thekansan.com

Esther Cepeda: Missing school -- for vacation

By Esther Cepeda, Washington Post — Wed, 22 May 2013 1:01:00 +0000

It�s that time. If you�re a teacher in a school with a large concentration of Hispanic students, you�re doing end-of-year reviews and preparing for final exams -- and you have kids trickling up to you to let you know they won�t be around for them.
This also happens at the beginning of the school year and during the holidays as parents take their children out of classes for long family trips. But I can tell you from first-hand experience that there�s nothing worse than getting through the [...]

Kent Bush: Devastating storms restore perspective

Kent Bush — Tue, 21 May 2013 7:35:58

In 20 years of covering news and chasing storms, I have never seen anything like what happened Monday.

Kent Bush: Being different but not feeling different

Kent Bush — Tue, 21 May 2013 6:57:22

I saw a snapshot of reality. Dawit got the same cheers as any other child.

George Will: On immigration, ghosts of Christmas past

By George Will, Washington Post — Sun, 19 May 2013 1:07:00 +0000

Charles Dickens� �A Christmas Carol� is a gooey confection of seasonal sentiment. It also is an economic manifesto that Dickens hoped would hit with �twenty thousand times the force� of a political tract. It concerned a 19th-century debate that is pertinent to today�s argument about immigration.
Last week, a disagreement between two conservative think tanks erupted when the Heritage Foundation excoriated the immigration reform proposed by a bipartisan group of eight senators. Heritage�s [...]

Kathleen Parker: Benghazi redacted

By Kathleen Parker, Washington Post — Sat, 18 May 2013 1:03:00 +0000

Mistakes were made.
This, we are supposed to accept, is the conclusion to be drawn about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, despite congressional testimony suggesting that significant efforts were made to camouflage those mistakes.
As Democrats and Republicans alike know all too well: It�s always the cover-up.
Yet in this case, where so clearly the State Department and others in the Obama administration took extra steps to mischaracterize what happened the night Ambassador [...]

Kent Bush: Education too important to be used in legislators' tug-of-war

Kent Bush — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:30:00 +0000

One of the best things about the new standards is the way children are encouraged to learn.

Dana Milbank: Asleep at the wheel

By Dana Milbank, Washington Post — Fri, 17 May 2013 1:01:00 +0000

President Passerby needs urgently to become a participant in his presidency.
Late Monday came the breathtaking news of a full-frontal assault on the First Amendment by his administration: word that the Justice Department had gone on a fishing expedition through months of phone records of Associated Press reporters.
And yet President Obama reacted much as he did to the equally astonishing revelation on Friday that the IRS had targeted conservative groups based on their ideology. He [...]

Kent Bush: How far do we allow the government to go?

Kent Bush — Thu, 16 May 2013 7:21:09

I missed the part of the First Amendment where the government grants freedom of the press unless they have a really good reason not to.

Michael Gerson: The IRS needs an audit

By Michael Gerson, Washington Post — Thu, 16 May 2013 1:35:00 +0000

Suppose that the Environmental Protection Agency were to admit offhandedly that the fluoridation of water had only modest communist mind-control effects. Or the United Nations were to concede it has been running fleets of black helicopters over American cities, but only in the course of conducting extensive good will tours.
The IRS has managed a similar confirmation. For years, tea party and patriot groups have breathlessly alleged that federal bureaucrats were conspiring against the [...]

E.J. Dionne: ‘Slow-motion mass murders’

By E.J. Dionne, Washington Post — Wed, 15 May 2013 1:32:00 +0000

Public officials are very selective about when violence and death matter.
Massacres and terrorist incidents cannot be ignored, but the day-to-day toll from gun violence is often swept aside. Politicians who tout themselves as advocates of law and order don�t want to be unmasked as caring even more about their ratings from gun lobbyists.
And opponents of the most moderate gun reforms engage in a shameless game of bait-and-switch. Because measures such as background checks would not stop [...]

The bullying of Kansans with DD

Wed, 15 May 2013 1:01:00 +0000

I am a voter and a Targeted Case Manager in your district and I am very disappointed by the actions of the House Appropriations Committee. The Committee, on a motion by Representative Dave Crum of Augusta, inserted a provison into the House's budget bill that would take away any new waiting list dollars for Kansans with developmental disabilities if I/DD long-term care services are "carved out" of KanCare.

This amounts to bullying and intimidation of our state's most [...]

Stop class warfare

Wed, 15 May 2013 1:01:00 +0000

�Ruler Obama and many of the DC Politicians continue to use "Class Warfare" as a means of dividing America.

I suspect it's because they themselves have no "class".

Instead of using "Lower Class," "Middle Class" and "Upper Class," which is what we got away from when we won our independence from England, I suggest we utilize the following terms when talking about American citizens and economics.

No income Americans

Lower [...]

Summer reading

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:39:24

�With summer vacation for most public school pupils on the horizon, it is important to plan learning activities in the home setting, which will assist in building upon what was acquired previously. Much forgetting may occur unless parents have plans to emphasize in increasing achievement. Thus, much can be done to increase reading skills and a love for subject matter during the summer months. Otherwise what is lost must be made up in the ensuing school year, 2013-2014. If the home has an [...]

Kent Bush: What a great time of year

Kent Bush — Tue, 14 May 2013 6:42:25

I enjoy this time of year because it shows the culmination of years of hard work.

Coed's act wasn't a parody

Tue, 14 May 2013 1:01:00 +0000

I recently read a news report that concerned a college on the East Coast, but which has ramifications for colleges and universities nationwide. Carnegie Mellon University, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania had its president apologize for a papal parody.

It detailed the actions of a female Carnegie Mellon University student who got carried-away with excessive vulgarity during a Spring carnival parade, allegedly, the student chose to mock the Catholic Church by her donning a fake Papal [...]

Sales tax a concern

Tue, 14 May 2013 1:01:00 +0000

�

Kansas is ranked 12th in sales tax for all U.S. states and is significantly higher than all our neighbors. We are also 12th for the number of services taxed ��services are things like hair cuts, and doctor visits.

This means we tax many services that other states do not.

But the Legislature wants to change that and increase the number of services taxed so we can move up and you can pay more! Right now the Legislature is trying to figure out how to pay for the reckless [...]

Esther Cepeda: Iron Man’s healthy conversion

By Esther Cepeda, Washington Post — Tue, 14 May 2013 1:01:00 +0000

Is it just me or is Tony Stark on a health kick?
In the third �Iron Man� -- a series that spent its first two installments glorifying the reckless life of a spoiled, rich genius -- Stark, the man inside the metallic exoskeleton, seems to have finally taken a turn toward wellness.
No spoiler alerts are needed for me to point out that, though subtle, Stark set beautiful examples of healthful eating throughout this latest episode.
In a scene set in what appeared to be a familiar chain [...]

Charles Krauthammer: Pink line over Damascus

By Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post — Mon, 13 May 2013 1:55:00 +0000

You know you�re in trouble when you can�t even get your walk-back story straight. Stung by the worldwide derision that met President Obama�s fudging and fumbling of his chemical-weapons red line in Syria, the White House leaked to The New York Times that Obama�s initial statement had been unprepared, unscripted and therefore unserious.
The next day Jay Carney said precisely the opposite: �Red line� was intended and deliberate.
Which is it? Who knows? Perhaps Obama used the term last [...]

Michael Gerson: The fog on Benghazi

By Michael Gerson, Washington Post — Sun, 12 May 2013 1:51:00 +0000

In some cases, the fog of war is initially thick, then dissipates. Following the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attacks that killed four Americans including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, the facts were initially clear. The fog was a later addition.
Recent congressional testimony by Gregory Hicks, Stevens� deputy in Libya, established one point beyond doubt: Those closest to the attacks were not confused about their nature. They were responding to a coordinated terrorist assault followed by a [...]

Dana Milbank: Red-card this term

By Dana Milbank, Washington Post — Sat, 11 May 2013 1:41:00 +0000

President Obama said once again last week that Syria�s �use of chemical weapons would be a game-changer.�
The president had played this game many times before. �I have made clear that the use of chemical weapons is a game-changer,� he said in March, in one of his administration�s many repetitions of the term.
But what game does Obama propose to change? �By game-changer,� ABC News� Jonathan Karl asked him on Tuesday, �do you mean U.S. military action?�
The coach was not about to share [...]