Friday, July 31, 2009

Birther affect

This is what happens when you watch too much cable TV. The flip side would be something nutty like the Democrats who believed that George Bush was getting drunk in the white house all the time. But that didn't make the mainstream news like this one. And beneath this accusation is not-so-subtle prejudice to paint Obama as a foreigner, outsider and unAmerican.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

GOP moderation?

Can a moderate Republican win a primary for a Congressional seat in South Central Kansas? The bet is against it, but it sure would be nice. Jean Schodorf, who heads the Senate Education committee in the Kansas Senate, will probably join the race to replace Tiahrt.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Cowley First

This thing could drag on, apparently. The more it does, the worse is it for the image and productivity of Cowley First. Protecting somebody's privacy is good, but it also breeds suspicion when no words is given on these matter.

I don't fault Alsup or Hill. The problem lies in Kansas public records law, which allows too much secrecy in personnel matters of public officials, in my opinion. We should at least be able to know WHY, she was placed on leave. At least a general reason for such dramatic action by our government officials.

Two amigos

Can't help but point out this local political cartoon. I laughed out loud when I first saw it. It reveals through comedy what is a good point — the TIF forces are strong and outweigh the anti-TIF forces, at least on the commission.

Moran endorsements

Below is a blog entry from KC STAR columnist Mike Hendricks.

"Don’t overlook the significance of last week’s endorsement spree by U.S. Senate hopeful Jerry Moran.

In his battle with fellow Republican Todd Tiahrt in Kansas’ 2010 U.S. Senate primary, the impressive list of Johnson County mayors that Moran trotted out ranks as a hugely significant development.

Seven Johnson County mayors backed Moran: Overland Park’s Carl Gerlach, Lenexa’s Mike Boehm, Leawood’s Peggy Dunn, Olathe’s Mike Copeland, Shawnee’s Jeff Meyers, Prairie Village’s Ron Shaffer, and Mission’s Laura McConwell.

Yeah, it’s just a bunch of endorsements. But with Moran hailing from Hays and Tiahrt from Wichtia, Johnson County Republicans are as valuable as Satchel Paige autographs.

The mayors’ verdict will reverberate all over the state’s most populous county."

Friday, July 24, 2009

Downtown improvement

Foss Farrar's story about financial help for downtown/historical buildings in Ark City. With a Main Street association, we'd be on top of these type of benefits, and more, and be able to promote/highlight what outsiders see as the jewel of the city. One obstacle is buildings owners having to pay dues. But it appears they payoff can be significant.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Tacky Todd

Kind of tacky for Rep. Todd Tiahrt to go around suggesting certain people, including the president of the united states, could have been aborted if abortions were cheaper. His other example of a great mind that could have been aborted was Clarence Thomas.

I understand that Tiahrt is an anti-abortion crusader (in fact this is a good reminder that he is a product of the 1990s Christian Coalition) but Tiahrt makes it sound like mothers would abort more black babies, in particular, just to save a few bucks.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Cowley First director on leave

With Cowley First trying to gain foothold as the legitimate entity for county-wide economic development, this won't help. As expected, officials are tight lipped about why Heidi Hill was put on leave.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Supreme denial

Watching some of the confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor, it seems like both she and GOP senators are trying to dance on a pin by denying that people's personal views and life experience affect their view of the law. Judges may try to separate that out, but personal views and how they view the law OBVIOUSLY influence judges — otherwise they'd agree all the time. GOP Senator Lindsay Graham, from S.C., breaks through the denial and offers a dose of reality yesterday. Here's what he said, reported by Politico.com:

".....Graham also pulled the curtain back a bit on what he suggested was the artificiality of statements by Sotomayor and senators on both sides of the aisle that good judges simply apply the rule of law without any regard to their personal views.

“You hire judges for their judgment, not their personal views or what their sense of what the outcome should be. You hire--you appoint judges for the purpose of understanding whether they respect law, whether they respect precedent,” Sotomayor said Thursday.

“I don't doubt that you respect the law, but you're going to be asked, along with eight other colleagues, if you get on the court, to render a decision as to whether or not the Second Amendment is a fundamental right shared by the American people,” Graham replied. “There is no subjective judgment there?”

After Sotomayor launched into a lengthy answer about “stare decisis” and “incorporation,” Graham reiterated his view that legal principles alone would not dictate the result—a view strikingly similar to President Barack Obama stance that a judge’s “heart” would control in 5 % of cases.

“I do believe, at the end of the day, you're not going to find a law book that tells you whether or not a fundamental right exists vis-a-vis the Second Amendment, that you're going to have to rely upon your view of America, who we are, how far we've come and where we're going to go in our relationship to gun ownership,” Graham said. “You may not agree with that, but I believe that's what you’re going to do, and I believe that's what every other justice is going to do.”

Here's the full story

Sunday, July 12, 2009

To TIF or not to TIF

That is the question in my story Sat. about a new attitide toward tax increment financing on the AC commission

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Dusty Dan

Could Dan Glickman come out of retirement and seek revenge against Tiahrt for beating him in 1994? It's getting some buzz.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The Palin chronicles

Amazing to me that some people think she's capable of being a national political figure. Her resignation/quitting shows that she really was never up to the job. Some GOPers are getting the idea, too.