Kansas Moments: Kline refuses to share, Sebelius moves forward & the GOP lurches further right

By Diane Silver

Here's a quick look around the news from the heartland this morning.

The Wichita Eagle's blog, WE Blog, asks a good question: If outgoing Attorney General Phill Kline is so hot to prosecute Dr. George Tiller, why won't Kline share his files with Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston? The local DA is the person with the authority to prosecute the Wichita abortion provider. What gives?

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius reveals her new $7 million economic development plan, help for the rural economy and keeps pushing for health care for children.

All signs point to the Kansas Republican Party continuing its rightward lurch when it picks a new chair. None of the announced candidates are moderate, which isn't a suprise given that ultra conservatives control the party apparatus. Announced candidates include such stalwarts of the religious right as state Sen. Tim Huelskamp of Fowler, law professor and former Congressional candidate Kris Kobach and Wichita businessman Mike Pompeo. Even Kline is rumored to be interested. The best way to understand the party race is to read Kansas GOP Insider, who really appears to be who he/she claims.

Meanwhile, the new moderate majority on the state Board of Education is moving quickly to search for a new education commissioner to replace recently resigned Bob Corkins, yet another darling of the religious right.

Western Kansas continues to struggle under the snow, and we wish them all the best and all the help they need. The problems include power outages and a desperate struggle for ranchers who are trying to keep their cattle alive.

Finally, please look again at a story that is receiving too little play in Kansas: Who is Phill Kline's special prosecutor?

Kansas: Who is really behind new attacks on Attorney General-Elect Paul Morrison?

By Diane Silver

I received one of these robot phone calls attacking Paul Morrison, and it was truly vile, but it was also well produced. If you knew little about Morrison, you might well wonder what was going on with the state's new attorney general.

What I am wondering is why is Morrison being attacked before he even takes office, and who is really behind this.

On the surface, the man complaining about Morrison is Conrad J. Braun of San Diego. According to his call, Braun spent 11 years in prison on both state and federal charges. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Braun has been in and out of the Larned Mental Health Facility and was convicted in 2005 of blackmail.

Given all that, I'm wondering how this person has the resources to start a coordinated campaign. Oh yes, the newspaper says he owns a calling company. Perhaps so, and perhaps these are the ravings of an unhinged person, but these attacks certainly are convenient for any future political opponents Morrison might have.

Make no mistake about it; this is a coordinated smear campaign. I've received numerous emails from Braun via my hopeandpolitics@yahoo.com address. As a blogger, I now receive many such "news releases."

Just like I experienced when I worked as a newspaper reporter, some of the folks who reach out to bloggers are, shall we say, not exactly working from a reality-based view of the world. When I can,I investigate and post informationI have been able to confirm. I wasn't able to do that with Braun, and thus, decided not to post on his claims.

However, the Journal-World has now made this public, so I am left with questions.

Although the charges are different, it seems remarkably similar to the "bottom-feeder" tactics defeated AG Phill Kline used against Morrison in the election. What the heck is going on?

Ms. Boyda goes to Washington

[Updated 6 p.m.]

By Diane Silver

Today's Lawrence Journal-World has a great story profiling Democrat Nancy Boyda's first few days in Congress as the new representative from east-central Kansas.

I know it's early, especially for a newly elected member of Congress, but I like what I see in that story. Boyda seems engaged, energetic, respectful but now overwhelmed by her new situation. I especially like her response to a staffer who told her that someone had just called looking for Jim Ryun, the longtime Republican incumbent Boyda defeated in November.

"Do whatever you need to do to not make that person feel awkward," Boyda instructed.

It's a small thing, acting in kindness, but it says a lot about a person's character.

[update]

Ms Boyda goes to Washington and takes the oath of office to become, officially, Rep. Nancy Boyda.

Rep. Ellison speaks up: It's time for a "politics of generosity & inclusion"

By Diane Silver

Much attention has been focused on Rep.-Elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to Congress. In today's Washington Post he finally speaks up for himself and does so most eloquently. The entire piece is worth reading for what it says about who we should be as a country.

Here's an excerpt.

Recently, I have become the focus of some criticism for my use of the Qu'ran for my ceremonial swearing in. Let me be clear, I am going to be sworn into office like all members of Congress. I am going to swear to uphold the United States Constitution. We seem to have lost the political vision of our founding document -- a vision of inclusion, tolerance and generosity.

I do not blame my critics for subscribing to a politics of scarcity and intolerance. However, I believe we all must project a new politics of generosity and inclusion This is the vision of the diverse coalition in my Congressional district. My constituents in Minnesota elected me to fight for a new politics in which a loving nation guarantees health care for all of its people; a new politics in which executive pay may not skyrocket while workers do not have enough to care for their families. I was elected to articulate a new politics in which no one is cut out of the American dream, not immigrants, not gays, not poor people, not even a Muslim committed to serve his nation.

Pamela K. Taylor and Nancy Jane Moore have posted about Ellison on In This Moment.

Just a little more on Rep. Ellison & Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an

By Pamela K. Taylor

In the past few weeks, the blogosphere has been afire over Rep.-Elect Keith Ellison's plan to take his oath on the Qur'an during the ceremonial Congressional swearing-in that is taking place this week. Led by nationally syndicated pundit Dennis Praeger and goaded on by Republican representative from Virginia, Virgil Goode, Ellison's critics have complained that using a Qur'an is un-American, claiming that only Bibles are acceptable for taking oaths as this country is a Christian nation.

Now it has surfaced that Ellison is planning to take his oath on a Qur'an owned by none other than, our third President, Thomas Jefferson, the principle author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was also author of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, and a staunch supporter of religious freedom.

This law reads:

"No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."

One can't help but think that Thomas Jefferson would wholly approve of Mr. Ellison swearing on the religious book that means the most to him, especially as it is one from Mr. Jefferson's personal library.

As an Ellision spokesperson says, "Jefferson's Quran dates religious tolerance to the founders of our country," he added.

The Qur'an itself was published in 1764, some twenty years after Ellison's ancestors arrived in America.

One can only hope that representatives with opinions such as Mr. Goode's -- who called Mr. Ellison's proposal a threat to American values -- will reconsider just what America's values are. We have never been a nation dedicated to implementing Christianity, or even to Christian values. Rather, we were founded on the notion that religion and morality is fundamentally a personal issue, one which the state has no business regulating, whether that relates to the God you worship, your choice of marriage partner, or any other moral issue.

For more discussion on the issue, look at In This Moment's comments and click here, or here, or here.

Kansas: Questions are raised about Phill Kline's special prosecutor & violent anti-abortion activists

By Diane Silver

Frederick Clarkson at Talk To Action has an interesting article about what he says is a connection between newly appointed special prosecutor Donald McKinney and violent anti-abortion activists.

At the very least, McKinney may have been a friend of Paul deParrie, an anti-abortion activist who died in May. DeParrie "characterized violence against doctors who perform abortion as 'morally justifiable,'" according to deParrie's hometown newspaper, The Oregonian.

The connection between McKinney and deParrie appears to be highlighted in a comment on the Operation Rescue blog by a person identifying himself as Donald “the Dingo” McKinney. In praising deParrie after his death from a heart attack, this person noted (my emphasis):

Paul was the real deal. A true Christian warrior. He was a great "leader" in the purest sense...And there was one other thing about Paul that contantly amazed me: he and I almost always agreed about everything -- from church issues to pro-life controversys to legal tactics. He was a true brother.

Is this the same Don McKinney as the man just appointed to prosecute Wichita abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller? Does McKinney believe that violence against abortion doctors is "morally justifiable?"

If that friendship existed, then it not only raises serious questions about McKinney, but about the judgment of Phill Kline.

Tiller, by the way, was wounded in 1993 by an anti-abortion activist.

Does McKinney sympathize with violent activists who have already targeted Tiller? If so, how can McKinney fairly do his job as special prosecutor? If this is true, what does it say about the judgment of the soon-to-be district attorney of Johnson County?

Clarkson raises the questions and wonders why the Kansas news media, particularly The Wichita Eagle, have ignored this story. I wish I had the time to investigate this, but outside of doing a little Googling and finding some links, I can't do anything more.

Some might argue that this issue is moot. Attorney General-Elect Paul Morrison has already said he will not retain McKinney as special prosecutor. Kline is leaving as attorney general in less than a week. Why should anyone care now?

Personally, I believe it's important to watch what Kline does. At the very least, the quality of his judgment is an important issue for the citizens of Johnson County. Like it or not, he will be their district attorney for the next two years. The quality of his decisions will have a major impact on their lives and their safety.

But that isn't the only reason to watch what's happening. Kline shows every sign of having further political aspirations. Kansas' tiny blogosphere has been buzzing with rumors that he might run to be chair of the state GOP. He is a longtime leader of the far right wing of the state Republican Party, and he shows no sign of going away.

I don't have the answers, but I do know that questions need to be asked. Where does McKinney stand on these issues, and why did Kline appoint him?

The Quran, Mr. Ellison & Thomas Jefferson

Following up on Nancy Jane Moore's post about the uproar over the country's first Muslim Congressman taking the oath of office on a Quran instead of a Bible... Rep.-elect Keith Ellison will take the ceremonial oath on a Quran owned by Thomas Jefferson.

Good for you, Mr. Ellison!

Read Nancy's post for an overview of the stupidity of the attacks on Ellison.

Marriage equality faces another challenge in Massachusetts

The future of thousands of families in the only state that allows same-sex couples to marry is in doubt now that the Massachusetts Legislature has voted to keep a proposed ban alive.

If the proposal gets the support of only 50 lawmakers in the next session, it will be put on the 2008 ballot. The Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts Governor-elect Deval Patrick said he was disappointed by the vote.

"We have never used the initiative petition to limit individual freedoms and personal privacy, but today’s vote was a regrettable step in that direction.

"We have work to do over the next year to turn this around," Patrick continued. "I am heartened by the fact that the overwhelming majority of the members of the Legislature – a margin of over 2 to 1 -- voted to move on. I pledge to do what I can to build on that momentum, so that our Constitution will continue to stand for liberty and freedom, and not discrimination."

Welcome to a new Kansas blog

A hearty hello to a new blog, Evolving in Kansas. Mousie Cat provides "a Kansas freelance writer's thoughts on science, evolution, education, religion, politics and more."

Welcome to the tiny Kansas blogosphere!

Eid ul Adha and the Culture of Commericalism

As we are celebrating the last day of Eid ul Adha and still recovering from the Christmas magic/mania, I thought I would post an article I wrote last year about the challenge the ever greater retail hype around Christmas poses to minority communities and the celebration of our holidays. With Christmas displays in some Cincinnati stores area going up before Halloween (an all time record for earliest retail Christmas campaign), the article is as relevant this year as it was last.


Religious Minorities and the Allure of Materialism
By Pamela K. Taylor

With Christmas still fresh in our minds, American Muslims are looking forward to our own holiday, Eid ul-Adha, a three day celebration that marks the successful completion of the Hajj, Islam’s annual pilgrimage to Mecca. For minority communities, Christmas is always a challenge, especially for those of us with kids. The lights, the carols, decorating the tree, candy covered gingerbread houses, Santa, his sleigh and his reindeer, and, most of all, the presents. It’s child heaven. The pressure to compete is fierce and many of us feel an enormous need to prove that our own faith has as much to offer kids, or at the very least that it has its own really good traditions even if they aren’t quite as glamorous as Christmas.

This year the Muslim community was particularly lucky. Christmas was neatly sandwiched between the two major events of the Islamic calendar – Ramadan and Hajj. With Ramadan and Eid ul Fitr falling in October, we had our own special month of fellowship and celebration to buttress the kids’ fortitude just before the November/December deluge. When the kids asked why we don’t celebrate Christmas, Muslim parents could point our own recent time of dinner parties, special foods, holiday sweets, new clothes, and, of course, presents. And if that didn’t quite satisfy their craving, we could remind them that Hajj and Eid ul-Adha was coming just a couple weeks later. More parties, more new clothes… more presents.

And there’s the rub. The push-pull. You want Eid to be just as good as Christmas, but you look at the stress, the holiday rush, the hassle of finding just the right gift for everyone on your list, the self-inflicted pressure to make Christmas perfect for the kids, and shudder to think Eid could become like that. You want it to be as fun and as memorable, but you don’t want it to become a carbon copy. You want to maintain its authenticity, but you’re not sure that authenticity can quite measure up, and you’re not sure you want it to, even if it could.

On the one hand, you’re delighted to find out that Hallmark is now making Eid cards and when you mail them you can pay your postage with a USPS Eid Stamp. You rejoice to find an Indian princess Barbie or building blocks with Arabian arches and domes. In a country where a person’s status is more often than not judged by the strength of his pocketbook, retail acknowledgement of Ramadan, Hajj, and the two Eids talks big to kids. It’s a validation of their identities as American and Muslims. It shows them that we are part and parcel of the fabric of this country, that we belong, we’re accepted.

On the other hand, you dread too much retail attention. You worry that consumerism will gut the spiritual aspects of Eid the way it has gutted much of the meaning of Christmas. When you set out your presents for Eid morning, you hope the kids realize that Eid is more about being grateful to God than getting goodies. You wonder if you would have gotten the kids quite so many presents if the spectacle of Christmas gift giving hadn’t just upped the ante two weeks ago. You wonder if the need to measure up is leading you down the garden path into the waiting arms of Sam’s Club and Kmart. And you wish that the Christian community hadn’t bought quite so fully into market capitalism’s message that more is better.

All along, to make matters worse, you’re second guessing yourself. When you hang lights, as Muslims in many countries do during Ramadan, you wonder if the kids will think you’re trying to copy Christmas, and sometimes you wonder yourself. When you pass out cookies to guests – a time honored Ramadan tradition, although in other cultures the norm may be baklava, date pasties, or sweet puddings, rather than coconut macaroons, powdered teacakes, lemon tarts, and chocolate peanut butter bull’s eyes – you hope the kids don’t think you’re just trying to trump sugar cookies with red and green sprinkles. You look to the American Jewish community and Hannukah, a relatively minor holiday in other Jewish communities which, because of it’s timing, has taken on a much larger role here, and wonder if this is a good thing, or a bad thing. It’s great to be able to say, look we’ve got it just as good as the rest of America, but not if it means you have to distort your own traditions all out of proportion.

It isn’t easy to decide how much rivalry is good and how much is too much, to know where the line lies between unhealthy competition and the kind that, like a longstanding school rivalry, deepens and intensifies loyalty. It’s tough to know whether to buying into American consumerism whole-heartedly, half-way, or not at all will help your kids learn to love their own traditions rather than look on others’ celebrations with envy. Will the glitz of all-out materialism make them love Eid the way Christian kids love Christmas (and do you want them to love it because of that, even if it does?) Or will they appreciate a more even-handed approach that balances fun with spirituality? Or perhaps, will they find the peace and tranquility of a more austere holiday that uplifts and instills a feeling of purity and grace more attractive?

Clearly there is no one answer that fits all children or all families. Sometimes, you feel like you are throwing darts at a board with your eyes closed, hoping you don’t hit anything fragile in the process. Other times, you move forward confidently, assured that you’re making the right choices, and trusting that God has guided you down the right path. But even in the best of times, it’s a balancing act in which you always feel a bit off-kilter.

Former chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff says gays should be allowed to serve openly

By Diane Silver

John M. Shalikashvili writes in Tuesday's New York Times that it's time for out lesbians and gays to be welcomed into the military and for don't ask-don't tell to be repealed.

I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces. Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the retired Army general thinks Congress should still wait to repeal the current policy.

Shalikashvili chaired the joint chiefs from 1993 to 1997. He opposed President Bill Clinton's effort to allow lesbians and gays to serve openly in 1993.

It's an op-ed worth reading. Registration is required, but the article is free online.

Kansas Moments: Serious questions, Phill Kline, a tainted special prosecutor & the state of the GOP

By Diane Silver

Here are a few Kansas political moments that popped up in news coverage recently.

The Wichita Eagle asks an important question about outgoing Attorney General Phill Kline's Ahab-like pursuit of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller: Has anyone thought about the children mentioned in those medical records Kline got from Tiller's clinic? Apparently the records show that children as young as 10 and 13 received abortions.

I am as pro-choice as you can be, but I also believe that pregnant youngsters are a sign that something is very wrong. Despite Kline's claim that he went after the records to investigate sexual crimes against children, Kline has publicly shown no interest in actually investigating crimes against these kids. Instead, Kline seems to only care about prosecuting Tiller. What gives and what really happened to those kids?

Andy Wollen, chairman of the moderate Kansas Traditional Republican Majority, starts off a recent Kansas City Star op-ed with a bang.

For Johnson County residents wondering who in the world elected the unqualified Phill Kline as our new district attorney, there’s an uncomfortable answer — you did.

Wollen notes that the precinct representatives who elected Kline were themselves elected in the Aug. 1 primary where only 15 percent of county voters participated. His point? Stop complaining and vote in the next primary.

Wollen also noted some important details about Kline's qualifications to be district attorney.

Kline claims to care passionately about the law, but he has allowed his law license to lapse three separate times since he was admitted to the Kansas Bar Association in 1987. He has already started to hire his ideological cronies to fill out the office, and career prosecutors have started finding employment elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the special prosecutor Kline appointed to go after Tiller has filed a motion to have the misdemeanors charges reinstated. A Sedgwick County judge has already thrown them out once and held a hearing where he refused to reinstate them.

Topping off this week's news is a report from Talk To Action that Kline's special prosecutor, Donald McKinney, is linked to, or at least an admirer of, the Army of God, an extremist and allegedly violent anti-abortion group. The tone of the Talk To Action story is so frothing at the mouth that it would be easy to discount it, but the information appears to be valid.

For those looking for perspective on the Kansas Republican Party

By Diane Silver

If you've wandered over from the Political Animal at Washington Monthly, you may well be looking for this post on the state of the Republican Party in Kansas, which ponders the question: Is the state GOP really in tatters as some bloggers claim? Or, to put it more accurately: Has Kansas finally fixed what was wrong with itself?

The quick answer? Not really, but there IS progress.

It's a racist thing. It's time y'all understood.

By Nancy Jane Moore

I'm in the final miles of a trip to Texas for the holidays. In a bad chain restaurant just outside of Memphis, I saw a young man wearing a t-shirt with this flag on it:


Under the flag it said:

It's a southern thang. Y'all wouldn't understand.

Well, I'm a southerner. Several of my ancestors fought for the Confederacy. My daddy sang "Dixie" at a Confederate Veterans' Reunion when he was a small child. When I took history in high school, they taught the civil war as "us" and "them" -- and believe me, "them" meant Yankees. I know all about Southern pride and the evils of reconstruction. And from studying the war in more objective fashion in college, I'm fully aware that slavery wasn't the only issue that divided north and south.

But a person waving that flag or wearing it on a t-shirt in the 21st Century is saying just one thing:

"I'm a racist."

I'm sure that young man would have made some argument about southern pride, but that discussion always seems to devolve into nostalgia for a time when "certain people" knew their place. Regardless of the other issues that drove southerners, you cannot divorce the Civil War from slavery. And slavery was a great evil. You cannot separate the Confederate flag from that evil.

The flag belongs in museums, not on people's backs.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2007 to one and all from the folks at In This Moment. May both you and the world be blessed in in the coming year.

Revenge isn't justice

By Nancy Jane Moore

From all accounts, Saddam Hussein did terrible things over the course of his life. If you subscribe to the principles of karma, he deserved his ignoble end.

But his trial -- judging by the news reports -- was a mockery of legal process. As Juan Cole says, "The trial and execution of Saddam were about revenge, not justice."

The irony is that it would have been easy to convict Saddam of any number of horrible crimes while using even the relatively high standard of due process the US affords criminal defendants. This is not a case -- like those so beloved of TV cop shows -- where the bad guy would get away if we didn't bend the rules.

And the rules are important. Revenge may be a natural emotion -- we all want it when we've been ill-treated -- but civilized societies should not operative on revenge. It's primitive and it usually leads to more killing.

Justice systems were set up to weigh offenses and consequences dispassionately. They are imperfect -- they are created by human beings -- but even at their weakest they beat the hell out of vigilante justice and kangaroo courts. At their best, they deal fairly with those brought before them, convicting the guilty based on honest evidence and letting go those whose crimes cannot be proved.

The trial and execution of Saddam show a failure of the Iraqi justice system -- and a failure of the US, which let it happen. Justice systems should not be judged by how well they handle the easy cases, but what they do when principles are at stake. Here, the justice system failed miserably.

The Iraqi people got revenge for years of bad leadership and crimes against their fellow citizens. The US got revenge, though I'm not certain what we got it for -- the invasion of Kuwait? Plots against G. Bush Sr.? Deaths of our soldiers in Iraq? We'd still like revenge for September 11, but that had nothing to do with Saddam.

That we humans continue to let revenge call the shots in this world is yet another example of how we have not yet become civilized. We had a chance with the trial of Saddam to deal fairly with a man who never dealt fairly. We failed.