One incident in the recent work record of incoming Attorney General Stephen Six is reason for concern regarding Six’s respect for First Amendment rights and a free media. As a Douglas County District Court judge, he issued a broad search warrant last month meant to allow a University of Kansas police investigator to examine the online subscriber files of the Lawrence Journal-World. KU wanted to identify someone who had posted online comments about a story on the death of a KU student — the sort of information that the newspaper had twice provided, under subpoena, in other cases. The search did not occur (the newspaper’s attorney got involved), but it should give Kansans pause that their next attorney general saw no problem in giving law enforcement a license to go fishing through the electronic files of a newspaper. As the Journal-World editorialized, “if the newspaper is forced to open its servers and files to police through warrants, it becomes an investigative arm for government law enforcement. That’s hardly the proper role for a free and independent news media.â€
Barack Obama needed a big win in Saturday’s South Carolina primary to regain some momentum from Hillary Clinton — and, boy, did he get it, routing Clinton by 28 points. Obama will get another boost with Democratic loyalists when Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., endorses him Monday. And then what will Obama do Tuesday? Hold a rally in El Dorado. Click here to make a reservation. But Obama still faces a big challenge in winning the nomination, as the demographics in the rest of the states may favor Clinton, who has done better with white, female and older voters.
State Rep. Larry Powell, R-Garden City, has sent the book “Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years†to state legislators and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in an effort to spread the word that global warming is no big deal.
The book, by S. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery — well-known climate skeptics — discounts the role of human-generated greenhouse gases in climate change and suggests global warming is just a natural cycle of warming.
It’s fine for lawmakers to get opposing points of view, as long as they understand that the view Singer and Avery represent is decidedly in the minority among scientists and largely discredited.
They’d do better to read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s landmark report (“Summary for policymakers†online at ipcc.ch). Or read Elizabeth Kolbert’s book “Field Notes From a Catastrophe.†Or check out the RealClimate site, run by respected climate scientists who have refuted the Singer and Avery book’s assertions point by point (they called it “Unstoppable Hot Airâ€).
With so much hard data and consensus science out there, why would lawmakers want to hang important policy decisions on this marginal book?
Kansas’ Sam Brownback did not rate a place among potential “veepstakes†winners recently named by the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, but another Kansan did, Kathleen Sebelius. Cillizza said: “The two-term Kansas governor is a rising star nationally and is coming off a successful stint as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. Don’t forget that Obama has a soft spot for the Sunflower State; it’s where his mother called home.â€
People can argue about what’s in the economic stimulus package and whether it will do much good. But the means to that uncertain end was a thing of beauty — Republicans and Democrats, coming together in record time to make a deal that Americans will feel in their pocketbooks. “I hope that this agreement will show the American people that we can fix it and will serve to move along other bipartisan agreements that we can have in the future,†said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Only time and the next big task will tell.
Congress does not often know best when it comes to medical matters. But those who know best are allowing “drive-through†mastectomies to continue. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, is among lawmakers who have a problem with that. He’s a co-sponsor of the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, and he joined “Desperate Housewives†star Marcia Cross last week in promoting the bill on Capitol Hill. The bill, championed by the Lifetime network and more than 20 million viewers who signed an online petition, would allow women the choice to stay in a hospital for at least 48 hours after their mastectomies. “The difficulty of the situation should not be made worse by the uncertainties of insurance coverage,†Moran said in a statement.
Here’s the take of former Reagan and Bush I speechwriter Peggy Noonan on the GOP woes: “Rush Limbaugh declared on the radio this week, ‘I’m here to tell you, if either of these two guys (John McCain or Mike Huckabee) get the nomination, it’s going to destroy the Republican Party. It’s going to change it forever, be the end of it!’
“This is absurd,†she wrote. “George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues.
“Were there other causes? Yes, of course. But there was an immediate and essential cause.â€
As a Douglas County District Court judge since 2005, Stephen Six has earned $118,000 a year. As the state’s attorney general, Six will earn $96,000. The man Six is replacing, Paul Morrison, took a $50,000 pay cut to be promoted from a county district attorney to attorney general. Because both men are Democrats, many in the GOP-led Legislature may be unmoved by the suggestion that the attorney general’s salary is too low. But properly compensating the state’s top cop should have nothing to do with party affiliation. Besides, Six is only the seventh Democrat to hold the post; Kansas’ 147-year history is on the GOP’s side.
Proving the value of the show’s side deal with its writers, Barack Obama deadpanned a Top 10 list of campaign promises on Thursday’s “Late Show With David Letterman.†The highlights — that he’d pronounce “nuclear†correctly, rename the 10th month “Barack-tober,†“appoint Mitt Romney secretary of lookin’ good†and “put Regis on the nickel.†And “if you bring a gator to the White House, I’ll wrassle it,†he said. No. 1 would be a winner, if Obama would go through with it: “Three words: Vice President Oprah.â€
City Hall has been acquiring a reputation for tightfisted secrecy with public records, most recently confirmed by its refusal to release a videotape of the Jan. 7 incident in which a man drove his car through City Hall, causing an estimated $200,000 damage.
City Attorney Gary Rebenstorf claims the tape is evidence that, if made public now, could compromise a trial.
That’s a stretch, considering the tape already has been circulated among two City Council members and employees of several city departments. Doug Anstaett, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, called the city’s withholding of the tape “preposterous†and noted, “If several city officials have seen this tape and reportedly gotten quite a kick out of it, it apparently isn’t as confidential as law enforcement would lead us to believe.â€
City Council member Jim Skelton also voiced skepticism, saying, “If it’s evidence, either nobody sees it or everybody sees it.â€
Release the tape.
Many observers don’t think the proposed economic stimulus plan will do much to avert a recession. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman calls the plan “a lemon,†arguing that the bulk of the tax cuts go to well-off people and that “sending checks to people in good financial shape does little or nothing to increase overall spending.†Why? Because more affluent people won’t spend the extra money, he argues. “They’ll just put it in the bank.â€
He blames Democrats for caving on more effective provisions targeted at the poor — such as a boost in unemployment benefits and food stamps — that would have put money into the hands of needy people ready to spend it.
At any rate, if the checks come in mid-May, as expected, they won’t do much to slow a recession that many economists believe already has started.
“Why, as a New York-based paper, are we not backing Rudolph Giuliani?,†a New York Times editorial asked. “Why not choose the man we endorsed for re-election in 1997 after a first term in which he showed that a dirty, dangerous, supposedly ungovernable city could become clean, safe and orderly? What about the man who stood fast on Sept. 11, when others, including President Bush, went AWOL?
“That man is not running for president.
“The real Mr. Giuliani, whom many New Yorkers came to know and mistrust, is a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man who saw no need to limit police power. Racial polarization was as much a legacy of his tenure as the rebirth of Times Square.â€
The editorial board’s pick: John McCain, calling him “the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe.â€
The Times preferred Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side, saying she is the most qualified to “start immediately on challenges that will require concrete solutions, resolve, and the ability to make government work.â€
Something for Ralph Nader and Michael Bloomberg to consider as they weigh third-party presidential bids: Most voters say they’re pleased with the choices this year, according to a new Gallup poll. About 6 in 10 voters say the candidates have good ideas for solving the country’s problems — that’s twice as many satisfied voters as in 1992, when independent Ross Perot jumped into the race.
Despite the calls for “change,†say the pollsters, Americans are “quite positive about the candidates running for president so far, and believe they have suggested good solutions to the nation’s problems, marking a sharp contrast with what these same measures showed in early 1992. Thus, while dissatisfaction in general is high, the American public does not appear to believe it is important or necessary for an independent candidate outside of the traditional two major parties to step into the race in order to save the nation.â€
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is waiting to declare a preference for president, but 24 other governors have found their man or woman. Hillary Clinton leads the Democrats with 10 gubernatorial endorsements, compared with Barack Obama’s five. On the GOP side, John McCain has lined up four governors and Mitt Romney three. The big fish playing hard to get include California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florida’s Charlie Crist, both Republicans.
But McCain’s biggest endorsement of the week might be from aging action film star Sylvester Stallone, whose latest “Rambo†movie opens today. When told of the endorsement, McCain joked that Mike Huckabee’s celebrity endorser, Chuck Norris, had better look out. “Chuck, you can run, but you can’t hide,†McCain warned.
Setting aside all the viral e-mails claiming that Barack Obama is a radical Muslim, some people do have questions about his Christian faith. For those interested, here is a Q&A he did with Christianity Today that discusses his faith, abortion, etc.
Not everyone in Reno County has supported spending public dollars to lower airfares at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, a state-supported program that helped the airport attract a record 1.6 million passengers last year. Fortunately, one who has is Dave Kerr, the former Kansas Senate president and current president of the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce. “You can’t recruit, nor can you retain, businesses if they don’t have good access to air services,†Kerr told a Hutchinson business crowd last week. “It is vitally important that the Wichita airport continue to progress. I place enormous importance on quality air service at a reasonable price.â€
Thirty-five years after Roe v. Wade, it’s rare to find a Republican willing to point out the apparent contradiction in Republicans opposing abortion rights yet favoring small government and privacy rights. “They turn away from those principles. I wonder if they can see the inconsistency in their position?†Senate Vice President John Vratil (in photo), R-Leawood, said this week. He also called abortion an “issue that government has no reason to get involved in.â€
Meanwhile, Eagle columnist Brent Castillo argues on today’s Opinion pages that science has made the case for the pro-life movement.
Monday’s rancorous Democratic debate and the campaigning since have made the prospect not just improbable but positively out of the question. But some commentators have been imagining the power of a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket. “He’s fired up, and she’s ready to go,†columnist Ellen Goodman put it. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has thought about it, too. “In this case, we wouldn’t just be combining a black and a woman, but the two narratives of the campaign: inspiration and experience, both of which are needed for change,†Goodwin said. “It would be a bold move but a great one.â€
President Bush reportedly was “pleased†that Congress failed Wednesday to override his veto of an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. No doubt the estimated 4 million children the legislation could have helped aren’t as happy.
The bill, which Bush called “misguided,†has broad support in both chambers and has the bipartisan backing of state governors. And as Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., has noted, most of the criticisms of the bill are phony, including Bush’s current line that SCHIP pushes people out of the private insurance market.
Nonetheless, the House failed again to override Bush’s veto, this time by 15 votes. Reps. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, and Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, voted to override. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, voted not to override. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, didn’t vote.
Kansas may play a significant role in Barack Obama’s Feb. 5 primary strategy, according to an article in the Washington Post. Obama’s campaign believes that the six smaller state caucuses that day favor his grassroots organizing and ability to bring in independents and new voters. Minnesota, Colorado and Kansas are the “big three,†according to the piece.
The article reported that Obama’s team is actively seeking endorsements in those states and “may be close to securing the nod of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, sources close to the campaign said.†Sebelius’ spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said Wednesday that there would be no endorsement of anyone until after Sebelius gives the Democratic response to President Bush’s State of the Union address on Monday — timing that was an “important requirement of the invitation,†Corcoran said.
The group trying to organize a presidential science and techology debate (see my column in support of the idea) got a big boost this week with an endorsement by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s most prestigious science organizations.
Here’s hoping more support will follow to make the debate a reality.
One incident in the recent work record of incoming Attorney General Stephen Six is reason for concern regarding Six’s respect for First Amendment rights and a free media. As a Douglas County District Court judge, he issued a broad search warrant last month meant to allow a University of Kansas police investigator to examine the online subscriber files of the Lawrence Journal-World. KU wanted to identify someone who had posted online comments about a story on the death of a KU student — the sort of information that the newspaper had twice provided, under subpoena, in other cases. The search did not occur (the newspaper’s attorney got involved), but it should give Kansans pause that their next attorney general saw no problem in giving law enforcement a license to go fishing through the electronic files of a newspaper. As the Journal-World editorialized, “if the newspaper is forced to open its servers and files to police through warrants, it becomes an investigative arm for government law enforcement. That’s hardly the proper role for a free and independent news media.â€
