Daily Archives: April 30, 2009

Obama blasts hedge funds for Chrysler bankruptcy

April 30, 200912:42 p.m.

chrysler“I don’t stand with those who held out while others made sacrifices,” President Obama said today about the small group of hedge funds that scuttled a deal with creditors to keep Chrysler out of bankruptcy. An administration official complained that the hedge funds failed to “do the right thing” or to “act in either their own economic interest or the national interest.” Still, Obama expressed optimism that Chrysler will “emerge from this process stronger and more effective.” We’ll see.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Business, President Obama | Comments (32)

Accountability for Wild West World pending

April 30, 200912:40 p.m.

etheredge2The courts will be the judge of whether Wild West World founder Thomas Etheredge is guilty of the 10 counts of securities fraud with which he has been charged. It’s possible that the 2007 bankruptcy of Etheredge’s amusement park involved no criminal wrongdoing, that its quick closure really was all Mother Nature’s fault. But too many people lost money and jobs in the Wild West World debacle for accountability to be optional. Etheredge’s arrest Wednesday was a reassuring sign that accountability, as well as more answers, may be forthcoming.

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Wichita events | Comments (35)

How might liberal Democrats run amok?

April 30, 20096:03 a.m.

donkeykick5Now that Democrats could soon have a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate, will conservative fears be realized? Here are two funny suggestions by Washington Post readers of how liberal Democrats might run amok:
Everyone will now have to buy a GM car and run it solely from the solar collector on the roof.
Same-sex marriage is now mandatory, and through a revision of NAFTA, gay Mounties are authorized to confiscate all the firearms in private U.S. hands and give them to Mexico.
You bloggers have other ideas?

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Congress, U.S. politics | Comments (129)

Open thread 4/30

April 30, 20096:02 a.m.

thread390

By The Editors | Filed under Open thread | Comments (227)

Welcome guide to the wetlands

April 30, 20096:01 a.m.

wetlandcenterThe Cheyenne Bottoms are among the greatest natural treasures of Kansas, drawing hunters and birders from throughout the state and far beyond with a riot of ducks, geese, whooping cranes and other wildlife. But the important wetlands system long had to speak for itself, offering visitors no opportunity to ask questions or otherwise fully comprehend what they see there. That changed with Friday’s opening of the Kansas Wetlands Education Center near Great Bend, a 11,000-square-foot, $4.2 million facility for research and public education. Kansans owe their appreciation to Kansas Wildlife and Parks Secretary Mike Hayden and project partners including Fort Hays State University, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, the city of Great Bend and the Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundation, which gave $500,000 for the center’s Koch Wetlands Exhibit. As the attraction helps interpret Cheyenne Bottoms for kids and other visitors, it stands to both enrich their visit and underscore the need for conservation.

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Kansas news | Comments (12)

So they said

April 30, 20096:00 a.m.

mccaskill“We’re talking about a state that’s as red as Dorothy’s ruby slippers.” — Sen. Claire McCaskill (in photo), D-Mo., marveling at Democrat Kathleen Sebelius’ political success in Kansas

“We don’t want to appear to be frivolous.” — Then-Gov. Sebelius, asking a writer to wait until after her Senate confirmation vote to report that she was spotted Sunday at New Orleans’ Jazz and Heritage Festival

“Some people think that declaring a state of emergency about the flu was a political thing to push the Sebelius nomination through.” — Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, to the Washington Independent blog

“I don’t think we’re out of the woods. I don’t think we can even find the woods right now.” — Lawrence schools superintendent Randy Weseman, on the prospect of the state economy worsening and school funding shrinking further

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Kansas government | Comments (11)