Our editorial today welcomes the newly moderate Kansas State Board of Education’s expected vote to remove anti-evolution language from the science standards.
What Kansans should understand is that this is a political debate, not a scientific one. There is no raging “controversy” in the scientific mainstream about the central facts of evolution or their importance to modern science.
The intelligent design folks and their conservative enablers on the Kansas board are creationist activists who want to install a faith-based science in public school classrooms.
Besides being unconstitutional, it’s also bad science.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
It’s good that the United States and North Korea have tentatively agreed on a deal under which Pyongyang would end its nuclear weapons program in exchange for energy aid.
In essence, it seems similar to the 1994 bargain struck by President Clinton to trade fuel aid for a North Korean nuclear ban. Conservatives, including those in the Bush administration, love to hate that deal. But if this one holds up, how is it any different?
It confirms the wisdom of at least trying diplomacy with our enemies. Why not talk to Iran?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Sen. Hillary Clinton is getting a lot of questions, even from supporters, about her vote to authorize the Iraq war. Some Democrats want her to admit she made a mistake, but she’s resisting, repeating the refrain that, “If we knew then what we know now, I would never have voted to give this president the authority.”
But that’s an opening for Sen. Barack Obama, who based on the same information opposed the war as misguided, and for former Sen. John Edwards, who has clearly said his vote was a mistake.
Clinton comes off looking like just another pol, or like the current resident of the White House, who also famously can’t admit he made a mistake.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The evidence presented over the weekend in Baghdad backed up the Bush administration’s recent assertions that Iran is supplying Shiite groups in Iraq with bomb materials and other support. Iranian officials, of course, called it “all lies.” It’s hard not to worry about what’s next, given the escalating rhetoric about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Newsweek’s cover story suggests a “hidden war” between Iran and the United States already has begun: And “with Americans and Iranians jousting on the chaotic battleground of Iraq, the chances of a small incident’s spiraling into a crisis are higher than they’ve been in years.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Pro-choice GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is trying to appeal to pro-life Republicans by saying that he would appoint “strict constructionist” judges to the U.S. Supreme Court — which is code for judges who would overturn or place limits on Roe v. Wade. Giuliani also has said recently that he supports the partial-birth abortion ban and parental notification laws, policies he opposed in the past. The former New York City mayor is attempting to move to the right some in order to improve his chances in the GOP primaries. But the shift undermines what was his most appealing quality — that he was a strong leader who didn’t pander.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It sounds like the Wichita school district’s waste of $40,000 on an unraveled plan to move an early childhood program from Cloud Elementary School to the nearby city-owned Evergreen Recreation Center was an honest mistake stemming from three governments’ failure to communicate. Still, this is the kind of misspending that drives taxpayers to tantrums. And it’s hard not to think of how much good that $40,000 could have done in classrooms around the district.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The FBI, the nation’s top law enforcement agency, lost 160 weapons and 160 laptop computers in 44 months to theft and carelessness. The good news: That’s an improvement over five years ago. But the Justice Department’s inspector general reported Monday that nobody at the FBI — remember, the “I” stands for “investigation” — can say for sure whether the laptops contained sensitive or classified information.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
