Thanks to the lobbying efforts of the National Rifle Association, the Kansas Legislature has now approved a bill that would allow the use of silencers for hunting, fishing and fur harvesting. Gov. Sam Brownback is expected to sign the bill with no loud outcries from the air, nor from the field and stream. So now…
The Associated Press reports that Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo, believes that the devastating earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown in Japan are “a punishment from heaven” because the Japanese have become greedy. Who knew that Fred Phelps has followers in Japan? He’s probably there right now with his placards and picket signs: “Wasabi=Death!” “God Hates Sushi!” “Man…
In some ways, what Col. Moamer Kadhafi is doing to his own people in Libya seems kinder and more honest than what Gov. Scott Walker is doing to his own constituents in Wisconsin. While the Libyan dictator simply shoots and kills those who are against him, the Republican strongman tortures his opponents by cleverly stripping…
I’ve just read The Sunday New York Times. There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is, that Frank Rich is gone; he’s now writing for New York magazine. The good news is, Maureen Dowd has inherited his usual place in the paper, with more column inches. I guess that’s one small step for…
The Republican mantra during the midterm elections last November was “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS” by way of fixing the economy; and yet, as MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow keeps pointing out night after night on her show, all the Republicans seem to be fixating on the past couple of weeks are stricter anti-abortion laws. I do think there’s…
I thought I knew Maura Piekalkiewicz (1933-2011) fairly well, but at the service held at Lawrence Chapel Oaks on January 29 in her memory, I found out a great deal more about her activism for civil rights and social justice from personal stories shared by her son Andrew; her daughter Ellen; her friends Laura Gassen…
Today, for the first time ever in my memory, because we had six or seven inches of snow, the United States Postal Service did not deliver the mail in my neighborhood in Lawrence, KS. I called them up to ask about their official creed: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays…
For two weeks now, ever since the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, I’ve wondered what life must be like these days for Suzi Hileman, the 59-year-old woman whose idea it was to bring nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green to that “Congress on Your Corner” which ended so tragically for the child. An article in The New York Times today…
Ricky Martin’s new memoir is called ME, and Oprah Winfrey’s new network is called OWN. I cannot think of two better words to describe a society mostly obsessed with oneself and, in Oprah’s case, also with ownership. It’s now all me and mine. Gone are the days of you and yours, their and theirs, our…
Republican Governor Sam Brownback’s new budget plan for Kansas has moolah to help grow economic sectors such as “animal health,” whatever that may be, but will cut grants to community mental health centers by $10 million. His budget recommendations also include shutting down the state hospital (i.e., the Kansas Neurological Institute in Topeka) for developmentally…