Though President Obama said Sunday on “Face the Nation” that he is thinking of increasing National Guard troops along the Mexican border to help quell the drug-related violence, he and Defense Secretary Robert Gates made a point of praising President Felipe Calderon (in photo). Obama said Calderon “has been very bold and rightly has decided that it’s gotten carried away. The drug cartels have too much power, are undermining and corrupting huge segments of Mexican society. And so he has taken them on in the same way that when, you know, Eliot Ness took on Al Capone back during Prohibition,” Obama said. “Oftentimes that causes even more violence. And we’re seeing that flare up.”
On Fox News, Gates said “President Calderon has acted with enormous courage and forcefully in sending troops in to try and get control of that situation,” also calling the chances “very low” that the Mexican government will lose control of part of the country or become a failed state.
The British press is abuzz over Michelle Obama’s touchy-feely breach of royal protocol: She put her arm around Queen Elizabeth. But what came next — the queen put her arm around Obama’s waist — seems likely to spare the first lady the scorn of the tabloids, who once dubbed an Australian prime minister who put his arm around the queen the “Lizard of Oz.”
State lawmakers are expected to vote today on another attempt to force approval of a coal-fired power plant expansion near Holcomb. The only suspense is whether proponents will have the two-thirds support needed to override a promised veto by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius or her successor, Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson. But it is ironic and myopic that this same week U.S. House Democrats released a plan to fast-track legislation to cap and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Also this week, the Energy Information Administration released its Annual Energy Outlook, predicting that concerns about emissions could lead to limited additions of new coal-fired plants and that few, if any, such additions are needed to meet U.S. energy needs between 2013 and 2025.
The Obama administration’s quiet decision to stop using the phrase “global war on terror” — confirmed Monday by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — fits its change agenda and should serve its goals of gaining greater support from other nations in Afghanistan and otherwise. But not everybody likes the rebranding. “How can a nation win a war if it can’t call it a war?” asked the Washington Times editorial board.
“Congress could significantly reduce gun violence, both domestically and in Mexico, if it strengthened regulation and oversight of firearms dealers by repealing the so-called Tiahrt amendments, annual riders to the U.S. Department of Justice’s appropriations bill which significantly hinder law enforcement’s ability to prosecute corrupt dealers and other criminals.” — Juliet A. Leftwich of San Francisco’s Legal Community Against Violence, targeting the gun-rights provision named for Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, in her National Law Journal commentary titled “U.S. Gun Laws Fuel Mexican Drug Wars”
“I have yet to see a government job that pays for itself.” — Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, as liberal economist Paul Krugman testified to a House committee
“She didn’t do this for women. She did it for one woman.” — Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, suggesting Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ recent signing of an abortion bill served her Cabinet nomination
“It is an April Fools’ joke.” — Travis Murphy, spokesman for Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, debunking Wednesday’s e-mail and online rumors that Moran was dropping his bid for U.S. Senate
Congratulations to the city of Wichita for being one of 32 finalists for the All-America City award, which recognizes communities for effectively addressing their challenges. Wichita has won the national award three times and been a finalist three other times. The recognition is well-deserved.
