Daily Archives: Oct. 6, 2009

No justifying Tiller’s murder

Oct. 6, 200912:29 p.m.

parker,starMost pro-life groups, including Operation Rescue,  condemned the murder of Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller and didn’t try to rationalize it in any way. Yet “conservative crusader” Star Parker, speaking Monday as part of the Civic Engagement Lecture Series at Wichita State University, compared accused killer Scott Roeder to Nat Turner, who led an uprising against slavery in 1831. She said that Roeder illustrated the hopelessness among those who oppose abortion. On the contrary, Tiller’s murder illustrates the danger of inciting unstable people with reckless rhetoric.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Abortion | Comments

ACORN link exaggerated

Oct. 6, 20096:03 a.m.

acornRep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, wants to revoke ACORN’s tax-exempt status. But in making that case, Tiahrt doesn’t need to follow the example of talk-radio hosts and exaggerate the link between ACORN and President Obama. In a statement Tiahrt read recently on the House floor, he claimed that ACORN was “the political machine of President Obama” and said that Obama paid ACORN more than $800,000 to “help him win the White House.” But as FactCheck.org determined, Obama has had minimal association with ACORN since he helped represent the group and other plaintiffs in a “motor-voter” case in 1995. Obama’s campaign did pay ACORN $800,000 during the Democratic primary as part of a “get out the vote” effort. But that’s 0.1 percent of the more than $700 million Obama spent during the 2008 campaign.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Kansas delegation, President Obama | Comments

Open thread 10/6

Oct. 6, 20096:02 a.m.

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By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Open thread | Comments

Get U.S. pension funds out of Iran

Oct. 6, 20096:01 a.m.

irannukeSen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is an architect of one of the better tools available to pressure Iran about its nuclear program. On “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., noted that he and Brownback have a bill to “allow pension fund entities around the country to divest pension fund assets out of companies that are doing business with Iran’s energy sector, up to a $20 million level.” When the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act was introduced in May, Brownback said: “We must take every possible step to pressure the Iranian regime to abandon its illegal pursuit of nuclear weapons, its global sponsorship of terrorism and its brutal oppression of the Iranian people. Divestment can and should play a key role in this effort.”

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Iran, Kansas delegation | Comments

Tolls could be worse

Oct. 6, 20096:00 a.m.

turnpikeIt’s hardly great news for Kansas drivers that the Kansas Turnpike tolls went up last week for all but K-TAG users — now costing a motorist $10.75 in cash to travel the turnpike’s entire 236 miles, up from $3.80 when the turnpike opened in 1956. But, as Topeka Capital-Journal columnist Ric Anderson noted, “the toll would now be $30.15 if it had risen at the rate of inflation since 1956.”

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Kansas government | Comments