As promised, President Bush has vetoed Congress’ bipartisan $35 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. He prefers only a $5 billion increase, which experts say won’t keep up with the needs of children now eligible for SCHIP. With his veto, Bush has handed Democrats a juicy issue for the campaign ads of 2008. But congressional leaders should keep their tantrums brief and head back to the negotiating table to find an SCHIP expansion that either the president can sign or that will attract enough votes to be veto-proof.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
"We don’t need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12," wrote New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. "What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again."
Friedman argues that since Sept. 11, our government has been exporting and promoting fear rather than hope, which has damaged our position in the world. "We need a president who will unite us around a common purpose, not a common enemy," he said. "Al-Qaida is about 9/11. We are about 9/12, we are about the Fourth of July."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
In testimony to Congress Tuesday, Blackwater USA chairman Erik Prince defended his employees against charges they’re acting like trigger-happy cowboys, saying his company “performs only defensive security functions” in Iraq.
But that doesn’t square with a blistering report released Monday by congressional staff charging that “the vast majority of Blackwater weapons discharges are pre-emptive, with Blackwater forces firing first at a vehicle or suspicious individual prior to receiving any fire.”
That seems to fit initial descriptions of the Sept. 16 incident in Baghdad in which 11 Iraqi civilians were killed allegedly by Blackwater guards firing indiscriminately at cars.
The FBI is investigating the shooting. Congress needs to get to the bottom of this and other loose-cannon incidents involving private security forces. One problem seems to be shoddy or nonexistent State Department oversight: After a notorious 2006 incident in which a drunken Blackwater employee shot to death an Iraqi security guard, the State Department aided the employee’s flight from the country and arranged a paltry $15,000 compensation for the victim’s family.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
If Hillary Clinton goes on to win the Democratic nomination, would she pick Barack Obama as her running mate?
Probably not, argues political analyst Roger Simon, citing the rule of never picking a running mate who might upstage you.
“Then there is the Rule of Firsts. The Clinton campaign does not want to force too many ‘firsts’ on the American electorate. Electing the first woman president will be challenge enough. Electing the first woman president and first African-American vice president at the same time? Forget it; they don’t need that kind of problem.”
Simon has a solution for Obama: win the nomination.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Mark McCormick, a newsroom columnist and employee rep on the editorial board, did a public service in writing about the funding and staffing needs in the area of juvenile justice supervision in Sedgwick County. Too many kids, 600 to 700, and too few caseworkers are resulting in high staff turnover. The real problem may be too many years without a budget increase from the state, meaning state funding has dropped since 2001 from $21.3 million to $14.8 million. Area lawmakers need to put the department’s needed $4.5 million more on their 2008 agenda.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Here’s a headline that calls for equal parts optimism and skepticism: “North Korean nuclear talks reach deal.” If the blueprint that came of out six-country talks is realized, North Korea could be disarmed by Jan. 1. Can a peaceful end to the North Korean nuclear issue really be so close at hand? “We’re into the nuts and bolts now of implementing de-nuclearization,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill. In any case, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il should be finding plenty to talk about during their rare summit this week.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
