Daily Archives: July 3, 2009

Palin stepping down

July 3, 20093:56 p.m.

Palin ResigningAlaska Gov. Sarah Palin has decided to resign. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will take over on July 26, according to the Anchorage Daily News. “Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘lame duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose,” Palin said at a news conference in Wasilla. “It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.”
What’s next? “I look forward to helping others — to fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops and energy independence.”
If this is her way of building up her executive experience and reform record toward a 2012 presidential run, it’s a funny way to do it. “We’ve seen a lot of nutty behavior from governors and Republican leaders in the last three months, but this one is at the top of that,” GOP strategist John Weaver said. Then again, there is nothing conventional about Palin.

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under U.S. politics | Comments (188)

Time for a bigger stimulus?

July 3, 200912:25 p.m.

depression1“O.K., Thursday’s jobs report settles it. We’re going to need a bigger stimulus,” argues columnist and economist Paul Krugman. Krugman contends that the U.S. economic reports look “depressingly familiar to anyone who has studied economic policy in the 1930s. Once again a Democratic president has pushed through job-creation policies that will mitigate the slump but aren’t aggressive enough to produce a full recovery. Once again much of the stimulus at the federal level is being undone by budget retrenchment at the state and local level.”

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Economy | Comments (48)

Do the wave for Tiahrt’s climate-change analogy

July 3, 20096:03 a.m.

tiahrtnewmug22At a campaign event in Newton, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, argued that carbon dioxide is getting more emphasis than it deserves in the climate change debate, likening the gases of the Earth to people in a 10,000-seat-stadium.
“There would be 4,200 people in the stadium wearing nitrogen jerseys, representing that portion of the atmosphere,” Tiahrt said. “Twenty-four percent would be wearing oxygen jerseys, and four people would have on carbon dioxide jerseys. We are arguing about how long the sleeves are going to be on one of those jerseys.”

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Environment, Kansas delegation | Comments (134)

Open thread 7/3

July 3, 20096:02 a.m.

thread414

By The Editors | Filed under Open thread | Comments (147)

Stephan championed victims’ rights

July 3, 20096:01 a.m.

stephanbobCongratulations to former Attorney General Robert Stephan for being honored this week by Gov. Mark Parkinson for his work on behalf of crime victims. A plaque recognizing the former Wichitan is being placed by a tree that was planted on the Capitol grounds 20 years ago to commemorate the passage of the Kansas Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights. During the 1989 legislative process, Stephan said, “My firm conviction that crime victims need to be guaranteed certain rights flows from an appreciation of how they have been denied access to the criminal justice system in the past.” Stephan continues to work on behalf of crime victims as chairman of the Governor’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board and by trying to raise public awareness about domestic violence.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Kansas government | Comments (6)

Another Brownback in a hot spot

July 3, 20096:00 a.m.

When the president of Honduras was arrested by soldiers and exiled Sunday after a controversial referendum, the Americans in the country included Andy Brownback, a son of Sen. Sam Brownback. He’s a Kansas State University senior studying at the Panamerican School of Agriculture at Zamorano. Classes have continued, but students are no longer permitted to leave campus, he wrote in the Topeka Capital-Journal. “The response to the news by students at the university was remarkably disinterested,” he wrote. “The majority of students come from Latin American countries in the region, all of which are accustomed to varying degrees of civil unrest.” Brownback is scheduled to leave July 12.

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Foreign affairs, Kansas delegation | Comments (3)