Kansas.com: Opinion

JEFF LONGWELL: PROCESS WORKED IN SELECTING MANAGER

JEFF LONGWELL — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:38 CST

I want to express gratitude to the Wichita City Council and the many citizens of this great community who participated in the process to hire a new city manager. The citizen engagement, the council's deliberation and debate, and the transparency of the process are proof that the process worked.

Council members appointed a 17-member committee of community leaders to help pick five talented finalists from a pool of qualified applicants, and we received solicited and unsolicited feedback from a diverse group of citizens who share a great interest in the direction and success of our community.

Those who did not weigh in directly had the opportunity to benefit from the unprecedented transparency of the search process. Public forums featuring the candidates were televised live and on replay on City7, cable Channel 7. Media partners were granted easy access and produced extensive, in-depth coverage. It was a model example of how a democratic process should work.

The search firm did a fine job. Bob Slavin and his team of professional headhunters provided the council the ability to have informed dialogue about quality candidates. This community will enjoy the fruits of their hard work with the hiring of Robert Layton -- a smart, energetic and engaging manager who brings a new enthusiasm and fresh perspective to our city's challenges and goals. He has said that he "fell in love with our city." My early impression of Layton tells me that sentiment will be reciprocated.

The 4-3 vote is not a statement against any candidate. Council members share a belief that any of the top candidates could help grow our city. Nonetheless, the strong field of finalists made a tough decision tougher. Disagreements and strong opinions led to heated debates in the community and among council members, who have a strong history of working together and agreeing on many matters.

KEVIN MYLES: HOPE, HARSH REALITY

KEVIN MYLES — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:38 CST

With the election of Barack Obama came the proof, the tangible evidence of the potential we've so long described. All that we've fought for -- all the meetings, all the marches, the protests and demonstrations -- were redeemed that night as he stood before the podium as our newly elected president.

Obama's ascension also carried with it the promise that buried deep within the crumbling hallways of inner-city schools and off-the-Beltway communities there are pieces of excellence -- young men and women, needing only an opportunity and the belief in their own abilities. He showed the world that genius can be found on a basketball court, and that competence and character should always trump color and condition.

As a black man, a lifelong community organizer and as an American, I was moved to tears.

But even in my admiration, I was stricken by a harsh reality. The brilliance of his accomplishment served to clearly illuminate a very troubling gap -- the frightening disparity between our potential and our performance. After all, it was only in April of this year that the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center released its 16-page comprehensive report on graduation rates within the nation's 50 largest cities. It showed a graduation rate for African-American students at a paltry 53 percent.

How is it possible that at the same time we see an African-American rise to the highest office in the land, we still see so many of our youths imprisoned by menial aspirations and self-imposed limitations? I struggled to juxtapose the images of civil rights leaders opening the doors to welcome this morning, and in the same light, seeing nearly half of our youths walking away without an education or the opportunities it provides.

PAUL KRUGMAN: POWER VACUUM COSTLY TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:38 CST

In 2008, as in 1932, a long era of Republican political dominance came to an end in the face of an economic and financial crisis that, in voters' minds, both discredited the GOP's free-market ideology and undermined its claims of competence.

There is, however, another and more disturbing parallel between 2008 and 1932 -- namely, the emergence of a power vacuum at the height of the crisis.

The interregnum of 1932-33, the long stretch between the election and the actual transfer of power, was disastrous for the U.S. economy, at least in part because the outgoing administration had no credibility, the incoming administration had no authority and the ideological chasm between the two sides was too great to allow concerted action. And the same thing is happening now.

It's true that the interregnum will be shorter this time: FDR wasn't inaugurated until March; Barack Obama will move into the White House on Jan. 20. But crises move faster these days.

How much can go wrong in the two months before Obama takes the oath of office? The answer, unfortunately, is a lot. Consider how much darker the economic picture has grown since the failure of Lehman Brothers, which took place just two months ago. And the pace of deterioration seems to be accelerating.

TIM RUTTEN: GRATEFUL NATION SHOULD DO MORE FOR VETERANS

TIM RUTTEN — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:38 CST

There seems to be little energy these days for anything but anxiety and finger-pointing about the economy. Still, it's sobering -- even shocking -- that Monday's final report by the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses failed to find a place on the front page of a single major newspaper.

For nearly 20 years, a succession of Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense officials under both Republican and Democratic presidents have denied even the existence of what's come to be called Gulf War syndrome, neurological afflictions ranging from memory problems and chronic pain to brain cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Veterans who have sought help for their illnesses frequently have been treated as head cases or, worse, malingerers.

Now a panel of prestigious scientists and veterans, working under congressional mandate, has concluded not only that the syndrome exists but also that it afflicts at least 175,000 Gulf War vets -- 1 in 4 of those who served. The cause, according to the panel's 450-page report, was ingestion of a drug administered out of fear the Iraqis would use nerve gas, as well as exposure to pesticides used to hold down sand fleas. There is no known cure for Gulf War syndrome, and the panel has recommended an annual appropriation of $60 million to find one.

That would be a good first step -- but only that.

It would be convenient to regard neglect of the Gulf War vets as an anomaly, but the discomforting fact is that it's all of a piece with this country's historic maltreatment of its returning servicemen and women. The government, usually extravagant in its rhetorical gratitude for military service, has been miserly when it comes to making "the thanks of a grateful nation" material.

KATHLEEN PARKER: GOP HAS A GOD PROBLEM

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:39 CST

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D.

To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh.

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. The choir has become absurdly off-key, and many Republicans know it.

The GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows. In the process, the party has alienated its nonbase constituents, including other people of faith (those who prefer a more private approach to worship), as well as secularists and conservative-leaning Democrats who otherwise might be tempted to cross the aisle.

Religious conservatives become defensive at any suggestion that they've had something to do with the GOP's erosion. And, though the recent Democratic sweep can be attributed in large part to a referendum on President George W. Bush and the failing economy, three long-term trends identified by Emory University's Alan Abramowitz have been devastating to the Republican Party: increasing racial diversity, declining marriage rates and changes in religious beliefs.

JOEL BRINKLEY: SAUDIS: FOLLOW OWN ADVICE ON TOLERANCE

JOEL BRINKLEY — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:39 CST

If you are the undisputed monarch of a wealthy nation, you probably think you can say or do most anything without repercussion. But when King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia stood before the United Nations last week to proclaim his opposition to "religious intolerance," anyone listening would have to think: Of all the gall!

Abdullah actually sponsored last week's event: a U.N. conference on interfaith dialogue. The amazing thing is that any Saudi who advocates "interfaith dialogue" is likely to be arrested, tried and executed -- beheaded by sword.

President George W. Bush was among the heads of state who attended Abdullah's conference. Oh, the price we have to pay to assure an uninterrupted supply of oil. Abdullah's "interfaith dialogue" is the most compelling recent argument for launching a major new program to achieve energy independence.

Abdullah didn't simply wake up one morning and decide to promote religious plurality. Even the conference's origins were cynical. Remember last spring when a senior Saudi cleric who is a member of Abdullah's government issued a fatwa calling for the execution of two journalists? In their newspaper, they had suggested that religions other than Islam are worthy of respect.

They haven't been killed, but not surprisingly the fatwa caused a stir -- another case when the world happened to notice one of the unconscionable acts in the name of religion that the Saudi government commits day after day. (Remember another one -- the court decision a year ago to administer 200 lashes to a woman who had been gang-raped? The White House, ignoring the oil for a moment, called the ruling "outrageous.")

CLARENCE PAGE: AYERS SHOWS GRUDGES ABOUT 1960S NEVER DIE

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:39 CST

In his first public event since the election, Bill Ayers, an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-founder of the radical Weather Underground, spoke to more than 200 people in a Washington, D.C., church Monday night as part of his book tour. He joked about how he hated to be tagged as "a guy of the '60s."

"I am so much a guy of right now," he told the crowd, smiling as they chuckled. "OK, I lived in the '60s. I apologize. You hear that, Clarence? I just apologized."

The nod to me, sitting in the second row, was a reference to a question I had asked him in a backstage interview: Was he ready to apologize for the violent turn taken by the Weather Underground when he helped to lead its breakaway from the radical Students for a Democratic Society back in 1969?

The Weather Underground claimed responsibility for bombing government buildings, among other mayhem, in the early 1970s. Sen. John McCain's campaign used Ayers' more recent associations with Barack Obama, a neighbor in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, to accuse the president-elect of "palling around with terrorists."

Times have changed. For example, Ayers' old Black Panther pal Bobby Rush is now a senior congressman from Illinois -- whom Obama failed to unseat in 2000.

NICHOLAS KRISTOF: KIDS FLEXING MUSCLES AND CHANGING WORLD

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:40 CST

In the aftermath of the presidential campaign, it's natural to think that the agenda now is in the hands of our newly elected leaders, and that the agents of change will be government officials in Washington, D.C. Yet the best proof that you don't need a White House pass to accomplish change comes from youthful social entrepreneurs around the country. Too naive to realize that they are powerless, these kids are flexing remarkable muscle.

If your image of a philanthropist is a stout, gray geezer, then meet Talia Leman, an eighth-grader in Iowa who loves soccer and swimming and whose favorite subject is science. I'm supporting her for president in 2044.

When Talia was 10 years old, she saw television clips of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and decided to help. She galvanized other kids and started a movement to trick-or-treat at Halloween for coins for hurricane victims.

The movement caught the public imagination, Talia made it onto the "Today" show, and the campaign raised more than $10 million. With that success behind her, Talia organized a program called RandomKid to help other young social entrepreneurs organize and raise money.

At randomkid.org, young people can link up with others to participate in various philanthropic ventures. On the Web site, Talia has organized a campaign to build a school in rural Cambodia, backed by children in 48 states and 19 countries. Likewise, she's working with schools in seven states to provide clean water for rural African villages.

DAVID BRODER: CLINTON NOT THE BEST PICK

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:40 CST

It may be moot and it certainly is presumptuous, but I would be less than honest if I did not say what I believe: Making Hillary Rodham Clinton the secretary of state in Barack Obama's administration would be a mistake.

I do not doubt she could do the job -- and do it well. What I saw in the recent campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination was convincing evidence of her physical stamina and moral courage, and of her capacity to improve her own performance at every step of the process. I admired her readiness to endorse and campaign hard for Obama after her own candidacy fell short.

Equally, I admire Obama's readiness to reach out to former rivals and enlist their help in the governing enterprise he is launching. His serious discussions with Clinton, John McCain and Bill Richardson, among others, are testaments to his sincerity in wanting to move beyond the partisanship and personal differences that too often poison the atmosphere in Washington, D.C.

Then what is the problem? Clinton is the wrong person for that job in this administration. It's not the best use of her talents, and it's certainly not the best fit for this new president.

What Obama wants and needs in the person running the State Department is a diplomat who will carry out his foreign policy. He does not need someone who will tell him how to approach the world or be his mentor in international relations.

BILL DUNN: GAY COUPLES DESERVE OPPORTUNITY TO MARRY

BILL DUNN — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:36 CST

Nov. 4 proved historic as America rose above past racial divisions and elected Barack Obama as our first president of African-American heritage. Transcending prejudice, the election seemed to move our nation closer to the fundamental fairness and equality promised in our Constitution.

Sadly, on this day when America celebrated a tremendous sense of togetherness, voters in Florida, Arizona and California made certain that one particular group could not share that same feeling of progress, by passing amendments to deny marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Sadder still, at a time when our nation shows an ability to look beyond her racist past, some people are pitting one minority group against another ("Gay marriage isn't a civil rights issue," Nov. 13 Opinion). By denigrating the fight for marriage equality as not being a civil rights issue, these same people hope to drive a wedge between the two communities.

By definition, civil rights are the individual rights derived from citizenship, including civil liberties, due process, equal protection of the laws and freedom from discrimination. The type or degree of injustices suffered by any one minority group in the United States do not need to be comparable in order to be relevant.

The simple fact is that civil rights belong to all Americans. After all, it was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." His widow, Coretta Scott King, went further in saying, "I appeal to everybody who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.' s dream to make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbians and gay people."

CAL THOMAS: BUSINESS NOT AS USUAL

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:36 CST

In an age when "big business" and "corporate greed" seem to be synonymous in the public mind, some bright lights occasionally emerge from the darkness brought on by American International Group big spenders and over-the-top high-livers.

One such light is the CEO of the Aflac insurance company (known for the duck in the TV commercials). Dan Amos announced last week that he would forgo a $13 million golden parachute his company would owe him were he to be fired or lose his job in a merger or acquisition. In an interview with USA Today, Amos said, "If they don't think I am doing a good job, they don't have to worry about paying me off." How refreshing.

It would be nice to know how many honest, humble and philanthropic business leaders we have in America. I'm sure they far outnumber the bad ones so often profiled in the media.

One such honest leader is the founder and CEO of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain, S. Truett Cathy, who this month received the Philanthropy Roundtable's award for philanthropic leadership. The prize recognizes the highest ideals of corporate and individual philanthropy.

Cathy is the poster boy (if at 87, one can still be called a "boy") for selflessness and integrity. He is also a model for what giving back can do for individuals and a nation. "My wife and I were brought up to believe that the more you give, the more you have," Cathy told Philanthropy magazine.

THOMAS FRIEDMAN: OBAMA MUST GO ALL OUT ON RESCUE PLAN

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:36 CST

Barack Obama surely has one of the toughest leadership challenges any incoming president has ever faced. We're in the midst of a terrible economic meltdown, the current administration has lost all credibility, the House of Representatives is full of knuckle-dragging Neanderthals, and the public is being whipsawed between free-market fundamentalists preaching the virtues of just letting the market rip and left-wingers who think we can punish Wall Street while protecting Main Street. It feels like a mess with no one in charge.

Obama can't wait until Jan. 20 to weigh in on this. If we don't stimulate the global economy fast enough and big enough, some of Obama's inaugural balls might be held in soup kitchens.

Governments are having a problem arresting the current deflationary downward spiral -- maybe because this financial crisis combines four chemicals we have never seen combined to this degree before, and we don't fully grasp how damaging their interactions have been and may still be.

Those chemicals are: Massive leverage -- by everyone from consumers who bought houses for nothing down to hedge funds that were betting $30 for every $1 they had in cash. A world economy that is so much more intertwined than people realized. Globally intertwined financial instruments that are so complex that most of the CEOs dealing with them did not and do not understand how they work. And a financial crisis that started in America with our toxic mortgages.

When a crisis starts in Mexico or Thailand, we can protect ourselves; when it starts in America, no one can.

WILLIAM KRISTOL: TIME FOR GOP TO RETHINK

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:40 CST

Last week, assembled at Miami's InterContinental Hotel for a meeting of the Republican Governors Association, the governors seemed cheerful. The GOP had lost only one statehouse on Election Day. The prospects for a Republican pickup in Virginia in 2009 were decent, and good candidates were plotting runs in states such as California, Pennsylvania and Ohio in 2010.

There was even a sense of liberation in the air. For the past 14 years, there has been either a Republican Congress or a Republican White House, or sometimes both. So for these governors, this seems a moment of opportunity, in which their policies, their examples and their successes can help shape the future of the GOP.

The governors will be important. But there was an almost-never-mentioned elephant in the Versailles Ballroom (yes, that is its name) full of Republicans: George W. Bush. For the hard fact is this: The worst financial crisis in almost 80 years has happened on his watch. The Bush administration will leave behind probably the most severe recession in at least a quarter-century. Fairly or unfairly, this will be viewed as Bush's economic meltdown.

If Republicans and conservatives don't come to grips with what's happened -- and can't develop an economic agenda moving forward that seems to incorporate lessons learned from what's happened -- then they could be back, politically, in 1933.

From 1933 to 1980, Republicans repeatedly failed to convince the country they were no longer the party of Herbert Hoover -- the party, as it was perceived, of economic incompetence, austerity and recession (if not depression).

JERRY OLD: HOSPICE ISN'T OPPOSITE OF AGGRESSIVE MEDICAL CARE

JERRY OLD — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:40 CST

We are reaching a point in modern medicine where the concept of "aggressive care" at the end of life needs to be redefined.

When we think of aggressive medical care, we often think of all the amazing technology that can be used to prolong "life." However, hospice care, while usually seen as opposite of aggressive care, is in reality also aggressive care.

The modern hospice movement, while recognizing the futility of life support and ineffective therapies at the end of life, is not "no care." It often is more care -- more aggressive pain management, more aggressive symptom management, insistent wound care and more aggressive "quality of life" care.

Thirty years ago when I was in medical school, hospice was seen as "alternative medicine." I remember a professor's great concern about the group of renegade hospice nurses going around giving people morphine. Now, with the creation of the newest medical specialty of hospice and palliative medicine in 2006, hospice has become standard of care -- a very fast transition for the medical field. Little wonder its purpose is still misunderstood.

Hospice care and aggressive care are not opposites. The goals are just different.

LEONARD PITTS: D.C. SCHOOL EXPERIMENT IS TEST FOR ALL

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:40 CST

So it seems there's this new couple coming to town (the husband just got a job with the government). Now they are scouting schools for their children, and people are wondering whether they're going to go public or private.

Some observers would like Michelle and Barack Obama to send their daughters to public schools. Doing so, they say, would be a powerful statement of faith in public education.

All that notwithstanding, I expect the Obamas, like many parents of means, will choose private schools.

Can we be honest here? I mean, brutally honest? D.C. public schools are not good enough for the Obama kids. Not because they are D.C. public schools, but because they are urban public schools.

I'm not doubting the dedication of public schoolteachers. And, yes, there are exceptional public schools -- but the exceptions prove the rule. Public schools, particularly in urban areas, are largely failing our children.

DEE STUART: CITIES SHOULD NOT BE CHARGED TWICE FOR JAIL

DEE STUART — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:05 CST

This commentary on Sedgwick County charging the cities in the county for housing jail prisoners is not intended to be a legal defense -- I am not an attorney. It is intended as a request to county commissioners to reconsider their decision to pass along those costs to the municipalities.

There are three points I think they should consider:

• It would be unethical, if not downright illegal, for a mayor to instruct the judge not to jail offenders or tell the Police Department to ignore crimes that would require booking or even jail time. They make their own decisions based on the laws of the state and municipality.

• Laws are passed to protect the public. Most cities adopt a uniform criminal code and deal with misdemeanors, while the District Court gets the felonies. Disregarding those laws threatens the public in a lesser degree than felony violations, but threatens nevertheless.

Judges have options for meting out punishment to discourage further violations: fines, community service and probation, before incarceration. When people repeatedly violate, sometimes the only way to get these scofflaws' attention is incarceration, and judges need to have that option.

MARY SANCHEZ: MORE SEXIST OR RACIST?

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:05 CST

The burning question of the recent presidential campaign, as cynics put it, was this: Is the United States more sexist or racist? Sexism won, but only by a bobby pin.

Of course, that's a fairly simplistic reading of the outcome. The African-American man was elected. The woman was not.

But race and gender bias seem nowhere to be found in the Nov. 4 election returns. In fact, one of the unnoticed election results was a slight uptick in the number of women serving in the U.S. Congress. Ten new women were elected -- a net gain of three seats over the previous congressional session -- making the total now 74. That is a significant nudge toward having enough of a voting bloc to really push legislation.

It's not headline-grabbing, but incremental gains like these are where women affect politics. Women are now 16 percent of the House of Representatives.

Here is a nugget of information that might surprise some people: In every election since 1980, U.S. women have voted at higher rates than men, according to the White House Project, a group that supports women's political gains with an eye toward breaking the gender barrier to the highest office in the land.

KEVIN COYLE: YOUNG VOTERS SET THE STAGE FOR CLEAN ENERGY

KEVIN COYLE — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:05 CST

On Nov. 4, millennials (ages 18-29) became the most powerful voting bloc in the country. Clean energy, climate protection and green jobs were among their voting criteria, according to Power Vote organizers, a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote campaign.

An estimated 22 million millennials turned out to the polls -- 3.2 million more than in 2004, according to preliminary findings of Tufts University. This significant increase in youth engagement in the political process is the second-highest youth voter turnout since 1972, when the eligible voting age was decreased from 21 to 18.

Among the dynamics of the election were nonpartisan efforts to turn out the youth vote such as MTV's Rock the Vote, the Public Interest Research Group's New Voter Project and the Energy Action Coalition's Power Vote initiative.

The Power Vote campaign, organized on more than 300 campuses, generated 350,000 pledges from youth organizers who committed to vote and hold those elected accountable for shifting to clean energy and creating millions of new green jobs. The number of pledges collected equals nearly 11 percent of the total increase in the youth voter turnout, leading to the very real possibility that much of the youth enthusiasm for clean energy translated to an increase in youth votes.

In the 2008 election, millennials voted in record numbers because they believe the nation needs a bold new vision for America and the political leadership to make it happen. They defied the odds and the naysayers who said they wouldn't turn out, and now they are going to show our politicians that they mean business.

DR. BILL ROY: AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN HAVE COME LONG WAY

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:40 CST

Just as it is nearly inconceivable for us older Americans to realize that our first family after Jan. 20 will be African-American, it also must be very difficult for Americans under 50 to realize the place of African-Americans -- especially black women -- in our society not all that long ago.

So I will pursue historically the subject of the rise of Michelle Obama to first lady from the perspective of someone who lived through those years when black women were at the very bottom of the American social scale.

First of all, we must recall that until about 40 years ago, all women were markedly limited in their pursuit of any lifetime role other than homemaker and mother -- still their most important callings today. Women who wanted or had to work outside the home were essentially limited to teaching, nursing, or clerical and secretarial work.

But black women were almost universally excluded from these limited pursuits. For example, I recall seeing my first black department store clerk in Macy's in downtown Topeka about 1970.

If black women worked, and many did, they worked as "domestics," a classification that included maids, cooks, cleaning women and not much else. They entered by the back door.

THOMAS FRIEDMAN: DON'T GIVE DETROIT ANY BLANK CHECKS

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:39 CST

How could U.S. automobile companies be so bad for so long? Clearly the combination of a very un-innovative business culture, visionless management and overly generous labor contracts explains a lot of it.

That led to a situation whereby General Motors could make money only by selling big, gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks. Therefore, instead of focusing on making money by innovating around fuel efficiency, productivity and design, GM threw way too much energy into lobbying and maneuvering to protect its gas-guzzlers.

The result was an industry that became brain-dead.

Nothing typified this more than statements like those of Bob Lutz, GM's vice chairman. He has been quoted as saying that hybrids like the Toyota Prius "make no economic sense." And in February, D Magazine of Dallas quoted him as saying that global warming "is a total crock of (expletive)."

These are the guys taxpayers are being asked to bail out.