Congratulations to Wichita’s new mayor, Carl Brewer (in photo), who defeated incumbent Carlos Mayans 61 percent to 37 percent. Wichita City Council winners were Sue Schlapp, Paul Gray and Jeff Longwell. Now Brewer and the Council members must show that they can work together to move Wichita forward.
The tightest Wichita race — and I mean tight — was for the at-large position on the Wichita school board. Incumbent Kevass Harding is ahead of Karl Peterjohn by only 41 votes (out of 36,013 cast) with 46 write-in votes yet to be counted.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It’s difficult to imagine that members of Congress led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will do anything but further complicate the Mideast situation with their sojourn to Syria to put pressure on President Bashar Assad. Criticizing such trips Tuesday, President Bush said, "Sending delegations hasn’t worked. It’s just simply been counterproductive."
Bush needs to follow the advice of the Iraq Study Group and give diplomacy more of a chance. Assad and his government also need to be told to stop supporting Hamas and Hezbollah and meddling in Lebanon and Iraq. But that message should come from the White House, not from a few lawmakers acting in defiance of the White House.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The Washington Post examined the origins and debunkings of the Bush administration’s claim that Iraq sought to obtain uranium from Niger. Its conclusion:
"Dozens of interviews with current and former intelligence officials and policymakers in the United States, Britain, France and Italy show that the Bush administration disregarded key information available at the time showing that the Iraq-Niger claim was highly questionable.
"In February 2002, the CIA received the verbatim text of one of the documents, filled with errors easily identifiable through a simple Internet search, the interviews show. Many low- and mid-level intelligence officials were already skeptical that Iraq was in pursuit of nuclear weapons.
"The interviews also showed that France, berated by the Bush administration for opposing the Iraq war, honored a U.S. intelligence request to investigate the uranium claim. It determined that its former colony had not sold uranium to Iraq."
Yet not only did the claim end up in President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address, it led to the payback campaign that resulted in "Scooter" Libby’s conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Sedgwick County Commission decided today to hold a special election on Aug. 7 on whether to allow a destination casino in the county. It picked the date because, in even-numbered years, the first Tuesday in August is primary Election Day. "People are familiar with that day," Commissioner Tim Norton said. That’s true. But August primaries also tend to have low turnout and favor social conservatives, who — to their credit — are faithful about going to the polls.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain took a highly publicized trip to a Baghdad market Sunday, declaring that the media aren’t getting the good news out about how much safer Baghdad has become since the “surge” crackdown.
Last week, McCain said that an American could stroll safely in some parts of the city — an assertion that veteran CNN war correspondent Michael Ware called “beyond ludicrous.”
“NBC Nightly News” reported that McCain’s tour group was accompanied by 100 soldiers, three Black Hawk helicopters and two Apache gunships. Oh, and McCain also was wearing a bulletproof vest, just in case.
No wonder he felt safe.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The candidates’ first-quarter fundraising totals are still coming in, but two have set quite a pace in their parties: Democrat Hillary Clinton drummed up $26 million, and Republican Mitt Romney took in $23 million. Both demolished the old record set by Al Gore in 1999, a mere $8.9 million.
Kansas’ Sam Brownback reported receipts of less than $2 million, including a $575,000 transfer from his Senate campaign account.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The conservative Collegiate Network has announced its 2007 “Campus Outrage Awards," which recognizes the top cases of political correctness at U.S. universities.
The list included a “sex workers art show” at the College of William & Mary that featured “topless women, former prostitutes and current strippers,” soon after college president Gene Nichol ordered the removal of a crucifix from the college’s chapel because it could offend some students.
Another winner was a student government-created scholarship at the University of California at Berkeley that provides $500 to students with a history of illegal drug use. That may sound goofy, but the purpose of the scholarship is to help students who are barred from receiving federal aid because of past drug convictions, not those who are stoned when turning in their applications.
Posted by Ross Stewart
The latest Airline Quality Rating study, co-authored by Wichita State University associate professor Dean Headley, is more bad news for travelers: 2006 saw more bags lost, more passengers bumped from flights, and less service than the year before.
“The industry is going the wrong direction,” Headley told The Eagle. At the same time, travelers’ complaints seem to have leveled off. Headley speculated that could mean the average airline passenger’s expectations have dropped.
Still, maybe this latest study will add momentum to the Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights now making its way through Congress.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
