Daily Archives: Aug. 5, 2007

Open thread 8/5

Aug. 5, 20071:05 a.m.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Open thread | Comments (255)

Stop the Century II scare tactics

Aug. 5, 20071:04 a.m.

Wichita City Council members don’t support turning Century II into a casino. And the developer who proposed the idea announced last month that he was dropping it. Yet the No Casinos in Sedgwick County group keeps trying to scare voters into believing that something that was never going to happen still could. A recent mailing, under the heading "Destroying Century II," said: "They claim it’s off the table — but can we really trust them."
Voters may be asking whether they can trust the anti-gambling group when it resorts to such scare tactics.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under gambling | Comments (74)

Brownback Girl becoming a nationwide sensation

Aug. 5, 20071:03 a.m.

"Brownback Girl" — the music video that The Eagle’s opinion staff produced and released last week — is taking the country by storm. It’s been discussed and linked to on thousands of Web sites, including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, CBS News and ABC News. Friday night, excerpts from the video were aired on CNN’s "Anderson Cooper 360." After watching the clips, Cooper said: "I don’t think Brownback Girl is a girl."
No, she isn’t. Brownback Girl is Wichita comedian Bucky Walters in a dress singing the praises of Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. The video is actually not really about Brownback but is a silly spoof of the Obama Girl and Hot4Hill Girl videos, in which seductive women sing about their love for Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. Walters, as Brownback Girl, is anything but seductive.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Presidential race | Comments (68)

A step forward on lobbying reform

Aug. 5, 20071:01 a.m.

The FBI recently launched an investigation of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, the latest politician to face a corruption probe. So it’s timely that Congress last week passed a landmark lobbying reform bill that finally puts some brakes on the runaway influence-peddling that is corrupting our nation’s politics and priorities.
The bill passed Thursday by the Senate would require lawmakers to disclose donations from lobbyists and prevent them from accepting travel, meals and other gifts from special interests.
The White House complained that the bill didn’t go far enough in ending the practice of “earmarking” legislation with special interest goodies.
But this is a good start to cleaning up our politics.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Congress | Comments (8)

NBC tournament purchase a steal

Aug. 5, 20071:00 a.m.

City Council member Paul Gray was right to be thrilled by the $1 million price tag negotiated for a history-soaked Wichita tradition — the National Baseball Congress World Series tournament, held each year at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium (and now in full swing).
That’s a bargain for this one-of-a-kind slice of sports Americana, which attracts some 80,000 fans and brings summer-league teams from all over the United States here to pump tourist dollars into the local economy.
Keeping the NBC in Wichita has been the overriding concern of city officials and fans alike since the announced departure of the Wranglers franchise.
Kudos to the Council — they’ve hit a home run.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Wichita government | Comments (15)