Daily Archives: June 23, 2009

Obama in tights

June 23, 200912:20 p.m.

obamasuperheroIn the JibJab Web site’s latest animated snapshot of politics, President Obama is a multitasking, tights-wearing, pirate-fighting superhero who’s “come to save the day.” On Obama’s to-do list, according to the lyrics: “He’ll spend the dough. Write the checks. Disregard the mounting debt. Stop the globe from getting warm. Fuel your car with nuts and corn. Leap a building. Run industry. Save a kitten from a tree.”

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under President Obama | Comments (19)

Hold athletic departments accountable

June 23, 200912:18 p.m.

ksuwildcatUndocumented payments. A questionable $500,000 loan. A bank account unreviewed by the university controller that was used to make more than $1 million in payments a year. These and other revelations in the Kansas Board of Regents’ audit of Kansas State University suggest, at best, that oversight of KSU’s athletic department needed to be tighter in recent years. As our editorial today concludes: “Winning sports teams are important to the state universities, boosting fundraising and recruitment as well as school spirit. But if an athletic department behaves unethically or worse, the taint spreads across and beyond campus, and starts to erode public trust in what is a public institution.”

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Education, Sports | Comments (3)

McCain helping Obama on Gitmo

June 23, 20096:02 a.m.

gitmoflag9Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., doesn’t fault President Obama for wanting to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which McCain said Sunday on “Face the Nation” is now a “symbol throughout the world” of past mistreatment of prisoners there. But McCain does blame Obama for announcing that Gitmo was closing without a plan to close it. McCain said he is working with the president and other senators to resolve the issue, and thinks it still would be possible to move some detainees to the United States “if you convince the American people that you had a safe and secure place to put them, that you had an overall and comprehensive plan to do so.”

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Congress, President Obama, Terrorism | Comments (143)

Open thread 6/23

June 23, 20096:01 a.m.

thread411

By The Editors | Filed under Open thread | Comments (247)

An All-America City again

June 23, 20096:00 a.m.

allamericancityCongratulations to Wichita for landing its fourth All-America City award on Friday from the National Civic League. Going into last week’s finals of the annual contest, which had 143 entries, it was hard to imagine that the 31 other finalist cities had success stories as impressive as the three in Wichita’s 2009 bid: the Opportunity Drive campus on East 21st Street, Visioneering Wichita and Mennonite Housing Rehabilitation Services. The honor entitles the city to more than bragging rights. Especially amid the sharp decline in employment at the city’s aviation manufacturers, the All-America City title signals to business site-selection teams and others that Wichita isn’t standing still but actively working to improve itself and the lives of its citizens and youths.

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