Tag: Wichita Eagle opinion watch
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Earmarks are (not) OK
In a Wichita Eagle letter, writer Prem N. Bajaj of Wichita makes the case that Earmarks are OK. But only by tortured reasoning, in my opinion. First, he states: “Earmarks finance local projects that the community is unable to support.” I ask Mr. Bajaj this question: Where, if not from community, does money for earmarks…
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Should a Beat Journalist be a Layman?
Keeping TIFs from a public tiff by Wichita Eagle business reporter Bill Wilson on the Eagle’s Business Casual blog contains some comments that are troubling to me. In these comments, reporter Wilson wrote this: “Instead, a TIF, to this layman, actually is a government bet on the success of a development.” (emphasis added) Now I…
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Do We Know if Enrollment Numbers Support Wichita School Bond Issue?
Writing in the Wichita Eagle Editorial Blog, Phillip Brownlee writes “Some opponents of the USD 259 bond issue have argued that the district shouldn?t need more classroom space because its enrollment has been fairly flat since the 2000 bond issue.” He then goes on to make the case for the district needing more schools and…
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Wichita Eagle’s Richard Crowson: Cartoonist for the Teachers Union
In 2006, Wichita Eagle editorial Cartoonist Richard Crowson received an award from the Kansas teachers union. He’s a “friend of education.” Really. I wonder if Crowson realizes the harm that teachers unions cause? I wonder if he know that teachers unions try to block every attempt at meaningful reform?
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Is Richard Crowson Cartooning For or Against the Wichita School Bond Issue?
A recent Richard Crowson cartoon drums up support for a proposed bond issue for USD 259, the Wichita school district, by noting the cost is only 11 cents a day. And, he notes, test scores are up in many schools. I don’t know if this is an argument for or against the bond issue. If…
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Mark McCormick’s Wichita School Bond Bias
Writing from Scottsdale, Arizona Today’s Mark McCormick column in the Wichita Eagle (Opponents of school bond skip specifics) provides an example of this columnist’s bias, and how this bias leads to his rapidly losing credibility among Wichitans. Bias is okay for a columnist. Everyone is entitled to a point of view. After reading a few…
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Mark McCormick’s Wichita School Bond Challenge: The Inside Story
Recently Wichita Eagle columnist Mark McCormick challenged Helen Cochran, spokesperson for Citizens for Better Education, a citizen group opposed to the proposed Wichita school bond issue, to answer a few questions. In Sunday’s column he presented Cochran’s answers. I spoke to Ms. Cochran and exchanged a few email messages, and I asked her a few…
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Carol Rupe, Kansas School Board Member, Speaks for the Wichita School Bond Issue
In a letter to the Wichita Eagle, Kansas school board member Carol Rupe makes the case for supporting the Wichita school bond issue. It’s not remarkable that a member of the public school bureaucracy would support increased spending on schools. Her letter is remarkable, however, in what it says, and what it doesn’t say. For…
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A Flood of New Wichita Public School Students: The Other Story
In a letter to the editor in the August 28, 2008 Wichita Eagle, Wichitan Frank LaForge makes the case for voting for the Wichita school bond issue in 2008. While doing this he inadvertently makes the case for widespread school choice in Kansas and Wichita.
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Tiff over Wichita TIFs
A post titled Keeping TIFs from a public tiff by Wichita Eagle business reporter Bill Wilson on the Eagle’s Business Casual blog reveals his bias in favor of government over individual action and preference. My post The Wichita Eagle?s Preference For Government documents one such example from the past. In this blog post Mr. Wilson…
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Predictions of Downtown Wichita Arena’s Success are Premature
Several Wichita Eagle editorials in recent weeks have mentioned the success of the Intrust Arena being built in downtown Wichita. Success, I might ask, at doing what? The fact that the arena structure is rising is evidence of only the smallest measure of competence by Sedgwick County officials. Having entrusted them with some two hundred…
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Wichita School Bond Issue Opponents: Driving What? And How?
In his Sunday Wichita Eagle column, Mark McCormick complains that the Wichita school bond issue opponents are a) cynical, b) short-sighted, c) myopic, d) forces pulling us backwards, e) frightening voters, f) spending too much at Starbucks, g) only saying “no,” h) hiding their true agenda to replace public schools with vouchers, i) not honest…