September 25, 2006
The Hill reports that the NRCC is making Republican representatives kick in more money than last year. But Kansas' Jim Ryun won't make his target:
"I've got a race back home I've got to finish," said Rep. Jim Ryun (R-Kan.), who won in 2004 with 56 percent of the vote.
Ryun admitted he has not…
September 25, 2006
The Journal World sent both candidates for governor a group of questions about schools. QJim Barnett, asked for two or three things he'd want to change in the schools, couldn't think of any educational issues:
"Students today spend more time at school than ever before. At the same time, childhood…
September 25, 2006
Every week the finest blogging of Kansas gathers at the Kansas Guild of Bloggers. This week TfK will be the guildhall.
Emaw from Three O'Clock in the Morning offers a Friday signoff, so go "Leave a comment, and maybe a link."
Previous host John from the Blog Meridian writes On clarity, a look at…
September 25, 2006
Every week the finest blogging of Kansas gathers at the Kansas Guild of Bloggers. This week TfK will be the guildhall.
Emaw from Three O'Clock in the Morning offers a Friday signoff, so go "Leave a comment, and maybe a link."
Previous host John from the Blog Meridian writes On clarity, a look at…
September 24, 2006
In SurveyUSA's latest poll of presidential approval in all 50 states, there are only 5 states where a majority backs him, and only 7 where a plurality approves. Kansas is moving back to the president, up to -4% net approval, the tenth most supportive state and a shift of 15%. That move was…
September 24, 2006
Gulag historian Kate Brown tells Harpers:
Perhaps the domestic installation of wartime technologies and military surveillance in civilian settings has become acceptable to us because we have become accustomed, as Soviet citizens did during the endless Stalinist purges, to open-ended wars--wars with…
September 24, 2006
In order to protect their property values, landowners in North Carolina are clearcutting their land. If that seems silly to you, know that you aren't alone. Apparently, their plan is to make the land unsuitable for endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers. The town is considering instituting a…
September 24, 2006
Submit your posts to this week's Kansas Guild of Bloggers ASAP! Submissions are due by tonight.
September 24, 2006
Happy Year 5767 everyone! As this article from the Westchester Journal News observes, precisely what that number means remains somewhat unclear:
at a time when growing numbers of evangelical Christians are thumbing their noses at science -- insisting that the Bible says the earth is really 6,000…
September 23, 2006
A report from the Department of Education's Inspector General says the government broke the law in how it promoted particular programs through its Reading First program. The director of that program:
repeatedly used his influence to steer money toward states that used a reading approach he favored…
September 23, 2006
Anderson: Poll shows Barnett not a household name - CJOnline Blogs:
Overall, only one of the 10 people I approached this week in downtown Topeka for a random political poll could correctly identify Barnett as the Republican candidate for Kansas governor.
Five said they'd never heard of him. Four…
September 22, 2006
Thanks to the Angry Astronomer for pointing out Captain Occam, a webcomic that treats creationism with the respect it deserves.
September 22, 2006
Finding a rat snake coiled up on a bit of shrubbery is a bit of a surprise. Rat snakes like this Elaphus obsoleta are among the most abundant snakes around, and are incredibly economically beneficial. As the name suggests, they are major predators on various pest species.
This one was just…
September 22, 2006
The Kansas Guild of Bloggers is moving their guildhall to TfK next Monday. So anyone who lives in Kansas, has lived in of Kansas, or even has passed through the state should submit their favorite Kansasish blogging by Sunday evening.
September 21, 2006
Via the inimitable Billmon, we learn that Torture reaches new depths in Iraq:
Torture in Iraq is reportedly worse now than it was under deposed president Saddam Hussein, the United Nations' chief anti-torture expert said Thursday.
Manfred Nowak described a situation where militias, insurgent groups…
September 21, 2006
Judge Restores Clinton's 'Roadless Rule':
A federal judge on Wednesday reinstated the "Roadless Rule," a Clinton-era ban on road construction in nearly a third of national forests.
This rule had prohibited development of various sorts in areas that were designated as roadless, meaning they were…
September 21, 2006
It's hardly news that Libya is not the best of places. Sure, they cleaned up their act as far as WMD, so they're back on the Bush administration's holiday Christmas card list.
But for over two years, a Palestinian doctor and 5 Bulgarian nurses have been on Libya's death row because of a farce of a…
September 20, 2006
Bush announces climate change plan: throw money at the problem:
The Bush administration Wednesday proposed to address climate change through a new program that would provide billions of dollars to accelerate development of technologies needed to reduce emissions of Earth-warming pollutants.
In a…
September 20, 2006
A big new poll is out from USAToday/Gallup on Iraq. Some of the results are fascinating. Asked which of these options they most preferred: "Withdraw all troops from Iraq immediately. Withdraw all troops by September 2007, that is, in 12 months' time. Withdraw troops, but take as many years to do…
September 19, 2006
As the Senate makes Bush's torture bill walk the plank, the New York Times reviews Not a Suicide Pact by Richard A. Posner:
the positions he takes in this volume will not only fuel his own controversial reputation but also underscore just how negotiable constitutional rights have become in the eyes…
September 19, 2006
Th' excellent rereason looks at Republican angst, apparently a result of scurvy bastarrrrrds seizing the ship o' state:
Many of my very best friends are Republicans. For some reason, they don't talk politics much these days.
My friends, sensible, reliable, people you would be glad to have in your…
September 19, 2006
It be International Talk Like ye Pirate Day, so if ye be leavin' comments, they'd best be in yer best sea-dog dialect.
Some land-lubbers out yonder may think find it a mite odd for a nice Jewish boy like meself t' be talkin' like a one-eyed fool with a wooden leg. But ye'd be wrong.
Ye see, me…
September 18, 2006
Jim Ryun has some TV ads up attacking Democrats for their poor energy policy. This is, on its face, pretty silly. Add in the fact that he presents this attack while gassing up an SUV, and the comedy just gets better. He's at an E85 fueling station, one of 15 in Kansas.
He goes on to explain that…
September 17, 2006
Many years ago, the University of Chicago invited Amartya Sen, who had recently won a Nobel Prize in Economics, to come and speak. He appeared beside Gary Becker, a distinguished professor of the University's famed economic department, and an adherent to the "Chicago School of Economics." At one…
September 16, 2006
I think Gil means something different, but this pretty much explains why IDC doesn't make any sense:
A microbe did not mysteriously mutate into Mozart and his music, and most people, thankfully, are smart enough to figure out that this is a silly idea.
This is essentially what ID argues. With a…
September 15, 2006
A year ago, Kansas Board of Ed. member Connie Morris got in hot water. She went to a conference on magnet schools, stayed in a hotel that charges as much per night as lots of people spend on monthly rent, and she doesn't even represent any magnet schools. In the midst of a scandal about the…
September 15, 2006
Democratic candidate Nancy Boyda claims that a poll puts her ahead of incumbent Jim Ryun:
The poll showed 42.5 percent favored Boyda; 41.2 percent favored Ryun and 16.2 percent were undecided. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 4.6 percent.
The sample was from voter rolls, and the poll…
September 15, 2006
Voles are among the most abundant mammals in North America, but most people have never actually seen one. There's a native vole species found pretty much anywhere from the Arctic into Mexico. There are a couple dozen species in North America, and about twice as many in the Old World.
These…
September 15, 2006
In a debate between incumbent Phill Kline and challenger Paul Morrison this exchange stands out:
"I have never, and never will, view a church as a political machine for me," Morrison said.
Kline responded by inviting the audience to come hear him speak Saturday at a Topeka church.
"The separation,…
September 14, 2006
A few years back, the University of Chicago hosted a great event. Students organized several day of panels and discussions, with luminaries in many fields coming to discuss the issues of the day. On a panel about technology, a friend of mine asked whether the panelists were worried that more…
