There may be no end to the Iraq war in sight, but Americans can hope for an end to the frustrating fight over Iraq war funding. Republicans’ faith in the surge seems undermined by the dismal daily news out of Iraq, including Monday’s pullout from the Iraq cabinet by followers of powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Meanwhile, Democrats aren’t convincing in their micromanaging efforts to seem anti-war but not anti-troops. “My feeling is at a certain point we’re going to have a ‘come-to-Jesus’ moment in the caucus and talk about whether you fund (the war) or not,” said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash.
If a showdown with the president is inevitable, let’s get on with it.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback’s high-profile opposition to embryonic stem-cell research isn’t going unchallenged by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (in photo), who last week stepped up to defend this promising field. In a letter to the U.S. Senate signed by eight other governors, Sebelius called President Bush “out of touch” on the issue and urged senators to pass a bill authorizing federal funding (the Senate did so, but Bush has vowed a veto). “Every day, thousands of families in our states struggle as a loved one suffers from juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injuries or other conditions that might be cured if restrictions are lifted,” Sebelius said in the letter. “For over five years, these families have been forced to wait as the Bush policy has obstructed this vital research.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Check out this thoughtful Washington Post roundup of famous things said about taxation — without representation, from George H.W. Bush’s lips and otherwise.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Congratulations to Gregg Marshall, the new coach of the Wichita State University men’s basketball team. It sounds like a mutually beneficial match — a regular at the Big Dance with the small but mighty Winthrop, and a stronger conference team eager to build on its recent Sweet 16 success. Just a week after Mark Turgeon’s jump to Texas A&M, it’s hard not to share WSU athletic director Jim Schaus’ enthusiasm about the future of the Shocker brand. Maybe together, Marshall and WSU can get the glory and respect they deserve.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Paul Wolfowitz (in photo) is an easy target these days, given that he was among the neoconservative architects of the Iraq war when he was at the Defense Department. Even so, it’s nothing short of remarkable how someone who took the World Bank presidency vowing to fight corruption in its lending apparently saw no problem in seeing that his girlfriend got a $193,590 job at the State Department. Wolfowitz is resisting calls for him to quit. But he’ll need luck as well as his famous arrogance to weather this one.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Major League Baseball honored trailblazer Jackie Robinson Sunday on the 60th anniversary of his big-league debut. Here’s another legend, Henry “Hank” Aaron, on why:
“They say certain people are bigger than life, but Jackie Robinson is the only man I’ve known who truly was. In 1947 life in America — at least my America, and Jackie’s — was segregation. It was two worlds that were afraid of each other. There were separate schools for blacks and whites, separate restaurants, separate hotels, separate drinking fountains and separate baseball leagues. Life was unkind to black people who tried to bring those worlds together. It could be hateful. But Jackie Robinson, God bless him, was bigger than all of that.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
An employee of the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, was fired after tattling to the Wall Street Journal about the corporation’s alleged spying on employees, suppliers, shareholders and critics. The employee said that the company had wide-ranging surveillance operations within its Threat Research and Assessment Group to analyze threats to the company by anyone who might challenge its policies.
New York City comptroller William C. Thompson has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department to investigate Wal-mart’s actions, which he called “ill-considered and possibly illegal.”
Wal-Mart is big enough to tell suppliers what it will pay for their goods and big enough to influence world markets, but evidently it is not big enough to avoid paranoia.
Posted by Patrice Hein
The IRS receives a nice chunk of all of our paychecks; one would think it would safeguard that money carefully and notice multiple tax refunds under different names being deposited in one checking account. It didn’t.
Evangelos Dimitros Soukas, a convicted felon who is serving eight years in a federal prison for identity fraud and filling false income tax returns, described to Congress how easy it was to file false tax returns online.
Neither a PIN number nor a mother’s maiden name is required when filing electronically or when a person calls the IRS directly.
The IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said during the hearings that the IRS would look into electronic safeguards, but that it has to find a balance between adding protection and making taxpaying more consumer friendly. Everson went on to say, “If you stop everything that you think is questionable, then you will be damaging the interests of many legitimate taxpayers.”
Is stopping a taxpayer for a PIN number not consumer friendly? I believe that would be in our best interests to receive our own refund, rather than chance them being stolen by a felon.
Every secure online or telephone transaction requires a form of identification other than name and date of birth, why has the IRS not done the same?
Posted by Ross Stewart