It’s time to stop celebrating the new moderate majority on the Kansas State Board of Education and start worrying about 2008, when the election could once again swing board control back to anti-evolution religious conservatives.
Moderate board member Janet Waugh (in photo) told the Douglas County Democratic Party Saturday that pro-science forces need to start recruiting candidates right away, especially with two moderates — Bill Wagnon of Topeka and Carol Rupe of Wichita — expected to give up their seats in 2008, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.
"We’re only 6-4, and in two years this can turn," she noted.
As if to prove her point, anti-evolution crusader Rev. Terry Fox recently issued a call to arms from the pulpit of his Summit Church in Park City, telling his flock that "these groups that believe that man came from a monkey are back in charge on the board" and vowing that "God’s army is reorganizing and will come again."
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., surely thought he’d be the religious right’s guy for 2008 by now, if not from the get-go. But yet another article, this about dissatisfaction about the presidential choices expressed at a recent meeting of the Christian conservative-dominated Council for National Policy, counted Brownback among candidates raising doubts about their ability to unify conservatives and raise enough money to win. These leaders also are queasy about Brownback’s support for a guest-worker program and failure to say much about the threat of radical Islam. Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform suggested Brownback and the other problem candidates still could redeem themselves by making certain promises that would distance themselves from their past.
"It’s called secondary virginity," Norquist said. "It is a big movement in high school and also available for politicians."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
As Newsweek columnist Michael Hirsh observes, there’s a strange disconnect between public debate about Iraq and the new ground strategy: Amid all the talk of a brief “surge” and narrow window of opportunity, Gen. David Petraeus’ counterinsurgency plan now under way calls for a long-term commitment of U.S. troops, at least for five years and possibly 10 years. It amounts almost to a complete do-over.
It’s clear there will be no troop withdrawal as long as Bush is president — no matter what Congress or the American people want. The question is, will Democrats end up supporting the Petraeus strategy — and are we getting an honest debate about our commitment in Iraq?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Four members of Sunflower Community Action are scheduled to go to trial in the next two months for a protest at City Manager George Kolb’s house that the group hoped would pressure him to clean up a blighted home in northeast Wichita.
“We don’t think we were guilty of anything,” Sunflower organizer Jason Selmon told The Eagle editorial board. He said the group plans to “fight this to the end” in court.
And he mentioned one piece of evidence the group will use to bolster its case — a videotape Sunflower made of the entire protest.
Selmon says the tape clearly shows the protest was “orderly” and “peaceful.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The Web site Borowitzreport.com lampooned the latest science standards vote this way: “The Kansas State Board of Education voted to teach evolution in public schools, with the six human members of the board outvoting the four monkeys.”
Meanwhile, a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial took approving note of the “intelligent move” in Kansas schools’ “continuing passion play” and warned that “unless moderate Kansans keep hold of the democratic process, it can happen again. All states, all voters: Take note.”
And columnist John Young wrote that “opportunists seized on low-glamour elected policymaking roles that turned out to have a tremendous impact on the state. Indeed, they made Kansas a running joke.” His solution against such takeovers: “It takes people stepping forward as candidates, getting more involved in the political dialogue, and voting.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
If state lawmakers want to do something substantive to help Kansas elections, they can pass a bill that would allow split shifts for poll workers. Under the current outmoded law, somebody who wants to work a polling place must do so for the full 14-hour Election Day shift. One of the stated reasons behind Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Bill Gale’s 70 percent cutback in the number of polling places last year was the difficulty in finding workers to staff so many locations. Gale told The Eagle editorial board that he supports the bill. “I hope it passes,” he said, “because we’d love to have the option available to help us.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Correction: Poll workers in Sedgwick County will be on the job Tuesday from 4:45 a.m. until at least 8 p.m. — more than 15 hours.
