Kansas Political Blogwire

updated at 15:01

• Biggs is solid choice

  —WE Blog

  

  Chris Biggs, who has served as the state securities commissioner since 2003 and is a former Geary County attorney, is a solid choice as Kansas’ new secretary of state. Gov. Mark Parkinson appointed Biggs today to replace Ron Thornburgh, who resigned to take a job in [...]

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  Posted: March 16, 2010, 1:09pm EDT
  by Phillip Brownlee

• THE ULTIMATE RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINE…

  —kansasprairie.net

  Here is an awesome new video that was filmed in a two story warehouse in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles CA. The machine was designed and built by the band, OK Go, along with members of Syyn Labs. You’ll be fascinated at the time some folks have on [...]
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  Posted: March 16, 2010, 8:53am EDT
  by Peg Britton

• Moran’s Cuba argument

  —WE Blog

  Number of comments: 19
  

  At a House hearing last week, Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, got little support from his fellow Republicans as he promoted his bipartisan bill to ease U.S. agricultural sales and travel to Cuba, according to Agweek. Moran’s point is well-taken, though. He said: “We deal with communist [...]

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  Posted: March 16, 2010, 6:03am EDT
  by Rhonda Holman

• Open thread 3/16

  —WE Blog

  Number of comments: 25
  

  [...]
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  Posted: March 16, 2010, 6:02am EDT
  by Rhonda Holman

• Friedman’s hope for Iraq

  —WE Blog

  Number of comments: 14
  

  Moved by a photograph of an Iraqi expatriate woman in Michigan letting her son put her ballot in the box, columnist Thomas Friedman put into words a hope bigger than party or global politics. “I only care about one thing,” he wrote, “that the outcome [...]

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  Posted: March 16, 2010, 6:01am EDT
  by Rhonda Holman

• Crowd-pleasing collaboration

  —WE Blog

  Number of comments: 1
  

  Congratulations to the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andrew Sewell for offering weekend concerts that broke new ground musically and collaboratively while also bringing audiences to their feet. The uncommon all-American program featured “Rockwell Reflections” by Stella Sung (who attended), inspired by paintings reproduced on [...]

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  Posted: March 16, 2010, 6:00am EDT
  by Rhonda Holman

• Kansas news digest

  —Voice For Liberty in Wichita

  News from alternative media around Kansas for March 16, 2010.

  School consolidation measures deliberated in House

  (Kansas Liberty) “The Kansas House tentatively approved a plan today that would allow three or more school districts to consolidate into two districts. House Bill 2704 originally included two consolidation-promoting components, but one of the [...]

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  Posted: March 16, 2010, 4:04am EDT
  by Bob Weeks

• CORNED BEEF…

  —kansasprairie.net

  Three flats of lean corned beef are simmering in a big turkey roaster.   It smells so good…and will all night long.   I should sleep well. It’s amazing how you can start out with so much meat and before you know it, it’s shrunk in half.  It’s going to simmer away [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 10:50pm EDT
  by Peg Britton

• Tea party impact to be topic of panel

  —Voice For Liberty in Wichita

  Number of comments: 5
  

  This Friday the Wichita Pachyderm Club features a panel discussion with panelists Susan Estes, Lynda Tyler, and Dion Lefler discussing the topic “What is the political impact, if any, of the Tea Party movement?” Estes is Field Director for Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, Tyler is head of Kansans for [...]

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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:51pm EDT
  by Bob Weeks

• ABC — Axelrod: Israel Settlement Approval an ‘Affront’; ‘Insult’

  —The Kansas Progress

  The President’s top adviser David Axelrod told me that approval of new housing units by Israel in the Arab section of Jerusalem during Vice President Biden’s trip there last week was an “affront” and an “insult”. “What it did was it made more difficult a very difficult process,” Axelrod said [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:08pm EDT
  by admin

• NY Times — Ohio Democrat to Skip Health Care Rally

  —The Kansas Progress

  Representative John Boccieri, Democrat of Ohio, whose vote on major health care legislation could be crucial to the outcome, will not be attending President Obama’s health care rally on Monday in Strongsville, Ohio, not far from Mr. Boccieri’s own district, a spokeswoman said.
  
  Click headline above for more.

  [...]

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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:07pm EDT
  by admin

• Dodd unveils sweeping financial regulation plan — Jim Kuhnhenn

  —The Kansas Progress

  A new Democratic Senate bill to tame the financial markets would give the government new powers to break up firms that threaten the economy, force the industry to pay for its failures and create a consumer watchdog within the Federal Reserve. Legislation unveiled Monday by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:06pm EDT
  by admin

• Wash Post — Newly powerful China defies Western nations with remarks, policies

  —The Kansas Progress

  The shift has accelerated as China has emerged stronger from the global financial meltdown, with a world-beating economic expansion rate and a growing nationalist movement. China has long felt bullied by the West, and its stronger stance is challenging the long-held assumption shared among Western and Chinese businessmen, academics and [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:06pm EDT
  by admin

• Clinton Myth Spins Obama Toward Midterm Massacre: Kevin Hassett

  —The Kansas Progress

  March 15 (Bloomberg) — It is looking more and more like the Democratic Party’s idea of health-care reform will be enacted, notwithstanding the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts and the opposition of the American people. If the legislation does survive the gathering political storm, then it will present historians with [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:04pm EDT
  by admin

• Ross Douthat — Hollywood’s Political Fictions

  —The Kansas Progress

  Americans believe in evil, but we’re uncomfortable with tragedy. We accept that there are wicked people in the world, with malice in their hearts and a devil whispering in their ears. But the idea that many debacles flow from choices made by decent, well-intentioned human beings is more difficult for [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:04pm EDT
  by admin

• Politico — Lawmakers spend $1,000 a month on taxpayer-funded cars. “Emanuel Cleaver appears to be the biggest spender”

  —The Kansas Progress

  The economy is still limping along, but some members of Congress are nevertheless riding in style: At least 10 House members are spending more than $1,000 a month in taxpayer money to lease cars. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver appears to be the biggest spender. In the last quarter of 2009, the Missouri Democrat [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:03pm EDT
  by admin

• No room for error on U.S. debt

  —The Kansas Progress

  NEW YORK (Fortune) — The United States isn’t in jeopardy of losing its gold-plated credit rating, though by one measure America is closer to the ratings-downgrade danger zone than Spain. That’s according to credit rating agency Moody’s. In a quarterly report about sovereign debt, Moody’s analysts wrote that despite market worries [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:02pm EDT
  by admin

• NY Times — Apple’s Spat With Google Is Getting Personal

  —The Kansas Progress

  In the last six months, Apple and Google have jousted over acquisitions, patents, directors, advisers and iPhone applications. Mr. Jobs and Mr. Schmidt have taken shots at each other’s companies in the media and in private exchanges with employees. This month, Apple sued HTC, the Taiwanese maker of mobile phones that [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:02pm EDT
  by admin

• WSJ — Swing Districts Oppose Health Reform. Sobering poll news for 35 key House members

  —The Kansas Progress

  Voters in key congressional districts are clear in their opposition to what they have seen, read and heard on health-care reform. That’s one of the findings of a survey that will be released today by the Polling Company on behalf of Independent Women’s Voice. The survey consisted of 1,200 registered [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:01pm EDT
  by admin

• Democrats, Forever Changed — Peter Beinart

  —The Kansas Progress

  For close to a decade now, Democrats have been arguing with each other about what kind of country this is, and what kind of party they should be. On one side stands a group of politicians, consultants and wonks who believe that America is, at its core, a pretty conservative [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:00pm EDT
  by admin

• Rep. Paul Ryan on what real health reform should look like

  —The Kansas Progress

  Despite claims of transparency and calls for a “simple up-or-down vote,” there is nothing simple about this process. This convoluted legislative charade demonstrates how far the Democratic majority has wandered from real health-care reform and cost control, employing any means to achieve political victory. Through any analytical lens, the legislation will [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 7:00pm EDT
  by admin

• Obama’s Proposal is the Illusion of ‘Reform’ — Robert Samuelson

  —The Kansas Progress

  WASHINGTON — One job of presidents is to educate Americans about crucial national problems. On health care, Barack Obama has failed. Almost everything you think you know about health care is probably wrong or, at least, half wrong. Great simplicities and distortions have been peddled in the name of achieving [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 6:59pm EDT
  by admin

• Washington Examiner — Think Washington is partisan now? Wait until after Obamacare

  —The Kansas Progress

  “If they pull off this crazy scenario they are putting together, they are going to destroy a lot of the comity in the House,” said Brian Darling, a congressional expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “Even in the current, highly partisan atmosphere, it can get a lot worse.” Obama’s latest version [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 6:58pm EDT
  by admin

• Three words that explain the national banking crisis: "Meet Lynn Mitchelson"

  —Red County

  Sam Brownback cannot be taken seriously while ex-banker Lynn Mitchelson remains a campaign co-chair.

  Some questions for future Kansas Governor Sam Brownback:

  Why did you choose a provably corrupt public official to be a campaign co-chair? Why is part of your campaign team giving a no-bid legal contract to the Democratic [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 5:55pm EDT
  by Benjamin Hodge

• Kansas gasoline tax increases possible

  —Voice For Liberty in Wichita

  Americans for Prosperity-Kansas reports on two bills that would increase the cost of gasoline in Kansas:

  There are two bills before the Senate Transportation Committee that would increase the cost of gas in Kansas by an estimated 15 to 20 cents per gallon.

  SB 515 would decrease the motor fuel [...]

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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 5:25pm EDT
  by Bob Weeks

• PRETTY FUNNY…

  —kansasprairie.net

  In thinking about National Pi Day, it reminded me…. There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deer skin, one slept on an elk skin, and the third slept on a hippopotamus skin.  All three became pregnant. The first two each had a baby boy.  The one who slept on [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2010, 4:43pm EDT
  by Peg Britton