If you feel like you’re stuck on the down escalator financially, no matter how hard you try to get ahead, it may be because you actually are. Even though workers are producing more, inflation-adjusted median family income has dropped 2.6 percent — or nearly $1,000 annually since 2000, the Washington Post reported. The main reason is that rising health care costs are causing many businesses to limit wage increases and to pass more costs on to workers.
“I give myself some credit for managing to get the Clinton and Obama campaigns to agree on something — that neither wanted to be associated with my remarks,” James Carville (in photo)  joked in a commentary defending his comparison of Bill Richardson to Judas Iscariot. Carville said Richardson’s disloyalty deserved the insult, and that Democrats should be tough enough to take it. “If Richardson was going to turn on the Clintons the way he did, I see no problem in saying what I said,” he wrote. “Because if loyalty is one virtue, another is straight talk. And if Democrats can’t handle that, they’re going to have a hard time handling a Republican nominee who is seeking the presidency with that as his slogan.”
Here’s another cost of the war in Iraq: The Bush administration’s bullying of our allies and their diplomats created lasting “bitterness†and “deep mistrust,†according to a new book by Heraldo Munoz, Chile’s ambassador to the United Nations. Munoz claims that the administration threatened trade reprisals against friendly countries that withheld their support for the U.N. resolution on Iraq, spied on U.S. allies, and pressed for the recall of U.N. envoys who resisted U.S. pressure to endorse the war, the Washington Post reported.
“In the aftermath of the invasion, allies loyal to the United States were rejected, mocked and even punished†for not backing the U.N. resolution, Munoz wrote. But after the war started to fall apart, the administration needed some of those same allies to come to its aid.
Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, told an El Dorado audience recently that a physical fence has yet to be built on the southern border because of “technical problems†but also because of lawsuits, primarily brought by organizations concerned about endangered species’ migration patterns. He also said: “One of the things we look at is what damage is caused by illegal immigrants coming through the national park system. They have a huge environmental impact. We find abandoned cars, a lot of trash. We spend millions of dollars every year just cleaning up after illegals coming through here, and we can’t build a fence because of the lawsuits. It’s a really frustrating experience.â€
Congratulations to Don Bennett of Arkansas City, this week’s caption contest winner. Here are some of the others:
Karen Jerman of Wichita: “Now that is what I call splitting hares!â€
Karen Wallace of Wichita: “Talk about road rage!†and also “Give me a call at 3:00 in the morning. . . .â€
Richard Hopper of Derby: “Looks like the Dems are having a bad-hare day!â€
Cliff Jayne of Wichita: “Where did I park my Airbus?â€
Richard Julius of Belle Plaine: “March Madness! It’s fun to watch!â€
Janet Cook of Wichita: “100 years right here!â€
And this fine entry, which came in after the deadline so was disqualified, from Travis Metcalf: “There you go, Hillary! Give him that Wright hook!â€
Inventors, start your engines: There’s a $10 million award for the first person to build a commercially viable car that gets at least 100 mpg.
The prize is being offered by the X Prize Foundation, which offered a similar contest a few years ago for the first private group to send a human into space. The Automotive X Prize already has attracted 60 teams from 10 countries — although none of the major car companies has entered.
Among the entrants is Wichita’s own Johnathan Goodwin, who plans to enter a 1959 Lincoln Continental owned by rocker Neil Young that he’s retrofitting with an electric biodiesel hybrid engine. I wrote a profile of him awhile back.
It will be fascinating to see the finalists when they’re tested late next year. Here’s hoping Goodwin’s “Linc Volt†takes the prize.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius “put up a sign that reads: ‘Kansas closed for business.’†— House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, on the governor’s veto of a bill allowing two coal-fired power plants
“You hang a sign up that says ‘Kansas: closed for business’ when you pass bills like this.†— Sen. Karin Brownlee, R-Olathe, on the toughest proposals to penalize businesses that hire illegal workers
John McCain looks strong in the polls nationally and in Kansas — despite having lost the Kansas GOP caucuses — according to the latest SurveyUSA poll of how Kansans would vote in head-to-head contests. Whatever boost Barack Obama got out of the Kansas Democratic caucuses may have been short-lived, thanks to the flap over his pastor. In the poll, taken just as the pastor’s video clips were all over the news in mid-March, McCain had the support of 51 percent of Kansas voters to Obama’s 39 percent, compared with 50 to 44 percent last month and 53 to 39 percent in January. A contest between McCain and Hillary Clinton polled this month at 55 to 36 percent, respectively. That compares with 59 to 35 percent in February and 53 to 40 percent in January.
The latest take by Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza on whether Barack Obama might pick Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to be his running mate: “If Obama wants to make a truly historic ticket, picking Sebelius might be the best way to do it. Sebelius has won two terms as governor of Kansas — not exactly a Democratic stronghold — and did well in her stint on the national stage as chair of the Democratic Governors Association. Sebelius has the same problem as (Virginia Gov. Tim) Kaine, however; it’s hard to see how she helps Obama convince voters he has the experience to handle the complicated world situation he would inherit as president.†Other Obama prospects were Bill Richardson, Tim Roemer and Jim Webb. Possible Hillary Clinton picks: Evan Bayh, John Edwards, Bill Nelson, Ted Strickland, Obama. And for John McCain: Charlie Crist, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Mark Sanford, John Thune.
More evidence for Kansas lawmakers that the rules of the energy game are changing: The Wall Street Journal reports that a new study by the Department of Energy’s Berkeley National Laboratory finds that many of the nation’s utilities have begun including the cost of carbon regulation in their planning. But it advised that many probably are underestimating those costs.
“If utilities estimated the future cost of GHG regulation compliance to be higher, that might lead them to invest less in fossil fuels and more in renewable energy,†the report said.
Energy efficiency also is playing a major role in utilities’ plans for lowering their carbon profile.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Washington Times last week that slavery was the nation’s “birth defect.†She said: “Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That’s not a very pretty reality of our founding.â€
While citing “enormous progress†on race, she said America’s past “makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today.â€
She also called Barack Obama’s recent speech on race “important.â€
“What I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn’t love and have faith in them — and that’s our legacy.â€
New York Times columnist David Brooks gives Hillary Clinton only a 5 percent chance of being able to win the nomination, now that there won’t be revotes in the Florida and Michigan primaries and she is steadily losing superdelegates. Yet for that 5 percent chance, here’s what Brooks says Clinton is going to put her party through:
“For three more months (maybe more!) the campaign will proceed along in its Verdun-like pattern,†he wrote. “There will be a steady rifle fire of character assassination from the underlings, interrupted by the occasional firestorm of artillery when the contest touches upon race, gender or patriotism.â€
This all benefits John McCain. Brooks wrote: “McCain’s approval ratings have soared 11 points. He is now viewed positively by 67 percent of Americans. A month ago, McCain was losing to Obama among independents by double digits in a general election matchup. Now McCain has a lead among this group.
“For three more months, Clinton is likely to hurt Obama even more against McCain, without hurting him against herself. And all this is happening so she can preserve that 5 percent chance.â€
Well, at least the Legislature isn’t spending all its time on the Holcomb coal-plant issue. This week, the House debated a bill to encourage the Kansas State High School Activities Association to use KU’s Memorial Stadium and K-State’s Bill Snyder Family Stadium for state championship high school football games, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. Fortunately, the measure failed on its second vote, though only by 55-68. Supporter state Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, said that playing at the stadiums would “create a wonderful lifetime experience for young people.†But the association noted that it’s less expensive and more convenient to play at smaller venues across the state. The main questions are: How is this the Legislature’s business? Doesn’t it have real problems to resolve?
Painful as it is to see the squabbling over the Sumner County casino, starting all over would be worse. So it came as a relief to learn that an effort Wednesday night by state Rep. Lance Kinzer, R-Olathe, to repeal the gambling law was futile. He tried to do so as an amendment to a pensions bill, of all things, but his amendment was ruled as not germane. “It was important to at least send the message that many people don’t view this as a settled issue,†Kinzer said afterwards.
A new Wichita State University study confirms what Fair Fares supporters have long argued: that public subsidies to lure low-cost carrier AirTran Airways to Wichita have paid for themselves many times over in economic benefits.
The study by WSU’s Janet Harrah found that landing AirTran has brought about 9,700 new jobs to Wichita with a payroll of $238 million.
Moreover, local and state governments, which have contributed $22.3 million to AirTran in the past six years, have received about $70 million in taxes.
And passengers and businesses have benefited from the lower fares. In 2002 alone, Wichita airport passengers saved an average of $84 per ticket — almost $84 million total that year alone.
Not a bad return for the investment. This is a good example of the kind of smart economic development effort that can pay big dividends for a community.
Our tax dollars and war effort at work: The U.S. military’s main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan’s army and police forces has been sending ammunition that is more than 40 years old, much of it coming “from the aging stockpiles of the old communist bloc, including stockpiles that the State Department and NATO have determined to be unreliable and obsolete, and have spent millions of dollars to have destroyed,†the New York Times reported. What’s more, AEY Inc. worked with middlemen and a shell company on a federal list of entities suspected of illegal arms trafficking and appears to have purchased some ammunition from China, which could be a violation of American law.
The Johnson County Commission hasn’t decided yet whether to cut off funding for two special prosecutors that District Attorney Phill Kline appointed to investigate former Attorney General Paul Morrison. The commissioners don’t like that one of the prosecutors used to work for Kline, which could make the public doubt the independence of the investigation.
“Citizens of the state are demanding we do something because they are frightened. They know we are a sanctuary state,†state Sen. Peggy Palmer, R-Augusta, said during the Senate’s seven hours of debate Wednesday on illegal immigration. “They are coming here and taking our jobs and using our welfare dollars.†Fortunately, the majority of Palmer’s colleagues recognize the truth — that undocumented workers are taking mostly jobs that citizens don’t want; that employers and the state economy need more workers, not fewer; that illegal residents cannot and do not collect welfare; and that this is the federal government’s problem to fix. As for Kansans being “frightened†— if so, it’s because of the fearmongering rhetoric of Palmer and others.
Another reason lawmakers should pay for their own travel: A prewar trip to Iraq by three anti-war members of Congress reportedly was paid for by Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency. “Obviously, we didn’t know it at the time,†said a spokesman for Rep. Jim McDermott (in photo), D-Wash., who was accompanied on the trip by then-Rep. David Bonior of Michigan and Rep. Mike Thompson of California. The Democratic congressmen are lucky to come away from the flap with red faces. The Michigan charity official who allegedly set up the junket now faces federal charges.
To prove itself worthy of hosting the Olympics, China would lay off the human rights abuses and otherwise behave itself, or so the thinking went. But as the August games approach, the Chinese government seems intent on proving itself unworthy — violently cracking down on protests in Tibet and elsewhere, denouncing the Dalai Lama as “the devil,†censoring media and threatening to ban live television broadcasts from Tiananmen Square during the Olympics. Other difficult issues have cropped up, too, including foul air, toxic toys, tensions over Taiwan and China’s support for the government of Sudan. A boycott seems an overreaction, but neither does it suffice for President Bush to argue, as his spokeswoman did last week, that the Olympics “should be about the athletes and not necessarily about politics.â€
Maybe helicopter batteries look exactly like ballistic missile fuses. In any case, the U.S. military clearly needs to be more careful with its secret nuclear materials in the wake of news that Taiwan mistakenly received four such fuses instead of the batteries it ordered. Beyond the question of how such a mistake of importance to national security could happen: How could nobody in the United States miss the items for 18 months? Not surprisingly, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered an inventory of all nuke-related materials.
If you feel like you’re stuck on the down escalator financially, no matter how hard you try to get ahead, it may be because you actually are. Even though workers are producing more, inflation-adjusted median family income has dropped 2.6 percent — or nearly $1,000 annually since 2000, the Washington Post reported. The main reason is that rising health care costs are causing many businesses to limit wage increases and to pass more costs on to workers.
