The death of Saddam Hussein seems imminent, with the New York Times reporting today that Iraqi officials were drafting the formal notice of execution: the same “red card” Saddam’s secret police used to inform countless others of their impending demise. The execution could follow within hours.
The speed of the process has surprised some American observers. And at least one Iraqi official expressed fears that it might undermine the perception that real justice was being served.
Posted by Dave Knadler
It’s extraordinary that the Bush administration now proposes listing polar bears as a “threatened” species, which draws a tricky link between climate change and species protection. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have concluded that polar bears could be endangered within 45 years because the Arctic ice on which they depend is receding; from 1987 to 2004, the bear population in the Western Hudson Bay in Canada dropped from 1,194 to 935. Unlike many obscure or small species at risk, the polar bear makes a powerful poster child for those worried about global warming. But is this administration really ready to take the next step — regulating Americans’ output of greenhouse gases?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Expanded gambling seems no more likely to clear the Legislature in 2007 than any other year, especially with the state’s improved revenue collections. Still, legislators should be pressed on why they are content to watch Kansas gambling dollars increasingly go into others’ coffers. Coming in February: a new $8 million Osage Nation casino on about 40 acres west of Bartlesville, Okla., which feasibility studies indicate will attract Kansas gamblers with its 600 gaming machines and more.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
We’re not above adding to the endless succession of year-end lists. At least the “Media’s Top 10 Economic Myths of 2006,” from the Virginia-based pro-free enterprise Business & Media Institute, provides some food for thought about the state of American business, and of American news reporting on business:
10. American manufacturing is obsolete.
9. The American dream has become a nightmare.
8. You can’t be trusted with a fork and spoon.
7. Wages are stagnant.
6. Global warming doom grows ever nearer.
5. Increasing the minimum wage will help the millions of poor workers.
4. The housing bubble has burst.
3. Bird flu is going to kill us all.
2. Gasoline is a conspiracy — going up or coming down!
1. The U.S. economy is hopeless — again.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
It turns out that syndicated co-columnists Steve and Cokie Roberts recently overstated Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ red-state attributes. In noting she fits the criteria that the Democrats need in a 2008 presidential pick, they characterized Sebelius as “gun-owning.” Spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran told Harris News Service: “Our guess is that they assumed she was a gun owner because she’s bagged a couple turkeys” — in the governor’s annual turkey hunt in El Dorado. But for that event, Corcoran said, Sebelius borrows a gun from Mike Hayden, the former governor who serves as her secretary of wildlife and parks.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
