Crude oil futures hit $100 a barrel for the first time during trading today. That’s twice as high as at the start of last year. Oil prices are being driven upward by demand in United States, China and elsewhere and by an unstable Middle East. If prices remain high, some analysts predict that gasoline could hit $4 a gallon by next spring. So why haven’t energy issues been a higher priority in the presidential campaign?
Given that her running habit keeps her model thin, it should be only a mild surprise that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will be featured in the February issue of Vogue, which photographed her at the Capitol in gowns by Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera and also in business wear.
“A truly a memorable experience — beautiful clothes right off the runway, lots of folks to fuss with hair and makeup, and I will never look at my office and the Senate Chamber quite the same way without remembering an extraordinary day at the Capitol,†the governor wrote in an e-mail about the photo shoot.
Expect her GOP critics to call it something else.
GOP presidential contender Mike Huckabee’s rise may have been checked by his fumbled response to the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and his announcement at a press conference that he wouldn’t air a negative ad against Mitt Romney (which he then aired at the press conference). But some of the media reaction generally to the former Arkansas governor would be funny if it weren’t so geographically biased. He’s a religious conservative and former Southern Baptist preacher, but he’s no political naif. He has 10 years of experience governing a state, more management experience than most of his rivals. His peers trusted him to be chairman of the bipartisan National Governors’ Association. And he was included by Time magazine (alongside Kansas’ Kathleen Sebelius) among “America’s Five Best Governors†two years ago, lauded as a “mature, consensus-building conservative who earns praise from fellow evangelicals and, occasionally, liberal Democrats.†There are sound reasons to oppose the guy, but those who treat him like some nutty hick are overlooking his record.
It only seems as if presidential candidates have played faster and looser with the truth so far this election cycle. “I would not say that the level of honesty or deception is better or worse than in past campaigns,†Brooks Jackson, director of Annenberg Political Fact Check, told the Washington Post. But for the record: Mitt Romney never saw his father march with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., 660 Pakistanis did not cross U.S. borders illegally in 2006 (Mike Huckabee said they did), Rudy Giuliani’s odds of surviving prostate cancer were not twice as high in the United States as in Britain, there are not more young black males in prison than in college (Barack Obama), NAFTA has not cost Americans “millions of jobs†(John Edwards), and there is no plan for a “NAFTA superhighway†to link Mexico with Canada and undermine U.S. sovereignty (Ron Paul). Any questions? Check out the Web site www.factcheck.org for its “whoppers of 2007†and other political hooey.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Contrary to what its critics say, the 2004 law allowing eligible children of undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition is not a handout. The kids pay tuition, like any other graduates of Kansas high schools. Because of it, 243 students are in the state higher education system, mostly at community colleges. Unfortunately, the lawsuit over the law is costing taxpayers — more than $160,000 so far, to a Kansas City, Mo., law firm hired by former Attorney General Phill Kline to defend the law, according to the Lawrence Journal-World. And it’s not over yet. Kris Kobach, the plaintiffs’ attorney when he isn’t chairing the Kansas Republican Party, may ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case, despite the refusal of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to rehear a challenge of the law. If Kobach is serious about wanting the state to spend less money, he can do his part by shutting down this losing lawsuit.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Some pundits are getting cold feet when it comes to predicting the winners of Thursday night’s Iowa caucuses. Not the Kansas City Star’s Steve Kraske. He sees the Democrats punching Hillary Clinton’s ticket, while Republicans rally around Mike Huckabee. His 2008 forecast also has Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, winning a sixth term, and former Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Topeka, reclaiming the job that Rep. Nancy Boyda, R-Topeka, took away from him in 2006.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
