Daily Archives: Sept. 8, 2007

Open thread 9/8

Sept. 8, 20071:04 a.m.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Open thread | Comments (189)

Our opportunity cost in Iraq

Sept. 8, 20071:03 a.m.

“Everyone loves seeing us tied down here. One need only observe how Vladimir Putin is throwing his weight around Europe, how China is growing more influential by the day, how Iran has been emboldened and how all the Arab dictators are relieved that America is mired in Iraq so we can’t push any democracy on them to understand that there’s a huge ‘opportunity cost’ for our staying here without either success or an exit strategy.”
— New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, in a Sept. 5 dispatch from Baghdad
Posted by Randy Scholfield

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Iraq | Comments (104)

Sebelius at least made Hsu donation right

Sept. 8, 20071:02 a.m.

It would have been best if Gov. Kathleen Sebelius somehow had known not to accept a $500 contribution last year from Norman Hsu (in photo), the Democratic fundraiser arrested Thursday in Colorado after missing a court appearance related to a felony theft conviction in California. But she, like presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and many others, took Hsu’s money, unaware he was an admitted swindler on the lam. And at least Sebelius decided this week to respond to the Hsu connection by donating $500 to Let’s Help, a Topeka nonprofit organization that helps people avoid homelessness.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Kansas government | Comments (20)

Poor way to make a pro-immigrant point

Sept. 8, 20071:01 a.m.

The groups behind an anti-immigration billboard in Topeka asking “Had Enough?” got an answer of sorts. Within a day, vandals added the words “of racism” to the question, painted a swastika over the American flag and added the phrase “fight fascism.” All of which prompted the sign company to remove the billboard, and Ed Hayes, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps state director, to say, “Criminal charges will be pursued and a reward is being offered for the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators in this matter.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Immigration | Comments (39)

Liberal lion breaks 15,000

Sept. 8, 20071:00 a.m.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., cast his 15,000th vote in the Senate on Aug. 3. That puts Kennedy in the historic company of only Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who has had more than 18,000 votes, and the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who cast 16,348. As his colleagues belatedly noted the vote this week, Kennedy recalled that in his first Senate run, in 1962, he was criticized for his youth and inexperience. Time took care of those deficits, but Kennedy’s critics have found many more over the years. Meanwhile, Massachusetts voters last re-elected him in 2006 with 69 percent of the vote.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under U.S. politics | Comments (5)