Columnist Thomas Friedman notes on today’s Opinion pages how Republicans have been blocking tax incentives for wind energy. That includes Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, who helped prevent a vote last week on a bill to extend wind energy production tax credits beyond 2008. The senators say they support the credits but also want to expand offshore oil drilling. “The problem with this is that it was going to take us off the energy bill and a focus that I think we clearly need on more energy production,” Brownback said. Yet on the same day the senators were blocking this bill, Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens was in Kansas promoting wind energy and warning that we can’t drill our way out of our energy problem.
A piece in the New Republic contrasting potential Barack Obama running mates Kathleen Sebelius and Tim Kaine, both Catholics, finds a “dangerous” problem with Sebelius and her efforts to separate her job and her faith. “Every candidate has baggage, but if part of the reason to put Sebelius on the ticket is to reach out to Catholics, Obama should recall that John Kerry — who also struggled rhetorically tying his religion to a progressive agenda — lost the Catholic vote partly as a result of his fight with the conservative hierarchs four years ago.”
For its part, the national Catholic advocacy group Fidelis doesn’t see much difference between Kaine and Sebelius. “The choice of a pro-abortion Catholic for vice president would deal a major blow to any efforts by the Obama campaign to reach out to Catholic voters,” said Brian Burch, president of Fidelis.
Arguably, Wichita already did its duty by the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame several years ago, investing $1.7 million in bonds to ready the former Abilene attraction’s current Old Town building. Nevertheless, the city now appears to have no choice but to cover the struggling hall’s $97,600 rent, which the City Council is expected to do Tuesday. Clearly, neither the city’s help nor the $250,000 allotted by the state Legislature last year has been enough to stabilize the Hall of Fame and assure its future. The hall is a nice asset for Wichita and Old Town, but it’s the state’s baby, having been created by the state in 1961 and affirmed as a state agency in 2000. If the hall is to survive, either the state or the state’s sports fans need to pay its way.
Boeing received a boost on its tanker bid last week when the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, of which Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, is a member, imposed contract restrictions on the Pentagon that are favorable to Boeing. But the measure’s prospects in the Senate don’t look good, according to DoD Buzz blog. For one thing, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, was supposed to be a “back-stop” supporter, but he has dropped his position as ranking member of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee until his seven charges of corruption are settled. The blog also said: “Should such language get in somehow, Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and John McCain, R-Ariz., are likely to oppose it as the bill moves to the Senate floor.”
Columnist Thomas Friedman notes on today’s Opinion pages how Republicans have been blocking tax incentives for wind energy. That includes Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, who helped prevent a vote last week on a bill to extend wind energy production tax credits beyond 2008. The senators say they support the credits but also want to expand offshore oil drilling. “The problem with this is that it was going to take us off the energy bill and a focus that I think we clearly need on more energy production,” Brownback said. Yet on the same day the senators were blocking this bill, Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens was in Kansas promoting wind energy and warning that we can’t drill our way out of our energy problem.
