Although 38 percent of Americans surveyed think “too old” describes John McCain somewhat or very well, there’s no indication that McCain, 71, isn’t physically up to being president. But voters might wonder whether McCain is too out of touch with modern technology. McCain admits he hasn’t mastered the Internet, and he doesn’t use e-mail. “I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail,” he said.
Words of caution to Kansas school districts planning bond issues: Don’t make Hutchinson’s mistake. As the Hutchinson News editorialized, USD 308’s $78.8 million bond issue, passed in 2006, only factored in a 4 percent inflation rate: “What wasn’t considered, and understandably so, was the volatile market two years later, when many of the projects were put out for bids. As a result, projects are coming in so high over projected costs that the school district will face some tough choices: either sacrifice quality or quantity.”
Derby has taken ribbing from Wichita for being behind the times or worse. But the community is busy busting the stereotype: On Tuesday the Derby City Council voted 5-4 in favor of a clean indoor air ordinance that, unlike Wichita’s weak compromise, bans smoking in all businesses and public places. It goes into effect Sept. 1. Only outdoor patios at bars and restaurants are exempt, and then depending on how far they are from the main entrance and ventilation unit. (Maize also passed a limited ban last week.) Last week also saw the first meeting of a Derby advisory board assigned to study and make recommendations on residential trash franchising and curbside recycling – two issues that Wichita’s leaders seem happy to willfully ignore.
Is the gasoline tank half full or half empty? For a more optimistic take on the energy crunch, see Time magazine’s “10 Good Things About $4 Gas.”
Among the positive trends in higher gas prices:
Globalized jobs return home. “In more industries, such as steel, lawn-mower batteries and upscale furniture, doing business in the U.S. is starting to look slightly more feasible.”
Home buyers are moving closer to cities, putting a brake on urban sprawl.
Cleaner air. As fuel use drops, so does air pollution.
The New Yorker cover depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as fist-bumping terrorists inspired the New York Times to examine the challenge that comedy writers are having in trying to make fun of the Democratic presidential nominee. The comedic line about John McCain is set: He’s old. But Barack Obama’s race and politics complicate the funny factor. Mike Sweeney, the head writer for Conan O’Brien on “Late Night,” is optimistic: “We’re hoping he picks an idiot as vice president.”
Homeowners’ associations in Kansas may not like political yard signs, but they can no longer prohibit them, thanks to a law introduced by state Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, and approved unanimously in May by the House and Senate. The law limits the signs’ size to less than 6 square feet and their display to 45 days before the election and two days afterward. But it protects a homeowner’s right to state his political preference on his lawn. “I think it’s good public policy to let people participate in politics, and this is one way people can do that,” Journey told the Topeka Capital-Journal. However, a First Amendment scholar doubts such laws’ legitimacy, because free speech constraints apply to governments, not homeowners’ and condominium associations.
“Over the course of the campaign against Hillary Clinton and now McCain, Obama has elaborated more and more the ideas that would undergird his foreign policy as president,” columnist Fareed Zakaria wrote. “What emerges is a world view that is far from that of a typical liberal, much closer to that of a traditional realist. It is interesting to note that, at least in terms of the historical schools of foreign policy, Obama seems to be the cool conservative and McCain the exuberant idealist.”
Scott Rothschild of the Lawrence Journal-World did an entertaining job of boiling down the increasingly tiresome conventional wisdom on a potential Obama-Sebelius ticket. Pros include: “Red state street cred” and “They are both jocks.” Among the cons: “Governor, you are no Hillary Clinton” and “Sebelius-Romney debate would put nation to sleep for years.”
One item made both lists: “National media would parachute into Kansas and write ‘Dorothy’ leads.”
John McCain said in 2004 that if the sovereign Iraqi government made it clear it wanted us to leave, we would leave. And now Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said that he would like U.S. troops to leave by the end of 2010, similar to what Barack Obama advocates. That leaves McCain with basically three choices, columnist Dick Polman wrote:
“He can flip-flop on what he said in 2004, and position himself even to the right of Bush, whose administration now speaks of ‘joint aspirational time horizons’ for withdrawal.
“He can ease his way toward Obama’s position on Iraq, just as he has lately on Afghanistan, thereby demonstrating that the wisdom gap on national security is a lot smaller than he’d like it to be.
“Or he can try to ride out this whole embarrassment, and hope that relatively few swing voters take notice.”
Randy Pausch, 47, the Carnegie Mellon computer science professor whose “last lecture” has been viewed more than 10 million on the Internet and became a best-selling book, has died of pancreatic cancer. In the lecture, Pausch discussed his childhood dreams, how he has helped others achieve their dreams, and how you can achieve your own dreams.
Though Barack Obama holds a 6 to 8 percentage point lead over John McCain in national polls, McCain has closed the gap in three key battleground states. The two are now in a statistical dead heat in Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota, according to a new poll. And such states are likely to decide who wins in November.
Most Americans still aren’t inclined to get serious about energy conservation – and President Bush still isn’t inclined to push it. The energy debate centers on Bush’s dubious idea (seconded by Rep. Todd Tiahrt) that offshore drilling is a cure for gas prices.
But conservation remains the easiest and cheapest solution to U.S. energy needs, according to many experts.
By driving 5 percent less, keeping tires inflated and slowing down, Americans immediately could save 1.3 million barrels of oil a day – nearly twice the amount of oil that eventually could be gained daily from drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to the Alliance to Save Energy, a conservation group.
The Kansas Coliseum’s future dimmed the moment Sedgwick County voters approved the downtown arena tax in 2004. Still, county commissioners have a lot to consider before they hang a “for sale” sign on the Coliseum and its grounds, excluding the pavilions. What about the talk early on of keeping the Coliseum arena for “dirt events” such as monster truck shows, rodeos and even circuses? Will the Intrust Bank Arena truly serve all the needs? And surely 280 acres of prime land off I-135 in the fast-developing Park City area would be worth more in the marketplace than the $22 million they’re valued at, especially if sold off in pieces. Further complications include deciding what to do about the RV park, the cell towers and, perhaps toughest of all, the Coliseum site’s 26 acres of protected habitat for a spotted skunk. Is there a business or megachurch that could give the old Coliseum arena, as is, a new purpose?
John McCain’s campaign is trying to downplay Barack Obama’s speech today in Berlin, which drew a huge, cheering crowd. But it is significant that, according to one poll, 72 percent of Germans want Obama to be the next U.S. president and only 11 percent favor McCain. Obviously, Americans will make up their own minds, based on a variety of issues and factors. Still, Europe matters in the war on terror and on other issues. For example, we need more European troops in Afghanistan. “America can’t do this alone,” Obama said in his speech about Afghanistan. It’s easier to get that help if other countries respect our president.
A recent fundraising mailer for Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline was sent out under the letterhead of Women Influencing the Nation, a national anti-abortion group. Kline’s campaign manager, Jennifer Giroux, who belongs to the organization, called the use of the letterhead a “horrible mistake.” The slipup speaks volumes about Kline’s one-note activism.
Sedgwick County Commissioner Kelly Parks has an interesting idea of raising the county sales tax for 18 months in order to pay down government debt. But this plan likely will strike many citizens as a continuation of the arena sales tax, which ended in December. “We told you the tax wouldn’t go away,” they’ll say. Also, the city has been discussing the idea of raising its sales tax so it could lower property taxes, and it may put the proposal on the November ballot. If that were approved, it’s unlikely that voters also would support raising the county sales tax.
A word to parents thinking about taking younger kids to see the latest “Batman” blockbuster, “The Dark Knight”: Don’t.
This isn’t campy comic book fare. It’s the most serious, scary and adult big-screen treatment yet of superhero material. Heath Ledger’s Joker is a sick, twisted, sadistic killer who makes Jack Nicholson’s Joker look like Ronald McDonald.
As this blog points out, many reviewers are urging caution: The movie is “potentially terrifying for children,” writes Jeffrey Weiss of the Dallas Morning News. “The PG-13 rating should offer some warning, yes. But this film dances just south of an R in my book.”
My 14-year-old son and I really liked the movie. But it’s pretty dark stuff.
Barack Obama allowed this week that achieving peace in the Middle East is a tall order. That’s especially true given the hate-filled religious school curriculum in even “friendly” allied nations such as Saudi Arabia.
A Slate piece notes that a promised reform of extremist textbooks in Saudi Arabia’s Islamic schools hasn’t occurred. For instance, here is a “revised” fourth-grade textbook’s correct answer in a multiple-choice question about having “true belief”: “A man worships God alone, loves the believers and hates the unbelievers.”
Hating the unbelievers is central to Saudi Arabian Wahhabi and other extremist Islamic schools. The Slate piece calls for the world’s moderate Muslims to speak out more forcefully against these schools. Changing the way Islamic children in some countries are taught might be as important as defeating the Taliban in America’s long-range fight against terror.
It’s been a rough week for John McCain, with images of Barack Obama before cheering troops and heads of state. Foreign policy was supposed to be Obama’s weakness. So how is McCain responding? By blaming the media. His campaign produced two videos mocking the media’s love affair with Obama. It also tried to play the bias card when the New York Times asked that a commentary by his campaign be redone to provide new information. The Times may have overdone it, but as it later noted, it is common practice for newspapers to request that submissions be reworked, and the Times has published at least seven other commentaries from McCain since 1996 and said it was eager to publish him again.
“There’s nothing new about narcissism in politics,” columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote. “Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president. Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?
“Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted ‘present’ nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.”
Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, said at a press event Monday that gas prices could drop dramatically if America increased its domestic oil drilling and expanded oil refineries. But most experts say it could be a couple of decades before offshore drilling came on line, and once it did, it would only reduce the price of gas by a few pennies.
The Bush Energy Department reported last year that “access to the Pacific, Atlantic and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030.”
What’s more, four-fifths of all known offshore deposits are already available to industry exploration efforts, columnist Carl Hiaasen noted, yet oil companies aren’t drilling. Instead, the vast majority of their record profits is going to stock dividends and buybacks, Associated Press reported.
Although 38 percent of Americans surveyed think “too old” describes John McCain somewhat or very well, there’s no indication that McCain, 71, isn’t physically up to being president. But voters might wonder whether McCain is too out of touch with modern technology. McCain admits he hasn’t mastered the Internet, and he doesn’t use e-mail. “I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail,” he said.
