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 [...]
From the start, President Obama dispensed with China-bashing and declared the need for a strong bilateral relationship with China to tackle the many problems that confront the world, not least the economic downturn, climate change, nuclear proliferation and terrorism. His two Chinese-American Cabinet members, Energy Secretary Steven [...]
There may be good science behind a federal task force recommendation that women in their 40s don’t need annual mammograms, but it was bad timing for the Obama administration. Coming in the midst of the heated debate about health care reform, the recommendation became instant fodder [...]
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 [...]
The campaign of Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, looked childish and desperate in sending out an e-mail falsely claiming that Senate rival Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, had been endorsed by the Communist Party USA. But as Washburn University political science professor Robert Beatty hoped, perhaps the incident [...]
The public is evenly divided on the proposed health care reforms, with 49 percent opposed and 48 percent supportive, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The public also doubts that the reform will help control costs, with 56 percent saying that overall health care [...]
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. [...]
In 2003, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., made a principled argument against filibustering judicial nominations. “We are really changing the constitutional design of what it takes to basically nominate and approve any judge,” he said. In 2005, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., also correctly argued that “all of the [...]
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 [...]
Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Topeka, was one of nearly four dozen Republican and Democratic House members who submitted statements into the official record about health care reform that were written, in whole or in part, by lobbyists for a biotechnology company, the New York Times reported. Jenkins [...]
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 [...]
Kansas’ GOP members of Congress oppose cutting billions of dollars in federal subsidies to privately run Medicare Advantage plans as a way to help pay for health care reform. But Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger says the cuts make sense. “When Congress is looking for savings, this [...]
“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 [...]
Officially, the Great Recession is over, at least for the United States. The economy recorded 3.5 percent annual growth for the third quarter of 2009. Fortunately, the administration of then-President Bush recognized the severity of the crisis and provided emergency financing for U.S. banks teetering on [...]
The amount of carbon dioxide that all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships in the world collectively emit into the atmosphere is “actually less than the carbon emissions every year that result from the chopping down and clearing of tropical forests in places like Brazil, Indonesia [...]
“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. [...]
Critics have complained that President Obama is “dithering” on deciding whether to send more troops to Afghanistan. But two classified cables sent to Washington, D.C., by the U.S. ambassador in Kabul illustrate how the decision isn’t as simple as some portray it. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, a retired [...]
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 [...]
The Kansas Department of Corrections could help its budget problems if it could deport nearly 300 inmates who are potentially illegal immigrants. But doing so either isn’t possible because of a lack of extradition agreements or may not be effective. Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz told a joint [...]
Republicans have moved ahead of Democrats, 48 to 44 percent, among registered voters on the latest Gallup survey question asking: “If the election was held today, which party’s candidate would you vote for in your congressional district?” Last month, Republicans trailed by 2 percentage points. The [...]
Rep. Joseph Cao, R-La., the sole House Republican to vote for the health reform bill, said he has been getting some “pretty nasty responses” from people upset with his vote. “From downright racist remarks just to hate speech, you name it, we have it,” Cao [...]
One challenge to reducing — or even stabilizing — the Sedgwick County Jail population is that decisions at the state level can work against those efforts. For example, Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Davis said last week that state courts will have to close their [...]
Given that there are eyewitnesses to the murder of George Tiller, maybe Scott Roeder doesn’t have much to lose by confessing and saying that he plans to use the “necessity defense” at his upcoming trial, claiming that he killed Tiller to prevent a greater harm. But [...]
Phillip Brownlee, Rhonda Holman
