President Bush seems likely to recommend a temporary increase in U.S. forces in Iraq. But so far, the "surge" option isn’t playing well with the public or with lawmakers — including most Republicans. Only 12 percent of Americans support sending more troops to Iraq, according to a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll in early December. And Bush could have trouble getting support from more than 12 of the 49 Republican senators, columnist Robert Novak wrote. "It’s Alice in Wonderland," Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., told Novak. "I’m absolutely opposed to sending any more troops to Iraq. It is folly."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
"When President Nixon needed to replace a vice president who had resigned in scandal, he naturally turned to a man whose name was a synonym for integrity," President Bush said at President Gerald Ford’s state funderal today at Washington National Cathedral. "And eight months later, when he was elevated to the presidency, it was because America needed him, not because he needed the office."
Bob Dole, Ford’s running mate in 1976, also had high praise in an op-ed piece last week. "He was never a person to nurse a grudge," Dole wrote. "He was willing to admit mistakes. Generally, he had a smile on his face, but he was determined and competitive, though realistic about what he could achieve."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
As part of their legislative rollout in the first 100 days of the new Congress, Democrats promise to attack the steady erosion of middle-class incomes by cutting the interest rate on federal student loans in half, from 6.8 to 3.4 percent.
Dem leaders point out that in the last four years, median family income has fallen by $1,300, while tuition at public four-year colleges has soared by 57 percent. Easing student debt is sure to have broad public appeal.
The Democratic agenda includes several other smart, bread-and-butter items that are polling well with the public, including a minimum-wage increase, bulk buying of Medicare prescription drugs, and rolling back some of the tax breaks for oil companies.
These issues could help the Democratic majority in Congress get off to a fast start in January.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Kansas lawmakers seemingly have spoken on the long-suffering idea of a primary seat-belt law, and the answer is no. Never mind that three-quarters of the state’s 2005 traffic fatalities were unbuckled. Still, state Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita, fresh off his 2006 victory with the booster-seat bill, has the best argument for passage: “There’s no reason on Earth for us to kill a lot of people we don’t need to,” Donovan, the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, told the Kansas City Star.
Also, Kansas would be newly eligible for $11 million in one-time federal grants for traffic safety programs if it joined the 25 states in which drivers can be pulled over for no reason other than not being belted. Still, Donovan said he’s skeptical whether 2007 will be the year.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
“From 1996 to 2002, Medicare spending on treatments for heart attack victims increased about 14 percent, after inflation. But there was virtually no improvement in survival rates,” the New York Times reported. One reason is that there is a financial incentive in the health care system that encourages hospitals and clinics to provide more services, hire more specialists and install more high tech devices, the Times reported, rather than use effective and inexpensive measures such as prescribing beta blockers.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
We were pretty hard on then-Rep. Todd Novascone, R-Wichita, for introducing legislation in 2004 that would have forced the University of Kansas and Wichita State University men’s basketball teams to play each other for the first time since 1993. (One spoof headline from the time: “NEW NOVASCONE BILL REQUIRES WSU TO RESTART FOOTBALL PROGRAM, PLAY K-STATE; But to Even Things, Wildcats Can’t Wear Pads or Helmets.) It still seems like an issue way out of the Legislature’s purview. But one thing about the bill now seems prescient: It would have applied to the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, when WSU returned to the Sweet Sixteen and surpassed KU (temporarily) in rankings, respectively.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
