“President Obama is getting ready to pardon the White House turkey, the Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner. . . . I don’t want to say Geithner is not doing a good job. But today God asked for his name to be taken off the bill.” — Jay Leno
“President Obama pardons the [...]
The new book “Fly by Wire” contends that Capt. Chesley Sullenberger wasn’t the only hero involved in landing an U.S. Airways jetliner on the Hudson River last winter. Journalist William Langewiesche writes that the unsung hero is Bernard Ziegler, a French test pilot who talked Airbus [...]
Much of the reaction to Gov. Mark Parkinson’s budget cuts has avoided finger-pointing and aptly reflected the fact that Kansans are all in this mess together. Two phrases in the otherwise appreciative statement from the Kansas House’s GOP leadership team stood out, though: “the unchecked spending [...]
With Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, reportedly ready to give up his 3rd Congressional District after six terms, is Kansas looking at an all-red delegation in 2011? Moore, who grew up in Wichita and was Johnson County’s district attorney for three terms, has survived aggressive GOP attempts [...]
Kansas Revenue Secretary Joan Wagnon continued to press her case last week that the state has given up enough revenue in tax cuts and exemptions for now — nearly $10 billion since 1993. She advocates banning new sales-tax exemptions and rescinding some existing ones, likening a tax [...]
It’s time to amend the Constitution to allow naturalized citizens to run for president, Pepperdine University law school dean Ken Starr said last week during a visit to the University of Kansas School of Law. Starr, a former federal judge and solicitor general best known for [...]
“President Obama said that the people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy if our debt continues to grow. And Americans were like, ‘Uh, way ahead of you, dude.’” — Jimmy Fallon
“Liz Cheney said on Fox News that her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, should run for president in [...]
Overall, Kansans seem to approve of how Republican Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts are doing in the Democratic-controlled Congress. In the latest SurveyUSA poll, co-sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, Brownback had a 52 percent approval rating, up 4 percentage points from September, and 54 percent approved of [...]
Good for Sedgwick County Commissioner Dave Unruh for continuing to question the wisdom of giving an out-of-state consulting firm another 18 months and $228,000 to do the work it has yet to do under an earlier 10-month, $124,616 contract — reduce the Sedgwick County Jail’s population [...]
“What we do as Kansans when we struggle is that we pull together and we work through our challenges. We don’t typically sue each other.” — Gov. Mark Parkinson, to KSN, Channel 3, calling a possible schools lawsuit unproductive
“When you’re half the budget and the budget goes [...]
In the wake of the disputed 2000 presidential election, many Republicans thought that election reform was a nonissue and that Congress shouldn’t be telling locals how to run their elections. Nine years later, with a Democrat in the White House, 52 percent of Republican voters surveyed [...]
Some questions left over from Thursday’s editorial on the Kansas Coliseum’s uncertain future, in the wake of the Sedgwick County Commission’s vote against negotiating with any developer right now:
– How could the committee reviewing the proposals not take into consideration the fact that its [...]
RealClearPolitics’ Tom Bevan and Mike Memoli have cast their imaginations beyond Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty, and drawn up a list of GOP dark horses for 2012: South Dakota Sen. John Thune (in photo), Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Texas Gov. [...]
Given the conservative challenges in several states against incumbents who are viewed as RINOs (Republicans in name only), would Ronald Reagan, if judged on his record, be pure enough for the GOP circa 2009? Newsweek’s Evan Thomas noted that “Reagan piously gave lip service to the [...]
The strong emotions over the now-scrapped proposal for a central-northeast Lord’s Diner satellite extended to the Wichita City Council bench Tuesday, notably with the sharply worded expressions of regret by council members Sue Schlapp and Paul Gray. Now, those who opposed the idea of a soup [...]
Some of the members of John McCain’s presidential campaign are working hard to refute tales that his running mate, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, tells in her book, “Going Rogue.” Former Bush White House and McCain campaign aide Nicolle Wallace, for example, calls everything [...]
In a New York Post commentary, former Kansas GOP chairman Kris Kobach described Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try five Guantanamo Bay detainees in civilian court as “blatantly political,” arguing that it “jeopardizes the interests of the nation.” Kobach, a former Bush Justice Department official [...]
All 10 months of the Obama era have been a letdown in the view of Boston Phoenix columnist Steven Stark. He argues that the president has made rookie mistakes, shown a disinterest in governing and been surprisingly divisive. And “in his quest to surpass what he’s done [...]
School districts across the nation are caught between decreasing funding and rising expectations. Ron Steiger, assistant chief budget officer for the Miami-Dade County public schools in Florida, described in an Education Week commentary how his district dealt with a $50 million midyear state funding cut by [...]
The following satirical headlines come from borowitzreport.com and theonion.com:
LOU DOBBS LEAVES CNN FOR CARTOON NETWORK
SENATE PASSES BLAME BY VOTE OF 91-8
OBAMA’S DECLARATION OF SWINE FLU EMERGENCY PROMPTS PRO-SWINE-FLU REPUBLICAN RESPONSE
STEVEN TYLER LAID OFF FROM AEROSMITH AS BAND’S JOBLESS RATE HITS 20 PERCENT
FOX NEWS REPORTS: MILLIONS [...]
Unlike the former vice president, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., wouldn’t describe President Obama’s decision-making on Afghanistan troop levels as “dithering,” but Roberts told Topeka TV station WIBW that Obama has “got to get off the dime. He’s got to make a decision.” While Obama goes through [...]
“We’ve got a whole generation who will be negatively impacted . . . by the idiots and fools in Washington and Topeka that have been making policy.” — 2010 Commission member and former Kansas GOP chairman Dennis Jones of Lakin
“We’ve cut so deep in the meat, it’s tragic.” — Lawrence [...]
“Almost half of Congress are millionaires. Isn’t that unbelievable? So, apparently, Congress is pretty good at managing their own money.” — Jay Leno
“CBS News is reporting that President Obama has decided to send 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Obama says it’s all part of his plan to finally deliver on [...]
On the same day that Democrats lost the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ mansions, the state-by-state push to limit taxes and spending lost momentum. Maine voters nixed a Taxpayer Bill of Rights measure 60 to 40 percent. Washington state voters defeated similar legislation 57 to 43 percent. [...]
Some are predicting that President Obama’s remarks at the Fort Hood memorial service will rank among his best. The text is worth reading. Among the standout phrases were these about the 13 who died in the shooting spree: “Their life’s work is our security, and [...]
As drivers cross from Oklahoma into Kansas on I-35, they see a sign touting the Web site HaysHasJobs.com, suggesting that parts of western Kansas want for workers rather than jobs. A new SurveyUSA poll, sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, further suggests that the recession is [...]
Does President Obama’s White House need more governing professionals and fewer political hacks? Forbes columnist Dan Gerstein thinks so, suggesting Obama invite an “independent-thinking Democratic wise man like Bob Kerrey” aboard. Survey the president’s advisers, Gerstein wrote, and “what’s missing from this group, besides diversity of [...]
The wealthiest member of Kansas’ congressional delegation, Sen. Sam Brownback, ranks 77th overall among congressional and executive officials in Washington, D.C., with a net worth ranging from $3.1 million to $9.2 million, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The other Kansans’ standings: Republican Sen. [...]
