Memories are still razor-sharp of the last time Hillary Clinton tried to overhaul Americans’ health care, which assured attention for today’s unveiling of her new $110 billion-a-year health care proposal. Its "individual mandate" that all Americans carry insurance, aided by public dollars if they can’t afford it, sounds a lot like the Massachusetts plan, which has proved far more costly than forecast. The comparison to states’ car-insurance mandates makes sense to a point — until you recall that Kansas, despite such a mandate, still has 160,000 uninsured drivers. But at least Clinton and other Democratic presidential candidates see lack of access to affordable health care as the worsening crisis it is. Their GOP counterparts act as if all is well.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Good for President Bush for choosing as his third attorney general retired federal Judge Michael Mukasey, someone known as a respected jurist rather than a partisan player. Bush’s reward, barring some unforeseen problem, could be a swift confirmation in the Senate. Mukasey’s tenure would be short (maybe 14 months) but crucial: He must rebuild the Justice Department, as well as Americans’ trust in it.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
A low point in our state’s education history is the subject of a new, re-edited documentary, “Kansas vs. Darwin,” that is debuting today at the Kansas International Film Festival in Overland Park. The film centers on the evolution hearings that the State Board of Education held in May 2005 and includes interviews with “the characters who captured the world’s attention.”
The filmmakers originally released the documentary a little more than a year ago, including discussions about cells and molecular biology that were over the heads of most viewers, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. So they re-edited the film, focusing more on the politics of faith and less on science.
That seems appropriate, as that’s what state board members did, too.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
There’s a fundamental dishonesty in the ongoing debate about the Iraq war. While Gen. David Petraeus and other officials keep talking in terms of six-month increments for progress in Iraq, most military people and politicians know it will take years to stabilize the country.
Retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, said last week that it would take three to five years before the Iraqi government is stable enough to govern on its own.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week also suggested that we’re there for the long haul.
“We’re at the beginning of a transition in the Middle East, we’re at the beginning of a long process of dealing with what the president called a long time ago a generational challenge to our security brought on by extremism coming principally out of the Middle East,” she said.
Translation: We’re just at the beginning of occupying Iraq.
Our leaders aren’t being honest with Americans about the huge long-term commitment needed to make a difference in Iraq.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Fred Thompson jumped into the GOP presidential pool this month on the same night he skipped a debate. Now, he’s skipping another, tonight’s Values Voters Presidential Debate in Florida. Why? “Standing up here 10 in a row, you know, like a bunch of seals waiting for somebody to throw you the next fish, is not necessarily the best way to impart your information to the American people,” Thompson said. “I’m not above acting like a seal every once in a while and waiting for the next fish. I just don’t want to do it all the time.”
He may not be acting like a seal, but he sure is looking like a chicken.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
