Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion in the handgun-ban case explored the historical context for the Second Amendment’s language on gun ownership. In the process, Scalia quoted from abolitionist Massachusetts Sen. Charles Sumner’s famous 1856 speech about “Bleeding Kansas”:
“The rifle has ever been the companion of the pioneer and, under God, his tutelary protector against the red man and the beast of the forest. Never was this efficient weapon more needed in just self-defense, than now in Kansas, and at least one article in our national Constitution must be blotted out, before the complete right to it can in any way be impeached. And yet such is the madness of the hour, that, in defiance of the solemn guarantee, embodied in the amendments to the Constitution, that ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,’ the people of Kansas have been arraigned for keeping and bearing them, and the senator from South Carolina has had the face to say openly, on this floor, that they should be disarmed — of course, that the fanatics of slavery, his allies and constituents, may meet no impediment.” Three days later, in reaction to that speech, S.C. congressman Preston Brooks attacked Sumner and beat him with a cane into unconsciousness.
It’s encouraging that a Sunday Eagle article on the experience of Tunica, Miss., with the Sumner County casino candidates found that all three — Harrah’s, Marvel and Penn National — run good operations. All hire locally. All contribute generously to local charities. All have minimal regulatory violations.
The positive record should reassure Kansans wondering which one of the casinos will win the bidding for a Sumner County casino.
Seems that in practice, they’re pretty much the same.
It’s still unclear whether a casino will provide a net gain to south-central Kansas, but the article should at least quiet critics still predicting that any casino will bring economic ruin and rampant corruption to the area.
That hasn’t been Mississippi’s experience with these companies.
Did humans have a hand in the recent flooding in Iowa and the Midwest? Yes, according to some land-use experts, who say practices such as plowing under prairies and buffer strips, channelizing creeks and streams, and installing drainage tiles in fields have enhanced runoff and made rivers more susceptible to flooding.
“We’ve done numerous things to the landscape that took away these water-absorbing functions,†said Kamyar Enshayan, director of an environmental center at the University of Northern Iowa. “Agriculture must respect the limits of nature.â€
Not everyone agrees that the transformation of the landscape played that much of a role in the recent flooding. Mother Nature dumped a whole lot of rain on Iowa.
But it’s also clear that a lot of rain wasn’t absorbed or diverted and went straight into the rivers.
New York Gov. David Paterson’s directive that state agencies must recognize gay marriages from other states or countries was prompted by a court decision in February, the New York Times reported. But Paterson has also been a longtime advocate of gay rights, which he, unlike many of his fellow African-Americans, equates to the civil rights struggle. “I’ve wanted to be someone in the African-American community who recognizes the new civil rights struggle that is being undertaken by gay and lesbian and transgendered people,†Paterson said.
Wow. Former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole didn’t mince words in a ferocious e-mail he sent last week to Scott McClellan:
“There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues,†Dole wrote. “No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits and, spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique.â€
But Dole was just getting warmed up: “In my nearly 36 years of public service I’ve known of a few like you. No doubt you will ‘clean up’ as the liberal anti-Bush press will promote your belated concerns with wild enthusiasm. When the money starts rolling in you should donate it to a worthy cause, something like, ‘Biting The Hand That Fed Me.’â€
Tell us how you really feel, Bob. If nothing else, he’s proved that he can still get in touch with his inner mean streak.
Americans drove 11 billion fewer miles in March than a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation — the sharpest decline recorded since 1942.
Maybe it’s sinking in with consumers that gas isn’t going to get any cheaper and it’s time to conserve. Then again, check out this Eagle story that says local big truck and SUV sales are still going strong.
Today the nation pauses to honor the fallen — the courageous Americans who heard the call to serve, followed it into harm’s way, and gave their all in defense of freedom. Our thoughts today are of the 54 Kansans killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and of their loved ones, for whom loss is a daily companion. We also feel the immensity of the debt owed to all those in the armed forces who have died protecting America’s liberty and security, not just in this century but over the nation’s history. It is because of their selfless valor that Americans are able to live freely and peacefully.
In the 24/7 media world of tween celebrities, maybe it was only a matter of time before wildly popular Disney star Miley Cyrus found herself overexposed.
The 15-year-old Cyrus has seemed squeaky clean and down to earth — a large part of her G-rated appeal. But an upcoming Vanity Fair photo spread that shows her bare-backed, clutching a sheet and looking bed-tousled has many people asking, “What were they thinking?â€
Cyrus apologized to fans, saying she thought the shot was “artistic.†But she — and more to the point, her parents, who attended the photo shoot — aren’t media innocents. They should have known how fans would see the photo.
The editorial board of Alabama’s Press-Register declared a new leader in the “Boeing political hyperbole contest over the selection of Northrop Grumman-EADS and Mobile for the $40 billion Air Force refueling tanker†— the statement by Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., that “Congress has a responsibility to correct one of the worst decisions in modern history.â€
Its editorial went on: “Presumably that covers wars, pestilence, dictators, assassinations, environmental disasters, economic errors, political gaffes and the University of Alabama’s hiring of Mike Price as football coach.â€
ll this would be funny, the board said, if Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, weren’t “threatening congressional legislation that would essentially take the contract away from Northrop Grumman-EADS. Now that would be a disaster.â€
Here’s the photo that has had cable and the Internet buzzing because of the image reflected in Vice President Dick Cheney’s sunglasses. It only looks like a naked lady. Turns out it’s Cheney’s hand and fishing rod.
The Wichita City Council members face their first test of the city’s new dangerous dog ordinance, in a case involving a pit bull that bit a 5-year-old girl in the face, inflicting wounds that required plastic surgery.
The owner is appealing the city’s animal control service recommendation that the dog be euthanized, saying the dog is a beloved family pet. But the dog has bitten someone before — the owner. And at an earlier appeal hearing, the city’s animal control supervisor, Dennis Graves, said he thought it likely the animal would bite someone again. That’s a potentally deadly situation, especially when a large, powerful dog breed is involved.
Charlton Heston, who died Saturday at age 84, was not only one of the great movie icons but also an extremely effective spokeperson for the National Rifle Association, which he headed from 1998 to 2003.
The NRA benefited from his star power and dramatic, uncompromising stands for gun rights. In fact, his galvanizing attacks on Al Gore over gun control laws is credited by some with tipping the presidency to George W. Bush in 2000.
Here’s another cost of the war in Iraq: The Bush administration’s bullying of our allies and their diplomats created lasting “bitterness†and “deep mistrust,†according to a new book by Heraldo Munoz, Chile’s ambassador to the United Nations. Munoz claims that the administration threatened trade reprisals against friendly countries that withheld their support for the U.N. resolution on Iraq, spied on U.S. allies, and pressed for the recall of U.N. envoys who resisted U.S. pressure to endorse the war, the Washington Post reported.
“In the aftermath of the invasion, allies loyal to the United States were rejected, mocked and even punished†for not backing the U.N. resolution, Munoz wrote. But after the war started to fall apart, the administration needed some of those same allies to come to its aid.
Congratulations to Don Bennett of Arkansas City, this week’s caption contest winner. Here are some of the others:
Karen Jerman of Wichita: “Now that is what I call splitting hares!â€
Karen Wallace of Wichita: “Talk about road rage!†and also “Give me a call at 3:00 in the morning. . . .â€
Richard Hopper of Derby: “Looks like the Dems are having a bad-hare day!â€
Cliff Jayne of Wichita: “Where did I park my Airbus?â€
Richard Julius of Belle Plaine: “March Madness! It’s fun to watch!â€
Janet Cook of Wichita: “100 years right here!â€
And this fine entry, which came in after the deadline so was disqualified, from Travis Metcalf: “There you go, Hillary! Give him that Wright hook!â€
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer had little choice but to resign, given that his career was based on integrity, justice and public accountability. He referred to his implication in a prostitution investigation as a “private failing,†but it was much more than that. As columnist Leonard Pitts wrote on today’s Opinion pages, Spitzer’s betrayal also hurts public life. “Do you know how hard it is to believe?†Pitts wrote. “To overcome cynicism and inertia and place fragile trust in the hands of someone who claims to represent values higher than expediency and self? . . . Do you know how much less likely you are ever to give belief again?â€
Here are David Letterman’s Top Ten Eliot Spitzer Excuses:
10. Oh come on, like you were never involved in a prostitution ring
9. Hookers is fun.
8. Just trying to help the economy
7. Have you ever been to Albany?
6. It’s part of my new MTV prank show, “Spitz’d.â€
5. Haven’t been myself since Roy Scheider died.
4. Uh, tainted beef?
3. Whether it’s a hooker or your wife, you’re always paying for it — you married fellas know what I’m talking about.
2. Wanted to be known as the Charlie Sheen of politics.
1. I thought Bill Clinton legalized this years ago.
For more Spitzer humor, try this.
So much for Benjamin Franklin’s assertion that Paris could save an “immense sum†every year “by the economy of using sunshine instead of candlesâ€: Researchers say that switching all of Indiana to daylight saving time in 2006, where just 15 of 92 counties had observed it before, has cost an extra $8.6 million in electricity bills. “The reduced cost of lighting in afternoons during daylight saving time is more than offset by the higher air-conditioning costs on hot afternoons and increased heating costs on cool mornings,†explained the Wall Street Journal. The article went on to clarify that Franklin had suggested “levying a tax on window shutters, ringing church bells at sunrise and, if that didn’t work, firing cannons down the street in order to rouse Parisians out of their beds earlier.â€
Congratulations to Jim Holler of Bentley who won this week’s cartoon-caption contest. Here are some of the other entries:
Jason Griffin: “Where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are…are…oh, forget it.â€
Bill Hess: “It’s to the stars through greenhouse gases!â€
Drew of Great Bend: “Sure most of the electricity goes out of state. But the pollution made the illegal aliens leave.â€
Karen Wallace: “Is this what they mean by a state coal-ition???â€
Becky Hilt: “To the stars through dinosaur dust!â€
Burt Parry: “Add aspirator per coal plant.â€
Richard Gottlob: “I’d rather see haystacks than smokestacks.â€
Richard Brown: “This really is the Sunflower State. Sunflower writes the laws and the legislature rubber stamps ’em.â€
Kim Dunakey: “Rough road to the stars my foot. Just line the right pockets and the road becomes an 8-lane expressway.â€
Cheryl Sullenger: “That’s no coal plant! That’s Tiller’s incinerator! Is he burning babies or incriminating abortion files?â€
ABC News’ the Note blog ends each day with a snappy quote or two to sum up the previous news cycle. Friday provided a bountiful three:
“You have to laugh to keep from crying.†— Hillary Clinton, on having been a presidential candidate for 398 days
“Fun day. Fun day.†— John McCain, boarding his campaign plane amid stories about his ties to a female lobbyist and snags over campaign finance rules
“Have you vomited yet today?†— President Bush, to an ailing reporter on Air Force One, along for the Africa trip
This is depressing. A new study finds that Americans are spending less time communing with nature in activities such as hiking, hunting or gardening as they spend more time indoors playing video games, watching TV, surfing the Internet and other electronic diversions the researchers call “videophilia.â€
The implications are especially troubling for the health of children. “The replacement of vigorous outdoor activities by sedentary, indoor videophilia has far-reaching consequences for physical and mental health, especially in children,†one of the researchers said. “Videophilia has been shown to be a cause of obesity, lack of socialization, attention disorders and poor academic performance.â€
The turn away from nature also has troubling implications for our national parks, which have experienced a steady decline in visitation, and for environmental groups, which rely on the public’s attachment to nature as a basis for conservation efforts.
If Americans have no real experience in or connection to nature, what do they care?
Kansas is getting another p.r. hit with the story circulating the national news and blogs this week about a private high school northwest of Topeka that wouldn’t allow a female referee to officiate a boys’ game because the school doesn’t allow women to be in authority over men. The Kansas State High School Activities Association is investigating the report and may prohibit St. Mary’s Academy from playing other teams in the association (though the small school typically only plays a couple of association schools each season).
It was bad enough when Golf Channel broadcaster Kelly Tilghman recently suggested that other golfers should “lynch†Tiger Woods in a back alley. She was suspended for two weeks and apologized to Woods for the inflammatory comment.
But Dave Seanor, the editor of Golfweek, was replaced Friday after the magazine ran this over-the-top cover picture about the flap, showing a swinging noose.
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem blasted the image, calling it “outrageous and irresponsible†and smacking of “tabloid journalism.â€
Clearly, many readers agreed. Who knew golf was so controversial?
Rebecca Martindell of Benton was this week’s cartoon-caption winner. We liked her reference to the roller coaster issue and the way she tied it to City Hall.
Jim Thomas of Wichita nearly won with his: “If he pulled his kerchief up above his nose, he’d fit right in!†Bill Bauck had a good one too: “Kolb’s payout was nothing compared to what this guy will get!â€
Preston and Tammie Pannell of Haysville had this dour entry: “I can’t wait till the arena auctions.†From Aaron M. Wells of Wichita came, “The bondholders better hope for good weather if he gets hired!â€
Wichita’s Charles Churchman submitted, “Who’s better qualified to manage the wild west world at City Hall?†Haysville’s Roger Neugent had this one: “He said something about naming the arena the Prairie Palace and holding Sunday services!â€
From Jerry Busch of Wichita came, “His fiscal planning is close enough for government work!†Stan Nunnenkamp of Wichita said, “We probably wouldn’t notice the difference.â€
From Ryan Cole (former marketing director for Etheredge) came, “Kansas’ biggest business failure — I guess he has the right qualifications for city manager!†Finally, my favorite, submitted by Sue Dresher: “What happened to my wallet? Have you seen my wallet?â€
The Eagle editorial board wasn’t alone in writing a satirical song about failed Wild West World promoter Thomas Etheredge. Here is a video of cowboy poet Ed Parrish performing at the Orpheum Theatre.
Malaysia’s minister of health is bitter about being forced out of office after confessing that, yes, he is the man in two widely circulated sex DVDs. “At the end of the day, it just tells you that honesty sometimes does not pay,†he said. But a political analyst had a better lesson: “You can’t continue in power when you are seen naked.â€
Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion in the handgun-ban case explored the historical context for the Second Amendment’s language on gun ownership. In the process, Scalia quoted from abolitionist Massachusetts Sen. Charles Sumner’s famous 1856 speech about “Bleeding Kansas”:
