The CIA destroyed videotapes that reportedly showed its agents using harsh and possibly illegal interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects. But in doing so, the CIA likely is in even bigger trouble, because it withheld and destroyed evidence sought in criminal and fact-finding investigations. The CIA destroyed the tapes after telling a federal judge that they didn’t exist, and it also didn’t provide the tapes or acknowledge their existence to the Sept. 11 commission, which had requested transcripts and other documentary evidence taken from interrogations of agency prisoners.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
This is to note the passing last week of Evel Knievel, a true American original.
Some might dismiss Knievel, who broke some 40 bones in his body during a career of death-defying motorcycle leaps (and spectacular crashes), as a passing cultural blip, or a huckster prone to boozing and brawling. But in his heyday, the daredevil thrilled millions of youths with his exploits and inspired the building of untold dangerous homemade bike ramps in driveways across America. He may have been the original for the warning, “Don’t try this at home.â€
Knievel had a genius for self-promotion, fierce individualism and undaunted courage in pushing the envelope of what’s possible. Those are American character traits that, in a nation increasingly given to risk aversion and bland conformism, are worth celebrating.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The truly misnamed Iowans for Some Semblance of Christian Decency put fliers under the doors of a Des Moines hotel detailing why they think former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s record and views fail their biblical and conservative tests. They took issue with his stand on illegal immigration, efforts to parole a rapist (who went on to kill), and support for religious and cultural diversity, and even accused him of “sacrilegious mocking of God for political gain.†Those behind such stealth campaigns should not be able to hide behind phony organizations.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Not only is the cost of the renovation of the Kansas Statehouse now projected to be $285 million — more than twice its original estimate — the cost is up $100 million from an estimate made earlier this year. Forget budget creep; that’s budget explosion.
The Statehouse needed renovation. And much of the cost increase has been caused by the rising price of materials — the same reason for the increased cost of Wichita’s downtown arena. There also have been some unforeseen complications in the massive project.
But part of the cost increase stems from lawmakers’ decisions to add an underground parking garage and a visitors’ center and to expand office space. And while lawmakers have been approving the cost increases, they’ve been telling some social service agencies to get by with little or no funding increases.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Those Kansans wishing again they could be part of the excitement generated by the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses have one good reason to be glad they’re not this time: The Jan. 3 caucuses conflict with the Orange Bowl, when No. 8 University of Kansas plays No. 5 Virginia Tech.
For their part, Iowans may put politics over the pigskin: Before KU’s inclusion was announced, a Des Moines Register poll found that just 5 and 4 percent of likely Republican and Democratic caucusgoers, respectively, were tempted to punt the voting to watch the game.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
