It’s just what many people were worried about: Some of the abortion records obtained by former Attorney General Phill Kline may be missing. Attorney General Paul Morrison said he has most of the records. But he said that they had been "strung out to three or four different places that we know of." And he isn’t sure he has all the records, including those from patients at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Johnson County, where Kline is now the district attorney.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Bill O’Reilly is getting some props for appearing on Comedy Central’s "The Colbert Report" (click here to watch some of the clips) and for having Stephen Colbert as a guest on his Fox News Channel show. "O’Reilly deserves credit for being a good sport, because his was the thankless role," a New York Times critic reported. "The imitation was a lot funnier — and sharper-edged — than the real thing." Among Colbert’s digs: "You and I have taken a lot of positions against the powers that be, and we’ve paid a heavy price," Colbert told O’Reilly. "We have TV shows, product lines and books." And when O’Reilly said that his combative persona was "all an act," Colbert responded, "If you’re an act, then what am I?"
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Kansas City Star’s KC Buzz Blog reports that Sen. Pat Roberts will join Sen. Sam Brownback for his presidential campaign launch Saturday in Topeka — a solidarity seemingly at odds with last month’s report that Roberts had touted Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to a group of business bigwigs and lobbyists as "the right man in the right place at the right time" for 2008.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The brouhaha over plans to build George W. Bush’s $200 million presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas is getting nasty. Some faculty members opposed to Bush’s policies and the Iraq war fear the library and related think tank will hurt SMU’s reputation. Now, Methodist ministers across the nation are trying to stop the plan, arguing that the “linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate.” But all this seems shortsighted. Any presidential library brings prestige and economic development to its host university and community. And one thing is certain about the Bush presidency: For better and worse, it will fascinate historians for all time.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Some lagging trends are worrisome. This is just plain great: the United States’ declining rate of cancer deaths. According to the American Cancer Society, the number dipped in 2003 for the first time since 1930, and the decline continued through 2004, to 553,888 total deaths. Experts say fewer Americans are smoking and more people are benefiting from early detection and better treatment of tumors. Whatever it is, it’s working. The good news should inspire those due for a mammogram, PSA test, colonoscopy or checkup to make that call. President Bush’s related call for Congress to better protect patients’ genetic information should be heeded, too.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Smoking bans still seem un-American to many Kansans, especially when they apply to businesses. But the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday on a proposed statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, and could vote on it next week. Committee Chairman John Vratil, R-Leawood, said he thinks passage is “a matter of time. I don’t know if this is the time, however.”
But Chuck Magerl, owner of Free State Brewery in Lawrence, which has a city ban, told the committee that if the state believes secondhand smoke is devastating to nonsmokers it should “have the courage to ban the sale of tobacco in Kansas.”
Don’t hold your breath on either idea.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Parade Magazine, the supplement in Sunday’s Eagle, reported last week on where America is No. 1 in the world and where it is not. There are a lot of categories that could be on either list. But Parade’s No. 1 list for the United States included: number of Nobel Prize winners, number of billionaires, number of Internet users, military spending, economy, national debt, trade deficit, miles of road, number of airports, and gold reserves. Where the United States lags: health care (we spend more per capita on health care, but 43 countries have more physicians per capita and 33 countries have lower infant death rates), crime (we have the highest per capita rate of people in prison), women in legislatures (71 countries do better), and voting (United States is 139th of 172 nations).
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
