Daily Archives: May 10, 2009

Is relocating Gitmo prisoners that big of a concern?

May 10, 20096:03 a.m.

gitmoflag8Kansas GOP lawmakers are helping lead efforts to bar Guantanamo Bay detainees from being relocated to the United States. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, offered an amendment last week to block the transfer of detainees. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., told Defense Secretary Robert Gates in a hearing this month, “Please not at Leavenworth. This is a hot topic in my state.” Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., appears in a fearmongering video produced by the Senate Republicans, in which he says sternly, “Moving those terrorists to Kansas? Not. On. My. Watch.” He also gave a floor speech in the Senate last week in which he threatened to keep the Senate tied up in knots “if someone gets the bright idea of moving these prisoners to Kansas.”
There may be legitimate logistical or security concerns about having detainees at a particular facility, such as Fort Leavenworth. But as Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution observed, “Members of Congress are acting as if Gitmo detainees are some evil combination of Chuck Norris and Harry Houdini, likely to escape into the countryside and wreak havoc.” Stephen Stromberg of the Washington Post also noted how several terrorists are already in U.S. prisons, and the nearby communities are still intact. And the Chicago Tribune editorialized: “Here’s our prediction: The Pentagon will eventually move these inmates to detention facilities here in the United States. Some folks will grouse. Then the grousers will go back to living their normal lives.”

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Kansas delegation, Terrorism | Comments (102)

Open thread 5/10

May 10, 20096:02 a.m.

momtattoo1

By The Editors | Filed under Open thread | Comments (74)

Reconsider river access vote

May 10, 20096:01 a.m.

arkcanoeAn Eagle article last week showed again how misguided the Sedgwick County Commission was in backing off support for public access sites to the Arkansas River. At the urging of some landowners, the commission voted last month to halt all work on the project from 53rd Street North to the county line. But the commission didn’t properly consider the views of the public, which actually owns the river and wants to be able to utilize it. Nor did it apparently consider all the work that other local governments and groups have done on this 105-mile project, or the desire of the city of Maize to have an access site near it.
The decision was also based on the false fear that providing access points would increase trespassing on private land. As canoeist and WE blogger Ben Huie noted, “the more citizens we get on the river, the more eyes we will have watching the river.”
Commission Chairman Kelly Parks and Commissioner Karl Peterjohn seem ideologically opposed to the access project and unable to listen to reason. But the three other commission members should be willing to reconsider the issue and reverse course.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Sedgwick County | Comments (33)

So they said

May 10, 20096:00 a.m.

“The only way we do well is finding that compelling candidate. Or if there are two Republican parties beating each other up.” — Johnson County Democratic consultant Jim Bergfalk, on the party’s 2010 prospects for governor and U.S. Senate

“Just to think that I was elected six times by you. Probably not all of you. I’ll talk to you later.” — Former Sen. Bob Dole, speaking at KU

“I had to do it twice, so now we make everybody do it twice.” — President Obama, joking as Cabinet members Kathleen Sebelius and Gary Locke had a second, more formal swearing-in ceremony

“Kathleen Sebelius was someone who actually made very few political mistakes, and that was one.” — Washburn University political scientist Bob Beatty, on the event held at Cedar Crest and resulting photos of Sebelius with abortion doctor George Tiller

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Kansas government | Comments (9)