Is President Bush misleading the nation on critical matters of national intelligence? He claimed in a news conference this week that he didn’t know about the National Intelligence Estimate report until last week, even though its tentative conclusions — that Iran had ended its nuclear weapons program four years ago — were available in August.
Are we to believe there was major new intelligence about Iran’s nuclear program but Bush wasn’t told about it or didn’t ask about it as he went on into the fall, ratcheting up the rhetoric about Iran’s nuclear capabilities and World War III?
“That’s not believable,†Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., told reporters. “I refuse to believe that. If that’s true, he has the most incompetent staff in . . . modern American history and he’s one of the most incompetent presidents in modern American history.â€
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Author Stephen King made a provocative nomination for Time magazine’s 2007 Person of the Year: Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. His reasoning is that the pair “symbolize the media’s growing obsession with issues of personality over substance.†King noted: “People care more about the details of Spears’ child-custody case than they do about where the billions the U.S. government has poured into Iraq have gone. It’s time for a discussion about whether the news media have chucked their responsibilities and run off to Tabloid Disneyland.â€
By the way, Time has an online form you can use to submit your own nominations.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Some of Kansas’ top political leaders are working in the dark when it comes to the science of climate change, judging by a revealing article in the Salina Journal. Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton (in photo), speaking of the existing Holcomb coal-fired plant, said, “I’ve never, ever felt there was a damaging presence of anything from that plant.â€
Nothing but positive vibes.
House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, was equally at peace with fossil fuels.
Turns out there might be a reason these leaders aren’t convinced or concerned about climate change — they’re uninformed.
Morris admitted that he hadn’t read any of the authoritative summaries from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the most recent of which concluded with “very high confidence†that human behavior is driving global warming and warned of the need for urgent government action to reduce greenhouse gases.
Neufeld allowed that he had “scanned over some of those.â€
Scanned? Shouldn’t we expect a little more intellectual curiosity from state leaders on so crucial a topic?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
In a New York Times article Tuesday, Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, exemplified some congressional Democrats’ private angst over the prospect of having their fates tied to Hillary Clinton next year. The thinking is that Clinton’s name on the Kansas ballot would fire up the conservative GOP base and boost turnout, hurting Boyda, who is being targeted by Treasurer Lynn Jenkins and former Rep. Jim Ryun. Boyda didn’t take the Times’ bait, though: “It is something I have no control over, quite honestly. They will demonize any Democrat who becomes the nominee. I just put my head down and work.â€
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The United Nations Committee Against Torture recently singled out Tasers as weapons that “constituted a form of torture.†The committee cited studies that found that Tasers have the potential to cause death.
The United Nations’ stand supports Hope Street Youth Development’s protests against the use of Tasers in Wichita schools and its call for more information to be made available to students and parents.
Posted by Kristin Mehler
Fortunately, aggressive diplomacy kept British teacher Gillian Gibbons from spending more than a matter of days in a jail in Sudan. At one point in the appalling misunderstanding over a teddy bear that her 7-year-old students had named Muhammad, Gibbons risked being punished with up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine. Thousands of Islamic hard-liners even rallied to have her executed. Regrettably, the ordeal of the “teddy bear teacher†may deter others from going abroad to do such cultural exchange work.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
We’d like to second Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ appeal to Kansans to help 430 Kansas National Guard members now training in Texas come home for Christmas before they deploy for 12 months in Iraq. To help cover the $50,000 cost of the trip home for the 1st Battalion, 161st Field Artillery — based in Wichita, Kingman, Hutchinson and Dodge City — send donations to the Kansas National Guard Foundation, 2800 S.W. Topeka Blvd., Topeka, KS 66611.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
