Daily Archives: March 4, 2007

Open thread

March 4, 20071:05 a.m.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Open thread | Comments (124)

You can take the gun away from the boy, but . . .

March 4, 20071:03 a.m.

Jonathan Turley wrote about how his family won first place in the neighborhood Labor Day parade for the realistic Conestoga wagon they replicated, all the way down to the hand-sewn canvas and plastic toy rifles inside. But “as soon as one mother spotted the toy rifles inside the wagon, she pulled her screaming children out of the event, announcing that she would not ‘expose them’ to guns.”
Having lived in western Kansas, where everyone and his grandma have at least one gun, I have noticed that people in more urban areas tend to call firearms “weapons.” Weapons are firearms that are used to attack or to defend oneself against attack.
In small-town Kansas, they’re mostly used for hunting game and for shooting sports. The children don’t seem to be any more violent than city kids — however, they seem to lack the fascination with guns that many city kids have, because here they are taboo and mysterious.
People who think that protecting their children from exposure to guns is going to make them less violent and less tolerant of violence are barking up the wrong treestand.
Posted by Patrice Hein

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under American life | Comments (61)

No voter wants to be called by a machine

March 4, 20071:02 a.m.

Especially after last fall’s onslaught of political “robocalls” in Kansas, a candidate risks irritating the recipients of his automated phone pitches into voting for the other guy. Then again, if robocalls didn’t work, candidates wouldn’t use them. At least two local contenders robocalled before last week’s primary, mayoral candidate Carl Brewer and City Council candidate Paul Tobia, and both advanced to the general election.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Kansas government | Comments (24)

For Kansas’ Sam, it’s all about Iowa

March 4, 20071:01 a.m.

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback has moved up a smidge in the GOP presidential polls, but not enough. Even the man whose former Senate seat he now holds, Bob Dole, recently said, “He’s a long shot. He needs to do very well in Iowa.”
The Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody said Brownback knows it all comes down to Iowa for him, starting with the Iowa Straw Poll in August. Brody said that among evangelical leaders, “the sense is that he simply can’t raise enough money like the big boys and he doesn’t have that dynamic and strong personality like the other big three” — Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney. Brody added, “Maybe Brownback needs to take his cue from Dr. Seuss: I am Sam. Yes, I can.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Presidential race | Comments (23)

City must handle Century II’s regulars with care

March 4, 20071:00 a.m.

The Wichita City Council could act Tuesday on a new booking policy for Century II and new agreements with the convention center’s three marquee tenants, the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Music Theatre of Wichita and Wichita Grand Opera. The process has been long and worrisome for the organizations that call Century II home. The rent is going up. Plenty of questions also remain about what the city’s effort to turn the convention center into a moneymaker will mean for all the building’s longtime users, especially when push comes to shove on scheduling conflicts. Organizers of the Wichita Garden Show, for example, have suggested they’d be unable to pay the proposed 20 percent up-front rental fee to guarantee dates. It will be up to City Council members to ensure that a new day at Century II doesn’t do harm to the very organizations that have built its reputation as a downtown draw.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Wichita government | Comments (11)