencies $20 a head for each American who can be persuaded to visit. Visitors from most other countries are only worth $10.
While that’s pretty cheap as incentives go, it’s interesting that Iran’s fiercely anti-U.S. president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sees something to gain by attracting Americans.
In January, Ahmadinejad proposed the resumption of direct commercial flights between Iran and the United States, which were halted more than 25 years ago.
Posted by Dave Knadler
