So Wichita abortion provider George Tiller attended a reception in April 2007 at the governor’s mansion and posed for pictures with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who has long supported abortion rights. So what? At least so far, the facts contradict anti-abortion activists’ description of the event as a “lavish secret party” honoring Tiller.
As we said in our editorial today, “Of more concern is that Sebelius was willing to auction off party time in the Kansas governor’s mansion to benefit not a charity but a political group such as the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus, which supports pro-choice women candidates. Sebelius’ involvement with such causes is to be expected, but such use of the governor’s mansion isn’t.
“That does not mean, however, that Kansas needs a new law dictating how governors can use Cedar Crest.
Current and former Bush administration officials have their talking points down in responding to Scott McClellan’s new book. Actually, they have the talking word down: “puzzled.” It seems they are all “puzzled.”
“Of course, nobody’s really puzzled about anything,” Dana Milbank wrote for the Washington Post. “They’re peeved and perturbed. But they can’t admit that, so they have retreated to the practice — time-honored in the Bush White House — of discrediting your opponents by labeling their actions confusing and irrational.” McClellan shouldn’t be surprised. Milbank noted that McClellan regularly used the p-word when he was press secretary.
Americans drove 11 billion fewer miles in March than a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation — the sharpest decline recorded since 1942.
Maybe it’s sinking in with consumers that gas isn’t going to get any cheaper and it’s time to conserve. Then again, check out this Eagle story that says local big truck and SUV sales are still going strong.
The oil industry is ramping up its “clean coal†ad campaign, observes Diane Silver, complete with Kool and the Gang singing “Celebration†— and all three presidential candidates seem to be buying the coal industry’s line that “technology will fix everything.â€
But experts say carbon-capture technology is years away, and may never be viable, she notes. And the energy industry, one analyst says, is facing a “de facto moratorium on coal power.â€
The good times for coal might be coming to an end.
As it’s become harder to find places to smoke over the past few years, more Kansans have smoked. At least that’s what seems to have happened, judging from a new Kansas Department of Health and Environment report. The number of adults who smoke cigarettes in Kansas rose from 17.8 percent in 2005 to 20 percent in 2006, after three years of declines. The increase is small statistically, but the reversal of the trend is significant — and should give lawmakers pause as they formally conclude the 2008 legislative session today without having passed a proposed statewide smoking ban or 50-cent cigarette-tax increase. Lawmakers should give both ideas another look next year. Meanwhile, the KDHE report suggests, 3,900 Kansans will die this year from smoking-related illnesses such as heart disease, lung cancer, emphysema, bronchitis and oral cancer, as smoking-related Medicaid bills cost the state $196 million.
It’s hardly a good thing to confuse Buchenwald and Auschwitz, as Barack Obama did Monday in telling a story about a great-uncle, Charlie Payne, who helped liberate the former in 1945. (Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviets.) But is it a big, bad thing for his candidacy? Some Republicans jumped all over it as more evidence of his youth and inexperience. Many Americans would see it as evidence of Obama’s fatigue. People also should see it as a reminder to get a firm grasp on their family stories while World War II-era elders are still around to tell them.
So Wichita abortion provider George Tiller attended a reception in April 2007 at the governor’s mansion and posed for pictures with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who has long supported abortion rights. So what? At least so far, the facts contradict anti-abortion activists’ description of the event as a “lavish secret party” honoring Tiller.
