Daily Archives: Dec. 19, 2006

Phill Kline, Operation Rescue’s man

Dec. 19, 20066:13 p.m.

Surprise! Operation Rescue, the anti-abortion group, named outgoing Attorney General Phill Kline its “Man of the Year” for his dogged harassment of two Kansas abortion clinics. The group lauded Kline as a political martyr who sacrificed his career to “stand on integrity and principle.”
The award confirms what many voters already suspected about Kline: He is essentially a social activist, willing to put his fight against abortion above the integrity of his office and the will of the voters.
Operation Rescue’s man is now Johnson County’s.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (174)

Flickers of freedom in Iran

Dec. 19, 20061:07 p.m.

Last week, Iranian students were burning pictures of their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and cursing him as a fascist. This week, election returns are being seen as a major setback for the hard-line leader.
Is this the start of a movement toward moderation in Tehran? Let’s hope so. But there’s always room for pessimism: The Guardian reports that those same student protesters are now in hiding in fear for their lives.
Still, as the New York Times reported, the fact that the student protest was featured on the evening news on state television — which is controlled by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — signals that “someone fairly senior is less than enchanted with Mr. Ahmadinejad.”
Posted by Dave Knadler

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Foreign affairs | Comments (50)

More outside questions about Holcomb plant

Dec. 19, 20061:03 p.m.

Now the U.S. Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service is raising questions about the environmental impact of the Holcomb coal-fired plant in western Kansas, citing a possible air pollution threat to the Wichita Mountains federal wilderness area in southwestern Oklahoma. More evidence that, whether Gov. Kathleen Sebelius likes it or not, this is becoming a national issue.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Environment | Comments (107)

Open thread

Dec. 19, 20061:05 a.m.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Open thread | Comments (60)

SMG will deliver the big shows

Dec. 19, 20061:04 a.m.

Wichita’s entertainment scene is about to kick it up a notch. It’s good that Sedgwick County officials are negotiating with a proven national company, SMG, to manage the downtown arena. Its track record suggests it will deliver more major acts to Wichita than ever before.
Of course, the arena naysayers won’t want to go. But most Wichitans will welcome more big-name excitement in our city.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Arena | Comments (48)

Gingrich’s fighting words on free speech

Dec. 19, 20061:03 a.m.

Possible 2008 presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that the First Amendment, at least as interpreted now, may be incompatible with protecting the homeland. His first idea for where to curtail free speech in a time of terrorism: “You close down any Web site that is jihadist,” he said, noting a Web-inspired “jihadist” in Illinois recently sought to buy hand grenades to blow up a mall at Christmas. Gingrich went on: “This country has every right to defend itself, and you saw the same thing recently on this U.S. Airlines provocation, where you had six people go way out of their way to cause trouble, and then claim they were infringed upon. And I think, frankly, the president should invite that U.S. Airlines crew to the White House and thank them, because we ought to set a standard that if you’re provocative about killing people, we’re not going to show you any mercy.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Homeland security | Comments (83)

Congratulations on being named Time’s Person of the Year

Dec. 19, 20061:02 a.m.

Time magazine’s Person of the Year turns out to be the person each of us knows best. As Time sees it, choosing “you” as Person of the Year for 2006, complete with a “mirror” on the cover, is “about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people’s network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It’s about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.” Those wishing for a more traditional Person of the Year can find some contenders inside, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Jack Abramoff, Muqtada al-Sadr, Sacha Baron Cohen, “Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld” (as a group), Raul Castro, Hugo Chavez, Stephen Colbert, “the Grain Farmer,” Katie Couric, Bill Ford, Michael J. Fox, Congress’ new Democratic leadership, Al Gore, the Iraq Study Group, Kim Jong Il, Angela Merkel, John Murtha, Pluto, Pope Benedict XVI and Condoleezza Rice.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Media | Comments (53)

Sebelius makes another newsweekly

Dec. 19, 20061:00 a.m.

In its year-ending “Who’s Next” feature, Newsweek counts Gov. Kathleen Sebelius among 21 people worth watching in 2007, calling her a “pro-business, pro-military, pro-choice, fiscal conservative” who “has emerged as the dean of a new breed of Democrats taking over what was once reliably red terrain.” In the piece, which says she “helped revive the bankrupt school system,” Sebelius says: “Kansans are pragmatic. Results trump labels.” Fill in Kansas Republican response of your choice here.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under U.S. politics | Comments (23)