Thoughts from Kansas

Apologies for being a day late on this. It's been a busy weekend, but things are settling down again.

We start out with an open invitation from John B. of Blog Meridian. He'll be bringing some of his students up from Wichita to visit the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum on Saturday, March 3. He'll be hanging out at the Barnes & Noble on the Plaza around 3:30, and wants to meet you. Yes, you.

Speaking of KC area goings-on, Emaw gives us a review of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Union Station. Bottom line: "If you can afford the price of admission without sacrificing your Friday night weed money, go see them." I saw the scrolls many years ago at the Field Museum, and I'm inclined to agree. They are a very cool part of all of our cultural heritage, and being able to see any written material of that age is fascinating.

Picking up the Biblical theme, Bruce Alderman brings us some reflections on loving your enemies. I'm less certain that "If Osama bin Laden ever … becomes a follower of Christ, the world would be a better place," there having been plenty of Christians who led genocidal crusades. That said, I think he raises some excellent questions, especially "Do we think some people are beyond redemption? Is hatred a stronger force in our world than love?" These are question at the core of many of society's battles.

Joel takes a look at the battle under way in Iraq, and especially how TV news reports on it. "Given that a newscast is 22 minutes long (once you take the commercials out of the half-hour), what that means is CBS is devoting less than 5 percent of its precious newshole covering the most important story of the day." Is CBS beyond redemption?

You can get your full weekly quota of Iraq coverage by reading my post on Nancy Boyda's first major speech in Congress during the debate on the Bush-McCain escalation. Tom Hull's review of Patrick Cockburn's The Occupation is also a good read.

But for good clean fun, I'd recommend my post on how differences between ant species help them all get along. Tony has some thoughts on how Kansas City politics and ant politics might be the same.

Mike of Red Letter Day shows how being different hasn't helped Lawrence get along with the rest of Kansas. Diane Silver of In This Moment goes in depth on the latest outrage Lawrence is causing. Our friend Red State Rabble thinks that the Intelligent Design Network will sue over the new science standards. Native Kansan Nitpicker surveys the looniness of Texan and Georgian creationist legislators. Mousie Cat updates us on Ed Humes, whose excellent essay on misunderstandings of evolution was reprinted in the Journal World.

…JustCara wonders who benefits from keeping the Kansas seatbelt law as lax as it is. Blue Tide Rising wonders why people object to stores exercising their right to exclude concealed weapons.

Finally, in national news about Kansas, Wonkette observes that Sam Brownback is performing only slightly better than a vegetable.

That's all for this week.