The Kansas GOP is planning a new "loyalty committee" to punish party officials who endorse or contribute to Democrats, according to an Associated Press article.
Some moderates fear that they’re the targets of the conservative-dominated state party organization.
Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh said, "It gives me pause for thought anytime someone requires a loyalty oath of anyone from any organization."
It does sound creepy. What’s next: GOP kids who squeal on their parents?
Andy Wollen, president of the moderate group Kansas Traditional Republican Majority, said the panel sounded like something from the Inquisition.
"When you hear the term loyalty committee, what runs through your mind?" he said. "Joseph McCarthy. George Orwell."
Posted by Randy Scholfield
A Washington Post article made a big deal about how nearly a third of the public thinks the U.S. Supreme Court is too far to the right, according to a new poll. But should that be surprising? What percentage of the U.S. population is liberal or leans to the left? Wouldn’t they think the court is too liberal, especially after the appointments of John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Meanwhile, about half the public thinks the court is generally balanced in its decisions.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Why should the United States sell Saudi Arabia advanced arms when it is harming efforts to restore security in Iraq? That’s what members of Congress are wanting to know, and why they are opposing a Bush administration plan to sell $20 billion in weaponry to Saudi Arabia and five other Persian Gulf countries, the Washington Post reported. In addition to being the home country of nearly all the 9/11 terrorists, Saudi Arabia has offered financial support to Sunni groups in Iraq and opponents of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. And nearly half of the foreign fighters entering Iraq each month come via Saudi Arabia, the New York Times reported.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Kansas native Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., broke two unwritten rules when he rode on Air Force One last week: He visited with reporters aboard the plane, and he spoke ill of the administration while doing so. Specter told reporters that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee was “devastating,” yet President Bush was sticking by Gonzales out of “personal loyalty.” White House officials were not happy with Specter — though he was allowed to ride back to Washington, D.C., on Air Force One.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Sen. John McCain’s advertising consultants are the latest top officials to jump from his ailing presidential campaign. But some supporters think the departures are for the good, because it is forcing McCain to return to the person-to-person campaign style that fueled his success in the 2000 race. McCain also is hopeful that the change in focus will help him rebound. “ I can do the town-hall meetings, the kind of campaign that wins elections,” he said.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The circumstances surrounding Pat Tillman’s death keep getting worse. First, the Army spent five weeks trying to cover up the fact that the former NFL player was killed by friendly fire while serving in Afghanistan. Now, a medical report indicates that his death may not have been accidental. Medical examiners said that bullet holes in Tillman’s forehead were so close together that it appeared that he was shot from only 10 yards away. “The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described,” said a doctor who examined Tillman.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is scheduled to hold another hearing Wednesday on Tillman’s death — and has invited former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and retired Gen. Richard Myers to testify. It needs to keep pushing for the whole truth.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
In a country that desperately needed a win, this was welcome: Iraqis celebrated a rare moment of national unity this week with the country’s first-ever victory in the Asia Cup soccer tournament. The national team, which includes members of all three warring sects — Shiite, Sunni and Kurd — overcame daunting odds to defeat Saudi Arabia in the championship game.
Will a soccer title turn things around? No. But the win at least shows that Iraqis retain a capacity for nationalist pride and unity. What’s missing are leaders capable of tapping into it.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The governor and Legislature took much pride in the recent elimination of the tax on new machinery and equipment. And lawmakers took pains to soften the resulting revenue blow to local governments, but it’s showing up as a factor in the ongoing budget-setting process: As a result, Sedgwick County estimates it will see $1.1 million less revenue in the 2008. The city of Wichita says its annual hit will reach $7.7 million by 2013.
In other words, state-level tax cuts again are having serious local consequences. It will further strengthen the case that the state should reinstate the city and county revenue-sharing that was halted during the Graves-era fiscal crisis, especially as new gambling revenue flows into state coffers.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The presidential race’s spending reports make it hard to think of the contenders as just folks — as if their personal wealth already didn’t. Among the second-quarter nuggets, as noted by the New York Times:
Mitt Romney spent $31,000 to rent Boston’s Fenway Park for a barbecue, and $300 for make-up appointments (including one he missed) at a California salon.
Barack Obama spent $40,000 at the Chicago restaurant Carnivale. He has 23 offices in Iowa and six in New Hampshire. And on the same day he told a union gathering in New Jersey that he would not shop at Wal-Mart, some of his New Hampshire staffers spent $93.92 on office supplies at a Wal-Mart.
Hillary Clinton spent $44,424 on photography.
Rudy Giuliani paid $74,603 for supplies and catering at country clubs, including $53,685 at Trump International in Florida.
Chris Dodd spent $650 on carbon offsets.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The following satirical headlines come from borowitzreport.com:
BUSH PROPOSES SENDING TRANSFORMERS TO IRAQ; Awards $85 Billion Defense Contract to Hasbro
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS SEEK SCOOTER’S DEAL; ‘El Libbre’ Becomes Folk Hero, Beacon of Hope
CHENEY, BRIEFLY ASSUMING BUSH’S DUTIES, SAYS HE ENJOYED THE DOWNTIME; President’s Colon Procedure Offered Welcome Break From Grueling Vice Presidential Schedule
CHENEY DECLARES HIMSELF NATIONAL MONUMENT; Latest Attempt to Dodge Subpoena
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Are the multiplying pro- and anti-gambling ads changing many minds in Sedgwick County? Not a lot, based on a SurveyUSA Poll for KWCH-TV, Channel 12: 51 percent of those polled said they had been for a Sedgwick County casino and continue to be; 33 percent said they were against it, both earlier and now. Only 11 percent had moved from being for it to against it, and only 2 percent had flipped the other way. Still, in a close election, a few swayed votes on either side may be all it takes.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
It seemed like a good idea at the time: Spare the state the infuriating potential expense of being ordered to pay the Phelps clan’s legal bills by submitting the new funeral picketing law to a preventive test of its constitutionality. But the Kansas Supreme Court last week signaled Attorney General Paul Morrison that it has legal problems with his lawsuit, giving him until Aug. 24 to explain why it shouldn’t be dismissed. Even if the pretest strategy doesn’t work, the law remains worthwhile, whatever court fights it invites. The state that is the unwilling exporter of the Westboro Baptist Church’s troop funeral protests needs to be on record opposing and trying to limit them.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Area drivers are still seeing Wild West World touted by six brown traffic signs that cost the state about $18,000. "Right now, the thought is we’re going to leave them up," Lee Holmes, state traffic signing engineer, told The Eagle editorial board, adding hopefully that the bankrupt theme park could be sold and reopened. The Kansas Department of Transportation budgeted money for the signs based on state travel and tourism officials’ approval, he said. Asked about other instances of obsolete KDOT signage, he recalled the Kansas International Museum debacle in Topeka. "The intention is to not have that happen," he said.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Kansas’ Sen. Sam Brownback missed 11 of 12 Senate roll call votes last week, maintaining his status as No. 3 among Senate vote missers (better than only South Dakota’s ailing Tim Johnson and fellow campaigner John McCain of Arizona). As of Friday, Brownback had missed 115 of 284 roll call votes this year, or 40 percent.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Our editorial on today’s Opinion page notes that an initiative approved last week by the U.S. House offers rare common ground on abortion. The Reducing the Need for Abortions Initiative includes $647 million for health, economic and educational assistance for women and families. This holistic approach is supported by a study of Kansas data that found that "increasing employment opportunities for families, access to education for children, and health insurance for working families can and will decrease the number of abortions."
Some social conservatives aren’t supportive of some of the programs funded by the initiative, such as increased access to contraceptives and comprehensive sex education. They also are skeptical about whether the initiative is really about reducing abortion, or about funding social programs and trying to make the Democratic Party appear less pro-choice.
On the other side, some liberals complain that the primary focus should be on preventing pregnancies rather than trying to encourage pregnant women not to have abortions.
But most Americans likely will appreciate these attempts to work together on a complicated issue.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Democratic presidential nomination contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama turned hostile this week over the issue of dealing with hostile nations, with Clinton even turning Obama’s slogan against him: "Whatever happened to the politics of hope?" she asked on CNN. Obviously, how an administration manages threats posed by global thugs depends on the situation. And as fellow candidate Joe Biden observed, the spat distracts from the issues at hand: "Petty arguments about foreign policy credentials will not get mine-resistant vehicles in the field any faster and will not get our troops home any sooner."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
If the U.S. military and veterans’ health care system needs an emergency overhaul — which it does, according to a new report by a presidential commission co-chaired by former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala — the Bush administration and Congress must find the resources and political will necessary for reform, our Friday editorial argued.
At a time of hyperpartisanship in Washington, D.C., the veterans’ care scandal at least has brought political foes together on one point: Those whose time in harm’s way has left them needing medical treatment must not have the insult of penny pinching and bureaucratic bungling added to their injuries.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Democrats seeking perjury charges against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales got more ammunition Wednesday. FBI Director Robert Meuller gave testimony to the House Judiciary Committee that seemed to conflict with sworn testimony that Gonzales has given Congress. Contrary to what Gonzales has said, Meuller said there were disagreements within the Bush administration about its secret eavesdropping program. A Justice Department spokesman said that Gonzales was referring only to the international eavesdropping program, not the domestic one, when he said there was no controversy. Few lawmakers are buying that.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Having let the Democrats go first in answering questions from YouTube users, Republicans are now showing reluctance about their own CNN/YouTube debate Sept. 17.
"I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman," said Mitt Romney, who may not participate.
Rudy Giuliani also newly has a "scheduling conflict" (aka fundraising activity).
As of Friday, the only confirmed debaters were Ron Paul and John McCain, despite having said this week, "I just don’t think that questions from snowmen are appropriate in presidential campaigns."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
