The drug importation bill that passed the Senate Monday is too messed up to have any impact — kind of like Congress as a whole right now. The legislation requires the Bush administration to certify the safety and effectiveness of drugs before they can be imported, which the administration says it can’t do. Drug safety is crucial, of course, but as long as Congress refuses to do anything about skyrocketing drug prices in this country, it should allow U.S. consumers the opportunity to buy prescriptions affordably from reputable foreign sources.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The firing of Don Imus hasn’t curbed crude remarks by many talk radio hosts, the New York Times reported. The paper monitored nearly 250 hours of shock-talk radio broadcasts from a dozen shows. Its finding: "Gay men and lesbians, and women and Muslims, among others, were frequent targets of ridicule; coarse, sexually explicit banter, particularly descriptions of anal and oral sex, proliferated. . .; and meanness appeared to be a job prerequisite."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The editors of Time probably wanted to be provocative in leaving President Bush off the magazine’s 2007 list of “Most Influential People in the World.” But to exclude the leader of the free world, however unpopular, yet include lightweights such as Tyra Banks, Justin Timberlake and Leonardo DiCaprio — that’s just dumb. Even in a coma, an American president would have more influence than most of the people on Time’s list.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Congressional leaders are pondering their next move after President Bush’s recent veto of an Iraq war spending bill that included timetables for U.S. troop withdrawal. It’s shaping up to be a political war of attrition.
Bush is insisting on a bill with no strings attached. He’s not likely to get it. Although Democratic leaders seem ready to drop the withdrawal timelines, they’re now proposing a bill with firm benchmarks of progress for the Iraqi government on goals such as oil distribution and militia disarmament. Iraqi failure to meet benchmarks might be tied to U.S. troop withdrawal.
Several key Republicans, such as House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, also are talking about benchmarks as a compromise position they could support.
This approach might be harder for the Bush administration to oppose, since it has proposed any number of benchmarks for the Iraqi government, which has largely ignored them.
Meanwhile, U.S. generals said this week to expect higher U.S. casualties in coming months. That growing sacrifice will bolster Congress’ demands to see clear progress in Iraq, within months.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer’s plan for citywide wireless access is an exciting idea with practical applications for a host of city services, such as giving housing inspectors on-site access to records and letting police and emergency rescue personnel search building diagrams in the field. The service, which might include limited free access to citizens, could give more Wichitans high-speed access to the Internet.
Questions remain about the costs of setting up the system, the charge for using it, whether this is the government’s role, and how the citywide system would affect other Internet providers. There also are information security concerns with wireless access.
Wichita City Council members, who will consider the wireless plan at today’s meeting, need to ask lots of questions. But it’s good to see Wichita leaders being progressive and positioning our city for the 21st century.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine released some etiquette tips for Americans in advance of the royal visit by Queen Elizabeth. Among the admonishments:
Don’t try to shake Her Majesty’s hand unless she offers it to you.
Don’t wear a hat in her presence after 6:30 p.m.
Don’t remove gloves, women, before meeting the queen.
Women may curtsy, but no bowing is required.
No bowing required. Well, thanks for that.
All these rules sound like a royal pain in the you know what. Sure, the queen’s a nice gal, but she puts her knickers on the same as anyone else.
There’s something disagreeably subservient about the sight of Americans going gaga over these royal anachronisms.
Didn’t we fight a couple of wars with the mother country so we wouldn’t have to bow to royalty?
Mind your manners, yes. But please, no genuflecting.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
