Underscoring just how dangerous Iraq has become, a United Nations official reported today that 34,452 Iraqi civilians were killed — about 94 a day — and more than 36,000 wounded in sectarian killings in 2006.
More than 89 Iraqi civilians were slaughtered today in a series of bombings and shootings in Baghdad.
The numbers are a sobering reminder of the soaring level of violence a U.S. troop surge will try to counter in coming months.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Ever since former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage identified himself as the primary media source of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s name — a leak motivated apparently by a love for gossip rather than an urge to discredit a White House critic — the case has seemed like much ado about very little. So it’s uncomfortable to see jury selection begin for the related trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby (in photo), Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. Then again, whatever happens to Libby, there already is an important moral to this story, beyond the one about not outing CIA agents. As special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald put it at the time of Libby’s indictment in 2005: "When citizens testify before grand juries, they are required to tell the truth. Without the truth, our criminal justice system cannot serve our nations or its citizens. The requirement to tell the truth applies equally to all citizens, including persons who hold high positions in government."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Our editorial Saturday welcomed Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ State of the State focus on developing renewable energy, including wind power and biofuels. She’s right: There’s no reason why Kansas shouldn’t lead the nation in wind energy production.
(Unless, of course, state leaders continue to show a lack of vision and leadership.)
Perhaps the most promising plan is to boost energy efficiency and conservation efforts.
Other states are realizing that energy efficiency is perhaps the cheapest new power source around. But nationally, Kansas ranks near the bottom in energy conservation programs and incentives.
This being Sebelius, the plan isn’t as bold as we’d like. But after her lackluster first term on energy, let’s hope this new push provides a needed jump-start to the state’s energy future.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
It was bad enough that the FBI has been using "national security letters" to obtain Americans’ banking and credit records. Now the New York Times reports that the Pentagon and CIA have also been using the letters. Besides the serious civil liberty concerns about the government looking at personal information without obtaining a warrant or subpoena, there is a jurisdictional problem: Domestic espionage is supposed to be done by the FBI, not by the Pentagon and the CIA.
Vice President Dick Cheney told "Fox News Sunday" that the Pentagon and CIA do have authority to obtain personal records without a court order. But since 2001, Congress has rejected several attempts by the Pentagon and CIA for such authority, the Times reported.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, promised to examine the practice. "Any expansion by the department into intelligence collection, particularly on U.S. soil, is something our committee will thoroughly review," he said.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The weather-related cancellations of school and in-service days Monday served as a disappointing reminder of how many Kansas school districts still do not treat Martin Luther King Jr. Day as the federal holiday that it is — and has been for 21 years. At least in the case of the holdoutUtah Legislature, the holiday conflicts with a state constitutional mandate to convene on the third Monday in January. But it’s past time for Kansas schools to do as Wichita and some other districts do, and shut down to, as President Bush’s 2007 proclamation suggested, properly "honor the memory of a man who stirred the conscience of a nation."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Another two-term Democratic governor of Kansas, John Carlin, led a big wave of change in his second term in the mid-’80s, ushering in pari-mutuel gaming, liquor by the drink, the lottery and a severance tax on gas and oil production. But he noted to the Kansas City Star that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius must work with a Legislature with more conservative Republicans and fewer moderate Republicans and Democrats. He also thinks those days’ postelection honeymoon of bipartisanship is largely gone. "As soon as candidates win election, they start raising money for the next one," Carlin said. "There’s no pause in the campaigning anymore."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
